The Supply Chain 4.0 in Moroccan automotive companies: a state of art.

Now more than ever, improving the efficiency of a company’s supply chain has become an asset for maintaining a competitive advantage also to meet the overall sustainability challenges related to the environmental pillar that must have a positive effect on the environment such as minimizing greenhouse gas emissions, for Moroccan companies, the integration of the industry 4.0 enabling technologies can improve and give a new impetus especially for the automotive industry. The success of this integration begins with the study of the industry 4.0 technologies and the supply chain 4.0 and their impact on automotive companies’ performance. The present study is based on a systematic literature review using quantitative and qualitative collected data, a statistical method will be applied to the current literature, on the international and national scales, to study and make further use of the major writings on the subject of this communication, especially in Morocco and similar developing countries by presenting the number of articles published so far also the main definitions and aspects treated by these studies, to provide a global vision on the current literature and encourage more searches to fill the gap, since the Moroccan industries don’t give the necessary importance to this topic.

Prescription pattern among Iranian community dwelling older adults

Aim To assess prescription pattern among Iranian community-dwelling older adults. Methods This cross-sectional study employed a cluster random sampling to obtain a sample of 1591 patients aged 60 years and over referred to pharmacies in Tehran, 2017. Data were collected using a questionnaire: socio-demographic characteristics, type of pharmacy visited, the municipal district, the university covering the pharmacy, the number and names of prescribed drugs, drug category, type of insurances and physician’s socio-demographic profile (age, gender, type of specialization, and work experience). Results The mean age of the patients was 70.51±7.84. A total of 5838 drugs were prescribed, giving an average of 3.73±2.24 drugs per patient (ranging of 1-15). Polypharmacy was noticed in 32.4% patients. Cardiovascular ‏drugs accounted for 20.8% of the prescriptions, antidiabetics 8.8%, nutritional agents and vitamins 7.6%, and analgesics, anti-inflammatory drugs and antipyretics accounted for 7.5%. Conclusion Developing educational programs on geriatric pharmacology general practitioners and more supervision among community-dwelling older adults might have effects on prescription pattern. There is a need for prescriber training and retraining with emphasis on the geriatric population

Survey of both hepatitis B virus (HBsAg) and hepatitis C virus (HCV-Ab) coinfection among HIV positive patients

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>HIV, HBVand HCV is major public health concerns. Because of shared routes of transmission, HIV-HCV coinfection and HIV-HBV coinfection are common. HIV-positive individuals are at risk of coinfection with HBV and HCV infections. The prevalence rates of coinfection with HBV and HCV in HIV-patients have been variable worldwide depending on the geographic regions, and the type of exposure.</p> <p>Aim</p> <p>This study aimed to examine HBV and HCV coinfection serologically and determine the shared and significant factors in the coinfection of HIV-positive patients.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This descriptive, cross-sectional study was carried out on 391 HIV-positive patients including 358 males and 33 females in Lorestan province, west Iran, to survey coinfection with HBsAg and anti-HCV. The retrospective demographic data of the subjects was collected and the patients' serums were analyzed by ELISA kits including HBsAg and anti-HCV. The collected data was analyzed with SPSS software (15) and Chi-square. Fisher's exact test with 5% error intervals was used to measure the correlation of variables and infection rates.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The results of the study indicated that the prevalence of coinfection in HIV-positive patients with hepatitis viruses was 94.4% (370 in 391), out of whom 57 (14.5%) cases were HBsAg positive, 282 (72%) cases were anti-HCV positive, and 31 (7.9%) cases were both HBsAg and anti-HCV positive.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>There was a significant correlation between coinfection with HCV and HBV and/or both among HIV-positive patients depending on different variables including sex, age, occupation, marital status, exposure to risk factors.(p < 0.001).</p

Oxygen matters: tissue culture oxygen levels affect mitochondrial function and structure as well as responses to HIV viroproteins

Mitochondrial dysfunction is implicated in a majority of neurodegenerative disorders and much study of neurodegenerative disease is done on cultured neurons. In traditional tissue culture, the oxygen level that cells experience is dramatically higher (21%) than in vivo conditions (1–11%). These differences can alter experimental results, especially, pertaining to mitochondria and oxidative metabolism. Our results show that primary neurons cultured at physiological oxygen levels found in the brain showed higher polarization, lower rates of ROS production, larger mitochondrial networks, greater cytoplasmic fractions of mitochondria and larger mitochondrial perimeters than those cultured at higher oxygen levels. Although neurons cultured in either physiological oxygen or atmospheric oxygen exhibit significant increases in mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS) production when treated with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) virotoxin trans-activator of transcription, mitochondria of neurons cultured at physiological oxygen underwent depolarization with dramatically increased cell death, whereas those cultured at atmospheric oxygen became hyperpolarized with no increase in cell death. Studies with a second HIV virotoxin, negative regulation factor (Nef), revealed that Nef treatment also increased mitochondrial ROS production for both the oxygen conditions, but resulted in mitochondrial depolarization and increased death only in neurons cultured in physiological oxygen. These results indicate a role for oxidative metabolism in a mechanism of neurotoxicity during HIV infection and demonstrate the importance of choosing the correct, physiological, culture oxygen in mitochondrial studies performed in neurons

On the performance of HLL, HLLC, and Rusanov solvers for hyperbolic traffic models

This paper investigates the performances of approximate Riemann solvers (ARSs) for hyperbolic traffic models from the family of generic second-order traffic flow modeling. Three approximate Riemann solvers are selected, including the HLL, HLLC, and Rusanov solvers, and evaluated comprehensively against the model by Zhang (2002) and a variant of the phase-transition model by Colombo (2002) with a continuous solution domain. The ARSs are investigated using extensive numerical tests, covering all possible waves arising in different Riemann problems, including shockwaves, rarefaction waves, and contact waves. We first investigate ARSs’ performances with the Euler-Upwind spatiotemporal discretization scheme. The results show that Rusanov and HLL solvers capture the solutions to the Riemann problems for both models. However, the HLLC solver fails to remain stable for the model by Colombo (2002) in specific Riemann problems due to its wave-speed mechanism which must be tailored from one model to another. Therefore, Rusanov and HLL solver are identified as more desirable to HLLC for traffic models. This paper further examines the performances of Rusanov and HLL solvers using various high-resolution spatial schemes coupled with the third-order TVD-Runge Kutta scheme for temporal discretization. The spatial schemes considered include the second-order MINMOD and MUSCL schemes, the cell-based third-order upwind (CBTOU) scheme, and the fifth-order WENO-JS and WENO-Z schemes. It is shown that various combinations of the schemes perform differently regarding numerical diffusions and oscillations. For instance, while the combination of the HLL solver with MUSCL and WENO-type schemes perform better than other combinations regarding numerical diffusions, they can lead to oscillatory behavior near intermediate states even though TVD-RK is used for temporal discretization. The paper discusses the implications of such performances for real-world traffic scenarios consisting of multiple bottlenecks.</p

The Influence of Detoxification on the Quality of Life in Substance Addicts Lives With 40-65 Years of Age Referring to the Charity “Ongress60

Objectives: during the last two decades , Activities concerning demand reduction and specially addict&rsquo;s treatment and rehab have outstandingly improved in Iran. Now different treatment alternatives such as outpatient and residential care centers such as&sbquo; abstinence based and spiritual therapies like, narcotic anonymous are developed. Treatment program in human recovery population is replacing opium tincture and gradually reduction of it (during 11 month). And it includes group and spiritual therapies. Methods & Materials: this research is a descriptive study which has been done cohort and longitudinal during 3 months (from the beginning&rsquo; one and three months after entrance). In this research, the quality of life has been assessed. Participants include all addicts over 40 who have referred to the society (congress 60) for detoxification. Choosing the samples has been based on the method of accessible sampling. Demographic questionnaire and life quality questionnaire have been collecting information tools. Data&rsquo;s have been analyzed by software spss. Results: out of 33 people, 15 were over 50 years old. The substance abused include: Opium abuse With the frequency of 12 people (36.4%) &sbquo;heroin crack with the frequency of 14 people (42.2%) had the most frequency. Monthly cost of drug abusing is on average 159/849 toomans, for each person. for all subscales of life quality, P-value has been reported below 0.05. Conclusion: Detoxification has been effective in improving quality of life. just for the two following questions the persons opinion has not changed during three periods: &quot;it seems that I get diseases easier than others&quot; and my health is the same as other people I know&quot;. it can be said perhaps short period treatments have little influence on the change of &quot;ones deep attitude towards himself&quot; and a deep, essential change of attitude needs long period rehabilitation programs

Laboratory investigation on the fracture toughness (Mode I) and durability properties of eco-friendly cement emulsified asphalt mortar (CRTS II) exposed to acid attack

Cement Emulsified Asphalt Mortar (CEAM) has gained prominence as a vital material for its energy and noise damping properties between the concrete roadbed and track slab in a high-speed railway system. Therefore, it is evident that CEAM properties need to be better understood and optimized. Since cracking caused by traffic loading and atmospheric conditions is one of the primary causes of failure in CEAM, addressing this issue is of great importance. Furthermore, there is a growing need for more environmentally friendly and durable CEAM due to the environmental impact of cement production in the form of greenhouse effect. The objective of this study is to assess the impact of partially replacing cement content in CEAM Type II (CRTS II) specimens with pozzolanic materials such as silica fume, metakaolin, and granite sludge to investigate how these pozzolans affect the fracture toughness (Mode I) performance under both normal (water curing) and sulfuric acid exposure conditions with the main focus on evaluating the pozzolans ability to resist acid attack from a fracture toughness perspective as the research novelty. For this purpose, specimens containing pozzolans at 5 %, 10 %, and 15 % substitution level (by weight of cement) were subjected to Semi-Circular Bending (SCB) test both under normal and exposure to 5 % sulfuric acid solution conditions. Moreover, water absorption test was conducted on specimens in normal condition as a durability index. The test results of this study revealed that substitution of these pozzolanic materials enhanced the fracture toughness in normal condition. Specifically, at a 10 % substitution as the optimal level, silica fume and metakaolin resulted in 18 % and 15 % increase in fracture toughness performance compared to the control specimen in normal condition. However, granite sludge exhibited almost the same performance as the control specimen at 5% substitution as its optimal level. In acid exposure condition, the detrimental effect of acid on the fracture toughness performance of specimens was reduced by 61 %, 55 % and 13 % for samples containing silica fume, metakaolin and granite sludge at 15% substitution level, respectively. Furthermore, water absorption test results showed that inclusion of silica fume and metakaolin at a substitution level of 15 % results in 56 % and 47 % reduction in water absorption compared to the control specimen, respectively, while for granite sludge, it was almost the same as control specimen. These results were also confirmed by SEM studies. Since the use of these pozzolans as cement substitution not only improves the fracture toughness in normal condition but also provides protection against acid-induced degradation, this study contributes to the development of a more durable and environmentally friendly CEAM

Equivalent Axle Load Factor Prediction Based on Artificial Neural Networks

Lack of accurate knowledge of pavement behavior under moving loads is the one of the most important disadvantages in calculation of Equivalent Axle Load Factor (EALF) in roads pavement. Among the many researches, the most comprehensive method is based on the AASHTO road test. As the main weakness of this method, the results are limited to the experimented axles, which makes it impossible to determine the EALF for all existing axles, hence reducing the accuracy of the results, causing premature failure, and leading to higher maintenance costs. Today, although numerous software packages are available for EALF calculation, they require various parameters, are time-consuming, and can only simulate one section at a time . On the other hand, artificial neural networks, as an artificial intelligence subcategory, have many advantages such as reduced input data, increased modeling process speed, ability of parallel modeling of several pavements with different conditions, etc. In this paper, after verifying the simulation of flexible pavements in ABAQUS, a model based on Artificial Neural Network (ANN) was presented to calculate EALF using the back-propagation architecture. Finally, from among the reviewed ANN configurations, the network with the 7-13-1 architecture incorporating the sigmoid function was selected as the optimum network

Drug Perscription Patterns of Out Patient Medication for Older People Insured by Social Organization Insurance in Year 2009

Objectives: Life expectancy and adolescents&rsquo; increment, as a threat or opportunity attracted researchers&rsquo; attention. Studies show an increase in treatment expenditures and adults care needs in comparison to other age groups. The goal of this study has been evaluating of medicine prescription in Iranian SSO insured adolescents and comparison in adolescence groups. Methods & Materials: It has been a retrospective, descriptive-analytical-cross sectional study by evaluating of SSO insured out patients&rsquo; prescriptions during the Year 1388. The information includes basic pattern tables consist of Drug name, pattern of specific prescribed drugs, Mean price of specific prescribed drugs, Expenditure of specific prescribed drugs, pattern More prescribed drug groups based on ATC classification, pattern The most prescribed drug groups based on adolescents&rsquo; age groups, non-adolescent group and WHO&rsquo;s separated adolescents&rsquo; age groups. Results: The prescribed pattern drugs mean in under and over 60 years old people showed meaningful difference (P<0.005). The prescribed pattern drugs mean in three groups of adolescents, also showed meaningful difference (P<0.001). In addition the expenditure mean of prescribed drugs in under and over 60 years old people and in three groups of adolescents shows meaningful difference as P<0.004 and P<0.001 respectively. Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, adolescence has direct and increasing effect on refers to physicians and pharmacies. Among the adolescents' groups the expenditure mean increases although the number of refers decrease with in age increasing. By determining the most prescribed medicines, prevention of chronic diseases could be possible by education and training of families

The Social Vulnerability of Older People to Natural Disasters: An Integrative Review

Background: Determining social vulnerability of elderly people is a prerequisite for risk analysis in natural disasters. Understanding and comprehension of different dimensions of elderly social vulnerability by using international experiences is a must to determine and ultimately measure this phenomenon. In this study, we tried to understand the dimensions of elderly social vulnerability in natural disasters based on international experiences. Materials and Methods: An integrative review of literature was conducted to clarify the elderly social vulnerability concept in natural disasters. We used keywords such as &ldquo;elderly&rdquo;, &ldquo;social vulnerability&rdquo;, and &ldquo;natural disasters&rdquo; in texts and titles in electronic databases of Medlib ،Iran Medex, Magiran, SID, Irandoc, Web of Science, Google Scholar CINAHL, ProQuest, Ovid, Ageline, Scopus, Embase, and Pub Med. At last 25 articles were found issued from 1986 to 2018. Their inclusion criteria were written in Persian or English language and had search keywords in their texts, titles, or and keywords. Commentary or editor letters were excluded. Each article was examined according to subjects, definition of social vulnerability, theoretical aspects, outcomes and antecedents of social vulnerability. For analyzing, controversial content analyses was used. Results: The results of the concept analysis showed that social vulnerability is a complex, dynamic, challenging, multi-dimensional and pre-existing condition that is dependent on individual characteristics as well as economic status. It is influenced by the culture and elderly people place of living. Conclusion: Reducing social vulnerability of older adults in natural disasters is not possible without paying enough attention to this issue and increasing their empowerment. Therefore, extensive research to identify this concept in related contexts and carry out qualitative research will be very effective in defining this concept and providing the appropriate tools for its measurement