VALUE BEHIND SAVING AND REUSING SHOPPING BAGS

The behavior associated with saving and reusing shopping bags has been heavily researched in the context of environmental studies. However, few studies have examined this behavior from the perspective of consumer behavior. Previous behavioral sciences research on collecting and hoarding possessions suggested that value is a driver of such behavior. It may therefore also be associated with saving and reusing shopping bags. The main research question of this study was what value consumers gain by a) saving and b) reusing shopping bags. This study used a qualitative research approach, with in-depth interviews with 15 women. All the women were initially screened and selected to ensure that they saved and/or reused shopping bags. The results suggested that there are four types of value associated with saving and reusing shopping bags: functional, social, emotional and conditional value. Using two frameworks of value and value creation, the findings were mapped to improve understanding of this behavior. This research has therefore created a baseline for future work about why consumers save and reuse shopping bags in particular, and packaging more generally. This thesis has also contributed to the literature on value in marketing, by exploring how consumers value packaging, and specifically shopping bags

Early clinical outcome after right anterolateral thoracotomy as an alternative for median sternotomy for mitral valve replacement

Background: The advantages of the right anterolateral thoracotomy (RALT) approach for mitral valve surgery over standard median sternotomy (MS) are still debatable. The objective of this study was to evaluate and compare the postoperative clinical outcome after RALT and MS for mitral valve replacement. Methods: This prospective observational study included 40 patients who underwent mitral valve replacement between January 2016 and August 2018. Patients were assigned to two groups, the first group included 20 patients who had conventional median sternotomy approach and the second group included 20 patients who had right anterolateral thoracotomy with the complete cannulation and aortic cross-clamping conducted through the same incision. Results: In comparison to MS, RALT had significantly higher cross-clamp time (77.7±16.1 vs 45.8±8.7 minutes, P < 0.01), total bypass time (105.2±12.7 vs 72.2±10.4 minutes, P < 0.01), and total operative time (287±41 vs 231±36 min, P < 0.01), in addition to significantly lower ventilation time (4.2±1.51 vs 6.1±1.84 hours, P < 0.01), blood loss (229±85 vs 335±137 ml), amount of blood transfusion (1.41±0.6 vs 2.19±1.1 units, P < 0.01), ICU stay duration (2.11±0.49 vs 2.78±0.82 days, P < 0.01), pain scores at 1st and 2nd postoperative days (5.67±0.79 vs 7.81±0.53, p < 0.01), and total hospital stay duration (7.2±1.3 vs 8.4±1.6 days, P = 0.01). Patients' satisfaction about their wound was significantly higher in RALT group compared to MS group (95% vs 30%, P < 0.01). Conclusion: The RALT approach for mitral valve surgery could be a safe and effective approach when compared to median sternotomy. RALT could be associated with a reduction of blood loss, blood transfusion, wound infection, in addition to shorter ICU and hospital stay

High Speed Neuromorphic Vision-Based Inspection of Countersinks in Automated Manufacturing Processes

Countersink inspection is crucial in various automated assembly lines, especially in the aerospace and automotive sectors. Advancements in machine vision introduced automated robotic inspection of countersinks using laser scanners and monocular cameras. Nevertheless, the aforementioned sensing pipelines require the robot to pause on each hole for inspection due to high latency and measurement uncertainties with motion, leading to prolonged execution times of the inspection task. The neuromorphic vision sensor, on the other hand, has the potential to expedite the countersink inspection process, but the unorthodox output of the neuromorphic technology prohibits utilizing traditional image processing techniques. Therefore, novel event-based perception algorithms need to be introduced. We propose a countersink detection approach on the basis of event-based motion compensation and the mean-shift clustering principle. In addition, our framework presents a robust event-based circle detection algorithm to precisely estimate the depth of the countersink specimens. The proposed approach expedites the inspection process by a factor of 10$\times$ compared to conventional countersink inspection methods. The work in this paper was validated for over 50 trials on three countersink workpiece variants. The experimental results show that our method provides a precision of 0.025 mm for countersink depth inspection despite the low resolution of commercially available neuromorphic cameras.Comment: 14 pages, 11 figures, 7 tables, submitted to Journal of Intelligent Manufacturin

Mint Expert System Diagnosis and Treatment

Background: Mint is a grassy, perennial plant, belonging to the oral platoon, fast growing and spreading, its leaves are green in color, fragrant, tart, refreshing, square-shaped leg, bifurcated, erect, ranging in height from (10 - 201 cm). Home to Europe and Asia. The mint plant has many benefits, the most important of which are pain relief, treatment of gallbladder disorders, the expulsion of gases, anti-inflammatory, and relaxing nerves. While the mint plant is the ideal option for the start of gardens, it is prone to some common diseases that affect the plant's growth. Objectives: The main goal of this expert system is to get the appropriate diagnosis of disease and the correct treatment. Methods: In this paper, the design of the proposed Expert System was produced to help Farmers and those interested in agriculture in diagnosing many of the Mint diseases such as Mint rust, Verticillium wilt, Anthracnose, Powdery mildew, Black Stem Rot, Stem and stolon canker, Septoria leaf spot. The proposed expert system presents an overview of mint diseases are given, the cause of diseases outlined and the treatment of disease whenever possible is given out. CLIPS Expert System language was used for designing and implementing the proposed expert system. Results: The proposed Mint diseases diagnosis expert system was evaluated by Agricultural Students at AL Azhar University and some friends interested in agriculture and they were satisfied with its performance. Conclusions: The proposed expert system is very useful for Farmers and those interested in agriculture

Impact of opioid-free analgesia on pain severity and patient satisfaction after discharge from surgery: multispecialty, prospective cohort study in 25 countries

Background: Balancing opioid stewardship and the need for adequate analgesia following discharge after surgery is challenging. This study aimed to compare the outcomes for patients discharged with opioid versus opioid-free analgesia after common surgical procedures.Methods: This international, multicentre, prospective cohort study collected data from patients undergoing common acute and elective general surgical, urological, gynaecological, and orthopaedic procedures. The primary outcomes were patient-reported time in severe pain measured on a numerical analogue scale from 0 to 100% and patient-reported satisfaction with pain relief during the first week following discharge. Data were collected by in-hospital chart review and patient telephone interview 1 week after discharge.Results: The study recruited 4273 patients from 144 centres in 25 countries; 1311 patients (30.7%) were prescribed opioid analgesia at discharge. Patients reported being in severe pain for 10 (i.q.r. 1-30)% of the first week after discharge and rated satisfaction with analgesia as 90 (i.q.r. 80-100) of 100. After adjustment for confounders, opioid analgesia on discharge was independently associated with increased pain severity (risk ratio 1.52, 95% c.i. 1.31 to 1.76; P < 0.001) and re-presentation to healthcare providers owing to side-effects of medication (OR 2.38, 95% c.i. 1.36 to 4.17; P = 0.004), but not with satisfaction with analgesia (beta coefficient 0.92, 95% c.i. -1.52 to 3.36; P = 0.468) compared with opioid-free analgesia. Although opioid prescribing varied greatly between high-income and low- and middle-income countries, patient-reported outcomes did not.Conclusion: Opioid analgesia prescription on surgical discharge is associated with a higher risk of re-presentation owing to side-effects of medication and increased patient-reported pain, but not with changes in patient-reported satisfaction. Opioid-free discharge analgesia should be adopted routinely

Effects of hospital facilities on patient outcomes after cancer surgery: an international, prospective, observational study

Background Early death after cancer surgery is higher in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) compared with in high-income countries, yet the impact of facility characteristics on early postoperative outcomes is unknown. The aim of this study was to examine the association between hospital infrastructure, resource availability, and processes on early outcomes after cancer surgery worldwide.Methods A multimethods analysis was performed as part of the GlobalSurg 3 study-a multicentre, international, prospective cohort study of patients who had surgery for breast, colorectal, or gastric cancer. The primary outcomes were 30-day mortality and 30-day major complication rates. Potentially beneficial hospital facilities were identified by variable selection to select those associated with 30-day mortality. Adjusted outcomes were determined using generalised estimating equations to account for patient characteristics and country-income group, with population stratification by hospital.Findings Between April 1, 2018, and April 23, 2019, facility-level data were collected for 9685 patients across 238 hospitals in 66 countries (91 hospitals in 20 high-income countries; 57 hospitals in 19 upper-middle-income countries; and 90 hospitals in 27 low-income to lower-middle-income countries). The availability of five hospital facilities was inversely associated with mortality: ultrasound, CT scanner, critical care unit, opioid analgesia, and oncologist. After adjustment for case-mix and country income group, hospitals with three or fewer of these facilities (62 hospitals, 1294 patients) had higher mortality compared with those with four or five (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 3.85 [95% CI 2.58-5.75]; p<0.0001), with excess mortality predominantly explained by a limited capacity to rescue following the development of major complications (63.0% vs 82.7%; OR 0.35 [0.23-0.53]; p<0.0001). Across LMICs, improvements in hospital facilities would prevent one to three deaths for every 100 patients undergoing surgery for cancer.Interpretation Hospitals with higher levels of infrastructure and resources have better outcomes after cancer surgery, independent of country income. Without urgent strengthening of hospital infrastructure and resources, the reductions in cancer-associated mortality associated with improved access will not be realised

Nonhalogenated organic molecules from Laurencia algae

The marine red algae of the genus Laurencia have produced more 700 secondary metabolites and exhibited high molecular diversity and intriguing bioactivity. Since the halogenated structures have been comprehensively reviewed previously, this review, covering up to the end of 2012, mainly focuses on the source, structure elucidation, and bioactivity of nonhalogenated organic molecules from Laurencia spp. as well as the relationship between nonhalogenated and halogenated products. Overall, 173 new or new naturally occurring compounds with 58 skeletons, mainly including sesquiterpenes, diterpenes, triterpenes, and C15-acetogenins, are described.The marine red algae of the genus Laurencia have produced more 700 secondary metabolites and exhibited high molecular diversity and intriguing bioactivity. Since the halogenated structures have been comprehensively reviewed previously, this review, covering up to the end of 2012, mainly focuses on the source, structure elucidation, and bioactivity of nonhalogenated organic molecules from Laurencia spp. as well as the relationship between nonhalogenated and halogenated products. Overall, 173 new or new naturally occurring compounds with 58 skeletons, mainly including sesquiterpenes, diterpenes, triterpenes, and C-15-acetogenins, are described

Secondary treated wastewater as a concrete component and its impact on the basic strength properties of the material

In Jordan, the unprecedented proliferation of building projects is anticipated to increase the potable water demand in the construction manufacturing. In the present work, secondary treated wastewater (STW) and potable water (PW) were used in the production of concrete mixes, which were subjected to testing after 3 to 28 days of curing to determine how the, mechanical properties of concrete was affected by the addition of secondary treated wastewater in various proportions (25-100%). Results indicated that the use of 25% and 75% of secondary treated wastewater in concrete production increased the compressive strength to 39 MPa after 28 days of curing. A more noticeable increment was recorded in tensile strength, which was double that achieved with the standard design. Overall, the compressive strength increased by 21.95% when secondary treated wastewater was used, while the expenditure related to water usage was halved. Furthermore, there was consistency between the results obtained from scaling up to actual ready-mix concrete production and the results of the empirical work

The use of sand columns in the reinforcement of weak layers in road engineering

It is an established fact that when roads are planned and constructed, consideration needs to be given to ensuring the strength of the road surface. It is, however, also the case that when an existing road is being rebuilt or is under maintenance, its base may need to be fortified to increase the road’s vehicle-carrying capacity. The base may, for example, contain a high proportion of weak soil that would be difficult, time-consuming, and costly to remove. This paper aims to investigate the efficacy of using sand-filled piles to reduce road deformation. Experiments conducted on sponge samples confirm that there is a relationship between the total area of sand-filled piles and relative reduction in deformation. It finds that the relationship is non-linear, but that the relationship can be made linear by adjusting the area of sand-filled piles. When the area of sand-filled piles increases from 7.8% to 19.4%, the deformation module can change by up to 100%. Relative reduction in deformation can change from 14% to 45.5% when the area of sand-filled piles increases from 7.8% to 11.7%. The maximum reduction in deformation - 92.4% - occurs when the area of sand-filled piles exceeds 19.5%. Changing the loads borne also affects the deformation module. This paper found that when there was a 10 to 15kg load, and the number of sandfilled piles was increased, there was a change in the deformation module by 380-470%. When there was only a 5kg load on the sample, and the number of sand-filled piles was increased, there was a change in the deformation module by up to 1217%