19,746 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/
Applying Ahuja-Orlin's Large Neighbourhood for Constructing Examination Timetabling Solution (Extended Abstract)
No full textS. Abdullah , S. Ahmadi 2 , E.K.Burke , M. Dror Automated Scheduling, Optimisation and Planning Research Group, School of Computer Science & Information Technology, University of Nottingham, Jubilee Campus, Wollaton Road, Nottingham NG8 1BB, United Kingdom 2 School of Computing, De Montfort University, The Gateway, Leicester LE1 9BH, United Kingdom MIS Department, College of Business and Public Administration, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA 1
Mezza libbra d’oro: un medaglione da 36 solidi di Leone I (457-474 d.C.) dalla Cirenaica
No full textQademah Fault Artificial Ambient Noise Test
No full textThis data set was collected on 7 Dec. 2014 by Sherif and Abdullah. The receiver layout is the same as that of the passive data test at the same location, which is described as follow:
288 receivers are used and arranged as follow
- 12 lines, cross-line offset = 10 m
- 24 receiver in each line, inline offset = 5 m
- Additional 24 receivers are placed at line # 6, where the receiver interval is decreased to 2.5 m.
Data Recording:
We start recording at 10:10 am and stop recording at 11:25 am.
Each record has total of 20 s, with time interval of 0.004 ms and around 2 s overlap between each two successive files.
Source:
We used a piece of wood attached to a pick-up truck to create the noise; we drove around the array of receivers in a rectangle-shape route during the recording time
Potentiostats for protein biosensing: Design considerations and analysis on measurement characteristics
No full textThe demand for the development of swift, simple, and ultrasensitive biosensors has been increasing after the introduction of innovative approaches such as bioelectronics, nanotechnology, and electrochemistry. The possibility to correlate changes in electrical parameters with the concentration of protein biomarkers in biological samples is appealing to improve sensitivity, reliability, and repeatability of the biochemical assays currently available for protein investigation. Potentiostats are the required instruments to ensure the proper cell conditioning and signal processing in accurate electrochemical biosensing applications. In this light, this review is aimed at analyzing design considerations, electrical specifications, and measurement characteristics of potentiostats, specifically customized for protein detection. This review demonstrates how a proper potentiostat for protein quantification should be able to supply voltages in a range between few mV to few V, with high resolution in terms of readable current (in the order of 100 pA). To ensure a reliable quantification of clinically relevant protein concentrations (>1 ng/mL), the accuracy of the measurement (<1%) is significant and it can be ensured with proper digital-to-analog (10-16 bits) and analog-to-digital (10-24 bits) converters. Furthermore, the miniaturisation of electrochemical systems represents a key step toward portable, real-time, and fast point-of-care applications. This review is meant to serve as a guide for the design of customized potentiostats capable of a more proper and enhanced conditioning of electrochemical biosensors for protein detectio
Design of multichannel potentiostat for remote and longtime monitoring of glucose concentration during yeast fermentation
No full textThis paper presents the design of a wireless portable and multichannel potentiostat for remote monitoring in enclosed environments for longtime applications. In this paper, the proposed potentiostat is tested for monitoring the glucose concentration during the fermentation of yeast in real time for more than 24 h. The potentiostat is powered by a USB-connected battery and operated through a Bluetooth using a LabVIEW designed data monitoring and control panel. The potentiostat is capable of performing cyclic voltammetry or chronoamperometry on six biosensors simultaneously and gives the real-time response using Bluetooth connection. The potentiostat has a common counter electrode and reference electrode connection to all biosensors and independent working electrodes for all biosensors. The potentiostat was tested and validated by comparing the results obtained by a commercial potentiostat. The tests performed for monitoring the glucose concentration during the fermentation process showed a current detection limit of 180 nA and reported a standard deviation of ±2% for anodic and cathodic current peaks for cyclic voltammetry measurements when compared with the commercially available device. This study enables the novel method of monitoring the fermentation process wirelessly for days
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
Process integration techniques for optimizing seawater cooling sytems and biocide discharge
No full textThis work addresses the problem of using seawater for cooling and the associated
environmental problems caused by the usage and discharge of biocides. The discharged
biocide and its byproducts are toxic to aquatic lives and must be decreased below certain
discharge limits on load prior to discharge. The conventional approach has been to add
biocide removal units as an end-of-pipe treatment. This work introduces an integrated
approach to reducing biocide discharge throughout a set of coordinated strategies for inplant
modifications and biocide removal. In particular, process integration tools are used
to reduce heating and cooling requirements through the synthesis of a heat-exchange
network. Heat integration among process of hot and cold streams is pursued to an
economic extent by reconciling cost reduction in utilities versus any additional capital
investment of the heat exchangers. Other strategies include maximization of the
temperature range for seawater through the process and optimization of biocide dosage.
This new approach has the advantage of providing cost savings while reducing the usage and discharge of biocides. A case study is used to illustrate the usefulness of this new
approach and the accompanying design techniques
Optimized synthesis and photovoltaic performance of TiO2 nanoparticles for dye-sensitized solar cell
No full textThis paper presents response surface methodology (RSM) as an efficient approach for modeling and optimizing TiO2 nanoparticles preparation via co-precipitation for dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) performance. Titanium (IV) bis-(acetylacetonate) di-isopropoxide (DIPBAT), isopropanol and water were used as precursor, solvent and co-solvent, respectively. Molar ratio of water, aging temperature and calcination temperature as preparation factors with main and interaction effects on particle characteristics and performances were investigated. Particle characteristics in terms of primary and secondary sizes, crystal orientation and morphology were determined by X-ray diffractometry (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Band gap energy and power conversion efficiency of DSSCs were used for performance studies. According to analysis of variance (ANOVA) in response surface methodology (RSM), all three independent parameters were statistically significant and the final model was accurate. The model predicted maximum power conversion efficiency (0.14%) under the optimal condition of molar ratio of DIPBAT-to-isopropanol-to-water of 1:10:500, aging temperature of 36 C and calcination temperature of 400 C. A second set of data was adopted to validate the model at optimal conditions and was found to be 0.14 �� 0.015%, which was very close to the predicted value. This study proves the reliability of the model in identifying the optimal condition for maximum performance. �� 2013 Chinese Society of Particuology and Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences
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