Disinfection performance of an ultraviolet lamp: a CFD investigation

Ultraviolet (UV)-based devices have shown their effectiveness on various germicidal purposes. To serve their design optimisation, the disinfection effectiveness of a vertically cylindrical UV lamp, whose wattage ranges from P = 30 − 100 W, is numerically investigated in this work. The UV radiation is solved by the Finite Volume Method together with the Discrete Ordinates model. Various results for the UV intensity and its bactericidal effects against several popular virus types, i.e., Corona-SARS, Herpes (type 2), and HIV, are reported and analysed in detail. Results show that the UV irradiance is greatly dependent on the lamp power. Additionally, it is indicated that the higher the lamp wattage employed, the larger the bactericidal rate is observed, resulting in the greater effectiveness of the UV disinfection process. Nevertheless, the wattage of P ≤ 100W is determined to be insufficient for an effective disinfection performance in a whole room; higher values of power must hence be considered in case intensive sterilization is required. Furthermore, the germicidal effect gets reduced with the viruses less sensitive to UV rays, e.g, the bactericidal rate against the HIV virus is only ∼8.98% at the surrounding walls

Impacts of κ- oligocarrageenan application on photosynthesis, nutrient uptake and bean yield of coffee (Coffea robusta)

κ-Oligocarrgeenan (OC) is well known as an effective and green plant growth promoter and elicitor. However, its effect on coffee plant has not been investigated so far. This study aimed to examine the impacts of OC on biophysical activity, vegetative growth and productivity of coffee plant (Coffea robusta). OC with average molecular weight (AMW) of 4.0 kDa was prepared by depolymerization of carrageenan using ascorbic acid. Field experiments were conducted by foliar spray four times per year at various OC concentrations (50, 100, 150, 200, and 250 ppm) for three years (2017-2019). The results showed that OC promoted growth of coffee plant in all tested concentrations, and an optimized concentration was found at 150 ppm which showed a significant increase compared to the control plant in total chlorophyll (24.79%), carotenoid (31.65%), uptakes of N (15.66%), P (15.81%), and K (22.25%) minerals in leaves, crop yield (19.80%) and bean size (13.10%). Therefore, OC is potentially promising to apply as a promoter to enhance yield of crops for sustainable coffee plantation

Anxiety and its risk factors among non-Japanese residents living in Japan undergoing COVID-19 situation: A cross-sectional survey

Introduction In the context of collective efforts taken in Japan to control the spread of COVID-19, the state of emergency and social distancing have caused a negative impact on the mental health of all residents, including foreign communities in Japan. This study aimed to evaluate the level of anxiety and its associated factors among non-Japanese residents residing in Japan during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods A web-based survey in 13 languages was conducted among non-Japanese residents living in Japan during the COVID-19 situation. The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory assessed the level of anxiety–State (STAI-S) scores prorated from its six-item version. The multivariable logistic regression using the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) method was performed to identify the associated factors of anxiety among participants. Results From January to March 2021, we collected 392 responses. A total of 357 valid responses were analyzed. 54.6% of participants suffered from clinically significant anxiety (CSA). In multivariable logistic model analysis, the CSA status or the high level of anxiety was associated with three factors, including having troubles/difficulties in learning or working, decreased sleep duration, and decreased overall physical health (p<0.05). Conclusion Our study suggests several possible risk factors of anxiety among non-Japanese residents living in Japan undergoing the COVID-19 pandemic, including the troubles or difficulties in learning or working, the decrease in sleep duration, and the decrease in overall physical health.Revisión por pare

Awareness and preparedness of healthcare workers against the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional survey across 57 countries.

BACKGROUND: Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, there have been concerns related to the preparedness of healthcare workers (HCWs). This study aimed to describe the level of awareness and preparedness of hospital HCWs at the time of the first wave. METHODS: This multinational, multicenter, cross-sectional survey was conducted among hospital HCWs from February to May 2020. We used a hierarchical logistic regression multivariate analysis to adjust the influence of variables based on awareness and preparedness. We then used association rule mining to identify relationships between HCW confidence in handling suspected COVID-19 patients and prior COVID-19 case-management training. RESULTS: We surveyed 24,653 HCWs from 371 hospitals across 57 countries and received 17,302 responses from 70.2% HCWs overall. The median COVID-19 preparedness score was 11.0 (interquartile range [IQR] = 6.0-14.0) and the median awareness score was 29.6 (IQR = 26.6-32.6). HCWs at COVID-19 designated facilities with previous outbreak experience, or HCWs who were trained for dealing with the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak, had significantly higher levels of preparedness and awareness (p<0.001). Association rule mining suggests that nurses and doctors who had a 'great-extent-of-confidence' in handling suspected COVID-19 patients had participated in COVID-19 training courses. Male participants (mean difference = 0.34; 95% CI = 0.22, 0.46; p<0.001) and nurses (mean difference = 0.67; 95% CI = 0.53, 0.81; p<0.001) had higher preparedness scores compared to women participants and doctors. INTERPRETATION: There was an unsurprising high level of awareness and preparedness among HCWs who participated in COVID-19 training courses. However, disparity existed along the lines of gender and type of HCW. It is unknown whether the difference in COVID-19 preparedness that we detected early in the pandemic may have translated into disproportionate SARS-CoV-2 burden of disease by gender or HCW type

Safety and efficacy of fluoxetine on functional outcome after acute stroke (AFFINITY): a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial

Background Trials of fluoxetine for recovery after stroke report conflicting results. The Assessment oF FluoxetINe In sTroke recoverY (AFFINITY) trial aimed to show if daily oral fluoxetine for 6 months after stroke improves functional outcome in an ethnically diverse population. Methods AFFINITY was a randomised, parallel-group, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial done in 43 hospital stroke units in Australia (n=29), New Zealand (four), and Vietnam (ten). Eligible patients were adults (aged ≥18 years) with a clinical diagnosis of acute stroke in the previous 2–15 days, brain imaging consistent with ischaemic or haemorrhagic stroke, and a persisting neurological deficit that produced a modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score of 1 or more. Patients were randomly assigned 1:1 via a web-based system using a minimisation algorithm to once daily, oral fluoxetine 20 mg capsules or matching placebo for 6 months. Patients, carers, investigators, and outcome assessors were masked to the treatment allocation. The primary outcome was functional status, measured by the mRS, at 6 months. The primary analysis was an ordinal logistic regression of the mRS at 6 months, adjusted for minimisation variables. Primary and safety analyses were done according to the patient's treatment allocation. The trial is registered with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry, ACTRN12611000774921. Findings Between Jan 11, 2013, and June 30, 2019, 1280 patients were recruited in Australia (n=532), New Zealand (n=42), and Vietnam (n=706), of whom 642 were randomly assigned to fluoxetine and 638 were randomly assigned to placebo. Mean duration of trial treatment was 167 days (SD 48·1). At 6 months, mRS data were available in 624 (97%) patients in the fluoxetine group and 632 (99%) in the placebo group. The distribution of mRS categories was similar in the fluoxetine and placebo groups (adjusted common odds ratio 0·94, 95% CI 0·76–1·15; p=0·53). Compared with patients in the placebo group, patients in the fluoxetine group had more falls (20 [3%] vs seven [1%]; p=0·018), bone fractures (19 [3%] vs six [1%]; p=0·014), and epileptic seizures (ten [2%] vs two [<1%]; p=0·038) at 6 months. Interpretation Oral fluoxetine 20 mg daily for 6 months after acute stroke did not improve functional outcome and increased the risk of falls, bone fractures, and epileptic seizures. These results do not support the use of fluoxetine to improve functional outcome after stroke

Study of Seasoning Powder Processing from Gray Abalone Mushroom

The gray abalone mushroom is a rich source of amino acids and carbohydrate compounds, with some biological activities and antioxidants. Nowadays, the variety of food additives on the market such as sodium glutamate (E621), sodium guanylate (E627), or sodium insonate (E631), could probably cause negative effects for people’s health. This study used gray abalone mushrooms to create naturally derived seasoning products without using flavor enhancers and synthetic compounds. The gray abalone mushroom was pretreated and dried at 60°C until attaining the moisture content of <5%, while the biological activity and antioxidant values were kept optimal. The mixture ingredients, including 5% abalone mushroom powder, 2% baby cornstarch, and other seasoning ingredients, were uniformly ground. The based-gray abalone mushroom powder that was packed in PE with the moisture content below 3% displayed stability in terms of quality throughout 90 days. Gray abalone mushroom seasoning powder contributed to creating safe, natural products as well as improving consumers’ health

Development of a Solar-Powered IoT-Based Instrument for Automatic Measurement of Water Clarity

Water clarity is the most common indicator of water quality. The purpose of the study was to develop an instrument which can automatically measure water clarity in place of manual measurement by Secchi disk. The instrument is suspended by buoys at the water surface and uses solar energy to measure the light intensity of LED bulbs after passing through a water column; the result is then converted to Secchi depth by using a regression function. Measurement data are stored in a cloud server so that mobile users can access via an Internet connection. Three experiments were conducted to examine the instrument performance: (i) to ensure light intensity of the LED bulbs is strong enough to pass through the water column; (ii) to determine the regression relationship between the measured light intensity of the instrument and Secchi depth; and (iii) to evaluate the coefficient of variation (CV) of the measured water clarity when using our instrument and a conventional Secchi disk. Experiment results show that the measured values of light intensity are stable with the average CV = 5.25%. Moreover, although there are slight differences between the Secchi depth measured by our instrument and those measured by Secchi disk, the measurements by our instrument can efficiently replace the measurements by conventional Secchi disk, which can be affected by weather conditions as well as by human subjectivity

A generalized resource allocation framework in support of multi-layer virtual network embedding based on SDN

Network Virtualization (NV) allows multiple heterogeneous architectures to simultaneously coexist in a shared infrastructure. Embedding multiple virtual networks (VNs) in a shared substrate deals with efficient mapping of virtual resources in the physical infrastructure and is referred to as the Virtual Network Embedding problem (VNE-problem). Although there is recently a number of research work in the area of network virtualization based on the Software-Defined Networking (SDN) technology, virtual network embedding in SDN remains challenging from both theoretical and practical points of view.This article focuses on virtual network embedding strategies and related issues for Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) paradigms under the constraint of fixed virtual node locations. Special considerations are given to the problems related to resource allocation and link sharing of multi-layer virtual networks on top of the physical substrate. Firstly, a heuristic virtual network embedding algorithm is proposed that can improve the mapping acceptance ratio and resource efficiency in the IaaS context. Secondly, REsource reSERvation in generalized Virtual NETworks (ReServNet), a Software-Defined Networking platform designed for embedding multi-level virtual networks in physical infrastructures is developed. By defining new softwarized logical functions, ReServNet allows network administrators to create and manage multiple virtual networks on top of the physical network and allocate bandwidth resources to them accordingly. Moreover, the ReServNet framework allows for designing, prototyping, benchmarking and evaluating the performance of different network embedding algorithms easily in real SDN virtualization environments. Different issues related to virtual network embedding on SDN-based physical substrate are also analyzed and discussed in detail