Leaf Area Index (LAI) is an important variable that governs canopy processes and can be monitored by satellites. The current study aims at exploring the potential and limitations of using the ...red-edge spectral bands of the forthcoming superspectral satellites, namely—Vegetation and Environmental New micro Spacecraft (VENμS) and Sentinel-2, for assessing LAI in field crops. The research was conducted in experimental plots of wheat and potato in the northwestern Negev, Israel. Continuous spectral data were collected by a field spectrometer and LAI data were obtained by a ceptometer. The spectral data were resampled to the superspectral VENμS and Sentinel-2 resolutions. The data were divided into seven datasets (four seasons, two crops, and one including all data). The LAI prediction abilities by Partial Least Squares (PLS) models for continuous spectra and the resampled spectra were compared and evaluated. For wheat and potato of the continuous, VENμS, and Sentinel-2 data formations, the PLS correlation coefficients (r) values were 0.93, 0.93, and 0.92, respectively. In most cases, the red-edge region was found to be the most important spectral region for the three data formations, according to the Variable Importance in Projection (VIP) analysis. Additionally, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and the Red-Edge Inflection Point (REIP) were computed for the three data formations in order to observe relation to as well as prediction accuracy in retrieving LAI values. The prediction abilities of the calculated indices by the data formations were compared, peaking for wheat, with r values of 0.91 for the REIP for the three data formations. Therefore, it is concluded that VENμS and Sentinel-2 can spectrally assess LAI as good as a hyperspectral sensor. The REIP was found to be a significantly better predictor than NDVI for wheat data and therefore can potentially be implemented for future LAI monitoring applications by superspectral sensors that contain four red-edge bands.
► Superspectral band settings can predict LAI as good as continuous spectra. ► REIP can predict LAI for relatively high biomass and fractional cover crops. ► On ground level, REIP is a better LAI predictor for wheat than for potato.
In a time of social crises, pedagogical approaches are necessary that are sensitive to power relations, social crises, and political transformations. The pedagogies of Paulo Freire, Augusto Boal, and ...Johannes A. van der Ven represent such approaches. In this article, I aim to critically re-read these three theories and contextualize them within the vibrant and transnational history of liberation theologies. This historical approach makes it possible to uncover untapped potential for today and to think of liberation pedagogy at the cutting edge. Even though the three approaches were developed in contexts different from today’s, Freire, Boal, and Van der Ven, reflected on some commonalities that are also characteristic of the social crises of our time. With their help, I am going to outline three elements useful for the much-needed elaboration of a contemporary liberation pedagogy. A lively theory-practice-relationship and an embedding of theory in social movements (1); a complex analysis and critique of society and education and an easy-to-understand short version of it (2); and a profound emancipatory concept of education that gives freedom to learners while not being politically neutral (3).
The medical materials, medical supplies, and medicines cover about one-third of the annual health care organization's budget. Effective inventory management is required to balance inventory ...expenditure against demands for medications. The study aimed to analyze the pharmaceuticals inventory management using ABC-VEN Matrix in selected health facilities of the West Shewa zone.
A facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted in health facilities of the West Shewa zone from March 15, 2019, to May 31, 2019, and analyzed by using an MS Excel spreadsheet.
At selected public health facilities of West Shewa zone in three years between September 12, 2015, and September 5, 2018, about 539 pharmaceutical items were utilized and consumed 30,837,628.61 ETB. ABC analysis indicated that 64 (11.9%), 68 (13.74%), and 38 (11.14%) of items were classified as the class "A" items and consumed around 70% of the total pharmaceutical expenditures (TPE) at selected health facilities (aggregated), hospitals, and health centers (HC), respectively. VEN analysis revealed that 115 (35.94%), 99 (35.61%), and 40 (20.83%) items were categorized as vitals and consumed 53.9%, 51.59%, and 36.93% of TPE at selected health facilities. ABC-VEN matrix analysis indicated that category I items consumed 85% of TPE.
ABC-VEN matrix analysis of present study showed that the category I pharmaceuticals consumed a majority of TPE that need great attention for control.
Analyzing purchased health commodities based on their budgetary consumption and importance is crucial for efficient utilization of a hospital's budget. However, it is rarely seen when hospitals, ...mostly in developing countries, conduct such kinds of analyses and make an informed decision, including to utilize their limited budget efficiently. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to analyze a 3-year inventory of health commodities (medicines, medical supplies, and laboratory reagents and chemicals) in Saint Paul Hospital Millennium Medical College (SPHMMC).
The study was conducted in SPHMMC located in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. It is one of the largest specialized public hospitals in the country. It is a huge teaching hospital in the country where a large amount of budget is utilized. Three years of data were collected and ABC, VEN, and ABC-VEN matrix techniques were applied for the analysis. The data collection period was from March to April 2017.
An average of 296 medicines, 194 laboratory commodities, and 105 medical supplies were purchased over 3 years. Class A medicines, which consume 80% of the total annual pharmaceutical expenditures (APE) account, are 17.8%-20% of the total medicines by quantity. Antibiotics (ceftriaxone 1 gm injection and metronidazole), IV fluids (sodium chloride 0.9% injection and dextrose 40% injection), and antidiabetic medication (insulin zin suspension and metformin) are among the top 10 medications by value that consume significant amounts of the budget of the hospital. On VEN analysis, an average of 24% of the items were vital, 67% were essential, and 4-8-8.9% were nonessential. Nonessential items consumed 0.49%, 9.9%, and 1.1% of Annual Expenditures (AEs) in 2013/14, 2014/15 and 2015/16, respectively. On ABC-VEN matrix analysis, a single expensive and nonessential medicine (valganciclovir HCL 450 mg tablet) consumed 9.4% of expenditure in 2014/15. Class A laboratory commodities, which consume 70%-80% of the total laboratory expenditures represented 8.5%-20% of the total laboratory commodities analyzed for the 3 years. From class A items, antimonoclonal antibodies in 2013/14, hemocue glucose 201 4 × 25 tests in 2014/15, and glucose tests in 2015/16 consumed the highest percentages: 9.2%, 8.2%, and 23.7% of the AEs, respectively. There were laboratory commodities procured out of the VEN list, and these accounted for 6.8%-31.2% of the total laboratory expenditures over the 3 years. Class A medical supplies, which consumed 80% of the total medical supply expenditures, represented only 8.2%-15.8% of the total items over the 3 years studied. Surgical gauze 90 cm × 100 m, surgical gloves sterile latex number 7.5, and examination gloves were the top three based on expenditures in all the studied years. In 2015/16, examination gloves alone consumed 71.9% of the total expenditure.
SPHMMC manages large numbers of health commodities (more than 500 excluding program commodities) which necessitate efficient inventory management practice in place. However, the purchase of the commodities particularly those products used for laboratory diagnosis is not strictly based on the hospital's VEN list, indicating the need for better communication of the laboratory unit with the Drug and Therapeutic Committee (DTC) of the hospital. The DTC of the hospital should update the VEN list of the health commodities and strictly enforce the hospital procurement to adhere to the agreed upon list of medicines. In addition, the hospital should prioritize and decide the quantity and frequency of ordering health commodities based on regular ABC-VEN results.
Modern connected vehicles (CVs) frequently require diverse types of content for mission-critical decision-making and onboard users' entertainment. These contents are required to be fully delivered to ...the requester CVs within stringent deadlines that the existing radio access technology (RAT) solutions may fail to ensure. Motivated by the above consideration, this paper exploits content caching in vehicular edge networks (VENs) with a software-defined user-centric virtual cell (VC) based RAT solution for delivering the requested contents from a proximity edge server. Moreover, to capture the heterogeneous demands of the CVs, we introduce a preference-popularity tradeoff in their content request model. To that end, we formulate a joint optimization problem for content placement, CV scheduling, VC configuration, VC-CV association and radio resource allocation to minimize long-term content delivery delay. However, the joint problem is highly complex and cannot be solved efficiently in polynomial time. As such, we decompose the original problem into a cache placement problem and a content delivery delay minimization problem given the cache placement policy. We use deep reinforcement learning (DRL) as a learning solution for the first sub-problem. Furthermore, we transform the delay minimization problem into a priority-based weighted sum rate (WSR) maximization problem, which is solved leveraging maximum bipartite matching (MWBM) and a simple linear search algorithm. Our extensive simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method compared to existing baselines in terms of cache hit ratio (CHR), deadline violation and content delivery delay.
Introduction: In recent decades, pharmacoeconomic analysis of multiple diseases has significantly progressed; in particular, the most prevalent one is the cost-effectiveness analysis. Chemotherapy ...remains the leading and most effective treatment option for small cell lung cancer, which accounts for more than a quarter of all other forms of respiratory cancers. Materials and Methods: An assessment of the incidence of lung cancer and its probable causes was carried out. The main methods used in the study were cost-of-treatment analysis, ABC/VEN analysis and cost-effectiveness analysis. Survival rates (number of years or months, interval and average number of years/ months) and the cost of a month of life were also evaluated. Discussion: The results obtained on the basis of a questionnaire survey of patients with lung cancer demonstrate that smoking is the leading risk factor – 24.9% of the pro rata contribution. The author identified the most expensive drugs, costing 60-80% of the budget, that is scheme 2 ‘etoposide + carboplatin’, and the least expensive drugs, costing 5-10% of the budget, which are auxiliary drugs. According to the study results, patients managed following a chemotherapy regimen ‘etoposide + carboplatin’ have the highest survival rate at the highest cost of treatment compared to patients following a chemotherapy regimen ‘cyclophosphamide + doxorubicin + vincristine’, which is the least expensive. Conclusion: Evidence-based comprehensive pharmacoeconomic model for evaluation of drug supply for chemotherapy in small cell lung cancer improves registration of history cases and allows for pharmacoeconomic cost-effectiveness analysis considering features of each patient.
► We exposed zebrafish to environmentally relevant doses of 4 pharmaceuticals. ► Pharmaceutical exposures were chronic and environmentally relevant concentrations. ► All pharmaceuticals impacted ...reproduction and histology in the kidney. ► All pharmaceuticals increased mortality in exposed embryos. ► Acetaminophen increased developmental abnormalities.
Pharmaceuticals are found in both receiving and drinking water due to their persistent release in waste-water effluents, raising concerns for environmental and human health. Chronic, aqueous exposure of zebrafish (Danio rerio) to environmentally relevant concentrations of acetaminophen (ACE), venlafaxaine (VEN) (10μgL−1), carbamazepine (CBZ) and gemfibrozil (GEM) (0.5 and 10μgL−1) decreased reproductive output. Atretic oocytes and altered ovarian histology were seen in female zebrafish exposed to CBZ and GEM, suggesting a direct effect on oocyte development that may account for the reduced fecundity. Apoptosis within the theca and granulosa cells was identified in exposed female zebrafish with atretic oocytes by TUNEL positive staining. The incidence of follicular apoptosis was nearly 2-fold higher in exposed females than the controls. All compounds significantly altered kidney proximal tubule morphology but there was no difference in the incidence of apoptotic cells within the kidney between control and exposed in either males or females. Liver histology was altered by ACE and GEM exposure. Parental exposure to pharmaceuticals did not increase developmental abnormalities, hatching success, or mortality in embryos. Yet, direct exposure of embryos to ACE increased developmental abnormalities and mortality; exposure to 0.5μgL−1 of all pharmaceuticals increased mortality. CBZ decreased plasma 11-ketotestosterone concentrations in males and females. Overall, these data suggest that low concentration, chronic exposure of fish to pharmaceuticals impacts fish development as well as multiple organ systems in adult fish, leading to effects on reproduction and histology of liver and kidney. These results are significant in understanding the consequences of chronic, low concentration pharmaceutical exposure to fish and suggest that exposed populations are at risk of negative impacts to reproduction and health.
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