Search results for: user age profile

Authors: Michael J. Haslip

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Character strength application improves performance and well-being in adults across industries, but the potential impact of character strength training among early childhood educators is mostly unknown. To explore how character strengths are applied by early childhood educators at work, a qualitative study was completed alongside professional development provided to a group of in-service teachers of children ages 0-5 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Study participants (n=17) were all female. The majority of participants were non-white, in full-time lead or assistant teacher roles, had at least ten years of experience and a bachelor’s degree. Teachers were attending professional development weekly for 2 hours over a 10-week period on the topic of social and emotional learning and child guidance. Related to this training were modules and sessions on identifying a teacher’s character strength profile using the Values in Action classification of 24 strengths (e.g., humility, perseverance) that have a scientific basis. Teachers were then asked to apply their character strengths to help resolve current workplace challenges. This study identifies which character strengths the teachers reported using most frequently and the nature of the workplace challenges being resolved in this context. The study also reports how difficult these challenges were to the teachers and their success rate at resolving workplace challenges using a character strength application plan. The study also documents how teachers’ own use of character strengths relates to their modeling of these same traits (e.g., kindness, teamwork) for children, especially when the nature of the workplace challenge directly involves the children, such as when addressing issues of classroom management and behavior. Data were collected on action plans (reflective templates) which teachers wrote to explain the work challenge they were facing, the character strengths they used to address the challenge, their plan for applying strengths to the challenge, and subsequent results. Content analysis and thematic analysis were used to investigate the research questions using approaches that included classifying, connecting, describing, and interpreting data reported by educators. Findings reveal that teachers most frequently use kindness, leadership, fairness, hope, and love to address a range of workplace challenges, ranging from low to high difficulty, involving children, coworkers, parents, and for self-management. Teachers reported a 71% success rate at fully or mostly resolving workplace challenges using the action plan method introduced during professional development. Teachers matched character strengths to challenges in different ways, with certain strengths being used mostly when the challenge involved children (love, forgiveness), others mostly with adults (bravery, teamwork), and others universally (leadership, kindness). Furthermore, teacher’s application of character strengths at work involved directly modeling character for children in 31% of reported cases. The application of character strengths among early childhood educators may play a significant role in improving teacher well-being, reducing job stress, and improving efforts to model character for young children.

Keywords: character strengths, positive psychology, professional development, social-emotional learning

Procedia PDF Downloads 75

Authors: Buket Celik Ünal, Onur Ünal

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Communication is the most challenging part of maintenance operations. Communication between expert and fieldworker is crucial for effective maintenance and this also affects the safety of the fieldworkers. To support a machine user in a remote collaborative physical task, both, a mobile and a stationary device are needed. Such a system is called a shared vision system and the system supports two people to solve a problem from different places. This system reduces the errors and provides a reliable support for qualified and less qualified users. Through this research, it was aimed to validate the effectiveness of using a shared vision system to facilitate communication between on-site workers and those issuing instructions regarding maintenance or inspection works over long distances. The system is designed with head-worn display which is called a shared vision system. As a part of this study, a substitute system is used and implemented by using a shared vision system for maintenance operation. The benefits of the use of a shared vision system are analyzed and results are adapted to the wind turbines to improve the occupational safety and health for maintenance technicians. The motivation for the research effort in this study can be summarized in the following research questions: -How can expert support technician over long distances during maintenance operation? -What are the advantages of using a shared vision system? Experience from the experiment shows that using a shared vision system is an advantage for both electrical and mechanical system failures. Results support that the shared vision system can be used for wind turbine maintenance and repair tasks. Because wind turbine generator/gearbox and the substitute system have similar failures. Electrical failures, such as voltage irregularities, wiring failures and mechanical failures, such as alignment, vibration, over-speed conditions are the common and similar failures for both. Furthermore, it was analyzed the effectiveness of the shared vision system by using a smart glasses in connection with the maintenance task performed by a substitute system under four different circumstances, namely by using a shared vision system, an audio communication, a smartphone and by yourself condition. A suitable method for determining dependencies between factors measured in Chi Square Test, and Chi Square Test for Independence measured for determining a relationship between two qualitative variables and finally Mann Whitney U Test is used to compare any two data sets. While based on this experiment, no relation was found between the results and the gender. Participants` responses confirmed that the shared vision system is efficient and helpful for maintenance operations. From the results of the research, there was a statistically significant difference in the average time taken by subjects on works using a shared vision system under the other conditions. Additionally, this study confirmed that a shared vision system provides reduction in time to diagnose and resolve maintenance issues, reduction in diagnosis errors, reduced travel costs for experts, and increased reliability in service.

Keywords: communication support, maintenance and inspection tasks, occupational health and safety, shared vision system

Procedia PDF Downloads 240

Authors: Hanan Begali, Shahi Dost, Annett Ziegler, Markus Cornberg, Maria-Esther Vidal, Anke R. M. Kraft

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Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection can be treated with nucleot(s)ide analog (NA), for example, which inhibits HBV replication. However, they have hardly any influence on the functional cure of HBV, which is defined by hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) loss. NA needs to be taken life-long, which is not available for all patients worldwide. Additionally, NA-treated patients are still at risk of developing cirrhosis, liver failure, or hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Although each patient has the same components of the immune system, immune responses vary between patients. Therefore, a deeper understanding of the immune response against HBV in different patients is necessary to understand the parameters leading to HBV cure and to use this knowledge to optimize HBV therapies. This requires seamless integration of an enormous amount of diverse and fine-grained data from viral markers, e.g., hepatitis B core-related antigen (HBcrAg) and hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg). The data integration system relies on the assumption that profiling human immune systems requires the analysis of various variables (e.g., demographic data, treatments, pre-existing conditions, immune cell response, or HLA-typing) rather than only one. However, the values of these variables are collected independently. They are presented in a myriad of formats, e.g., excel files, textual descriptions, lab book notes, and images of flow cytometry dot plots. Additionally, patients can be identified differently in these analyses. This heterogeneity complicates the integration of variables, as data management techniques are needed to create a unified view in which individual formats and identifiers are transparent when profiling the human immune systems. The proposed study (HBsRE) aims at integrating heterogeneous data sets of 87 chronically HBV-infected patients, e.g., clinical data, immune cell response, and HLA-typing, with knowledge encoded in biomedical ontologies and open-source databases into a knowledge-driven framework. This new technique enables us to harmonize and standardize heterogeneous datasets in the defined modeling of the data integration system, which will be evaluated in the knowledge graph (KG). KGs are data structures that represent the knowledge and data as factual statements using a graph data model. Finally, the analytic data model will be applied on top of KG in order to develop a deeper understanding of the immune profiles among various patients and to evaluate factors playing a role in a holistic profile of patients with HBsAg level loss. Additionally, our objective is to utilize this unified approach to stratify patients for new effective treatments. This study is developed in the context of the project “Transforming big data into knowledge: for deep immune profiling in vaccination, infectious diseases, and transplantation (ImProVIT)”, which is a multidisciplinary team composed of computer scientists, infection biologists, and immunologists.

Keywords: chronic hepatitis B infection, immune response, knowledge graphs, ontology

Procedia PDF Downloads 88

Authors: Gaurangi Saxena, Ravindra Saxena

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Lately, cloud computing is used to enhance the ability to attain corporate goals more effectively and efficiently at lower cost. This new computing paradigm “The Cloud Computing” has emerged as a powerful tool for optimum utilization of resources and gaining competitiveness through cost reduction and achieving business goals with greater flexibility. Realizing the importance of this new technique, most of the well known companies in computer industry like Microsoft, IBM, Google and Apple are spending millions of dollars in researching cloud computing and investigating the possibility of producing interface hardware for cloud computing systems. It is believed that by using the right middleware, a cloud computing system can execute all the programs a normal computer could run. Potentially, everything from most simple generic word processing software to highly specialized and customized programs designed for specific company could work successfully on a cloud computing system. A Cloud is a pool of virtualized computer resources. Clouds are not limited to grid environments, but also support “interactive user-facing applications” such as web applications and three-tier architectures. Cloud Computing is not a fundamentally new paradigm. It draws on existing technologies and approaches, such as utility Computing, Software-as-a-service, distributed computing, and centralized data centers. Some companies rent physical space to store servers and databases because they don’t have it available on site. Cloud computing gives these companies the option of storing data on someone else’s hardware, removing the need for physical space on the front end. Prominent service providers like Amazon, Google, SUN, IBM, Oracle, Salesforce etc. are extending computing infrastructures and platforms as a core for providing top-level services for computation, storage, database and applications. Application services could be email, office applications, finance, video, audio and data processing. By using cloud computing system a company can improve its customer relationship management. A CRM cloud computing system may be highly useful in delivering a sales team a blend of unique functionalities to improve agent/customer interactions. This paper attempts to first define the cloud computing as a tool for running business activities more effectively and efficiently at a lower cost; and then it distinguishes cloud computing with grid computing. Based on exhaustive literature review, authors discuss application of cloud computing in different disciplines of management especially in the field of marketing with special reference to use of cloud computing in CRM. Study concludes that CRM cloud computing platform helps a company track any data, such as orders, discounts, references, competitors and many more. By using CRM cloud computing, companies can improve its customer interactions and by serving them more efficiently that too at a lower cost can help gaining competitive advantage.

Keywords: cloud computing, competitive advantage, customer relationship management, grid computing

Procedia PDF Downloads 281

Authors: Santos Maza, Enzo Aldoradin, Carlos Pariona, Eliud Arpi, Maria Rosales

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The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of flaying then bleeding anchovy (Engraulis ringens) immersed within a sodium citrate solution. Anchovy is a pelagic fish that readily deteriorates due to its high content of polyunsaturated fatty acids. As such, within the Peruvian food industry, the shelf life of frozen anchovy is explicitly 6 months, this short duration imparts a barrier to use for direct consumption human. Thus, almost all capture of anchovy by the fishing industry is eventually used in the production of fishmeal. We offer this an alternative to its typical production process in order to increase shelf life. In the present study, 100 kg of anchovies were captured and immediately mixed with ice on ship, maintaining a high quality sensory metric (e.g., with color blue in back) while still arriving for processing less than 2 h after capture. Anchovies with fat content of 3% were immediately flayed (i.e., reducing subcutaneous fat), beheaded, gutted and bled (i.e., removing hemoglobin) by immersion in water (Control) or in a solution of 2.5% sodium citrate (treatment), then subsequently frozen at -30 °C for 8 h in 2 kg batches. Subsequent glazing and storage at -25 °C for 14 months completed the experiments parameters. The peroxide value (PV), acidity (A), fatty acid profile (FAP), thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), heme iron (HI), pH and sensory attributes of the samples were evaluated monthly. The results of the PV, TBARS, A, pH and sensory analyses displayed significant differences (p<0.05) between treatment and control sample; where the sodium citrate treated samples showed increased preservation features. Specifically, at the beginning of the study, flayed, beheaded, gutted and bled anchovies displayed low content of fat (1.5%) with moderate amount of PV, A and TBARS, and were not rejected by sensory analysis. HI values and FAP displayed varying behavior, however, results of HI did not reveal a decreasing trend. This result is indicative of the fact that levels of iron were maintained as HI and did not convert into no heme iron, which is known to be the primary catalyst of lipid oxidation in fish. According to the FAP results, the major quantity of fatty acid was of polyunsaturated fatty acid (PFA) followed by saturated fatty acid (SFA) and then monounsaturated fatty acid (MFA). According to sensory analysis, the shelf life of flayed, beheaded and gutted anchovy (control and treatment) was 14 months. This shelf life was reached at laboratory level because high quality anchovies were used and immediately flayed, beheaded, gutted, bled and frozen. Therefore, it is possible to maintain the shelf life of anchovies for a long time. Overall, this method displayed a large increase in shelf life relative to that commonly seen for anchovies in this industry. However, these results should be extrapolated at industrial scales to propose better processing conditions and improve the quality of anchovy for direct human consumption.

Keywords: citrate sodium solution, heme iron, polyunsaturated fatty acids, shelf life of frozen anchovy

Procedia PDF Downloads 270

Authors: Yan Torres, Fernanda Simoes, Francisco Petrucci-Fonseca, Freddie-Jeanne Richard

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The non-invasive samples are an alternative of collecting genetic samples directly. Non-invasive samples are collected without the manipulation of the animal (e.g., scats, feathers and hairs). Nevertheless, the use of non-invasive samples has some limitations. The main issue is degraded DNA, leading to poorer extraction efficiency and genotyping. Those errors delayed for some years a widespread use of non-invasive genetic information. Possibilities to limit genotyping errors can be done using analysis methods that can assimilate the errors and singularities of non-invasive samples. Genotype matching and population estimation algorithms can be highlighted as important analysis tools that have been adapted to deal with those errors. Although, this recent development of analysis methods there is still a lack of empirical performance comparison of them. A comparison of methods with dataset different in size and structure can be useful for future studies since non-invasive samples are a powerful tool for getting information specially for endangered and rare populations. To compare the analysis methods, four different datasets used were obtained from the Dryad digital repository were used. Three different matching algorithms (Cervus, Colony and Error Tolerant Likelihood Matching - ETLM) are used for matching genotypes and two different ones for population estimation (Capwire and BayesN). The three matching algorithms showed different patterns of results. The ETLM produced less number of unique individuals and recaptures. A similarity in the matched genotypes between Colony and Cervus was observed. That is not a surprise since the similarity between those methods on the likelihood pairwise and clustering algorithms. The matching of ETLM showed almost no similarity with the genotypes that were matched with the other methods. The different cluster algorithm system and error model of ETLM seems to lead to a more criterious selection, although the processing time and interface friendly of ETLM were the worst between the compared methods. The population estimators performed differently regarding the datasets. There was a consensus between the different estimators only for the one dataset. The BayesN showed higher and lower estimations when compared with Capwire. The BayesN does not consider the total number of recaptures like Capwire only the recapture events. So, this makes the estimator sensitive to data heterogeneity. Heterogeneity in the sense means different capture rates between individuals. In those examples, the tolerance for homogeneity seems to be crucial for BayesN work properly. Both methods are user-friendly and have reasonable processing time. An amplified analysis with simulated genotype data can clarify the sensibility of the algorithms. The present comparison of the matching methods indicates that Colony seems to be more appropriated for general use considering a time/interface/robustness balance. The heterogeneity of the recaptures affected strongly the BayesN estimations, leading to over and underestimations population numbers. Capwire is then advisable to general use since it performs better in a wide range of situations.

Keywords: algorithms, genetics, matching, population

Procedia PDF Downloads 117

Authors: B. Petrović, L. Rutonjski, M. Baucal, M. Teodorović, O. Čudić, B. Basarić

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Purpose/Objective: Radiotherapy treatment planning requires use of CT simulator, in order to acquire CT images. The overall performance of CT simulator determines the quality of radiotherapy treatment plan, and at the end, the outcome of treatment for every single patient. Therefore, it is strongly advised by international recommendations, to set up a quality control procedures for every machine involved in radiotherapy treatment planning process, including the CT scanner/ simulator. The overall process requires number of tests, which are used on daily, weekly, monthly or yearly basis, depending on the feature tested. Materials/Methods: Two phantoms were used: a dedicated phantom CIRS 062QA, and a QA phantom obtained with the CT simulator. The examined CT simulator was Siemens Somatom Definition as Open, dedicated for radiation therapy treatment planning. The CT simulator has a built in software, which enables fast and simple evaluation of CT QA parameters, using the phantom provided with the CT simulator. On the other hand, recommendations contain additional test, which were done with the CIRS phantom. Also, legislation on ionizing radiation protection requires CT testing in defined periods of time. Taking into account the requirements of law, built in tests of a CT simulator, and international recommendations, the intitutional QC programme for CT imulator is defined, and implemented. Results: The CT simulator parameters evaluated through the study were following: CT number accuracy, field uniformity, complete CT to ED conversion curve, spatial and contrast resolution, image noise, slice thickness, and patient table stability.The following limits are established and implemented: CT number accuracy limits are +/- 5 HU of the value at the comissioning. Field uniformity: +/- 10 HU in selected ROIs. Complete CT to ED curve for each tube voltage must comply with the curve obtained at comissioning, with deviations of not more than 5%. Spatial and contrast resultion tests must comply with the tests obtained at comissioning, otherwise machine requires service. Result of image noise test must fall within the limit of 20% difference of the base value. Slice thickness must meet manufacturer specifications, and patient stability with longitudinal transfer of loaded table must not differ of more than 2mm vertical deviation. Conclusion: The implemented QA tests gave overall basic understanding of CT simulator functionality and its clinical effectiveness in radiation treatment planning. The legal requirement to the clinic is to set up it’s own QA programme, with minimum testing, but it remains user’s decision whether additional testing, as recommended by international organizations, will be implemented, so to improve the overall quality of radiation treatment planning procedure, as the CT image quality used for radiation treatment planning, influences the delineation of a tumor and calculation accuracy of treatment planning system, and finally delivery of radiation treatment to a patient.

Keywords: CT simulator, radiotherapy, quality control, QA programme

Procedia PDF Downloads 498

Authors: Martina Grdiša, Filip Varga, Nina Jeran, Ante Turudić, Zlatko Šatović

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Dalmatian pyrethrum (Tanacetum cinerariifolium (Trevir.) Sch. Bip.) is a plant species that occurs naturally in the eastern Mediterranean. It is of immense economic importance as it synthesizes and accumulates the phytochemical compound pyrethrin. Pyrethrin consists of several monoterpene esters (pyrethrin I and II, cinerin I and II and jasmolin I and II), which have insecticidal and repellent activity through their synergistic action. In this study, 15 natural Dalmatian pyrethrum populations were sampled along their natural range in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro to characterize and compare their pyrethrin profiles and to define the bioclimatic factors associated with the accumulation of each pyrethrin compound. Pyrethrins were extracted from the dried flower heads of Dalmatian pyrethrum using ultrasound-assisted extraction and the amount of each compound was quantified using high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to DAD-UV /VIS. The biochemical data were subjected to analysis of variance, correlation analysis and multivariate analysis. Quantitative variability within and among populations was found, with population P15 Vranjske Njive, Podgorica having the significantly highest pyrethrin I content (66.47% of total pyrethrin content), while the highest levels of total pyrethrin were found in P14 Budva (1.27% of dry flower weight; DW), followed by P08 Korčula (1.15% DW). Based on the environmental conditions at the sampling sites of the populations, five bioclimatic groups were distinguished, referred to as A, B, C, D, and E, each with rare chemical profile. The first group (A) consisted of the northern Adriatic population P01 Vrbnik, Krk and the population P06 Sevid - the coastal population of the central Adriatic, and generally differed significantly from the other bioclimatic groups by higher average jasmolin II values (2.13% of total pyrethrin). The second group (B) consisted of two central Adriatic island populations (P02 Telašćica, Dugi otok and P03 Žman, Dugi otok), while the remaining central Adriatic island populations were grouped in bioclimatic group C, which was characterized by the significantly highest average pyrethrin II (48.52% of total pyrethrin) and cinerin II (5.31% DW) content. The South Adriatic inland populations P10 Srđ and P11 Trebinje (Bosnia and Herzegovina), and the populations from Montenegro (P12 Grahovo, P13 Lovćen, P14 Budva and P15 Vranjske Njive, Podgorica) formed bioclimatic group E. This bioclimatic group was characterized by the highest average values for pyrethrin I (53.07 % of total pyrethrin), total pyrethrin content (1.06 % DW) and the ratio of pyrethrin I and II (1.85). Slightly lower values (although not significant) for the latter traits were detected in bioclimatic group D (southern Adriatic island populations P07 Vis, P08 Korčula and P09 Mljet). A weak but significant correlation was found between the levels of some pyrethrin compounds and bioclimatic variables (e.g., BIO03 Isothermality and BIO04 Temperature Seasonality), which explains part of the variability observed in the populations studied. This suggests the interconnection between bioclimatic variables and biochemical profiles either through the selection of adapted genotypes or through the ability of species to alter the expression of biochemical traits in response to environmental changes.

Keywords: biopesticides, biochemical variability, pyrethrin, Tanacetum cinerariifolium

Procedia PDF Downloads 120

Authors: Noelia L. Alchapar, Cláudia C. Pezzuto, Erica N. Correa

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Mitigating urban overheating is key to achieving the environmental and energy sustainability of cities. The management of the optical properties of the materials that make up the urban envelope -roofing, pavement, and facades- constitutes a profitable and effective tool to improve the urban microclimate and rehabilitate urban areas. Each material that makes up the urban envelope has a different capacity to reflect received solar radiation, which alters the fraction of solar radiation absorbed by the city. However, the paradigm of increasing solar reflectance in all areas of the city without distinguishing their relative position within the urban canyon can cause serious problems of overheating and discomfort among its inhabitants. The hypothesis that supports the research postulates that not all reflective technologies that contribute to urban radiative cooling favor the thermal comfort conditions of pedestrians to equal measure. The objective of this work is to determine to what degree the management of the optical properties of the facades modifies outdoor thermal comfort, given that the mitigation potential of materials with high reflectance in facades is strongly conditioned by geographical variables and by the geometric characteristics of the urban profile aspect ratio (H/W). This research was carried out under two climatic contexts, that of the city of Mendoza-Argentina and that of the city of Campinas-Brazil, according to the Köppen climate classification: BWk and Cwa, respectively. Two areas in two different climatic contexts (Mendoza - Argentina and Campinas - Brazil) were selected. Both areas have comparable urban morphology patterns. These areas are located in a region with low horizontal building density and residential zoning. The microclimatic conditions were monitored during the summer period with temperature and humidity fixed sensors inside vial channels. The microclimate model was simulated in ENVI-Met V5. A grid resolution of 3.5 x 3.5 x 3.5m was used for both cities, totaling an area of 145x145x30 grids. Based on the validated theoretical model, ten scenarios were simulated, modifying the height of buildings and the solar reflectivity of facades. The solar reflectivity façades ranges were: low (0.3) and high (0.75). The density scenarios range from 1th to the 5th level. The study scenarios' performance was assessed by comparing the air temperature, physiological equivalent temperature (PET), and thermal climate index (UTCI). As a result, it is observed that the behavior of the materials of the urban outdoor space depends on complex interactions. Many urban environmental factors influence including constructive characteristics, urban morphology, geographic locations, local climate, and so forth. The role of the vertical urban envelope is decisive for the reduction of urban overheating. One of the causes of thermal gain is the multiple reflections within the urban canyon, which affects not only the air temperature but also the pedestrian thermal comfort. One of the main findings of this work leads to the remarkable importance of considering both the urban warming and the thermal comfort aspects of pedestrians in urban mitigation strategies.

Keywords: materials facades, solar reflectivity, thermal comfort, urban cooling

Procedia PDF Downloads 65

Authors: Mari Jaakkola, Jasmiina Haverinen, Tiina Tolonen, Vesa Virtanen

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These process monitoring of biogas plant gives valuable information of the function of the process and help to maintain a stable process. The costs of basic monitoring are often much lower than the costs associated with re-establishing a biologically destabilised plant. Reactor acidification through reactor overload is one of the most common reasons for process deterioration in anaerobic digesters. This occurs because of a build-up of volatile fatty acids (VFAs) produced by acidogenic and acetogenic bacteria. VFAs cause pH values to decrease, and result in toxic conditions in the reactor. Ammonia ensures an adequate supply of nitrogen as a nutrient substance for anaerobic biomass and increases system's buffer capacity, counteracting acidification lead by VFA production. However, elevated ammonia concentration is detrimental to the process due to its toxic effect. VFAs are considered the most reliable analytes for process monitoring. To obtain accurate results, sample storage and transportation need to be carefully controlled. This may be a challenge for off-line laboratory analyses especially when the plant is located far away from the laboratory. The aim of this study was to investigate the correlation between fatty acids, ammonium, and bacteria in the anaerobic digestion samples obtained from an industrial biogas factory. The stability of the analytes was studied comparing the results of the on-site analyses performed in the factory site to the results of the samples stored at room temperature and -18°C (up to 30 days) after sampling. Samples were collected in the biogas plant consisting of three separate mesofilic AD reactors (4000 m³ each) where the main feedstock was swine slurry together with a complex mixture of agricultural plant and animal wastes. Individual VFAs, ammonium, and nutrients (K, Ca, Mg) were studied by capillary electrophoresis (CE). Longer chain fatty acids (oleic, hexadecanoic, and stearic acids) and bacterial profiles were studied by GC-MSD (Gas Chromatography-Mass Selective Detector) and 16S rDNA, respectively. On-site monitoring of the analytes was performed by CE. The main VFA in all samples was acetic acid. However, in one reactor sample elevated levels of several individual VFAs and long chain fatty acids were detected. Also bacterial profile of this sample differed from the profiles of other samples. Acetic acid decomposed fast when the sample was stored in a room temperature. All analytes were stable when stored in a freezer. Ammonium was stable even at a room temperature for the whole testing period. One reactor sample had higher concentration of VFAs and long chain fatty acids than other samples. CE was utilized successfully in the on-site analysis of separate VFAs and NH₄ in the biogas production site. Samples should be analysed in the sampling day if stored in RT or freezed for longer storage time. Fermentation reject can be stored (and transported) at ambient temperature at least for one month without loss of NH₄. This gives flexibility to the logistic solutions when reject is used as a fertilizer.

Keywords: anaerobic digestion, capillary electrophoresis, ammonium, bacteria

Procedia PDF Downloads 153

Authors: Nilufer Turksoy

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Social media tools successfully connect people from different milieu to each other. This easy access allows politicians with populist attitude to circulate any kind of political opinion or message, which will hardly appear in conventional media. Populism is a relevant concept, especially, in political communication research. In the last decade, populism in social media has been researched extensively. The present study focuses on how social media is used as a playground by Turkish Cypriot politicians to perform populism in Northern Cyprus. It aims to determine and understand the relationship between politicians and social media, and how they employ social media in their political lives. Northern Cyprus’s multi-faced character provides politicians with many possible frames and topics they can make demagogy about ongoing political deadlock, international isolation, economic instability or social and cultural life in the north part of the island. Thus, Northern Cyprus, bizarrely branded as a 'no man's land', is a case par excellence to show how politically and economically unstable geographies are inclined to perform populism. Northern Cyprus is legally invalid territory recognized by no member of the international community other than Turkey and a phantom state, just like Abkhazia and South Ossetia or Nagorno-Karabakh. Five ideological key elements of populism are employed in the theoretical framework of this study: (1) highlighting the sovereignty of the people, (2) attacking the elites, (3) advocacy for the people, (4) excluding others, and (5) invoking the heartland. A qualitative text analysis of typical Facebook posts was conducted. Profiles of popular political leaders who occupy top positions (e.g. member of parliament, minister, chairman, party secretary), who have different political views, and who use their profiles for political expression on daily bases are selected. All official Facebook pages of the selected politicians are examined during a period of five months (1 September 2017-31 January 2018). This period is selected since it was prior to the parliamentary elections. Finding revealed that majority of the Turkish Cypriot politicians use their social media profile to propagate their political ideology in a populist fashion. Populist statements are found across parties. Facebook give especially the left-wing political actors the freedom to spread their messages in manipulative ways, mostly by using a satiric, ironic and slandering jargon that refers to the pseudo-state, the phantom state, the unrecognized Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus state. While most of the political leaders advocate for the people, invoking the heartland are preferred by right-wing politicians. A broad range of left-wing politicians predominantly conducted attack on the economic elites and ostracism of others. The finding concluded that different politicians use social media differently according to their political standpoint. Overall, the study offers a thorough analysis of populism on social media. Considering the large role social media plays in the daily life today, the finding will shed some light on the political influence of social media and the social media usage among politicians.

Keywords: Northern Cyprus, populism, politics, qualitative text analysis, social media

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Authors: Praniil Nagaraj

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This paper proposes a method to collect homeless data using crowdsourcing and presents an approach to analyze the data, demonstrating its potential to strengthen existing and future policies aimed at promoting socio-economic equilibrium. The 2022 Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) to Congress highlighted alarming statistics, emphasizing the need for effective decision-making and budget allocation within local planning bodies known as Continuums of Care (CoC). This paper's contributions can be categorized into three main areas. Firstly, a unique method for collecting homeless data is introduced, utilizing a user-friendly smartphone app (currently available for Android). The app enables the general public to quickly record information about homeless individuals, including the number of people and details about their living conditions. The collected data, including date, time, and location, is anonymized and securely transmitted to the cloud. It is anticipated that an increasing number of users motivated to contribute to society will adopt the app, thus expanding the data collection efforts. Duplicate data is addressed through simple classification methods, and historical data is utilized to fill in missing information. The second contribution of this paper is the description of data analysis techniques applied to the collected data. By combining this new data with existing information, statistical regression analysis is employed to gain insights into various aspects, such as distinguishing between unsheltered and sheltered homeless populations, as well as examining their correlation with factors like unemployment rates, housing affordability, and labor demand. Initial data is collected in San Francisco, while pre-existing information is drawn from three cities: San Francisco, New York City, and Washington D.C., facilitating the conduction of simulations. The third contribution focuses on demonstrating the practical implications of the data processing results. The challenges faced by key stakeholders, including charitable organizations and local city governments, are taken into consideration. Two case studies are presented as examples. The first case study explores improving the efficiency of food and necessities distribution, as well as medical assistance, driven by charitable organizations. The second case study examines the correlation between micro-geographic budget expenditure by local city governments and homeless information to justify budget allocation and expenditures. The ultimate objective of this endeavor is to enable the continuous enhancement of the quality of life for the underprivileged. It is hoped that through increased crowdsourcing of data from the public, the Generosity Curve and the Need Curve will intersect, leading to a better world for all.

Keywords: crowdsourcing, homelessness, socio-economic policies, statistical analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 36

Authors: Kali Prasad Sarma, Nibedita Baul, Jinu Deka

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In the present study, pollution level of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) in surface soil of historic Tezpur town located in the north bank of the River Brahmaputra were evaluated. In order to determine the seasonal distribution and concentration level of 16 USEPA priority PAHs surface soil samples were collected from 12 different sampling sites with various land use type. The total concentrations of 16 PAHs (∑16 PAHs) varied from 242.68µgkg-1to 7901.89µgkg-1. Concentration of total probable carcinogenic PAH ranged between 7.285µgkg-1 and 479.184 µgkg-1 in different seasons. However, the concentration of BaP, the most carcinogenic PAH, was found in the range of BDL to 50.01 µgkg-1. The composition profiles of PAHs in 3 different seasons were characterized by following two different types of ring: (1) 4-ring PAHs, contributed to highest percentage of total PAHs (43.75%) (2) while in pre- and post- monsoon season 3- ring compounds dominated the PAH profile, contributing 65.58% and 74.41% respectively. A high PAHs concentration with significant seasonality and high abundance of LMWPAHs was observed in Tezpur town. Soil PAHs toxicity was evaluated taking toxic equivalency factors (TEFs), which quantify the carcinogenic potential of other PAHs relative to BaP and estimate benzo[a]pyrene-equivalent concentration (BaPeq). The calculated BaPeq value signifies considerable risk to contact with soil PAHs. We applied cluster analysis and principal component analysis (PCA) with multivariate linear regression (MLR) to apportion sources of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in surface soil of Tezpur town, based on the measured PAH concentrations. The results indicate that petrogenic and pyrogenic sources are the important sources of PAHs. A combination of chemometric and molecular indices were used to identify the sources of PAHs, which could be attributed to vehicle emissions, a mixed source input, natural gas combustion, wood or biomass burning and coal combustion. Source apportionment using absolute principle component scores–multiple linear regression showed that the main sources of PAHs are 22.3% mix sources comprising of diesel and biomass combustion and petroleum spill,13.55% from vehicle emission, 9.15% from diesel and natural gas burning, 38.05% from wood and biomass burning and 16.95% contribute coal combustion. Pyrogenic input was found to dominate source of PAHs origin with more contribution from vehicular exhaust. PAHs have often been found to co-emit with other environmental pollutants like heavy metals due to similar source of origin. A positive correlation was observed between PAH with Cr and Pb (r2 = 0.54 and 0.55 respectively) in monsoon season and PAH with Cd and Pb (r2 = 0.54 and 0.61 respectively) indicating their common source. Strong correlation was observed between PAH and OC during pre- and post- monsoon (r2=0.46 and r2=0.65 respectively) whereas during monsoon season no significant correlation was observed (r2=0.24).

Keywords: polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, Tezpur town, chemometric analysis, ecological risk assessment, pollution

Procedia PDF Downloads 189

Authors: Sahar El Shair, Laura Greco, William Reay, Murray Cairns

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Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic, systematic, inflammatory, autoimmune disease that involves damages to joints and erosions to the associated bones and cartilage, resulting in reduced physical function and disability. RA is a multifactorial disorder influenced by heterogenous genetic and environmental factors. Whilst different medications have proven successful in reducing inflammation associated with RA, they often come with significant side effects and limited efficacy. To address this, the novel pharmagenic enrichment score (PES) algorithm was tested in self-reported RA patients from the UK Biobank (UKBB), which is a cohort of predominantly European ancestry, and identified individuals with a high genetic risk in clinically actionable biological pathways to identify novel opportunities for precision interventions and drug repurposing to treat RA. Methods and materials: Genetic association data for rheumatoid arthritis was derived from publicly available genome-wide association studies (GWAS) summary statistics (N=97173). The PES framework exploits competitive gene set enrichment to identify pathways that are associated with RA to explore novel treatment opportunities. This data is then integrated into WebGestalt, Drug Interaction database (DGIdb) and DrugBank databases to identify existing compounds with existing use or potential for repurposed use. The PES for each of these candidates was then profiled in individuals with RA in the UKBB (Ncases = 3,719, Ncontrols = 333,160). Results A total of 209 pathways with known drug targets after multiple testing correction were identified. Several pathways, including interferon gamma signaling and TID pathway (which relates to a chaperone that modulates interferon signaling), were significantly associated with self-reported RA in the UKBB when adjusting for age, sex, assessment centre month and location, RA polygenic risk and 10 principal components. These pathways have a major role in RA pathogenesis, including autoimmune attacks against certain citrullinated proteins, synovial inflammation, and bone loss. Encouragingly, many also relate to the mechanism of action of existing RA medications. The analyses also revealed statistically significant association between RA polygenic scores and self-reported RA with individual PES scorings, highlighting the potential utility of the PES algorithm in uncovering additional genetic insights that could aid in the identification of individuals at risk for RA and provide opportunities for more targeted interventions. Conclusions In this study, pharmacologically annotated genetic risk was explored through the PES framework to overcome inter-individual heterogeneity and enable precision drug repurposing in RA. The results showed a statistically significant association between RA polygenic scores and self-reported RA and individual PES scorings for 3,719 RA patients. Interestingly, several enriched PES pathways were targeted by already approved RA drugs. In addition, the analysis revealed genetically supported drug repurposing opportunities for future treatment of RA with a relatively safe profile.

Keywords: rheumatoid arthritis, precision medicine, drug repurposing, system biology, bioinformatics

Procedia PDF Downloads 51

Authors: Hai L. Tran

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Previous research on agenda setting effects has often focused on the top-down influence of the media at the aggregate level, while overlooking the capacity of audience members to select media and content to fit their individual dispositions. The decentralized characteristics of online communication and digital news create more choices and greater user control, thereby enabling each audience member to seek out a unique blend of media sources, issues, and elements of messages and to mix them into a coherent individual picture of the world. This study examines how audiences use media differently depending on their prior dispositions, thereby making sense of the world in ways that are congruent with their preferences and cognitions. The current undertaking is informed by theoretical frameworks from two distinct lines of scholarship. According to the ideological migration hypothesis, individuals choose to live in communities with ideologies like their own to satisfy their need to belong. One tends to move away from Zip codes that are incongruent and toward those that are more aligned with one’s ideological orientation. This geographical division along ideological lines has been documented in social psychology research. As an extension of agenda setting, the agendamelding hypothesis argues that audiences seek out information in attractive media and blend them into a coherent narrative that fits with a common agenda shared by others, who think as they do and communicate with them about issues of public. In other words, individuals, through their media use, identify themselves with a group/community that they want to join. Accordingly, the present study hypothesizes that because ideology plays a role in pushing people toward a physical community that fits their need to belong, it also leads individuals to receive an idiosyncratic blend of media and be influenced by such selective exposure in deciding what issues are more relevant. Consequently, the individualized focus of media choices impacts how audiences perceive political news coverage and what they know about political issues. The research project utilizes recent data from The American Trends Panel survey conducted by Pew Research Center to explore the nuanced nature of agenda setting at the individual level and amid heightened polarization. Hypothesis testing is performed with both nonparametric and parametric procedures, including regression and path analysis. This research attempts to explore the media-public relationship from a bottom-up approach, considering the ability of active audience members to select among media in a larger process that entails agenda setting. It helps encourage agenda-setting scholars to further examine effects at the individual, rather than aggregate, level. In addition to theoretical contributions, the study’s findings are useful for media professionals in building and maintaining relationships with the audience considering changes in market share due to the spread of digital and social media.

Keywords: agenda setting, agendamelding, audience fragmentation, ideological migration, partisanship, polarization

Procedia PDF Downloads 31

Authors: Kyoung Lee

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Numerous aerobic bacteria have the ability to form multicellular communities on the surface layer of the air-liquid (A-L) interface as a biofilm called a pellicle. Pellicles occupied at the A-L interface will benefit from the utilization of oxygen from air and nutrient from liquid. Buoyancy of cells can be obtained by high surface tension at the A-L interface. Thus, formation of pellicles is an adaptive advantage in utilization of excess nutrients in the standing culture where oxygen depletion is easily set up due to rapid cell growth. In natural environments, pellicles are commonly observed on the surface of lake or pond contaminated with pollutants. Previously, we have shown that when cultured in standing LB media an alkylphenol-degrading bacteria Pseudomonas alkylphenolia KL28 forms pellicles in a diameter of 0.3-0.5 mm with a thickness of ca 40 µm. The pellicles have unique features for possessing flatness and unusual rigidity. In this study, the biogenesis of the circular pellicles has been investigated by observing the cell organization at early stages of pellicle formation and cell arrangements in pellicle, providing a clue for highly organized cellular arrangement to be adapted to the air-liquid niche. Here, we first monitored developmental patterns of pellicle from monolayer to multicellular organization. Pellicles were shaped by controlled growth of constituent cells which accumulate extracellular polymeric substance. The initial two-dimensional growth was transited to multilayers by a constraint force of accumulated self-produced extracellular polymeric substance. Experiments showed that pellicles are formed by clonal growth and even with knock-out of genes for flagella and pilus formation. In contrast, the mutants in the epm gene cluster for alginate-like polymer biosynthesis were incompetent in cell alignment for initial two-dimensional growth of pellicles. Electron microscopic and confocal laser scanning microscopic studies showed that the fully matured structures are highly packed by matrix-encased cells which have special arrangements. The cells on the surface of the pellicle lie relatively flat and inside longitudinally cross packed. HPLC analysis of the extrapolysaccharide (EPS) hydrolysate from the colonies from LB agar showed a composition with L-fucose, L-rhamnose, D-galactosamine, D-glucosamine, D-galactose, D-glucose, D-mannose. However, that from pellicles showed similar neutral and amino sugar profile but missing galactose. Furthermore, uronic acid analysis of EPS hydrolysates by HPLC showed that mannuronic acid was detected from pellicles not from colonies, indicating the epm-derived polymer is critical for pellicle formation as proved by the epm mutants. This study verified that for the circular pellicle architecture P. alkylphenolica KL28 cells utilized EPS building blocks different from that used for colony construction. These results indicate that P. alkylphenolica KL28 is a clever architect that dictates unique cell arrangements with selected EPS matrix material to construct sophisticated building, circular biofilm pellicles.

Keywords: biofilm, matrix, pellicle, pseudomonas

Procedia PDF Downloads 135

Authors: Olympia Nisiforou

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The cultural heritage of each country represents a unique and irreplaceable witness of the past. Nevertheless, on many occasions, such heritage is extremely vulnerable to natural disasters and reckless behaviors. Even if such exhibits are now located in Museums, they still receive insufficient protection due to improper environmental conditions. These external changes can negatively affect the conditions of the exhibits and contribute to inefficient maintenance in time. Hence, it is imperative to develop an innovative, low-cost system, to monitor indoor air quality systematically, since conventional methods are quite expensive and time-consuming. The present study gives an insight into the indoor air quality of the National Byzantine Museum of Cyprus. In particular, systematic measurements of particulate matter, bio-aerosols, the concentration of targeted chemical pollutants (including Volatile organic compounds (VOCs), temperature, relative humidity, and lighting conditions as well as microbial counts have been performed using conventional techniques. Measurements showed that most of the monitored physiochemical parameters did not vary significantly within the various sampling locations. Seasonal fluctuations of ammonia were observed, showing higher concentrations in the summer and lower in winter. It was found that the outdoor environment does not significantly affect indoor air quality in terms of VOC and Nitrogen oxides (NOX). A cutting-edge portable Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) system (TORION T-9) was used to identify and measure the concentrations of specific Volatile and Semi-volatile Organic Compounds. A large number of different VOCs and SVOCs found such as Benzene, Toluene, Xylene, Ethanol, Hexadecane, and Acetic acid, as well as some more complex compounds such as 3-ethyl-2,4-dimethyl-Isopropyl alcohol, 4,4'-biphenylene-bis-(3-aminobenzoate) and trifluoro-2,2-dimethylpropyl ester. Apart from the permanent indoor/outdoor sources (i.e., wooden frames, painted exhibits, carpets, ventilation system and outdoor air) of the above organic compounds, the concentration of some of them within the areas of the museum were found to increase when large groups of visitors were simultaneously present at a specific place within the museum. The high presence of Particulate Matter (PM), fungi and bacteria were found in the museum’s areas where carpets were present but low colonial counts were found in rooms where artworks are exhibited. Measurements mentioned above were used to validate an innovative low-cost air-quality monitoring system that has been developed within the present work. The developed system is able to monitor the average concentrations (on a bidaily basis) of several pollutants and presents several innovative features, including the prompt alerting in case of increased average concentrations of monitored pollutants, i.e., exceeding the limit values defined by the user.

Keywords: exibitions, indoor air quality , VOCs, pollution

Procedia PDF Downloads 102

Authors: Daniel Martin Fellows, Sean P. Walton, Jennifer Thompson, Oubay Hassan, Kevin Tinkham, Ella Quigley

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Structural integrity for cladding products is a key performance parameter, especially concerning fire performance. Cladding products such as PIR-based sandwich panels are tested rigorously, in line with industrial standards. Physical fire tests are necessary to ensure the customer's safety but can give little information about critical behaviours that can help develop new materials. Numerical modelling is a tool that can help investigate a fire's behaviour further by replicating the fire test. However, fire is an interdisciplinary problem as it is a chemical reaction that behaves fluidly and impacts structural integrity. An analysis using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and Finite Element Analysis (FEA) is needed to capture all aspects of a fire performance test. One method is a two-way coupling analysis that imports the updated changes in thermal data, due to the fire's behaviour, to the FEA solver in a series of iterations. In light of our recent work with Tata Steel U.K using a two-way coupling methodology to determine the fire performance, it has been shown that a program called FDS-2-Abaqus can make predictions of a BS 476 -22 furnace test with a degree of accuracy. The test demonstrated the fire performance of Tata Steel U.K Trisomet product, a Polyisocyanurate (PIR) based sandwich panel used for cladding. Previous works demonstrated the limitations of the current version of the program, the main limitation being the computational cost of modelling three Trisomet panels, totalling an area of 9 . The computational cost increases substantially, with the intention to scale up to an LPS 1181-1 test, which includes a total panel surface area of 200 .The FDS-2-Abaqus program is developed further within this paper to overcome this obstacle and better accommodate Tata Steel U.K PIR sandwich panels. The new developments aim to reduce the computational cost and error margin compared to experimental data. One avenue explored is a multi-scale approach in the form of Reduced Order Modeling (ROM). The approach allows the user to include refined details of the sandwich panels, such as the overlapping joints, without a computationally costly mesh size.Comparative studies will be made between the new implementations and the previous study completed using the original FDS-2-ABAQUS program. Validation of the study will come from physical experiments in line with governing body standards such as BS 476 -22 and LPS 1181-1. The physical experimental data includes the panels' gas and surface temperatures and mechanical deformation. Conclusions are drawn, noting the new implementations' impact factors and discussing the reasonability for scaling up further to a whole warehouse.

Keywords: fire testing, numerical coupling, sandwich panels, thermo fluids

Procedia PDF Downloads 47

Authors: Mohammad Alipour, Ekin Esen, Riza Kizilel

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Lithium-ion batteries are a commonly used type of rechargeable batteries because of their high specific energy and specific power. With the growing popularity of electric vehicles and hybrid electric vehicles, increasing attentions have been paid to rechargeable Lithium-ion batteries. However, safety problems, high cost and poor performance in low ambient temperatures and high current rates, are big obstacles for commercial utilization of these batteries. By proper thermal management, most of the mentioned limitations could be eliminated. Temperature profile of the Li-ion cells has a significant role in the performance, safety, and cycle life of the battery. That is why little temperature gradient can lead to great loss in the performances of the battery packs. In recent years, numerous researchers are working on new techniques to imply a better thermal management on Li-ion batteries. Keeping the battery cells within an optimum range is the main objective of battery thermal management. Commercial Li-ion cells are composed of several electrochemical layers each consisting negative-current collector, negative electrode, separator, positive electrode, and positive current collector. However, many researchers have adopted a single-layer cell to save in computing time. Their hypothesis is that thermal conductivity of the layer elements is so high and heat transfer rate is so fast. Therefore, instead of several thin layers, they model the cell as one thick layer unit. In previous work, we showed that single-layer model is insufficient to simulate the thermal behavior and temperature nonuniformity of the high-capacity Li-ion cells. We also studied the effects of the number of layers on thermal behavior of the Li-ion batteries. In this work, first thermal and electrochemical behavior of the LiFePO₄ battery is modeled with 3D multilayer cell. The model is validated with the experimental measurements at different current rates and ambient temperatures. Real time heat generation rate is also studied at different discharge rates. Results showed non-uniform temperature distribution along the cell which requires thermal management system. Therefore, aluminum plates with mini-channel system were designed to control the temperature uniformity. Design parameters such as channel number and widths, inlet flow rate, and cooling fluids are optimized. As cooling fluids, water and air are compared. Pressure drop and velocity profiles inside the channels are illustrated. Both surface and internal temperature profiles of single cell and battery packs are investigated with and without cooling systems. Our results show that using optimized Mini-channel cooling plates effectively controls the temperature rise and uniformity of the single cells and battery packs. With increasing the inlet flow rate, cooling efficiency could be reached up to 60%.

Keywords: lithium ion battery, 3D multilayer model, mini-channel cooling plates, thermal management

Procedia PDF Downloads 135

Authors: Shraddha Chaudhary, Raksha Agarwal, Niladri Chatterjee

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This work demonstrates a web crawler-based generalized end-to-end open domain Question Answering (QA) system. An efficient QA system requires a significant amount of domain knowledge to answer any question with the aim to find an exact and correct answer in the form of a number, a noun, a short phrase, or a brief piece of text for the user's questions. Analysis of the question, searching the relevant document, and choosing an answer are three important steps in a QA system. This work uses a web scraper (Beautiful Soup) to extract K-documents from the web. The value of K can be calibrated on the basis of a trade-off between time and accuracy. This is followed by a passage ranking process using the MS-Marco dataset trained on 500K queries to extract the most relevant text passage, to shorten the lengthy documents. Further, a QA system is used to extract the answers from the shortened documents based on the query and return the top 3 answers. For evaluation of such systems, accuracy is judged by the exact match between predicted answers and gold answers. But automatic evaluation methods fail due to the linguistic ambiguities inherent in the questions. Moreover, reference answers are often not exhaustive or are out of date. Hence correct answers predicted by the system are often judged incorrect according to the automated metrics. One such scenario arises from the original Google Natural Question (GNQ) dataset which was collected and made available in the year 2016. Use of any such dataset proves to be inefficient with respect to any questions that have time-varying answers. For illustration, if the query is where will be the next Olympics? Gold Answer for the above query as given in the GNQ dataset is “Tokyo”. Since the dataset was collected in the year 2016, and the next Olympics after 2016 were in 2020 that was in Tokyo which is absolutely correct. But if the same question is asked in 2022 then the answer is “Paris, 2024”. Consequently, any evaluation based on the GNQ dataset will be incorrect. Such erroneous predictions are usually given to human evaluators for further validation which is quite expensive and time-consuming. To address this erroneous evaluation, the present work proposes an automated approach for evaluating time-dependent question-answer pairs. In particular, it proposes a metric using the current timestamp along with top-n predicted answers from a given QA system. To test the proposed approach GNQ dataset has been used and the system achieved an accuracy of 78% for a test dataset comprising 100 QA pairs. This test data was automatically extracted using an analysis-based approach from 10K QA pairs of the GNQ dataset. The results obtained are encouraging. The proposed technique appears to have the possibility of developing into a useful scheme for gathering precise, reliable, and specific information in a real-time and efficient manner. Our subsequent experiments will be guided towards establishing the efficacy of the above system for a larger set of time-dependent QA pairs.

Keywords: web-based information retrieval, open domain question answering system, time-varying QA, QA evaluation

Procedia PDF Downloads 76

Authors: Abdul Rehman, Bo Liu

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Axial flow turbines are commonly designed with high loads that generate strong secondary flows and result in high secondary losses. These losses contribute to almost 30% to 50% of the total losses. Non-axisymmetric endwall profiling is one of the passive control technique to reduce the secondary flow loss. In this paper, the non-axisymmetric endwall profile construction and optimization for the stator endwalls are presented to improve the efficiency of a high pressure turbine. The commercial code NUMECA Fine/ Design3D coupled with Fine/Turbo was used for the numerical investigation, design of experiments and the optimization. All the flow simulations were conducted by using steady RANS and Spalart-Allmaras as a turbulence model. The non-axisymmetric endwalls of stator hub and shroud were created by using the perturbation law based on Bezier Curves. Each cut having multiple control points was supposed to be created along the virtual streamlines in the blade channel. For the design of experiments, each sample was arbitrarily generated based on values automatically chosen for the control points defined during parameterization. The Optimization was achieved by using two algorithms i.e. the stochastic algorithm and gradient-based algorithm. For the stochastic algorithm, a genetic algorithm based on the artificial neural network was used as an optimization method in order to achieve the global optimum. The evaluation of the successive design iterations was performed using artificial neural network prior to the flow solver. For the second case, the conjugate gradient algorithm with a three dimensional CFD flow solver was used to systematically vary a free-form parameterization of the endwall. This method is efficient and less time to consume as it requires derivative information of the objective function. The objective function was to maximize the isentropic efficiency of the turbine by keeping the mass flow rate as constant. The performance was quantified by using a multi-objective function. Other than these two classifications of the optimization methods, there were four optimizations cases i.e. the hub only, the shroud only, and the combination of hub and shroud. For the fourth case, the shroud endwall was optimized by using the optimized hub endwall geometry. The hub optimization resulted in an increase in the efficiency due to more homogenous inlet conditions for the rotor. The adverse pressure gradient was reduced but the total pressure loss in the vicinity of the hub was increased. The shroud optimization resulted in an increase in efficiency, total pressure loss and entropy were reduced. The combination of hub and shroud did not show overwhelming results which were achieved for the individual cases of the hub and the shroud. This may be caused by fact that there were too many control variables. The fourth case of optimization showed the best result because optimized hub was used as an initial geometry to optimize the shroud. The efficiency was increased more than the individual cases of optimization with a mass flow rate equal to the baseline design of the turbine. The results of artificial neural network and conjugate gradient method were compared.

Keywords: artificial neural network, axial turbine, conjugate gradient method, non-axisymmetric endwall, optimization

Procedia PDF Downloads 206

Authors: Lik Hang Gary Wong

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Background: Practice learning is crucial for preparing the healthcare profession to meet the real challenge upon graduation. Students are required to demonstrate their competence in managing interpersonal challenges, such as teamwork with other professionals and communicating well with the service users, during the placement. Such competence precedes clinical practice, and it may eventually affect students' actual performance in a clinical context. Unfortunately, there were limited studies investigating how such competence affects students' performance in practice learning. Objectives: The aim of this study is to investigate how self-rated interpersonal competence affects students' actual performance during clinical placement. Methods: 40 occupational therapy students from Hong Kong were recruited in this study. Prior to the clinical placement (level two or above), they completed an online survey that included the Interpersonal Communication Competence Scale (ICCS) measuring self-perceived competence in interpersonal communication. Near the end of their placement, the clinical educator rated students’ performance with the Student Practice Evaluation Form - Revised edition (SPEF-R). The SPEF-R measures the eight core competency domains required for an entry-level occupational therapist. This study adopted the cross-sectional observational design. Pearson correlation and multiple regression are conducted to examine the relationship between students' interpersonal communication competence and their actual performance in clinical placement. Results: The ICCS total scores were significantly correlated with all the SPEF-R domains, with correlation coefficient r ranging from 0.39 to 0.51. The strongest association was found with the co-worker communication domain (r = 0.51, p < 0.01), followed by the information gathering domain (r = 0.50, p < 0.01). Regarding the ICCS total scores as the independent variable and the rating in various SPEF-R domains as the dependent variables in the multiple regression analyses, the interpersonal competence measures were identified as a significant predictor of the co-worker communication (R² = 0.33, β = 0.014, SE = 0.006, p = 0.026), information gathering (R² = 0.27, β = 0.018, SE = 0.007, p = 0.011), and service provision (R² = 0.17, β = 0.017, SE = 0.007, p = 0.020). Moreover, some specific communication skills appeared to be especially important to clinical practice. For example, immediacy, which means whether the students were readily approachable on all social occasions, correlated with all the SPEF-R domains, with r-values ranging from 0.45 to 0.33. Other sub-skills, such as empathy, interaction management, and supportiveness, were also found to be significantly correlated to most of the SPEF-R domains. Meanwhile, the ICCS scores correlated differently with the co-worker communication domain (r = 0.51, p < 0.01) and the communication with the service user domain (r = 0.39, p < 0.05). It suggested that different communication skill sets would be required for different interpersonal contexts within the workplace. Conclusion: Students' self-perceived interpersonal communication competence could predict their actual performance during clinical placement. Moreover, some specific communication skills were more important to the co-worker communication but not to the daily interaction with the service users. There were implications on how to better prepare the students to meet the future challenge upon graduation.

Keywords: interpersonal competence, clinical education, healthcare professional education, occupational therapy, occupational therapy students

Procedia PDF Downloads 41

Authors: Magda Milleyde de Sousa Lima, Letícia Lima Aguiar, Marina Guerra Martins, Erika Veríssimo Dias Sousa, Lizandra Sampaio de Oliveira, Lívia Moreira Barros, Joselany Áfio Caetano

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Patients with chronic kidney disease are vulnerable to episodes which make the safety of their health vulnerable, mainly due to the treatment process that exposes them to high rates of interventions during hemodialysis sessions. Some factors associated with health care contribute to the risk of death and complications. However, there are a small number of scientific studies evaluating the level of safety of hemodialysis clinics, and the sociodemographic characteristics of patients and professionals associated with this safety. Therefore, the present study aims to examine the level of patient safety in hemodialysis clinics in the Brazilian capital, to identify the sociodemographic and clinical factors of patients and nursing staff associated with the level of safety. This is an observational, descriptive and quantitative research conducted in three hemodialysis clinics placed in the city of Fortaleza-CE, Brazil, from September to November 2019. The sample was formed after a sample calculation for finite inhabitants of correlation with 200 chronic renal patients, 30 nursing technicians and seven nurses. Conventional sampling was used based on the inclusion criteria: being present at the hemodialysis session on the day the researcher performed the data collection and being 18 years of age or older. Participants who presented communication difficulties to listen to and/or answer the sociodemographic and clinical questionnaire were excluded. Two instruments were applied: sociodemographic and clinical characterization form and Chronic Renal Patient Safety Assessment Scale on Hemodialysis (EASPRCH). The data were analyzed using the Kruskal Walls Test for categorical variables and Spearman correlation coefficient for non-categorical variables, using the Statistical Package SPSS version 20.0. The present study respected the ethical and legal principles determined by resolution 466/2012 of the National Health Council, under the approval of the Ethics and Research Committee with an opinion number: 3,255,635. The results showed that a hemodialysis clinic presented unsafe care practices of 32 points in the EASPRCH (p=0.001). A statistical association was identified between the level of safety and the variables of the patients: level of education (p=0.018), family income (p=0.049), type of employment (p=0.012), venous access site (p=0.009), use of medication during the session (p=0.008) and time of hemodialysis (p=0.002). When evaluating the profile of nurses, a statistical association was evidenced between the level of safety with the variables: marital status (p=0.000), race (p=0.017), schooling (p= 0.000), income (p=0.013), age (p=0.000), clinic workload (p=0.000), time working with hemodialysis (p=0.000), time working in the clinic (p= 0.007) and clinic sizing (p=0.000). In order, the sociodemographic factors of nursing technicians associated with the level of patient safety were: race (p= 0.001) and weekly workload at (p=0.010). Therefore, it is concluded that there is a non-conformity in the level of patient safety in one of the clinics studied and, that sociodemographic and clinical factors of patients and health professionals corroborate the level of safety of the health unit.

Keywords: hemodialysis, nursing, patient safety, quality improvement

Procedia PDF Downloads 171

Authors: Beihai Xiong, Dengke Hua, Wouter Hendriks, Wilbert Pellikaan

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To improve the energy status of dairy cows in the early lactation, lots of jobs have been done on adjusting the starch to fiber ratio in the diet. As a complex ecosystem, the rumen contains a large population of microorganisms which plays a crucial role in feed degradation. Further study on the microbiota alterations and metabolic changes under different dietary energy sources is essential and valuable to better understand the function of the ruminal microorganisms and thereby to optimize the rumen function and enlarge feed efficiency. The present study will focus on the effects of two glucogenic diets (G: ground corn and corn silage; S: steam-flaked corn and corn silage) and a lipogenic diet (L: sugar beet pulp and alfalfa silage) on rumen fermentation, gas production, the ruminal microbiota and metabolome, and also their correlations in vitro. The gas production was recorded consistently, and the gas volume and producing rate at times 6, 12, 24, 48 h were calculated separately. The fermentation end-products were measured after fermenting for 48 h. The ruminal bacteria and archaea communities were determined by 16S RNA sequencing technique, the metabolome profile was tested through LC-MS methods. Compared to the diet G and S, the L diet had a lower dry matter digestibility, propionate production, and ammonia-nitrogen concentration. The two glucogenic diets performed worse in controlling methane and lactic acid production compared to the L diet. The S diet produced the greatest cumulative gas volume at any time points during incubation compared to the G and L diet. The metabolic analysis revealed that the lipid digestion was up-regulated by the diet L than other diets. On the subclass level, most metabolites belonging to the fatty acids and conjugates were higher, but most metabolites belonging to the amino acid, peptides, and analogs were lower in diet L than others. Differences in rumen fermentation characteristics were associated with (or resulting from) changes in the relative abundance of bacterial and archaeal genera. Most highly abundant bacteria were stable or slightly influenced by diets, while several amylolytic and cellulolytic bacteria were sensitive to the dietary changes. The L diet had a significantly higher number of cellulolytic bacteria, including the genera of Ruminococcus, Butyrivibrio, Eubacterium, Lachnospira, unclassified Lachnospiraceae, and unclassified Ruminococcaceae. The relative abundances of amylolytic bacteria genera including Selenomonas_1, Ruminobacter, and Succinivibrionaceae_UCG-002 were higher in diet G and S. These affected bacteria was also proved to have high associations with certain metabolites. The Selenomonas_1 and Succinivibrionaceae_UCG-002 may contribute to the higher propionate production in the diet G and S through enhancing the succinate pathway. The results indicated that the two glucogenic diets had a greater extent of gas production, a higher dry matter digestibility, and produced more propionate than diet L. The steam-flaked corn did not show a better performance on fermentation end-products than ground corn. This study has offered a deeper understanding of ruminal microbial functions which could assistant the improvement in rumen functions and thereby in the ruminant production.

Keywords: gas production, metabolome, microbiota, rumen fermentation

Procedia PDF Downloads 125

Authors: M. Testa, L. Peotta, S. Giusiano, B. Lazzolino, U. Manera, A. Canosa, M. Grassano, F. Palumbo, A. Bombaci, S. Cabras, F. Di Pede, L. Solero, E. Matteoni, C. Moglia, A. Calvo, A. Chio

Abstract:

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease of adulthood, which primarily affects the central nervous system and is characterized by progressive bilateral degeneration of motor neurons. The degeneration processes in ALS extend far beyond the neurons of the motor system, and affects cognition, behaviour and language. To outline the prevalence of language deficits in an ALS cohort and explore their profile along with demographic and neuropsychological data. A full neuropsychological battery and language assessment was administered to 56 ALS patients. Neuropsychological assessment included tests of executive functioning, verbal fluency, social cognition and memory. Language was assessed using tests for verbal comprehension, production and pragmatics. Patients were cognitively classified following the Revised Consensus Criteria and divided in three groups showing different levels of language deficits: group 1 - no language deficit; group 2 - one language deficit; group 3 - two or more language deficits. Chi-square for independence and non-parametric measures to compare groups were applied. Nearly half of ALS-CN patients (48%) reported one language test under the clinical cut-off, and only 13% of patents classified as ALS-CI showed no language deficits, while the rest 87% of ALS-CI reported two or more language deficits. ALS-BI and ALS-CBI cases all reported two or more language deficits. Deficits in production and in comprehension appeared more frequent in ALS-CI patients (p=0.011, p=0.003 respectively), with a higher percentage of comprehension deficits (83%). Nearly all ALS-CI reported at least one deficit in pragmatic abilities (96%) and all ALS-BI and ALS-CBI patients showed pragmatic deficits. Males showed higher percentage of pragmatic deficits (97%, p=0.007). No significant differences in language deficits have been found between bulbar and spinal onset. Months from onset and level of impairment at testing (ALS-FRS total score) were not significantly different between levels and type of language impairment. Age and education were significantly higher for cases showing no deficits in comprehension and pragmatics and in the group showing no language deficits. Comparing performances at neuropsychological tests among the three levels of language deficits, no significant differences in neuropsychological performances were found between group 1 and 2; compared to group 1, group 3 appeared to decay specifically on executive testing, verbal/visuospatial learning, and social cognition. Compared to group 2, group 3 showed worse performances specifically in tests of working memory and attention. Language deficits have found to be spread in our sample, encompassing verbal comprehension, production and pragmatics. Our study reveals that also cognitive intact patients (ALS-CN) showed at least one language deficit in 48% of cases. Pragmatic domain is the most compromised (84% of the total sample), present in nearly all ALS-CI (96%), likely due to the influence of executive impairment. Lower age and higher education seem to preserve comprehension, pragmatics and presence of language deficits. Finally, executive functions, verbal/visuospatial learning and social cognition differentiate the group with no language deficits from the group with a clinical language impairment (group 3), while attention and working memory differentiate the group with one language deficit from the clinical impaired group.

Keywords: amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, language assessment, neuropsychological assessment, language deficit

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Authors: Alessandra Panico, Francesco Bagordo, Tiziana Grassi, Adele Idolo, Marcello Guido, Francesca Serio, Mattia De Giorgi, Antonella De Donno

Abstract:

In the Province of Lecce (Southeastern Italy) an area with unusual high incidence of chronic respiratory diseases, including lung cancer, was recently identified. The causes of this health emergency are still not entirely clear. In order to determine the risk profile of children living in five municipalities included in this area an epidemiological-molecular study was performed in the years 2014-2016: the IMP.AIR. (Impact of air quality on health of residents in the Municipalities of Sternatia, Galatina, Cutrofiano, Sogliano Cavour and Soleto) study. 122 children aged 6-8 years attending primary school in the study area were enrolled to evaluate the frequency of micronuclei (MNs) in their buccal exfoliated cells. The samples were collected in May 2015 by rubbing the oral mucosa with a soft bristle disposable toothbrush. At the same time, a validated questionnaire was administered to parents to obtain information about health, lifestyle and eating habits of the children. In addition, information on airborne pollutants, routinely detected by the Regional Environmental Agency (ARPA Puglia) in the study area, was acquired. A multivariate analysis was performed to detect any significant association between frequency of MNs (dependent variable) and behavioral factors (independent variables). The presence of MNs was highlighted in the buccal exfoliated cells of about 42% of recruited children with a mean frequency of 0.49 MN/1000 cells, greater than in other areas of Salento. The survey on individual characteristics and lifestyles showed that one in three children was overweight and that most of them had unhealthy eating habits with frequent consumption of foods considered ‘risky’. Moreover many parents (40% of fathers and 12% of mothers) were smokers and about 20% of them admitted to smoking in the house where the children lived. Information regarding atmospheric contaminants was poor. Of the few substances routinely detected by the only one monitoring station located in the study area (PM2.5, SO2, NO2, CO, O3) only ozone showed high concentrations exceeding the limits set by the legislation for 67 times in the year 2015. The study showed that the level of early biological effect markers in children was not negligible. This critical condition could be related to some individual factors and lifestyles such as overweight, unhealthy eating habits and exposure to passive smoking. At present, no relationship with airborne pollutants can be established due to the lack of information on many substances. Therefore, it would be advisable to modify incorrect behaviors and to intensify the monitoring of airborne pollutants (e.g. including detection of PM10, heavy metals, aromatic polycyclic hydrocarbons, benzene) given the epidemiology of chronic respiratory diseases registered in this area.

Keywords: chronic respiratory diseases, environmental pollution, lifestyle, micronuclei

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Authors: Katherine Del Carmen Camacho Zorogastua, Victor Hugo Gallo Ramos, Jhon Walter Gomez Lora

Abstract:

Marine hydrocarbon exploration (oil and natural gas) activities are developed using 2D, 3D and 4D seismic prospecting techniques where sound waves are directed from a seismic vessel emitted every few seconds depending on the variety of air compressors, which cross the layers of rock at the bottom of the sea and are reflected to the surface of the water. Hydrophones receive and record the reflected energy signals for cross-sectional mapping of the lithological profile in order to identify possible areas where hydrocarbon deposits can be formed. However, they produce several significant negative environmental impacts on the marine ecosystem and in the social and economic sectors. Therefore, the objective of the research is to publicize the negative impacts and environmental measures that must be carried out during the development of these activities to prevent and mitigate water quality, the population involved (fishermen) and the marine biota (e.g., Cetaceans, fish) that are the most vulnerable. The research contains technical environmental aspects based on bibliographic sources of environmental studies approved by the Peruvian authority, research articles, undergraduate and postgraduate theses, books, guides, and manuals from Spain, Australia, Canada, Brazil, and Mexico. It describes the negative impacts on the environment and population (fishing sector), environmental prevention, mitigation, recovery and compensation measures that must be properly implemented and the cases of global sea species stranding, for which international experiences from Spain, Madagascar, Mexico, Ecuador, Uruguay, and Peru were referenced. Negative impacts on marine fauna, seawater quality, and the socioeconomic sector (fishermen) were identified. Omission or inadequate biological monitoring in mammals could alter their ability to communicate, feed, and displacement resulting in their stranding and death. In fish, they cause deadly damage to physical-physiological type and in their behavior. Inadequate wastewater treatment and waste management could increase the organic load and oily waste on seawater quality in violation of marine flora and fauna. The possible estrangement of marine resources (fish) affects the economic sector as they carry out their fishing activity for consumption or sale. Finally, it is concluded from the experiences gathered from Spain, Madagascar, Mexico, Ecuador, Uruguay, and Peru that there is a cause and effect relationship between the inadequate development of seismic exploration activities (cause) and marine species strandings (effect) since over the years, stranded or dead marine mammals have been detected on the shores of the sea in areas of seismic acquisition of hydrocarbons. In this regard, it is recommended to establish technical procedures, guidelines, and protocols for the monitoring of marine species in order to contribute to the conservation of hydrobiological resources.

Keywords: 3D seismic prospecting, cetaceans, significant environmental impacts, prevention, mitigation, recovery, environmental compensation

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Authors: Berengere Vire, Nicolas Salvetat, Yoann Lannay, Guillaume Marcellin, Siem Van Der Laan, Franck Molina, Dinah Weissmann

Abstract:

Predicting suicidal behaviors is one of the most complex challenges of daily psychiatric practices. Today, suicide risk prediction using biological tools is not validated and is only based on subjective clinical reports of the at-risk individual. Therefore, there is a great need to identify biomarkers that would allow early identification of individuals at risk of suicide. Alterations of adenosine-to-inosine (A-to-I) RNA editing of neurotransmitter receptors and other proteins have been shown to be involved in etiology of different psychiatric disorders and linked to suicidal behavior. RNA editing is a co- or post-transcriptional process leading to a site-specific alteration in RNA sequences. It plays an important role in the epi transcriptomic regulation of RNA metabolism. On postmortem human brain tissue (prefrontal cortex) of depressed suicide victims, Alcediag found specific alterations of RNA editing activity on the mRNA coding for the serotonin 2C receptor (5-HT2cR). Additionally, an increase in expression levels of ADARs, the RNA editing enzymes, and modifications of RNA editing profiles of prime targets, such as phosphodiesterase 8A (PDE8A) mRNA, have also been observed. Interestingly, the PDE8A gene is located on chromosome 15q25.3, a genomic region that has recurrently been associated with the early-onset major depressive disorder (MDD). In the current study, we examined whether modifications in RNA editing profile of prime targets allow identifying disease-relevant blood biomarkers and evaluating suicide risk in patients. To address this question, we performed a clinical study to identify an RNA editing signature in blood of depressed patients with and without the history of suicide attempts. Patient’s samples were drawn in PAXgene tubes and analyzed on Alcediag’s proprietary RNA editing platform using next generation sequencing technology. In addition, gene expression analysis by quantitative PCR was performed. We generated a multivariate algorithm comprising various selected biomarkers to detect patients with a high risk to attempt suicide. We evaluated the diagnostic performance using the relative proportion of PDE8A mRNA editing at different sites and/or isoforms as well as the expression of PDE8A and the ADARs. The significance of these biomarkers for suicidality was evaluated using the area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve (AUC). The generated algorithm comprising the biomarkers was found to have strong diagnostic performances with high specificity and sensitivity. In conclusion, we developed tools to measure disease-specific biomarkers in blood samples of patients for identifying individuals at the greatest risk for future suicide attempts. This technology not only fosters patient management but is also suitable to predict the risk of drug-induced psychiatric side effects such as iatrogenic increase of suicidal ideas/behaviors.

Keywords: blood biomarker, next-generation-sequencing, RNA editing, suicide

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Authors: Lucile Rapin, Cynthia El Hage, Rihab Gamaoun, Maria-Fernanda Arboleda, Erin Prosk

Abstract:

Introduction: Sante Cannabis (SC), a Canadian group of clinics dedicated to medical cannabis, based in Montreal and in the province of Quebec, has served more than 8000 patients seeking cannabis-based treatment over the past five years. As randomized clinical trials with natural medical cannabis are scarce, real-world evidence offers the opportunity to fill research gaps between scientific evidence and clinical practice. Data on the use of medical cannabis products from SC patients were prospectively collected, leading to a large real-world database on the use of medical cannabis. The aim of this study was to report information on the profiles of both patients and prescribed medical cannabis products at SC clinics, and to assess the safety of medical cannabis among Canadian patients. Methods: This is an observational retrospective study of 1342 adult patients who were authorized with medical cannabis products between October 2017 and September 2019. Information regarding demographic characteristics, therapeutic indications for medical cannabis use, patterns in dosing and dosage form of medical cannabis and adverse effects over one-year follow-up (initial and 4 follow-up (FUP) visits) were collected. Results: 59% of SC patients were female, with a mean age of 56.7 (SD= 15.6, range= (19-97)). Cannabis products were authorized mainly for patients with a diagnosis of chronic pain (68.8% of patients), cancer (6.7%), neurological disorders (5.6%), and mood disorders (5.4 %). At initial visit, a large majority (70%) of patients were authorized exclusively medical cannabis products, 27% were authorized a combination of pharmaceutical cannabinoids and medical cannabis and 3% were prescribed only pharmaceutical cannabinoids. This pattern was recurrent over the one-year follow-up. Overall, oil was the preferred formulation (average over visits 72.5%) followed by a combination of oil and dry (average 19%), other routes of administration accounted for less than 4%. Patients were predominantly prescribed products with a balanced THC:CBD ratio (59%-75% across visits). 28% of patients reported at least one adverse effect (AE) at the 3-month follow-up visit and 12% at the six-month FUP visit. 84.8% of total AEs were mild and transient. No serious AE was reported. Overall, the most common side effects reported were dizziness (11.95% of total AEs), drowsiness (11.4%), dry mouth (5.5%), nausea (4.8%), headaches (4.6%), cough (4.4%), anxiety (4.1%) and euphoria (3.5%). Other adverse effects accounted for less than 3% of total AE. Conclusion: Our results confirm that the primary area of clinical use for medical cannabis is in pain management. Patients in this cohort are largely utilizing plant-based cannabis oil products with a balanced ratio of THC:CBD. Reported adverse effects were mild and included dizziness and drowsiness. This real-world data confirms the tolerable safety profile of medical cannabis and suggests medical indications not yet validated in controlled clinical trials. Such data offers an important opportunity for the investigation of the long-term effects of cannabinoid exposure in real-life conditions. Real-world evidence can be used to direct clinical trial research efforts on specific indications and dosing patterns for product development.

Keywords: medical cannabis, safety, real-world data, Canada

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Authors: Sonia A. Stoica, Lexi Frankel, Amalia Ardeljan, Selena Rashid, Ali Yasback, Omar Rashid

Abstract:

Introduction Enterococcus is a vast genus of lactic acid bacteria, gram-positivecocci species. They are common commensal organisms in the intestines of humans: E. faecalis (90–95%) and E. faecium (5–10%). Rare groups of infections can occur with other species, including E. casseliflavus, E. gallinarum, and E. raffinosus. The most common infections caused by Enterococcus include urinary tract infections, biliary tract infections, subacute endocarditis, diverticulitis, meningitis, septicemia, and spontaneous bacterial peritonitis. The treatment for sensitive strains of these bacteria includes ampicillin, penicillin, cephalosporins, or vancomycin, while the treatment for resistant strains includes daptomycin, linezolid, tygecycline, or streptogramine. Enterococcus faecalis CECT7121 is an encouraging nominee for being considered as a probiotic strain. E. faecalis CECT7121 enhances and skews the profile of cytokines to the Th1 phenotype in situations such as vaccination, anti-tumoral immunity, and allergic reactions. It also enhances the secretion of high levels of IL-12, IL-6, TNF alpha, and IL-10. Cytokines have been previously associated with the development of cancer. The intention of this study was to therefore evaluate the correlation between Enterococcus infections and incidence of bone carcinoma. Methods A retrospective cohort study (2010-2019) was conducted through a Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliant national database and conducted using International Classification of Disease (ICD) 9th and 10th codes for bone carcinoma diagnosis in a previously Enterococcus infected population. Patients were matched for age range and Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI). Access to the database was granted by Holy Cross Health for academic research. Chi-squared test was used to assess statistical significance. Results A total number of 17,056 patients was obtained in Enterococcus infected group as well as in the control population (matched by Age range and CCI score). Subsequent bone carcinoma development was seen at a rate of 1.07% (184) in the Enterococcal infectious group and 3.42% (584) in the control group, respectively. The difference was statistically significant by p= 2.2x10-¹⁶, Odds Ratio = 0.355 (95% CI 0.311 - 0.404) Treatment for enterococcus infection was analyzed and controlled for in both enterococcus infected and noninfected populations. 78 out of 6,624 (1.17%) patients with a prior enterococcus infection and treated with antibiotics were compared to 202 out of 6,624 (3.04%) patients with no history of enterococcus infection (control) and received antibiotic treatment. Both populations subsequently developed bone carcinoma. Results remained statistically significant (p<2.2x10-), Odds Ratio=0.456 (95% CI 0.396-0.525). Conclusion This study shows a statistically significant correlation between Enterococcus infection and a decreased incidence of bone carcinoma. The immunologic response of the organism to Enterococcus infection may exert a protecting mechanism from developing bone carcinoma. Further exploration is needed to identify the potential mechanism of Enterococcus in reducing bone carcinoma incidence.

Keywords: anti-tumoral immunity, bone carcinoma, enterococcus, immunologic response

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