A comparison study of perceived stress and quality of life among Master of Pharmacy and non-pharmacy master's students

Background: Postgraduate students often live with an excessive amount of stress, which can have negative academic, emotional and health-related outcomes.Aim: To examine perceived stress and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) among Master of Pharmacy (MPharm) students compared to non-pharmacy master's students (Non-MPharm). Method: The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), SF-12v2 survey and a questionnaire instruments were used to measure stress, HRQOL and factors that MPharm students believed produced and alleviated stress, respectively. Results: One hundred percent of MPharm students (n=26) and 88% of Non-MPharm students (n=100) participated in this study. The mean PSS scores were insignificantly different between the MPharm students and Non-MPharm students. Negative correlations were found between stress and mental and physical HRQOL in MPharm students. However, only negative correlation between stress and mental HRQOL in Non-MPharm students. Conclusion: MPharm students reported relatively lower levels of stress and mental HRQOL than Non-MPharm students did

Comparative study of microbial adhesion on different orthodontic brackets - An In Vivo study

Aim: To study the microbial adhesion on different orthodontic brackets (conventional, ceramic, and self-ligating brackets). Materials and Methods: Three types of bracket systems i.e. self-ligating, conventional, and ceramic brackets were used consisting of 10 patients for each bracket system. Out of 30 patients 20 patients will be treated with conventional and ceramic brackets, in which, in one-half of the mouth steel ligature ties are placed and in the other half elastomeric rings would be placed. We collected swabs from the central incisors and first premolars of the both the right and left sides of both the maxillary and mandibular arches. The samples were collected three times from the above-mentioned teeth once prior to the placement of the brackets, the second and third samples after one and three months respectively. Result: Significant variations were between the pretreatment and after one and three months of bracket placement in all three groups. Significant increase in the microbial adhesion of aerobic and anaerobic bacteria in conventional bracket form pretreatment to one and three months after bracket placement is seen. Although the colony formed by anaerobic bacteria is more in number in comparison to the aerobic bacteria. Conclusion: Our study reveals that the most hygienic bracket is a self-ligating bracket that should be used in patients who have poor oral hygiene. We also found that using steel ligature is more suitable as compared to elastomeric ligature in both conventional and ceramic brackets

Innovative geospatial solutions for land tenure mapping

There are millions of unrecorded land rights in sub-Saharan Africa, which are still not mapped. Therefore, there is a clear demand for innovative solutions for land tenure recording, as also written in the target 1.4 of UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In response to this need, the consortia of “its4land” European Commission Horizon 2020 project developed the “its4land toolbox” based on the continuum of land rights and fit-for-purpose approach. The advanced technological solutions of the toolbox include smart sketch maps, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), interactive boundary delineator, as well as sharing and publishing land information via geocloud services. The solutions are based on specific needs, market opportunities, and readiness of end-users. Moreover, aiming in scaling up broader governance implications are examined. During the project lifetime, the main technical tasks included tool development, prototyping, and demonstration of the tools to local, regional, national, and international users and stakeholders. Furthermore, equal emphasis was placed on needs assessment, governance, capacity, and business modeling. The current paper presents the unique its4land land administration toolbox in which the key exploitable results of the project are integrated in a joint used case in Rwanda

Its4land - Innovative geospatial tools for fit-for-purpose land rights mapping

Mapping millions of unrecorded land rights in large parts of Sub-Saharan Africa remains a challenge. The results of many existing ICT-based approaches for recording these rights have often proven to be inappropriate; therefore, a new generation of tools needs to be developed to map land rights faster, cheaper, easier, and more responsible. This is the main goal of its4land, a European Commission Horizon 2020 project that aims to develop innovative tools that respond to the continuum of land rights, fit-for-purpose approach, and provide cadastral intelligence. To deliver innovative, scalable, and transferrable ICT solutions, the its4land project builds on strategic collaborations between the EU and East Africa. The innovation process incorporates a broad range of stakeholders and emergent geospatial technologies including smart sketch maps, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), interactive feature extraction, as well as sharing and publishing land information through geocloud services. The aim is to combine these innovative approaches with the specific needs, market opportunities and readiness of end users in the domain of land recording in East Africa. Moreover, the land recording tools target both top-down and bottom-up approaches and thus support formal land registration processes, as well as informal community-based land resource documentation. The project consists of a four-year work plan, €3.9M funding, and eight consortium partners collaborating with stakeholders from different case study locations in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Rwanda that cover different land uses such as urban, peri-urban, rural smallholder, and (former) pastoralists. Major technical tasks include tool development, prototyping, and demonstration for local, national, regional, and international interest groups. However, equal emphasis is placed on needs assessment, as well as governance, capacity and business modelling. This paper will present the unique its4land land administration toolbox in which the exploitable results of the its4land project are integrated. It will describe each of these exploitable results which cover different software tools for recording land tenure information based on hand-drawn sketch maps, UAV-driven workflows for land tenure data acquisition, and semi-automatic and interactive delineation of visible cadastral boundaries, all integrated in a software platform to publish and share land information via geocloud services. The toolbox also combines consultancy services in the fields of needs assessment, and the development of governance and capacity building models for innovative technologies