Universidad Central del Este

This paper conducts a comprehensive analysis of sustainable development in the sugar industry of the Dominican Republic, focusing on the assessment of environmental and energy impact during sugar production in local mills.The implementation of lifecycle assessment (LCA) emerges as an essential tool to comprehend the complexity and implications of these crucial industrial operations in the Dominican context.The study addresses the implementation of sustainable practices in Dominican sugar mills, proposing innovative approaches based on LCA results.These strategies aim to mitigate negative impacts and maximize social and economic benefits associated with sugar production in the Dominican Republic.Results obtained through the LCA provide an integrated view of challenges and opportunities in the Dominican sugar industry in terms of sustainable development.The necessity for specific strategies tailored to the unique conditions of this industry in the Dominican Republic is emphasized, encouraging the adoption of environmentally friendly and socially responsible practices.This paper represents a valuable contribution to current knowledge on sustainable development in the Dominican sugar industry and offers significant insights for researchers, professionals and decisionmakers striving for a more sustainable future in this crucial sector at the national level.

Remote coastal communities in developing countries face significant challenges for access to both electricity and freshwater. Water desalination systems emerge as a potential solution to provide freshwater, however their high energy requirements have been one of the main limitations for the deployment of such systems. Electrical microgrids are a decentralised alternative which can provide access to electricity for these communities. The impact of the integration of the water desalination systems to these electrical microgrids must be explored, to extend the auxiliary services that can be provided by a microgrid. This work seeks to analyse, by using numerical simulations, the design, integration and management of an electrical microgrid, where a part of its energy demand will be used by a desalination system. The developed methodology presents the creation of a model in MATLAB/Simulink ® with photovoltaic generation, residential loads, critical loads and the desalination system. A fuzzy logic controller is implemented for the energy management system, with the objective of maintaining the production of fresh water based on the electric energy demand of the various loads within the microgrid. This fuzzy logic model takes into consideration solar power production, variable electrical energy demand and critical loads with constant electrical energy demand. The simulation results demonstrate how it was possible to define a set of rules that allowed regulating the operation of the desalination system connected to the microgrid, making decisions to shape the demand curve handling the freshwater flow provided by the desalination system.

Introducción. El concepto de empatía se ha integrado como uno de los elementos centrales para el logro final del proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje en estudiantes de ciencias de la salud. Objetivo. Estimar y comparar los niveles de empatía entre estudiantes y profesores de pregrado de odontología de la Universidad Central del Este (República Dominicana). Materiales y métodos. Estudio transversal. La población de estudio (n=264) se dividió en dos grupos: el primero, compuesto por estudiantes de primero a quinto año de la carrera de odontología (N=223; n=215) distribuidos en dos áreas (básica-preclínica y clínica), y el segundo, por los docentes de ambas áreas en la Escuela de Odontología de la universidad (N=53; n=49). Se utilizó la Escala de Empatía Médica de Jefferson (Version-S). El análisis descriptivo de los datos incluyó la estimación de medias, desviaciones estándar y porcentajes, y la confiabilidad de los datos se estimó mediante α de Cronbach; además se realizó un ANOVA bifactorial, calculándose el tamaño del efecto y la potencia de la prueba, y en los casos en que la prueba de Fisher fue significativa para algún factor, se utilizó la prueba de Tukey para estimar las diferencias entre las medias. Se estableció un nivel de significancia: α≤0.05 y β≤0.20 Resultados. Los valores globales de empatía y en la dimensión cuidado con compasión en los profesores no difirieron significativamente con los obtenidos por los estudiantes (área básica -preclínica y clínica), pero sí hubo diferencias entre los estudiantes de ambas áreas (p < 0.05). En las dimensiones Adopción de perspectiva y Ponerse en los zapatos del otro no existieron diferencias entre los tres subgrupos (p=0.428 y p=0.866). Conclusión. Los niveles de empatía y de la dimensión cuidado compasivo de los profesores no difieren de los de los estudiantes en general (ambas áreas).

Introduction: The global burden of surgical disease is likely immense, but surgical care has been largely neglected in low- and middle-income countries, partly due to a lack of region-specific evidence describing the prevalence. In preparation for the opening of a charitable surgical center, the organization One World Surgery conducted a census, needs assessment, and a series of charitable outreach primary care clinics in several bateys (sugar workers’ towns) in the eastern Dominican Republic. This study aims to use information collected by the organization to determine the prevalence of untreated surgical conditions in an underserved region of a high-middle-income country. Methods: Population data from a series of bateys surrounding the city of San Pedro de Macoris on the country’s eastern plains, a region with significant sugarcane, was determined from a census and needs assessment performed by community health workers between April and December 2019. This information was used to invite patients to charitable outreach primary care clinics led by volunteer US-based physicians between September 2019 and February 2020, during which the number of patients with untreated surgical conditions was calculated. Results: Volunteer physicians recommended at least 1 surgery for 147 individuals among a population of 4070 (3.61%). Fifty-two percent of surgical patients were male and 36.7% were age 60 and above. The most common surgical diagnoses were cataract, pterygium, and hernias/hydroceles. The most needed specialties were ophthalmology (1.74%), general surgery (1.01%), and orthopedics (0.69%). Conclusion: The population of bateys (sugar workers’ towns) in the eastern Dominican Republic, a high-middle-income country, has a high prevalence of untreated surgical disease. This is likely due partly to the population of the bateys being underserved compared to the country overall, and partly to the country’s increasing life expectancy. However, since most patients with untreated surgical conditions are of working age or below, it will be important with respect to national productivity for the Dominican Republic and other high-middle-income countries to increase surgical capacity along with other more traditionally prioritized health care initiatives.

The improvement of the energy performance in buildings is key for sustainable development, even more so in the case of the Dominican Republic (DR), which is committed to this goal but which has neither regulation nor specific social behavior in this field. The main goal of this work is double; on one hand it is aimed at providing useable information for those who have the responsibly of making regulation norms and on the other, it is desirable to give an essential, technically proven and handy tool to those involved in the construction sector in improving the envelopes of buildings and to introduce good practices into the management of the energy systems of buildings. A case study of eight administrative buildings located in different climatic zones of the DR was carried out. A simulation tool was used for the study, and one of the buildings was monitored to verify the simulation work. Those factors that affect the development of the buildings in relation to thermo-energy consumption have been detailed. The large-scale heat gains resulting from the common glazing used by the tertiary sector in the Dominican Republic (including office buildings, hospitals and shops among others) illustrate the need for economically viable solutions in this sector. As a conclusion, it has been proved that the incidental thermal load of buildings could be reduced by up to 40%, thus in turn reducing the costs associated with the electricity needed to maintain the users’ desired thermal comfort level, as their influence in this sector is significant.

Objective: To characterize the clinical presentation and outcomes of Kawasaki disease (KD) in infants <6 months of age as compared to those ≥6 months in Latin America.Methods: We evaluated 36 infants <6 months old and 940 infants ≥6 months old diagnosed with KD in Latin America. We compared differences in laboratory data, clinical presentation, treatment response, and coronary artery outcomes between the two cohorts.Results: The majority (78.1%) of infants and children ≥6 months of age were initially diagnosed with KD, as compared to only 38.2% of infants <6 months. Clinical features of KD were more commonly observed in the older cohort: oral changes (92 vs. 75%, P = 0.0023), extremity changes (74.6 vs. 57.1%, P = 0.029), and cervical lymphadenopathy (67.6 vs. 37.1%, P = 0.0004). Whether treated in the first 10 days of illness or after the 10th day, infants <6 months were at greater risk of developing a coronary artery aneurysm compared to KD patients ≥6 months treated at the same point in the course of illness [ ≤ 10 days (53.8 vs. 9.4%, P = 0.00012); >10 days (50 vs. 7.4%, P = 0.043)].Conclusion: Our data show that despite treatment in the first 10 days of illness, infants <6 months of age in Latin America have a higher risk of developing a coronary artery aneurysm. Delay in the diagnosis leads to larger coronary artery aneurysms disproportionately in these infants. Thus, suspicion for KD should be high in this vulnerable population.