Eco-innovation practices’ adoption in the automotive industry

Eco-innovation is a construct that is gaining increasing interest from academics and researchers since it is commonly considered in the literature as one of the strategies that allow manufacturing companies not only to significantly reduce the negative impacts on the environment but also the generation of pollutants. However, little is known about the adoption of eco-innovation practices in manufacturing companies, particularly in the automotive industry. Therefore, this research has as main objective to fill this gap in the literature and explore the interdependence between eco-innovation of products, processes and management. The study is conducted through a research framework consisting of 3 measurement scales, 14 items and 3 hypotheses and an extensive review of the literature. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to a sample of 460 companies in the automotive and auto parts industry in Mexico. Data were analyzed through Confirmatory Factor Analysis, Descriptive Statistics and Structural Equation Modelling. The results obtained show that product eco-innovation, process eco-innovation and management eco-innovation are good indicators for the adoption of eco-innovation practices for companies in the automotive and auto parts industry. The paper addresses a research gap in the academic literature in the eco-innovation field by providing evidence on the interdependence between eco-innovation of products, processes and management and the implementation of their practices in the automotive industry.N/

Vital Sensory Kit For Use With Telemedicine In Developing Countries

In many developing countries, a large percentage of the population lacks access to adequate healthcare. This is especially true in India where close to 70% of the population lives in rural areas and has little to no access to hospitals or clinics. People living in rural India often times cannot afford to pay to see a doctor should they need to make the journey to a hospital. Telemedicine, a breakthrough in the past couple decades, has broken down the barrier between the patient and the physician. It has slowly been implemented in India to make doctors more available to patients through the use of video conferences and other forms of communication. A compact and affordable kit has been developed that will be used to take a patient’s blood pressure, heart rate, blood glucose concentration and oxygen saturation. Our most novel contribution is the non-invasive glucose sensor that will use a near-infrared LED and photodiode in the patient’s earlobe. Currently millions of diabetics do this by pricking their finger. By wirelessly sending data results from the vital sign kit, the first essential part of a treatment can be carried out via wireless communication, saving the doctor and patient time and money

Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationIn August of 2013, Roberto Flores and Alfredo Zárate, two Ciudad Juárez bus drivers, were killed while working. The murderer, according to eyewitnesses, was a woman between 30 and 50 years old. She purportedly wore a blonde wig and a baseball cap to conceal her identity. Eyewitnesses also told investigators that the murderer made remarks before killing the bus drivers, such as "you think you're so bad?" Ciudad Juárez was once considered the murder capital of the world, so the news of two more murders was hardly "news." Thus, this dissertation presents a case that demonstrates the normalization of quotidian violence-a process achieved through everyday cultural acts. Days after the murders, local news media received a confession. The author, who called herself Diana la Cazadora de Choferes (Diana, the hunter of bus drivers), claimed that she had vengefully murdered the bus drivers in response to the raped and murdered female maquiladora workers of Ciudad Juárez. This confession brought together a variety of discourses about maquiladora labor in Mexico, feminicidios (the unsolved murders of women in Ciudad Juárez), organized crime, and governmental impunity. From a rhetorical perspective, this confession also hinted at discourses of rhetorical agency, social movements, the rhetorical construction of truth and credulity, and the role of mythology within modernity. Throughout this dissertation, I take a variety of critical, cultural, and rhetorical approaches as I construct and contextualize "Diana," following McGee's (1990) fragmentation theory. McGee argues that "rhetors make discourses from scraps and pieces of evidence. Critical rhetoric [as opposed to rhetorical criticism] does not begin with a finished text in need of interpretation; rather, texts are understood to be larger than the apparently finished discourse that presents itself as transparent" (p. 279). Thus, in this dissertation I examine several scraps of discourse that together, point toward one rhetorical construction of Diana la Cazadora de Choferes-not a complete or finished construction, but one that is put forth toward a specific telos: the illustration of what I term retórica moribunda, precarious rhetorics of life and death in contemporary Mexico

Strict Liability and Informed Consent: Don\u27t Say I Didn\u27t Tell You So!

The purpose of this article is the cogent presentation of the arguments favoring application of contemporary strict tort liability concepts to the doctrine of informed consent. While not a panacea, adoption of this proposal would afford the consumer of medical services the requisite protection to make an effective, informed medical choice, while lending consistency and certainty to the physician, long harrassed, both morally and legally, by doubts as to what constitutes an informed consent. This author will assume, arguendo, for the purpose of this article that all physicians are good-faith, competent practitioners. However, the reader should be forewarned: The existing requirement that medical consumers render an informed consent constitutes a knotty and complex problem, both ethically and legally, for the most conscientious and competent medical practitioner. Entrusting enforcement of the existing informed consent laws to the few physicians who fail to adhere to the high standards promulgated by the medical profession can be likened to deploying the fox to guard the henhouse. Likewise, the reader should note that the proposed standard of strict tort liability applies only to the situation in which the physician has failed to adequately advise the patient of the attendant risks of the proposed treatment, and not to a physician\u27s liability for treatment where informed consent has been obtained

Responding to the Mental Health crisis in Schools: Implications for Counselor Education Programs

The significant rise in mental health issues among students is alarming and challenges school counselors’ preparation and professional identity. This mental health crisis in schools establishes the need for counselor education programs to revamp curriculum training methods, teaching pedagogy, and dual field experiences for counseling students

Coronary computed tomography angiography of spontaneous coronary artery dissection: A case report and review of the literature

Patient: Male, 23 Final Diagnosis: Spontaneous coronary artery dissection Symptoms: Chest discomfort • chest pain Medication: — Clinical Procedure: Coronary computed tomography angiography Specialty: Radiology OBJECTIVE: Rare disease BACKGROUND: Multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) has gained wide acceptance in the evaluation of the cardiovascular system. Of particular clinical interest is its ability to non-invasively evaluate coronary arteries in patients presenting to the emergency room. In acute coronary syndromes, myocardial ischemia is most often caused by atherosclerosis. We present a case of a rare cause of acute coronary syndrome, spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD), which was initially evaluated with MDCT and followed by intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) and invasive coronary angiography (ICA). We discuss the findings and role of each modality with particular attention to coronary computed tomographic angiography (CCTA) in the diagnosis and management of SCAD. As the use of CCTA in the emergency department continues to rise, radiologists must become familiar with CT appearance of SCAD. CASE REPORT: We report the multidetector computed tomography (MDCT), intravascular ultrasound (IVUS), and invasive coronary angiography (ICA) findings in a case of spontaneous coronary artery dissection of the left anterior descending artery in a previously healthy 23-year-old man. The role of coronary computed tomographic angiography (CCTA) in diagnosis and management of this potentially life-threatening condition is discussed. CONCLUSIONS: In the clinical setting of acute coronary syndrome, SCAD must be a consideration, particularly in young patients without clear risk factors for coronary artery disease and in women in the peripartum period. CCTA is a very helpful diagnostic tool to diagnose the condition in a non-invasive manner and to follow up after treatment

Storage lipids and proteins of Euterpe edulis seeds

Comparative studies on fatty acid and protein composition of the endosperm and embryo of palmito (Euterpe edulis Martius) were conducted using gas-liquid chromatography and sodium dodecyl sulfate–polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. On a dry weight basis, the embryo contained extremely lower amounts of lipids and proteins than did the endosperm, which was associated with the scarce lipid and protein bodies previously reported in axis and cotyledon. The fatty acid composition also exhibited differences between both tissues: (I) the fatty acid diversity was greater in embryo than in endosperm; (II) embryo and endosperm contained predominantly linoleic, palmitic, oleic and stearic acids even though the relative values were different for each tissue. As compared to other palm species, the higher fatty acid unsaturation in Euterpe edulis seed could be involved in the previously reported short longevity and recalcitrant behavior during storage. Proteins of both tissues were heterogeneous in molecular mass. Some proteins were tissue-specific, but other were common, among them a highly glycosylated protein which migrated at about 55 kDa. We hypothesize that the latter, also reported in all previously studied palm species, is one of the proteins characterizing the Arecaceae family.Fil: Panza, Víctor. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación de Recursos Naturales. Instituto de Recursos Biológicos; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental; ArgentinaFil: Pighín, Darío Gabriel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental y Aplicada. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental y Aplicada; Argentina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria; ArgentinaFil: Lainez, Veronica. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental y Aplicada. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental y Aplicada; ArgentinaFil: Pollero, Ricardo Jose. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de La Plata "Prof. Dr. Rodolfo R. Brenner". Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de La Plata "Prof. Dr. Rodolfo R. Brenner"; ArgentinaFil: Maldonado, Sara Beatriz. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental y Aplicada. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental y Aplicada; Argentina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación de Recursos Naturales. Instituto de Recursos Biológicos; Argentin

Predicting USMLE Step 2 Scores Using Results from the NBME Shelf Exams

Background In February of 2020 the sponsors of the USMLE examinations, which includes the NBME and the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) decided to change the scoring system of the USMLE Step 1 from a three-digit numeric score to a Pass/Fail outcome1. The basis of this change was made to “address concerns about Step 1 scores impacting student well-being and medical education”2. Historically, the three-digit numeric score from Step 1 has been one of the top determining factors for admission into residency3. This change will cause a shift in the priority of objective and subjective factors about applicants that residency program directors use to assess medical students. The purpose of this study is to further assess the correlation between core clerkship NBME Shelf exam scores with performance on the USMLE Step 2. Predicting performance on the USMLE Step 2 is of more importance now that the Step 1 scoring system was changed to a Pass/Fail outcome. We expect that the scores on the NBME shelf exams will be correlated to the overall performance on USMLE Step 2, further supporting the conclusions of the previous study by Zahn et al4. Methods Data containing students’ performance on the USMLE Step 2 and NBME Shelf exams was obtained from Blackboard and One45. In order to protect student confidentiality, data will be de-identified at the point of collection by supervising faculty. From the clerkship assessment score (professionalism, clinical knowledge, shelf exam, etc.) each component will be standardized and converted into a z-score. The NBME Shelf Exams and USMLE Step 2 score will also be converted into a standardized z-score. Standardized USMLE Step 2 T-scores will be substituted in place of NBME Shelf T-scores and final grading computation will analyze the frequency of each grade type (Honors, High Pass, Pass, Fail). Linear regression will be used to determine the correlation between USLME Step 2 scores and performance on the Clerkship Shelf Exams. To assess the effect size of the regression equation, a squared correlation coefficient (R2) will be computed between scores of the USLME Step 2 and NBME Shelf Exams. Results Data collection complete after update to IRB research proposal was approved. Data analysis underway with preliminary results expected in early Spring 2021. Conclusion Further analysis of the data is required for proper conclusions to be drawn

Catheter-associated urinary tract infections: patient characteristics, treatment, and clinical outcomes in one South Texas acute care hospital

Background: Catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CA-UTIs) account for 40 percent of nosocomial infections worldwide. Their elimination is at the forefront of quality improvement in one South Texas acute care hospital. Methods: Over a period of 6 months, five CA-UTIs occurred in one South Texas acute care hospital. These cases were identified via regular surveillance by Infection Prevention staff and the Laboratory Department of the hospital. This research reviews patient age, sex, length of stay, bacteria contracted, appropriate antibiotic use, patient characteristics, and overall outcomes. Results: Between the months of July and December 2021, 5 CAUTIs were contracted. Patients ranged in age from 44 to 71 years old with a mean age of 68.8 years old; 2 were male and 3 were female; the average length of stay ranged from 19 to 59 days with an average stay of 32.2 days. All patients had severe illness on presentation and multiple comorbidities. Organisms isolated included klebsiella oxytoca, carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, extended-spectrum beta-lactamase E. coli and klebsiella pneumoniae. Susceptibility studies were conducted on all 5 patients. Antibiotics used include piperacillin-tazobactam, ceftriaxone, levofloxacin, and meropenem. CAUTIs resolved in 4 patients; two of them were discharged to skilled nursing facilities, one was discharged home, and one died due to complications from COVID-19. Conclusions: Among these cases, factors such as local rates of COVID-19 cases (the cases happened when hospital census was unusually high), extended length of stay, use of mechanical ventilation, Foley catheter placement in the Emergency Department, severe illness, and comorbid health conditions should be considered when assessing risk of CA-UTI and treatment outcome. While antibiotics that were prescribed appropriately corresponded with sensitivity studies, sustainability of infection prevention processes for the prevention of CA-UTIs is difficult to sustain during periods of crisis as exemplified in this project