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Telehealthcare for asthma:a Cochrane review
No full textBACKGROUND:Telehealthcare has the potential to provide care for long-term conditions that are increasingly prevalent, such as asthma. We conducted a systematic review of studies of telehealthcare interventions used for the treatment of asthma to determine whether such approaches to care are effective.METHODS:We searched the Cochrane Airways Group Specialised Register of Trials, which is derived from systematic searches of bibliographic databases including CENTRAL (the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials), MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL (Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature) and PsycINFO, as well as other electronic resources. We also searched registers of ongoing and unpublished trials. We were interested in studies that measured the following outcomes: quality of life, number of visits to the emergency department and number of admissions to hospital. Two reviewers identified studies for inclusion in our meta-analysis. We extracted data and used fixed effect modelling for the meta-analyses.RESULTS:We identified 21 randomized controlled trials for inclusion in our analysis. The methods of telehealthcare intervention these studies investigated were the telephone and video- and Internet-based models of care. Meta-analysis did not show a clinically important improvement in patients' quality of life, and there was no significant change in the number of visits to the emergency department over 12 months. There was a significant reduction in the number of patients admitted to hospital once or more over 12 months (risk ratio 0.25 [95% confidence interval 0.09 to 0.66]).INTERPRETATION:We found no evidence of a clinically important impact on patients' quality of life, but telehealthcare interventions do appear to have the potential to reduce the risk of admission to hospital, particularly for patients with severe asthma. Further research is required to clarify the cost-effectiveness of models of care based on telehealthcare
Mapping the biomass of Bornean tropical rain forest from remotely sensed data
No full textThe biomass and biomass dynamics of forests are major uncertainties in our understanding of tropical environments. Remote sensing is often the only practical means of acquiring information on forest biomass but has not always been used successfully. Here the conventional approaches to the estimation of forest biomass from remotely sensed data were evaluated relative to techniques based on the application of artificial neural networks. Together these approaches were used to estimate and map the biomass of tropical forests in north-eastern Borneo from Landsat TM data. The neural networks were found to be particularly suited to the application. A basic multilayer perceptron network, for example, provided estimates of biomass that were strongly correlated with those measured in the field (r= 0.80). Moreover, these estimates were more strongly correlated with biomass than those derived from 230 conventional vegetation indices, including the widely used normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI)
Audio-frequency characteristics of multilayer piezoelectric crystal actuator for use in hearing implant
No full textA multilayer piezoelectric actuator has been evaluated for use in a hearing implant. Its Frequency response was flat up to 20kHz. Initial in-vitro trials gave stapes displacement From stimulation at 3.5V RMS, which is equivalent to that from acoustic stimulation at 90dB SPL below 1kHz, increasing to 120dB at 8kHz. This performance meets accepted clinical specifications.</p
The neuroscience of hypoglycemia:: Studies of the rodent brain
No full textIndividuals with type 1 diabetes suffer repeated episodes of insulin-induced hypoglycemia, reflecting both their need for insulin replacement (exogenously delivered and unregulated) and defects in many aspects of the neuroendocrinecounterregulatory response to hypoglycemia. In this review we examine the mechanisms by which the brain detects falling glucose and initiates a counterregulatory hormone defense response. We propose that glucose is monitoredthrough a network of central and peripheral glucose sensors, with specialized neurons in each region using glucose-sensing mechanisms very similar to those of the pancreatic ß- and a-cells
Practising equality? Issues for co-creative and participatory practices addressing social justice and equality
No full textWe increasingly find co-creativity and participation as central aspects of practices across art and design (including architecture). The politics of social justice and equality continue to underlie and inspire these practices. The discourse on Web 2.0 addresses co-creativity and participation, but from quite different perspectives. One of the key aspects of these discourses is the extent to which they recognise context as a critical factor. The other critical factor is the understanding of equality, not in terms of a general social aspiration, but rather as a function within a creative practice. We believe that practices can offerdistinctive understandings to debates on social justice and equality. Practitioners seeking social justice and equality describe the importance of involving participants and co-creators, not through evenness of participation, but rather through discernment opening out to larger audiences
Soil bentonite wall protects foundation from thrust faulting:analyses and experiment
No full textWhen seismic thrust faults emerge on the ground surface, they are particularly damaging to buildings, bridges and lifelines that lie on the rupture path. To protect a structure founded on a rigid raft, a thick diaphragm-type soil bentonite wall (SBW) is installed in front of and near the foundation, at sufficient depth to intercept the propagating fault rupture. Extensive numerical analyses, verified against reduced-scale (1 g) split box physical model tests, reveal that such a wall, thanks to its high deformability and low shear resistance, "absorbs" the compressive thrust of the fault and forces the rupture to deviate upwards along its length. As a consequence, the foundation is left essentially intact. The effectiveness of SBW is demonstrated to depend on the exact location of the emerging fault and the magnitude of the fault offset. When the latter is large, the unprotected foundation experiences intolerable rigid-body rotation even if the foundation structural distress is not substantial.</p
Proposed environmental enforcement framework
No full textBrief note on Scottish Government consultation on enforcement of environmental la
The spectacle of urban consumption:the role of urban art in the reconfiguration of the public sphere
No full textThe paper examines the spectacle of contemporary forms of advertising and product placements techniques in the context of urban environments (including the phenomenon of the so called ‘brand city’).This is an ‘over-exposed city’, to use Virilio’s terminology, a city penetrated by media and advertising, a topical manifestation of what Guy Debord called the ‘Society of the Spectacle’. The paper juxtaposes to the above well rehearsed critical scenarios an examination of several urban art projects that attempt to design an image of the city as a locus of convergence, creativity and citizenship. There is a powerful visual language at work in the contemporary city, one that operates beyond the phantasmagoria of consumption. Inspired by the Situationists’ intent to stimulate permanent social dynamics in the city through playful interventions based on integration between art and technology, such projects show the ability of individuals and social groups to appropriate and co-create urban space. It remains to be seen, though whether such playful interventions bring about new viable conceptions of the public sphere or, conversely, whether their impact is similar, in its ineffectuality, to that of the Situationist precursors
Approaching the physical-biological interface in rivers::a review of methods for ecological evaluation of flow regimes
No full textNew European legislation known as the Water Framework Directive (WFD) challenges catchment hydrologists and freshwater biologists to quantify the risk of damage to the organic communities of rivers that arises from anthropogenic distortion of the natural flow regime. Here, we take the first step towards this goal by collecting together relevant information from the two disciplines. An extensive biological literature is examined for insights into the ways in which the species and communities associated with rivers might change when the flow regime is altered. From the hydrological literature, the indicators of flow regime and flow regime change that are pertinent to ecology are described, and consideration is given to means of deriving flow regime data for ungauged river reaches. Attempts to combine hydrology and ecology in classifying rivers and in setting flow objectives to favour biota are then reviewed, together with integrated approaches to river management that aim to promote ecological quality. A significant scale disparity is noted between the disciplines, hydrology being studied at catchment, subcatchment and reach scales, and biology generally at local level. Nonetheless, both yield methods with potential applications in aspects of WFD implementation. The approach with most appeal for general risk assessment is based on the concept of hydrological alteration. This technique employs flow regime variables selected for their importance to aquatic and riparian ecology, and quantifies deviations from the natural values of these variables at reach scale. For WFD purposes, calibration of the scale of hydrological alteration in terms of risk to ecological status is desirable. In this, priority should be given to identification of the level of hydrological alteration that corresponds to the division between good and moderate ecological status
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