Search results for: final cross-section

Authors: Z. A. Al Marhoon, H. S. Al Ramis, C. Teodoriu

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Well-integrity is one of the major elements considered for drilling geothermal, oil, and gas wells. Well-integrity is minimizing the risk of unplanned fluid flow in the well bore throughout the well lifetime. Well integrity is maximized by applying technical concepts along with practical practices and strategic planning. These practices are usually governed by standardization and regulation entities. Practices during well construction can affect the integrity of the seal at the time of abandonment. On the other hand, achieving a perfect barrier system is impracticable due to the needed cost. This results in a needed balance between regulations requirements and practical applications. The guidelines are only effective when they are attainable in practical applications. Various governmental regulations and international standards have different guidelines on what constitutes high-quality isolation from unwanted flow. Each regulating or standardization body differ in requirements based on the abandonment objective. Some regulation account more for the environmental impact, water table contamination, and possible leaks. Other regulation might lean towards driving more economical benefits while achieving an acceptable isolation criteria. The research methodology used in this topic is derived from a literature review method combined with a compare and contrast analysis. The literature review on various zonal isolation regulations and standards has been conducted. A review includes guidelines from NORSOK (Norwegian governing entity), BSEE (USA offshore governing entity), API (American Petroleum Institute) combined with ISO (International Standardization Organization). The compare and contrast analysis is conducted by assessing the objective of each abandonment regulations and standardization. The current state of well barrier regulation is in balancing action. From one side of this balance, the environmental impact and complete zonal isolation is considered. The other side of the scale is practical application and associated cost. Some standards provide a fair amount of details concerning technical requirements and are often flexible with the needed associated cost. These guidelines cover environmental impact with laws that prevent major or disastrous environmental effects of improper sealing of wells. Usually these regulations are concerned with the near future of sealing rather than long-term. Consequently, applying these guidelines become more feasible from a cost point of view to the required plugging entities. On the other hand, other regulation have well integrity procedures and regulations that lean toward more restrictions environmentally with an increased associated cost requirements. The environmental impact is detailed and covered with its entirety, including medium to small environmental impact in barrier installing operations. Clear and precise attention to long-term leakage prevention is present in these regulations. The result of the compare and contrast analysis of the literature showed that there are various objectives that might tip the scale from one side of the balance (cost) to the other (sealing quality) especially in reference to zonal isolation. Furthermore, investing in initial well construction is a crucial part of ensuring safe final well abandonment. The safety and the cost saving at the end of the well life cycle is dependent upon a well-constructed isolation systems at the beginning of the life cycle. Long term studies on zonal isolation using various hydraulic or mechanical materials need to take place to further assess permanently abandoned wells to achieve the desired balance. Well drilling and isolation techniques will be more effective when they are operationally feasible and have reasonable associated cost to aid the local economy.

Keywords: plug and abandon, P&A regulation, P&A standards, international guidelines, gap analysis

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Authors: Philip A. Szlosek, M. Susan Guyer, Mary G. Barnum, Elizabeth M. Mullin

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In the United States, athletic training is a healthcare profession that encompasses the prevention, examination, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of injuries and medical conditions. Athletic trainers work under the direction of or in collaboration with a physician and are recognized by the American Medical Association as allied healthcare professionals. Internationally, this profession is often known as athletic therapy. As healthcare professionals, athletic trainers must be prepared for autonomous practice immediately after graduation. However, new athletic trainers have been shown to have clinical areas of strength and weakness.To better assess professional readiness and improve the preparedness of new athletic trainers, the factors of athletic training professional readiness must be defined. Limited research exists defining the holistic aspects of professional readiness needed for athletic trainers. Confirming the factors of professional readiness in athletic training could enhance the professional preparation of athletic trainers and result in more highly prepared new professionals. The objective of this study was to further explore and confirm the factors of professional readiness in athletic training. Authors useda qualitative design based in grounded theory. Participants included athletic trainers with greater than 24 months of experience from a variety of work settings from each district of the National Athletic Trainer’s Association. Participants took the demographic questionnaire electronically using Qualtrics Survey Software (Provo UT). After completing the demographic questionnaire, 20 participants were selected to complete one-on-one interviews using GoToMeeting audiovisual web conferencing software. IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS, v. 21.0) was used to calculate descriptive statistics for participant demographics. The first author transcribed all interviews verbatim and utilized a grounded theory approach during qualitative data analysis. Data were analyzed using a constant comparative analysis and open and axial coding. Trustworthiness was established using reflexivity, member checks, and peer reviews. Analysis revealed four overarching themes, including management, interpersonal relations, clinical decision-making, and confidence. Management was categorized as athletic training services not involving direct patient care and was divided into three subthemes, including administration skills, advocacy, and time management. Interpersonal Relations was categorized as the need and ability of the athletic trainer to properly interact with others. Interpersonal relations was divided into three subthemes, including personality traits, communication, and collaborative practice. Clinical decision-making was categorized as the skills and attributes required by the athletic trainer whenmaking clinical decisions related to patient care. Clinical decision-making was divided into three subthemes including clinical skills, continuing education, and reflective practice. The final theme was confidence. Participants discussed the importance of confidence regarding relationships building, clinical and administrative duties, and clinical decision-making. Overall, participants explained the value of a well-rounded athletic trainer and emphasized that athletic trainers need communication and organizational skills, the ability to collaborate, and must value self-reflection and continuing education in addition to having clinical expertise. Future research should finalize a comprehensive model of professional readiness for athletic training, develop a holistic assessment instrument for athletic training professional readiness, and explore the preparedness of new athletic trainers.

Keywords: autonomous practice, newly certified athletic trainer, preparedness for professional practice, transition to practice skills

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Authors: Dina Ibrahim Abouelamaiem, Ana Jorge Sobrido, Magdalena Titirici, Paul R. Shearing, Daniel J. L. Brett

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Global warming and scarcity of fossil fuels have had a radical impact on the world economy and ecosystem. The urgent need for alternative energy sources has hence elicited an extensive research for exploiting efficient and sustainable means of energy conversion and storage. Among various electrochemical systems, supercapacitors attracted significant attention in the last decade due to their high power supply, long cycle life compared to batteries and simple mechanism. Recently, the performance of these devices has drastically improved, as tuning of nanomaterials provided efficient charge and storage mechanisms. Carbon materials, in various forms, are believed to pioneer the next generation of supercapacitors due to their attractive properties that include high electronic conductivities, high surface areas and easy processing and functionalization. Cellulose has eco-friendly attributes that are feasible to replace man-made fibers. The carbonization of cellulose yields carbons, including activated carbon and graphite fibers. Activated carbons successively are the most exploited candidates for supercapacitor electrode materials that can be complemented with pseudocapacitive materials to achieve high energy and power densities. In this work, the optimum functionalization conditions of cellulose have been investigated for supercapacitor electrode materials. The precursor was treated with potassium hydroxide (KOH) at different KOH/cellulose ratios prior to the carbonization process in an inert nitrogen atmosphere at 850 °C. The chalky products were washed, dried and characterized with different techniques including transmission electron microscopy (TEM), x-ray tomography and nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherms. The morphological characteristics and their effect on the electrochemical performances were investigated in two and three-electrode systems. The KOH/cellulose ratios of 0.5:1 and 1:1 exhibited the highest performances with their unique hierarchal porous network structure, high surface areas and low cell resistances. Both samples acquired the best results in three-electrode systems and coin cells with specific gravimetric capacitances as high as 187 F g-1 and 20 F g-1 at a current density of 1 A g-1 and retention rates of 72% and 70%, respectively. This is attributed to the morphology of the samples that constituted of a well-balanced micro-, meso- and macro-porosity network structure. This study reveals that the electrochemical performance doesn’t solely depend on high surface areas but also an optimum pore size distribution, specifically at low current densities. The micro- and meso-pore contribution to the final pore structure was found to dominate at low KOH loadings, reaching ‘equilibrium’ with macropores at the optimum KOH loading, after which macropores dictate the porous network. The wide range of pore sizes is detrimental for the mobility and penetration of electrolyte ions in the porous structures. These findings highlight the influence of various morphological factors on the double-layer capacitances and high performance rates. In addition, they open a platform for the investigation of the optimized conditions for double-layer capacitance that can be coupled with pseudocapacitive materials to yield higher energy densities and capacities.

Keywords: carbon, electrochemical performance, electrodes, KOH/cellulose optimized ratio, morphology, supercapacitor

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Authors: Manuel I. Capel, Antonio Tomeu, Alberto Salguero

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Tumor growth from a transformed cancer-cell up to a clinically apparent mass spans through a range of spatial and temporal magnitudes. Through computer simulations, Cellular Automata (CA) can accurately describe the complexity of the development of tumors. Tumor development prognosis can now be made -without making patients undergo through annoying medical examinations or painful invasive procedures- if we develop appropriate CA-based software tools. In silico testing mainly refers to Computational Biology research studies of application to clinical actions in Medicine. To establish sound computer-based models of cellular behavior, certainly reduces costs and saves precious time with respect to carrying out experiments in vitro at labs or in vivo with living cells and organisms. These aim to produce scientifically relevant results compared to traditional in vitro testing, which is slow, expensive, and does not generally have acceptable reproducibility under the same conditions. For speeding up computer simulations of cellular models, specific literature shows recent proposals based on the CA approach that include advanced techniques, such the clever use of supporting efficient data structures when modeling with deterministic stochastic cellular automata. Multiparadigm and multiscale simulation of tumor dynamics is just beginning to be developed by the concerned research community. The use of stochastic cellular automata (SCA), whose parallel programming implementations are open to yield a high computational performance, are of much interest to be explored up to their computational limits. There have been some approaches based on optimizations to advance in multiparadigm models of tumor growth, which mainly pursuit to improve performance of these models through efficient memory accesses guarantee, or considering the dynamic evolution of the memory space (grids, trees,…) that holds crucial data in simulations. In our opinion, the different optimizations mentioned above are not decisive enough to achieve the high performance computing power that cell-behavior simulation programs actually need. The possibility of using multicore and GPU parallelism as a promising multiplatform and framework to develop new programming techniques to speed-up the computation time of simulations is just starting to be explored in the few last years. This paper presents a model that incorporates parallel processing, identifying the synchronization necessary for speeding up tumor growth simulations implemented in Java and C++ programming environments. The speed up improvement that specific parallel syntactic constructs, such as executors (thread pools) in Java, are studied. The new tumor growth parallel model is proved using implementations with Java and C++ languages on two different platforms: chipset Intel core i-X and a HPC cluster of processors at our university. The parallelization of Polesczuk and Enderling model (normally used by researchers in mathematical oncology) proposed here is analyzed with respect to performance gain. We intend to apply the model and overall parallelization technique presented here to solid tumors of specific affiliation such as prostate, breast, or colon. Our final objective is to set up a multiparadigm model capable of modelling angiogenesis, or the growth inhibition induced by chemotaxis, as well as the effect of therapies based on the presence of cytotoxic/cytostatic drugs.

Keywords: cellular automaton, tumor growth model, simulation, multicore and manycore programming, parallel programming, high performance computing, speed up

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Authors: Majid Alenezi, Abdelbare Algamode, Amy Hayes, Gavin Lawrence, Nichola Callow

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The purpose of this study was to translate and culturally adapt the Vividness of Movement Imagery Questionnaire-2 (VMIQ-2) from English to produce a new Arabic version (VMIQ-2A), and to evaluate the reliability and validity of the translated questionnaire. The questionnaire assesses how vividly and clearly individuals are able to imagine themselves performing everyday actions. Its purpose is to measure individuals’ ability to conduct movement imagery, which can be defined as “the cognitive rehearsal of a task in the absence of overt physical movement.” Movement imagery has been introduced in physiotherapy as a promising intervention technique, especially when physical exercise is not possible (e.g. pain, immobilisation.) Considerable evidence indicates movement imagery interventions improve physical function, but to maximize efficacy it is important to know the imagery abilities of the individuals being treated. Given the increase in the global sharing of knowledge it is desirable to use standard measures of imagery ability across language and cultures, thus motivating this project. The translation procedure followed guidelines from the Translation and Cultural Adaptation group of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research and involved the following phases: Preparation; the original VMIQ-2 was adapted slightly to provide additional information and simplified grammar. Forward translation; three native speakers resident in Saudi Arabia translated the original VMIQ-2 from English to Arabic, following instruction to preserve meaning (not literal translation), and cultural relevance. Reconciliation; the project manager (first author), the primary translator and a physiotherapist reviewed the three independent translations to produce a reconciled first Arabic draft of VMIQ-2A. Backward translation; a fourth translator (native Arabic speaker fluent in English) translated literally the reconciled first Arabic draft to English. The project manager and two study authors compared the English back translation to the original VMIQ-2 and produced the second Arabic draft. Cognitive debriefing; to assess participants’ understanding of the second Arabic draft, 7 native Arabic speakers resident in the UK completed the questionnaire, and rated the clearness of the questions, specified difficult words or passages, and wrote in their own words their understanding of key terms. Following review of this feedback, a final Arabic version was created. 142 native Arabic speakers completed the questionnaire in community meeting places or at home; a subset of 44 participants completed the questionnaire a second time 1 week later. Results showed the translated questionnaire to be valid and reliable. Correlation coefficients indicated good test-retest reliability. Cronbach’s a indicated high internal consistency. Construct validity was tested in two ways. Imagery ability scores have been found to be invariant across gender; this result was replicated within the current study, assessed by independent-samples t-test. Additionally, experienced sports participants have higher imagery ability than those less experienced; this result was also replicated within the current study, assessed by analysis of variance, supporting construct validity. Results provide preliminary evidence that the VMIQ-2A is reliable and valid to be used with a general population who are native Arabic speakers. Future research will include validation of the VMIQ-2A in a larger sample, and testing validity in specific patient populations.

Keywords: motor imagery, physiotherapy, translation and validation, imagery ability

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Authors: Jan F. Talts, Amit Saxena, Kåre Engkilde

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Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) is one of the most frequent side effects caused by anti-neoplastic agents, with a prevalence from 19 % to 85 %. Clinically, CIPN is a mostly sensory neuropathy leading to pain and to motor and autonomic changes. Due to its high prevalence among cancer patients, CIPN constitutes a major problem for both cancer patients and survivors, especially because currently, there is no single effective method of preventing CIPN. Hearing loss is the most common form of sensory impairment in humans and can be caused by ototoxic chemical compounds such as chemotherapy (platinum-based antineoplastic agents).In rodents, single or repeated cisplatin injections induce peripheral neuropathy and hearing impairment mimicking human disorder, allowing studying the efficacy of new pharmacological candidates in chemotherapy-induced hearing loss and peripheral neuropathy. RNA sequencing data from full term amniotic fluid (TAF) mesenchymal stemcell (MSC) clones was used to identify neural-specific markers present on TAF-MSC. Several prospective neural markers were tested by flow cytometry on cultured TAF-MSC. One of these markers was used for cell-sorting using Tyto MACSQuant cell sorter, and the neural marker positive cell population was expanded for several passages to the final therapeutic product stage. Peripheral neuropathy and hearing loss was induced in mice by administration of cisplatin in three week-long cycles. The efficacy of neural-specific TAF-MSC in treating hearing loss and pain perception was evaluated by administration of three injections of 3 million cells/kg by intravenous route or three injections of 3 million cells/kg by intra-arterial route after each cisplatin cycle treatment. Auditory brainstem responses (ABR) are electric potentials recorded from scalp electrodes, and the first ABR wave represents the summed activity of the auditory nerve fibers contacting the inner hair cells. For ABR studies, mice were anesthetized, then earphones were placed in the left ear of each mouse, an active electrode was placed in the vertex of the skull, a reference electrode under the skin of the mastoid bone, and a ground electrode in the neck skin. The stimuli consisted of tone pips of five frequencies (2, 4, 6, 12, 16, and 24 kHz) at various sound levels (from 0 to 90 dB) ranging to cover the mouse auditory frequency range. The von Frey test was used to assess the onset and maintenance of mechanical allodynia over time. Mice were placed in clear plexiglass cages on an elevated mesh floor and tested after 30 min of habituation. Mechanical paw withdrawal threshold was examined using an electronic von Frey anesthesiometer. Cisplatin groups treated with three injections of 3 million cells/kg by intravenous route and three injections of 3 million cells/kg by intra-arterial route after each cisplatin cycle treatment presented, a significant increase of hearing acuity characterized by a decrease of ABR threshold and a decrease of neuropathic pain characterized by an increase of von Frey paw withdrawal threshold compared to controls only receiving cisplatin. This study shows that treatment with MSCselected for neural specificity presents significant positive efficacy on the chemotherapy-induced neuropathic pain and the chemotherapy-induced hearing loss.

Keywords: mesenchymal stem cell, peripheral neuropathy, amniotic fluid, regenerative medicine

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Authors: Ankur Chaudhuri, Sibani Sen Chakraborty

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In human, glutaminyl cyclase activity is highly abundant in neuronal and secretory tissues and is preferentially restricted to hypothalamus and pituitary. The N-terminal modification of β-amyloids (Aβs) peptides by the generation of a pyro-glutamyl (pGlu) modified Aβs (pE-Aβs) is an important process in the initiation of the formation of neurotoxic plaques in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). This process is catalyzed by glutaminyl cyclase (QC). The expression of QC is characteristically up-regulated in the early stage of AD, and the hallmark of the inhibition of QC is the prevention of the formation of pE-Aβs and plaques. A computer-aided drug design (CADD) process was employed to give an idea for the designing of potentially active compounds to understand the inhibitory potency against human glutaminyl cyclase (QC). This work elaborates the ligand-based and structure-based pharmacophore exploration of glutaminyl cyclase (QC) by using the known inhibitors. Three dimensional (3D) quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) methods were applied to 154 compounds with known IC50 values. All the inhibitors were divided into two sets, training-set, and test-sets. Generally, training-set was used to build the quantitative pharmacophore model based on the principle of structural diversity, whereas the test-set was employed to evaluate the predictive ability of the pharmacophore hypotheses. A chemical feature-based pharmacophore model was generated from the known 92 training-set compounds by HypoGen module implemented in Discovery Studio 2017 R2 software package. The best hypothesis was selected (Hypo1) based upon the highest correlation coefficient (0.8906), lowest total cost (463.72), and the lowest root mean square deviation (2.24Å) values. The highest correlation coefficient value indicates greater predictive activity of the hypothesis, whereas the lower root mean square deviation signifies a small deviation of experimental activity from the predicted one. The best pharmacophore model (Hypo1) of the candidate inhibitors predicted comprised four features: two hydrogen bond acceptor, one hydrogen bond donor, and one hydrophobic feature. The Hypo1 was validated by several parameters such as test set activity prediction, cost analysis, Fischer's randomization test, leave-one-out method, and heat map of ligand profiler. The predicted features were then used for virtual screening of potential compounds from NCI, ASINEX, Maybridge and Chembridge databases. More than seven million compounds were used for this purpose. The hit compounds were filtered by drug-likeness and pharmacokinetics properties. The selective hits were docked to the high-resolution three-dimensional structure of the target protein glutaminyl cyclase (PDB ID: 2AFU/2AFW) to filter these hits further. To validate the molecular docking results, the most active compound from the dataset was selected as a reference molecule. From the density functional theory (DFT) study, ten molecules were selected based on their highest HOMO (highest occupied molecular orbitals) energy and the lowest bandgap values. Molecular dynamics simulations with explicit solvation systems of the final ten hit compounds revealed that a large number of non-covalent interactions were formed with the binding site of the human glutaminyl cyclase. It was suggested that the hit compounds reported in this study could help in future designing of potent inhibitors as leads against human glutaminyl cyclase.

Keywords: glutaminyl cyclase, hit lead, pharmacophore model, simulation

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Authors: Yannick Willemin

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Carbon fibre-reinforced plastic (CFRP) offers outstanding value. However, like all materials, CFRP also has its challenges. Many forming processes are largely manual and hard to automate, making it challenging to control repeatability and reproducibility (R&R); they generate significant scrap and are too slow for high-series production; fibre costs are relatively high and subject to supply and cost fluctuations; the supply chain is fragmented; many forms of CFRP are not recyclable, and many materials have yet to be fully characterized for accurate simulation; shelf life and outlife limitations add cost; continuous-fibre forms have design limitations; many materials are brittle; and small and/or thick parts are costly to produce and difficult to automate. A majority of small structural parts are metal due to high CFRP fabrication costs for the small-size class. The fact that CFRP manufacturing processes that produce the highest performance parts also tend to be the slowest and least automated is another reason CFRP parts are generally higher in cost than comparably performing metal parts, which are easier to produce. Fortunately, business is in the midst of a major manufacturing evolution—Industry 4.0— one technology seeing rapid growth is additive manufacturing/3D printing, thanks to new processes and materials, plus an ability to harness Industry 4.0 tools. No longer limited to just prototype parts, metal-additive technologies are used to produce tooling and mold components for high-volume manufacturing, and polymer-additive technologies can incorporate fibres to produce true composites and be used to produce end-use parts with high aesthetics, unmatched complexity, mass customization opportunities, and high mechanical performance. A new hybrid manufacturing process combines the best capabilities of additive—high complexity, low energy usage and waste, 100% traceability, faster to market—and post-consolidation—tight tolerances, high R&R, established materials, and supply chains—technologies. The platform was developed by Zürich-based 9T Labs AG and is called Additive Fusion Technology (AFT). It consists of a design software offering the possibility to determine optimal fibre layup, then exports files back to check predicted performance—plus two pieces of equipment: a 3d-printer—which lays up (near)-net-shape preforms using neat thermoplastic filaments and slit, roll-formed unidirectional carbon fibre-reinforced thermoplastic tapes—and a post-consolidation module—which consolidates then shapes preforms into final parts using a compact compression press fitted with a heating unit and matched metal molds. Matrices—currently including PEKK, PEEK, PA12, and PPS, although nearly any high-quality commercial thermoplastic tapes and filaments can be used—are matched between filaments and tapes to assure excellent bonding. Since thermoplastics are used exclusively, larger assemblies can be produced by bonding or welding together smaller components, and end-of-life parts can be recycled. By combining compression molding with 3D printing, higher part quality with very-low voids and excellent surface finish on A and B sides can be produced. Tight tolerances (min. section thickness=1.5mm, min. section height=0.6mm, min. fibre radius=1.5mm) with high R&R can be cost-competitively held in production volumes of 100 to 10,000 parts/year on a single set of machines.

Keywords: additive manufacturing, composites, thermoplastic, hybrid manufacturing

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Authors: Oluwaseun Adeleke, Samuel O. Ikani, Fidelis Edet, Anthony Nwala, Mopelola Raji, Simeon Christian Chukwu

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Background: The DISC project collaborated with partners to implement demand creation and service delivery interventions, including the MoT (Moment of Truth) innovation, in over 500 health facilities across 15 states. This has increased the voluntary conversion rate to self-injection among women who opt for injectable contraception. While some facilities recorded an increasing trend in key performance indicators, few others persistently performed sub-optimally due to provider and system-related barriers. Methodology: Twenty-two facilities performing sub-optimally were selected purposively from three Nigerian states. Low productivity was appraised using low reporting rates and poor SI conversion rates as indicators. Interviews were conducted with health providers across these health facilities using a rapid diagnosis tool. The project also conducted a data quality assessment that evaluated the veracity of data elements reported across the three major sources of family planning data in the facility. Findings: The inability and sometimes refusal of providers to support clients to self-inject effectively was associated with the misunderstanding of its value to their work experience. It was also observed that providers still held a strong influence over clients’ method choices. Furthermore, providers held biases and misconceptions about DMPA-SC that restricted the access of obese clients and new acceptors to services – a clear departure from the recommendations of the national guidelines. Additionally, quality of care standards was compromised because job aids were not used to inform service delivery. Facilities performing sub-optimally often under-reported DMPA-SC utilization data, and there were multiple uncoordinated responsibilities for recording and reporting. Additionally, data validation meetings were not regularly convened, and these meetings were ineffective in authenticating data received from health facilities. Other reasons for sub-optimal performance included poor documentation and tracking of stock inventory resulting in commodity stockouts, low client flow because of poor positioning of health facilities, and ineffective messaging. Some facilities lacked adequate human and material resources to provide services effectively and received very few supportive supervision visits. Supportive supervision visits and Data Quality Audits have been useful to address the aforementioned performance barriers. The project has deployed digital DMPA-SC self-injection checklists that have been aligned with nationally approved templates. During visits, each provider and community mobilizer is accorded special attention by the supervisor until he/she can perform procedures in line with best practice (protocol). Conclusion: This narrative provides a summary of a range of factors that identify health facilities performing sub-optimally in their provision of DMPA-SC services. Findings from this assessment will be useful during project design to inform effective strategies. As the project enters its final stages of implementation, it is transitioning high-impact activities to state institutions in the quest to sustain the quality of service beyond the tenure of the project. The project has flagged activities, as well as created protocols and tools aimed at placing state-level stakeholders at the forefront of improving productivity in health facilities.

Keywords: family planning, contraception, DMPA-SC, self-care, self-injection, barriers, opportunities, performance

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Authors: Claudia Cocozza, Niccolò Frassinelli, Enrico Marchi, Cristiano Foderi, Alessandro Bizzarri, Margherita Paladini, Maria Laura Traversi, Eleftherious Touloupakis, Alessio Giovannelli

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The development of tools to quickly identify the fate of injured trees after stress is highly relevant when biodiversity restoration of damaged sites is based on nature-based solutions. In this context, an approach to assess irreversible physiological damages within trees could help to support planning management decisions of perturbed sites to restore biodiversity, for the safety of the environment and understanding functionality adjustments of the ecosystems. Tree vitality can be estimated by a series of physiological proxies like cambium activity, starch, and soluble sugars amount in C-sinks whilst the accumulation of ethanol within the cambial cells and phloem is considered an alert of cell death. However, their determination requires time-consuming laboratory protocols, which makes the approach unfeasible as a practical option in the field. The project aims to develop biosensors to assess the concentration of soluble sugars and ethanol in stem tissues. Soluble sugars and ethanol concentrations will be used to define injured trees to discriminate compromised and recovering trees in the forest directly. To reach this goal, we select study sites subjected to prescribed fires or recent wildfires as experimental set-ups. Indeed, in Mediterranean countries, forest fire is a recurrent event that must be considered as a central component of regional and global strategies in forest management and biodiversity restoration programs. A biosensor will be developed through a multistep process related to target analytes characterization, bioreceptor selection, and, finally, calibration/testing of the sensor. To validate biosensor signals, soluble sugars and ethanol will be quantified by HPLC and GC using synthetic media (in lab) and phloem sap (in field) whilst cambium vitality will be assessed by anatomical observations. On burnt trees, the stem growth will be monitored by dendrometers and/or estimated by tree ring analyses, whilst the tree response to past fire events will be assessed by isotopic discrimination. Moreover, the fire characterization and the visual assessment procedure will be used to assign burnt trees to a vitality class. At the end of the project, a well-defined procedure combining biosensor signal and visual assessment will be produced and applied to a study case. The project outcomes and the results obtained will be properly packaged to reach, engage and address the needs of the final users and widely shared with relevant stakeholders involved in the optimal use of biosensors and in the management of post-fire areas. This project was funded by National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), Mission 4, Component C2, Investment 1.1 - Call for tender No. 1409 of 14 September 2022 – ‘Progetti di Ricerca di Rilevante interesse Nazionale – PRIN’ of Italian Ministry of University and Research funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU; Grant N° P2022Z5742, CUP B53D23023780001.

Keywords: phloem, scorched crown, conifers, prescribed burning, biosensors

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Authors: Sujeeva Sebastian Pereira

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Language Anxiety (LA) – a distinct psychological construct of self-perceptions and behaviors related to classroom language learning – is perceived as a significant variable highly correlated with Second Language Acquisition (SLA). However, the existing scholarship has inadequately explored the nuances of LA in relation to South Asia, especially in terms of Sri Lankan higher education contexts. Thus, the current study, situated within the broad areas of Psychology of SLA and Applied Linguistics, investigates the impact of competency-based LA and identity-based LA on learner achievement among undergraduates of Sri Lanka. Employing a case study approach to explore the impact of LA, 750 undergraduates of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka, thus covering 25% of the student population from all seven faculties of the university, were selected as participants using stratified proportionate sampling in terms of ethnicity, gender, and disciplines. The qualitative and quantitative research inquiry utilized for data collection include a questionnaire consisting a set of structured and unstructured questions, and semi-structured interviews as research instruments. Data analysis includes both descriptive and statistical measures. As per the quantitative measures of data analysis, the study employed Pearson Correlation Coefficient test, Chi-Square test, and Multiple Correspondence Analysis; it used LA as the dependent variable, and two types of independent variables were used: direct and indirect variables. Direct variables encompass the four main language skills- reading, writing, speaking and listening- and test anxiety. These variables were further explored through classroom activities on grammar, vocabulary and individual and group presentations. Indirect variables are identity, gender and cultural stereotypes, discipline, social background, income level, ethnicity, religion and parents’ education level. Learner achievement was measured through final scores the participants have obtained for Compulsory English- a common first-year course unit mandatory for all undergraduates. LA was measured using the FLCAS. In order to increase the validity and reliability of the study, data collected were triangulated through descriptive content analysis. Clearly evident through both the statistical analysis and the qualitative analysis of the results is the significant linear negative correlation between LA and learner achievement, and the significant negative correlation between LA and culturally-operated gender stereotypes which create identity disparities in learners. The study also found that both competency-based LA and identity-based LA are experienced primarily and inescapably due to the apprehensions regarding speaking in English. Most participants who reported high levels of LA were from an urban socio-economic background of lower income families. Findings exemplify the linguistic inequality prevalent in the socio-cultural milieu in Sri Lankan society. This inequality makes learning English a dire need, yet, very much an anxiety provoking process because of many sociolinguistic, cultural and ideological factors related to English as a Second Language (ESL) in Sri Lanka. The findings bring out the intricate interrelatedness of both the dependent variable (LA) and the independent variables stated above, emphasizing that the significant linear negative correlation between LA and learner achievement is connected to the affective, cognitive and sociolinguistic domains of SLA. Thus, the study highlights the promise in linguistic practices such as code-switching, crossing and accommodating hybrid identities as strategies in minimizing LA and maximizing the experience of ESL.

Keywords: language anxiety, identity-based anxiety, competence-based anxiety, TESL, Sri Lanka

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Authors: L. Diogo, A. Legrand, J. Nguyen-Cao, J. Rogeau, S. Bornhofen

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Lenia is a system of cellular automata with continuous states, space and time, which surprises not only with the emergence of interesting life-like structures but also with its beauty. This paper reports ongoing research on a GPU implementation of Lenia using CUDA C++ and OpenGL Interoperability. We demonstrate how CUDA as a low-level GPU programming paradigm allows optimizing performance and memory usage of the Lenia algorithm. A comparative analysis through experimental runs with existing implementations shows that the CUDA implementation outperforms the others by one order of magnitude or more. Cellular automata hold significant interest due to their ability to model complex phenomena in systems with simple rules and structures. They allow exploring emergent behavior such as self-organization and adaptation, and find applications in various fields, including computer science, physics, biology, and sociology. Unlike classic cellular automata which rely on discrete cells and values, Lenia generalizes the concept of cellular automata to continuous space, time and states, thus providing additional fluidity and richness in emerging phenomena. In the current literature, there are many implementations of Lenia utilizing various programming languages and visualization libraries. However, each implementation also presents certain drawbacks, which serve as motivation for further research and development. In particular, speed is a critical factor when studying Lenia, for several reasons. Rapid simulation allows researchers to observe the emergence of patterns and behaviors in more configurations, on bigger grids and over longer periods without annoying waiting times. Thereby, they enable the exploration and discovery of new species within the Lenia ecosystem more efficiently. Moreover, faster simulations are beneficial when we include additional time-consuming algorithms such as computer vision or machine learning to evolve and optimize specific Lenia configurations. We developed a Lenia implementation for GPU using the C++ and CUDA programming languages, and CUDA/OpenGL Interoperability for immediate rendering. The goal of our experiment is to benchmark this implementation compared to the existing ones in terms of speed, memory usage, configurability and scalability. In our comparison we focus on the most important Lenia implementations, selected for their prominence, accessibility and widespread use in the scientific community. The implementations include MATLAB, JavaScript, ShaderToy GLSL, Jupyter, Rust and R. The list is not exhaustive but provides a broad view of the principal current approaches and their respective strengths and weaknesses. Our comparison primarily considers computational performance and memory efficiency, as these factors are critical for large-scale simulations, but we also investigate the ease of use and configurability. The experimental runs conducted so far demonstrate that the CUDA C++ implementation outperforms the other implementations by one order of magnitude or more. The benefits of using the GPU become apparent especially with larger grids and convolution kernels. However, our research is still ongoing. We are currently exploring the impact of several software design choices and optimization techniques, such as convolution with Fast Fourier Transforms (FFT), various GPU memory management scenarios, and the trade-off between speed and accuracy using single versus double precision floating point arithmetic. The results will give valuable insights into the practice of parallel programming of the Lenia algorithm, and all conclusions will be thoroughly presented in the conference paper. The final version of our CUDA C++ implementation will be published on github and made freely accessible to the Alife community for further development.

Keywords: artificial life, cellular automaton, GPU optimization, Lenia, comparative analysis.

Procedia PDF Downloads 40

Authors: Hao Huang

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INTRODUCTION: The Association of American Colleges and Universities (AACU) recommends the development of ‘high-impact practices,’ in an effort to increase rates of student retention and student engagement at undergraduate institutions. To achieve these goals, the Scripps College Humanities Institute and HI Fellows Seminar not only featured distinguished academics presenting their scholarship about current immigration policy and its consequences in the USA and around the world but integrated socially significant community leaders and creative activists/artivists in public talks, student workshops and collaborative art events. Students participated in experiential learning that involved guest personal presentations and discussions, oral history interviews that applied standard oral history methodologies, detailed cultural documentation, collaborative artistic interventions, and weekly posts in Internet Digital Learning Environment Sakai collaborative course forums and regular responses to other students’ comments. Our teaching pedagogies addressed the four learning styles outlined in Kolb’s Learning Style Inventory. PROJECT DESCRIPTION: Over the academic year 2017-18, the Scripps College Humanities Institute and HI Fellows Seminar presented a Fall 2017 topic, ‘The World at Our Doorsteps: Immigration and Deportation in Los Angeles’. Our purpose was to address how current federal government anti-immigration measures have affected many students of color, some of whom are immigrants, many of whom are related to and are friends with people who are impacted by the attitudes as well as the practices of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. In Spring 2018, we followed with the topic, ‘Exclusive Nationalisms: Global Migration and Immigration’. This addresses the rise of white supremacists who have ascended to position of power worldwide, in America, Europe, Russia, and xenophobic nationalisms in China, Myanmar and the Philippines. Recent scholarship has suggested the existence of categories of refugees beyond the political or social, who fit into the more inclusive category of migrants. ASSESSMENT METHODOLOGIES: Assessment methodologies not only included qualitative student interviews and quantitative student evaluations in standard rubric format, but also Outcome Assessments, Formative Evaluations, and Outside Guest Teacher feedback. These indicated that the most effective educational practices involved collaborative inquiry in undergraduate research, community-based learning, and capstone projects. Assessments of E-portfolios, written and oral coursework, and final creative projects with associated 10-12 page analytic paper revealed that students developed their understanding of how government and social organizations work; they developed communication skills that enhanced working with others from different backgrounds; they developed their ability to thoughtfully evaluate their course performance by adopting reflective practices; they gained analytic and interpretive skills that encouraged self-confidence and self- initiative not only academically, but also with regards to independent projects. CONCLUSION: Most importantly, the Scripps Humanities Institute experiential learning project spurred on real-world actions by our students, such as a public symposium on how to cope with bigots, a student tutoring program for immigrant staff children, student negotiations with the administration to establish meaningful, sustainable diversity and inclusion programs on-campus. Activism is not only to be taught to and for our students– it has to be enacted by our students.

Keywords: immigration, migration, human rights, learning assessment

Procedia PDF Downloads 130

Authors: Joel Rookwood

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Sports mega events have become increasingly significant in sporting, political and economic terms, with analysis often focusing on issues including resource expenditure, development, legacy and sustainability. Transnational tournaments can inspire interest from a variety of demographics, and the operational management of such events can involve contributions from a range of personnel. In addition to television audiences events also attract attending spectators, and in football contexts the temporary migration of fans from potentially rival nations and teams can present event organising committees and security personnel with various challenges in relation to crowd management. The behaviour, interaction and control of supporters has previously led to incidents of disorder and hooliganism, with damage to property as well as injuries and deaths proving significant consequences. The Heysel tragedy at the 1985 European Cup final in Brussels is a notable example, where 39 fans died following crowd disorder and mismanagement. Football disasters and disorder, particularly in the context of international competition, have inspired responses from police, law makers, event organisers, clubs and associations, including stadium improvements, legislative developments and crowd management practice to improve the effectiveness of spectator safety. The growth and internationalisation of fandom and developments in event management and tourism have seen various responses to the evolving challenges associated with hosting large numbers of visiting spectators at mega events. In football contexts ‘fan parks’ are a notable example. Since the first widespread introduction in European football competitions at the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany, these facilities have become a staple element of such mega events. This qualitative, longitudinal, multi-continent research draws on extensive semi-structured interview and observation data. As a frame of reference, this work considers football events staged before and after the development of fan parks. Research was undertaken at four World Cup finals (Japan 2002, Germany 2006, South Africa 2010 and Brazil 2014), four European Championships (Portugal 2004, Switzerland/Austria 2008, Poland/Ukraine 2012 and France 2016), four other confederation tournaments (Ghana 2008, Qatar 2011, USA 2011 and Chile 2015), and four European club finals (Istanbul 2005, Athens 2007, Rome 2009 and Basle 2016). This work found that these parks are typically temporarily erected, specifically located zones where supporters congregate together irrespective of allegiances to watch matches on large screens, and partake in other forms of organised on-site entertainment. Such facilities can also allow organisers to control the behaviour, confine the movement and monitor the alcohol consumption of supporters. This represents a notable shift in policy from previous football tournaments, when the widely assumed causal link between alcohol and hooliganism which frequently shaped legislative and police responses to disorder, also dissuaded some authorities from permitting fans to consume alcohol in and around stadia. It also reflects changing attitudes towards modern football fans. The work also found that in certain contexts supporters have increasingly engaged with such provision which impacts fan behaviour, but that this is relative to factors including location, facilities, management and security.

Keywords: event, facility, fan, management, park

Procedia PDF Downloads 311

Authors: Vincent Schlageter, Maroua Mestiri, Florian Denzinger, Hugo Raetzo, Michel Demierre

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Precise landslide monitoring with differential global navigation satellite system (GNSS) is well known, but technical or economic reasons limit its application by geotechnical companies. This study demonstrates the reliability and the usefulness of Geomon (Infrasurvey Sàrl, Switzerland), a stand-alone and cost-effective rover network. The system permits deploying up to 15 rovers, plus one reference station for differential GNSS. A dedicated radio communication links all the modules to a base station, where an embedded computer automatically provides all the relative positions (L1 phase, open-source RTKLib software) and populates an Internet server. Each measure also contains information from an internal inclinometer, battery level, and position quality indices. Contrary to standard GNSS survey systems, which suffer from a limited number of beacons that must be placed in areas with good GSM signal, Geomon offers greater flexibility and permits a real overview of the whole landslide with good spatial resolution. Each module is powered with solar panels, ensuring autonomous long-term recordings. In this study, we have tested the system on several sites in the Swiss mountains, setting up to 7 rovers per site, for an 18 month-long survey. The aim was to assess the robustness and the accuracy of the system in different environmental conditions. In one case, we ran forced blind tests (vertical movements of a given amplitude) and compared various session parameters (duration from 10 to 90 minutes). Then the other cases were a survey of real landslides sites using fixed optimized parameters. Sub centimetric-accuracy with few outliers was obtained using the best parameters (session duration of 60 minutes, baseline 1 km or less), with the noise level on the horizontal component half that of the vertical one. The performance (percent of aborting solutions, outliers) was reduced with sessions shorter than 30 minutes. The environment also had a strong influence on the percent of aborting solutions (ambiguity search problem), due to multiple reflections or satellites obstructed by trees and mountains. The length of the baseline (distance reference-rover, single baseline processing) reduced the accuracy above 1 km but had no significant effect below this limit. In critical weather conditions, the system’s robustness was limited: snow, avalanche, and frost-covered some rovers, including the antenna and vertically oriented solar panels, leading to data interruption; and strong wind damaged a reference station. The possibility of changing the sessions’ parameters remotely was very useful. In conclusion, the rover network tested provided the foreseen sub-centimetric-accuracy while providing a dense spatial resolution landslide survey. The ease of implementation and the fully automatic long-term survey were timesaving. Performance strongly depends on surrounding conditions, but short pre-measures should allow moving a rover to a better final placement. The system offers a promising hazard mitigation technique. Improvements could include data post-processing for alerts and automatic modification of the duration and numbers of sessions based on battery level and rover displacement velocity.

Keywords: GNSS, GSM, landslide, long-term, network, solar, spatial resolution, sub-centimeter.

Procedia PDF Downloads 110

Authors: Liane J. Ioannou, Jonathan Serpell, Cino Bendinelli, David Walters, Jenny Gough, Dean Lisewski, Win Meyer-Rochow, Julie Miller, Duncan Topliss, Bill Fleming, Stephen Farrell, Andrew Kiu, James Kollias, Mark Sywak, Adam Aniss, Linda Fenton, Danielle Ghusn, Simon Harper, Aleksandra Popadich, Kate Stringer, David Watters, Susannah Ahern

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BACKGROUND: There are significant variations in the management, treatment and outcomes of thyroid cancer, particularly in the role of: diagnostic investigation and pre-treatment scanning; optimal extent of surgery (total or hemi-thyroidectomy); use of active surveillance for small low-risk cancers; central lymph node dissections (therapeutic or prophylactic); outcomes following surgery (e.g. recurrent laryngeal nerve palsy, hypocalcaemia, hypoparathyroidism); post-surgical hormone, calcium and vitamin D therapy; and provision and dosage of radioactive iodine treatment. A proven strategy to reduce variations in the outcome and to improve survival is to measure and compare it using high-quality clinical registry data. Clinical registries provide the most effective means of collecting high-quality data and are a tool for quality improvement. Where they have been introduced at a state or national level, registries have become one of the most clinically valued tools for quality improvement. To benchmark clinical care, clinical quality registries require systematic measurement at predefined intervals and the capacity to report back information to participating clinical units. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to develop a core set clinical indicators that enable measurement and reporting of quality of care for patients with thyroid cancer. We hypothesise that measuring clinical quality indicators, developed to identify differences in quality of care across sites, will reduce variation and improve patient outcomes and survival, thereby lessening costs and healthcare burden to the Australian community. METHOD: Preparatory work and scoping was conducted to identify existing high quality, clinical guidelines and best practice for thyroid cancer both nationally and internationally, as well as relevant literature. A bi-national panel was invited to participate in a modified Delphi process. Panelists were asked to rate each proposed indicator on a Likert scale of 1–9 in a three-round iterative process. RESULTS: A total of 236 potential quality indicators were identified. One hundred and ninety-two indicators were removed to reflect the data capture by the Australian and New Zealand Thyroid Cancer Registry (ANZTCR) (from diagnosis to 90-days post-surgery). The remaining 44 indicators were presented to the panelists for voting. A further 21 indicators were later added by the panelists bringing the total potential quality indicators to 65. Of these, 21 were considered the most important and feasible indicators to measure quality of care in thyroid cancer, of which 12 were recommended for inclusion in the final set. The consensus indicator set spans the spectrum of care, including: preoperative; surgery; surgical complications; staging and post-surgical treatment planning; and post-surgical treatment. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides a core set of quality indicators to measure quality of care in thyroid cancer. This indicator set can be applied as a tool for internal quality improvement, comparative quality reporting, public reporting and research. Inclusion of these quality indicators into monitoring databases such as clinical quality registries will enable opportunities for benchmarking and feedback on best practice care to clinicians involved in the management of thyroid cancer.

Keywords: clinical registry, Delphi survey, quality indicators, quality of care

Procedia PDF Downloads 179

Authors: Kyriaki Hatziagapiou, Eleni Kakouri, Konstantinos Bethanis, Alexandra Nikola, Eleni Koniari, Charalabos Kanakis, Elias Christoforides, George Lambrou, Petros Tarantilis

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Medulloblastoma is a highly invasive tumour, as it tends to disseminate throughout the central nervous system early in its course. Despite the high 5-year-survival rate, a significant number of patients demonstrate serious long- or short-term sequelae (e.g., myelosuppression, endocrine dysfunction, cardiotoxicity, neurological deficits and cognitive impairment) and higher mortality rates, unrelated to the initial malignancy itself but rather to the aggressive treatment. A strong rationale exists for the use of Crocus sativus L (saffron) and its bioactive constituents (crocin, crocetin, safranal) as pharmaceutical agents, as they exert significant health-promoting properties. Crocins are water soluble carotenoids. Unlike other carotenoids, crocins are highly water-soluble compounds, with relatively low toxicity as they are not stored in adipose and liver tissues. Crocins have attracted wide attention as promising anti-cancer agents, due to their antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and immunomodulatory effects, interference with transduction pathways implicated in tumorigenesis, angiogenesis, and metastasis (disruption of mitotic spindle assembly, inhibition of DNA topoisomerases, cell-cycle arrest, apoptosis or cell differentiation) and sensitization of cancer cells to radiotherapy and chemotherapy. The current research aimed to study the potential cytotoxic effect of crocins on TE671 medulloblastoma cell line, which may be useful in the optimization of existing and development of new therapeutic strategies. Crocins were extracted from stigmas of saffron in ultrasonic bath, using petroleum-ether, diethylether and methanol 70%v/v as solvents and the final extract was lyophilized. Identification of crocins according to high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis was determined comparing the UV-vis spectra and the retention time (tR) of the peaks with literature data. For the biological assays crocin was diluted to nuclease and protease free water. TE671 cells were incubated with a range of concentrations of crocins (16, 8, 4, 2, 1, 0.5 and 0.25 mg/ml) for 24, 48, 72 and 96 hours. Analysis of cell viability after incubation with crocins was performed with Alamar Blue viability assay. The active ingredient of Alamar Blue, resazurin, is a blue, nontoxic, cell permeable compound virtually nonfluorescent. Upon entering cells, resazurin is reduced to a pink and fluorescent molecule, resorufin. Viable cells continuously convert resazurin to resorufin, generating a quantitative measure of viability. The colour of resorufin was quantified by measuring the absorbance of the solution at 600 nm with a spectrophotometer. HPLC analysis indicated that the most abundant crocins in our extract were trans-crocin-4 and trans-crocin-3. Crocins exerted significant cytotoxicity in a dose and time-dependent manner (p < 0.005 for exposed cells to any concentration at 48, 72 and 96 hours versus cells not exposed); as their concentration and time of exposure increased, the reduction of resazurin to resofurin decreased, indicating reduction in cell viability. IC50 values for each time point were calculated ~3.738, 1.725, 0.878 and 0.7566 mg/ml at 24, 48, 72 and 96 hours, respectively. The results of our study could afford the basis of research regarding the use of natural carotenoids as anticancer agents and the shift to targeted therapy with higher efficacy and limited toxicity. Acknowledgements: The research was funded by Fellowships of Excellence for Postgraduate Studies IKY-Siemens Programme.

Keywords: crocetin, crocin, medulloblastoma, saffron

Procedia PDF Downloads 215

Authors: Tianqiao Zhang, Ye Tian, Yanliang Yin, Yichao Tian, Suzhai Tian, Weige Sun, Shuhui Gong, Limei Tang, Ruoliang Tang

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Introduction: Healthcare workers, especially the nurses all over the world, are highly vulnerable to work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs), experiencing high rates of neck, shoulder, and low back injuries, due to the unfavorable working conditions. To reduce WMSDs among nursing personnel, many workplace interventions have been developed and implemented. Unfortunately, the ongoing Covid-19 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic has posed great challenges to the ergonomic practices and interventions in healthcare facilities, particularly the hospitals, since current Covid-19 mitigation measures, such as social distancing and working remotely, has substantially minimized in-person gatherings and trainings. On the other hand, hospitals throughout the world have been short-staffed, resulting in disturbance of shift scheduling and more importantly, the increased job demand among the available caregivers, particularly the doctors and nurses. With the latest development in communication technology, remote intervention measures have been developed as an alternative, without the necessity of in-person meetings. The Omaha System (OS) is a standardized classification system for nursing practices, including a problem classification system, an intervention system, and an outcome evaluation system. This paper describes the development of an OS-based ergonomic intervention program. Methods: First, a comprehensive literature search was performed among worldwide electronic databases, including PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), between journal inception to May 2020, resulting in a total of 1,418 scientific articles. After two independent screening processes, the final knowledge pool included eleven randomized controlled trial studies to develop the draft of the intervention program with Omaha intervention subsystem as the framework. After the determination of sample size needed for statistical power and the potential loss to follow-up, a total of 94 nurses from eight clinical departments agreed to provide written, informed consent to participate in the study, which were subsequently assigned into two random groups (i.e., intervention vs. control). A subgroup of twelve nurses were randomly selected to participate in a semi-structured interview, during which their general understanding and awareness of musculoskeletal disorders and potential interventions was assessed. Then, the first draft was modified to reflect the findings from these interviews. Meanwhile, the tentative program schedule was also assessed. Next, two rounds of consultation were conducted among experts in nursing management, occupational health, psychology, and rehabilitation, to further adjust and finalize the intervention program. The control group had access to all the information and exercise modules at baseline, while an interdisciplinary research team was formed and supervised the implementation of the on-line intervention program through multiple social media groups. Outcome measures of this comparative study included biomechanical load assessed by the Quick Exposure Check and stresses due to awkward body postures. Results and Discussion: Modification to the draft included (1) supplementing traditional Chinese medicine practices, (2) adding the use of assistive patient handling equipment, and (3) revising the on-line training method. Information module should be once a week, lasting about 20 to 30 minutes, for a total of 6 weeks, while the exercise module should be 5 times a week, each lasting about 15 to 20 minutes, for a total of 6 weeks.

Keywords: ergonomic interventions, musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), omaha system, nurses, Covid-19

Procedia PDF Downloads 180

Authors: Stephen Verderber

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The World Health Organization (WHO) calls for research and development on ecologically sustainable, resilient structures capable of effectively responding to disaster events globally, in response to climate change, politically based diasporas, earthquakes, and other adverse events upending the rhythms of everyday life globally. By 2050, nearly 80% of the world’s population will reside in coastal zones, and this, coupled with the increasingly dire impacts of climate change, constitute a recipe for further chaos and disruption, and in light of these events, architects have yet to rise up to meet the challenge. In the arena of healthcare, rapidly deployable clinics and field hospitals can provide immediate assistance in medically underserved disaster strike zones. Transportable facilities offer multiple advantages over conventional, fixed-site hospitals, as lightweight, comparatively unencumbered alternatives. These attributes have been proven repeatedly in 20th century vehicular and tent-based structures deployed in frontline combat theaters and in prior natural disasters. Prefab transportable clinics and trauma centers recently responded adroitly to medical emergencies in the aftermath of the Haitian (2010) and Ecuadorian (2016) earthquakes, and in North American post-hurricane relief efforts (2017) while architects continue to be castigated by their engineer colleagues as chronically poor first responders. Architecturally based portable structures for healthcare currently include Redeployable Health Centers (RHCs), Redeployable Trauma Centers (RTCs), and Permanent Modular Installations (PMIs). Five tectonic variants within this typology have recently been operationalized in the field: 1. Vehicular-based Nomadics: Prefab modules installed on a truck chassis with interior compartments dropped in prior to final assembly. Alternately, a two-component apparatus is preferred, with a truck cab pulling a modular medical unit, with independent transiting component; 2. Tent and Pneumatic Systems: Tent/yurt precursors and inflatable systems lightweight and responsive to topographically challenging terrain and diverse climates; 3. Containerized Systems: The standard modular intermodal-shipping container affords structural strength, resiliency in difficult transiting conditions, and can be densely close-packed and these can be custom-built or hold flat-pack systems; 4. Flat-Packs and Pop-Up Systems: These kit-of-part assemblies are shipped in standardized or specially-designed ISO containers; and 5. Hybrid Systems: These consist of composite facilities representing a synthesis of mobile vehicular components and/or tent or shipping containers, fused with conventional or pneumatically activated tent systems. Hybrids are advantageous in many installation contexts from an aesthetic, fabrication, and transiting perspective. Advantages/disadvantages of various modular systems are comparatively examined, followed by presentation of a compendium of 80 evidence (research)-based planning and design considerations addressing site/context, transiting and commissioning, triage, decontamination/intake, diagnostic and treatment, facility tectonics, and administration/total environment. The benefits of offsite pre-manufactured fabrication are examined, as is anticipated growth in international demand for transportable healthcare facilities to meet the challenges posed by accelerating global climate change and global conflicts. This investigation into rapid response facilities for pre and post-disaster zones is drawn from a recent book by the author, the first on architecture on this topic (Innovations in Transportable Healthcare Architecture).

Keywords: disaster mitigation, rapid response healthcare architecture, offsite prefabrication

Procedia PDF Downloads 117

Authors: Maria João Ferreira, Natalia Sierra-Garcia, Javier Cremades, Carla António, Ana M. Rodrigues, Helena Silva, Ângela Cunha

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Salicornia ramosissima, a halophyte that grows naturally in coastal areas of the northern hemisphere, is often considered the most promising halophyte candidate for extensive crop cultivation and saline agriculture practices. The expanding interest in this plant surpasses its use as gourmet food and includes their potential application as a source of bioactive compounds for the pharmaceutical industry. Despite growing well in saline soils, sustainable and ecologically friendly techniques to enhance crop production and the nutritional value of this plant are still needed. The root microbiome of S. ramosissima proved to be a source of taxonomically diverse plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB). Halotolerant strains of Bacillus, Salinicola, Pseudomonas, and Brevibacterium, among other genera, exhibit a broad spectrum of plant-growth promotion traits [e.g., 3-indole acetic acid (IAA), 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC) deaminase, siderophores, phosphate solubilization, Nitrogen fixation] and express a wide range of extracellular enzyme activities. In this work, three plant growth-promoting bacteria strains (Brevibacterium casei EB3, Pseudomonas oryzihabitans RL18, and Bacillus aryabhattai SP20) isolated from the rhizosphere and the endosphere of S. ramosissima roots from different saltmarshes along the Portuguese coast were inoculated in S. ramosissima seeds. Plants germinated from inoculated seeds were grown for three months in pots filled with a mixture of perlite and estuarine sediment (1:1) in greenhouse conditions and later transferred to a growth chamber, where they were maintained two months with controlled photoperiod, temperature, and humidity. Pots were placed on trays containing the irrigation solution (Hoagland’s solution 20% added with 10‰ marine salt). Before reaching the flowering stage, plants were collected, and the fresh and dry weight of aerial parts was determined. Non-inoculated seeds were used as a negative control. Selected dried stems from the most promising treatments were later analyzed by GC-TOF-MS for primary metabolite composition. The efficiency of inoculation and persistence of the inoculum was assessed by Next Generation Sequencing. Inoculations with single strain EB3 and co-inoculations with EB3+RL18 and EB3+RL18+SP20 (All treatment) resulted in significantly higher biomass production (fresh and dry weight) compared to non-inoculated plants. Considering fresh weight alone, inoculation with isolates SP20 and RL18 also caused a significant positive effect. Combined inoculation with the consortia SP20+EB3 or SP20+RL18 did not significantly improve biomass production. The analysis of the profile of primary metabolites will provide clues on the mechanisms by which the growth-enhancement effect of the inoculants operates in the plants. These results sustain promising prospects for the use of rhizospheric and endophytic PGPB as biofertilizers, reducing environmental impacts and operational costs of agrochemicals and contributing to the sustainability and cost-effectiveness of saline agriculture. Acknowledgments: This work was supported by project Rhizomis PTDC/BIA-MIC/29736/2017 financed by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) through the Regional Operational Program of the Center (02/SAICT/2017) with FEDER funds (European Regional Development Fund, FNR, and OE) and by FCT through CESAM (UIDP/50017/2020 + UIDB/50017/2020), LAQV-REQUIMTE (UIDB/50006/2020). We also acknowledge FCT/FSE for the financial support to Maria João Ferreira through a PhD grant (PD/BD/150363/2019). We are grateful to Horta dos Peixinhos for their help and support during sampling and seed collection. We also thank Glória Pinto for her collaboration providing us the use of the growth chambers during the final months of the experiment and Enrique Mateos-Naranjo and Jennifer Mesa-Marín of the Departamento de Biología Vegetal y Ecología, the University of Sevilla for their advice regarding the growth of salicornia plants in greenhouse conditions.

Keywords: halophytes, PGPB, rhizosphere engineering, biofertilizers, primary metabolite profiling, plant inoculation, Salicornia ramosissima

Procedia PDF Downloads 157

Authors: Jocelyn Doucet, Jean-Philippe Laviolette, Ali Eslami

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The end-of-life management and recycling of polymer wastes remains a key environment issue in on-going efforts to increase resource efficiency and attaining GHG emission reduction targets. Half of all the plastics ever produced were made in the last 13 years, and only about 16% of that plastic waste is collected for recycling, while 25% is incinerated, 40% is landfilled, and 19% is unmanaged and leaks in the environment and waterways. In addition to the plastic collection issue, the UN recently published a report on chemicals in plastics, which adds another layer of challenge when integrating recycled content containing toxic products into new products. To tackle these important issues, innovative solutions are required. Chemical recycling of plastics provides new complementary alternatives to the current recycled plastic market by converting waste material into a high value chemical commodity that can be reintegrated in a variety of applications, making the total market size of the output – virgin-like, high value products - larger than the market size of the input – plastic waste. Access to high-quality feedstock also remains a major obstacle, primarily due to material contamination issues. Pyrowave approaches this challenge with its innovative nano-recycling technology, which purifies polymers at the molecular level, removing undesirable contaminants and restoring the resin to its virgin state without having to depolymerise it. This breakthrough approach expands the range of plastics that can be effectively recycled, including mixed plastics with various contaminants such as lead, inorganic pigments, and flame retardants. The technology allows yields below 100ppm, and purity can be adjusted to an infinitesimal level depending on the customer's specifications. The separation of the polymer and contaminants in Pyrowave's nano-recycling process offers the unique ability to customize the solution on targeted additives and contaminants to be removed based on the difference in molecular size. This precise control enables the attainment of a final polymer purity equivalent to virgin resin. The patented process involves dissolving the contaminated material using a specially formulated solvent, purifying the mixture at the molecular level, and subsequently extracting the solvent to yield a purified polymer resin that can directly be reintegrated in new products without further treatment. Notably, this technology offers simplicity, effectiveness, and flexibility while minimizing environmental impact and preserving valuable resources in the manufacturing circuit. Pyrowave has successfully applied this nano-recycling technology to decontaminate polymers and supply purified, high-quality recycled plastics to critical industries, including food-contact compliance. The technology is low-carbon, electrified, and provides 100% traceable resins with properties identical to those of virgin resins. Additionally, the issue of low recycling rates and the limited market for traditionally hard-to-recycle plastic waste has fueled the need for new complementary alternatives. Chemical recycling, such as Pyrowave's microwave depolymerization, presents a sustainable and efficient solution by converting plastic waste into high-value commodities. By employing microwave catalytic depolymerization, Pyrowave enables a truly circular economy of plastics, particularly in treating polystyrene waste to produce virgin-like styrene monomers. This revolutionary approach boasts low energy consumption, high yields, and a reduced carbon footprint. Pyrowave offers a portfolio of sustainable, low-carbon, electric solutions to give plastic waste a second life and paves the way to the new circular economy of plastics. Here, particularly for polystyrene, we show that styrene monomer yields from Pyrowave’s polystyrene microwave depolymerization reactor is 2,2 to 1,5 times higher than that of the thermal conventional pyrolysis. In addition, we provide a detailed understanding of the microwave assisted depolymerization via analyzing the effects of microwave power, pyrolysis time, microwave receptor and temperature on the styrene product yields. Furthermore, we investigate life cycle environmental impact assessment of microwave assisted pyrolysis of polystyrene in commercial-scale production. Finally, it is worth pointing out that Pyrowave is able to treat several tons of polystyrene to produce virgin styrene monomers and manage waste/contaminated polymeric materials as well in a truly circular economy.

Keywords: nanorecycling, nanomaterials, plastic recycling, depolymerization

Procedia PDF Downloads 65