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Health status of Hungarian ambulance workers in the COVID-19 era

Bálint Bánfai Emese Sánta Kitti Máté-Póhr Balázs Mátrai József Betlehem

Publication Name: Orvosi Hetilap

Publication Date: 2024-10-27

Volume: 165

Issue: 43

Page Range: 1707-1713

Description:

Objective: The study aimed to assess the physical and mental health status of active ambulance workers concerning the additional workload they are facing due to the coronavirus pandemic. Data and methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 130 Hungarian National Ambulance Service em¬ployees (n = 130) in the first quarter of 2023, using an online questionnaire on a voluntary, anonymous basis. After convenience sampling, physical and mental health were assessed using the SF-36 questionnaire, along with questions on musculoskeletal status and experience of the COVID-19 pandemic. SPSS was used for data analysis, with descrip¬tive and mathematical statistical tests. The results were significant at p<0.05. Results: The ambulance workers considered their "Physical functioning"to be the best (mean 90.7 ± 13.2 points) and their "General health"to be the worst (55.4 ± 9.5 points). The dimensions were correlated (p<0.001). 73.1% of the sample had a musculoskeletal complaint in the last 5 years, with the highest proportions in the back area (56.8%) and spine (51.5%). These ambulance workers rated their "Physical Functioning"significantly worse (p = 0.002). 95 persons were registered as COVID-19-infected, 50% of whom were only slightly or not at all affected by the pandemic (mean 2.6 ± 1.2). The experience of the coronavirus had a negative impact on the dimensions "Vitality"(r = -0.204, p = 0.020), "Emotional role"(r = -0.317, p<0.001) and "Mental health"(r = -0.283, p = 0.001). Persons with residual symptoms of COVID-19 rated their "Physical functioning"(p = 0.015), "Physical pain"(p = 0.010), "Social functioning"(p = 0.001), and "Mental health"(p = 0.023) dimensions worse. Conclusion: The sudden increase in workload caused by the pandemic makes it essential to monitor ambulance work¬ers' health closely. Residual symptoms of the coronavirus and concomitant musculoskeletal disorders can compro¬mise the quality of patient care.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.1556/650.2024.33152

OLD AND NEW CHALLENGES IN REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT – COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF EUROPEAN REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT POLICY APPROACHES TO IDENTIFYING BENEFICIARY REGIONS

Katalin Mezei Gábor Mayer

Publication Name: Deturope

Publication Date: 2025-01-01

Volume: 17

Issue: 3

Page Range: 50-74

Description:

Most European countries apply development policy solutions to help disadvantaged regions catch up and seek effective solutions for territorial cohesion. This endeavour has been strongly supported by the European Commission in both the 2013-2020 and 2021-27 programming periods and is likely to remain so in the period after 2028. This is an understandable and logical endeavour, as being 'left behind' in economic, social or geographical terms not only reinforces internal migration flows within the European Community and its Member States but also increases political discontent. A number of approaches have emerged in European countries to identify disadvantaged regions and address their problems. The differences stem partly from the different intervention intentions of individual countries and partly from their different spatial, state and public administration structures. Various development policy solutions have been devised to help disadvantaged regions catch up, taking these factors into account. In Hungary, development policy has placed greater emphasis on the catching up of regions and settlements lagging behind in terms of socio-economic development since the 1980s, but the importance of delimitation in development policy practice has increased since the country's accession to the EU, with the establishment of differentiated support resource allocation mechanisms and targeted support programmes. The methodology currently in use for designating beneficiary regions has been in place since 2014. The socioeconomic changes that have taken place since then have shifted the focus of both scientific and policy interest in recent years towards more location-specific regulatory mechanisms that measure development differences at a lower level and are more sensitive to functional links between settlements. To support efforts in the renewal of the Hungarian regional development toolkit, our study seeks to outline alternative options by analysing Italian and British development policy practices, in addition to presenting Hungarian beneficiary regions. The international examples examined, despite their limitations as presented in the study, provide examples of multi-level governance, development policies based on functional units, and methodologies for measuring development below the settlement level. Current legislation in Hungary allows for changes in this direction, but their incorporation into domestic practice is only possible after careful preparation.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.32725/det.2025.019

Fuzzy Systems Based Voltage Control of Buck Converter for Vehicles with 48V E/E Architecture

Ahmet Mehmet Karadeniz Nuri Furkan Kocak

Publication Name: Journal of Electrical and Electronics Engineering

Publication Date: 2024-10-01

Volume: 17

Issue: 2

Page Range: 17-22

Description:

This paper investigates the efficiency of PID and Fuzzy Logic Control approaches as a voltage control method in vehicles with 48V E/E architecture. Then compares the mentioned methods output on Buck converter for 48V to 12V. Buck converter aims to convert 48V to 12V to be able to supply power to low voltage systems such as electric power steering systems within vehicles. 48V E/E architecture is becoming a common architecture among electric vehicles and power distribution through 48V batteries, hence it is chosen for this study. Our study presents that Fuzzy Logic Controller has a better performance in terms of response time and settling time on controlling output voltage of Buck converter which converts 48V to 12V.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: DOI not available

Co-composting with herbal wastes: Potential effects of essential oil residues on microbial pathogens during composting

E. Lakatos Babett Greff Jenő Szigeti L. Varga

Publication Name: Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology

Publication Date: 2021-01-01

Volume: 51

Issue: 5

Page Range: 457-511

Description:

Because of the increasing use of herbal essential oils (EO) in pharmacology, medicine, and food processing, global EO production grows at a rapid rate, generating large amounts of plant residues worldwide. The use of herbal residues for co-composting with various wastes offers a novel option for eco-friendly and cost effective waste management. However, the biologically active compounds remaining in the herb residues may affect microbial activity in the composting biomass, thereby influencing final compost quality. In this review, we summarize and evaluate current literature on the occurrence and survival of pathogens in composts, the beneficial effects of using herbal residues as bulking agents, and the potential antipathogenic effects of six herb species belonging to the Lamiaceae family as follows: lemon balm (Melissa officinalis L.), oregano (Origanum vulgare L.), lavender (Lavandula angustifolia Mill.), rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.), thyme (Thymus vulgaris L.), and sage (Salvia officinalis L.).

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.1080/10643389.2020.1732780

The rise of interdisciplinarity: A new era in polymer research?

László Lendvai Alessandro Pegoretti

Publication Name: Express Polymer Letters

Publication Date: 2024-10-01

Volume: 18

Issue: 10

Page Range: 962-963

Description:

No description provided

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.3144/expresspolymlett.2024.73

Investigation of the fault tolerance of the PIM-SM IP multicast routing protocol for IPTV purposes

István Derka Gabor Lencse

Publication Name: Infocommunications Journal

Publication Date: 2013-01-01

Volume: 5

Issue: 1

Page Range: 21-28

Description:

IPTV services should use an IP multicast solution for a network bandwidth efficient delivery of the media contents. PIM-SM is the most commonly used IP multicast routing protocol in IPTV systems. A short introduction to the operation of PIM-SM is given. Its fault tolerance is examined by experimenting on a mesh topology multicast test network built up by XORP routers in a virtualizcd environment. Different fault scenarios are played and different parameters of PIM-SM and OSPF are examined if they influence and how they influence the outage time of an IPTV service. A formal model is given for the service outage time of the IPTV service on the basis of the results of the experiments.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: DOI not available

An Assessment of Motor Skills in Infants at Risk of Atypical Psychomotor Development Using the Vojta Method

Robert Podstawski Katarzyna Balewska-Juras Krzysztof Borysławski Jadwiga Snarska Attila Szabo

Publication Name: Children

Publication Date: 2025-08-01

Volume: 12

Issue: 8

Page Range: Unknown

Description:

Background: Some neonates are assessed for the risk of atypical psychomotor development at birth and are referred for reflex locomotion therapy using the Vojta method. Aim: The aim of this study was to analyze the relationships between spontaneous motor activity (SMA), ideal movement patterns (IMPs), central coordination disorders (CCDs), vital signs at birth, involuntary reflexes, and postural asymmetry in infants. Methods: This study involved 90 female and 107 male subjects in the age interval of 1–16 months (4.15 ± 2.18). Their psychomotor development was assessed using the Vojta method. Age-appropriate involuntary reflexes were evaluated, and both parameters were correlated with perinatal risk factors. Results: Males scored significantly higher than females (difference of −0.7, p = 0.022) in the SMA test. In both genders, SMA (p < 0.001 in both genders) and IMP scores improved significantly with age. In male infants, higher CCD scores were associated with significantly lower SMA and IMP scores (p = 0.017 and p < 0.001, respectively). Significantly higher CCD scores were noted in female subjects with the Moro reflex and postural asymmetry (p = 0.003 and p = 0.002, respectively). In males, the Moro reflex was significantly correlated with the Vojta reaction (p = 0.012) and the Collis vertical suspension reflex (p < 0.001). Conclusions: Vital signs at birth, including birth weight, Apgar score, and type of delivery, can predict motor development disorders but do not clearly differentiate infants that require neurodevelopmental therapy.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.3390/children12080976

Welding distortion generated uncertainties in the vibrational behavior of a ladder-like structure

Daniel Feszty Marcell Treszkai David Sipos

Publication Name: Proceedings of Inter Noise 2021 2021 International Congress and Exposition of Noise Control Engineering

Publication Date: 2021-01-01

Volume: Unknown

Issue: Unknown

Page Range: Unknown

Description:

Recent developments in acoustic simulation methods allowed engineers to assess the vibroacoustic behavior of various type of structures within a virtual environment, thus allowing the replacement of prototype-based development with simulations. However, there are some factors, that cannot be considered in simulations in advance. In the present study, the effect of the distortions generated due to welding on a ladder-like structure equipped with flat plates was investigated. The measured acceleration frequency response functions were compared to finite element simulation results. The measured responses differed significantly from the simulation, even in the low frequency ranges, where the global modes were not expected to be altered or vanished. Investigation of the simulated results revealed that the additional modes were related to the vibration of the plates, which were assumed to be flat, instead of considering the warping caused by the welding process. After measuring the approximate deformation of the plates, an updated simulation model was made, introducing an approximate curvature in them. The results obtained with the updated simulation model performed much better in the low frequency range as well as in the third octave-averaged frequency bands up 1200 Hz. The sensitivity of the warping was also systematically evaluated.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.3397/IN-2021-2844

Cooling Degree Day Trends and Their Implications for Building Thermal Design and Thermal Fatigue Loading in Lagos, Nigeria

Nurullah Bektaş Benjamin Labar Joseph Adisa Opeyemi Bamidele

Publication Name: Buildings

Publication Date: 2026-07-01

Volume: 16

Issue: 13

Page Range: Unknown

Description:

Buildings in Lagos require mechanical cooling year-round, with air conditioning accounting for up to 80% of residential electricity consumption. Despite this, the Nigerian Building Code (NB 485:2017) still references 1990s thermal design data, creating a growing mismatch between design assumptions and actual thermal conditions. Compounding background warming and an intensifying urban heat island have widened this gap considerably, yet no study has linked long-term cooling demand trends to quantified engineering design shortfalls for any Nigerian city. This study presents a 35-year cooling degree day (CDD) trend analysis for Lagos (1990–2024), derived from 12,784 daily temperature records at four engineering base temperatures (22 °C, 23.3 °C, 26 °C, and 28 °C) respectively. Trends are detected using the Mann–Kendall test with Trend-Free Pre-Whitening and Sen’s slope as the magnitude estimator. Significantly increasing CDD trends are confirmed at three base temperatures, with a Sen’s slope of +4.55 °C·days yr−1 at the primary design reference of 23.3 °C (p < 0.01). Structural break analysis identifies 2015 as the transition into a persistently above-baseline thermal regime, with mean CDD in the most recent sub-period exceeding the 1990–2001 design baseline by up to 50% at higher base temperatures. The detected trends are translated into three engineering gap analyses: required envelope U-value trajectories, an HVAC capacity undersizing index, and annual thermal cycling frequency as a structural fatigue proxy. Results show that the dominant uninsulated sandcrete typology fails ASHRAE 90.1-2019 Zone 1A prescriptive limits throughout the study horizon, installed HVAC systems are already operating in the engineering caution zone, and façade fatigue loading has intensified markedly since 2015. To the author’s knowledge, this study is the first to couple a statistically robust long-period CDD record for Lagos with code-referenced design gap figures, providing a replicable framework for climate-adaptive building code revision across similar hot–humid climates in sub-Saharan Africa.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.3390/buildings16132557