Pub Date : 2017-10-01DOI: 10.1109/GHTC.2017.8239277
Alivelu Mukkamala, R. Beck
During disasters people start using social media as a platform to share and disseminate real-time disaster information to wider audiences. In order to understand the type of information that is being shared during disasters and how communities are using the technologies to respond to the disasters, we analyze two-different case studies on natural disasters using Twitter as a platform for gathering and sharing information. In both the case studies, we applied different content analysis methods, both manual and automated, to analyze the valuable information from the user-generated content produced during disaster situations. Based on our findings, we argue that social media platforms are facilitating collective level situation awareness among people and valuable information for disaster management agencies. However, in order to integrate social media in organizational work routines and processes, understanding the opportunities along with challenges is a key.
{"title":"Social media for disaster situations: Methods, opportunities and challenges","authors":"Alivelu Mukkamala, R. Beck","doi":"10.1109/GHTC.2017.8239277","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/GHTC.2017.8239277","url":null,"abstract":"During disasters people start using social media as a platform to share and disseminate real-time disaster information to wider audiences. In order to understand the type of information that is being shared during disasters and how communities are using the technologies to respond to the disasters, we analyze two-different case studies on natural disasters using Twitter as a platform for gathering and sharing information. In both the case studies, we applied different content analysis methods, both manual and automated, to analyze the valuable information from the user-generated content produced during disaster situations. Based on our findings, we argue that social media platforms are facilitating collective level situation awareness among people and valuable information for disaster management agencies. However, in order to integrate social media in organizational work routines and processes, understanding the opportunities along with challenges is a key.","PeriodicalId":248924,"journal":{"name":"2017 IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology Conference (GHTC)","volume":"16 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133542657","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2017-10-01DOI: 10.1109/GHTC.2017.8239241
P. Ndayizigamiye, Lydia Hangulu, O. Akintola
The increase in chronic illnesses globally has sparked a need for home-based healthcare interventions. In the African context, home-carers play a preponderant role in addressing the shortage of trained healthcare professionals by providing primary healthcare services. These nursing care activities offered by the home-carers generate medical waste in homes. There is a need to be concerned about medical waste in homes because unlike healthcare facilities, homes are not meant to accommodate medical waste. Scanty literature in South Africa reveals that, there is improper management of medical waste in homes which poses health risks to the home carers, patients, community members and the environment. Hence, this paper presents a mobile technology-driven system designed to educate and stimulate home-carers' proper disposal of medical waste in South Africa. This paper firstly investigates the stakeholders involved in the dispensation of home-based care in the eThekwini health district of South Africa. Then the paper proposes a design of a mobile platform-enabled system that involves the identified stakeholders. The paper further presents the functionality of the system and its limitations. It is anticipated that this paper will contribute knowledge on how technology can contribute towards safe medical practices and a greener environment.
{"title":"A design of a mobile health intervention to enhance home-carers' disposal of medical waste in South Africa","authors":"P. Ndayizigamiye, Lydia Hangulu, O. Akintola","doi":"10.1109/GHTC.2017.8239241","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/GHTC.2017.8239241","url":null,"abstract":"The increase in chronic illnesses globally has sparked a need for home-based healthcare interventions. In the African context, home-carers play a preponderant role in addressing the shortage of trained healthcare professionals by providing primary healthcare services. These nursing care activities offered by the home-carers generate medical waste in homes. There is a need to be concerned about medical waste in homes because unlike healthcare facilities, homes are not meant to accommodate medical waste. Scanty literature in South Africa reveals that, there is improper management of medical waste in homes which poses health risks to the home carers, patients, community members and the environment. Hence, this paper presents a mobile technology-driven system designed to educate and stimulate home-carers' proper disposal of medical waste in South Africa. This paper firstly investigates the stakeholders involved in the dispensation of home-based care in the eThekwini health district of South Africa. Then the paper proposes a design of a mobile platform-enabled system that involves the identified stakeholders. The paper further presents the functionality of the system and its limitations. It is anticipated that this paper will contribute knowledge on how technology can contribute towards safe medical practices and a greener environment.","PeriodicalId":248924,"journal":{"name":"2017 IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology Conference (GHTC)","volume":"65 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134265913","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2017-10-01DOI: 10.1109/GHTC.2017.8239281
Grace Warkulwiz, Kaylyn Hannon, D. Cabano, Khanjan Mehta
Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are one of the most common infections in developing countries such as Kenya. Despite this, their prevalence is virtually unknown from a patient's perspective, especially in rural communities. Worldwide, it is estimated that one in two women will contract a UTI during their lifetimes. More specifically, UTI incidence rates are nearly 20 percent higher in the developing world. A UTI is contracted when bacteria enters and settles in the urinary tract. Untreated UTIs can spread to the kidneys and cause birth complications in pregnant women. Since UTIs are prevalent, yet mostly unknown to rural Kenyans, many are at risk for developing high-risk complications. The social stigma surrounding UTIs labels them as sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and contributes to challenges regarding addressing and treating the infection. This article provides a review of the existence and prevalence of UTIs in rural Kenya. It focuses on data gathered from local doctors, nurses, community health workers (CHWs), health care facilities, and community members from Nyeri county. The current pathway system that a patient may follow when exhibiting symptoms of a UTI is identified. Technology based opportunities that stem from this pathway system are also proposed, including improved UTI screening test strips manufactured on an inkjet printer. By replacing traditional ink with chemical solutions to react with indicated parameters found in infected urine, inkjet printers exhibit promise in becoming simple manufacturing machines for low cost test strips specific to UTIs. Simple technology in PowerPoint and Kindles has proven to be an effective educational tool In the developing world and should be leveraged to bring increased awareness to UTIs in these communities.
{"title":"Urinary tract infections (UTIs) in rural Kenya: Screening challenges, treatment pathways, and technological solutions","authors":"Grace Warkulwiz, Kaylyn Hannon, D. Cabano, Khanjan Mehta","doi":"10.1109/GHTC.2017.8239281","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/GHTC.2017.8239281","url":null,"abstract":"Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are one of the most common infections in developing countries such as Kenya. Despite this, their prevalence is virtually unknown from a patient's perspective, especially in rural communities. Worldwide, it is estimated that one in two women will contract a UTI during their lifetimes. More specifically, UTI incidence rates are nearly 20 percent higher in the developing world. A UTI is contracted when bacteria enters and settles in the urinary tract. Untreated UTIs can spread to the kidneys and cause birth complications in pregnant women. Since UTIs are prevalent, yet mostly unknown to rural Kenyans, many are at risk for developing high-risk complications. The social stigma surrounding UTIs labels them as sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and contributes to challenges regarding addressing and treating the infection. This article provides a review of the existence and prevalence of UTIs in rural Kenya. It focuses on data gathered from local doctors, nurses, community health workers (CHWs), health care facilities, and community members from Nyeri county. The current pathway system that a patient may follow when exhibiting symptoms of a UTI is identified. Technology based opportunities that stem from this pathway system are also proposed, including improved UTI screening test strips manufactured on an inkjet printer. By replacing traditional ink with chemical solutions to react with indicated parameters found in infected urine, inkjet printers exhibit promise in becoming simple manufacturing machines for low cost test strips specific to UTIs. Simple technology in PowerPoint and Kindles has proven to be an effective educational tool In the developing world and should be leveraged to bring increased awareness to UTIs in these communities.","PeriodicalId":248924,"journal":{"name":"2017 IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology Conference (GHTC)","volume":"115 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133902816","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2017-10-01DOI: 10.1109/GHTC.2017.8239302
D. Danley
Hybrid solar / diesel / battery microgrids are being suggested as a solution to rural electrification for many developing countries, even those with existing transmission / distribution networks. One question is how to balance the sizing of the various subsystems. Energy from photovoltaic systems is now far cheaper than even the lowest fuel-only costs for diesel generators. However, solar is only available during the day and is often intermittent, so energy storage is needed to optimize microgrid system performance and economics. With high penetrations of PV, the role of storage has moved from supplying overnight load to the need to capture excess PV energy during the day when load is low. This paper uses a custom time-series model to discuss optimization of solar, energy storage and on-demand-generators for community scale applications ranging from 10 kW to 10 MW of load. The paper also discusses the requirements for energy storage technologies needed to meet this application.
{"title":"Optimization of advanced energy storage for solar-diesel hybrid microgrids","authors":"D. Danley","doi":"10.1109/GHTC.2017.8239302","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/GHTC.2017.8239302","url":null,"abstract":"Hybrid solar / diesel / battery microgrids are being suggested as a solution to rural electrification for many developing countries, even those with existing transmission / distribution networks. One question is how to balance the sizing of the various subsystems. Energy from photovoltaic systems is now far cheaper than even the lowest fuel-only costs for diesel generators. However, solar is only available during the day and is often intermittent, so energy storage is needed to optimize microgrid system performance and economics. With high penetrations of PV, the role of storage has moved from supplying overnight load to the need to capture excess PV energy during the day when load is low. This paper uses a custom time-series model to discuss optimization of solar, energy storage and on-demand-generators for community scale applications ranging from 10 kW to 10 MW of load. The paper also discusses the requirements for energy storage technologies needed to meet this application.","PeriodicalId":248924,"journal":{"name":"2017 IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology Conference (GHTC)","volume":"39 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122898311","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2017-10-01DOI: 10.1109/GHTC.2017.8239263
D. Ekong, P. Fontelo
Advances in mobile technologies have led to the use of mobile devices in telemedicine. Examples include smartphones for capturing microscopic images from glass slides for remote telepathology and in teledermatology consultations. As use of smartphones become even more pervasive in developing countries where expert medical consultation is greatly needed, telemedicine, such as telepathology and telemicroscopy consultations will become more feasible even in the most remote locations. In this paper, we report on our experience on an early evaluation of prototype systems that use the Raspberry Pi with mobile devices for telepathology consultation. We present some alternatives for connecting the Raspberry Pi to the Internet along with their performance measurements.
{"title":"Prototype telepathology solutions that use the Raspberry Pi and mobile devices","authors":"D. Ekong, P. Fontelo","doi":"10.1109/GHTC.2017.8239263","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/GHTC.2017.8239263","url":null,"abstract":"Advances in mobile technologies have led to the use of mobile devices in telemedicine. Examples include smartphones for capturing microscopic images from glass slides for remote telepathology and in teledermatology consultations. As use of smartphones become even more pervasive in developing countries where expert medical consultation is greatly needed, telemedicine, such as telepathology and telemicroscopy consultations will become more feasible even in the most remote locations. In this paper, we report on our experience on an early evaluation of prototype systems that use the Raspberry Pi with mobile devices for telepathology consultation. We present some alternatives for connecting the Raspberry Pi to the Internet along with their performance measurements.","PeriodicalId":248924,"journal":{"name":"2017 IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology Conference (GHTC)","volume":"166 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121062933","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2017-10-01DOI: 10.1109/GHTC.2017.8239242
M. Khan
This study investigates use of acoustic signals to detect cracks in polyvinyl chloride (PVC) sewer pipes. Cracked sewer pipes can result in release of untreated human and industrial waste, toxic materials and debris affecting human health and the environment. The released toxic effluents can pollute water reservoirs and damage public and private property. Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) pipes have been extensively used in sewer systems for the past several decades. These pipes fail due to improper installation and engineering, incorrect operation, internal and external contamination, manufacturing defects and abuse by the users. Existing industry standard for crack detection in sewer pipes is based on a Closed-circuit television (CCTV) mounted crawler that passes through the sewer pipes and relays the video to an operator who visually observes and records the presence of cracks. This method requires a special vehicle, an electric generator, a reel-mounted data link cable and a customized software with a dedicated control system. There is a need for developing a system that can be easily deployable, economical and consistent in detecting cracks in pipes. The aim of this project is to analyze and relate attenuation in the acoustic signal to the condition of a pipe sample. Extensive empirical testing has been conducted on 0.1 m diameter PVC pipes with and without cracks. The preliminary results show that acoustic frequencies between 800 Hz–1.2 kHz are severely attenuated due to signal loss from cracks. Further testing in the laboratory and field is in progress to classify the location and extent of cracks in pipes. The findings from the study can be used to develop an acoustic based pipeline crack detection application.
{"title":"An approach for crack detection in sewer pipes using acoustic signals","authors":"M. Khan","doi":"10.1109/GHTC.2017.8239242","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/GHTC.2017.8239242","url":null,"abstract":"This study investigates use of acoustic signals to detect cracks in polyvinyl chloride (PVC) sewer pipes. Cracked sewer pipes can result in release of untreated human and industrial waste, toxic materials and debris affecting human health and the environment. The released toxic effluents can pollute water reservoirs and damage public and private property. Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) pipes have been extensively used in sewer systems for the past several decades. These pipes fail due to improper installation and engineering, incorrect operation, internal and external contamination, manufacturing defects and abuse by the users. Existing industry standard for crack detection in sewer pipes is based on a Closed-circuit television (CCTV) mounted crawler that passes through the sewer pipes and relays the video to an operator who visually observes and records the presence of cracks. This method requires a special vehicle, an electric generator, a reel-mounted data link cable and a customized software with a dedicated control system. There is a need for developing a system that can be easily deployable, economical and consistent in detecting cracks in pipes. The aim of this project is to analyze and relate attenuation in the acoustic signal to the condition of a pipe sample. Extensive empirical testing has been conducted on 0.1 m diameter PVC pipes with and without cracks. The preliminary results show that acoustic frequencies between 800 Hz–1.2 kHz are severely attenuated due to signal loss from cracks. Further testing in the laboratory and field is in progress to classify the location and extent of cracks in pipes. The findings from the study can be used to develop an acoustic based pipeline crack detection application.","PeriodicalId":248924,"journal":{"name":"2017 IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology Conference (GHTC)","volume":"42 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128660462","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2017-10-01DOI: 10.1109/GHTC.2017.8239323
A. Retamar, G. Guba, G. V. Lopez, Harold Bryan Paler, Joven Javier, Felan Carlo C. Garcia, Jeanette Badong-Carlos, Jericho Capito, Ian C. Mosquera, M. D. Paz, Jasmin Jane Yabut
This paper presents the development and national deployment of hydro-meteorological monitoring devices, termed as HydroMet Stations, for flood warning and monitoring applications. We describe various challenges encountered during the course of implementation particularly those related to transportation, local logistics, location, and security. We also discussed lessons learned such as the early involvement of stakeholders, the modification of the design to further protect the sensors from observed issues that came up during implementation, as well as those related to local community engagements. Information, Education and Communication (IEC) Campaign was also discussed as a mode of information dissemination to communities for the currently deployed system consisting of 1,834 HydroMet stations. Likewise, various instances and use cases were enumerated stemming from end-users that have utilized the data for use in public service, research, and academic work. This includes government agencies, research institutes, academia, and other government-funded projects. Finally, a set of recommendations and next steps relevant to operation and further system improvements were discussed.
{"title":"HydroMet: Deployment of a large scale nationwide hydrometeorological sensor network for flood warning and monitoring","authors":"A. Retamar, G. Guba, G. V. Lopez, Harold Bryan Paler, Joven Javier, Felan Carlo C. Garcia, Jeanette Badong-Carlos, Jericho Capito, Ian C. Mosquera, M. D. Paz, Jasmin Jane Yabut","doi":"10.1109/GHTC.2017.8239323","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/GHTC.2017.8239323","url":null,"abstract":"This paper presents the development and national deployment of hydro-meteorological monitoring devices, termed as HydroMet Stations, for flood warning and monitoring applications. We describe various challenges encountered during the course of implementation particularly those related to transportation, local logistics, location, and security. We also discussed lessons learned such as the early involvement of stakeholders, the modification of the design to further protect the sensors from observed issues that came up during implementation, as well as those related to local community engagements. Information, Education and Communication (IEC) Campaign was also discussed as a mode of information dissemination to communities for the currently deployed system consisting of 1,834 HydroMet stations. Likewise, various instances and use cases were enumerated stemming from end-users that have utilized the data for use in public service, research, and academic work. This includes government agencies, research institutes, academia, and other government-funded projects. Finally, a set of recommendations and next steps relevant to operation and further system improvements were discussed.","PeriodicalId":248924,"journal":{"name":"2017 IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology Conference (GHTC)","volume":"19 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"117059163","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2017-10-01DOI: 10.1109/GHTC.2017.8239312
S. Awara, R. Malik, David C. Garrett, A. B. Arfi
In the spring of 2013, Alberta experienced significant flooding. According to the government of Alberta, this flood was “the largest and most expensive natural disaster in Alberta's history” [1]. Siksika Nation was severely impacted, with almost 170 homes devastated by the flood [2]. Recovery was slow, with many families left in temporary housing or without power for several years. A community engagement program developed by the IEEE Southern Alberta Section has been taking place on the Siksika First Nation reservation. A student team from the University of Calgary with the IEEE Special Interest Group on Humanitarian Technology (SIGHT) affinity is leading these activities. The IEEE volunteers are currently working with the reservation's community members to build an astronomical observatory located in a dark area as part of the educational program. The team worked on installing an off-the-grid solar kit to power the observatory. The solar kit was assembled and tested by the students at the university and then installed at the observatory. After the installation of the solar kit, the community members will be trained to maintain the solar kit system while using the telescopes for observation.
{"title":"Solar powered observatory for educational activities","authors":"S. Awara, R. Malik, David C. Garrett, A. B. Arfi","doi":"10.1109/GHTC.2017.8239312","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/GHTC.2017.8239312","url":null,"abstract":"In the spring of 2013, Alberta experienced significant flooding. According to the government of Alberta, this flood was “the largest and most expensive natural disaster in Alberta's history” [1]. Siksika Nation was severely impacted, with almost 170 homes devastated by the flood [2]. Recovery was slow, with many families left in temporary housing or without power for several years. A community engagement program developed by the IEEE Southern Alberta Section has been taking place on the Siksika First Nation reservation. A student team from the University of Calgary with the IEEE Special Interest Group on Humanitarian Technology (SIGHT) affinity is leading these activities. The IEEE volunteers are currently working with the reservation's community members to build an astronomical observatory located in a dark area as part of the educational program. The team worked on installing an off-the-grid solar kit to power the observatory. The solar kit was assembled and tested by the students at the university and then installed at the observatory. After the installation of the solar kit, the community members will be trained to maintain the solar kit system while using the telescopes for observation.","PeriodicalId":248924,"journal":{"name":"2017 IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology Conference (GHTC)","volume":"91 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115498079","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2017-10-01DOI: 10.1109/GHTC.2017.8239309
Karen Mac, Taylor Maya Tromburg, Michele T. Parker, N. Morrison, Samantha O'Connor, Callie Weber, U. Kim
Human breast milk is considered the gold standard for infant nutrition, as breast milk is the only substance that is able to provide infants with the necessary nutrients in their first six months of life. Infants who are fed mother's breast milk are at lower risk for developing a variety of infections and autoimmune diseases and often display better developmental and cognitive performance compared to infants who are not fed breast milk. Most notably, studies have shown that breastfeeding could prevent up to 13% of child deaths worldwide [5]. However, many women are unable to breastfeed for a variety of reasons, including immuno-compromised status due to diseases such as HIV/AIDS, lack of time, or cultural pressures to use infant formula. In an attempt to solve this problem, there has been a global emergence of human breast milk banks that receive breast milk from screened donors and pasteurize the donated breast milk for distribution. However, the process of ensuring that donor milk is safe for use through pasteurization and screening via bacterial culturing is costly and time-consuming. Accordingly, a standardized implementation of the process has ranged widely. Furthermore, there are a lack of universal guidelines regarding the processing and treatment of breast milk donations around the world. This paper presents a comprehensive review detailing the different methods of pasteurization (including the Holder Method and flash pasteurization) and screening (such as Dornic acidity, bacterial culturing, and crematocrit method) at human milk banks in both developed and developing countries. Understanding different practices worldwide will help in identifying gaps in current efforts to ensure the safety of donated milk, highlighting areas for possible technology development and implementation. Our review demonstrates that few, if any solutions, currently exist for screening donated milk in a cost-effective and efficient manner.
{"title":"Screening donated breast milk in the developing world: Market evaluation and needs identification for rapid and sustainable methods of screening donated milk at human milk banks","authors":"Karen Mac, Taylor Maya Tromburg, Michele T. Parker, N. Morrison, Samantha O'Connor, Callie Weber, U. Kim","doi":"10.1109/GHTC.2017.8239309","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/GHTC.2017.8239309","url":null,"abstract":"Human breast milk is considered the gold standard for infant nutrition, as breast milk is the only substance that is able to provide infants with the necessary nutrients in their first six months of life. Infants who are fed mother's breast milk are at lower risk for developing a variety of infections and autoimmune diseases and often display better developmental and cognitive performance compared to infants who are not fed breast milk. Most notably, studies have shown that breastfeeding could prevent up to 13% of child deaths worldwide [5]. However, many women are unable to breastfeed for a variety of reasons, including immuno-compromised status due to diseases such as HIV/AIDS, lack of time, or cultural pressures to use infant formula. In an attempt to solve this problem, there has been a global emergence of human breast milk banks that receive breast milk from screened donors and pasteurize the donated breast milk for distribution. However, the process of ensuring that donor milk is safe for use through pasteurization and screening via bacterial culturing is costly and time-consuming. Accordingly, a standardized implementation of the process has ranged widely. Furthermore, there are a lack of universal guidelines regarding the processing and treatment of breast milk donations around the world. This paper presents a comprehensive review detailing the different methods of pasteurization (including the Holder Method and flash pasteurization) and screening (such as Dornic acidity, bacterial culturing, and crematocrit method) at human milk banks in both developed and developing countries. Understanding different practices worldwide will help in identifying gaps in current efforts to ensure the safety of donated milk, highlighting areas for possible technology development and implementation. Our review demonstrates that few, if any solutions, currently exist for screening donated milk in a cost-effective and efficient manner.","PeriodicalId":248924,"journal":{"name":"2017 IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology Conference (GHTC)","volume":"14 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115531544","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2017-10-01DOI: 10.1109/GHTC.2017.8239338
Christian Infante, Daniel B. Chamberlain, Rich Fletcher, Yogesh Thorat, R. Kodgule
Cough sound analysis has attracted interest as a potential low-cost diagnostic tool for low-resource settings, where the burden of pulmonary disease is quite high. However, published results on cough sound analysis are generally limited to specific pulmonary diseases (e.g. detection of Whooping cough — Pertussis) and the study sizes are small. In this paper, we present a general framework for cough sound analysis, which includes automatic cough segmentation, feature extraction and a general classification design that can be applied to a wide range of pulmonary diseases. For our analysis, three evidence-based features were selected (variance, kurtosis, and zero crossing irregularity) as well as an additional feature that we developed (rate of decay). Our cough sound analysis framework was tested using voluntary cough data collected from 54 patients presenting a combination of pulmonary conditions (COPD, asthma, and allergic rhinitis) equally sampled from all patients arriving at a pulmonary clinic, as well as 33 healthy individuals. All study subjects were examined with a stethoscope auscultation, clinical questionnaire, and peak flow meter, and were given a full pulmonary function test (spirometer, body plethysmograph, DLCO), which was the gold standard used to determine each patient's diagnosis. When the classifiers were trained using cough sounds alone, the accuracy (as determined by the AUC of the ROC curve) was 74% for Healthy vs Unhealthy, 80% for Obstructive vs non-Obstructive, and 81% for Asthma vs COPD. We also compared the performance of our cough sound analysis against other low-cost diagnostic tools and observed that cough sounds surprisingly had better performance than lung sound auscultation alone, but had significantly lower performance compared to our clinical questionnaire or peak flow meter test. From these data, we conclude that cough sounds have value as a rapid and simple screening tool, but are of less diagnostic value compared to a clinical questionnaire or peak flow meter.
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