PerDis 2017

Learn about the tutorials, keynote, and papers presented at the 6th ACM International Symposium on Pervasive Displays (PerDis 2017), which took place in Lugano, Switzerland. Topics ranged from introducing public display applications, platforms, and frameworks to proposing interaction modalities and understanding the audience behavior, engagement, cognition, and performance

STEP-STRESS TESTING IN AGRICULTIJRE

Step-stress testing has been used for a munber years in engineering. An item is placed on test for a specified period of time. If it does not fail in that time, the stress is increased. This process is repeated for a specified number of stress levels until the item fails. In agriculture, animals or plants may be the test items and dosage of a chemical, amount of fertilizer, temperature, etc, the stress variable. In this paper we suggest several potential applications of step-stress testing in agriculture and present inferential procedures for observations that are distributed exponentially

An Improved Slant Path Attenuation Prediction Method in Tropical Climates

An improved method for predicting slant path attenuation in tropical climates is presented in this paper. The proposed approach is based on rain intensity data R_0.01 (mm/h) from 37 tropical and equatorial stations; and is validated by using the measurement data from a few localities in tropical climates. The new method seems to accurately predict the slant path attenuation in tropical localities, and the comparative tests seem to show significant improvement in terms of the RMS of the relative error variable compared to the RMS obtained with the SAM, Crane, and ITU-R prediction models

Health education and the control of urogenital schistosomiasis: assessing the impact of the Juma na Kichocho comic-strip medical booklet in Zanzibar

Endeavours to control urogenital schistosomiasis on Unguja Island (Zanzibar) have focused on school-aged children. To assess the impact of an associated health education campaign, the supervised use of the comic-strip medical booklet Juma na Kichocho by Class V pupils attending eighteen primary schools was investigated. A validated knowledge and attitudes questionnaire was completed at baseline and repeated one year later following the regular use of the booklet during the calendar year. A scoring system (ranging from 0.0 to 5.0) measured children's understandings of schistosomiasis and malaria, with the latter being a neutral comparator against specific changes for schistosomiasis. In 2006, the average score from 751 children (328 boys and 423 girls) was 2.39 for schistosomiasis and 3.03 for malaria. One year later, the score was 2.43 for schistosomiasis and 2.70 for malaria from 779 children (351 boys and 428 girls). As might be expected, knowledge and attitudes scores for schistosomiasis increased (+0.05), but not as much as originally hoped, while the score for malaria decreased (-0.33). According to a Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, neither change was statistically significant. Analysis also revealed that 75% of school children misunderstood the importance of reinfection after treatment with praziquantel. These results are disappointing. They demonstrate that it is mistaken to assume that knowledge conveyed in child-friendly booklets will necessarily be interpreted, and acted upon, in the way intended. If long-term sustained behavioural change is to be achieved, health education materials need to engage more closely with local understandings and responses to urogenital schistosomiasis. This, in turn, needs to be part of the development of a more holistic, biosocial approach to the control of schistosomiasis

Challenges for Malaria Elimination in Zanzibar: Pyrethroid Resistance in Malaria Vectors and Poor Performance of Long-Lasting Insecticide Nets.

Long-lasting insecticide treated nets (LLINs) and indoor residual house spraying (IRS) are the main interventions for the control of malaria vectors in Zanzibar. The aim of the present study was to assess the susceptibility status of malaria vectors against the insecticides used for LLINs and IRS and to determine the durability and efficacy of LLINs on the island. Mosquitoes were sampled from Pemba and Unguja islands in 2010--2011 for use in WHO susceptibility tests. One hundred and fifty LLINs were collected from households on Unguja, their physical state was recorded and then tested for efficacy as well as total insecticide content. Species identification revealed that over 90% of the Anopheles gambiae complex was An. arabiensis with a small number of An. gambiae s.s. and An. merus being present. Susceptibility tests showed that An. arabiensis on Pemba was resistant to the pyrethroids used for LLINs and IRS. Mosquitoes from Unguja Island, however, were fully susceptible to all pyrethroids tested. A physical examination of 150 LLINs showed that two thirds were damaged after only three years in use. All used nets had a significantly lower (p < 0.001) mean permethrin concentration of 791.6 mg/m2 compared with 944.2 mg/m2 for new ones. Their efficacy decreased significantly against both susceptible An. gambiae s.s. colony mosquitoes and wild-type mosquitoes from Pemba after just six washes (p < 0.001). The sustainability of the gains achieved in malaria control in Zanzibar is seriously threatened by the resistance of malaria vectors to pyrethroids and the short-lived efficacy of LLINs. This study has revealed that even in relatively well-resourced and logistically manageable places like Zanzibar, malaria elimination is going to be difficult to achieve with the current control measures

Frequency of consumption and nutrient composition of composite dishes commonly consumed in the UK by South Asian Muslims originating from Bangladesh, Pakistan and East Africa (Ismailis)

Introduction: This paper presents information on the nutrient composition of commonly consumed traditional dishes eaten by the three major South Asian Muslim groups residing in Britain, namely Bangladeshi, Pakistani and East African Ismaili Muslims. Methods: Information regarding the most common dishes consumed by South Asian Muslims originating from Bangladesh, Pakistan and East Africa (Ismailis) and living in London was obtained from 7-day menu records over two seasons. For each common dish, weighed recipes were collected in triplicate and the composition (energy and selected nutrients) was calculated from the ingredients and cooked weight of the dish. Results: The three Muslim groups showed considerable variation in traditional foods commonly consumed as well as variation in fat and energy contents of similar recipes both within and between groups. Nutrient composition of commonly consumed dishes is presented calculated from the recipe nearest the average in terms of fat and energy for a particular dish. Discussion and Conclusions: The potential uses of the data, one of which would be to improve dietary compliance (especially to lower fat intakes) amongst the three diverse South Asian Muslim groups, are discussed

Staat, Wissenschaft und Wirtschaft

Retrospective analysis of hemodynamic factors was performed on hypertensive participants of our Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial (MRFIT) center to determine whether these may have a role in the higher mortality in a subgroup of special intervention (SI) participants with minor baseline electrocardiographic abnormalities. Stroke volume was estimated by a formula [SV = K(LVETxPP)x(1 + LVET/DP) where the K factor was determined using a separate group of individuals undergoing cardiac catheterization. The Pearson correlation between the two methods (dye dilution and above formula) was 0.7744 with a 95% confidence interval of 0.57-0.89 for the true correlation. In 222 SI and 186 usual care (UC) participants with no differences in stroke volume index (SVI) and cardiac output index (CI) at baseline, SVI and CI were systematically lower during the entire period of treatment in SI receiving higher average doses of thiazide diuretics. There was a moderate increase of SVI and CI in SI participants toward baseline after hydrochlorothiazide was replaced by other antihypertensive medication in the fourth year of the trial. We conclude that the lower SVI and CI could have been a contributing factor in the higher mortality in the SI group with ECG abnormalities resulting in decreased coronary flow reserve under stress conditions in these participants with probably pre-existing asymptomatic coronary artery disease

Village Water Ozonation System

Safe drinking water is something that all humans need. People around the globe face issues like limited access to water, water scarcity, and contamination of their water supply. Alleviating global water-related illnesses and deaths remains a prevailing challenge to overcome. With this in mind, the Village Water Ozonation System (VWOS) team works with communities to increase their access to safe drinking water. In the past few years, VWOS has had the privilege of walking alongside our partner communities in Mexico, Pakistan, and Nicaragua to develop sustainable drinking water solutions. Through collaborations with several Christian organizations such as Forward Edge International in Mexico, Full Gospel Assemblies Bible College of Pakistan and, Friends in Action International in Nicaragua, the team has acquired an increased awareness of drinking water needs and issues across the world. Over this past academic year, the team has focused on completing a design for a church in Oaxaca, Mexico where water will be drawn from a polluted well. The VWOS design includes accessing the well, purifying the water to a drinkable standard, and providing the option of utility water from the same well. The team has also been designing and testing for a client in Pakistan who has arsenic in their water source. The team has tested and designed in order to remove the arsenic from the source. Implementation for these two projects will be in the near future. Lastly, the team has begun investigation on removal of salt in a water source for a client in Nicaragua.https://mosaic.messiah.edu/engr2020/1013/thumbnail.jp