Ali Sungkar

Influence of early self-diagnosis and treatment of bacterial vaginosis on preterm birth rate

To assess whether early self‐diagnosis and treatment of bacterial vaginosis (BV) could lower the preterm birth rate among a group of Indonesian women.

Performance of Thermoelectrics and Heat Pipes Refrigerator

Most of refrigerators commonly use the conventional refrigeration system known as Vapor Compression Refrigeration System becoming a big issue lately due to ozone depleting substance it uses as the refrigerant. This paper will shows step by step of an experiment with the objective of constructing a refrigeration system based on thermoelectric which is reliable and compete able with the Vapor Compression Refrigeration System. The designing of this refrigeration system shows attention to the environment that is combined with the knowledge so the environmental friendly technology can be applied. The performance of thermoelectric refrigerator was conducted under variation of input power (40W, 72W, and 120W) and operated in ambient temperature and cooling load of water 1000mL to investigate the characteristic of system, the performance, and also the COP. The COP is decrease by increasing of cooling load, QL. The best actual COP is 0.182 reached when the refrigerator operated at input power 40W. The result, it shows that decreasing of ambient temperature affects the decreasing of cabin temperature. Thermoelectric and heat pipe refrigerator cooling system can reach cabin temperature with power 120Watt (8.73A, 14V) produces temperature of compartment is 10.63°C indicates effective performance work-based thermoelectric applications.

Challenges and Supports of Breastfeeding at Workplace in Indonesia

Due to increased number of women workers in Indonesia in the last decade, numbers of women living as a worker and a housewife have increased. This also increases the potential risk of breastfeeding discontinuation. Three months of maternal leave policy and inadequate lactation promotion support in workplace have been identified as factors that hinder lactating practices. The World Health Organization recommendation of 6 months of exclusive breastfeeding and joined regulation of three Indonesia ministers (Ministry of Health, Ministry of Labour, and Ministry of Women Empower) have failed to improve the exclusive breastfeeding rate among female workers in Indonesia due to the lack of a standardized guideline on lactation promotion at workplace. In addition, very limited or no studies have been conducted to evaluate the impact of workplace-based lactation intervention programs on exclusive breastfeeding rate among female workers. This is because the relationship of lactation with working performance and productivity could not motivate employer to invest in workplace-based lactation promotion facility or program.