Research Progress in Occupational Health Risk Assessment Methods in China

Traditional occupational disease control and prevention has remained prevalent in China over recent decades. There are appropriately 30,000 new case reports of occupational diseases annually. Although China has already established a series of occupational disease prevention programs, occupational health risk assessment （OHRA） strategies continue to be a limitation.

Assessment Methods Used during Clinical Years of Undergraduate Medical Education at Moi University School of Medicine, Kenya

Background: Assessment is the systematic collection, review, and use of information about educational programs undertaken to improve teaching and learning. It ensures quality in training programmes, motivates, and directs students’ learning. Assessment is also used for verification of achievement of objectives of training, feedback to students, licencing, certification, and screening of students for advanced training. It is guided by several principles, including the aims of the assessment (why assess), who to assess, timing (when to assess), what to assess, methods (how to assess), and the criteria for determining the usefulness of the assessment. Objective: To describe the assessment methods used during clinical years of the undergraduate programme at Moi University School of Medicine (MUSOM) and determine the student’s perspectives concerning the comprehensiveness, relevance, objectivity of various assessment methods and challenges faced. Methodology: The study was carried out at MUSOM and a cross-sectional study design was employed. Ten study participants were studied using convenience sampling. Data were collected using an interview guide and was analyzed using content analysis. An informed consent was obtained from the study participants. Results: The methods used during clinical years at MUSOM for assessing knowledge and its applications include multiple-choice questions (MCQ), short answer questions (SAQ), modified essay questions (MEQ), long essay questions (LEQ), and oral exam. Whereas the methods for assessing clinical competence include long case, short cases, objective structured clinical examinations (OSCE), and logbook. Students felt that MCQs were comprehensive, objective, and relevant to the curriculum content. They reported that feedback was not provided after assessments. Conclusion: The assessment methods used at MUSOM during clinical years include MCQ, SAQ, MEQ, LEQ, Short cases, long cases, and OSCE. Students reported varied perceptions of the different assessment methods but favored MCQ and OSCE over other formats for assessing knowledge and clinical skills respectively.

Present state,basic theories,methods and progresses of investigation and assessment on marine hazardous geology in China

The achievement progresses of investigation and studies on marine hazardous geology are summarized and presentsd in the late 20 century in China. The importance, research value and present-day studies of marine hazardous geology, a newly developing branch of geoscience, are well expatiated. Several often confused concepts and theories are explained and redefined here. The comment on the means of investigations, assessment of marine hazardous geology, as well as its evolution, innovation, existing questions and future tasks are also introduced and presented. The concepts of 'hazard geology', geohazard', 'map of marine hazard geology', 'integrated evaluaton on seafloor stablity' are respectively discussed, including their definition, research objects, methods and contents. The types and classification of marine hazardous geology, principles and methods of marine hazardous geology map compilation, the assessment methods and models of marine hazardous geology environment and seafloor stability and so on are also discussed.

Assessment methods of speech synthesis systems for Chinese

A national assessment of the performance of speech synthesis systems for Chinese has been carried out yearly since 1994. The quality of synthetic speech of five different systems were evaluated and diagnosed by using speech intelligibility tests. 16 college students (8 male, 8 female) with no experience with synthetic speech were the listeners, they were asked to do open response task by pencilpaper. In addition, speech naturalness was mea-sured by Mean Opinion

Methods for assessing the grooving corrosion of high-frequency electric resistance welded pipes

Grooving corrosion is a major form of corrosion and is prone to occur when high-frequency electric resistance welded （HFW） pipes are being used. Therefore,grooving corrosion is one of the performance indexes of HFW products. Grooving corrosion usually occurs along the welding fusion line, resulting in one or more corrosion grooves. The main factors affecting grooving corrosion include the contents of alloying elements and impurities （especially sulphur） in the steel,the microstructure of the welds and the steel substrate, welding parameters and the service environment as well. In this study, the existing methods for assessing grooving corrosion were systematically reviewed, improvements and new methods were proposed and developed to overcome the shortcomings of the existing methods, such as inaccuracy and excessive research time. By comparison with the existing methods, the operational procedures and the characteristics of the new methods are introduced, and issues regarding the behavior of grooving corrosion and their assessment methods, which both need further research,are discussed in this study.

Incidence and Risk Factors of Sub-syndromal Delirium in Patients after Cardiac Surgery

[Objectives]This study aimed to investigate the incidence and risk factors associated with SSD in patients following cardiac surgery.[Methods]A total of 378 patients who underwent cardiac surgery in Taihe Hospital were recruited and screened.Diagnosis of delirium was made using evaluation methods and DSM-5 criteria.SSD was defined as the presence of one or more core features of delirium without meeting the full diagnostic criteria.Statistical analysis included independent samples t-test for group comparisons and binary logistic regression analysis to identify independent risk factors for SSD after cardiac surgery.[Results]Among the 378 subjects,112(29.63%)had SSD,28(7.41%)had delirium,and the remaining 238 patients(62.96%)did not present with delirium.Univariate analysis revealed that age,APACHE II score,duration of aortic clamping,length of ICU stay,duration of sedation use,and daily sleep time were significant risk factors for the occurrence of SSD(P<0.05).Logistic regression analysis identified age>70 years old,APACHE II score>20 points,length of ICU stay>5 d,and duration of sedation use>24 h as independent risk factors for SSD after cardiac surgery(P<0.05).A functional model was fitted based on the analysis results of the binary logistic regression model,yielding the equation logit P=1.472X_(1)+2.213X_(2)+3.028X_(3)+1.306X_(4).[Conclusions]Comprehensive clinical assessment is crucial for patients undergoing cardiac surgery,and appropriate preventive measures should be taken for patients with identified risk factors.Close monitoring of the patient s consciousness should be implemented postoperatively,and timely interventions should be conducted.Further research should focus on model validation and optimization.

Development an Adaptive Environmental Assessment Method for Buildings

The idea behind this work is developing an adaptive method for the environmental assessment of buildings, to configure different versions according to the variables affecting them (spatial, temporal and associated with building characteristics) to suit different evaluated projects. This method may be applied using an electronic tool, which is in a development stage. Amending different assessment versions of the adaptive method is done by including the variables effect, according to set of steps, such as modifying the formulation of the assessment items, adjusting their estimation weights, and amending their achievement evaluation levels and their returned scores. When using the adaptive method, the assessment result of a building using a certain version differs from the results using other versions, even in the same country, so configuring an appropriate version due to the variables affecting the assessment helps getting more accurate results than the ones currently provided. The main goal of that research is to introduce the adaptive method that is proposed to ensure a fairer assessment results from the perspective of Green Architecture, and allow a more credible and accuracy of results comparison according to the environmental performance of buildings. The researcher analyzed the different main features she used in developing the adaptive method, the Comparative aspects between it and the current assessment methods, and the expected reached advantages from its usage. The paper arrived to the importance of adapting the environmental assessment of buildings according to the different affecting variables, and recommended developing the adaptive method and its tool to the stage of application to benefit its advantages.

Assessment of Minimizing the Environmental Functions Conflict in Buildings

Some building components are responsible for achieving more than one environmental function, these functions are usually of different requirements that can never be done by the same actions, and they are usually connected to changeable internal and external environment characteristics that vary among them. Minimizing the conflict of achieving the different environmental functions is an important challenge for all designers. Achieving a continuous thermal and optical comfort in an internal building space using the same window is an example of this challenge, as they have different requirements that may be sometimes contrary. It should be notable that there are a lot of recent technologies that may be used to find solutions for such a conflict. The Environmental Assessment Methods of Buildings appeared to set the principles of the optimum relation between buildings and their environment, they also could be used to encourage designers to reach the best environmental relations, and award them by main or additional assessment points. The research paper proposes to use the Environmental Assessment Methods of Buildings to assess the building ability of minimizing its environmental functions achievement conflict. This proposal depends on determining the inconsistency assessment items that depend on common building components to be achieved, and then determining the time periods that these items are achieved together within, to indicate the time periods without conflicting. Thus, the paper aims to raise the building environmental value in the assessment when the designer succeeds to minimize the expected conflict of the building environmental functions.

Discussion on the Assessment Method of Wind Energy Resources by Using Regional Meteorological Data

The exploitation status of wind energy resources was analyzed, and the distribution of wind energy resources and regional meteorological stations were introduced, and then the assessment method of wind energy resources by using data from regional meteorological station was studied taking Huangjin Regional Meteorological Station in Xinning County in Hunan Province for example, besides, corresponding software was compiled. By means of SQL database and program, the method was used simply and easily and had positive meaning for the development of wind energy resources and excavation of wind farm in inland region.

Application of a Bayesian method to data-poor stock assessment by using Indian Ocean albacore (Thunnus alalunga) stock assessment as an example

It is widely recognized that assessments of the status of data-poor fish stocks are challenging and that Bayesian analysis is one of the methods which can be used to improve the reliability of stock assessments in data-poor situations through borrowing strength from prior information deduced from species with good-quality data or other known information. Because there is considerable uncertainty remaining in the stock assessment of albacore tuna（Thunnus alalunga） in the Indian Ocean due to the limited and low-quality data, we investigate the advantages of a Bayesian method in data-poor stock assessment by using Indian Ocean albacore stock assessment as an example. Eight Bayesian biomass dynamics models with different prior assumptions and catch data series were developed to assess the stock. The results show（1） the rationality of choice of catch data series and assumption of parameters could be enhanced by analyzing the posterior distribution of the parameters;（2） the reliability of the stock assessment could be improved by using demographic methods to construct a prior for the intrinsic rate of increase（r）. Because we can make use of more information to improve the rationality of parameter estimation and the reliability of the stock assessment compared with traditional statistical methods by incorporating any available knowledge into the informative priors and analyzing the posterior distribution based on Bayesian framework in data-poor situations, we suggest that the Bayesian method should be an alternative method to be applied in data-poor species stock assessment, such as Indian Ocean albacore.

New Inclusion Assessment Method in Aluminum Alloys——Electrochemical Method for Inclusion Assessment

The existence of inclusion influences the properties of aluminum alloy castings,from which the castings will face scrapping under severe condition.Great efforts on the inclusions in aluminum alloy were made and many inclusion assessment methods were put forward.However,most of the current methods are characterized by time consuming and expensive equipment cost,which limits the application in aluminum industry.Since the aluminum properties are sensitive to the inclusion,this paper tries to establish a new kind of inclusion assessment method.The inclusions were introduced to aluminum melts by adding aluminum scraps.The samples with different inclusion contents were prepared.The microstructure contained inclusions was observed.The inclusion was automatically identified with an image analyzer by setting different grey threshold value,and the inclusion content was obtained.The image analysis shows that inclusions wreck the continuity of the alloy matrix seriously,and the inclusion area percentage increases with the increasing of aluminum scraps.The high and low polarization measurements were conducted in 3.5 wt% NaCl aqueous solution at the temperature of 25 ℃.The electrochemical parameters of the testing materials,such as corrosion potential E k,corrosion current density I k and the linear polarization resistance R p,were obtained.The polarization measurement results show that the linear polarization resistances decrease,the corrosion potentials move towards more negative direction,and the corrosion current densities increase with the increasing of inclusion content.The theoretical analysis of the inclusion content and the corrosion current density was performed.The existence of inclusions makes the microstructure form corrosion microcells between the alloy matrix and inclusions.The impressed current can accelerate the current velocity or corrosion current density.The regression model of the inclusion contents vs.the corrosion current density was obtained.This model can be used to quantitatively analyze the inclusion content in aluminum alloys on the basis of inclusion sensitivity to the inclusion content.It is confirmed that the electrochemical method for inclusion assessment （EcMIA） is simple and reliable,which can provide a new solution for inclusion assessment in aluminum alloy.

LOSS ASSESSMENT OF BURNED FOREST USING REMOTE SENSING AND GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION TECHNIQUES

After forest fire, it is very needed to locate fire position and assess the loss of forest resources. In this paper, a method of burned forest assessment with satellite remote sensing data and over-laying techniques is discussed and used in the assessment of the burned forest in Malin Forest Farm after the large forest fire of May, 1987.

Drug-induced severe liver injury due to Sterculia versicolor: a case report with causality assessment from possible to probable

Sterculia gum,the dry exudate of Sterculia versicolor and other members of the same genus,is used as a thickener and emulsifier in foods.It is generally considered safe as a food or drug,and its adverse reactions,such as Sterculia-induced liver injury,have never been reported.A 46-year-old woman was admitted to hospital with fatigue,nausea,abdominal distension,jaundice and a>16-fold increase in transaminase and bilirubin level.The patient had used Sterculia gum prior to the onset of her symptoms.Her symptoms and clinical indicators improved after treatment.The possibility of acute viral hepatitis,autoimmune hepatitis,and metabolic liver disease was excluded.After discharge from hospital,the patient had a severe liver injury again when re-exposed to Sterculia gum.And the Roussel Uclaf Causality Assessment Method score was updated from 5 to 7,which was consistent with probable drug-induced liver injury.This is the first report of Sterculia-induced liver injury.Clinicians need to be aware of the potential hepatotoxicity of Sterculia.

Zinc–Bromine Rechargeable Batteries:From Device Configuration,Electrochemistry,Material to Performance Evaluation

Zinc–bromine rechargeable batteries(ZBRBs)are one of the most powerful candidates for next-generation energy storage due to their potentially lower material cost,deep discharge capability,non-flammable electrolytes,relatively long lifetime and good reversibility.However,many opportunities remain to improve the efficiency and stability of these batteries for long-life operation.Here,we discuss the device configurations,working mechanisms and performance evaluation of ZBRBs.Both non-flow(static)and flow-type cells are highlighted in detail in this review.The fundamental electrochemical aspects,including the key challenges and promising solutions,are discussed,with particular attention paid to zinc and bromine half-cells,as their performance plays a critical role in determining the electrochemical performance of the battery system.The following sections examine the key performance metrics of ZBRBs and assessment methods using various ex situ and in situ/operando techniques.The review concludes with insights into future developments and prospects for high-performance ZBRBs.

Value Evaluation of Water Ecosystem Services——A Case Study of Changshu City

[ Objective] The study aimed to quantitatively assess the values of water ecosystem services. [ Method] Combining the market value, travel cost and restoration cost method, the ecological services and their economic values of the lake Taodangmian were assessed from aspects of water supply, recreation and tourism, water purification and biodiversity maintenance. [ Resultl For the lake Taodangmian, its freshwater supply and tourism played more positive roles in the society than the others, while the functions of water purification and biodiversity maintenance brought negative effects, which shows that the ecological environment of Taodangmian has become increasingly worse and needs to be controlled and and protected further. [ Conclusion] The research could provide scientific references for the reasonable exploitation and utilization of water resources.

Herbal Traditional Chinese Medicine and suspected liver injury: A prospective study

AIM To analyze liver tests before and following treatment with herbal Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM) in order to evaluate the frequency of newly detected liver injury.METHODS Patients with normal values of alanine aminotransferase(ALT) as a diagnostic marker for ruling out pre-existing liver disease were enrolled in a prospective study of a safety program carried out at the First German Hospital of TCM from 1994 to 2015. All patients received herbal products, and their ALT values were reassessed 1-3 d prior to discharge. To verify or exclude causality for suspected TCM herbs, the Roussel Uclaf Causality Assessment Method(RUCAM) was used.RESULTS This report presents for the first time liver injury data derived from a prospective, hospital-based and largescale study of 21470 patients who had no liver disease prior to treatment with herbal TCM. Among these, ALT ranged from 1 × to < 5 × upper limit normal(ULN) in 844 patients(3.93%) and suggested mild or moderate liver adaptive abnormalities. However, 26 patients(0.12%) experienced higher ALT values of ≥ 5 × ULN(300.0 ± 172.9 U/L, mean ± SD). Causality for TCM herbs was RUCAM-based probable in 8/26 patients, possible in 16/26, and excluded in 2/26 cases. Bupleuri radix and Scutellariae radix were the two TCM herbs most commonly implicated. CONCLUSION In 26(0.12%) of 21470 patients treated with herbal TCM, liver injury with ALT values of ≥ 5 × ULN was found, which normalized shortly following treatment cessation, also substantiating causality.

Effect of Fly Ash on Frost-Resistance and Chloride Ions Diffusion Properties of Marine Concrete

It is necessary to pay more attention to the durability of concrete undergoing freeze-thaw cycles and seawater attack simultaneously.Investigated are the effects of water-binder ratio,fly ash（FA）contents and air-entraining agent on resistance to frost and chloride diffusion of marine concrete blended with FA in natural seawater.The results show that fly ash does not improve the frost resistance of concrete but can improve its resistance to chloride diffusion by addition of less than 30%.The resistance to frost and chloride diffusion of FA concrete can be improved with the decrease of water-binder ratio,and FA may improve both of them simultaneously only being mixed with air-entraining agent.A ratio（named as R）of the frost-resisting durability factor to chloride diffusion coefficient can be used to evaluate the durability of marine concrete.Scanning electron microscope（SEM）analyses are consistent with the evaluations by the value of R.

Ayurvedic drug induced liver injury

Drug induced liver injury is responsible for 50% of acute liver failure in developed countries. Ayurvedic and homeopathic medicine have been linked to liver injury. This case describes the first documented case of Punarnava mandur and Kanchnar guggulu causing drug induced liver injury. Drug induced liver injury may be difficult to diagnosis, but use of multi-modalities tools including the ACG algorithms, causative assessment scales, histological findings, and imaging, is recommended. Advanced imaging, such as magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography, may possibly have a greater role than previously reported in literature.

Study on wave energy resource assessing method based on altimeter data——A case study in Northwest Pacific

Wave energy resource is a very important ocean renewable energy. A reliable assessment of wave energy resources must be performed before they can be exploited. Compared with wave model, altimeter can provide more accurate in situ observations for ocean wave which can be as a novel method for wave energy assessment.The advantage of altimeter data is to provide accurate significant wave height observations for wave. In order to develop characteristic and advantage of altimeter data and apply altimeter data to wave energy assessment, in this study, we established an assessing method for wave energy in local sea area which is dedicated to altimeter data.This method includes three parts including data selection and processing, establishment of evaluation indexes system and criterion of regional division. Then a case study of Northwest Pacific was performed to discuss specific application for this method. The results show that assessing method in this paper can assess reserves and temporal and spatial distribution effectively and provide scientific references for the siting of wave power plants and the design of wave energy convertors.