Occupational Profile Research Articles

Continuing education in green chemical processes for aerospace manufacturing: The case of drag-out

In the new era of job market in the EU zone and abroad, novel Occupational Profiles dictate the development and the update of Learning Outcome-based Curricula. This stands for all disciplines and specialties and for various Qualification Levels (QL), from after-school education up to the highest QL. The pertaining Curricula should allude to specific knowledge, skills, and behaviours, that are being mandated from the respective Occupational Profiles. For intermediate QL, namely in between secondary school and University, there is an utmost need for new, updated, attractive Curricula covering current and new market needs. Such Curricula should be supported from Course Units that are technologically updated, thus providing the trainees the skills and knowledge to cover the current and novel Learning Outcomes and Performance Criteria for the specified QL. We herein present a newly developed Course Unit, part of the Green Special Processes course that can be offered in the context of a continuing Vocational Education Training (cVET) Program targeting a QL equivalent to the European QL 5. This Course Unit covers the case of drag-out, which has significant environmental and economic impacts on the engineering of wet chemical processes entailing multiple process baths and requiring rinsing. Such processes are widely used also in Aircraft manufacturing and the related environmental impacts have become very important. Part of the basic theory, as well as part of the practical training are presented herein.

First-in-human study of ZG005, a dual specific antibody targeting TIGIT and PD-1, as monotherapy in patients with advanced solid tumors.

e14504 Background: Multiple groups have shown that TIGIT contributes to immune-tolerance by inhibiting immune responses mediated by T cells and NK cells through binding its ligand, CD155 (PVR), on antigen-presenting cells and a variety of non-hematopoietic cell types including tumor cells. ZG005, a PD-1 and TIGIT dual specific antibody, is a promising immunotherapy for tumors as blocking these two pathways could synergistically activate T cells and enhance the anti-tumor activity of NK cells. We have conducted a Phase 1 clinical study to assess the tolerability, safety, preliminary efficacy of this drug. Methods: During the dose escalation stage, an accelerated titration design (ATD) in the first dose and the standard "3+3" design in the rest doses were used. Subjects were patients with advanced solid tumors who failed to the available standard treatments. The dose groups were set from 0.3 to 20 (0.3, 1, 3, 10, 20) mg/kg, intravenous infusion, once every 3 weeks. The first 21-day-period was defined as the dose-limiting toxicity (DLT) observation period. Subjects could continue to receive ZG005 until treatment discontinuation criteria were met. Tumor response was assessed by RECIST1.1 and iRECIST. Pharmacokinetics and receptor occupancy (RO) profiles were also assessed in this study. Results: A total of 16 subjects (6 males and 10 females) completed the DLT observation, with median age of 59 years. Nine (56.3%) of them received at least 3 lines of antineoplastic therapies, and six (31.6%) have been exposed to PD-1 or PD-L1 inhibitors. There was one DLT event found in the 1 mg/kg dose group, showing a grade 3 hepatic function abnormal (immune-mediated). No other DLT event was observed. Forty-nine treatment-related adverse events (TRAEs) including the aforementioned DLT event occurred. TRAEs were basically grade 1 or 2, except one female who suffered from rectal cancer unfortunately died at home. Due to limited information gathered, the investigators considered that the death was mostly related to the underlying condition, but the cause of the study drug could not be completely excluded. The most frequent TRAEs were increases in alanine aminotransferase, lipase, blood creatine phosphokinase MB, blood alkaline phosphatase and blood lactate dehydrogenase, with an incidence of 18.8% (3/16). Of the 10 evaluable cases, 1 had PR, 6 had SD and 3 had PD. The longest duration of administration was in a subject with intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma who received 9 cycles and is still remaining in this study. The Cmax and AUC increased from 0.3-20 mg/kg approximately in dose proportion. Complete and sustained RO of T cells in PBMCs was observed at ≥ 3 mg/kg doses of ZG005 for at least 3 weeks. Conclusions: ZG005 demonstrates good safety and tolerance in this escalation study. It also demonstrates preliminary antitumor effects in patients with solid tumors, a good PK profile and long-lasting RO. Clinical trial information: ChiCTR20220021 .

PCR243 Exploring Health Outcomes By Occupation: Using the National Health and Wellness Survey to Describe Differences in Self-Reported Occupation Profiles

PCR243 Exploring Health Outcomes By Occupation: Using the National Health and Wellness Survey to Describe Differences in Self-Reported Occupation Profiles

Detection of occupancy status from internet connectivity for non-intrusive load monitoring

Non-intrusive load monitoring (NILM) methods are widely used for appliance level energy disaggregation in residential buildings. These methods mostly depend on electrical features, and they have not been much successful in applying for commercial buildings. However, recent research has indicated that the accuracy of existing NILM methods can be improved by associating with occupancy data. Therefore, in this paper a novel occupancy detection algorithm is proposed which can detect occupancy status of individuals using the connectivity of their information technology (IT) devices to the local area network of the building. The model is validated using data collected at a university building, with mean errors of 01:23 and 04:02 minutes for the detection of arrival and departure. The occupancy profiles developed by the proposed model can be used to disaggregate energy consumption in a commercial building to appliance and occupant level.

Experiencia para la actualización continua del plan de estudio de Bibliotecología y Gestión de la Información, de la Escuela de Bibliotecología, Documentación e Información de la Universidad Nacional en 2022

An investigation was carried out with the objective of defining the main national and international trends in the labor market for the continuous updating of the current study plan, contributing to the graduation of the graduates of the career as part of the research project Continuous updating of the career of Library Science and Information Management of the National University linked to the Program of Quality Assurance and continuous improvement of the Library Science and Information Management career of the National University of the School of Library Science, Documentation and Information (EBDI) of the Universidad Nacional in Costa Rica. This descriptive academic exercise was carried out with a mixed approach considering the following variables: main labor trends at the national level, main labor trends at the international level, current professional profile and a 10-year projection, current occupational profile and a projection to 10 years. This implied the treatment of a variety of kinds of information sources and the application of a series of qualitative and quantitative research techniques and instruments for the

Computer-vision-assisted subzone-level demand-controlled ventilation with fast occupancy adaptation for large open spaces towards balanced IAQ and energy performance

It is essential to retrofit the conventional constant air volume air-conditioning of large open spaces with improved demand-controlled ventilation (DCV) for balanced indoor air quality and energy consumption in the building sector. However, existing improved DCV strategies do not effectively distinguish intensively occupied and less occupied zones and fail to achieve on-demand ventilation of individual subzones. This study thus employes the computer-vision-assisted occupancy detection method and proposes a systemic solution for large open spaces, which enable subzone-level demand-controlled ventilation that can perform fast response to the dynamic occupancy profile of each subzone. The objective is to enhance the subzone-level environment quality with balanced performance of IAQ, thermal comfort and energy consumption. The proposed control strategy has been evaluated in a simulated large open classroom. The results show that, compared to existing direct–CO2–based DCV control strategy, up to 12.22% lower CO2 concentration (1154 ppm by direct–CO2–based DCV, while 1013 ppm by proposed strategy) of occupied subzones can be realized while avoiding unnecessary ventilation for less occupied or unoccupied subzones. When combined with the PMV-based indoor thermal comfort control, the proposed strategy shows cooling load reduction potentials by maximal 49.4% and electricity energy saving by maximal 33.52% when compared to fixed fresh air strategy, and by maximal 15.57% of cooling load reduction as well as by maximal 8.75% of electricity energy saving when compared to direct–CO2–based DCV control strategy.

Estimation of heating system energy modeling profiles based on environmental monitoring records in Central-Southern Chile

Data simulated for occupancy profiles, usually based on standard occupancy schedules, must be validated against real measurements, and many studies have pointed out the gap between them. This problem is more pronounced in homes that are not heated by grid-connected energy sources, such as wood-burning stoves, because the meter cannot provide a real-time estimate. In Central-South Chile, 74% of homes are heated by wood stoves, causing an acute problem of air pollution in several urban areas. The government is trying to solve this problem, but at the moment there is no data on occupancy profiles, hence it is not possible to estimate the energy intensity for heating. This exploratory study aims to clarify to what extent occupancy profiles can be estimated from PM 2.5 pollution levels. To this end, publicly available data on PM 2.5 concentrations in 17 cities in central-south Chile was used as a proxy to build occupancy schedules for homes heated by wood stoves. The results show that there is a clear relationship between pollution levels and occupancy intensity, and that the latter does not follow the schedules outlined in international standards or building codes. The results and methodology can be replicated in cities where air pollution is driven by wood stoves, allowing public authorities to have access to accurate occupancy schedules and providing them with reliable data to address local air pollution problems.

Developing a Hidden Markov model for occupancy prediction in high-density higher education buildings

The number of occupants in a building as well as the occupancy patterns and profiles have a significant impact on the building energy consumption associated with heating, cooling, ventilation, and lighting systems. A range of approaches has been used in previous studies for building occupancy prediction. However, there were limitations associated with the methods used for data collection. For instance, the prediction of occupancy based on the concentration of CO2 level adds an additional level of uncertainty into the estimation of the building occupancy level. To avoid such uncertainties, high-resolution passive infrared video camera sensors were used to capture occupancy data for an extended period of one year. The collected occupancy data have then been used to develop a Hidden Markov Model (HMM), to predict the occupancy levels in a high-density higher education case study building. The model is trained under different scenarios to find the most appropriate set of attributes associated with occupancy data that can be used to develop the data driven HMM. The occupancy attributes considered include day, week, month, and term. Moreover, the collected dataset was optimally split into 70% for training and 30% for validation using cross-validation, which yields high prediction accuracy. The results of the prediction model under different scenarios were evaluated using root mean square error and Kullback Leibler (KL) divergence.

Typical daily occupancy profiles of express hotels and its stochasticity effect on building heating and cooling loads

Occupancy schedule is a key input parameter affecting building performance simulation. Current research mainly applies the fixed occupancy schedules proposed in building codes, which is unsuitable for representing actual occupancy status. Unreasonable occupancy schedules will affect the prediction results of building energy consumption. This study collects the real-time occupancy data of six express hotels with 744 guest rooms, and determines typical occupancy profiles in three scenarios (single day of the year, spring/summer/autumn/winter, weekdays/weekends & holidays) by using the clustering method. The typical occupancy profiles for single day of the year are divided into seven categories based on different samples (all samples from the six hotels, and samples from each hotel). A Monte Carlo-based model is developed to convert the probability distribution functions of typical occupancy profiles to a time series of random occupancy (ROTS). Next, building heating and cooling load differences caused by the fixed occupancy schedules and the ROTS, three ROTS in different scenarios, and seven categories of the ROTS based on different samples are compared and analyzed by simulation. Clustering results indicate that the typical occupancy profiles can be divided into four main categories: ‘occupied for two nights’, ‘occupied from 0:00 to 14:00’, ‘occupied from 14:00 to 23:00’ and ‘vacant room’, respectively. Simulation results indicate that annual building loads resulting from ROTS is 72 kW h/(m2·a), 30%–50% lower than that resulting from the fixed occupancy schedules. The differences in the heating and cooling loads resulting from three ROTS in different scenarios and seven categories of the ROTS based on different samples are relatively small. Absolute error and root mean square percentage error are within 10% and 8%, respectively. Therefore, it is recommended that the ROTS for single day of the year processed from a large number of actual occupancy status can be used as an occupancy schedule to predict and assess the building heating and cooling loads. These conclusions can contribute greatly to accurate building load simulation and the optimization of building design strategies for express hotels.

Elastic buildings: Calibrated district-scale simulation of occupant-flexible campus operation for hybrid work optimization

Before 2020, the way occupants utilized the built environment had been changing slowly towards scenarios in which occupants have more choice and flexibility in where and how they work. The global COVID-19 pandemic accelerated this phenomenon rapidly through lockdowns and hybrid work arrangements. Many occupants and employers are considering keeping some of these flexibility-based strategies due to their benefits and cost impacts.This paper explores how demand-driven control strategies in the built environment might support the transition to increased workplace flexibility by simulating various scenarios related to the operational technologies and policies of a real-world campus using a district-scale City Energy Analyst (CEA) model that is calibrated with measured energy demand data and occupancy profiles extracted from WiFi data. These scenarios demonstrate the energy impact of ramping building operations up and down more rapidly and effectively to the flex-based work strategies that may solidify. The scenarios show a 5–15% decrease in space cooling demand due to occupant absenteeism of 25–75% if centralized building system operation is in place, but as high as 17–63% if occupancy-driven building controls are implemented. The paper discusses technologies and strategies that are important in this paradigm shift of operations.

Data-driven estimation of time-dependent solar gain coefficient in a two-zone building with synthetic occupants: Two B-splines integrated grey-box modeling approaches

Solar gains are a significant share of the heat input to the buildings’ interior energy balance. Therefore, it is important to estimate the dynamic details of solar gains precisely for predictive works, such as in model predictive control (MPC). Effective solutions to gauge the dynamic details of solar gains are still lacking. To fill this gap, a data-driven B-splines integrated grey-box modelling technique has been presented recently, and its potential to estimate dynamic solar gains based on the limited size of low-frequency on-site data has been demonstrated in a simplified one-zone building case, with a single level on/off heating input signal. Its robustness is examined in a two-zone building with heating inputs of synthetic occupants, in this study. Two thermal zones are established to mimic day and night zones in a test building, and corresponding synthetic occupancy profiles and thermostat systems have been implemented in each zone. This study shows that the B-spline integrated grey-box model is useful in this more realistic case considering the impacts of occupants, but demands more advanced modellings. Specifically, two updated solutions on B-splines integrated grey-box modelling are offered, although challenges in the model selection are noted, mainly attributed to the low statistical significance of solar gain, which had fortunately almost no impact on the effectiveness of the proposed techniques to characterize solar gain dynamics. The reported challenge could be further investigated in the future based on more case studies.

DeepValve: Development and experimental testing of a Reinforcement Learning control framework for occupant-centric heating in offices

Space heating controls in offices usually follow static schedules detached from actual occupancy, which results in energy waste by unnecessarily heating vacant offices. The uniqueness of stochastic occupancy profile and thermal response time of each office are two main challenges in hard-programming a transferrable control logic that can adapt space heating schedule to the occupancy profile. This study proposes a Reinforcement Learning-based control framework (called DeepValve) that learns by itself how to adapt the space heating schedule to the occupancy profile in each office to save energy while maintaining comfort. All the aspects of the proposed framework (design, training, hardware setup, etc.) are centered on ensuring that it can be implemented on many offices in practice. The methodology includes three main steps: training on a wide variety of simulated offices with real-world occupancy data, month-long tests on three simulated offices, and day-long experimental tests in an environmental chamber. Results indicate that the agent can quickly adapt to new offices and save energy (40% reduction in total temperature increment) while maintaining occupant comfort. The results highlight the importance of occupant-centric control in offices.

Профессиональные компетенции специалистов по экономической безопасности в образовательных программах вузов

The problem of the formation of professional competencies of specialists in economic secu-rity is caused not only by new technologies, but also by the transformation of existing spheres of professional activity. Russian universities provide training economists in the field of Economic Security in the lack of a corresponding professional standards set offi-cially approved by the Ministry of Labor of the Russian Federation. Thus it updates the search for evidence-based practices that allow formation of majors' professional competen-cies based on corresponding job functions, occupational profile and adequately responding to the labor market demand. To solve it, a theoretical justification is given and an algorithm for the formation of professional competencies. The aim of the study - is to justify the link between theory and practice for implementing a competency-based approach to training economic security professionals by developing an algorithm formation of professional competencies in unity with the sequence of determin-ing indicators of their achievement based on the consistency of the provisions with the re-quirements of the labor market. The methodology and methods of the study are based on the application of the following general scientific and special research technique: gathering of empirical data, comparison, abstraction, specification, analogy. Research results provides a short summary of recommendations for ensuring the effective-ness of the indicators of professional competencies formation during university tenure based on the experiential learning and theory opportunities for students in the field of eco-nomic security to apply the needed knowledge and skills set they gain. A model has been developed for the formation of professional competencies of an economic security specialist, which provides universities with tools to determine the necessary knowledge, skills and abilities in the field of professional activity, which can be diagnosed using appropriate indicators.

The Effect of the Immunization Schedule and Antibody Levels (Anti-S) on the Risk of SARS-CoV-2 Infection in a Large Cohort of Healthcare Workers in Northern Italy.

Given their occupational risk profile, HCWs were the first to receive anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccination. However, breakthrough infections remained common, mainly sustained by new SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOCs) that rapidly spread one after another in Italy. Evidence suggests that the measured level of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies does not clearly predict the level of protection conferred by either natural infection or vaccine-induced immunization, highlighting the need for further study on the diversity in susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection. The present study aimed to characterize different risk profiles for SARS-CoV-2 infection in HCWs who had recently received the booster dose, and who were classified according to their immunization profile. The very small number of workers infected during the 8 months following the primary-cycle administration represents proof of the vaccine's effectiveness against non-omicron strains. The comparison among different immunization profiles showed that hybrid immunization (vaccine plus natural infection) elicits higher antibody levels. However, hybrid immunization does not always provide better protection against reinfection, thus suggesting that the immunization profile plays a major role as a virus-host interaction modifier. Despite the high resistance to the reinfection, the peri-booster infection had a not-neglectable infection rate (5.6%), this further reinforcing the importance of preventive measures.

Royal Netherlands Marechaussee Personnel's Self-Perceived Occupational Demand Profiles: A Latent Profile Analysis Shows the "Good" Versus the "Bad".

Research has linked high occupational demands to multiple adverse health outcomes, both physical and mental. As far as we know, researchers have not identified the profile characteristics of military police personnel based on occupational demands. The current study aims to identify profiles based on self-perceived occupational demands and work-related factors. This study is a starting point for characterizing performance and health in a military police population. This was a cross-sectional study in which we gathered survey data from 1,135 Royal Netherlands Marechaussee members. We used Latent Profile Analysis to identify profiles based on nine indicators of workload and work characteristics selected via focus groups and interviews with Royal Netherlands Marechaussee personnel. We determined if the profiles differed significantly across all indicators with an analysis of variance. Then, we used binominal logistic regression to determine the odds ratio (OR) for the indicators on profile membership. We discovered two profiles that were distinct across all indicators. Experience (OR = 1.02, 95% CI [1.00-1.04]), autonomy (OR = 1.18, 95% CI [1.06-1.31]), task clarity (OR = 1.49, [1.32-1.69]), and work support (OR = 2.63, 95% CI [2.26-3.09]) were all predictors for a low perceived occupational demand profile. In contrast, mental (OR = 0.18, 95% CI [0.13-0.25]) and physical (OR = 0.42, 95% CI [0.32-0.54]) fatigue, and boredom (OR = 0.14, 95% CI [0.10-0.20]) were predictors for high perceived occupational demand profiles. We established two distinct profiles that describe the characteristics reported by the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee personnel based on workload and work characteristics. High scores on autonomy, work support, and task clarity predict favorable perceived occupational demands, whereas fatigue and boredom predict unfavorable occupational demands. Remarkably, the physical workload did not predict high perceived occupational demands.

Predicting in vivo Target Occupancy (TO) Profiles via PBPK-TO Modeling of Warfarin Pharmacokinetics in Blood: Importance of Low Dose Data and Prediction of Stereoselective Target Interactions.

Warfarin is well-recognized for its high-affinity and capacity-limited binding to the pharmacological target and undergoes target-mediated drug disposition (TMDD). Here, we developed a physiologically-based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model that incorporated saturable target binding and other reported hepatic disposition components of warfarin. The PBPK model parameters were optimized by fitting to the reported blood PK profiles of warfarin with no stereoisomeric separation following oral dosing of racemic warfarin (0.1, 2, 5, or 10 mg) using the Cluster Gauss-Newton Method (CGNM). The CGNM-based analysis yielded multiple "accepted" sets for six optimized parameters, which were then used to simulate the warfarin blood PK and in vivo target occupancy (TO) profiles. When further analyses examined the impact of dose selection on uncertainty in parameter estimation by the PBPK modeling, the PK data from 0.1 mg dose (well below target saturation) was important in practically identifying the target binding-related parameters in vivo When stereoselective differences were incorporated for both hepatic disposition and target interactions, our PBPK modeling predicted that R-warfarin (of slower clearance and lower target affinity than S-warfarin) contributes to TO prolongation following oral dosing of racemic warfarin. Our results extend the validity of the approach by which the PBPK-TO modeling of blood PK profiles can yield TO prediction in vivo (applicable to the drugs with targets of high affinity and abundance and limited distribution volume via non-target interactions). Our findings support that model-informed dose selection and PBPK-TO modeling may aid in TO and efficacy assessment in preclinical and clinical phase-1 studies. Significance Statement The current PBPK modeling incorporated the reported hepatic disposition components and target binding of warfarin and analyzed the blood PK profiles from varying warfarin doses, practically identifying target binding-related parameters in vivo By implementing the stereoselective differences between R- and S-warfarin, our analysis predicted the role of R-warfarin in prolonging overall target occupancy. Our results extend the validity of analyzing blood PK profiles to predict target occupancy in vivo, which may guide efficacy assessment in preclinical and clinical phase-1 studies.

Modelling university students’ preferences and interconnectedness among various careers/occupations in Ghana

The incongruity between academic programmes pursued and the career path among graduates in recent times suggests that career path does not always lead to programme choice and vice versa. Different occupations/professions not directly found in the area of academic programmes pursued could appeal to graduates. This study sought to examine how the various occupations/professions in Ghana appeal to university graduates. This study modelled university students’ preferences and interconnectedness among various careers/occupations in Ghana. The descriptive survey design was used. The census technique was used to capture all 144 final-year university students pursuing a BED accounting programme with a university in Ghana. Data were collected using an adapted Occupational Inventory Profile ((OIP) and data were analysed with the Partial Least Square Structural Equation Model (PLS-SEM). The study found that technological activities, mathematical computation activities, managerial-clerical activities, scientific research activities, persuasive-enterprising activities, and fine art activities significantly predicted mechanical-technological occupation, mathematical computation occupation, managerial-clerical occupation, science research occupation, persuasive-enterprising occupation, and fine art occupation. Additionally, there was also strong interconnectedness between the six various occupations among BED Accounting students in Ghana. Though the career path of BED accounting students does not generally agree with the realistic and artistic personality type, the study found that these students have a significant interest in activities and occupations in line with these personality types. This suggests that the personality of university students studied had an interest in several occupations not trained for, suggesting that they had a combination of personality types in varying degrees for the various occupations studied. Therefore, it was recommended that teaching pedagogies should vary and the government should create more employment opportunities to better prepare graduates to pursue careers outside what they were trained for. Graduates should also be equipped with skills and resources to be able to create their own jobs in their areas of interest outside or along their professional training. The theoretical and other practical implications of the findings of the study have also been adduced.

Migration, perceived discrimination and the development of psychosis

IntroductionMigration is a rapidly growing phenomenon in European countries and its association with psychotic disorders is a public health concern. Psychosis is more prevalent among migrants, which suggests that adverse social experiences play an important role in its pathogenesis. Throughout the migration process, migrants are exposed to several social disadvantages, including in the post-immigration context, where perceived discrimination appears to be an important stressor. In fact, the highest incidence rates of psychosis occur in the most discriminated populations, namely migrants with darker skin complexion, particularly when living in low-ethnic-density neighborhoods, where both discrimination and social isolation are more prominent.ObjectivesTo conduct an updated review about the association between migration, perceived discrimination and psychosis, aiming to better understand the mechanisms involved.MethodsNarrative literature review using the keywords “migration”; “psychosis”; “discrimination”; “racism” on PubMed database, in conjunction with presentation of a clinical case concerning a patient from Guinea-Bissau, admitted to our hospital in the context of first-episode psychosis (FEP), with onset months after completing the Mediterranean migration route to Europe.ResultsLiterature suggests that experiences of racism and social exclusion contribute to feelings of imminent danger, fear and general anxiety, which may develop into paranoid ideas of ubiquitous persecution. Furthermore, intense social defeat experiences, common in migrants, are associated with more distressing forms of delusional content, with delusions of psychological persecution being more common. However, there is also evidence that migrants with FEP have better occupational and social functioning profiles compared to natives, suggesting that, in these patients, there is a higher burden of social-environmental risk factors, with the onset of psychosis occurring only when this burden overcomes a higher threshold. Our patient fits this description. After completing his migratory route and while living in an Italian refugee camp, he described suffering experiences of severe discrimination. Real or not, these experiences escalated to become delusional ideas of persecution involving European governments, thought to seek for his humiliation. Despite the presence of psychotic symptoms, this patient was able to maintain a reasonable level of functioning during years, up to his psychiatric admission.ConclusionsGiven the notorious effect of perceived discrimination and racism on the increased risk of psychosis in immigrants, it is urgent to adopt policies that promote the social protection of these vulnerable groups, namely through enhancing their integration in the host countries.Disclosure of InterestNone Declared

A Sensory Integration Intervention in the School Setting to Support Performance and Participation: A Multiple-Baseline Study.

There is a paucity of research that explores the effectiveness of sensory integration interventions in the school setting. To test the effectiveness of a sensory integration intervention paired with teacher consultation, aligned with the principles of Ayres Sensory Integration® and the Sensory Therapies and Research Frame of Reference, to improve functional regulation and active participation in school for students with sensory integration and processing differences. Concurrent, multiple-baseline, single-subject design. Public elementary school in the United States. Students (N = 3; ages 5-8 yr) whose sensory integration and processing differences were affecting their school occupational performance and were not remediated by integrated support. For 15 wk, each student had one-to-one sensory integration intervention 2×/wk for 30 min and a consultation between the occupational therapist and teacher weekly for 10 min. The dependent variables, functional regulation and active participation, were measured weekly. The Short Child Occupational Profile and Behavior Assessment System for Children, Third Edition, were given before and after intervention. Goal Attainment Scaling and semistructured interviews with the teachers and participants were completed after intervention. All 3 students showed meaningful improvement in functional regulation and active participation in the classroom during the intervention period as demonstrated by a 2-SD band method or celeration line analysis. All additional measures noted positive change. Findings suggest that sensory integration intervention with consultation in the education setting can improve school performance and participation for children with sensory integration and processing challenges. What This Article Adds: This study offers an evidence-based model of service delivery for the school setting that is effective in improving the functional regulation and active participation of students whose sensory integration and processing challenges interfere with occupational engagement and are not mitigated by embedded supports.

Temporal dynamic assessment of household energy consumption and carbon emissions in China: From the perspective of occupants

Global warming has become a challenge and reducing carbon emissions is an urgent task. Household energy consumption and carbon emissions are substantial and need to be analyzed and assessed. Considering the significant influence of occupants and the possible dynamic changes during the long operation process of buildings, this study proposes a dynamic household energy consumption and carbon emissions assessment model from the occupant's perspective. The model consists of four modules of occupant information collection, energy calculation, machine learning models, and dynamic carbon prediction. Five major energy sources are assessed: space cooling, space heating, hot water, cooking, and domestic appliances. The temporal variations in occupant profiles, behaviors, and the carbon factor of energy are quantified and taken into account. The average carbon emissions of a household during 2020–2060 in three dynamic scenarios are assessed, and general downward trends are revealed. The specific dynamic carbon levels of “double income, no kids” (DINK) households, nuclear households, and three-generation households are also quantified, and obvious temporal changes and significant differences are found. The influence of China's childbearing policy is quantified and discussed. The dynamic assessment results are compared with the static results, showing that the largest accumulated difference during 41 years can reach 25.1 tCO2-eq. This paper proposes an applicable dynamic assessment model from the perspective of occupants, with temporal variations considered. The assessment results provide a strong reference for future energy-saving and emission-reduction plans at the household level.