31 research outputs found
Retrospective from departing UM Provost Pardis Mahdavi
No full textThis week\u27s guest is Dr. Pardis Mahdavi, an Iranian-American professor, administrator, outgoing provost at the University of Montana, and the newly named president of the University of La Verne. Pardis is the author of multiple books and served in leadership roles in several prominent universities.
In this episode Justin asks Pardis about her path into academia, what changes to the University of Montana and higher ed more broadly she would like to see and her goals for the new role as president of the University of La Verne.https://scholarworks.umt.edu/anewangle_podcasts/1307/thumbnail.jp
Corrigendum: Confirmatory factor analysis and gender invariance of the Persian version of psychological control scale: association with internalizing and externalizing behavior problems (Frontiers in Psychology, (2023), 14, (1128264), 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1128264)
No full textCopyright © 2024 Habibi Asgarabad, Salehi Yegaei, Mokhtari, Izalnoo and Trejos-Castillo. cc-byIn the published article, there was an error in the correspondence details. As well as Pardis Salehi Yegaei, Mojtaba Habibi Asgarabad should also be listed as a corresponding author. The complete correspondence details are shown below: *Correspondence: Pardis Salehi Yegaei Mojtaba Habibi Asgarabad The authors apologize for this error and state that this does not change the scientific conclusions of the article in any way. The original article has been updated
An evaluation of service quality gap and patients' satisfaction of Galliera Hospital in Genoa, Italy
No full textLAUREA MAGISTRALEAbstract:
High service quality of each hospital is a pivotal factor which can lead to the best desired outcome for any patients and hospitals always attempt to improve their performances. To achieve this goal applicants’ opinion has a significant role. Nowadays, patients’ expectation has been increased significantly regarding to service quality of hospitals. However, numbers of hospitals cannot meet these expectations since they never find out their shortfalls according to customers’ evaluation questionnaires. We tried to figure out these deficiency areas in Galliera hospital as a public one in Genoa, Italy. This hospital has almost 500 beds that offer medical services to public. During decades, Galliera has maintained a unique status among public healthcares, since 1995 this hospital has been determined as nationally great and high specialization. To measure the gap between expectation and perception of applicants who chose to go to Galliera hospital, we decided to use SERVEQUAL model by (Parasuraman et al., 1988). We spread Italian and English version of our survey in this hospital to identify service quality deficits. This study tries to understand weakness and strength area by evaluating questions about the quality of services provided by Galliera hospital. These questions assessed the customers’ satisfaction by considering different aspects of the service such as tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy.
The SERVQUAL instrument consists of five dimensions that evaluated by 21 pairs of different statements. On one side of questionnaire, applicants were asked about their expectations regarding to hospital service quality and on the other side they could find statements about their real experiences of current hospital services. Service quality scores were calculated by subtracting expectation scores from perception scores (P-E). Positive or at least zero results show the ideal and suitability of services offered by Galliera hospital. While, the negative scores reflect that the hospital could not meet customers’ expectation. Thus, SERVQUAL instrument was used as a tool to recognize the problem areas of each dimension.
The SERVQUL questionnaire collected some demographic information including gender, age, occupation status, number of visit and length of stay in Galliera hospital. Patients were asked to rank the service quality of this hospital based on 5-point Likert from Strongly Agree (5) to Strongly Disagree (1).
In overall 200 printed questionnaires were distributed in Galliera hospital and 50 electronic versions also sent by email to patients. From the total questionnaire distributed just 148 of them returned and identified valid for the statistical analyzes.
The results of survey from Galliera hospital indicated remarkable differences at p < 0.05 level among expectation and perception scores. Service quality scores (SQ=P-E) for all statements were negative and responsiveness dimension had the maximum gap, however Tangibility and Empathy dimensions had very small gaps among all. The results of demographic information declared some attractive results. This information showed that Length of stay and number of visit had more effect on patients’ point of view compare to the other demographic factors.
Following, causal map test has been done on the relationships between service quality, customers’ satisfaction and loyalty. The results indicated that customer satisfaction mediates the connection between perceived quality and customer loyalty.
In the last chapter the best recommendations were offered to management of Galliera hospital in order to minimize the SERVQUAL gap. By using the recommendations figured out from this research project, this hospital is able improve the service quality offered to patients and consequently its patients’ satisfaction and loyalty
Development of a deep-sea submersible chemiluminescent analyzer for sensing short-lived reactive chemicals
No full text© The Author(s), 2022. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Taenzer, L., Grabb, K., Kapit, J., Pardis, W., Wankel, S. D., & Hansel, C. M. Development of a deep-sea submersible chemiluminescent analyzer for sensing short-lived reactive chemicals. Sensors, 22(5), (2022): 1709, https://doi.org/10.3390/s22051709.Based on knowledge of their production pathways, and limited discrete observations, a variety of short-lived chemical species are inferred to play active roles in chemical cycling in the sea. In some cases, these species may exert a disproportionate impact on marine biogeochemical cycles, affecting the redox state of metal and carbon, and influencing the interaction between organisms and their environment. One such short-lived chemical is superoxide, a reactive oxygen species (ROS), which undergoes a wide range of environmentally important reactions. Yet, due to its fleeting existence which precludes traditional shipboard analyses, superoxide concentrations have never been characterized in the deep sea. To this end, we have developed a submersible oceanic chemiluminescent analyzer of reactive intermediate species (SOLARIS) to enable continuous measurements of superoxide at depth. Fluidic pumps on SOLARIS combine seawater for analysis with reagents in a spiral mixing cell, initiating a chemiluminescent reaction that is monitored by a photomultiplier tube. The superoxide in seawater is then related to the quantity of light produced. Initial field deployments of SOLARIS have revealed high-resolution trends in superoxide throughout the water column. SOLARIS presents the opportunity to constrain the distributions of superoxide, and any number of chemiluminescent species in previously unexplored environments.This research was funded by the NSF Oceanographic Technology and Interdisciplinary Coordination (OTIC) program grant number 1736332 and NSF Chemical Oceanography program grant number 1924236. Partial support was provided by the Link Foundation Ocean Engineering and Instrumentation Fellowship (L.T.)
Quantum cascade laser-based reflectance spectroscopy: a robust approach for the classification of plastic type
No full text© The Author(s), 2020. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Michel, A. P. M., Morrison, A. E., Colson, B. C., Pardis, W. A., Moya, X. A., Harb, C. C., & White, H. K. Quantum cascade laser-based reflectance spectroscopy: a robust approach for the classification of plastic type. Optics Express, 28(12), (2020): 17741-17756, doi:10.1364/OE.393231.The identification of plastic type is important for environmental applications ranging from recycling to understanding the fate of plastics in marine, atmospheric, and terrestrial environments. Infrared reflectance spectroscopy is a powerful approach for plastics identification, requiring only optical access to a sample. The use of visible and near-infrared wavelengths for plastics identification are limiting as dark colored plastics absorb at these wavelengths, producing no reflectance spectra. The use of mid-infrared wavelengths instead enables dark plastics to be identified. Here we demonstrate the capability to utilize a pulsed, widely-tunable (5.59 - 7.41 µm) mid-infrared quantum cascade laser, as the source for reflectance spectroscopy, for the rapid and robust identification of plastics. Through the application of linear discriminant analysis to the resulting spectral data set, we demonstrate that we can correctly classify five plastic types: polyethylene terephthalate (PET), high density polyethylene (HDPE), low density polyethylene (LDPE), polypropylene (PP), and polystyrene (PS), with a 97% accuracy rate.Richard Saltonstall Charitable Foundation; National Academies Keck Futures Initiative (NAKFI DBS13)
Revitalization of the Bazaar neighborhood in Tehran
No full textThe word “bazaar” refers to an ancient Persian word “wazaar” meaning market. This word has been transferred and used in other countries such as Turkey, Arabic countries, India and even China during economic interactions and exchanges between Iran and these countries.
Bazaars are historic market places that provide trade services as well as other functions. Their historic buildings are renowned for their architectural aesthetics, and in old cities such as Tehran (Iran) they are considered the centerpiece of activities with architectural, cultural, historical, religious, and commercial values. However, during the past 400 years, they have undergone social and environmental changes. The neighborhood of the Tehran Bazaar has in recent decades become degraded, which has consequently decreased the social value of the historic Bazaar. The ruined urban condition makes it impossible for contemporary visitors to have a pleasurable experience while visiting the Bazaar, although that was historically their experience. As Tehran began to grow, much of the trade and finance in the city has moved to the newly developed section of the city, diminishing the importance of the bazaars. Today, shoppers and residents living in the Bazaar neighborhood inhabit dilapidated buildings, while customers and tourists—when they go there at all—experience a neighborhood that lacks even the most basic urban amenities such as sidewalks, drainage, benches, trees and lighting.
This design study required a number of investigations. It was essential to know whether there is appropriate access to the neighborhood in general and to the Bazaar specifically, and whether or not these access routes provide pedestrians a safe and healthy experience. Additionally, I looked at social context and sense of community, commercial viability, traffic, and urban hygiene. I interviewed many of the shop owners, customers, and residents in the neighborhood in order to learn their needs.
This thesis addresses the issues that threaten the values of the Bazaar. These issues can be seen in unaesthetic looks in both building scale and urban scale. It analyzes the existing conditions, cultural and historic context and develops a plan to resolve the threats. The proposed program introduces methods for developing a workable contemporary layer that responds to the needs of the neighborhood. This response proposes standards such as compatibility with the historic fabric. It also addresses how to create green spaces and resolve traffic issues with minimum intervention, while preserving the old and historic character. With this theory, the bazaar neighborhood hopefully will perform again as a meaningful residential, commercial, social, and religious hub in Tehran, creating a tight vibrant urban fabric.Item withdrawn by Laura Spradlin ([email protected]) on 2014-07-22T13:08:13Z
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The liminar status of begaguien novel’s principal personage Béni ou le pardis privé Dr Zoulikha NASRI
No full textLe travail que nous menons ici autour de la question de la liminalité a pour originela lecture de Béni ou le paradis privé (1989) d’Azouz Begag. Appliqué comme outil d’analysedu personnage, ce concept issu de la réflexion de Van Gennep ([1981 1909]) sur les rites depassage permettra de comprendre à travers le texte de l’auteur franco-algérien la situationdans laquelle se retrouvent les « enfants de la postcolonie ».The reflexion conducted here about the liminality notion hasfor origin thebegaguien novel’s, Béni ou le paradis privé (1989). Applicated as read grid, this concept of VanGennep ([1981] 1909) exploited in anthropology’s domain, precisely around passage rites, willhelp us to understand trought author French-algerian’s text the no easy situation of thepostcolonie’s children
Bottle to Body: How Multivitamin/Mineral Supplements Shape Canadian Nutrient Intake
No full textMultivitamin/mineral (MVM) supplements are widely used in North America, presenting important implications for the practice of primary care, especially in Canada where practitioners frequently serve as patients' initial source of health guidance. The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of MVM supplement use and the nutrient contribution of MVM supplements to the nutrient intake of Canadians. Dietary data from respondents >1 y in the Canadian Community Health Survey 2015 were used to estimate the prevalence of nutrient adequacy and intakes greater than the upper limit (UL). The National Cancer Institute method was used to estimate usual intakes of vitamin A, C, and magnesium. The prevalence of MVM consumption, as well as any individual vitamin and mineral supplement use, were 24.78% and 19.16%, respectively. Usage was most common among children aged 1-8 y and women over 51 y, particularly among non-obese children and higher-income households. Supplement users show a lower prevalence of nutrient inadequacy from dietary sources alone compared to non-users of supplements. Also, supplement use is associated with a lower prevalence of nutrient inadequacy compared to non-users. This study highlights that while MVM supplement use does contribute to overall dietary intake, current MVM supplement use is generally associated with markers of higher socio-economic status and thus those already consuming a healthy diet and less likely to need MVM supplemental nutrients. Aside from population subgroups with specific supplement recommendations (ex., folic acid in women of childbearing age), dietary guidelines should continue to emphasize meeting nutrient requirements from a wide variety of foods.The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the pdf file of the accepted manuscript may differ slightly from what is displayed on the item page. The information in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript reflects the original submission by the author
Design methods for sensitive and comprehensive microbial surveillance
No full textThis electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.Thesis: Ph. D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2020Cataloged from student-submitted PDF of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (pages 169-203).We are surrounded by a vast and dynamic microbial world. Effective surveillance tools can benefit medicine and public health, including infectious disease diagnostics, proactive pathogen detection and characterization, and microbiome studies. New genomic technologies are transforming microbial surveillance, but face challenges stemming from low concentrations in collected samples and extensive, ever-changing diversity. In this thesis, we first demonstrate a need for stronger surveillance through mapping the spread of Zika virus during the 2015-16 epidemic. We generate 110 Zika virus genomes from across the Americas, forming the largest and most diverse Zika virus dataset at the time. We perform a Bayesian phylogenetic analysis of Zika's spread and discover that it circulated undetected in multiple regions for many months. Two reasons are that Zika virus is present in samples at ultra-low abundance and was, during its rapid spread, an obscure pathogen.Motivated by this, we develop computational approaches that enable sensitive, comprehensive surveillance. We present CATCH, an algorithm that enhances enrichment of highly diverse whole genomes for more sensitive sequencing. CATCH designs scalable capture probe sets that are comprehensive, to a well-defined extent, against known sequence diversity. We use CATCH to design probes targeting whole genomes of the 356 viral species known to infect humans, including their vast subspecies diversity. Applied to 30 patient and environmental samples, we show that these probes improve hypothesis-free detection of viral infections and considerably enhance genome assembly. Academic labs, research hospitals, and government public health institutes are using CATCH to help detect and characterize microbes. We also present ADAPT, a system for end-to-end sequence design of nucleic acid diagnostic assays.We develop algorithms to comprehensively consider known diversity and enforce high taxon-specificity, even under relaxed criteria arising with RNA binding. Focusing on CRISPR-Cas13 detection, we perform high-throughput screening of crRNA-target pairs and develop a model, applied to our dataset, that predicts detection activity; using this, ADAPT's designs have high predicted activity. Along with CATCH, ADAPT advances microbial surveillance by leveraging and progressing with the extensive, ever-changing landscape of microbial genome diversity.by Hayden C. Metsky.Ph. D.Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Scienc
