scholarly journals Ethylene Oxide Exposure Attribution and Emissions Quantification Based on Ambient Air Measurements near a Sterilization Facility

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eduardo P. Olaguer ◽  
Amy Robinson ◽  
Susan Kilmer ◽  
James Haywood ◽  
Doreen Lehner
Keyword(s):  
Cancer Risk ◽  
Ethylene Oxide ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Background Level ◽  
Ambient Air ◽  
Background Concentration ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
Field Investigations ◽  
Simple Mass ◽  
Two Phases

Ethylene oxide (EtO) is a known carcinogen and mutagen associated with increased incidence of breast and blood cancers. The largest medical sterilization facility in Michigan had been assessed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as imposing an additional cancer risk greater than one in one thousand in nearby neighborhoods. This prompted the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (now referred to as the Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy) to conduct an air quality modeling study of the ambient EtO impacts of the sterilization facility, followed by 24 h Summa canister sampling and TO-15 analysis in two phases. Inverse modeling of the measured 24 h EtO concentrations during the second phase yielded estimates of 594 lbs/year for the facility’s total emissions of EtO and 0.247 µg/m3 for the urban background concentration. The inverse-modeled emissions are similar to reported emissions by the facility operator based on indoor air measurements and simple mass balance assumptions, while the inferred background concentration agrees with estimates from other field investigations. The estimated peak 24 h exposure to EtO caused by the sterilization facility in nearby neighborhoods was 1.83 μg/m3 above the background level, corresponding to an additional cancer risk of approximately one in one hundred, if assumed to represent annual mean exposure.

scholarly journals Ethylene Oxide Exposure in U.S. Populations Residing Near Sterilization and Other Industrial Facilities: Context Based on Endogenous and Total Equivalent Concentration Exposures

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 607
Author(s):  
Patrick J. Sheehan ◽  
Ryan C. Lewis ◽  
Christopher R. Kirman ◽  
Heather N. Watson ◽  
Eric D. Winegar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cancer Risk ◽  
Ethylene Oxide ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Cancer Risk Assessment ◽  
Exposure Concentration ◽  
Increase Cancer Risk ◽  
Total Exposure ◽  
Industrial Facilities ◽  
Equivalent Concentration ◽  
Current Risk

Given ubiquitous human exposure to ethylene oxide (EO), regardless of occupation or geography, the current risk-specific concentrations (RSCs: 0.0001–0.01 ppb) from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) cancer risk assessment for EO are not useful metrics for managing EO exposures to the general U.S. population. The magnitude of the RSCs for EO are so low, relative to typical endogenous equivalent metabolic concentrations (1.1–5.5 ppb) that contribute ~93% of total exposure, that the RSCs provide little utility in identifying excess environmental exposures that might increase cancer risk. EO monitoring data collected in the vicinity of eight EO-emitting facilities and corresponding background locations were used to characterize potential excess exogenous concentrations. Both 50th and 90th percentile exogenous exposure concentrations were combined with the 50th percentile endogenous exposure concentration for the nonsmoking population, and then compared to percentiles of total equivalent concentration for this population. No potential total exposure concentration for these local populations exceeded the normal total equivalent concentration 95th percentile, indicating that excess facility-related exposures are unlikely to require additional management to protect public health.

scholarly journals Reevaluation of Historical Exposures to Ethylene Oxide Among U.S. Sterilization Workers in the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Study Cohort

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (10) ◽  
pp. 1738 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth T. Bogen ◽  
Patrick J. Sheehan ◽  
Ciriaco Valdez-Flores ◽  
Abby A. Li
Keyword(s):  
Cancer Risk ◽  
Ethylene Oxide ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Occupational Safety ◽  
Weighted Average ◽  
Occupational Safety And Health ◽  
Study Cohort ◽  
Statistical Regression ◽  
Trend Prediction ◽  
Safety And Health

The 2016 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) assessment for ethylene oxide (EO) estimated a 10−6 increased inhalation cancer risk of 0.1 parts per trillion, based on National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) epidemiology studies of sterilization facility workers exposed to EO between 1938 and 1986. The worker exposure estimates were based on a NIOSH statistical regression (NSR) model “validated” with EO levels measured after 1978. Between 1938 and 1978, when EO data was unavailable, the NSR model predicts exposures lowest in 1938 increasing to peak levels in 1978. That increasing EO concentration trend arose, in part, because engineering/industrial-hygiene (E/IH) factors associated with evolving EO-sterilization equipment and operations before 1978 were not properly considered in the NSR model. To test the NSR model trend prediction, a new E/IH-based model was developed using historical data on EO kill concentrations, EO residue levels in sterilized materials, post-wash EO concentrations in a sterilization chamber, and information on facility characteristics and sterilizer operator practices from operators familiar with pre-1978 industry conditions. The E/IH 90th percentile of 8 h time-weighted average EO exposures (C90) for highly exposed sterilizer operators was calibrated to match 1978 C90 values from the NSR model. E/IH model C90 exposures were estimated to decrease over time from levels 16 and were four-fold greater than NSR-estimated exposures for workers during 1938–1954 and 1955–1964. This E/IH modeled trend is opposite to that of NSR model predictions of exposures before 1978, suggesting that EPA’s exclusive reliance on the NIOSH cohort to estimate EO cancer risk should be re-examined.

scholarly journals Miocene Rocks Around the Marádah Oasis, Central Sirt Basin, Libya: Facies Development and Implication on Stratigraphy

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 8
Author(s):  
Esam O. Abdulsamad ◽  
Saleh A. Emhanna ◽  
Ramzi S. Fergani ◽  
Hamad N. Hamad ◽  
Moataz A. Makhlouf ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Middle Miocene ◽  
Sedimentary Facies ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
Depositional Sequence ◽  
Larger Benthic Foraminifera ◽  
Field Investigations ◽  
Gradual Development ◽  
Two Phases ◽  
Marly Limestone ◽  
Sirt Basin

The Miocene rocks of the Marádah Formation have been stratigraphically investigated from four stratigraphical sections around the Marádah Oasis in the Central Sirt Basin of Libya. The field investigations led to the identification of two members, the lower Qarat Jahannam Member and the upper Ar Ráhlah Member. Fourteen sedimentary facies at the outcrop-scale representing a gradual development of sedimentation from a continental clastic witness in the southwestern outcrops to transitional estuarine, lagoonal, and beaches to the proximal offshore in the northern outcrops, were recognized. The results indicates that the accumulation of the Marádah Formation is transgressive in nature and corresponding to two phases of deposition which have been mentioned in the earlier studies. The first phase is continental-dominated facies in which cross-bedded sandstones and calcareous sands comprise most of the depositional sequence of the lower Qarat Jahannam Member at the southwestern outcrops. This phase, however, is characterized by extremely bioturbated laminated-shale conquered by Skolithos ichnofacies in the lower part of the upper Ar Ráhlah Member at the northern outcrops. This phase is providing further evidence that the contact between the two members is diachronous everywhere in the study area. The clastic-phase has thought to be deposited in the Lower Miocene (Aquitanian-Burdigalian) since the lower Qarat Jahannam Member rests on an erosional surface of submarine origin in the southwestern outcrops above a 0.5 m. thick of a nummulitic unit of the Oligocene Bu Hashish Formation. The second phase is marine-dominated facies in which a bioclastic limestone unit rich in thick and disarticulated oysters, including Crassostrea gryphoides (Schlottheim), characterizes the sediments of the Ar Ráhlah Member at the southwestern outcrops. This phase also includes the upper part of the latter member at the northern outcrops in which a detrital limestone unit rich in turritelline gastropods is overlying by thick-bedded calcarenites rich in disarticulated oysters, gastropods, irregular echinoids (notably, Clypeaster and Echinolampas), bryozoans, and celestite corals. The upper part of the Ar Ráhlah Member at the northern outcrops, nevertheless, is terminated by a quite hard dolomitic limestone and by a pretty soft dolomitic marly limestone. Both lithologies, however, are combined with medium-sized oysters, including Ostrea digitalina Fuchs, and pectinid bivalves. The second phase, however, is interpreted to be deposited in the Middle Miocene (Langhian and Serravallian) based on the total-stratigraphic range of the larger benthic foraminifera Borelis melo melo (Fichtel & Moll), which recovered from the studied washed residues, and the associated microfacies.

Accurate Detection and Quantization of Leaf- Diseases through Soft Computing

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 236-247
Author(s):  
Divya Srivastava ◽  
Rajitha B. ◽  
Suneeta Agarwal
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
Image Processing ◽  
Agricultural Production ◽  
Bacterial Blight ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
Computationally Efficient ◽  
Stage Of Disease ◽  
Accurate Detection ◽  
Two Phases

Diseases in leaves can cause the significant reduction in both quality and quantity of agricultural production. If early and accurate detection of disease/diseases in leaves can be automated, then the proper remedy can be taken timely. A simple and computationally efficient approach is presented in this paper for disease/diseases detection on leaves. Only detecting the disease is not beneficial without knowing the stage of disease thus the paper also determine the stage of disease/diseases by quantizing the affected of the leaves by using digital image processing and machine learning. Though there exists a variety of diseases on leaves, but the bacterial and fungal spots (Early Scorch, Late Scorch, and Leaf Spot) are the most prominent diseases found on leaves. Keeping this in mind the paper deals with the detection of Bacterial Blight and Fungal Spot both at an early stage (Early Scorch) and late stage (Late Scorch) on the variety of leaves. The proposed approach is divided into two phases, in the first phase, it identifies one or more disease/diseases existing on leaves. In the second phase, amount of area affected by the disease/diseases is calculated. The experimental results obtained showed 97% accuracy using the proposed approach.

Representação e simbolismo: artes visuais na fronteira Brasil/Bolívia

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 286
Author(s):  
Paulo César Antonini de Souza ◽  
Derick Trindade Bezerra
Keyword(s):  
Visual Arts ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Research Field ◽  
Border Region ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
Two Dimensional ◽  
Santa Cruz ◽  
Cultural Conditions ◽  
Two Phases ◽  
America Latina

ResumoTendo por campo de investigação o Festival da América do Sul Pantanal (FASP) em 2018, na cidade de Corumbá (Brasil), objetiva-se identificar a materialidade e conceitos que permeiam as manifestações artísticas bidimensionais nesta região de fronteira, a partir da percepção de artistas da Bolívia. A pesquisa se organizou em duas fases: na primeira foi realizado um levantamento em plataformas online de produções acadêmicas em artes visuais, com foco no trabalho bidimensional, utilizando os descritores “arte popular” e “estética latina” resultando em três artigos. Na segunda fase foram selecionados dois trabalhos de uma artista da Bolívia, participante da mostra “Conexão Santa Cruz”, realizada durante o FASP 2018, que foram analisados em seus níveis representacional e simbólico. Pela interpretação das imagens foi possível construir uma leitura sobre a perspectiva da artista a respeito de suas condições culturais dentro da ordenação social em que se encontra situada.Palavras-chave: Artes Visuais. Arte Popular. Arte Regional. América Latina. Representation and symbolism: visual arts on the Brazil/Bolivia frontierAbstractHaving as research field the Festival da América do Sul Pantanal (FASP) in 2018, in the city of Corumbá (Brazil), the objective is to identify the materiality and concepts that permeate the two-dimensional artistic manifestations in this border region, from the perception of artists from Bolivia. The research was organized in two phases: in the first, a survey was carried out on online platforms of academic productions in visual arts, focusing on two-dimensional work, using the descriptors “arte popular” and “estética latina” resulting in three articles. In the second phase, two works were selected by an artist from Bolivia, participating in the exhibition “Conexão Santa Cruz”, held during FASP 2018, which were analyzed at their representational and symbolic levels. Through the interpretation of the images, it was possible to construct a reading on the artist’s perspective regarding her cultural conditions within the social order in which she is located.Keywords: Visual Arts. Folk Art. Regional Art. Latin America.Representación y simbolismo: artes visuales en la frontera de Brasil/BoliviaResumenTeniendo como campo de investigación el Festival de Sudamérica Pantanal (FASP) en 2018, en la ciudad de Corumbá (Brasil), el objetivo es identificar la materialidad y conceptos que permean las manifestaciones artísticas bidimensionales en esta región fronteriza, desde la percepción de artistas de Bolivia. La investigación se organizó en dos fases: en la primera, se realizó una encuesta en plataformas online de producciones académicas en artes visuales, con foco en el trabajo bidimensional, utilizando los descriptores “arte popular” y “estética latina” dando como resultado tres artículos. En la segunda fase, dos obras fueron seleccionadas por un artista de Bolivia, participante de la exposición “Conexão Santa Cruz”, realizada durante FASP 2018, que fueron analizadas en sus niveles representativos y simbólicos. A través de la interpretación de las imágenes, fue posible construir una lectura sobre la perspectiva de la artista sobre sus condiciones culturales dentro del orden social en el que se ubica.Palabras clave: Artes Visuales. Arte Popular. Arte Regional. América Latina.

scholarly journals Development and validation of a short version of the Sarcopenia Quality of Life questionnaire: the SF-SarQoL

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Geerinck ◽  
C. Beaudart ◽  
J.-Y. Reginster ◽  
M. Locquet ◽  
C. Monseur ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Short Form ◽  
Reduction Process ◽  
Community Dwelling ◽  
Short Version ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
Life Questionnaire ◽  
Quality Of Life Questionnaire ◽  
Two Phases

Abstract Purpose To facilitate the measurement of quality of life in sarcopenia, we set out to reduce the number of items in the previously validated Sarcopenia Quality of Life (SarQoL®) questionnaire, and to evaluate the clinimetric properties of this new short form. Methods The item reduction process was carried out in two phases. First, information was gathered through item-impact scores from older people (n = 1950), a Delphi method with sarcopenia experts, and previously published clinimetric data. In the second phase, this information was presented to an expert panel that decided which of the items to include in the short form. The newly created SFSarQoL was then administered to older, community-dwelling participants who previously participated in the SarcoPhAge study. We examined discriminative power, internal consistency, construct validity, test–retest reliability, structural validity and examined item parameters with a graded response model (IRT). Results The questionnaire was reduced from 55 to 14 items, a 75% reduction. A total of 214 older, community-dwelling people were recruited for the validation study. The clinimetric evaluation showed that the SF-SarQoL® can discriminate on sarcopenia status [EWGSOP2 criteria; 34.52 (18.59–43.45) vs. 42.86 (26.56–63.69); p = 0.043], is internally consistent (α = 0.915, ω = 0.917) and reliable [ICC = 0.912 (0.847–0.942)]. A unidimensional model was fitted (CFI = 0.978; TLI = 0.975; RMSEA = 0.108, 90% CI 0.094–0.123; SRMR = 0.055) with no misfitting items and good response category separation. Conclusions A new, 14-item, short form version of the Sarcopenia Quality of Life questionnaire has been developed and shows good clinimetric properties.

scholarly journals SWIPT in mMIMO system with non-linear energy-harvesting terminals: protocol design and performance optimization

2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kui Xu ◽  
Ming Zhang ◽  
Jie Liu ◽  
Nan Sha ◽  
Wei Xie ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Harvesting ◽  
Performance Optimization ◽  
Power Transmission ◽  
Base Station ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
Wireless Power ◽  
Half Duplex ◽  
Non Linear ◽  
Two Phases ◽  
And Performance

Abstract In this paper, we design the simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT) protocol for massive multi-input multi-output (mMIMO) system with non-linear energy-harvesting (EH) terminals. In this system, the base station (BS) serves a set of uplink fixed half-duplex (HD) terminals with non-linear energy harvester. Considering the non-linearity of practical energy-harvesting circuits, we adopt the realistic non-linear EH model rather than the idealistic linear EH model. The proposed SWIPT protocol can be divided into two phases. The first phase is designed for terminals EH and downlink training. A beam domain energy beamforming method is employed for the wireless power transmission. In the second phase, the BS forms the two-layer receive beamformers for the reception of signals transmitted by terminals. In order to improve the spectral efficiency (SE) of the system, the BS transmit power- and time-switching ratios are optimized. Simulation results show the superiority of the proposed beam-domain SWIPT protocol on SE performance compared with the conventional mMIMO SWIPT protocols.

scholarly journals Development and Evaluation of Direct Paddy Seeder in Puddled Field

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 2745
Author(s):  
Manoj Kumar ◽  
Ritu Dogra ◽  
Mahesh Narang ◽  
Manjit Singh ◽  
Sushant Mehan
Keyword(s):  
Laboratory Testing ◽  
Field Evaluation ◽  
Row Spacing ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
Cell Type ◽  
Inclined Plate ◽  
Seed Damage ◽  
Two Phases ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Different Soils

Manual transplanting, a pre-dominant practice in almost all the paddy growing areas in India, is laborious, burdensome, and has many expenses on raising, settling, and transplanting nursery. The transplanting process’s limitations motivated the replacement of conventional paddy transplanting methods. The study was divided into two phases. The first phase included laboratory testing of three levels of metering mechanisms, namely cell type (M1) with 10 cells grooved around a circular plate having a 13 cm diameter, inclined plate (M2) containing 24 U shaped cells provided on an 18 cm diameter plate, and fluted roller (M3) with 10 flutes on a 5 cm diameter shaft. The testing matrix included a missing index, multiple index, and seed damage with forward speeds (2.5, 3.0, and 3.5 km/h), and pre-germination levels of 24 h soaked (P1), 24 h pre-germinated (P2), and 36 h pre-germinated paddy seeds (P3)). The second phase included selecting the best combination obtained from the laboratory study and developing a new efficient planter for the puddled field. The inclined plate metering mechanism operating at 2.5 km/h for 24 h pre-germinated seeds was reported most efficient from the first phase. Therefore, a self-propelled 8-row planter equipped with an inclined plate metering mechanism having a row-to-row spacing of 22.5 cm was developed, fabricated, and evaluated in the puddled field. The designed planter was assessed on two different soils: sandy loom (ST1) and clay loom (ST2) and at two different hopper fill levels as ½ filled hopper (F1) and ¾ filled hopper (F2). The number of plants per square meter and hill-to-hill spacing was measured. The on-field evaluation revealed that the number of plants per square meter was non-significantly affected by the type of soil but was significantly affected by hopper fill.

scholarly journals XCOVNet: Chest X-ray Image Classification for COVID-19 Early Detection Using Convolutional Neural Networks

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vishu Madaan ◽  
Aditya Roy ◽  
Charu Gupta ◽  
Prateek Agrawal ◽  
Anand Sharma ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Image Classification ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
Two Phase ◽  
X Ray ◽  
The Neural Network ◽  
Rapid Spread ◽  
Chest X Ray ◽  
Polymerase Chain ◽  
Two Phases ◽  
Active Patients

AbstractCOVID-19 (also known as SARS-COV-2) pandemic has spread in the entire world. It is a contagious disease that easily spreads from one person in direct contact to another, classified by experts in five categories: asymptomatic, mild, moderate, severe, and critical. Already more than 66 million people got infected worldwide with more than 22 million active patients as of 5 December 2020 and the rate is accelerating. More than 1.5 million patients (approximately 2.5% of total reported cases) across the world lost their life. In many places, the COVID-19 detection takes place through reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests which may take longer than 48 h. This is one major reason of its severity and rapid spread. We propose in this paper a two-phase X-ray image classification called XCOVNet for early COVID-19 detection using convolutional neural Networks model. XCOVNet detects COVID-19 infections in chest X-ray patient images in two phases. The first phase pre-processes a dataset of 392 chest X-ray images of which half are COVID-19 positive and half are negative. The second phase trains and tunes the neural network model to achieve a 98.44% accuracy in patient classification.

scholarly journals Relationship between Air Pollutant Exposure and Gynecologic Cancer Risk

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (10) ◽  
pp. 5353
Author(s):  
Qiwei Yu ◽  
Liqiang Zhang ◽  
Kun Hou ◽  
Jingwen Li ◽  
Suhong Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Cancer Risk ◽  
Air Pollutants ◽  
Gynecological Cancer ◽  
Gynecologic Cancer ◽  
Ambient Air ◽  
Air Pollutant ◽  
Ambient Air Pollution ◽  
Short Term Exposure ◽  
Increased Risk

Exposure to air pollution has been suggested to be associated with an increased risk of women’s health disorders. However, it remains unknown to what extent changes in ambient air pollution affect gynecological cancer. In our case–control study, the logistic regression model was combined with the restricted cubic spline to examine the association of short-term exposure to air pollution with gynecological cancer events using the clinical data of 35,989 women in Beijing from December 2008 to December 2017. We assessed the women’s exposure to air pollutants using the monitor located nearest to each woman’s residence and working places, adjusting for age, occupation, ambient temperature, and ambient humidity. The adjusted odds ratios (ORs) were examined to evaluate gynecologic cancer risk in six time windows (Phase 1–Phase 6) of women’s exposure to air pollutants (PM2.5, CO, O3, and SO2) and the highest ORs were found in Phase 4 (240 days). Then, the higher adjusted ORs were found associated with the increased concentrations of each pollutant (PM2.5, CO, O3, and SO2) in Phase 4. For instance, the adjusted OR of gynecological cancer risk for a 1.0-mg m−3 increase in CO exposures was 1.010 (95% CI: 0.881–1.139) below 0.8 mg m−3, 1.032 (95% CI: 0.871–1.194) at 0.8–1.0 mg m−3, 1.059 (95% CI: 0.973–1.145) at 1.0–1.4 mg m−3, and 1.120 (95% CI: 0.993–1.246) above 1.4 mg m−3. The ORs calculated in different air pollution levels accessed us to identify the nonlinear association between women’s exposure to air pollutants (PM2.5, CO, O3, and SO2) and the gynecological cancer risk. This study supports that the gynecologic risks associated with air pollution should be considered in improved public health preventive measures and policymaking to minimize the dangerous effects of air pollution.

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