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Whole-genome sequencing for TB source investigations: principles of ethical precision public health.
No full textYesBACKGROUND: Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) of Mycobacterium tuberculosis allows rapid, accurate inferences about the sources, location and timing of transmission. However, in an era of heightened concern for personal privacy and science distrust, such inferences could result in unintended harm and undermine the public´s trust. METHODS: We held interdisciplinary stakeholder discussions and performed ethical analyses of real-world illustrative cases to identify principles that optimise benefit and mitigate harm of M. tuberculosis WGS-driven TB source investigations.RESULTS: The speed and precision with which real-time WGS can be used to associate M. tuberculosis strains with sensitive information has raised important concerns. While detailed understanding of transmission events could mitigate harm to vulnerable patients and communities when otherwise unfairly blamed for TB outbreaks, the precision of WGS can also identify transmission events resulting in social blame, fear, discrimination, individual or location stigma, and the use of defaming language by the public, politicians and scientists. Public health programmes should balance the need to safeguard privacy with public health goals, transparency and individual rights, including the right to know who infects whom or where.CONCLUSIONS: Ethical challenges raised by real-time WGS-driven TB source investigation requires public health authorities to move beyond their current legal mandate and embrace transparency, privacy and community engagement
Influence of Consumer Cosmopolitanism on Purchase Intention of Foreign vs. Local Brands: A Developing Country Perspective
Get PDFYesPurpose: This study investigates the role of consumer cosmopolitanism on consumer attitudes and purchase intentions towards foreign and local brands.
Design/Methodology/Approach: The responses were collected on a structured questionnaire through a consumer survey. The data was then analysed through PLS-SEM. Findings: The results depict the positive influence of consumer cosmopolitanism on consumer attitudes towards foreign brands, which positively influences purchase intentions towards foreign brands and negatively influences the purchase intentions of local brands. Further, the mediating role of perceived quality was observed in explaining the consumer preference towards foreign and domestic brands.
Practical Implications: Finally, the study concludes by providing implications for marketing scholars and managers of global and local brands.
Originality Value: The paper examines the underlying mechanisms related to consumer cosmopolitanism and its role in influencing the foreign and local brand purchase
An experimental investigation into the permeability and selectivity of PTFE membrane: a mixture of methane and carbon dioxide
No full textNoResearch and technology innovations in the 1970s led to the significant commercial practice of gas separation by membranes that exists today. These advances involved developing membrane structures that could produce high fluxes and modules for packing a large amount of membrane area per unit volume (Murphy et al., 2009). At present, the share of using a polymeric membrane in the capture of CO2 is increasing and gradually the membrane technology is considered as the promising method in separation units, although the number of commercial membranes is not high. CO2 capture from natural gas is one of the controversial topics that many researchers and engineers try to find the best method satisfying both high efficiency and low capital cost. In common, chemical physical absorption towers are applied to remove CO2 from natural gas in order to prevent pipeline corrosion, even though the other component such as H2S gives rise to operating problems. The obscure angle of a conventional unit is related to the high energy consumption while the absorbent needs to be purified by the regeneration units which implement the temperature as a unique manipulating parameter for separating amine groups. The great advantages of using the membrane in gas industry are the low capital cost, easy installation and maintenance so that for this simple reason, new membranes come to the market for different types of processes. Capture of CO2 from natural gas accounts for one of the major difficulties so that the engineers try to employ membrane modules as to alter the process efficiency. However, there are only a limited number of membranes that can be used in real industry and the research still continues over this interesting topic (Burggraaf and Cot, 1996)
Tranquillity trails – design, implementation and benefits for healthy leisure
Get PDFYesTranquillity trails (TTs) are designed to provide a quiet and peaceful walk through mainly leafy lanes and roads and connect green open spaces where visitors can stop for thought and relaxation. There are numerous health benefits from being in close proximity to nature and TTs can facilitate this contact in mainly urban areas. This study involved the design of a trail in Tramore, a coastal town in south east Ireland. The trail links an old coastguard station, now converted to a cultural centre and coffee shop, with a Japanese garden. The trail includes a coastal path with fine views across a bay, wooded areas as well as leafy residential streets. The design of the trail was facilitated by the use of a previous developed tranquillity rating prediction tool (TRAPT) that involved the estimation of the level of man-made noise and the percentage of natural features in view. Participants who had completed the whole of the trail were encouraged to complete a questionnaire to gauge any benefits. As expected, it was reported that there were increased levels of relaxation and reduced stress. It was concluded that the approach can be used elsewhere to improve the well-being of residents and visitors
Diagnostics and prognostics for complex systems: A review of methods and challenges
Get PDFYesDiagnostics and prognostics have significant roles in the reliability enhancement of systems and
are focused topics of active research. Engineered systems are becoming more complex and are
subjected to miscellaneous failure modes that impact adversely their performability. This everincreasing
complexity makes fault diagnostics and prognostics challenging for the system-level
functions. A significant number of successes have been achieved and acknowledged in some
review papers; however, these reviews rarely focused on the application of complex engineered
systems nor provided a systematic review of diverse techniques and approaches to address the
related challenges. To bridge the gap, this paper firstly presents a review to systematically cover
the general concepts and recent development of various diagnostics and prognostics approaches,
along with their strengths and shortcomings for the application of diverse engineered systems.
Afterward, given the characteristics of complex systems, the applicability of different techniques
and methods that are capable to address the features of complex systems are reviewed and
discussed, and some of the recent achievements in the literature are introduced. Finally, the
unaddressed challenges are discussed by taking into account the characteristics of automotive
systems as an example of complex systems. In addition, future development and potential research
trends are offered to address those challenges. Consequently, this review provides a systematic
view of the state of the art and case studies with a reference value for scholars and practitioners
A meta-analytic structural equation model for understanding social commerce adoption
Get PDFYesSocial commerce (s-commerce) has gained prominence with advances in social media and social networking technologies over
the last decade. Prior research has employed diverse theoretical perspectives to understand and explain consumer behavior within
s-commerce but has also produced inconsistent results. This study integrates different theoretical perspectives including trust,
social support, and social presence. The research portrays an integrated research model involving factors that impact behavioral
intention and use behavior of s-commerce consumers whilst synthesizing prior empirical findings. A meta-analytic structural
equation modeling (MASEM) method was used to synthesize 189 findings reported in 68 s-commerce studies and to analyze the
structural model. Our findings show that trust and informational support have positive effects on behavioral intention while trust
and emotional support have positive effects on use behavior. Furthermore, our findings highlight that behavioral intention
influences use behavior and mediates the effect of trust and informational support on use behavior. The implications for research
and practice are discussed in detail
Dual-Polarized Highly Folded Bowtie Antenna with Slotted Self-Grounded Structure for Sub-6 GHz 5G Applications
Get PDFYesIn this paper, a novel dual-polarized highly-folded self-grounded Bowtie antenna that is excited through I-shaped slots is proposed for applications in sub-6GHz 5G multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) antenna systems. The antenna consists of two pairs of folded radiation petals whose base is embedded in a double layer of FR-4 substrate with a common ground-plane which is sandwiched between the two substrate layers. The ground-plane is defected with two I-shaped slots located under the radiation elements. Each pair of radiation elements are excited through a microstrip line on the top layer with RF signal that is 180° out of phase with respect to each other. The RF signal is coupled to the pair of feedlines on the top layer through the I-shaped slots from the two microstrip feedlines on the underside of the second substrate. The proposed feed mechanism gets rid of the otherwise bulky balun. The Bowtie antenna is a compact solution with dimensions of 32×32×33.8 mm3. Measured results have verified that the antenna operates over a frequency range of 3.1-5 GHz and exhibits an average gain and antenna efficiency in the vertical and horizontal polarizations of 7.5 dBi and 82.6%, respectively
Does awareness of condition help people with mild-to-moderate dementia to live well?
Get PDFYesPeople living with dementia vary in awareness of their abilities. We explored awareness of the condition and diagnosis in people with mild-to-moderate dementia, and how this relates to quality of life, well-being, life satisfaction, and caregiver stress.
This study was a cross-sectional exploratory analysis of data from the IDEAL cohort, which recruited people with dementia living at home and available caregivers from 29 research sites in Great Britain. Our study included 917 people with mild-to-moderate dementia and 755 carers. Low and high awareness groups were derived from self-reported responses to a dementia representation measure. Logistic regression was used to explore predictors of awareness of condition and diagnosis using demographic, cognitive, functional and psychological measures, and the relationship with quality of life, well-being and life satisfaction (‘living well’), and caregiver stress.
There were 83 people with low awareness of their condition. The remaining 834 people showed some awareness and 103 of these had high awareness of their condition and diagnosis. Psychosocial factors were stronger predictors of awareness than cognitive and functional ability. Those with higher awareness reported lower mood, and lower scores on indices of living well as well as lower optimism, self-efficacy and self-esteem. Low awareness was more likely in those aged 80y and above, and living in more socially deprived areas. No relationship was seen between caregiver stress and awareness.
Awareness of the condition and diagnosis varies in people with mild-to-moderate dementia and is relevant to the capability to live well. Awareness should be considered in person-centered clinical care
A Pharmacist view of the impact/management of medicines shortages (MedS) in the pharmaceutical supply chain (Spain)
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Evaluation of a primary care-based collaborative care model (PARTNERS2) for people with diagnoses of schizophrenia, bipolar, or other psychoses: study protocol for a cluster randomised controlled trial
Get PDFYesCurrent NHS policy encourages an integrated approach to provision of mental and physical care for individuals with long term mental health problems. The 'PARTNERS2' complex intervention is designed to support individuals with psychosis in a primary care setting.
The trial will evaluate the clinical and cost-effectiveness of the PARTNERS2 intervention.
This is a cluster randomised controlled superiority trial comparing collaborative care (PARTNERS2) with usual care, with an internal pilot to assess feasibility. The setting will be primary care within four trial recruitment areas: Birmingham & Solihull, Cornwall, Plymouth, and Somerset. GP practices are randomised 1:1 to either (a) the PARTNERS2 intervention plus modified standard care ('intervention'); or (b) standard care only ('control').
PARTNERS2 is a flexible, general practice-based, person-centred, coaching-based intervention aimed at addressing mental health, physical health, and social care needs. Two hundred eligible individuals from 39 GP practices are taking part. They were recruited through identification from secondary and primary care databases. The primary hypothesis is quality of life (QOL). Secondary outcomes include: mental wellbeing, time use, recovery, and process of physical care. A process evaluation will assess fidelity of intervention delivery, test hypothesised mechanisms of action, and look for unintended consequences. An economic evaluation will estimate its cost-effectiveness. Intervention delivery and follow-up have been modified during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The overarching aim is to establish the clinical and cost-effectiveness of the model for adults with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, bipolar, or other types of psychoses.PARTNERS2 is funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) under its Programme Grant for Applied Research Programme (grant number: RP-PG- 200625). This research was also supported by the NIHR Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care South West Peninsula at the Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust