Medical services provided on the 'Harmonious Mission-2017' Peace Ark from China.

INTRODUCTION: The Chinese Naval ship Peace Ark provided humanitarian medical services to people in eight low-income countries in Africa and Asia during the 2017 "Harmonious Mission'. The expedition lasted 155 days. Our study aimed to analyse the details of the medical services provided including outpatient care, medical patrol, operations, examinations and medications. METHOD: The patient demographic data and medical information were extracted from electronic medical records. The diagnoses and procedures aboard were coded by the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM). The sociodemographic data of the medical staff aboard were collected via questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and statistical software (SAS, V.9.4) were used to analyse the data. RESULTS: In total, 115 Chinese military medical personnel participated in the mission, completing a total of 50 758 outpatient visits, 10 232 medical patrols and 252 operations. The five most frequently used outpatient departments were ophthalmology, general surgery, general internal medicine, orthopaedics and traditional Chinese medicine. The five most common operations were lipoma excision, cataract extraction, skin tissue removal (such as warts and cysts), pterygium transposition and herniorrhaphy. CONCLUSIONS: Our study revealed the medical services in demand during the 'Harmonious Mission-2017'. It is essential to report their experiences so that future ventures can provide medical services more effectively.

Sequencing on an imported case in China of COVID-19 Delta variant emerging from India in a cargo ship in Zhoushan, China.

A cluster of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections was found in a cargo ship under repair in Zhoushan, China. Twelve of 20 crew members were identified as SARS-CoV-2 positive. We analyzed four sequences and identified them all in the Delta branch emerging from India with 7-8 amino acid mutation sites in the spike protein.

Efficacy of Medical Operations and Layout Planning Onboard Nontraditional US Navy Vessels at High Seas.

INTRODUCTION: Attempting to expedite delivery of care to wounded war fighters, this study aimed to quantify the ability of medical and surgical teams to perform lifesaving damage control and resuscitation procedures aboard nontraditional US Navy Vessels on high seas. Specifically, it looked at the ability of the teams to perform procedures in shipboard operating and emergency rooms by analyzing motion of personnel during the procedures. METHODS: One hundred and twelve damage control and resuscitation procedures were performed during a voyage of the US Naval Ship Brunswick in transit from Norfolk, Virginia, to San Diego, California. The ability of personnel to perform these procedures was quantified by the use of motion link analysis designed to track the movement of each participant as they completed their assigned tasks. RESULTS: The link analysis showed no significant change in the number of movements of participants from the beginning to the end of the study. However, there was a learning effect observed during the study, with teams completing tasks faster at the end of the study than at the beginning. CONCLUSION: This shows that the working conditions aboard the US Naval Ship Brunswick were satisfactory for the assigned tasks, indicating that these medical operations may be feasible aboard nontraditional US Navy vessels.

Effects of non-sinusoidal pitching motion on the propulsion performance of an oscillating foil.

Numerical simulations have been used in this paper to study the propulsion device of a wave glider based on an oscillating hydrofoil, in which the profile of the pitching and heaving motion have been prescribed for the sake of simplicity. A grid model for a two-dimensional NACA0012 hydrofoil was built by using the dynamic and moving mesh technology of the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software FLUENT and the corresponding mathematical model has also been established. First, for the sinusoidal pitching, the effects of the pitching amplitude and the reduced frequency were investigated. As the reduced frequency increased, both the mean output power coefficient and the optimal pitching amplitude increased. Then non-sinusoidal pitching was studied, with a gradual change from a sinusoid to a square wave as the value of ß was increased from 1. It was found that when the pitching amplitude was small, the trapezoidal pitching profile could indeed improve the mean output power coefficient of the flapping foil. However, when the pitching amplitude was larger than the optimal value, the non-sinusoidal pitching motion negatively contributed to the propulsion performance. Finally, the overall results suggested that a trapezoidal-like pitching profile was effective for the oscillating foil of a wave glider when the pitching amplitude was less than the optimal value.

Artisans and dugout canoes reveal pieces of Atlantic Forest history.

Dugout canoes are boats made from a single tree trunk. Even with the modernization of fishing, they are still made and used for artisanal fishing on the coast of southern and southeastern Brazil and in other regions of the world. Various tree species are used to construct these canoes and choosing a species is related to characteristics of the location, available raw materials and purpose of the boat. Our objective was to better understand the variation in dugout canoes in relation to tree species, tree size and fishing use, over time, along a coastal strip of southern and southeastern Brazil within the Atlantic Forest domain. We interviewed 53 artisans and analyzed 358 canoes that ranged from 1 to around 200 years old. Schizolobium parahyba is currently used the most. In the past, species of the family Lauraceae (Nectandra sp. / Ocotea sp.) were frequently used, as well as Cedrela fissilis and Ficus sp. The size of the canoes varied based on time, coastal region, environment where the boat is used (exposed or sheltered) and type of fishing. The average size of recent canoes was smaller than older canoes for more common species (S. parahyba and C. fissilis), reflecting changes in the vegetation of the biome over time, both in the species and size of individuals available. Latitudinal variation can also influence the availability of tree species along the studied regions. An increase in environmental monitoring has contributed to a decline in constructing dugout canoes, resulting in the use of fiberglass canoes and other motorized boats. Although canoe size varied based on region, location and use, today some of the older canoes represent large trees of the past and pieces of Atlantic Forest history.

Brazilian and North-American nursing in the HOPE Project (1972): approximations and gaps.

OBJECTIVE: Understand the structuring and operation of the Nursing Service on the hospital ship HOPE and the relations between Nursing from North America and from Rio Grande do Norte. METHOD: Qualitative, sociohistorical research, developed by consulting documentary and oral sources. RESULTS: The analysis revealed the categories: The HOPE Project: impressions of its nurses and Nursing on the hospital ship SS HOPE: Brazilian impressions. These categories revealed a Nursing Service similar to that of a general hospital, ordered by scales and which functioned uninterruptedly in the three shifts. FINAL CONSIDERATIONS: The Nursing Service consisted exclusively of nurses; followed a hierarchical system; with accumulation of administrative and care functions; strict, precise and technical execution of the work. The language and cultural barriers do not seem to have compromised the Exchange and the work system in counterparts.

Ship roll motion prediction based on ℓ1 regularized extreme learning machine.

In this paper, a new method is proposed for prediction of ship roll motion based on extreme learning machine (ELM). To improve the prediction accuracy and avoid over or under fitting, two techniques are adopted to select the appropriate structure of ELM. First, the inputs of the ELM are selected from the roll motion time series using Lipschitz quotient method. Second, the number of hidden layer nodes is determined via ℓ1 regularized technique. Finally, the ℓ1 regularized ELM is solved by least angle regression (LAR) algorithm. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated by ship roll motion prediction experiments based on the real measured ship roll motion time series.

Brazilian and North-American nursing in the HOPE Project (1972): approximations and gaps / La enfermería brasileña y norteamericana del Proyecto HOPE (1972): aproximaciones y distanciamientos / Enfermagem brasileira e norte-americana do Projeto HOPE (1972): aproximações e distanciamentos

ABSTRACT Objective: Understand the structuring and operation of the Nursing Service on the hospital ship HOPE and the relations between Nursing from North America and from Rio Grande do Norte. Method: Qualitative, sociohistorical research, developed by consulting documentary and oral sources. Results: The analysis revealed the categories: The HOPE Project: impressions of its nurses and Nursing on the hospital ship SS HOPE: Brazilian impressions. These categories revealed a Nursing Service similar to that of a general hospital, ordered by scales and which functioned uninterruptedly in the three shifts. Final considerations: The Nursing Service consisted exclusively of nurses; followed a hierarchical system; with accumulation of administrative and care functions; strict, precise and technical execution of the work. The language and cultural barriers do not seem to have compromised the Exchange and the work system in counterparts.

RESUMEN Objetivo: Comprender la estructuración, el funcionamiento del Servicio de Enfermería del buque hospital SS HOPE y las relaciones entre la Enfermería norteamericana y la norte-rio-grandense. Método: Investigación cualitativa, socio-histórica, realizada a partir de consultas a fuentes documentales y orales. Resultados: El análisis llegó a las categorías: El Proyecto HOPE - impresiones de sus enfermeras y La Enfermería del buque hospital SS HOPE - impresiones brasileñas. Estas categorías revelaron un Servicio de Enfermería similar al de un hospital general, ordenado por escalas y que funcionaba ininterrumpidamente en los tres turnos. Consideraciones finales: El Servicio de Enfermería estaba compuesto exclusivamente de enfermeras, obedecía a un sistema de jerarquía con acumulación de funciones administrativas y asistenciales, la ejecución del trabajo se realizaba de manera rígida, precisa y técnica, y las barreras idiomáticas y culturales parecen no haber comprometido el intercambio y el sistema de trabajo en contrapartes.

RESUMO Objetivo: Compreender a estruturação, o funcionamento do Serviço de Enfermagem do navio-hospital SS HOPE e as relações entre a Enfermagem norte-americana e a norte-rio-grandense. Método: Pesquisa qualitativa, sócio-histórica, realizada a partir de consultas a fontes documentais e orais. Resultados: A análise chegou às categorias: O Projeto HOPE: impressões de suas enfermeiras e A Enfermagem do navio-hospital SS HOPE: impressões brasileiras. Essas categorias revelaram um Serviço de Enfermagem similar ao de um hospital geral, ordenado por escalas e que funcionava, ininterruptamente, nos três turnos. Considerações finais: O Serviço de Enfermagem era composto, exclusivamente, de enfermeiras, obedecia a um sistema de hierarquia com acúmulo de funções administrativas e assistenciais, a execução do trabalho era realizada de maneira rígida, precisa e técnica, e as barreiras idiomáticas e culturais parecem não ter comprometido o intercâmbio e o sistema de trabalho em contrapartes.

Application of a hydroxyl-radical-based disinfection system for ballast water.

A hydroxyl radical (OH) ballast water treatment system (BWTS) was developed and applied to inactivate entrained organisms in a 10,000-ton oceanic ship, where OH was produced by a strong ionization discharge combined with a water jet cavitation effect. The calculated OH generation rate was 1373.4 µM min-1 in ballast water, which is much higher than that in other advanced oxidative processes such as photocatalysis. As a result, non-indigenous red tide algae were inactivated to meet the ballast water discharge standards (<10 cells mL-1) of the International Maritime Organization. The ratio of variable fluorescence to maximum fluorescence (Fv/Fm) for algal chlorophyll rapidly decreased to zero within a contact time of only 6 s, indicating complete inactivation of algae. Observation under a scanning electron microscope showed no cellular materials were released by algal cells upon OH inactivation. A risk assessment of the OH treatment system was conducted, and the ratios of predicted environmental concentrations to predicted no effect concentrations of all detected disinfection byproducts were less than 1, even at a worst-case oxidant concentration of 2.41 mg L-1. Ship ballast water treated using OH inactivation is safe for marine environments. Finally, the energy consumption and operational costs of the OH BWTS were found to be 0.033 kWh m-3 and CNY 0.03 m-3, respectively.

Physical Therapists Forward Deployed on Aircraft Carriers: A Retrospective Look at a Decade of Service.

Introduction: Navy physical therapists (PTs) have been a part of ship's company aboard Aircraft Carriers since 2002 due to musculoskeletal injuries being the number one cause of lost duty time and disability. This article describes a decade of physical therapy services provided aboard aircraft carriers. Materials and Methods: A retrospective survey was conducted to evaluate the types of services provided, volume of workload, value of services provided, and impact of PTs on operational readiness for personnel aboard Naval aircraft carriers. Thirty-four reports documenting workload from PTs stationed onboard aircraft carriers were collected during the first decade of permanent PT assignment to aircraft carriers. Results: This report quantifies a 10-yr period of physical therapy services (PT and PT Technician) in providing musculoskeletal care within the carrier strike group and adds to existing literature demonstrating a high demand for musculoskeletal care in operational platforms. A collective total of 144,211 encounters were reported during the 10-yr period. The number of initial evaluations performed by the PT averaged 1,448 per assigned tour. The average number of follow-up appointments performed by the PT per tour was 1,440. The average number of treatment appointments per tour provided by the PT and PT technician combined was 1,888. The average number of visits per patient, including the initial evaluation, was 3.3. Sixty-five percent (65%) of the workload occurred while deployed or out to sea during training periods. It was estimated that 213 medical evacuations were averted over the 10-yr period. There were no reports of adverse events or quality of care reviews related to the care provided by the PT and/or PT technician. Access to early PT intervention aboard aircraft carriers was associated with a better utilization ratio (lower average number of visits per condition) than has been reported in prior studies and suggests an effective utilization of medical personnel resources. Conclusions: The impact of Navy PTs serving afloat highlights the importance of sustaining these billets and indicates the potential benefit of additional billet establishment to support operational platforms with high volumes of musculoskeletal injury. Access to early PT intervention can prevent and rehabilitate injuries among operational forces, promote human performance optimization, increase readiness during war and peace time efforts, and accelerate rehabilitation from neuromusculoskeletal injuries. With the establishment of Electronic Health Records within all carrier medical groups a repeat study may provide additional detail related to musculoskeletal injuries to guide medical planners to staff sea-based operational platforms most effectively to care for the greatest source of battle and disease non-battle injuries and related disability in the military.

Physiological reactions to long-term fishing in the Barents Sea.

Background: Fishing in distant waters for months may induce physiological stress. Aims: To assess the physiological stress reactions in fishermen working for 2-3 months continuously in 6-h shifts on trawlers in the Barents Sea. Methods: The crew of five trawlers fishing in the Barents Sea from January to April 2004 were invited to participate. In the week before and 5-7 days after the trip, the following measures were collected: salivary cortisol four times a day, 24-h urinary cortisol, blood pressure, heart rate, serum cholesterol, serum high-density lipoprotein (HDL-cholesterol), HbA1c (glycosylated haemoglobin) and weight. In addition, 24-h urinary cortisol, blood pressure and heart rate were measured three times. A questionnaire on health, social conditions and work environment was obtained after the trip. Results: In total, 136 men agreed to participate. Full data were obtained for 96 fishermen (70%). A significant decrease in salivary and urinary cortisol was found during the trip. Adjustment for age, body mass index, smoking, shift work schedule and time of day for sample collection did not change this finding. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure declined significantly and remained significantly lower after the trip compared to before the trip. Serum cholesterol/HDL ratio declined significantly, whereas triglycerides, HbA1c and weight were unchanged. Conclusions: Working up to 3 months on 6-h shifts, 84 h a week, with moderate physical activity, even in artificial light and cold weather on a ship, did not result in increased physiological stress.

Composition and influencing factors of bacterial communities in ballast tank sediments: Implications for ballast water and sediment management.

This study aims to reveal the composition and influencing factors of bacterial communities in ballast tank sediments. Nine samples were collected and their 16S rRNA gene sequences were analyzed by high-throughput sequencing. The analysis results showed the Shannon index in ballast tank sediments was in the range of 5.27-6.35, which was significantly higher than that in ballast water. Acidobacteria, Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Chloroflexi and Proteobacteria were the dominant phyla and accounted for approximately 80% of all 16S rRNA gene sequences of the samples. Besides, the high contents of sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB) and sulfur oxidizing bacteria were detected in sediments, indicating that the corrosion of metal caused by SRB might occur in ballast tank. In addition, the trace of human fecal bacteria and candidate pathogens were also detected in ballast tank sediments, and these undesirable microbes reduced the effect of ballast water exchange. Furthermore, C and N had significant effects on the bacterial community composition in ballast tank sediments. In conclusion, our findings suggest that the proper management and disposal of the ballast tank sediments should be considered in order to reduce the negative impact and ecological risks related to ballast water and sediments.

Occurrence of Fumigants and Hazardous Off-gassing Chemicals in Shipping Containers Arriving in Sweden.

Containerized cargo shipment makes up the backbone of international trade. The principal aim of this cross-sectional study was to establish a qualitative and quantitative description of gaseous fumigants and volatile off-gassing substances facing workers tasked with entering shipping containers. A total of 372 packed and 119 empty shipping containers were sampled in six ports and two distribution centers in Sweden. Fourier-transform infrared spectrometry (FTIR) and photoionization detection (PID) were the analytical methods applied to the bulk of samples. A small number of adsorbent samples were analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The results were compared to Swedish occupational exposure limits (OELs), the closest parallel to relevant work situations. Based on the FTIR analyses, 30 of 249 (12%) containers arrived with concentrations of fumigants and off-gassing substances above the 8-h OELs and close to 7% were above the short-term exposure limits. Eight detected chemicals were classified as carcinogens and 4% of the containers arrived with levels of carcinogens above the OELs, at a maximum 30 times the 8-h OEL. Considerable differences were observed between ports, ranging from 0 to 33% of containers arriving with concentrations above the OELs. It is believed that all observation results, apart from a single instance of a confirmed fumigant, phosphine, at 3 p.p.m., and possibly three instances of carbon dioxide, can be attributed to off-gassing substances. The FTIR methodology proved useful for quick preliminary checks and in-depth screening and identification. The PID method produced both false-negative and false-positive results where only 48% matched the FTIR observations. Adsorbent sampling with GC-MS analysis was useful for confirming volatile organic compounds but was deemed too slow for day-to-day screening. The high frequency of contaminated containers, the detection of several carcinogens, and the sporadic occurrences of high levels of fumigants are serious concerns that need to be properly recognized in order to protect the workers at risk.

An improved CS-LSSVM algorithm-based fault pattern recognition of ship power equipments.

A ship power equipments' fault monitoring signal usually provides few samples and the data's feature is non-linear in practical situation. This paper adopts the method of the least squares support vector machine (LSSVM) to deal with the problem of fault pattern identification in the case of small sample data. Meanwhile, in order to avoid involving a local extremum and poor convergence precision which are induced by optimizing the kernel function parameter and penalty factor of LSSVM, an improved Cuckoo Search (CS) algorithm is proposed for the purpose of parameter optimization. Based on the dynamic adaptive strategy, the newly proposed algorithm improves the recognition probability and the searching step length, which can effectively solve the problems of slow searching speed and low calculation accuracy of the CS algorithm. A benchmark example demonstrates that the CS-LSSVM algorithm can accurately and effectively identify the fault pattern types of ship power equipments.

Visual Search Strategy During Regatta Starts in a Sailing Simulation.

In a sport conditioned by natural elements such as sailing, visual perception is a key factor for the performance. Research has shown that the visual behavior of athletes at different skill levels varies, which may cause differences in the performance achieved. The aim of this research was to examine the visual behavior of sailors from different ranking positions at the start of a race in a simulated situation. Twenty junior sailors (N = 10 top and N = 10 bottom ranking) participated in this study. The visual behavior was recorded at the start of a sailing simulation. The top-ranking sailors performed more visual fixations on the locations that have more highly relevant information, such as "telltales" and "rivals," than do bottom-ranking sailors (p < .005). The top-ranking sailors are closer to the start line at the time of the start signal. The analysis of the visual search strategy shows that top-ranking sailors employed a more active visual search strategy. More experienced athletes can make better use of the information obtained from the important locations.

Bio-inspired flexible joints with passive feathering for robotic fish pectoral fins.

In this paper a novel flexible joint is proposed for robotic fish pectoral fins, which enables a swimming behavior emulating the fin motions of many aquatic animals. In particular, the pectoral fin operates primarily in the rowing mode, while undergoing passive feathering during the recovery stroke to reduce hydrodynamic drag on the fin. The latter enables effective locomotion even with symmetric base actuation during power and recovery strokes. A dynamic model is developed to facilitate the understanding and design of the joint, where blade element theory is used to calculate the hydrodynamic forces on the pectoral fins, and the joint is modeled as a paired torsion spring and damper. Experimental results on a robotic fish prototype are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the joint mechanism, validate the proposed model, and indicate the utility of the proposed model for the optimal design of joint depth and stiffness in achieving the trade-off between swimming speed and mechanical efficiency.