Individual Categories Research Articles

Spatiotemporal cortical dynamics for visual scene processing as revealed by EEG decoding.

The human visual system rapidly recognizes the categories and global properties of complex natural scenes. The present study investigated the spatiotemporal dynamics of neural signals involved in visual scene processing using electroencephalography (EEG) decoding. We recorded visual evoked potentials from 11 human observers for 232 natural scenes, each of which belonged to one of 13 natural scene categories (e.g., a bedroom or open country) and had three global properties (naturalness, openness, and roughness). We trained a deep convolutional classification model of the natural scene categories and global properties using EEGNet. Having confirmed that the model successfully classified natural scene categories and the three global properties, we applied Grad-CAM to the EEGNet model to visualize the EEG channels and time points that contributed to the classification. The analysis showed that EEG signals in the occipital electrodes at short latencies (approximately 80 ~ ms) contributed to the classifications, whereas those in the frontal electrodes at relatively long latencies (200 ~ ms) contributed to the classification of naturalness and the individual scene category. These results suggest that different global properties are encoded in different cortical areas and with different timings, and that the combination of the EEGNet model and Grad-CAM can be a tool to investigate both temporal and spatial distribution of natural scene processing in the human brain.

Oggmap: a Python package to extract gene ages per orthogroup and link them with single-cell RNA data.

For model species, single-cell RNA-based cell atlases are available. A good cell atlas includes all major stages in a species' ontogeny, and soon, they will be standard even for nonmodel species. Here, we propose a Python package called oggmap, which allows for the easy extraction of an orthomap (gene ages per orthogroup) for any given query species from OrthoFinder and other gene family data resources, like homologous groups from eggNOG or PLAZA. oggmap provides extracted gene ages for more than thousand eukaryotic species which can be further used to calculate gene age-weighted expression data from scRNA sequencing objects using the Python Scanpy toolkit. Not limited to one transcriptome evolutionary index, oggmap can visualize the individual gene category (e.g. age class, nucleotide diversity bin) and their corresponding expression profiles to investigate scRNA-based cell type assignments in an evolutionary context. oggmap source code is available at https://github.com/kullrich/oggmap, documentation is available at https://oggmap.readthedocs.io/en/latest/. oggmap can be installed via PyPi or directly used via a docker container.

AN OVERVIEW OF EXISTING LITERATURE ON DOCUMENT SKEW DETECTION

This article presents somewhat detail discussions on document image skew detection methods available in the existing literature. We first categorise the document images into several types and then we discuss different methods available to detect the skew angle of document images belonging to the individual categories. Various methods of document image skew detection include Hough Transform, Principal Components Analysis, Projection Profile based methods, Nearest Neighbor clustering, Connected Component Analysis, Cross Correlation, Radon Transform etc. Discussions on different standard databases of document image samples that have been used by the authors for experimentation purpose are included in the survey. These databases include NIST Federal Register Document Image Database, UW-I, UW-II, UW-III databases, ICDAR DISEC 2013 database, IFN/ENIT database etc. Here, we consider about eight such standard databases. Moreover, we compare different methods with respect to their accuracy and the respective range of skew angles detected by the concerned methods.

Parental physical disease severity and severe documented physical child abuse: a prospective cohort study

Successful prevention of physical child abuse is dependent on improvements in risk assessment. The risk of abuse is assumed to increase when family stressors overcome resources. Severe physical disease can increase stress, and parental physical disease has been studied as a risk factor for physical child abuse, but with heterogeneous definitions. This study evaluated the relation between parental physical disease severity and severe documented physical child abuse. Models were based on data on children aged 0–17 years in Denmark between 1997 and 2018, and their parents. Severe documented physical child abuse was modeled as violence against a child registered by either health authorities in treatment or mortality registries, or police authorities in cases confirmed by the courts. Parental physical disease severity was modeled as the sum of Charlson Comorbidity Index scores for the child’s parents. The causal connection was examined in two model types: a survival model comparing exposed with non-exposed children, adjusted for covariates at baseline, and a G-model, taking time-varying covariates, including income and parental psychiatric disease into account. Neither model showed an association between parental physical disease severity and severe documented physical child abuse, with RR 0.99 and 95% CI (0.93–1.05) for the survival model and RR 1.08 for the G-model (CI not calculated). Conclusion: In the model studied, parental physical disease severity was not a risk factor for severe documented physical child abuse. Individual categories of physical disease remain to be examined. Trial registration: The study was pre-registered on Open Science Framework, https://osf.io/fh2sr.What is Known:• Parental physical disease severity has been studied previously as a risk indicator of physical child abuse, but based on heterogeneous definitions.• Previous studies have not studied parental physical disease severity preceding physical child abuse.What is New:• Parental severe physical disease was not prospectively associated with severe documented physical child abuse in a survival model, a G-model and a number of sensitivity analyses, respectively.• Results should be replicated in samples from populations without universal health care, and using different categories of disease.

Associations of physical frailty with incidence and mortality of overall and site-specific cancers: A prospective cohort study from UK biobank

ObjectiveEvidence regarding the role of physical frailty in cancer-related outcomes is limited. We aimed to examine the association of frailty with cancer incidence and mortality risk. MethodsThis prospective study included 348,144 participants free of cancer at baseline from the UK Biobank. Frailty phenotypes (non-frail, pre-frail, and frail) were constructed from 5 components: weight loss, exhaustion, low physical activity, slow gait speed, and low grip strength. The outcome was incidence and mortality of overall and cite-specific cancers. Cox proportional hazard regression was used to estimate the association of frailty phenotypes with cancer incidence and mortality risk. ResultsA total of 43,304 incident cancer cases and 10,152 cancer deaths were documented during a median of 12.0 years of follow-up. For overall cancer, compared with non-frailty, the incidence risk increased by 4% for pre-frailty and 11% for frailty, and the mortality risk increased by 11% for pre-frailty and 39% for frailty. Frailty phenotypes were also dose-dependently associated with a higher risk of incidence and mortality of some site-specific cancers (including liver and lung), with significant sex differences. We observed a synergetic association of frailty phenotypes and smoking with overall cancer incidence and mortality risk. ConclusionsFrailty phenotypes contributed significantly to a higher risk of overall and some site-specific cancers incidence and mortality in a stepwise manner or within individual categories. Future studies are warranted to emphasize the identification, management and prevention of frailty in the whole population and complements of lifestyle-targeted interventions such as quitting smoking.

Odrednice i potencijalni korelati sociometrijskoga statusa učenika u razrednim odjelima viših razreda osnovne škole

The aim of this research was to examine the connection between sociometric status and school success, the dimensions of friendly relations and some socio-demographic characteristics of students. The research was conducted on a sample of 312 primary school students. By analyzing the dimensions of the quality of relationships among best friends, five sociometric statuses were identified: star student,rejected student, isolated student, controversial student, and average student. Significant differences in school achievement were found between all types of students. Rejected students have significantly lower overall achievement compared to controversial and average students, while star students have the highest share of excellent students. Gender proved to be a significant predictor of sociometric status and overall student achievement where female students were found to have a higher share among more popular students and have better overall performance at the end of the school year regardless of student subcategories by sociometric status. When examining the relationship between the dimensions of friendships and sociometric status of students, significant findings were found on how students assess their relationships with best friends, but due to the smaller number of individual categories of students in the sample it was found that there is no statistically significant relationship between variables of the dimension of friendly relations which is conceived as a composite variable based on the conducted factor analyzes. The results of this research indicate a strong connection between the sociometric status and general success of primary school students, while in the context of the connection with the dimensions of friendly relations there is a necessity for expanding knowledge and more extensive research on the relations between students and their sociometric profile, which at this time the pandemic where the issue of mental health was further actualized, proves to be a high priority in the work of educational institutions.

A Gridded Inventory of Annual 2012-2018 U.S. Anthropogenic Methane Emissions.

Nationally reported greenhouse gas inventories are a core component of the Paris Agreement's transparency framework. Comparisons with emission estimates derived from atmospheric observations help identify improvements to reduce uncertainties and increase the confidence in reported values. To facilitate comparisons over the contiguous United States, we present a 0.1° × 0.1° gridded inventory of annual 2012-2018 anthropogenic methane emissions, allocated to 26 individual source categories, with scale-dependent error estimates. Our inventory is consistent with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks (GHGI), submitted to the United Nations in 2020. Total emissions and patterns (spatial/temporal) reflect the activity and emission factor data underlying the GHGI, including many updates relative to a previous gridded version of the GHGI that has been extensively compared with observations. These underlying data are not generally available in global gridded inventories, and comparison to EDGAR version 6 shows large spatial differences, particularly for the oil and gas sectors. We also find strong regional variability across all sources in annual 2012-2018 spatial trends, highlighting the importance of understanding regional- and facility-level activities. Our inventory represents the first time series of gridded GHGI methane emissions and enables robust comparisons of emissions and their trends with atmospheric observations.

Analysis of Combat in Sport JU-JITSU during the World Championships in Fighting Formula

Background: The observation and specialized analysis of confrontations in combat sports are fundamental for making corrections in training programs as well as for modifying individual technical–tactical profiles of athletes in such activities. These actions comprehensively assess the course of sports activities and ultimately inspire and guide the type of training in academies and sports clubs. The aim of the study was a general and detailed analysis of sport fighting in JU-JITSU during a top-tier tournament, in the fighting formula for the entire competition and for each weight category. Methods: The research material consisted of multimedia recordings of sports fights taken during the World JU-JITSU Championships in the fighting formula, Wroclaw 2016. A total of 229 tournament fights were analyzed in seven weight categories. For the purpose of evaluating the structure of the fight, a retrospective analysis of the recorded empirical material was conducted, and technical–tactical preparation (TTII) indicators were calculated, both in a global tournament context and for individual weight categories. Results: Of the 229 matches, more than half were decided by the advantage of technical points (58.52%) within the regulatory fight time, while in 74 clashes, victory was declared by Full Ippon (32.31%) before the designated fight time. Activity and attack effectiveness, as well as the number of technical points, were highest in the first part of the fight. Significant variations were observed in terms of activity, attack effectiveness, and point gains for all parts of the clash, and for effectiveness in the weight categories compared to the second part. The most frequently occurring penalty was the minor shido penalty, while the offense was the lack of fighting in the second part of the duel. The total fight time was 256 s, of which 144 s were effective fighting, and 112 s were breaks. Conclusions: The analysis of sports fight observations revealed that the majority of fights ended with a technical point advantage win (58.52%), with notable activity and attack effectiveness in part I. Middleweight fighters were most active early on, while heavyweight categories dominated later phases. Attack efficiency varied across weight categories. Penalties were predominantly minor (shido), and the total fight time included 144 s of effective fighting and 112 s of breaks.

Automatic Pricing and Replenishment Strategy for Vegetable Products Based on Time-Series Analysis and BP Neural Fitting

To reduce the waste of vegetables and guarantee revenues for supermarkets, this paper explores the construction of a comprehensive optimization model to help the supermarket select the specific suitable replenishment scheme and pricing strategy. This sets the bedrock for it to both gain the maximum revenue and timely supply various categories of vegetables that the market demands. The expectation for further relevant research to better complete the model is also mentioned. First, the attached data were preprocessed, and no missing values and outliers were detected. Consequently, the data of multiple forms was merged, and data related to categories of vegetables was counted. In response to Question 1, descriptive statistics were conducted on different individual items and categories of vegetables. Sales volumes of categories of vegetables were visualized through sales volume statistical graphs, profit line graphs, and quarterly sales change graphs. Following, the sales volumes were verified to have satisfied the conditions for calculating the Pearson Correlation Coefficient, and heat maps were drawn for correlation analysis. For individual items, hierarchical clustering was carried out with indicators, such as sales volume, unit price, number of purchases, and wastage rate. The basis of categorization of each category of vegetable was also explored. For Question 2, average pricing was used to replace cost-plus pricing first. Then, BP Neural Net Fitting was leveraged to analyze the relation between total sales volume and average pricing of different vegetable categories. The average wholesale price of the next seven days of each vegetable category was predicted with ARIMA Model, in order to gain the profit of different categories. Finally, a nonlinear objective planning model to achieve maximum benefit for the supermarket was constructed. Corresponding constraints were given to propose a reasonable total replenishment and pricing strategy for each vegetable category. In solving Question 3, constraints were added based on the nonlinear objective planning model in Question 2, and the prediction model was optimized. In the case of meeting market demand, the replenishment volume and pricing strategy for individual items on July 1, 2023, were proposed based on a combination of factors, as a way to maximize the benefits for the supermarket.

Coping with paradoxical demands: the dual position of deans in French business schools

ABSTRACT Recent studies have highlighted the major challenges faced by managers in the higher education sector and shown the contradictory demands which foster paradoxical tensions. Previous works have also underlined some specific tensions and rigidities that business school deans regularly face in their role. Yet, few studies have empirically explored which paradoxical tensions deans face and how they cope with them. Our paper addresses this gap. Using a qualitative study, we explore the simultaneous and interrelated contradictions faced by deans in French business schools and address how they manage the tensions related to these conflictual and complicated situations. Our work reveals five main tensions that deans have to face and two individual categories of responses to these tensions. It underlines two types of cognitive mindsets (paradox mindset and dilemma mindset) adopted by deans to deal with paradoxical tensions and highlights how deans have become academic entrepreneurs with hybrid profiles in a paradoxical system.

How Safe are Outpatient Electronic Health Records? An Evaluation of Medication-Related Decision Support using the Ambulatory Electronic Health Record Evaluation Tool.

The purpose of the Ambulatory Electronic Health Record (EHR) Evaluation Tool is to provide outpatient clinics with an assessment that they can use to measure the ability of the EHR system to detect and prevent common prescriber errors. The tool consists of a medication safety test and a medication reconciliation module. The goal of this study was to perform a broad evaluation of outpatient medication-related decision support using the Ambulatory EHR Evaluation Tool. We performed a cross-sectional study with 10 outpatient clinics using the Ambulatory EHR Evaluation Tool. For the medication safety test, clinics were provided test patients and associated medication test orders to enter in their EHR, where they recorded any advice or information they received. Once finished, clinics received an overall percentage score of unsafe orders detected and individual order category scores. For the medication reconciliation module, clinics were asked to electronically reconcile two medication lists, where modifications were made by adding and removing medications and changing the dosage of select medications. For the medication safety test, the mean overall score was 57%, with the highest score being 70%, and the lowest score being 40%. Clinics performed well in the drug allergy (100%), drug dose daily (85%), and inappropriate medication combinations (74%) order categories. Order categories with the lowest performance were drug laboratory (10%) and drug monitoring (3%). Most clinics (90%) scored a 0% in at least one order category. For the medication reconciliation module, only one clinic (10%) could reconcile medication lists electronically; however, there was no clinical decision support available that checked for drug interactions. We evaluated a sample of ambulatory practices around their medication-related decision support and found that advanced capabilities within these systems have yet to be widely implemented. The tool was practical to use and identified substantial opportunities for improvement in outpatient medication safety.

Trends in the acrylamide content of potato products in Poland in the years 2004–2020

This study aimed to analyse the acrylamide content of potato products tested as part of nationwide monitoring studies in 2004–2020, and to assess trends in the changes in the compound level over 17 years. The analysis of trends in the acrylamide content of individual potato product categories was carried out using the non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis rank-sum test, assuming the significance of differences at p < 0.05. The highest median, statistically significant (p < 0.001), acrylamide content was found in potato crisps (388 μg/kg), followed by French fries sampled from bars and restaurants (272 μg/kg) as well as French fries prepared from pre-fried frozen semi-finished products (172 μg/kg). A significant (p < 0.01) downward trend in the acrylamide content was found in all three potato product categories tested. The result analysis showed that, during the applicability period (2011–2020) of legislation relating to indicative value/benchmark levels, the aforementioned values were exceeded in single samples only, which represented less than 2.5% of all samples tested. In all three potato product categories, a significant (p < 0.0001) downward trend of acrylamide content in potato products was observed over the 17 years studied. Both potato product manufacturers and legislators should take more effective measures to further reduce the acrylamide content in food. Given the adverse effects of acrylamide on human health, reducing its levels in food should be a priority in risk management.

Effect of immunological non-response on incidence of Non-AIDS events in people living with HIV: A retrospective multicenter cohort study in Taiwan.

People living with HIV (PLWH) are susceptible to non-AIDS-related events, particularly those with immunological nonresponses (INRs) to highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). This study assessed the association of INRs with incident non-AIDS-related events among PLWH. This multicenter retrospective cohort study enrolled PLWH who had newly diagnosed stage 3 HIV and received HAART between January 1, 2008, and December 31, 2019. The patients were divided into two groups according to their immunological responses on the 360th day after HAART initiation: INR and non-INR groups. Cox regression and sensitivity analyses were conducted to estimate the effects of INRs on overall and individual categories of non-AIDS-related events (malignancies, vascular diseases, metabolic disorders, renal diseases, and psychiatric disorders). Patient observation started on the 360th day after HAART initiation and continued until February 28, 2022, death, or an outcome of interest, whichever occurred first. Among the 289 included patients, 44 had INRs. Most of the included patients were aged 26-45 years (69.55%) and were men who have sex with men (89.97%). Many patients received HIV diagnoses between 2009 and 2012 (38.54%). INRs (vs. non-INRs) were associated with composite non-AIDS-related events (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR]=1.80; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.19-2.73) and metabolic disorders (aHR=1.75; 95% CI: 1.14-2.68). Sensitivity analyses revealed consistent results for each Cox regression model for both composite non-AIDS-related events and metabolic diseases. Clinicians should be vigilant and implement early intervention and rigorous monitoring for non-AIDS-related events in PLWH with INRs to HAART.

Life Cycle Assessment of Winter Wheat Production Using Precision and Conventional Seeding Technologies

Sustainable and responsible agricultural production is one of the keys to keeping people, animals, soil, and the environment healthy. Precision seeding technologies for winter wheat, exploiting the variability of soil properties and adapting the technological processes of variable rate seeding and variable seeding depths, are essential not only to improving plant productivity and economic benefits but also to cleaner agricultural production. This work aimed to carry out a life cycle assessment (LCA) of winter wheat production and determine the environmental impact of different precision seeding technologies in terms of individual impact categories compared to conventional seeding technology. Experimental studies were carried out between 2020 and 2022 using conventional uniform seeding rate (URS) and several precision seeding technologies: in the first year—VRS for variable seeding rate and VRS + VRF for variable seeding rate and fertilizer rate, and in the second year—VRS and VRSD for variable seeding rate and variable depth, and VRSD + VRF for variable seeding rate, variable depth, and variable fertilizer rate. The results obtained for winter wheat grain yield showed that the effect of precision seeding technology on the increase of grain yield was not significant compared to the URS. A greater influence on grain yield was found in individual soil management zones, especially in the zone with the worst soil fertility. The LCA did not show any significant differences between precision seeding technology and conventional technology in any of the environmental impact categories. The GWP values (0.200–0.236 kg CO2eq kg−1) were most dependent on grain yield, as precision seeding technology had small changes in the amount of inputs (seeds and fertilizers), while all other technological operations were the same as under the URS technology. The amounts of phosphorus and potassium fertilizers decreased by 1.4 and 7.9%, respectively, and the amounts of winter wheat seeds and nitrogen fertilizers increased by 4.1 and 5.4%, respectively, compared to the URS.

Evaluation of an experiment to increase availability of healthier snack foods in vending machines situated within English sports facilities.

To evaluate the impact of increased availability of healthier options on purchasing of different types of vending snack products sold in English leisure (sports) centres. An evaluation of an intervention using pre-post methods and interrupted time series analysis. Products within the vending machines were altered over three phases to increase the availability of healthier options, using agreed nutrition criteria - Government Buying Standards for Food and Catering Services (GBSF) for England - as a guide, as well as product availability. The primary outcome was the change in mean weekly purchased energy between the first and third phase. Secondary outcomes included changes by phase and by week in weekly number of purchases, fats, sugars and salt for all products combined and by individual product categories. Fifteen sports centres in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK. Snack products sold in eighteen vending machines. Energy purchased reduced from baseline to phase 2, for all product categories combined, by 47·25 MJ (95 % CI (-61·22, -33·27)) per machine and by 279 kJ, (95 % CI (-325, -266)) per product unit. There were reductions in most nutrients purchased in all individual product categories except chocolate confectionery. Nutrients per product unit decreased for all product categories except saturated fat in chocolate confectionery. Minimal underlying trends in the baseline phase were identified, indicating changes in outcomes were likely to be due to the intervention. Introducing standards to increase availability of healthier snack products in vending machines is feasible without substantially affecting sales.

Allostatic Load Index Effectively Measures Chronic Stress Status in Zoo-Housed Giraffes

For giraffes, few standardized methods exist for quantifying chronic stress. Allostatic load index is quantified from a panel of multi-system stress biomarkers to estimate cumulative stress. Our objective was to determine whether a panel of biomarkers selected for their role in allostatic load would reflect the number of documented stress events experienced by giraffes. Cortisol, DHEA-S, cholesterol, non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA), and fructosamine were determined in serum samples from zoo-housed giraffes (n = 18). These were correlated with the overall number and frequency of ZIMS-documented stress events experienced prior to blood collection. We also compared giraffes grouped by high vs. low total stress events and event frequencies. Giraffes experiencing higher total stress events tended to have 1.65-fold greater (p &lt; 0.10) serum cortisol, had 1.49-fold greater (p &lt; 0.05) serum fructosamine, and had 3.9-fold greater (p &lt; 0.05) allostatic load. Giraffes experiencing higher stress-event frequency had 2.4-fold greater (p &lt; 0.05) serum NEFA. Correlations for individual biomarkers with individual stress event categories were inconsistent, but DHEA-S (r = −0.44), cortisol/DHEA-S (r = 0.49), fructosamine (r = 0.54), and allostatic load (r = 0.49) correlated (p &lt; 0.10) with total stress events. These findings indicate that the allostatic load index robustly reflected total cumulative stress events for these giraffes and was more consistent than the individual biomarkers used for its calculation. We conclude that allostatic load index is a promising tool for assessing stress in captive giraffes, although revision of the biomarker panel is warranted.

National Symbols and Marks in Textbooks on Nature and Society of the First Education Cycle of the Countries of the Western Balkan

The paper presents the results of research conducted with the aim of determining the contribution of textbooks on nature and society of the first cycle of education in the countries of the Western Balkans to the formation of the concept of national symbols and features. In the theoretical part of the paper, a description of the etymology of the official national symbols and features (flag, coat of arms and anthem) of the countries of the Western Balkan region is given. The theoretical analysis method and content analysis method were used. The units of analysis are sentences of the basic textbook content, visual content - pictures, photographs, drawings and questions and assignments in the domain of didactics and methodology instruments. The research included nature and society textbooks for younger elementary school students (N = 23). The results of the research showed that nature and society textbooks insufficiently affect the formation and strengthening of the concept of national symbols and signs, and that there is imbalance in their coverage and development, both as a whole and at the level of individual categories. It has been shown that there is an approximately equal representation of content that promotes national identity, but that the textbooks in the Republic of Croatia have, compared to the others, the most content dedicated to national symbols and signs, while in terms of the representation of basic textual content and their didactic-methodological interpretation, Slovenian textbooks lead the way. The textbooks used in the European Union member states have more content related to national symbols and signs within all analyzed categories. Foreign publishers have proven to be less sensitive to the national narratives of the countries to which they intend the textbook content.

Shortcomings of Current Performance Measurement and Management Systems: A Literature Review

The performance measurement system as a tool for knowledge sharing and continuous improvement plays a key role in the knowledge management development. Previous research indicates that performance measurement and management systems are not always successfully implemented to improve decision-making or knowledge management. Many failures relate to the behavioural aspects of performance management, but a systematic review of this topic is lacking. Therefore, the main aim of the paper is to explore the shortcomings of current performance measurement and management systems. The study conducted a systematic review of the literature of peer-reviewed articles over the past 20 years. The main shortcomings are analysed within the individual categories of technical and social control, especially in terms of design, implementation, and behavioural aspects. The findings revealed that the most common causes of shortcomings of measurement and management performance systems include technical problems, insufficient or late knowledge sharing, or the inability to effectively implement the entire system. An ineffective performance measurement and management system encourages bad decisions and wastes resources by misallocating them. Subsequently, this results in dysfunctional employee behaviour and deterioration in overall performance, which often even increases fear, reduces employee trust, and engagement. Based on the synthesis of the results, the paper suggests how to prevent the identified shortcomings to cause a rapid change in the behaviour of employees. From a theoretical contribution point of view, the research provides a comprehensive and clear view of the currently available theory of performance measurement and management systems. In terms of managerial implications, point out the shortcomings of current performance measurement and management systems and outline how to overcome them.

Poor Oral Health in Trauma Intensive Care Unit Patients: Application of a Novel Oral Health Score.

Background: Although oral hygiene in patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) has been shown to reduce hospital-associated infections, baseline and progressive oral health are often not reported because of lack of a standardized tool. The Oral Health Risk Assessment Value Index (OHRAVI) is a comprehensive oral assessment validated by dental providers. This study hypothesizes that non-dental providers can use OHRAVI in trauma ICU patients with minimal training and acceptable inter-rater reliability (IRR). Patients and Methods: Dentulous adult patients in the ICU at a level 1 trauma center were scored, excluding those with severe orofacial trauma. The eight categories of the OHRAVI were scored 0 to 3 (best to worst) with summed total and index (average) score. Index scores 1 or less need routine oral care; greater than 1-2 require moderate care; and greater than 2-3 require extensive oromaxillofacial care. Inter-rater reliability was assessed by two to three raters with Krippendorff's α (≥0.80 for good and ≥0.667 for acceptable). Results: Eighty-four ratings were completed across 34 patients, with 16 patients (47%) scored by all three raters. Ten patients (29%) had an index score <1. The average index score for patients was 1.28 (median, 1.34; range, 0.63-2). Krippendorff's α for index score was 0.86. For individual categories, α ranged from 0.44 to 1, with six of the eight categories achieving an α ≥ 0.667. Conclusions: With minimal training, non-dental providers were able to use OHRAVI with a good IRR for index score and an acceptable/good IRR for most individual categories. This novel, simple, comprehensive oral health score could help standardize oral assessment and facilitate future studies of peri-operative oral hygiene interventions.

Assessment of Occupational Heat Stress in A Selected Indonesian Steel Mill

Introduction: Workers in the Indonesian steel manufacturing industry are subject to many heat stress risk factors, ranging from the equatorial climate to physically demanding work tasks which may result in heat- related illnesses and reduced worker productivity. Hence, a study was conducted at Steel Mill X to assess the level of heat stress among its workers, determine the association of related factors and to provide meaningful recommendations. Methods: This study uses a descriptive cross-sectional method to assess workers’ heat risk level and its association with individual, occupational and heat stress symptoms. An online questionnaire was used to collect primary data yet WBGT monitoring data were provided by Steel Mill X as secondary data. Results: The heat stress risk level score ranged from 48 to 140 (M=89.8, SD=±31.0). 122 workers were in the very high-risk category (75.8%). Occupational factors which had a statistically significant association with heat stress risk category includes: work area, length of exposure, air movement, hot surfaces, confined space, clothing factors and WBGT; while heat stress-related symptoms which were associated include headache, fatigue, profuse sweating, extreme thirst and increased body temperature. The absence of significant association between individual factors and heat stress risk category eliminates it as a confounding factor, suggesting occupational factors was the main variable. Conclusion: Control measures such as improving the supply of drinking water and maintenance of cooling systems should be implemented as soon as possible to prevent heat stress among workers.