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Occupational Hazards in Lead-acid Battery Factories in Bangladesh: Assessing Excess Heat, Noise, Chemical Exposures, and Health Impacts on Workers
No full textBACKGROUND
Lead-acid battery (LAB) manufacturing is growing in Bangladesh because of the expanding automotive industry and low lead prices. Although these factories employ a big workforce, the working environment has led to concerns about the possible health risks for employees. This study aimed to address this issue by investigating workplace chemical and physical hazards in three LAB industries and evaluating health outcomes among workers.
METHODS
A cross-sectional study was conducted among 72 LAB factory workers, and participants were recruited by simple random sampling. A validated questionnaire was used to collect information on self-reported exposures to physical and chemical risks and related health effects. Data analysis was performed by using statistical software SPSS version 25.
RESULTS
The age and work experience (Mean ± SD) of the participants were 34.2 ± 7.7 and 10.0 ± 5.7 years, respectively. High workplace temperature and noise from machinery, chemical odors, and skin exposure to acid (H2SO4) were reported by 52.8%, 51.4%, and 20.8% of workers, respectively. Insomnia (25.0%), abdominal pain (18.1%), joint pain (38.9%), memory loss (19.4%), headache (15.3%), low back pain (47.2%), eyesight problem (19.4%), physical weakness (47.2%), and hypertension (19.4%) were all common symptoms among the workers.
CONCLUSION
Our study findings indicate that workers in LAB factories in Bangladesh are exposed to extreme temperatures, hazardous materials, and uncomfortable levels of noise, which can lead to serious health risks. To ensure the safety and well-being of employees, the LAB manufacturing sector in Bangladesh requires the immediate implementation of proper occupational health and safety standards
Enhancing Video-Based Robot Failure Detection Using Task Knowledge
No full textRobust robotic task execution hinges on the reliable detection of execution failures in order to trigger safe operation modes, recovery strategies, or task replanning. However, many failure detection methods struggle to provide meaningful performance when applied to a variety of real-world scenarios. In this paper, we propose a video-based failure detection approach that uses spatio-temporal knowledge in the form of the actions the robot performs and task-relevant objects within the field of view. Both pieces of information are available in most robotic scenarios and can thus be readily obtained. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach on three datasets that we amend, in part, with additional annotations of the aforementioned task-relevant knowledge. In light of the results, we also propose a data augmentation method that improves performance by applying variable frame rates to different parts of the video. We observe an improvement from 77.9 to 80.0 in F1 score on the ARMBench dataset without additional computational expense and an additional increase to 81.4 with test-time augmentation. The results emphasize the importance of spatio-temporal information during failure detection and suggest further investigation of suitable heuristics in future implementations. Code and annotations are available
"Society Encourages the Killing of Girls Like Me": Layers of Victimization in Online Dating Romance Scams in Iran That Target Sexual Access Over Financial Gain
No full textOnline dating romance scams involve coercing online daters out of their personal property. Money is almost always framed as the target of such scams, however this may be a consequence of prior work's focus on victims from Western countries and scammers from Africa. There is relatively little knowledge of online dating romance scams that occur entirely within non-Western cultures. To address this we conducted an interview study with 20 victims of online dating romance scams in Iran. Findings show that romance scams were seldom motivated by money, but rather sexual access to a woman's body through feigning intent to get married (''body scams''). Body scammers were abetted by cultural rules that justify murder and legal punishment of women for premarital sex, thus forcing them into silence. The paper concludes with calls for more expansive definitions of online dating romance scams and the foregrounding of local cultural dynamics in their perpetuation. Content Warning: This paper discusses sexual violence
Supply Chain Wine - Evaluation of sustainability criteria in the context of wine quality of global and regional supply chains
No full textThe global wine market is highly competitive and has a structural overproduction. As a result, buyers (commercial and end customers) are becoming more demanding in terms of quality. As domestic demand is stagnating or declining in many producing countries, an increase in the volume traded globally has been visible for more than a decade. (OIV 2024)
As one of the largest import markets in the world, the German wine market is also highly competitive and is causing structural changes. The overall size of the wine and sparkling wine market in Germany has remained more or less the same over the last two decades; the total volume of wine produced in Germany has also remained more or less the same. What has changed, however, is the share of German wines in the overall market, which has fallen from 48% in 2000 to 39% in 2018, meaning that the share of imports has increased. At the same time, exports of German wine have also fallen. As a result, the production structures of grape and wine production have changed. There have also been shifts on the consumption side in the shares of wines sold via the respective sales channels.
Competition has therefore increased significantly in recent years, with the result that producers and importers are increasingly on the lookout for further opportunities to differentiate themselves. In this context, it is not surprising that “sustainability” is being considered more intensively as a means of differentiation.
The aim is to discuss sustainability criteria in the context of wine quality along the various stages of the value chain and to derive differentiation strategies for the relevant companies. The sustainability criteria as well as their potentials and trade-offs for the very heterogeneous wine market are shown and they are compared and supplemented with the sustainability criteria of various standards and certification systems, such as Global Gap, organic and in particular Fair'n Green. The analysis of the criteria is carried out with the help of the essence analysis, so that an evaluation of the sustainability criteria is carried out. This is used to evaluate the “wine” supply chains. The results are then used as a basis for optimizing the “wine” value chain in terms of sustainability
Early responses of primary human and bovine monocytes, monocytic THP-1 cells and THP-1 cell-derived macrophages to vital Toxoplasma gondii tachyzoites
No full textIntroduction: Different innate immune cell types are known to release extracellular traps (ETs) in response to invasive pathogens, including parasites. These ETs function to trap, immobilize, and eventually kill pathogens. In line with this, monocytes and macrophages have been shown to release ETs, known as monocyte/macrophage extracellular traps (METs). Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) is an apicomplexan zoonotic parasite that infects humans and homeothermic animals. While most studies have focused on prolonged exposure of immune cells to T. gondii, this study characterized the early innate immune reaction of mononuclear phagocytes to vital T. gondii tachyzoites.
Methods: Primary human and bovine monocytes, monocytic THP-1 cells, and THP-1 cell-derived macrophages (M0-, M1-, and M2-like) were exposed to T. gondii tachyzoites for 4 h. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), immunofluorescencemicroscopy, and confocal microscopy were used to visualize cell activation and the presence of METs. Additionally, the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines interleukin (IL)-1β and IL-6, and expression of Toll-like receptor (TLR) 2 and TLR4 were analyzed.
Results and discussion: Microscopic analysis illustrated the activation of all cell types tested within 4 h of exposure to T. gondii tachyzoites. Numerous tachyzoites were found intracellularly in THP-1 cell-derived M1-like macrophages. Furthermore, the co-localization of extracellular DNA (extDNA) and histones in extracellular web-like fibers proved classical characteristics of extruded T. gondii-induced METs, although this was a rare event. In primary human monocytes, an increased release of IL-1β and IL-6 was observed following exposure to T. gondii tachyzoites. When co-stimulated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS), primary human monocytes showed an enhanced release of IL-1β and IL-6 in response to T. gondii. In contrast to monocytic THP-1 cells, THP-1 cell-derived M1-like macrophages released IL-1β in response to T. gondii tachyzoite exposure. When additionally stimulated by LPS, all THP-1 cell-derived macrophages showed an enhanced release of IL-1β, and monocytic THP-1 cells an increased release of IL-6 in response to T. gondii tachyzoites. This study provides insights into the early innate immune response of human and bovine mononuclear phagocytes to T. gondii. While cytokine secretion was prominent, MET formation was rare in the early response (i.e. < 4 h of exposure) to T. gondii tachyzoites
Prüfungsordnung für den Bachelor-Studiengang „Informatik“, den Bachelor-Studiengang „Cyber Security & Privacy“, den Bachelor- Studiengang „Wirtschaftsinformatik“, den Bachelor-Studiengang „Informatik kooperativ“, den Master-Studiengang „Informatik“, den Master-Studiengang „Wirtschaftsinformatik, Nachhaltigkeit und Digitalisierung“, den Master-Studiengang „Cyber Security & Privacy“, den Master-Studiengang „Autonomous Systems“ und den Master- Studiengang „Game Technologies“ am Campus Sankt Augustin der Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg vom 28.11.2024 in der Fassung der 1. Änderungsordnung vom 22.5.2025
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