A country-level national needs assessment of the Indonesian pharmacy workforce

Background: Conducting a systematic country-level workforce needs-assessment is a way to develop coherent strategic and justifiable workforce planning. / Objective(s): This article describes a country-level needs-assessment process using a systematic approach (via the FIP Development Goals (FIP DGs) workforce element) as an analytical framework. The needs-assessment aimed to prioritise gaps toward transforming the pharmacy workforce as a prelude to practice and pharmaceutical services reform in Indonesia. / Methods: The needs assessment consisted of three stages: needs identification, needs analysis, and needs prioritisation. The needs (workforce development gaps) were defined as the discrepancies between the perceived workforce challenges and the existing national workforce development projects. Interviews or group discussions were conducted to gather the workforce challenges of individual pharmacists. A structured workshop was conducted to identify workforce challenges and existing organisations' projects, with main stakeholders contributing to pharmacists' development in Indonesia. Perceived challenges findings and identified national workforce projects were mapped to the FIP DGs workforce element. The needs prioritisation was conducted by comparing the proportional mapping to the FIP DGs workforce element. / Results: There were forty-three individual pharmacists and 7 principal stakeholder categories that provided information related to perceived workforce challenges; thirty national projects were identified from stakeholders. While this study identified perceived challenges with workforce “competency development” and “pharmacy workforce intelligence,” there were no active ongoing national projects mapped to those goals. The framework mapping analysis showed there are workforce development gaps centred on “competency development” initiatives, “advanced and specialist development” initiatives, and strategic pharmacy workforce intelligence data gathering. Additionally, there were policy gaps with initiatives for strengthening “working with others” and a lack of clarity on infrastructure for early-career training strategies and workforce impact. / Conclusions: This study prioritises the gaps in developing pharmacists in Indonesia. This process could be used in conducting needs assessment of pharmacy workforce development in other Low and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs)

Computational micromechanics of the transverse and shear behavior of unidirectional fiber reinforced polymers including environmental effects

Qualification of Fiber Reinforced Polymer materials (FRP’s) for manufacturing of structural components in the aerospace industry is usually associated with extensive and costly experimental campaigns. The burden of testing is immense and materials should be characterized under different loading states (tension, compression, shear) and environmental conditions (temperature, humidity) to probe their structural integrity during service life. Recent developments in multiscale simulation, together with increased computational power and improvements in modeling tools, can be used to alleviate this scenario. In this work, high-fidelity simulations of the material behavior at the micro level are used to predict ply properties and ascertain the effect of ply constituents and microstructure on the homogenized ply behavior. This approach relies on the numerical analysis of representative volume elements equipped with physical models of the ply constituents. Its main feature is the ability to provide fast predictions of ply stiffness and strength properties for different environmental conditions of temperature and humidity, in agreement with the experimental results, showing the potential to reduce the time and costs required for material screening and characterization.The authors would like to acknowledge the support provided by AIRBUS SAS through the project SIMSCREEN (Simulation for Screening Composite Materials Properties). Additionally, C.S. Lopes acknowledges the support of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through the Ramón y Cajal program. The help of Dr. Miguel Monclús and Dr. Jon Molina in the experimental work is also gratefully acknowledged

Computational micromechanics of fiber kinking in unidirectional FRP under different environmental conditions

The determination of ply properties of Fiber Reinforced Polymers (FRP) for particular operational environmental conditions in aeronautical applications is mandatory in order to fulfill current industry stringent certification requirements. However, the traditional experimental approach requires massive investments of resources and time. From the behaviour obtained experimentally, constitutive equations including failure criteria are then devised to be used in the design of FRP structures. The ply longitudinal behaviour under compression is generally the most difficult to measure and characterize. In this work, an alternative coupled experimental-computational micromechanics approach is proposed to determine the longitudinal compression properties of unidirectional FRP plies under different environmental conditions. This methodology includes experimental characterization of matrix and fiber/matrix interface, combined with numerical simulations of realistic microstructures. The interface decohesion is simulated using cohesive-frictional interactions. A pressure dependent, elasto-plastic model that includes tensile damage is employed to capture the matrix nonlinear behaviour. The numerical predictions match the experimentally-obtained ply properties available in the literature in a remarkable way and suggest that virtual ply property characterization is a mature and reliable approach to conduct screening of materials.The authors would like to acknowledge the support provided by AIRBUS SAS through the project SIMSCREEN (Simulation for Screening Composite Materials Properties). Additionally, C.S. Lopes acknowledges the support of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (RYC-2013-14271) through the Ramón y Cajal program. The collaboration with NASA Langley Research Center in some aspects of this work is also acknowledged

Toxicological evaluation of Thymelaea hirsuta and protective effect against CCl4-induced hepatic injury in rats

The aerial part of Thymelaea hirsuta (TH) is used as decoction in the treatment of different pathologies in folk medicine in Morocco. The present investigation was carried out to evaluate the potential of toxicity of an aqueous extract of TH and its hepatoprotective activity against CCl4-induced hepatic injury in rats. In the acute study, there were no signs of toxicity observed after oral administration of single dose of the extract (5g/kg body weight). In the sub-chronic dose study, (given by gavages (4 ml/kg) to Wistar rats daily at: 0.0 g/kg, 0.5g/kg, 1 g/kg or 2 g/kg body weight for 4 weeks) no variation on biochemical parameters; serum glucose, creatinine and urea levels was observed compared to the control group. However, the serum levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALAT) and aspartate aminotransferase (ASAT) were markedly decreased (P < 0.05 and P<0.001 respectively) as compared to the controls. There were no significant differences in red blood cells count (p<0.05), in Hemoglobin and Hematocrit serum levels but a significant increase in white blood cells count (p<0.001) and in platelets (p< 0.05) for all doses tested. Histopathological examination of the liver, spleen and kidneys tissues at the end of the study showed normal architecture. The elevated serum enzymatic activities of ALAT and ASAT, due to carbon tetrachloride treatment (1 ml/kg CCl4 every 72 h during 15 days) were restored towards normalization by the plant extracts. The biochemical observations were supplemented with histopathological examination of liver sections. The results indicate that this plant possesses no toxicity effects but hepatoprotective properties.Keywords: Thymelaea hirsuta, Wistar rats, Toxicity, Histopathology, hepatoprotective action, Folk medicin

The effects of nisin-producing Lactococcus lactis strain used as probiotic on Gilthead sea bream (Sparus aurata) growth, gut microbiota, and transcriptional response.

The present research tested the effects of dietary nisin-producing Lactococcus lactis on growth performance, feed utilization, intestinal morphology, transcriptional response, and microbiota in gilthead sea bream (Sparus aurata). A feeding trial was conducted with fish weighting 70-90 g. Fish were tagged with passive, integrated transponders and distributed in nine 500-L tanks with 40 fish each. Fish were fed for 12 weeks with either a control (diet A) or experimental diets (diets B and C) in triplicate (3 tanks/diet). Extruded pellets of diets B and C were supplemented with a low (2 x 109 CFU/kg) and a high (5 x 109 CFU/kg) dose of probiotic, respectively. No significant differences were found between groups for the feed conversion ratio or specific growth rates. However, the final body weight of fish fed diet C was significantly higher than the control group with intermediate values for fish fed diet B. Histological analysis conducted using a semi-quantitative scoring system showed that probiotic did not alter the morphology of the intestine and did not trigger inflammation. With regard to the transcriptomic response, a customized PCR array layout was designed to simultaneously profile a panel of 44 selected genes. Significant differences in the expression of key genes involved in innate and acquired immunity were detected between fish fed probiotic and control diets. To analyze the microbiota associated to the feeds and the gut autochthonous microbial communities, we used the Illumina MiSeq platform for sequencing the 16S rRNA gene and a metagenomics pipeline based on VSEARCH and RDP databases. The analysis of gut microbiota revealed a lack of colonization of the probiotic in the host\u2019s intestinal mucosa. However, probiotic did modulate the fish gut microbiota, confirming that colonization is not always necessary to induce host modification. In fact, diets B and C were enriched with Actinomycetales, as compared to diet A, which instead showed a higher percentage of Pseudomonas, Sphyngomonas, and Lactobacillus genera. These results were confirmed by the clear separation of gut bacterial community of fish fed with the probiotic from the bacterial community of control fish group in the beta-diversity and PLS-DA (supervised partial least-squares discriminant analysis) analyses

Complex-Temperature Singularities in the d=2d=2 Ising Model. III. Honeycomb Lattice

We study complex-temperature properties of the uniform and staggered susceptibilities $\chi$ and $\chi^{(a)}$ of the Ising model on the honeycomb lattice. From an analysis of low-temperature series expansions, we find evidence that $\chi$ and $\chi^{(a)}$ both have divergent singularities at the point $z=-1 \equiv z_{\ell}$ (where $z=e^{-2K}$), with exponents $\gamma_{\ell}'= \gamma_{\ell,a}'=5/2$. The critical amplitudes at this singularity are calculated. Using exact results, we extract the behaviour of the magnetisation $M$ and specific heat $C$ at complex-temperature singularities. We find that, in addition to its zero at the physical critical point, $M$ diverges at $z=-1$ with exponent $\beta_{\ell}=-1/4$, vanishes continuously at $z=\pm i$ with exponent $\beta_s=3/8$, and vanishes discontinuously elsewhere along the boundary of the complex-temperature ferromagnetic phase. $C$ diverges at $z=-1$ with exponent $\alpha_{\ell}'=2$ and at $v=\pm i/\sqrt{3}$ (where $v = \tanh K$) with exponent $\alpha_e=1$, and diverges logarithmically at $z=\pm i$. We find that the exponent relation $\alpha'+2\beta+\gamma'=2$ is violated at $z=-1$; the right-hand side is 4 rather than 2. The connections of these results with complex-temperature properties of the Ising model on the triangular lattice are discussed.Comment: 22 pages, latex, figures appended after the end of the text as a compressed, uuencoded postscript fil

Complex-Temperature Properties of the Ising Model on 2D Heteropolygonal Lattices

Using exact results, we determine the complex-temperature phase diagrams of the 2D Ising model on three regular heteropolygonal lattices, $(3 \cdot 6 \cdot 3 \cdot 6)$ (kagom\'{e}), $(3 \cdot 12^2)$, and $(4 \cdot 8^2)$ (bathroom tile), where the notation denotes the regular $n$-sided polygons adjacent to each vertex. We also work out the exact complex-temperature singularities of the spontaneous magnetisation. A comparison with the properties on the square, triangular, and hexagonal lattices is given. In particular, we find the first case where, even for isotropic spin-spin exchange couplings, the nontrivial non-analyticities of the free energy of the Ising model lie in a two-dimensional, rather than one-dimensional, algebraic variety in the $z=e^{-2K}$ plane.Comment: 31 pages, latex, postscript figure

Social presence and dishonesty in retail

Self-service checkouts (SCOs) in retail can benefit consumers and retailers, providing control and autonomy to shoppers independent from staff, together with reduced queuing times. Recent research indicates that the absence of staff may provide the opportunity for consumers to behave dishonestly, consistent with a perceived lack of social presence. This study examined whether a social presence in the form of various instantiations of embodied, visual, humanlike SCO interface agents had an effect on opportunistic behaviour. Using a simulated SCO scenario, participants experienced various dilemmas in which they could financially benefit themselves undeservedly. We hypothesised that a humanlike social presence integrated within the checkout screen would receive more attention and result in fewer instances of dishonesty compared to a less humanlike agent. This was partially supported by the results. The findings contribute to the theoretical framework in social presence research. We concluded that companies adopting self-service technology may consider the implementation of social presence in technology applications to support ethical consumer behaviour, but that more research is required to explore the mixed findings in the current study.<br/