Search results for: Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM)

Authors: Moksha Singh

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The proponents of deinstitutionalization, including Goffman and others, in their works, have regarded institutions (orphanages to be specific) as regulated social arrangements that negatively impinge upon a resident’s development. They, therefore, propose alternative forms of care. However, even after five decades of this critique institutionalization remains the only hope for children with social, physical and mental disabilities in larger parts of the developing world such as the conflict affected state of Jammu and Kashmir in India. This paper is based on the experiences of children who lost their parents to insurgency and counter-insurgency operations and the rehabilitation process. This study is qualitative in nature and adopts descriptive-cum-exploratory research design. Using theoretical sampling, six orphanages and thirty one child residents who lost their parent(s) in the course of the armed conflict in the state of Jammu and Kashmir in India were studied in the year 2009-2010. It included interviews, observation, life histories and introspective accounts of the orphans and the management. The results were drawn through the qualitative examination, understanding, and interpretation of the primary and secondary data. The findings suggested that rehabilitation of these conflict-affected children is taking place mainly through residential child care facilities run by non-governmental bodies. Alternative forms of rehabilitation are not functional in the state because of various geopolitical and socio-cultural complexities. Even after five years of arriving at these conclusions and more, the state of Jammu and Kashmir still lacks a comprehensive rehabilitation plan for these children. This has further encouraged a mushroomed growth of legal and illegal institutions. Some of these institutions compromise the standard norms of functioning and yet remain the only hope for thousands rendered orphan. These institutions, therefore, are there to stay as other alternative forms of care are not available in the state. A comprehensive intervention policy is needed based on the cultural specifics of the state and incorporation of views of institutions offering aid, the state and the children. The paper introduces Small Group Residential Care Model through which it is expected that the restoration process can be made smooth and effective.

Keywords: armed conflict, children's rights, institutionalization, orphanages, rehabilitation

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Authors: Manal M. Shehata, Kawther M. Abdel-Hamid, Nashwa A. Mohamed, Marwa H. Bakr, Maged S. Mahmoud, Hala M. Elbadre

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Introduction: The worldwide rapid increase in diabetes poses a significant challenge to current therapeutic approaches. Therapeutic utility of bone marrow transplantation in diabetes is an attractive approach. However, the oxidative stress generated by hyperglycemia may hinder β-cell regeneration. Curcumin, is a dietary spice with antioxidant activity. Aim of work: The present study was undertaken to investigate the therapeutic potential of curcumin, bone marrow transplantation, and their combined effects in the reversal of experimental diabetes. Material and Methods: Fifty adult male healthy albino rats were included in the present study.They were divided into two groups: Group І: (control group) included 10 rats. Group П: (diabetic group): included 40 rats. Diabetes was induced by single intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (STZ). Group II will be further subdivided into four groups (10 rats for each): Group II-a (diabetic control). Group II-b: rats were received single intraperitoneal injection of bone marrow suspension (un-fractionated bone marrow cells) prepared from rats of the same family. Group II-c: rats were treated with curcumin orally by gastric intubation for 6 weeks. Group II-d: rats were received a combination of single bone marrow transplantation and curcumin for 6 weeks. After 6 weeks, blood glucose, insulin levels were measured and the pancreas from all rats were processed for Histological, Immunohistochemical and morphometric examination. Results: Diabetic group, showed progressive histological changes in the pancreatic islets. Treatment with either curcumin or bone marrow transplantation improved the structure of the islets and reversed streptozotocin-induced hyperglycemia and hypoinsulinemia. Combination of curcumin and bone marrow transplantation elicited more profound alleviation of streptozotocin-induced changes including islet regeneration and insulin secretion. Conclusion: The use of natural antioxidants combined with bone marrow transplantation to induce pancreatic regeneration is a promising strategy in the management of diabetes.

Keywords: diabtes, panceatic islets, bone marrow transplantation, curcumin

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Authors: Salman Naseer, Usman Zafar, Iqra Zafar

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This study explores the implication of Vehicular Adhoc Network (VANET) - in the rural and urban scenarios that is one domain of Mobile Adhoc Network (MANET). VANET provides wireless communication between vehicle to vehicle and also roadside units. The Federal Commission Committee of United States of American has been allocated 75 MHz of the spectrum band in the 5.9 GHz frequency range for dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) that are specifically designed to enhance any road safety applications and entertainment/information applications. There are several vehicular related projects viz; California path, car 2 car communication consortium, the ETSI, and IEEE 1609 working group that have already been conducted to improve the overall road safety or traffic management. After the critical literature review, the selection of routing protocols is determined, and its performance was well thought-out in the urban and rural scenarios. Numerous routing protocols for VANET are applied to carry out current research. Its evaluation was conceded with the help of selected protocols through simulation via performance metric i.e. throughput and packet drop. Excel and Google graph API tools are used for plotting the graphs after the simulation results in order to compare the selected routing protocols which result with each other. In addition, the sum of the output from each scenario was computed to undoubtedly present the divergence in results. The findings of the current study present that DSR gives enhanced performance for low packet drop and high throughput as compared to AODV and DSDV in an urban congested area and in rural environments. On the other hand, in low-density area, VANET AODV gives better results as compared to DSR. The worth of the current study may be judged as the information exchanged between vehicles is useful for comfort, safety, and entertainment. Furthermore, the communication system performance depends on the way routing is done in the network and moreover, the routing of the data based on protocols implement in the network. The above-presented results lead to policy implication and develop our understanding of the broader spectrum of VANET.

Keywords: AODV, DSDV, DSR, Adhoc network

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Authors: Ismail S. Bostanci, Ebru Akkaya

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Microalgae-derived biodiesel, fertilizer or industrial chemicals' production with wastewater has great potential. Especially water from a municipal wastewater treatment plant is a very important nutrient source for biofuel production. Microalgae biomass production in open ponds system is lower cost culture systems. There are many hurdles for commercial algal biomass production in large scale. One of the important technical bottlenecks for microalgae production in open system is culture contamination. The algae culture contaminants can generally be described as invading organisms which could cause pond crash. These invading organisms can be competitors, parasites, and predators. Contamination is unavoidable in open systems. Potential contaminant organisms are already inoculated if wastewater is utilized for algal biomass cultivation. Especially, it is important to control contaminants to retain in acceptable level in order to reach true potential of algal biofuel production. There are several contamination management methods in algae industry, ranging from mechanical, chemical, biological and growth condition change applications. However, none of them are accepted as a suitable contamination control method. This experiment describes an innovative contamination control method, 'Recirculated Sedimentation Method', to manage contamination to avoid pond cash. The method can be used for the production of algal biofuel, fertilizer etc. and algal wastewater treatment. To evaluate the performance of the method on algal culture, an experiment was conducted for 90 days at a lab-scale raceway (60 L) reactor with the use of non-sterilized and non-filtered wastewater (secondary effluent and centrate of anaerobic digestion). The application of the method provided the following; removing contaminants (predators and diatoms) and other debris from reactor without discharging the culture (with microscopic evidence), increasing raceway tank’s suspended solids holding capacity (770 mg L-1), increasing ammonium removal rate (29.83 mg L-1 d-1), decreasing algal and microbial biofilm formation on inner walls of reactor, washing out generated nitrifier from reactor to prevent ammonium consumption.

Keywords: contamination control, microalgae culture contamination, pond crash, predator control

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Authors: S. Sandri, G. M. Contessa, C. Poggi

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An experimental nuclear fusion device could be seen as a step toward the development of the future nuclear fusion power plant. If compared with other possible solutions to the energy problem, nuclear fusion has advantages that ensure sustainability and security. In particular considering the radioactivity and the radioactive waste produced, in a nuclear fusion plant the component materials could be selected in order to limit the decay period, making it possible the recycling in a new reactor after about 100 years from the beginning of the decommissioning. To achieve this and other pertinent goals many experimental machines have been developed and operated worldwide in the last decades, underlining that radiation protection and workers exposure are critical aspects of these facilities due to the high flux, high energy neutrons produced in the fusion reactions. Direct radiation, material activation, tritium diffusion and other related issues pose a real challenge to the demonstration that these devices are safer than the nuclear fission facilities. In Italy, a limited number of fusion facilities have been constructed and operated since 30 years ago, mainly at the ENEA Frascati Center, and the radiation protection approach, addressed by the national licensing requirements, shows that it is not always easy to respect the constraints for the workers' exposure to ionizing radiation. In the current analysis, the main radiation protection issues encountered in the Italian Fusion facilities are considered and discussed, and the technical and legal requirements are described. The licensing process for these kinds of devices is outlined and compared with that of other European countries. The following aspects are considered throughout the current study: i) description of the installation, plant and systems, ii) suitability of the area, buildings, and structures, iii) radioprotection structures and organization, iv) exposure of personnel, v) accident analysis and relevant radiological consequences, vi) radioactive wastes assessment and management. In conclusion, the analysis points out the needing of a special attention to the radiological exposure of the workers in order to demonstrate at least the same level of safety as that reached at the nuclear fission facilities.

Keywords: fusion facilities, high energy neutrons, licensing process, radiation protection

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Authors: Da Kuang

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Resilience is a hotly debated topic in many research fields (e.g., engineering, ecology, society, psychology). In flood management studies, we are experiencing the paradigm shift from flood resistance to flood resilience. Flood resilience refers to tolerate flooding through adaptation or transformation. It is increasingly argued that our city as a social-ecological system holds the ability to learn from experience and adapt to flood rather than simply resist it. This research aims to investigate what kinds of adaptation knowledge the frequently flooded village learned from past experience and its advantages and limitations in coping with floods. The study area – Xinnongcun village, located in the west of Wuhan city, is a linear village and continuously suffered from both flash flood and drainage flood during the past 30 years. We have a field trip to the site in June 2017 and conducted semi-structured interviews with local residents. Our research summarizes two types of adaptation knowledge that people learned from the past floods. Firstly, at the village scale, it has formed a collective urban form which could help people live during both flood and dry season. All houses and front yards were elevated about 2m higher than the road. All the front yards in the village are linked and there is no barrier. During flooding time, people walk to neighbors through houses yards and boat to outside village on the lower road. Secondly, at individual scale, local people learned tacit knowledge of preparedness and emergency response to flood. Regarding the advantages and limitations, the adaptation knowledge could effectively help people to live with flood and reduce the chances of getting injuries. However, it cannot reduce local farmers’ losses on their agricultural land. After flood, it is impossible for local people to recover to the pre-disaster state as flood emerges during June and July will result in no harvest. Therefore, we argue that learning from past flood experience could increase people’s adaptive capacity. However, once the adaptive capacity cannot reduce people’s losses, it requires a transformation to a better regime.

Keywords: adaptation, flood resilience, tacit knowledge, transformation

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Authors: Priyanka Mokashi, Aparna Khanna, Nancy Pandita

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Diabetes mellitus is a chronic metabolic disorder which will be the 7th leading cause of death by 2030. The current line of treatment for the diabetes mellitus is oral antidiabetic drugs (biguanides, sulfonylureas, meglitinides, thiazolidinediones and alpha-glycosidase inhibitors) and insulin therapy depending upon the type 1 or type 2 diabetes mellitus. But, these treatments have their disadvantages, ranging from the developing of resistance to the drugs and adverse effects caused by them. Alternative to these synthetic agents, natural products provides a new insight for the development of more efficient and safe drugs due to their therapeutic values. Enicostema littorale blume (A. Raynal) is a traditional Indian plant belongs to the Gentianaceae family. It is widely distributed in Asia, Africa, and South America. There are few reports on Swrtiamarin, major component of this plant for its antidiabetic activity. However, the antidiabetic activity of flavonoids from E. littorale and their mechanism of action have not yet been elucidated. Flavonoids have a positive relationship with disease prevention and can act on various molecular targets and regulate different signaling pathways in pancreatic β-cells, adipocytes, hepatocytes and skeletal myofibers. They may exert beneficial effects in diabetes by (i) improving hyperglycemia through regulation of glucose metabolism in hepatocytes; (ii) enhancing insulin secretion and reducing apoptosis and promoting proliferation of pancreatic β-cells; (iii) increasing glucose uptake in hepatocytes, skeletal muscle and white adipose tissue (iv) reducing insulin resistance, inflammation and oxidative stress. Therefore, we have isolated four flavonoid rich fractions, Fraction A (FA), Fraction B (FB), Fraction C (FC), Fraction D (FD) from crude alcoholic hot (AH) extract from E. littorale, identified by LC/MS. Total eight flavonoids were identified on the basis of fragmentation pattern. Flavonoid FA showed the presence of swertisin, isovitexin, and saponarin; FB showed genkwanin, quercetin, isovitexin, FC showed apigenin, swertisin, quercetin, 5-O-glucosylswertisin and 5-O-glucosylisoswertisin whereas FD showed the presence of swertisin. Further, these fractions were assessed for their antidiabetic activity on stimulating glucose uptake in insulin-resistant HepG2 cell line model (IR/HepG2). The results showed that FD containing C-glycoside Swertisin has significantly increased the glucose uptake rate of IR/HepG2 cells at the concentration of 10 µg/ml as compared to positive control Metformin (0.5mM) which was determined by glucose oxidase- peroxidase method. It has been reported that enhancement of glucose uptake of cells occurs due the translocation of Glut4 vesicles to cell membrane through IR/IRS1/AKT pathway. Therefore, we have studied expressions of three genes IRS1, AKT and Glut4 by real-time PCR to evaluate whether they follow the same pathway or not. It was seen that the glucose uptake rate has increased in FD treated IR/HepG2 cells due to the activation of insulin receptor substrate-1 (IRS1) followed by protein kinase B (AKT) through phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) leading to translocation of Glut 4 vesicles to cell membrane, thereby enhancing glucose uptake and insulin sensitivity of insulin resistant HepG2 cells. Hence, the up-regulation indicated the mechanism of action through which FD (Swertisin) acts as antidiabetic candidate in the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Keywords: E. littorale, glucose transporter, glucose uptake rate, insulin resistance

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Authors: S: Kayesth, K. K. Gupta

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The indiscriminate use of insecticides causes environmental contamination, adversely affects non-target organisms and develops resistance among insects and pests. There has always been felt a need for methods of control which can overcome these environmental and other ecological issues. The present study was designed to evaluate the effect of different plants volatiles on survival, longevity, growth, development and reproduction of Dysdercus koenigii. The hexane extract of three different plants (Catharanthus roseus, Ocimum sanctum and Lantana camara) was used. The fifth instars were exposed to hexane extract with concentrations of 10%, 5%, 2.5%, 1.25%, 0.1%, 0.5%, 0.25%, 0.13% and 0.06% while adults were treated with 10%, 5%, 2.5% and 1.25%. 1-ml of each of these concentrations was used to make a thin film in sterilized glass jars of 500 ml capacity. Fifteen newly emerged fifth instar nymphs and ten pairs of adult bugs were treated separately with the extracts for 24 hour exposure to the plant volatiles. The effect of these plant extract was observed and readings were recorded for 23 days. Survival and longevity of both fifth instars and adults were in correlation with the concentrations of the plant extracts. The extracts did not influence growth of fifth instars significantly but impaired their development significantly at higher concentrations. The treated nymphs at higher concentrations either could not moult or died and those which could moult moulted into supranumery instars, adultoids or adults with wing deformities. The supranumery insects retained the nymphal characters except increased body size and wing pads. The adultoids had wing deformities and non-functional reproductive organs. Adultoids exhibited courtship and mounting attempts but were not able to mate. At lower concentrations from 0.1 to 0.06% the fifth instars developed into adults with fewer deformities. At these concentrations, the fecundity and fertility of these adults were drastically reduced. On the contrary, the treated adults also had reduced fecundity and fertility compared to control. Among three plant extracts Ocimcum was most toxic for both fifth instars and adults in terms of survival and longevity. Catharanthus, Ocimum and Lantana appeared to have potential molecules which possessed insect juvenile hormone like activity. Potential application of these plant extracts in IPM was discussed.

Keywords: Catharanthus, Ocimum, Lantana, Dysdercus koenigii

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Authors: Abderrazak Bannari

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Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) from mine wastes and contaminations of soils and water with metals are considered as a major environmental problem in mining areas. It is produced by interactions of water, air, and sulphidic mine wastes. This environment problem results from a series of chemical and biochemical oxidation reactions of sulfide minerals e.g. pyrite and pyrrhotite. These reactions lead to acidity as well as the dissolution of toxic and heavy metals (Fe, Mn, Cu, etc.) from tailings waste rock piles, and open pits. Soil and aquatic ecosystems could be contaminated and, consequently, human health and wildlife will be affected. Furthermore, secondary minerals, typically formed during weathering of mine waste storage areas when the concentration of soluble constituents exceeds the corresponding solubility product, are also important. The most common secondary mineral compositions are hydrous iron oxide (goethite, etc.) and hydrated iron sulfate (jarosite, etc.). The objectives of this study focus on the detection and mapping of MIOP in the soil using Hyperion EO-1 (Earth Observing - 1) hyperspectral data and constrained linear spectral mixture analysis (CLSMA) algorithm. The abandoned Kettara mine, located approximately 35 km northwest of Marrakech city (Morocco) was chosen as study area. During 44 years (from 1938 to 1981) this mine was exploited for iron oxide and iron sulphide minerals. Previous studies have shown that Kettara surrounding soils are contaminated by heavy metals (Fe, Cu, etc.) as well as by secondary minerals. To achieve our objectives, several soil samples representing different MIOP classes have been resampled and located using accurate GPS ( ≤ ± 30 cm). Then, endmembers spectra were acquired over each sample using an Analytical Spectral Device (ASD) covering the spectral domain from 350 to 2500 nm. Considering each soil sample separately, the average of forty spectra was resampled and convolved using Gaussian response profiles to match the bandwidths and the band centers of the Hyperion sensor. Moreover, the MIOP content in each sample was estimated by geochemical analyses in the laboratory, and a ground truth map was generated using simple Kriging in GIS environment for validation purposes. The acquired and used Hyperion data were corrected for a spatial shift between the VNIR and SWIR detectors, striping, dead column, noise, and gain and offset errors. Then, atmospherically corrected using the MODTRAN 4.2 radiative transfer code, and transformed to surface reflectance, corrected for sensor smile (1-3 nm shift in VNIR and SWIR), and post-processed to remove residual errors. Finally, geometric distortions and relief displacement effects were corrected using a digital elevation model. The MIOP fraction map was extracted using CLSMA considering the entire spectral range (427-2355 nm), and validated by reference to the ground truth map generated by Kriging. The obtained results show the promising potential of the proposed methodology for the detection and mapping of mine iron oxide pollution in the soil.

Keywords: hyperion eo-1, hyperspectral, mine iron oxide pollution, environmental impact, unmixing

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Authors: Subir S. Rao

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Existing warehouse configurations use non-traditional aisle designs with a central P/D point in their models, which is mathematically simple but less practical. Many warehouses use multiple P/D points to avoid congestion for pickers, and different warehouses have different flow policies and infrastructure for using the P/D points. Many warehouses use multiple P/D points with non-traditional aisle designs in their analytical models. Standard warehouse models introduce one-sided multiple P/D points in a flying-V warehouse and minimize pick distance for a one-way travel between an active P/D point and a pick location with P/D points, assuming uniform flow rates. A simulation of the mathematical model generally uses four fixed configurations of P/D points which are on two different sides of the warehouse. It can be easily proved that if the source and destination P/D points are both chosen randomly, in a uniform way, then minimizing the one-way travel is the same as minimizing the two-way travel. Another warehouse configuration analytically models the warehouse for multiple one-sided P/D points while keeping the angle of the cross-aisles and picking aisles as a decision variable. The minimization of the one-way pick travel distance from the P/D point to the pick location by finding the optimal position/angle of the cross-aisle and picking aisle for warehouses having different numbers of multiple P/D points with variable flow rates is also one of the objectives. Most models of warehouses with multiple P/D points are one-way travel models and we extend these analytical models to minimize the two-way pick travel distance wherein the destination P/D is chosen optimally for the return route, which is not similar to minimizing the one-way travel. In most warehouse models, the return P/D is chosen randomly, but in our research, the return route P/D point is chosen optimally. Such warehouses are common in practice, where the flow rates at the P/D points are flexible and depend totally on the position of the picks. A good warehouse management system is efficient in consolidating orders over multiple P/D points in warehouses where the P/D is flexible in function. In the latter arrangement, pickers and shrink-wrap processes are not assigned to particular P/D points, which ultimately makes the P/D points more flexible and easy to use interchangeably for picking and deposits. The number of P/D points considered in this research uniformly increases from a single-central one to a maximum of each aisle symmetrically having a P/D point below it.

Keywords: non-traditional warehouse, V cross-aisle, multiple P/D point, pick travel distance

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Authors: Shalinawati Ramli, Khairani Omar, Nurul Azmawati Mohamed, Zarini Ismail, Nur Syahrina Rahim, Nurul Hayati Chamhuri

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Medical doctors’ work to prevent, diagnose, treat diseases, disorders, and injuries as well as prescribing medication. Many people are attracted to this profession because it gives them the opportunity to help others. Doctors’ improve quality of life by providing advice, healing physical ailments and performing complex surgeries. Medicine is a profession in which dedication to the wellbeing of others is of paramount importance. Balancing the requirements of work and personal life can be a struggle as the demand of work as a doctors’ is great. Perception and expectation of medical students regarding the lifestyle of doctors’ is important to ensure that they had made the right career choice. Thus, the aim of this study is to assess the perception of pre-clinical students regarding doctors’ lifestyle. This study is a cross-sectional study involving all third-year pre-clinical medical students at University Sains Islam Malaysia. A total of 81 students participated in this study. Participants were given a set of questionnaire consisting of demographic data, open-ended questions on their perception on doctors’ lifestyle of working environment, salary expectation and family life. Thematic analysis were used to analyse the data. The participants comprised 69% female and their age range was between 20-21 years old. Majority of them were from middle-income families. Majority of the students perceived that the doctors’ lifestyle would be busy (72%). Approximately 30% of them expected that the time schedule will be unpredictable, 21% mentioned that sacrifice is required and 16% perceived it as a tiring job. Other themes emerged were ‘requiring high commitment’ (6%), challenging (7%) and risky (4%). With regards to salary expectation, 48% expected reasonable salary, 33% high salary and 12% described it as 'not worth compared to the workload'. Majority of them perceived that their family life will be restricted (62%) and time management is important (33%). Only 15% mentioned that family members have to sacrifice and spousal understanding is important (7%). About 10% of them perceived that their family will not be affected by their profession. Majority of the medical students perceived a busy doctors’ lifestyle, reasonable salary and restricted family life. However, there was a significant proportion of them who required counselling for better preparation of their future lifestyle.

Keywords: doctors lifestyle, pre-clinical students, perception, understanding

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Authors: Gadisa Demie, Mesele Negash, Zerihun Asrat, Lojka Bohdan

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Deforestation and forest degradation in the tropics have led to significant carbon (C) emissions. Agroforestry (AF) is a suitable land-use option for tackling such declines in ecosystem services, including climate change mitigation. However, it is unclear how biomass models, AF practices, and socio-ecological factors determine these roles, which hinders the implementation of climate change mitigation initiatives. This study aimed to estimate the ecosystem C stocks of the studied AF practices in relation to socio-ecological variables in central Ethiopia. Out of 243 AF farms inventoried, 108 were chosen at random from three AF practices to estimate their biomass and soil organic carbon. A total of 432 soil samples were collected from 0–30 and 30–60 cm soil depths; 216 samples were taken for each soil organic carbon fraction (%C) and bulk density computation. The study found that the currently developed allometric equations were the most accurate to estimate biomass C for trees growing in the landscape when compared to previous models. The study found higher overall biomass C in woodlots (165.62 Mg ha-¹) than in homegardens (134.07 Mg ha-¹) and parklands (19.98 Mg ha-¹). Conversely, overall, SOC was higher for homegardens (143.88 Mg ha-¹), but lower for parklands (53.42 Mg ha-¹). The ecosystem C stock was comparable between homegardens (277.95 Mg ha-¹) and woodlots (275.44 Mg ha-¹). The study found that elevation, wealthy levels, AF farm age, and size have a positive and significant (P < 0.05) effect on overall biomass and ecosystem C stocks but non-significant with slope (P > 0.05). Similarly, SOC increased with increasing elevation, AF farm age, and wealthy status but decreased with slope and non-significant with AF farm size. The study also showed that species diversity had a positive (P <0.05) effect on overall biomass C stocks in homegardens. The overall study highlights that AF practices have a great potential to lock up more carbon in biomass and soils; however, these potentials were determined by socioecological variables. Thus, these factors should be considered in management strategies that preserve trees in agricultural landscapes in order to mitigate climate change and support the livelihoods of farmers.

Keywords: agricultural landscape, biomass, climate change, soil organic carbon

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Authors: Theingi Shwe, Riken Homma, Kazuhisa Iki, Juko Ito

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The growing cities of the developing country are characterized by rapid growth and poor infrastructure management inviting and accelerating relative environmental problems. Even though the movements of the sustainability had already been developed around the world, it is still increasing in the developing countries to plant sustainable practices. Aligned with the sustainable development actions, many sustainable assessment tools are also developed to rate and evaluate the sustainability performances through the building to community level. Among them, CASBEE is developed by Japanese organizations and is recognized as one of the international well-known assessment tools. The main purpose of the study is to find out the potential of CASBEE tool reflecting sustainability city level performances in developing countries. The research framework was designed with three major phases: Quantitative Approach, Qualitative Approach and Evaluation Reflection. The first two approaches were based on the investigation of tool’s contents and indicators by means of three sustainable dimensions and sustainability categories. To know the reality and reflection on developing country, Pathein City from Myanmar was selected and evaluated by 2012 version of CASBEE for Cities. The evaluation practices went through assigned indicators and the evaluation outcome presents the performances of Pathein city’s environmental efficiency as a very good in current conditions. The results of this study indicate that the indicators of this tool have balance coverage among three dimensions of sustainability but it has not yet counted enough for some indicators like location, infrastructure and institution which are relative to society dimension. In the developing countries’ cities, the most critical issues on development such as affordable housing and heritage preservation which are already planted in Pathein City but the tool does not account for those issues. Moreover, in some of the indicators, the benchmark and the weighting coefficient are strongly linked to the system birth region. By means of this study, it can be stated that CASBEE for Cities would be potential for delivering sustainable city level development in developing country especially in Myanmar along with further inclusion of the indicators.

Keywords: assessment tool, CASBEE, developing country, Myanmar, Pathein city, sustainable development

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Authors: Adedolapo Taiwo Adeyemi, Success Ayodeji Fasanmi

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The emergence of the coronavirus pandemic and the rate of the spread affected a lot of activities across the world. This led to the introduction of online learning modes in several countries after institutions were shut down. Unfortunately, most public universities in Nigeria could not switch to the online mode because they were not prepared for it, as they do not have the technological capacity to support a full online learning mode. This study examines the readiness of university and the attitude of undergraduates towards online learning mode in Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile Ife. It investigated the skills and competencies of students for online learning as well as the university’s readiness towards online learning mode; the effort was made to identify challenges of online teaching and learning in the study area, and suggested solutions were advanced. OAU was selected because it is adjudged to be the leading Information and Communication Technology (ICT) driven institution in Nigeria. The descriptive survey research design was used for the study. A total of 256 academic staff and 1503 undergraduates were selected across six faculties out of the thirteen faculties in the University. Two set of questionnaires were used to get responses from the selected respondents. The result showed that students have the skills and competence to operate e-learning facilities but are faced with challenges such as high data cost, erratic power supply, and lack of gadgets, among others. The study found out that the university was not prepared for online learning mode as it lacks basic technological facilities to support it. The study equally showed that while lecturers possess certain skills in using some e-learning applications, they were limited by the unavailability of online support gadgets, poor internet connectivity, and unstable power supply. Furthermore, the assessment of student attitude towards online learning mode shows that the students found the online learning mode very challenging as they had to bear the huge cost of data. Lecturers also faced the same challenge as they had to pay a lot to buy data, and the networks were sometimes unstable. The study recommended that adequate funding needs to be provided to public universities by the government while the management of institutions must build technological capacities to support online learning mode in the hybrid form and on a full basis in case of future emergencies.

Keywords: universities, online learning, undergraduates, attitude

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Authors: Ola Jon Mork, Lars Andre Giske, Emil Bjørlykhaug

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Stabilization of critical processes in order to have the right quality of the products, more efficient production and smoother flow is a key issue in lean production. This paper presents how simulation of key welding processes can stabilize complicated welding processes in small scale production, and how simulation can impact the entire production concept seen from the perspective of lean production. First, a field study was made to learn the production processes in the factory, and subsequently the field study was transformed into a value stream map to get insight into each operation, the quality issues, operation times, lead times and flow of materials. Valuable practical knowledge of how the welding operations were done by operators, appropriate tools and jigs, and type of robots that could be used, was collected. All available information was then implemented into a simulation environment for further elaboration and development. Three researchers, the management of the company and skilled operators at the work floor where working on the project over a period of eight months, and a detailed description of the process was made by the researchers. The simulation showed that simulation could solve a number of technical challenges, the robot program can be tuned in off line mode, and the design and testing of the robot cell could be made in the simulator. Further on the design of the product could be optimized for robot welding and the jigs could be designed and tested in simulation environment. This means that a key issue of lean production can be solved; the welding operation will work with almost 100% performance when it is put into real production. Stabilizing of one key process is critical to gain control of the entire value chain, then a Takt Time can be established and the focus can be directed towards the next process in the production which should be stabilized. Results show that industrial parameters like welding time, welding cost and welding quality can be defined on the simulation stage. Further on, this gives valuable information for calculation of the factories business performance, like manufacturing volume and manufacturing efficiency. Industrial impact from simulation is more efficient implementation of lean manufacturing, since the welding process can be stabilized. More research should be done to gain more knowledge about simulation as a tool for implementation of lean, especially where there complex processes.

Keywords: simulation, lean, stabilization, welding process

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Authors: Soumya Mishra, Elena Neiterman

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Aligned with the growing interest in the impact of the pandemic on academic experiences of university students, this study aimed to examine the challenges Canadian undergraduate students experienced during the university closures due to COVID-19. Using qualitative methodological approach, the study utilized semi-structured interviews conducted with 20 undergraduate students enrolled in an Ontario university to explore their thoughts and experience regarding online learning during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, from January 2021 to March 2021. The interviews yielded four major themes with the following associated subthemes: Personal Challenges Associated with Adapting to the Pandemic (Change in the Type of Stress Experienced, Unique Impact on Certain Groups of Students, Decreased Motivation, Crucial Role of Resilience), Social Challenges Associated with Adapting to the Pandemic (Increased Loneliness, Challenges Faced while Communicating, Perception of Group work, Role of Living Conditions), Challenges associated with Accessing University Resources (Crucial Role of Professors, Perception of Virtual Events, Importance of Physical Spaces). Overall, the analysis showed that the COVID-19 pandemic fostered resilience and psychological flexibility amongst all students. However, the mental health and social wellbeing of students deteriorated during the COVID-19 pandemic and they reported experiencing chronic stress, anxiety and loneliness. International students, first year and final year students experienced a unique set of challenges. It was hard for participants in our study to make strong new connections with their classmates and maintain existing friendships with their peers. The importance of professors in facilitating learning was amplified in the online environment due to the lack of in-person interaction with other students. Despite these challenges, most participants reported that they received high grades during online learning. The findings from this study could be helpful for organizations and individuals working towards fostering the wellbeing of undergraduate students. They can also help in making post-secondary institutions more resilient to future emergencies by creating contingency plans regarding online instructions and risk management techniques.

Keywords: Canadian, COVID-19, university students, wellbeing

Procedia PDF Downloads 92

Authors: Qianwei Cheng, A. K. M. Mahbubur Rahman, Anis Sarker, Abu Bakar Siddik Nayem, Ovi Paul, Amin Ahsan Ali, M. Ashraful Amin, Ryosuke Shibasaki, Moinul Zaber

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Thomas Friedman, in his famous book, argued that the world in this 21st century is flat and will continue to be flatter. This is attributed to rapid globalization and the interdependence of humanity that engendered tremendous in-flow of human migration towards the urban spaces. In order to keep the urban environment sustainable, policy makers need to plan based on extensive analysis of the urban environment. With the advent of high definition satellite images, high resolution data, computational methods such as deep neural network analysis, and hardware capable of high-speed analysis; urban planning is seeing a paradigm shift. Legacy data on urban environments are now being complemented with high-volume, high-frequency data. However, the first step of understanding urban space lies in useful categorization of the space that is usable for data collection, analysis, and visualization. In this paper, we propose a pragmatic categorization method that is readily usable for machine analysis and show applicability of the methodology on a developing world setting. Categorization to plan sustainable urban spaces should encompass the buildings and their surroundings. However, the state-of-the-art is mostly dominated by classification of building structures, building types, etc. and largely represents the developed world. Hence, these methods and models are not sufficient for developing countries such as Bangladesh, where the surrounding environment is crucial for the categorization. Moreover, these categorizations propose small-scale classifications, which give limited information, have poor scalability and are slow to compute in real time. Our proposed method is divided into two steps-categorization and automation. We categorize the urban area in terms of informal and formal spaces and take the surrounding environment into account. 50 km × 50 km Google Earth image of Dhaka, Bangladesh was visually annotated and categorized by an expert and consequently a map was drawn. The categorization is based broadly on two dimensions-the state of urbanization and the architectural form of urban environment. Consequently, the urban space is divided into four categories: 1) highly informal area; 2) moderately informal area; 3) moderately formal area; and 4) highly formal area. In total, sixteen sub-categories were identified. For semantic segmentation and automatic categorization, Google’s DeeplabV3+ model was used. The model uses Atrous convolution operation to analyze different layers of texture and shape. This allows us to enlarge the field of view of the filters to incorporate larger context. Image encompassing 70% of the urban space was used to train the model, and the remaining 30% was used for testing and validation. The model is able to segment with 75% accuracy and 60% Mean Intersection over Union (mIoU). In this paper, we propose a pragmatic categorization method that is readily applicable for automatic use in both developing and developed world context. The method can be augmented for real-time socio-economic comparative analysis among cities. It can be an essential tool for the policy makers to plan future sustainable urban spaces.

Keywords: semantic segmentation, urban environment, deep learning, urban building, classification

Procedia PDF Downloads 180

Authors: Sakda Loetpiparwanich, Preecha Vichitthamaros

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Nowadays, poor data quality is considered one of the majority costs for a data project. The data project with data quality awareness almost as much time to data quality processes while data project without data quality awareness negatively impacts financial resources, efficiency, productivity, and credibility. One of the processes that take a long time is defining the expectations and measurements of data quality because the expectation is different up to the purpose of each data project. Especially, big data project that maybe involves with many datasets and stakeholders, that take a long time to discuss and define quality expectations and measurements. Therefore, this study aimed at developing meaningful indicators to describe overall data quality for each dataset to quick comparison and priority. The objectives of this study were to: (1) Develop a practical data quality indicators and measurements, (2) Develop data quality dimensions based on statistical characteristics and (3) Develop Composite Indicator that can describe overall data quality for each dataset. The sample consisted of more than 500 datasets from public sources obtained by random sampling. After datasets were collected, there are five steps to develop the Dataset Quality Index (SDQI). First, we define standard data quality expectations. Second, we find any indicators that can measure directly to data within datasets. Thirdly, each indicator aggregates to dimension using factor analysis. Next, the indicators and dimensions were weighted by an effort for data preparing process and usability. Finally, the dimensions aggregate to Composite Indicator. The results of these analyses showed that: (1) The developed useful indicators and measurements contained ten indicators. (2) the developed data quality dimension based on statistical characteristics, we found that ten indicators can be reduced to 4 dimensions. (3) The developed Composite Indicator, we found that the SDQI can describe overall datasets quality of each dataset and can separate into 3 Level as Good Quality, Acceptable Quality, and Poor Quality. The conclusion, the SDQI provide an overall description of data quality within datasets and meaningful composition. We can use SQDI to assess for all data in the data project, effort estimation, and priority. The SDQI also work well with Agile Method by using SDQI to assessment in the first sprint. After passing the initial evaluation, we can add more specific data quality indicators into the next sprint.

Keywords: data quality, dataset quality, data quality management, composite indicator, factor analysis, principal component analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 130

Authors: Styliani Soulioti, Helen Fiddler

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The aim of this study was to investigate the approaches used by physiotherapists in the education of patients with chronic low back pain (cLBP) and the rationale that underpins their choice of approach. Therapeutic patient education (TPE) is considered to be an important aspect of modern physiotherapy practice, as it helps patients achieve better self-management and a better understanding of their problem. Previous studies have explored this subject, but the reasoning behind the choices physiotherapists make as educators has not been widely explored, thus making it difficult to understand areas that could be addressed in order to improve the application of TPE.A qualitative study design, guided by a constructivist epistemology was used in this research project. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data from 7 physiotherapists. Inductive coding and thematic analysis were used, which allowed key themes to emerge. Data analysis revealed two overarching themes: 1) patient-centred versus therapist-centred educational approaches, and 2) behaviourist versus constructivist educational approaches. Physiotherapists appear to use a patient-centred-approach when they explore patients’ beliefs about cLBP and treatment expectations. However, treatment planning and goal-setting were guided by a therapist-centred approach, as physiotherapists appear to take on the role of the instructor/expert, whereas patients were viewed as students. Using a constructivist approach, physiotherapists aimed to provide guidance to patients by combining their professional knowledge with the patients’ individual knowledge, to help the patient better understand their problem, reflect upon it and find a possible solution. However, educating patients about scientific facts concerning cLBP followed a behaviourist approach, as an instructor/student relationship was observed and the learning content was predetermined and transmitted in a one-way manner. The results of this study suggest that a lack of consistency appears to exist in the educational approaches used by physiotherapists. Although patient-centeredness and constructivism appear to be the aims set by physiotherapists in order to optimise the education they provide, a student-teacher relationship appears to dominate when it comes to goal-setting and delivering scientific information.

Keywords: chronic low back pain, educational approaches, health education, patient education

Procedia PDF Downloads 201

Authors: Ed de Jong

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Avantium is a leading technology development company and a frontrunner in renewable chemistry. Avantium develops disruptive technologies that enable the production of sustainable high value products from renewable materials and actively seek out collaborations and partnerships with like-minded companies and academic institutions globally, to speed up introductions of chemical innovations in the marketplace. In addition, Avantium helps companies to accelerate their catalysis R&D to improve efficiencies and deliver increased sustainability, growth, and profits, by providing proprietary systems and services to this regard. Many chemical building blocks and materials can be produced from biomass, nowadays mainly from 1st generation based carbohydrates, but potential for competition with the human food chain leads brand-owners to look for strategies to transition from 1st to 2nd generation feedstock. The use of non-edible lignocellulosic feedstock is an equally attractive source to produce chemical intermediates and an important part of the solution addressing these global issues (Paris targets). Avantium’s Dawn Technology™ separates the glucose, mixed sugars, and lignin available in non-food agricultural and forestry residues such as wood chips, wheat straw, bagasse, empty fruit bunches or corn stover. The resulting very pure lignin is dense in energy and can be used for energy generation. However, such a material might preferably be deployed in higher added value applications. Bitumen, which is fossil based, are mostly used for paving applications. Traditional hot mix asphalt emits large quantities of the GHG’s CO₂, CH₄, and N₂O, which is unfavorable for obvious environmental reasons. Another challenge for the bitumen industry is that the petrochemical industry is becoming more and more efficient in breaking down higher chain hydrocarbons to lower chain hydrocarbons with higher added value than bitumen. This has a negative effect on the availability of bitumen. The asphalt market, as well as governments, are looking for alternatives with higher sustainability in terms of GHG emission. The usage of alternative sustainable binders, which can (partly) replace the bitumen, contributes to reduce GHG emissions and at the same time broadens the availability of binders. As lignin is a major component (around 25-30%) of lignocellulosic material, which includes terrestrial plants (e.g., trees, bushes, and grass) and agricultural residues (e.g., empty fruit bunches, corn stover, sugarcane bagasse, straw, etc.), it is globally highly available. The chemical structure shows resemblance with the structure of bitumen and could, therefore, be used as an alternative for bitumen in applications like roofing or asphalt. Applications such as the use of lignin in asphalt need both fundamental research as well as practical proof under relevant use conditions. From a fundamental point of view, rheological aspects, as well as mixing, are key criteria. From a practical point of view, behavior in real road conditions is key (how easy can the asphalt be prepared, how easy can it be applied on the road, what is the durability, etc.). The paper will discuss the fundamentals of the use of lignin as bitumen replacement as well as the status of the different demonstration projects in Europe using lignin as a partial bitumen replacement in asphalts and will especially present the results of using Dawn Technology™ lignin as partial replacement of bitumen.

Keywords: biorefinery, wood fractionation, lignin, asphalt, bitumen, sustainability

Procedia PDF Downloads 149

Authors: Pieter A. Cornelissen, Joris J. Van Hoof

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The interest in improving occupational safety started almost simultaneously with the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. Yet, it was not until the late 1970’s before the role of communication was considered in scientific research regarding occupational safety. In recent years the importance of communication as a means to improve occupational safety has increased. Not only as communication might have a direct effect on safety performance and safety outcomes, but also as it can be viewed as a major component of other important safety-related elements (e.g., training, safety meetings, leadership). And while safety communication is an increasingly important topic in research, its operationalization is often vague and differs among studies. This is not only problematic when comparing results, but also in applying these results to practice and the work floor. By means of an in-depth analysis—building on an existing dataset—this review aims to overcome these problems. The initial database search yielded 25.527 articles, which was reduced to a research corpus of 176 articles. Focusing on the 37 articles of this corpus that addressed communication (related to safety outcomes and safety performance), the current study will provide a comprehensive overview of the role and effects of safety communication and outlines the conditions under which communication contributes to a safer work environment. The study shows that in literature a distinction is commonly made between safety communication (i.e., the exchange or dissemination of safety-related information) and feedback (i.e. a reactive form of communication). And although there is a consensus among researchers that both communication and feedback positively affect safety performance, there is a debate about the directness of this relationship. Whereas some researchers assume a direct relationship between safety communication and safety performance, others state that this relationship is mediated by safety climate. One of the key findings is that despite the strongly present view that safety communication is a formal and top-down safety management tool, researchers stress the importance of open communication that encourages and allows employees to express their worries, experiences, views, and share information. This raises questions with regard to other directions (e.g., bottom-up, horizontal) and forms of communication (e.g., informal). The current review proposes a framework to overcome the often vague and different operationalizations of safety communication. The proposed framework can be used to characterize safety communication in terms of stakeholders, direction, and characteristics of communication (e.g., medium usage).

Keywords: communication, feedback, occupational safety, review

Procedia PDF Downloads 298

Authors: Michele L. Tilstra, Tiffany J. Peets

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Interprofessional collaboration in behavioral healthcare education is increasingly recognized for its value in training students to address diverse client needs. While interprofessional education (IPE) is well-documented in occupational therapy education to address physical health, limited research exists on collaboration with counselors to address mental health concerns and the psychosocial needs of individuals receiving care. Counseling education literature primarily examines the collaboration of counseling students with psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, and marriage and family therapists. This pretest/posttest survey research study explored changes in attitudes toward interprofessional teams among 56 Master of Occupational Therapy (MOT) (n = 42) and Counseling and Human Development (CHD) (n = 14) students participating in the Counselors and Occupational Therapists Professionally Engaged in the Community (COPE) program. The COPE program was designed to strengthen the behavioral health workforce in high-need and high-demand areas. Students accepted into the COPE program were divided into small MOT/CHD groups to complete multiple interprofessional multicultural learning modules using videos, case studies, and online discussion board posts. The online modules encouraged reflection on various behavioral healthcare roles, benefits of team-based care, cultural humility, current mental health challenges, personal biases, power imbalances, and advocacy for underserved populations. Using the Student Perceptions of Interprofessional Clinical Education- Revision 2 (SPICE-R2) scale, students completed pretest and posttest surveys using a 5-point Likert scale (Strongly Agree = 5 to Strongly Disagree = 1) to evaluate their attitudes toward interprofessional teamwork and collaboration. The SPICE-R2 measured three different factors: interprofessional teamwork and team-based practice (Team), roles/responsibilities for collaborative practice (Roles), and patient outcomes from collaborative practice (Outcomes). The mean total scores for all students improved from 4.25 (pretest) to 4.43 (posttest), Team from 4.66 to 4.58, Roles from 3.88 to 4.30, and Outcomes from 4.08 to 4.36. A paired t-test analysis for the total mean scores resulted in a t-statistic of 2.54, which exceeded both one-tail and two-tail critical values, indicating statistical significance (p = .001). When the factors of the SPICE-R2 were analyzed separately, only the Roles (t Stat=4.08, p =.0001) and Outcomes (t Stat=3.13, p = .002) were statistically significant. The item ‘I understand the roles of other health professionals’ showed the most improvement from a mean score for all students of 3.76 (pretest) to 4.46 (posttest). The significant improvement in students' attitudes toward interprofessional teams suggests that the unique integration of OT and CHD students in the COPE program effectively develops a better understanding of the collaborative roles necessary for holistic client care. These results support the importance of IPE through structured, engaging interprofessional experiences. These experiences are essential for enhancing students' readiness for collaborative practice and align with accreditation standards requiring interprofessional education in OT and CHD programs to prepare practitioners for team-based care. The findings contribute to the growing body of evidence supporting the integration of IPE in behavioral healthcare curricula to improve holistic client care and encourage students to engage in collaborative practice across healthcare settings.

Keywords: behavioral healthcare, counseling education, interprofessional education, mental health education, occupational therapy education

Procedia PDF Downloads 33

Authors: Saraswati Kerketta

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Tea industry is one of the oldest organised sector of India. It employs roughly 1.5 million people directly. Since the last decade Indian tea industry, especially in the northern region is experiencing worst crisis in the post-independence period. Due to many reason the prices of tea show steady decline. The workers are paid one of the lowest wage in tea industry in the world (1.5$ a day) below the UN's $2 a day for extreme poverty. The workers rely on addition benefits from plantation which includes food, housing and medical facilities. These have been effective means of enslavement of generations of labourers by the owners. There is hardly any change in the tea estates where the owners determine the fate of workers. When the tea garden is abandoned or is closed all the facilities disappear immediately. The workers are the descendants of tribes from central India also known as 'tea tribes'. Alienated from their native place, the geographical and social isolation compounded their vulnerability of these people. The economy of the region being totally dependent on tea has resulted in absolute unemployment for the workers of these tea gardens. With no other livelihood and no land to grow food, thousands of workers faced hunger and starvation. The Plantation Labour Act which ensures the decent working and living condition is violated continuously. The labours are forced to migrate and are also exposed to the risk of human trafficking. Those who are left behind suffers from starvation, malnutrition and disease. The condition in the sick tea plantation is no better. Wage are not paid regularly, subsidised food, fuel are also not supplied properly. Health care facilities are in very bad shape. Objectives: • To study the socio-cultural and demographic characteristics of the tea garden labourers in the study area. • To examine the social situation of workers in sick estates in dooars region. • To assess the magnitude of deprivation the impact of economic crisis on abandoned and closed tea estates in the region. Data Base: The study is based on data collected from field survey. Methods: Quantative: Cross-Tabulation, Regression analysis. Qualitative: Household Survey, Focussed Group Discussion, In-depth interview of key informants. Findings: Purchasing power parity has declined since in last three decades. There has been many fold increase in migration. Males migrates long distance towards central and west and south India. Females and children migrates both long and short distance. No one has reported to migrate back to the place of origin of their ancestors. Migrant males work mostly as construction labourers and as factory workers whereas females and children work as domestic help and construction labourers. In about 37 cases either they haven't contacted their families in last six months or are not traceable. The families with single earning members are more likely to migrate. Burden of disease and the duration of sickness, abandonment and closure of plantation are closely related. Death tolls are likely to rise 1.5 times in sick tea gardens and three times in closed tea estates. Sixty percent of the people are malnourished in the sick tea gardens and more than eighty five per cent in abandoned and sick tea gardens.

Keywords: migration, trafficking, starvation death, tea garden workers

Procedia PDF Downloads 378

Authors: Nitika Sharma, Yogesh Jain

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Introduction: An efficient Information System helps in improving the service delivery as well provides the foundation for policy and regulation of other building blocks of Health System. Health care organizations require an integrated working of its various sub-systems. An efficient EMR software boosts the teamwork amongst the various sub-systems thereby resulting in improved service delivery. Although there has been a huge impetus to EMR under the Digital India initiative, it has still not been mandated in India. It is generally implemented in huge funded public or private healthcare organizations only. Objective: The study was conducted to understand the factors that lead to the successful adoption of an affordable EMR in the low level healthcare organization. It intended to understand the design of the EMR and address the solutions to the challenges faced in adoption of the EMR. Methodology: The study was conducted in a non-profit registered Healthcare organization that has been providing healthcare facilities to more than 2500 villages including certain areas that are difficult to access. The data was collected with help of field notes, in-depth interviews and participant observation. A total of 16 participants using the EMR from different departments were enrolled via purposive sampling technique. The participants included in the study were working in the organization before the implementation of the EMR system. The study was conducted in one month period from 25 June-20 July 2018. The Ethical approval was taken from the institute along with prior approval of the participants. Data analysis: A word document of more than 4000 words was obtained after transcribing and translating the answers of respondents. It was further analyzed by focused coding, a line by line review of the transcripts, underlining words, phrases or sentences that might suggest themes to do thematic narrative analysis. Results: Based on the answers the results were thematically grouped under four headings: 1. governance of organization, 2. architecture and design of the software, 3. features of the software, 4. challenges faced in adoption and the solutions to address them. It was inferred that the successful implementation was attributed to the easy and comprehensive design of the system which has facilitated not only easy data storage and retrieval but contributes in constructing a decision support system for the staff. Portability has lead to increased acceptance by physicians. The proper division of labor, increased efficiency of staff, incorporation of auto-correction features and facilitation of task shifting has lead to increased acceptance amongst the users of various departments. Geographical inhibitions, low computer literacy and high patient load were the major challenges faced during its implementation. Despite of dual efforts made both by the architects and administrators to combat these challenges, there are still certain ongoing challenges faced by organization. Conclusion: Whenever any new technology is adopted there are certain innovators, early adopters, late adopters and laggards. The same pattern was followed in adoption of this software. He challenges were overcome with joint efforts of organization administrators and users as well. Thereby this case study provides a framework of implementing similar systems in public sector of countries that are struggling for digitizing the healthcare in presence of crunch of human and financial resources.

Keywords: EMR, healthcare technology, e-health, EHR

Procedia PDF Downloads 98

Authors: Alexander A. Stakheev, Larisa V. Samokhvalova, Sergey K. Zavriev

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Fusarium fungi are among the most devastating plant pathogens distributed all over the world. Significant reduction of grain yield and quality caused by Fusarium leads to multi-billion dollar annual losses to the world agricultural production. These organisms can also cause infections in immunocompromised persons and produce the wide range of mycotoxins, such as trichothecenes, fumonisins, and zearalenone, which are hazardous to human and animal health. Identification of Fusarium fungi based on the morphology of spores and spore-forming structures, colony color and appearance on specific culture media is often very complicated due to the high similarity of these features for closely related species. Modern Fusarium taxonomy increasingly uses data of crossing experiments (biological species concept) and genetic polymorphism analysis (phylogenetic species concept). A number of novel Fusarium sibling species has been established using DNA barcoding techniques. Species recognition is best made with the combined phylogeny of intron-rich protein coding genes and ribosomal DNA sequences. However, the internal transcribed spacer of (ITS), which is considered to be universal DNA barcode for Fungi, is not suitable for genus Fusarium, because of its insufficient variability between closely related species and the presence of non-orthologous copies in the genome. Nowadays, the translation elongation factor 1 alpha (TEF1α) gene is the “gold standard” of Fusarium taxonomy, but the search for novel informative markers is still needed. In this study, we used two novel DNA markers, frataxin (FXN) and heat shock protein 90 (HSP90) to discover phylogenetic relationships between Fusarium species. Multilocus phylogenetic analysis based on partial sequences of TEF1α, FXN, HSP90, as well as intergenic spacer of ribosomal DNA (IGS), beta-tubulin (β-TUB) and phosphate permease (PHO) genes has been conducted for 120 isolates of 19 Fusarium species from different climatic zones of Russia and neighboring countries using maximum likelihood (ML) and maximum parsimony (MP) algorithms. Our analyses revealed that FXN and HSP90 genes could be considered as informative phylogenetic markers, suitable for evolutionary and taxonomic studies of Fusarium genus. It has been shown that PHO gene possesses more variable (22 %) and parsimony informative (19 %) characters than other markers, including TEF1α (12 % and 9 %, correspondingly) when used for elucidating phylogenetic relationships between F. avenaceum and its closest relatives – F. tricinctum, F. acuminatum, F. torulosum. Application of novel DNA barcodes confirmed the fact that F. arthrosporioides do not represent a separate species but only a subspecies of F. avenaceum. Phylogeny based on partial PHO and FXN sequences revealed the presence of separate cluster of four F. avenaceum strains which were closer to F. torulosum than to major F. avenaceum clade. The strain F-846 from Moldova, morphologically identified as F. poae, formed a separate lineage in all the constructed dendrograms, and could potentially be considered as a separate species, but more information is needed to confirm this conclusion. Variable sites in PHO sequences were used for the first-time development of specific qPCR-based diagnostic assays for F. acuminatum and F. torulosum. This work was supported by Russian Foundation for Basic Research (grant № 15-29-02527).

Keywords: DNA barcode, fusarium, identification, phylogenetics, taxonomy

Procedia PDF Downloads 319

Authors: Michael Sonne Kristensen, Frank Loesche, James Foster, Elif Ozcan, Judy Edworthy

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Auditory alarms play an integral role in intensive care nurses’ daily work. Most medical devices in the intensive care unit (ICU) are designed to produce alarm sounds in order to make nurses aware of immediate or prospective safety risks. The utilisation of sound as a carrier of crucial patient information is highly dependent on nurses’ presence - both physically and mentally. For ICU nurses, especially the ones who work with stationary alarm devices at the patient bed space, it is a challenge to display ‘appropriate’ alarm responses at all times as they have to navigate with great flexibility in a complex work environment. While being primarily responsible for a small number of allocated patients they are often required to engage with other nurses’ patients, relatives, and colleagues at different locations inside and outside the unit. This work explores the social strategies used by a team of nurses to comprehend and react to the information conveyed by the alarms in the ICU. Two main research questions guide the study: To what extent do alarms from a patient bed space reach the relevant responsible nurse by direct auditory exposure? By which means do responsible nurses get informed about their patients’ alarms when not directly exposed to the alarms? A comprehensive video-ethnographic field study was carried out to capture and evaluate alarm-related events in an ICU. The study involved close collaboration with four nurses who wore eye-level cameras and ear-level binaural audio recorders during several work shifts. At all time the entire unit was monitored by multiple video and audio recorders. From a data set of hundreds of hours of recorded material information about the nurses’ location, social interaction, and alarm exposure at any point in time was coded in a multi-channel replay-interface. The data shows that responsible nurses’ direct exposure and awareness of the alarms of their allocated patients vary significantly depending on work load, social relationships, and the location of the patient’s bed space. Distributed listening is deliberately employed by the nursing team as a social strategy to respond adequately to alarms, but the patterns of information flow prompted by alarm-related events are not uniform. Auditory Spatiotemporal Trajectory (AST) is proposed as a methodological label to designate the integration of temporal, spatial and auditory load information. As a mixed-method metrics it provides tangible evidence of how nurses’ individual alarm-related experiences differ from one another and from stationary points in the ICU. Furthermore, it is used to demonstrate how alarm-related information reaches the individual nurse through principles of social and distributed cognition, and how that information relates to the actual alarm event. Thereby it bridges a long-standing gap in the literature on medical alarm utilisation between, on the one hand, initiatives to measure objective data of the medical sound environment without consideration for any human experience, and, on the other hand, initiatives to study subjective experiences of the medical sound environment without detailed evidence of the objective characteristics of the environment.

Keywords: auditory spatiotemporal trajectory, medical alarms, social cognition, video-ethography

Procedia PDF Downloads 187

Authors: F. Heyecan Giritli, Gizem Akgül

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Because of the raising population of world; the need for houses, buildings and infrastructures are increasing rapidly. Energy and water consumption, waste production continues to increase. If this situation of resources continues, there will be a significant loss for next generations. Therefore, there are a lot of researches and solutions developed in the world. Also sustainability criteria are collected together by some countries to serve construction industry with certification systems. Sustainable building production process’s scope requires different path from traditional building production process. Moreover, the key objective of sustainable buildings is that the process includes whole life cycle duration. The process approaches from the decision of the project to the end of it; so the project team is needed from the beginning of the integrated project delivery model. Further more, by defining project team at the beginning of the project provides communication among the team members and defined problem solving and decision making methods. In this research includes the certification systems among the world to comprehend the head lines and assessment criteria. Therefore, it is understand that usually all green building criteria have the same contents. The aim of this research is to assess the sustainable project stakeholder’ perceptions in Turkish construction industry from the point of occupation, job title and years of experience. Therefore, a survey is made to assess the perceptions of each attendant. In Turkey, sustainability criteria are not clearly defined; on the other hand some regulations like waste management, energy efficiency are made by legal agencies. LEED certification system is the most popular system in Turkey that has attended and certificated. From the LEED official data, it’s understood that 308 project registered in Turkey. Therefore, LEED sustainability criteria are used in the survey. Head lines of LEED certification criteria; sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, material and resources, indoor environmental quality, innovation and regional priority are indicated to assess the perceptions of survey participants. Moreover, only surveying of criteria are not enough; so the equipment, methods, risks and benefits also considered.

Keywords: LEED, sustainability, perceptions, stakeholders, construction, Turkey, risk, benefit

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Authors: M. Hadjisoteriou, A. Kyriacou Petrou

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This paper will discuss ideas of social sustainability in urban design and human behavior in multicultural contested sites. It will focus on the potential of the re-reading of the “site” through mapping that acts as a research methodology and will discuss the chosen site of Mouttalos, Cyprus as a place of multiple identities. Through a methodology of mapping using a bottom up approach, a process of disassembling derives that acts as a mechanism to re-examine space and place by searching for the invisible and the non-measurable, understanding the site through its detailed inhabitation patterns. The significance of this study lies in the use of mapping as an active form of thinking rather than a passive process of representation that allows for a new site to be discovered, giving multiple opportunities for adaptive urban strategies and socially engaged design approaches. We will discuss the above thematic based on the chosen contested site of Mouttalos, a small Turkish Cypriot neighbourhood, in the old centre of Paphos (Ktima), SW of Cyprus. During the political unrest, between Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities, in 1963, the area became an enclave to the Turkish Cypriots, excluding any contact with the rest of the area. Following the Turkish invasion of 1974, the residents left their homes, plots and workplaces, resettling in the North of Cyprus. Greek Cypriot refugees moved into the area. The presence of the Greek Cypriot refugees is still considered to be a temporary resettlement. The buildings and the residents themselves exist in a state of uncertainty. The site is documented through a series of parallel investigations into the physical conditions and history of the site. Research methodologies use the process of mapping to expose the complex and often invisible layers of information that coexist. By registering the site through the subjective experiences, and everyday stories of inhabitants, a series of cartographic recordings reveals the space between: happening and narrative and especially space between different cultures and religions. Research put specific emphasis on engaging the public, promoting social interaction, identifying spatial patterns of occupation by previous inhabitants through social media. Findings exposed three main areas of interest. Firstly we identified inter-dependent relationships between permanence and temporality, characterised by elements such us, signage through layers of time, past events and periodical street festivals, unfolding memory and belonging. Secondly issues of co-ownership and occupation, found through particular narratives of exchange between the two communities and through appropriation of space. Finally formal and informal inhabitation of space, revealed through the presence of informal shared back yards, alternative paths, porous street edges and formal and informal landmarks. The importance of the above findings, was achieving a shift of focus from the built infrastructure to the soft network of multiple and complex relations of dependence and autonomy. Proposed interventions for this contested site were informed and led by a new multicultural identity where invisible qualities were revealed though the process of mapping, taking on issues of layers of time, formal and informal inhabitation and the “permanence of the temporary”.

Keywords: contested sites, mapping, social sustainability, temporary urban strategies

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Authors: Mohammadjavad Sotoudeheian, Soroush Nematollahi

Abstract:

Crohn’s disease (CD) is a chronic gastrointestinal segment inflammation encompassing immune dysregulation in a genetically susceptible individual in response to the environmental triggers and interaction between the microbiome and immune system. Uncontrolled inflammation leads to long-term complications, including fibrotic strictures and enteric fistulae. Increased production of Th1 and Th17-cell cytokines and defects in T-regulatory cells have been associated with CD. Th17-cells are essential for protection against extracellular pathogens, but their atypical activity can cause autoimmunity. Intrinsic defects in the control of programmed cell death in the mucosal T-cell compartment are strongly implicated in the pathogenesis of CD. The apoptosis defect in mucosal T-cells in CD has been endorsed as an imbalance of the Bcl-2 and the Bax. The immune system encounters foreign antigens through microbial colonization of mucosal surfaces or infections. In addition, FOSL downregulated IL-26 expression, a cytokine that marks inflammatory Th17-populations in patients suffering from CD. Furthermore, the expression of IL-23 is associated with the transcription factor primary leucine zipper transcription factor ATF-like (Batf). Batf-deficiency demonstrated the crucial role of Batf in colitis development. Batf and IL-23 mediate their effects by inducing IL-6 production. Strong association of IL-23R, Stat3, and Stat4 with IBD susceptibility point to a critical involvement of T-cells. IL-23R levels in transfer fistula were dependent on the AP-1 transcription factor JunB that additionally controlled levels of RORγt by facilitating DNA binding of Batf. T lymphocytes lacking JunB failed to induce IL-23- and Th17-mediated experimental colitis highlighting the relevance of JunB for the IL-23/ Th17 pathway. The absence of T-bet causes unrestrained Th17-cell differentiation. T-cells are central parts of immune-mediated colon fistula. Especially Th17-cells were highly prevalent in inflamed IBD tissues, as RORγt is effective in preventing colitis. Intraepithelial lymphocytes (IEL) contain unique T-cell subsets, including cells expressing RORγt. Increased activated Th17 and decreased T-regulatory cells in inflamed intestinal tissues had been seen. T-cells differentiate in response to many cytokines, including IL-1β, IL-6, IL-23, and TGF-β, into Th17-cells, a process which is critically dependent on the Batf. IL-23 promotes Th17-cell in the colon. Batf manages the generation of IL-23 induced IL-23R+ Th17-cells. Batf is necessary for TGF-β/IL-6-induced Th17-polarization. Batf-expressing T-cells are the core of T-cell-mediated colitis. The human-specific parts of three AP-1 transcription factors, FOSL1, FOSL2, and BATF, are essential during the early stages of Th17 differentiation. BATF supports the Th17 lineage. FOSL1, FOSL2, and BATF make possession of regulatory loci of genes in the Th17 lineage cascade. The AP1 transcription factor Batf is identified to control intestinal inflammation and seems to regulate pathways within lymphocytes, which could theoretically control the expression of several genes. It shows central regulatory properties over Th17-cell development and is intensely upregulated within IBD-affected tissues. Here, we demonstrated that targeting Batf in IBD appears as a therapeutic approach that reduces colitogenic T-cell activities during fistula formation while aiming to affect inflammation in the gut epithelial cells.

Keywords: immune system, Crohn’s Disease, BATF, T helper cells, Bcl, interleukin, FOSL

Procedia PDF Downloads 138

Authors: Catherine Mary Abou-Zaid, Sandra Goodwin

Abstract:

This study was conducted in a cardiac center in Bahrain. The rise in the amount of obese patients’ both men and women, being admitted for surgical procedures has become an issue to the nurses and doctors as these patients pose a high risk of major complications arising from their problem. The cessation of obesity in the country is very high and obesity-related diseases has been the cause of concern among men and women, also related individual diseases such as cardiovascular, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases are rising dramatically within Bahrain in the last 10 years. Rationale for the Study: The ontological approach will help to understand and assess the true nature of the social world and how the world looks at obesity. Obesity has to be looked at as being a realistic ongoing issue. The epistemological approach will look at the theory of the origins of the nature of knowledge, set the rule of validating and learning in the social world of what can be done to curb this concept and how this can help prevent otherwise preventable diseases. Design Methodology: The qualitative design methodology took the form of an ontological/epistemological approach using phenomenology as a framework. The study was based on a social research issue, therefore, ontological ‘realism and idealism’ will feature as the nature of the world from a social and natural context. Epistemological positions of the study will be how we as researchers will find the actual social world and the limiting of that knowledge. The one-to-one interviews will be transcribed and the taped verbatim will be coded and charted giving the thematic analytic results. Recommendations: The significance of the research brought many recommendations. These recommendations were taken from the themes and sub-themes and were presented to the centers management and the necessary arrangements for updating knowledge and attitudes towards obesity in cardiac patients was then presented to the in-service education department. Workshops and training sessions on promoting health education were organized and put into the educational calendar for the next academic year. These sessions would look at patient autonomy, the patients’ rights, healthy eating for patients and families and the risks associated with obesity in cardiac disease processes.

Keywords: cardiac patients, diabetes, education & training, obesity cessation, qualitative

Procedia PDF Downloads 326