Abstract: Engineered nanoparticles’ usage rapidly increased in
various applications in the last decade due to their unusual properties.
However, there is an ever increasing concern to understand their
toxicological effect in human health. Particularly, metal and metal
oxide nanoparticles have been used in various sectors including
biomedical, food and agriculture. But their impact on human health is
yet to be fully understood. In this present investigation, we assessed
the toxic effect of engineered nanoparticles (ENPs) including Ag,
MgO and Co3O4 nanoparticles (NPs) on human mesenchymal stem
cells (hMSC) adopting cell viability and cellular morphological
changes as tools The results suggested that silver NPs are more toxic
than MgO and Co3O4NPs. The ENPs induced cytotoxicity and
nuclear morphological changes in hMSC depending on dose. The cell
viability decreases with increase in concentration of ENPs. The
cellular morphology studies revealed that ENPs damaged the cells.
These preliminary findings have implications for the use of these
nanoparticles in food industry with systematic regulations.
Abstract: Faced with social and health system capacity
constraints and rising and changing demand for welfare services,
governments and welfare providers are increasingly relying on
innovation to help support and enhance services. However, the
evidence reported by several studies indicates that the realization of
that potential is not an easy task. Innovations can be deemed
inherently complex to implement and operate, because many of them
involve a combination of technological and organizational renewal
within an environment featuring a diversity of stakeholders. Many
public welfare service innovations are markedly systemic in their
nature, which means that they emerge from, and must address, the
complex interplay between political, administrative, technological,
institutional and legal issues. This paper suggests that stakeholders
dealing with systemic innovation in welfare services must deal with
ambiguous and incomplete information in circumstances of
uncertainty. Employing a literature review methodology and case
study, this paper identifies, categorizes and discusses different
aspects of the uncertainty of systemic innovation in public welfare
services, and argues that uncertainty can be classified into eight
categories: technological uncertainty, market uncertainty,
regulatory/institutional uncertainty, social/political uncertainty,
acceptance/legitimacy uncertainty, managerial uncertainty, timing
uncertainty and consequence uncertainty.
Abstract: Main goal of preventive healthcare problems are at
decreasing the likelihood and severity of potentially life-threatening
illnesses by protection and early detection. The levels of
establishment and staffing costs along with summation of the travel
and waiting time that clients spent are considered as objectives
functions of the proposed nonlinear integer programming model. In
this paper, we have proposed a bi-objective mathematical model for
designing a network of preventive healthcare facilities so as to
minimize aforementioned objectives, simultaneously. Moreover, each
facility acts as M/M/1 queuing system. The number of facilities to be
established, the location of each facility, and the level of technology
for each facility to be chosen are provided as the main determinants
of a healthcare facility network. Finally, to demonstrate performance
of the proposed model, four multi-objective decision making
techniques are presented to solve the model.
Abstract: Contamination of heavy metals represents one of the
most pressing threats to water and soil resources as well as human
health. Phytoremediation can be potentially used to remediate metalcontaminated
sites. A major step towards the development of
phytoremediation of heavy metal impacted soils is the discovery of
the heavy metal hyperaccumulation in plants. In this study, the
several established criteria to define a hyperaccumulator plant were
applied. The case study was represented by a mining area in
Hamedan province in the central west part of Iran. Obtained results
showed that the most of sampled species were able to grow on
heavily metal-contaminated soils and also were able to accumulate
extraordinarily high concentrations of some metals such as Zn, Mn,
Cu, Pb and Fe. Using the most common criteria, Euphorbia
macroclada and Centaurea virgata can be classified as
hyperaccumulators of some measured heavy metals and, therefore,
they have suitable potential for phytoremediation of contaminated
soils.
Abstract: The cardiovascular system has become the most
important subject of clinical research, particularly measurement of
arterial blood flow. Therefore correct determination of arterial
diameter is crucial. We propose a novel, semi-automatic method for
artery lumen detection. The method is based on Gaussian probability
function. Usability of our proposed method was assessed by
analyzing ultrasound B-mode CFA video sequences acquired from
eleven healthy volunteers. The correlation coefficient between the
manual and semi-automatic measurement of arterial diameter was
0.996. Our proposed method for detecting artery boundary is novel
and accurate enough for the measurement of artery diameter.
Abstract: The environmental factors such as temperature and
relative humidity are very contribute to the effect of comfort, health,
performance and worker productivity. To ensure an ergonomics work
environment, it is possible to require a specific attention especially in
industries. The aim of this study is to show the effect of temperature
and relative humidity on worker productivity in automotive industry
by taking a workstation in an automotive plant as the location to
conduct the study. From the analysis of the data, there were
relationship between temperature and relative humidity on worker
productivity. Mathematical equation to represent the relationship
between temperatures and relative humidity on the production rate is
modelled. From the equation model, the production rate for the
workstation can be predicted base on the value of temperature and
relative humidity.
Abstract: Via a large scale cross-sectional study among Japanese white color workers, the authors aimed to elucidate: (1) the distributions of Sense of Coherence (SOC), which reflect stress coping abilities, (2) the distributions of Life experience; (3) and the association between SOC and Life experience. Anonymous self-administered questionnaires were sent to 15,891 in 2001 and 21,922 in 2011 employees at educational and research institutions in Tsukuba Research Park City. A total of 5,868 (36.9%) and 9,528 (43.5%) respectively workers completed and returned the questionnaire; 5,715 and 9,515 respectively workers without missing data were analyzed. SOC scale scores differed by gender, age, and other demographic features in both study years. Among the life experiences, workers who have got over parenting or management position were higher SOC scale scores adjusted by gender and age. The life experiences that workers have got over could develop their stronger SOC in their life course.
Abstract: Successful intelligence (SI) is the integrated set of the
ability needed to attain success in life, within individual-s sociocultural
context. People are successfully intelligent by recognizing
their strengths and weaknesses. They will find ways to strengthen
their weakness and maintain their strength or even improve it. SI
people can shape, select, and adapt to the environments by using
balance of higher-ordered thinking abilities including; critical,
creative, and applicative. Aims: The purposes of this study were to;
1) develop curriculum that promotes SI for nursing students, and 2)
study the effectiveness of the curriculum development. Method:
Research and Development was a method used for this study. The
design was divided into two phases; 1) the curriculum development
which composed of three steps (needs assessment, curriculum
development and curriculum field trail), and 2) the curriculum
implementation. In this phase, a pre-experimental research design
(one group pretest-posttest design) was conducted. The sample
composed of 49 sophomore nursing students of Boromarajonani
College of Nursing, Surin, Thailand who enrolled in Nursing care of
Health problem course I in 2011 academic year. Data were carefully
collected using 4 instruments; 1) Modified essay questions test
(MEQ) 2) Nursing Care Plan evaluation form 3) Group processing
observation form (α = 0.74) and 4) Satisfied evaluation form of
learning (α = 0.82). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics
and content analysis. Results: The results revealed that the sample
had post-test average score of SI higher than pre-test average score
(mean difference was 5.03, S.D. = 2.84). Fifty seven percentages of
the sample passed the MEQ posttest at the criteria of 60 percentages.
Students demonstrated the strategies of how to develop nursing care
plan. Overall, students- satisfaction on teaching performance was at
high level (mean = 4.35, S.D. = 0.46). Conclusion: This curriculum
can promote the attribute of characteristic of SI person and was
highly required to be continued.
Abstract: A study was conducted to formally characterize
notebook computer performance under various environmental and
usage conditions. Software was developed to collect data from the
operating system of the computer. An experiment was conducted to
evaluate the performance parameters- variations, trends, and
correlations, as well as the extreme value they can attain in various
usage and environmental conditions. An automated software script
was written to simulate user activity. The variability of each
performance parameter was addressed by establishing the empirical
relationship between performance parameters. These equations were
presented as baseline estimates for performance parameters, which
can be used to detect system deviations from normal operation and
for prognostic assessment. The effect of environmental factors,
including different power sources, ambient temperatures, humidity,
and usage, on performance parameters of notebooks was studied.
Abstract: Culinary culture differences can cause health
problems for international tourists in Thailand. This paper drew upon
data collected from an international tourist survey conducted in
Bangkok, Thailand during summer of 2012. Summer is the period
that a variety food safety issues and incidents are often publicized in
Thailand. The survey targeted European Union tourists- concerns
toward a variety of food safety issues that they encountered during
their trip in Thailand. A total of 400 respondents were elicited as data
input for t-test, and one way ANOVA test. The findings revealed an
astonishing result that up to 46.5 percent of respondents were sick at
least one time or more in Thailand. However, the majority of
respondents trusted that the Thai hotel and Thai restaurants would
ensure food safety, but they did not trust street vendors to ensure food
safety. The level of food safety concern can be ranked from most
concern to least concern by using the value of mean scores as
follows: 1) artificial coloring, 2) use of preservatives, 3) antibiotics,
4) growth hormones, 5) chemical residues, and 6) bacterial
contamination. The overall mean score for level of concerns was
3.493 with standard deviation of 1.677 which did not indicate a very
high level of concern. In addition, the result for t-test and one way
ANOVA test revealed that there was not much effect from the
demographic differences to level of food safety concerns.
Abstract: Islam has a general principle of increase in
population. But the Muslims are equally obliged to take care of
health, education and the provisions etc. for their offspring and wives
in the best possible way. The Muslims would have to regulate and
manage the number of children, if any situation affects their duties
regarding their wives or children. Islam accomplishes permissibility
of temporary blockade in human fertility if someone faces any
problem regarding health of mother or children. During the life of the
Holy Prophet (SAW), Azl (coitus interruptus) was the only way for
temporary spacing between the children. In technologically
developed environment, the same can be resort through some
advanced methodology or instrument of temporary blockade. Solid
grounds are available in Islam that the fertility rate should be
managed if any of the aspect of human quality is being affected.
Abstract: Reasonably priced and well-constructed housing must
be an integral and element supporting a healthy society. The absence
of housing everyone in society can afford negatively affects the
people's health, education, ability to get jobs, develop their
community. Without access to decent housing, economic
development, integration of immigrants and inclusiveness, the society
is negatively impacted. Canada has a sterling record in creating
housing compared to many other nations around the globe. Canadian
housing gets support from a mature and responsive mortgage network
and a top-quality construction industry as well as safe and excellent
quality building materials that are readily available. Yet 1.7 million
Canadian households occupy substandard abodes. During the past
hundred years, Canada's government has made a wide variety of
attempts to provide decent residential facilities every Canadian can
afford. Despite these laudable efforts, today Canada is left with
housing that is inadequate for many Canadians. People who own their
housing are given all kinds of privileges and perks, while people with
relatively low incomes who rent their apartments or houses are
discriminated against.
To help solve these problems, zoning that is based on an
"inclusionary" philosophy is tool developed to help provide people
the affordable residences that they need. No, thirty years after its
introduction, this type of zoning has been shown effective in helping
build and provide Canadians with a houses or apartments they can
afford to pay for. Using this form of zoning can have different results
+depending on where and how it is used. After examining Canadian
affordable housing and four American cases where this type of
zoning was enforced in the USA, this makes various
recommendations for expanding Canadians' access to housing they
can afford.
Abstract: This paper explores the knowledge and attitude of
women and men in decision making on pap smear screening. This
qualitative study recruited 52 respondents with 44 women and 8 men,
using the purposive sampling with snowballing technique through indepth
interviews. This study demonstrates several key findings:
Female respondents have better knowledge compared to male. Most
of the women perceived that pap smear screening is beneficial and
important, but to proceed with the test is still doubtful. Male
respondents were supportive in terms of sending their spouses to the
health facilities or give more freedom to their wives to choose and
making decision on their own health due to prominent reason that
women know best on their own health. It is expected that the results
from this study will provide useful guideline for healthcare providers
to prepare any action/intervention to provide an extensive education
to improve people-s knowledge and attitude towards pap smear.
Abstract: Purpose of this work is to develop an automatic classification system that could be useful for radiologists in the breast cancer investigation. The software has been designed in the framework of the MAGIC-5 collaboration. In an automatic classification system the suspicious regions with high probability to include a lesion are extracted from the image as regions of interest (ROIs). Each ROI is characterized by some features based generally on morphological lesion differences. A study in the space features representation is made and some classifiers are tested to distinguish the pathological regions from the healthy ones. The results provided in terms of sensitivity and specificity will be presented through the ROC (Receiver Operating Characteristic) curves. In particular the best performances are obtained with the Neural Networks in comparison with the K-Nearest Neighbours and the Support Vector Machine: The Radial Basis Function supply the best results with 0.89 ± 0.01 of area under ROC curve but similar results are obtained with the Probabilistic Neural Network and a Multi Layer Perceptron.
Abstract: Health problems linked to urban growth are current
major concerns of developing countries. In 2002 and 2005, an
interdisciplinary program “Populations et Espaces ├á Risques
SANitaires" (PERSAN) was set up under the patronage of the
Development and Research Institute. Centered on health in
Cameroon-s urban environment, the program mainly sought to (i)
identify diarrhoea risk factors in Yaoundé, (ii) to measure their
prevalence and apprehend their spatial distribution. The crosssectional
epidemiological study that was carried out revealed a
diarrheic prevalence of 14.4% (437 cases of diarrhoea on the 3,034
children examined). Also, among risk factors studied, household
refuse management methods used by city dwellers were statistically
associated to these diarrhoeas. Moreover, it happened that levels of
diarrhoeal attacks varied consistently from one neighbourhood to
another because of the discrepancy urbanization process of the
Yaoundé metropolis.
Abstract: Green- spaces might be very attractive, but
where are the economic benefits? What value do nature and
landscape have for us? What difference will it make to jobs,
health and the economic strength of areas struggling with
deprivation and social problems? [1].There is a need to consider
green spaces from a different perspective. Green planning is not just
about flora and fauna, but also about planning for economic benefits
[2]. It is worth trying to quantify the value of green spaces since
nature and landscape are crucially important to our quality of life and
sustainable development. The reality, however, is that urban
development often takes place at the expense of green spaces.
Urbanization is an ongoing process throughout the world; however,
hyper-urbanization without environmental planning is destructive,
not constructive [3]. Urban spaces are believed to be more valuable
than other land uses, particular green areas, simply because of the
market value connected to urban spaces. However, attractive
landscapes can help raise the quality and value of the urban market
even more. In order to reach these objectives of integrated planning,
the Green-Value-Gap needs to be bridged. Economists have to
understand the concept of Green-Planning and the spinoffs, and
Environmentalists have to understand the importance of urban
economic development and the benefits thereof to green planning. An
interface between Environmental Management, Economic
Development and sustainable Spatial Planning are needed to bridge
the Green-Value-Gap.
Abstract: In this paper we develop and analyze the model for
the spread of Leptospirosis by age group in Thailand, between 1997
and 2010 by using mathematical modeling and computer simulation.
Leptospirosis is caused by pathogenic spirochetes of the genus
Leptospira. It is a zoonotic disease of global importance and an
emerging health problem in Thailand. In Thailand, leptospirosis is a
reportable disease, the top three age groups are 23.31% in 35-44
years olds group, 22.76% in 25-34 year olds group, 17.60% in 45-54
year olds group from reported leptospirosis between 1997 and 2010,
with a peak in 35-44 year olds group. Our paper, the Leptosipirosis
transmission by age group in Thailand is studied on the mathematical
model. Some analytical and simulation results are presented.
Abstract: The objective of this paper is to design a model of human vital sign prediction for decreasing prediction error by using two states mapping based time series neural network BP (back-propagation) model. Normally, lot of industries has been applying the neural network model by training them in a supervised manner with the error back-propagation algorithm for time series prediction systems. However, it still has a residual error between real value and prediction output. Therefore, we designed two states of neural network model for compensation of residual error which is possible to use in the prevention of sudden death and metabolic syndrome disease such as hypertension disease and obesity. We found that most of simulations cases were satisfied by the two states mapping based time series prediction model compared to normal BP. In particular, small sample size of times series were more accurate than the standard MLP model. We expect that this algorithm can be available to sudden death prevention and monitoring AGENT system in a ubiquitous homecare environment.
Abstract: The result of process of territory-s development is the territory-s state of development (TSoD), which is pointed towards the provision and improvement of people-s life conditions. The authors offer to measure the TSoD according to their own developed model. Using the available statistical data regarding the values of model-s elements, the authors empirically show which element mainly determines the TSoD. The findings of the research showed that the key elements of the TSoD are the “Material welfare of people" and “People-s health". Performing a deeper statistical analysis of correlation between these elements, it turned out that it is not so necessary for a country to be bent on trying to increase the material growth of a territory, because a relatively high index of life expectancy at birth could be ensured also by much more modest material resources. On the other hand, the economical feedback of longer lifespan within countries with lower material performance is also relatively low.
Abstract: From year to year, the incidence of different diseases is increasing in humans, and the cause is inadequate intake of dietary fibre, vitamins, and minerals. One of the possibilities to take care of your health preventively is including in the diet products with increased dietary fibre, vitamin, and mineral content.Jerusalem artichoke powder (JAP) made from Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus L) roots is a valuable product. By adding it to pastry goods, we can obtain a fibre-rich food that could be healthier and an excellent alternative to the classical pastry products of this kind.Experiments were carried out at the Faculty of Food Technology of Latvia University of Agriculture (LLU). Results of experiments showed that addition of Jerusalem artichoke powder has significant impact on all the studied pastry products nutritional value (p