932 research outputs found
Sort by
Holistic Dwelling Energy Assessment Protocol for Mine-water District Heat Network
Get PDFUK buildings and energy infrastructures are heavily dependent on natural gas, and a large proportion is used for domestic space heating; but 50% is imported. Improving energy security and reducing carbon emissions are major government drivers for reducing gas dependency. So, there needs to be a wholesale shift in the energy provision to householders without impacting on thermal comfort levels, convenience or cost of supply. Electrical powered heat pumps are seen as a potential alternative system for heating new dwellings, but will they work in dwellings built prior to 1919? This paper investigates the energy demand of pre-1919 dwellings in Wales, UK as part of a feasibility study to extract water from disused coal mines to supply a district heat network. A holistic surveying protocol providing a more accurate/realistic assessment of total household heat demand is considered. The protocol’s techniques include condition surveys, air permeability and thermography tests, and heat loss calculations are discussed. The results were used to predict future (beyond 2019) heat demand after potential retrofit improvements, thereby informing the size of heat pumps required. The findings show estimated heat demand to be in close correlation to household energy bills, and that the use of heat pumps in pre-1919 dwellings is viable, provided sufficient improvement to thermal performance is possible
Exploring the socio-ecological factors behind the (in)active lifestyles of Spanish post-bariatric surgery patients
Get PDFPurpose: Physical activity (PA) is considered essential for the treatment of morbid obesity and the optimization of bariatric surgery outcomes. The objective of this article was to identify the facilitators and barriers that bariatric patients perceived to do PA one year after finishing a PA programme for the promotion of a long-term active lifestyle. This objective was addressed from a socio-ecological and qualitative perspective.
Methods: Nine patients (eight women and one man), aged between 31 and 59 years, participated in semi-structured interviews directly following the PA programme and one year after it. A content analysis was carried out to analyze the qualitative data.
Results: Weight loss, improvement of physical fitness, perceived competence, and enjoyment were the main facilitators of PA. Complexes related to skin folds, osteoarthritis, perceived unfavourable weather conditions, lack of social support and economic resources, long workdays, lack of specific PA programmes, and other passive leisure preferences were the main barriers to participate in PA.
Conclusions: Results highlight the important interplay between personal, social environmental, and physical environmental factors to explain (in)active behaviours of bariatric patients. The findings of this article could be useful for future research and interventions aimed at promoting PA in bariatric patients
Different medications for the treatment of Ménière’s disease by intratympanic injection: a systematic review and network meta-analysis
Get PDFBackground: It is generally accepted that intratympanic injection provides an effective approach to manage severe vertigo in Ménière’s disease. Although there are several medications available, that which is the most effective is still subject to debate. Objective: To assess the effectiveness and safety of the different medications used in treatment of Ménière’s disease by intratympanic injection using a network meta-analysis. Methods: PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL and CENTRAL were searched. Only randomized controlled trials that compared the effectiveness of medications used for intratympanic injection to treat Ménière’s disease with each other or a placebo were included. The primary outcome assessed was the effectiveness of medication in the management of vertigo symptoms. The effectiveness was expressed in terms of risk ratio (RR) with a 95% credible interval (CrI) for individual studies analyzed. Network meta-analyses was performed by Stata version 15.0 using the network package. Results: Nine studies involving 314 patients treated with 5 different medications were included in the present analysis. Number of injections given varied from 1 to 10 and follow-up time from 3 to 28 months. When compared to each other or to a placebo, Gentamicin was found to be the most efficacious medication, followed by Methylprednisolone, Latanoprost, Dexamethasone and Ganciclovir in order of effectiveness. However, no significant difference in efficacy was found between Gentamicin and Methylprednisolone when outcomes from studies with a follow-up time equal to or more than 24 months were analyzed. It was not possible to conduct subgroup and sensitivity analysis because of the limited number of studies that were included. Conclusion: All medications are more effective than a placebo in the treatment of Ménière’s disease by intratympanic injection. According to the SUCRA, Gentamicin ranked the most effective, with Gentamicin and Methylprednisolone equally effective in the long-term. When the potential risk of hearing loss induced by Gentamicin is taken into consideration, Methylprednisolone may be the best choice for treatment of Ménière’s disease by intratympanic injection
The use of virtual reality for public health education with reference to Syrian refugee camps
Get PDFIn this study we used Virtual Reality (VR) technology to provide an immersive interactive learning experience for undergraduate public health students in the UK and Lebanon. Students carried out a problem-based learning exercise around public health challenges faced by Syrian refugees in Lebanon. In the wider context of a Virtual Student Exchange programme small, mixed nationality groups were connected by Skype, WhatsApp and other technologies to research specific healthcare requirements for refugee camps (e.g. sanitation) and constructed an interview guide for the Lebanese students to use on a visit to a camp at the end of the programme. Lebanese students captured 360-degree videos to allow UK peers to ‘join’ them on their camp visit using VR. Findings from post-hoc video interviews focusing on the use of VR indicated that students felt closer to the subject of their research than before it was used. Participants’ emotions were affected by what they saw in the camps, providing a broader cognitive experience in which sight, sound, and emotions were linked to the camps, deepening learning about the refugees’ conditions. Faculty were able to move beyond the use of simple text-based scenarios, facilitating students’ learning about a real-world situation that they would not have been able to access through other means. This approach has potential for wider use in education, providing virtual access to locations it can be difficult for learners to visit by other means
Game|lan:Co-Designing and Co-Creating an Orchestra of Digital Musical Instruments within the Fab Lab Network
Get PDFThis paper presents an ongoing project focused on the co-design and
co-creation of a small orchestra of digitally fabricated digital musical
instruments (DMIs) based on the Bela board, an open-source
embedded computing platform. The project took place in Fab Labs,
an international network of digital fabrication laboratories1. The orchestra,
named Game|Lan, is inspired by the traditional Indonesian
Gamelan ensembles, their music and philosophy. The project aims
to explore the capabilities of the Fab Lab network which runs on an
open-access, open-source and open-hardware ethos, for a distributed
project of this type. The aspiration is to create an original orchestra
for non-musicians, which offers the rich collective experience of
being in a music group and explore it as a medium for social interaction.
This paper presents the first results of the research project
which took place is three Fab Labs in South America and it focuses
on the process and the development of the project
Egocentric vision in a 3D game using linear perspective and natural rendering
No full textHumans naturally see the world from an egocentric perspective. But important
questions remain about how best to represent this perspective in image media. Most
computer graphics engines use linear perspective (LP) to render 3D space. But
previous studies suggest that images created using LP do not accurately represent the
experience of being in front of a space, particularly for wide fields of view (FOV)
where apparent distortions of object size and shape can occur. We report two
experiments in which we compared different methods of representing the egocentric
viewpoint in a real-time 3D gaming environment. One method was the standard LP
projection used by 3D graphics engines, and the other used a novel projective geometry
developed by the authors that is based on the natural structure of human vision, called
Natural Rendering (NR). Our results showed that participants: 1) preferred to play the
game in NR at a wider FOV setting (M=142°) compared to LP (M=115°) and 2) were
4.9 times more likely to estimate a target object’s correct distance and 5.12 times more
likely to give an accurate distance estimation if they were looking at NR renders
compared to the LP ones. We conclude that NR approximates the perceived structure
of the egocentric viewpoint more closely than LP, providing a more immersive and
natural experience of virtual environments, and that it might have benefits for 3D
computer graphics more generall
Application of large format tissue processing in the histology laboratory
Get PDFIn clinical, research and veterinary laboratories of North America, large format histology has more recently been improved with newer equipment and better methodology. Large tissue specimens are frequently sliced in the grossing room and processed in multiple smaller, standard size tissue cassettes. Justifiably, submitting more blocks inherently lends itself to a greater confidence in the accuracy of the diagnosis, yet guidelines for tissue sampling often suggest taking fewer samples. For example, large tumor specimen protocols recommend taking one standard-sized tissue block for each cm diameter of tumor. However, cancers are the culmination of many complex changes in cell metabolism and often appear dissimilar at different tissue locations. As these changes have an uncertain behavior, many other tissue samples are often taken from areas that appear to have either a variable texture or color. Consequently, at microscopy, the complete tissue sample may need to be reassembled like a jigsaw puzzle as the stained sections are frequently presented over many slides. This problem has easily been overcome by using large format cassettes since the entire cross-section of the tissue sample can often be viewed on a single slide. Because these cassettes can effectively hold up to 10 times the volume of conventional standard size cassettes, they are a more efficient way of assessing large areas of tissue samples. This system is easily adapted for all tissue types and has become the established method for assessing large tissue samples in many laboratory settings
Methods and considerations concerning cardiac output measurement in pregnant women: recommendations of the International Working Group on Maternal Hemodynamics
Get PDFCardiac output (CO), along with blood pressure and vascular resistance, is one of the most important parameters of maternal hemodynamic function. Substantial changes in CO occur in normal pregnancy and in most obstetric complications. With the development of several non‐invasive techniques for the measurement of CO, there is a growing interest in the determination of this parameter in pregnancy. These techniques were initially developed for use in critical‐care settings and were subsequently adopted in obstetrics, often without appropriate validation for use in pregnancy. In this article, methods and devices for the measurement of CO are described and compared, and recommendations are formulated for their use in pregnancy, with the aim of standardizing the assessment of CO and peripheral vascular resistance in clinical practice and research studies on maternal hemodynamics
Global REACH 2018: The influence of acute and chronic hypoxia on cerebral haemodynamics and related functional outcomes during cold and heat stress
Get PDFReal-world settings are composed of multiple environmental stressors, yet the majority of research in environmental physiology investigates these stressors in isolation. The brain is central in both behavioural and physiological responses to threatening stimuli and, given its tight metabolic and haemodynamic requirements, is particularly susceptible to environmental stress. We measured cerebral blood flow (CBF, duplex ultrasound), cerebral oxygen delivery (CDO2), oesophageal temperature, and arterial blood gases during exposure to three commonly experienced environmental stressors –heat, cold and hypoxia –in isolation, and in combination. Twelve healthy male subjects (27±11 years) underwent core cooling by 1.0ºC and core heating by 1.5ºC in randomized order at sea-level; acute hypoxia (PetO2= 50mmHg) was imposed at baseline and at each thermal extreme. Core cooling and heating protocols were repeated after 16±4 days residing at 4330m to investigate any interactions with high altitude acclimatization. Cold stress decreased CBF by 20–30% and CDO2 by 12–19%(both p0.08). The increases in CBF with acute hypoxia during thermal stress were appropriate to maintain CDO2 at normothermic, normoxic values. Reaction time was faster and slower by 6-9%with heating and cooling, respectively(both p<0.01), but central (brain) processes were not impaired by any combination of environmental stressors. These findings highlight the powerful influence of core cooling in reducing CDO2. Despite these large reductions in CDO2 with cold stress, gross indices of cognition remained stable
Adapting evidence-informed complex population health interventions for new contexts: a systematic review of guidance
Get PDFBackground:
Adapting interventions that have worked elsewhere can save resources associated with developing new interventions for each specific context. While a developing body of evidence shows benefits of adapted interventions compared with interventions transported without adaptation, there are also examples of interventions which have been extensively adapted, yet have not worked in the new context. Decisions on when, to what extent, and how to adapt interventions therefore are not straightforward, particularly when conceptualising intervention effects as contingent upon contextual interactions in complex systems. No guidance currently addresses these questions comprehensively. To inform development of an overarching guidance on adaptation of complex population health interventions, this systematic review synthesises the content of the existing guidance papers.
Methods:
We searched for papers published between January 2000 and October 2018 in 7 bibliographic databases. We used citation tracking and contacted authors and experts to locate further papers. We double screened all the identified records. We extracted data into the following categories: descriptive information, key concepts and definitions, rationale for adaptation, aspects of adaptation, process of adaptation, evaluating and reporting adapted interventions. Data extraction was conducted independently by two reviewers, and retrieved data were synthesised thematically within pre-specified and emergent categories.
Results:
We retrieved 6694 unique records. Thirty-eight papers were included in the review representing 35 sources of guidance. Most papers were developed in the USA in the context of implementing evidence-informed interventions among different population groups within the country, such as minority populations. We found much agreement on how the papers defined key concepts, aims, and procedures of adaptation, including involvement of key stakeholders, but also identified gaps in scope, conceptualisation, and operationalisation in several categories.
Conclusions:
Our review found limitations that should be addressed in future guidance on adaptation. Specifically, future guidance needs to be reflective of adaptations in the context of transferring interventions across countries, including macro- (e.g. national-) level interventions, better theorise the role of intervention mechanisms and contextual interactions in the replicability of effects and accordingly conceptualise key concepts, such as fidelity to intervention functions, and finally, suggest evidence-informed strategies for adaptation re-evaluation and reporting