178,290 research outputs found
A model to evaluate diabetes self-management programmes
No full textSelf-management has emerged as an approach to enhance quality of care for patients suffering from long term conditions, and to control costs of health services. So far, however, the effects of this approach as adopted by the Saudi healthcare system in the early 1990s remain unclear. Although current models define the concept of self-management, they do not provide a systematic development or an explanatory theory of how self management affects the outcomes of care. The objective of this research is to develop a framework applicable to the evaluation of self-management programmes. The evaluation model is built on patient-related intervention. The effectiveness of these interventions is determined by the levels of patient engagement and effective participation. Therefore, studying factors that influence patients‘ adherence to self-management activities is crucial to explain the outcomes of these interventions. We apply this framework to the case of diabetes mellitus, one of the most common chronic conditions in Saudi Arabia, causing huge burdens on patients and healthcare providers.A non-experimental retrospective cross-sectional survey research design has been employed to conduct this research using a self-administered questionnaire. Closed-ended questions were used to measure all study variables related to model construction. One open-ended question was used to investigate barriers to diabetes self-management. A non-probability convenient sample design was used to select diabetes centres participated in this study and a systematic approach for selecting patients in these centres. Research data were collected from five diabetes centres and clinics in the main five regions in Saudi Arabia. Quantitative data were analysed using simple, multiple and logistic regressions, whereas a directed content analysis approach was used to analyse qualitative data.The results of this study revealed that diabetes self-management improves clinical outcomes and reduces utilization of health services. The theoretical approaches underpinning self-management were based on established models from the field of health psychology. By investigating the effect of self-efficacy patients‘ beliefs, and locus of control on self-management, we found that these behavioural theories support the core assumptions of self-management. Self-efficacy was the most significant predictor of self-management followed by patient beliefs. Social support, effective communication between patients and health providers in addition to diabetes knowledge were all important factors to positively influence diabetes self-management. However a new construct, misconception of fatalism from the Islamic point of view, was found to play a negative role in diabetes management. The research model also suggests that diabetes knowledge was influenced by several factors. Education level was the most significant predictor of diabetes knowledge followed by age and diabetes education. It was also found that group education improves diabetes knowledge more than individual education.This model is a valid tool that could be used to evaluate self-management programmes in other chronic diseases. It can be used as a decision making supporting tool; to identify different components of self-management interventions, and to compare outcomes of programmes. It can also be used to group patients into different categories to facilitate providing tailored services suitable for each group. It could assist health providers to plan new interventions or to refine existing ones by allocating efforts and financial resources toward the most influential factors that affect patients‘ adherence to self-management activities.<br/
Collaborative digital library of historical resources : Evaluation of first users
No full textThis paper describes the digital library of historical resources, a research project which involves building a testbed for the purpose of developing and testing new collaborative digital library functionality and presents an initial analysis of the digital library's public use on the web. The digital library is modeled to focus on serving secondary students information needs in conducting history projects. As such, in the implementation of the digital library, the use of online resources would be an integral part of history project based learning activities. Students should be enabled to access digital resources, create and publish their own documents in the digital library and share them with others. As a testbed system, the collaborative digital library known as CoreDev has demonstrated its capabilities in serving an educational community as has been reflected by the positive feedback on the functional requirements from 44 users. Over 75 of the respondents in the user survey considered themselves capable of using the digital library easily. The beta tester demographics (n = 105) indicate that the digital library is reaching its target communities
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Shaikh Abdullah Al-Salim Al-Sabah, 1895-1965
No full textThis is the first monograph-length academic study of Shaikh Abdullah al-Salim al-Sabah, Ruler of Kuwait between 1950 and 1965. It is based on British and US government records, interviews, and a wide range of secondary sources in Arabic and English. It traces the development of modern Kuwait from the mid-eighteenth century under the al-Sabah up to the accession of Shaikh Abdullah in 1950. It considers the succession question in Kuwait before 1950, and Abdullah’s lengthy period as a candidate for succession, which enabled him to develop and expand his ideas for his country before becoming ruler.
The study also examines the way that Abdullah transformed Kuwait into the first rentier state in Eastern Arabia and analyses his impact on the development of Kuwait’s administrative system. The influence of Arab nationalism and Britain on his decision-making and his relationship with Arab nationalists and the British Government, as well as his subtle handling of Kuwait’s border dispute with Iraq, are also investigated in detail.
This study focuses on the six major challenges that Abdullah overcame in order to transform Kuwait into a rentier state: (1) his political victories and defeats prior to his reign that shaped his political ideas, (2) his twenty-nine-year struggle to become ruler of Kuwait, (3) how he changed the direction of Kuwait’s development process by moving away from the politics of his predecessors, (4) his troubled relationship with the al-Sabah in Kuwait’s government administration, (5) how he dealt with the pressure exerted by Arab nationalists and the British Government on his political decisions, and (6) how he handled Kuwait’s troubled relationship with Iraq.
This thesis argues that Shaikh Abdullah al-Salim al-Sabah was an exceptional leader not only among the rulers of Kuwait (1752 to present), but also among the rulers of the Gulf Arab states in general. He was the first ruler to introduce a rentier state system that provided extensive welfare services for all of his country’s citizens, securing his family’s position in government in the process. He led Kuwait to independence in 1961 and oversaw the drafting of its constitution in 1962. He was a skilled politician and diplomat, who negotiated a delicate balance between the competing interests of the Kuwaitis, the ruling family (the al-Sabah), the Arab nationalists, the British Government, and the Iraqi government. As a result, he has enjoyed a popularity within Kuwait second only to the founder of modern Kuwait, Shaikh Mubarak al-Sabah (r.1896-1915)
Shaikh Abdullah Al-Salim Al-Sabah, 1895-1965
No full textThis is the first monograph-length academic study of Shaikh Abdullah al-Salim al-Sabah, Ruler of Kuwait between 1950 and 1965. It is based on British and US government records, interviews, and a wide range of secondary sources in Arabic and English. It traces the development of modern Kuwait from the mid-eighteenth century under the al-Sabah up to the accession of Shaikh Abdullah in 1950. It considers the succession question in Kuwait before 1950, and Abdullah’s lengthy period as a candidate for succession, which enabled him to develop and expand his ideas for his country before becoming ruler.
The study also examines the way that Abdullah transformed Kuwait into the first rentier state in Eastern Arabia and analyses his impact on the development of Kuwait’s administrative system. The influence of Arab nationalism and Britain on his decision-making and his relationship with Arab nationalists and the British Government, as well as his subtle handling of Kuwait’s border dispute with Iraq, are also investigated in detail.
This study focuses on the six major challenges that Abdullah overcame in order to transform Kuwait into a rentier state: (1) his political victories and defeats prior to his reign that shaped his political ideas, (2) his twenty-nine-year struggle to become ruler of Kuwait, (3) how he changed the direction of Kuwait’s development process by moving away from the politics of his predecessors, (4) his troubled relationship with the al-Sabah in Kuwait’s government administration, (5) how he dealt with the pressure exerted by Arab nationalists and the British Government on his political decisions, and (6) how he handled Kuwait’s troubled relationship with Iraq.
This thesis argues that Shaikh Abdullah al-Salim al-Sabah was an exceptional leader not only among the rulers of Kuwait (1752 to present), but also among the rulers of the Gulf Arab states in general. He was the first ruler to introduce a rentier state system that provided extensive welfare services for all of his country’s citizens, securing his family’s position in government in the process. He led Kuwait to independence in 1961 and oversaw the drafting of its constitution in 1962. He was a skilled politician and diplomat, who negotiated a delicate balance between the competing interests of the Kuwaitis, the ruling family (the al-Sabah), the Arab nationalists, the British Government, and the Iraqi government. As a result, he has enjoyed a popularity within Kuwait second only to the founder of modern Kuwait, Shaikh Mubarak al-Sabah (r.1896-1915)
Halal Tourism Tweets: Dataset for sentiment Analysis
No full textThis dataset contains 1,587,808 Halal tourism related tweets from 2006 to 2021. User identification information are removed to maintain data privacy. The data was collected using the Twitter Academic API. The data is stored in as a RDS file (R Programing Language file), where each line represents a tweet. The RDS file provides information on the following fields:lang: language of the tweettext: the full content of the tweetcreated_at: the publication date of the tweetlocation: the country of the author of the twee
Evolution of dental surgery and orthodontic techniques: a historical perspective
Get PDFThis study explores the evolution of dental surgery and orthodontics, highlighting key advancements
from historical practices to modern techniques. Significant developments include the introduction of
anesthesia, digital technologies, and innovative orthodontic appliances. These changes have improved patient
care, comfort, and treatment outcomes
Tony Rafty and subject [picture] /
No full textTitle from label on reverse of mount.; Signed l.r.; R10718
A 2 h periodic variation in the low-mass X-ray binary Ser X-1
No full textSpectroscopy of the low-mass X-ray binary Ser X-1 using the Gran Telescopio Canarias have revealed a ?2 h periodic variability that is present in the three strongest emission lines. We tentatively interpret this variability as due to orbital motion, making it the first indication of the orbital period of Ser X-1. Together with the fact that the emission lines are remarkably narrow, but still resolved, we show that a main-sequence K dwarf together with a canonical 1.4 M? neutron star gives a good description of the system. In this scenario, the most likely place for the emission lines to arise is the accretion disc, instead of a localized region in the binary (such as the irradiated surface or the stream-impact point), and their narrowness is due instead to the low inclination (?10°) of Ser X-1
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