Adoption of Free Open Source Geographic Information System Solution for Health Sector in Zanzibar Tanzania

\ud The study aims at developing in-depth understanding on how Open Source Geographic Information System technology is used to provide solutions for data visualization in the health sector of Zanzibar, Tanzania. The study focuses on implementing the health visualization solutions for the purpose of bridging the gap during the transition period from proprietary software to the Free Open-Source Software using Key Indicator Data System. The developed tool facilitates data integration between the two District Health Information Software versions and hence served as a gateway solution during the transition process. Implementation challenges that include outdated spatial data and the reluctance of the key users in coping with the new Geographical Information System technologies were also identified. Participatory action research and interviews were used in understanding the requirements for the new tool to facilitate the smooth system development for better health service delivery.\u

Students' mental prototypes for functions and graphs

This research study investigates the concept of function developed by students studying English A-level mathematics. It shows that, while students may be able to use functions in their practical mathematics, their grasp of the theoretical nature of the function concept may be tenuous and inconsistent. The hypothesis is that students develop prototypes for the function concept in much the same way as they develop prototypes for concepts in everyday life. The definition of the function concept, though given in the curriculum, is not stressed and proves to be inoperative, with their understanding of the concept reliant on properties of familiar prototype examples: those having regular shaped graphs, such as x2 or sin*, those often encountered (possibly erroneously), such as a circle, those in which y is defined as an explicit formula in x, and so on. Investigations reveal significant misconceptions. For example, threequarters of a sample of students starting a university mathematics course considered that a constant function was not a function in either its graphical or algebraic forms, and threequarters thought that a circle is a function. This reveals a wide gulf between the concepts as perceived to be taught and as actually learned by the students

Prevention of Nasal Mucosal Irritation in Patients Obtain Nasal Oxygen

Introduction: The provision of oxygen therapy is traditionally use a humidifier to moisten the oxygen and prevent irritation of the nasal mucosa. Recent research proves that the use of a maximum of 4 lpm nasal oxygen without using a humidifier (non humidifier) up to 8 hours does not cause irritation of the nasal mucosa and prevent colonization of bacteria in the humidifier. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of nasal oxygen administration using a non-humidifier more than 8 hours in the prevention of irritation of the nasal mucosa. Method: This study employed an analytic survey with cross-sectional study design. As many as 20 patients at inpatient wards of Port Health Center Hospital Surabaya were recruited as sample by means of consecutive sampling. Inclusion criteria was patients must not suffer from upper respiratory tract infection and do not suffer from impaired immunity. Independent variables were oxygen flow and long of oxygen therapy. Dependent variable was irritation of the nasal mucosa. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics and tested with spearman rho correlation test. Result: The results showed that the use of oxygen up to 140 hours with 4 LPM had no effect on the nasal mucosa such as signs of irritation and complaints of discomfort in the nose area. Discussion: It can be concluded that the use of non-humidifier for a maximum of 140 hours with flow maximum of 4 lpm is effective in preventing irritation of the nasal mucosa. Further research on the effectiveness of non humidi fi ers in the elderly population and children under five years of age is needed

Fractional boundary value problems: Analysis and numerical methods

This is the author's PDF of an article published in Fractional calculus and applied analysis 2011. The original publication is available at www.springerlink.comThis journal article discusses nonlinear boundary value problems.Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologi

The effects of dispersion on time-of-flight acoustic velocity measurements in a wooden rod.

The stiffness of wood can be estimated from the acoustic velocity in the longitudinal direction. Studies have reported that stiffness measurements obtained using time-of-flight acoustic velocity measurements are overestimated compared to those obtained using the acoustic resonance and bending test methods. More research is needed to understand what is causing this phenomenon. In this work, amplitude threshold time-of-flight, resonance, and guided wave measurements are performed on wooden and aluminium rods. Using guided wave theory, it is shown through simulations and experimental results that dispersion causes an overestimation of time-of-flight measurements. This overestimation was able to be mitigated using dispersion compensation. However, other guided wave techniques could potentially be used to obtain improved measurements.Published onlin

Effect of Statins on Functional Expression of Membrane Transporters in L6 Rat Skeletal Muscle Cells

Statins reduce LDL-cholesterol and the risk of atherosclerosis. They are generally safe, although statin-induced myopathy is relatively common. Membrane transporters play a crucial role in determining statin side effects. Little is known regarding the interaction of drug transporters in muscle cells with statins. Study aims: The present study aimed to determine the effect of statins on functional expression of monocarboxylate transporters (MCTs) and multidrug resistance-associated proteins (MRPs) in L6 rat skeletal myotube cells. Methods: Relative gene expression at mRNA level was confirmed by RT2 ProfilerTM Rat Drug Transporter PCR array. The uptake of 3H-labelled DL-lactate (1 μCi/ml) was measured to functionally expressed MCT function. The inhibition of [3H]-DL-lactate uptake was assessed in the presence or absence of statins and compared to that of the MCT inhibitors, phloretin and CHC. Transporter-mediated dye efflux was used as functional assay for the MRP efflux transporters. Results: In L6 rat skeletal myotubes, relatively high mRNA expression level was observed for Mct1and Mrp1for uptake and efflux transporters, respectively. The [3H]-DL-lactate uptake was shown to be a concentration-, pH-dependent and Na+-independent manner with Michaelis-Menten constant (Km) value of 16.17 ± 2.4 mM vs 15.63 ± 3.0 mM in the presence and absence of Na+, respectively. The maximum velocity of substrate binding (Vmax) of the DL-lactate uptake inhibition by lipophilic statins; simvastatin and atorvastatin, were in the same order as phloretin and CHC, while no significant inhibitory magnitude with hydrophilic statins; pravastatin and rosuvastatin. However, the L6 rat skeletal myotubes did not exhibit lactate efflux function. Among four of statins used, only simvastatin showed an affinity inhibition of MRP function in L6 cells. Conclusions: This study has shown that lipophilic statins significantly inhibit functional expression of MCTs, even though they have not shown relatively high inhibition impact on MRPs

Developmental research of sustainable technologies to minimise problematic road embankment settlements

Challenging, problematic and non-uniform ground conditions are a night mare to geotechnical engineers tasked with the design and construction of buildings and transport infrastructure. These often suffer undesirable structural settlements. Designing within the current understanding of geotechnics; settlement in peat and organic soils need to be recognised to include the known “primary and secondary consolidation characteristics” and the lesser known “tertiary consolidation phase”. These eventually contribute cumulatively to the consequential uneven and hazardous “bumpy road” surfaces. Undulating flexible road pavements result primarily from the transference of the heavy self-weight of the embankment fill to yielding and non-uniform subgrade. The adoption of conventional design/repair methods such as pile, vertical drain, soil replacement and soil stabilisation are expensive and inappropriate in very soft ground conditions. These then lead to unjustifiably high and repetitive maintenance costs. There being no one quick fix solution for all; pragmatic research must necessarily identify the best/progressively improved practical and sustainable solution. A viable solution is to develop criteria and explore the concept of a “masonry arch bridge structure/lintel-column structure” and adopting sustainable materials through pragmatic searching for appropriate recyclable waste materials. This will lead to the basis for a sustainable, innovative, strong, stiff, permeable composite mat structure that can be used on soft and/or yielding ground conditions. Conceptual lightweight fill technology including the popularly used expanded polystyrene (EPS) and the innovative composite mats recently being developed by the research team are outlined

Seeded batch cooling crystallization with temperature cycling for the control of size uniformity and polymorphic purity of sulfathiazole crystals

An experimental study has been conducted to evaluate the capability of a seeded batch cooling crystallization with a temperature cycling method to produce a narrow crystal size distribution and grow a desired polymorphic form of sulfathiazole crystals. The study used focused beam reflectance measurement (FBRM), and attenuated total reflectance ultraviolet/visible (ATR-UV/vis)spectroscopy for the in situ monitoring and control of the process. Based on the FBRM readings, the process was driven using a feedback control approach that employs alternating cycles of heating and cooling phases so that the number of counts, corresponding to the number of seed particles, is maintained, whilst the square-weighted chord length distribution, indicating the dynamic progress of the growth of the seeds in the system, is increased. Results of the experiments show that the temperature cycling method promoted Ostwald ripening, which helped in accelerating the growth and enhancing the size uniformity of the product. The method also has a good prospect to be implemented for the control of polymorphic purity. Seeds of Form I and Form II could be grown from n-propanol and water, respectively. Form I seeds in water were first transformed into Form II and/or swamped by nuclei of Form II, before the growth of the newly formed crystals took place. Seeds of Form II and Form III in n-propanol, however, were not able to grow at all. This study confirmed that the nucleation and growth of sulfathiazole crystals are solvent-mediated, and the insight into these phenomena was captured very well by the in situ monitoring tools

A combined approach of differential scanning calorimetry and hot-stage microscopy with image analysis in the investigation of sulfathiazole polymorphism

A combination of differential scanning calorimetry and hot-stage microscopy with image analysis has been used to investigate the polymorphism of sulfathiazole. The use of light intensity profiles obtained from the HSM images, as an alternative way to present results of the HSM analysis, was found to be useful in describing and verifying thermal events. The approach provides a unique insight into the polymorphic transformations and thermal behaviour exhibited by this compound. The results of the experiments show that sulfathiazole tends to crystallise as mixtures of polymorphs, even though the literature methods for producing pure polymorph were followed