Infant and child oral health risk status correlated to behavioral habits of parents or caregivers: a survey in central Italy

Aim: The aim of this survey was to evaluate the knowledge and awareness of parents and caregivers about potential oral health risk factors for their children in their first months of life (3–30 months). Materials and Methods: The participation to the survey was proposed to all parents or caregivers of children attending the public consulting service in Latina for mandatory vaccinations during the period of June to August 2014. A self-administered questionnaire was completed to obtain information regarding demographic variables, infant feeding practice, maternal oral health during and after pregnancy, children’s oral hygiene habits and risk behaviors (e.g., sharing cutlery, tasting of baby food, nightly using of baby bottles with sugared beverages, or sugared pacifier), and knowledge about caries and its transmission. The analysis of the data was performed using SPSS 14.0 for Windows (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). The variance analysis and chi-square test were used to investigate the relationship between the variables. Results: Overall, the parents of 304 children consented to fill the questionnaire. Data analysis showed that about 50% of respondents considered dental caries an infectious disease, however, 53.6% was not aware of the potential vertical transmissibility of cariogenic bacteria through contaminated saliva. It is a common trend in the early stages of weaning to taste the baby food (53%) and sharing cutlery (38.5%). With regard to children oral health care, parents reported no toothbrushing for 53.1% of the children in their first 3 years of life. The relationship between the two variables concerning caries transmissibility and tools sharing carried out on through Pearson chi-square test identified P = 0.32. Conclusions: From this survey, the need for parental oral health promoting program emerged to control children oral health risk status

Enhanced transmission through a subwavelength aperture using metamaterials

We report an enhanced transmission through a single circular subwavelength aperture that is incorporated with a split ring resonator (SRR) at the microwave regime. Transmission enhancement factors as high as 530 were observed in the experiments when the SRR was located in front of the aperture in order to efficiently couple the electric field component of the incident electromagnetic wave at SRR's electrical resonance frequency. The experimental results were supported by numerical analyses. The physical origin of the transmission enhancement phenomenon was discussed by examining the induced surface currents on the structures

Automated McIntosh-Based Classification of Sunspot Groups Using MDI Images

yesThis paper presents a hybrid system for automatic detection and McIntosh-based classification of sunspot groups on SOHO/MDI white-light images using active-region data extracted from SOHO/MDI magnetogram images. After sunspots are detected from MDI white-light images they are grouped/clustered using MDI magnetogram images. By integrating image-processing and neural network techniques, detected sunspot regions are classified automatically according to the McIntosh classification system. Our results show that the automated grouping and classification of sunspots is possible with a high success rate when compared to the existing manually created catalogues. In addition, our system can detect and classify sunspot groups in their early stages, which are usually missed by human observers.EPSR

De una Policia Centrada en el estado a una centrada en la comunidad. Lecciones del Intercambio entre las Policías Comunitarias de Bradford en el Reino Unido y de Medellín en Colombia.

yesEste documento de investigación del ICPS es un reporte final de un proceso de cuatro años, en el que se realizaron visitas de intercambio entre oficiales de policía de dos distintos pero problemáticos contextos urbanos, así como una reflexión académica sobre lo que nos enseñó acerca de la construcción de seguridad en tales contextos. Esperamos estimular una mayor discusión en el campo académico y en el diseño de políticas para sobrepasar los obstáculos a la construcción de seguridad en nuestras ciudades en formas que contribuyan al bienestar, la paz y la justicia social. Nuestro trabajo en el Centro Internacional de Estudios en Participación de la Universidad de Bradford se concentra especialmente en el estudio de cómo mejores condiciones de seguridad pueden promover y permitirle a la comunidad tener un rol completo en la vida pública. Creemos que la seguridad debe estar en el centro de los estudios de paz con sólidas dimensiones teóricas y prácticas. Este no es un concepto que deba ser dejado a los pensadores conservadores cuya principal preocupación son el orden y la estabilidad. La seguridad crea ambientes que posibilitan cambios sociales positivos y progreso humano

The Analysis of Turkey's Freight Transport in Terms of Tranport Modes

Turkey enjoys a strategic location, with the potential to play a pivotal role in regional and global integration. The important energy, trade and transport networks which connect west to east and north to south are keys to unleashing this potential. Recent economic and political developments throughout neighbouring regions -the Balkans, the Black Sea, the Mediterranean Basin, the Caucasus, Central Asia and the Middle East- have further emphasized Turkey?s role. A dynamic logistics industry, combined with a large international road vehicle fleet, underscores Turkey?s potential to become one of the most significant logistics hubs and transit countries in the region. Yet, some 96 % of passengers and 92 % of freight are transported by road in Turkey. This dependence on road transport creates imbalance in favour of road transport. Indications such as congestion, environmental downsides, border-crossing problems, road taxation, restrictions on road traffic, permit shortages and customs constraints are some examples. The changing context of international transport has prompted Turkish international road hauliers to adopt innovative solutions to expand their intermodal fleets and develop new Roll-On Roll-Off (RO-RO) lines between Turkey and several European ports. At present, these solutions typically combine road, sea and RO-RO and Rolling Road (Rollende Landstrase/Ro-La) transport. In order to overcome this vulnerability and become more sustainable, Turkey needs to develop intermodal transport solutions that can rapidly yield results without losing the advantages of its competitive road transport system. On the other hand, Turkey has significant potential, and several projects are underway to develop intermodal transport. Among these are the Kars-Tbilisi project, Marmaray Project, Mersin Container port project, and Çandarlý and Filyos port projects. The aim of this paper is to focus on the developments and challenges which Turkey have to face in order to enrich its operating capability of intermodal transport, whether as road-rail, Ro-La, RO-RO and rail ferry services in its international transport and logistics activities, the country still needs a comprehensive intermodal strategy and framework. In other words, a study is done which would allow a more efficient and sustainable growth of intermodal operations. The authors also make recommendations that are considered necessary to further promote and improve intermodality in Turkey