429 research outputs found
Lean Restaurants: Improving the Dining Experience
Myriad examples exist to describe how lean concepts are applied in the manufacturing and healthcare industries; however, research regarding how lean is applied in the food service industry is sparse. The purpose of this case study is to discover how lean applications are currently being applied in three different full-service dining establishments located in Knoxville, Tennesse
Fostering collaborative research for rare genetic disease: The example of Niemann-Pick type C disease
Rare disease represents one of the most significant issues facing the medical community and health care providers worldwide, yet the majority of these disorders never emerge from their obscurity, drawing little attention from the medical community or the pharmaceutical industry. The challenge therefore is how best to mobilize rare disease stakeholders to enhance basic, translational and clinical research to advance understanding of pathogenesis and accelerate therapy development. Here we describe a rare, fatal brain disorder known as Niemann-Pick type C (NPC) and an innovative research collaborative known as Support of Accelerated Research for NPC (SOAR-NPC) which illustrates one pathway through which knowledge of a rare disease and its possible treatments are being successfully advanced. Use of the âSOARâ mechanism, we believe, offers a blueprint for similar advancement for many other rare disorders
Experiences of people with disabilities during and after Tropical Cyclone Pam and recommendations for humanitarian leaders
The situation and needs of people with disabilities following Tropical Cyclone Pam (TC Pam) were generally not captured in formal mainstream assessments led by the National Disaster Management Office. Where the needs of people with disabilities were identified, these were not prioritised during the response (Government of Vanuatu 2015); and some people with disabilities missed out on distributions altogether. Reflections on the response hypothesized that mainstream assessment methodologies and tools generally missed people with disabilities, and that agencies tended not to automatically include them in their efforts (Ministry of Justice and Community Services & CARE 2015).More detailed information regarding the situation and needs of people with disabilities was required to support effective inclusion of people with disabilities in recovery activities. Vanuatu does not currently have reliable quantitative data on the prevalence, location and experiences of people with disabilities. In response, Oxfam in Vanuatu, Vanuatu Society for People with Disabilities (VSPD), Disability Promotion and Advocacy Association (DPA), the Ministry of Justice and Community Services (MoJCS), Nossal Institute for Global Health and CBM Australia worked with key government organisations to undertake a disability situation and needs assessment in one affected island (Tanna), in order to meet this data gap
Treating agricultural non-point source pollutants using periphyton biofilms and biomass volarization
Untreated domestic wastewater and agricultural runoff are emerging as a potent cause of non-point source (NPS)
pollutants which are a major threat to aquatic ecosystems. Periphyton biofilm-based technologies due to their
high growth rate, energy efficiency and low input costs offer promising solutions for controlling nutrient
pollution in agricultural systems. In this study we employed periphyton floway to treat NPS pollution from the
agricultural watershed. The process performance of outdoor single pass algae floway (AFW) was evaluated.
Steady state average biomass concentration of 11.73 g
Health Management in Italian prisons during Covid 19 OUTBREAK: a focus on the second and third wave
The SARS-CoV-2 spread is a threatening and challenging issue for correctional systems worldwide because of many factors, particularly overcrowding and of the intrinsic characteristics of the population. The prevention measures adopted by the Italian Government were aimed to protect and preserve both inmatesâ and prison workersâ health. The present study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of the adopted strategies. Methods: Data regarding Italian prisonsâ occupation and prisonersâ population from January 2019 to June 2021, as well as the cumulative weekly increase of confirmed cases and the number of doses of vaccine administered among the population of inmates, the prison workers, and Italian population from November 2020 to the end of June 2021, were collected. Results: Prisonsâ occupation dropped from 120% to 106% after the beginning of the pandemics. The confirmed cases between inmates were consistently lower than among the Italian population and prison workers. A time-series chart showed a time lag of one week between the peaks of the different population. Conclusions: The containing strategies adopted by the Italian correctional system have proved their effectiveness in terms of the prevention and protection of both inmate and staff health
Obesity as a social phenomenon: A narrative review
BACKGROUND: obesity is one of the most prevalent diseases all over the world. Because of its high social impact, the broadest possible approach on several levels - and not limited only to clinical aspect - is needed to better understand and face the challenges obesity poses to public health. OBJECTIVES: to analyse, through the main evidence, the so- cial impact of weight excess in the general population and the actions aimed at mitigating its negative effects. DESIGN: narrative review. SETTING: data obtained from the sources included in the study were gathered and analyzed in five macroareas: Health Inequality, Society, Work, Impact on Social Medicine (focused on the Italian model), and Social Costs. RESULTS: each category showed a bilateral relationship with obesity having a significant impact for the community. CONCLUSIONS: for each field, various actions should be taken at institutional level. Many recommendations and actions have already been taken worldwide, but they alone seem to be not enough. This work points out that, in order to combat obesity and bring about a slowdown of this pandemic, the en- tire scientific community and institutions must work together to identify and design programmes that are truly effective
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Contrast Rivalry Paradigm Reveals Suppression of Monocular Input in Keratoconus
Purpose: Keratoconus results in image quality loss in one or both eyes due to increased corneal distortion. This study quantified the depth of monocular suppression in keratoconus due to this image quality loss using a binocular contrast rivalry paradigm.
Methods: Contrast rivalry was induced in 50 keratoconic cases (11â31 years) and 12 age-matched controls by dichoptically viewing orthogonal Gabor patches of 5 cycles per degree (cpd) and 1.5 cpd spatial frequency for 120 seconds with their best-corrected spectacles and rigid gas permeable (RGP) contact lenses. The dwell time on each eye's percept was determined at baseline (100% contrast bilaterally) and at varying contrast levels (80â2.5%) in the stronger eye of keratoconus or dominant eye of controls. The contrast reduction needed in the stronger eye to balance dwell times on both eyes was considered a measure of suppression depth.
Results: At baseline with 5 cpd stimuli and spectacle correction, the rivalry switches were less frequent and biased toward the stronger eye of cases, all relative to controls (P < 0.001). The contrast balance point of cases (20.51% [10.7â61%]) was lower than the controls (99.80% [98.6â100%]; P < 0.001) and strongly associated with the overall and interocular difference in disease severity (r = 0.83, P < 0.001). The suppression depth reduced for 1.5 cpd (70.8% [21.7â94%]), relative to 5 cpd stimulus (P < 0.001) and with contact lenses (80.1% [49.5â91.7%]), relative to spectacles (P < 0.001).
Conclusions: The eye with lesser disease severity dominates binocular viewing in keratoconus. The suppression depth of the poorer eye depends on the extent of bilateral disease severity, optical correction modality, and the target spatial frequency
Biodiesel production through algal cultivation in urban wastewater using algal floway
The aim of this work was to study algal floway (AFW) to treat urban wastewater and to evaluate biomass productivity, lipid contents and biodiesel production. The results indicated the seasonal average algae productivity of 34.83âŻg dry weight m2âŻdâ1 with a nutrient removal rate of 2.52âŻgâŻm2âŻdâ1N and 1.25âŻgâŻm2âŻdâ1P while the lipid content ranged between 14 and 22% of dry cell weight with the highest lipid productivity of 9.29âŻgâŻmâ2âŻdâ1 during summer. Biodiesel quality was superior during summer with high centane number and cold filter plugging point values. High eicosapentaenoic acid content was found during winter growth cycles. AFW algae community was dominated by pennate diatoms during all growing seasons. This study is one of its kinds in Indian wastewaters and it provides fundamental information for further optimization and use of AFW to treat domestic wastewater and to produce algae biofuel feedstock
The Synthesis of Photocatalyst Material ZnO using the Simple Sonication Method
ZnO is well known as photocatalyst material therefore potentially to applied in many purposes. The particle size of photocatalyst material influenced the catalytic activities. In this research, ZnO was synthesized using the simple sonication method to obtain the the smaller particle with sonication time variation respectively: 30, 60, 160, 360 minute. X-ray diffraction data showed that the synthesized material have wurtzite structure with space group P63 mc. The synthesized ZnO with 30 minutes sonication time produced the smallest particle size and have the lowest band gap energy (2.79 eV). The photocatalytic test at methylene blue also showed that the optimum activity was gained from ZnO which synthesized at 30 minute sonication time (degradation percentage of metylene blue is 77.93%)
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