Knowledge, attitudes and self-reported practices of food service staff in nursing homes and long-term care facilities

The aim of this study was to investigate knowledge, attitudes and practices of food service staff in nursing homes and long-term care facilities for the elderly in Sicily, Italy. Association with some demographic and work-related variables was also investigated. This survey provides information and outlines many complex questions concerning the basics of food hygiene. Education level, length of service in the employment and attending courses on food hygiene influenced the knowledge, attitudes and practices of food service staff. This study has evidenced the need for continuous training among food service staff regarding food safety in LTCF and nursing homes

MOBILE MAPPING FOR CULTURAL HERITAGE: THE SURVEY OF THE COMPLEX OF ST. JOHN OF THE HERMITS IN PALERMO (ITALY)

During the 11th and 12th century, the Arab-Norman architectural style characterized the most beautiful and important Cultural Heritage buildings in Sicily, and especially in Palermo (Italy). The relevance of these monuments is highlighted by their inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites List in 2015. For many years, the University of Palermo has been studying and documenting several Arab-Norman cultural assets, and in particular, the complex of St. John of the Hermits in Palermo (Italy). A first detailed 3D survey of the main structures of this complex was carried out using a terrestrial laser scanner while the 3D survey of the entire complex was made using a Mobile Mapping System (MMS). The paper describes the workflow and the results of the mobile mapping survey undertaken with a Handheld Mobile Laser Scanner (HMLS) based on Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping (SLAM) technologies. The work allowed surveying the entire site with an extremely fast acquisition and obtaining the geometric information useful for historical architectural valuations. In addition, due to the characteristics of the site, the work enabled the assessment of the HMLS data processing testing different automatic algorithms for point cloud filtering

Food Chemistry: Food quality and new analytical approaches

Peer Reviewe

A Bathtub Curve from Nonparametric Model

This paper presents a nonparametric method to obtain the hazard rate "Bathtub curve" for power system components. The model is a mixture of the three known phases of a component life, the decreasing failure rate (DFR), the constant failure rate (CFR) and the increasing failure rate (IFR) represented by three parametric Weibull models. The parameters are obtained from a simultaneous fitting process of the model to the Kernel nonparametric hazard rate curve. From the Weibull parameters and failure rate curves the useful lifetime and the characteristic lifetime were defined. To demonstrate the model the historic time-to-failure of distribution transformers were used as an example. The resulted "Bathtub curve" shows the failure rate for the equipment lifetime which can be applied in economic and replacement decision models

A Bathtub Curve from Nonparametric Model

This paper presents a nonparametric method to obtain the hazard rate "Bathtub curve" for power system components. The model is a mixture of the three known phases of a component life, the decreasing failure rate (DFR), the constant failure rate (CFR) and the increasing failure rate (IFR) represented by three parametric Weibull models. The parameters are obtained from a simultaneous fitting process of the model to the Kernel nonparametric hazard rate curve. From the Weibull parameters and failure rate curves the useful lifetime and the characteristic lifetime were defined. To demonstrate the model the historic time-to-failure of distribution transformers were used as an example. The resulted "Bathtub curve" shows the failure rate for the equipment lifetime which can be applied in economic and replacement decision models

Human Indoor Exposure to Airborne Halogenated Flame Retardants: Influence of Airborne Particle Size

Inhalation of halogenated flame-retardants (HFRs) released from consumer products is an important route of exposure. However, not all airborne HFRs are respirable, and thus interact with vascular membranes within the gas exchange (alveolar) region of the lung. HFRs associated with large (\u3e 4 mu m), inhalable airborne particulates are trapped on the mucosal lining of the respiratory tract and then are expelled or swallowed. The latter may contribute to internal exposure via desorption from particles in the digestive tract. Exposures may also be underestimated if personal activities that re-suspend particles into the breathing zone are not taken into account. Here, samples were collected using personal air samplers, clipped to the participants\u27 shirt collars (n = 18). We observed that the larger, inhalable air particulates carried the bulk (\u3e92%) of HFRs. HFRs detected included those removed from commerce (i.e., polybrominated diphenyl ethers (Penta-BDEs: BDE-47, -85, -100, -99, and -153)), their replacements; e.g., 2-ethylhexyl 2,3,4,5-tetrabromobenzoate (TBB or EH-TBB); bis(2-ethylhexyl) 3,4,5,6-tetrabromophthalate (TBPH or BEH-TEBP) and long-produced chlorinated organophosphate-FRs (ClOPFRs): tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate (TCEP), tris(1-chloro-2-propyl) phosphate (TCPP or TCIPP), and tris(1,3-dichloro-2-propyl) phosphate (TDCPP or TDCIPP). Our findings suggest estimates relying on a single exposure route, i.e., alveolar gas exchange, may not accurately estimate HFR internal dosage, as they ignore contributions from larger inhalable particulates that enter the digestive tract. Consideration of the fate and bioavailability of these larger particulates resulted in higher dosage estimates for HFRs with log K-oa \u3c 12 (i.e., Penta-BDEs and ClOPFRs) and lower estimates for those with log Koa \u3e 12 (i.e., TBB and TBPH) compared to the alveolar route exposure alone. Of those HFRs examined, the most significant effect was the lower estimate by 41% for TBPH. The bulk of TBPH uptake from inhaled particles was estimated to be through the digestive tract, with lower bioavailability. We compared inhalation exposure estimates to chronic oral reference doses (RfDs) established by several regulatory agencies. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) RfD levels for several HFRs are considered outdated; however, BDE-99 levels exceeded those suggested by the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) by up to 26 times. These findings indicate that contributions and bioavailability of respirable and inhalable airborne particulates should both be considered in future risk assessments

Twitter, partisan use and institutional use: Comparative analysis between the profiles of Moncloa, Madrid City Council and their ruling parties

This paper seeks to compare and analyse the differences in the use of Twitter that, Partido Popular, as a traditional political party, and Ahora Madrid, as a new political party, make of the institutional channels for the public institutions that they administer. In addition, the present study analyses three different periods in the electoral process: the pre-campaign, campaign and post-campaign during the Spanish general elections of December 20th, 2015 in order to see if the election periods caused changes in their communications on Twitter. The sample consists of four cases divided into two groups for content analysis. On one hand, the Government’s Twitter profile (@desdelamoncloa) and of its ruling party, Partido Popular (@ppopular), comprise the old political group, while the Madrid City Council (@Madrid) and its ruling party, Ahora Madrid (@AhoraMadrid), are integrated into the new political group. Additionally, word clouds provide a visual representation of the main terms used by each group. The study results show which group uses and better leverages Twitter’s potential, in that Partido Popular and Moncloa have clearer differences between party and institutional channels, while Ahora Madrid and the Madrid City Council do not seem to be as clear about the difference between the two concepts and use the party channel as the city council channel. However, the results demonstrate that the new political profile leverages Twitter’s potential more.El presente trabajo analiza las diferencias de uso de Twitter por parte de dos partidos políticos españoles, Partido Popular, como partido tradicional, y Ahora Madrid, como nuevo partido, así como la utilización de los canales institucionales de los entes públicos que estos partidos presiden a nivel nacional y local, respectivamente. Los resultados muestran usos y aprovechamientos diferentes de las potencialidades de Twitter. El estudio se realizó en tres periodos electorales diferenciados: precampaña, campaña y post-campaña de las elecciones generales del 20 de diciembre de 2015, para examinar también cambios de comportamiento en la comunicación en Twitter en el periodo electoral. La muestra consta de cuatro casos divididos en dos grupos para el análisis de contenido. Por un lado, el perfil en Twitter del Gobierno (@desdelamoncloa) y el del partido gobernante, el Partido Popular (@ppopular) constituyen el grupo de la vieja política. Por otro lado, el Ayuntamiento de Madrid (@madrid) y su partido gobernante, Ahora Madrid (@AhoraMadrid), se integran dentro del grupo de nueva política. Además, unas nubes de palabras presentarán visualmente las principales ideas enviadas por los perfiles. Los resultados indican que Partido Popular y Moncloa mantuvieron un uso diferenciado entre los canales de partido y los institucionales, mientras que en el caso de Ahora Madrid y el Ayuntamiento de Madrid se constataron usos concluyentes y no diferenciados entre el canal del partido y el institucional. Además, se observa que los perfiles de la nueva política aprovechan más las potencialidades de Twitter

Production management model through MPS and line balancing to reduce the non-fulfillment of orders in lingerie clothing MSEs in Peru

The focus of this research is to establish control and planning management in the sewing production process of lingerie clothing to better prepare companies for demand growth. The lack of improvement tools in this sector, the lack of staff training and a lack of quality culture has led to companies, especially MYPES, not being able to meet the established delivery times and non-fulfillment of orders with the customers, which represents 80% of dissatisfied orders due to the limited production capacity and non-productive time in the plant. This problem is due to limited production capacity, deficient production planning, and lack of materials. In order to solve this problem, industrial engineering tools were used. The application of these tools improved production from 79% to 95%

Vitamin D in cancer chemoprevention

Context: There is increasing evidence that Vitamin D (Vit D) and its metabolites, besides their well-known calcium-related functions, may also exert antiproliferative, pro-differentiating, and immune modulatory effects on tumor cells in vitro and may also delay tumor growth in vivo. Objective: The aim of this review is to provide fresh insight into the most recent advances on the role of Vit D and its analogues as chemopreventive drugs in cancer therapy. Methods: A systematic review of experimental and clinical studies on Vit D and cancer was undertaken by using the major electronic health database including ISI Web of Science, Medline, PubMed, Scopus and Google Scholar. Results and conclusion: Experimental and clinical observations suggest that Vit D and its analogues may be effective in preventing the malignant transformation and/or the progression of various types of human tumors including breast cancer, prostate cancer, colorectal cancer, and some hematological malignances. These findings suggest the possibility of the clinical use of these molecules as novel potential chemopreventive and anticancer agent