The Connection Between Employee Health and its Affect on the Workplace

Business/Education and Human Ecology/Speech and Hearing Science (The Ohio State University Denman Undergraduate Research Forum)Living a healthy lifestyle can affect your personal relationships, mental state, and overall wellbeing. Companies are beginning to take note of this impact and implementing policies and programs to facilitate healthy living styles for their employees. Whether it’s putting a workout facility in the office, offering healthier food options in the cafeteria, or outfitting desks with “stand-up” capabilities, many businesses are trying to improve their employee’s health. Fortune magazine estimates that currently only around 7% of US companies have a comprehensive promotion plan to encourage employees to live a healthier lifestyle. Should this percentage be increased? The purpose of this study is to see if employer’s actions promoting wellness have been paying off, what health issues should be focused on in a promotion program, and if, in general, healthier employees tend to see more success in the corporate world. The methodology I used to answer to this issue was gathering and analyzing biometric data from a fortune 100 company. This data helped to highlight the core health issues affecting employees in the workplace. Weight, blood pressure, and stress were the overwhelming risks in 77% of locations from which data was received. Along with this there seems to be a strong connection between an employee’s health risk level and absentee rates. Employees that were considered “health risks” missed on average 3 more days than those with a low risk level. Overall, an average of $436,314 in avoidable health care costs was found at each location. Based on these findings my study helps to show that an individual’s health does have an impact on personal and corporation-wide achievement. This research can be used to support the implementation of health promotion plans.No embargoAcademic Major: Logistics ManagementAcademic Major: Operations Managemen

Optimal household energy management and participation in ancillary services with PV production

The work presented in this paper deals with a project aiming to increase the value of photovoltaic (PV) solar production for residential application. To contribute to the development of the new functionalities for such system and the efficient control system to optimize its operation, this paper defines the possibility for the proposed system to participate to the ancillary services, particularly in active power service provider. This service of PV-based system for housing application, as it does not exist today, has led to a market design proposition in the distribution system. The mathematical model for calculating the optimal operation of system (sources, load, and the exchange power with the grid) results in a linear mix integer optimization problem where the objective is to maximize the profit obtained by participating to electricity market. The approach is illustrated in an example study case. The PV producer could benefit from its intervention on balancing market or ancillary services market despite of the impact on the profit of several kinds of uncertainty, as the intermittence of PV source.energy management ; ancillary services ; PV production ; household application

Efecto de la suplementación energética sobre la degradabilidad de la fibra en rumiantes en pastoreo

Las condiciones climáticas de la Región Pampeana Semiárida, no permiten tener seguridad en la producción forrajera, dificultando la planificación de la alimentación de los rodeos de cría e invernada sobre todo en invierno. La utilización de una Suplementación energética moderada es una práctica habitual con el objetivo de mejorar la dieta de los animales y cubrir déficit forrajeros, pero se desconoce la influencia sobre la digestión de la fibra y la intensidad de los cambios del ambiente ruminal. El objetivo del presente trabajo fue evaluar los cambios en la utilización digestiva de la fibra de distintos substratos lignocelulósicos, y estimar variables del ambiente ruminal, en novillos cuya dieta se basó en pastoreo de avena y diferentes niveles de Suplementación energética. El estudio se realizó en el Campo Experimental de la Facultad de Agronomía de la UNLPam, con 3 novillos Hereford fistulados de rumen que pastoreaban un verdeo de Avena (Avena sativa cv Cristal). Se utilizó un diseño experimental en Cuadrado Latino de 3 animales y 3 tratamientos, suministrando grano de maíz partido luego de un encierre nocturno en cantidades de MS equivalentes al O% (T1), 0,5% (T2) y 1% (T3) del peso vivo del animal. Se incubaron bolsitas de nylon en el rumen durante 72, 48, 24,12,6,3 Y O horas con diferentes fuentes de fibra: rollo de alfalfa (Medicago sativa), pasto llorón (Eragrostis curvula) diferido, el forraje pastoreado (Avena sativa cv Cristal) y Celulosa. Sobre el residuo de las mismas se estimó la degradabilidad efectiva de la Materia Seca (MS) y la degradabilidad efectiva dela fibra en detergente neutro (FDN). También se tomaron muestras de líquido ruminal a las 0,3,6,9,12 Y 18 horas luego del suministro del grano durante 2 días consecutivos, sobre las cuales se midió pH, concentración de amoníaco (NH3) y concentración de ácidos grasos volátiles de cadena corta (AGV). La Degradabilidad Efectiva de la MS y de la FDN de los forrajes mostraron similar comportamiento, con una disminución significativa (p < 0,05) de T3 respecto a T1. En el caso de la celulosa no fue significativa esta disminución de degradabilidad efectiva pero se presento la misma tendencia, atribuyendo este comportamiento en todos los casos a la variación significativa (p < 0,05) de pH que modifica las poblaciones microbianas en rumen al suplementar con niveles crecientes de grano. En el caso del amoníaco su concentración ruminal disminuyó al suplementar (p< 0,05), sin diferencias entre las cantidades de grano aportadas. Los AGV solo mostraron cambios significativos entre T2 y T3. Como conclusión se podría recomendar la suplementación energética con grano molido a niveles de 0,5% del peso vivo como una estrategia para mantener estable el aporte de nutrientes, sin disminuir significativamente la degradabilidad de la dieta base

Phenotypic Type 2 Diabetes in Obese Youth: Insulin Sensitivity and Secretion in Islet Cell Antibody–Negative Versus –Positive Patients

OBJECTIVE— Some obese youth with a clinical diagnosis of type 2 diabetes have evidence of islet cell autoimmunity with positive autoantibodies. In this study, we investigated the differences in insulin sensitivity and secretion between autoantibody-negative (Ab−) and -positive (Ab+) youth with clinically diagnosed type 2 diabetes in comparison with control subjects

Effect of dietary vitamin E supplementation on lipid and colour stability of chicken thigh meat

Lipid and myoglobin oxidation are major causes of meat quality deterioration during storage of fresh chicken meat. Our objective is to determine the effects of dietary -tocopherol supplementation on lipid and colour stability of fresh chicken thigh meat exposed in a supermarket shopwindow or stored in a refrigerator. Chickens were fed with diets containing 25 (control), 100, 200 or 300 mg vitamin E/kg of food for 20 days before slaughtering. Peroxide value (PV) and oxidation products specific extinctions (K232 and K270), chosen as markers for oxidative deterioration of lipids, were lower in chicken meat from animals supplemented with 200 or 300 mg vitamin E than that of the control meat upon storage during 5 days in a shopwindow (p < 0.01) or 9 days in a refrigerator (p < 0.01). Vitamin E dietary supplementation (200 mg vitamin E/kg of food) reduced oxidation products formation in fresh thighs meat but had no significant impact on colour analysed by value redness (a*) measurements

Effect of kinetic façades on energy efficiency in office buildings - hot dry climates

In hot dry climates excess solar gain may result in high cooling energy consumption and indoor discomfort; sun control and shading devices is an important aspect of many energy-efficient building design strategies. Advanced CAD systems that integrate computational tools, such as parametric design systems, make possible and explore ways to formulate a responsive building envelope that could interact with sun position. The parametric design provides innovative building envelopes, which are more adaptive and interactive by actively responding to prevailing weather conditions, for enhancing energy performance and indoor thermal comfort levels. This study attempts to examine and evaluate the effect and performance of smart façades in the context of the indoor thermal comfort and energy efficiency. These parameters are achieved by controlling the levels of solar radiation and by calculating shading element sizes for sun control in response to environmental changes. In order to ensure the systems autonomy the semi-transparent PV modules has been used as panel's material. The method is applied to the case study of a reference office building with a fixed glazed façade windows-to-wall ratio in hot arid climate zone of Algeria, in particular the city of Biskra (latitude 34.6N). The results obtained from modeling simulation, using GECO- grasshopper (parametric plugin for Rhinoceros), shown That kinetic facades equipped with PV modules have greatly influenced in a positive way the indoor air temperature, thermal and visual comfort levels and also, work towards a better environment for the inhabitants instead of simply being the part that separates the interior from the exterior

Hydrophilic modification of SLA 3D printed droplet generators by photochemical grafting

Few droplet generators manufactured using desktop stereolithography 3D printers have been reported in the literature. Moreover, 3D printed microfluidic chips are typically hydrophobic, limiting their application to water in oil droplets. Herein, we present designs for concentric and planar 3D printed microfluidic devices suitable for making polymeric microparticles using an off-the-shelf commercial stereolithography printer and resin. The devices consist of a microscope slide, binder clips, and printed components. Channels were modified by an ultraviolet grafting of methacrylic acid to the surface of chips, yielding a hydrophilic coating without modification to the bulk polymer. The water contact angle decreased from 97.0° to 25.4° after grafting. The presence of the coating was confirmed by microscopy and spectroscopy techniques. Polystyrene microparticles in the \u3c100 μm size range were generated with varying molecular weights using the described microfluidic chips. Our work provides a facile method to construct droplet generators from commercial stereolithography printers and resins, and a rapid surface modification technique that has been under-utilized in 3D printed microfluidics. A wide range of microfluidic devices for other applications can be engineered using the methods described

Optimal household energy management and economic analysis: from sizing to operation scheduling

The study presented in this paper takes part in a project aiming to increase the value of solar production for residential application with a medium-term vision where preferential solar energy subsidies will decrease before to disappear. This study is dedicated to propose and develop optimal energy architecture at supply side, a multi-source system based on photovoltaic (PV) solar energy connecting to main electrical network, taking further into account the effectiveness of intelligent demand side management. To investigate this issue, a method of optimal supplying system sizing and household energy management has been developed. This method, which has been formulated employing Mix Integer Linear Programming (MILP), enables the calculation of the appropriate configuration for power supply system and the optimal operation control to be applied. Using a Net Present Value (NPV) and Probability Index (P.I) basis, the economic analysis allows estimation of the viability of the proposed system under different factors of influence such as renewable energy policies, technology evolutions leading to cheaper installed PV module cost and deregulated electricity market. Simulation results show that, the solution makes it possible for PV power to be significantly valued by the customers without subsidized measures.connected-grid PV system ; battery storage ; sizing optimization ; energy management ; MILP