Evaluation of the Quality of Reinforcing Bars on the Market in the City of Lubumbashi in DR Congo

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This research highlights the evaluation of the chemical and mechanical quality of reinforcing bars on the Lubumbashi market including bars imported from South Africa (FA), Zambia (FZ) and those produced locally (FC ) by the only steel industry, in the former province of Katanga, the iron processing company SOTRAFER, in acronym.

Indeed, this iron production sector is unexplored in the Democratic Republic of Congo while we are in the era of its reconstruction. Consequently, this sector leads us to an almost total dependence on imported iron (steel) because the latter is known throughout the world as the engine of development of modern societies. The samples of the locally produced reinforcing bars (FC) were collected at SOTRAFER at the end of production, while the samples of the FA and FZ reinforcing bars were taken randomly on the Lushois market in a hardware store specializing in sales to avoid errors.

The chemical characterization showed that the three natures of the reinforcing bars are similar with all the elements in the ISO 9001 standards which are Fe, Mn, Cu, Si, C, Cr, Ni, Mo, P, S, Nb, Co, Ti, V and Al except three chemical elements such as Mo, Ni and Cu. This difference is, however, attenuated by the equivalent carbon content. The mechanical characterization showed that all the different materials studied comply with the ISO 6898 standard. The high values ​​of the elastic limit resistances of 16, 12 and 10mm in diameter are observed respectively in the FC samples (436N/mm²); FA (450N/mm²); FC (475 N/mm²). These behaviors are also observed in the plastic phase.

Productivity in a Stroke Survivor: Development and Initial Testing of a Stroke-Specific Return to Work Instrument

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Background: Stroke is a leading cause of sudden loss of work and productivity in adults. With no existing instrument to assess or predict a return to work for stroke survivors. There is a growing need as more survivors are discharged with expectations to return to productive life. This study focused on developing a new instrument called the Stroke-Specific Return to Work Instrument (SSRTWI) to assess and predict when stroke survivors can return to work. Given the increasing incidence of stroke and its impact on productivity, this is an important area of study.

Methods: This study used a mixed-method approach using qualitative exploratory in-depth semi-structured interviews. Fifty-three stroke survivors within productive age participated. Twenty survivors and fourteen experts were involved in the initial development through focus group discussions. Thematic analysis was used to analyze focus group data. There was a four-stage testing process to ensure internal consistency. 33 participants were involved in initial instrument testing. Content validity, internal consistency, and test-retest reliability were assessed.

Results: Participants were aged 26-55 years (mean age = 48.4 ± 5.5 years). Seventy-six items initially generated through focus group discussions were reviewed. Eighteen items were eliminated while twenty-two items were reworded. The Content validity index was 0.93, Internal consistency (Cronbach’s α) was 0.89, and the Intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.91.

Conclusion: This study addresses an important gap in stroke rehabilitation by providing a validated instrument to assess return-to-work readiness for stroke survivors. The mixed-method approach and involvement of survivors and experts in the development process strengthened the instrument’s relevance and validity.

Perceived Health Effects of Traditional Based Therapy of Malaria among Pregnant Women in Rivers East Senatorial District of Rivers State, Nigeria

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This study investigated perceived health effects of traditional based therapy of malaria among pregnant women in Rivers East Senatorial District of Rivers State. Utilizing a descriptive cross-sectional survey research design, 107, 938 pregnant women in total were included in the population. The Cochrane formula was used to determine the sample size, which came out to 728. A self-structured questionnaire called the Perceived Health Effects of Traditional-Based Malaria Therapy among Pregnant Women questionnaire (PHET-BMTPWQ) was used as the data collection tool. Utilizing Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC), a dependability index of 0.86 was attained. The outcome demonstrated that the grand mean rating of 2.91 SD 1.25 exceeded the criterion mean of 2.5, indicating that traditional malaria treatment had a physical health impact on pregnant women. The grand mean rating of 2.65 SD 0.99 indicated by the results indicates that traditional malaria therapy had an impact on the mental health of pregnant women. Additionally, the grand mean rating of 2.71 SD 1.10 demonstrated that traditional malaria treatment had an impact on pregnant women’s social health. Once more, the study’s results showed F(0.05,727) = 5.054 at 0.002, indicating that pregnant women’s perceptions of the health benefits of traditional malaria treatment varied significantly depending on which trimester they were in. It was determined that pregnant women’s physical, mental, and social health was significantly impacted by the use of traditional based therapy for malaria. Thus, among other things, it was suggested that the Ministry of Health run a program on health intervention regarding the risks associated with taking conventional therapy while pregnant.

Improvement for Warehouse Activity Processes PT. Pos Logistik Indonesia Branch Office Makassar, Sidenreng Rappang’s Area by Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) & Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) Methods

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PT Pos Logistik Indonesia Branch Office Makassar is a company engaged in services or 3PL (Third-Party Logistics). This research aims to identify the factors causing product damage and the corrective actions that will be taken. This research uses the Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) and Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) methods with the 5W+1H tools. The first stage of this research involves identifying the causes of damage using FMEA and determining the potential causes. The second stage details the potential causes identified in the first stage using FTA. The third stage involves proposing improvements using the 5W+1H method. Based on the analysis conducted, it was found that the factors cauing product damage include frequent dropping of items during receipt and transfer to the storage area, rodent infestation, use of rough pallets, incorrect input of incoming and outgoing product quantities into the system, frequent dropping of items during storage and overly high stacking of goods.

Review of the Benefits of Green Roofs

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Green roofs installed on rooftop of buildings in urban communities have multiple environmental, economic, energy and social benefits. They promote the urban sustainability and the well-being of the local residents. The impact of green roofs in buildings, in the environment and in local communities have been studied. Green roofs remove atmospheric pollutants including carbon dioxide, release oxygen, mitigate the urban heat island effect, reduce the energy consumption in buildings, improve the rainwater management, promote urban agriculture, enhance urban green spaces and bring nature closer to local residents. The development of green roofs results in many benefits in the buildings that have been constructed as well as in the broader community. Their construction is financially subsidized in several countries due to their multiple external benefits. In the era of climate change and of sustainable development construction of green roofs in urban environments has multiple positive impacts. Therefore, local and municipal authorities should promote their construction in public and private buildings. The current work emphasizes the benefits of green roofs and it could be useful to policy makers, to public and municipal authorities as well as to architects, construction companies and buildings’ owners who should promote their development in urban communities.

Training on the Making of Fried Shallots (Allium ascalonicum L.) Products in Sigi District to Implementing the Recovery Concept of Agriculture and Food Security Impacted

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The concept of community empowerment in the socio-cultural field is an effort to strengthen small people through improving, strengthening, and upholding values, ideas, and norms, and encouraging the realization of social organizations that are able to provide control over political and economic treatments that are far from morality. Service activities are carried out in several stages such as socialization, FGD, training, and designing fried shallot business innovation tools. Socialization of fried onion product processing is carried out by providing training and FGDs in the form of slicing onions, frying and packing shallots. Furthermore, 3 fried shallot business innovation tools were designed in the form of slicing machines, spinner machines and shallot frying machines. Training activities for village youth cadres run smoothly and in accordance with the expected target, namely increasing community awareness about the function and role of village youth cadres in terms of seeking community agricultural products, especially in processing shallots in packaging so that these expectations can be achieved well.

A Pattern and Incidence Study of Complications after Emergency Laparotomy

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Background and Objectives: The study of emergency laparotomies are being carried out prospectively at the Department of General Surgery at a tertiary care facility affiliated with the Parul Institute of Medical Science and Research (Parul Sevasharam Hospital).

Methods: A tertiary care teaching hospital’s Department of General Surgery conducted a prospective study involving 100 emergency laparotomy cases from July 2020 to May 2021. Every patient underwent surgery using a midline vertical incision.

The main aim of the study is to identify various complications occurring following emergency laparotomies and various factors influencing them.

All patients followed up at least for a period of 6 months after surgery.

Results: 60 patients developed one or more complications postoperatively, 19 (31.7%) patients had abdominal complications; 34 (56.7%) had wound complications; 12 (20%) had chest complications and 4 (6.7%) had limb complications

Conclusion: Even with the availability of safe anaesthetic, broad range of antibiotics, and advanced experimental or investigational devices, the risk of complications and mortality from emergency laparotomies remains significant. Chest problems were associated with a higher postoperative mortality rate than wound, limb, or abdomen complications.

Narrative Paradigm in Da’wah Text within the Realm of Persuasive Approach

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This research aims at revealing persuasive messages that are conveyed through narratives constructed by the preachers. Employing the theory of persuasion, narrative paradigm proposed by Fisher, this research analyzed three transcribed da‘wah texts that are originally have been researched by Hairus, et al from different tools of persuasion. The analysis results that there have been found ten narratives within the three sources of da’wah texts, comprising six narratives from da’wah text (DT) 1, one narrative from DT 2, and three from DT 3. In each DT, the story about the first president of Indonesia, Soekarno, is found. Other narratives’ themes are about the prophet Yusuf, Umar bin Khottob, King Fir’aun, Indonesian alim Buya Hamka, and unnamed characters. They are all assumed to be “good reasons” in the narratives because their story presents narrative probability and fidelity that the theory requires. Additionally, the foremost persuasive message is embracing iman, which is then followed by ridding them of their worries about being poor either in wealth and social power, because God will save one’s life based on their worship and their practices of good deeds.

Design and Construction of Thermal Overload Relay (Siemens 3ua50) Based on Arduino Uno

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A Thermal Overload Relay (TOR) is a device in an electric motor protection system designed to safeguard the motor from damage due to overheating or overcurrent. This research discusses the design and implementation of a Thermal Overload Relay (TOR) based on Arduino Uno, which is a popular and flexible microcontroller platform. This design includes the PZEM-004T sensor to detect the electrical current and temperature of the electric motor. The design integrates the advantages of the PZEM-004T sensor in accurately measuring current and voltage with the flexibility and programming capabilities of Arduino in control and data processing. This system utilizes Arduino’s communication capabilities to transmit current and temperature data in real-time, enabling remote monitoring and quick response to potentially hazardous conditions. The result of this project is a tool that can replace the function of the TOR itself, where the characteristics produced are close to those of conventional TORs, and the thermal principle in the TOR is regulated with a time delay disconnection in the Arduino program.

Synergetic Approach Model for Improving Vocational Education: Characteristics, Guidelines and Applications

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The main purpose of vocational education is to prepare students for their future professional development, including the acquisition of skills and competencies necessary for the labor market. The research aims to present a model that gains effectiveness of applying a synergetic approach for improving vocational education. The synergetic approach could be an innovative pedagogical concept in VET that creates an open educational environment utilizing the application of different approaches and teaching methods. Basically the model proposed combines the change in curricula, the use of learning resources for practical teaching and the change in the way of assessment as kernel guideines for achieving better student outcomes. The ensuing benefits of applying a synergetic approach in VET are related to the possibility that vocational education is required to meet the needs of the contemporary labor market, as well as it answers to the expectations of society to prepare young people for their successful employment in industry. Other benefits are related to the possibility of restructuring the learning content, using various teaching methods, formative assessment, acquisition of permanent knowledge, as well as acquisition of skills for critical evaluation of information and self-evaluation of the achieved results to increase motivation. In synergetic learning, the content of the learning materials differs significantly from those traditionally used in vocational training, and the teacher has the opportunity to adapt the learning content to the needs of the specific student.