Shift Scheduling Optimization for PSU Library

Scheduling is important in any business as it creates an order and flow ensuring that all the tasks are covered at appropriate times. According to experts, scheduling determines the economics of a job, the quality of the team, and the skill-building and motivation of professionals doing the work. Therefore, it is essential to have optimized staff schedules to meet the requirements of staff availability, tasks coverage, shift equity and staff preferences. Though staff scheduling is of such prime importance, it is mostly implemented in traditional ways of manually creating spreadsheets and web calendars proving to be laborious and often leaving room for errors. Additionally, staff preferences are arbitrarily handled through this format which results in overstaffing /understaffing of resources. Our project is aimed at developing an optimization model of staff scheduling for the PSU library using linear programming and create a tool with open solver that reduces the surplus working hours of the staff in the library while maximizing the staff preferences. We expect our model to achieve better efficiency and flexibility than the traditional format of scheduling implemented by the library. Also, our model could have broader capabilities of implementation in different departments of the Portland State University

Best Devices to Replace Laptops at Intel

With the rapid technology changes in today’s world companies that depend on technology need to strategically choose and plan their technology path in order to maintain competitive advantage and avoid any future problems. In this case we have a popular company i.e. Intel Corporation, that provides its employees with a variety of laptops to choose from. We on the other hand, are going to let them choose from the new and advanced Tablets and notebooks so as to provide ease to the employees. We are doing this so as to give more new products available in the market to the employees of Intel Corporation and as it is a big brand name , new and advanced products should be available for its employees too. We assessed the company’s expectations and did device and gadgets research in order to meet company expectations and find the best possible solution for the give situation. We have identified major orientations of Intel corporation and four possible alternatives (options), that we will explore using pair-wise comparisons. Intel intends to replace their current laptops for employees with anew and easy to carry products. This is going to span through the next couple years and making the right decision is imperative. Due to the variety of the devices and gadgets available in the market, we will go through a decisionmaking process in selecting the appropriate platform while keeping in mind the needs and wants of the company. The analysis showed us that one of the device was best fit for the company and people would be excited to use it. The experts weighted each criterion and the result is shown in the results

Psychological repercussions of COVID-19 in optometry occupation

Background: Optometry being a profession which requires a close examination of the patient, there is a very significant danger of viral transmission while using diagnostic equipment in the field. The impact on psychological health is not limited to the covid risk factors. Despite these dangers, relatively few researches have been done to truly assess how the COVID-19 second wave has affected Indian optometrists. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the COVID-19 second wave's psychological effects on Indian optometrists. Materials and Techniques in this cross-sectional study, the PHQ-9 questionnaire was used to gauge the psychological health of 203 Indian optometrists. Results: According to this study, 203 optometrists who took part in it showed signs of depression in varying degrees: 34.5 percent mild, 20.7 percent moderate, 8.4 percent moderately severe and 0.9 percent severe. Conclusions: In the conclusion, it is fairly shown that a sizable proportion of optometrists in India were mentally impacted by COVID-19 second wave

Implications in Implementing Self-Managed Teams in Organizations

Over the past few decades, organizations have developed workplace teams that are multi-faceted, diverse and classified or divided by objective. These teams are essentially turning out to be instrumental in innovation and change in organizations. One such work team that has evoked interest in the recent past is the self-managed team. The design, structure and performance of self-managed teams varies from the other teams significantly. Nevertheless, these teams like the other workplace teams share common benefits such as increased knowledge and skills, synergy and commitment. The main difference lies in the way these teams work. The objective of this research paper is to study the way the self-managed teams are formed and assess their performance and finally derive the implications in implementing them in today’s modern organizations

Future of Transportation: Hyperloop

Transportation has evolved through time witnessing an expansion of the different modes of transport. Due to the various technological and organizational breakthroughs and with the arrival of ‘information everywhere’ in this digital age, one could imagine the future of transportation to be massively networked, user centered, integrated and dynamically priced too. As complex and challenging this could be, it is essential for new models of private and public collaboration, coupled with technological innovation. Today, Hyperloop is a result of one such innovation and is referred to as the fifth mode of transport in the near future. Different companies are integrating efforts towards its development. Our current research therefore focuses on one such company called, Hyperloop One and we analyze through our work, the different fundamentals and various factors affecting the company’s roadmap for the development of the Hyperloop

PDX Happy Hour App

For many people in the US, happy hour has become an adult’s most popular pastimes. It’s the hours in the day where coworkers can unwind after an exhausting day, or where friends can connect during the week. Stimulated by the rise of cocktail culture, and appetizers, happy hour has become one of the most lucrative opportunities for restaurants and bars. Our project’s objective is to build an application that Portlanders can use to locate bars or restaurants nearby that offer happy hour drinks and appetizers are discounted prices. This project will aim to help bars and restaurants to attract customers by lowering prices at certain hours. It will also aim to help increase revenue to these bars and restaurants by selling more at reduced prices

Comparison of anesthetic effects of intrathecal 1% 2-chloroprocaine versus 0.5% ropivacaine with fentanyl in urological surgeries: A randomized double-blind, interventional study

Introduction: Spinal anaesthesia has got inherent advantages like intense motor and sensory blockade,reliability and avoids side effects of multiple drugs. Ropivacaine is safer long acting local anesthetic having greater sensorimotor differentiation. 2-Chloroprocaine (CP) is an amino-ester local anesthetic with a very short half-life; have favorable profile for short procedures. Addition of fentanyl to the local anesthetics for intrathecal injection improve the quality and duration of sensory anesthesia without prolonging motor recovery. Aim: To investigate the anesthetic effect of ropivacaine and chloroprocaine with fentanyl intrathecally for day care urological surgeries, to assess the characteristics of sensorimotor block, mean time to first postoperative rescue analgesia, and adverse effects if any. Methods: This prospective randomized, double blind, interventional study included 30 patients of ASA grades I & II undergoing urological surgeries under spinal anesthesia with intrathecal 3 ml of 1% 2-chloroprocaine with 12.5μg of fentanyl (GroupC) or 1.5 ml of 0.5% ropivacaine with fentanyl 12.5μg (Group R). Results: Mean time to achieve sensory block at T10 level was significantly short with CP (Group C 1.875 ± 0.47, Group R 2.51±0.54 min, (p value <0.001). Mean onset time of the motor block was short with CP (Group C 2.51 ± 0.73 min, Group R 4.74 ±1.08 min, p-value <0.001). Mean duration of sensory and motor block were significantly shorter in Group C compared to Group R (104.4 ± 10.89 min vs 154.16 ± 10.58 min) and (92.96 ± 12.02 min vs 143.66 ± 10.92 min) respectively. Mean time to two segment sensory regression was longer with Ropivacaine ( Group R 118.2 ± 12.48 and Group C 79.73 ± 12.48 min). Difference in Modified Bromage score was significant at 1, 2, 3 and 4 hour postoperatively among two groups with p-value <0.05 showing early regression of motor blockage in Group C in comparison to Group R. Conclusion: Intrathecal chloroprocaine is a good alternative to long acting local anesthetic ropivacaine for short duration urological surgeries, it facilitates early ambulating with minimum side effects. Furthermore, fentanyl as an adjuvant to both ropivacaine and chloroprocaine enhances the duration of analgesia and stabilizes hemodynamic variables

A case report of X-linked CDKL5 gene variant in monozygotic twins associated with developmental and epileptic encephalopathy-2

Abstract Background CDKL5 (Cyclin‐Dependent Kinase Like-5) deficiency disorder (CDD; Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man database 300203, 300672) is a rare neurologic disorder, which is caused by mutation in CDKL5 gene, situated on the X chromosome. Therefore, this condition is inherited in an X-linked dominant pattern. In general, this gene provides instruction for making a protein that is essential for normal brain development and plays an important regulatory role in neuronal function. Case presentation We report a case of 2.5-year-old monozygotic twins (female), Twin-1 is found to be affected with CDKL5 deficiency disorder; development and epileptic encephalopathy-2; DEE2. The symptoms started at approximately 4 months of age. Conclusion Current study aims to stratify risk using NGS (next generation sequencing) in both the parents and Twin-2. This case highlights the importance of genetic testing in patients with genetic disorder for proper diagnosis, for better treatment/management and to understand the prognosis of the condition. Together with the clinical and genetic information, genetic counselling of the patient/patient’s parents can help them in taking informed decision

Does Hepatocyte Paraffin 1 expression stand a role in determining the site origin of an adenocarcinoma from unknown gastrointestinal primary?

Background: Hepatocyte Paraffin 1 (Hep Par 1) was being extensively used to recognize the hepatocellular carcinomas, until recognition of its expression in tumors without hepatocellular differentiation. Aims and Objectives: The aim of this study was to analyze if Hep Par 1 stain can serve as a specific marker of the small intestinal (SI) adenocarcinomas, versus other gastrointestinal tract (GIT) primary tumors. Materials and Methods: In this retrospective cross-sectional study, normal GIT mucosa (n - 60), corresponding adenocarcinomas (n - 60) and nodal metastatic foci (n - 60) from the same patients, including 10 cases each from the esophagus, stomach, SI periampullary region, colon, rectum, and gall bladder were included. H-score was calculated by multiplying the stain distribution and intensity scores. The H-scores were compared with other clinical and histological parameters. Results: While normal SI mucosa showed diffuse strong Hep Par 1 staining, normal esophageal and gastric epitheliums were negative and normal colon, rectal, and biliary epithelium showed weak focal positivity. Adenocarcinomas from all these sites, however, showed Hep Par 1 expression, irrespective of the tumor type, site or origin, and tumor stage. The corresponding metastatic sites also showed variable Hep Par 1 positivity, without any site specificity. Conclusion: Hep Par 1 stain cannot help to determine the exact site of origin of primary GIT tumors. Its expression in adenocarcinomas across the GIT and their metastatic foci proves that it cannot be regarded as a marker of SI differentiation, especially in malignancy