Privatization, subcontracting and other outsourcing practices are increased in Turkey since 1980’s. Coal fields, which are generally monopoly of the state, are started to assign to the private sector by mining “lease agreements” since 2000’s and subcontractor practices are become widespread in the coal mines that belong to the state. According to Turkish Social Security Institution statistics, the rate of the employees of private sector in coal mining increased from 31 % to 70 % in the period of last 14 years. On the other hand, occupational accidents increased rapidly in coal mining sector since 2004 in comparison with the other sectors. Since 1992, 12 of 13 great accidents occurred in the coal mines that are operated by private sector enterprises and 955 workers died due to firedamp explosions and fires. In order to prevent the accidents in coal mines, Turkey signed the Convention No. 176 of ILO. However, legislation of mine safety must revised, the risks of the coal mines must be determined, an action plan must be generated and inspected strictly.
Stress-induced gastric ulceration is a typical example of stress-associated organ injury. Water Immersion Restrain Stress (WIRS) allows for evaluation of the stress ulcer inhibiting effects of drugs and plant-derived antiulcer preparations. Recent studies demonstrated that water and methanol extracts of Fomes fomentarius (FF) exerted antidiabetic and anti-inflammatory and antinociceptive activities, respectively. Despite its multitherapeutic potential, there have been few studies on the effects of FF in in vivo experimental gastric ulcer models and its mechanisms of action on gastric ulcers. We determined whether or not extracts of FF (FFE) could be useful for treating severe stress conditions in rats by detecting mucosal damage in WIRS rat model. In this study, FFE significantly decreased the area of gastric lesions, the pixel density quantity of regions of gastric damage, and the number of histological lesions. Also, FFE differentially modulated the production of inflammatory cytokines with NF-?B and exerted suppressive effects on iNOS and Nrf-2. These results demonstrated that FFE exerted protective effects in gastric ulcer model induced WIRS through an anti-inflammatory and antioxidative response; therefore, FFE could be useful for treating severe stress conditions in rats.
In Nigeria and many other developing countries, toxic out-of-use electrical electronic equipment (OOU-EEE)) abound in homes and offices. The people are probably ignorant of indoor air pollution arising from emission of toxic gases of lead, beryllium oxide and other chemical components from OOU-EEE. This pilot project was aimed at reducing this type of indoor air pollution and the attendant health effects on households and workers in Enugu, Nigeria. Specific objectives were to ascertain the presence of OOU-EEE in a significant number of households and offices, to ascertain the ignorance of home dwellers and office users/owners of indoor air pollution arising from emission of toxic gases from OOU-EEE, and to enlighten the target on the need to reduce indoor air pollution and the attendant health effects by discarding OOU-EEE from their homes and offices. Multi-stage sampling technique was employed to select neighbourhoods, streets and households from where respondents were purposively selected. Questionnaire was used to elicit information on the first and second objectives, while focussed group discussion (FGD) was employed to enlighten the people on the need to reduce indoor air pollution and the attendant health effects by discarding OOU-EEE from homes and offices. Average mean score (AMS) technique was used to analyse the likert-scale data from the questionnaire and to test the hypotheses, while pre- and post-enlightenment data (calculated values, CVs) were regressed to determine the extent of enlightenment that took place during FGD. Results showed the presence of OOU-EEE in a significant number of households and offices in Enugu. All respondents were ignorant of indoor air pollution arising from emission of toxic gases from the OOU-EEE in homes and offices and the attendant deleterious health effects. The enlightenment exercise created awareness in the people. Recommendations on necessary steps to educate the public on disposal of OOU-EEE from homes and offices were proferred.
This paper proposes an Optimized Indoor Positioning System (OIPS) for tracing a patient’s current location in a general hospital. The OIPS consists of a Wi-Fi Fingerprinting Module (WFM) and an Improved Reinforcement Neural Network (IRNN). The WFM is a module which collects the fingerprinting data. The data is made up of Received Signal Strength (RSS), a Wireless Access Point (WAP) ID , and a user’s ID. The IRNN processes the collected fingerprinting data and obtains the user’s estimated location. The simulation of the IRNN shows a higher R-Value and a lower Mean Squared Error (MSE) than the Artificial Neural Network (ANN). The result on PosData by ANN shows a MSE 4.7 and a R-value 0.97, while The IRNN shows a MSE 1.89 and a R-value 0.99. The result on UJIIndoorLoc by ANN shows a MSE 18 and a R-value 0.9, while that by the IRNN shows a MSE 5.5 and a R-value 1.