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The Role of Web-Based Adaptive Choice-Based Conjoint Analysis Technology in Eliciting Patients’ Preferences for Osteoarthritis Treatment
Get PDFObjective: To assess the feasibility of using adaptive choice-based conjoint (ACBC) analysis to elicit patients’ preferences for pharmacological treatment of osteoarthritis (OA), patients’ satisfaction with completing the ACBC questionnaire, and factors associated with questionnaire completion time. Methods: Adult patients aged 18 years and older with a medical diagnosis of OA, experiencing joint pain in the past 12 months, and living in the Northeast of England participated in the study. The participants completed a web-based ACBC questionnaire about their preferences regarding pharmaceutical treatment for OA using a touchscreen laptop independently, and accordingly, the questionnaire completion time was measured. Moreover, the participants completed a pen-and-paper feedback form about their experience in completing the ACBC questionnaire. Results: Twenty participants aged 40 years and older, 65% females, 75% had knee OA, and suffering from OA for more than 5 years participated in the study. About 60% of participants reported completing a computerized questionnaire in the past. About 85% of participants believed that the ACBC task helped them in making decisions regarding their OA medications, and 95% agreed or strongly agreed that they would be happy to complete a similar ACBC questionnaire in the future. The average questionnaire completion time was 16 min (range 10–24 min). The main factors associated with longer questionnaire completion time were older age, never using a computer in the past, and no previous experience in completing a questionnaire. Conclusions: The ACBC analysis is a feasible and efficient method to elicit patients’ preferences for pharmacological treatment of OA, which could be used in clinical settings to facilitate shared decision-making and patient-centered care. The ACBC questionnaire completion consumes a significantly longer time for elderly participants, who never used a computer, and never completed any questionnaire previously. Therefore, the contribution of patients and public involvement (PPI) group in the development of the ACBC questionnaire could facilitate participants’ understanding and satisfaction with the task. Future research including patients with different chronic conditions may provide more useful information about the efficiency of ACBC analysis in eliciting patients’ preferences for osteoarthritis treatment
Crisis Communication
Get PDFThis entry provides an overview of public health crises and public health crisis communication, grounded in crisis communication and literature around emerging infectious disease outbreaks (IDOs). It lays down the theoretical foundations for communication and crisis information management in times of public health risks and emergencies, heralded by two conceptual frameworks developed specifically to tackle IDOs and applicable to other health crises: Vijaykumar et al.’s risk amplification through media spread (RAMS) framework and Jin et al.’s infectious disease threat (IDT) appraisal model. It outlines key crisis communicative behaviors of individuals, including crisis information seeking and sharing (CISS) and crisis information vetting, summarizing empirical evidences in the context of IDOs. The rise of online misinformation as a critical concern in the communication management of IDOs and emerging interventions to combat this threat are further examined. Unique challenges and opportunities embedded in public health crisis communication (e.g., overcoming unintended effects of public health crisis communication) are identified for future research
Emerging industry 4.0 and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies in the Ghanaian construction industry: sustainability, implementation challenges, and benefits
Get PDFFuture construction projects will need the implementation of industry 4.0 and Internet-of-Things (IoT) technologies. The construction sector has, however, falling behind other industries in the application of these technologies and is currently facing considerable challenges. One of the industries that lag behind in the use of new innovative technological tools is the construction industry. This study reviews the research work in industry 4.0 and the Internet of Things as they relate to construction and examines key Ghana-based construction professionals and firms to ascertain their level of understanding of these emerging innovative technologies, including the challenges and benefits associated with their implementation. An extensive review of pertinent literature was done to help identify the important paradigms and variables which were cautiously tested. Adopting a quantitative research approach, the attained variables were used to design into a close-ended questionnaire. The sample frame was a survey of people from 154 construction experts and researchers with good standing by using the purposive sampling. Relative importance index (RII) analysis was used to analyzed the data. It was discovered from the findings that smart construction was the most popular industry 4.0 technology in the Ghanaian construction industry. The most important benefit of these technologies is that they will add sustainable policy requirements to tendering, with the most pressing technology being the lack of talent and skills in using industry 4.0 and IoT technologies. The scope of this research is based on the questionnaire survey, proving a sustainable pathway to the construction industry community, which creates its own significance by including key stakeholders and those affected by these technologies
Turbulence in the ice shelf–ocean boundary current and its sensitivity to model resolution
Get PDFThe ice shelf-ocean boundary current has an important control on heat delivery to the base of an ice shelf. Climate and regional models that include a representation of ice shelf cavities often use a coarse grid and results have a strong dependence on resolution near the ice shelf-ocean interface. This study models the ice shelf-ocean boundary current with a non-hydrostatic z-level configuration at turbulence-permitting resolution (1 m). The z-level model performs well when compared against state-of-the-art Large Eddy Simulations showing its capability in representing the correct physics. We showthat theoretical results from a one-dimensional model with parameterised turbulence reproduce the z-level model results to a good degree, indicating possible utility as a turbulence closure. The one-dimensional model evolves to a state of marginal instability and we use the z-level model to demonstrate how this is represented in three-dimensions. Instabilities emerge that regulate the strength of the pycnocline and coexist with persistent Ekman rolls, which are identified prior to the flow becoming intermittently unstable. When resolution of the z-level model is degraded to understand the grid-scale dependencies, the degradation is dominated by the established problem of excessive numerical diffusion. We show that at intermediate resolutions (2-4 m), the boundary layer structure can be partially recovered by tuning diffusivities. Lastly, we compare replacing prescribed melting with interactive melting that is dependent on the local ocean conditions. Interactive melting results in a feedback such that the system evolves more slowly, which is exaggerated at lower resolution
Panic Disorder and Burnout in the Workplace: Review of the Evidence and Recommendations for Future Research
Get PDFBoth panic disorders and burnout are significant challenges in the workplace. However, to date knowledge in these areas has progressed in parallel and there have been few attempts to systematically connect these overlapping syndromes. The objectives of this chapter are to address this gap in the literature by addressing the following: how panic disorder symptoms can be masked under the “burnout-umbrella” meaning they can go under-the-radar, how the overlap between sub-clinical anxiety physical symptoms and panic disorder symptoms might lead to the latter remaining undiagnosed, and the extent to which burnout can contribute to experiencing panic disorder symptoms. Particularly, we will focus on professions that require high levels of emotional labor (e.g., healthcare employees, teaching professions) and which are characterized by pathological altruism, where individuals feel that they are not allowed to experience a panic attack in their work environment—and if they do, they will have to hide it. Moreover, such hiding leads to increased feelings of guilt and apathy, which in turn increases the likelihood of a depressive symptomatology to be developed. Finally, we argue that the field is hampered by the fact that employees are less likely to report the real intensity of their anxiety and stress-related symptoms
Prescribing and adjusting exercise training in chronic respiratory diseases – Expert-based practical recommendations
Get PDFBackground
International guidelines recommend endurance (ET) and strength training (ST) in patients with chronic respiratory diseases (CRDs), but only provide rough guidance on how to set the initial training load. This may unintentionally lead to practice variation and inadequate training load adjustments. This study aimed to develop practical recommendations on tailoring ET and ST based on practices from international experts from the field of exercise training in CRDs.
Methods
35 experts were invited to address a 64-item online survey about how they prescribe and adjust exercise training.
Results
Cycling (97%) and walking (86%) were the most commonly implemented ET modalities. Continuous endurance training (CET, 83%) and interval endurance training (IET, 86%) were the frequently applied ET types. Criteria to prescribe IET instead of CET were: patients do not tolerate CET due to dyspnoea at the initial training session (79%), intense breathlessness during initial exercise assessment (76%), and/or profound exercise-induced oxygen desaturation (59%). For ST, most experts (68%) recommend 3 sets per exercise; 62% of experts set the intensity at a specific load that patients can tolerate for a range of 8 to 15 repetitions per set. Also, 56% of experts advise patients to approach local muscular exhaustion at the end of a single ST set.
Conclusions
The experts´ practices were summarized to develop practical recommendations in the form of flowcharts on how experts apply and adjust CET, IET, and ST in patients with CRDs. These recommendations may guide health care professionals to optimize exercise training programs in patients with CRDs
Driving factors behind the continuous increase of long-term PM2.5-attributable health burden in India using the high-resolution global datasets from 2001 to 2020
Get PDFAir pollution is the fourth leading global risk factor, whereas in India air pollution is reported as the highest risk factor with millions of premature deaths every year. Despite implementation of several air pollution control plans, PM2.5 levels over India have not noticeably reduced. PM2.5-associated health burdens in India have increased significantly in past decades. A fine resolution (0·01° × 0·01°) analysis of PM2.5-attribulable premature deaths (rather than the coarse-level analysis) may elucidate the reason for this increase and inform and effective start-of-the-art state-level and national emission control strategies. This study quantified the spatiotemporal dynamics of PM2.5-attributable premature deaths from 2001 to 2020 and applied a decomposition analysis to dissect the contribution of various associated parameters, such as PM2.5 concentration, population distribution and disease-specific baseline death rate. Results show significant spatiotemporal variations of PM2.5 and associated health burden in India. During the study period, population weighted PM2.5 value increased from 46.0 to 59.5 μg/m3 and associated non-communicable death increased around 87.6 %, from 1050 [95 % (CI): 880–1210] thousand to 1970 (95 % CI: 1658-2259) thousand. The states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh had the highest PM2.5-attributable deaths. In these states, non-accidental deaths increased from 232.1, 112.7, 81.4, 79.1, 66.3 and 58.5 thousand in 2001 to 424.1, 226.7, 156.2, 154.5, 123.3 and 119.7 thousand in 2020. In per capita population (/105 population), the highest PM2.5-attributable deaths were observed in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana and Punjab. Throughout the study period, demographic changes outweighed the health burden and were responsible for ~62.8 % increase of PM2.5-related non-accidental deaths across India, whereas the change in PM2.5 concentration influenced only 18.7 %. The change in baseline mortality rate impacts differently for the estimation of disease-specific mortality changes. Our findings suggest more dynamic and comprehensive policies at state-specific level, especially for North India is very indispensable for the overall decrease of PM2.5-related deaths in India
Increased appreciation of forests and their restorative effects during the COVID-19 pandemic
Get PDFPublic expectations of forests as high-quality restorative environments that facilitate subjective well-being and stress relief along with numerous health benefits have been rising sharply during recent decades. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic and its accompanying restrictive measures also transformed forests into some of the few places to spend time away from home. The presented study drew on the assumption that the pandemic situation and a rise in the number of forest visits would affect the experience, recognition, and appreciation of the well-being aspects related to spending time in forests. The study goal was to elucidate the potential effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the relationships between forest visits, well-being and stress relief, emotions, perception of nature and forest value and importance, pro-environmental behavior, and societal expectations of the role of forests and forest ecosystem services. A survey using a digital questionnaire was conducted several months after the pandemic outbreak on a representative sample of the Slovak population. The Wilcoxon test and ordinal regression analysis were used to identify significant relationships, e.g., between the recency of anger episodes and the number of forest visits. The results showed that the pandemic strengthened the perception of forests as a high-quality restorative environment and that emotions associated with forest visits played an important role in the perceived importance of forests and their possible overexploitation. The results underscore the urgent need to put demands for forest recreation on par with the forest bioeconomy and to sensitize forest visitors to management and conservation requirements
“Learning About” and “Learning From”: Enabling approaches for decolonizing architectural pedagogy in the Global South
Get PDFGrounded on more than three decades of research into architectural education and design pedagogy, this chapter establishes an understanding of the roots of Eurocentricity and the evolving quest for decolonization while introducing realizable paradigms to decolonize architectural pedagogy in the Global South. The chapter argues that Global South architectural pedagogy needs to operate effectively within a global world order, but, at the same time, it contends that the body of knowledge utilized can be enhanced, and its scope can be deepened, when both historical and contemporary exemplars are lucidly contextualized and when learning approaches are operationalized to address context specificity. By offering a critique of the impact of Western authority on architectural pedagogy in the Global South, the analysis utilizes “learning about” architecture and “learning from” the built environment as metaphors that enable decolonized learning experiences in terms of content and context. Responding to these two metaphors, the Aga Khan Award for Architecture and appreciative inquiry (AI) are utilized as paradigms for critical cognizance and inquisitiveness in lecture and theory-based courses. The thrust of this content and approach is to institute opportunities that help empower efforts for decolonizing architectural pedagogy in the Global South
Rapid and facile fabrication of hierarchically porous graphene aerogel for oil-water separation and piezoresistive sensing applications
Get PDFGraphene aerogel (GA) holds great potentials for versatile applications, for example, oil-water separation and piezoresistive sensing. However, GA is generally prepared via time-consuming and complicated methods. Herein, a rapid and facile approach has been proposed to fabricate GA by a two-step reduction method, i.e., hydrothermal reduction by thiourea at a mild temperature of 95 °C for 30 min followed by microwave treatment for several seconds, c.a., 4–12 s. GA was partially reduced in the first step and self-assembled into a 3D scaffold which is much more receptive to microwaves and promotes the second complete reduction by microwave treatment. By tuning the microwaving time, the GA microwaved for 10 s, that is, MGA-10 exhibits hierarchically porous microstructure, ultra-low density, and super compressibility. MGA-10 can be used as a recyclable absorbent with high absorption capacities (223 ∼ 430 g/g) towards various oils and organic solvents. Meanwhile, the high sensitivity of the electric resistance to the compressive strain enables MGA-10 promising for pressure sensor applications. The MGA-10 sensor demonstrates high sensitivity (1.112 kPa−1 at a pressure range of 0 ∼ 0.3 kPa) and excellent stability (>3000 cycles). This fabrication route paves the way to efficiently prepare highly compressible graphene aerogels for versatile applications