Exploration of Chemotherapy Safe-Handling Practices and Identification of Knowledge Deficits among Oncology Nurses in the Ambulatory Care Setting

The purpose of this project was to explore nursing practice perceptions regarding the safe-administration of outpatient chemotherapy and establish whether a knowledge deficit existed in an ambulatory care setting. Although recommendations for chemotherapy administration exist they are not mandatory and data suggests that contamination may still be occurring, due in part to inconsistent nursing compliance. To provide a foundation for instituting safety improvements in the administration of chemotherapy, a mailed survey was distributed to a population of 68 oncology nurses in an outpatient setting to explore the disparity between evidence-based recommendations and actual implementation. The Chemotherapy Handling Questionnaire previously developed by Dr. Martha Polovich was utilized for the purposes of this project. The questionnaire included scales that measured knowledge, barriers to using personal protective equipment, perceived risks of exposure, self-efficacy, the climate of workplace safety, conflict of interest and interpersonal influences. Each of the survey scales were scored and Spearman‟s Correlation Coefficients were calculated for data analysis. Project findings suggest that despite high levels of exposure knowledge and moderate levels of self-efficacy for the use of personal protective equipment, total precaution use of outpatient oncology nurses was still low. This safety improvement project has multiple implications for future research. Nurse perceptions suggest that personal motivation for compliance with safe-handling standards needs to be revisited. Additionally, chemotherapy administration procedures need to be assessed to determine which barriers to safety can be minimized or eradicated and how treatment volume may be reduced or organized to improve outcomes and decrease the risk for unnecessary chemotherapy exposure. Qualitative survey comments urge organizational leaders to ensure that appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) is readily available to nursing staff, open lines of communication regarding chemotherapy safety and compliance expectations are present, and implications for work policy changes exist. This project explored nursing knowledge and perceptions of the safe administration of chemotherapy in outpatient settings of a multi-site clinic using the Chemotherapy Handling Questionnaire. The review of this cohort\u27s perceptions suggests a need for ongoing evaluation of the workplace environment, in order to support a climate of safety and foster a culture that supports the well-being of nurses, in addition to their patients and the greater public

Deelrapport: Bevraging van de aanbodzijde In het kader van de DIVERSITEITSBAROMETER HUISVESTING

peer reviewe

Income generation of farm labourers in Trans Nzoia District, Kenya: rural employment and social networks

This study, carried out in 1989, is a support study for a larger survey of the nutritional situation in the households of labourers on large farms in Trans Nzoia, Kenya. Three categories were distinguished: permanent labourers, casual labourers living on the farm and casual labourers living off the farm. For comparison, a fourth group consisting of nonlabourers was added. The study covered two aspects of household income generation and food security, viz. rural employment and social networks. The study assessed the relative importance of various income-generating activities, such as farming, labour on large farms and nonagricultural employment, for the incomes of the different study groups. Related questions referred to the effects of seasonality on several activities, as well as the sexual division of rural employment and the constraints regarding specific income-generating activities. The study also examined the social networks of the labourers' households. Each household maintains relationships with relatives, nonresidential household members and nonrelatives. The study aimed to find out how these social networks contribute to household food security and income generation. Again, seasonal variations were taken into consideration, making it possible to assess whether differences in agricultural cycles between Trans Nzoia and the areas of origin of those studied, the majority of whom are immigrants, may help to solve food shortages.ASC – Publicaties niet-programma gebonde

Genetic parameters for body weight, carcass chemical composition and yield in a broiler-layer cross developed for QTL mapping

The objective of this study was to estimate genetic and phenotypic correlations of body weight at 6 weeks of age (BW6), as well as final carcass yield, and moisture, protein, fat and ash contents, using data from 3,422 F2 chickens originated from reciprocal cross between a broiler and a layer line. Variance components were estimated by the REML method, using animal models for evaluating random additive genetic and fixed contemporary group (sex, hatch and genetic group) effects. The heritability estimates (h2) for BW6, carcass yield and percentage of carcass moisture were 0.31 ± 0.07, 0.20 ± 0.05 and 0.33 ± 0.07, respectively. The h2 for the percentages of protein, fat and ash on a dry matter basis were 0.48 ± 0.09, 0.55 ± 0.10 and 0.36 ± 0.08, respectively. BW6 had a positive genetic correlation with fat percentage in the carcass, but a negative one with protein and ash contents. Carcass yield, thus, appears to have only low genetic association with carcass composition traits. The genetic correlations observed between traits, measured on a dry matter basis, indicated that selection for carcass protein content may favor higher ash content and a lower percentage of carcass fat

Could consumption of insects, cultured meat or imitation meat reduce global agricultural land use?

Animal products, i.e. meat, milk and eggs, provide an important component in global diets, but livestock dominate agricultural land use by area and are a major source of greenhouse gases. Cultural and personal associations with animal product consumption create barriers to moderating consumption, and hence reduced environmental impacts. Here we review alternatives to conventional animal products, including cultured meat, imitation meat and insects (i.e. entomophagy), and explore the potential change in global agricultural land requirements associated with each alternative. Stylised transformative consumption scenarios where half of current conventional animal products are substituted to provide at least equal protein and calories are considered. The analysis also considers and compares the agricultural land area given shifts between conventional animal product consumption. The results suggest that imitation meat and insects have the highest land use efficiency, but the land use requirements are only slightly greater for eggs and poultry meat. The efficiency of insects and their ability to convert agricultural by-products and food waste into food, suggests further research into insect production is warranted. Cultured meat does not appear to offer substantial benefits over poultry meat or eggs, with similar conversion efficiency, but higher direct energy requirements. Comparison with the land use savings from reduced consumer waste, including over-consumption, suggests greater benefits could be achieved from alternative dietary transformations considered. We conclude that although a diet with lower rates of animal product consumption is likely to create the greatest reduction in agricultural land, a mix of smaller changes in consumer behaviour, such as replacing beef with chicken, reducing food waste and potentially introducing insects more commonly into diets, would also achieve land savings and a more sustainable food system

Framework Design and Image Registration for Sonar-Based Underwater SLAM

The startup company Fleet Cleaner has developed a mobile robot, specialized in the hull cleaning of large cargo vessels. Navigation and localization of this robot is currently performed manually. This is a difficult process that is greatly complicated during operation. This is mainly due to the availability of relative positioning sensors only, which are prone to error build-up and noise, and to the difficulty of interpreting optical underwater images in turbid water conditions. Instead, operators must rely on acoustic images from a forward-looking sonar. In the field of mobile robotics, Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) is an often used technique to improve navigation and localization by utilizing visual information. The objective of this thesis is to develop a sonar-based SLAM framework, tailored to working environment of the Fleet Cleaner robot. The thesis scope has been restricted to the conceptual design of such a framework and the implementation of one of the subsystems, visual odometry. A conceptual design of a SLAM system is proposed using a systematic approach. Different working principles are evaluated according to operating conditions and requirements that specify desired behavior. Analysis of operating conditions reveal the limitations of sonar imagery, such as a high signal-to-noise ratio and inhomogeneous intensity patterns. In addition, the environment is sparse, with few distinct recognizable landmarks, limiting feature-based approaches. Because of these limitations, visual odometry is essential to reduce error build-up between loop closure corrections.A Fourier-based approach to visual odometry is implemented, taking the whole image view into account instead of extracted features. By analyzing the dominant peak in the phase correlation matrix, the in-plane sonar motion between consecutive image frames can be estimated. Several image processing steps are necessary to improve peak sharpness, increasing the quality of registration.To validate the proposed method, an experiment was conducted during cleaning of the Pioneering Spirit, the world’s largest construction vessel. Under normal circumstances, visual odometry showed less error build-up in the position estimate than wheel odometry. However, outliers appear when driving near the waterline, caused by reflections and wave reverberations. Ultimately, the proposed visual odometry method improves the current positioning system and serves as a basis for an integral SLAM implementation.Mechanical Engineering | Systems and Contro

The creation of play spaces in twentieth-century Amsterdam: from an intervention of civil actors to a public policy

This case study uncovers a turning point in the production of play space in Amsterdam. Whereas over the first half of the twentieth century the creation of play spaces used to be the primary responsibility of the Amsterdam civil society, this situation started to change after the Second World War. Between 1947 and 1970, the Amsterdam Urban Planning Department created over 700 public play spaces. These spaces were little niches in the urban public domain, specifically designed and constructed to enable city children's play. This remarkable change from a predominantly private to a public intervention, is explained through a rapid increase of the number of children (the post-war baby-boom), the existence of the General Extension Plan (AUP) with its detailed age specific approach and the fruitful collaboration between powerful urban planners and politically dominant socialist politicians