Search results for: cardiovascular risk factors in CKD

Authors: Zanjbeel Tabassum

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The main purpose of any economic investment is to get profit at the end. As the investment in large organizations bears complexities, investors are influenced to invest in small or medium enterprises. With the increase of global competition in terms of quality and productivity, these small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are trying to convert to modern production practices using Six Sigma. But this concept is still lacking in Pakistani SMEs. There are some critical success factors which influence the successful implementation of Six Sigma. Through this paper, an attempt has been made to identify various CSF for successful implementation of Six Sigma in Pakistani SMEs with the help of a structured survey. On the basis of responses to the questionnaire, factor analysis is performed on the selected critical success factors (from literature) to prioritize the critical factors and those are rated by calculating descriptive statistics. This paper will provide a base for Pakistani SMEs and future researchers working in six sigma implementation and help them to prepare a road map to eradicate the hurdles in six sigma implementation.

Keywords: critical success factors, SMEs, Six Sigma, CSF

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Authors: Lavanya Dharmendran, Shenuka Singh, Sona Baburathanam

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The aim of the study is to understand the level of awareness in a community of a specific region of Kuwait regarding oral cancer and its screening methods so as to enhance the uptake of oral cancer screening methods. This is a cross-sectional study comprising 100 adult participants residing in the governate of Farwaniya, Kuwait. Participants of above 18 years of both genders will be selected using convenience sampling. Data collection includes the administration of a self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire comprises three sections, each section assessing the knowledge, attitudes and practices of the participants’ opinions about oral cancer and screening methods. Data will be analyzed using Humphris Oral Cancer Knowledge Scale. Inferential statistics will be done using Chi-Square or Fisher’s exact test for categorical data. A level of p<.05 will be established as being significant. All ethical considerations, such as respect for personal confidentiality and informed consent, will be applied in this study. This study revealed that although respondents were aware of the term oral cancer, more than half of the study participants were unaware of the symptoms associated with this condition. Smoking and alcohol were identified as risk factors for oral cancer, but the majority of participants did not identify the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) as an added risk factor. This suggests a greater need for dental practitioners to include educational strategies in routine dental visits to ensure greater awareness of oral cancer.

Keywords: oral cancer, oral screening, oral public health, oral health

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Authors: Mahla Azimi

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Introduction: Post-bladder catheter infection is a common and significant healthcare-associated infection that affects individuals with indwelling urinary catheters. These infections can lead to various complications, including urinary tract infections (UTIs), bacteremia, sepsis, and increased morbidity and mortality rates. This article aims to provide a comprehensive review of post-bladder catheter infections, including their causes, risk factors, clinical presentation, diagnosis, treatment options, and preventive measures. Causes and Risk Factors: Post-bladder catheter infections primarily occur due to the colonization of microorganisms on the surface of the urinary catheter. The most common pathogens involved are Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterococcus species. Several risk factors contribute to the development of these infections, such as prolonged catheterization duration, improper insertion technique, poor hygiene practices during catheter care, compromised immune system function in patients with underlying conditions or immunosuppressive therapy. Clinical Presentation: Patients with post-bladder catheter infections may present with symptoms such as fever, chills, malaise, suprapubic pain or tenderness, and cloudy or foul-smelling urine. In severe cases or when left untreated for an extended period of time, patients may develop more severe symptoms like hematuria or signs of systemic infection. Diagnosis: The diagnosis of post-bladder catheter infection involves a combination of clinical evaluation and laboratory investigations. Urinalysis is crucial in identifying pyuria (presence of white blood cells) and bacteriuria (presence of bacteria). A urine culture is performed to identify the causative organism(s) and determine its antibiotic susceptibility profile. Treatment Options: Prompt initiation of appropriate antibiotic therapy is essential in managing post-bladder catheter infections. Empirical treatment should cover common pathogens until culture results are available. The choice of antibiotics should be guided by local antibiogram data to ensure optimal therapy. In some cases, catheter removal may be necessary, especially if the infection is recurrent or associated with severe complications. Preventive Measures: Prevention plays a vital role in reducing the incidence of post-bladder catheter infections. Strategies include proper hand hygiene, aseptic technique during catheter insertion and care, regular catheter maintenance, and timely removal of unnecessary catheters. Healthcare professionals should also promote patient education regarding self-care practices and signs of infection. Conclusion: Post-bladder catheter infections are a significant healthcare concern that can lead to severe complications and increased healthcare costs. Early recognition, appropriate diagnosis, and prompt treatment are crucial in managing these infections effectively. Implementing preventive measures can significantly reduce the incidence of post-bladder catheter infections and improve patient outcomes. Further research is needed to explore novel strategies for prevention and management in this field.

Keywords: post-bladder catheter infection, urinary tract infection, bacteriuria, indwelling urinary catheters, prevention

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Authors: Tsung-yin Lin, Yi-yu Lee, Ching-hua Hung

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Snoring, the lay term for obstructive breathing during sleep, is one of the most prevalent of obnoxious human habits. Loud snoring usually makes others feel noisy and uncomfortable. Snoring also influences the sleep quality of snorers’ bed partners, because of the noise they do not get to sleep easily. Snoring causes the reduce of sleep quality leading to several medical problems, such as excessive daytime sleepiness, high blood pressure, increased risk for cardiovascular disease and cerebral vascular accident, and etc. There are many non-prescription devices offered for sale on the market, but very limited data are available to support a beneficial effect of these devices on snoring and use in treating obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Mandibular advancement devices (MADs), also termed as the Mandibular reposition devices (MRDs) are removable devices which are worn at night during sleep. Most devices require dental impression, bite registration, and fabrication by a dental laboratory. Those devices are fixed to upper and lower teeth and are adjusted to advance the mandible. The amount of protrusion is adjusted to meet the therapeutic requirements, comfort, and tolerance. Many devices have a fixed degree of advancement. Some are adjustable in a limited degree. This study focuses on the stress analysis of Mandibular Advancement Devices (MADs), which are considered as a standard treatment of snoring that promoted by American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM). This paper proposes a new MAD design, and the finite element analysis (FEA) is introduced to precede the stress simulation for this MAD.

Keywords: finite element analysis, mandibular advancement devices, mechanical stress, snoring

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Authors: Olukayode Bamgbose, Feyisola Agboola, Adewale M. Taiwo, Olanrewaju Olujimi Oluwole Terebo, Azeez Soyingbe, Akeem Bamgbade

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The present study evaluated the contents and health risk assessment of metals determined in milk and milk product samples collected from the Abeokuta market. Forty-five milk and milk product (yoghurt) samples were digested and analysed for selected metals using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometric method. Health risk assessment was evaluated for hazard quotient (HQ), hazard index (HI), and cancer risk (CR). Data were subjected to descriptive and inferential statistics. The concentrations of Zn, which ranged from 3.24±0.59 to 4.35±0.59 mg/kg, were the highest in the samples. Cr and Cd were measured below the detection limit of the analytical instrument, while the Pb level was higher than the Codex Alimentarius Commission value of 0.02 mg/kg, indicating unsafe for consumption. However, the HQ of Pb and other metals in milk and milk product samples was less than 1.0, thereby establishing no adverse health effects for Pb and other metals. The distribution pattern of metals in milk and milk product samples followed the decreasing order of Zn > Fe > Ni > Co > Cu > Mn > Pb > Cd/Cr. The CR levels of meals were also less than the permissible limit of 1.0 x 10-4, establishing no possible development of cancer. Keywords: adverse effects, cancer, metals, milk, milk product, the permissible limit.

Keywords: adverse effects, cancer, metals, milk, milk product, permissible limit

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Authors: Jo Rhodes, Bruce Bergstrom, Peter Lok, Vincent Cheng

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The aim of this study is to determine key factors and processes for multinationals (MNCs) to develop an effective stakeholder engagement and sustainable development framework. A qualitative multiple-case approach was used. A triangulation method was adopted (interviews, archival documents and observations) to collect data on three global firms (MNCs). 9 senior executives were interviewed for this study (3 from each firm). An initial literature review was conducted to explore possible practices and factors (the deductive approach) to sustainable development. Interview data were analysed using Nvivo to obtain appropriate nodes and themes for the framework. A comparison of findings from interview data and themes, factors developed from the literature review and cross cases comparison were used to develop the final conceptual framework (the inductive approach). The results suggested that stakeholder engagement is a key mediator between ‘stakeholder network’ (internal and external factors) and outcomes (corporate social responsibility, social capital, shared value and sustainable development). Key internal factors such as human capital/talent, technology, culture, leadership and processes such as collaboration, knowledge sharing and co-creation of value with stakeholders were identified. These internal factors and processes must be integrated and aligned with external factors such as social, political, cultural, environment and NGOs to achieve effective stakeholder engagement.

Keywords: stakeholder, engagement, sustainable development, shared value, corporate social responsibility

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Authors: Seyed Abolhasan Naeini, Elham Ghanbari Alamooti

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Static stability of soil slopes using numerical simulation by a finite element code, ABAQUS, has been investigated, and safety factors of the slopes achieved in the case of static load of a 10-storey building. The embankments have the same soil condition but different loading distance from the slope heel. The numerical method for estimating safety factors is 'Strength Reduction Method' (SRM). Mohr-Coulomb criterion used in the numerical simulations. Two steps used for measuring the safety factors of the slopes: first is under gravity loading, and the second is under static loading of a building near the slope heel. These safety factors measured from SRM, are compared with the values from Limit Equilibrium Method, LEM. Results show that there is good agreement between SRM and LEM. Also, it is seen that by increasing the distance from slope heel, safety factors increases.

Keywords: limit equilibrium method, static stability, soil slopes, strength reduction method

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Authors: Christian Skowronski, Andrew Shanholtzer, Brent Yelton, Muayad Almahariq, Daniel J. Krauss

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Prostate cancer has the third highest incidence rate and is the second leading cause of cancer death for men in the United States. Of the diagnostic tools available for intermediate-risk prostate cancer, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) provides superior soft tissue delineation serving as a valuable tool for both diagnosis and treatment planning. Currently, there is minimal data regarding the practical utility of MRI for evaluation of intermediate-risk prostate cancer. As such, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network’s guidelines indicate MRI as optional in intermediate-risk prostate cancer evaluation. This project aims to elucidate whether MRI affects radiation treatment decisions for intermediate-risk prostate cancer. This was a retrospective study evaluating 210 patients with intermediate-risk prostate cancer, treated with definitive radiotherapy at our institution between 2019-2020. NCCN risk stratification criteria were used to define intermediate-risk prostate cancer. Patients were divided into two groups: those with pretreatment prostate MRI, and those without pretreatment prostate MRI. We compared the use of external beam radiotherapy, brachytherapy alone, brachytherapy boost, and androgen depravation therapy between the two groups. Inverse probability of treatment weighting was used to match the two groups for age, comorbidity index, American Urologic Association symptoms index, pretreatment PSA, grade group, and percent core involvement on prostate biopsy. Wilcoxon Rank Sum and Chi-squared tests were used to compare continuous and categorical variables. Of the patients who met the study’s eligibility criteria, 133 had a prostate MRI and 77 did not. Following propensity matching, there were no differences between baseline characteristics between the two groups. There were no statistically significant differences in treatments pursued between the two groups: 42% vs 47% were treated with brachytherapy alone, 40% vs 42% were treated with external beam radiotherapy alone, 18% vs 12% were treated with external beam radiotherapy with a brachytherapy boost, and 24% vs 17% received androgen deprivation therapy in the non-MRI and MRI groups, respectively. This analysis suggests that pretreatment MRI does not significantly impact radiation therapy or androgen deprivation therapy decisions in patients with intermediate-risk prostate cancer. Obtaining a pretreatment prostate MRI should be used judiciously and pursued only to answer a specific question, for which the answer is likely to impact treatment decision. Further follow up is needed to correlate MRI findings with their impacts on specific oncologic outcomes.

Keywords: magnetic resonance imaging, prostate cancer, definitive radiotherapy, gleason score 7

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Authors: Osayomwanbor E. Oghama, John O. Olomukoro

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The school environment, apart from home, is probably the most important indoor environment for children. Children spend as much as 80-90% of their indoor time either at school or at home; an average of 35 - 40 hours per week in schools, hence are at the risk of indoor air pollutants such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Concentrations of VOCs vary widely but are generally higher indoors than outdoors. This research was, therefore, carried out to evaluate the levels of VOCs in secondary school classrooms in Benin City, Edo State. Samples were obtained from a total of 18 classrooms in 6 secondary schools. Samples were collected 3 times from each school and from 3 different classrooms in each school using Draeger ORSA 5 tubes. Samplers were left to stay for a school-week (5 days). The VOCs detected and analyzed were benzene, ethlybenzene, isopropylbenzene, naphthalene, n-butylbenzene, n-propylbenzene, toluene, m-xylene, p-xylene, o-xylene, styrene, chlorobenzene, chloroform, 1,2-dichloropropane, 2,2-dichloropropane, tetrachloroethane, tetrahydrofuran, isopropyl acetate, α-pinene, and camphene. The results showed that chloroform, o-xylene, and styrene were the most abundant while α-pinene and camphene were the least abundant. The health risk assessment was done in terms of carcinogenic (CRI) and non-carcinogenic risks (THR). The CRI values of the schools ranged from 1.03 × 10-5 to 1.36 × 10-5 μg/m³ (a mean of 1.16 × 10-5 μg/m³) with School 6 and School 3 having the highest and lowest values respectively. The THR values of the study schools ranged from 0.071-0.086 μg/m³ (a mean of 0.078 μg/m³) with School 3 and School 2 having the highest and lowest values respectively. The results show that all the schools pose a potential carcinogenic risks having CRI values greater than the recommended limit of 1 × 10-6 µg/m³ and no non-carcinogenic risk having THR values less than the USEPA hazard quotient of 1 µg/m³. It is recommended that school authorities should ensure adequate ventilation in their schools, supplementing natural ventilation with mechanical sources, where necessary. In addition, indoor air quality should be taken into consideration in the design and construction of classrooms.

Keywords: carcinogenic risk indicator, health risk, indoor air, non-carcinogenic risk indicator, secondary schools, volatile organic compounds

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Authors: Mohammad H. Yarmohammadian, Masoud Ferdosi, Abbas Haghshenas, Fatemeh Rezaei

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Surgical procedures aim at preserving human life and improving quality of their life. However, there are many potential risk sources that can cause serious harm to patients. For centuries, managers believed that technical competence of a surgeon is the only key to a successful surgery. But over the past decade, risks are considered in terms of process-based safety procedures, teamwork and inter departmental communication. Aims: This study aims to determine how the process- biased surgical risk management should be done in terms of project management tool named ABS (Activity Breakdown Structure). Settings and Design: This study was conducted in two stages. First, literature review and meeting with professors was done to determine principles and framework of surgical risk management. Next, responsible teams for surgical patient journey were involved in following meeting to develop the process- biased surgical risk management. Methods and Material: This study is a qualitative research in which focus groups with the inductive approach is used. Sampling was performed to achieve representativeness through intensity sampling biased on experience and seniority. Analysis Method used: context analysis of interviews and consensus themes extracted from FDG meetings discussion was the analysis tool. Results: we developed the patient journey process in 5 main phases, 24 activities and 108 tasks. Then, responsible teams, transposition and allocated places for performing determined. Some activities and tasks themes were repeated in each phases like patient identification and records review because of their importance. Conclusions: Risk management of surgical departments is significant as this facility is the hospital’s largest cost and revenue center. Good communication between surgical team and other clinical teams outside surgery department through process- biased perspective could improve safety of patient under this procedure.

Keywords: risk management, activity breakdown structure (ABS), surgical department, medical sciences

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Authors: Ezgi Nevruz, Kasirga Yildirak, Ashis SenGupta

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Comparing or ranking risks is the main motivating factor behind the human trait of making choices. Cumulative prospect theory (CPT) is a preference theory approach that evaluates perception and bias in decision making under risk and uncertainty. We aim to investigate the aggregate claims of different risk classes in terms of their comparability and amenability to ordering when the impact of risk perception is considered. For this aim, we prioritize the aggregate claims taken as actuarial risks by using various stochastic ordering relations. In order to prioritize actuarial risks, we use stochastic relations such as stochastic dominance and stop-loss dominance that are proposed in the frame of partial order theory. We take into account the dependency of the individual claims exposed to similar environmental risks. At first, we modify the zero-utility premium principle in order to obtain a solution for the stop-loss premium under CPT. Then, we propose a stochastic stop-loss dominance of the aggregate claims and find a relation between the stop-loss dominance and the first-order stochastic dominance under the dependence assumption by using properties of the familiar as well as some emerging multivariate claim distributions.

Keywords: cumulative prospect theory, partial order theory, risk perception, stochastic dominance, stop-loss dominance

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Authors: Getnet Gedefaw, Fentanesh Endalew, Bitewush Azmeraw, Bethelhem Walelign, Eyob Shitie

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Introduction: The issue of menstrual hygiene is often overlooked and has not been sufficiently addressed in the fields of reproductive health in low and middle-income countries. Inadequate menstrual hygiene practices can increase the risk of various infectious and chronic obstetric and gynaecological complications for girls and adolescents. Hence, this study seeks to investigate the knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to menstrual hygiene, along with the factors influencing them, among high school students. Methods: A facility based cross-sectional study was conducted involving a total of 423 study subjects. A systematic random sampling technique was utilized. Data was entered and analyzed through Epi data 3.1 and SPSS 22, respectively. Both univariable and multivariable logistic regression models were employed. A p-value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: This study revealed that 365(89.2%), 200(48.9%) and 196(47.9%) of the study participants have good knowledge, good practice, and good attitudes about menstrual hygiene, respectively. Being higher grade students (grade 10) [AOR=3.96, 95% CI =2.0-7.8] and having good practice of menstrual hygiene (AOR=2.52, 95% CI= 1.26-5) had a positive association with menstrual hygiene knowledge. Whereas maternal education level (AOR=1.86, 95% CI=1.18-2.9) and being a grade 10 student (AOR=2.3, 95% CI=1.48-3.56) were associated factors for practising menstrual hygiene. Additionally, being higher grade students (AOR=1.9, 95% CI=1.2-2.8), age ≥18 years (AOR=1.67, 95% CI=1.09-2.55) were statistically and positively associated with the attitude of menstrual hygiene. Conclusion: The study findings indicated that the knowledge of the study participants regarding menstrual hygiene was high, while their attitudes and practices towards menstrual hygiene were low. It is suggested that raising awareness among reproductive health groups and educating their families and parents could potentially lead to a positive change in their poor practices and attitudes towards menstrual hygiene.

Keywords: menstrual hygiene, menstruation, students, reproductive health

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Authors: Sarah Müller-Sägebrecht

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Today’s volatile environment challenges executives to make the right strategic decisions to gain sustainable success. Entrepreneurship scholars postulate mainly positive effects of environmental changes on entrepreneurship behavior, such as developing new business opportunities, promoting ingenuity, and the satisfaction of resource voids. A strategic solution approach to overcome threatening environmental changes and catch new business opportunities is business model innovation (BMI). Although this research stream has gained further importance in the last decade, BMI research is still insufficient. Especially BMI barriers, such as inefficient strategic decision-making processes, need to be identified. Strategic decisions strongly impact organizational future and are, therefore, usually made in groups. Although groups draw on a more extensive information base than single individuals, group-interaction effects can influence the decision-making process - in a favorable but also unfavorable way. Decisions are characterized by uncertainty and risk, whereby their intensity is perceived individually differently. The individual risk-willingness influences which option humans choose. The special nature of strategic decisions, such as in BMI processes, is that these decisions are not made individually but in groups due to their high organizational scope. These groups consist of different personalities whose individual risk-willingness can vary considerably. It is known from group decision theory that these individuals influence each other, observable in different group-interaction effects. The following research questions arise: i) How does group interaction shape BMI decision-making from managers’ perspective? ii) What are the potential interrelations among managers’ risk-willingness, group biases, and BMI decision-making? After conducting 26 in-depth interviews with executives from the manufacturing industry, applied Gioia methodology reveals the following results: i) Risk-averse decision-makers have an increased need to be guided by facts. The more information available to them, the lower they perceive uncertainty and the more willing they are to pursue a specific decision option. However, the results also show that social interaction does not change the individual risk-willingness in the decision-making process. ii) Generally, it could be observed that during BMI decisions, group interaction is primarily beneficial to increase the group’s information base for making good decisions, less than for social interaction. Further, decision-makers mainly focus on information available to all decision-makers in the team but less on personal knowledge. This work contributes to strategic decision-making literature twofold. First, it gives insights into how group-interaction effects influence an organization’s strategic BMI decision-making. Second, it enriches risk-management research by highlighting how individual risk-willingness impacts organizational strategic decision-making. To date, it was known in BMI research that risk aversion would be an internal BMI barrier. However, with this study, it becomes clear that it is not risk aversion that inhibits BMI. Instead, the lack of information prevents risk-averse decision-makers from choosing a riskier option. Simultaneously, results show that risk-averse decision-makers are not easily carried away by the higher risk-willingness of their team members. Instead, they use social interaction to gather missing information. Therefore, executives need to provide sufficient information to all decision-makers to catch promising business opportunities.

Keywords: business model innovation, cognitive biases, group-interaction effects, strategic decision-making, risk-willingness

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Authors: Nahid Ehsani, Amir Hossein Rezvanfar

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The main objective of this study is to investigate psychological and socio-cultural factors effective on the tendency of the villagers to use e-banking services. The current paper is an applied study considering its objectives. The main data gathering tool in the current study is a made questionnaire which is designed and executed based on the conceptual background of the subject matter and the objectives and hypotheses of the study. The statistical population of this study includes all the customers of rural branches of Agricultural Bank in Ilam Province (N=82885). Among these 120 participants were chosen through sample size determination formula and they were studied using stratified random sampling method. In the analytical statistics level the results obtained from calculating Spearman’s Correlative Coefficient showed that socio-cultural and psychological factors had a significant impact of the extent of the tendency of the villagers to use e-banking services of the Agricultural Bank at the 99% level. Furthermore, stepwise multiple regression analysis showed that both sets of psychological factors as well as socio-economic factors were able to explain 50 percent of the variance of the independent variable; namely the tendency of villagers to use e-banking services.

Keywords: e-banking, agricultural bank, tendency, socio-economic factors, psychological factors

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Authors: Katerine Moraes dos Satons, Gisele Massante Peixoto Tracera, Regina Célia Gollner Zeitoune

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To analyze the psychosocial risks related to the organization of nursing work in outpatient clinics of university hospitals. Cross-sectional epidemiological study developed in 11 outpatient units linked to the three public universities of the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Participants were 388 nursing professionals who worked in patient care at the time of the research. Data were collected from July to December 2018, using a self-applicable instrument. A questionnaire was used for sociodemographic, occupational and health characterization, and the Work Organization Scale. The bivariate analyses were performed using the odds ratio (OR), with a confidence interval of 95%, significance level of 5%. The organization of nursing work received an assessment of medium psychosocial risk by the professionals participating in the research, demanding interventions in the short and medium term. There was no association between sociodemographic, occupational and health characteristics and the organization of outpatient work. Interventional measures should be performed in the psychosocial risk factors presented in this research, with a view to improving the work environment, so that the importance of maintaining satisfactory material conditions is considered, as well as the adequate quantity of human resources. In addition, it aims to expand the spaces of nursing participation in decision- making, strengthening its autonomy as a profession.

Keywords: occupational risks, nursing, nursing team, worker’s health, psychosocial risks

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Authors: Siqi Qiu, Yijian Zheng, Xin Guo Ming

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In many reliability and risk analysis, failures of components are supposed to be independent. However, in reality, the ignorance of failure dependencies among components may render the results of reliability and risk analysis incorrect. There are two principal ways to incorporate failure dependencies in system reliability and risk analysis: implicit and explicit methods. In the implicit method, failure dependencies can be modeled by joint probabilities, correlation values or conditional probabilities. In the explicit method, certain types of dependencies can be modeled in a fault tree as mutually independent basic events for specific component failures. In this paper, explicit and implicit methods based on BDD will be proposed to evaluate the reliability of systems considering failure dependencies. The obtained results prove the equivalence of the proposed implicit and explicit methods. It is found that the consideration of failure dependencies decreases the reliability of systems. This observation is intuitive, because more components fail due to failure dependencies. The consideration of failure dependencies helps designers to reduce the dependencies between components during the design phase to make the system more reliable.

Keywords: reliability assessment, risk assessment, failure dependencies, binary decision diagram

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Authors: Jacob J. Shila, Xiaoyu O. Wu

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As the applications of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) continue to increase across the world, it is critical to understand the factors that contribute to incidents and accidents associated with these systems. Given the variety of daily applications that could utilize the operations of the UAV (e.g., medical, security operations, construction activities, landscape activities), the main discussion has been how to safely incorporate the UAV into the national airspace system. The types of UAV incidents being reported range from near sightings by other pilots to actual collisions with aircraft or UAV. These incidents have the potential to impact the rest of aviation operations in a variety of ways, including human lives, liability costs, and delay costs. One of the largest causes of these incidents cited is the human factor; other causes cited include maintenance, aircraft, and others. This work investigates the key human factors associated with UAV incidents. To that end, the data related to UAV incidents that have occurred in the United States is both reviewed and analyzed to identify key human factors related to UAV incidents. The data utilized in this work is gathered from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) drone database. This study adopts the human factor analysis and classification system (HFACS) to identify key human factors that have contributed to some of the UAV failures to date. The uniqueness of this work is the incorporation of UAV incident data from a variety of applications and not just military data. In addition, identifying the specific human factors is crucial towards developing safety operational models and human factor guidelines for the UAV. The findings of these common human factors are also compared to similar studies in other countries to determine whether these factors are common internationally.

Keywords: human factors, incidents and accidents, safety, UAS, UAV

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Authors: Zhuo Feng, Ying Gao

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Public-private partnership (PPP), as an innovative way to provide infrastructures by the private sector, is being widely used throughout the world. Compared with the traditional mode, PPP emerges largely for merits of relieving public budget constraint and improving infrastructure supply efficiency by involving private funds. However, PPP projects are characterized by large scale, high investment, long payback period, and long concession period. These characteristics make PPP projects full of risks. One of the most important risks faced by the private sector is demand risk because many factors affect the real demand. If the real demand is far lower than the forecasting demand, the private sector will be got into big trouble because operating revenue is the main means for the private sector to recoup the investment and obtain profit. Therefore, it is important to study how the government compensates the private sector when the demand risk occurs in order to achieve Pareto-improvement. This research focuses on price compensation mechanism, an ex-post compensation mechanism, and analyzes, by mathematical modeling, the impact of price compensation mechanism on payoff of the private sector and consumer surplus for PPP toll road projects. This research first investigates whether or not price compensation mechanisms can obtain Pareto-improvement and, if so, then explores boundary conditions for this mechanism. The research results show that price compensation mechanism can realize Pareto-improvement under certain conditions. Especially, to make the price compensation mechanism accomplish Pareto-improvement, renegotiation costs of the government and the private sector should be lower than a certain threshold which is determined by marginal operating cost and distortionary cost of the tax. In addition, the compensation percentage should match with the price cut of the private investor when demand drops. This research aims to provide theoretical support for the government when determining compensation scope under the price compensation mechanism. Moreover, some policy implications can also be drawn from the analysis for better risk-sharing and sustainability of PPP projects.

Keywords: infrastructure, price compensation mechanism, public-private partnership, renegotiation

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Authors: Mohd Rashid bin Ab Hamid, Noor Azura binti Omar, Zainol Bin Mustafa

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Purpose: The aim of this paper is to study the encouraging factors for scholarly works contribution towards among academicians at Malaysian university. Methods: This paper uses questionnaire for data collection on the respondents’ perceptional level on the institutional repository efforts in one of the university under study. Several encouraging factors have been identified and to be measured using descriptive statistics. The factors are related to content contribution, i.e. personal factor, professional factor, organizational factor and technological factor. Findings: The study found that all these four encouraging factors did have a relation to the contribution of scholarly works in the university by the academician. Research Limitations: This study used a case study and generalization to all Malaysian universities should be well taken care of. Practical implications: The library at the university should look into these four encouraging factors in order to enhance the contribution from academician towards the repository. Originality/value: This research paper provides basic information for the knowledge management officers in the university by endeavouring more efforts in order to attract more contributions.

Keywords: institutional repository, information retrieval, information storage and retrieval

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Authors: Samuel Carpintero

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Public-private partnerships (PPP) arrangements have emerged all around the world as a response to infrastructure deficits and the need to refurbish existing infrastructure. The motivations of governments for embarking on PPPs for the delivery of public infrastructure are manifold, and include on-time and on-budget delivery as well as access to private project management expertise. The PPP formula has been used by some State governments in United States and Canada, where the participation of private companies in financing and managing infrastructure projects has increased significantly in the last decade, particularly in the transport sector. On the one hand, this paper examines the various ways used in these two countries in the implementation of PPP arrangements, with a particular focus on risk transfer. The examination of risk transfer in this paper is carried out with reference to the following key PPP risk categories: construction risk, revenue risk, operating risk and availability risk. The main difference between both countries is that in Canada the demand risk remains usually within the public sector whereas in the United States this risk is usually transferred to the private concessionaire. The aim is to explore which lessons can be learnt from both models than might be useful for other countries. On the other hand, the paper also analyzes why the Spanish companies have been so successful in winning PPP contracts in North America during the past decade. Contrary to the Latin American PPP market, the Spanish companies do not have any cultural advantage in the case of the United States and Canada. Arguably, some relevant reasons for the success of the Spanish groups are their extensive experience in PPP projects (that dates back to the late 1960s in some cases), their high technical level (that allows them to be aggressive in their bids), and their good position and track-record in the financial markets. The article’s empirical base consists of data provided by official sources of both countries as well as information collected through face-to-face interviews with public and private representatives of the stakeholders participating in some of the PPP schemes. Interviewees include private project managers of the concessionaires, representatives of banks involved as financiers in the projects, and experts in the PPP industry with close knowledge of the North American market. Unstructured in-depth interviews have been adopted as a means of investigation for this study because of its powers to achieve honest and robust responses and to ensure realism in the collection of an overall impression of stakeholders’ perspectives.

Keywords: PPP, concession, infrastructure, construction

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Authors: Zerubabel Mihret

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Background: Work-related stress is a pattern of reactions to work demands unmatched by worker’s knowledge, skills, or abilities. Healthcare institutions are considered high-risk and intensive work areas for work-related stress. However, there is the nonexistence of clear and strong data about the magnitude of work-related stress on sanitation workers in hospitals in Ethiopia. The aim of this study was to determine the magnitude of work-related stress among sanitation workers in public hospitals during COVID-19 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Methods: Institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted from October 2021 to February 2022 among 494 sanitation workers who were selected from 4 hospitals. HSE (Health and Safety Executive of UK) standard data collection tool was used, and an interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to collect the data using KOBO collect application. The collected data were cleaned and analyzed using SPSS version 20.0. Both binary and multivariable logistic regression analyses were done to identify important factors having an association with work-related stress. Variables with p-value ≤ 0.25 in the bivariate analysis were entered into the multivariable logistic regression model. A statistically significant level was declared at a p-value ≤ 0.05. Results: This study revealed that the magnitude of work-related stress among sanitation workers was 49.2% (95% CI 45-54). Significant proportions (72.7%) of sanitation workers were dissatisfied with their current job. Sex, age, experience, and chewing khat were significantly associated with work-related stress. Conclusion: Work-related stress is significantly high among sanitation workers. Sex, age, experience, and chewing khat were identified as factors associated with work-related stress. Intervention program focusing on the prevention and control of stress is desired by hospitals.

Keywords: work-related stress, sanitation workers, Likert scale, public hospitals, Ethiopia

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Authors: Sasan Aryaee, Mahdi Ravanshadnia

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Naturally, any activity is associated with risk, and humans have understood this concept from very long times ago and seek to identify its factors and sources. On the one hand, proper risk management can cause problems such as delays and unforeseen costs in the development projects, temporary or permanent loss of services, getting lost or information theft, complexity and limitations in processes, unreliable information caused by rework, holes in the systems and many such problems. In the present study, a model has been presented to rank the environmental risks of oil and gas projects. The statistical population of the study consists of all executives active in the oil and gas fields, that the statistical sample is selected randomly. In the framework of the proposed method, environmental risks of oil and gas projects were first extracted, then a questionnaire based on these indicators was designed based on Likert scale and distributed among the statistical sample. After assessing the validity and reliability of the questionnaire, environmental risks of oil and gas projects were ranked using the VIKOR method of multiple-criteria decision-making. The results showed that the best options for HSE planning of oil and gas projects that caused the reduction of risks and personal injury and casualties and less than other options is costly for the project and it will add less time to the duration of implementing the project is the entering of dye to the environment when painting the generator pond and the presence of the rigger near the crane.

Keywords: ranking, multi-criteria decision making, oil and gas projects, HSEmanagement, environmental risks

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Authors: Marju Ben Sayed, Shigeko Haruyama

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Among all kinds of natural disaster, the flood is a common feature in rapidly urbanizing Dhaka city. In this research, assessment of flood risk of Dhaka metropolitan area has been investigated by using an integrated approach of GIS, remote sensing and socio-economic data. The purpose of the study is to measure the flooding risk concerning with the flood protection embankment in big flooding events (1988, 1998 and 2004) and urbanization of Dhaka metropolitan zone. In this research, we considered the Dhaka city into two parts; East Dhaka (outside the flood protection embankment) and West Dhaka (inside the flood protection embankment). Using statistical data, we explored the socio-economic status of the study area population by comparing the density of population, land price and income level. We have drawn the cross section profile of the flood protection embankment into three different points for realizing the flooding risk in the study area, especially in the big flooding year (1988, 1998 and 2004). According to the physical condition of the study area, the land use/land cover map has been classified into five classes. Comparing with each land cover unit, historical weather station data and the socio-economic data, the flooding risk has been evaluated. Moreover, we compared between DEM data and each land cover units to find out the relationship with flood. It is expected that, this study could contribute to effective flood forecasting, relief and emergency management for a future flood event in Dhaka city.

Keywords: land use, land cover change, socio-economic, Dhaka city, GIS, flood

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Authors: Liyu Adhi Kasari Sulung

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Poverty has been a major problem in Indonesia. Islamic micro finance (IMF) named Baitul Maal Wat Tamwil (Bmt) plays a prominent role to eradicate this. Indonesia as the biggest muslim country has many successful applied products such as worldwide adopt group-based lending approach, flexible financing for farmers, and gold pawning. The Problems related to these models are operation risk management and internal control system (ICS). A proper ICS will help an organization in preventing the occurrence of bad financing through detecting error and irregularities in its operation. This study aims to seek a proper risk management scheme of credit system in Bmt and internal control system’s rank for every stage. Risk management variables are obtained at the first In-Depth Interview (IDI) and Focus Group Discussion (FGD) with Shariah supervisory boards, boards of directors, and operational managers. Survey was conducted covering nationwide data; West Java, South Sulawesi, and West Nusa Tenggara. Moreover, Content analysis is employed to build the relationship among these variables. Research Findings shows that risk management Characteristics in Indonesia involves ex ante, credit process, and ex post strategies to deal with risk in credit system. Ex-ante control consists of Shariah compliance, survey, group leader reference, and islamic forming orientation. Then, credit process involves saving, collateral, joint liability, loan repayment, and credit installment controlling. Finally, ex-post control includes shariah evaluation, credit evaluation, grace period and low installment provisions. In addition, internal control order sort three stages by its priority; Credit process as first rank, then ex-post control as second, and ex ante control as the last rank.

Keywords: internal control system, islamic micro finance, poverty, risk management

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Authors: Marina Nosik, Irina Rymanova, Sergei Sevostyanihin, Natalya Sergeeva, Alexander Sobkin

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This paper presents results of the survey regarding the awareness about HIV/AIDS among HIV-infected individuals. A questionnaire covering various aspects of HIV-infection was conducted among 110 HIV-infected individuals who attended the G.A. Zaharyan Moscow Tuberculosis Clinic, Department for the treatment of TB patients with HIV. The questionnaire included questions about modes of HIV transmission and preventive measures against HIV/AIDS, as well as questions about age, gender, education, and employment status. The survey revealed that the respondents in the whole had a good knowledge regarding modes of HIV transmission and preventive measures against HIV/AIDS: about 83,6% male respondents and 85,7% female respondents gave accurate answers regarding the HIV-infection. However, the overwhelming majority of the study participants, that is, 88,5% men and 98% women, was quite ignorant about the risk of acquiring HIV through saliva and toothbrush of HIV-infected individual. Though that risk is rather insignificant, it is still biologically possible. And this gap in knowledge needs to be filled. As the study showed another point of concern was the fact, that despite the knowledge of HIV transmission risk through unprotected sex about 40% percent of HIV-positive men and 25% of HIV-positive women did not insist on using condoms with their sexual partners. These findings indicate that there are still some aspects about HIV-infection which needed to be clarified and explained through more detailed and specific educational programmes.

Keywords: AIDS, HIV transmission risks, HIV misconceptions, risk behavior

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Authors: Katawut Kaewbanjong

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We analyzed a volume of data and found significant user satisfaction in software project factors. A statistical significance analysis (logistic regression) and collinearity analysis determined the significance factors from a group of 71 pre-defined factors from 191 software projects in ISBSG Release 12. The eight prediction models used for testing the prediction potential of these factors were Neural network, k-NN, Naïve Bayes, Random forest, Decision tree, Gradient boosted tree, linear regression and logistic regression prediction model. Fifteen pre-defined factors were truly significant in predicting user satisfaction, and they provided 82.71% prediction accuracy when used with a neural network prediction model. These factors were client-server, personnel changes, total defects delivered, project inactive time, industry sector, application type, development type, how methodology was acquired, development techniques, decision making process, intended market, size estimate approach, size estimate method, cost recording method, and effort estimate method. These findings may benefit software development managers considerably.

Keywords: prediction model, statistical analysis, software project, user satisfaction factor

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Authors: Hulya Ilyasoglu Buyukkestelli, Sedef Nehir El

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Lutein is a member of xanthophyll group of carotenoids found in fruits and vegetables. Lutein accumulates in the macula region of the retina and known as macular pigment which absorbs damaging light in the blue wavelengths. The presence of lutein in retina has been related to decreased risk of two common eye diseases, age-related macular degeneration, and cataract. Being a strong antioxidant, it may also have effects on prevention some types of cancer, cardiovascular disease, cognitive dysfunction. Humans are not capable of synthesizing lutein de novo; therefore it must be provided naturally by the diet, fortified foods, and beverages or nutritional supplement. However, poor bioavailability and physicochemical stability limit its usage in the food industry. Poor solubility in digestive fluids and sensitivity to heat, light, and oxygen are both affect the stability and bioavailability of lutein. In this context, new technologies, delivery systems and formulations have been applied to improve stability and solubility of lutein. Nanotechnology, including nanoemulsion, nanocrystal, nanoencapsulation technology and microencapsulation by complex coacervation, spray drying are promising ways of increasing solubilization of lutein and stability of it in different conditions. Bioavailability of lutein is also dependent on formulations used, starch formulations and milk proteins, especially sodium caseinate are found effective in improving the bioavailability of lutein. Designing foods with highly bioavailable and stabile lutein needs knowledge about current technologies, formulations, and further needs. This review provides an overview of the new technologies and formulations used to improve bioavailability of lutein and also gives a future outlook to food researches.

Keywords: bioavailability, formulation, lutein, nanotechnology

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Authors: Sajjad Baghernezhad

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Meta-heuristic and hybrid algorithms have high adeer in modeling medical problems. In this study, a neural network was used to predict covid-19 among high-risk and low-risk patients. This study was conducted to collect the applied method and its target population consisting of 550 high-risk and low-risk patients from the Kerman University of medical sciences medical center to predict the coronavirus. In this study, the memetic algorithm, which is a combination of a genetic algorithm and a local search algorithm, has been used to update the weights of the neural network and develop the accuracy of the neural network. The initial study showed that the accuracy of the neural network was 88%. After updating the weights, the memetic algorithm increased by 93%. For the proposed model, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictivity value, value/accuracy to 97.4, 92.3, 95.8, 96.2, and 0.918, respectively; for the genetic algorithm model, 87.05, 9.20 7, 89.45, 97.30 and 0.967 and for logistic regression model were 87.40, 95.20, 93.79, 0.87 and 0.916. Based on the findings of this study, neural network models have a lower error rate in the diagnosis of patients based on individual variables and vital signs compared to the regression model. The findings of this study can help planners and health care providers in signing programs and early diagnosis of COVID-19 or Corona.

Keywords: COVID-19, decision support technique, neural network, genetic algorithm, memetic algorithm

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Authors: Merve Denizci Nazligul

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Dancers seem to have much higher risk levels for the development of eating disorders, compared to non-dancing counterparts. In a remarkably competitive nature of dance environment, perfectionism and emotion regulation difficulties become inevitable risk factors. Moreover, early maladaptive schemas are associated with various eating disorders. In the current study, it was aimed to investigate the mediating role of difficulties with emotion regulation on the relationship between perfectionism and disordered eating behaviors, as well as on the relationship between early maladaptive schemas and disordered eating behaviors. A total of 70 volunteer dancers (n = 47 women, n = 23 men) were recruited in the study (M age = 25.91, SD = 8.9, range 19–63) from the university teams or private clubs in Turkey. The sample included various types of dancers (n = 26 ballets or ballerinas, n =32 Latin, n = 10 tango, n = 2 hiphop). The mean dancing hour per week was 11.09 (SD = 7.09) within a range of 1-30 hours. The participants filled a questionnaire set including demographic information form, Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire, Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale, three subscales (Emotional Inhibition, Unrelenting Standards-Hypercriticalness, Approval Seeking-Recognition Seeking) from Young Schema Questionnaire-Short Form-3 and Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale. The mediation hypotheses were tested using the PROCESS macro in SPSS. The findings revealed that emotion regulation difficulties significantly mediated the relationship between three distinct subtypes of perfectionism and emotional eating. The results of the Sobel test suggested that there were significant indirect effects of self-oriented perfectionism (b = .06, 95% CI = .0084, .1739), other-oriented perfectionism (b = .15, 95% CI = .0136, .4185), and socially prescribed perfectionism (b = .09, 95% CI = .0104, .2344) on emotional eating through difficulties with emotion regulation. Moreover, emotion regulation difficulties significantly mediated the relationship between emotional inhibition and emotional eating (F(1,68) = 4.67, R2 = .06, p < .05). These results seem to provide some evidence that perfectionism might become a risk factor for disordered eating behaviors when dancers are not able to regulate their emotions. Further, gaining an understanding of how inhibition of emotions leads to inverse effects on eating behavior may be important to develop intervention strategies to manage their disordered eating patterns in risk groups. The present study may also support the importance of using unified protocols for transdiagnostic approaches which focus on identifying, accepting, prompting to express maladaptive emotions and appraisals.

Keywords: dancers, disordered eating, emotion regulation difficulties, perfectionism

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Authors: Joanna Błach, Anna Doś, Maria Gorczyńska, Monika Wieczorek-Kosmala

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Financial innovations can be regarded as the cause and the effect of the evolution of the financial system. Most of financial innovations are created by various financial institutions for their own purposes and needs. However, due to their diversity, financial innovations can be also applied by various business entities (other than financial institutions). This paper focuses on the potential application of financial innovations by non-financial companies. It is assumed that financial innovations may be effectively applied in all fields of corporate financial decisions integrating financial management with the risk management process. Appropriate application of financial innovations may enhance the development of the company and increase its value by improving its financial situation and reducing the level of risk. On the other hand, misused financial innovations may become the source of extra risk for the company threatening its further operation. The main objective of the paper is to identify the major types of financial innovations offered to non-financial companies by the banking system in Poland. It also aims at identifying the main factors determining the creation of financial innovations in the banking system in Poland and indicating future directions of their development. This paper consists of conceptual and empirical part. Conceptual part based on theoretical study is focused on the determinants of the process of financial innovations and their application by the non-financial companies. Theoretical study is followed by the empirical research based on the analysis of the actual offer of the 20 biggest banks operating in Poland with regard to financial innovations offered to SMEs and large corporations. These innovations are classified according to the main functions of the integrated financial management, such as: Financing, investment, working capital management and risk management. Empirical study has proved that the biggest banks operating in the Polish market offer to their business customers many types and classes of financial innovations. This offer appears vast and adequate to the needs and purposes of the Polish non-financial companies. It was observed that financial innovations pertained to financing decisions dominate in the banks’ offer. However, due to high diversification of the offered financial innovations, business customers may effectively apply them in all fields and areas of integrated financial management. It should be underlined, that the banks’ offer is highly dispersed, which may limit the implementation of financial innovations in the corporate finance. It would be also recommended for the banks operating in the Polish market to intensify the education campaign aiming at increasing knowledge about financial innovations among business customers.

Keywords: banking products and services, banking sector in Poland, corporate financial management, financial innovations, theory of innovation

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