The University of the West Indies at Mona, Jamaica: UWI Journals
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Domestic Solar Energy: A viable Alternative in Trinidad and Tobago? Case Study: HDC Housing. Part 1- The Geographic Insolation Potential
No full textThe world’s prospect for climate change presents several profound implications for the ecological and socio-economic environment. But the repercussions expected for the Caribbean basin as a community of Small Island Developing States (SIDS), have the potential to be even more prevalent and pervasive. As such, the region’s industrial capital, Trinidad and Tobago, seeks to embark upon a domestic alternative energy pilot project using solar water heating as a mitigative undertaking through the Government of Trinidad and Tobago’s Housing Development Corporation (HDC). This intended initiative stimulated the research’s concept of full scale photovoltaic electricity generation to meet the energy demands of these homes. In so doing, such an alternative energy scheme would open up avenues for CO2 abatement, carbon trading, energy conservation and diversification; symbolizing a ‘green’ response by the nation in the face of environmental change.
Using NASA solar insolation data, length of daylight, energy consumption records as well as the efficiencies of several solar panels on the market, a formula was developed to yield the area of solar panels an HDC home would require to meet its energy demand. The parameters used in the formulae were also subject to the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test for normality and consequently, the Spearman’s correlation coefficient test such that the most influential solar factors could be highlighted and further investigated. The geographic location of the nation was also looked at using graphical representations of annual solar insolation distribution and the solar migration at latitudinal and longitudinal cross sections coupled with the nation’s climatic insolation conditions.
Such parameters revealed that for a given year, a 150m2 to 300m2 photovoltaic surface should satisfy the energy demands of a moderately consumptive HDC home. Given that solar insolation and number of sunshine hours were found to be the most influential parameters investigated, they are the result of the earth’s orbital alignment with the sun and our tropical/equatorial geography. This reveals low annual insolation variability and high monthly averages of an estimated 6 kWh/m2/day. As such, Trinidad and Tobago has an advantageous geography for solar harvesting as quantified by the islands’ annual insolation distribution and resultant panel areas. Thus based on the solar environment present, Trinidad and Tobago has a high geographic insolation potential such that solar energy can be seen as a plausible alternative to power homes
Domestic Solar Energy: A viable Alternative in Trinidad and Tobago? Case Study: HDC Housing. Part 2- The Economic Analysis
No full textThe tropical latitudes of the world seem to be the most promising for solar harvesting. The equatorial regions likewise display this natural availability of the resource. As such, Part 1 of this solar study showed that such geographic territories are indeed favorable for solar utilization. Trinidad and Tobago in turn falls into this tropical/equatorial geographic grouping. However, given this supposed geographic advantage, the use of solar energy as an alternative energy source subjects it to the laws of economics and ultimately competition with Trinidad and Tobago’s hydrocarbon energy subsidy. The economics of such energy diversification highlight the subsequent capacity for a potential domestic photovoltaic market especially where this housing application is considered.
Static direct valuation analyzed the costs of photovoltaic systems and conventional electricity rates for an HDC home where the start-up cost of both methods as well as the maintenance regimes were also factored in spanning the lifetime of the solar panel. Such an assessment was inclusive of CO2 abatement and stock market value for both solar water heating as well as the full solar array case study. This was then expanded to photovoltaic and natural gas import scenarios for national HDC schemes as part of a projected governmental expenditure on such investments.
The photovoltaic systems yielded initial payback periods of roughly 5 years with the potential to abate 105 tons of CO2 per home. The importation scenarios for extra-regional natural gas revealed significant projected losses; favouring the solar panel import alternative. The solar economic environment is increasing in its viability but such investments are vulnerable to market domination by foreign transnationals; stifling any potential manufacture, marketing and distribution by local firms
Questioning the Trio of Science, Technology and Innovation for Policy Formation
No full textThis paper argues that grouping science with technology and innovation is not the best way to craft useful science and technology policies. It opines that in underdeveloped countries like Jamaica, more support can be garnered by making short term technological policies take the lead in dealing with urgent and important problems, accompanied with longer term science policies to build the skills and information systems for the more innovative use of knowledge
Asthma and Allergies in Jamaican Children age 2-17 years: A cross-sectional prevalence survey
No full textObjective: To determine the prevalence and severity of asthma and allergies as well as risk factors for asthma among Jamaican children aged 2-17years.
Design: A cross-sectional community-based prevalence survey using the International Study of Asthma and Allergies (ISAAC) questionnaire. The authors selected a representative sample of 2, 017 children using stratified multi-stage, cluster sampling design using enumeration districts as primary sampling units.
Setting: Jamaica, a Caribbean island with a total population of approximately 2.6 million geographically divided into 14 parishes.
Participants: Children aged 2-17 years, who were resident in private households. Institutionalised children such as those in boarding schools and hospitals were excluded from the survey.
Primary and secondary outcomes measures: The prevalence and severity of asthma and allergy symptoms, doctor diagnosed asthma and risk factors for asthma.
Results: Almost a fifth (19.6%) of Jamaican children aged 2-17years had current wheeze while 16.7% had self reported doctor-diagnosed asthma. Both were more common among males than females. The prevalence of rhinitis, hay fever and eczema among children was 24.5%, 25% and 17.3%, respectively. Current wheeze was more common among children with rhinitis in the last 12 months (44.3% versus 12.6%, p<0.001), hay fever (36.8% versus 13.8%, p<0.001) and eczema (34.1% versus 16.4%, p<0.001). Independent risk factors for current wheeze, odds ratios (OR), 95 % confidence intervals(CI) were: chest infections in the first year of life 4.83 (3.00-7.77), parental asthma 4.19 (2.8 -6.08), rhinitis in the last twelve months 6.92 (5.16-9.29), hay fever 4.82(3.62-6.41), molds in the home 2.25 (1.16-4.45), cat in the home 2.44 (1.66-3.58) and dog in the home 1.81(1.18-2.78).
Conclusions: The prevalence of asthma and allergies in Jamaican children is high. Significant risk factors for asthma include: chest infections in the first year of life, a history of asthma in the family, allergies, molds and pets in the home
Telephone health coaching and employee absenteeism: Does it impact absence due to illness in BMI-defined obese employees?
No full textObesity has an impact on communities and society as a whole. Adults who are overweight or obese are more likely to have chronic illnesses (Norman et al., 2009) compared to non- overweight/obese counterparts. Working adults contribute greatly to the welfare of the communities they live in (environmentally, economically) and thus the health and wellness of employees have a direct effect on the health of their community. A relatively new strategy that aims to support working adults to better manage their health are workplace wellness programs that may include on-site gyms, health workshops, fitness center discounts, a health allowance account, and other work based incentives intended to target employees that are most at risk for chronic illness and absenteeism related to chronic illness. This meta-analysis examines the use of telephone coaching (“telephone health coaching”) as a means of reducing chronic illness related absenteeism in employees who are overweight or obese.
The Patient population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome (PICO) format was used to provide a clear focus for the literature review. A selection algorithm was used to systematically select appropriate studies for inclusion in the analysis. Over 1500 studies were selected initially for review and suitability. An analysis of each study included the quality and/or rigour of study design, study validity, participant characteristics, recruitment methods, interventions, and study results. Not all components of the analysis are shared in this article.
Twenty- four studies were selected for review. These studies focused on obesity, chronic illness, workplace health, the cost of absenteeism, and workplace interventions. Many employees who are obese, as defined by the body mass index (BMI), suffer from major chronic conditions including diabetes, musculoskeletal injury, and heart disease (Capodaglio et al., 2010). Furthermore, there is strong evidence that obese employees are sick more often than their non-obese counterparts (Neovius et al., 2008). There is evidence that telephone health coaching has produced minimal to moderate weight loss (0.04 lbs – 7.5 lbs) over an average period of 8 months (Van Wormer et al., 2009) with moderate levels of attrition (36% at 12 months) (Merill et al., 2010).
Overall, results are encouraging. Five out of six telephone health coaching programs examined indicated that telephone coaching interventions produced weight loss and/or reduction in BMI in overweight or obese employees over a short term period. Health care organizations in particular are in a unique position to take advantage of telephone health coaching as their employee populations are more prone to high levels of stress, poor eating, and activity habits leading to obesity (Han, Trinkoff, Storr & Geiger-Brown, 2011). In fact, Han et al. (2011) discovered that 27.1% (n=2103 nurses) of nurses in their study were obese. Telephone health coaching is fairly easy to implement and can be applied in a number of work settings. There is moderate evidence to support the use of a telephone health coaching intervention as a short term means of reducing chronic illness related absenteeism in employees who are overweight or obese
Nutrition in critical illness: Critical care nurses’ knowledge and skills in the nutritional management of adults requiring intensive care – A review of the literature
No full textBackground: Critical illness is physiologically debilitating and is affected by the nutritional status of patients. There is a strong relationship between adequate nutritional status and recovery from critical illness. The health care team, nurses in particular, play a major role in the management and maintenance of an optimal nutritional status in patients who are critically ill.
Aims of the review: 1) To examine current evidence regarding the relationship between nutrition and critical illness 2) to examine the relationship between nutritional intake and clinical outcomes of critically ill patients; 3) To determine the role of critical care nurses and the health care team in meeting the nutritional needs of critically ill patients.
Methods: A Computerized search of Google Scholar, CINAHL, ProQuest, Medline, and HINARI was done using key terms. The search was delimited to peer reviewed, full text descriptive and intervention research articles with abstracts, which were reviewed.
Results: Current evidence suggests that there is a strong positive relationship between nutritional status and critical illness. Improved nutritional status is associated with positive clinical outcomes. However, the evidence is inconsistent in supporting this relationship. The healthcare team particularly nurses’ play a major role in the nutritional status of critically ill patients.
Conclusion: Maintaining optimal nutritional status is key to improving clinical outcomes of critically ill patients. Knowledge and skills of the healthcare team in nutritional management and the availability of management protocols are important in maintaining optimal nutrition of critically ill patients
