How do microorganisms reach the stratosphere?

A number of studies have demonstrated that bacteria and fungi are present in the stratosphere. Since the tropopause is generally regarded as a barrier to the upward movement of particles it is difficult to see how such microorganisms can reach heights above 17 km. Volcanoes provide an obvious means by which this could be achieved, but these occur infrequently and any microorganisms entering the stratosphere from this source will rapidly fall out of the stratosphere. Here, we suggest mechanisms by which microorganisms might reach the stratosphere on a more regular basis; such mechanisms are, however, likely only to explain how micrometre to submicrometre particles could be elevated into the stratosphere. Intriguingly, clumps of bacteria of size in excess of 10 μm have been found in stratospheric samples. It is difficult to understand how such clumps could be ejected from the Earth to this height, suggesting that such bacterial masses may be incoming to Earth. We suggest that the stratospheric microflora is made up of two components: (a) a mixed population of bacteria and fungi derived from Earth, which can occasionally be cultured; and (b) a population made up of clumps of, viable but non-culturable, bacteria which are too large to have originated from Earth; these, we suggest, have arrived in the stratosphere from space. Finally, we speculate on the possibility that the transfer of bacteria from the Earth to the highly mutagenic stratosphere may have played a role in bacterial evolution

PERCEIVED NEW RISKS TO CONSTRUCTION WORKERS IN KUWAIT DUE TO RISING TEMPERATURES

This study aimed to examine the risks construction workers in Kuwait face due to increasing temperatures. The environmental conditions for construction workers include working in hot and humid environments, wearing protective clothing, and performing hard physical work. These aspects place them at an increased risk for occupational heat stress. The health impacts of occupational heat exposure for construction workers are heat-related diseases, occupational accidents/ injuries, urological diseases, dysfunctional reproductive system, reduced mental health and cognitive functioning, vision and eye problems, and death. Heat exposure affects workers\u27 health through heat-related illnesses, including heavy sweating, dizziness, muscle pain, fatigue, skin itchiness, and headache. Heat exposure also has various direct and indirect social implications for construction workers. It leads to family problems, workplace issues with co-workers and managers, reduced income, lack of basic amenities, reduced capability, and reduced productivity. One significant preventive measure for heat stress is providing training and education to workers on identifying heat stress signs and assessing and monitoring themselves and fellow workers while working in hot environments

Secure Cloud WLAN using Dynamic Placement with a Cloud Name Resolution Protocol

Cloud computing has displayed many intriguing possibilities since it was launched. Few of the cloud computing systems are centralized and might lead to bottlenecks under heavy traffic. This situation will influence security and leads to blockage of a greater part in the network especially when important routers and servers are not working. In the present years there has been a great development on Peer-to-Peer (P2P) cloud computing. In this work, we are providing a protocol to allow cloud servers easily interact and transport session state data between one another. The proposed methodology has been implemented using Visual Studio platform. The platform has been extensively tested and it has demonstrated promising results

Miniaturized Antenna Design For Wireless Biomedical Sensors

This thesis is focused on the design and simulation of miniaturized antennas for wireless biomedical sensors. The motivation of the work was to provide a solution for wireless systems that are embedded or placed on the body. Currently, small antennas are on demand to be implanted inside the body or placed closely to the body. The performance of such antennas, gain and efficiency, is affected by the lossy tissues that surround them. The goal of this work was to design antennas that are placed on a living body and integrated with a sensor system implanted in living tissue, to measure the dielectric properties of the tissue. The antenna type that this work was based on is Planar Inverted F Antenna (PIFA). The assumption was that the antenna is placed on skin layer and not embedded inside a tissue layers. A few antennas were designed and simulated. Two major studies were performed. First, an antenna, which was originally proposed in literature for wireless communication systems, was adopted and revised for biomedical applications. The antenna performance while it was on two tissue layers (skin and fat) was studied and optimized. The objective was to understand how miniaturization and the surrounding environment affect the antenna resonance frequency and performance. A second study was performed to design a novel PIFA antenna to improve the performance and reduce the size further

Formal analysis of intonation: the case of the Kuwaiti dialect of Arabic

A formal analysis of intonation is carried out in this study, which involves an investigation of the intonation system of Kuwaiti Dialect of Arabic (KDA). Following the prosodic framework established in Britain in general and Crystal's theory in particular, intonation is viewed here as a unitary system: tonality, tonicity, and tone. Each system is individually considered (chapters four, five, and six). This study consists of six chapters. The introductory chapter (one) is made up of four distinct parts. After a brief discussion of the importance of intonation in speech, part one gradually presents the progress of knowledge in the field of intonation starting from the very early and hence impressionistic treatments until the most recent and hence adopted phonological/phonetic approach. The language under investigation is phonologically and morphologically explored in part two. Part three explicitly states research objectives, the scope of the investigation and the data, and the methodology upon which the study is based. The final part of chapter one is devoted to an independent account of Arabic intonation. Chapter two discusses different prosodic features, such as; loudness, duration, tempo, and pause, and assesses their contribution to intonational contrasts. It also explores the physical nature of pitch as the prime component of intonation. The major functions of intonation are discussed in chapter three, where it is concluded that intonation is multifunctional. Chapter four is exclusively devoted to a consideration of the grammaticality of tonality. It is concluded here, as supported by statistical investigation, that a KDA speaker paragraphs his flow of speech by means of intonation in such a way as to correspond with the structure of elements of clause rather than it being the case that "one clause is one tone group" as suggested by Halliday (1970). Chapter five discusses the communicative importance of tonicity in speech. The position of tonicity is thoroughly examined and related to the informational and grammatical constructions of the utterance in which it occurs. It is concluded that tonicity in KDA is unpredictable, and that the nucleus is position-free. Tonicity is mainly determined by the speaker's assessment of which segment (segments) to focus as guided by the nature of his message. Chapter six answers questions which are fundamentally related to the physical movement of pitch which constitutes the tone system of KDA. Functionally, pitch contour types are related to their concomitant sentence types. A bidirectional method is applied in analysing the KDA tone system; on the one hand, the 'kinetic' and 'static' movements of pitch are phonetically investigated, and on the other hand, pitch contours are phonologically grouped and functionally related through their syntactic relevance to sentence types. It is then concluded that: (a) KDA has five basic tones; rise, fall, level, rise-fall, and fall-rise, and (b) the distribution of pitch contours as related to sentence types is hardly systematic; while the unmarked/marked distinction is clear with an overwhelming frequency in declaratives (fall) and interrogatives (rise), it is certainly less obvious in the case of exclamations and totally absent in the case of commands

Level of Implementation and Beliefs about Evidence-Based Practice among Respiratory Therapists in Clinical Setting in Saudi Arabia.

BACKGROUND: Evidenced-based practice (EBP) is applying or translating research findings in our daily patient care practices and clinical decision-making. EBP also involves integrating the best available evidence with clinical knowledge and expertise, while considering patients’ unique needs and personal preferences. Since the role of RTs has increased, the importance of choosing the most effective treatment available is vital. Therefore, it is essential to evaluate RTs\u27 EBP beliefs and their implementation level and obtain important information about their daily clinical practice. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to measure the level of implementation, describe beliefs about EBP among respiratory therapists in the clinical setting in Saudi Arabia. METHODS: The study utilized an online, cross-sectional survey with 34 questions administered to a convenience sample of RTs in Saudi Arabia. The survey is divided into three sections: belief and implementation, and demographics questions. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and one-way ANOVA tests. A significance level was set at 0.05. All analyses were performed in SPSS version 26. RESULTS: The total sample consisted of 49 respiratory therapists consisting of three experience levels: less than 5 years (n=38, 77.55%), 5 to 10 years (n=6, 12.24%), and more than 10 years (n=5, 10.20%). The majority of the respondents were males (57%, n=28), while the females comprised (40% n=20). Most of the respondents in the study are between 25 and 30 years old (59% n=29), under 25 years (32% n=16), and over 35 years old (8% n=4) There were no statistically significant differences between male and female respondents or years of experience in the belief or implementation scales. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, the respiratory therapists\u27 community in Saudi Arabia reported their positive beliefs about EBP, but most of them did not frequently implement it in their daily clinical practice. Further research is required due to a lack of literature on evidence-based practice in respiratory therapy, and to assess the correlates of negative EBP\u27 implementation levels among RTs in Saudi Arabi

Residents Living in a Retirement Community Are at Risk for Numerous Nutrient Inadequacies

Purpose: To determine the nutrient adequacy of the diet of older adults living in a retirement community (RC). Methods: Residents were surveyed using a 21-item Health Questionnaire and Three Day Food Records were used to estimate the adequacy of their diets. Food records were analyzed using ESHA Food Processor®; all data were tabulated and analyzed using SPSS version 19 software. Results: Response rate, 28.7%; mean age, 86 ± 8.1 years; mean BMI, 25.6 ± 4.6 kg/m2; polypharmacy, 75%; health conditions (most nutrition-related), 75%; 60% performed between 30-150 min of physical activity/week. Participants met the EER and AMDRs for macro-nutrients; ≥50% had inadequate intakes for six micro-nutrients and fibre; females met the recommended number of food-guide-servings for two food groups, while males consumed significantly less than the recommendations for all four food groups. Conclusion: Based on food intake, without supplements, there was a high prevalence of nutrient inadequacies amongst RC residents

Content analysis of crisis communicative strategies: Tunisian protest vs. anti-Mubarak protest

The paper explores the crisis communicative strategies (CCs) that the former Tunisian president, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, and the former Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, used in response to the protests, which are considered as one of the most critical crises in their reigns. A content analysis was conducted to examine the three speeches each president delivered during the crisis event in order not only to protect their image but also to restore peace and order. The study aimed to address the following questions: What are the crisis response strategies they used to restore their (distorted) image? did these strategies change over the demonstration period? and are they appropriate to the crises? In so doing, the analysis probes the length as well as the number of words and sentences; the framing patterns that have been applied (logical vs. emotional), and the crisis communicative strategies applying Coombs’ (1999) communicative strategies model.