Search results for: public health management

Authors: Saori Fujimoto, Hiromi Kawasaki, Mari Murakami, Yoko Ueno

Abstract:

Background: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has been spreading throughout the world. In Japan, many nursing universities have conducted online clinical practices to secure students’ learning opportunities. In the field of women’s health nursing, even after the pandemic ended, it will be worthwhile to utilize online practice in declining birthrate and reducing the burden of mothers. This study examined the learning effects of conducting online visits for mothers with infants during the COVID-19 pandemic by nursing students to enhance the students’ ability to carry out the online practice even in ordinary times effectively. Methods: Students were divided into groups of three, and information on the mothers was assessed, and the visits were planned. After role-play was conducted by the students and teachers, an online visit was conducted. The analysis target was the self-evaluation score of nine students who conducted online visits in June 2020 and had consented to participate. The evaluation contents included three items for assessment, two items for planning, one item for ethical consideration, five items for nursing practice, and two items for evaluation. The self-evaluation score ranged from 4 (‘Can do with a little advice’) to 1 (‘Can’t do with a little advice’). A univariate statistical analysis was performed. This study was approved by the Ethical Committee for Epidemiology of Hiroshima University. Results: The items with the highest mean (standard deviation) scores were ‘advocates for the dignity and the rights of mothers’ (3.89 (0.31)) and ‘communication behavior needed to create a trusting relationship’ (3.89 (0.31)).’ Next were the ‘individual nursing practice tailored to mothers (3.78 (0.42))’ and ‘review own practice and work on own task (3.78 (0.42)).’ The mean (standard deviation) of the items by type were as follows: three assessment items, 3.26 (0.70), two planning items, 3.11 (0.49), one ethical consideration item, 3.89 (0.31), five nursing practice items, 3.56 (0.54), and two evaluation items, 3.67 (0.47). Conclusion: The highest self-evaluations were for ‘advocates for the dignity and the rights of mothers’ and ‘communication behavior needed to create a trusting relationship.’ These findings suggest that the students were able to form good relationships with the mothers by improving their ability to effectively communicate and by presenting a positive attitude, even when conducting health visits online. However, the self-evaluation scores for assessment and planning were lower than those of ethical consideration, nursing practice, and evaluation. This was most likely due to a lack of opportunities and time to gather information and the need to modify and add plans in a short amount of time during one online visit. It is necessary to further consider the methods used in conducting online visits from the following viewpoints: methods of gathering information and the ability to make changes through multiple visits.

Keywords: infants, learning effects, mothers, online visit practice

Procedia PDF Downloads 133

Authors: M. Moncef Khaddar

Abstract:

This paper focuses mainly on a contextualized understanding of ‘autocratic authoritarianism’ in Tunisia without approaching its peculiarities in reference to the ideal type of capitalist-liberal democracy but rather analysing it as a Tunisian ‘civilian dictatorship’. This is reminiscent, to some extent, of the French ‘colonial authoritarianism’ in parallel with the legacy of the traditional formal monarchic absolutism. The Tunisian autocratic political system is here construed as a state manufactured nationalist-populist authoritarianism associated with a de facto presidential single party, two successive autocratic presidents and their subservient autocratic elites who ruled with an iron fist the de-colonialized ‘liberated nation’ that came to be subjected to a large scale oppression and domination under the new Tunisian Republic. The diachronic survey of Tunisia’s autocratic authoritarian system covers the early years of autocracy, under the first autocratic president Bourguiba, 1957-1987, as well as the different stages of its consolidation into a police-security state under the second autocratic president, Ben Ali, 1987-2011. Comparing the policies of authoritarian regimes, within what is identified synchronically as a bi-cephalous autocratic system, entails an in-depth study of the two autocrats, who ruled Tunisia for more than half a century, as modern adaptable autocrats. This is further supported by an exploration of the ruling authoritarian autocratic elites who played a decisive role in shaping the undemocratic state-society relations, under the 1st and 2nd President, and left an indelible mark, structurally and ideologically, on Tunisian polity. Emphasis is also put on the members of the governmental and state-party institutions and apparatuses that kept circulating and recycling from one authoritarian regime to another, and from the first ‘founding’ autocrat to his putschist successor who consolidated authoritarian stability, political continuity and autocratic governance. The reconfiguration of Tunisian political life, in the post-autocratic era, since 2011 will be analysed. This will be scrutinized, especially in light of the unexpected return of many high-profile figures and old guards of the autocratic authoritarian apparatchiks. How and why were, these public figures, from an autocratic era, able to return in a supposedly post-revolutionary moment? Finally, while some continue to celebrate the putative exceptional success of ‘democratic transition’ in Tunisia, within a context of ‘unfinished revolution’, others remain perplexed in the face of a creeping ‘oligarchic transition’ to a ‘hybrid regime’, characterized rather by elites’ reformist tradition than a bottom-up genuine democratic ‘change’. This latter is far from answering the 2010 ordinary people’s ‘uprisings’ and ‘aspirations, for ‘Dignity, Liberty and Social Justice’.

Keywords: authoritarianism, autocracy, democratization, democracy, populism, transition, Tunisia

Procedia PDF Downloads 138

Authors: Doreen Mekunda

Abstract:

This paper is built on the premise that the current socio-political crisis in the two restive regions of Cameroon, though enveloped with destructive and devastating trends (effects) on both property and human lives, is not without its strengths and merits. It is incontestable that many cultures, to a greater extent, are going to be destroyed as people forcibly move from war-stricken habitats to non-violent places. Many cultural potentials, traditional shrines, artifacts, art, and crafts, etc., are unknowingly or knowingly disfigured, and many other ugly things will, by the end of the crisis, affect the cultures of these two regions under siege and of the receiving population. A plethora of other problems like the persecution of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) for being displaced and blamed for increased crime rates and the existence of cultural and ethnic differences that produce both inter-tribal and interpersonal conflicts and conflicts between communities will abound. However, there is the emergence of rapid literature, and other forms of cultural productions, whether written or oral, is visible, thereby precipitating a rich cultural diversity due to the coming together of a variety of cultures of both the IDPs and the receiving populations, rapid urbanization, improvement of health-related issues, the rebirth of indigenous cultural practices, the development of social and lingua-cultural competences, dependence on alternative religions, faith and spirituality. Even financial and economic dependence, though a burden to others by IDPs, has its own merits as it improves the living standards of the IDPs. To be able to obtain plausible results, cultural materialism, which is a literary theory that hinges on the empirical study of socio-cultural systems within a materialist infrastructure-super-structure framework, is employed together with the postcolonial theory. Postcolonial theory because the study deals with postcolonial experiences/tenets of migration, hybridity, ethnicity, indignity, language, double consciousness, migration, center/margin binaries, and identity, amongst others. The study reveals that the involuntary movement of persons from their habitual homes brings about movement in cultures, thus, the emergence of new cultures. The movement of people who hold fast to their cultural heritage can only influence new forms of literature, the development of new communication competences, the rise of alternative religion, faith and spirituality, the re-emergence of customary and traditional legal systems that might have been abandoned for the new judicial systems, and above all the revitalization of traditional health care systems.

Keywords: alternative religion, emergence, socio-political crisis, spirituality, lingua-cultural competences

Procedia PDF Downloads 167

Authors: Rahul Agarwal, Ashutosh Singh

Abstract:

Colorectal cancer (CRC) also refers as bowel cancer or colon cancer. It involves the development of abnormal growth of cells in colon or rectum part of the body. This work leads to the development of a miRNA database in colorectal cancer. We named this database- miCoRe. This database comprises of all validated colon-rectal cancer miRNAs information from various published literature with an effectual knowledge based information retrieval system. miRNAs have been collected from various published literature reports. MySQL is used for main-framework of miCoRe while the front-end was developed in PHP script. The aim of developing miCoRe is to create a comprehensive central repository of colorectal carcinoma miRNAs with all germane information of miRNAs and their target genes. The current version of miCoRe consists of 238 miRNAs which are known to be implicated in malignancy of CRC. Alongside with miRNA information, miCoRe also contains the information related to the target genes of these miRNA. miCoRe furnishes the information about the mechanism of incidence and progression of the disease, which would further help the researchers to look for colorectal specific miRNAs therapies and CRC specific targeted drug designing. Moreover, it will also help in development of biomarkers for the better and early detection of CRC and will help in better clinical management of the disease.

Keywords: colorectal cancer, database, miCoRe, miRNAs

Procedia PDF Downloads 269

Authors: Alireza Jalilifar, Nadia Mayahi

Abstract:

The dissertation defense as a complicated conflict-prone context entails the adoption of elegant interactional strategies, one of which is self-denigration. This study aimed to develop and validate a self-denigration model that fits the context of doctoral defense sessions in applied linguistics. Two focus group discussions provided the basis for developing this conceptual model, which assumed 10 functions for self-denigration, namely good manners, modesty, affability, altruism, assertiveness, diffidence, coercive self-deprecation, evasion, diplomacy, and flamboyance. These functions were used to design a 40-item questionnaire on the attitudes of applied linguists concerning self-denigration in defense sessions. The confirmatory factor analysis of the questionnaire indicated the predictive ability of the measurement model. The findings of this study suggest that self-denigration in doctoral defense sessions is the social representation of the participants’ values, ideas and practices adopted as a negotiation strategy and a conflict management policy for the purpose of establishing harmony and maintaining resilience. This study has implications for doctoral students and academics and illuminates further research on self-denigration in other contexts.

Keywords: academic discourse, politeness, self-denigration, grounded theory, dissertation defense

Procedia PDF Downloads 128

Authors: Yu-Jia Jian, Emily Chia-Yu Su, Hui-Ling Hsu, Jian-Jhih Chen

Abstract:

Coronary artery is the major supplier of myocardial blood flow. When fat and cholesterol are deposit in the coronary arterial wall, narrowing and stenosis of the artery occurs, which may lead to myocardial ischemia and eventually infarction. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), estimated 740 million people have died of coronary heart disease in 2015. According to Statistics from Ministry of Health and Welfare in Taiwan, heart disease (except for hypertensive diseases) ranked the second among the top 10 causes of death from 2013 to 2016, and it still shows a growing trend. According to American Heart Association (AHA), the risk factors for coronary heart disease including: age (> 65 years), sex (men to women with 2:1 ratio), obesity, diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, smoking, family history, lack of exercise and more. We have collected a dataset of 421 patients from a hospital located in northern Taiwan who received coronary computed tomography (CT) angiography. There were 300 males (71.26%) and 121 females (28.74%), with age ranging from 24 to 92 years, and a mean age of 56.3 years. Prior to coronary CT angiography, basic data of the patients, including age, gender, obesity index (BMI), diastolic blood pressure, systolic blood pressure, diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, smoking, family history of coronary heart disease and exercise habits, were collected and used as input variables. The output variable of the prediction module is the degree of coronary artery stenosis. The output variable of the prediction module is the narrow constriction of the coronary artery. In this study, the dataset was randomly divided into 80% as training set and 20% as test set. Four machine learning algorithms, including logistic regression, stepwise regression, neural network and decision tree, were incorporated to generate prediction results. We used area under curve (AUC) / accuracy (Acc.) to compare the four models, the best model is neural network, followed by stepwise logistic regression, decision tree, and logistic regression, with 0.68 / 79 %, 0.68 / 74%, 0.65 / 78%, and 0.65 / 74%, respectively. Sensitivity of neural network was 27.3%, specificity was 90.8%, stepwise Logistic regression sensitivity was 18.2%, specificity was 92.3%, decision tree sensitivity was 13.6%, specificity was 100%, logistic regression sensitivity was 27.3%, specificity 89.2%. From the result of this study, we hope to improve the accuracy by improving the module parameters or other methods in the future and we hope to solve the problem of low sensitivity by adjusting the imbalanced proportion of positive and negative data.

Keywords: decision support, computed tomography, coronary artery, machine learning

Procedia PDF Downloads 224

Authors: Ahmed Al-Adaileh, Souheil Khaddaj

Abstract:

Outcomes of exhaustion of natural resources started influencing each spirit on this planet. Energy is an essential factor in this aspect. To restore the circumstance to the appropriate track, all attempts must focus on two fundamental branches: producing electricity from clean and renewable reserves and decreasing the overall unnecessary consumption of energy. The focal point of this paper will be on lessening the power consumption in the household's segment. This paper is an attempt to give a clear understanding of a framework called Reduction of Energy Consumption in Household Sector (RECHS) and how it should help householders to reduce their power consumption by substituting their household appliances, turning-off the appliances when stand-by modus is detected, and scheduling their appliances operation periods. Technically, the framework depends on utilizing Z-Wave compatible plug-ins which will be connected to the usual house devices to gauge and control them remotely and semi-automatically. The suggested framework underpins numerous quality characteristics, for example, integrability, scalability, security and adaptability.

Keywords: smart energy management systems, internet of things, wireless mesh networks, microservices, cloud computing, big data

Procedia PDF Downloads 184

Authors: Yael Teff-Seker

Abstract:

More often than not, ecosystems do not follow anthropogenic political borders. Thus, transboundary environmental protection or rehabilitation initiatives can be beneficial and at times even vital for supporting healthy ecosystems. Marine areas demand unique considerations and challenges for such initiatives, as maritime borders tend to be less defined, less fortified and less visible. In areas of recent conflict, cross-border environmental initiatives can also improve relations between states and promote peace-building efforts, in addition to their environmental benefits. The current study reviews the current literature on transboundary marine environmental protection initiatives that take place in these areas and focuses on joint initiatives in Israel-Jordan and Croatia-Slovenia. In addition to factors described in the literature such as funding and third-party involvement, findings suggest that the peripheral location of marine environmental initiatives can be beneficial for the success of such initiatives, as well as facilitating border crossing and the extent to which such initiatives advance other governmental goals. A sense of urgency, environmental or other, has also been found to be highly relevant to project success.

Keywords: environmental cooperation, environmental peacebuilding, marine environment, environmental conflict, environmental management

Procedia PDF Downloads 168

Authors: Ameen Alawneh

Abstract:

The cost of material management across the supply chain represents a major contributor to the overall cost of goods in many companies both manufacturing and service sectors. This fact combined with the fierce competition make supply chains more efficient and cost effective. It also requires the companies to improve the quality of the products and services, increase the effectiveness of supply chain operations, focus on customer needs, reduce wastes and costs across the supply chain. As a heavy industry, steel manufacturing companies in particular are nowadays required to be more environmentally conscious due to their contribution to air, soil, and water pollution that results from emissions and wastes across their supply chains. Steel companies are increasingly looking for methods to reduce or cost cut in the operations and provide extra value to their customers to stay competitive under the current low margins. In this research we develop a green framework model for the sustainability of a steel company supply chain using Mixed integer Linear programming.

Keywords: Supply chain, Mixed Integer linear programming, heavy industry, water pollution

Procedia PDF Downloads 442

Authors: Sherif M. Hafez, Remon F. Aziz, May S. A. Elalim

Abstract:

Project managers today rely on scheduling tools based on the Critical Path Method (CPM) to determine the overall project duration and the activities’ float times which lead to greater efficiency in planning and control of projects. CPM was useful for scheduling construction projects, but researchers had highlighted a number of serious drawbacks that limit its use as a decision support tool and lacks the ability to clearly record and represent detailed information. This paper discusses the drawbacks of CPM as a scheduling technique and presents a modified critical path method (CPM) model which is called critical path segments (CPS). The CPS scheduling mechanism addresses the problems of CPM in three ways: decomposing the activity duration of separated but connected time segments; all relationships among activities are converted into finish–to–start relationship; and analysis and calculations are made with forward path. Sample cases are included to illustrate the shortages in CPM, CPS full analysis and calculations are explained in details, and how schedules can be handled better with the CPS technique.

Keywords: construction management, scheduling, critical path method, critical path segments, forward pass, float, project control

Procedia PDF Downloads 347

Authors: Raquel Camprubí

Abstract:

Cultural tourism has been postulated as relevant motivation for tourist over the world during the last decades. In this context, museums are the main attraction for cultural tourists who are seeking to connect with the history and culture of the visited place. From the point of view of an urban destination, museums and other cultural resources are essential to have a strong tourist supply at the destination, in order to be capable of catching attention and interest of cultural tourists. In particular, museums’ challenge is to be prepared to offer the best experience to their visitors without to forget their mission-based mainly on protection of its collection and other social goals. Thus, museums individually want to be competitive and have good positioning to achieve their strategic goals. The life cycle of the destination and the level of maturity of its tourism product influence the need of tourism agents to cooperate and collaborate among them, in order to rejuvenate their product and become more competitive as a destination. Additionally, prior studies have considered an approach of different models of a public and private partnership, and collaborative and cooperative relations developed among the agents of a tourism destination. However, there are no studies that pay special attention to museums and the strategic alliances developed to obtain mutual benefits. Considering this background, the purpose of this study is to analyze in what extent museums of a given urban destination have established strategic links and relations among them, in order to improve their competitive position at both individual and destination level. In order to achieve the aim of this study, the city of Girona (Spain) and the museums located in this city are taken as a case study. Data collection was conducted using in-depth interviews, in order to collect all the qualitative data related to nature, strengthen and purpose of the relational ties established among the museums of the city or other relevant tourism agents of the city. To conduct data analysis, a Social Network Analysis (SNA) approach was taken using UCINET software. Position of the agents in the network and structure of the network was analyzed, and qualitative data from interviews were used to interpret SNA results. Finding reveals the existence of strong ties among some of the museums of the city, particularly to create and promote joint products. Nevertheless, there were detected outsiders who have an individual strategy, without collaboration and cooperation with other museums or agents of the city. Results also show that some relational ties have an institutional origin, while others are the result of a long process of cooperation with common projects. Conclusions put in evidence that collaboration and cooperation of museums had been positive to increase the attractiveness of the museum and the city as a cultural destination. Future research and managerial implications are also mentioned.

Keywords: cultural tourism, competitiveness, museums, Social Network analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 110

Authors: Adarsh Shroff

Abstract:

Big data is a collection of dataset so large and complex that it becomes difficult to process using data base management tools. To perform operations like search, analysis, visualization on big data by using data mining; which is the process of extraction of patterns or knowledge from large data set. In recent years, the data mining applications become stale and obsolete over time. Incremental processing is a promising approach to refreshing mining results. It utilizes previously saved states to avoid the expense of re-computation from scratch. This project uses i2MapReduce, an incremental processing extension to Map Reduce, the most widely used framework for mining big data. I2MapReduce performs key-value pair level incremental processing rather than task level re-computation, supports not only one-step computation but also more sophisticated iterative computation, which is widely used in data mining applications, and incorporates a set of novel techniques to reduce I/O overhead for accessing preserved fine-grain computation states. To optimize the mining results, evaluate i2MapReduce using a one-step algorithm and three iterative algorithms with diverse computation characteristics for efficient mining.

Keywords: big data, map reduce, incremental processing, iterative computation

Procedia PDF Downloads 341

Authors: Najat El-Kurdi, Sherif Hammad, Mohamed Ghazi, Sahar El-Shatoury, Khaled Zakaria

Abstract:

The increasing number of plastic production and its importance to humanity in daily life made it a headache to the planet earth. The persistence of plastic wastes in the environment formed a serious problem. They are prominent with their capability to resist microbial degradation for decades. Thus, it was crucial to find ways to eliminate the plastics without depending on conventional recycling methods, which causes the formation of more hazardous compounds and doubles the problem. In this paper, mealworms were fed with a mixture of plastic wastes such as plastic bags, Styrofoam, PE foam, and plastic tarpaulins film as the sole food source for a month. Frass was collected at the end of the test and examined using FTIR analysis. Also, the gut bacteria were isolated and identified using 16S rRNA. The results show the mineralization of plastic in the frass of plastic-fed worms when compared to control. The 16S rRNA and the BLAST analysis showed that the obtained isolate belongs to the genus Bacillus Sp especially Bacillus subtilis. Phylogenetic analysis showed their relatedness to the other Bacillus species in the NCBI database.

Keywords: mealworm, waste management, plastic-degrading bacteria, gut microbiome, Bacillus sp

Procedia PDF Downloads 141

Authors: Ming-Dong Wang, Abigail F. Ruby, Michelle E. Ross

Abstract:

Methylphenidate is a first-line treatment drug for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a common mental health disorder in children and adolescents. Over the last several decades, the rate of children and adolescents using ADHD medication has been increasing in many countries. A recent study found that the prevalence of ADHD medication use among children aged 3-18 years increased in 13 different world regions between 2001 and 2015, where the absolute increase ranged from 0.02 to 0.26% per year. The goal of this study was to examine the use of methylphenidate in Canadian children and its associated adverse reactions. Methylphenidate use information among young Canadians aged 0-14 years was extracted from IQVIA data on prescriptions dispensed by pharmacies between April 2014 and June 2020. The adverse reaction information associated with methylphenidate use was extracted from the Canada Vigilance database for the same time period. Methylphenidate use trends were analyzed based on sex, age group (0-4 years, 5-9 years, and 10-14 years), and geographical location (province). The common classes of adverse reactions associated with methylphenidate use were sorted, and the relative risks associated with methylphenidate use as compared with two second-line amphetamine medications for ADHD were estimated. This study revealed that among Canadians aged 0-14 years, every 100 people used about 25 prescriptions (or 23,000 mg) of methylphenidate per year during the study period, and the use increased with time. Boys used almost three times more methylphenidate than girls. The amount of drug used was inversely associated with age: Canadians aged 10-14 years used nearly three times as many drugs compared to those aged 5-9 years. Seasonal methylphenidate use patterns were apparent among young Canadians, but the seasonal trends differed among the three age groups. Methylphenidate use varied from region to region, and the highest methylphenidate use was observed in Quebec, where the use of methylphenidate was at least double that of any other province. During the study period, Health Canada received 304 adverse reaction reports associated with the use of methylphenidate for Canadians aged 0-14 years. The number of adverse reaction reports received for boys was 3.5 times higher than that for girls. The three most common adverse reaction classes were psychiatric disorders, nervous system disorders and injury, poisoning procedural complications. The number one commonly reported adverse reaction for boys was aggression (11.2%), while for girls, it was a tremor (9.6%). The safety profile in terms of adverse reaction classes associated with methylphenidate use was similar to that of the selected control products. Methylphenidate is a commonly used pharmaceutical product in young Canadians, particularly in the province of Quebec. Boys used approximately three times more of this product as compared to girls. Future investigation is needed to determine what factors are associated with the observed geographic variations in Canada.

Keywords: adverse reaction risk, methylphenidate, prescription trend, use variation

Procedia PDF Downloads 153

Authors: Kelly S. Parkinson, Katherine Y. Teh-White

Abstract:

Futureye has a bespoke social licence to operate methodology which has successfully secured community approval and commercial return for fisheries which have faced regulatory and financial risk. This unique approach to fisheries management focuses on delivering improved social and environmental outcomes to support the fishing industry make steps towards achieving the United Nations SDGs. An SLO is the community’s implicit consent for a business or project to exist. An SLO must be earned and maintained alongside regulatory licences. In current and new operations, it helps you to anticipate and measure community concerns around your operations – leading to more predictable and sensible policy outcomes that will not jeopardise your commercial returns. Rising societal expectations and increasing activist sophistication mean the international fishing industry needs to resolve community concerns at each stage their supply chain. Futureye applied our tested social licence to operate (SLO) methodology to help Austral Fisheries who was being attacked by activists concerned about the sustainability of Patagonian Toothfish. Austral was Marine Stewardship Council certified, but pirates were making the overall catch unsustainable. Austral wanted to be carbon neutral. SLO provides a lens on the risk that helps industries and companies act before regulatory and political risk escalates. To do this assessment, we have a methodology that assesses the risk that we can then translate into a process to create a strategy. 1) Audience: we understand the drivers of change and the transmission of those drivers across all audience segments. 2) Expectation: we understand the level of social norming of changing expectations. 3) Outrage: we understand the technical and perceptual aspects of risk and the opportunities to mitigate these. 4) Inter-relationships: we understand the political, regulatory, and reputation system so that we can understand the levers of change. 5) Strategy: we understand whether the strategy will achieve a social licence through bringing the internal and external stakeholders on the journey. Futureye’s SLO methodologies helped Austral to understand risks and opportunities to enhance its resilience. Futureye reviewed the issues, assessed outrage and materiality and mapped SLO threats to the company. Austral was introduced to a new way that it could manage activism, climate action, and responsible consumption. As a result of Futureye’s work, Austral worked closely with Sea Shepherd who was campaigning against pirates illegally fishing Patagonian Toothfish as well as international governments. In 2016 Austral launched the world’s first carbon neutral fish which won Austral a thirteen percent premium for tender on the open market. In 2017, Austral received the prestigious Banksia Foundation Sustainability Leadership Award for seafood that is sustainable, healthy and carbon neutral. Austral’s position as a leader in sustainable development has opened doors for retailers all over the world. Futureye’s SLO methodology can identify the societal, political and regulatory risks facing fisheries and position them to proactively address the issues and become an industry leader in sustainability.

Keywords: carbon neutral, fisheries management, risk communication, social licence to operate, sustainable development

Procedia PDF Downloads 117

Authors: Brenda Thean I. Lim, Safurah Jaafar

Abstract:

Augmented reality (AR) in the healthcare industry has been gaining popularity in recent years, principally in areas of medical education, patient care and digital health solutions. One of the drivers in deciding to invest in AR technology is the potential economic benefits it could bring for patients and healthcare providers, including the pharmaceutical and medical technology sectors. Works of literature have shown that the benefits and impact of AR technologies have left trails of achievements in improving medical education and patient health outcomes. However, little has been published on the economic impact of AR in healthcare, a very resource-intensive industry. This systematic review was performed on studies focused on the benefits and impact of AR in healthcare to appraise if they meet the founded quality criteria so as to identify relevant publications for an in-depth analysis of the economic impact assessment. The literature search was conducted using multiple databases such as PubMed, Cochrane, Science Direct and Nature. Inclusion criteria include research papers on AR implementation in healthcare, from education to diagnosis and treatment. Only papers written in English language were selected. Studies on AR prototypes were excluded. Although there were many articles that have addressed the benefits of AR in the healthcare industry in the area of medical education, treatment and diagnosis and dental medicine, there were very few publications that identified the specific economic impact of technology within the healthcare industry. There were 13 publications included in the analysis based on the inclusion criteria. Out of the 13 studies, none comprised a systematically comprehensive cost impact evaluation. An outline of the cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit framework was made based on an AR article from another industry as a reference. This systematic review found that while the advancements of AR technology is growing rapidly and industries are starting to adopt them into respective sectors, the technology and its advancements in healthcare were still in their early stages. There are still plenty of room for further advancements and integration of AR into different sectors within the healthcare industry. Future studies will require more comprehensive economic analyses and costing evaluations to enable economic decisions for or against implementing AR technology in healthcare. This systematic review concluded that the current literature lacked detailed examination and conduct of economic impact and benefit analyses. Recommendations for future research would be to include details of the initial investment and operational costs for the AR infrastructure in healthcare settings while comparing the intervention to its conventional counterparts or alternatives so as to provide a comprehensive comparison on impact, benefit and cost differences.

Keywords: augmented reality, benefit, economic impact, healthcare, patient care

Procedia PDF Downloads 200

Authors: Oral S. Saulters, Shanon D. Goldberg, Wendy A. Staples, Ellena I. Martinez, Lorie M. Sanchez, Diego E. Archuleta, Deborah L. Williams, Scot D. Johnson

Abstract:

To address an important set of unverified field conditions, the Los Alamos National Laboratory Waste Compliance and Tracking System (WCATS) Wall-to-Wall Team performed an unprecedented and advanced inventory. This reconciliation involved confirmation analysis for approximately 5850 hazardous, low-level, mixed low-level, and transuranic waste containers located in more than 200 staging and storage areas across 33 technical areas. The interdisciplinary team scoped, planned, and developed the multidimensional assessments. Through coordination with cross-functional site hosts, they were able to verify and validate data while resolving discrepancies identified in WCATS. The results were extraordinary with an updated inventory, tailored outreach, more cohesive communications, and timely closed-loop feedback.

Keywords: circular economy, environmental performance data, social-ecological-technological systems, waste management

Procedia PDF Downloads 118

Authors: Jihye Jeon

Abstract:

This paper analyzes the conceptual framework of three statistical methods, multiple regression, path analysis, and structural equation models. When establishing research model of the statistical modeling of complex social phenomenon, it is important to know the strengths and limitations of three statistical models. This study explored the character, strength, and limitation of each modeling and suggested some strategies for accurate explaining or predicting the causal relationships among variables. Especially, on the studying of depression or mental health, the common mistakes of research modeling were discussed.

Keywords: multiple regression, path analysis, structural equation models, statistical modeling, social and psychological phenomenon

Procedia PDF Downloads 636

Authors: Yana Snegireva

Abstract:

Carbonate reservoirs are known for their heterogeneity, resulting from various geological processes such as diagenesis and fracturing. These complexities may cause great challenges in understanding fluid flow behavior and predicting the production performance of naturally fractured reservoirs. The investigation of carbonate reservoirs is crucial, as many petroleum reservoirs are naturally fractured, which can be difficult due to the complexity of their fracture networks. This can lead to geological uncertainties, which are important for global petroleum reserves. The problem outlines the key challenges in carbonate reservoir modeling, including the accurate representation of fractures and their connectivity, as well as capturing the impact of fractures on fluid flow and production. Traditional reservoir modeling techniques often oversimplify fracture networks, leading to inaccurate predictions. Therefore, there is a need for a modern approach that can capture the complexities of carbonate reservoirs and provide reliable predictions for effective reservoir management and production optimization. The modern approach to carbonate reservoir modeling involves the utilization of the hybrid fracture modeling approach, including the discrete fracture network (DFN) method and implicit fracture network, which offer enhanced accuracy and reliability in characterizing complex fracture systems within these reservoirs. This study focuses on the application of the hybrid method in the Nepsko-Botuobinskaya anticline of the Eastern Siberia field, aiming to prove the appropriateness of this method in these geological conditions. The DFN method is adopted to model the fracture network within the carbonate reservoir. This method considers fractures as discrete entities, capturing their geometry, orientation, and connectivity. But the method has significant disadvantages since the number of fractures in the field can be very high. Due to limitations in the amount of main memory, it is very difficult to represent these fractures explicitly. By integrating data from image logs (formation micro imager), core data, and fracture density logs, a discrete fracture network (DFN) model can be constructed to represent fracture characteristics for hydraulically relevant fractures. The results obtained from the DFN modeling approaches provide valuable insights into the East Siberia field's carbonate reservoir behavior. The DFN model accurately captures the fracture system, allowing for a better understanding of fluid flow pathways, connectivity, and potential production zones. The analysis of simulation results enables the identification of zones of increased fracturing and optimization opportunities for reservoir development with the potential application of enhanced oil recovery techniques, which were considered in further simulations on the dual porosity and dual permeability models. This approach considers fractures as separate, interconnected flow paths within the reservoir matrix, allowing for the characterization of dual-porosity media. The case study of the East Siberia field demonstrates the effectiveness of the hybrid model method in accurately representing fracture systems and predicting reservoir behavior. The findings from this study contribute to improved reservoir management and production optimization in carbonate reservoirs with the use of enhanced and improved oil recovery methods.

Keywords: carbonate reservoir, discrete fracture network, fracture modeling, dual porosity, enhanced oil recovery, implicit fracture model, hybrid fracture model

Procedia PDF Downloads 71

Authors: Fatimah M. Alshehrei

Abstract:

For many years, synthetic pesticides have been used to kill pests; due to their toxicity and pollution, they are now a risk to human and environmental health. Lately, biopesticides have emerged as possible substitutes for petrochemical pesticides. The sources of biopesticides are widely accessible, easily biodegradable, have a variety of modes of action, are less expensive, and have little toxicity toward humans and other creatures that aren't the intended targets. Plants, bacteria, and insects are used to create biopesticides, they used in controlling diseases in crops. Microbial pesticides are produced from different microorganisms such as Trichoderma, Bacillus, Pseudomonas, and Beauveria. Also, botanical pesticides have already been commercialized; they are extracted from neem, pyrethrum, azadirachtin, etc. This paper describes biopesticide categories, their sources, mode of action, advantages and disadvantages, and their role in sustainable agriculture.

Keywords: biopesticides categories, formulation, mode of action, pest control

Procedia PDF Downloads 52

Authors: Juergen Junk, Franz Ronellenfitsch, Michael Eickermann

Abstract:

An appropriate weed management in autumn is a prerequisite for an economically successful harvest in the following year. In Luxembourg oilseed rape, wheat and barley is sown from August until October, accompanied by a chemical weed control with soil active herbicides, depending on the state of the weeds and the meteorological conditions. Based on regular ground and surface water-analysis, high levels of contamination by transformation products of respective herbicide compounds have been found in Luxembourg. The most ideal conditions for incorporating soil active herbicides are single rain events. Weed control may be reduced if application is made when weeds are under drought stress or if repeated light rain events followed by dry spells, because the herbicides tend to bind tightly to the soil particles. These effects have been frequently reported for Luxembourg throughout the last years. In the framework of a multisite long-term field experiment (EFFO) weed monitoring, plants observations and corresponding meteorological measurements were conducted. Long-term time series (1947-2016) from the SYNOP station Findel-Airport (WMO ID = 06590) showed a decrease in the number of days with precipitation. As the total precipitation amount has not significantly changed, this indicates a trend towards rain events with higher intensity. All analyses are based on decades (10-day periods) for September and October of each individual year. To assess the future meteorological conditions for Luxembourg, two different approaches were applied. First, multi-model ensembles from the CORDEX experiments (spatial resolution ~12.5 km; transient projections until 2100) were analysed for two different Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP8.5 and RCP4.5), covering the time span from 2005 until 2100. The multi-model ensemble approach allows for the quantification of the uncertainties and also to assess the differences between the two emission scenarios. Second, to assess smaller scale differences within the country a high resolution model projection using the COSMO-LM model was used (spatial resolution 1.3 km). To account for the higher computational demands, caused by the increased spatial resolution, only 10-year time slices have been simulated (reference period 1991-2000; near future 2041-2050 and far future 2091-2100). Statistically significant trends towards higher air temperatures, +1.6 K for September (+5.3 K far future) and +1.3 K for October (+4.3 K), were predicted for the near future compared to the reference period. Precipitation simultaneously decreased by 9.4 mm (September) and 5.0 mm (October) for the near future and -49 mm (September) and -10 mm (October) in the far future. Beside the monthly values also decades were analyzed for the two future time periods of the CLM model. For all decades of September and October the number of days with precipitation decreased for the projected near and far future. Changes in meteorological variables such as air temperature and precipitation did already induce transformations in weed societies (composition, late-emerging etc.) of arable ecosystems in Europe. Therefore, adaptations of agronomic practices as well as effective weed control strategies must be developed to maintain crop yield.

Keywords: CORDEX projections, dry spells, ensembles, weed management

Procedia PDF Downloads 232

Authors: Xizhen Zhou, Yanjie Ji

Abstract:

The charging behavior of drivers provides a reference for the planning and management of charging facilities. Based on the real trajectory data of electric vehicles, this study explored the influence of the surrounding environments of the parking spot on charging decisions. The built environment, the condition of vehicles, and the nearest charging station were all considered. And the mixed binary logit model was used to capture the impact of unobserved heterogeneity. The results show that the number of fast chargers in the charging station, parking price, dwell time, and shopping services all significantly impact the charging decision, while the leisure services, scenic spots, and mileage since the last charging are opposite. Besides, factors related to unobserved heterogeneity include the number of fast chargers, parking and charging prices, residential areas, etc. The interaction effects of random parameters further illustrate the complexity of charging choice behavior. The results provide insights for planning and managing charging facilities.

Keywords: charging decision, trajectory, electric vehicle, infrastructure, mixed logit

Procedia PDF Downloads 65

Authors: Freja Rydahl Rasmussen, Naja Villadsen, Stig Koust

Abstract:

Air purifiers have become widely implemented in a wide range of settings, including households, schools, institutions, and hospitals, as they tackle the pressing issue of indoor air pollution. With their ability to enhance indoor air quality and create healthier environments, air purifiers are particularly vital when ventilation options are limited. These devices incorporate a diverse array of technologies, including HEPA filters, active carbon filters, UV-C light, photocatalytic oxidation, and ionizers, each designed to combat specific pollutants and improve air quality within enclosed spaces. However, the safety of air purifiers has not been investigated thoroughly, and many questions still arise when applying them. Certain air purification technologies, such as UV-C light or ionization, can unintentionally generate undesirable byproducts that can negatively affect indoor air quality and health. It is well-established that these technologies can inadvertently generate nanoparticles or convert common gaseous compounds into harmful ones, thus exacerbating air pollution. However, the formation of byproducts can vary across products, necessitating further investigation. There is a particular concern about the formation of the carcinogenic substance formaldehyde from common gases like acetone. Many air purifiers use mechanical filtration to remove particles, dust, and pollen from the air. Filters need to be replaced periodically for optimal efficiency, resulting in an additional cost for end-users. Currently, there are no guidelines for filter lifespan, and replacement recommendations solely rely on manufacturers. A market screening revealed that manufacturers' recommended lifespans vary greatly (from 1 month to 10 years), and there is a need for general recommendations to guide consumers. Activated carbon filters are used to adsorb various types of chemicals that can pose health risks or cause unwanted odors. These filters have a certain capacity before becoming saturated. If not replaced in a timely manner, the adsorbed substances are likely to be released from the filter through off-gassing or losing adsorption efficiency. The goal of this study is to investigate the lifespan of filters as well as investigate the potentially harmful effects of air purifiers. Understanding the lifespan of filters used in air purifiers and the potential formation of harmful byproducts is essential for ensuring their optimal performance, guiding consumers in their purchasing decisions, and establishing industry standards for safer and more effective air purification solutions. At this time, a selection of air purifiers has been chosen, and test methods have been established. In the following 3 months, the tests will be conducted, and the results will be ready for presentation later.

Keywords: air purifiers, activated carbon filters, byproducts, clean air, indoor air quality

Procedia PDF Downloads 64

Authors: Mohammed Benmostefa

Abstract:

In the industrial production of large series or even medium series, there are vibration problems. In continuous operations, technical devices result in vibrations in solid bodies and machine components, which generate solid noise and/or airborne noise. This is because vibrations are the mechanical oscillations of an object near its equilibrium point. In response to the problems resulting from these vibrations, a number of remedial acts and solutions have been put forward. These include insulation of machines, insulation of concrete masses, insulation under screeds, insulation of sensitive equipment, point insulation of machines, linear insulation of machines, full surface insulation of machines, and the like. Following this, the researcher sought not only to raise awareness on the possibility of lowering the vibration frequency in industrial machines but also to stress the significance of procedures involving the pre-installation process of machinery, namely, setting appropriate installation and start-up methods of the machine, allocating and updating imprint folders to each machine, and scheduling maintenance of each machine all year round to have reliable equipment, gain cost reduction and maintenance efficiency to eventually ensure the overall economic performance of the company.

Keywords: maintenance, vibration, efficiency, production, machinery

Procedia PDF Downloads 73

Authors: Ahmed M. Al-Hasem

Abstract:

A study of the tidal current behavior and bathymetric changes was undertaken in order to establish an information base for future coastal management. The average velocity for tidal current was 0.46 m/s and the maximum velocity was 1.08 m/s during ebb tide. During spring tides, maximum velocities range from 0.90 m/s to 1.08 m/s, whereas maximum velocities vary from 0.40 m/s to 0.60 m/s during neap tides. Despite greater current velocities during flood tide, the bathymetric features enhance the dominance of the ebb tide. This can be related to the abundance of fine sediments from the ebb current approaching the study area, and the relatively coarser sediment from the approaching flood current. Significant bathymetric changes for the period from 1985 to 1998 were found with dominance of erosion process. Approximately 96.5% of depth changes occurred within the depth change classes of -5 m to 5 m. The high erosion processes within the study area will subsequently result in high accretion processes, particularly in the north, the location of the proposed Boubyan Port and its navigation channel.

Keywords: bathymetric change, Boubyan island, GIS, Khor Abdullah, tidal current behavior

Procedia PDF Downloads 284

Authors: Taher Eid Shaaban Ahmed Mousa

Abstract:

Non-Alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a major cause of multiple liver disorders, which strongly linked to a poor lifestyle. This study aiming to elucidate the exercise program’s effectiveness on hepatic fat mobilization among nonalcoholic fatty liver patients. Subjects: A purposive sample of 150 adult male & female patients. Setting: National institute of liver out patient's clinics of Menoufia University. Tools: three tools I: An interviewing structured questionnaire, II: International Physical Activity Questionnaire, III: compliance assessment sheet. Results: There was statistically significant difference pre and post exercise program regarding total body weight, physical activity level and compliance that prevent new fat development with resolution of existing one. Conclusion: regular exercise is the best implemented approach as an initial step for the prevention, treatment and management of NAFLD. Recommendation: It is highly important to unravel the mechanism and dose by which each exercise specifically resolve various stages of liver diseases.

Keywords: exercise program, hebatic fat mobilization, nonalcoholic fatty liver patients, sport science

Procedia PDF Downloads 75

Authors: Luisa Villani

Abstract:

The proposal aims to express concerns about the connection between mind, body, society, and environment in the Flyers’ dance, a very well-known rotatory dance in Mexico, to create meanings and to make the apprehension of the world possible. The interaction among the brain, mind, body, and environment, and the intersubjective relation among them, means the world creates and recreates a social interaction. The purpose of this methodology, based on the embodied cognition theory, which was named “A Performance-Embodied Theory” is to find the principles and patterns that organize the culture and the rules of the apprehension of the environment by Totonac people while the dance is being performed. The analysis started by questioning how anthropologists can interpret how Totonacs transform their unconscious knowledge into conscious knowledge and how the scheme formation of imagination and their collective imagery is understood in the context of public-facing rituals, such as Flyers’ dance. The problem is that most of the time, researchers interpret elements in a separate way and not as a complex ritual dancing whole, which is the original contribution of this study. This theory, which accepts the fact that people are body-mind agents, wants to interpret the dance as a whole, where the different elements are joined to an integral interpretation. To understand incorporation, data was recollected in prolonged periods of fieldwork, with participant observation and linguistic and extralinguistic data analysis. Laban’s notation for the description and analysis of gestures and movements in the space was first used, but it was later transformed and gone beyond this method, which is still a linear and compositional one. Performance in a ritual is the actualization of a potential complex of meanings or cognitive domains among many others in a culture: one potential dimension becomes probable and then real because of the activation of specific meanings in a context. It can only be thought what language permits thinking, and the lexicon that is used depends on the individual culture. Only some parts of this knowledge can be activated at once, and these parts of knowledge are connected. Only in this way, the world can be understood. It can be recognized that as languages geometrize the physical world thanks to the body, also ritual does. In conclusion, the ritual behaves as an embodied grammar or a text in movement, which, depending on the ritual phases and the words and sentences pronounced in the ritual, activates bits of encyclopedic knowledge that people have about the world. Gestures are not given by the performer but emerge from the intentional perception in which gestures are “understood” by the audio-spectator in an inter-corporeal way. The impact of this study regards the possibility not only to disseminate knowledge effectively but also to generate a balance between different parts of the world where knowledge is shared, rather than being received by academic institutions alone. This knowledge can be exchanged, so indigenous communities and academies could be together as part of the activation and the sharing of this knowledge with the world.

Keywords: dance, flyers, performance, embodied, cognition

Procedia PDF Downloads 47

Authors: Domingos Viegas, Miguel Almeida, Carmen Rocha, Ilda Novo, Yolanda Luna

Abstract:

Forest fires along the more than 1200km of the Spanish-Portuguese border are more and more frequent, currently achieving around 2000 fire events per year. Some of these events develop to large international wildfire requiring concerted operations based on shared information between the two countries. The fire event of Valencia de Alcantara (2003) causing several fatalities and more than 13000ha burnt, is a reference example of these international events. Currently, Portugal and Spain have a specific cross-border cooperation protocol on wildfires response for a strip of about 30km (15 km for each side). It is recognized by public authorities the successfulness of this collaboration however it is also assumed that this cooperation should include more functionalities such as the development of a common risk information system for transboundary fire events. Since Portuguese and Spanish authorities use different approaches to determine the fire risk indexes inputs and different methodologies to assess the fire risk, sometimes the conjoint firefighting operations are jeopardized since the information is not harmonized and the understanding of the situation by the civil protection agents from both countries is not unique. Thus, a methodology aiming the harmonization of the fire risk calculation and perception by Portuguese and Spanish Civil protection authorities is hereby presented. The final results are presented as well. The fire risk index used in this work is the Canadian Fire Weather Index (FWI), which is based on meteorological data. The FWI is limited on its application as it does not take into account other important factors with great effect on the fire appearance and development. The combination of these factors is very complex since, besides the meteorology, it addresses several parameters of different topics, namely: sociology, topography, vegetation and soil cover. Therefore, the meaning of FWI values is different from region to region, according the specific characteristics of each region. In this work, a methodology for FWI calibration based on the number of fire occurrences and on the burnt area in the transboundary regions of Portugal and Spain, in order to assess the fire risk based on calibrated FWI values, is proposed. As previously mentioned, the cooperative firefighting operations require a common perception of the information shared. Therefore, a common classification of the fire risk for the fire events occurred in the transboundary strip is proposed with the objective of harmonizing this type of information. This work is integrated in the ECHO project SpitFire - Spanish-Portuguese Meteorological Information System for Transboundary Operations in Forest Fires, which aims the development of a web platform for the sharing of information and supporting decision tools to be used in international fire events involving Portugal and Spain.

Keywords: data harmonization, FWI, international collaboration, transboundary wildfires

Procedia PDF Downloads 246

Authors: Glenn Koonce

Abstract:

There is a need to address the improvement of university educational leadership preparation programs through the processes of accreditation and continuous improvement. The program faculty in a university in the eastern part of the United States has incorporated an employer satisfaction focus group to address their national accreditation standard so that employers are satisfied with completers' preparation for the position of principal or assistant principal. Using the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) required proficiencies, the following research questions are investigated: 1) what proficiencies do completers perform the strongest? 2) what proficiencies need to be strengthened? 3) what other strengths beyond the required proficiencies do completers demonstrate? 4) what other areas of responsibility beyond the required proficiencies do completers demonstrate? and 5) how can the program improve in preparing candidates for their positions? This study focuses on employers of one public school district that has a large number of educational leadership completers employed as principals and assistant principals. Central office directors who evaluate principals and principals who evaluate assistant principals are focus group participants. Construction of the focus group questions is a result of recommendations from an accreditation regulatory specialist, reviewed by an expert panel, and piloted by an experienced focus group leader. The focus group session was audio recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using the NVivo Version 14 software. After constructing folders in NVivo, the focus group transcript was loaded and skimmed by diagnosing significant statements and assessing core ideas for developing primary themes. These themes were aligned to address the research questions. From the transcript, codes were assigned to the themes and NVivo provided a coding hierarchy chart or graphical illustration for framing the coding. A final report of the coding process was designed using the primary themes and pertinent codes that were supported in excerpts from the transcript. The outcome of this study is to identify themes that can provide evidence that the educational leadership program is meeting its mission to improve PreK-12 student achievement through well-prepared completers who have achieved the position of principal or assistant principal. The considerations will be used to derive a composite profile of employers' satisfaction with program completers with the capacity to serve, influence, and thrive as educational leaders. Analysis of the idealized themes will result in identifying issues that may challenge university educational leadership programs to improve. Results, conclusions, and recommendations are used for continuous improvement, which is another national accreditation standard required for the program.

Keywords: educational leadership preparation, CAEP accreditation, principal & assistant principal evaluations, continuous improvement

Procedia PDF Downloads 18

Authors: Dinesh Khanduja, Sahib Sartaj Singh

Abstract:

In India, among the start ups, many new ventures fail and for the few that survive and grow, there are always numerous problems. In order to make these surviving units productive and cost effective-in today’s competitive environment, the traditional ways of supporting small enterprises and the related programs of governmental assistance need to be significantly transformed. In this context, ‘Business Incubation’ is emerging as one of the most innovative instruments to support small enterprise creation and development all over the world. Incubators, by providing on the-spot diagnosis and treatment of business problems, dramatically lower the early stage failure rate. In Europe, US and countries like China, Singapore, Thailand etc., the exceptionally fast growth of business incubators has baffled even the researchers. In this direction in India, following on the world pattern, several initiatives have been taken over the last decade to encourage the concept of business incubation. Besides profiling the existing ‘Business Incubators’ in India, the paper dwells upon a case study of SMEs in state of Punjab for exploring the relevance of business incubation for enhancing their productive capacity.

Keywords: business incubation, Technology Business Incubator (TBI), Rural Business Hub (RBH), entrepreneurship, Business Development Services (BDS), technology management

Procedia PDF Downloads 497