Effect of Ordinary Portland Cement in Geopolymer system

The construction industry in developing countries is growing very fast. And Ordinary Portland cement concrete is one of the most popular materials in demand in this construction industry. Ordinary Portland cement is commonly used as a binding material for the concrete production but the use of this material has brought up some concerning issues of various types. Therefore, scientists in recent years have come up with fly ash based Geopolymer concrete as alternative to replace the Ordinary Portland cement concrete. The fly ash based geopolymer comes up with some problems of its own. It has a very fast setting time and also it needs considerable amount of energy or heat to attain the desirable strength. These properties of geopolymer concrete are not desirable on the real time construction process. These undesirable properties could be minimized by mixing the fly ash to the Ordinary Portland cement; since the fly ash and the Ordinary Portland cement will complement each other. Therefore, this project aims to identify the optimum fly ash to Ordinary Portland cement ratio for good engineering properties of a concrete and also the specific curing time for each property

Effect of Ordinary Portland Cement in Geopolymer system

The construction industry in developing countries is growing very fast. And Ordinary Portland cement concrete is one of the most popular materials in demand in this construction industry. Ordinary Portland cement is commonly used as a binding material for the concrete production but the use of this material has brought up some concerning issues of various types. Therefore, scientists in recent years have come up with fly ash based Geopolymer concrete as alternative to replace the Ordinary Portland cement concrete. The fly ash based geopolymer comes up with some problems of its own. It has a very fast setting time and also it needs considerable amount of energy or heat to attain the desirable strength. These properties of geopolymer concrete are not desirable on the real time construction process. These undesirable properties could be minimized by mixing the fly ash to the Ordinary Portland cement; since the fly ash and the Ordinary Portland cement will complement each other. Therefore, this project aims to identify the optimum fly ash to Ordinary Portland cement ratio for good engineering properties of a concrete and also the specific curing time for each property

Uganda's experience in Ebola virus disease outbreak preparedness, 2018-2019.

BACKGROUND: Since the declaration of the 10th Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak in DRC on 1st Aug 2018, several neighboring countries have been developing and implementing preparedness efforts to prevent EVD cross-border transmission to enable timely detection, investigation, and response in the event of a confirmed EVD outbreak in the country. We describe Uganda's experience in EVD preparedness. RESULTS: On 4 August 2018, the Uganda Ministry of Health (MoH) activated the Public Health Emergency Operations Centre (PHEOC) and the National Task Force (NTF) for public health emergencies to plan, guide, and coordinate EVD preparedness in the country. The NTF selected an Incident Management Team (IMT), constituting a National Rapid Response Team (NRRT) that supported activation of the District Task Forces (DTFs) and District Rapid Response Teams (DRRTs) that jointly assessed levels of preparedness in 30 designated high-risk districts representing category 1 (20 districts) and category 2 (10 districts). The MoH, with technical guidance from the World Health Organisation (WHO), led EVD preparedness activities and worked together with other ministries and partner organisations to enhance community-based surveillance systems, develop and disseminate risk communication messages, engage communities, reinforce EVD screening and infection prevention measures at Points of Entry (PoEs) and in high-risk health facilities, construct and equip EVD isolation and treatment units, and establish coordination and procurement mechanisms. CONCLUSION: As of 31 May 2019, there was no confirmed case of EVD as Uganda has continued to make significant and verifiable progress in EVD preparedness. There is a need to sustain these efforts, not only in EVD preparedness but also across the entire spectrum of a multi-hazard framework. These efforts strengthen country capacity and compel the country to avail resources for preparedness and management of incidents at the source while effectively cutting costs of using a "fire-fighting" approach during public health emergencies

Global, regional, and national burden of colorectal cancer and its risk factors, 1990–2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

Funding: F Carvalho and E Fernandes acknowledge support from Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P. (FCT), in the scope of the project UIDP/04378/2020 and UIDB/04378/2020 of the Research Unit on Applied Molecular Biosciences UCIBIO and the project LA/P/0140/2020 of the Associate Laboratory Institute for Health and Bioeconomy i4HB; FCT/MCTES through the project UIDB/50006/2020. J Conde acknowledges the European Research Council Starting Grant (ERC-StG-2019-848325). V M Costa acknowledges the grant SFRH/BHD/110001/2015, received by Portuguese national funds through Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT), IP, under the Norma Transitória DL57/2016/CP1334/CT0006.proofepub_ahead_of_prin

The global burden of cancer attributable to risk factors, 2010-19 : a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

Background Understanding the magnitude of cancer burden attributable to potentially modifiable risk factors is crucial for development of effective prevention and mitigation strategies. We analysed results from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2019 to inform cancer control planning efforts globally. Methods The GBD 2019 comparative risk assessment framework was used to estimate cancer burden attributable to behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risk factors. A total of 82 risk-outcome pairs were included on the basis of the World Cancer Research Fund criteria. Estimated cancer deaths and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) in 2019 and change in these measures between 2010 and 2019 are presented. Findings Globally, in 2019, the risk factors included in this analysis accounted for 4.45 million (95% uncertainty interval 4.01-4.94) deaths and 105 million (95.0-116) DALYs for both sexes combined, representing 44.4% (41.3-48.4) of all cancer deaths and 42.0% (39.1-45.6) of all DALYs. There were 2.88 million (2.60-3.18) risk-attributable cancer deaths in males (50.6% [47.8-54.1] of all male cancer deaths) and 1.58 million (1.36-1.84) risk-attributable cancer deaths in females (36.3% [32.5-41.3] of all female cancer deaths). The leading risk factors at the most detailed level globally for risk-attributable cancer deaths and DALYs in 2019 for both sexes combined were smoking, followed by alcohol use and high BMI. Risk-attributable cancer burden varied by world region and Socio-demographic Index (SDI), with smoking, unsafe sex, and alcohol use being the three leading risk factors for risk-attributable cancer DALYs in low SDI locations in 2019, whereas DALYs in high SDI locations mirrored the top three global risk factor rankings. From 2010 to 2019, global risk-attributable cancer deaths increased by 20.4% (12.6-28.4) and DALYs by 16.8% (8.8-25.0), with the greatest percentage increase in metabolic risks (34.7% [27.9-42.8] and 33.3% [25.8-42.0]). Interpretation The leading risk factors contributing to global cancer burden in 2019 were behavioural, whereas metabolic risk factors saw the largest increases between 2010 and 2019. Reducing exposure to these modifiable risk factors would decrease cancer mortality and DALY rates worldwide, and policies should be tailored appropriately to local cancer risk factor burden. Copyright (C) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY 4.0 license.Peer reviewe

Relatório de estágio em farmácia comunitária

Relatório de estágio realizado no âmbito do Mestrado Integrado em Ciências Farmacêuticas, apresentado à Faculdade de Farmácia da Universidade de Coimbr

Why Rebels Collide: Factionalism and Fragmentation in African Insurgencies

A common feature of modern civil wars is the tendency of rebel organizations to factionalize and fragment. Yet how can we explain patterns of factionalism and fragmentation in civil wars? How do normal, private disagreements within rebel organizations become full-fledged disputes that lead to a complete collapse of cooperation in war? Given the importance of rebel factionalism and fragmentation to the scale, duration, and outcomes of civil wars, such questions warrant careful consideration. This dissertation uses case studies of seven Ethiopian rebel organizations, nested within a statistical analysis of an original dataset of Ethiopia's civil wars, to develop an argument about the dynamics of factionalism and fragmentation within rebel organizations. The argument is then tested more broadly, using statistical analysis of data on militant organizations in the Middle East. The project relies on over two years of field work in Ethiopia, Somaliland, and African refugee communities in Europe and North America, in which the author conducted over 80 interviews and extensive archival research. The evidence suggests that rebel factionalism and fragmentation is caused by territorial gains and losses, as battlefield shifts alter the incentives that rebel elites have to cooperate with one another. Counter-intuitively, territorial stalemate tends to promote cohesion, and is the only sustainable basis for organizational stability in war. The core argument, along with several corollaries, contributes to a small but growing literature on the internal politics of rebel organizations, and offers lessons for policy makers who seek to influence the dynamics of today's civil wars