The Intangible Legacy of the Indonesian Bajo

The Sama-Bajau, or Bajo diaspora, extends from the southern Philippines and Sabah (Malaysian Borneo) to the eastern part of Indonesia. The Indonesian Bajo, now scattered along the coasts of Sulawesi (Celebes) and East Kalimantan, the Eastern Lesser Sunda Islands and Maluku, were once mostly nomadic fishermen of the sea or ocean freight carriers. Today, the Bajo are almost all fishermen and settled. Their former and present ways of life made them favour intangible forms of culture: it is impossible to transport bulky artefacts when moving frequently by boat, or when living in stilt houses, very close to the sea or on a reef. It is therefore an intangible legacy that is the essence of the Bajo\u27s culture. Sandro healers have a vast range of expertise that allows them to protect and heal people when they suffer from natural or supernatural diseases. On the other hand, music and especially oral literature are very rich. In addition to song and the pantun poetry contests, the most prestigious genre is the iko-iko, long epic songs that the Bajo consider to be historical rather than fictional narratives. The Bajo\u27s intangible heritage is fragile, since it is based on oral transmission. In this article, I give a description of this heritage, dividing it into two areas: the knowledge that allows them to “protect and heal” on the one hand, and to “distract and relax”, on the other

How primary healthcare in Iceland swiftly changed its strategy in response to the COVID-19 pandemic

Funding Information: Contributors All authors contributed to the planning, conduct and reporting of the study. ELS, JSJ, MOT, HH, KL worked on acquisition of the data. ELS, ABB and JSJ drafted the manuscript with input from MOT, HH, KL and JAS which was critically reviewed by all the authors. HH performed the statistical analysis. ELS, ABB, JSJ, MOT, HH, KL, JAS read and approved the final version of the manuscript. Funding This research was supported by the Research Fund of the Icelandic College of Family Physicians. Publisher Copyright: ©Objective To describe how the primary healthcare (PHC) in Iceland changed its strategy to handle the COVID-19 pandemic. Design Descriptive observational study. Setting Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland. Population The Reykjavik area has a total of 233 000 inhabitants. Main outcome measures The number and the mode of consultations carried out. Drug prescriptions and changes in the 10 most common diagnoses made in PHC. Laboratory tests including COVID-19 tests. Average numbers in March and April 2020 compared with the same months in 2018 and 2019. Results Pragmatic strategies and new tasks were rapidly applied to the clinical work to meet the foreseen healthcare needs caused by the pandemic. The number of daytime consultations increased by 35% or from 780 to 1051/1000 inhabitants (p<0.001) during the study period. Telephone and web-based consultations increased by 127% (p<0.001). The same tendency was observed in out-of-hours services. The number of consultations in maternity and well-child care decreased only by 4% (p=0.003). Changes were seen in the 10 most common diagnoses. Most noteworthy, apart from a high number of COVID-19 suspected disease, was that immunisation, depression, hypothyroidism and lumbago were not among the top 10 diagnoses during the epidemic period. The number of drug prescriptions increased by 10.3% (from 494 to 545 per 1000 inhabitants, p<0.001). The number of prescriptions from telephone and web-based consultations rose by 55.6%. No changes were observed in antibiotics prescriptions. Conclusions As the first point of contact in the COVID-19 pandemic, the PHC in Iceland managed to change its strategy swiftly while preserving traditional maternity and well-child care, indicating a very solid PHC with substantial flexibility in its organisation.Peer reviewe

On Reducing the Energy Consumption of Software: From Hurdles to Requirements

International audienceBackground. As software took control over hardware in many domains, the question of the energy footprint induced by the software is becoming critical for our society, as the resources powering the underlying infrastructure are finite. Yet, beyond this growing interest, energy consumption remains a difficult concept to master for a developer.Aims. The purpose of this study is to better understand the root causes that prevent software energy consumption to be more widely adopted by developers and companies.Method. To investigate this issue, this paper reports on a qualitative study we conducted in an industrial context. We applied an in-depth analysis of the interviews of 10 experienced developers and summarized a set of implications.Results. We argue that our study delivers i) insightful feedback on how green software design is considered among the interviewed developers and ii) a set of findings to build helpful tools, motivate further research, and establish better development strategies to promote green software design.Conclusion. This paper covers an industrial case study of developers' awareness of green software design and how to promote it within the company. While it might not be generalizable for any company, we believe our results deliver a common body of knowledge with implications to be considered for similar cases and further researches

TNFA-863 polymorphism is associated with a reduced risk of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: A replication study

<p/> <p>Background</p> <p>TNF-α mediated inflammation is thought to play a key role in the respiratory and systemic features of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. The aim of the present study was to replicate and extend recent findings in Taiwanese and Caucasian populations of associations between COPD susceptibility and variants of the <it>TNFA </it>gene in a Spanish cohort.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The 3 reported SNPs were complemented with nine tag single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) of the <it>TNFA </it>and <it>LTA </it>genes and genotyped in 724 individuals (202 COPD patients, 90 smokers without COPD and 432 healthy controls). Pulmonary function parameters and serum inflammatory markers were also measured in COPD patients.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The <it>TNFA </it>rs1800630 (-863C/A) SNP was associated with a lower COPD susceptibility (ORadj = 0.50, 95% CI = 0.33-0.77, p = 0.001). The -863A allele was also associated with less severe forms of the disease (GOLD stages I and II) (ORadj = 0.303, 95%CI = 0.14-0.65, p = 0.014) and with lower scores of the BODE index (< 2) (ORadj = 0.40, 95%CI = 0.17-0.94, p = 0.037). Moreover, the -863A carrier genotype was associated with a better FEV₁percent predicted (p = 0.004) and a lower BODE index (p = 0.003) over a 2 yrs follow-up period. None of the <it>TNFA </it>or <it>LTA </it>gene variants correlated with the serum inflammatory markers in COPD patients (p > 0.05).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We replicated the previously reported association between the <it>TNFA </it>-863 SNP and COPD. <it>TNFA </it>-863A allele may confer a protective effect to the susceptibility to the disease in the Spanish population.</p

Chronic pain, depression and cardiovascular disease linked through a shared genetic predisposition:Analysis of a family-based cohort and twin study

BACKGROUND: Depression and chronic pain are the two most important causes of disability (Global Burden of Disease Study 2013). They occur together more frequently than expected and both conditions have been shown to be co-morbid with cardiovascular disease. Although shared socio-demographic risk factors (e.g. gender, deprivation) might explain the co-morbidity of these three conditions, we hypothesised that these three long-term, highly prevalent conditions co-occur and may be due to shared familial risk, and/or genetic factors. METHODS AND FINDINGS: We employed three different study designs in two independent cohorts, namely Generation Scotland and TwinsUK, having standardised, validated questionnaire data on the three traits of interest. First, we estimated the prevalence and co-occurrence of chronic pain, depression and angina among 24,024 participants of a population-based cohort of extended families (Generation Scotland: Scottish Family Health Study), adjusting for age, gender, education, smoking status, and deprivation. Secondly, we compared the odds of co-morbidity in sibling-pairs with the odds in unrelated individuals for the three conditions in the same cohort. Lastly, examination of similar traits in a sample of female twins (TwinsUK, n = 2,902), adjusting for age and BMI, allowed independent replication of the findings and exploration of the influence of additive genetic (A) factors and shared (C) and non-shared (E) environmental factors predisposing to co-occurring chronic widespread pain (CWP) and cardiovascular disease (hypertension, angina, stroke, heart attack, elevated cholesterol, angioplasty or bypass surgery). In the Generation Scotland cohort, individuals with depression were more than twice as likely to have chronic pain as those without depression (adjusted OR 2·64 [95% CI 2·34-2·97]); those with angina were four times more likely to have chronic pain (OR 4·19 [3·64-4·82]); those with depression were twice as likely to have angina (OR 2·20 [1·90-2·54]). Similar odds were obtained when the outcomes and predictors were reversed and similar effects seen among sibling pairs; depression in one sibling predicted chronic pain in the other (OR 1·34 [1·05-1·71]), angina predicted chronic pain in the other (OR 2·19 [1·63-2·95]), and depression, angina (OR 1·98 [1·49-2·65]). Individuals with chronic pain and angina showed almost four-fold greater odds of depression compared with those manifesting neither trait (OR 3·78 [2·99-4·78]); angina showed seven-fold increased odds in the presence of chronic pain and depression (OR 7·76 [6·05-9·95]) and chronic pain nine-fold in the presence of depression and angina (OR 9·43 [6·85-12·98]). In TwinsUK, the relationship between CWP and depression has been published (R = 0.34, p<0.01). Considering the CWP-cardiovascular relationship, the most suitable model to describe the observed data was a combination of A, C and E, with a small but significant genetic predisposition, shared between the two traits (2·2% [95% CI 0·06-0·23]). CONCLUSION: We found an increased co-occurrence of chronic pain, depression and cardiovascular disease in two independent cohorts (general population-based cohort, twins cohort) suggesting a shared genetic contribution. Adjustment for known environmental influences, particularly those relating to socio-economic status (Generation Scotland: age, gender, deprivation, smoking, education; Twins UK: age,BMI) did not explain the relationship observed between chronic pain, depression and cardiovascular disease. Our findings from two independent cohorts challenge the concept of traditional disease boundaries and warrant further investigation of shared biological mechanisms

Optimization of Dust-Binding on Hornsgatan with the Nortrip Model

Populärvetenskaplig sammanfattning Optimering av dammbindning på Hornsgatan med NORTRIP modellen Massan av luftburna partiklar med en diameter mindre än 10 µm (PM10) är en av de tuffaste miljökvalitetsnormerna att uppnå i Sverige. PM10 kommer från flera olika källor, både naturliga som havssalt och sand, samt antropogena som vägslitage, däckslitage, bromsslitage och avgaser. En stor uppkomstkälla till PM10 i luften slitage på grund av dubbdäcksanvändning. Uppvirvlingen är som störst i mars och april efter att snön smält, temperaturen stigit och vägbanan torkat upp. För att minska PM10 halten i luften kan en dammbindande saltlösning med lägre fryspunkt än vatten läggas ut på vägbanan. I Stockholm används saltlösningen CMA (kalciummagnesiumnitrat). Det är en typ av salt med liten påverkan på den urbana miljön. Vintersäsongen 2016–2017 lades CMA ut tre gånger i veckan på några utvalda gator i Stockholm mellan november och maj. En av dessa gator är Hornsgatan, som har undersökts i denna rapport. CMA är dyrt och resurskrävande att lägga ut. För att optimera utläggningen av CMA i Stockholm har spridningsmodellen NORTRIP (non-exhaust road traffic induced particle emissions) använts. Modellen använder meteorologiska data, trafikdata och data rörande saltning, sandning och städning för att räkna ut halten PM10 som spridits till luften. Den här modellen har använts för att testa några olika dammbindande scenarion på Hornsgatan i vilka CMA har lagts ut. Det har också testats, i NORTRIP, om PM10 halten i luften skulle minska genom utläggning av vatten på vägen. Vatten lades endast ut i modellen efter 15 mars med antagandet att temperaturen inte skulle sjunka under 0 °C efter datumet ifråga. De olika scenariona var utformade för att se om det var möjligt att minimera användandet av CMA men ändå hålla nere PM10 halten i luften. Alla scenarion jämfördes med scenariot där varken CMA eller vatten lades ut för att jämföra om PM10 i luften minskade. Ett resultat visade att det var bättre att lägga ut CMA varje dag under dammiga perioder än att sikta in sig på bara de dammigaste dagarna. PM10 i luften 2016 minskade med 4,7% när de 45 dammigaste dagarna behandlades med CMA. Det kan jämföras med en minskning på 6,5% när CMA applicerades under dammiga perioder under samma år. En annan slutsats var att det ger större effekt att lägga ut CMA i mars och april än mellan november och mars. PM10 i luften 2016 minskade med 2,1% om man började lägga ut CMA 1 november som planerat, och med 1,7% om utläggningen började i slutet av februari, när den dammiga säsongen börjar. Det resulterar i att endast en liten minskning av PM10 halten uppnåddes genom att börja behandla vägbanan med CMA den 1 november istället för i slutet av februari. Att börja lägga ut CMA i slutet av februari istället för 1 november skulle minska kostnaderna betydligt för staden. Resultaten visade även att ett tunt lager vatten (0,3 mm) utlagt på vägbanan mellan ordinarie dagar för dammbindning hade en betydande effekt på PM10 halten i luften. Vid vattenutläggning mellan dagarna för CMA utläggning efter 15 mars 2016 minskar PM10 i luften under 2016 med 1,4% utöver vad den skulle minskat med om inget vatten lagts ut. Den här rapporten visar att det är möjligt att optimera utläggningen av CMA på Hornsgatan.Abstract Optimization of dust-binding on Hornsgatan with the NORTRIP model The mass of airborne particles with a diameter smaller than 10 µm (PM10) is one of the most difficult environmental quality standards addressed in Sweden. PM10 particles originates from a variety of sources; natural, like sea salt and sand, and human made like road wear, tire wear, brake wear and exhaust. A significant source of PM10 in the air is the usage of studded tires. The suspension typically occurs in March and April when the snow layer melts, temperature rises and the streets dry. A dry street is crucial for the road dust to suspend into the air. A way to prevent road dust to suspend in to the air is spraying the road with a salt solution that does not freeze at temperatures below 0 °C. In Stockholm a dust-binding substance called CMA (Calcium Magnesium Acetate) is used. It is a of salt with minimal negative side effects on the urban environment. CMA was applied on some specific streets in Stockholm three times a week between November and May winter season 2016–2017. One of the streets that gets treated with CMA is Hornsgatan which is the topic of this paper. Dust-binding substances are expensive and time consuming to apply to the streets. To optimize the appliance of CMA in Stockholm a non-exhaust road traffic induced particle emissions (NORTRIP) model has been used. The model uses meteorological data, traffic data combined with data on salting, sanding and cleaning to calculate PM10 suspension to the air. This model has been used to test different dust-binding scenarios on Hornsgatan in which CMA was applied. It has also been tested, in NORTRIP, if spraying the road with water could have a reductive effect on PM10 in the air. Water was only added to the model after the 15th of March because it was assumed the temperature would not sink below 0 °C after this date. The different scenarios were formed to see if it was possible to minimize the usage of CMA and still keep the PM10 level low. All scenarios were compared with the scenario of not applying any CMA or water to see how much PM10 in the air was reduced. One result showed that it is better to apply CMA every day during dusty periods rather than just manage to target the dustiest days alone. PM10 in the air 2016 was reduced by 4.7% when the 45 dustiest days were treated with CMA. This could be compared to a 6.5% reduction when CMA was applied during dusty periods. Another conclusion made was that applying CMA in March and April has a greater effect then applying CMA in November, December, January and February. PM10 in the air 2016 was reduced by 2.1% if the CMA treatment started on the 1st of November as planned, and by 1.7% if the treatment started in the end of February when the dusty season starts. That means there is only a small decrease of PM10 if the appliance of CMA starts in the end of February rather than the 1st of November. Reducing the days of CMA treatment would reduce the cost significantly for the city. It was also shown that a thin layer of water (0.3 mm) applied to the street between ordinary dust-binding days has a significant effect on PM10 in the air. Adding water to the street in between days of dust-binding after the 15th of March 2016 reduced suspended PM10 2016 in the air by 1.5% beyond what it would have been reduced without the water. This paper shows that it is possible to optimize the appliance of CMA

Control methods for a novel semi-active transtibial prosthesis

Passive prostheses fail to provide the same amount of energy as able-bodied individuals do when walking. Therefore, a semi-active transtibial prosthesis based on a passive ESAR prosthetic foot has been designed at the Wearable Robotics Lab at the Biorobotics Institute of Sant’Anna – School of Advanced Studies. This prosthesis efficiently collects energy during stance by using a unidirectional clutch and a motor that can impose additional dorsiflexion on the structure. The collected energy can be released at a desirable timing using a proper control method. Designing, implementing, testing, and evaluating a part of such a control method, that is the middle-level control, is the objective of this thesis. First, a literature review on the state of the art of middle-level control methods for lower limb prostheses is conducted. Then, the mechanical design of the prosthesis is reviewed, noting relevant aspects for the control viewpoint. Subsequently, a stride segmentation method and four control methods are designed. Three of them are implemented, tested and evaluated. The stride segmentation is based on the raw inertial data of the foot. The first control method is a passive mode that actively unloads the structure during swing phase. The second and third methods actively provide an energy release during late stance. By means of adaptive thresholds, the motor can impose additional deformation to the structure and manage the timely release of the elastic energy gathered during the stance. Both active methods are adaptive to changes in gait velocity with a delay of one stride. A dataset was created with data for three able-bodied subjects wearing the prosthesis through an adapter. The subjects walked on a treadmill at four different velocities and using the prosthesis in four different conditions: (i) the passive mode, (ii) the two active modes, and (iii) with the motor disabled. The stance detection performed well, detecting 99.9% of the strides that were taken throughout all the trials. An analysis of the timing of the toe-off events was performed but was not feasible concerning the heel strikes. The passive mode was also successful in 99.9% of the strides taken in respective trials. The first active method delivered an energy release with a total success rate of 97.6% and the second active method delivered the energy release in all relevant strides, therefore having a success rate of 100%. The timing of the energy release, tailored on subjects’ preferences, resulted later than what was suggested by biomechanical studies. Future activities will mainly focus on an in-depth analysis of the timing of the energy release, along with a comparison of the timing of the detected heel strike and toe-off events to the real events. The overall performance of the designed control methods is promising and will be further developed and tested on amputees