Accessibility assessment of assistive technology for the hearing impaired.

PubMed

Áfio, Aline Cruz Esmeraldo; Carvalho, Aline Tomaz de; Caravalho, Luciana Vieira de; Silva, Andréa Soares Rocha da; Pagliuca, Lorita Marlena Freitag

2016-01-01

to assess the automatic accessibility of assistive technology in online courses for the hearing impaired. evaluation study guided by the Assessment and Maintenance step proposed in the Model of Development of Digital Educational Material. The software Assessor and Simulator for the Accessibility of Sites (ASES) was used to analyze the online course "Education on Sexual and Reproductive Health: the use of condoms" according to the accessibility standards of national and international websites. an error report generated by the program identified, in each didactic module, one error and two warnings related to two international principles and six warnings involved with six national recommendations. The warnings relevant to hearing-impaired people were corrected, and the course was considered accessible by automatic assessment. we concluded that the pages of the course were considered, by the software used, appropriate to the standards of web accessibility.

Analyzing and Evaluating the 1:1 Learning Model: What Would Dewey Do?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boulden, Danielle Cadieux

2017-01-01

One-to-one computing models, in which every student in a classroom is provided access to a digital device for instruction, have gained traction and popularity as an instructional model across United States classrooms and around the globe. This paper explores and evaluates these 1:1 computing models in K-12 learning environments through the lens of…

Googling NDIS: Evaluating the Quality of Online Information about the National Disability Insurance Scheme for Caregivers of Deaf Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Simpson, Andrea; Baldwin, Elizabeth Margaret

2017-01-01

This study sought to analyze and evaluate the accessibility, availability and quality of online information regarding the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and hearing loss. The most common search engine keyword terms a caregiver may enter when conducting a web search was determined using a keyword search tool. The top websites linked…

Nutrition accesses among patients receiving enteral treatment in the home environment.

PubMed

Sznajder, Janusz; Ślefarska-Wasilewska, Marta; Wójcik, Piotr

2017-10-31

Enteral feeding in the home environment is connected with creating access to digestive tract, and thanks to that, this kind of treatment is possible. The gold standard in enteral nutrition is PEG, other types of access are: nasogastric tube, gastronomy and jejunostomy. In the article 851 patients who were treated nutritionally in the home environment, in the nutrition clinic, Nutrimed Górny Śląsk, were analyzed. It was described how, in practice, the schedule of nutrition access looks like in the nutrition clinic at a time of qualifying patients to the treatment (PEG 47,35%, gastronomy 18,91%, nasogastric tube 17,39%,jejunostomy 16,33%) and how it changes among patients treated in the nutrition clinic during specific period of time - to the treatment there were qualified patients with at least three-month period of therapy ( second evaluation: PEG 37,01%, gastrostomy 31,13%, nasogastric tube 16,98%, jejunostomy 15,86%). The structure of changes was described, also the routine and the place in what exchanging or changing nutrition access was analyzed. The biggest changes in quantity, among all groups of ill people concerned patients with PEG and gastronomy. In most cases the intervention connected with exchanging access to the digestive tract could be implemented at patient's home.

Potential access to primary health care: what does the National Program for Access and Quality Improvement data show?

PubMed Central

Uchôa, Severina Alice da Costa; Arcêncio, Ricardo Alexandre; Fronteira, Inês Santos Estevinho; Coêlho, Ardigleusa Alves; Martiniano, Claudia Santos; Brandão, Isabel Cristina Araújo; Yamamura, Mellina; Maroto, Renata Melo

2016-01-01

Objective: to analyze the influence of contextual indicators on the performance of municipalities regarding potential access to primary health care in Brazil and to discuss the contribution from nurses working on this access. Method: a multicenter descriptive study based on secondary data from External Evaluation of the National Program for Access and Quality Improvement in Primary Care, with the participation of 17,202 primary care teams. The chi-square test of proportions was used to verify differences between the municipalities stratified based on size of the coverage area, supply, coordination, and integration; when necessary, the chi-square test with Yates correction or Fisher's exact test were employed. For the population variable, the Kruskal-Wallis test was used. Results: the majority of participants were nurses (n=15.876; 92,3%). Statistically significant differences were observed between the municipalities in terms of territory (p=0.0000), availability (p=0.0000), coordination of care (p=0.0000), integration (p=0.0000) and supply (p=0.0000), verifying that the municipalities that make up area 6 tend to have better performance in these dimensions. Conclusion: areas 4,5 and 6 performed better in every analyzed dimension, and the nurse had a leading role in the potential to access primary health care in Brazil. PMID:26959332

Accessing the mega-region : evaluating the role of livable community patterns in Gulf Coast mega-region planning.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2015-03-01

This research analyzes both the need and mechanisms for integrating livability components such as : transit and active transportation into a broader mega-regions transportation framework. The research : builds a conceptual framework for understanding...

Exploring the Association of Homicides in Northern Mexico and Healthcare Access for US Residents.

PubMed

Geissler, Kimberley H; Becker, Charles; Stearns, Sally C; Thirumurthy, Harsha; Holmes, George M

2015-08-01

Many legal residents in the United States (US)-Mexico border region cross from the US into Mexico for medical treatment and pharmaceuticals. We analyzed whether recent increases in homicides in Mexico are associated with reduced healthcare access for US border residents. We used data on healthcare access, legal entries to the US from Mexico, and Mexican homicide rates (2002-2010). Poisson regression models estimated associations between homicide rates and total legal US entries. Multivariate difference-in-difference linear probability models evaluated associations between Mexican homicide rates and self-reported measures of healthcare access for US residents. Increased homicide rates were associated with decreased legal entries to the US from Mexico. Contrary to expectations, homicides did not have significant associations with healthcare access measures for legal residents in US border counties. Despite a decrease in border crossings, increased violence in Mexico did not appear to negatively affect healthcare access for US border residents.

76 FR 36135 - Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; Comment Request

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-06-21

... serves multiple practical purposes: (1) To collect and analyze descriptive, outcome, and service... on access to high-quality, trauma-informed care; (3) to evaluate NCTSN centers' training and... below. Descriptive and Clinical Outcomes In order to describe the children served, their trauma...

Evaluation of a new website design for iwantthekit for chlamydia, gonorrhea, and trichomonas screening.

PubMed

Kuder, Margaret; Goheen, Mary Jett; Dize, Laura; Barnes, Mathilda; Gaydos, Charlotte A

2015-05-01

The www.iwantthekit.org provides Internet-based, at-home sexually transmitted infection screening. The Web site implemented an automated test result access system. To evaluate potential deleterious effects of the new system, we analyzed demographics, Web site usage, and treatment. The post-Web site design captured more participant information and no decrease in requests, kit return, or treatment adherence.

Foot and Ankle Fellowship Websites: An Assessment of Accessibility and Quality.

PubMed

Hinds, Richard M; Danna, Natalie R; Capo, John T; Mroczek, Kenneth J

2017-08-01

The Internet has been reported to be the first informational resource for many fellowship applicants. The objective of this study was to assess the accessibility of orthopaedic foot and ankle fellowship websites and to evaluate the quality of information provided via program websites. The American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society (AOFAS) and the Fellowship and Residency Electronic Interactive Database (FREIDA) fellowship databases were accessed to generate a comprehensive list of orthopaedic foot and ankle fellowship programs. The databases were reviewed for links to fellowship program websites and compared with program websites accessed from a Google search. Accessible fellowship websites were then analyzed for the quality of recruitment and educational content pertinent to fellowship applicants. Forty-seven orthopaedic foot and ankle fellowship programs were identified. The AOFAS database featured direct links to 7 (15%) fellowship websites with the independent Google search yielding direct links to 29 (62%) websites. No direct website links were provided in the FREIDA database. Thirty-six accessible websites were analyzed for content. Program websites featured a mean 44% (range = 5% to 75%) of the total assessed content. The most commonly presented recruitment and educational content was a program description (94%) and description of fellow operative experience (83%), respectively. There is substantial variability in the accessibility and quality of orthopaedic foot and ankle fellowship websites. Recognition of deficits in accessibility and content quality may assist foot and ankle fellowships in improving program information online. Level IV.

Experiences with using a pushrim-activated power-assisted wheelchair for community-based occupations: a qualitative exploration.

PubMed

Giesbrecht, Ed M; Ripat, Jacquie D; Cooper, Juliette E; Quanbury, Arthur O

2011-04-01

Occupational therapists strive to engage individuals in occupation and enhance community access through wheelchair prescription. Previous research with pushrim-activated, power-assisted wheelchairs identifies a reduction in the physical demands of manual wheelchair propulsion but limited evidence exists regarding user evaluation in context. This study explored the experience of using a power-assisted wheelchair in the community. Eight individuals who used both a power and manual device participated in focus groups after trialing a power-assist wheelchair for three weeks. Data were analyzed using a qualitative description approach. Three themes emerged from our analysis: relative advantages and disadvantages; environmental factors that affect accessibility; and evaluation of mobility device. Participants perceived the power-assist as improving performance and accessibility compared with the manual wheelchair, increasing the potential scope of occupations and environments, but not replacing their power mobility device. Sufficient time for adjustment of both user and device was important.

Leading Dynamic Schools: How to Create and Implement Ethical Policies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rallis, Sharon F.; Rossman, Gretchen B.; Cobb, Casey D.; Reagan, Timothy G.; Kuntz, Aaron

2007-01-01

This companion book to "Principals of Dynamic Schools" and "Dynamic Teachers" brings to life the process of making and enacting educational policy and helps decision makers evaluate, interpret, and analyze the policies that govern their schools. In accessible language, this book presents educational leaders with a conceptual framework for…

76 FR 53138 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-08-25

... serves multiple practical purposes: (1) To collect and analyze descriptive, outcome, and service... impact on access to high-quality, trauma-informed care; (3) to evaluate NCTSI centers' training and... below. Descriptive and Clinical Outcomes In order to describe the children served, their trauma...

Implementing 21st Century Literacies in First-Year Composition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Froehlich, Maggie Gordon; Froehlich, Peter Alan

2013-01-01

In November 2008, the National Council of Teachers of English published "The NCTE Definition of 21st Century Literacies" (21CL); its objectives include using technology, producing and analyzing multimedia texts, accessing and evaluating complex research sources, building relationships to enable collaboration, considering the diversity of a global…

Next generation communications satellites: Multiple access and network studies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stern, T. E.; Schwartz, M.; Meadows, H. E.; Ahmadi, H. K.; Gadre, J. G.; Gopal, I. S.; Matsmo, K.

1980-01-01

Following an overview of issues involved in the choice of promising system architectures for efficient communication with multiple small inexpensive Earth stations serving hetergeneous user populations, performance evaluation via analysis and simulation for six SS/TDMA (satellite-switched/time-division multiple access) system architectures is discussed. These configurations are chosen to exemplify the essential alternatives available in system design. Although the performance evaluation analyses are of fairly general applicability, whenever possible they are considered in the context of NASA's 30/20 GHz studies. Packet switched systems are considered, with the assumption that only a part of transponder capacit is devoted to packets, the integration of circuit and packet switched traffic being reserved for further study. Three types of station access are distinguished: fixed (FA), demand (DA), and random access (RA). Similarly, switching in the satellite can be assigned on a fixed (FS) or demand (DS) basis, or replaced by a buffered store-and-forward system (SF) onboard the satellite. Since not all access/switching combinations are practical, six systems are analyzed in detail: three FS SYSTEMS, FA/FS, DA/ES, RA/FS; one DS system, DA/DS; and two SF systems, FA/SF, DA/SF. Results are presented primarily in terms of delay-throughput characteristics.

Web accessibility support for visually impaired users using link content analysis.

PubMed

Iwata, Hajime; Kobayashi, Naofumi; Tachibana, Kenji; Shirogane, Junko; Fukazawa, Yoshiaki

2013-12-01

Web pages are used for a variety of purposes. End users must understand dynamically changing content and sequentially follow page links to find desired material, requiring significant time and effort. However, for visually impaired users using screen readers, it can be difficult to find links to web pages when link text and alternative text descriptions are inappropriate. Our method supports the discovery of content by analyzing 8 categories of link types, and allows visually impaired users to be aware of the content represented by links in advance. This facilitates end users access to necessary information on web pages. Our method of classifying web page links is therefore effective as a means of evaluating accessibility.

Compositional characterization of native Peruvian chili peppers (Capsicum spp.).

PubMed

Meckelmann, Sven W; Riegel, Dieter W; van Zonneveld, Maarten J; Ríos, Llermé; Peña, Karla; Ugas, Roberto; Quinonez, Lourdes; Mueller-Seitz, Erika; Petz, Michael

2013-03-13

The national Capsicum germplasm bank of Peru at INIA holds a unique collection of more than 700 Capsicum accessions, including many landraces. These conserved accessions have never been thoroughly characterized or evaluated. Another smaller collection exists at UNALM, and CIDRA provided taxonomically characterized fruits from the Amazon region of Ucayali. Of these collections, 147 accessions have been selected to represent the biodiversity of Peruvian Capsicum annuum , Capsicum baccatum , Capsicum chinense , and Capsicum frutescens by morphological traits as well as by agronomic characteristics and regional origin. All fruits from the selected accessions have been oven-dried and ground in Peru and analyzed in Germany. Results are reported for each accession by total capsaicinoids and capsaicinoid pattern, total polyphenol content, antioxidant capacity, specific flavonoids (quercetin, kaempferol, luteolin, apigenin), fat content, vitamin C, surface color, and extractable color. A wide variability in phytochemical composition and concentration levels was found.

Clinical laboratory investigation of the Sanofi ACCESS CK-MB procedure and comparison to electrophoresis and Abbott IMx.

PubMed

Mao, G D; Adeli, K; Eisenbrey, A B; Artiss, J D

1996-07-01

This evaluation was undertaken to verify the application protocol for the CK-MB assay on the ACCESS Immunoassay Analyzer (Sanofi Diagnostics Pasteur, Chaska, MN). The results show that the ACCESS CK-MB assay total imprecision was 6.8% to 9.1%. Analytical linearity of the ACCESS CK-MB assay was excellent in the range of < 1-214 micrograms/L. A comparison of the ACCESS CK-MB assay with the IMx (Abbott Laboratories, Abbott Park, IL) method shows good correlation r = 0.990 (n = 108). Linear regression analysis yielded Y = 1.36X-0.3, Sx/y = 7.2. ACCESS CK-MB values also correlated well with CK-MB by electrophoresis with r = 0.968 (n = 132). The linear regression equation for this comparison was Y = 1.08X + 1.4, Sx/y = 14.1. The expected non-myocardial infarction range of CK-MB determined by the ACCESS system was 1.3-9.4 micrograms/L (mean = 4.0, n = 58). The ACCESS CK-MB assay would appear to be rapid, precise and clinically useful.

Exploring the association of homicides in northern Mexico and healthcare access for US residents

PubMed Central

Geissler, Kimberley; Becker, Charles; Stearns, Sally; Thirumurthy, Harsha; Holmes, George M.

2016-01-01

Background Many legal residents in the United States (US)-Mexico border region cross from the US into Mexico for medical treatment and pharmaceuticals. We analyzed whether recent increases in homicides in Mexico are associated with reduced healthcare access for US border residents. Methods We used data on healthcare access, legal entries to the US from Mexico, and Mexican homicide rates (2002–2010). Poisson regression models estimated associations between homicide rates and total legal US entries. Multivariate difference-in-difference linear probability models evaluated associations between Mexican homicide rates and self-reported measures of healthcare access for US residents. Results Increased homicide rates were associated with decreased legal entries to the US from Mexico. Contrary to expectations, homicides did not have significant associations with healthcare access measures for legal residents in US border counties. Conclusions Despite a decrease in border crossings, increased violence in Mexico did not appear to negatively affect access for US border residents. PMID:24917240

Impact of the round window membrane accessibility on hearing preservation in adult cochlear implantation.

PubMed

Mirsalehi, Marjan; Mohebbi, Saleh; Ghajarzadeh, Mahsa; Lenarz, Thomas; Majdani, Omid

2017-08-01

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of the round window membrane accessibility on the residual hearing after cochlear implantation surgery in adults. Moreover, the effects of the other demographics and intra-operative factors on the residual hearing loss have been evaluated. The hearing preservation cochlear implantation surgery was performed on 64 adults with residual hearing thresholds ≤80 dB at 250 and 500 Hz, who had referred to our tertiary academic center. All the patients underwent a standardized surgical approach with the same straight electrode inserted through the round window membrane. The hearing thresholds at 250, 500, and 1000 Hz were compared in pre-operative and 1 month postoperative pure-tone audiograms. The average hearing threshold shifts at these frequencies was used to evaluate the hearing preservation. The effects of the round window accessibility and other factors (including gender, age, side of the surgery, necessity of anterior-inferior drilling of the round window margin and average insertion speed) on hearing threshold shifts were analyzed. The mean low-frequency hearing threshold shift was found to be 17.5 dB for all the patients. The hearing preservation goal (threshold shifts ≤30 dB) was achieved in 58 patients. Among the evaluated parameters, only accessibility of the round window membrane could change the hearing threshold shifts significantly (p = 0.026), and was a predictor for the hearing loss (B coefficient = 7.5, p = 0.006). Incomplete accessibility of the round window membrane may be a predictor for increased hearing threshold shifts in short-term evaluations after cochlear implantation.

Evaluation of the content and accessibility of microsurgery fellowship program websites.

PubMed

Silvestre, Jason; Vargas, Christina R; Ho, Olivia; Lee, Bernard T

2015-10-01

Microsurgery fellowship applicants utilize Internet-based resources such as the San Francisco Match (SF Match) to manage their applications. In deciding where to apply, applicants rely on advice from mentors and online resources including microsurgery fellowship websites (MFWs). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the content and accessibility of MFWs. While microsurgery is practiced by many surgical specialties, this study focused on MFWs for programs available in the 2014 Microsurgery Fellowship Match. Program lists from the American Society for Reconstructive Microsurgery (ASRM) and the San Francisco Match (SF Match) were analyzed for the accessibility of MFW links. MFWs were evaluated for education and recruitment content, and MFW comprehensiveness was compared on the basis of program characteristics using chi square tests. Of the 25 fellowships available, only 18 had websites (72%). SF Match and ASRM listed similar programs (96% overlap) and provided website links (89%, 76%), but only a minority connected directly to the MFW (38%, 23%). A minority of programs were responsive via email inquiry (36%). MFWs maintained minimal education and recruitment content. MFW comprehensiveness was not associated with program characteristics. MFWs are often not readily accessible and contain limited information for fellowship applicants. Given the relative low-cost of website development, MFWs may be improved to facilitate fellow recruitment. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Introduction to Media Literacy Education and Media Literacy Education Bibliography.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Robinson, Julia

Noting that media literacy education is mandated in almost every developed country in the world except the United States, this paper introduces the concept of media literacy education and presents a 32-item annotated bibliography on media literacy education. The paper defines media literacy as the ability to access, decode, analyze, evaluate, and…

To a Higher Degree: Addressing Disparities in College Access with Concurrent Enrollment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ulate, David Delgado

2011-01-01

Concurrent enrollment--defined as high school students enrolling in college coursework--is increasingly being used as strategy to improve the college readiness levels of underrepresented students and to reduce disparities in college-going rates. States have developed policy and analyzed data to evaluate the practice of concurrent enrollment. This…

Clinical study of the Erlanger silver catheter--data management and biometry.

PubMed

Martus, P; Geis, C; Lugauer, S; Böswald, M; Guggenbichler, J P

1999-01-01

The clinical evaluation of venous catheters for catheter-induced infections must conform to a strict biometric methodology. The statistical planning of the study (target population, design, degree of blinding), data management (database design, definition of variables, coding), quality assurance (data inspection at several levels) and the biometric evaluation of the Erlanger silver catheter project are described. The three-step data flow included: 1) primary data from the hospital, 2) relational database, 3) files accessible for statistical evaluation. Two different statistical models were compared: analyzing the first catheter only of a patient in the analysis (independent data) and analyzing several catheters from the same patient (dependent data) by means of the generalized estimating equations (GEE) method. The main result of the study was based on the comparison of both statistical models.

Access to Preventive Health Care for Cancer Survivors

PubMed Central

Yabroff, K. Robin; Short, Pamela Farley; Machlin, Steven; Dowling, Emily; Rozjabek, Heather; Li, Chunyu; McNeel, Timothy; Ekwueme, Donatus U.; Virgo, Katherine S.

2013-01-01

Background Access to healthcare, particularly effective primary and secondary preventive care, is critical for cancer survivors, in order to minimize the adverse sequelae of cancer and its treatment. Purpose The goal of the study was to evaluate the association between cancer survivorship and access to primary and preventive health care. Methods Cancer survivors (n=4960) and individuals without a cancer history (n=64,431) aged ≥18 years, from the 2008–2010 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), were evaluated. Multiple measures of access and preventive services use were compared. The association between cancer survivorship and access and preventive services was evaluated with multivariate logistic regression models, stratified by age group (18–64 years and ≥65 years), controlling for the effects of age, gender, race/ethnicity, education, marital status, and comorbidities. Data were analyzed in 2013. Results Cancer survivors aged ≥65 years had equivalent or greater access and preventive services use than individuals without a cancer history, in adjusted analyses. However, among those aged 18–64 years with private health insurance, cancer survivors were more likely than other individuals to have a usual source of care and to use preventive services, whereas uninsured or publicly insured cancer survivors were generally less likely to have a usual source of care and to use preventive services than were uninsured or publicly insured adults without a cancer history. Conclusions Although access and preventive care use in cancer survivors is generally equivalent or greater compared to that of other individuals, disparities for uninsured and publicly insured cancer survivors aged 18–64 years suggest that improvements in survivor care are needed. PMID:23953357

Evaluation of microsatellite loci from libraries derived from the wild diploid 'Calcutta 4' and 'Ouro' banana cultivars.

PubMed

Silva, P R O; Jesus, O N J; Creste, S; Figueira, A; Amorim, E P; Ferreira, C F

2015-09-25

Microsatellite markers have been widely used in the quantification of genetic variability and for genetic breeding in Musa spp. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the discriminatory power of microsatellite markers derived from 'Calcutta 4' and 'Ouro' genomic libraries, and to analyze the genetic variability among 30 banana accessions. Thirty-eight markers were used: 15 from the 'Ouro' library and 23 from the 'Calcutta 4' library. Genetic diversity was evaluated by considering SSR markers as both dominant markers because of the presence of triploid accessions, and co-dominant markers. For the dominant analysis, polymorphism information content (PIC) values for 44 polymorphic markers ranged from 0.063 to 0.533, with a mean value of 0.24. A dendrogram analysis separated the BGB-Banana accessions into 4 groups: the 'Ouro' and 'Muísa Tia' accessions were the most dissimilar (93% dissimilarity), while the most similar accessions were 'Pacovan' and 'Walha'. The mean genetic distance between samples was 0.74. For the analysis considering SSR markers as co-dominants, using only diploid accessions, two groups were separated based on their genome contents (A and B). The PIC values for the markers from the 'Calcutta 4' library varied from 0.4836 to 0.7886, whereas those from the 'Ouro' library ranged from 0.3800 to 0.7521. Given the high PIC values, the markers from both the libraries showed high discriminatory power, and can therefore be widely applied for analysis of genetic diversity, population structures, and linkage mapping in Musa spp.

YouTube as a potential training method for laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

PubMed

Lee, Jun Suh; Seo, Ho Seok; Hong, Tae Ho

2015-08-01

The purpose of this study was to analyze the educational quality of laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) videos accessible on YouTube, one of the most important sources of internet-based medical information. The keyword 'laparoscopic cholecystectomy' was used to search on YouTube and the first 100 videos were analyzed. Among them, 27 videos were excluded and 73 videos were included in the study. An arbitrary score system for video quality, devised from existing LC guidelines, were used to evaluate the quality of the videos. Video demographics were analyzed by the quality and source of the video. Correlation analysis was performed. When analyzed by video quality, 11 (15.1%) were evaluated as 'good', 40 (54.8%) were 'moderate', and 22 (30.1%) were 'poor', and there were no differences in length, views per day, or number of likes, dislikes, and comments. When analyzed by source, 27 (37.0%) were uploaded by primary centers, 20 (27.4%) by secondary centers, 15 (20.5%) by tertiary centers, 5 (6.8%) by academic institutions, and 6 (8.2%) by commercial institutions. The mean score of the tertiary center group (6.0 ± 2.0) was significantly higher than the secondary center group (3.9 ± 1.4, P = 0.001). The video score had no correlation with views per day or number of likes. Many LC videos are accessible on YouTube with varying quality. Videos uploaded by tertiary centers showed the highest educational value. This discrepancy in video quality was not recognized by viewers. More videos with higher quality need to be uploaded, and an active filtering process is necessary.

Evaluation of content and accessibility of hand fellowship websites.

PubMed

Silvestre, Jason; Guzman, Javier Z; Abbatematteo, Joseph M; Chang, Benjamin; Levin, L Scott

2015-09-01

Graduates of general, orthopedic, and plastic surgery residencies utilize web-based resources when applying for hand fellowship training. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the accessibility and content of hand fellowship websites (HFWs). Websites of accredited hand surgery fellowships were eligible for study inclusion. HFWs were evaluated for comprehensiveness in the domains of education and recruitment. Website content was correlated with program characteristics via Fisher exact tests. Fifteen plastic, 65 orthopedic, and 1 general surgery hand fellowships were analyzed. Seventy-four hand fellowships maintained an HFW (91 %). HFWs were not found for 3 plastic and 4 orthopedic hand programs (20 versus 6 %, p = 0.118). HFWs provided only half of all analyzed content (54 %-education and 49 %-recruitment). Orthopedic programs had more education content than plastic surgery programs (55 versus 44 %, p = 0.030). Programs in the South had more education content than programs in the Northeast (63 versus 47 %, p = 0.001), but not more than programs in the West (54 %) or Midwest (55 %). Larger programs with more fellows had greater education content than those with only one fellow (57 versus 49 %, p = 0.042). Programs affiliated with top-ranked medical schools had less education content than lower-ranked schools (48 versus 56 %, p = 0.045). No differences existed in recruitment content between programs. Most hand surgery fellowships lack readily accessible and comprehensive websites. The paucity of online content suggests HFWs are underutilized as educational resources and future opportunity may exist to optimize these tools.

Ecoupling server: A tool to compute and analyze electronic couplings.

PubMed

Cabeza de Vaca, Israel; Acebes, Sandra; Guallar, Victor

2016-07-05

Electron transfer processes are often studied through the evaluation and analysis of the electronic coupling (EC). Since most standard QM codes do not provide readily such a measure, additional, and user-friendly tools to compute and analyze electronic coupling from external wave functions will be of high value. The first server to provide a friendly interface for evaluation and analysis of electronic couplings under two different approximations (FDC and GMH) is presented in this communication. Ecoupling server accepts inputs from common QM and QM/MM software and provides useful plots to understand and analyze the results easily. The web server has been implemented in CGI-python using Apache and it is accessible at http://ecouplingserver.bsc.es. Ecoupling server is free and open to all users without login. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Timely access to mental health care among women veterans.

PubMed

Brunner, Julian; Schweizer, C Amanda; Canelo, Ismelda A; Leung, Lucinda B; Strauss, Jennifer L; Yano, Elizabeth M

2018-04-05

Using survey data on (N = 419) patients at Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) clinics we analyzed women veterans' reports of timely access to VA mental health care. We evaluated problems that patients might face in obtaining care, and examined subjective ratings of VA care as a function of timely access to mental health care. We found that 59% of participants reported "always" getting an appointment for mental health care as soon as needed. In adjusted analyses, two problems were negatively associated with timely access to mental health care: (a) medical appointments that interfere with other activities, and (b) difficulty getting questions answered between visits. Average subjective ratings of VA ranged from 8.2-8.6 out of 10, and 93% of participants would recommend VA care. Subjective ratings of VA were higher among women who reported timely access to mental health care. Findings suggest that overall experience of care is associated with timely access to mental health care, and that such access may be amenable to improvements related to clinic hours or mechanisms for answering patient questions between visits. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Importance-Performance Matrix Analysis (IPMA) Of Transport Disadvantage Variables on Social Exclusion in a Rural Context

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Larasati, Ophilia; Puspita Dirgahayani, Eng., Dr.

2018-05-01

Transport services are essential to support daily life. A lack of transport supply leads to the existence of transport disadvantaged (TDA) groups who are vulnerable to social exclusion, which happens when a particular group or individual is having difficulties to access certain activities that are considered normal in society. To tackle this phenomenon, the understanding of the influence of TDA variables on social exclusion is needed. The aim of this study is to analyze the influences of TDA variables on social exclusion in a rural context, with Cibeureum Village (Bandung Barat Regency) and Bunikasih Village (Subang Regency) as the study case. Both case studies provide different characteristics of accessibility. Partial Least Squares (PLS) Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) is chosen as the method to analyze the influences of TDA variables on social exclusion. The PLS-SEM model is developed according to the social exclusion variable and four TDA variables, i.e., accessibility, individual characteristics, private vehicle existence, and travel behavior. IPMA is done after the PLS-SEM model is evaluated. The study reveals that among four of the TDA variables, accessibility has the most influence on social exclusion, hence interventions related to improving accessibility are needed to tackle social exclusion. More specifically, the provision of alternative modes is needed in both study areas, while in Bunikasih Village the cost of travel is also an important variable to consider.

High relative air humidity influences mineral accumulation and growth in iron deficient soybean plants

PubMed Central

Roriz, Mariana; Carvalho, Susana M. P.; Vasconcelos, Marta W.

2014-01-01

Iron (Fe) deficiency chlorosis (IDC) in soybean results in severe yield losses. Cultivar selection is the most commonly used strategy to avoid IDC but there is a clear interaction between genotype and the environment; therefore, the search for quick and reliable tools to control this nutrient deficiency is essential. Several studies showed that relative humidity (RH) may influence the long distance transport of mineral elements and the nutrient status of plants. Thus, we decided to analyze the response of an “Fe-efficient” (EF) and an “Fe-inefficient” (INF) soybean accession grown under Fe-sufficient and deficient conditions under low (60%) and high (90%) RH, evaluating morphological, and physiological parameters. Furthermore, the mineral content of different plant organs was analyzed. Our results showed beneficial effects of high RH in alleviating IDC symptoms as seen by increased SPAD values, higher plant dry weight (DW), increased plant height, root length, and leaf area. This positive effect of RH in reducing IDC symptoms was more pronounced in the EF accession. Also, Fe content in the different plant organs of the EF accession grown under deficient conditions increased with RH. The lower partitioning of Fe to roots and stems of the EF accessions relative to dry matter also supported our hypothesis, suggesting a greater capacity of this accession in Fe translocation to the aerial parts under Fe deficient conditions, when grown under high RH. PMID:25566297

Potential Start Codon Targeted (SCoT) and Inter-retrotransposon Amplified Polymorphism (IRAP) Markers for Evaluation of Genetic Diversity and Conservation of Wild Pistacia Species Population.

PubMed

Sorkheh, Karim; Amirbakhtiar, Nazanin; Ercisli, Sezai

2016-08-01

Wild pistachio species is important species in forests regions Iran and provide protection wind and soil erosion. Even though cultivation and utilization of Pistacia are fully exploited, the evolutionary history of the Pistacia genus and the relationships among the species and accessions is still not well understood. Two molecular marker strategies, SCoT and IRAP markers were analyzed for assessment of 50 accessions of this species accumulated from diverse geographical areas of Iran. A thorough of 115 bands were amplified using eight IRAP primers, of which 104 (90.4 %) have been polymorphic, and 246 polymorphic bands (68.7 %) had been located in 358 bands amplified by way of forty-four SCoT primers. Average PIC for IRAP and SCoT markers became 0.32 and 0.48, respectively. This is exposed that SCoT markers have been extra informative than IRAP for the assessment of variety among pistachio accessions. Primarily based on the two extraordinary molecular markers, cluster evaluation revealed that the 50 accessions taken for the evaluation may be divided into three distinct clusters. Those results recommend that the performance of SCoT and IRAP markers was highly the equal in fingerprinting of accessions. The results affirmed a low genetic differentiation among populations, indicating the opportunity of gene drift most of the studied populations. These findings might render striking information in breeding management strategies for genetic conservation and cultivar improvement.

I Want It, You've Got It - Effectively Connect Users to Geospatial Resources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

White, C. E.

2012-12-01

How do users of scientific data find what they need? How do they know where to look, what to look for, how to evaluate, and - if they find the right resource - then how to get it? When the data is of a geospatial nature, other factors also come into play - is the data in a format/projection compatible with other data being used, does the user have access to tools that can analyze and display the data to adequately evaluate it, and does the user have knowledge on how to manage that access - especially if the data is being exposed by web services. Supporting users to connect them to geospatial data in a continually evolving technological climate is a challenge that reaches deeply into all levels of data management. In this talk, we will discuss specific challenges in how users discover and access resources, and how Esri has evolved solutions over time to more effectively connect users to what they need. Some of the challenges - and current solutions - that will be discussed are: balancing a straightforward user experience with rich functionality, providing simple descriptions while maintaining complete metadata, enabling data access to work with an organization's content while being compatible with other organizations' access mechanisms, and the ability to publish data once yet share it in many venues.

Radiation exposure and contrast agent use related to radial versus femoral arterial access during percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI)-Results of the FERARI study.

PubMed

Becher, Tobias; Behnes, Michael; Ünsal, Melike; Baumann, Stefan; El-Battrawy, Ibrahim; Fastner, Christian; Kuschyk, Jürgen; Papavassiliu, Theano; Hoffmann, Ursula; Mashayekhi, Kambis; Borggrefe, Martin; Akin, Ibrahim

2016-12-01

Data regarding radiation exposure related to radial versus femoral arterial access in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) remain controversial. This study aims to evaluate patients enrolled in the FERARI study regarding radiation exposure, fluoroscopy time and contrast agent use. The Femoral Closure versus Radial Compression Devices Related to Percutaneous Coronary Interventions (FERARI) study evaluated prospectively 400 patients between February 2014 and May 2015 undergoing PCI either using the radial or femoral access. In these 400 patients, baseline characteristics, procedural data such as procedural duration, fluoroscopy time, dose-area product (DAP) as well as the amount of contrast agent used were documented and analyzed. Median fluoroscopy time was not significantly different in patients undergoing radial versus femoral access (12.2 vs. 9.8min, p=0.507). Furthermore, median DAP (54.5 vs. 52.0 Gycm2, p=0.826), procedural duration (46.0 vs. 45.0min, p=0.363) and contrast agent use (185.5 vs. 199.5ml, p=0.742) were also similar in radial and femoral PCI. There was no difference regarding median fluoroscopy time, procedural duration, radiation dose or contrast agent use between radial versus femoral arterial access in PCI. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Descriptor selection for banana accessions based on univariate and multivariate analysis.

PubMed

Brandão, L P; Souza, C P F; Pereira, V M; Silva, S O; Santos-Serejo, J A; Ledo, C A S; Amorim, E P

2013-05-14

Our objective was to establish a minimum number of morphological descriptors for the characterization of banana germplasm and evaluate the efficiency of removal of redundant characters, based on univariate and multivariate statistical analyses. Phenotypic characterization was made of 77 accessions from Bahia, Brazil, using 92 descriptors. The selection of the descriptors was carried out by principal components analysis (quantitative) and by entropy (multi-category). Efficiency of elimination was analyzed by a comparative study between the clusters formed, taking into consideration all 92 descriptors and smaller groups. The selected descriptors were analyzed with the Ward-MLM procedure and a combined matrix formed by the Gower algorithm. We were able to reduce the number of descriptors used for characterizing the banana germplasm (42%). The correlation between the matrices considering the 92 descriptors and the selected ones was 0.82, showing that the reduction in the number of descriptors did not influence estimation of genetic variability between the banana accessions. We conclude that removing these descriptors caused no loss of information, considering the groups formed from pre-established criteria, including subgroup/subspecies.

Digital Campaigning: Using the Bill of Rights to Advance a Political Position

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Swan, Kathy; Hofer, Mark

2006-01-01

Educating students to understand overt, subtle, and erroneous claims made by partisan advertisers is no small feat. Often students are passive consumers who need to learn how to become critical listeners, viewers, readers, and producers of all types of media. Because of this, media literacy--the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and produce…

Learning about Foodborne Pathogens: Evaluation of Student Perceptions of Group Project Work in a Food Microbiology Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Turner, Mark S.

2009-01-01

This study examined the experiences of students in an active learning group work exercise in an introductory food microbiology course involving the study of foodborne pathogens. Small groups were required to access, analyze, and present information regarding a single food poisoning bacterium. The presentations contained features and…

Possible ways for Public Health Surveillance practices evaluation.

PubMed

Vilela, Maria Filomena de Gouveia; Santos, Dario Nunes Dos; Kemp, Brigina

2017-10-01

This is an evaluative and qualitative study that proposes to investigate self-assessment evaluation as a device to analyze Health Surveillance practices through a questionnaire built by researchers, adapted from the Self-Assessment of Improved Access and Primary Care Quality (AMAQ) and available on the FORMSUS platform. Forty-one Health Surveillance workers and managers of a large municipality from São Paulo State evaluated the realms of "management", "teamwork" and their respective sub-realms. Two categories were created to analyze the results: "Management" and "Team" in dialogue with references from Management, Evaluation and Health Surveillance. Most "management" and "teamwork" sub-realms were deemed satisfactory. Self-assessment evaluation through an applied evaluation tool was shown to be a powerful resource for the analysis of Health Surveillance practices in combination with other devices adopted by the Unified Health System (SUS). Unlike usual evaluation processes guided by quantitative markers, this self-assessable evaluative process included subjects and enabled the possibility of incorporating a new look at itself to the way Health Surveillance is carried out and support future management contracts between workers and managers.

Performance Analysis of Direct-Sequence Code-Division Multiple-Access Communications with Asymmetric Quadrature Phase-Shift-Keying Modulation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wang, C.-W.; Stark, W.

2005-01-01

This article considers a quaternary direct-sequence code-division multiple-access (DS-CDMA) communication system with asymmetric quadrature phase-shift-keying (AQPSK) modulation for unequal error protection (UEP) capability. Both time synchronous and asynchronous cases are investigated. An expression for the probability distribution of the multiple-access interference is derived. The exact bit-error performance and the approximate performance using a Gaussian approximation and random signature sequences are evaluated by extending the techniques used for uniform quadrature phase-shift-keying (QPSK) and binary phase-shift-keying (BPSK) DS-CDMA systems. Finally, a general system model with unequal user power and the near-far problem is considered and analyzed. The results show that, for a system with UEP capability, the less protected data bits are more sensitive to the near-far effect that occurs in a multiple-access environment than are the more protected bits.

Feasibility Assessment of a Fine-Grained Access Control Model on Resource Constrained Sensors.

PubMed

Uriarte Itzazelaia, Mikel; Astorga, Jasone; Jacob, Eduardo; Huarte, Maider; Romaña, Pedro

2018-02-13

Upcoming smart scenarios enabled by the Internet of Things (IoT) envision smart objects that provide services that can adapt to user behavior or be managed to achieve greater productivity. In such environments, smart things are inexpensive and, therefore, constrained devices. However, they are also critical components because of the importance of the information that they provide. Given this, strong security is a requirement, but not all security mechanisms in general and access control models in particular are feasible. In this paper, we present the feasibility assessment of an access control model that utilizes a hybrid architecture and a policy language that provides dynamic fine-grained policy enforcement in the sensors, which requires an efficient message exchange protocol called Hidra. This experimental performance assessment includes a prototype implementation, a performance evaluation model, the measurements and related discussions, which demonstrate the feasibility and adequacy of the analyzed access control model.

Feasibility Assessment of a Fine-Grained Access Control Model on Resource Constrained Sensors

PubMed Central

Huarte, Maider; Romaña, Pedro

2018-01-01

Upcoming smart scenarios enabled by the Internet of Things (IoT) envision smart objects that provide services that can adapt to user behavior or be managed to achieve greater productivity. In such environments, smart things are inexpensive and, therefore, constrained devices. However, they are also critical components because of the importance of the information that they provide. Given this, strong security is a requirement, but not all security mechanisms in general and access control models in particular are feasible. In this paper, we present the feasibility assessment of an access control model that utilizes a hybrid architecture and a policy language that provides dynamic fine-grained policy enforcement in the sensors, which requires an efficient message exchange protocol called Hidra. This experimental performance assessment includes a prototype implementation, a performance evaluation model, the measurements and related discussions, which demonstrate the feasibility and adequacy of the analyzed access control model. PMID:29438338

Screening of melon genotypes for resistance to vegetable leafminer and your phenotypic correlations with colorimetry.

PubMed

Oliveira, Frederico I C DE; Fiege, Leonardo B C; Celin, Elaine F; Innecco, Renato; Nunes, Glauber H S; Aragão, Fernando A S DE

2017-01-01

Melon is one of the most important vegetable crops in the world. With short cycle in a system of phased planting, phytosanitary control is compromised, and a great volume of agricultural chemicals is used to control vegetable leafminer. Genetic control is an ideal alternative to avoid the damage caused by this insect. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate Cucumis accessions in regard to resistance to leafminer and correlate the variables analyzed. Fifty-four accessions and four commercial hybrids of melon were tested. The study was divided into two experiments: with and with no choice. The following characteristics were evaluated: with choice, in field - subjective score based on the infestation and the number of mines per leaf; and with no choice, in cage - number of mines per leaf, chlorophyll content, and leaf colorimetry. The results showed variability among the accessions and some genotypes showed favorable results for resistance in both experiments. There was correlation between the two variables in the experiment in the field. The accessions CNPH 11-282, CNPH 06-1047, and CNPH 11-1077 are the most recommended for future breeding programs with aim on introgression of resistance to vegetable leafminer in melon.

Effects of Special Use Airspace on Economic Benefits of Direct Flights

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Datta, Koushik; Barrington, Craig; Foster, John D. (Technical Monitor)

1996-01-01

A methodology for estimating the economic effects of Special Use Airspace (SUA) on direct route flights is presented in this paper. The methodology is based on evaluating operating costs of aircraft and analyzing the different ground-track distances traveled by flights under different air traffic scenarios. Using this methodology the following objectives are evaluated: optimistic bias of studies that assume accessible SUAs the maximum economic benefit of dynamic use of SUAs and the marginal economic benefit of the dynamic use of individual SUAs.

Comparing Web search engine performance in searching consumer health information: evaluation and recommendations.

PubMed Central

Wu, G; Li, J

1999-01-01

Identifying and accessing reliable, relevant consumer health information rapidly on the Internet may challenge the health sciences librarian and layperson alike. In this study, seven search engines are compared using representative consumer health topics for their content relevancy, system features, and attributes. The paper discusses evaluation criteria; systematically compares relevant results; analyzes performance in terms of the strengths and weaknesses of the search engines; and illustrates effective search engine selection, search formulation, and strategies. PMID:10550031

Socioeconomic and Health Profile of Haitian Immigrants in a Brazilian Amazon State.

PubMed

Borges, Fabiano Tonaco; Muraro, Ana Paula; da Costa Leão, Luís Henrique; de Andrade Carvalho, Luciana; Siqueira, Carlos Eduardo Gomes

2018-01-25

We analyzed the sociodemographic profile, migration journey, health conditions, and health care access and utilization among recent Haitian immigrants to the Brazilian Amazon state of Mato Grosso. We conducted a cross-sectional study with a probabilistic sample of 452 Haitians. We administered a bilingual questionnaire from December 2014 to February 2015. Data were analyzed using chi square tests to evaluate differences among groups. The majority of participants were married men younger than 35 years old. They mostly came from the Haiti's Artibonite Department, living in Brazil for less than a year. Half of the participants were employed at the time of the interviews, and 81.8% relied exclusively on the Brazilian Unified Healthcare System for medical care. The overall health profile and health care access were good. Haitian migration to Brasil is a case of South-South migration driven by economic needs. Our population had good health status despite socioeconomic challenges.

Allocation of spectral and spatial modes in multidimensional metro-access optical networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gao, Wenbo; Cvijetic, Milorad

2018-04-01

Introduction of spatial division multiplexing (SDM) has added a new dimension in an effort to increase optical fiber channel capacity. At the same time, it can also be explored as an advanced optical networking tool. In this paper, we have investigated the resource allocation to end-users in multidimensional networking structure with plurality of spectral and spatial modes actively deployed in different networking segments. This presents a more comprehensive method as compared to the common practice where the segments of optical network are analyzed independently since the interaction between network hierarchies is included into consideration. We explored the possible transparency from the metro/core network to the optical access network, analyzed the potential bottlenecks from the network architecture perspective, and identified an optimized network structure. In our considerations, the viability of optical grooming through the entire hierarchical all-optical network is investigated by evaluating the effective utilization and spectral efficiency of the network architecture.

YouTube as a potential training method for laparoscopic cholecystectomy

PubMed Central

Lee, Jun Suh; Seo, Ho Seok

2015-01-01

Purpose The purpose of this study was to analyze the educational quality of laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) videos accessible on YouTube, one of the most important sources of internet-based medical information. Methods The keyword 'laparoscopic cholecystectomy' was used to search on YouTube and the first 100 videos were analyzed. Among them, 27 videos were excluded and 73 videos were included in the study. An arbitrary score system for video quality, devised from existing LC guidelines, were used to evaluate the quality of the videos. Video demographics were analyzed by the quality and source of the video. Correlation analysis was performed. Results When analyzed by video quality, 11 (15.1%) were evaluated as 'good', 40 (54.8%) were 'moderate', and 22 (30.1%) were 'poor', and there were no differences in length, views per day, or number of likes, dislikes, and comments. When analyzed by source, 27 (37.0%) were uploaded by primary centers, 20 (27.4%) by secondary centers, 15 (20.5%) by tertiary centers, 5 (6.8%) by academic institutions, and 6 (8.2%) by commercial institutions. The mean score of the tertiary center group (6.0 ± 2.0) was significantly higher than the secondary center group (3.9 ± 1.4, P = 0.001). The video score had no correlation with views per day or number of likes. Conclusion Many LC videos are accessible on YouTube with varying quality. Videos uploaded by tertiary centers showed the highest educational value. This discrepancy in video quality was not recognized by viewers. More videos with higher quality need to be uploaded, and an active filtering process is necessary. PMID:26236699

Breeding of Acrocomia aculeata using genetic diversity parameters and correlations to select accessions based on vegetative, phenological, and reproductive characteristics.

PubMed

Coser, S M; Motoike, S Y; Corrêa, T R; Pires, T P; Resende, M D V

2016-10-17

Macaw palm (Acrocomia aculeata) is a promising species for use in biofuel production, and establishing breeding programs is important for the development of commercial plantations. The aim of the present study was to analyze genetic diversity, verify correlations between traits, estimate genetic parameters, and select different accessions of A. aculeata in the Macaw Palm Germplasm Bank located in Universidade Federal de Viçosa, to develop a breeding program for this species. Accessions were selected based on precocity (PREC), total spathe (TS), diameter at breast height (DBH), height of the first spathe (HFS), and canopy area (CA). The traits were evaluated in 52 accessions during the 2012/2013 season and analyzed by restricted estimation maximum likelihood/best linear unbiased predictor procedures. Genetic diversity resulted in the formation of four groups by Tocher's clustering method. The correlation analysis showed it was possible to have indirect and early selection for the traits PREC and DBH. Estimated genetic parameters strengthened the genetic variability verified by cluster analysis. Narrow-sense heritability was classified as moderate (PREC, TS, and CA) to high (HFS and DBH), resulting in strong genetic control of the traits and success in obtaining genetic gains by selection. Accuracy values were classified as moderate (PREC and CA) to high (TS, HFS, and DBH), reinforcing the success of the selection process. Selection of accessions for PREC, TS, and HFS by the rank-average method permits selection gains of over 100%, emphasizing the successful use of the accessions in breeding programs and obtaining superior genotypes for commercial plantations.

[Three-dimensional finite element analysis of the upper cervical-defected incisor with labial access or lingual access].

PubMed

Su, Fan; Zhao, Ying; Su, Qin

2013-08-01

To evaluate the stress distribution of the cervical-defected incisor with labial or lingual endodontic access with finite element analysis (FEA), and to explore the advantage of resistance in labial endodontic access. 3-D finite element models of upper cervical-defected incisor were established using cone-beam CT (CBCT), Mimics Catia, and Ansys software. The subjects were categorized according to the two endodontic accesses and three restorative ways, which were composite resin, glass fiber-reinforced composite resin and glass fiber-reinforced post-crown. All the models were loaded.The von Mises stress values and distribution were recorded and analyzed with Ansys 10.0 software. In this study, direct composite resin restoration showed no significant difference between the labial and lingual access. In glass fiber-reinforced composite resin, labial access could transfer the stress concentration area. It could reduce the incidence of fracture of the cervical lesion but increase the incidence of root fracture. Post-crown restoration could obviously reduce the incidence of fracture of the cervical lesion. When the cervical-defected incisor is restored with composite resin, labial and lingual accesses can be considered. Labial access with glass fiber-reinforced composite resin or post-crown restoration is a good choice.

Open-access and multi-directional electroosmotic flow chip for positioning heterotypic cells.

PubMed

Terao, Kyohei; Kitazawa, Yuko; Yokokawa, Ryuji; Okonogi, Atsuhito; Kotera, Hidetoshi

2011-04-21

We propose a novel method of cell positioning using electroosmotic flow (EOF) to analyze cell-cell interactions. The EOF chip has an open-to-air configuration, is equipped with four electrodes to induce multi-directional EOF, and allows access of tools for liquid handling and of physical probes for cell measurements. Evaluation of the flow within this chip indicated that it controlled hydrodynamic transport of cells, in terms of both speed and direction. We also evaluated cell viability after EOF application and determined appropriate conditions for cell positioning. Two cells were successively positioned in pocket-like microstructures, one in each micropocket, by controlling the EOF direction. As an experimental demonstration, we observed contact interactions between two individual cells through gap junction channels. The EOF chip should provide ways to elucidate various cell-cell interactions between heterotypic cells.

Breast reconstruction post mastectomy- Let's Google it. Accessibility, readability and quality of online information.

PubMed

Lynch, Noel P; Lang, Bronagh; Angelov, Sophia; McGarrigle, Sarah A; Boyle, Terence J; Al-Azawi, Dhafir; Connolly, Elizabeth M

2017-04-01

This study evaluated the readability, accessibility and quality of information pertaining to breast reconstruction post mastectomy on the Internet in the English language. Using the Google © search engine the keywords "Breast reconstruction post mastectomy" were searched for. We analyzed the top 75 sites. The Flesch Reading Ease Score and Gunning Fog Index were calculated to assess readability. Web site quality was assessed objectively using the University of Michigan Consumer Health Web site Evaluation Checklist. Accessibility was determined using an automated accessibility tool. In addition, the country of origin, type of organisation producing the site and presence of Health on the Net (HoN) Certification status was recorded. The Web sites were difficult to read and comprehend. The mean Flesch Reading Ease scores were 55.5. The mean Gunning Fog Index scores was 8.6. The mean Michigan score was 34.8 indicating weak quality of websites. Websites with HoN certification ranked higher in the search results (p = 0.007). Website quality was influenced by organisation type (p < 0.0001) with academic/healthcare, not for profit and government sites having higher Michigan scores. 20% of sites met the minimum accessibility criteria. Internet information on breast reconstruction post mastectomy and procedures is poorly written and we suggest that Webpages providing information must be made more readable and accessible. We suggest that health professionals should recommend Web sites that are easy to read and contain high-quality surgical information. Medical information on the Internet should be readable, accessible, reliable and of a consistent quality. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Evaluation of genetic diversity in Chinese kale (Brassica oleracea L. var. alboglabra Bailey) by using rapid amplified polymorphic DNA and sequence-related amplified polymorphism markers.

PubMed

Zhang, J; Zhang, L G

2014-02-14

Chinese kale is an original Chinese vegetable of the Cruciferae family. To select suitable parents for hybrid breeding, we thoroughly analyzed the genetic diversity of Chinese kale. Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and sequence-related amplified polymorphism (SRAP) molecular markers were used to evaluate the genetic diversity across 21 Chinese kale accessions from AVRDC and Guangzhou in China. A total of 104 bands were detected by 11 RAPD primers, of which 66 (63.5%) were polymorphic, and 229 polymorphic bands (68.4%) were observed in 335 bands amplified by 17 SRAP primer combinations. The dendrogram showed the grouping of the 21 accessions into 4 main clusters based on RAPD data, and into 6 clusters based on SRAP and combined data (RAPD + SRAP). The clustering of accessions based on SRAP data was consistent with petal colors. The Mantel test indicated a poor fit for the RAPD and SRAP data (r = 0.16). These results have an important implication for Chinese kale germplasm characterization and improvement.

Assessing 15 proposals for promoting innovation and access to medicines globally.

PubMed

Hoffman, Steven J; So, Karen

2014-01-01

There is widespread recognition that the existing global systems for innovation and access to medicines need reform. Billions of people do not have access to the medicines they need, and market failures prevent new drugs from being developed for diseases that primarily affect the global poor. The World Health Organization's Consultative Expert Working Group on Research and Development: Financing and Coordination (CEWG) analyzed numerous proposals for reform. The aim of this article is to build on these previous inquiries. We conducted a structured analysis that grouped proposals into five broad opportunities for global policy reform to help researchers and decision makers to meaningfully evaluate each proposal in comparison with similar proposals. Proposals were also analyzed along three important dimensions-potential health impact, financial implications, and political feasibility-further facilitating the comparison and application of this information. Upon analysis, no one solution was deemed a panacea, as many (often competing) considerations need to be taken into account. However, some proposals, particularly product development partnership and prizes, appeared more promising and feasible at this time and deserve further attention. More research is needed into the effectiveness of these mechanisms and their transferability across jurisdictions. Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The intersection of disability and healthcare disparities: a conceptual framework.

PubMed

Meade, Michelle A; Mahmoudi, Elham; Lee, Shoou-Yih

2015-01-01

This article provides a conceptual framework for understanding healthcare disparities experienced by individuals with disabilities. While health disparities are the result of factors deeply rooted in culture, life style, socioeconomic status, and accessibility of resources, healthcare disparities are a subset of health disparities that reflect differences in access to and quality of healthcare and can be viewed as the inability of the healthcare system to adequately address the needs of specific population groups. This article uses a narrative method to identify and critique the main conceptual frameworks that have been used in analyzing disparities in healthcare access and quality, and evaluating those frameworks in the context of healthcare for individuals with disabilities. Specific models that are examined include the Aday and Anderson Model, the Grossman Utility Model, the Institute of Medicine (IOM)'s models of Access to Healthcare Services and Healthcare Disparities, and the Cultural Competency model. While existing frameworks advance understandings of disparities in healthcare access and quality, they fall short when applied to individuals with disabilities. Specific deficits include a lack of attention to cultural and contextual factors (Aday and Andersen framework), unrealistic assumptions regarding equal access to resources (Grossman's utility model), lack of recognition or inclusion of concepts of structural accessibility (IOM model of Healthcare Disparities) and exclusive emphasis on supply side of the healthcare equation to improve healthcare disparities (Cultural Competency model). In response to identified gaps in the literature and short-comings of current conceptualizations, an integrated model of disability and healthcare disparities is put forth. We analyzed models of access to care and disparities in healthcare to be able to have an integrated and cohesive conceptual framework that could potentially address issues related to access to healthcare among individuals with disabilities. The Model of Healthcare Disparities and Disability (MHDD) provides a framework for conceptualizing how healthcare disparities impact disability and specifically, how a mismatch between personal and environmental factors may result in reduced healthcare access and quality, which in turn may lead to reduced functioning, activity and participation among individuals with impairments and chronic health conditions. Researchers, health providers, policy makers and community advocate groups who are engaged in devising interventions aimed at reducing healthcare disparities would benefit from the discussions. Implications for Rehabilitation Evaluates the main models of healthcare disparity and disability to create an integrated framework. Provides a comprehensive conceptual model of healthcare disparity that specifically targets issues related to individuals with disabilities. Conceptualizes how personal and environmental factors interact to produce disparities in access to healthcare and healthcare quality. Recognizes and targets modifiable factors to reduce disparities between and within individuals with disabilities.

Genetic diversity of loquat germplasm (Eriobotrya japonica (Thunb) Lindl) assessed by SSR markers.

PubMed

Soriano, José Miguel; Romero, Carlos; Vilanova, Santiago; Llácer, Gerardo; Badenes, María Luisa

2005-02-01

Genetic relationships among 40 loquat (Eriobotrya japonica (Thunb) Lindl) accessions that originated from different countries and that are part of the germplasm collection of the Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Agrarias (IVIA) (Valencia, Spain) were evaluated using microsatellites. Thirty primer pairs flanking microsatellites previously identified in Malus x domestica (Borkh.) were assayed. Thirteen of them amplified polymorphic products and unambiguously distinguished 34 genotypes from the 40 accessions analyzed. Six accessions showing identical marker patterns were Spanish local varieties thought to have been derived from 'Algerie' by a mutational process very common in loquat species. A total of 39 alleles were detected in the population studied, with a mean value of 2.4 alleles per locus. The expected and observed heterozygosities were 0.46 and 51% on average, respectively, leading to a negative value of the Wright's fixation index (-0.20). The values of these parameters indicate a smaller degree of genetic diversity in the set of loquat accessions analyzed than in other members of the Rosaceae family. Unweighted pair-group method (UPGMA) cluster analysis, based on Nei's genetic distance, generally grouped genotypes according to their geographic origins and pedigrees. The high number of alleles and the high expected heterozygosity detected with SSR markers developed in Malus x domestica (Borkh.) make them a suitable tool for loquat cultivar identification, confirming microsatellite marker transportability among genera in the Rosaceae family.

Content Analysis of Virtual Reference Data: Reshaping Library Website Design.

PubMed

Fan, Suhua Caroline; Welch, Jennifer M

2016-01-01

An academic health sciences library wanted to redesign its website to provide better access to health information in the community. Virtual reference data were used to provide information about user searching behavior. This study analyzed three years (2012-2014) of virtual reference data, including e-mail questions, text messaging, and live chat transcripts, to evaluate the library website for redesigning, especially in areas such as the home page, patrons' terminology, and issues prompting patrons to ask for help. A coding system based on information links in the current library website was created to analyze the data.

Genetic variation assessment of acid lime accessions collected from south of Iran using SSR and ISSR molecular markers.

PubMed

Sharafi, Ata Allah; Abkenar, Asad Asadi; Sharafi, Ali; Masaeli, Mohammad

2016-01-01

Iran has a long history of acid lime cultivation and propagation. In this study, genetic variation in 28 acid lime accessions from five regions of south of Iran, and their relatedness with other 19 citrus cultivars were analyzed using Simple Sequence Repeat (SSR) and Inter-Simple Sequence Repeat (ISSR) molecular markers. Nine primers for SSR and nine ISSR primers were used for allele scoring. In total, 49 SSR and 131 ISSR polymorphic alleles were detected. Cluster analysis of SSR and ISSR data showed that most of the acid lime accessions (19 genotypes) have hybrid origin and genetically distance with nucellar of Mexican lime (9 genotypes). As nucellar of Mexican lime are susceptible to phytoplasma, these acid lime genotypes can be used to evaluate their tolerance against biotic constricts like lime "witches' broom disease".

Analyzing Social Media and Learning through Content and Social Network Analysis: A Faceted Methodological Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gruzd, Anatoliy; Paulin, Drew; Haythornthwaite, Caroline

2016-01-01

In just a short period, social media have altered many aspects of our daily lives, from how we form and maintain social relationships to how we discover, access, and share information online. Now social media are also affecting how we teach and learn. In this paper, we discuss methods that can help researchers and educators evaluate and understand…

"It Helps People Make Their Decisions": Dating Games, Public Service Broadcasting and the Negotiation of Identity in Middle-Childhood.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Davies, Maire Messenger; Machin, David

2000-01-01

Analyzed the discourse about television programs of 1,300 5- to 13-year-olds from England and Wales. Found that discourse expressed socially responsible and public service values in evaluating programs. Explained finding in terms of children's adaptation to task requirements and ability to access different kinds of adult discourse available in the…

Quality Control Review of the Defense Logistics Agency Audit Organization

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-12-19

Management Information Distribution and Access System ( MIDAS ). The auditors used data generated from MIDAS to analyze property receipt transaction...However, because there was no evaluation of the effectiveness of controls over MIDAS , the auditors may not have assessed audit risk adequately...Operations in Afghanistan, auditors used property receipt transaction data that were generated from MIDAS to determine whether the audited entity had

Integrality in cervical cancer care: evaluation of access

PubMed Central

Brito-Silva, Keila; Bezerra, Adriana Falangola Benjamin; Chaves, Lucieli Dias Pedreschi; Tanaka, Oswaldo Yoshimi

2014-01-01

OBJECTIVE To evaluate integrity of access to uterine cervical cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment services. METHODS The tracer condition was analyzed using a mixed quantitative and qualitative approach. The quantitative approach was based on secondary data from the analysis of cytology and biopsy exams performed between 2008 and 2010 on 25 to 59 year-old women in a municipality with a large population and with the necessary technological resources. Data were obtained from the Health Information System and the Regional Cervical Cancer Information System. Statistical analysis was performed using PASW statistic 17.0 software. The qualitative approach involved semi-structured interviews with service managers, health care professionals and users. NVivo 9.0 software was used for the content analysis of the primary data. RESULTS Pap smear coverage was low, possible due to insufficient screening and the difficulty of making appointments in primary care. The numbers of biopsies conducted are similar to those of abnormal cytologies, reflecting easy access to the specialized services. There was higher coverage among younger women. More serious diagnoses, for both cytologies and biopsies, were more prevalent in older women. CONCLUSIONS Insufficient coverage of cytologies, reported by the interviewees allows us to understand access difficulties in primary care, as well as the fragility of screening strategies. PMID:24897045

Reducing Gridlock on the Grid: Utility Trends in Managing Peak Electric Load through Residential Demand Response

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McDonald, Betsy

Utilities across the United States are piloting residential demand response programs to help manage peak electric demand. Using publicly available program evaluations, this thesis analyzes nine such programs to uncover and synthesize the range of program offerings, goals, enrollment strategies, and customer experiences. This review reveals that program participation, components, and results differ based on a variety of factors, including geographic characteristics, program goals, and implementation strategies. The diversity of program designs and evaluation findings suggests an underlying tension between the need to generate cost-effective program impacts and the desire to increase accessibility so that program benefits are not exclusive to certain segments of the population. For more significant and impactful engagement, program goals may need to shift. State level policy support could help shift program goals toward increasing program accessibility. Future research should explore creative strategies that target existing barriers and allow for more inclusive deployment.

Delay-aware adaptive sleep mechanism for green wireless-optical broadband access networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Ruyan; Liang, Alei; Wu, Dapeng; Wu, Dalei

2017-07-01

Wireless-Optical Broadband Access Network (WOBAN) is capacity-high, reliable, flexible, and ubiquitous, as it takes full advantage of the merits from both optical communication and wireless communication technologies. Similar to other access networks, the high energy consumption poses a great challenge for building up WOBANs. To shot this problem, we can make some load-light Optical Network Units (ONUs) sleep to reduce the energy consumption. Such operation, however, causes the increased packet delay. Jointly considering the energy consumption and transmission delay, we propose a delay-aware adaptive sleep mechanism. Specifically, we develop a new analytical method to evaluate the transmission delay and queuing delay over the optical part, instead of adopting M/M/1 queuing model. Meanwhile, we also analyze the access delay and queuing delay of the wireless part. Based on such developed delay models, we mathematically derive ONU's optimal sleep time. In addition, we provide numerous simulation results to show the effectiveness of the proposed mechanism.

RAPD analysis of the genetic diversity of mango (Mangifera indica) germplasm in Brazil.

PubMed

Souza, I G B; Valente, S E S; Britto, F B; de Souza, V A B; Lima, P S C

2011-12-14

We evaluated genetic variability of mango (Mangifera indica) accessions maintained in the Active Germplasm Bank of Embrapa Meio-Norte in Teresina, Piauí, Brazil, using RAPDs. Among these accessions, 35 originated from plantings in Brazil, six from the USA and one from India. Genomic DNA, extracted from leaf material using a commercial purification kit, was subjected to PCR with the primers A01, A09, G03, G10, N05, and M16. Fifty-five polymorphic loci were identified, with mean of 9.16 ± 3.31 bands per primer and 100% polymorphism. Application of unweighted pair group method using arithmetic average cluster analysis demonstrated five genotypic groups among the accessions examined. The genotypes Rosa 41, Rosa 48 and Rosa 49 were highly similar (94% similarity), whereas genotypes Sensation and Rosa 18 were the most divergent (only 7% similarity). The mango accessions were found to have considerable genetic variability, demonstrating the importance of analyzing each genotype in a collection in order to efficiently maintain the germplasm collection.

The status of diabetes care in Mexican population: are we making a difference? Results of the National Health and Nutrition Survey 2006.

PubMed

González-Villalpando, Clicerio; López-Ridaura, Ruy; Campuzano, Julio César; González-Villalpando, María Elena

2010-01-01

Examine clinical indicators to evaluate diabetes care in Mexico. Diabetics (self reported, with therapy) were examined with standardized questionnaires, anthropometry, glucose, lipids and glycohemoglobin. Data were analyzed statistically. There were 2 644 patients, 677 cases without access to medical care (73% women), most lived in rural communities and spoke aboriginal dialect. Prevalence of obesity for private access group was 21.2%, for other or non access group was between 31 and 65%. The group without or basic education was most common, 76% of the cases had HDL <40 mg/dl and 36% had hypertriglyceridemia. Only 6.6% of patients had HbA1c <7%. There was no significant difference between HbA1c values observed in the group with or without access. Most patients were treated with oral agents. A significant group was without therapy. Assessments for complications was infrequent. Current model for diabetes care in Mexico is inefficacious and a paradigm change is necessary.

Disparity in the "time to patient access" to new anti-cancer drugs in Italian regions. Results of a survey conducted by the Italian Society of Medical Oncology (AIOM).

PubMed

Gori, Stefania; Di Maio, Massimo; Pinto, Carmine; Alabiso, Oscar; Baldini, Editta; Barbato, Enrico; Beretta, Giordano Domenico; Bravi, Stefano; Caffo, Orazio; Canobbio, Luciano; Carrozza, Francesco; Cinieri, Saverio; Cruciani, Giorgio; Dinota, Angelo; Gebbia, Vittorio; Giustini, Lucio; Graiff, Claudio; Molino, Annamaria; Muggiano, Antonio; Pandoli, Giuliano; Puglisi, Fabio; Tagliaferri, Pierosandro; Tomao, Silverio; Venturini, Marco

2011-01-01

In 2009, the Italian Society of Medical Oncology (AIOM) conducted a survey to describe the impact of regional pharmaceutical formularies on the disparity of access to eight new drugs among cancer patients treated in Italian regions. The survey documented some regional restrictions for some anti-cancer drugs. In the study, we analyzed the "time to patient access" to new anti-cancer drugs in Italian regions. In March 2010, we analyzed the availability of 17 new anti-cancer drugs at a regional level, specifically the coherence of regional authorizations compared with national authorizations approved by the Italian Medicines Agency (AIFA). In the regions with pharmaceutical formularies, we analyzed the characteristics of technical-scientific committees for the evaluation of inclusion of hospital drugs in these formularies. We also analyzed the time from EMA (CMPH) authorization to AIFA marketing authorization, the time from AIFA marketing authorization to patient availability, and the total time from EMA (CMPH) authorization to patient availability of the drugs in all Italian regions, for 11 of these drugs. Some drugs were included in all the regional pharmaceutical formularies, without restrictions, whereas other drugs were not included in one and others were not included in more than one formulary. Median time from EMA to AIFA was 11.2 months (range, 2.9-17.1). Median time from AIFA to patient availability was 1.4 months (range, 0.0-50.5) in regions with drug formularies versus 0.0 months in regions without drugs formularies. Median total time from EMA to patient availability was longer in regions with formularies (13.3 months; range, 2.9-65.3) than in regions without formularies (11.2 months; range, 2.9-24.0), where drugs are immediately available after AIFA marketing authorization. Moreover, the interval was very long (range, 2.9-65.3) for some drugs in regions with formularies. The analysis confirmed that the presence of multiple hierarchical levels of drug evaluation can create disparity in drug availability for Italian citizens.

Microleakage of different sealing materials in access holes of internal connection implant systems.

PubMed

Park, Sung-Do; Lee, Yoon; Kim, Yu-Lee; Yu, Sang-Hui; Bae, Ji-Myung; Cho, Hye-Won

2012-09-01

Current implant systems cannot completely prevent microleakage from the access holes of screw-retained implant prostheses, which may constitute risks to the clinical success of the implants. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the levels of microleakage through the access holes of screw-retained implant prostheses sealed with different materials. An implant with an internal hexagonal configuration was connected to a temporary abutment with an acrylic resin crown. The apical 6.5 mm of the access hole was filled with 1 of the following materials: cotton pellet, silicone sealing material, vinyl polysiloxane, or gutta-percha. The remaining coronal 3 mm was sealed with composite resin. Cyclic loading with 21 N at 1 Hz was applied 16,000 times to the specimens in 0.5% basic fuchsin solution according to the long axis of the tooth. Basic fuchsin dye which penetrated into the internal wall of the abutment through the access hole was dissolved with methyl alcohol. Then the absorbance was measured by a spectrophotometer at 540 nm to evaluate the degree of microleakage. The results were statistically analyzed with 1-way ANOVA and the Tukey HSD test. From greatest to least, the levels of microleakage were in the following order: cotton pellet, silicone sealing material, vinyl polysiloxane, and gutta-percha. The microleakage associated with gutta-percha was not significantly different from that of vinyl polysiloxane. When sealing the access holes of screw-retained implant prostheses, gutta-percha or vinyl polysiloxane would help reduce microleakage. Copyright © 2012 The Editorial Council of the Journal of Prosthetic Dentistry. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Information literacy: implications for perioperative nurses.

PubMed

Byrne, Michelle M

2011-02-01

The concept of information literacy may be new to some perioperative nurses; however, embracing this concept will help nurses identify situations that necessitate gaining more information, locate and access information sources, evaluate and analyze data, and cite information in compliance with copyright and fair use laws. The culture of health care is continually changing as a result of new technology and new methods to improve patient care, and this creates an information explosion. Perioperative educators should add information literacy as a strategic goal for obtaining Magnet status because it is foundational to evidence-based practice. Administrators also should advocate to obtain resources that will enable nurses to access information that addresses current patient care issues.

Communicative Access Measures for Stroke: Development and Evaluation of a Quality Improvement Tool.

PubMed

Kagan, Aura; Simmons-Mackie, Nina; Victor, J Charles; Chan, Melodie T

2017-11-01

To (1) develop a systems-level quality improvement tool targeting communicative access to information and decision-making for stroke patients with language disorders; and (2) evaluate the resulting tool-the Communicative Access Measures for Stroke (CAMS). Survey development and evaluation was in line with accepted guidelines and included item generation and reduction, survey formatting and composition, pretesting, pilot testing, and reliability assessment. Development and evaluation were carried out in hospital and community agency settings. The project used a convenience sample of 31 participants for the survey development, and 63 participants for the CAMS reliability study (broken down into 6 administrators/managers, 32 frontline staff, 25 participants with aphasia). Eligible participants invited to the reliability study included individuals from 45 community-based organizations in Ontario as well as 4400 individuals from communities of practice. Not applicable. Data were analyzed using kappa statistics and intraclass correlations for each item score on all surveys. A tool, the CAMS, comprising 3 surveys, was developed for health facilities from the perspectives of (1) administrators/policymakers, (2) staff/frontline health care providers, and (3) patients with aphasia (using a communicatively accessible version). Reliability for items on the CAMS-Administrator and CAMS-Staff surveys was moderate to high (kappa/intraclass correlation coefficients [ICCs], .54-1.00). As expected, reliability was lower for the CAMS-Patient survey, with most items having ICCs between 0.4 and 0.6. These findings suggest that CAMS may provide useful quality improvement information for health care facilities with an interest in improving care for patients with stroke and aphasia. Copyright © 2017 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

THE CAUSAL ANALYSIS / DIAGNOSIS DECISION ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

CADDIS is an on-line decision support system that helps investigators in the regions, states and tribes find, access, organize, use and share information to produce causal evaluations in aquatic systems. It is based on the US EPA's Stressor Identification process which is a formal method for identifying causes of impairments in aquatic systems. CADDIS 2007 increases access to relevant information useful for causal analysis and provides methods and tools that practitioners can use to analyze their own data. The new Candidate Cause section provides overviews of commonly encountered causes of impairments to aquatic systems: metals, sediments, nutrients, flow alteration, temperature, ionic strength, and low dissolved oxygen. CADDIS includes new Conceptual Models that illustrate the relationships from sources to stressors to biological effects. An Interactive Conceptual Model for phosphorus links the diagram with supporting literature citations. The new Analyzing Data section helps practitioners analyze their data sets and interpret and use those results as evidence within the USEPA causal assessment process. Downloadable tools include a graphical user interface statistical package (CADStat), and programs for use with the freeware R statistical package, and a Microsoft Excel template. These tools can be used to quantify associations between causes and biological impairments using innovative methods such as species-sensitivity distributions, biological inferenc

Leveling the Playing Field--Part II: Using the Big6 Model To Plan Instruction for Students with Special Needs.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Berkowitz, Bob

1998-01-01

The Big6 Skills provide a framework for analyzing instructional variables and can be phrased as a series of questions for analysis: (1) Task Definition, (2) Information Seeking Strategies, (3) Location and Access, (4) Use of Information, (5) Synthesis, (6) Evaluation. A fictional seventh-grade teacher/class is used as an example of using the Big6…

Genetic diversity of sea-island cotton (Gossypium barbadense) revealed by mapped SSRs.

PubMed

Wang, X Q; Feng, C H; Lin, Z X; Zhang, X L

2011-12-08

In order to evaluate the genetic diversity of sea-island cotton (Gossypium barbadense), 237 commonly mapped SSR markers covering the cotton genome were used to genotype 56 sea-island cotton accessions. A total of 218 polymorphic primer pairs (91.98%) amplified 361 loci, with a mean of 1.66 loci. Polymorphism information content values of the SSR primers ranged from 0.035 to 0.862, with a mean of 0.320. The highest mean polymorphism information content value for the SSR motifs was from a compound motif (0.402), and for the chromosomes it was Chr10 (0.589); the highest ratio of polymorphic primers in Xinjiang accessions was from Chr21 (83.33%). Genetic diversity was high in Xinjiang accessions. AMOVA showed that variation was 8 and 92% among populations and within populations, respectively. The 56 sea-island accessions were divided into three groups in the UPGMA dendrogram: Xinhai5 was in the first group; accessions from Xinjiang, except the five main ones, were in the second group, and the other 34 accessions were in the third group. Accessions from the former Soviet Union and Xinjiang main accessions were closely related. Both PCA and UPGMA confirmed that Xinhai5 was distinct from the other accessions, and accessions from Xinjiang were in an independent group. Given the differences between principal components analysis and UPGMA results, it is necessary to combine molecular markers and pedigree information so that genetic diversity can be objectively analyzed.

How was the UNAIDS drug access initiative implemented in Chile?

PubMed Central

Brousselle, Astrid; Champagne, François

2012-01-01

In 1997, UNAIDS decided to implement Drug Access Initiatives (DAI) in four different pilot-countries. We studied the implementation of the DAI in Chile as part of the evaluation program conducted by the ‘Agence Nationale de Recherche sur le SIDA’ (ANRS/France). The objective was to understand how the politico-organizational dynamic influenced the implementation process of the DAI. Approximately 50 semi-directed interviews and observation activities were conducted with the actors who participated in the implementation of the DAI or who played a role in the HIV/AIDS context. The program theory models were established and their evolution analyzed. This article offers an original analysis of an international HIV/AIDS drug access program that was put in place at a time when such programs were seen as a priority by international and governmental institutions. It also offers some insights for the creation of international projects that will be locally implemented. PMID:23230344

Waste isolation pilot plant (WIPP) borehole plugging program description

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Christensen, C.L.; Hunter, T.O.

1979-08-01

The tests and experiments described attempt to provide a mix of borehole (with limited access) and in-mine (with relatively unlimited access) environments in which assessment of the various issues involved can be undertaken. The Bell Canyon Test provides the opportunity to instrument and analyze a plug in a high pressure region. The Shallow Hole Test permits application of best techniques for plugging and then access to both the top and bottom of the plug for further analysis. The Diagnostic Test Hole permits recovery of bench scale size samples for analysis and establishes an in-borehole laboratory in which to conduct testingmore » and analysis in all strata from the surface into the salt horizon. The additional in mine experiments provide the opportunity to investigate in more detail specific effects on plugs in the salt region and allows evaluation of instrumentation systems.« less

Limited School Drinking Water Access for Youth.

PubMed

Kenney, Erica L; Gortmaker, Steven L; Cohen, Juliana F W; Rimm, Eric B; Cradock, Angie L

2016-07-01

Providing children and youth with safe, adequate drinking water access during school is essential for health. This study used objectively measured data to investigate the extent to which schools provide drinking water access that meets state and federal policies. We visited 59 middle and high schools in Massachusetts during spring 2012. Trained research assistants documented the type, location, and working condition of all water access points throughout each school building using a standard protocol. School food service directors (FSDs) completed surveys reporting water access in cafeterias. We evaluated school compliance with state plumbing codes and federal regulations and compared FSD self-reports of water access with direct observation; data were analyzed in 2014. On average, each school had 1.5 (standard deviation: .6) water sources per 75 students; 82% (standard deviation: 20) were functioning and fewer (70%) were both clean and functioning. Less than half of the schools met the federal Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act requirement for free water access during lunch; 18 schools (31%) provided bottled water for purchase but no free water. Slightly over half (59%) met the Massachusetts state plumbing code. FSDs overestimated free drinking water access compared to direct observation (96% FSD reported vs. 48% observed, kappa = .07, p = .17). School drinking water access may be limited. In this study, many schools did not meet state or federal policies for minimum student drinking water access. School administrative staff may not accurately report water access. Public health action is needed to increase school drinking water access. Copyright © 2016 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

[Analysis on accessibility of urban park green space: the case study of Shenyang Tiexi District].

PubMed

Lu, Ning; Li, Jun-Ying; Yan, Hong-Wei; Shi, Tuo; Li, Ying

2014-10-01

The accessibility of urban park green space is an important indicator to reflect how much the natural service supplied by parks could be enjoyed by citizens conveniently and fairly. This paper took Shenyang Tiexi District as an example to evaluate the accessibility of urban park green space based on QuickBird imagery and GIS software, with four modes of transportation, walking, non-motor vehicle, motor vehicle and public transport being considered. The research compared and analyzed the distribution of the accessible area and the accessible people of park green space. The result demonstrated that park green space in Shenyang Tiexi District was not enough and the distribution was not even. To be precise, the accessibility in southwest part and central part was relatively good, that in marginal sites was worse, and that in east part and north part was the worst. Furthermore, the accessibility based on different modes of transportation varied a lot. The accessibility of motor vehicle was the best, followed by non-motor vehicle and public transport, and walking was the worst. Most of the regions could be reached within 30 minutes by walking, 15 minutes by non-motor vehicle and public transport, and 10 minutes by motor vehicle. This paper had a realistic significance in terms of further, systematic research on the green space spatial pattern optimization.

Website accessibility in the tourism industry: an analysis of official national tourism organization websites around the world.

PubMed

Domínguez Vila, Trinidad; Alén González, Elisa; Darcy, Simon

2017-08-09

To analyze the accessibility of official national tourism organization websites of countries around the world, in order to establish possible common patterns and rankings of those with exemplary practice through to those with the highest number of issues. The purpose for undertaking such an analysis is to provide a quasi-indicator of inclusive organizational practice for online accessibility for both destination managers and their accessible tourism consumers - domestic and overseas people with disability visiting the websites. The official tourism websites of 210 countries included in the latest World Tourism Organization report were analyzed. A website accessibility evaluation tool (website accessible test) was used in the analysis, according to AA and AAA levels of conformance to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 requirements. Different patterns compliance to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 were established for the clusters, which were rather similar for both AA and AAA conformance levels. The main issues in the least accessible websites were also identified, mainly focused on the following guidelines: navigable, compatible, adaptability, text alternatives and also referred to other assistive technologies. Once the main issues were established several alternatives are suggested to address them, such as implementing more prescriptive laws and regulations, complying with mandatory benchmark standards and/or having external agencies audit website designs. However, in addition to using benchmark standards, efforts to improve this situation should also be made by programmers, who should also rely on preexistent experiences and develop more dynamic knowledge. This knowledge may include text alternatives for any nontext content; creation of content that can be presented in different ways without losing information; provide ways to help users navigate, find content, determine where they are and navigate websites to maximize compatibility with assistive technologies and user agents. Implications for rehabilitation Access to information - in this case, online information - is an important factor in the process of rehabilitation for people with disability and those supporting them. Failure to apply homogeneous criteria for website accessibility around the world can hamper access to information by people with disabilities. Travel planning requires access to mainstream tourist distribution networks where online inclusive practice is a precursor to information searching. Documents for destination managers and programmers the main problems of accessibility to websites and examples of models or solutions to follow and not. Establish the main inclusive website design criteria on which to focus on improving the access of people with disabilities to websites (e.g., text alternatives, content presented in different ways, navigating and improving compatibility with assistive technologies etc.).

Affordability of medicines in the European Union.

PubMed

Zaprutko, Tomasz; Kopciuch, Dorota; Kus, Krzysztof; Merks, Piotr; Nowicka, Monika; Augustyniak, Izabela; Nowakowska, Elżbieta

2017-01-01

Medications and their prices are key issues for healthcare. Although access to medicines at affordable prices had been specified as a key objective of the European Health Policy, it seems that these goals have not been achieved. Therefore, we attempted an evaluation of affordability of selected medicines at full prices. The analysis concerned 2012 and was conducted between 2013 and 2015 in all the European Union (EU) countries divided into 3 groups depending on the date of their accession to the EU. Finally, we considered 9 originators used in the treatment of schizophrenia and multiple sclerosis. Information on drug prices were collected from pharmacies. Participation in the study was voluntary and anonymous in order to avoid accusations of advertising. To evaluate affordability, several factors were used (e.g. minimum earnings and Gini coefficient). Due to unavailability in some countries, the exact number of analyzed medicines varies. Drug prices vary significantly between EU Member States. Almost eleven fold difference was observed between Germany (EUR 1451.17) and Croatia (EUR 132.77) in relation to Interferone beta-1a 22 μg. Generally, prices were the highest in Germany. The cheapest drugs were found in various countries but never in the poorest ones like Bulgaria or Romania. Discrepancies in wages were observed too (the smallest minimum wage was EUR 138.00 in Bulgaria and the highest EUR 1801.00 in Luxembourg). Full price of olanzapine 5mg, however, was higher in Bulgaria (EUR 64.53) than, for instance, in Belgium (EUR 37.26). Analyzed medications are still unaffordable for many citizens of the EU. Besides, access to medicines is also impaired e.g. due to parallel trade. Unaffordability of medications may lead to the patients' non-compliance and therefore to increased direct and indirect costs of treatment. Common European solutions are needed to achieve a real affordability and accessibility of medications.

Affordability of medicines in the European Union

PubMed Central

Zaprutko, Tomasz; Kopciuch, Dorota; Kus, Krzysztof; Merks, Piotr; Nowicka, Monika; Augustyniak, Izabela; Nowakowska, Elżbieta

2017-01-01

Background Medications and their prices are key issues for healthcare. Although access to medicines at affordable prices had been specified as a key objective of the European Health Policy, it seems that these goals have not been achieved. Therefore, we attempted an evaluation of affordability of selected medicines at full prices. Methods The analysis concerned 2012 and was conducted between 2013 and 2015 in all the European Union (EU) countries divided into 3 groups depending on the date of their accession to the EU. Finally, we considered 9 originators used in the treatment of schizophrenia and multiple sclerosis. Information on drug prices were collected from pharmacies. Participation in the study was voluntary and anonymous in order to avoid accusations of advertising. To evaluate affordability, several factors were used (e.g. minimum earnings and Gini coefficient). Due to unavailability in some countries, the exact number of analyzed medicines varies. Results Drug prices vary significantly between EU Member States. Almost eleven fold difference was observed between Germany (EUR 1451.17) and Croatia (EUR 132.77) in relation to Interferone beta-1a 22 μg. Generally, prices were the highest in Germany. The cheapest drugs were found in various countries but never in the poorest ones like Bulgaria or Romania. Discrepancies in wages were observed too (the smallest minimum wage was EUR 138.00 in Bulgaria and the highest EUR 1801.00 in Luxembourg). Full price of olanzapine 5mg, however, was higher in Bulgaria (EUR 64.53) than, for instance, in Belgium (EUR 37.26). Conclusions Analyzed medications are still unaffordable for many citizens of the EU. Besides, access to medicines is also impaired e.g. due to parallel trade. Unaffordability of medications may lead to the patients’ non-compliance and therefore to increased direct and indirect costs of treatment. Common European solutions are needed to achieve a real affordability and accessibility of medications. PMID:28241019

Basilic vein transposition fistulas versus prosthetic bridge grafts in patients with end-stage renal failure.

PubMed

Basel, Halil; Ekim, Hasan; Odabasi, Dolunay; Kiymaz, Adem; Aydin, Cemalettin; Dostbil, Aysenur

2011-07-01

Basilic vein transposition fistulas (BVTFs) and prosthetic bridge grafts (PBGs) provide good vascular access for hemodialysis. To evaluate the patency and complication rates after arteriovenous fistula formation, a concurrent series of patients was reviewed. Between September 2003 and September 2009, 147 hemodialysis access procedures were performed in 147 consecutive patients at Van Research and Training Hospital and Yuzuncu Yil University Hospital, Van, Turkey. All access procedures were planned on the basis of preoperative duplex scans of arm and forearm veins. Functional patency was defined as the ability to cannulate hemodialysis patients successfully. Primary and secondary cumulative functional patency rates of BVTFs and PBGs were determined with life-table analysis and differences were analyzed with retrospective study. Differences in revision rates, including thrombolysis thrombectomies and operative revisions, were analyzed with the Fisher exact t-test. Mean follow-up was 15 months (range, 3-24 months). Risk factors were similar between the two groups. BVTFs had better patency at 15 months. The dialysis access complications were higher in the PBG group versus BVTF group, and the PBG group had a higher infection rate than the BVTF group. The primary and secondary patency rates were superior in the BVTF group. Our data strongly support the contention that as long as the patient is a candidate for an upper arm BVTF based on anatomical criteria, BVTF always be considered before a PBG. Copyright © 2011. Published by Elsevier Inc.

New Technology and Digital Worlds: Analyzing Evidence of Equity in Access, Use, and Outcomes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Warschauer, Mark; Matuchniak, Tina

2010-01-01

In this chapter, the authors take a broad perspective on how to analyze issues of technology and equity for youth in the United States. They begin with "access" as a starting point, but consider not only whether diverse groups of youth have digital media available to them but also how that access is supported or constrained by…

Relationship between human resource ability and market access capacity on business performance. (case study of wood craft micro- and small-scale industries in Gianyar Regency, Bali)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sukartini, N. W.; Sudarmini, N. M.; Lasmini, N. K.

2018-01-01

The aims of this research are to: (1) analyze the influence of Human Resource Ability on market access capacity in Wood Craft Micro and Small Industry; (2) to analyze the effect of market access capacity on business performance; (3) analyze the influence of Human Resources ability on business performance. Data were collected using questionnaires, interviews, observations, and literature studies. The resulting data were analyzed using Struture Equation Modeling (SEM). The results of the analysis show that (1) there is a positive and significant influence of the ability of Human Resources on market access capacity in Wood Craft Micro-and Small-Scale Industries in Gianyar; (2) there is a positive and significant influence of market access capacity on business performance; and (3) there is a positive and significant influence of Human Resource ability on business performance. To improve the ability to access the market and business performance, it is recommended that human resource ability need to be improved through training; government and higher education institutions are expected to play a role in improving the ability of human resources (craftsmen) through provision of training programs

OpenMSI Arrayed Analysis Toolkit: Analyzing Spatially Defined Samples Using Mass Spectrometry Imaging

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

de Raad, Markus; de Rond, Tristan; Rübel, Oliver

Mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) has primarily been applied in localizing biomolecules within biological matrices. Although well-suited, the application of MSI for comparing thousands of spatially defined spotted samples has been limited. One reason for this is a lack of suitable and accessible data processing tools for the analysis of large arrayed MSI sample sets. In this paper, the OpenMSI Arrayed Analysis Toolkit (OMAAT) is a software package that addresses the challenges of analyzing spatially defined samples in MSI data sets. OMAAT is written in Python and is integrated with OpenMSI (http://openmsi.nersc.gov), a platform for storing, sharing, and analyzing MSI data.more » By using a web-based python notebook (Jupyter), OMAAT is accessible to anyone without programming experience yet allows experienced users to leverage all features. OMAAT was evaluated by analyzing an MSI data set of a high-throughput glycoside hydrolase activity screen comprising 384 samples arrayed onto a NIMS surface at a 450 μm spacing, decreasing analysis time >100-fold while maintaining robust spot-finding. The utility of OMAAT was demonstrated for screening metabolic activities of different sized soil particles, including hydrolysis of sugars, revealing a pattern of size dependent activities. Finally, these results introduce OMAAT as an effective toolkit for analyzing spatially defined samples in MSI. OMAAT runs on all major operating systems, and the source code can be obtained from the following GitHub repository: https://github.com/biorack/omaat.« less

Stability of agronomic and yield related traits of Jatropha curcas accessions raised from cuttings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mat, Nurul Hidayah Che; Yaakob, Zahira; Ratnam, Wickneswari

2016-11-01

Monitoring stability of agronomic and yield related traits is important for prediction of crop yields. This study was a latter study for the evaluation of 295 J. curcas individuals representing 21 accessions from eight countries at Biodiesel Research Station of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Pilah planted in December 2012. In this study, 183 J. curcas individuals were selected randomly from the population and their growth performance evaluated from December 2013 to December 2014. All the individual plants were raised from cuttings. The yield related data were recorded periodically and performance of each accession was analyzed using Statistical Analysis System (SAS) 9.4. Five traits which were number of fruits per plant (NFPP), number of fruits per inflorescence (NFPI), hundred seed weight (g) (HSW), number of seeds per plant (NSPP) and yield per plant (g) (YPP) showed significant differences among the accessions after two years of planting. Maximum values for each trait were 208 cm for plant height (PH), 31 for number of branches per plant (BPP), 115 for number of inflorescence per plant (NIPP), 582 for NFPP, 7 for NFPI, 307 for number of flowers per inflorescence (NFI), 17 for number of female flowers per inflorescence (NFFPI), 91.6 g for HSW, 1647.1 for NSPP and 927.6 g for YPP. Most of the plants which had performed well in the first year were among the best performers in the second year.

Evaluation of γ-oryzanol content and composition from the grains of pigmented rice-germplasms by LC-DAD-ESI/MS.

PubMed

Kim, Heon Woong; Kim, Jung Bong; Shanmugavelan, Poovan; Kim, Se Na; Cho, Young Sook; Kim, Haeng Ran; Lee, Jeong-Tae; Jeon, Weon-Tai; Lee, Dong Jin

2013-04-15

Rice is the staple food and one of the world’s three major grain crops. Rice contains more than 100 bioactive substances including phytic acid, isovitexin, γ-oryzanol, phytosterols, octacosanol, squalene, γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA), tocopherol, tocotrienol derivatives, etc. Out of them, γ-oryzanol is known to have important biological profile such as anti-oxidants, inhibitor of cholesterol oxidation, reduce serum cholesterol levels in animals, effective in the treatment of inflammatory diseases, inhibit tumor growth, reduce blood pressure and promotes food storage stability when used as a food additive, etc. Hence in the present investigation, we aimed to evaluate the content and composition of γ-oryzanol from pigmented rice germplasms using a liquid chromatography with diode array detection and electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (LC-DAD-ESI/MS). In the present study, 33 exotic pigmented rice accessions (red, white and purple) have been evaluated. Among them, the contents of γ-oryzanol varied from 3.5 to 21.0 mg/100 g with a mean of 11.2 mg/100 g. A total of ten components of γ-oryzanol including Δ⁷-stigmastenyl ferulate were identified of which, cycloartenyl ferulate, 24-methylenecycloartanyl ferulate, campesteryl ferulate and sitosteryl ferulate were identified as the major components. The mean proportions of steryl ferulates were in the descending order of 24-methylenecycloartanyl ferulate > cycloartenyl ferulate > campesteryl ferulate > sitosteryl ferulate > Δ⁷-campestenyl ferulate > campestanyl ferulate > sitostanyl ferulate > Δ⁷-stigmastenyl ferulate > stigamsteryl ferulate > Δ⁷-sitostenyl ferulate. Almost 11 accessions (33%) showed higher content than the control rice Chucheongbyeo and higher proportions ranged from 10 to 15 mg/100 g. Interestingly, the red rice accession Liberian Coll. B11/B-11 (21.0 mg/100 g) showed higher content γ-oryzanol than control rice Jeokjinjubyeo (19.1 mg/100 g) and the purple rice accession Padi Adong Dumarat, Mardi No.4376 (20.3 mg/100 g) showed a similar content with control rice Heugjinjubyeo (21.4 mg/100 g). Most of analyzed rice accessions were found to possess higher contents of γ-oryzanol than the control rice, Chucheongbyeo. In particular, the red accessions showed highest content than the white and purpleaccessions. The content and composition of γ-oryzanol in 33 exotic pigmented rice accessions have been evaluated and compared significantly by the present investigation.

Multiple Intimate Partner Violence Experiences: Knowledge, Access, Utilization and Barriers to Utilization of Resources by Women of the African Diaspora.

PubMed

Sabri, Bushra; Huerta, Julia; Alexander, Kamila A; St Vil, Noelle M; Campbell, Jacquelyn C; Callwood, Gloria B

2015-11-01

This study examined knowledge, access, utilization, and barriers to use of resources among Black women exposed to multiple types of intimate partner violence in Baltimore, Maryland and the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI). We analyzed quantitative survey data collected by 163 women recruited from primary care, prenatal or family planning clinics in Baltimore and the USVI. In addition we analyzed qualitative data from in-depth interviews with 11 women. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and qualitative data were analyzed using thematic analysis. A substantial proportion of Black women with multiple types of violence experiences lacked knowledge of, did not have access to, and did not use resources. Barriers to resource use were identified at the individual, relationship, and community levels. There is need for programs to develop awareness, promote access and utilization of resources, and eliminate barriers to resource use among abused Black women.

Equal Access? Analyzing Charter Location Relative to Demographics in Ohio

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Saultz, Andrew; Yaluma, Christopher B.

2017-01-01

We analyze the geographical distribution of, and access to, charter schools in the state of Ohio. Using poverty and race data from the U.S. Census, as well as publicly available student achievement scores, we analyze the locational preferences of charter schools. We use Geographic Information System (GIS) to visual display charter school locations…

Oral health conditions in leprosy cases in hyperendemic area of the Brazilian Amazon

PubMed Central

de Almeida, Zilanda Martins; Ramos, Alberto Novaes; Raposo, Marcos Túlio; Martins-Melo, Francisco Rogerlândio; Vasconcellos, Cidia

2017-01-01

ABSTRACT Leprosy is a hyperendemic chronic condition in the Rondônia State . Despite the significant impact of oral health on the quality of life and clinical evolution of leprosy patients, systematic evaluation of oral health status has been neglected. To analyze the dental-clinical profile, self-perceived oral health and dental health service access of leprosy cases in the municipality of Cacoal in Rondônia State , North Brazil, from 2001 to 2012. A descriptive, cross-sectional study design was performed based on dental evaluation and standardized structured instruments. We investigated clinically assessed and self-perceived oral health status, as well as dental health service access. A total of 303 leprosy cases were included; 41.6% rated their oral health as good, and 42.6% reported being satisfied with their oral health. Self-reported loss of upper teeth was 45.5%. The clinical evaluation revealed that 54.5% had active caries. Most (97.7%) cases reported having been to the dentist at least once in their life and 23.1% used public health services. The poor standard of oral health in this population may increase the risk for leprosy reactions, consequently reducing quality of life. Low access to public health dental services and poor self-perceived oral health reinforce the need to achieve comprehensive health care in this population. PMID:28902294

In-Memory Business Intelligence: Concepts and Performance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rantung, V. P.; Kembuan, O.; Rompas, P. T. D.; Mewengkang, A.; Liando, O. E. S.; Sumayku, J.

2018-02-01

This research aims to discuss in-memory Business Intelligent (BI) and to model the business analysis questions to know the performance of the in-memory BI. By using, the Qlickview application found BI dashboards that easily accessed and modified. The dashboards are developed together using an agile development approach such as pre-study, planning, iterative execution, implementation, and evaluation. At the end, this research helping analyzer in choosing a right implementation for BI solution.

On Performance of Linear Multiuser Detectors for Wireless Multimedia Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Agarwal, Rekha; Reddy, B. V. R.; Bindu, E.; Nayak, Pinki

In this paper, performance of different multi-rate schemes in DS-CDMA system is evaluated. The analysis of multirate linear multiuser detectors with multiprocessing gain is analyzed for synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) systems. Variable data rate is achieved by varying the processing gain. Our conclusion is that bit error rate for multirate and single rate systems can be made same with a tradeoff with number of users in linear multiuser detectors.

[Validity and factorial invariance of the social ecological model in explaining fruit intake in Mexican schoolchildren].

PubMed

Ochoa-Meza, Gerardo; Sierra, Juan Carlos; Pérez-Rodrigo, Carmen; Aranceta Bartrina, Javier; Esparza-Del Villar, Óscar A

2014-11-24

To test the goodness of fit of a Motivation-Ability-Opportunity model (MAO-model) to evaluate the observed variance in Mexican schoolchildren's preferences to eat fruit and daily fruit intake; also to evaluate the factorial invariance across the gender and type of population (urban and semi-urban) in which children reside. A model with seven constructs was designed from a validated questionnaire to assess preferences, cognitive abilities, attitude, modelling, perceived barriers, accessibility at school, accessibility at home, and fruit intake frequency. The instrument was administered in a representative sample of 1434 schoolchildren of 5th and 6th grade of primary school in a cross-sectional and ex post fact study conducted in 2013 in six cities of the State of Chihuahua, Mexico. The goodness of fit indexes was adequate for the MAO-model and explained 39% of the variance in preference to eat fruit. The structure of the model showed very good factor structure stability and the dimensions of the scale were equivalent in the different samples analyzed. The model analyzed with structural equation modeling showed a parsimonious model that can be used to explain the variation in fruit intake of 10 to 12 year old Mexican schoolchildren. The structure of the model was strictly invariant in the different samples analyzed and showed evidence of cross validation. Finally, implications about the modification model to fit data from scholar settings and guidelines for future research are discussed. Copyright AULA MEDICA EDICIONES 2014. Published by AULA MEDICA. All rights reserved.

Evaluating the Influence of Road Lighting on Traffic Safety at Accesses Using An Artificial Neural Network.

PubMed

Xu, Yueru; Ye, Zhirui; Wang, Yuan; Wang, Chao; Sun, Cuicui

2018-05-18

This paper focuses on the effect of road lighting on road safety at accesses and tries to quantitatively analyze the relationship between road lighting and road safety. An Artificial Neural Network (ANN) was applied in this study. This method is one of the most popular machine-learning methods in recent years and does not require any pre-defined assumptions. This method was applied using field data collected from ten road segments in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China. The results show that the impact of road lighting on road safety at accesses is significant. In addition, road lighting has greater influence when vehicle speeds are higher or the number of lanes is larger. A threshold illuminance was also found in this paper, and the results show that the safety level at accesses will become stable when reaching this value. The improvement of illuminance can decrease the speed variation among vehicles and improve the safety level. In addition, high-grade roads need better illuminance at accesses. A threshold value can also be obtained based on related variables and used to develop scientific guidelines for traffic management organizations.

An exploration of multilevel modeling for estimating access to drinking-water and sanitation.

PubMed

Wolf, Jennyfer; Bonjour, Sophie; Prüss-Ustün, Annette

2013-03-01

Monitoring progress towards the targets for access to safe drinking-water and sanitation under the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) requires reliable estimates and indicators. We analyzed trends and reviewed current indicators used for those targets. We developed continuous time series for 1990 to 2015 for access to improved drinking-water sources and improved sanitation facilities by country using multilevel modeling (MLM). We show that MLM is a reliable and transparent tool with many advantages over alternative approaches to estimate access to facilities. Using current indicators, the MDG target for water would be met, but the target for sanitation missed considerably. The number of people without access to such services is still increasing in certain regions. Striking differences persist between urban and rural areas. Consideration of water quality and different classification of shared sanitation facilities would, however, alter estimates considerably. To achieve improved monitoring we propose: (1) considering the use of MLM as an alternative for estimating access to safe drinking-water and sanitation; (2) completing regular assessments of water quality and supporting the development of national regulatory frameworks as part of capacity development; (3) evaluating health impacts of shared sanitation; (4) using a more equitable presentation of countries' performances in providing improved services.

Mapping Disparities in Access to Safe, Timely, and Essential Surgical Care in Zambia.

PubMed

Esquivel, Micaela M; Uribe-Leitz, Tarsicio; Makasa, Emmanuel; Lishimpi, Kennedy; Mwaba, Peter; Bowman, Kendra; Weiser, Thomas G

2016-11-01

Surgical care is widely unavailable in developing countries; advocates recommend that countries evaluate and report on access to surgical care to improve availability and aid health planners in decision making. To analyze the infrastructure, capacity, and availability of surgical care in Zambia to inform health policy priorities. In this observational study, all hospitals providing surgical care were identified in cooperation with the Zambian Ministry of Health. On-site data collection was conducted from February 1 through August 30, 2011, with an adapted World Health Organization Global Initiative for Emergency and Essential Surgical Care survey. Data collection at each facility included interviews with hospital personnel and assessment of material resources. Data were geocoded and analyzed in a data visualization platform from March 1 to December 1, 2015. We analyzed time and distance to surgical services, as well as the proportion of the population living within 2 hours from a facility providing surgical care. Surgical capacity, supplies, human resources, and infrastructure at each surgical facility, as well as the population living within 2 hours from a hospital providing surgical care. Data were collected from all 103 surgical facilities identified as providing surgical care. When including all surgical facilities (regardless of human resources and supplies), 14.9% of the population (2 166 460 of 14 500 000 people) lived more than 2 hours from surgical care. However, only 17 hospitals (16.5%) met the World Health Organization minimum standards of surgical safety; when limiting the analysis to these hospitals, 65.9% of the population (9 552 780 people) lived in an area that was more than 2 hours from a surgical facility. Geographic analysis of emergency and essential surgical care, defined as access to trauma care, obstetric care, and care of common abdominal emergencies, found that 80.7% of the population (11 704 700 people) lived in an area that was more than 2 hours from these surgical facilities. A large proportion of the population in Zambia does not have access to safe and timely surgical care; this percentage would change substantially if all surgical hospitals were adequately resourced. Geospatial visualization tools assist in the evaluation of surgical infrastructure in Zambia and can identify key areas for improvement.

Fiber-Bragg-Grating-Based Optical Code-Division Multiple Access Passive Optical Network Using Dual-Baseband Modulation Scheme

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, Wen-Piao; Wu, He-Long

2005-08-01

We propose a fiber-Bragg-grating (FBG)-based optical code-division multiple access passive optical network (OCDMA-PON) using a dual-baseband modulation scheme. A mathematical model is developed to study the performance of this scheme. According to the analyzed results, this scheme can allow a tolerance of the spectral power distortion (SPD) ratio of 25% with a bit error rate (BER) of 10-9 when the modified pseudorandom noise (PN) code length is 16. Moreover, we set up a simulated system to evaluate the baseband and radio frequency (RF) band transmission characteristics. The simulation results demonstrate that our proposed OCDMA-PON can provide a cost-effective and scalable fiber-to-the-home solution.

Developing a strategic marketing plan for physical and occupational therapy services: a collaborative project between a critical access hospital and a graduate program in health care management.

PubMed

Kash, Bita A; Deshmukh, A A

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study was to develop a marketing plan for the Physical and Occupational Therapy (PT/OT) department at a Critical Access Hospital (CAH). We took the approach of understanding and analyzing the rural community and health care environment, problems faced by the PT/OT department, and developing a strategic marketing plan to resolve those problems. We used hospital admissions data, public and physician surveys, a SWOT analysis, and tools to evaluate alternative strategies. Lack of awareness and negative perception were key issues. Recommended strategies included building relationships with physicians, partnering with the school district, and enhancing the wellness program.

Macroscopic characterisations of Web accessibility

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lopes, Rui; Carriço, Luis

2010-12-01

The Web Science framework poses fundamental questions on the analysis of the Web, by focusing on how microscopic properties (e.g. at the level of a Web page or Web site) emerge into macroscopic properties and phenomena. One research topic on the analysis of the Web is Web accessibility evaluation, which centres on understanding how accessible a Web page is for people with disabilities. However, when framing Web accessibility evaluation on Web Science, we have found that existing research stays at the microscopic level. This article presents an experimental study on framing Web accessibility evaluation into Web Science's goals. This study resulted in novel accessibility properties of the Web not found at microscopic levels, as well as of Web accessibility evaluation processes themselves. We observed at large scale some of the empirical knowledge on how accessibility is perceived by designers and developers, such as the disparity of interpretations of accessibility evaluation tools warnings. We also found a direct relation between accessibility quality and Web page complexity. We provide a set of guidelines for designing Web pages, education on Web accessibility, as well as on the computational limits of large-scale Web accessibility evaluations.

Efficient Streaming Mass Spatio-Temporal Vehicle Data Access in Urban Sensor Networks Based on Apache Storm

PubMed Central

Zhou, Lianjie; Chen, Nengcheng; Chen, Zeqiang

2017-01-01

The efficient data access of streaming vehicle data is the foundation of analyzing, using and mining vehicle data in smart cities, which is an approach to understand traffic environments. However, the number of vehicles in urban cities has grown rapidly, reaching hundreds of thousands in number. Accessing the mass streaming data of vehicles is hard and takes a long time due to limited computation capability and backward modes. We propose an efficient streaming spatio-temporal data access based on Apache Storm (ESDAS) to achieve real-time streaming data access and data cleaning. As a popular streaming data processing tool, Apache Storm can be applied to streaming mass data access and real time data cleaning. By designing the Spout/bolt workflow of topology in ESDAS and by developing the speeding bolt and other bolts, Apache Storm can achieve the prospective aim. In our experiments, Taiyuan BeiDou bus location data is selected as the mass spatio-temporal data source. In the experiments, the data access results with different bolts are shown in map form, and the filtered buses’ aggregation forms are different. In terms of performance evaluation, the consumption time in ESDAS for ten thousand records per second for a speeding bolt is approximately 300 milliseconds, and that for MongoDB is approximately 1300 milliseconds. The efficiency of ESDAS is approximately three times higher than that of MongoDB. PMID:28394287

Blood Flow in Idealized Vascular Access for Hemodialysis: A Review of Computational Studies.

PubMed

Ene-Iordache, Bogdan; Remuzzi, Andrea

2017-09-01

Although our understanding of the failure mechanism of vascular access for hemodialysis has increased substantially, this knowledge has not translated into successful therapies. Despite advances in technology, it is recognized that vascular access is difficult to maintain, due to complications such as intimal hyperplasia. Computational studies have been used to estimate hemodynamic changes induced by vascular access creation. Due to the heterogeneity of patient-specific geometries, and difficulties with obtaining reliable models of access vessels, idealized models were often employed. In this review we analyze the knowledge gained with the use of computational such simplified models. A review of the literature was conducted, considering studies employing a computational fluid dynamics approach to gain insights into the flow field phenotype that develops in idealized models of vascular access. Several important discoveries have originated from idealized model studies, including the detrimental role of disturbed flow and turbulent flow, and the beneficial role of spiral flow in intimal hyperplasia. The general flow phenotype was consistent among studies, but findings were not treated homogeneously since they paralleled achievements in cardiovascular biomechanics which spanned over the last two decades. Computational studies in idealized models are important for studying local blood flow features and evaluating new concepts that may improve the patency of vascular access for hemodialysis. For future studies we strongly recommend numerical modelling targeted at accurately characterizing turbulent flows and multidirectional wall shear disturbances.

Efficient Streaming Mass Spatio-Temporal Vehicle Data Access in Urban Sensor Networks Based on Apache Storm.

PubMed

Zhou, Lianjie; Chen, Nengcheng; Chen, Zeqiang

2017-04-10

The efficient data access of streaming vehicle data is the foundation of analyzing, using and mining vehicle data in smart cities, which is an approach to understand traffic environments. However, the number of vehicles in urban cities has grown rapidly, reaching hundreds of thousands in number. Accessing the mass streaming data of vehicles is hard and takes a long time due to limited computation capability and backward modes. We propose an efficient streaming spatio-temporal data access based on Apache Storm (ESDAS) to achieve real-time streaming data access and data cleaning. As a popular streaming data processing tool, Apache Storm can be applied to streaming mass data access and real time data cleaning. By designing the Spout/bolt workflow of topology in ESDAS and by developing the speeding bolt and other bolts, Apache Storm can achieve the prospective aim. In our experiments, Taiyuan BeiDou bus location data is selected as the mass spatio-temporal data source. In the experiments, the data access results with different bolts are shown in map form, and the filtered buses' aggregation forms are different. In terms of performance evaluation, the consumption time in ESDAS for ten thousand records per second for a speeding bolt is approximately 300 milliseconds, and that for MongoDB is approximately 1300 milliseconds. The efficiency of ESDAS is approximately three times higher than that of MongoDB.

Evaluation of γ-oryzanol content and composition from the grains of pigmented rice-germplasms by LC-DAD-ESI/MS

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Rice is the staple food and one of the world’s three major grain crops. Rice contains more than 100 bioactive substances including phytic acid, isovitexin, γ-oryzanol, phytosterols, octacosanol, squalene, γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA), tocopherol, tocotrienol derivatives, etc. Out of them, γ-oryzanol is known to have important biological profile such as anti-oxidants, inhibitor of cholesterol oxidation, reduce serum cholesterol levels in animals, effective in the treatment of inflammatory diseases, inhibit tumor growth, reduce blood pressure and promotes food storage stability when used as a food additive, etc. Hence in the present investigation, we aimed to evaluate the content and composition of γ-oryzanol from pigmented rice germplasms using a liquid chromatography with diode array detection and electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (LC-DAD-ESI/MS). Findings In the present study, 33 exotic pigmented rice accessions (red, white and purple) have been evaluated. Among them, the contents of γ-oryzanol varied from 3.5 to 21.0Âmg/100Âg with a mean of 11.2Âmg/100Âg. A total of ten components of γ-oryzanol including ∆7-stigmastenyl ferulate were identified of which, cycloartenyl ferulate, 24-methylenecycloartanyl ferulate, campesteryl ferulate and sitosteryl ferulate were identified as the major components. The mean proportions of steryl ferulates were in the descending order of 24-methylenecycloartanyl ferulate > cycloartenyl ferulate > campesteryl ferulate > sitosteryl ferulate > ∆7-campestenyl ferulate > campestanyl ferulate > sitostanyl ferulate > ∆7-stigmastenyl ferulate > stigamsteryl ferulate > ∆7-sitostenyl ferulate. Almost 11 accessions (33%) showed higher content than the control rice Chucheongbyeo and higher proportions ranged from 10 to 15Âmg/100Âg. Interestingly, the red rice accession Liberian Coll. B11/B-11 (21.0Âmg/100Âg) showed higher content γ-oryzanol than control rice Jeokjinjubyeo (19.1Âmg/100Âg) and the purple rice accession Padi Adong Dumarat, Mardi No.4376 (20.3Âmg/100Âg) showed a similar content with control rice Heugjinjubyeo (21.4Âmg/100Âg). Conclusions Most of analyzed rice accessions were found to possess higher contents of γ-oryzanol than the control rice, Chucheongbyeo. In particular, the red accessions showed highest content than the white and purple accessions. The content and composition of γ-oryzanol in 33 exotic pigmented rice accessions have been evaluated and compared significantly by the present investigation. PMID:23587158

The LSST metrics analysis framework (MAF)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jones, R. L.; Yoachim, Peter; Chandrasekharan, Srinivasan; Connolly, Andrew J.; Cook, Kem H.; Ivezic, Željko; Krughoff, K. S.; Petry, Catherine; Ridgway, Stephen T.

2014-07-01

We describe the Metrics Analysis Framework (MAF), an open-source python framework developed to provide a user-friendly, customizable, easily-extensible set of tools for analyzing data sets. MAF is part of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) Simulations effort. Its initial goal is to provide a tool to evaluate LSST Operations Simulation (OpSim) simulated surveys to help understand the effects of telescope scheduling on survey performance, however MAF can be applied to a much wider range of datasets. The building blocks of the framework are Metrics (algorithms to analyze a given quantity of data), Slicers (subdividing the overall data set into smaller data slices as relevant for each Metric), and Database classes (to access the dataset and read data into memory). We describe how these building blocks work together, and provide an example of using MAF to evaluate different dithering strategies. We also outline how users can write their own custom Metrics and use these within the framework.

The Small Body Mapping Tool (SBMT) for Accessing, Visualizing, and Analyzing Spacecraft Data in Three Dimensions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barnouin, O. S.; Ernst, C. M.; Daly, R. T.

2018-04-01

The free, publicly available Small Body Mapping Tool (SBMT) developed at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory is a powerful, easy-to-use tool for accessing and analyzing data from small bodies.

Performance analysis for IEEE 802.11 distributed coordination function in radio-over-fiber-based distributed antenna systems.

PubMed

Fan, Yuting; Li, Jianqiang; Xu, Kun; Chen, Hao; Lu, Xun; Dai, Yitang; Yin, Feifei; Ji, Yuefeng; Lin, Jintong

2013-09-09

In this paper, we analyze the performance of IEEE 802.11 distributed coordination function in simulcast radio-over-fiber-based distributed antenna systems (RoF-DASs) where multiple remote antenna units (RAUs) are connected to one wireless local-area network (WLAN) access point (AP) with different-length fiber links. We also present an analytical model to evaluate the throughput of the systems in the presence of both the inter-RAU hidden-node problem and fiber-length difference effect. In the model, the unequal delay induced by different fiber length is involved both in the backoff stage and in the calculation of Ts and Tc, which are the period of time when the channel is sensed busy due to a successful transmission or a collision. The throughput performances of WLAN-RoF-DAS in both basic access and request to send/clear to send (RTS/CTS) exchange modes are evaluated with the help of the derived model.

Assessment of access to primary health care among children and adolescents hospitalized due to avoidable conditions.

PubMed

Ferrer, Ana Paula Scoleze; Grisi, Sandra Josefina Ferraz Ellero

2016-09-01

Hospitalizations for ambulatory care-sensitive conditions (HACSC) are considered an indicator of the effectiveness of primary health care (PHC). High rates of HACSC represent problems in the access or the quality of health care. In Brazil, HACSC rates are high and there are few studies on the factors associated with it. To evaluate the access to PHC offered to children and adolescents hospitalized due to ACSC and analyze the conditioning factors. Cross-sectional study with a quantitative and qualitative approach. Five hundred and one (501) users (guardians/caregivers) and 42 professionals of PHC units were interviewed over one year. Quantitative data were obtained using Primary Care Assessment Tool validated in Brazil (PCATool-Brazil), while qualitative data were collected by semi-structured interview. The independent variables were: age, maternal education, family income, type of diagnosis, and model of care offered, and the dependent variables were access and its components (accessibility and use of services). Sixty-five percent (65.2%) of hospitalizations were ACSC. From the perspective of both users and professionals, access and its components presented low scores. Age, type of diagnosis, and model of care affected the results. The proportion of HACSC was high in this population. Access to services is inappropriate due to: barriers to access, appreciation of the emergency services, and attitude towards health needs. Professional attitudes and opinions reinforce inadequate ideas of users reflecting on the pattern of service use.

Micro acoustic spectrum analyzer

DOEpatents

Schubert, W. Kent; Butler, Michael A.; Adkins, Douglas R.; Anderson, Larry F.

2004-11-23

A micro acoustic spectrum analyzer for determining the frequency components of a fluctuating sound signal comprises a microphone to pick up the fluctuating sound signal and produce an alternating current electrical signal; at least one microfabricated resonator, each resonator having a different resonant frequency, that vibrate in response to the alternating current electrical signal; and at least one detector to detect the vibration of the microfabricated resonators. The micro acoustic spectrum analyzer can further comprise a mixer to mix a reference signal with the alternating current electrical signal from the microphone to shift the frequency spectrum to a frequency range that is a better matched to the resonant frequencies of the microfabricated resonators. The micro acoustic spectrum analyzer can be designed specifically for portability, size, cost, accuracy, speed, power requirements, and use in a harsh environment. The micro acoustic spectrum analyzer is particularly suited for applications where size, accessibility, and power requirements are limited, such as the monitoring of industrial equipment and processes, detection of security intrusions, or evaluation of military threats.

Usage Trends of Open Access and Local Journals: A Korean Case Study.

PubMed

Seo, Jeong-Wook; Chung, Hosik; Yun, Jungmin; Park, Jin Young; Park, Eunsun; Ahn, Yuri

2016-01-01

Articles from open access and local journals are important resources for research in Korea and the usage trends of these articles are important indicators for the assessment of the current research practice. We analyzed an institutional collection of published papers from 1998 to 2014 authored by researchers from Seoul National University, and their references from papers published between 1998 and 2011. The published papers were collected from Web of Science or Scopus and were analyzed according to the proportion of articles from open access journals. Their cited references from published papers in Web of Science were analyzed according to the proportion of local (South Korean) or open access journals. The proportion of open access papers was relatively stable until 2006 (2.5 ~ 5.2% in Web of Science and 2.7 ~ 4.2% in Scopus), but then increased to 15.9% (Web of Science) or 18.5% (Scopus) in 2014. We analyzed 2,750,485 cited references from 52,295 published papers. We found that the overall proportion of cited articles from local journals was 1.8% and that for open access journals was 3.0%. Citations of open access articles have increased since 2006 to 4.1% in 2011, although the increase in open access article citations was less than for open access publications. The proportion of citations from local journals was even lower. We think that the publishing / citing mismatch is a term to describe this difference, which is an issue at Seoul National University, where the number of published papers at open access or local journals is increasing but the number of citations is not. The cause of this discrepancy is multi-factorial but the governmental / institutional policies, social / cultural issues and authors' citing behaviors will explain the mismatch. However, additional measures are also necessary, such as the development of an institutional citation database and improved search capabilities with respect to local and open access documents.

Usage Trends of Open Access and Local Journals: A Korean Case Study

PubMed Central

Chung, Hosik; Yun, Jungmin; Park, Jin Young; Park, Eunsun; Ahn, Yuri

2016-01-01

Articles from open access and local journals are important resources for research in Korea and the usage trends of these articles are important indicators for the assessment of the current research practice. We analyzed an institutional collection of published papers from 1998 to 2014 authored by researchers from Seoul National University, and their references from papers published between 1998 and 2011. The published papers were collected from Web of Science or Scopus and were analyzed according to the proportion of articles from open access journals. Their cited references from published papers in Web of Science were analyzed according to the proportion of local (South Korean) or open access journals. The proportion of open access papers was relatively stable until 2006 (2.5 ~ 5.2% in Web of Science and 2.7 ~ 4.2% in Scopus), but then increased to 15.9% (Web of Science) or 18.5% (Scopus) in 2014. We analyzed 2,750,485 cited references from 52,295 published papers. We found that the overall proportion of cited articles from local journals was 1.8% and that for open access journals was 3.0%. Citations of open access articles have increased since 2006 to 4.1% in 2011, although the increase in open access article citations was less than for open access publications. The proportion of citations from local journals was even lower. We think that the publishing / citing mismatch is a term to describe this difference, which is an issue at Seoul National University, where the number of published papers at open access or local journals is increasing but the number of citations is not. The cause of this discrepancy is multi-factorial but the governmental / institutional policies, social / cultural issues and authors' citing behaviors will explain the mismatch. However, additional measures are also necessary, such as the development of an institutional citation database and improved search capabilities with respect to local and open access documents. PMID:27195948

Evaluation of Early and Prolonged Effects of Acute Neurotoxicity and Neuroprotection Using Novel Functional Imaging Techniques

DTIC Science & Technology

2004-08-01

Mutual Information (NMI) voxel match algorithm of the ANALYZE software package and cubic spline interpolation (Brownell et al. 2003, Appendix). 2...nuclear inclusion and cell survival. Materials and Methods Animals: Male transgenic R6/2 mice, which depict many clinical features of juvenile HD were...purchased from the Jackson Laboratories (Bar Harbor, ME). The mice were housed 3-4 per cage under standard conditions with free access to food and water

Airport Choice in Sao Paulo Metropolitan Area: An Application of the Conditional Logit Model

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Moreno, Marcelo Baena; Muller, Carlos

2003-01-01

Using the conditional LOGIT model, this paper addresses the airport choice in the Sao Paulo Metropolitan Area. In this region, Guarulhos International Airport (GRU) and Congonhas Airport (CGH) compete for passengers flying to several domestic destinations. The airport choice is believed to be a result of the tradeoff passengers perform considering airport access characteristics, airline level of service characteristics and passenger experience with the analyzed airports. It was found that access time to the airports better explain the airport choice than access distance, whereas direct flight frequencies gives better explanation to the airport choice than the indirect (connections and stops) and total (direct plus indirect) flight frequencies. Out of 15 tested variables, passenger experience with the analyzed airports was the variable that best explained the airport choice in the region. Model specifications considering 1, 2 or 3 variables were tested. The model specification most adjusted to the observed data considered access time, direct flight frequencies in the travel period (morning or afternoon peak) and passenger experience with the analyzed airports. The influence of these variables was therefore analyzed across market segments according to departure airport and flight duration criteria. The choice of GRU (located neighboring Sao Paulo city) is not well explained by the rationality of access time economy and the increase of the supply of direct flight frequencies, while the choice of CGH (located inside Sao Paulo city) is. Access time was found to be more important to passengers flying shorter distances while direct flight frequencies in the travel period were more significant to those flying longer distances. Keywords: Airport choice, Multiple airport region, Conditional LOGIT model, Access time, Flight frequencies, Passenger experience with the analyzed airports, Transportation planning

Coexistencia e integracion de comunicaciones inalambricas en sistemas de transmision opticos

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Perez Soler, Joaquin

Current network and telecommunication systems are required to provide higher data rates in access networks to an increasing number of users. This fact is mainly due to the increase in the Internet traffic data, which is related with the higher demand of online videogames and software, the increased complexity in the content of web pages, the joint distribution of audio-visual and added-value online content, and the introduction of high-definition services and contents such as video on demand, as a result of a society increasingly more interconnected. In order to satisfy these higher data rates requirements, new techniques for the joint distribution of several wireless communication systems are proposed in this Thesis. The aim of these techniques is to facilitate the deployment of an integrated access network at the customer premises, enabling the integration of optical transmission over an optical access network and radio-frequency transmission in the same infrastructure. Two main wireless communication systems are considered in this Thesis, WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) and UWB (Ultra-Wide Band) according to WiMedia Alliance recommendation. Comparing the bit rate and expected range, WiMAX and UWB are complementary radio technologies expected to coexist in a near future in integrated access networks. The optical access network considered in this Thesis can be regarded as a FTTH network (Fibre-to-the-Home). The wireless signals are natively transmitted over optical network, that is, without frequency upconversion and remodulation stages, over one or several optical carriers. This technology, which is known as Radio-over-Fibre (RoF), is well suited for integrated access networks. First, the requirements for the wireless convergence of services based on Multi-Band Orthogonal-Frequency Division-Multiplexing UWB (MB-OFDM UWB) and WiMAX 802.16e in Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPAN) are stated. The aim of this study is to provide relevant protection margins in order to ensure the coexistence between both technologies. The obtained protection margins are of great interest for the development of advanced interference mitigation techniques such as DAA (Detect-and-Avoid), in the framework of future cognitive radio technologies. In a second step, the wireless coexistence of MB-OFDM UWB and WiMAX technologies is analyzed from the point of view of access networks based on RoF systems. Two experimental field trials are here carried out. In the first one, the wireless convergence is evaluated in a multi-mode fibre RoF system, whereas in the second one, the RoF system is based on a standard single-mode fibre. These experimental results provide relevant fibre link transmission distances to enable the deployment of RoF networks. Moreover, a new optical transmission technique based on polarization division multiplexing is proposed and experimentally evaluated in order to ensure the wireless coexistence in RoF systems. Finally, the impact of the electro-optical Mach-Zehnder modulator is analyzed, since the dynamic range of this device limits the performance of the RoF system. Moreover, a new optical linearization technique for Mach-Zehnder modulators is proposed and evaluated in order to overcome this limitation.

Reorganization of secondary medical care in the Israeli Defense Forces Medical Corps: A cost-effect analysis.

PubMed

Yagil, Yael; Arnon, Ronen; Ezra, Vered; Ashkenazi, Isaac

2006-12-01

To increase accessibility and availability of secondary medical care, 10 secondary unit specialist clinics were established side-by-side with five existing regional specialist centers, thus achieving decentralization. The purpose was to analyze the impact of this reorganization on overall consumption of secondary medical care and expenditures. Consumption of secondary medical care was analyzed by using computerized clinic and Medical Corps databases. Functional efficiency and budgetary expenditures were evaluated in four representative unit specialist clinics. The reorganization resulted in an 8% increase in total secondary care consumption over 2.5 years. The establishment of unit specialist clinics did not achieve increased accessibility or availability for military personnel. Functional analysis of representative unit specialist clinics showed diversity in efficiency, differences in physicians' performance, and excess expenditures. The decentralizing reorganization of secondary medical care generated an increase in medical care consumption, possibly because of supply-induced demand. The uniform inefficiency of the unit specialist clinics might have been related to incorrect planning and management. The decentralization of secondary medical care within the Israeli Defense Forces has not proved to be cost-efficient.

Analyzing data flows of WLCG jobs at batch job level

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kuehn, Eileen; Fischer, Max; Giffels, Manuel; Jung, Christopher; Petzold, Andreas

2015-05-01

With the introduction of federated data access to the workflows of WLCG, it is becoming increasingly important for data centers to understand specific data flows regarding storage element accesses, firewall configurations, as well as the scheduling of batch jobs themselves. As existing batch system monitoring and related system monitoring tools do not support measurements at batch job level, a new tool has been developed and put into operation at the GridKa Tier 1 center for monitoring continuous data streams and characteristics of WLCG jobs and pilots. Long term measurements and data collection are in progress. These measurements already have been proven to be useful analyzing misbehaviors and various issues. Therefore we aim for an automated, realtime approach for anomaly detection. As a requirement, prototypes for standard workflows have to be examined. Based on measurements of several months, different features of HEP jobs are evaluated regarding their effectiveness for data mining approaches to identify these common workflows. The paper will introduce the actual measurement approach and statistics as well as the general concept and first results classifying different HEP job workflows derived from the measurements at GridKa.

Water, sanitation and hygiene infrastructure and quality in rural healthcare facilities in Rwanda.

PubMed

Huttinger, Alexandra; Dreibelbis, Robert; Kayigamba, Felix; Ngabo, Fidel; Mfura, Leodomir; Merryweather, Brittney; Cardon, Amelie; Moe, Christine

2017-08-03

WHO and UNICEF have proposed an action plan to achieve universal water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) coverage in healthcare facilities (HCFs) by 2030. The WASH targets and indicators for HCFs include: an improved water source on the premises accessible to all users, basic sanitation facilities, a hand washing facility with soap and water at all sanitation facilities and patient care areas. To establish viable targets for WASH in HCFs, investigation beyond 'access' is needed to address the state of WASH infrastructure and service provision. Patient and caregiver use of WASH services is largely unaddressed in previous studies despite being critical for infection control. The state of WASH services used by staff, patients and caregivers was assessed in 17 rural HCFs in Rwanda. Site selection was non-random and predicated upon piped water and power supply. Direct observation and semi-structured interviews assessed drinking water treatment, presence and condition of sanitation facilities, provision of soap and water, and WASH-related maintenance and record keeping. Samples were collected from water sources and treated drinking water containers and analyzed for total coliforms, E. coli, and chlorine residual. Drinking water treatment was reported at 15 of 17 sites. Three of 18 drinking water samples collected met the WHO guideline for free chlorine residual of >0.2 mg/l, 6 of 16 drinking water samples analyzed for total coliforms met the WHO guideline of <1 coliform/100 mL and 15 of 16 drinking water samples analyzed for E. coli met the WHO guideline of <1 E. coli/100 mL. HCF staff reported treating up to 20 L of drinking water per day. At all sites, 60% of water access points (160 of 267) were observed to be functional, 32% of hand washing locations (46 of 142) had water and soap and 44% of sanitary facilities (48 of 109) were in hygienic condition and accessible to patients. Regular maintenance of WASH infrastructure consisted of cleaning; no HCF had on-site capacity for performing repairs. Quarterly evaluations of HCFs for Rwanda's Performance Based Financing system included WASH indicators. All HCFs met national policies for water access, but WHO guidelines for environmental standards including water quality were not fully satisfied. Access to WASH services at the HCFs differed between staff and patients and caregivers.

In vitro evaluation of a modified 4-META/MMA-TBB resin for filling access holes of screw-retained implant prostheses.

PubMed

Tanimura, Remy; Suzuki, Shiro

2015-07-01

This study evaluates a modified 4-META/MMA-TBB resin (M4M) as a candidate material for filling screw-retained implant access hole. Its characteristics were compared with a conventional composite resin (CR) with or without a bonding agent (BA) or a ceramic primer (CP). Ceramic blocks were divided into five groups, including (A) CR, (B) CR with BA, (C) CR with CP and BA, (D) M4M, and (E) M4M with CP. Shear bond strengths were measured after 5000 times of thermocycling. Groups A, B, and D were excluded from further tests as they showed no adhesion. A cylindrical cavity (2.5 mm diameter, 3 mm depth) simulating access hole was prepared in a ceramic block and glazed to evaluate micro-leakage and wear test of groups C and E. The results were statistically analyzed with Mann-Whitney test (p  <  0.05). Shear bond strength of groups C (7.6 ± 2.2 MPa) and E (8.6 ± 1.0 MPa) was not significantly different. In micro-leakage analysis, average wear depth and wear volume, group E (7.5 ± 3.3%, 59.3 ± 12.9 μm, 0.16 ± 0.04 mm(3) ) showed significantly lower values than those of group C (45.6 ± 24.4%, 76.0 ± 16.4 μm, 0.28 ± 0.03 mm(3) ). It is suggested that the combination of CP and M4M can be one of feasible systems to fill the ceramic access holes of the implant upper structure. © 2014 The Authors. Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Multiple Intimate Partner Violence Experiences: Knowledge, Access, Utilization and Barriers to Utilization of Resources by Women of the African Diaspora

PubMed Central

Sabri, Bushra; Huerta, Julia; Alexander, Kamila A.; St.Vil, Noelle M.; Campbell, Jacquelyn C.; Callwood, Gloria B.

2016-01-01

Objective This study examined knowledge, access, utilization, and barriers to use of resources among Black women exposed to multiple types of intimate partner violence in Baltimore, Maryland and the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI). Methods We analyzed quantitative survey data collected by 163 women recruited from primary care, prenatal or family planning clinics in Baltimore and the USVI. In addition we analyzed qualitative data from in-depth interviews with 11 women. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and qualitative data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Results A substantial proportion of Black women with multiple types of violence experiences lacked knowledge of, did not have access to, and did not use resources. Barriers to resource use were identified at the individual, relationship, and community levels. Conclusion There is need for programs to develop awareness, promote access and utilization of resources, and eliminate barriers to resource use among abused Black women. PMID:26548679

Arteriovenous Vascular Access Selection and Evaluation

PubMed Central

MacRae, Jennifer M.; Oliver, Matthew; Clark, Edward; Dipchand, Christine; Hiremath, Swapnil; Kappel, Joanne; Kiaii, Mercedeh; Lok, Charmaine; Luscombe, Rick; Miller, Lisa M.; Moist, Louise

2016-01-01

When making decisions regarding vascular access creation, the clinician and vascular access team must evaluate each patient individually with consideration of life expectancy, timelines for dialysis start, risks and benefits of access creation, referral wait times, as well as the risk for access complications. The role of the multidisciplinary team in facilitating access choice is reviewed, as well as the clinical evaluation of the patient. PMID:28270917

Spatial analysis of choice of place of delivery in Nigeria.

PubMed

Gayawan, Ezra

2014-06-01

Access to quality healthcare during childbirth is a crucial factor for taming maternal and child mortality and morbidity. Increasing this access in developing countries depends on understanding the factors influencing maternal healthcare decision at a geographical location. This study analyzes spatial pattern in choice of place of delivery in Nigeria. Data analyzed came from Nigerian Demographic and Health Survey data set. The choice of place delivery was considered a multi-categorical response and a multinomial logistic regression model used to evaluate spatial variations in choosing a particular place to deliver against home delivery. Results show a north-south divide in choosing health facilities against homes for delivery. The likelihood of institutional delivery was significantly lower for women residing in Bayelsa and the majority of the states in northern Nigeria. As women advance in age, they have more likelihood of having institutional deliveries. Other contributing factors that favor institutional deliveries include use of antenatal care services, urban dwelling, mass media and parity. Usage of mass media to campaign for institutional deliveries particularly in northern Nigeria, among younger women and those of higher parity; encouraging the use of antenatal services and even distribution of health facilities making them easily accessible to rural women are important for enhancing chances of institutional deliveries. Also, state-specific policies in this regard are indispensable. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Attitudes and Perceptions Towards Access and Use of the Formal Healthcare Sector in Northern Malawi.

PubMed

Fisher, Emily; Lazarus, Rebecca; Asgary, Ramin

2017-01-01

We evaluated community attitudes, perceptions, and experiences regarding access and use of health care systems in Northern Malawi. Through a qualitative descriptive approach, 12 focus group discussions were conducted in 2014 with community members (n=71) in Mzimba North, Malawi. Data were transcribed and analyzed for major themes. Both formal health care systems and traditional medicine were widely used as complementary. Health care-seeking behavior was governed by previous treatment history and by whether a disease was believed to be biological or spiritual in nature, the latter being best treated with traditional medicine. Barriers to using formal health care included cost, hospital resources/environment, socio-cultural beliefs, and transportation. Transportation was a significant barrier, often linked to increased mortality. Support of local strategies to address transportation, structural approaches to improve hospital capabilities and environment, and community education reconciling traditional beliefs and modern medicine may mitigate access issues and improve use of the health care system.

The use of a policy dialogue to facilitate evidence-informed policy development for improved access to care: the case of the Winnipeg Central Intake Service (WCIS).

PubMed

Damani, Zaheed; MacKean, Gail; Bohm, Eric; DeMone, Brie; Wright, Brock; Noseworthy, Tom; Holroyd-Leduc, Jayna; Marshall, Deborah A

2016-10-18

Policy dialogues are critical for developing responsive, effective, sustainable, evidence-informed policy. Our multidisciplinary team, including researchers, physicians and senior decision-makers, comprehensively evaluated The Winnipeg Central Intake Service, a single-entry model in Winnipeg, Manitoba, to improve patient access to hip/knee replacement surgery. We used the evaluation findings to develop five evidence-informed policy directions to help improve access to scheduled clinical services across Manitoba. Using guiding principles of public participation processes, we hosted a policy roundtable meeting to engage stakeholders and use their input to refine the policy directions. Here, we report on the use and input of a policy roundtable meeting and its role in contributing to the development of evidence-informed policy. Our evidence-informed policy directions focused on formal measurement/monitoring of quality, central intake as a preferred model for service delivery, provincial scope, transparent processes/performance indicators, and patient choice of provider. We held a policy roundtable meeting and used outcomes of facilitated discussions to refine these directions. Individuals from our team and six stakeholder groups across Manitoba participated (n = 44), including patients, family physicians, orthopaedic surgeons, surgical office assistants, Winnipeg Central Intake team, and administrators/managers. We developed evaluation forms to assess the meeting process, and collected decision-maker partners' perspectives on the value of the policy roundtable meeting and use of policy directions to improve access to scheduled clinical services after the meeting, and again 15 months later. We analyzed roundtable and evaluation data using thematic analysis to identify key themes. Four key findings emerged. First, participants supported all policy directions, with revisions and key implementation considerations identified. Second, participants felt the policy roundtable meeting achieved its purpose (to engage stakeholders, elicit feedback, refine policy directions). Third, our decision-maker partners' expectations of the policy roundtable meeting were exceeded; they re-affirmed its value and described the refined policy directions as foundational to establishing the vocabulary, vision and framework for improving access to scheduled clinical services in Manitoba. Finally, our adaptation of key design elements was conducive to discussion of issues surrounding access to care. Our policy roundtable process was an effective tool for acquiring broad input from stakeholders, refining policy directions and forming the necessary consensus starting points to move towards evidence-informed policy.

Rural women and violence situation: access and accessibility limits to the healthcare network.

PubMed

Costa, Marta Cocco da; Silva, Ethel Bastos da; Soares, Joannie Dos Santos Fachinelli; Borth, Luana Cristina; Honnef, Fernanda

2017-07-13

To analyze the access and accessibility to the healthcare network of women dwelling in rural contexts undergoing violence situation, as seen from the professionals' speeches. A qualitative, exploratory, descriptive study with professionals from the healthcare network services about coping with violence in four municipalities in the northern region of Rio Grande do Sul. The information derived from interviews, which have been analyzed by thematic modality. (Lack of) information of women, distance, restricted access to transportation, dependence on the partner and (lack of) attention by professionals to welcome women undergoing violence situation and (non)-articulation of the network are factors that limit the access and, as a consequence, they result in the lack of confrontation of this problem. To bring closer the services which integrate the confrontation network of violence against women and to qualify professionals to welcome these situations are factors that can facilitate the access and adhesion of rural women to the services.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Goltz, Jan P., E-mail: Goltz@roentgen.uni-wuerzburg.de; Scholl, Anne; Ritter, Christian O.

The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of percutaneously placed totally implantable venous-access ports (TIVAPs) of the forearm. Between January 2006 and October 2008, peripheral TIVAPs were implanted in 763 consecutive patients by ultrasound and fluoroscopic guidance. All catheters were implanted under local anesthesia and were tunneled subcutaneously. Indication, technical success, and complications were retrospectively analyzed according to Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR) criteria. Presence of antibiotic prophylaxis, periprocedurally administered drugs (e.g., sedation), and laboratory results at the time of implantation were analyzed. Maintenance during the service interval was evaluated. In total, 327,499 catheter-days weremore » analyzed. Technical success rate was 99.3%. Reasons for initial failure of implantation were either unexpected thrombosis of the subclavian vein, expanding tumor mass of the mediastinum, or failure of peripheral venous access due to fragile vessels. Mean follow-up was 430 days. There were 115 complications observed (15.1%, 0.03 per 100 catheter-days), of which 33 (4.3%) were classified as early (within 30 days from implantation) and 82 (10.7%) as late. Catheter-related venous thrombosis was found in 65 (8.5%) of 763 (0.02 per 100 catheter-days) TIVAPs. Infections were observed in 41 (5.4%) of 763 (0.01 per 100 catheter-days) devices. Other complications observed included dislocation of the catheter tip (0.8%), occlusion (0.1%), or rupture (0.1%) of the port catheter. Dislocated catheters were corrected during a second interventional procedure. In conclusion, implantation of percutaneously placed peripheral TIVAPs shows a high technical success rate and low risk of early complications when ultrasound and fluoroscopic guidance are used. Late complications are observed three times as often as early complications.« less

Using intervention-oriented evaluation to diagnose and correct students' persistent climate change misconceptions: A Singapore case study.

PubMed

Pascua, Liberty; Chang, Chew-Hung

2015-10-01

The evaluation of classroom-based educational interventions is fraught with tensions, the most critical of which is choosing between focusing the inquiry on measuring the effects of treatment or in proximately utilizing the data to improve practice. This paper attempted to achieve both goals through the use of intervention-oriented evaluation of a professional development program intended to diagnose and correct students' misconceptions of climate change. Data was gathered, monitored and analyzed in three stages of a time-series design: the baseline, treatment and follow-up stages. The evaluation itself was the 'intervention' such that the data was allowed to 'contaminate' the treatment. This was achieved through giving the teacher unimpeded access to the collected information and to introduce midcourse corrections as she saw fit to her instruction. Results showed a significant development in students' conceptual understanding only after the teacher's decision to use direct and explicit refutation of misconceptions. Due to the accessibility of feedback, it was possible to locate specifically at which point in the process that the intervention was most effective. The efficacy of the intervention was then measured through comparing the scores across the three research stages. The inclusion of a comparison group to the design is recommended for future studies. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Genetic Relationships among Tall Coconut Palm (Cocos nucifera L.) Accessions of the International Coconut Genebank for Latin America and the Caribbean (ICG-LAC), Evaluated Using Microsatellite Markers (SSRs)

PubMed Central

Loiola, Carina Mendes; Azevedo, Alinne Oliveira Nunes; Diniz, Leandro E. C.; Aragão, Wilson Menezes; Azevedo, Carlos Diego de O.; Santos, Pedro Henrique A. D.; Ramos, Helaine Christine C.; Pereira, Messias Gonzaga; Ramos, Semíramis R. Ramalho

2016-01-01

The diversity and genetic relationships among two accessions of tall coconut palms collected in Brazil and seven accessions introduced from different geographic regions of the world were analyzed using 25 microsatellite primers, 19 of which were polymorphic and detected between 4 and 10 alleles per locus, with an average of 6.57. The observed and expected heterozygosity ranged from 0.25 and 0.40 in the Rennell Islands Tall (RIT) accession to 0.54 and 0.62 in the Polynesian Tall (PYT) accession. The analysis of genetic structure resulted in the formation of five distinct groups. The first group was formed by the accessions Brazilian Tall—Praia do Forte (BRTPF), Brazilian Tall—Merepe (BRTMe) and West African Tall (WAT); the second group consisted of Malaysian Tall (MLT); the third group of RIT; the fourth group of Vanuatu Tall (VTT); and the fifth group of Rotuman Tall (RTMT), Tonga Tall (TONT) and PYT. The dendrogram based on the nearest-neighbor method detected the formation of two main groups and five subgroups, indicating that the genetic relationships of the accessions are based on their geographic regions of origin. The analyses revealed genetic relationships between the accessions collected in Brazil and the accession from Africa, and among palms from South East Asia and the South Pacific, confirming the common origin of these accessions. The information obtained in this study can guide decisions on germplasm conservation activities and the efficient selection of genetically divergent parents for use in coconut breeding programs in Brazil, which are attempting to select for disease resistance, mainly to lethal yellowing, among other characteristics. PMID:26974540

Genetic Relationships among Tall Coconut Palm (Cocos nucifera L.) Accessions of the International Coconut Genebank for Latin America and the Caribbean (ICG-LAC), Evaluated Using Microsatellite Markers (SSRs).

PubMed

Loiola, Carina Mendes; Azevedo, Alinne Oliveira Nunes; Diniz, Leandro E C; Aragão, Wilson Menezes; Azevedo, Carlos Diego de O; Santos, Pedro Henrique A D; Ramos, Helaine Christine C; Pereira, Messias Gonzaga; Ramos, Semíramis R Ramalho

2016-01-01

The diversity and genetic relationships among two accessions of tall coconut palms collected in Brazil and seven accessions introduced from different geographic regions of the world were analyzed using 25 microsatellite primers, 19 of which were polymorphic and detected between 4 and 10 alleles per locus, with an average of 6.57. The observed and expected heterozygosity ranged from 0.25 and 0.40 in the Rennell Islands Tall (RIT) accession to 0.54 and 0.62 in the Polynesian Tall (PYT) accession. The analysis of genetic structure resulted in the formation of five distinct groups. The first group was formed by the accessions Brazilian Tall-Praia do Forte (BRTPF), Brazilian Tall-Merepe (BRTMe) and West African Tall (WAT); the second group consisted of Malaysian Tall (MLT); the third group of RIT; the fourth group of Vanuatu Tall (VTT); and the fifth group of Rotuman Tall (RTMT), Tonga Tall (TONT) and PYT. The dendrogram based on the nearest-neighbor method detected the formation of two main groups and five subgroups, indicating that the genetic relationships of the accessions are based on their geographic regions of origin. The analyses revealed genetic relationships between the accessions collected in Brazil and the accession from Africa, and among palms from South East Asia and the South Pacific, confirming the common origin of these accessions. The information obtained in this study can guide decisions on germplasm conservation activities and the efficient selection of genetically divergent parents for use in coconut breeding programs in Brazil, which are attempting to select for disease resistance, mainly to lethal yellowing, among other characteristics.

Limited school drinking water access for youth

PubMed Central

Kenney, Erica L.; Gortmaker, Steven L.; Cohen, Juliana F.W.; Rimm, Eric B.; Cradock, Angie L.

2016-01-01

PURPOSE Providing children and youth with safe, adequate drinking water access during school is essential for health. This study utilized objectively measured data to investigate the extent to which schools provide drinking water access that meets state and federal policies. METHODS We visited 59 middle and high schools in Massachusetts during spring 2012. Trained research assistants documented the type, location, and working condition of all water access points throughout each school building using a standard protocol. School food service directors (FSDs) completed surveys reporting water access in cafeterias. We evaluated school compliance with state plumbing codes and federal regulations and compared FSD self-reports of water access with direct observation; data were analyzed in 2014. RESULTS On average, each school had 1.5 (SD: 0.6) water sources per 75 students; 82% (SD: 20) were functioning, and fewer (70%) were both clean and functioning. Less than half of the schools met the federal Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act requirement for free water access during lunch; 18 schools (31%) provided bottled water for purchase but no free water. Slightly over half (59%) met the Massachusetts state plumbing code. FSDs overestimated free drinking water access compared to direct observation (96% FSD-reported versus 48% observed, kappa=0.07, p=0.17). CONCLUSIONS School drinking water access may be limited. In this study, many schools did not meet state or federal policies for minimum student drinking water access. School administrative staff may not accurately report water access. Public health action is needed to increase school drinking water access. IMPLICATIONS AND CONTRIBUTIONS Adolescents’ water consumption is lower than recommended. In a sample of Massachusetts middle and high schools, about half did not meet federal and state minimum drinking water access policies. Direct observation may improve assessments of drinking water access and could be integrated into routine school food service monitoring protocols. PMID:27235376

National study of health insurance type and reasons for emergency department use.

PubMed

Capp, Roberta; Rooks, Sean P; Wiler, Jennifer L; Zane, Richard D; Ginde, Adit A

2014-04-01

The rates of emergency department (ED) utilization vary substantially by type of health insurance, but the association between health insurance type and patient-reported reasons for seeking ED care is unknown. We evaluated the association between health insurance type and self-perceived acuity or access issues among individuals discharged from the ED. This was a cross-sectional analysis of the 2011 National Health Interview Survey. Adults whose last ED visit did not result in hospitalization (n = 4,606) were asked structured questions about reasons for seeking ED care. We classified responses as 1) perceived need for immediate evaluation (acuity issues), or 2) barriers to accessing outpatient services (access issues). We analyzed survey-weighted data using multivariable logistic regression models to test the association between health insurance type and reasons for ED visits, while adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics. Overall, 65.0% (95% CI 63.0-66.9) of adults reported ≥ 1 acuity issue and 78.9% (95% CI 77.3-80.5) reported ≥ 1 access issue. Among those who reported no acuity issue leading to the most recent ED visit, 84.2% reported ≥ 1 access issue. Relative to those with private insurance, adults with Medicaid (OR 1.05; 95% CI 0.79-1.40) and those with Medicare (OR 0.98; 95% CI 0.66-1.47) were similarly likely to seek ED care due to an acuity issue. Adults with Medicaid (OR 1.50; 95% CI 1.06-2.13) and Medicaid + Medicare (dual eligible) (OR 1.94; 95% CI 1.18-3.19) were more likely than those with private insurance to seek ED care for access issues. Variability in reasons for seeking ED care among discharged patients by health insurance type may be driven more by lack of access to alternate care, rather than by differences in patient-perceived acuity. Policymakers should focus on increasing access to alternate sites of care, particularly for Medicaid beneficiaries, as well as strategies to increase care coordination that involve ED patients and providers.

Prototype and Evaluation of AutoHelp: A Case-based, Web-accessible Help Desk System for EOSDIS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mitchell, Christine M.; Thurman, David A.

1999-01-01

AutoHelp is a case-based, Web-accessible help desk for users of the EOSDIS. Its uses a combination of advanced computer and Web technologies, knowledge-based systems tools, and cognitive engineering to offload the current, person-intensive, help desk facilities at the DAACs. As a case-based system, AutoHelp starts with an organized database of previous help requests (questions and answers) indexed by a hierarchical category structure that facilitates recognition by persons seeking assistance. As an initial proof-of-concept demonstration, a month of email help requests to the Goddard DAAC were analyzed and partially organized into help request cases. These cases were then categorized to create a preliminary case indexing system, or category structure. This category structure allows potential users to identify or recognize categories of questions, responses, and sample cases similar to their needs. Year one of this research project focused on the development of a technology demonstration. User assistance 'cases' are stored in an Oracle database in a combination of tables linking prototypical questions with responses and detailed examples from the email help requests analyzed to date. When a potential user accesses the AutoHelp system, a Web server provides a Java applet that displays the category structure of the help case base organized by the needs of previous users. When the user identifies or requests a particular type of assistance, the applet uses Java database connectivity (JDBC) software to access the database and extract the relevant cases. The demonstration will include an on-line presentation of how AutoHelp is currently structured. We will show how a user might request assistance via the Web interface and how the AutoHelp case base provides assistance. The presentation will describe the DAAC data collection, case definition, and organization to date, as well as the AutoHelp architecture. It will conclude with the year 2 proposal to more fully develop the case base, the user interface (including the category structure), interface with the current DAAC Help System, the development of tools to add new cases, and user testing and evaluation at (perhaps) the Goddard DAAC.

[Does open access publishing increase the impact of scientific articles? An empirical study in the field of intensive care medicine].

PubMed

Riera, M; Aibar, E

2013-05-01

Some studies suggest that open access articles are more often cited than non-open access articles. However, the relationship between open access and citations count in a discipline such as intensive care medicine has not been studied to date. The present article analyzes the effect of open access publishing of scientific articles in intensive care medicine journals in terms of citations count. We evaluated a total of 161 articles (76% being non-open access articles) published in Intensive Care Medicine in the year 2008. Citation data were compared between the two groups up until April 30, 2011. Potentially confounding variables for citation counts were adjusted for in a linear multiple regression model. The median number (interquartile range) of citations of non-open access articles was 8 (4-12) versus 9 (6-18) in the case of open access articles (p=0.084). In the highest citation range (>8), the citation count was 13 (10-16) and 18 (13-21) (p=0.008), respectively. The mean follow-up was 37.5 ± 3 months in both groups. In the 30-35 months after publication, the average number (mean ± standard deviation) of citations per article per month of non-open access articles was 0.28 ± 0.6 versus 0.38 ± 0.7 in the case of open access articles (p=0.043). Independent factors for citation advantage were the Hirsch index of the first signing author (β=0.207; p=0.015) and open access status (β=3.618; p=0.006). Open access publishing and the Hirsch index of the first signing author increase the impact of scientific articles. The open access advantage is greater for the more highly cited articles, and appears in the 30-35 months after publication. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier España, S.L. and SEMICYUC. All rights reserved.

Accessible Transportation, Geographic Elevation, and Masticatory Ability Among Elderly Residents of a Rural Area.

PubMed

Hamano, Tsuyoshi; Tominaga, Kazumichi; Takeda, Miwako; Sundquist, Kristina; Nabika, Toru

2015-06-26

Given that public transportation networks are often worse in rural areas than in urban areas, rural residents who do not drive can find it difficult to access health-promoting goods, services, and resources related to masticatory ability. Moreover, geographical location, assessed by elevation, could modify this association. The aim of this study was to test whether the association between access to transportation and masticatory ability varied by elevation. Data were collected from a cross-sectional study conducted in Mizuho and Iwami counties, Japan. Objective masticatory ability was evaluated using a test gummy jelly and elevation was estimated by the geographic information systems according to the participant's address. After excluding subjects with missing data, 672 subjects (Mizuho = 401 and Iwami = 271) were analyzed. After adjustment for potential confounders, being a driver was not significantly associated with masticatory ability among elderly people living at low elevation (≤313 m) in Mizuho county. However, after the same adjustment, being a driver remained significantly associated with increased masticatory ability among elderly at high elevations. Similar findings were observed in Iwami county. Accessible transportation was significantly associated with increased mastication ability in elderly people living at high elevations, but not in those living at low elevations.

[A particular anthropometric method for the study of accessibility of a workstation].

PubMed

Molinaro, V; Del Ferraro, S

2008-01-01

One of the main factors which can involve musculo-skeletal disorders is the assumption of awkward postures. These lasts can be caused, in some cases, by a no-suitable collocation of some devices which are indispensable for the work. It is possible to evaluate if the chosen collocation is adequate or not by studying the accessibility of the workstation with a special regard for the accessibility of the devices placed inside the workstation. EN ISO 14738:2002 is a specific standard which has been adopted in Italy as UNI EN ISO 14738:2004. This standard gives some useful requirements, in terms of accessibility, to design a workstation at no-mobile machinery. In this study, the authors have analyzed a check out workstation by following the requirements described in UNI EN ISO 14738:2004. Critical aspects, related to the organization both of the work activities either of the workstation, have been highlighted taking into account standard criteria. Finally the authors make a new design of the check out workstation trying to optimize device collocation in order to reduce awkward postures. The new configuration has been investigated by applying the criteria mentioned in the standard.

Efforts to secure universal access to HIV/AIDS treatment: a comparison of BRICS countries.

PubMed

Sun, Jing; Boing, Alexandra Crispim; Silveira, Marysabel P T; Bertoldi, Andréa D; Ziganshina, Liliya E; Khaziakhmetova, Veronica N; Khamidulina, Rashida M; Chokshi, Maulik R; McGee, Shelley; Suleman, Fatima

2014-02-01

This article illustrates how the BRICS countries have been building their focused leadership, making important high level commitment and national policy changes, and improving their health systems, in addressing the HIV/AIDS epidemics in respective settings. Specific aspects are focused on efforts of creating public provisions to secure universal access to ARVs from the aspects of active responsive system and national program, health system strengthening, fostering local production of ARVs, supply chain management, and information system strengthening. Challenges in each BRICS country are analyzed respectively. The most important contributors to the success of response to HIV/AIDS include: creating legal basis for healthcare as a fundamental human right; political commitment to necessary funding for universal access and concrete actions to secure equal quality care; comprehensive system to secure demands that all people in need are capable of accessing prevention, treatment and care; active community involvement; decentralization of the management system considering the local settings; integration of treatment and prevention; taking horizontal approach to strengthen health systems; fully use of the TRIPS flexibility; and regular monitoring and evaluation to serve evidence based decision making. © 2013 Chinese Cochrane Center, West China Hospital of Sichuan University and Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.

Evaluation of 19,460 Wheat Accessions Conserved in the Indian National Genebank to Identify New Sources of Resistance to Rust and Spot Blotch Diseases.

PubMed

Kumar, Sundeep; Archak, Sunil; Tyagi, R K; Kumar, Jagdish; Vk, Vikas; Jacob, Sherry R; Srinivasan, Kalyani; Radhamani, J; Parimalan, R; Sivaswamy, M; Tyagi, Sandhya; Yadav, Mamata; Kumari, Jyotisna; Deepali; Sharma, Sandeep; Bhagat, Indoo; Meeta, Madhu; Bains, N S; Chowdhury, A K; Saha, B C; Bhattacharya, P M; Kumari, Jyoti; Singh, M C; Gangwar, O P; Prasad, P; Bharadwaj, S C; Gogoi, Robin; Sharma, J B; Gm, Sandeep Kumar; Saharan, M S; Bag, Manas; Roy, Anirban; Prasad, T V; Sharma, R K; Dutta, M; Sharma, Indu; Bansal, K C

2016-01-01

A comprehensive germplasm evaluation study of wheat accessions conserved in the Indian National Genebank was conducted to identify sources of rust and spot blotch resistance. Genebank accessions comprising three species of wheat-Triticum aestivum, T. durum and T. dicoccum were screened sequentially at multiple disease hotspots, during the 2011-14 crop seasons, carrying only resistant accessions to the next step of evaluation. Wheat accessions which were found to be resistant in the field were then assayed for seedling resistance and profiled using molecular markers. In the primary evaluation, 19,460 accessions were screened at Wellington (Tamil Nadu), a hotspot for wheat rusts. We identified 4925 accessions to be resistant and these were further evaluated at Gurdaspur (Punjab), a hotspot for stripe rust and at Cooch Behar (West Bengal), a hotspot for spot blotch. The second round evaluation identified 498 accessions potentially resistant to multiple rusts and 868 accessions potentially resistant to spot blotch. Evaluation of rust resistant accessions for seedling resistance against seven virulent pathotypes of three rusts under artificial epiphytotic conditions identified 137 accessions potentially resistant to multiple rusts. Molecular analysis to identify different combinations of genetic loci imparting resistance to leaf rust, stem rust, stripe rust and spot blotch using linked molecular markers, identified 45 wheat accessions containing known resistance genes against all three rusts as well as a QTL for spot blotch resistance. The resistant germplasm accessions, particularly against stripe rust, identified in this study can be excellent potential candidates to be employed for breeding resistance into the background of high yielding wheat cultivars through conventional or molecular breeding approaches, and are expected to contribute toward food security at national and global levels.

Evaluation of 19,460 Wheat Accessions Conserved in the Indian National Genebank to Identify New Sources of Resistance to Rust and Spot Blotch Diseases

PubMed Central

Jacob, Sherry R.; Srinivasan, Kalyani; Radhamani, J.; Parimalan, R.; Sivaswamy, M.; Tyagi, Sandhya; Yadav, Mamata; Kumari, Jyotisna; Deepali; Sharma, Sandeep; Bhagat, Indoo; Meeta, Madhu; Bains, N. S.; Chowdhury, A. K.; Saha, B. C.; Bhattacharya, P. M.; Kumari, Jyoti; Singh, M. C.; Gangwar, O. P.; Prasad, P.; Bharadwaj, S. C.; Gogoi, Robin; Sharma, J. B.; GM, Sandeep Kumar; Saharan, M. S.; Bag, Manas; Roy, Anirban; Prasad, T. V.; Sharma, R. K.; Dutta, M.; Sharma, Indu; Bansal, K. C.

2016-01-01

A comprehensive germplasm evaluation study of wheat accessions conserved in the Indian National Genebank was conducted to identify sources of rust and spot blotch resistance. Genebank accessions comprising three species of wheat–Triticum aestivum, T. durum and T. dicoccum were screened sequentially at multiple disease hotspots, during the 2011–14 crop seasons, carrying only resistant accessions to the next step of evaluation. Wheat accessions which were found to be resistant in the field were then assayed for seedling resistance and profiled using molecular markers. In the primary evaluation, 19,460 accessions were screened at Wellington (Tamil Nadu), a hotspot for wheat rusts. We identified 4925 accessions to be resistant and these were further evaluated at Gurdaspur (Punjab), a hotspot for stripe rust and at Cooch Behar (West Bengal), a hotspot for spot blotch. The second round evaluation identified 498 accessions potentially resistant to multiple rusts and 868 accessions potentially resistant to spot blotch. Evaluation of rust resistant accessions for seedling resistance against seven virulent pathotypes of three rusts under artificial epiphytotic conditions identified 137 accessions potentially resistant to multiple rusts. Molecular analysis to identify different combinations of genetic loci imparting resistance to leaf rust, stem rust, stripe rust and spot blotch using linked molecular markers, identified 45 wheat accessions containing known resistance genes against all three rusts as well as a QTL for spot blotch resistance. The resistant germplasm accessions, particularly against stripe rust, identified in this study can be excellent potential candidates to be employed for breeding resistance into the background of high yielding wheat cultivars through conventional or molecular breeding approaches, and are expected to contribute toward food security at national and global levels. PMID:27942031

Variation in Results Release and Patient Portal Access to Diagnostic Test Results at an Academic Medical Center

PubMed Central

Krasowski, Matthew D.; Grieme, Caleb V.; Cassady, Brian; Dreyer, Nicholas R.; Wanat, Karolyn A.; Hightower, Maia; Nepple, Kenneth G.

2017-01-01

Background: Electronic health records (EHRs) are commonplace in industrialized countries. Many hospitals are granting their patients access to their medical information through online patient portals. In this report, we describe a retrospective analysis of patient access to diagnostic test results released through the patient portal (MyChart; Epic, Inc.) at a state academic medical center. Methods: We analyzed 6 months of data for anatomic pathology, clinical laboratory, and radiology test results to evaluate variations in results release (automated vs. manual) and subsequent patient access to the institutional patient portal. During this period, diagnostic test results were released for all patient encounters including inpatient units, outpatient clinics, and the emergency department. Results: Manual results release by providers before automated release time occurred most commonly in the outpatient setting. The highest rates of access of diagnostic test results occurred for outpatients (about 30% overall view rate), females (two times or more compared to males in nearly every age bracket), and 20–45-year-old. Access rates of diagnostic tests in the emergency department or inpatient units were <10% across all populations. Access of diagnostic test results was very low for 12–17-year-old, likely influenced by institutional policies limiting parental proxy access within this pediatric age range. Approximately 20% of outpatient laboratory results were viewed by patients within 8 h of release from the EHR to the patient portal and 10% within 2 h of release. Conclusions: Patient accessing of diagnostic test results were generally higher for females, outpatients, and 20–45-year-old. Approximately, 20% of outpatient results were viewed quickly by patients after release to the EHR. PMID:29226008

Variation in Results Release and Patient Portal Access to Diagnostic Test Results at an Academic Medical Center.

PubMed

Krasowski, Matthew D; Grieme, Caleb V; Cassady, Brian; Dreyer, Nicholas R; Wanat, Karolyn A; Hightower, Maia; Nepple, Kenneth G

2017-01-01

Electronic health records (EHRs) are commonplace in industrialized countries. Many hospitals are granting their patients access to their medical information through online patient portals. In this report, we describe a retrospective analysis of patient access to diagnostic test results released through the patient portal (MyChart; Epic, Inc.) at a state academic medical center. We analyzed 6 months of data for anatomic pathology, clinical laboratory, and radiology test results to evaluate variations in results release (automated vs. manual) and subsequent patient access to the institutional patient portal. During this period, diagnostic test results were released for all patient encounters including inpatient units, outpatient clinics, and the emergency department. Manual results release by providers before automated release time occurred most commonly in the outpatient setting. The highest rates of access of diagnostic test results occurred for outpatients (about 30% overall view rate), females (two times or more compared to males in nearly every age bracket), and 20-45-year-old. Access rates of diagnostic tests in the emergency department or inpatient units were <10% across all populations. Access of diagnostic test results was very low for 12-17-year-old, likely influenced by institutional policies limiting parental proxy access within this pediatric age range. Approximately 20% of outpatient laboratory results were viewed by patients within 8 h of release from the EHR to the patient portal and 10% within 2 h of release. Patient accessing of diagnostic test results were generally higher for females, outpatients, and 20-45-year-old. Approximately, 20% of outpatient results were viewed quickly by patients after release to the EHR.

Accessibility and Affordability of Supermarkets: Associations With the DASH Diet.

PubMed

Mackenbach, Joreintje D; Burgoine, Thomas; Lakerveld, Jeroen; Forouhi, Nita G; Griffin, Simon J; Wareham, Nicholas J; Monsivais, Pablo

2017-07-01

It is unknown whether there is an interplay of affordability (economic accessibility) and proximity (geographic accessibility) of supermarkets in relation to having a Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH)-accordant diet. Data (collected: 2005-2015, analyzed: 2016) were from the cross-sectional, population-based Fenland Study cohort: 9,274 adults aged 29-64 years, living in Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom. Dietary quality was evaluated using an index of DASH dietary accordance, based on recorded consumption of foods and beverages in a validated 130-item, semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire. DASH accordance was defined as a DASH score in the top quintile. Dietary costs (£/day) were estimated by attributing a food price variable to the foods consumed according to the questionnaire. Individuals were classified as having low-, medium-, or high-cost diets. Supermarket affordability was determined based on the cost of a 101-item market basket. Distances between home address to the nearest supermarket (geographic accessibility) and nearest economically-appropriate supermarket (economic accessibility) were divided into tertiles. Higher-cost diets were more likely to be DASH-accordant. After adjustment for key demographics and exposure to other food outlets, individuals with lowest economic accessibility to supermarkets had lower odds of being DASH-accordant (OR=0.59, 95% CI=0.52, 0.68) than individuals with greatest economic accessibility. This association was stronger than with geographic accessibility alone (OR=0.85, 95% CI=0.74, 0.98). Results suggest that geographic and economic access to food should be taken into account when considering approaches to promote adherence to healthy diets for the prevention of cardiovascular diseases and other chronic disease. Copyright © 2017 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Evaluation of Demonstrations of National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program Direct Certification of Children Receiving Medicaid Benefits: Access Evaluation Report

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hulsey, Lara; Gordon, Anne; Leftin, Joshua; Beyler, Nicholas; Schirm, Allen; Smither-Wulsin, Claire; Crumbley, Will

2015-01-01

This report presents findings from the Access Evaluation, a study component that is designed to assess the potential impacts of direct certification-Medicaid (DC-M) on students' access to free school meals by conducting retrospective simulations of DC-M in school year 2011-2012, the year before the demonstration began. For the Access Evaluation,…

Health promotion in young adults at a university in Korea: A cross-sectional study of 625 participants in a university.

PubMed

Joh, Hee-Kyung; Kim, Hyun-Ji; Kim, Young-Oh; Lee, Jae-Young; Cho, BeLong; Lim, Chun Soo; Jung, Sung-Eun

2017-02-01

Young adulthood is a critical developmental period for establishing life-long health behaviors. However, too little attention has been paid to young adult health promotion. The purpose of this study was to describe the processes of development and implementation involved in a collaborative university-wide health promotion program and to evaluate the achievements of the program.A 3-day university-wide health promotion program was developed and implemented in the nation's largest public university in South Korea in September 2013. Its objectives were to heighten health awareness, to promote healthy behaviors, especially active lifestyle and healthy diet, and to disseminate health knowledge, skills, and access to health resources among young people. The program comprised 14 health lectures, 12 events, and 25 booths. To monitor and evaluate the program, a cross-sectional postevent survey was conducted. A convenience sample of 625 university members who participated in the program was used. The statistics were analyzed with a general linear model and paired t test.The program evaluation demonstrated that this university-wide program effectively provided opportunities for students to access health information, knowledge, skills, self-confidence, and available health services and resources. Participants positively evaluated most of the processes of the program activities and services. Participants' overall evaluation score (83% rated "excellent" or "good") and reparticipation intention (86%) were high. The majority of participants reported increased awareness of health (80%) and the need for a university health promotion program (87%) after the program. Most of the evaluation scores were similarly high for health lectures and booths/events.In conclusion, the university-wide health promotion program was effective in improving university members' health awareness and providing opportunities for students to access various health information and resources. We believe that our results would be useful for sharing information on the planning and implementation of future university health promotion programs.

Health promotion in young adults at a university in Korea

PubMed Central

Joh, Hee-Kyung; Kim, Hyun-Ji; Kim, Young-Oh; Lee, Jae-Young; Cho, BeLong; Lim, Chun Soo; Jung, Sung-Eun

2017-01-01

Abstract Young adulthood is a critical developmental period for establishing life-long health behaviors. However, too little attention has been paid to young adult health promotion. The purpose of this study was to describe the processes of development and implementation involved in a collaborative university-wide health promotion program and to evaluate the achievements of the program. A 3-day university-wide health promotion program was developed and implemented in the nation's largest public university in South Korea in September 2013. Its objectives were to heighten health awareness, to promote healthy behaviors, especially active lifestyle and healthy diet, and to disseminate health knowledge, skills, and access to health resources among young people. The program comprised 14 health lectures, 12 events, and 25 booths. To monitor and evaluate the program, a cross-sectional postevent survey was conducted. A convenience sample of 625 university members who participated in the program was used. The statistics were analyzed with a general linear model and paired t test. The program evaluation demonstrated that this university-wide program effectively provided opportunities for students to access health information, knowledge, skills, self-confidence, and available health services and resources. Participants positively evaluated most of the processes of the program activities and services. Participants’ overall evaluation score (83% rated “excellent” or “good”) and reparticipation intention (86%) were high. The majority of participants reported increased awareness of health (80%) and the need for a university health promotion program (87%) after the program. Most of the evaluation scores were similarly high for health lectures and booths/events. In conclusion, the university-wide health promotion program was effective in improving university members’ health awareness and providing opportunities for students to access various health information and resources. We believe that our results would be useful for sharing information on the planning and implementation of future university health promotion programs. PMID:28207551

Evaluation of the Content and Accessibility of Web Sites for Accredited Orthopaedic Trauma Surgery Fellowships.

PubMed

Shaath, M Kareem; Yeranosian, Michael G; Ippolito, Joseph A; Adams, Mark R; Sirkin, Michael S; Reilly, Mark C

2018-05-02

Orthopaedic trauma fellowship applicants use online-based resources when researching information on potential U.S. fellowship programs. The 2 primary sources for identifying programs are the Orthopaedic Trauma Association (OTA) database and the San Francisco Match (SF Match) database. Previous studies in other orthopaedic subspecialty areas have demonstrated considerable discrepancies among fellowship programs. The purpose of this study was to analyze content and availability of information on orthopaedic trauma surgery fellowship web sites. The online databases of the OTA and SF Match were reviewed to determine the availability of embedded program links or external links for the included programs. Thereafter, a Google search was performed for each program individually by typing the program's name, followed by the term "orthopaedic trauma fellowship." All identified fellowship web sites were analyzed for accessibility and content. Web sites were evaluated for comprehensiveness in mentioning key components of the orthopaedic trauma surgery curriculum. By consensus, we refined the final list of variables utilizing the methodology of previous studies on the topic. We identified 54 OTA-accredited fellowship programs, offering 87 positions. The majority (94%) of programs had web sites accessible through a Google search. Of the 51 web sites found, all (100%) described their program. Most commonly, hospital affiliation (88%), operative experiences (76%), and rotation overview (65%) were listed, and, least commonly, interview dates (6%), selection criteria (16%), on-call requirements (20%), and fellow evaluation criteria (20%) were listed. Programs with ≥2 fellows provided more information with regard to education content (p = 0.0001) and recruitment content (p = 0.013). Programs with Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) accreditation status also provided greater information with regard to education content (odds ratio, 4.0; p = 0.0001). Otherwise, no differences were seen by region, residency affiliation, medical school affiliation, or hospital affiliation. The SF Match and OTA databases provide few direct links to fellowship web sites. Individual program web sites do not effectively and completely convey information about the programs. The Internet is an underused resource for fellow recruitment. The lack of information on these sites allows for future opportunity to optimize this resource.

Household Microbial Water Quality Testing in a Peruvian Demographic and Health Survey: Evaluation of the Compartment Bag Test for Escherichia coli.

PubMed

Wang, Alice; McMahan, Lanakila; Rutstein, Shea; Stauber, Christine; Reyes, Jorge; Sobsey, Mark D

2017-04-01

AbstractThe Joint Monitoring Program relies on household surveys to classify access to improved water sources instead of measuring microbiological quality. The aim of this research was to pilot a novel test for Escherichia coli quantification of household drinking water in the 2011 Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) in Peru. In the Compartment Bag Test (CBT), a 100-mL water sample is supplemented with chromogenic medium to support the growth of E. coli , poured into a bag with compartments, and incubated. A color change indicates E. coli growth, and the concentration of E. coli /100 mL is estimated as a most probable number. Triplicate water samples from 704 households were collected; one sample was analyzed in the field using the CBT, another replicate sample using the CBT was analyzed by reference laboratories, and one sample using membrane filtration (MF) was analyzed by reference laboratories. There were no statistically significant differences in E. coli concentrations between the field and laboratory CBT results, or when compared with MF results. These results suggest that the CBT for E. coli is an effective method to quantify fecal bacteria in household drinking water. The CBT can be incorporated into DHS and other national household surveys as a direct measure of drinking water safety based on microbial quality to better document access to safe drinking water.

Household Microbial Water Quality Testing in a Peruvian Demographic and Health Survey: Evaluation of the Compartment Bag Test for Escherichia coli

PubMed Central

Wang, Alice; McMahan, Lanakila; Rutstein, Shea; Stauber, Christine; Reyes, Jorge; Sobsey, Mark D.

2017-01-01

The Joint Monitoring Program relies on household surveys to classify access to improved water sources instead of measuring microbiological quality. The aim of this research was to pilot a novel test for Escherichia coli quantification of household drinking water in the 2011 Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) in Peru. In the Compartment Bag Test (CBT), a 100-mL water sample is supplemented with chromogenic medium to support the growth of E. coli, poured into a bag with compartments, and incubated. A color change indicates E. coli growth, and the concentration of E. coli/100 mL is estimated as a most probable number. Triplicate water samples from 704 households were collected; one sample was analyzed in the field using the CBT, another replicate sample using the CBT was analyzed by reference laboratories, and one sample using membrane filtration (MF) was analyzed by reference laboratories. There were no statistically significant differences in E. coli concentrations between the field and laboratory CBT results, or when compared with MF results. These results suggest that the CBT for E. coli is an effective method to quantify fecal bacteria in household drinking water. The CBT can be incorporated into DHS and other national household surveys as a direct measure of drinking water safety based on microbial quality to better document access to safe drinking water. PMID:28500818

Users' information-seeking behavior on a medical library Website

PubMed Central

Rozic-Hristovski, Anamarija; Hristovski, Dimitar; Todorovski, Ljupco

2002-01-01

The Central Medical Library (CMK) at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, started to build a library Website that included a guide to library services and resources in 1997. The evaluation of Website usage plays an important role in its maintenance and development. Analyzing and exploring regularities in the visitors' behavior can be used to enhance the quality and facilitate delivery of information services, identify visitors' interests, and improve the server's performance. The analysis of the CMK Website users' navigational behavior was carried out by analyzing the Web server log files. These files contained information on all user accesses to the Website and provided a great opportunity to learn more about the behavior of visitors to the Website. The majority of the available tools for Web log file analysis provide a predefined set of reports showing the access count and the transferred bytes grouped along several dimensions. In addition to the reports mentioned above, the authors wanted to be able to perform interactive exploration and ad hoc analysis and discover trends in a user-friendly way. Because of that, we developed our own solution for exploring and analyzing the Web logs based on data warehousing and online analytical processing technologies. The analytical solution we developed proved successful, so it may find further application in the field of Web log file analysis. We will apply the findings of the analysis to restructuring the CMK Website. PMID:11999179

Adult Congenital Cardiac Care.

PubMed

Kogon, Brian E; Miller, Kati; Miller, Paula; Alsoufi, Bahaaldin; Rosenblum, Joshua M

2017-03-01

The Adult Congenital Heart Association (ACHA) is dedicated to supporting patients with congenital heart disease. To guide patients to qualified providers and programs, it maintains a publicly accessible directory of dedicated adult congenital cardiac programs. We analyzed the directory in 2006 and 2015, aiming to evaluate the growth of the directory as a whole and to evaluate the growth of individual programs within the directory. We also hope this raises awareness of the growing opportunities that exist in adult congenital cardiology and cardiac surgery. Data in the directory are self-reported. Only data from US programs were collected and analyzed. By the end of 2015, compared to 2006, there were more programs reporting to the directory in more states (107 programs across 42 states vs 57 programs across 33 states), with higher overall clinical volume (591 vs 164 half-day clinics per week, 96,611 vs 34,446 patient visits). On average, each program was busier (5 vs 2 half-day clinics per week per program). Over the time period, the number of reported annual operations performed nearly doubled (4,346 operations by 210 surgeons vs 2,461 operations by 125 surgeons). Access to ancillary services including specific clinical diagnostic and therapeutic services also expanded. Between 2006 and 2015, the clinical directory and the individual programs have grown. Current directory data may provide benchmarks for staffing and services for newly emerging and existing programs. Verifying the accuracy of the information and inclusion of all programs will be important in the future.

Knowledge of Concussion and Reporting Behaviors in High School Athletes With or Without Access to an Athletic Trainer

PubMed Central

Wallace, Jessica; Covassin, Tracey; Nogle, Sally; Gould, Daniel; Kovan, Jeffrey

2017-01-01

Context: Increased sport participation and sport-related concussion incidence has led to an emphasis on having an appropriate medical professional available to high school athletes. The medical professional best suited to provide medical care to high school athletes is a certified athletic trainer (AT). Access to an AT may influence the reporting of sport-related concussion in the high school athletic population; however, little is known about how the presence of an AT affects concussion knowledge, prevention, and recognition. Objective: To evaluate knowledge of concussion and reporting behaviors in high school athletes who did or did not have access to an AT. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Survey. Patients or Other Participants: A total of 438 athletes with access to an AT and 277 without access to an AT. Intervention(s): A validated knowledge-of-concussion survey consisting of 83 items addressing concussion history, concussion knowledge, scenario questions, signs and symptoms of a concussion, and reasons why an athlete would not report a concussion. The independent variable was access to an AT. Main Outcome Measure(s): We examined the proportion of athletes who correctly identified knowledge of concussion, signs and symptoms of concussion, and reasons why high school student-athletes would not disclose a potential concussive injury by access to an AT. Frequency statistics, χ2 tests, independent t tests, and linear regression were conducted to analyze the data. Results: The underreporting of concussion among high school athletes was 55%. Athletes with access to an AT had more knowledge of concussion than did athletes without such access (P ≤ .001). Chi-square tests did not demonstrate a significant relationship between AT access and a higher percentage reporting concussions. Conclusions: High school athletes with access to an AT had more concussion knowledge, but they did not report suspected concussions to an authority figure more frequently than athletes without access to an AT. PMID:28387561

How Readable are Spanish-Language Medicaid Applications?

PubMed Central

Hansen, Julie S.; DeVoe, Jennifer E.

2015-01-01

Nationally, Hispanics comprise nearly one-quarter of all non-elderly Medicaid recipients. We evaluated readability, layout characteristics, and document complexity of state-issued Spanish-language Medicaid enrollment applications. We located and analyzed Internet-based Spanish enrollment applications from 37 states and the District of Columbia. We calculated the readability of each Medicaid enrollment application “Signature” page using the Spanish Lexile Analyzer. We assessed application layout characteristics utilizing the User-Friendliness Tool, and we evaluated document complexity using the PMOSE/IKIRSCH scale. The average Lexile score estimated an 11th–12th grade reading level (M = 1184, SD = 192) for “Signature” pages of enrollment applications. Most applications used small font size and lacked adequate white space. Document complexity ranged from level 3 (moderate) to level 5 (very high); the majority of applications ranked at level 4 (high). Spanish-language Medicaid enrollment applications should be revised to adhere to low-literacy guidelines, which may improve the accessibility of Medicaid coverage for eligible Spanish-speaking families. PMID:21213122

Barriers to accessing adequate maternal care in Central and Eastern European countries: A systematic literature review.

PubMed

Miteniece, Elina; Pavlova, Milena; Rechel, Bernd; Groot, Wim

2017-03-01

Maternal health outcomes in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) compare unfavorable with those in Western Europe, despite macro-indicators that suggest well-designed maternal care systems. However, macro-indicators at the system level only capture capacity, funding and utilization of care and not the actual allocation of financial and human resources, the quality of care and access to it. It is these latter which are problematic in the CEE region. In this study service-related indicators of access to maternal care in CEE are examined. These include availability, appropriateness, affordability, approachability and acceptability of maternal care. This study uses a qualitative systematic literature review, analyzing information of peer-reviewed articles published since 2004. Other inclusion criteria included language, setting and publication purpose. The included articles were analyzed using a framework analysis technique and quality was assessed using standardized evaluation checklists. Results indicate improvements in maternal care. However, availability of care is limited by outdated equipment and training curricula, and the lack of professionals and pharmaceuticals. Geographical distance to healthcare institutions, inappropriate communication of providers and waiting times are the main approachability barriers. Some mothers are unaware of the importance of care or are discouraged to utilize healthcare services because of cultural aspects. Finally, a major barrier in accessing maternal care in the CEE is the inability to pay for it. Our findings indicate that major gaps in evidence exist and that more representative and better quality data should be collected. Governments in CEE countries need to establish a reliable system for measuring and monitoring a suitable set of indicators, as well as deal with the general social and economic problem of informality. Medical curricula in the CEE region need to be overhauled and there should be a focus on improving the allocation of medical staff and institutions as well as protecting vulnerable population groups to ensure universal access to care. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Auditing the Accessibility of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs).

PubMed

Iniesto, Francisco; McAndrew, Patrick; Minocha, Shailey; Coughlan, Tim

2017-01-01

The outcome from the research being reported in this paper is the design of an accessibility audit to evaluate Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) for accessibility and to arrive at solutions and adaptations that can meet user needs. This accessibility audit includes expert-based heuristic evaluations and user-based evaluations of the MOOC platforms and individual courses.

Utilizing Building Usage Assessment: Determining Deployment of Student Workers in an Academic Library

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Buller, Ryan F.

2014-01-01

Generating, collecting, and analyzing building usage statistics can greatly increase the ability of an access services unit to meet the changing dynamic of patron needs in an academic library. By analyzing three different data points, the Access Services Unit in Malpass Library at Western Illinois University was able to determine the most…

Cooperative Learning in Turkey: A Content Analysis of Theses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dirlikli, Murat

2016-01-01

This study is a content analysis of theses concerning cooperative learning prepared in Turkey between the years 1993 and 2014. A total of 220 theses which were accessible online (open access) at the site of Council of Higher Education (CoHE) were analyzed. The publishing classification form used in this study was prepared analyzing similar forms…

An automated smartphone-based diagnostic assay for point-of-care semen analysis

PubMed Central

Kanakasabapathy, Manoj Kumar; Sadasivam, Magesh; Singh, Anupriya; Preston, Collin; Thirumalaraju, Prudhvi; Venkataraman, Maanasa; Bormann, Charles L.; Draz, Mohamed Shehata; Petrozza, John C.; Shafiee, Hadi

2017-01-01

Male infertility affects up to 12% of the world’s male population and is linked to various environmental and medical conditions. Manual microscope-based testing and computer-assisted semen analysis (CASA) are the current standard methods to diagnose male infertility; however, these methods are labor-intensive, expensive, and laboratory-based. Cultural and socially dominated stigma against male infertility testing hinders a large number of men from getting tested for infertility, especially in resource-limited African countries. We describe the development and clinical testing of an automated smartphone-based semen analyzer designed for quantitative measurement of sperm concentration and motility for point-of-care male infertility screening. Using a total of 350 clinical semen specimens at a fertility clinic, we have shown that our assay can analyze an unwashed, unprocessed liquefied semen sample with <5-s mean processing time and provide the user a semen quality evaluation based on the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines with ~98% accuracy. The work suggests that the integration of microfluidics, optical sensing accessories, and advances in consumer electronics, particularly smartphone capabilities, can make remote semen quality testing accessible to people in both developed and developing countries who have access to smartphones. PMID:28330865

Income Related Inequality of Health Care Access in Japan: A Retrospective Cohort Study

PubMed Central

Fujita, Misuzu; Hata, Akira

2016-01-01

The purpose of this retrospective cohort study was to analyze the association between income level and health care access in Japan. Data from a total of 222,259 subjects (age range, 0–74 years) who submitted National Health Insurance claims in Chiba City from April 2012 to March 2014 and who declared income for the tax period from January 1 to December 31, 2012 were integrated and analyzed. The generalized estimating equation, in which household was defined as a cluster, was used to evaluate the association between equivalent income and utilization and duration of hospitalization and outpatient care services. A significant positive linear association was observed between income level and outpatient visit rates among all age groups of both sexes; however, a significantly higher rate and longer period of hospitalization, and longer outpatient care, were observed among certain lower income subgroups. To control for decreased income due to hospitalization, subjects hospitalized during the previous year were excluded, and the data was then reanalyzed. Significant inverse associations remained in the hospitalization rate among 40–59-year-old men and 60–69-year-old women, and in duration of hospitalization among 40–59 and 60–69-year-olds of both sexes and 70–74-year-old women. These results suggest that low-income individuals in Japan have poorer access to outpatient care and more serious health conditions than their higher income counterparts. PMID:26978270

Validation of computational fluid dynamics-based analysis to evaluate hemodynamic significance of access stenosis.

PubMed

Hoganson, David M; Hinkel, Cameron J; Chen, Xiaomin; Agarwal, Ramesh K; Shenoy, Surendra

2014-01-01

Stenosis in a vascular access circuit is the predominant cause of access dysfunction. Hemodynamic significance of a stenosis identified by angiography in an access circuit is uncertain. This study utilizes computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to model flow through arteriovenous fistula to predict the functional significance of stenosis in vascular access circuits. Three-dimensional models of fistulas were created with a range of clinically relevant stenoses using SolidWorks. Stenoses diameters ranged from 1.0 to 3.0 mm and lengths from 5 to 60 mm within a fistula diameter of 7 mm. CFD analyses were performed using a blood model over a range of blood pressures. Eight patient-specific stenoses were also modeled and analyzed with CFD and the resulting blood flow calculations were validated by comparison with brachial artery flow measured by duplex ultrasound. Predicted flow rates were derived from CFD analysis of a range of stenoses. These stenoses were modeled by CFD and correlated with the ultrasound measured flow rate through the fistula of eight patients. The calculated flow rate using CFD correlated within 20% of ultrasound measured flow for five of eight patients. The mean difference was 17.2% (ranged from 1.3% to 30.1%). CFD analysis-generated flow rate tables provide valuable information to assess the functional significance of stenosis detected during imaging studies. The CFD study can help in determining the clinical relevance of a stenosis in access dysfunction and guide the need for intervention.

Dexterity: A MATLAB-based analysis software suite for processing and visualizing data from tasks that measure arm or forelimb function.

PubMed

Butensky, Samuel D; Sloan, Andrew P; Meyers, Eric; Carmel, Jason B

2017-07-15

Hand function is critical for independence, and neurological injury often impairs dexterity. To measure hand function in people or forelimb function in animals, sensors are employed to quantify manipulation. These sensors make assessment easier and more quantitative and allow automation of these tasks. While automated tasks improve objectivity and throughput, they also produce large amounts of data that can be burdensome to analyze. We created software called Dexterity that simplifies data analysis of automated reaching tasks. Dexterity is MATLAB software that enables quick analysis of data from forelimb tasks. Through a graphical user interface, files are loaded and data are identified and analyzed. These data can be annotated or graphed directly. Analysis is saved, and the graph and corresponding data can be exported. For additional analysis, Dexterity provides access to custom scripts created by other users. To determine the utility of Dexterity, we performed a study to evaluate the effects of task difficulty on the degree of impairment after injury. Dexterity analyzed two months of data and allowed new users to annotate the experiment, visualize results, and save and export data easily. Previous analysis of tasks was performed with custom data analysis, requiring expertise with analysis software. Dexterity made the tools required to analyze, visualize and annotate data easy to use by investigators without data science experience. Dexterity increases accessibility to automated tasks that measure dexterity by making analysis of large data intuitive, robust, and efficient. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Analysis of Arabidopsis Accessions Hypersensitive to a Loss of Chloroplast Translation1[OPEN

PubMed Central

Parker, Nicole; Wang, Yixing; Meinke, David

2016-01-01

Natural accessions of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) differ in their ability to tolerate a loss of chloroplast translation. These differences can be attributed in part to variation in a duplicated nuclear gene (ACC2) that targets homomeric acetyl-coenzyme A carboxylase (ACCase) to plastids. This functional redundancy allows limited fatty acid biosynthesis to occur in the absence of heteromeric ACCase, which is encoded in part by the plastid genome. In the presence of functional ACC2, tolerant alleles of several nuclear genes, not yet identified, enhance the growth of seedlings and embryos disrupted in chloroplast translation. ACC2 knockout mutants, by contrast, are hypersensitive. Here we describe an expanded search for hypersensitive accessions of Arabidopsis, evaluate whether all of these accessions are defective in ACC2, and characterize genotype-to-phenotype relationships for homomeric ACCase variants identified among 855 accessions with sequenced genomes. Null alleles with ACC2 nonsense mutations, frameshift mutations, small deletions, genomic rearrangements, and defects in RNA splicing are included among the most sensitive accessions examined. By contrast, most missense mutations affecting highly conserved residues failed to eliminate ACC2 function. Several accessions were identified where sensitivity could not be attributed to a defect in either ACC2 or Tic20-IV, the chloroplast membrane channel required for ACC2 uptake. Overall, these results underscore the central role of ACC2 in mediating Arabidopsis response to a loss of chloroplast translation, highlight future applications of this system to analyzing chloroplast protein import, and provide valuable insights into the mutational landscape of an important metabolic enzyme that is highly conserved throughout eukaryotes. PMID:27707889

Superior Patency of Upper Arm Arteriovenous Fistulae in High Risk Patients

PubMed Central

Chiulli, Larissa C; Vasilas, Penny; Dardik, Alan

2011-01-01

Background Despite an increased propensity to primary failure in forearm arteriovenous fistulae compared to upper arm fistulae, forearm fistulae remain the preferred primary access type for chronic hemodialysis patients. In a high risk patient population with multiple medical comorbidities associated with requirement for intravenous access we compared the rates of access failure in forearm and upper arm fistulae. Materials and Methods The records of all patients having primary native arteriovenous fistulae placed between 2004 and 2009 at the VA Connecticut Healthcare system were reviewed (n=118). Primary and secondary patency of upper arm and forearm fistulae were evaluated using Kaplan-Meier survival analysis. The effects of medical comorbidities on access patency were analyzed with Cox regression. Results The median time to primary failure of the vascular access was 0.288 years in the forearm group compared to 0.940 years in the upper arm group (p=0.028). Secondary patency was 52% at 4.9 years in upper arm fistulae compared to 52% at 1.1 years in the forearm group (p=0.036). There was no significant effect of patient comorbidities on fistula failure; however, there was a trend toward upper arm surgical site as a protective factor for primary fistula patency (Hazard Ratio=0.573, p=0.076). Conclusions In veterans needing hemodialysis, a high risk population with extensive comorbid factors often requiring intravascular access, upper arm fistulae are not only a viable option for primary vascular access, but are likely to be a superior option to classic forearm fistulae. PMID:21571318

Fifty years of hemodialysis access literature: The fifty most cited publications in the medical literature.

PubMed

Skripochnik, Edvard; O'Connor, David J; Trestman, Eric B; Lipsitz, Evan C; Scher, Larry A

2018-02-01

Objectives The modern era of hemodialysis access surgery began with the publication in 1966 by Brescia et al. describing the use of a surgically created arteriovenous fistula. Since then, the number of patients on chronic hemodialysis and the number of publications dealing with hemodialysis access have steadily increased. We have chronicled the increase in publications in the medical literature dealing with hemodialysis access by evaluating the characteristics of the 50 most cited articles. Methods We queried the Science Citation Index from the years 1960-2014. Articles were selected based on a subject search and were ranked according to the number of times they were cited in the medical literature. Results The 50 most frequently cited articles were selected for further analysis and the number of annual publications was tracked. The landmark publication by Dr Brescia et al. was unequivocally the most cited article dealing with hemodialysis access (1109 citations). The subject matter of the papers included AV fistula and graft (9), hemodialysis catheter (9), complications and outcomes (24), and other topics (8). Most articles were published in nephrology journals (33), with fewer in surgery (7), medicine (7), and radiology (3) journals. Of the 17 journals represented, Kidney International was the clear leader, publishing 18 articles. There has been an exponential rise in the frequency of publications regarding dialysis access with 42 of 50 analyzed papers being authored after 1990. Conclusion As the number of patients on hemodialysis has increased dramatically over the past five decades, there has been a commensurate increase in the overall number of publications related to hemodialysis access.

Microsimulation of the Impact of Access Management Practices to Pedestrians

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2018-12-31

The study applied microsimulation to analyze the impact of access management (AM) to the operational performances of vehicles and pedestrians. A conceptual model was developed in VISSIM and VISWALK to examine the effect of access and signals density ...

Failure Analysis of Network Based Accessible Pedestrian Signals in Closed-Loop Operation

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2011-03-01

The potential failure modes of a network based accessible pedestrian system were analyzed to determine the limitations and benefits of closed-loop operation. The vulnerabilities of the system are accessed using the industry standard process known as ...

Evaluating Expected Costs and Benefits of Granting Access to New Treatments on the Basis of Progression-Free Survival in Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer.

PubMed

Lakdawalla, Darius N; Chou, Jacquelyn W; Linthicum, Mark T; MacEwan, Joanna P; Zhang, Jie; Goldman, Dana P

2015-05-01

Surrogate end points may be used as proxy for more robust clinical end points. One prominent example is the use of progression-free survival (PFS) as a surrogate for overall survival (OS) in trials for oncologic treatments. Decisions based on surrogate end points may expedite regulatory approval but may not accurately reflect drug efficacy. Payers and clinicians must balance the potential benefits of earlier treatment access based on surrogate end points against the risks of clinical uncertainty. To present a framework for evaluating the expected net benefit or cost of providing early access to new treatments on the basis of evidence of PFS benefits before OS results are available, using non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) as an example. A probabilistic decision model was used to estimate expected incremental social value of the decision to grant access to a new treatment on the basis of PFS evidence. The model analyzed a hypothetical population of patients with NSCLC who could be treated during the period between PFS and OS evidence publication. Estimates for delay in publication of OS evidence following publication of PFS evidence, expected OS benefit given PFS benefit, incremental cost of new treatment, and other parameters were drawn from the literature on treatment of NSCLC. Incremental social value of early access for each additional patient per month (in 2014 US dollars). For "medium-value" model parameters, early reimbursement of drugs with any PFS benefit yields an incremental social cost of more than $170,000 per newly treated patient per month. In contrast, granting early access on the basis of PFS benefit between 1 and 3.5 months produces more than $73,000 in incremental social value. Across the full range of model parameter values, granting access for drugs with PFS benefit between 3 and 3.5 months is robustly beneficial, generating incremental social value ranging from $38,000 to more than $1 million per newly treated patient per month, whereas access for all drugs with any PFS benefit is usually not beneficial. The value of providing access to new treatments on the basis of surrogate end points, and PFS in particular, likely varies considerably. Payers and clinicians should carefully consider how to use PFS data in balancing potential benefits against costs in each particular disease.

Addressing geographic access barriers to emergency care services: a national ecologic study of hospitals in Brazil.

PubMed

Rocha, Thiago Augusto Hernandes; da Silva, Núbia Cristina; Amaral, Pedro Vasconcelos; Barbosa, Allan Claudius Queiroz; Rocha, João Victor Muniz; Alvares, Viviane; de Almeida, Dante Grapiuna; Thumé, Elaine; Thomaz, Erika Bárbara Abreu Fonseca; de Sousa Queiroz, Rejane Christine; de Souza, Marta Rovery; Lein, Adriana; Lopes, Daniel Paulino; Staton, Catherine A; Vissoci, João Ricardo Nickenig; Facchini, Luiz Augusto

2017-08-22

Unequal distribution of emergency care services is a critical barrier to be overcome to assure access to emergency and surgical care. Considering this context it was objective of the present work analyze geographic access barriers to emergency care services in Brazil. A secondary aim of the study is to define possible roles to be assumed by small hospitals in the Brazilian healthcare network to overcome geographic access challenges. The present work can be classified as a cross-sectional ecological study. To carry out the present study, data of all 5843 Brazilian hospitals were categorized among high complexity centers and small hospitals. The geographical access barriers were identified through the use of two-step floating catchment area method. Once concluded the previous step an evaluation using the Getis-Ord-Gi method was performed to identify spatial clusters of municipalities with limited access to high complexity centers but well covered by well-equipped small hospitals. The analysis of accessibility index of high complexity centers highlighted large portions of the country with nearly zero hospital beds by inhabitant. In contrast, it was possible observe a group of 1595 municipalities with high accessibility to small hospitals, simultaneously with a low coverage of high complexity centers. Among the 1595 municipalities with good accessibility to small hospitals, 74% (1183) were covered by small hospitals with at least 60% of minimum emergency service requirements. The spatial clusters analysis aggregated 589 municipalities with high values related to minimum emergency service requirements. Small hospitals in these 589 cities could promote the equity in access to emergency services benefiting more than eight million people. There is a spatial disequilibrium within the country with prominent gaps in the health care network for emergency services. Taking this challenge into consideration, small hospitals could be a possible solution and foster equity in access to emergency and surgical care. However more investments in are necessary to improve small hospitals capabilities to fill this gap.

A service-oriented data access control model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meng, Wei; Li, Fengmin; Pan, Juchen; Song, Song; Bian, Jiali

2017-01-01

The development of mobile computing, cloud computing and distributed computing meets the growing individual service needs. Facing with complex application system, it's an urgent problem to ensure real-time, dynamic, and fine-grained data access control. By analyzing common data access control models, on the basis of mandatory access control model, the paper proposes a service-oriented access control model. By regarding system services as subject and data of databases as object, the model defines access levels and access identification of subject and object, and ensures system services securely to access databases.

"Where to find those doctors?" A qualitative study on barriers and facilitators in access to and utilization of health care services by Polish migrants in Norway.

PubMed

Czapka, Elżbieta Anna; Sagbakken, Mette

2016-09-01

Poles constitute the largest group of migrants in Norway. Research confirms a steady inflow and a minimal outflow of Polish migrants. One of the key aspects of migrants' structural integration is access to health care services. This study explored barriers to and facilitators of Polish migrants' access to Norwegian health care services. A qualitative interview-based study was carried out between November 2013 and July 2014. The study is part of a larger, ongoing mixed-method study of Polish migrants' access to health care services in Norway. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 19 Polish migrants in Oslo. The interviews were transcribed, coded, and analyzed. Thematic analysis was performed to identify barriers and facilitators related to the use of Norwegian health care services. Migrants experienced several barriers to and facilitators of access to health care services in Norway. The barriers most often mentioned were problems resulting from insufficient command of the language, related communication problems, and lack of knowledge about navigating the Norwegian health care system. Other barriers related to the organization of the health care system, perceptions of doctors' skills and practices, and attitudes among health personnel. Factors such as having a Polish social network, meeting friendly health personnel, and perceptions of equal treatment of all patients, facilitated access to and use of health care services. The study shows that there are both system- and patient-related barriers to and facilitators of migrants' access to health services in Norway. These findings suggest that successful inclusion of migrants into the Norwegian health system requires regular evaluation of access and utilization of health care services.

Value of doppler ultrasonography in the study of hemodialysis peripheral vascular access dysfunction.

PubMed

Moreno Sánchez, T; Martín Hervás, C; Sola Martínez, E; Moreno Rodríguez, F

2014-01-01

The main objectives of this study were to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of duplex Doppler ultrasonography in the study of hemodialysis peripheral vascular access dysfunction and to analyze the resistance index and flow in the afferent artery. We prospectively studied 178 patients with 178 peripheral vascular accesses that were dysfunctional in at least three consecutive hemodialysis sessions. Patients underwent duplex Doppler ultrasonography and clinical and laboratory follow-up for three months (provided angiography findings were negative). We calculated the sensitivity, specificity, predictive values, and coefficients of probability. We studied the morphology of the afferent artery, the arteriovenous anastomosis, and the efferent vein, and we measured the resistance index and the flow of the afferent artery, the diameter of the anastomosis, and the flow and peak systolic velocity in the efferent vein. The final sample consisted of 159 patients. The sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, and positive and negative coefficients of probability were 0,98 (95% CI: 0,88-1.00), 0,74 (95% CI: 0,66-0,81), 0,96, 0,82, 3.7, and 0,03, respectively. The resistance index was less than 0,5 in 78.5% of the peripheral vascular accesses with normal function and greater than 0,5 in 86.1% of the dysfunctional peripheral vascular accesses. We found aneurysms in 19 of the native peripheral vascular accesses and pseudoaneurysms in 7 of the prosthetic grafts. Inverted flow was seen in 57 peripheral vascular accesses. Duplex Doppler ultrasonography is an efficacious method for detecting and characterizing stenosis and thrombosis in peripheral vascular accesses, and it provides information about the morphology and hemodynamics. Copyright © 2012 SERAM. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

Stress-induced endocrine response and anxiety: the effects of comfort food in rats.

PubMed

Ortolani, Daniela; Garcia, Márcia Carvalho; Melo-Thomas, Liana; Spadari-Bratfisch, Regina Celia

2014-05-01

The long-term effects of comfort food in an anxiogenic model of stress have yet to be analyzed. Here, we evaluated behavioral, endocrine and metabolic parameters in rats submitted or not to chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS), with access to commercial chow alone or to commercial chow and comfort food. Stress did not alter the preference for comfort food but decreased food intake. In the elevated plus-maze (EPM) test, stressed rats were less likely to enter/remain in the open arms, as well as being more likely to enter/remain in the closed arms, than were control rats, both conditions being more pronounced in the rats given access to comfort food. In the open field test, stress decreased the time spent in the centre, independent of diet; neither stress nor diet affected the number of crossing, rearing or grooming episodes. The stress-induced increase in serum corticosterone was attenuated in rats given access to comfort food. Serum concentration of triglycerides were unaffected by stress or diet, although access to comfort food increased total cholesterol and glucose. It is concluded that CUMS has an anorexigenic effect. Chronic stress and comfort food ingestion induced an anxiogenic profile although comfort food attenuated the endocrine stress response. The present data indicate that the combination of stress and access to comfort food, common aspects of modern life, may constitute a link among stress, feeding behavior and anxiety.

Evaluation of modified work zone traffic control devices at business accesses

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2001-01-01

Modified work zone traffic control devices at business accesses were evaluated on two Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) projects in 1999 and 2000. On one section project, blue Temporary Business Access" signs were used at business accesses d...

Assesment of access to bibliographic databases and telemetry databases in Astronomy: A groundswell for development.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Diaz-Merced, Wanda Liz; Casado, Johanna; Garcia, Beatriz; Aarnio, Alicia; Knierman, Karen; Monkiewicz, Jacqueline; Alicia Aarnio.

2018-01-01

Big Data" is a subject that has taken special relevance today, particularly in Astrophysics, where continuous advances in technology are leading to ever larger data sets. A multimodal approach in perception of astronomical data data (achieved through sonification used for the processing of data) increases the detection of signals in very low signal-to-noise ratio limits and is of special importance to achieve greater inclusion in the field of Astronomy. In the last ten years, different software tools have been developed that perform the sonification of astronomical data from tables or databases, among them the best known and in multiplatform development are Sonification Sandbox, MathTrack, and xSonify.In order to determine the accessibility of software we propose to start carrying out a conformity analysis of ISO (International Standard Organization) 9241-171171: 2008. This standard establishes the general guidelines that must be taken into account for accessibility in software design, and it is applied to software used in work, public places, and at home. To analyze the accessibility of web databases, we take into account the "Web Content Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0", accepted and published by ISO in the ISO / IEC 40500: 2012 standard.In this poster, we present a User Centered Design (UCD), Human Computer Interaction (HCI), and User Experience (UX) framework to address a non-segregational provision of access to bibliographic databases and telemetry databases in Astronomy. Our framework is based on an ISO evaluation on a selection of data bases such as ADS, Simbad and SDSS. The WCAG 2.0 and ISO 9241-171171: 2008 should not be taken as absolute accessibility standards: these guidelines are very general, are not absolute, and do not address particularities. They are not to be taken as a substitute for UCD, HCI, UX design and evaluation. Based on our results, this research presents the framework for a focus group and qualitative data analysis aimed to lay the foundations for the employment of UCD functionalities on astronomical databases.

Brominated Luciferins Are Versatile Bioluminescent Probes

DOE PAGES

Steinhardt, Rachel C.; Rathbun, Colin M.; Krull, Brandon T.; ...

2016-12-08

Here, we report a set of brominated luciferins for bioluminescence imaging. These regioisomeric scaffolds were accessed by using a common synthetic route. All analogues produced light with firefly luciferase, although varying levels of emission were observed. Differences in photon output were analyzed by computation and photophysical measurements. The brightest brominated luciferin was further evaluated in cell and animal models. At low doses, the analogue outperformed the native substrate in cells. The remaining luciferins, although weak emitters with firefly luciferase, were inherently capable of light production and thus potential substrates for orthogonal mutant enzymes.

Radar target classification studies: Software development and documentation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kamis, A.; Garber, F.; Walton, E.

1985-09-01

Three computer programs were developed to process and analyze calibrated radar returns. The first program, called DATABASE, was developed to create and manage a random accessed data base. The second program, called FTRAN DB, was developed to process horizontal and vertical polarizations radar returns into different formats (i.e., time domain, circular polarizations and polarization parameters). The third program, called RSSE, was developed to simulate a variety of radar systems and to evaluate their ability to identify radar returns. Complete computer listings are included in the appendix volumes.

Current trends in systematic program evaluation of online graduate nursing education: an integrative literature review.

PubMed

Horne, Eva M; Sandmann, Lorilee R

2012-10-01

Over the past decade, the Internet's e3 ect has transformed nursing education, particularly at the graduate level. Schools of nursing have embraced Internet-based course delivery technology to broaden students' access to academic degrees. However, the rush to stay competitive in online education raises questions. What is the quality of these online programs? To what extent are schools of nursing systematically evaluating the programs beyond the course level? What evaluation tools are used? What are the findings? How are the evaluation data used? By answering these questions, nurse educators can develop strategies for evaluating the quality and worth of online learning, thus improving instruction and learning outcomes. This integrative review of nursing and adult education literature identified as the current trends in program evaluation of online nursing education at the graduate level. Research articles were analyzed and perspectives were synthesized from a research agenda viewpoint. Recommendations and needs for future research are discussed. Copyright 2012, SLACK Incorporated.

Evaluation of the content and accessibility of web sites for accredited orthopaedic sports medicine fellowships.

PubMed

Mulcahey, Mary K; Gosselin, Michelle M; Fadale, Paul D

2013-06-19

The Internet is a common source of information for orthopaedic residents applying for sports medicine fellowships, with the web sites of the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine (AOSSM) and the San Francisco Match serving as central databases. We sought to evaluate the web sites for accredited orthopaedic sports medicine fellowships with regard to content and accessibility. We reviewed the existing web sites of the ninety-five accredited orthopaedic sports medicine fellowships included in the AOSSM and San Francisco Match databases from February to March 2012. A Google search was performed to determine the overall accessibility of program web sites and to supplement information obtained from the AOSSM and San Francisco Match web sites. The study sample consisted of the eighty-seven programs whose web sites connected to information about the fellowship. Each web site was evaluated for its informational value. Of the ninety-five programs, fifty-one (54%) had links listed in the AOSSM database. Three (3%) of all accredited programs had web sites that were linked directly to information about the fellowship. Eighty-eight (93%) had links listed in the San Francisco Match database; however, only five (5%) had links that connected directly to information about the fellowship. Of the eighty-seven programs analyzed in our study, all eighty-seven web sites (100%) provided a description of the program and seventy-six web sites (87%) included information about the application process. Twenty-one web sites (24%) included a list of current fellows. Fifty-six web sites (64%) described the didactic instruction, seventy (80%) described team coverage responsibilities, forty-seven (54%) included a description of cases routinely performed by fellows, forty-one (47%) described the role of the fellow in seeing patients in the office, eleven (13%) included call responsibilities, and seventeen (20%) described a rotation schedule. Two Google searches identified direct links for 67% to 71% of all accredited programs. Most accredited orthopaedic sports medicine fellowships lack easily accessible or complete web sites in the AOSSM or San Francisco Match databases. Improvement in the accessibility and quality of information on orthopaedic sports medicine fellowship web sites would facilitate the ability of applicants to obtain useful information.

Accessing FMS Functionality: The Impact of Design on Learning

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fennell, Karl; Sherry, Lance; Roberts, Ralph, Jr.

2004-01-01

In modern commercial and military aircraft, the Flight Management System (FMS) lies at the heart of the functionality of the airplane. The nature of the FMS has also caused great difficulties learning and accessing this functionality. This study examines actual Air Force pilots who were qualified on the newly introduced advanced FMS and shows that the design of the system itself is a primary source of difficulty learning the system. Twenty representative tasks were selected which the pilots could be expected to accomplish on an ' actual flight. These tasks were analyzed using the RAFIV stage model (Sherry, Polson, et al. 2002). This analysis demonstrates that a great burden is placed on remembering complex reformulation of the task to function mapping. 65% of the tasks required retaining one access steps in memory to accomplish the task, 20% required two memorized access steps, and 15% required zero memorized access steps. The probability that a participant would make an access error on the tasks was: two memorized access steps - 74%, one memorized access step - 13%, and zero memorized access steps - 6%. Other factors were analyzed as well, including experience with the system and frequency of use. This completed the picture of a system with many memorized steps causing difficulty with the new system, especially when trying to fine where to access the correct function.

"Workhood"-a useful concept for the analysis of health workers' resources? an evaluation from Tanzania

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background International debates on improving health system performance and quality of care are strongly coined by systems thinking. There is a surprising lack of attention to the human (worker) elements. Although the central role of health workers within the health system has increasingly been acknowledged, there are hardly studies that analyze performance and quality of care from an individual perspective. Drawing on livelihood studies in health and sociological theory of capitals, this study develops and evaluates the new concept of workhood. As an analytical device the concept aims at understanding health workers' capacities to access resources (human, financial, physical, social, cultural and symbolic capital) and transfer them to the community from an individual perspective. Methods Case studies were conducted in four Reproductive-and-Child-Health (RCH) clinics in the Kilombero Valley, south-eastern Tanzania, using different qualitative methods such as participant observation, informal discussions and in-depth interviews to explore the relevance of the different types of workhood resources for effective health service delivery. Health workers' ability to access these resources were investigated and factors facilitating or constraining access identified. Results The study showed that lack of physical, human, cultural and financial capital constrained health workers' capacity to act. In particular, weak health infrastructure and health system failures led to the lack of sufficient drug and supply stocks and chronic staff shortages at the health facilities. However, health workers' capacity to mobilize social, cultural and symbolic capital played a significant role in their ability to overcome work related problems. Professional and non-professional social relationships were activated in order to access drug stocks and other supplies, transport and knowledge. Conclusions By evaluating the workhood concept this study highlights the importance of understanding health worker performance by looking at their resources and capacities. Rather than blaming health workers for health system failures, applying a strength-based approach offers new insights into health workers' capacities and identifies entry points for target actions. PMID:22401037

"Workhood"-a useful concept for the analysis of health workers' resources? An evaluation from Tanzania.

PubMed

Gross, Karin; Pfeiffer, Constanze; Obrist, Brigit

2012-03-08

International debates on improving health system performance and quality of care are strongly coined by systems thinking. There is a surprising lack of attention to the human (worker) elements. Although the central role of health workers within the health system has increasingly been acknowledged, there are hardly studies that analyze performance and quality of care from an individual perspective. Drawing on livelihood studies in health and sociological theory of capitals, this study develops and evaluates the new concept of workhood. As an analytical device the concept aims at understanding health workers' capacities to access resources (human, financial, physical, social, cultural and symbolic capital) and transfer them to the community from an individual perspective. Case studies were conducted in four Reproductive-and-Child-Health (RCH) clinics in the Kilombero Valley, south-eastern Tanzania, using different qualitative methods such as participant observation, informal discussions and in-depth interviews to explore the relevance of the different types of workhood resources for effective health service delivery. Health workers' ability to access these resources were investigated and factors facilitating or constraining access identified. The study showed that lack of physical, human, cultural and financial capital constrained health workers' capacity to act. In particular, weak health infrastructure and health system failures led to the lack of sufficient drug and supply stocks and chronic staff shortages at the health facilities. However, health workers' capacity to mobilize social, cultural and symbolic capital played a significant role in their ability to overcome work related problems. Professional and non-professional social relationships were activated in order to access drug stocks and other supplies, transport and knowledge. By evaluating the workhood concept this study highlights the importance of understanding health worker performance by looking at their resources and capacities. Rather than blaming health workers for health system failures, applying a strength-based approach offers new insights into health workers' capacities and identifies entry points for target actions.

Regulatory assessment of proposed accessibility guidelines for pedestrians in the public right-of-way

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2011-06-30

This report assesses the potential costs and benefits of proposed accessibility guidelines issued by the Access Board for pedestrian facilities in the public right-of-way. The report also analyzes the potential impacts of the proposed guidelines on s...

Evaluation of Web Accessibility of Consumer Health Information Websites

PubMed Central

Zeng, Xiaoming; Parmanto, Bambang

2003-01-01

The objectives of the study are to construct a comprehensive framework for web accessibility evaluation, to evaluate the current status of web accessibility of consumer health information websites and to investigate the relationship between web accessibility and property of the websites. We selected 108 consumer health information websites from the directory service of a Web search engine. We used Web accessibility specifications to construct a framework for the measurement of Web Accessibility Barriers (WAB) of website. We found that none of the websites is completely accessible to people with disabilities, but governmental and educational health information websites exhibit better performance on web accessibility than other categories of websites. We also found that the correlation between the WAB score and the popularity of a website is statistically significant. PMID:14728272

Evaluation of web accessibility of consumer health information websites.

PubMed

Zeng, Xiaoming; Parmanto, Bambang

2003-01-01

The objectives of the study are to construct a comprehensive framework for web accessibility evaluation, to evaluate the current status of web accessibility of consumer health information websites and to investigate the relationship between web accessibility and property of the websites. We selected 108 consumer health information websites from the directory service of a Web search engine. We used Web accessibility specifications to construct a framework for the measurement of Web Accessibility Barriers (WAB) of website. We found that none of the websites is completely accessible to people with disabilities, but governmental and educational health information websites exhibit better performance on web accessibility than other categories of websites. We also found that the correlation between the WAB score and the popularity of a website is statistically significant.

Use, access, and equity in health care services in São Paulo, Brazil.

PubMed

Monteiro, Camila Nascimento; Beenackers, Mariëlle A; Goldbaum, Moisés; Barros, Marilisa Berti de Azevedo; Gianini, Reinaldo José; Cesar, Chester Luiz Galvão; Mackenbach, Johan P

2017-05-18

The study analyzed how socioeconomic factors are associated with seeking, access, use, and quality of health care services in São Paulo, Brazil. Data were obtained from two household health surveys in São Paulo. We used logistic regression to analyze associations between socioeconomic factors and seeking, access, use, and quality of health care services. Access to health care services was high among those who sought it (94.91% in 2003 and 94.98% in 2008). The proportion of access to and use of health care services did not change significantly from 2003 to 2008. Use of services in the public sector was more frequent in lower socioeconomic groups. There were some socioeconomic differences in seeking health care and resolution of health problems. The study showed almost universal access to health care services, but the results suggest problems in quality of services and differences in quality experienced by lower socioeconomic groups, who mostly use the Brazilian Unified National Health System (SUS).

End User Evaluations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jay, Caroline; Lunn, Darren; Michailidou, Eleni

As new technologies emerge, and Web sites become increasingly sophisticated, ensuring they remain accessible to disabled and small-screen users is a major challenge. While guidelines and automated evaluation tools are useful for informing some aspects of Web site design, numerous studies have demonstrated that they provide no guarantee that the site is genuinely accessible. The only reliable way to evaluate the accessibility of a site is to study the intended users interacting with it. This chapter outlines the processes that can be used throughout the design life cycle to ensure Web accessibility, describing their strengths and weaknesses, and discussing the practical and ethical considerations that they entail. The chapter also considers an important emerging trend in user evaluations: combining data from studies of “standard” Web use with data describing existing accessibility issues, to drive accessibility solutions forward.

Quality of vascular surgery Web sites on the Internet.

PubMed

Grewal, Perbinder; Williams, Bryn; Alagaratnam, Swethan; Neffendorf, James; Soobrah, Ritish

2012-11-01

This study evaluated the readability, accessibility, usability, and reliability of vascular surgery information on the Internet in the English language. The Google, Yahoo, and MSN/Bing search engines were searched for "carotid endarterectomy," "EVAR or endovascular aneurysm repair," and "varicose veins or varicose veins surgery." The first 50 Web sites from each search engine for each topic were analyzed. The Flesch Reading Ease Score and Gunning Fog Index were calculated to assess readability. The LIDA tool (Minervation Ltd, Oxford, UK) was used to assess accessibility, usability, and reliability. The Web sites were difficult to read and comprehend. The mean Flesch Reading Ease scores were 53.53 for carotid endarterectomy, 50.53 for endovascular aneurysm repair, and 58.59 for varicose veins. The mean Gunning Fog Index scores were 12.3 for carotid endarterectomy, 12.12 for endovascular aneurysm repair, and 10.69 for varicose veins. The LIDA values for accessibility were good, but the results for usability and reliability were poor. Internet information on vascular surgical conditions and procedures is poorly written and unreliable. We suggest that health professionals should recommend Web sites that are easy to read and contain high-quality surgical information. Medical information on the Internet must be readable, accessible, usable, and reliable. Copyright © 2012 Society for Vascular Surgery. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Effect of waxy (Low Amylose) on Fungal Infection of Sorghum Grain.

PubMed

Funnell-Harris, Deanna L; Sattler, Scott E; O'Neill, Patrick M; Eskridge, Kent M; Pedersen, Jeffrey F

2015-06-01

Loss of function mutations in waxy, encoding granule bound starch synthase (GBSS) that synthesizes amylose, results in starch granules containing mostly amylopectin. Low amylose grain with altered starch properties has increased usability for feed, food, and grain-based ethanol. In sorghum, two classes of waxy (wx) alleles had been characterized for absence or presence of GBSS: wx(a) (GBSS(-)) and wx(b) (GBSS(+), with reduced activity). Field-grown grain of wild-type; waxy, GBSS(-); and waxy, GBSS(+) plant introduction accessions were screened for fungal infection. Overall, results showed that waxy grains were not more susceptible than wild-type. GBSS(-) and wild-type grain had similar infection levels. However, height was a factor with waxy, GBSS(+) lines: short accessions (wx(b) allele) were more susceptible than tall accessions (undescribed allele). In greenhouse experiments, grain from accessions and near-isogenic wx(a), wx(b), and wild-type lines were inoculated with Alternaria sp., Fusarium thapsinum, and Curvularia sorghina to analyze germination and seedling fitness. As a group, waxy lines were not more susceptible to these pathogens than wild-type, supporting field evaluations. After C. sorghina and F. thapsinum inoculations most waxy and wild-type lines had reduced emergence, survival, and seedling weights. These results are valuable for developing waxy hybrids with resistance to grain-infecting fungi.

Accessibility of near-Earth asteroids, 1990

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hulkower, Neal D.; Child, Jack B.

1991-01-01

Previous research which analyzed the accessibility of all known near-Earth asteroids is updated. Since then, many new near-Earth asteroids have been discovered, and 1928 DB, the most accessible asteroid at that time, has been recovered. Many of these recently discovered near-Earth asteroids have promising orbital characteristics. In addition to accessibility (as defined by minimum global delta v), ideal rendezvous opportunities are identified.

Use of an ultrasonic-acoustic technique for nondestructive evaluation of fiber composite strength

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vary, A.; Bowles, K. J.

1978-01-01

Details of the method used to measure the stress wave factor are described. Frequency spectra of the stress waves are analyzed in order to clarify the nature of the wave phenomena involved. The stress wave factor was measured with simple contact probes requiring only one-side access to a part. This is beneficial in nondestructive evaluations because the waves can run parallel to fiber directions and thus measure material properties in directions assumed by actual loads. The technique can be applied where conventional through transmission techniques are impractical or where more quantitative data are required. The stress wave factor was measured for a series of graphite/polyimide composite panels, and results obtained are compared with through transmission immersion ultrasonic scans.

Promotion and evaluation of a virtual live reference service.

PubMed

McGraw, Kathleen A; Heiland, Jennifer; Harris, Julianna C

2003-01-01

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Health Sciences Library began providing virtual live reference service in the fall of 2001. The library was interested in exploring new ways to interact with users accessing electronic resources from outside the library. This article describes the background for starting the service, the methods used to promote the service, and the results of an evaluation conducted after the first seven months of operation. The service was lightly used during these months with only 82 interactions. An analysis of the transcripts examined referring Web pages, types of questions asked, software features used, and user login data. Text of two user surveys is included, with the data from the in-person survey analyzed.

Total-body photography in skin cancer screening: the clinical utility of standardized imaging.

PubMed

Rosenberg, Alexandra; Meyerle, Jon H

2017-05-01

Early detection of skin cancer is essential to reducing morbidity and mortality from both melanoma and nonmelanoma skin cancers. Total-body skin examinations (TBSEs) may improve early detection of malignant melanomas (MMs) but are controversial due to the poor quality of data available to establish a mortality benefit from skin cancer screening. Total-body photography (TBP) promises to provide a way forward by lowering the costs of dermatologic screening while simultaneously leveraging technology to increase patient access to dermatologic care. Standardized TBP also offers the ability for dermatologists to work synergistically with modern computer technology involving algorithms capable of analyzing high-quality images to flag concerning lesions that may require closer evaluation. On a population level, inexpensive TBP has the potential to increase access to skin cancer screening and it has several specific applications in a military population. The utility of standardized TBP is reviewed in the context of skin cancer screening and teledermatology.

Identifying diffusion patterns of research articles on Twitter: A case study of online engagement with open access articles.

PubMed

Alperin, Juan Pablo; Gomez, Charles J; Haustein, Stefanie

2018-03-01

The growing presence of research shared on social media, coupled with the increase in freely available research, invites us to ask whether scientific articles shared on platforms like Twitter diffuse beyond the academic community. We explore a new method for answering this question by identifying 11 articles from two open access biology journals that were shared on Twitter at least 50 times and by analyzing the follower network of users who tweeted each article. We find that diffusion patterns of scientific articles can take very different forms, even when the number of times they are tweeted is similar. Our small case study suggests that most articles are shared within single-connected communities with limited diffusion to the public. The proposed approach and indicators can serve those interested in the public understanding of science, science communication, or research evaluation to identify when research diffuses beyond insular communities.

[Factor associated with medicines utilization and expenditure in Mexico].

PubMed

Wirtz, Veronika J; Serván-Mori, Edson; Heredia-Pi, Ileana; Dreser, Anahí; Ávila-Burgos, Leticia

2013-01-01

To analyze medicine utilization and expenditure and associated factors in Mexico, as well as to discuss their implications for pharmaceutical policy. Analysis of a sample of 193,228 individuals from the Mexican National Health and Nutrition Survey 2012. Probability and amount of expenditure were estimated using logit, probit and quantile regression models, evaluating three dimensions of access to medicines: (1) likelihood of utilization of medicines in the event of a health problem, (2) probability of incurring expenses and (3) amount spent on medicines. Individuals affiliated to IMSS were more likely to use medicines (OR=1.2, p<0.05). Being affiliated to the IMSS, ISSSTE or SP reduced the likelihood of spending compared to those without health insurance (about RM 0.7, p<0.01). Median expenditures varied between 195.3 and 274.2 pesos. Factors associated with the use and expenditure on medicines indicate that inequities in the access to medicines persist.

A secure EHR system based on hybrid clouds.

PubMed

Chen, Yu-Yi; Lu, Jun-Chao; Jan, Jinn-Ke

2012-10-01

Consequently, application services rendering remote medical services and electronic health record (EHR) have become a hot topic and stimulating increased interest in studying this subject in recent years. Information and communication technologies have been applied to the medical services and healthcare area for a number of years to resolve problems in medical management. Sharing EHR information can provide professional medical programs with consultancy, evaluation, and tracing services can certainly improve accessibility to the public receiving medical services or medical information at remote sites. With the widespread use of EHR, building a secure EHR sharing environment has attracted a lot of attention in both healthcare industry and academic community. Cloud computing paradigm is one of the popular healthIT infrastructures for facilitating EHR sharing and EHR integration. In this paper, we propose an EHR sharing and integration system in healthcare clouds and analyze the arising security and privacy issues in access and management of EHRs.

Integrated molecular and morphological studies of Daucus

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Ninety-four nuclear orthologs were used to analyze phylogenetic structure in 89 accessions of 13 species and two subspecies of Daucus, and an additional ten accessions of related genera. A near parallel set of accessions were used for morphological analyses of germplasm planted in a common garden in...

Evaluating a community-partnered cancer clinical trials pilot intervention with African American communities.

PubMed

Green, Melissa A; Michaels, Margo; Blakeney, Natasha; Odulana, Adebowale A; Isler, Malika Roman; Richmond, Alan; Long, Debra G; Robinson, William S; Taylor, Yhenneko J; Corbie-Smith, Giselle

2015-03-01

Cancer clinical trial (CCT) accrual and retention rates remain disproportionately low among African Americans. Awarenesss and access to trials are crucial facilitators of trial participation. Strategies developed within a community-based participatory framework (CBPR) are potential solutions to increase awareness and access to CCTs. In this study, we describe the pilot phase of three innovative community-centered modules to improve basic CCT knowledge, awareness of locations to access CCT information, and opportunities to participate in CCTs. Four community organizations completed Community Bridges to CCT training-of-the-trainer and recruited adult African American volunteers to participate in one of three CCT education modules: a workshop about CCTs, a role play describing one person's experience with CCTs, or a call and response session reviewing myths and facts about CCTs. Pre- and post-test surveys were collected and analyzed using McNemar agreement statistic to evaluate changes in knowledge and attitudes regarding trials. Trainers enrolled 125 participants in the call and response (n = 22), role play (n = 60), and workshop (n = 43) modules. Module participants were mostly African American, female, and with a mean age of 53 years. Comparison of pre- and post-test responses demonstrates favorable changes in awareness of CCTs and where to access CCTs across the sample. Analysis by module type indicates significant increases for participants in the call and response (p < 0.01) and role play modules (p < 0.001), but not the workshop module. Despite measures taken to increase the participation and retention rate of African Americans in clinical trials, little advancement has been made. Developing tailored community education modules on CCTs within the CBPR framework is a promising innovation to increase knowledge about CCTs and favorable attitudes about participation that are known precursors to trial enrollment.

Acute cardiovascular responses while playing virtual games simulated by Nintendo Wii®

PubMed Central

Rodrigues, Gusthavo Augusto Alves; Felipe, Danilo De Souza; Silva, Elisangela; De Freitas, Wagner Zeferino; Higino, Wonder Passoni; Da Silva, Fabiano Fernandes; De Carvalho, Wellington Roberto Gomes; Aparecido de Souza, Renato

2015-01-01

[Purpose] This investigation evaluated the acute cardiovascular responses that occur while playing virtual games (aerobic and balance) emulated by Nintendo Wii®. [Subjects] Nineteen healthy male volunteers were recruited. [Methods] The ergospirometric variables of maximum oxygen consumption, metabolic equivalents, and heart rate were obtained during the aerobic (Obstacle Course, Hula Hoop, and Free Run) and balance (Soccer Heading, Penguin Slide, and Table Tilt) games of Wii Fit Plus® software. To access and analyze the ergospirometric information, a VO2000 analyzer was used. Normalized data (using maximum oxygen consumption and heart rate) were analyzed using repeated measures analysis of variance and Scheffe’s test. [Results] Significant differences were found among the balance and aerobic games in all variables analyzed. In addition, the Wii exercises performed were considered to be of light (balance games) and moderate (aerobic games) intensity in accordance with American College Sports Medicine exercise stratification. [Conclusion] Physical activity in a virtual environment emulated by Nintendo Wii® can change acute cardiovascular responses, primarily when Wii aerobic games are performed. These results support the use of the Nintendo Wii® in physical activity programs. PMID:26504308

Acute cardiovascular responses while playing virtual games simulated by Nintendo Wii(®).

PubMed

Rodrigues, Gusthavo Augusto Alves; Felipe, Danilo De Souza; Silva, Elisangela; De Freitas, Wagner Zeferino; Higino, Wonder Passoni; Da Silva, Fabiano Fernandes; De Carvalho, Wellington Roberto Gomes; Aparecido de Souza, Renato

2015-09-01

[Purpose] This investigation evaluated the acute cardiovascular responses that occur while playing virtual games (aerobic and balance) emulated by Nintendo Wii(®). [Subjects] Nineteen healthy male volunteers were recruited. [Methods] The ergospirometric variables of maximum oxygen consumption, metabolic equivalents, and heart rate were obtained during the aerobic (Obstacle Course, Hula Hoop, and Free Run) and balance (Soccer Heading, Penguin Slide, and Table Tilt) games of Wii Fit Plus(®) software. To access and analyze the ergospirometric information, a VO2000 analyzer was used. Normalized data (using maximum oxygen consumption and heart rate) were analyzed using repeated measures analysis of variance and Scheffe's test. [Results] Significant differences were found among the balance and aerobic games in all variables analyzed. In addition, the Wii exercises performed were considered to be of light (balance games) and moderate (aerobic games) intensity in accordance with American College Sports Medicine exercise stratification. [Conclusion] Physical activity in a virtual environment emulated by Nintendo Wii(®) can change acute cardiovascular responses, primarily when Wii aerobic games are performed. These results support the use of the Nintendo Wii(®) in physical activity programs.

Genetic diversity and accession structure in European Cynara cardunculus collections

PubMed Central

Fernández, Juan A.; Sonnante, Gabriella; Egea-Gilabert, Catalina

2017-01-01

Understanding the distribution of genetic variations and accession structures is an important factor for managing genetic resources, but also for using proper germplasm in association map analyses and breeding programs. The globe artichoke is the fourth most important horticultural crop in Europe. Here, we report the results of a molecular analysis of a collection including globe artichoke and leafy cardoon germplasm present in the Italian, French and Spanish gene banks. The aims of this study were to: (i) assess the diversity present in European collections, (ii) determine the population structure, (iii) measure the genetic distance between accessions; (iv) cluster the accessions; (v) properly distinguish accessions present in the different national collections carrying the same name; and (vi) understand the diversity distribution in relation to the gene bank and the geographic origin of the germplasm. A total of 556 individuals grouped into 174 accessions of distinct typologies were analyzed by different types of molecular markers, i.e. dominant (ISSR and AFLP) and co-dominant (SSR). The data of the two crops (globe artichoke and leafy cardoon) were analyzed jointly and separately to compute, among other aims, the gene diversity, heterozygosity (He, Ho), fixation indexes, AMOVA, genetic distance and structure. The findings underline the huge diversity present in the analyzed material, and the existence of alleles that are able to discriminate among accessions. The accessions were clustered not only on the basis of their typology, but also on the basis of the gene bank they come from. Probably, the environmental conditions of the different field gene banks affected germplasm conservation. These outcomes will be useful in plant breeding to select accessions and to fingerprint varieties. Moreover, the results highlight the particular attention that should be paid to the method used to conserve the Cynara cardunculus germplasm and suggest to the preference of using accessions from different gene banks to run an association map. PMID:28570688

Urban Studies: A Study of Bibliographic Access and Control.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Anderson, Barbara E.

This paper analyzes: (1) the bibliographic access to publications in urban studies via printed secondary sources; (2) development and scope of classification systems and of vocabulary control for urban studies; and (3) currently accessible automated collections of bibliographic citations. Urban studies is defined as "an agglomeration of…

Analysis of FERC's Final EIS for Electricity Open Access & Recovery of Stranded Costs

EIA Publications

1996-01-01

Reviews the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) prepared by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for its electricity transmission system open access prepared in April 1996 and uses the National Energy Modeling System (NEMS) to analyze the open access rule (Orders 888 and 889).

Potential of OFDM for next generation optical access

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fritzsche, Daniel; Weis, Erik; Breuer, Dirk

2011-01-01

This paper shows the requirements for next generation optical access (NGOA) networks and analyzes the potential of OFDM (orthogonal frequency division multiplexing) for the use in such network scenarios. First, we show the motivation for NGOA systems based on the future requirements on FTTH access systems and list the advantages of OFDM in such scenarios. In the next part, the basics of OFDM and different methods to generate and detect optical OFDM signals are explained and analyzed. At the transmitter side the options include intensity modulation and the more advanced field modulation of the optical OFDM signal. At the receiver there is the choice between direct detection and coherent detection. As the result of this discussion we show our vision of the future use of OFDM in optical access networks.

Handicap Accessibility: A Self-Evaluation Guidebook for ACTION and Its Grantees. Handbook 240.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

ACTION, Washington, DC. Office of Equal Opportunity.

This handbook is designed to assist managers of ACTION grantee programs in evaluating the degree to which the needs of persons with disabilities are incorporated into their programs for physical accessibility of buildings and facilities. After a general discussion of self-evaluation principles and accessibility guidelines, a checklist is provided…

Evaluating improvements in landside access for airports.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1998-10-01

The purpose of this research was to describe the elements that comprise airport access and develop a methodology for identifying and evaluating existing landside access performance and proposed improvements from a passenger perspective. The scope was...

Accessibility and usability OCW data: The UTPL OCW.

PubMed

Rodríguez, Germania; Perez, Jennifer; Cueva, Samanta; Torres, Rommel

2017-08-01

This data article provides a data description on article entitled "A framework for improving web accessibility and usability of Open Course Ware sites" [3] This Data in Brief presents the data obtained from the accessibility and usability evaluation of the UTPL OCW. The data obtained from the framework evaluation consists of the manual evaluation of the standards criteria and the automatic evaluation of the tools Google PageSpeed and Google Analytics. In addition, this article presents the synthetized tables from standards that are used by the framework to evaluate the accessibility and usability of OCW, and the questionnaires required to extract the data. As a result, the article also provides the data required to reproduce the evaluation of other OCW.

Let's Talk About B: Barriers to Hepatitis B Screening and Vaccination Among Asian and South Asian Immigrants in British Columbia.

PubMed

Zibrik, Lindsay; Huang, Alan; Wong, Vivian; Novak Lauscher, Helen; Choo, Queenie; Yoshida, Eric M; Ho, Kendall

2018-03-19

Chronic hepatitis B (HBV) is prevalent among Asian immigrants in Canada with high morbidity and mortality rates. While some studies have identified barriers to health care and information access, few have studied the impact of culturally relevant information and addressed challenges with recommendations for effective public education and outreach programs. Culturally tailored HBV education workshops were delivered over a 12-month period to Chinese, Filipino, Korean and Punjabi immigrants in Lower Mainland, British Columbia (BC). Data from pre- and post-workshop surveys and 2-week and 1-month follow-up interviews were collected and analyzed to evaluate knowledge gaps and challenges around HBV prevention and screening. Barriers, health care service gaps and facilitators identified in the interviews were coded and analyzed. Data were collected from 827 workshop participants. Our results show that targeted immigrants in Lower Mainland, BC face many barriers to accessing HBV screening and vaccination. Limited knowledge and awareness of HBV vaccination/prevention/treatment, limited English proficiency and eLiteracy skills, system and provider level barriers to accessing HBV care, and immigration related barriers are among the reported challenges. More than half of participants who took part in the HBV education workshops engaged in actions related to HBV prevention or management. Study findings support the need for culturally tailored HBV public education and outreach programs to further advance HBV immunization and awareness in BC. Addressing barriers and developing targeted programmatic strategies identified in this study will promote more effective HBV education programming and improve uptake of HBV screening and vaccination in BC's immigrant populations.

Voces de la frontera/Voices from the Border: Using Case Studies of Pregnancy, Birth and Parenting along the U.S.-Mexico Border to Identify Shared Measures of Success.

PubMed

Selchau, Katherine; Babuca, Maricela; Bower, Kara; Castro, Yara; Flores, Araceli; Garcia, Jonah O; Reyes, Maria Lourdes F; Rojas, Yvonne; Shattuck, Laura

2017-12-01

Purpose This research analyzes the cases of five women living along the U.S.-Mexico border who overcame challenges during pregnancy or parenting with the support of a federally funded Healthy Start program, designed to eliminate disparities in perinatal health in disadvantaged communities with the poorest birth outcomes. Study objectives were to: (1) identify common factors that affect healthy maternal and child outcomes for Healthy Start participants; and (2) identify a shared definition of what success looks like for Healthy Start participants and opportunities for further study. Description Five border Healthy Start sites (CA, AZ, NM, and TX) contributed case stories from participants who had overcome access barriers to achieve positive pregnancy, birth or parenting outcomes. Case studies were collected using review of successful participant cases and non-structured interviews by Healthy Start staff, and analyzed using participatory methods and thematic analysis. Assessment Common barriers were: lack of insurance; isolation or unsupportive family relationships; timidness and lack of self-advocacy. Healthy Start programs have been successful in securing supportive relationships through the community health worker model; reducing isolation; obtaining insurance access and a medical home; building self-advocacy skills; and supporting participants to pursue their goals. Conclusion Identified barriers are in line with available literature on health care access and provide a U.S.-Mexico border-specific view. The Healthy Start model is effective at helping women to overcome barriers. Learning from this research may contribute to development of shared measures for more impactful evaluation of Healthy Start and similar programs.

Photogrammetric analysis of concrete specimens and structures for condition assessment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

D'Amico, Nicolas; Yu, Tzuyang

2016-04-01

Deterioration of civil infrastructure in America demands routine inspection and maintenance to avoid catastrophic failures from occurring. Among many other non-destructive evaluations (NDE), photogrammetry is an accessible and realistic approach used for non-destructive evaluation (NDE) of a civil infrastructure systems. The objective of this paper is to explore the capabilities of photogrammetry for locating, sizing, and analyzing the remaining capacity of a specimen or system using point cloud data. Geometric interpretations, composed from up to 70 photographs are analyzed as a mesh or point cloud models. In this case study, concrete, which exhibits a large amount of surface texture features, was thoroughly examined. These evaluative techniques discussed were applied to concrete cylinder models as well as portions of civil infrastructure including buildings, retaining walls, and bridge abutments. In this paper, the aim is to demonstrate the basic analytical functionality of photogrammetry, as well as its applicability to in-situ civil infrastructure systems. In concrete specimens defect length and location can be evaluated in a fully defined model (one with the maximum amount of correctly acquired photographs) with less than 2% error. Error was found to be inversely proportional to the number of acceptable photographs acquired, remaining significantly under 10% error for any model with enough data to render. Furthermore, volumetric stress evaluations were applied using a cross sectional evaluation technique to locate the critical area, and determine the severity of damages. Finally, findings and the accuracy of the results are discussed.

Comparison of Standards for Accessible Design between America and China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Han, Ying; Tao, Xu Feng

2018-06-01

Aiming at the accessibility design and environmental constructions of China, comparing the differences of codes for accessibility design between domestic and abroad. It's including four aspects: the difference in audience of accessible design, content of the facilities, quantitative indexes and vision and hearing accessible design. It analyzed that the early stage of our country is backward in terms of accessibility and construction, mainly based on differences in values and professional education. In the end it put forward three suggestions to improve the construction of barrier-free environment in China.

Student Perceptions and Acceptance of Mobile Technology in an Undergraduate Nursing Program

PubMed Central

DeCristofaro, Claire; Murphy, Pamela F.; Sims, Archie

2017-01-01

Mobile technology allows healthcare students to access current evidence-based resources. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the student experience of implementing point-of-care (POC) smartphone applications in a first-semester undergraduate nursing program. Teaching methods included using case studies in the laboratory to familiarize students with the apps. At community screening sites, evidence-based guidelines were referenced when students discussed screening results with patients. Surveys were administered prior to implementing this innovation and after the students utilized the apps in direct patient interactions. Survey results were analyzed to evaluate student perceptions and acceptance of mobile technology. Students felt that healthcare smartphone apps were a helpful and convenient way to obtain evidence-based clinical information pertinent to direct care settings. Over 90% of students planned to continue using healthcare smartphone apps. In conclusion, healthcare smartphone apps are a way for students to become comfortable accessing evidence-based clinical resources. It is important to encourage students to use these resources early in the curriculum. Community screenings are an independent health promotion activity which assists in the attainment of health equity and fosters nursing leadership. PMID:28754011

Effectiveness of the HomeSafe Pilot Program in reducing injury rates among residential construction workers, 1994-1998.

PubMed

Darragh, Amy Rowntree; Stallones, Lorann; Bigelow, Phillip L; Keefe, Thomas J

2004-02-01

The construction industry typically has one of the highest fatal and non-fatal injury rates compared with other industries. Residential construction workers are at particular risk of injury (work is in remote sites with small crews, there are often many subcontractors, and they have limited access to safety programs). Difficulty accessing information specific to this group has made research more challenging, therefore, there are few studies. This study evaluated the effectiveness of the HomeSafe Pilot Program, a safety education and training program designed to reduce injuries among residential construction workers. Researchers evaluated whether overall and severe injury incidence rates declined during the intervention period. Data were analyzed using incidence rates and Poisson regression to control for the effect of antecedent secular trend. Injury incidence rates declined significantly following HomeSafe; however, this effect was not statistically significant once temporal variation was controlled. The decline in injury rates following HomeSafe cannot be attributed solely to HomeSafe, however, programmatic and methodologic limitations contributed to the inconclusive results. Further research into the hazards faced by residential construction workers is needed. Am. J. Ind. Med. 45:210-217, 2004. Copyright 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Evaluating Web accessibility at different processing phases

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fernandes, N.; Lopes, R.; Carriço, L.

2012-09-01

Modern Web sites use several techniques (e.g. DOM manipulation) that allow for the injection of new content into their Web pages (e.g. AJAX), as well as manipulation of the HTML DOM tree. This has the consequence that the Web pages that are presented to users (i.e. after browser processing) are different from the original structure and content that is transmitted through HTTP communication (i.e. after browser processing). This poses a series of challenges for Web accessibility evaluation, especially on automated evaluation software. This article details an experimental study designed to understand the differences posed by accessibility evaluation after Web browser processing. We implemented a Javascript-based evaluator, QualWeb, that can perform WCAG 2.0 based accessibility evaluations in the two phases of browser processing. Our study shows that, in fact, there are considerable differences between the HTML DOM trees in both phases, which have the consequence of having distinct evaluation results. We discuss the impact of these results in the light of the potential problems that these differences can pose to designers and developers that use accessibility evaluators that function before browser processing.

Walkyourplace - Evaluating Neighbourhood Accessibility at Street Level

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Steiniger, S.; Poorazizi, M. E.; Hunter, A. J. S.

2013-05-01

The popularity of a neighbourhood is often explained by its perceived "higher" quality of life. Good access to shops, restaurants, parks, etc., is seen as an indicator that reflects improved quality of life. We present a web-based tool for assessment of accessibility to such services. The system evaluates in real time an area that is accessible using pedestrian, transit, and cycling infrastructure. The accessible area is evaluated using "quality of life" indicators, such as the number of grocery stores, shopping and recreation facilities, and local crime within that area. This tool sets itself apart from pre-computed and neighbourhood-level walkability indices, because it makes use of detailed street-level data, rather than block-level generalizations. It uses real network travel time, and, when transit data are provided, permits the creation and evaluation of accessibility areas for a combination of travel modes such as walking with transit use.

Student Evaluation of Online Pharmaceutical Compounding Videos

PubMed Central

Park, Hanna L.

2016-01-01

Objective. To describe pharmacy students’ views on the effectiveness of an expansion of the compounding laboratory website at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. Methods. Originally, there were 39 videos and three animations available. In 2011, an additional 59 videos and two animations were added. Concurrently, all of the interactive questions were updated to fully integrate with the expanded video library. Students were surveyed about the expanded video library regarding accessibility, functionality, and usefulness, and how using the library impacted their learning of compounding. Surveys were analyzed with descriptive statistics. Means and SDs were calculated for the rating scale questions; independent t tests and Wilcoxon nonparametric tests were used to find differences between professional classes and campuses. Analytical results were evaluated with a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), z test, and a homogeneity of variance (Levene’s) test. Results. The response rate to the survey was 85%. Compounding videos were used by 386/391 students. Thirty-four percent of students used the videos an average of 30 minutes or less per week; 56% used the videos 1–2 hours per week. Approximately 80% of students were satisfied with the functionality and accessibility of the videos. All students, regardless of professional year or campus affiliation, put their confidence/competence at about 70% of the rating scale. Conclusions. As no standardized compounding curriculum was found in US schools of pharmacy and students reported being satisfied with the website, it could be an accessible, functional, and useful resource for pharmaceutical compounding in schools of pharmacy. PMID:27073283

[eLearning-radiology.com--sustainability for quality assurance].

PubMed

Ketelsen, D; Talanow, R; Uder, M; Grunewald, M

2009-04-01

The aim of the study was to analyze the availability of published radiological e-learning tools and to establish a solution for quality assurance. Substantial pubmed research was performed to identify radiological e-learning tools. 181 e-learning programs were selected. As examples two databases expanding their programs with external links, Compare (n = 435 external links) and TNT-Radiology (n = 1078 external links), were evaluated. A concept for quality assurance was developed by an international taskforce. At the time of assessment, 56.4 % (102 / 181) of the investigated e-learning tools were accessible at their original URL. A subgroup analysis of programs published 5 to 8 years ago showed significantly inferior availability to programs published 3 to 5 years ago (p < 0.01). The analysis of external links showed 49.2 % and 61.0 % accessible links for the programs Compare (published 2003) and TNT-Radiology (published 2006), respectively. As a consequence, the domain www.eLearning-radiology.com was developed by the taskforce and published online. This tool allows authors to present their programs and users to evaluate the e-learning tools depending on several criteria in order to remove inoperable links and to obtain information about the complexity and quality of the e-learning tools. More than 50 % of investigated radiological e-learning tools on the Internet were not accessible after a period of 5 to 8 years. As a consequence, an independent, international tool for quality assurance was designed and published online under www.eLearning-radiology.com .

Student Evaluation of Online Pharmaceutical Compounding Videos.

PubMed

Park, Hanna L; Shrewsbury, Robert P

2016-03-25

Objective. To describe pharmacy students' views on the effectiveness of an expansion of the compounding laboratory website at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. Methods. Originally, there were 39 videos and three animations available. In 2011, an additional 59 videos and two animations were added. Concurrently, all of the interactive questions were updated to fully integrate with the expanded video library. Students were surveyed about the expanded video library regarding accessibility, functionality, and usefulness, and how using the library impacted their learning of compounding. Surveys were analyzed with descriptive statistics. Means and SDs were calculated for the rating scale questions; independent t tests and Wilcoxon nonparametric tests were used to find differences between professional classes and campuses. Analytical results were evaluated with a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), z test, and a homogeneity of variance (Levene's) test. Results. The response rate to the survey was 85%. Compounding videos were used by 386/391 students. Thirty-four percent of students used the videos an average of 30 minutes or less per week; 56% used the videos 1-2 hours per week. Approximately 80% of students were satisfied with the functionality and accessibility of the videos. All students, regardless of professional year or campus affiliation, put their confidence/competence at about 70% of the rating scale. Conclusions. As no standardized compounding curriculum was found in US schools of pharmacy and students reported being satisfied with the website, it could be an accessible, functional, and useful resource for pharmaceutical compounding in schools of pharmacy.

Access to antihypertensive agents in Brazil: evaluation of the "health has no price" program.

PubMed

Araujo, João Leopoldo Oliveira; Pereira, Mariana Donato; de Sá Del Fiol, Fernando; Barberato-Filho, Silvio

2014-08-01

This article aims to evaluate access to antihypertensive agents during the first year of the "Health Has No Price" Program (Saúde Não Tem Preço [SNTP]) in Brazil. A longitudinal and observational study was performed based on the number of antihypertensive medications supplied in 55,000 private pharmacies distributed throughout the Brazilian territory during the period February 1, 2010, through January 31, 2012. The number of antihypertensive pills supplied in the first 12 months of the SNTP Program was compared with the number of pills supplied in the 12 months before its implementation. Six antihypertensive medicines showed an increase between 32% and 120% in the number of pills supplied in the first year of the program. In this same period, the growth of the Brazilian pharmaceutical market was ~13%. Additionally, 11 medicines containing the same active ingredients as the antihypertensive agents in the SNTP Program, but at concentrations not available for free, were analyzed; it was found that none showed a change >8%, and 5 showed a reduction in the number of pills supplied after the implementation of the SNTP Program. The analysis of 7 fixed-dose combinations not available in the SNTP Program that were formulated with the same active ingredients showed a change below the annual percentage growth of the Brazilian pharmaceutical market. The SNTP Program may have contributed to increased access to antihypertensive medicines in Brazil. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier HS Journals, Inc. All rights reserved.

Adolescent Marijuana Use and Perceived Ease of Access Before and After Recreational Marijuana Implementation in Colorado.

PubMed

Harpin, Scott B; Brooks-Russell, Ashley; Ma, Ming; James, Katherine A; Levinson, Arnold H

2018-02-23

As of January 1, 2017, eight states have approved laws for recreational marijuana use. While the social impacts of these changes remain under debate, the influence on adolescent marijuana use is a key policy and health issue across the U.S. To examine changes in adolescent marijuana-use behaviors in the first year after recreational marijuana implementation in Colorado, and to analyze the effect of retail marijuana store proximity on youth use and perceptions. Secondary analysis of Healthy Kids Colorado Survey data from 40 schools surveyed before and after recreational marijuana sales were implemented (2013 student n = 12,240; 2014 student n = 11,931). Self-reported marijuana use, ease of access, and perceived harms were compared between years and by proximity of recreational marijuana stores to surveyed schools. Adolescent marijuana use behaviors, wrongness of use, and perceptions of risk of harm were unchanged from baseline to one-year follow-up. Perceived ease of access to marijuana increased (from 46% to 52%). Proximity of recreational marijuana stores was not significantly associated with perceived ease of access to marijuana. Conclusions/Importance: In the first study of adolescent marijuana use and perceptions after state retail implementation of recreational marijuana, there was little change in adolescent marijuana use but a significant change in perception of ease of access. Public health workers and policymakers should continue to monitor these changes as essential for evaluating the impact of liberalization of marijuana policies.

Accessibility of insulin pumps for blind and visually impaired people.

PubMed

Uslan, Mark M; Burton, Darren M; Chertow, Bruce S; Collins, Ronda

2004-10-01

Continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion using an insulin pump (IP) more closely mimics the normal pancreas than multiple insulin injections. It is an effective, and often a preferred, means of maintaining normal blood glucose levels, but IPs were not designed to be fully accessible to blind or visually impaired people. This study will identify accessibility issues related to the design of IPs and focus on the key improvements required in the user interface to provide access for people who are blind or visually impaired. IPs that are commercially available were evaluated, and features and functions such as operating procedures, user interface design, and user manuals were tabulated and analyzed. Potential failures and design priorities were identified through a Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA). Although the IPs do provide some limited audio output, in general, it was found to be of minimal use to people who are blind or visually impaired. None of the IPs uses high-contrast displays with consistently large fonts preferred by people who are visually impaired. User manuals were also found to be of minimal use. Results of the FMEA emphasize the need to focus design improvements on communicating and verifying information so that errors and failures can be detected and corrected. The most important recommendation for future IP development is speech output capability, which, more than any other improvement, would break down accessibility barriers and allow blind and visually impaired people to take advantage of the benefits of IP technology.

Intravascular US-Guided Portal Vein Access: Improved Procedural Metrics during TIPS Creation.

PubMed

Gipson, Matthew G; Smith, Mitchell T; Durham, Janette D; Brown, Anthony; Johnson, Thor; Ray, Charles E; Gupta, Rajan K; Kondo, Kimi L; Rochon, Paul J; Ryu, Robert K

2016-08-01

To evaluate transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) outcomes and procedure metrics with the use of three different image guidance techniques for portal vein (PV) access during TIPS creation. A retrospective review of consecutive patients who underwent TIPS procedures for a range of indications during a 28-month study period identified a population of 68 patients. This was stratified by PV access techniques: fluoroscopic guidance with or without portography (n = 26), PV marker wire guidance (n = 18), or intravascular ultrasound (US) guidance (n = 24). Procedural outcomes and procedural metrics, including radiation exposure, contrast agent volume used, procedure duration, and PV access time, were analyzed. No differences in demographic or procedural characteristics were found among the three groups. Technical success, technical success of the primary planned approach, hemodynamic success, portosystemic gradient, and procedure-related complications were not significantly different among groups. Fluoroscopy time (P = .003), air kerma (P = .01), contrast agent volume (P = .003), and total procedural time (P = .02) were reduced with intravascular US guidance compared with fluoroscopic guidance. Fluoroscopy time (P = .01) and contrast agent volume (P = .02) were reduced with intravascular US guidance compared with marker wire guidance. Intravascular US guidance of PV access during TIPS creation not only facilitates successful TIPS creation in patients with challenging anatomy, as suggested by previous investigations, but also reduces important procedure metrics including radiation exposure, contrast agent volume, and overall procedure duration compared with fluoroscopically guided TIPS creation. Copyright © 2016 SIR. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

An analysis of state legislation on community trails.

PubMed

Eyler, Amy; Lankford, Tina; Chriqui, Jamie; Evenson, Kelly R; Kruger, Judy; Tompkins, Nancy; Voorhees, Carolyn; Zieff, Susan; Aytur, Semra; Brownson, Ross

2010-03-01

Trails provide opportunities for recreation, transportation and activity. The purpose of this article is to describe state legislation related to community trails, to analyze legislation content, and to evaluate legislation on inclusion of evidence-informed elements. State trail legislation from 2001 to 2008 was identified using online legislative databases. An analysis of evidence-informed elements included in the legislation was conducted. These elements included: funding, liability, accessibility, connectivity, and maintenance. Of the total 991 trail bills, 516 (52.0%) were appropriations bills, of which 167 (32.2%) were enacted. We analyzed 475 (48%) nonappropriation trail bills of which 139 (29.3%) were enacted. The percentage of enactment of appropriations bills decreased over time while enactment of nonappropriations trail bills increased. Over half of the nonappropriations trail bills included at least 1 evidence-informed element, most commonly funding. Few bills contained liability, connectivity, accessibility, or maintenance. There is opportunity for providing evidence-informed information to policy-makers to potentially influence bill content. The number of bills with a funding element demonstrates that fiscal support for trails is an important policy lever that state legislatures may use to support trails. Lastly, trails should be considered in over-all state-level physical activity legislation to provide opportunities for communities to be active.

An automated smartphone-based diagnostic assay for point-of-care semen analysis.

PubMed

Kanakasabapathy, Manoj Kumar; Sadasivam, Magesh; Singh, Anupriya; Preston, Collin; Thirumalaraju, Prudhvi; Venkataraman, Maanasa; Bormann, Charles L; Draz, Mohamed Shehata; Petrozza, John C; Shafiee, Hadi

2017-03-22

Male infertility affects up to 12% of the world's male population and is linked to various environmental and medical conditions. Manual microscope-based testing and computer-assisted semen analysis (CASA) are the current standard methods to diagnose male infertility; however, these methods are labor-intensive, expensive, and laboratory-based. Cultural and socially dominated stigma against male infertility testing hinders a large number of men from getting tested for infertility, especially in resource-limited African countries. We describe the development and clinical testing of an automated smartphone-based semen analyzer designed for quantitative measurement of sperm concentration and motility for point-of-care male infertility screening. Using a total of 350 clinical semen specimens at a fertility clinic, we have shown that our assay can analyze an unwashed, unprocessed liquefied semen sample with <5-s mean processing time and provide the user a semen quality evaluation based on the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines with ~98% accuracy. The work suggests that the integration of microfluidics, optical sensing accessories, and advances in consumer electronics, particularly smartphone capabilities, can make remote semen quality testing accessible to people in both developed and developing countries who have access to smartphones. Copyright © 2017, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Assessment of the antiproliferative and antigenotoxic activity and phytochemical screening of aqueous extracts of Sambucus australis Cham. & Schltdl. (ADOXACEAE).

PubMed

Tedesco, Marília; Kuhn, Andrielle W; Frescura, Viviane Dal-Souto; Boligon, Aline A; Athayde, Margareth L; Tedesco, Solange B; Silva, Antonio C F DA

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the antiproliferative and antigenotoxic activity of Sambucus australis Cham. & Schltdl. aqueous extracts on the cell cycle of Allium cepa L. as well as determine the phenolic compounds in such extracts. S. australis inflorescences and leaves of two accessions were used for aqueous extract preparation at concentrations: 0.003 g/ml and 0.012 g/ml. A. cepa bulbs were rooted in distilled water and, subsequently, placed in treatments for 24 hours. Rootlets were collected and fixed in modified Carnoy's solution for 24 hours and kept. The squash technique was performed for slide preparation. Root tips were smashed and stained with 2% acetic orcein, and a total of 4000 cells per treatment were analyzed. The phenolic compounds were determined using high-performance liquid chromatography and data was analyzed using the Scott-Knott test. The results show that S. australis aqueous extracts have antiproliferative potential. Besides, the extracts prepared from S. australis leaves of both accessions at a concentration of 0.012 g/ml have shown antigenotoxic activity. The phytochemical analysis allowed us to determine the presence of flavonoids and phenolic acids, of which kaempferol and chrologenic acid were the most predominant compounds in the extracts from the inflorescences and leaves, respectively.

Ensuring Rights: Improving Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health Services for Female International Students in Australia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Poljski, Carolyn; Quiazon, Regina; Tran, Chau

2014-01-01

Drawing on the research and advocacy work being conducted by the Multicultural Centre for Women's Health (MCWH), a national community-based organization in Victoria, Australia, the paper analyzes female international students' experiences with accessing sexual and reproductive health information and services. Accessibility of sexual and…

Access to Higher Education in Chile: A Public vs. Private Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Espinoza, Oscar; González, Luis Eduardo

2013-01-01

This study analyzes how access to public and private institutions of higher education in Chile has changed as the post-secondary system has become increasingly privatized. It analyses access by young people to higher education from four perspectives: funding type (public/private), gender, family income level, and ethnicity. The study uses…

Subject Access to "Pornography" for Serious Research Purposes.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moya, Cynde

2001-01-01

Examines some of the research needs in academic disciplines for access to pornographic materials, and looks at tools, such as thesauri and Web directories, which have been built to help searchers find materials. Discusses research needs for access to materials; tools built by librarians to subject analyze material; and Internet words for indexing…

New drug regulations in France: what are the impacts on market access? Part 2 – impacts on market access and impacts for the pharmaceutical industry

PubMed Central

Rémuzat, Cécile; Toumi, Mondher; Falissard, Bruno

2013-01-01

Access to the French drug market is being impacted by an ongoing dramatic shift in practice as well as by two laws that came into force in December 2011. This new environment has been described and analyzed in two separate articles. This second article analyzes how this new environment will actually impact the access to French drug market. French drug market access will be increasingly driven by comparative-effectiveness and cost-effectiveness data, and an increased role of postmarketing studies in the years to come. This access is evolving in a more complex environment for stakeholders due to the uncertainties surrounding these changes and it will be more complex and difficult for the pharmaceutical industry to address. The main issue faced by the pharmaceutical companies will be to minimize uncertainty at the time of a drug's launch to narrow the decision window. This is a major change of paradigm for the pharmaceutical business, in which pre- and postlaunch risks are directed toward the pharmaceutical industry. PMID:27226829

Optical versus virtual: teaching assistant perceptions of the use of virtual microscopy in an undergraduate human anatomy course.

PubMed

Collier, Larissa; Dunham, Stacey; Braun, Mark W; O'Loughlin, Valerie Dean

2012-01-01

Many studies that evaluate the introduction of technology in the classroom focus on student performance and student evaluations. This study focuses on instructor evaluation of the introduction of virtual microscopy into an undergraduate anatomy class. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with graduate teaching assistants (TA) and analyzed through qualitative methods. This analysis showed that the teaching assistants found the virtual microscope to be an advantageous change in the classroom. They cite the ease of use of the virtual microscope, access to histology outside of designated laboratory time, and increasing student collaboration in class as the primary advantages. The teaching assistants also discuss principal areas where the use of the virtual microscope can be improved from a pedagogical standpoint, including requiring students to spend more time working on histology in class. Copyright © 2011 American Association of Anatomists.

Forecasting in foodservice: model development, testing, and evaluation.

PubMed

Miller, J L; Thompson, P A; Orabella, M M

1991-05-01

This study was designed to develop, test, and evaluate mathematical models appropriate for forecasting menu-item production demand in foodservice. Data were collected from residence and dining hall foodservices at Ohio State University. Objectives of the study were to collect, code, and analyze the data; develop and test models using actual operation data; and compare forecasting results with current methods in use. Customer count was forecast using deseasonalized simple exponential smoothing. Menu-item demand was forecast by multiplying the count forecast by a predicted preference statistic. Forecasting models were evaluated using mean squared error, mean absolute deviation, and mean absolute percentage error techniques. All models were more accurate than current methods. A broad spectrum of forecasting techniques could be used by foodservice managers with access to a personal computer and spread-sheet and database-management software. The findings indicate that mathematical forecasting techniques may be effective in foodservice operations to control costs, increase productivity, and maximize profits.

Social Justice Debate and College Access in Latin America: Merit or Need? The Role of Educational Institutions and States in Broadening Access to Higher Education in the Region

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Villalobos, Cristóbal; Treviño, Ernesto; Wyman, Ignacio; Scheele, Judith

2017-01-01

During the first decade of the 21st century, Latin America experienced an intense economic growth that increased access in the school system. In this context, the paper analyzes four different programs from Bolivia (Intercultural Community Indigenous Universities), Brazil (Quotas´ Law), Chile (Follow up and Effective Access to Higher Education…

A user need study and system plan for an Arizona Natural Resources Information System report to the Arizona state legislature

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1980-01-01

A survey instrument was developed and implemented in order to evaluate the current needs for natural resource information in Arizona and to determine which state agencies have information systems capable of coordinating, accessing and analyzing the data. Data and format requirements were determined for the following categories: air quality, animals, cultural resources, geology, land use, soils, water, vegetation, ownership, and social and economic aspects. Hardware and software capabilities were assessed and a data processing plan was developed. Possible future applications with the next generation LANDSAT were also identified.

Rocket study of auroral processes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Arnoldy, R. L.

1981-01-01

Abstracts are presented of previously published reports analyzing data from three Echo 3 rocket flights. Particle experiments designed for the Terrier-Malmute flight, the Echo 5 flight, and the Norwegian Corbier Ferdinand 50 flight are described and their flight performance evaluated. Theoretical studies on auroral particle precipitation are reviewed according to observations made in three regions of space: (1) the region accessible to rockets and low altitude satellites (few hundred to a few thousand kilometers); (2) the region extending from 4000 to 8000 km (S3-3 satellite range); and (3) near the equatorial plane (geosynchronous satellite measurements). Questions raised about auroral arc formation are considered.

service line analytics in the new era.

PubMed

Spence, Jay; Seargeant, Dan

2015-08-01

To succeed under the value-based business model, hospitals and health systems require effective service line analytics that combine inpatient and outpatient data and that incorporate quality metrics for evaluating clinical operations. When developing a framework for collection, analysis, and dissemination of service line data, healthcare organizations should focus on five key aspects of effective service line analytics: Updated service line definitions. Ability to analyze and trend service line net patient revenues by payment source. Access to accurate service line cost information across multiple dimensions with drill-through capabilities. Ability to redesign key reports based on changing requirements. Clear assignment of accountability.

Addressable test matrix for measuring analog transfer characteristics of test elements used for integrated process control and device evaluation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Buehler, Martin G. (Inventor)

1988-01-01

A set of addressable test structures, each of which uses addressing schemes to access individual elements of the structure in a matrix, is used to test the quality of a wafer before integrated circuits produced thereon are diced, packaged and subjected to final testing. The electrical characteristic of each element is checked and compared to the electrical characteristic of all other like elements in the matrix. The effectiveness of the addressable test matrix is in readily analyzing the electrical characteristics of the test elements and in providing diagnostic information.

WORK POTENTIAL OF THE HANDICAPPED—The Physician's Role in Evaluating It

PubMed Central

Montero, Jose C.

1960-01-01

Even a severe physical defect may not be a handicap on some jobs; even a mild one may be a handicap on others. Physicians considering the employability of a disabled person must not only appraise the person but also must analyze the job. Job analysis must take into consideration the degree of exertion necessary, the emotional demands, working conditions (including accessibility of the place of work, of toilet facilities and the like) and job hazards. Appraisal of the person must include a medical examination, a review of the work history, consideration of socio-economic background, and psychological testing. PMID:14423720

Extra-corporeal blood access, sensing, and radiation methods and apparatuses

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Castle, Kent D. (Inventor)

1993-01-01

The described invention is related to extra-corporeal blood access and radiation methods and apparatuses and, in particular, to subjecting flowing blood to energy in variety of forms, including radiation, electromagnetic force fields or atomic particles. It is directed to methods and apparatuses for accessing flowing blood and for subjecting the blood to electrical conductive, electrostatic or electromagnetic fields or for radiating the blood with some type of radiation, e.g., radio waves, ultrasonic or audio waves, microwaves, IR rays, visible light, UV radiation, x-rays, alpha, beta or gamma rays. An apparatus is employed which includes one or more access ports or windows for radiating blood and/or for sensing/analyzing blood. This invention is useful for killing viruses and bacteria in blood, monitoring blood for medical purposes, genetic modification of blood, and analyzing and/or treating blood components.

Access to medication in the Public Health System and equity: populational health surveys in São Paulo, Brazil.

PubMed

Monteiro, Camila Nascimento; Gianini, Reinaldo José; Barros, Marilisa Berti de Azevedo; Cesar, Chester Luiz Galvão; Goldbaum, Moisés

2016-03-01

Since 2003, the access to medication has been increasing in Brazil and particularly in São Paulo. The present study aimed to analyze the access to medication obtained in the public sector and the socioeconomic differences in this access in 2003 and 2008. Also, we explored the difference in access to medication from 2003 to 2008. Data were obtained from two cross-sectional population-based household surveys from São Paulo, Brazil (ISA-Capital 2003 and ISA-Capital 2008). Concentration curve and concentration index were calculated to analyze the associations between socioeconomic factors and access to medication in the public sector. Additionally, the differences between 2003 and 2008 regarding socioeconomic characteristics and access to medication were studied. Access to medication was 89.55% in 2003 and 92.99% in 2008, and the proportion of access to medication did not change in the period. Access in the public sector increased from 26.40% in 2003 to 48.55% in 2008 and there was a decrease in the concentration index between 2003 and 2008 in access to medication in the public sector. The findings indicate an expansion of Brazilian Unified Health System (Sistema Único de Saúde ) users, with the inclusion of people of higher socioeconomic position in the public sector. As the SUS gives more support to people of lower socioeconomic position in terms of medication provision, the SUS tends to equity. Nevertheless, universal coverage for medication and equity in access to medication in the public sector are still challenges for the Brazilian public health system.

Arra: Tas::89 0227::Tas Recovery Act 100g Ftp: An Ultra-High Speed Data Transfer Service Over Next Generation 100 Gigabit Per Second Network

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

YU, DANTONG; Jin, Shudong

2014-03-01

Data-intensive applications, including high energy and nuclear physics, astrophysics, climate modeling, nano-scale materials science, genomics, and financing, are expected to generate exabytes of data over the coming years, which must be transferred, visualized, and analyzed by geographically distributed teams of users. High-performance network capabilities must be available to these users at the application level in a transparent, virtualized manner. Moreover, the application users must have the capability to move large datasets from local and remote locations across network environments to their home institutions. To solve these challenges, the main goal of our project is to design and evaluate high-performance datamore » transfer software to support various data-intensive applications. First, we have designed a middleware software that provides access to Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) functionalities. This middleware integrates network access, memory management and multitasking in its core design. We address a number of issues related to its efficient implementation, for instance, explicit buffer management and memory registration, and parallelization of RDMA operations, which are vital to delivering the benefit of RDMA to the applications. Built on top of this middleware, an implementation and experimental evaluation of the RDMA-based FTP software, RFTP, is described and evaluated. This application has been implemented by our team to exploit the full capabilities of advanced RDMA mechanisms for ultra-high speed bulk data transfer applications on Energy Sciences Network (ESnet). Second, we designed our data transfer software to optimize TCP/IP based data transfer performance such that RFTP can be fully compatible with today’s Internet. Our kernel optimization techniques with Linux system calls sendfile and splice, can reduce data copy cost. In this report, we summarize the technical challenges of our project, the primary software design methods, the major project milestones achieved, as well as the testbed evaluation work and demonstrations during our project life time.« less

An examination of within-session responding following access to reinforcing stimuli.

PubMed

Rispoli, Mandy; O'Reilly, Mark; Lang, Russell; Machalicek, Wendy; Kang, Soyeon; Davis, Tonya; Neely, Leslie

2016-01-01

Previous research has shown tangibly maintained challenging behavior can be temporarily decreased by providing presession access to the relevant tangible. However, the duration of this beneficial effect is unknown. We measured the subsequent duration of behavior reduction effects following presession access during extended classroom observation sessions by analyzing within-session patterns of responding in three children with autism. An alternating treatments design was used to analyze within- and across-session responding following presession access and presession restriction conditions. The cumulative frequency of challenging behavior was higher following the presession restriction condition for all participants and lower following presession access. Within-session analysis revealed the same basic pattern of responding across participants. Specifically, the first half of the sessions contained very little, if any, challenging behavior; however, after 60 min, the rate of challenging behavior began to increase rapidly for two of the three participants. Results are discussed in terms of implications for practitioners, satiation, habituation, and behavioral contrast. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Evaluating a County-Sponsored Social Marketing Campaign to Increase Mothers' Initiation of HPV Vaccine for their Pre-teen Daughters in a Primarily Rural Area.

PubMed

Cates, Joan R; Shafer, Autumn; Diehl, Sandra J; Deal, Allison M

2011-01-01

Routine vaccination against human papillomavirus (HPV), the main cause of cervical cancer, is recommended for 11-12 year old girls, yet vaccine uptake is low. This study evaluates a social marketing campaign initiated by 13 North Carolina counties to raise awareness among parents and reduce barriers to accessing the vaccine in a primarily rural area. The 3-month campaign targeted mothers of girls ages 11-12 and healthcare practices serving pre-teen girls in four counties. Principles of social marketing were: product (recommended vaccine against HPV), price (cost, perception of safety and efficacy, and access), promotion (posters, brochures, website, news releases, doctor's recommendation), and place (doctors' offices, retail outlets). We analyzed (1) website traffic, hotline calls, and media placement; (2) cross-sectional surveys of mothers and providers; and (3) HPV immunization rates in intervention versus non-intervention counties. Of respondent mothers (n=225), 82% heard or saw campaign messages or materials. Of respondent providers (n=35), 94% used campaign brochures regularly or occasionally in conversations with parents. HPV vaccination rates within six months of campaign launch were 2% higher for 9-13 year old girls in two of the four intervention counties compared to 96 non-intervention counties. This evaluation supports campaign use in other primarily rural and underserved areas.

Methodological adequacy of articles published in two open-access Brazilian cardiology periodicals.

PubMed

Macedo, Cristiane Rufino; Silva, Davi Leite da; Puga, Maria Eduarda

2010-01-01

The use of rigorous scientific methods has contributed towards developing scientific articles of excellent methodological quality. This has made it possible to promote their citation and increase the impact factor. Brazilian periodicals have had to adapt to certain quality standards demanded by these indexing organizations, such as the content and the number of original articles published in each issue. This study aimed to evaluate the methodological adequacy of two Brazilian periodicals within the field of cardiology that are indexed in several databases and freely accessible through the Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO), and which are now indexed by the Web of Science (Institute for Scientific Information, ISI). Descriptive study at Brazilian Cochrane Center. All the published articles were evaluated according to merit assessment (content) and form assessment (performance). Ninety-six percent of the articles analyzed presented study designs that were adequate for answering the objectives. These two Brazilian periodicals within the field of cardiology published methodologically adequate articles, since they followed the quality standards. Thus, these periodicals can be considered both for consultation and as vehicles for publishing future articles. For further analyses, it is essential to apply other indicators of scientific activity such as bibliometrics, which evaluates quantitative aspects of the production, dissemination and use of information, and scientometrics, which is also concerned with the development of science policies, within which it is often superimposed on bibliometrics.

Evaluating a County-Sponsored Social Marketing Campaign to Increase Mothers’ Initiation of HPV Vaccine for their Pre-teen Daughters in a Primarily Rural Area

PubMed Central

Cates, Joan R.; Shafer, Autumn; Diehl, Sandra J.; Deal, Allison M.

2011-01-01

Routine vaccination against human papillomavirus (HPV), the main cause of cervical cancer, is recommended for 11–12 year old girls, yet vaccine uptake is low. This study evaluates a social marketing campaign initiated by 13 North Carolina counties to raise awareness among parents and reduce barriers to accessing the vaccine in a primarily rural area. The 3-month campaign targeted mothers of girls ages 11–12 and healthcare practices serving pre-teen girls in four counties. Principles of social marketing were: product (recommended vaccine against HPV), price (cost, perception of safety and efficacy, and access), promotion (posters, brochures, website, news releases, doctor’s recommendation), and place (doctors’ offices, retail outlets). We analyzed (1) website traffic, hotline calls, and media placement; (2) cross-sectional surveys of mothers and providers; and (3) HPV immunization rates in intervention versus non-intervention counties. Of respondent mothers (n=225), 82% heard or saw campaign messages or materials. Of respondent providers (n=35), 94% used campaign brochures regularly or occasionally in conversations with parents. HPV vaccination rates within six months of campaign launch were 2% higher for 9–13 year old girls in two of the four intervention counties compared to 96 non-intervention counties. This evaluation supports campaign use in other primarily rural and underserved areas. PMID:21804767

Welfare Reform: DOT Has Made Progress in Implementing the Job Access Program but Has Not Evaluated the Impact. Testimony before the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, Subcommittee on Highways and Transit, U.S. House of Representatives.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hecker, JayEtta Z.

A series of reviews of the Department of Transportation's (DOT's) Job Access and Reverse Commute (Job Access) Program explored DOT's and grantees' challenges in implementing the Job Access program and the status of DOT's program evaluation efforts. DOT and grantees faced significant challenges in implementing the Job Access program. DOT's process…

Development and Use of a Virtual NMR Facility

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Keating, Kelly A.; Myers, James D.; Pelton, Jeffrey G.; Bair, Raymond A.; Wemmer, David E.; Ellis, Paul D.

2000-03-01

We have developed a "virtual NMR facility" (VNMRF) to enhance access to the NMR spectrometers in Pacific Northwest National Laboratory's Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL). We use the term virtual facility to describe a real NMR facility made accessible via the Internet. The VNMRF combines secure remote operation of the EMSL's NMR spectrometers over the Internet with real-time videoconferencing, remotely controlled laboratory cameras, real-time computer display sharing, a Web-based electronic laboratory notebook, and other capabilities. Remote VNMRF users can see and converse with EMSL researchers, directly and securely control the EMSL spectrometers, and collaboratively analyze results. A customized Electronic Laboratory Notebook allows interactive Web-based access to group notes, experimental parameters, proposed molecular structures, and other aspects of a research project. This paper describes our experience developing a VNMRF and details the specific capabilities available through the EMSL VNMRF. We show how the VNMRF has evolved during a test project and present an evaluation of its impact in the EMSL and its potential as a model for other scientific facilities. All Collaboratory software used in the VNMRF is freely available from http://www.emsl.pnl.gov:2080/docs/collab.

Facilitators and Barriers of Electronic Health Record Patient Portal Adoption by Older Adults: A Literature Study.

PubMed

Wildenbos, Gaby Anne; Peute, Linda; Jaspers, Monique

2017-01-01

Patient portal usage by older adults, patients aged 50 years old and above, is intended to improve their access and quality of care. Acceptance of patient portals by this target group is low. This paper discusses the results of a literature review to determine the facilitators and barriers that drive or inhibit older patients to adopt patient portals. Articles were included when they described an acceptance, adoption or usability evaluation study of a patient portal. From a total of 245 potentially relevant articles, 8 articles were finally included. We used the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) as a classification model to analyze factors influencing older adults' acceptance of patient portals. Main facilitators for acceptance were 'performance expectancy' and 'voluntariness of use' related to a higher level of education and experienced health. Main barriers were limited health literacy and motivation related to involuntariness to use a patient portal. Poor facilitation conditions (limited technology access and no prior knowledge on existence of a patient portal) hampered access to a portal. More thorough insight into the latter is needed to improve the reach and effectiveness of patient portals among older patients.

Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) (2017 EIC)

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Focusing on air releases, explore tried and true access points along with new ways to access the data including the new P2 tool (currently available) and the TRI Analyzer tool (schedule to go public summer 2015)

Tool independence for the Web Accessibility Quantitative Metric.

PubMed

Vigo, Markel; Brajnik, Giorgio; Arrue, Myriam; Abascal, Julio

2009-07-01

The Web Accessibility Quantitative Metric (WAQM) aims at accurately measuring the accessibility of web pages. One of the main features of WAQM among others is that it is evaluation tool independent for ranking and accessibility monitoring scenarios. This article proposes a method to attain evaluation tool independence for all foreseeable scenarios. After demonstrating that homepages have a more similar error profile than any other web page in a given web site, 15 homepages were measured with 10,000 different values of WAQM parameters using EvalAccess and LIFT, two automatic evaluation tools for accessibility. A similar procedure was followed with random pages and with several test files obtaining several tuples that minimise the difference between both tools. One thousand four hundred forty-nine web pages from 15 web sites were measured with these tuples and those values that minimised the difference between the tools were selected. Once the WAQM was tuned, the accessibility of 15 web sites was measured with two metrics for web sites, concluding that even if similar values can be produced, obtaining the same scores is undesirable since evaluation tools behave in a different way.

Portuguese version of the EUROPEP questionnaire: contributions to the psychometric validation

PubMed Central

Roque, Hugo; Veloso, Ana; Ferreira, Pedro L

2016-01-01

ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE To assess the construct validity and reliability of the Portuguese version of the European Task Force on Patient Evaluation of General Practice Care questionnaire. METHODS We applied the Portuguese version of the European Task Force on Patient Evaluation of General Practice Care to 392 users of 20 Family Health Units from the North of Portugal. The validity of the construct was evaluated by exploratory factor analysis, with the Principal Axis Factoring method, by orthogonal rotation (varimax procedure), by the Kaiser normalization criteria (eigenvalue ≥ 1). The factorability of the data matrix was verified by the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin and Bartlett’s sphericity test. We estimated the reliability by the indicator of internal consistency Cronbach’s alpha. To analyze the correlations between satisfaction and loyalty, we used the Pearson correlations. The predictor effect of satisfaction on loyalty was analyzed by simple linear regression. RESULTS Satisfaction presented five robust and well individualized dimensions – medical care, nursing care, clinical secretariat services, accessibility, and organization of services – with alpha values between 0.86 and 0.97, good levels of internal consistency. The loyalty showed alpha value of 0.72, considered a reasonable internal consistency. The satisfaction was predictive of loyalty. CONCLUSIONS The Portuguese European Task Force on Patient Evaluation of General Practice Care questionnaire is a robust and reliable instrument to measure the satisfaction and loyalty of users of the Family Health Units. PMID:27706374

Unequal Access, Unequal Participation: Some Spatial and Socio-Economic Dimensions of the Gender Gap in Education in Africa with Special Reference to Ghana, Zimbabwe and Kenya

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shabaya, Judith; Konadu-Agyemang, Kwadwo

2004-01-01

The question of unequal access to education among males and females appears to be universal in the developing world. However, females in Africa seem to suffer more discrimination in terms of access to education. This study revisits the question of gender disparities in educational access in Africa by analyzing data from recent comparative national…

Internationalizing the Right to Know: Conceptualizations of Access to Information in Human Rights Law

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bishop, Cheryl Ann

2009-01-01

Currently there exists a global movement promoting institutional transparency and freedom of information legislation. Conceptualizing access to government-held information as a human right is one of the latest developments in this global trend promoting access to information. The purpose of this dissertation is to identify and analyze the various…

Open Access: What You Need to Know Now

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crawford, Walt

2011-01-01

Academic libraries routinely struggle to afford access to expensive journals, and patrons may not be able to obtain every scholarly paper they need. Is Open Access (OA) the answer? In this ALA Editions Special Report, Crawford helps readers understand what OA is (and isn't), as he concisely: (1) Analyzes the factors that have brought libraries to…

[Geographic data for Neotropical bats (Chiroptera)].

PubMed

Noguera-Urbano, Elkin A; Escalante, Tania

2014-03-01

The global effort to digitize biodiversity occurrence data from collections, museums and other institutions has stimulated the development of important tools to improve the knowledge and conservation of biodiversity. The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) enables and opens access to biodiversity data of 321 million of records, from 379 host institutions. Neotropical bats are a highly diverse and specialized group, and the geographic information about them is increasing since few years ago, but there are a few reports about this topic. The aim of this study was to analyze the number of digital records in GBIF of Neotropical bats with distribution in 21 American countries, evaluating their nomenclatural and geographical consistence at scale of country. Moreover, we evaluated the gaps of information on 1 degrees latitude x 1 degrees longitude grids cells. There were over 1/2 million records, but 58% of them have no latitude and longitude data; and 52% full fit nomenclatural and geographic evaluation. We estimated that there are no records in 54% of the analyzed area; the principal gaps are in biodiversity hotspots like the Colombian and Brazilian Amazonia and Southern Venezuela. In conclusion, our study suggests that available data on GBIF have nomenclatural and geographic biases. GBIF data represent partially the bat species richness and the main gaps in information are in South America.

A responsive evaluation of an Aboriginal nursing education access program.

PubMed

Curran, Vernon; Solberg, Shirley; LeFort, Sandra; Fleet, Lisa; Hollett, Ann

2008-01-01

Nursing education access programs have been introduced in a number of countries to address the shortage of healthcare providers of Aboriginal descent. An evaluation study of a nursing education access program in Labrador, Canada, was undertaken using a Responsive Evaluation approach. Interviews and focus groups with program stakeholders were conducted. Program effectiveness was influenced by culturally relevant curriculum, experiential and authentic learning opportunities, academic and social support, and the need for partnership building between stakeholders. The authors report key findings resulting from the Responsive Evaluation.

Access management : transportation policy considerations for a growing Virginia.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1998-01-01

This report analyzes comprehensive highway access management programs and looks at the potential benefits and legal limits to Virginia adopting such a program to replace Virginia's rather limited site specific permitting process. In 1942, Virginia pa...

Toxic Release Inventory Training Course (TRI) (2015 EIC)

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Focusing on air releases, explore tried and true access points along with new ways to access the data including the new P2 tool (currently available) and the TRI Analyzer tool (schedule to go public summer 2015)

Preliminary access routes and cost study analyses for seven potentially acceptable salt sites: Final report, October 1984

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1987-02-01

This report analyzes highway and railroad access to seven potentially acceptable salt repository sites: Richton Dome and Cypress Creek Dome in Mississippi, Vacherie Dome in Louisiana, Swisher County and Deaf Smith County in Texas, and Davis Canyon and Lavender Canyon in utah. The objectives of the study were to investigate the routing of reasonable access corridors to the sites, describe major characteristics of each route, and estimate the costs for constructing or upgrading highways and railroads. The routes used in the analysis are not necessarily recommended or preferred over other routes, nor do they represent an implied final selection. Detailedmore » engineering studies must be performed for the Davis Canyon and Lavender Canyon highway access before the analyzed routes can be considered to be viable. 20 refs., 7 figs., 3 tabs.« less

Selection and validation of reference genes for gene expression analysis in apomictic and sexual Cenchrus ciliaris

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Apomixis is a naturally occurring asexual mode of seed reproduction resulting in offspring genetically identical to the maternal plant. Identifying differential gene expression patterns between apomictic and sexual plants is valuable to help deconstruct the trait. Quantitative RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) is a popular method for analyzing gene expression. Normalizing gene expression data using proper reference genes which show stable expression under investigated conditions is critical in qRT-PCR analysis. We used qRT-PCR to validate expression and stability of six potential reference genes (EF1alpha, EIF4A, UBCE, GAPDH, ACT2 and TUBA) in vegetative and reproductive tissues of B-2S and B-12-9 accessions of C. ciliaris. Findings Among tissue types evaluated, EF1alpha showed the highest level of expression while TUBA showed the lowest. When all tissue types were evaluated and compared between genotypes, EIF4A was the most stable reference gene. Gene expression stability for specific ovary stages of B-2S and B-12-9 was also determined. Except for TUBA, all other tested reference genes could be used for any stage-specific ovary tissue normalization, irrespective of the mode of reproduction. Conclusion Our gene expression stability assay using six reference genes, in sexual and apomictic accessions of C. ciliaris, suggests that EIF4A is the most stable gene across all tissue types analyzed. All other tested reference genes, with the exception of TUBA, could be used for gene expression comparison studies between sexual and apomictic ovaries over multiple developmental stages. This reference gene validation data in C. ciliaris will serve as an important base for future apomixis-related transcriptome data validation. PMID:24083672

Sensitivity, Specificity, Predictive Values, and Accuracy of Three Diagnostic Tests to Predict Inferior Alveolar Nerve Blockade Failure in Symptomatic Irreversible Pulpitis

PubMed Central

Rodríguez-Wong, Laura; Noguera-González, Danny; Esparza-Villalpando, Vicente; Montero-Aguilar, Mauricio

2017-01-01

Introduction The inferior alveolar nerve block (IANB) is the most common anesthetic technique used on mandibular teeth during root canal treatment. Its success in the presence of preoperative inflammation is still controversial. The aim of this study was to evaluate the sensitivity, specificity, predictive values, and accuracy of three diagnostic tests used to predict IANB failure in symptomatic irreversible pulpitis (SIP). Methodology A cross-sectional study was carried out on the mandibular molars of 53 patients with SIP. All patients received a single cartridge of mepivacaine 2% with 1 : 100000 epinephrine using the IANB technique. Three diagnostic clinical tests were performed to detect anesthetic failure. Anesthetic failure was defined as a positive painful response to any of the three tests. Sensitivity, specificity, predictive values, accuracy, and ROC curves were calculated and compared and significant differences were analyzed. Results IANB failure was determined in 71.7% of the patients. The sensitivity scores for the three tests (lip numbness, the cold stimuli test, and responsiveness during endodontic access) were 0.03, 0.35, and 0.55, respectively, and the specificity score was determined as 1 for all of the tests. Clinically, none of the evaluated tests demonstrated a high enough accuracy (0.30, 0.53, and 0.68 for lip numbness, the cold stimuli test, and responsiveness during endodontic access, resp.). A comparison of the areas under the curve in the ROC analyses showed statistically significant differences between the three tests (p < 0.05). Conclusion None of the analyzed tests demonstrated a high enough accuracy to be considered a reliable diagnostic tool for the prediction of anesthetic failure. PMID:28694714

An evaluability assessment of a West Africa based Non-Governmental Organization's (NGO) progressive evaluation strategy.

PubMed

D'Ostie-Racine, Léna; Dagenais, Christian; Ridde, Valéry

2013-02-01

While program evaluations are increasingly valued by international organizations to inform practices and public policies, actual evaluation use (EU) in such contexts is inconsistent. Moreover, empirical literature on EU in the context of humanitarian Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) is very limited. The current article focuses on the evaluability assessment (EA) of a West-Africa based humanitarian NGO's progressive evaluation strategy. Since 2007, the NGO has established an evaluation strategy to inform its maternal and child health care user-fee exemption intervention. Using Wholey's (2004) framework, the current EA enabled us to clarify with the NGO's evaluation partners the intent of their evaluation strategy and to design its program logic model. The EA ascertained the plausibility of the evaluation strategy's objectives, the accessibility of relevant data, and the utility for intended users of evaluating both the evaluation strategy and the conditions that foster EU. Hence, key evaluability conditions for an EU study were assured. This article provides an example of EA procedures when such guidance is scant in the literature. It also offers an opportunity to analyze critically the use of EAs in the context of a humanitarian NGO's collaboration with evaluators and political actors. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Comparative exploration of multidimensional flow cytometry software: a model approach evaluating T cell polyfunctional behavior.

PubMed

Spear, Timothy T; Nishimura, Michael I; Simms, Patricia E

2017-08-01

Advancement in flow cytometry reagents and instrumentation has allowed for simultaneous analysis of large numbers of lineage/functional immune cell markers. Highly complex datasets generated by polychromatic flow cytometry require proper analytical software to answer investigators' questions. A problem among many investigators and flow cytometry Shared Resource Laboratories (SRLs), including our own, is a lack of access to a flow cytometry-knowledgeable bioinformatics team, making it difficult to learn and choose appropriate analysis tool(s). Here, we comparatively assess various multidimensional flow cytometry software packages for their ability to answer a specific biologic question and provide graphical representation output suitable for publication, as well as their ease of use and cost. We assessed polyfunctional potential of TCR-transduced T cells, serving as a model evaluation, using multidimensional flow cytometry to analyze 6 intracellular cytokines and degranulation on a per-cell basis. Analysis of 7 parameters resulted in 128 possible combinations of positivity/negativity, far too complex for basic flow cytometry software to analyze fully. Various software packages were used, analysis methods used in each described, and representative output displayed. Of the tools investigated, automated classification of cellular expression by nonlinear stochastic embedding (ACCENSE) and coupled analysis in Pestle/simplified presentation of incredibly complex evaluations (SPICE) provided the most user-friendly manipulations and readable output, evaluating effects of altered antigen-specific stimulation on T cell polyfunctionality. This detailed approach may serve as a model for other investigators/SRLs in selecting the most appropriate software to analyze complex flow cytometry datasets. Further development and awareness of available tools will help guide proper data analysis to answer difficult biologic questions arising from incredibly complex datasets. © Society for Leukocyte Biology.

Access to Sign Language Interpreters in the Criminal Justice System.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miller, Katrina R.

2001-01-01

This study surveyed 46 professional sign language interpreters working in criminal justice settings and evaluated 22 cases to evaluate access issues for individuals with hearing impairments. Recommendations to increase the accessibility of interpreting services included providing ongoing awareness training to criminal justice personnel and…

Evaluation of a polymer implanted port access device.

PubMed

Brown, J M

1996-01-01

The implanted port vascular access system has provided many patients with safe and reliable vascular access. Its implanted design provides improved body image, reduced maintenance and a better quality of life. The Huber needle has been the standard means of accessing the implanted port system. Because of the problems associated with the Huber needle system, current standards recommend that the Huber needle be changed every 7 days. This evaluation examines the use of a polymer cannula to access the implanted port system. This polymer cannula eliminates many of the problems associated with the Huber needle and provides longer dwell times without increased complications. Seventy nine patients were accessed for a total of 1533 days with the mean dwell time being 19.4 days with no increase in complications associated with port access. To establish implanted port access times of greater than 7 days without increased complications. A multicenter voluntary enrollment evaluation of a medical device. Patients were offered the opportunity to participate in the evaluation if they had an implanted port and were going to be accessed for therapy for periods of 7 days or more. Patients were observed for adverse cutaneous reactions at the insertion site and any port access complications such as sepsis, leakage, changes in portal chamber integrity, and implant pocket integrity. From October 1994 through November 1995, 79 L-Cath for Ports (Luther Medical Products) polymer catheter port access devices (Illustration 1) were inserted in 54 patients. This polymer port access device was used instead of a rigid metal Huber needle for port access. The total number of access days was 1533 days with the mean duration of access being 19.4 days. Two patients experienced blood stream infections while they were accessed with the polymer port access device. These infections ensued with fever of unknown origin as the presenting symptom during neutropenic episodes after chemotherapy treatment. The port access device was removed and the port access device tip was cultured with culture results being negative. No other patients experienced complications related to the port access device. The polymer port access device provided a safe and effective means of extending port access times. This reduced the number of restarts for the patients and could extend portal septum life by exposing the portal septum to fewer accesses.

An access control model with high security for distributed workflow and real-time application

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Han, Ruo-Fei; Wang, Hou-Xiang

2007-11-01

The traditional mandatory access control policy (MAC) is regarded as a policy with strict regulation and poor flexibility. The security policy of MAC is so compelling that few information systems would adopt it at the cost of facility, except some particular cases with high security requirement as military or government application. However, with the increasing requirement for flexibility, even some access control systems in military application have switched to role-based access control (RBAC) which is well known as flexible. Though RBAC can meet the demands for flexibility but it is weak in dynamic authorization and consequently can not fit well in the workflow management systems. The task-role-based access control (T-RBAC) is then introduced to solve the problem. It combines both the advantages of RBAC and task-based access control (TBAC) which uses task to manage permissions dynamically. To satisfy the requirement of system which is distributed, well defined with workflow process and critically for time accuracy, this paper will analyze the spirit of MAC, introduce it into the improved T&RBAC model which is based on T-RBAC. At last, a conceptual task-role-based access control model with high security for distributed workflow and real-time application (A_T&RBAC) is built, and its performance is simply analyzed.

Evaluating existing access opportunities for disabled persons at remote shoreline recreation sites

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bley, M.R.; Kearns, M.T.

1995-12-31

Draft guidelines for providing outdoor recreation access opportunities for disabled persons have been recommended by the Recreation Access Advisory Committee and in the Universal Access to Outdoor Recreation: A Design Guide. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission requires applicants for new hydropower licenses to consider access opportunities for disabled persons at existing hydropower projects. A process for evaluating existing access opportunities for disabled persons at remote shoreline recreation sites at hydropower projects is described. The process includes five steps: (1) preparing a preliminary map of existing recreation sites; (2) data collection in the field; (3) evaluating compliance of existing facilities; (4)more » feasibility of enhancing existing facilities; and (5) designing enhancements. The process will be refined when final standards and processes are approved by the appropriate agencies and organizations.« less

Access to Resources in Different Age-Cohorts: Implications for Activity Level, Loneliness, and Life Satisfaction.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Malmberg, Bo

This thesis uses a resource theoretical approach to study and analyze social psychological phenomena in different age-cohorts. Resources are seen as any asset the person has access to in a certain situation. Access to resources are crucial to meet the demands of the surrounding environment. When the resources are sufficient to cope with the…

Benefits Access for College Completion: Lessons Learned from a Community College Initiative to Help Low-Income Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Duke-Benfield, Amy Ellen; Saunders, Katherine

2016-01-01

This report analyzes how students were served by Benefits Access for College Completion (BACC), a 2.5-year initiative designed to increase access to public benefits (such as SNAP or Medicaid) for eligible low-income students. These crucial supports reduce students' unmet financial needs and help them finish school. Launched in 2011, BACC funded…

Beyond access: a case study on the intersection between accessibility, sustainability, and universal design.

PubMed

Gossett, Andrea; Mirza, Mansha; Barnds, Ann Kathleen; Feidt, Daisy

2009-11-01

A growing emphasis has been placed on providing equal opportunities for all people, particularly people with disabilities, to support participation. Barriers to participation are represented in part by physical space restrictions. This article explores the decision-making process during the construction of a new office building housing a disability-rights organization. The building project featured in this study was developed on the principles of universal design, maximal accessibility, and sustainability to support access and participation. A qualitative case study approach was used involving collection of data through in-depth interviews with key decision-makers; non-participant observations at design meetings; and on-site tours. Qualitative thematic analysis along with the development of a classification system was used to understand specific building elements and the relevant decision processes from which they resulted. Recording and analyzing the design process revealed several key issues including grassroots involvement of stakeholders; interaction between universal design and sustainable design; addressing diversity through flexibility and universality; and segregationist accessibility versus universal design. This case study revealed complex interactions between accessibility, universal design, and sustainability. Two visual models were proposed to understand and analyze these complexities.

Information-Seeking on the Internet.

PubMed

Singaravelu, Vinod; Stewart, Anne; Adams, Joanna; Simkin, Sue; Hawton, Keith

2015-01-01

The Internet is used by young people at risk of self-harm to communicate, find information, and obtain support. We aimed to identify and analyze websites potentially accessed by these young people. Six search terms, relating to self-harm/suicide and depression, were input into four search engines. Websites were analyzed for access, content/purpose, and tone. In all, 314 websites were included in the analysis. Most could be accessed without restriction. Sites accessed by self-harm/suicide search terms were mostly positive or preventive in tone, whereas sites accessed by the term ways to kill yourself tended to have a negative tone. Information about self-harm methods was common with specific advice on how to self-harm in 15.8% of sites, encouragement of self-harm in 7.0%, and evocative images of self-harm/suicide in 20.7%. Advice on how to get help was given in 56.1% of sites. Websites relating to suicide or self-harm are easily accessed. Many sites are potentially helpful. However, a significant proportion of sites are potentially harmful through normalizing or encouraging self-harm. Enquiry regarding Internet use should be routinely included while assessing young people at risk.

Tropospheric scintillation prediction models for a high elevation angle based on measured data from a tropical region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abdul Rahim, Nadirah Binti; Islam, Md. Rafiqul; J. S., Mandeep; Dao, Hassan; Bashir, Saad Osman

2013-12-01

The recent rapid evolution of new satellite services, including VSAT for internet access, LAN interconnection and multimedia applications, has triggered an increasing demand for bandwidth usage by satellite communications. However, these systems are susceptible to propagation effects that become significant as the frequency increases. Scintillation is the rapid signal fluctuation of the amplitude and phase of a radio wave, which is significant in tropical climates. This paper presents the analysis of the tropospheric scintillation data for satellite to Earth links at the Ku-band. Twelve months of data (January-December 2011) were collected and analyzed to evaluate the effect of tropospheric scintillation. Statistics were then further analyzed to inspect the seasonal, worst-month, diurnal and rain-induced scintillation effects. By employing the measured scintillation data, a modification of the Karasawa model for scintillation fades and enhancements is proposed based on data measured in Malaysia.

Trusted computing strengthens cloud authentication.

PubMed

Ghazizadeh, Eghbal; Zamani, Mazdak; Ab Manan, Jamalul-lail; Alizadeh, Mojtaba

2014-01-01

Cloud computing is a new generation of technology which is designed to provide the commercial necessities, solve the IT management issues, and run the appropriate applications. Another entry on the list of cloud functions which has been handled internally is Identity Access Management (IAM). Companies encounter IAM as security challenges while adopting more technologies became apparent. Trust Multi-tenancy and trusted computing based on a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) are great technologies for solving the trust and security concerns in the cloud identity environment. Single sign-on (SSO) and OpenID have been released to solve security and privacy problems for cloud identity. This paper proposes the use of trusted computing, Federated Identity Management, and OpenID Web SSO to solve identity theft in the cloud. Besides, this proposed model has been simulated in .Net environment. Security analyzing, simulation, and BLP confidential model are three ways to evaluate and analyze our proposed model.

Trusted Computing Strengthens Cloud Authentication

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Cloud computing is a new generation of technology which is designed to provide the commercial necessities, solve the IT management issues, and run the appropriate applications. Another entry on the list of cloud functions which has been handled internally is Identity Access Management (IAM). Companies encounter IAM as security challenges while adopting more technologies became apparent. Trust Multi-tenancy and trusted computing based on a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) are great technologies for solving the trust and security concerns in the cloud identity environment. Single sign-on (SSO) and OpenID have been released to solve security and privacy problems for cloud identity. This paper proposes the use of trusted computing, Federated Identity Management, and OpenID Web SSO to solve identity theft in the cloud. Besides, this proposed model has been simulated in .Net environment. Security analyzing, simulation, and BLP confidential model are three ways to evaluate and analyze our proposed model. PMID:24701149

Assessing the Scientific Research Productivity of a Brazilian Healthcare Institution: A Case Study at the Heart Institute of São Paulo, Brazil

PubMed Central

Tess, Beatriz Helena; Furuie, Sérgio Shiguemi; Castro, Regina Célia Figueiredo; do Carmo Cavarette Barreto, Maria; Nobre, Moacyr Roberto Cuce

2009-01-01

INTRODUCTION: The present study was motivated by the need to systematically assess the research productivity of the Heart Institute (InCor), Medical School of the University of São Paulo, Brazil. OBJECTIVE: To explore methodology for the assessment of institutional scientific research productivity. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Bibliometric indicators based on searches for author affiliation of original scientific articles or reviews published in journals indexed in the databases Web of Science, MEDLINE, EMBASE, LILACS and SciELO from January 2000 to December 2003 were used in this study. The retrieved records were analyzed according to the index parameters of the journals and modes of access. The number of citations was used to calculate the institutional impact factor. RESULTS: Out of 1253 records retrieved from the five databases, 604 original articles and reviews were analyzed; of these, 246 (41%) articles were published in national journals and 221 (90%) of those were in journals with free online access through SciELO or their own websites. Of the 358 articles published in international journals, 333 (93%) had controlled online access and 223 (67%) were available through the Capes Portal of Journals. The average impact of each article for InCor was 2.224 in the period studied. CONCLUSION: A simple and practical methodology to evaluate the scientific production of health research institutions includes searches in the LILACS database for national journals and in MEDLINE and the Web of Science for international journals. The institutional impact factor of articles indexed in the Web of Science may serve as a measure by which to assess and review the scientific productivity of a research institution. PMID:19578662

On the generalization of attitude accessibility after repeated attitude expression

PubMed Central

Spruyt, Adriaan; Fazio, Russell H.; Hermans, Dirk

2016-01-01

Abstract The more accessible an attitude is, the stronger is its influence on information processing and behavior. Accessibility can be increased through attitude rehearsal, but it remains unknown whether attitude rehearsal also affects the accessibility of related attitudes. To investigate this hypothesis, participants in an experimental condition repeatedly expressed their attitudes towards exemplars of several semantic categories during an evaluative categorization task. Participants in a control condition performed a non‐evaluative task with the same exemplars and evaluated unrelated attitude objects. After a 30‐minute interval, participants in the experimental condition were faster than controls to evaluate not only the original exemplars but also novel exemplars of the same categories. This finding suggests that the effect of attitude rehearsal on accessibility generalizes to attitudes towards untrained but semantically related attitude objects. © 2016 The Authors. European Journal of Social Psychology published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. PMID:28701803

Access Control and Processing Studies for Ground Satellite Mobile Communications/Surveillance Systems

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1974-06-01

The report synthesizes a set of satellite communications systems configurations to provide services to aircraft flying oceanic routes. These configurations are combined with access control methods to form complete systems. These systems are analyzed ...

Household income determines access to specialized pediatric chronic pain treatment in Germany.

PubMed

Ruhe, Ann-Kristin; Wager, Julia; Hirschfeld, Gerrit; Zernikow, Boris

2016-04-21

Families with lower socioeconomic status (SES) often face problems with gaining access to health care services. Information is scarce on the relationship between SES and health care delivery for children suffering from chronic pain. Families presenting to a specialized pain center (N = 1,001) provided information on 'household income, 'parental education' and 'occupation' to aid the evaluation of their SES. To assess whether the SES of the clinical sample is representative of the general population, it was compared to data from a community sample (N = 14,558). For the clinical sample, travel distance to the clinic was described in relation to the 75% catchment area. Multiple logistic regression was used to analyze the association between SES and the journey from outside the catchment area. The SES was significantly higher in the clinical sample than in the community sample. Within the clinical sample, the distance traveled to the pain center increased with increasing SES. The 75% catchment area was 143 miles for families with the highest SES and 78 miles for the lowest SES. 'Household income' predicted travel distance (OR 1.32 (1.12-1.56)). Education and occupational status were not significant predictors of travel from outside the catchment area. In Germany, specialized care for children with chronic pain is subject to disparities in access. Future activities should focus on identifying barriers to access and seeking to prevent inequalities in specialized pediatric health care delivery. Increasing the number of specialized treatment facilities could improve access to specialized pediatric pain treatment, regardless of socioeconomic determinants.

Perceived Barriers Affecting Access to Preventive Dental Services: Application of DEMATEL Method.

PubMed

Bahadori, Mohammadkarim; Ravangard, Ramin; Asghari, Baratali

2013-08-01

Identifying perceived access barriers to preventive dental services is one of the basic steps to improve the public health. This study aimed to determine the perceived barriers affecting access to preventive dental services in one of Tehran dental clinics in 2012. This research was a cross-sectional descriptive-analytical study conducted in one of Tehran dental clinics in 2012 using decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) method. The study sample included all patients (100 patients) who had referred to the endodontic treatment department from 26 - 31 May, 2012. The required data were collected using a questionnaire. Collected data were analyzed using SPSS 18.0 and MATLAB 7.9.0 SPSSS 18.0, as well as, some descriptive and analytical tests including Mean, Standard Deviation (SD), and Independent T- Test. The five determinants of cost, inconvenience, fear, organization, and patient-dentist relationship were determined as barriers to access to dental services among which the cost and patient-dentist relationship were identified as the first and last priorities with the coordinates (1.4 and 1.4) and (1.25 and -0.65), respectively. High cost of dental care has led to not referring patients to the clinic. Oral health costs are too high; however insurance organizations have no commitment to support such services. Policymakers, administrators, and insurance organizations have a major role in improving access to dental services. These decision-makers in making their policies can provide the required financial resources, shift the available resources towards preventive care and periodic checkups, and consider providing proper and sufficient places for dental care facilities.

A Data Analysis Expert System For Large Established Distributed Databases

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gnacek, Anne-Marie; An, Y. Kim; Ryan, J. Patrick

1987-05-01

The purpose of this work is to analyze the applicability of artificial intelligence techniques for developing a user-friendly, parallel interface to large isolated, incompatible NASA databases for the purpose of assisting the management decision process. To carry out this work, a survey was conducted to establish the data access requirements of several key NASA user groups. In addition, current NASA database access methods were evaluated. The results of this work are presented in the form of a design for a natural language database interface system, called the Deductively Augmented NASA Management Decision Support System (DANMDS). This design is feasible principally because of recently announced commercial hardware and software product developments which allow cross-vendor compatibility. The goal of the DANMDS system is commensurate with the central dilemma confronting most large companies and institutions in America, the retrieval of information from large, established, incompatible database systems. The DANMDS system implementation would represent a significant first step toward this problem's resolution.

Effect of relative head position on the anesthetic efficacy of inferior alveolar nerve block during endodontic treatment of patients with irreversible pulpitis.

PubMed

Aggarwal, Vivek; Singla, Mamta; Miglani, Sanjay

2018-02-01

The purpose of this prospective randomized single-blind clinical trial was to evaluate the effect of tilting the head on the anesthetic efficacy of inferior alveolar nerve block (IANB) in patients with symptomatic irreversible pulpitis. Ninety-two patients were divided into two groups: the first group received IANB and the head was tilted in the direction of the block for 15 min, whereas the second group received IANB and the head was tilted to the opposite side. Access cavity preparation was initiated after 15 min. Success was defined as no pain or faint/weak/mild pain during endodontic access preparation and instrumentation. The anesthetic success rates were analyzed by Pearson chi-square test at 5% significance levels. The same side position and opposite side position yielded 41% and 30% anesthetic success rates, respectively; there was no significant difference between the two sides. Relative head position has no effect on the anesthetic success rate of IANB.

Effect of relative head position on the anesthetic efficacy of inferior alveolar nerve block during endodontic treatment of patients with irreversible pulpitis

PubMed Central

2018-01-01

Background The purpose of this prospective randomized single-blind clinical trial was to evaluate the effect of tilting the head on the anesthetic efficacy of inferior alveolar nerve block (IANB) in patients with symptomatic irreversible pulpitis. Methods Ninety-two patients were divided into two groups: the first group received IANB and the head was tilted in the direction of the block for 15 min, whereas the second group received IANB and the head was tilted to the opposite side. Access cavity preparation was initiated after 15 min. Success was defined as no pain or faint/weak/mild pain during endodontic access preparation and instrumentation. The anesthetic success rates were analyzed by Pearson chi-square test at 5% significance levels. Results The same side position and opposite side position yielded 41% and 30% anesthetic success rates, respectively; there was no significant difference between the two sides. Conclusions Relative head position has no effect on the anesthetic success rate of IANB. PMID:29556558

Role of relative humidity in processing and storage of seeds and assessment of variability in storage behaviour in Brassica spp. and Eruca sativa.

PubMed

Suma, A; Sreenivasan, Kalyani; Singh, A K; Radhamani, J

2013-01-01

The role of relative humidity (RH) while processing and storing seeds of Brassica spp. and Eruca sativa was investigated by creating different levels of relative humidity, namely, 75%, 50%, 32%, and 11% using different saturated salt solutions and 1% RH using concentrated sulphuric acid. The variability in seed storage behaviour of different species of Brassica was also evaluated. The samples were stored at 40 ± 2°C in sealed containers and various physiological parameters were assessed at different intervals up to three months. The seed viability and seedling vigour parameters were considerably reduced in all accessions at high relative humidity irrespective of the species. Storage at intermediate relative humidities caused minimal decline in viability. All the accessions performed better at relative humidity level of 32% maintaining seed moisture content of 3%. On analyzing the variability in storage behaviour, B. rapa and B. juncea were better performers than B. napus and Eruca sativa.

Dissemination and adoption of the advanced primary care model in the Maryland multi-payer patient centered medical home program.

PubMed

Khanna, Niharika; Shaya, Fadia; Chirikov, Viktor; Steffen, Ben; Sharp, David

2014-02-01

The Maryland Learning Collaborative together with the Maryland Multi-Payer Program transformed 52 medical practices into patient-centered medical homes (PCMH). The Maryland Learning Collaborative developed an Internet-based 14-question Likert scale survey to assess the impact of the PCMH model on practices and providers, concerning how this new method is affecting patient care and outcomes. The survey was sent to 339 practitioners and 52 care management teams at 18 months into the program. Sixty-seven survey results were received and analyzed. After 18 months of participation in the PCMH initiative, participants demonstrated a better understanding of the PCMH initiative, improved patient access to care, improved care coordination, and increased health information technology optimization (p > .001). The findings from the survey evaluation suggest that practice participation in the Maryland Multi-Payer Program has enhanced access to care, influenced patient outcomes, improved care coordination, and increased use of health information technology.

A review and evaluation of the Langley Research Center's Scientific and Technical Information Program. Results of phase 4: Knowledge and attitudes survey, academic and industrial personnel

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pinelli, T. E.; Glassman, M.; Glassman, N. A.

1981-01-01

Feedback from engineers and scientists in the academic and industrial community provided an assessment of the usage and perceived quality of NASA Langley generated STI and the familiarity and usage of selected NASA publications and services and identified ways to increase the accessibility of Langley STI. The questionnaire utilized both open and closed ended questions and was pretested for finalization. The questions were organized around the seven objectives for Phase IV. From a contact list of nearly 1,200 active industrial and academic researchers, approximately 600 addresses were verified. The 497 persons who agreed to participate were mailed questionnaires. The 381 completed questionnaires received by the cutoff date were analyzed. Based on the survey findings, recommendations were made for increasing the familiarity with and use of NASA and Langley STI and selected NASA publications and services. In addition, recommendations were made for increasing the accessibility of Langley STI.

The effect of total noise on two-dimension OCDMA codes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dulaimi, Layth A. Khalil Al; Badlishah Ahmed, R.; Yaakob, Naimah; Aljunid, Syed A.; Matem, Rima

2017-11-01

In this research, we evaluate the performance of total noise effect on two dimension (2-D) optical code-division multiple access (OCDMA) performance systems using 2-D Modified Double Weight MDW under various link parameters. The impact of the multi-access interference (MAI) and other noise effect on the system performance. The 2-D MDW is compared mathematically with other codes which use similar techniques. We analyzed and optimized the data rate and effective receive power. The performance and optimization of MDW code in OCDMA system are reported, the bit error rate (BER) can be significantly improved when the 2-D MDW code desired parameters are selected especially the cross correlation properties. It reduces the MAI in the system compensate BER and phase-induced intensity noise (PIIN) in incoherent OCDMA The analysis permits a thorough understanding of PIIN, shot and thermal noises impact on 2-D MDW OCDMA system performance. PIIN is the main noise factor in the OCDMA network.

Performance Evaluation of Peer-to-Peer Progressive Download in Broadband Access Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shibuya, Megumi; Ogishi, Tomohiko; Yamamoto, Shu

P2P (Peer-to-Peer) file sharing architectures have scalable and cost-effective features. Hence, the application of P2P architectures to media streaming is attractive and expected to be an alternative to the current video streaming using IP multicast or content delivery systems because the current systems require expensive network infrastructures and large scale centralized cache storage systems. In this paper, we investigate the P2P progressive download enabling Internet video streaming services. We demonstrated the capability of the P2P progressive download in both laboratory test network as well as in the Internet. Through the experiments, we clarified the contribution of the FTTH links to the P2P progressive download in the heterogeneous access networks consisting of FTTH and ADSL links. We analyzed the cause of some download performance degradation occurred in the experiment and discussed about the effective methods to provide the video streaming service using P2P progressive download in the current heterogeneous networks.

A Generalized Information Theoretical Model for Quantum Secret Sharing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bai, Chen-Ming; Li, Zhi-Hui; Xu, Ting-Ting; Li, Yong-Ming

2016-11-01

An information theoretical model for quantum secret sharing was introduced by H. Imai et al. (Quantum Inf. Comput. 5(1), 69-80 2005), which was analyzed by quantum information theory. In this paper, we analyze this information theoretical model using the properties of the quantum access structure. By the analysis we propose a generalized model definition for the quantum secret sharing schemes. In our model, there are more quantum access structures which can be realized by our generalized quantum secret sharing schemes than those of the previous one. In addition, we also analyse two kinds of important quantum access structures to illustrate the existence and rationality for the generalized quantum secret sharing schemes and consider the security of the scheme by simple examples.

Development and Evaluation of a Blog about Cleft Lip and Cleft Palate and Hearing.

PubMed

Maximino, Luciana Paula; Zambonato, Ticiana Cristina de Freitas; Picolini-Pereira, Mirela Machado; Castro Corrêa, Camila de; Feniman, Mariza Ribeiro; Blasca, Wanderléia Quinhoneiro

2018-01-01

Introduction  Cleft lip and cleft palate can result in impairments in communication, specifically in hearing, making the use of technological resources such as blogs a fundamental guideline for health professionals. Objective  The aim of this study was to prepare and analyze the access to a blog about cleft lip and cleft palate and hearing as a pedagogical tool for health professionals. Methods  The first stage for the development of the blog was the selection of the content that would be addressed and the respective illustrations. The second stage was making the blog available through the WordPress platform, and the third stage included the evaluation of the blog, of the access to the WordPress statistical features, and of the quality of the blog through the Emory questionnaire, which was answered by 75 professionals. Results  The blog, titled "Fissure and Hearing", was developed with the architecture of a digital information environment containing a system of organization, navigation, labeling and search (first stage). The address hosting the blog was: http://fissuraeaudicao.wordpress.com (second stage). The result of the third stage included 56,269 views of the blog from different countries, and Brazil was the country with the highest viewing. Regarding the assessment by the Emory questionnaire, we found that for most of the major issues, the percentages obtained were or equal to 90%, while the analysis of the scales, navigation and structure presented the lowest scores. Conclusion  The blog was developed and enabled greater access to information available on the web about cleft lip and cleft palate and hearing.

Analysis of Content Legibility for Smartphones of Websites of the Korean Urological Association and Other Urological Societies in Korea

PubMed Central

Lee, Joo Yong; Kang, Dong Hyuk; Moon, Hong Sang; Kim, Yong Tae; Yoo, Tag Keun; Choi, Hong Yong; Lee, Tchun Yong

2011-01-01

Purpose We performed an analysis of the smartphone legibility of the websites of the Korean Urological Association (KUA) and other urological societies. Materials and Methods This study was conducted on the websites of the KUA and nine other urological societies. Each website was accessed via iPhone Safari and Android Chrome, respectively, to evaluate the establishment and readability of the mobile web pages. The provision of Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds by the websites and whether the websites had Twitter and Facebook accounts were evaluated. In addition, a validation test on the web standards was performed by using the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C®) Markup Validation Service, and subsequently the numbers of errors and warnings that occurred were analyzed. Results When accessed via Safari, two websites were legible, four were somewhat legible, and four were somewhat illegible. When accessed via Chrome, two websites were legible, six were somewhat legible, and two were somewhat illegible. One website provided an RSS feed and two websites managed members via separate Twitter accounts. No website supported mobile web pages. The result of the W3C® Markup Validation test on 10 websites showed a mean error rate of 221.6 (range, 13-1,477) and a mean warning rate of 127.13 (range, 0-655). Conclusions The smartphone legibility level of the websites of urological societies was relatively low. Improved smartphone legibility and web standard compliance of the websites of urological societies are required to keep up with the popularity of smartphones. PMID:21379433

Assessment of wadeable stream resources in the driftless area ecoregion in Western Wisconsin using a probabilistic sampling design.

PubMed

Miller, Michael A; Colby, Alison C C; Kanehl, Paul D; Blocksom, Karen

2009-03-01

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR), with support from the U.S. EPA, conducted an assessment of wadeable streams in the Driftless Area ecoregion in western Wisconsin using a probabilistic sampling design. This ecoregion encompasses 20% of Wisconsin's land area and contains 8,800 miles of perennial streams. Randomly-selected stream sites (n = 60) equally distributed among stream orders 1-4 were sampled. Watershed land use, riparian and in-stream habitat, water chemistry, macroinvertebrate, and fish assemblage data were collected at each true random site and an associated "modified-random" site on each stream that was accessed via a road crossing nearest to the true random site. Targeted least-disturbed reference sites (n = 22) were also sampled to develop reference conditions for various physical, chemical, and biological measures. Cumulative distribution function plots of various measures collected at the true random sites evaluated with reference condition thresholds, indicate that high proportions of the random sites (and by inference the entire Driftless Area wadeable stream population) show some level of degradation. Study results show no statistically significant differences between the true random and modified-random sample sites for any of the nine physical habitat, 11 water chemistry, seven macroinvertebrate, or eight fish metrics analyzed. In Wisconsin's Driftless Area, 79% of wadeable stream lengths were accessible via road crossings. While further evaluation of the statistical rigor of using a modified-random sampling design is warranted, sampling randomly-selected stream sites accessed via the nearest road crossing may provide a more economical way to apply probabilistic sampling in stream monitoring programs.

Barriers to accessing substance abuse treatment in Mexico: national comparative analysis by migration status.

PubMed

Guerrero, Erick G; Villatoro, Jorge Ameth; Kong, Yinfei; Fleiz, Clara; Vega, William A; Strathdee, Steffanie A; Medina-Mora, Maria Elena

2014-07-30

We examined Mexican migrants' perceived barriers to entering substance abuse treatment and potential differences by gender. This study analyzed a subset of household data collected in Mexico in 2011 via the Encuesta Nacional de Adicciones (National Survey of Addictions). A sample of 1,143 individuals who reported using illicit drugs was analyzed using multivariate negative binomial models to determine direct and moderated relationships of gender, migrant status, and drug dependence with perceived barriers to accessing treatment. Significant findings included disparities in drug dependence by migrant status. Compared with non-migrant men, women who have traveled to the United States was associated with fewer (1.3) barriers to access treatment. Fewer barriers to access care were associated with individuals residing in other regions of the country, compared to those living in Mexico City. Drug dependence, gender, migration status and regional location are factors associated with access to needed treatment. Implications for health care policy to develop treatment services infrastructure and for future research are discussed in the context of ongoing drug policy reform in Mexico.

Barriers to accessing substance abuse treatment in Mexico: national comparative analysis by migration status

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background We examined Mexican migrants’ perceived barriers to entering substance abuse treatment and potential differences by gender. Methods This study analyzed a subset of household data collected in Mexico in 2011 via the Encuesta Nacional de Adicciones (National Survey of Addictions). A sample of 1,143 individuals who reported using illicit drugs was analyzed using multivariate negative binomial models to determine direct and moderated relationships of gender, migrant status, and drug dependence with perceived barriers to accessing treatment. Results Significant findings included disparities in drug dependence by migrant status. Compared with non-migrant men, women who have traveled to the United States was associated with fewer (1.3) barriers to access treatment. Fewer barriers to access care were associated with individuals residing in other regions of the country, compared to those living in Mexico City. Conclusions Drug dependence, gender, migration status and regional location are factors associated with access to needed treatment. Implications for health care policy to develop treatment services infrastructure and for future research are discussed in the context of ongoing drug policy reform in Mexico. PMID:25074067

The quality and readability of internet information regarding clavicle fractures.

PubMed

Zhang, Dafang; Schumacher, Charles; Harris, Mitchel Byron

2016-03-01

The internet has become a major source of health information for patients. However, there has been little scrutiny of health information available on the internet to the public. Our objectives were to evaluate the quality and readability of information available on the internet regarding clavicle fractures and whether they changed with academic affiliation of the website or with complexity of the search term. Through a prospective evaluation of 3 search engines using 3 different search terms of varying complexity ("broken collarbone," "collarbone fracture," and "clavicle fracture"), we evaluated 91 website hits for quality and readability. Websites were specifically analyzed by search term and by website type. Information quality was evaluated on a four-point scale, and information readability was assessed using the Flesch-Kincaid score for reading grade level. The average quality score for our website hits was low, and the average reading grade level was far above the recommended level. Academic websites offered significantly higher quality information, whereas commercial websites offered significantly lower quality information. The use of more complex search terms yielded information of higher reading grade level but not higher quality. Current internet information regarding clavicle fractures is of low quality and low readability. Higher quality information utilizing more accessible language on clavicle fractures is needed on the internet. It is important to be aware of the information accessible to patients prior to their presentation to our clinics. Patients should be advised to visit websites with academic affiliations and to avoid commercial websites. Copyright © 2015 The Japanese Orthopaedic Association. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Accessible Transportation Technologies Research Initiative (ATTRI) Institutional and Policy Issues Assessment : Task 6: Summary Report

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2017-02-16

This report summarizes the research and findings of the Accessible Transportation Technologies Research Initiative (ATTRI) Institutional and Policy Assessment. The objective of this project is to identify and analyze the policy, institutional, and le...

Accessible Transportation Technologies Research Initiative (ATTRI) Institutional and Policy Issues Assessment : Task 6 : Summary Report

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2017-02-16

This report summarizes the research and findings of the Accessible Transportation Technologies Research Initiative (ATTRI) Institutional and Policy Assessment. The objective of this project is to identify and analyze the policy, institutional, and le...

Access Management Awareness Program. Phase II Report

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1997-01-01

This report presents the results of a number of detailed Iowa access management case studies. Case studies were selected to provide a cross-section of locations and community sizes in Iowa as well as a variety of project types. Projects were analyzed...

Evaluation of Access, a Primary Care Program for Indigent Patients: Inpatient and Emergency Room Utilization.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Davidson, Richard A.; Giancola, Angela; Gast, Andrea; Ho, Janice; Waddell, Rhondda

2003-01-01

Evaluated the impact of Accessing Community Care through Eastside Social Services (ACCESS), a program that provided indigent patients with free primary care, on inpatient admissions, emergency room (ER) visits, and subsequent charges. Data on 19 people before and after program enrollment showed significant decreases in ER visits following…

Accessibility-based evaluation of transportation and land-use planning : from laboratory to practice : USDOT Region V Regional University Transportation Center final report.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2016-12-16

The concept of accessibility has made inroads into planning practice, largely at the system level. That is, accessibility is measured or modeled for current or future regional transportation and land-use scenarios for evaluation or broad policy guida...

Evaluation of the Ugandan sorghum accessions for grain mold and anthracnose resistance

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Sorghum accessions from Uganda were evaluated for grain mold and anthracnose resistance during the 2005 and 2006 growing seasons at the Texas A&M University Research Farm, near College Station, TX. Accession PI534117 and SC719-11E exhibited the lowest grain mold severities of 2.4, whereas, accessio...

Evaluation of monograph selection in a health sciences library.

PubMed Central

Fenske, R E

1994-01-01

This article reports on an evaluation of recent monograph selections in a small academic health sciences library. Actual use of each new book was determined from date-due slips. Data were analyzed by broad subject, discipline, and number of uses. The startling result was that more than 60% of recent selections had been used little or not at all. To determine factors affecting use, the author examined aggregate data, used intuition, and assessed the raw data in more detail. Recommendations made to management were approved and implemented. The study bolstered confidence that it is possible to select materials with the highest potential for use and to depend on remote access for other needed works. It is suggested that other health sciences libraries undertake such studies and question the need to strive for comprehensive collections. PMID:7920335

Integration of Information and Scientific Literacy: Promoting Literacy in Undergraduates

PubMed Central

Wolbach, Kevin C.; Purzycki, Catherine B.; Bowman, Leslie A.; Agbada, Eva; Mostrom, Alison M.

2010-01-01

The Association of College and Research Libraries recommends incorporating information literacy (IL) skills across university and college curricula, for the goal of developing information literate graduates. Congruent with this goal, the Departments of Biological Sciences and Information Science developed an integrated IL and scientific literacy (SL) exercise for use in a first-year biology course. Students were provided the opportunity to access, retrieve, analyze, and evaluate primary scientific literature. By the completion of this project, student responses improved concerning knowledge and relevance of IL and SL skills. This project exposes students to IL and SL early in their undergraduate experience, preparing them for future academic advancement. PMID:21123700

[Intellectual property rights in Costa Rica in the light of the Biodiversity Convention].

PubMed

Salazar, R; Cabrera, J A

1996-04-01

This report analyzes intellectual property rights and acquisition of biological samples in light of the Biological Diversity Convention, with emphasis on Costa Rica. It examines the legal framework which exists for the protection of biological resources in this country, especially evaluating the law regarding protection of biota, which was approved in 1992. This includes information regarding access to genetic resources, and regulation for the aforementioned law. It examines the Biological Diversity Convention which was signed at the Rio Summit in 1992, whose objectives and goals, above all, emphasize the subject of distribution of benefits to be derived from the utilization of biological resources.

Enhanced protocol for real-time transmission of echocardiograms over wireless channels.

PubMed

Cavero, Eva; Alesanco, Alvaro; García, Jose

2012-11-01

This paper presents a methodology to transmit clinical video over wireless networks in real-time. A 3-D set partitioning in hierarchical trees compression prior to transmission is proposed. In order to guarantee the clinical quality of the compressed video, a clinical evaluation specific to each video modality has to be made. This evaluation indicates the minimal transmission rate necessary for an accurate diagnosis. However, the channel conditions produce errors and distort the video. A reliable application protocol is therefore proposed using a hybrid solution in which either retransmission or retransmission combined with forward error correction (FEC) techniques are used, depending on the channel conditions. In order to analyze the proposed methodology, the 2-D mode of an echocardiogram has been assessed. A bandwidth of 200 kbps is necessary to guarantee its clinical quality. The transmission using the proposed solution and retransmission and FEC techniques working separately have been simulated and compared in high-speed uplink packet access (HSUPA) and worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) networks. The proposed protocol achieves guaranteed clinical quality for bit error rates higher than with the other protocols, being for a mobile speed of 60 km/h up to 3.3 times higher for HSUPA and 10 times for WiMAX.

Performance Analysis of the IEEE 802.11p Multichannel MAC Protocol in Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks (VANETs) employ multichannel to provide a variety of safety and non-safety applications, based on the IEEE 802.11p and IEEE 1609.4 protocols. The safety applications require timely and reliable transmissions, while the non-safety applications require efficient and high throughput. In the IEEE 1609.4 protocol, operating interval is divided into alternating Control Channel (CCH) interval and Service Channel (SCH) interval with an identical length. During the CCH interval, nodes transmit safety-related messages and control messages, and Enhanced Distributed Channel Access (EDCA) mechanism is employed to allow four Access Categories (ACs) within a station with different priorities according to their criticality for the vehicle’s safety. During the SCH interval, the non-safety massages are transmitted. An analytical model is proposed in this paper to evaluate performance, reliability and efficiency of the IEEE 802.11p and IEEE 1609.4 protocols. The proposed model improves the existing work by taking serval aspects and the character of multichannel switching into design consideration. Extensive performance evaluations based on analysis and simulation help to validate the accuracy of the proposed model and analyze the capabilities and limitations of the IEEE 802.11p and IEEE 1609.4 protocols, and enhancement suggestions are given. PMID:29231882

Shell cracking strength in almond (Prunus dulcis [Mill.] D.A. Webb.) and its implication in uses as a value-added product.

PubMed

Ledbetter, C A

2008-09-01

Researchers are currently developing new value-added uses for almond shells, an abundant agricultural by-product. Almond varieties are distinguished by processors as being either hard or soft shelled, but these two broad classes of almond also exhibit varietal diversity in shell morphology and physical characters. By defining more precisely the physical and chemical characteristics of almond shells from different varieties, researchers will better understand which specific shell types are best suited for specific industrial processes. Eight diverse almond accessions were evaluated in two consecutive harvest seasons for nut and kernel weight, kernel percentage and shell cracking strength. Shell bulk density was evaluated in a separate year. Harvest year by almond accession interactions were highly significant (p0.01) for each of the analyzed variables. Significant (p0.01) correlations were noted for average nut weight with kernel weight, kernel percentage and shell cracking strength. A significant (p0.01) negative correlation for shell cracking strength with kernel percentage was noted. In some cases shell cracking strength was independent of the kernel percentage which suggests that either variety compositional differences or shell morphology affect the shell cracking strength. The varietal characterization of almond shell materials will assist in determining the best value-added uses for this abundant agricultural by-product.

Performance Analysis of the IEEE 802.11p Multichannel MAC Protocol in Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks.

PubMed

Song, Caixia

2017-12-12

Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks (VANETs) employ multichannel to provide a variety of safety and non-safety applications, based on the IEEE 802.11p and IEEE 1609.4 protocols. The safety applications require timely and reliable transmissions, while the non-safety applications require efficient and high throughput. In the IEEE 1609.4 protocol, operating interval is divided into alternating Control Channel (CCH) interval and Service Channel (SCH) interval with an identical length. During the CCH interval, nodes transmit safety-related messages and control messages, and Enhanced Distributed Channel Access (EDCA) mechanism is employed to allow four Access Categories (ACs) within a station with different priorities according to their criticality for the vehicle's safety. During the SCH interval, the non-safety massages are transmitted. An analytical model is proposed in this paper to evaluate performance, reliability and efficiency of the IEEE 802.11p and IEEE 1609.4 protocols. The proposed model improves the existing work by taking serval aspects and the character of multichannel switching into design consideration. Extensive performance evaluations based on analysis and simulation help to validate the accuracy of the proposed model and analyze the capabilities and limitations of the IEEE 802.11p and IEEE 1609.4 protocols, and enhancement suggestions are given.

CT-Guided Interventions Using a Free-Hand, Optical Tracking System: Initial Clinical Experience

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Schubert, Tilman, E-mail: TSchubert@uhbs.ch; Jacob, Augustinus L.; Pansini, Michele

2013-08-01

PurposeThe present study was designed to evaluate the geometrical accuracy and clinical applicability of a new, free-hand, CT-guided, optical navigation system.MethodsFifteen procedures in 14 consecutive patients were retrospectively analyzed. The navigation system was applied for interventional procedures on small target lesions, in cases with long needle paths, narrow access windows, or when an out-of-plane access was expected. Mean lesion volume was 27.9 ml, and mean distance to target measured was 107.5 mm. Eleven of 15 needle trajectories were planned as out-of-plane approaches regarding the axial CT plane.ResultsNinety-one percent of the biopsies were diagnostic. All therapeutic interventions were technically successful. Targetingmore » precision was high with a mean distance of the needle tip from planned target of 1.98 mm. Mean intervention time was 1:12 h. A statistically significant correlation between angular needle deviation and intervention time (p = 0.007), respiratory movement of the target (p = 0.008), and body mass index (p = 0.02) was detected. None of the evaluated parameters correlated significantly with the distance from the needle tip to the planned target.ConclusionsThe application of a navigation system for complex CT-guided procedures provided safe and effective targeting within a reasonable intervention time in our series.« less

Quality of USMC Officers: Buildup Vs. Reduction in Forces

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-03-01

the system and difficult to remove. Bacolod (2007), analyzes the decline in teacher quality due to expanded access to professional jobs for women ...the drawdown is to reduce accessions, create stricter retention policies, and entice members to leave the service through voluntary measures. This...approach during the drawdown is to reduce accessions, create stricter retention policies, and entice members to leave the service through voluntary

Differences in the availability of new anti-cancer drugs for Italian patients treated in different regions. Results of analysis conducted by the Italian Society Of Medical Oncology (AIOM).

PubMed

Gori, Stefania; Di Maio, Massimo; Pinto, Carmine; Alabiso, Oscar; Baldini, Editta; Beretta, Giordano Domenico; Caffo, Orazio; Caroti, Cinzia; Crinò, Lucio; De Laurentiis, Michelino; Dinota, Angelo; Di Vito, Francesco; Gebbia, Vittorio; Giustini, Lucio; Graiff, Claudio; Guida, Michele; Lelli, Giorgio; Lombardo, Marco; Muggiano, Antonio; Puglisi, Fabio; Romito, Sante; Salvagno, Luigi; Tagliaferri, Pierosandro; Terzoli, Edmondo; Venturini, Marco

2010-01-01

Italy is divided into 20 regions. As a consequence of local autonomy, following marketing authorization by the Italian Medicines Agency, each drug for hospital use is not immediately available, because its approval needs to undergo further steps that can be different among regions. The Italian Society of Medical Oncology conducted the present study to describe the impact of the existence of sub-national pharmaceutical formularies on the disparity of access to new anti-cancer drugs among patients treated in different Italian regions. The availability of 8 new anti-cancer drugs at a regional level and the coherence of regional authorizations compared with national authorizations approved by the Italian Medicines Agency were analyzed as of April 2009. Fourteen regions and autonomous province of Trento have a regional pharmaceutical formulary. In most cases, the regional pharmaceutical formularies include the eight analyzed drugs, with therapeutic indications coherent with national marketing authorization indications. Five drugs (bevacizumab, trastuzumab, rituximab, erlotinib, sunitinib) were included in all the existing regional pharmaceutical formularies, without restrictions, whereas three drugs (cetuximab, sorafenib, pemetrexed) were found to have restrictions in some regions. The presence of multiple hierarchical levels of drug evaluation creates a potential element of disparity in the access to pharmacological therapies for Italian citizens.

Evaluation of MEWDS-like lesions with fluorescein angiography and its frequency at an ophthalmic emergency department in Rio de Janeiro.

PubMed

Dias, Lillian Abreu; Morizot, Eduardo H

2015-01-01

To characterize multiple evanescent white dot syndrome (MEWDS)-like lesions as diagnosed by clinical exam and fluorescein angiography (FA) to build an epidemiological profile of this disease and highlight the most common angiographical aspects. It is important to emphasize the existence of this syndrome and improve patients' information about the natural good course of this disease. A cross-sectional study including all FA performed from July 2006 to October 2012 (6,111 exams analyzed) in patients at our ophthalmic emergency department, with analysis of the different angiographic aspects of the MEWDS-diagnosed cases. Among the 6,111 angiographies analyzed, 15 MEWDS cases were detected; the patients ranged in age from 13 to 42 years old, and the male/female ratio was 60% to 40% (nine male and six female). The most common FA aspects included hyperfluorescent dots, dots and spots in the retinal mid-periphery, and foveal granularity in 46% of the cases. MEWDS has a good prognosis, with spontaneous involution, which makes it difficult to diagnose because of the delayed access to ophthalmological assistance, in special FA examination, which highlights the lesions. This study was possible due to the quick access facility at a private ophthalmic emergency department and examination by an experienced ophthalmologist, along with complementary diagnosis by FA and better perception of the patients, thus ensuring good prognosis.

Improving access to psychosocial interventions for common mental health problems in the United Kingdom: narrative review and development of a conceptual model for complex interventions

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background In the United Kingdom and worldwide, there is significant policy interest in improving the quality of care for patients with mental health disorders and distress. Improving quality of care means addressing not only the effectiveness of interventions but also the issue of limited access to care. Research to date into improving access to mental health care has not been strongly rooted within a conceptual model, nor has it systematically identified the different elements of the patient journey from identification of illness to receipt of care. This paper set out to review core concepts underlying patient access to mental health care, synthesise these to develop a conceptual model of access, and consider the implications of the model for the development and evaluation of interventions for groups with poor access to mental health care such as older people and ethnic minorities. Methods Narrative review of the literature to identify concepts underlying patient access to mental health care, and synthesis into a conceptual model to support the delivery and evaluation of complex interventions to improve access to mental health care. Results The narrative review adopted a process model of access to care, incorporating interventions at three levels. The levels comprise (a) community engagement (b) addressing the quality of interactions in primary care and (c) the development and delivery of tailored psychosocial interventions. Conclusions The model we propose can form the basis for the development and evaluation of complex interventions in access to mental health care. We highlight the key methodological challenges in evaluating the overall impact of access interventions, and assessing the relative contribution of the different elements of the model. PMID:22889290

Electric Vehicles in Colorado: Anticipating Consumer Demand for Direct Current Fast Charging

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wood, Eric W.; Rames, Clement L.

To support the State of Colorado in planning for growth in direct current fast charging (DCFC) for electric vehicles, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has partnered with the Regional Air Quality Council (RAQC) and the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) to analyze a number of DCFC investment scenarios. NREL analyzed existing electric vehicle registration data from IHS Markit (IHS) to highlight early trends in the electric vehicle market, which were compared with sales forecasts predicting large growth in the Colorado electric vehicle market. Electric vehicle forecasts were then used to develop future DCFC scenarios to be evaluated in amore » simulation environment to estimate consumer benefits of the hypothetical DCFC networks in terms of increased driving range and electric vehicle miles traveled (eVMT). Simulated utilization of the hypothetical DCFC networks was analyzed for geographic trends, particularly for correlations with vehicle electric range. Finally, a subset of simulations is presented for consumers with potentially inconsistent access to charging at their home location and presumably greater reliance on public DCFC infrastructure.« less

Perspectives of People Living with HIV on Access to Health Care: Protocol for a Scoping Review.

PubMed

Asghari, Shabnam; Maybank, Allison; Hurley, Oliver; Modir, Hilary; Farrell, Alison; Marshall, Zack; Kendall, Claire; Johnston, Sharon; Hogel, Matthew; Rourke, Sean B; Liddy, Clare

2016-05-18

Strategies to improve access to health care for people living with human immunodeficiency virus (PLHIV) have demonstrated limited success. Whereas previous approaches have been informed by the views of health providers and decision-makers, it is believed that incorporating patient perspectives into the design and evaluations of health care programs will lead to improved access to health care services. We aim to map the literature on the perspectives of PLHIV concerning access to health care services, to identify gaps in evidence, and to produce an evidence-informed research action plan to guide the Living with HIV program of research. This scoping review includes peer-reviewed and grey literature from 1946 to May 2014 using double data extraction. Variations of the search terms "HIV", "patient satisfaction", and "health services accessibility" are used to identify relevant literature. The search strategy is being developed in consultation with content experts, review methodologists, and a librarian, and validated using gold standard studies identified by those stakeholders. The inclusion criteria are (1) the study includes the perspectives of PLHIV, (2) study design includes qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods, and (3) outcome measures are limited to patient satisfaction, their implied needs, beliefs, and desires in relation to access to health care. The papers are extracted by two independent reviewers, including quality assessment. Data is then collated, summarized, and thematically analyzed. A total of 12,857 references were retrieved, of which 326 documents were identified as eligible in pre-screening, and 64 articles met the inclusion criteria (56% qualitative studies, 38% quantitative studies and 6% mixed-method studies). Only four studies were conducted in Canada. Data synthesis is in progress and full results are expected in June, 2016. This scoping review will record and characterize the extensive body of literature on perspectives of PLHIV regarding access to health care. A literature repository will be developed to assist stakeholders, decision-makers, and PLHIV in developing and implementing patient-oriented health care programs.

[Network Analyses in Regional Health Care Research: Example of Dermatological Care in the Metropolitan Region of Hamburg].

PubMed

Augustin, J; Austermann, J; Erasmi, S

2016-10-18

Background: One of the overall objectives of the legislator is to ensure an overall "homogeneous", and easily accessible medical care for the population. The physician-patient ratio can be used to describe the regional health care situation. But this method does not provide information concerning the availability of, for instance, the nearest doctor. Therefore, further parameters such as accessibility must be taken into consideration. For this purpose, network analyses are an appropriate method. The objective of this study is to present methodological tools to evaluate the healthcare situation in the metropolitan region of Hamburg, primarily focusing on accessibility using dermatologists as an example. Methods: Analyzing data of 20 counties, the geographical distribution of N=357 dermatologists and the physician-patient ratio were calculated. In a second step, a network analysis regarding accessibility was performed. In order to calculate accessibility, address data (physicians) were transformed into coordinates, consisting of defined places (N=303) and restrictions (e. g. speed, turn restrictions) of the network. The calculation of population-based accessibility is based on grid cells for the population density. Results: Despite adequacy of the overall medical situation, differences in the availability of the nearest dermatologists in the metropolitan region are remarkable, particularly when use of public transport is taken into consideration. In some counties, over 60% of the population require at least one hour to get to the nearest dermatologist using public transportation. In rural regions within the metropolitan area are particularly affected. Conclusion: The network analysis has shown that the choice and availability of transportation in combination with the location (rural/urban) is essential for health care access. Especially elderly people in rural areas with restricted mobility are at a disadvantage. Therefore, modern health care approaches (e. g. telemedicine) are necessary to optimize the health care situation in rural areas. Network analyses can make a valuable methodological contribution to the analysis of regional health care disparities. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Use of the radial approach in primary angioplasty: results in 1029 consecutive patients and analyses in unfavorable subgroups.

PubMed

Hernández-Pérez, Francisco J; Blasco-Lobo, Ana; Goicolea, Leire; Muñiz-Lozano, Ana; Fernandez-Díaz, José A; Domínguez, José R; Goicolea-Ruigómez, Javier

2014-01-01

The transradial approach is associated with a reduction in vascular access-related complications after primary percutaneous coronary interventions. The purpose of this study was to examine the feasibility of the routine use of transradial access in primary angioplasty and to evaluate how it affects subgroups with less favorable characteristics. We analyzed 1029 consecutive patients with an ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndrome treated with primary angioplasty. Transradial access was the primary approach in 93.1% of the patients. The success rate of primary angioplasty was 95.9%, and 87.6% of the patients were event-free 30 days after the procedure. Crossover was required in 3.0% of the patients with primary transradial access, and this rate remained stable over the years. Predictors of the need for crossover were age older than 75 years (odds ratio=2.50, 95% confidence interval, 1.09-5.71; P=.03) and a history of ischemic heart disease (odds ratio=2.65; 95% confidence interval, 1.12-6.24; P=.02). Primary transfemoral access use was higher in women older than 75 years. Use of the transradial approach in this subgroup did not affect reperfusion time or the success of angioplasty, although there was a greater need for crossover (10.9% vs 2.6%; P=.006). Among patients in cardiogenic shock, the transradial approach was used in 51.5%; reperfusion times and angioplasty success rates were similar to those obtained with transfemoral access, but there was a greater need for crossover. Transradial access can be used safely and effectively in most primary angioplasty procedures. In older women and in patients in cardiogenic shock, there is a higher crossover requirement, with no detriment to reperfusion time. Copyright © 2013 Sociedad Española de Cardiología. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

[Immigrants' access to health care in Spain: a review].

PubMed

Llop-Gironés, Alba; Vargas Lorenzo, Ingrid; Garcia-Subirats, Irene; Aller, Marta-Beatriz; Vázquez Navarrete, María Luisa

2014-01-01

An important proportion of the population in Spain is immigrant and the international literature indicates their inadequate access to health services. The objective is to contribute to improving the knowledge on access to health care of the immigrant population in Spain. Review of original papers published (1998-2012) on access to health services of the immigrant population in Spain published in Medline and MEDES. Out of 319 studies, 20 were selected, applying predefined criteria. The results were analyzed using the Aday and Andersen framework. Among the publications, 13 quantitative studies analysed differences in health care use between the immigrant and the native population, and 7 studied determinants of access of immigrants. Studies showed less use of specialized care by immigrants, higher use of emergency care and no differences in the use of primary care between groups. Five quantitative articles on determinants of access focused on factors related to the immigrant population (sex, age, educational level and holding private health insurance), but without observing clear patterns. The two qualitative studies analyzed factors related to health services, describing access to healthcare barriers such as the limited provision of information or the requirements for personal health card. Access to health care in immigrants has been scarcely studied, using different approaches and the barely analysed factors related to the services. No clear patterns were observed, as differences depend on the classification of migrants according to country of origin and the level of care. However, studies showed less use of specialized care by immigrants, higher use of emergency care and the existence of determinants of access different to their needs.

Evaluation on the Occupational Information Access System as Used at Churchill High School. A Project Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McKinlay, Bruce; Adams, Daniel

The Occupational Information Access System (OIAS) improves the accessibility of occupational labor market information for career planning. Its operation at Churchill High School is evaluated from several angels: the likes and dislikes of users; the effect of OIAS on users' knowledge of occupational information and on their career plans; why other…

Comparison and Evaluation of End-User Interfaces for Online Public Access Catalogs.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zumer, Maja

End-user interfaces for the online public access catalogs (OPACs) of OhioLINK, a system linking major university and research libraries in Ohio, and its 16 member libraries, accessible through the Internet, are compared and evaluated from the user-oriented perspective. A common, systematic framework was used for the scientific observation of the…

Innovative Access Programme for Young Mothers Wishing to Train in Childbirth Education: From Concept to Evaluation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nolan, Mary L.

2008-01-01

This paper describes the conception, planning, implementation and evaluation of an access programme arising out of an innovative collaboration between two charities, Straight Talking and the National Childbirth Trust. The access programme was designed at the request of a group of young mothers who had finished compulsory education and subsequently…

Health needs of street market saleswomen: access, connection and welcoming as integral practices.

PubMed

Magalhães, Ana Hirley Rodrigues; Parente, José Reginaldo Feijão; Silva, Maria Adelane Monteiro da; Pereira, Ivna de Holanda; Vasconcelos, Maristela Inês Osawa; Guimarães, Raquel Xavier

2017-06-05

To analyze the health needs of street market saleswomen of the Mercado Público (Public Market) of a municipality in Northeastern Brazil. Qualitative, exploratory and descriptive study, with fifteen saleswomen in a public market. Data production means included semi-structured interviews, April-May 2016. Data were analyzed using the analysis of technical content technique, from which the following theme category emerged: "Access needs to health services and professional humanized practices." The women in the study highlighted the guarantee of access, connection and welcoming as driving practices for the recognition of health needs confronting the health-disease process and comprehensive care. Being welcomed, identifying needs and producing a bond will contribute to these women recognizing themselves as subjects of their needs, strengthening their autonomy, empowerment and self-care.

Managed access technology to combat contraband cell phones in prison: Findings from a process evaluation.

PubMed

Grommon, Eric

2018-02-01

Cell phones in correctional facilities have emerged as one of the most pervasive forms of modern contraband. This issue has been identified as a top priority for many correctional administrators in the United States. Managed access, a technology that utilizes cellular signals to capture transmissions from contraband phones, has received notable attention as a promising tool to combat this problem. However, this technology has received little evaluative attention. The present study offers a foundational process evaluation and draws upon output measures and stakeholder interviews to identify salient operational challenges and subsequent lessons learned about implementing and maintaining a managed access system. Findings suggest that while managed access captures large volumes of contraband cellular transmissions, the technology requires significant implementation planning, personnel support, and complex partnerships with commercial cellular carriers. Lessons learned provide guidance for practitioners to navigate these challenges and for scholars to improve future evaluations of managed access. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Agent-based Modeling Methodology for Analyzing Weapons Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-03-26

like programming language that allows access to AFSIM library objects. Figure 10 depicts the various objects that make up a platform within...AFSIM and can be accessed through the scripting language (Zeh & Birkmire, 2014). 29 Figure 10: AFSIM Platform Components (AFSIM Overview, 2014...defined, accessible , and has all the elements of both air-to-air and air-to-ground combat that allow sufficient exploration of the main factors of

Web Accessibility of the Higher Education Institute Websites Based on the World Wide Web Consortium and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alam, Najma H.

2014-01-01

The problem observed in this study is the low level of compliance of higher education website accessibility with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. The literature supports the non-compliance of websites with the federal policy in general. Studies were performed to analyze the accessibility of fifty-four sample web pages using automated…

Subtitle Synchronization across Multiple Screens and Devices

PubMed Central

Rodriguez-Alsina, Aitor; Talavera, Guillermo; Orero, Pilar; Carrabina, Jordi

2012-01-01

Ambient Intelligence is a new paradigm in which environments are sensitive and responsive to the presence of people. This is having an increasing importance in multimedia applications, which frequently rely on sensors to provide useful information to the user. In this context, multimedia applications must adapt and personalize both content and interfaces in order to reach acceptable levels of context-specific quality of service for the user, and enable the content to be available anywhere and at any time. The next step is to make content available to everybody in order to overcome the existing access barriers to content for users with specific needs, or else to adapt to different platforms, hence making content fully usable and accessible. Appropriate access to video content, for instance, is not always possible due to the technical limitations of traditional video packaging, transmission and presentation. This restricts the flexibility of subtitles and audio-descriptions to be adapted to different devices, contexts and users. New Web standards built around HTML5 enable more featured applications with better adaptation and personalization facilities, and thus would seem more suitable for accessible AmI environments. This work presents a video subtitling system that enables the customization, adaptation and synchronization of subtitles across different devices and multiple screens. The benefits of HTML5 applications for building the solution are analyzed along with their current platform support. Moreover, examples of the use of the application in three different cases are presented. Finally, the user experience of the solution is evaluated. PMID:23012513

Subtitle synchronization across multiple screens and devices.

PubMed

Rodriguez-Alsina, Aitor; Talavera, Guillermo; Orero, Pilar; Carrabina, Jordi

2012-01-01

Ambient Intelligence is a new paradigm in which environments are sensitive and responsive to the presence of people. This is having an increasing importance in multimedia applications, which frequently rely on sensors to provide useful information to the user. In this context, multimedia applications must adapt and personalize both content and interfaces in order to reach acceptable levels of context-specific quality of service for the user, and enable the content to be available anywhere and at any time. The next step is to make content available to everybody in order to overcome the existing access barriers to content for users with specific needs, or else to adapt to different platforms, hence making content fully usable and accessible. Appropriate access to video content, for instance, is not always possible due to the technical limitations of traditional video packaging, transmission and presentation. This restricts the flexibility of subtitles and audio-descriptions to be adapted to different devices, contexts and users. New Web standards built around HTML5 enable more featured applications with better adaptation and personalization facilities, and thus would seem more suitable for accessible AmI environments. This work presents a video subtitling system that enables the customization, adaptation and synchronization of subtitles across different devices and multiple screens. The benefits of HTML5 applications for building the solution are analyzed along with their current platform support. Moreover, examples of the use of the application in three different cases are presented. Finally, the user experience of the solution is evaluated.

Incidence and risk factors for central venous access port-related infection in Chinese cancer patients.

PubMed

Wang, Ting-Yao; Lee, Kuan-Der; Chen, Ping-Tsung; Chen, Min-Chi; Chen, Yi-Yang; Huang, Cih-En; Kuan, Feng-Che; Chen, Chih-Cheng; Lu, Chang Hsien

2015-11-01

Cytotoxic chemotherapy via central venous access ports is an important part of the standard treatment for most cancers, but it is accompanied with the risk of infections. This study aimed to analyze the incidence and risk factors for central venous access port-related infection (CPI) among Chinese patients receiving cytotoxic chemotherapy. Between January 1, 2002 and December 31, 2005 a total of 1391 cancer patients with 1449 totally implantable central venous access ports were evaluated. The log-rank test and Cox proportional hazards model were used for the analyses of risk factors. The overall CPI incidence rate was 0.21 per 1000 catheter-days. Hematological malignancies and head and neck cancer were associated with an increased risk of CPI (hazard ratio 4.00 and 4.11, respectively, both p < 0.001) and less infection-free catheter longevity (p < 0.001) compared with other cancer types. Chemotherapy in an adjuvant setting was associated with a lower risk of infection than for patients in a nonadjuvant setting (p < 0.001). The most common pathogens isolated from CPI were Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Candida. Infection remains to be a challenging issue for totally implantable central venous ports. Implementation of an insertion bundle for the prevention of central line-associated bloodstream infections is warranted, especially for those patients with hematological and head and neck cancers, as well as for patients receiving chemotherapy in the metastatic settings. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier B.V.

A Team Approach to Designing the Recreational-Educational Complex.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Curtis, James P.

1983-01-01

Outlines steps taken to ensure accessibility for disabled persons to the Alabama Space and Rocket Center's new recreational-educational complex, including writing specifications, identifying construction needs, and analyzing existing buildings' accessibility. Describes the proposed activity center, family and faculty cottages, lodge, active and…

A brief genomic history of tomato breeding

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Here we report a brief genomic history of tomato breeding by analyzing the genomes of 360 diverse accessions collected all over the world. These included 333 accessions from the red fruited clade (S. pimpinellifolium, S. l. var. cerasiforme, and S. lycopersicum) that represent various geographical o...

Evaluation of Google Glass Technical Limitations on Their Integration in Medical Systems.

PubMed

Martinez-Millana, Antonio; Bayo-Monton, Jose-Luis; Lizondo, Aroa; Fernandez-Llatas, Carlos; Traver, Vicente

2016-12-15

Google Glass is a wearable sensor presented to facilitate access to information and assist while performing complex tasks. Despite the withdrawal of Google in supporting the product, today there are multiple applications and much research analyzing the potential impact of this technology in different fields of medicine. Google Glass satisfies the need of managing and having rapid access to real-time information in different health care scenarios. Among the most common applications are access to electronic medical records, display monitorizations, decision support and remote consultation in specialties ranging from ophthalmology to surgery and teaching. The device enables a user-friendly hands-free interaction with remote health information systems and broadcasting medical interventions and consultations from a first-person point of view. However, scientific evidence highlights important technical limitations in its use and integration, such as failure in connectivity, poor reception of images and automatic restart of the device. This article presents a technical study on the aforementioned limitations (specifically on the latency, reliability and performance) on two standard communication schemes in order to categorize and identify the sources of the problems. Results have allowed us to obtain a basis to define requirements for medical applications to prevent network, computational and processing failures associated with the use of Google Glass.

Evaluation of Google Glass Technical Limitations on Their Integration in Medical Systems

PubMed Central

Martinez-Millana, Antonio; Bayo-Monton, Jose-Luis; Lizondo, Aroa; Fernandez-Llatas, Carlos; Traver, Vicente

2016-01-01

Google Glass is a wearable sensor presented to facilitate access to information and assist while performing complex tasks. Despite the withdrawal of Google in supporting the product, today there are multiple applications and much research analyzing the potential impact of this technology in different fields of medicine. Google Glass satisfies the need of managing and having rapid access to real-time information in different health care scenarios. Among the most common applications are access to electronic medical records, display monitorizations, decision support and remote consultation in specialties ranging from ophthalmology to surgery and teaching. The device enables a user-friendly hands-free interaction with remote health information systems and broadcasting medical interventions and consultations from a first-person point of view. However, scientific evidence highlights important technical limitations in its use and integration, such as failure in connectivity, poor reception of images and automatic restart of the device. This article presents a technical study on the aforementioned limitations (specifically on the latency, reliability and performance) on two standard communication schemes in order to categorize and identify the sources of the problems. Results have allowed us to obtain a basis to define requirements for medical applications to prevent network, computational and processing failures associated with the use of Google Glass. PMID:27983691

Stability of polyphenols and carotenoids in strawberry and peach yoghurt throughout in vitro gastrointestinal digestion.

PubMed

Oliveira, Ana; Pintado, Manuela

2015-05-01

The aim of this research was to evaluate the influence of in vitro gastrointestinal digestion on the stability and bio-accessibility of phenolic compounds and carotenoids, as well as on the antioxidant activity in strawberry and peach enriched yoghurt. The radical scavenging capacity of strawberry and peach yoghurt was 480 and 550% higher, respectively, at the level of the intestine than in fruit yoghurt not subjected to digestion. In strawberry the amount of bio-accessible anthocyanins increased during gastric digestion and the transition to the intestinal compartment produced a decrease in all the analyzed classes of polyphenols, being more pronounced in pelargonidin-3-glucoside (65%) and pelargonidin-3-rutinoside (58%). In peach the (+)-catechin content strongly decreased (80%), and neochlorogenic, chlorogenic acid, rutin and the carotenoid zeaxanthin decreased at lower levels, between 32-45%, while β-carotene was rather stable under gastric conditions (increased by 12%) during intestinal digestion. Despite the decrease in the concentration of these bioactive compounds after being subjected to in vitro gastrointestinal digestion, results suggest that fruit yoghurt is an important source of bio-accessible polyphenols and carotenoids and that despite some losses induced by digestion conditions, it still releases relevant amounts at the level of the intestine to be absorbed and to promote health benefits.

Evaluation of genetic diversity of Panicum turgidum Forssk from Saudi Arabia.

PubMed

Assaeed, Abdulaziz M; Al-Faifi, Sulieman A; Migdadi, Hussein M; El-Bana, Magdy I; Al Qarawi, Abdulaziz A; Khan, Mohammad Altaf

2018-01-01

The genetic diversity of 177 accessions of Panicum turgidum Forssk, representing ten populations collected from four geographical regions in Saudi Arabia, was analyzed using amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) markers. A set of four primer-pairs with two/three selective nucleotides scored 836 AFLP amplified fragments (putative loci/genome landmarks), all of which were polymorphic. Populations collected from the southern region of the country showed the highest genetic diversity parameters, whereas those collected from the central regions showed the lowest values. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) revealed that 78% of the genetic variability was attributable to differences within populations. Pairwise values for population differentiation and genetic structure were statistically significant for all variances. The UPGMA dendrogram, validated by principal coordinate analysis-grouped accessions, corresponded to the geographical origin of the accessions. Mantel's test showed that there was a significant correlation between the genetic and geographical distances ( r  = 0.35, P  < 0.04). In summary, the AFLP assay demonstrated the existence of substantial genetic variation in P. turgidum . The relationship between the genetic diversity and geographical source of P. turgidum populations of Saudi Arabia, as revealed through this comprehensive study, will enable effective resource management and restoration of new areas without compromising adaptation and genetic diversity.

[Democracy without equity: analysis of health reform and nineteen years of National Health System in Brazil].

PubMed

Coelho, Ivan Batista

2010-01-01

This paper aims to evaluate the nineteen years of the National Health System in Brazil, under the prism of equity. It takes into account the current political context in Brazil in the 80s, that the democratization of the country and the health sector could, per se, lead to a more equitable situation regarding the access to health services. Democracy and equity concepts are here discussed; analyzing which situations may facilitate or make it difficult its association in a theoretical plan, applying them to the Brazilian context in a more general form and, to emphasizing practical implications to the National Health System and to groups of activism related to health reforms. It also seeks to show the limits and possibilities of these groups with regards to the reduction of inequality, in relation to the access to health services, which still remain. To conclude, the author points out the need for other movements to be established which seek the reduction of such and other inequalities, such as access to education, housing, etc, drawing special attention to the role played by the State, which is questioned regarding its incapacity of promoting equity, once it presents itself as being powerful when approaching other matters.

Genetic Diversity and Population Structure of Broomcorn Millet (Panicum miliaceum L.) Cultivars and Landraces in China Based on Microsatellite Markers

PubMed Central

Liu, Minxuan; Xu, Yue; He, Jihong; Zhang, Shuang; Wang, Yinyue; Lu, Ping

2016-01-01

Broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum L.), one of the first domesticated crops, has been grown in Northern China for at least 10,000 years. The species is presently a minor crop, and evaluation of its genetic diversity has been very limited. In this study, we analyzed the genetic diversity of 88 accessions of broomcorn millet collected from various provinces of China. Amplification with 67 simple sequence repeat (SSR) primers revealed moderate levels of diversity in the investigated accessions. A total of 179 alleles were detected, with an average of 2.7 alleles per locus. Polymorphism information content and expected heterozygosity ranged from 0.043 to 0.729 (mean = 0.376) and 0.045 to 0.771 (mean = 0.445), respectively. Cluster analysis based on the unweighted pair group method of mathematical averages separated the 88 accessions into four groups at a genetic similarity level of 0.633. A genetic structure assay indicated a close correlation between geographical regions and genetic diversity. The uncovered information will be valuable for defining gene pools and developing breeding programs for broomcorn millet. Furthermore, the millet-specific SSR markers developed in this study should serve as useful tools for assessment of genetic diversity and elucidation of population structure in broomcorn millet. PMID:26985894

The storage system of PCM based on random access file system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Han, Wenbing; Chen, Xiaogang; Zhou, Mi; Li, Shunfen; Li, Gezi; Song, Zhitang

2016-10-01

Emerging memory technologies such as Phase change memory (PCM) tend to offer fast, random access to persistent storage with better scalability. It's a hot topic of academic and industrial research to establish PCM in storage hierarchy to narrow the performance gap. However, the existing file systems do not perform well with the emerging PCM storage, which access storage medium via a slow, block-based interface. In this paper, we propose a novel file system, RAFS, to bring about good performance of PCM, which is built in the embedded platform. We attach PCM chips to the memory bus and build RAFS on the physical address space. In the proposed file system, we simplify traditional system architecture to eliminate block-related operations and layers. Furthermore, we adopt memory mapping and bypassed page cache to reduce copy overhead between the process address space and storage device. XIP mechanisms are also supported in RAFS. To the best of our knowledge, we are among the first to implement file system on real PCM chips. We have analyzed and evaluated its performance with IOZONE benchmark tools. Our experimental results show that the RAFS on PCM outperforms Ext4fs on SDRAM with small record lengths. Based on DRAM, RAFS is significantly faster than Ext4fs by 18% to 250%.

47 CFR 6.7 - Product design, development, and evaluation.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

...) Manufacturers and service providers shall evaluate the accessibility, usability, and compatibility of equipment... identify barriers to accessibility and usability as part of such a product design and development process...

47 CFR 6.7 - Product design, development, and evaluation.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

...) Manufacturers and service providers shall evaluate the accessibility, usability, and compatibility of equipment... identify barriers to accessibility and usability as part of such a product design and development process...

Mathematical modeling and statistical analysis of SPE-OCDMA systems utilizing second harmonic generation effect in thick crystal receivers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Matinfar, Mehdi D.; Salehi, Jawad A.

2009-11-01

In this paper we analytically study and evaluate the performance of a Spectral-Phase-Encoded Optical CDMA system for different parameters such as the user's code length and the number of users in the network. In this system an advanced receiver structure in which the Second Harmonic Generation effect imposed in a thick crystal is employed as the nonlinear pre-processor prior to the conventional low speed photodetector. We consider ASE noise of the optical amplifiers, effective in low power conditions, besides the multiple access interference (MAI) noise which is the dominant source of noise in any OCDMA communications system. We use the results of the previous work which we analyzed the statistical behavior of the thick crystals in an optically amplified digital lightwave communication system to evaluate the performance of the SPE-OCDMA system with thick crystals receiver structure. The error probability is evaluated using Saddle-Point approximation and the approximation is verified by Monte-Carlo simulation.

Ofeq-2 orbit, attitude, and flight evaluation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grumer, Michael; Komem, Joseph; Kronenfeld, Joseph; Kubitski, Ophir; Lorber, Vitaly; Shyldkrot, Haim

1992-02-01

The most significant events and phenomena that occurred during the Ofeq-2 flight are evaluated in this work. Particular attention is paid to the physical and technological factors which affected its orbital lifetime. Comparison of Ofeq-2 telemetry results with prelaunch estimations and with Ofeq-1 flight data are presented. The satellite's orbit and mission characteristics are defined and the principal systems of Ofeq-2 are described. Topics addressed include the interaction between the spinner's attitude with respect to the sun and consequent electric power generation. The coning angle development history, the role of the solar data evaluation, and the factors influencing drag are also analyzed. All of these affected the Ofeq-2 power outage-recovery event. The orbit determination and the coning angle evolution estimation methods are discussed in some detail. A brief report on radiation effects on computer RAM (random access memory) is also given. An integrative systems engineering approach summary of the telemetry data reconstruction and analysis concludes the paper.

The Touchstone Process: an ongoing critical evaluation of reiki in the scientific literature.

PubMed

Baldwin, Ann L; Vitale, Anne; Brownell, Elise; Scicinski, Jan; Kearns, Mary; Rand, William

2010-01-01

Reiki is used by a growing number of people but little is known about the scientific basis for its use. The Touchstone Process was developed as an ongoing process to systematically analyze published, peer-reviewed studies of Reiki, the results being made accessible to the public online. Thirteen scientifically qualified experts in the field of Reiki were assembled into 3 teams to retrieve, evaluate, and summarize articles using standardized, piloted evaluation forms. Summaries of 26 Reiki articles, including strengths and weaknesses, were posted on a newly developed Web site (www.centerforreikiresearch.org), together with an overall summary of the status of Reiki research and guidelines for future research: The Touchstone Process determined that only 12 articles were based on a robust experimental design and utilized well-established outcome parameters. Of these articles, 2 provided no support, 5 provided some support, and 5 demonstrated strong evidence for the use of Reiki as a healing modality. There is a need for further high-quality studies in this area.

Development and evaluation of an electronic health record configuration and customization laboratory course for clinical informatics students.

PubMed

Mohan, Vishnu; Hersh, William R

2013-01-01

There is a need for informatics educational programs to develop laboratory courses that facilitate hands-on access to an EHR, and allow students to learn and evaluate functionality and configuration options. This is particularly relevant given the diversity of backgrounds of informatics students. We implemented an EHR laboratory course that allowed students to explore an EHR in both inpatient and outpatient clinical environments. The course focused on specific elements of the EHR including order set development, customization, clinical decision support, ancillary services, and billing and coding functionality. Students were surveyed at the end of the course for their satisfaction with the learning experience. We detailed challenges as well as lessons learned after analyzing student evaluations of this course. Features that promote the successful offering of an online EHR course, include (1) using more than one EHR to allow students to compare functionalities, (2) ensuring appropriate course calibration, (3) countering issues specific to EHR usability, and (4) fostering a fertile environment for rich online conversations are discussed.

Evaluation of analytical performance of a new high-sensitivity immunoassay for cardiac troponin I.

PubMed

Masotti, Silvia; Prontera, Concetta; Musetti, Veronica; Storti, Simona; Ndreu, Rudina; Zucchelli, Gian Carlo; Passino, Claudio; Clerico, Aldo

2018-02-23

The study aim was to evaluate and compare the analytical performance of the new chemiluminescent immunoassay for cardiac troponin I (cTnI), called Access hs-TnI using DxI platform, with those of Access AccuTnI+3 method, and high-sensitivity (hs) cTnI method for ARCHITECT platform. The limits of blank (LoB), detection (LoD) and quantitation (LoQ) at 10% and 20% CV were evaluated according to international standardized protocols. For the evaluation of analytical performance and comparison of cTnI results, both heparinized plasma samples, collected from healthy subjects and patients with cardiac diseases, and quality control samples distributed in external quality assessment programs were used. LoB, LoD and LoQ at 20% and 10% CV values of the Access hs-cTnI method were 0.6, 1.3, 2.1 and 5.3 ng/L, respectively. Access hs-cTnI method showed analytical performance significantly better than that of Access AccuTnI+3 method and similar results to those of hs ARCHITECT cTnI method. Moreover, the cTnI concentrations measured with Access hs-cTnI method showed close linear regressions with both Access AccuTnI+3 and ARCHITECT hs-cTnI methods, although there were systematic differences between these methods. There was no difference between cTnI values measured by Access hs-cTnI in heparinized plasma and serum samples, whereas there was a significant difference between cTnI values, respectively measured in EDTA and heparin plasma samples. Access hs-cTnI has analytical sensitivity parameters significantly improved compared to Access AccuTnI+3 method and is similar to those of the high-sensitivity method using ARCHITECT platform.

The design and evaluation of a peripheral device for use with a computer game intended for children with motor disabilities.

PubMed

Scardovelli, Terigi Augusto; Frère, Annie France

2015-01-01

Many children with motor impairments cannot participate in games and jokes that contribute to their formation. Currently, commercial computer games there are few options of software and sufficiently flexible access devices to meet the needs of this group of children. In this study, a peripheral access device and a 3D computerized game that do not require the actions of dragging, clicking, or activating various keys at the same time were developed. The peripheral access device consists of a webcam and a supervisory system that processes the images. This method provides a field of action that can be adjusted to various types of motor impairments. To analyze the sensitivity of the commands, a virtual course was developed using the scenario of a path of straight lines and curves. A volunteer with good ability in virtual games performed a short training with the virtual course and, after 15min of training, obtained similar results with a standard keyboard and the adapted peripheral device. A 3D game in the Amazon forest was developed using the Blender 3D tool. This free software was used to model the characters and scenarios. To evaluate the usability of the 3D game, the game was tested by 20 volunteers without motor impairments (group A) and 13 volunteers with severe motor limitations of the upper limbs (group B). All the volunteers (group A and B) could easily execute all the actions of the game using the adapted peripheral device. The majority positively evaluated the questions of usability and expressed their satisfaction. The computerized game coupled to the adapted device will offer the option of leisure and learning to people with severe motor impairments who previously lacked this possibility. It also provided equality in this activity to all the users. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.

Map data-driven assessment of urban areas accessibility

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Parygin, D. S.; Aleshkevich, A. A.; Golubev, A. V.; Smykovskaya, T. K.; Finogeev, A. G.

2018-05-01

The study analyzes the existing approaches to assessment of the city territory transport accessibility. The method for the city territory sections connectedness assessment through the personal and public transport was developed. The assessment of transport accessibility is proposed based on an analysis of open cartographic data. The technology of calculation and visualization of urban areas interconnectedness with the use of a street network graph and public transport routes, data obtained from Internet map services have been developed. An example of territory accessibility assessments visualization on an online map is given.

Genetic divergence among Psidium accessions based on single nucleotide polymorphisms developed for Eucalyptus.

PubMed

Costa, S R; Santos, C A F

2017-05-04

The goal of this study was to analyze the genetic divergence among Psidium species accessions based on SNPs developed for Eucalyptus. Fifty-three Psidium accessions, including 47 P. guajava, were genotyped with EUCHIP60K. The dendrogram similarity ranged from 0.58 to 1.00, with a cophenetic value of 0.97. Five groups were identified at dendrogram cut point of 0.7: the first with 44 guava accessions, the second with 1 guava accession, the third with 3 P. guineense accessions, the forth with 2 guava accessions, and the fifth with 3 P. cattleianum accessions. The Bayesian analyses suggested seven subpopulations, with formation of two additional groups with guava accessions. Primers designed with Eucalyptus SNP sequences resulted in reliable Psidium amplicons on 6% polyacrylamide gels. In general, the SNP dendrogram agreed with biological genus structure, since different species were not grouped, indicating that transferability among Myrtaceae genus was possible and reliable.

Open to All? Nationwide Evaluation of High-Priority Web Accessibility Considerations among Higher Education Websites

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kimmons, Royce

2017-01-01

This study seeks to evaluate the basic Priority 1 web accessibility of all college and university websites in the US (n = 3141). Utilizing web scraping and automated content analysis, the study establishes that even in the case of high-priority, simple-to-address accessibility requirements, colleges and universities generally fail to make their…

Use of and access to oral and injectable contraceptives in Brazil

PubMed Central

Farias, Mareni Rocha; Leite, Silvana Nair; Tavares, Noemia Urruth Leão; Oliveira, Maria Auxiliadora; Arrais, Paulo Sergio Dourado; Bertoldi, Andréa Dâmaso; Pizzol, Tatiane da Silva Dal; Luiza, Vera Lucia; Ramos, Luiz Roberto; Mengue, Sotero Serrate

2016-01-01

ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE To analyze the prevalence of current use of oral and injectable contraceptives by Brazilian women, according to demographic and socioeconomic variables and issues related to access to those medicines. METHODS A cross-sectional, population-based analytical study with probability sampling based on data from the Pesquisa Nacional sobre Acesso, Utilização e Promoção do Uso Racional de Medicamentos (PNAUM – National Survey on Access, Use and Promotion of Rational Use of Medicines), carried out between September 2013 and February 2014 in 20,404 Brazilian urban households. Prevalence was calculated based on reports from non-pregnant women aged 15-49 on the use of oral or injectable contraceptives. The independent variables were gender, age, level of education, socioeconomic class, Brazilian region and marital status. Also analyzed were access, means of payment, sources, and reported medicines. Statistical analyses considered 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) and Pearson Chi-square test to evaluate the statistical significance of differences between groups, considering a 5% significance level. RESULTS Prevalence of use was 28.2% for oral contraceptives (OC) and 4.5% for injectable contraceptives (IC). The highest prevalence of oral contraceptives was in the South region (37.5%) and the lowest in the North region (15.7%). For injectable contraceptives there was no difference between regions. Access was higher for oral contraceptive users (90.7%) than injectable contraceptives users (81.2%), as was direct payment (OC 78.1%, IC 58.0%). Users who paid for contraceptives acquired them at retail pharmacies (OC 95.0% and IC 86.6%) and at Farmácia Popular (Popular Pharmacy Program) (OC 4.8% and IC 12.7%). Free of charge contraceptives were mostly obtained from the Brazilian Unified Health System – SUS (OC 86.7%; IC 96.0%). Free samples were reported by 10.4% of users who did not pay for oral contraceptives. Most of paying users did not try to obtain contraceptives from SUS. Monophasic combined oral contraceptives were the most frequently reported (71.6%) and low-level levonorgestrel + ethinylestradiol combination accounted for 38.7% of them. The most frequently reported medicines are included in the Relação Nacional de Medicamentos Essenciais (RENAME – National List of Essential Medicines. CONCLUSIONS Most women aged 15 to 49 who reported using contraceptives had access to the medicine and use monophasic combined oral contraceptives of appropriate efficiency and safety purchased by direct payment, mainly from retail pharmacies. PMID:27982384

[Application of animal models in gingival retraction experimental curriculum].

PubMed

Cai, He; Yang, Shu-ying; Zeng, Yong-xiang; Qin, Han; Hu, Shan-shan; Wang, Jian

2016-02-01

To introduce a teaching method for gingival retraction, and evaluate its efficacy for implementation into experimental curricula. First, two kinds of animal models using pigs and cows (below 6 months of age) were established. Twenty-two experienced prosthodontists were then asked to apply gingival retraction on each animal model and evaluate the biofidelity of the 2 models' dento-gingival environment. The data was analyzed with SPSS19.0 software package for paired t test.Then, eighty pre-internship students were randomly divided into 2 groups. Besides the traditional teaching (lecture-based teaching), the experimental group (group A) also had access to skill training (using animal models to practice gingival retraction), while the control group (group B) only used the traditional teaching modality. All students' performance in gingival retraction and impression taking were evaluated in their internship. The data was analyzed with SPSS19.0 software package for Chi-square test. Both pig and cow's dento-gingival environment were similar to that of human being, and there was no significant difference between the two models'biofidelities (P>0.05). In addition, both the effect of gingival retraction and the quality of impression in group A were significantly better than those in group B (P<0.05). Compared with the traditional strategy,practising gingival retraction on animal models can offer greater opportunities for skill development,and be implemented for a wider range of applications.

Maxillary sinus augmentation by crestal access: a retrospective study on cavity size and outcome correlation.

PubMed

Spinato, Sergio; Bernardello, Fabio; Galindo-Moreno, Pablo; Zaffe, Davide

2015-12-01

Cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) and radiographic outcomes of crestal sinus elevation, performed using mineralized human bone allograft, were analyzed to correlate results with maxillary sinus size. A total of 60 sinus augmentations in 60 patients, with initial bone ≤5 mm, were performed. Digital radiographs were taken at surgical implant placement time up to post-prosthetic loading follow-up (12-72 months), when CBCT evaluation was carried out. Marginal bone loss (MBL) was radiographically analyzed at 6 months and follow-up time post-loading. Sinus size (BPD), implant distance from palatal (PID) and buccal wall (BID), and absence of bone coverage of implant (intra-sinus bone loss--IBL) were evaluated and statistically evaluated by ANOVA and linear regression analyses. MBL increased as a function of time. MBL at final follow-up was statistically associated with MBL at 6 months. A statistically significant correlation of IBL with wall distance and of IBL/mm with time was identified with greater values in wide sinuses (WS ≥ 13.27 mm) than in narrow sinuses (NS < 13.27 mm). This study is the first quantitative and statistically significant confirmation that crestal technique with residual ridge height <5 mm is more appropriate and predictable, in terms of intra-sinus bone coverage, in narrow than in WS. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

CINAHL and MEDLINE: a comparison of indexing practices.

PubMed

Brenner, S H; McKinin, E J

1989-10-01

A random sample of fifty nursing articles indexed in both MEDLINE and CINAHL (NURSING & ALLIED HEALTH) during 1986 was used for comparing indexing practices. Indexing was analyzed by counting the number of major descriptors, the number of major and minor descriptors, the number of indexing access points, the number of common indexing access points, and the number and type of unique indexing access points. The study results indicate: there are few differences in the number of major descriptors used, MEDLINE uses almost twice as many descriptors, MEDLINE has almost twice as many indexing access points, and MEDLINE and CINAHL provide few common access points.

CINAHL and MEDLINE: a comparison of indexing practices.

PubMed Central

Brenner, S H; McKinin, E J

1989-01-01

A random sample of fifty nursing articles indexed in both MEDLINE and CINAHL (NURSING & ALLIED HEALTH) during 1986 was used for comparing indexing practices. Indexing was analyzed by counting the number of major descriptors, the number of major and minor descriptors, the number of indexing access points, the number of common indexing access points, and the number and type of unique indexing access points. The study results indicate: there are few differences in the number of major descriptors used, MEDLINE uses almost twice as many descriptors, MEDLINE has almost twice as many indexing access points, and MEDLINE and CINAHL provide few common access points. PMID:2676049

Quantification of the benefits of access management for Kentucky : final report.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2006-07-01

This report describes the benefits quantification performed for the proposed access management plan for Kentucky. This study evaluates the capacity, safety and economic impacts associated with access management programs. The proposed Kentucky access ...

Safety evaluation of access management policies and techniques, TechBrief

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2015-08-01

Access management is the process that provides (or manages) access to land development while simultaneously preserving the flow of traffic on the surrounding road network for safety, capacity, and speed. Access management provides important benefits ...

Public Libraries and Internet Public Access Models: Describing Possible Approaches.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tomasello, Tami K.; McClure, Charles R.

2002-01-01

Discusses ways of providing Internet access to the general public and analyzes eight models currently in use: public schools, public libraries, cybermobiles, public housing, community technology centers, community networks, kiosks, and cyber cafes. Concludes that public libraries may wish to develop collaborative strategies with other…

The Language of Information Technology: Accessibility in the Information Society.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Warmkessel, Marjorie M.

The language of information technology is discussed, with a focus on accessibility in the information society. The metaphors of information technology as an "information superhighway" or "infobahn" are analyzed; limitations of the "road system" and developments of Internet systems are considered. The concept of…

Access to Teacher Evaluations Divides Advocates

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sawchuk, Stephen

2012-01-01

As the movement to overhaul teacher evaluation marches onward, an emerging question is splitting the swath of advocates who support the new tools used to gauge teacher performance: Who should get access to the resulting information? Supporters of typing teacher evaluations to student performance differ over whether individuals' results should be…

77 FR 35682 - Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request; Evaluation...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-06-14

... Collection Activities; Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request; Evaluation of the Aging and Disability.... The data collection associated with the Evaluation for the Aging and Disability Resource Center (ADRC... consumers, who access ADRCs, as compared to consumers who access other systems, report that the experience...

Accessibility and Analysis to NASA's New Large Volume Missions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hausman, J.; Gangl, M.; McAuley, J.; Toaz, R., Jr.

2016-12-01

Each new satellite mission continues to measure larger volumes of data than the last. This is especially true with the new NASA satellite missions NISAR and SWOT, launching in 2020 and 2021, which will produce petabytes of data a year. A major concern is how will users be able to analyze such volumes? This presentation will show how cloud storage and analysis can help overcome and accommodate multiple users' needs. While users may only need gigabytes of data for their research, the data center will need to leverage the processing power of the cloud to perform search and subsetting capabilities over the large volume of data. There is also a vast array of user types that require different tools and services to access and analyze the data. Some users need global data to run climate models, while others require small, dynamic regions with lots of analysis and transformations. There will also be a need to generate data that have different inputs or correction algorithms that the project may not be able to provide as those will be very specialized for specific regions or evolve quicker than what the project can reprocess. By having the data and tools side by side, users will be able to access the data they require and analyze it all in one place. By placing data in the cloud, users can analyze the data there, shifting the current "download and analyze" paradigm to "log-in and analyze". The cloud will provide adequate processing power needed to analyze large volumes of data, subset small regions over large volumes of data, and regenerate/reformat data to the specificity each user requires.

Effects of Housing Systems on Behaviour, Performance and Welfare of Fast-growing Broilers

PubMed Central

Zhao, Zi-guang; Li, Jian-hong; Li, Xiang; Bao, Jun

2014-01-01

This experiment aimed to evaluate the effects of different housing systems on behavioral activities, welfare and meat quality of fast-growing broilers. Two hundred broilers were allocated into two housing systems: indoor housing vs indoor with outdoor access. Their general behavior (feeding, drinking, fighting, standing, lying, walking, investigating, dust-bathing and preening) was observed, and tonic immobility, fluctuating asymmetry of legs and wings were measured, and meat quality was analyzed. The results showed that the indoor-housed broilers with outdoor access had significant higher standing, walking, investigating, dust-bathing and preening than those indoor only. However, farming system was not found to significantly affect their feeding, drinking and fighting activities (p>0.05). The value of FA of tibia length of the broilers with outdoor access was significantly lower than that of the indoor-housed birds (1.57±1.30 vs 2.76±1.40, p<0.05), while no difference was found for the value of FA in tibia diameter and wing length (p>0.05). TI of the broilers with outdoor access was 165.5 that was significantly higher than that (147.2) of the indoor birds (p<0.05). However, death rate in the outdoor run groups was significantly higher than that of the indoor ones (2.0±0.81 vs 4.0±0.82, p<0.05). Meat quality was not affected by the two farming systems. It can be concluded that the results of this study may suggest that the indoor housing with outdoor access provides enriched environment for broilers and facilitates the expression of natural behaviors of the broilers but resulted in poorer performance and higher death rate. PMID:25049936

Perceived Barriers Affecting Access to Preventive Dental Services: Application of DEMATEL Method

PubMed Central

Bahadori, Mohammadkarim; Ravangard, Ramin; Asghari, Baratali

2013-01-01

Background Identifying perceived access barriers to preventive dental services is one of the basic steps to improve the public health. Objectives This study aimed to determine the perceived barriers affecting access to preventive dental services in one of Tehran dental clinics in 2012. Patients and Methods This research was a cross-sectional descriptive-analytical study conducted in one of Tehran dental clinics in 2012 using decision–making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) method. The study sample included all patients (100 patients) who had referred to the endodontic treatment department from 26 - 31 May, 2012. The required data were collected using a questionnaire. Collected data were analyzed using SPSS 18.0 and MATLAB 7.9.0 SPSSS 18.0, as well as, some descriptive and analytical tests including Mean, Standard Deviation (SD), and Independent T- Test. Results The five determinants of cost, inconvenience, fear, organization, and patient-dentist relationship were determined as barriers to access to dental services among which the cost and patient-dentist relationship were identified as the first and last priorities with the coordinates (1.4 and 1.4) and (1.25 and -0.65), respectively. Conclusions High cost of dental care has led to not referring patients to the clinic. Oral health costs are too high; however insurance organizations have no commitment to support such services. Policymakers, administrators, and insurance organizations have a major role in improving access to dental services. These decision-makers in making their policies can provide the required financial resources, shift the available resources towards preventive care and periodic checkups, and consider providing proper and sufficient places for dental care facilities. PMID:24578831

A Mobile Health App–Based Postnatal Educational Program (Home-but not Alone): Descriptive Qualitative Study

PubMed Central

Yang, Yen Yen; Dennis, Cindy-Lee

2018-01-01

Background The postnatal period poses numerous challenges for new parents. Various educational programs are available to support new parents during this stressful period. However, the usefulness of educational programs must be evaluated to ascertain their credibility. Objective The aim of this descriptive, qualitative study was to explore the views of parents of newborns with regard to the content and delivery of a mobile health (mHealth) app–based postnatal educational program. Methods A qualitative semistructured interview guide was used to collect data from 17 participants who belonged to the intervention group of a randomized controlled trial. The intervention, a 4-week-long access to a mHealth app–based educational program, was evaluated. The interviews were conducted in English and at the participants’ homes. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. The Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research checklist was used to report the findings. Results The interviews revealed 4 main themes: (1) positive features of the mHealth app, (2) advice from midwives, (3) experiences gained from using the mHealth app, and (4) recommendations for the future. The participants evaluated the educational program to be a good source of information that was tailored to the local context. The different modes of delivery, including audio and video, accentuated the accessibility of information. The parents evaluated that the facilitator of the featured communication platform, a midwife, provided trustworthy advice. Belongingness to a virtual community beyond the hospital endowed the parents the confidence that they were not alone and were supported by other parents and health care professionals. Conclusions According to the parents, the mHealth app–based educational program was helpful in supporting a multi-ethnic sample of parents during the postnatal period. This insight indicates that the program could be implemented in a wide community of parents in the postnatal period. The helpfulness of the educational program is a testament of the potential benefits of using telemedicine among new parents postnatally. Resources can also be dedicated toward extending the duration of access to the app beyond 1 month and developing relevant content for parents across the perinatal period. PMID:29674314

A New Improving Quantum Secret Sharing Scheme

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Ting-Ting; Li, Zhi-Hui; Bai, Chen-Ming; Ma, Min

2017-04-01

An improving quantum secret sharing scheme (IQSS scheme) was introduced by Nascimento et al. (Phys. Rev. A 64, 042311 (2001)), which was analyzed by the improved quantum access structure. In this paper, we propose a new improving quantum secret sharing scheme, and more quantum access structures can be realized by this scheme than the previous one. For example, we prove that any threshold and hypercycle quantum access structures can be realized by the new scheme.

New method to evaluate the 7Li(p, n)7Be reaction near threshold

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Herrera, María S.; Moreno, Gustavo A.; Kreiner, Andrés J.

2015-04-01

In this work a complete description of the 7Li(p, n)7Be reaction near threshold is given using center-of-mass and relative coordinates. It is shown that this standard approach, not used before in this context, leads to a simple mathematical representation which gives easy access to all relevant quantities in the reaction and allows a precise numerical implementation. It also allows in a simple way to include proton beam-energy spread affects. The method, implemented as a C++ code, was validated both with numerical and experimental data finding a good agreement. This tool is also used here to analyze scattered published measurements such as (p, n) cross sections, differential and total neutron yields for thick targets. Using these data we derive a consistent set of parameters to evaluate neutron production near threshold. Sensitivity of the results to data uncertainty and the possibility of incorporating new measurements are also discussed.

A Novel IEEE 802.15.4e DSME MAC for Wireless Sensor Networks

PubMed Central

Sahoo, Prasan Kumar; Pattanaik, Sudhir Ranjan; Wu, Shih-Lin

2017-01-01

IEEE 802.15.4e standard proposes Deterministic and Synchronous Multichannel Extension (DSME) mode for wireless sensor networks (WSNs) to support industrial, commercial and health care applications. In this paper, a new channel access scheme and beacon scheduling schemes are designed for the IEEE 802.15.4e enabled WSNs in star topology to reduce the network discovery time and energy consumption. In addition, a new dynamic guaranteed retransmission slot allocation scheme is designed for devices with the failure Guaranteed Time Slot (GTS) transmission to reduce the retransmission delay. To evaluate our schemes, analytical models are designed to analyze the performance of WSNs in terms of reliability, delay, throughput and energy consumption. Our schemes are validated with simulation and analytical results and are observed that simulation results well match with the analytical one. The evaluated results of our designed schemes can improve the reliability, throughput, delay, and energy consumptions significantly. PMID:28275216

A Novel IEEE 802.15.4e DSME MAC for Wireless Sensor Networks.

PubMed

Sahoo, Prasan Kumar; Pattanaik, Sudhir Ranjan; Wu, Shih-Lin

2017-01-16

IEEE 802.15.4e standard proposes Deterministic and Synchronous Multichannel Extension (DSME) mode for wireless sensor networks (WSNs) to support industrial, commercial and health care applications. In this paper, a new channel access scheme and beacon scheduling schemes are designed for the IEEE 802.15.4e enabled WSNs in star topology to reduce the network discovery time and energy consumption. In addition, a new dynamic guaranteed retransmission slot allocation scheme is designed for devices with the failure Guaranteed Time Slot (GTS) transmission to reduce the retransmission delay. To evaluate our schemes, analytical models are designed to analyze the performance of WSNs in terms of reliability, delay, throughput and energy consumption. Our schemes are validated with simulation and analytical results and are observed that simulation results well match with the analytical one. The evaluated results of our designed schemes can improve the reliability, throughput, delay, and energy consumptions significantly.

Ethics Regulation in Social Computing Research: Examining the Role of Institutional Review Boards.

PubMed

Vitak, Jessica; Proferes, Nicholas; Shilton, Katie; Ashktorab, Zahra

2017-12-01

The parallel rise of pervasive data collection platforms and computational methods for collecting, analyzing, and drawing inferences from large quantities of user data has advanced social computing research, investigating digital traces to understand mediated behaviors of individuals, groups, and societies. At the same time, methods employed to access these data have raised questions about ethical research practices. This article provides insights into U.S. institutional review boards' (IRBs) attitudes and practices regulating social computing research. Through descriptive and inferential analysis of survey data from staff at 59 IRBs at research universities, we examine how IRBs evaluate the growing variety of studies using pervasive digital data. Findings unpack the difficulties IRB staff face evaluating increasingly technical research proposals while highlighting the belief in their ability to surmount these difficulties. They also indicate a lack of consensus among IRB staff about what should be reviewed and a willingness to work closely with researchers.

Information Retrieval in Virtual Universities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Puustjärvi, Juha; Pöyry, Päivi

2006-01-01

Information retrieval in the context of virtual universities deals with the representation, organization, and access to learning objects. The representation and organization of learning objects should provide the learner with an easy access to the learning objects. In this article, we give an overview of the ONES system, and analyze the relevance…

Florida's Response to Serving Citizens in the Information Age.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, Daryl L.

1995-01-01

Florida's Joint Committee on Information Technology Resources analyzed the impact of technology on the Florida Public Records Law and proposed legislation requiring agencies to consider issues such as encouraging a diversity of sources, the public's right to access, prohibiting monopoly control, and access fees in the development of information…

Mof-Tree: A Spatial Access Method To Manipulate Multiple Overlapping Features.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Manolopoulos, Yannis; Nardelli, Enrico; Papadopoulos, Apostolos; Proietti, Guido

1997-01-01

Investigates the manipulation of large sets of two-dimensional data representing multiple overlapping features, and presents a new access method, the MOF-tree. Analyzes storage requirements and time with respect to window query operations involving multiple features. Examines both the pointer-based and pointerless MOF-tree representations.…

Development and Evaluation of a Blog about Cleft Lip and Cleft Palate and Hearing

PubMed Central

Maximino, Luciana Paula; Zambonato, Ticiana Cristina de Freitas; Picolini-Pereira, Mirela Machado; Castro Corrêa, Camila de; Feniman, Mariza Ribeiro; Blasca, Wanderléia Quinhoneiro

2018-01-01

Introduction  Cleft lip and cleft palate can result in impairments in communication, specifically in hearing, making the use of technological resources such as blogs a fundamental guideline for health professionals. Objective  The aim of this study was to prepare and analyze the access to a blog about cleft lip and cleft palate and hearing as a pedagogical tool for health professionals. Methods  The first stage for the development of the blog was the selection of the content that would be addressed and the respective illustrations. The second stage was making the blog available through the WordPress platform, and the third stage included the evaluation of the blog, of the access to the WordPress statistical features, and of the quality of the blog through the Emory questionnaire, which was answered by 75 professionals. Results  The blog, titled “Fissure and Hearing”, was developed with the architecture of a digital information environment containing a system of organization, navigation, labeling and search (first stage). The address hosting the blog was: http://fissuraeaudicao.wordpress.com (second stage). The result of the third stage included 56,269 views of the blog from different countries, and Brazil was the country with the highest viewing. Regarding the assessment by the Emory questionnaire, we found that for most of the major issues, the percentages obtained were or equal to 90%, while the analysis of the scales, navigation and structure presented the lowest scores. Conclusion  The blog was developed and enabled greater access to information available on the web about cleft lip and cleft palate and hearing. PMID:29371900

Percutaneous Endovascular Salvage Techniques for Implanted Venous Access Device Dysfunction

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Breault, Stéphane, E-mail: stephane.breault@chuv.ch; Glauser, Frédéric, E-mail: frederic.glauser@chuv.ch; Babaker, Malik, E-mail: malik.babaker@chuv.ch

2015-06-15

PurposeImplanted venous access devices (IVADs) are often used in patients who require long-term intravenous drug administration. The most common causes of device dysfunction include occlusion by fibrin sheath and/or catheter adherence to the vessel wall. We present percutaneous endovascular salvage techniques to restore function in occluded catheters. The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility, safety, and efficacy of these techniques.Methods and MaterialsThrough a femoral or brachial venous access, a snare is used to remove fibrin sheath around the IVAD catheter tip. If device dysfunction is caused by catheter adherences to the vessel wall, a new “mechanical adhesiolysis”more » maneuver was performed. IVAD salvage procedures performed between 2005 and 2013 were analyzed. Data included clinical background, catheter tip position, success rate, recurrence, and rate of complication.ResultsEighty-eight salvage procedures were performed in 80 patients, mostly women (52.5 %), with a mean age of 54 years. Only a minority (17.5 %) of evaluated catheters were located at an optimal position (i.e., cavoatrial junction ±1 cm). Mechanical adhesiolysis or other additional maneuvers were used in 21 cases (24 %). Overall technical success rate was 93.2 %. Malposition and/or vessel wall adherences were the main cause of technical failure. No complications were noted.ConclusionThese IVAD salvage techniques are safe and efficient. When a catheter is adherent to the vessel wall, mechanical adhesiolysis maneuvers allow catheter mobilization and a greater success rate with no additional risk. In patients who still require long-term use of their IVAD, these procedures can be performed safely to avoid catheter replacement.« less

Improving Evidence Dissemination and Accessibility through a Mobile-based Resource Platform.

PubMed

Zhu, Zheng; Xing, Weijie; Hu, Yan; Zhou, Yingfeng; Gu, Ying

2018-05-28

Current mobile information technologies fundamentally influence evidence dissemination from the perspective of both evidence seekers and evidence providers. However, there is no related study which tried using a mobile-based platform to disseminate evidence in China. The main object of this study is to develop a mobile-based evidence resource platform and to evaluate its effects of improving nurses' access to evidence-based practice resources and meeting users' demands. The mobile-based evidence resource platform was developed in 2014. A cross-sectional study was conducted over a period of 2 months between December 2015 and January 2016 to evaluate user experiences of and preferences regarding the platform. Descriptive analysis was adopted to analyze information and its communication effects from December 2014 to March 2017. A total of 472 participants met the inclusion criteria and responded to the survey. High scores were received for the overall rating (4.34 ± 0.67), evidence section (4.30 ± 0.63), learning materials section (4.26 ± 0.65), news section (4.27 ± 0.66), readability (4.38 ± 0.63), design and structure (4.38 ± 0.63), and interactivity (3.58 ± 0.84). As of March 31, 2017, the total number of followers was 28,954. The total number of readings was 584,834. The most current WCI value was 388.72. Our study demonstrated that the mobile-based platform for evidence transfer can promote the accessibility of evidence and meet users' demands. This mobile-based platform is currently available in the WeChat application environment. It will be a wise option for healthcare professionals for the purposes of learning about EBP and disseminating evidence in China.

Development of a database of instruments for resource-use measurement: purpose, feasibility, and design.

PubMed

Ridyard, Colin H; Hughes, Dyfrig A

2012-01-01

Health economists frequently rely on methods based on patient recall to estimate resource utilization. Access to questionnaires and diaries, however, is often limited. This study examined the feasibility of establishing an open-access Database of Instruments for Resource-Use Measurement, identified relevant fields for data extraction, and outlined its design. An electronic survey was sent to authors of full UK economic evaluations listed in the National Health Service Economic Evaluation Database (2008-2010), authors of monographs of Health Technology Assessments (1998-2010), and subscribers to the JISCMail health economics e-mailing list. The survey included questions on piloting, validation, recall period, and data capture method. Responses were analyzed and data extracted to generate relevant fields for the database. A total of 143 responses to the survey provided data on 54 resource-use instruments for inclusion in the database. All were reliant on patient or carer recall, and a majority (47) were questionnaires. Thirty-seven were designed for self-completion by the patient, carer, or guardian, and the remainder were designed for completion by researchers or health care professionals while interviewing patients. Methods of development were diverse, particularly in areas such as the planning of resource itemization (evident in 25 instruments), piloting (25), and validation (29). On the basis of the present analysis, we developed a Web-enabled Database of Instruments for Resource-Use Measurement, accessible via www.DIRUM.org. This database may serve as a practical resource for health economists, as well as a means to facilitate further research in the area of resource-use data collection. Copyright © 2012 International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Balancing Ideology and Feasibility: A Case Study on Adopting and Evaluating Open Access Publishing Models for a Society Journal within Philosophy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Neuman, Yrsa; Laakso, Mikael

2017-01-01

Introduction: Open access, the notion that research output, such as journal articles, should be freely accessible to readers on the Web, is arguably in the best interest of science. In this article, we (1) describe in-depth how a society-owned philosophy journal, "Nordic Wittgenstein Review," evaluated various publishing models and made…

Web Content Accessibility of Consumer Health Information Web Sites for People with Disabilities: A Cross Sectional Evaluation

PubMed Central

Parmanto, Bambang

2004-01-01

Background The World Wide Web (WWW) has become an increasingly essential resource for health information consumers. The ability to obtain accurate medical information online quickly, conveniently and privately provides health consumers with the opportunity to make informed decisions and participate actively in their personal care. Little is known, however, about whether the content of this online health information is equally accessible to people with disabilities who must rely on special devices or technologies to process online information due to their visual, hearing, mobility, or cognitive limitations. Objective To construct a framework for an automated Web accessibility evaluation; to evaluate the state of accessibility of consumer health information Web sites; and to investigate the possible relationships between accessibility and other features of the Web sites, including function, popularity and importance. Methods We carried out a cross-sectional study of the state of accessibility of health information Web sites to people with disabilities. We selected 108 consumer health information Web sites from the directory service of a Web search engine. A measurement framework was constructed to automatically measure the level of Web Accessibility Barriers (WAB) of Web sites following Web accessibility specifications. We investigated whether there was a difference between WAB scores across various functional categories of the Web sites, and also evaluated the correlation between the WAB and Alexa traffic rank and Google Page Rank of the Web sites. Results We found that none of the Web sites we looked at are completely accessible to people with disabilities, i.e., there were no sites that had no violation of Web accessibility rules. However, governmental and educational health information Web sites do exhibit better Web accessibility than the other categories of Web sites (P < 0.001). We also found that the correlation between the WAB score and the popularity of a Web site is statistically significant (r = 0.28, P < 0.05), although there is no correlation between the WAB score and the importance of the Web sites (r = 0.15, P = 0.111). Conclusions Evaluation of health information Web sites shows that no Web site scrupulously abides by Web accessibility specifications, even for entities mandated under relevant laws and regulations. Government and education Web sites show better performance than Web sites among other categories. Accessibility of a Web site may have a positive impact on its popularity in general. However, the Web accessibility of a Web site may not have a significant relationship with its importance on the Web. PMID:15249268

Establishing the Bases for Introducing the Unexplored Portuguese Common Bean Germplasm into the Breeding World.

PubMed

Leitão, Susana T; Dinis, Marco; Veloso, Maria M; Šatović, Zlatko; Vaz Patto, Maria C

2017-01-01

Common bean ( Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is among the most important grain legumes for human consumption worldwide. Portugal has a potentially promising common bean germplasm, resulting from more than five centuries of natural adaptation and farmers' selection. Nevertheless, limited characterization of this resource hampers its exploitation by breeding programs. To support a more efficient conservation of the national bean germplasm and promote its use in crop improvement, we performed, for the first time, a simultaneous molecular marker (21 microsatellites and a DNA marker for phaseolin-type diversity analysis) and seed and plant morphological characterization (14 traits) of 175 accessions from Portuguese mainland and islands traditional bean-growing regions. A total of 188 different alleles were identified and an average pairwise Cavalli-Sforza and Edwards' chord genetic distance of 0.193 was estimated among accessions. To relate the Portuguese germplasm with the global common bean diversity, 17 wild relatives and representative accessions from the Andean and Mesoamerican gene pools were evaluated at the molecular level. No correlation was detected between the variability found and the geographic origin of accessions. Structure analysis divided the collection into three main clusters. Most of the Portuguese accessions grouped with the race representatives and wild relatives from the Andean region. One third of the national germplasm had admixed genetic origin and might represent putative hybrids among gene pools from the two original centers of domestication in the Andes and Mesoamerica. The molecular marker-based classification was largely congruent with the three most frequent phaseolin haplotype patterns observed in the accessions analyzed. Seed and plant morphological characterization of 150 Portuguese common bean accessions revealed a clear separation among genetic structure and phaseolin haplotype groups of accessions, with seed size and shape and the number of locules per pod the most discriminant traits. Additionally, we used molecular and morphological data to develop a series of smaller core collections that, by maximizing the genetic and morphological diversity of the original collection, represents the Portuguese common bean germplasm with minimum repetitiveness. A core collection with 37 accessions contained 100% of the genetic variation found in the entire collection. This core collection is appropriate for a more detailed characterization and should be explored, as a priority, in national and international common bean breeding efforts. Furthermore, the identified intermediate accessions (with admixed genetic origin) may have novel genetic combinations useful in future bean breeding.

Central intake to improve access to physiotherapy for children with complex needs: a mixed methods case report.

PubMed

Wittmeier, Kristy D M; Restall, Gayle; Mulder, Kathy; Dufault, Brenden; Paterson, Marie; Thiessen, Matthew; Lix, Lisa M

2016-08-31

Children with complex needs can face barriers to system access and navigation related to their need for multiple services and healthcare providers. Central intake for pediatric rehabilitation was developed and implemented in 2008 in Winnipeg Manitoba Canada as a means to enhance service coordination and access for children and their families. This study evaluates the process and impact of implementing a central intake system, using pediatric physiotherapy as a case example. A mixed methods instrumental case study design was used. Interviews were completed with 9 individuals. Data was transcribed and analyzed for themes. Quantitative data (wait times, referral volume and caregiver satisfaction) was collected for children referred to physiotherapy with complex needs (n = 1399), and a comparison group of children referred for orthopedic concerns (n = 3901). Wait times were analyzed using the Kruskal-Wallis test, caregiver satisfaction was analyzed using Fisher exact test and change point modeling was applied to examine referral volume over the study period. Interview participants described central intake implementation as creating more streamlined processes. Factors that facilitated successful implementation included 1) agreement among stakeholders, 2) hiring of a central intake coordinator, 3) a financial commitment from the government and 4) leadership at the individual and organization level. Mean (sd) wait times improved for children with complex needs (12.3(13.1) to 8.0(6.9) days from referral to contact with family, p < 0.0001; 29.8(17.9) to 24.3(17.0) days from referral to appointment, p < 0.0001) while referral volumes remained consistent. A small but significant increase in wait times was observed for the comparison group (9.6(8.6) to 10.1(6.6) days from referral to contact with family, p < 0.001; 20.4(14.3) to 22.1(13.1) days from referral to appointment, p < 0.0001), accompanied by an increasing referral volume for this group. Caregiver satisfaction remained high throughout the process (p = 0.48). Central intake implementation achieved the intended outcomes of streamlining processes and improving transparency and access to pediatric physiotherapy (i.e., decreasing wait times) for families of children with complex needs. Future research is needed to build on this single discipline case study approach to examine changes in wait times, therapy coordination and stakeholder satisfaction within the context of continuing improvements for pediatric therapy services within the province.

An ethics curriculum for short-term global health trainees.

PubMed

DeCamp, Matthew; Rodriguez, Joce; Hecht, Shelby; Barry, Michele; Sugarman, Jeremy

2013-02-14

Interest in short-term global health training and service programs continues to grow, yet they can be associated with a variety of ethical issues for which trainees or others with limited global health experience may not be prepared to address. Therefore, there is a clear need for educational interventions concerning these ethical issues. We developed and evaluated an introductory curriculum, "Ethical Challenges in Short-term Global Health Training." The curriculum was developed through solicitation of actual ethical issues experienced by trainees and program leaders; content drafting; and external content review. It was then evaluated from November 1, 2011, through July 1, 2012, by analyzing web usage data and by conducting user surveys. The survey included basic demographic data; prior experience in global health and global health ethics; and assessment of cases within the curriculum. The ten case curriculum is freely available at http://ethicsandglobalhealth.org. An average of 238 unique visitors accessed the site each month (standard deviation, 19). Of users who had been abroad before for global health training or service, only 31% reported prior ethics training related to short-term work. Most users (62%) reported accessing the site via personal referral or their training program; however, a significant number (28%) reported finding the site via web search, and 8% discovered it via web links. Users represented different fields: medicine (46%), public health (15%), and nursing (11%) were most common. All cases in the curriculum were evaluated favorably. The curriculum is meeting a critical need for an introduction to the ethical issues in short-term global health training. Future work will integrate this curriculum within more comprehensive curricula for global health and evaluate specific knowledge and behavioral effects, including at training sites abroad.

An ethics curriculum for short-term global health trainees

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Interest in short-term global health training and service programs continues to grow, yet they can be associated with a variety of ethical issues for which trainees or others with limited global health experience may not be prepared to address. Therefore, there is a clear need for educational interventions concerning these ethical issues. Methods We developed and evaluated an introductory curriculum, “Ethical Challenges in Short-term Global Health Training.” The curriculum was developed through solicitation of actual ethical issues experienced by trainees and program leaders; content drafting; and external content review. It was then evaluated from November 1, 2011, through July 1, 2012, by analyzing web usage data and by conducting user surveys. The survey included basic demographic data; prior experience in global health and global health ethics; and assessment of cases within the curriculum. Results The ten case curriculum is freely available at http://ethicsandglobalhealth.org. An average of 238 unique visitors accessed the site each month (standard deviation, 19). Of users who had been abroad before for global health training or service, only 31% reported prior ethics training related to short-term work. Most users (62%) reported accessing the site via personal referral or their training program; however, a significant number (28%) reported finding the site via web search, and 8% discovered it via web links. Users represented different fields: medicine (46%), public health (15%), and nursing (11%) were most common. All cases in the curriculum were evaluated favorably. Conclusions The curriculum is meeting a critical need for an introduction to the ethical issues in short-term global health training. Future work will integrate this curriculum within more comprehensive curricula for global health and evaluate specific knowledge and behavioral effects, including at training sites abroad. PMID:23410089

Widening Access to Higher Education: An Evaluative Case Study of a Foundation Year Alternative to Access

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reddy, Peter A.; Moores, Elisabeth

2008-01-01

Universities are encouraged to widen access to a broad range of applicants, including mature students taking Access qualifications. Admissions tutors can find it difficult to compare and choose between Access and A-level applications, and Access applicants for popular courses may be disadvantaged relative to students with good A-levels. In this…

A Mixed Methods Review of Education and Patient Navigation Interventions to Increase Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening for Rural Women.

PubMed

Falk, Derek

2018-01-01

Reviews have assessed studies of breast and cervical cancer screening access and utilization for rural women, but none analyze interventions to increase screening rates. A mixed methods literature search identified studies of breast and/or cervical cancer prevention education and patient navigation interventions for rural women. Rural areas need greater implementation and evaluation of screening interventions as these services address the challenges of delivering patient-centered cancer care to un-/underserved communities. The lack of intervention studies on breast and cervical cancer education and patient navigation programs compared to urban studies highlights the need for validation of these programs among diverse, rural populations.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Goltz, G.; Weiner, H.

A computer program has been developed for designing and analyzing the performance of solar array/battery power systems for the U. S. Coast Guard Navigational Aids. This program is called the Design Synthesis/Performance Analysis (DSPA) Computer Program. The basic function of the Design Synthesis portion of the DSPA program is to evaluate functional and economic criteria to provide specifications for viable solar array/battery power systems. The basic function of the Performance Analysis portion of the DSPA program is to simulate the operation of solar array/battery power systems under specific loads and environmental conditions. This document provides all the information necessary tomore » access the DSPA programs, to input required data and to generate appropriate Design Synthesis or Performance Analysis Output.« less

Health Literacy Training for Public Health Nurses in Fukushima: A Multi-site Program Evaluation.

PubMed

Goto, Aya; Lai, Alden Yuanhong; Rudd, Rima E

2015-09-01

Public health nurses (PHNs) are community residents' access points to health information and services in Japan. After the Fukushima nuclear accident, they were challenged to communicate radiation-related health information to best meet community needs. We previously developed and evaluated the outcome of a single-site health literacy training program to augment PHNs' ability to improve community residents' access to written health information. This paper presents an evaluation of an identical training program using data combined from multiple sites, and further included proximal and distal evaluations to document the impact of health literacy training in a post-disaster setting. A total of 64 participants, primarily experienced PHNs, attended one of three multi-session health literacy workshops conducted in multiple sites across Fukushima. Quantitative and qualitative data on PHNs' training satisfaction, self-evaluation of achievements regarding training goals, and application of learned skills were collected and analyzed. Each workshop consisted of two 2-hour sessions introducing health literacy and assessment tools and developing skills to improve written materials, followed by a one-month follow-up assessment on PHNs' application of the gained skills in the field. Post-training evaluations on the appropriateness and usefulness of the workshop were highly positive. At the end of the one-month follow-up, 45% of participants had gained confidence in assessing and revising written materials and had applied the skills they had gained to develop and communicate health information in various settings and modes. This increase in confidence was associated with further application of the learned skills at the municipal level. However, participants reported difficulties in explaining risks, and the need to learn more about plain language to be able to paraphrase professional terms. This paper highlighs the positive outcomes of health literacy training among PHNs. Practical strategies to reinforce their skills to use plain language and communicate the epidemiological concept of risk are also recommended.

Access to destinations : annual accessibility measure for the Twin Cities Metropolitan Region.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2012-11-01

This report summarizes previous phases of the Access to Destinations project and applies the techniques developed : over the course of the project to conduct an evaluation of accessibility in the Twin Cities metropolitan region for : 2010. It describ...

Expanding Access: An Evaluation of ReadCube Access as an ILL Alternative.

PubMed

Grabowsky, Adelia

2016-01-01

ReadCube Access is a patron-driven, document delivery system that provides immediate access to articles from journals owned by Nature Publishing Group. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the use of ReadCube Access as an interlibrary loan (ILL) alternative for nonsubscribed Nature journals at Auburn University, a research university with a School of Pharmacy and a School of Veterinary Medicine. An analysis of ten months' usage and costs are presented along with the results of a user satisfaction survey. Auburn University Libraries found ReadCube to be an acceptable alternative to ILL for unsubscribed Nature journals and at current levels of use and cost, consider ReadCube to be financially sustainable.

Impact of geographic accessibility on utilization of the annual health check-ups by income level in Japan: A multilevel analysis.

PubMed

Fujita, Misuzu; Sato, Yasunori; Nagashima, Kengo; Takahashi, Sho; Hata, Akira

2017-01-01

Although both geographic accessibility and socioeconomic status have been indicated as being important factors for the utilization of health care services, their combined effect has not been evaluated. The aim of this study was to reveal whether an income-dependent difference in the impact of geographic accessibility on the utilization of government-led annual health check-ups exists. Existing data collected and provided by Chiba City Hall were employed and analyzed as a retrospective cohort study. The subjects were 166,966 beneficiaries of National Health Insurance in Chiba City, Japan, aged 40 to 74 years. Of all subjects, 54,748 (32.8%) had an annual health check-up in fiscal year 2012. As an optimal index of geographic accessibility has not been established, five measures were calculated: travel time to the nearest health care facility, density of health care facilities (number facilities within a 30-min walking distance from the district of residence), and three indices based on the two-step floating catchment area method. Three-level logistic regression modeling with random intercepts for household and district of residence was performed. Of the five measures, density of health care facilities was the most compatible according to Akaike's information criterion. Both low density and low income were associated with decreased utilization of the health check-ups. Furthermore, a linear relationship was observed between the density of facilities and utilization of the health check-ups in all income groups and its slope was significantly steeper among subjects with an equivalent income of 0.00 yen than among those with equivalent income of 1.01-2.00 million yen (p = 0.028) or 2.01 million yen or more (p = 0.040). This result indicated that subjects with lower incomes were more susceptible to the effects of geographic accessibility than were those with higher incomes. Thus, better geographic accessibility could increase the health check-up utilization and also decrease the income-related disparity of utilization.

Naturalistic study of guideline implementation tool use via evaluation of website access and physician survey.

PubMed

Armstrong, Melissa J; Gronseth, Gary S; Dubinsky, Richard; Potrebic, Sonja; Penfold Murray, Rebecca; Getchius, Thomas S D; Rheaume, Carol; Gagliardi, Anna R

2017-01-13

Clinical guidelines support decision-making at the point-of-care but the onus is often on individual users such as physicians to implement them. Research shows that the inclusion of implementation tools in or with guidelines (GItools) is associated with guideline use. However, there is little research on which GItools best support implementation by individual physicians. The purpose of this study was to investigate naturalistic access and use of GItools produced by the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) to inform future tool development. Website accesses over six months were summarized for eight AAN guidelines and associated GItools published between July 2012 and August 2013. Academy members were surveyed about use of tools accompanying the sport concussion guideline. Data were analyzed using summary statistics and the Chi-square test. The clinician summary was accessed more frequently (29.0%, p < 0.001) compared with the slide presentation (26.8%), patient summary (23.2%) or case study (20.9%), although this varied by guideline topic. For the sport concussion guideline, which was accompanied by a greater variety of GItools, the mobile phone quick reference check application was most frequently accessed, followed by the clinician summary, patient summary, and slide presentation. For the sports concussion guideline survey, most respondents (response rate 21.8%, 168/797) were aware of the guideline (88.1%) and had read the guideline (78.6%). For GItool use, respondents indicated reading the reference card (51.2%), clinician summary (45.2%), patient summary (28.0%), mobile phone application (26.2%), and coach/athletic trainer summary (20.2%). Patterns of sports concussion GItool use were similar between respondents who said they had and had not yet implemented the guideline. Developers faced with resource limitations may wish to prioritize the development of printable or mobile application clinician summaries, which were accessed significantly more than other types of GItools. Further research is needed to understand how to optimize the design of such GItools.

Genetic Diversity Strategy for the Management and Use of Rubber Genetic Resources: More than 1,000 Wild and Cultivated Accessions in a 100-Genotype Core Collection

PubMed Central

Cerqueira-Silva, Carlos Bernardo Moreno; Silva, Carla Cristina; Mantello, Camila Campos; Conson, Andre Ricardo Oliveira; Vianna, João Paulo Gomes; Zucchi, Maria Imaculada; Scaloppi Junior, Erivaldo José; Fialho, Josefino de Freitas; de Moraes, Mario Luis Teixeira; Gonçalves, Paulo de Souza; de Souza, Anete Pereira

2015-01-01

The rubber tree [Hevea brasiliensis (Willd. ex Adr. de Juss.) Muell. Arg.] is the only plant species worldwide that is cultivated for the commercial production of natural rubber. This study describes the genetic diversity of the Hevea spp. complex that is available in the main ex situ collections of South America, including Amazonian populations that have never been previously described. Genetic data were analyzed to determine the genetic structure of the wild populations, quantify the allelic diversity and suggest the composition of a core collection to capture the maximum genetic diversity within a minimal sample size. A total of 1,117 accessions were genotyped with 13 microsatellite markers. We identified a total of 408 alleles, 319 of which were shared between groups and 89 that were private in different groups of accessions. In a population structure and principal component analysis, the level of clustering reflected a primary division into the following two subgroups: cluster 1, which consisted of varieties from the advanced breeding germplasm that originated from the Wickham and Mato Grosso accessions; and cluster 2, which consisted of the wild germplasm from the Acre, Amazonas, Pará and Rondônia populations and Hevea spp. The analyses revealed a high frequency of gene flow between the groups, with the genetic differentiation coefficient (GST) estimated to be 0.018. Additionally, no distinct separation among the H. brasiliensis accessions and the other species from Amazonas was observed. A core collection of 99 accessions was identified that captured the maximum genetic diversity. Rubber tree breeders can effectively utilize this core collection for cultivar improvement. Furthermore, such a core collection could provide resources for forming an association panel to evaluate traits with agronomic and commercial importance. Our study generated a molecular database that should facilitate the management of the Hevea germplasm and its use for subsequent genetic and genomic breeding. PMID:26225861

Earth System Model Development and Analysis using FRE-Curator and Live Access Servers: On-demand analysis of climate model output with data provenance.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Radhakrishnan, A.; Balaji, V.; Schweitzer, R.; Nikonov, S.; O'Brien, K.; Vahlenkamp, H.; Burger, E. F.

2016-12-01

There are distinct phases in the development cycle of an Earth system model. During the model development phase, scientists make changes to code and parameters and require rapid access to results for evaluation. During the production phase, scientists may make an ensemble of runs with different settings, and produce large quantities of output, that must be further analyzed and quality controlled for scientific papers and submission to international projects such as the Climate Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP). During this phase, provenance is a key concern:being able to track back from outputs to inputs. We will discuss one of the paths taken at GFDL in delivering tools across this lifecycle, offering on-demand analysis of data by integrating the use of GFDL's in-house FRE-Curator, Unidata's THREDDS and NOAA PMEL's Live Access Servers (LAS).Experience over this lifecycle suggests that a major difficulty in developing analysis capabilities is only partially the scientific content, but often devoted to answering the questions "where is the data?" and "how do I get to it?". "FRE-Curator" is the name of a database-centric paradigm used at NOAA GFDL to ingest information about the model runs into an RDBMS (Curator database). The components of FRE-Curator are integrated into Flexible Runtime Environment workflow and can be invoked during climate model simulation. The front end to FRE-Curator, known as the Model Development Database Interface (MDBI) provides an in-house web-based access to GFDL experiments: metadata, analysis output and more. In order to provide on-demand visualization, MDBI uses Live Access Servers which is a highly configurable web server designed to provide flexible access to geo-referenced scientific data, that makes use of OPeNDAP. Model output saved in GFDL's tape archive, the size of the database and experiments, continuous model development initiatives with more dynamic configurations add complexity and challenges in providing an on-demand visualization experience to our GFDL users.

Complications of the access during aortic valve implantation through transfemoral access.

PubMed

Alsac, Jean-Marc; Zegdi, Rachid; Blanchard, Didier; Achouh, Paul; Cholley, Bernard; Berrebi, Alain; Julia, Pierre; Fabiani, Jean-Noël

2011-08-01

Aortic valve implantation (AVI) is a booming therapeutic option in high-risk patients with calcific aortic stenosis. Retrograde femoral approach drawbacks include vascular complications owing to the size of the introduction system (22- and 24-F).The aim of this study was to retrospectively analyze the incidence and the treatment of vascular complications in the first 2 years of transfemoral AVI experience with the first generation of Edwards SAPIEN transcatheter heart valves. Since December 2007, AVI has been performed in 71 patients, 21 times by the transapical route and 50 times by the transfemoral route through an inguinal approach with the first generation of Edwards SAPIEN transcatheter heart valves (23 and 26 mm). The incidence and the treatment of vascular complications were evaluated as main criteria for transfemoral AVI. All the procedures could be successfully performed by a femoral route, except for three cases when the introducing device could not be fixed on the thoracic aorta because of vascular access problems. Vascular access-related complications occurred in nine patients (18%), including three iliac dissections, two aortic dissections, three femoral lesions, and one thoracic aorta rupture. These complications were treated either in a conservative way (n = 2), or in an endovascular way using a contralateral approach (n = 3), or surgically through an inguinal approach (n = 3). A traumatic rupture of the thoracic aorta resulted in the death of a female patient. In our experience, transfemoral AVI gives a satisfying technical success rate in the selected patients. The incidence of complications involving the vascular access remains an important limitation of this new technique. Although a conservative or endovascular treatment can be applied in most cases, improving the introduction devices is highly expected because it would reduce the complications rate of vascular access. Copyright © 2011 Annals of Vascular Surgery Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Interactions of urea with native and unfolded proteins: a volumetric study.

PubMed

Son, Ikbae; Shek, Yuen Lai; Tikhomirova, Anna; Baltasar, Eduardo Hidalgo; Chalikian, Tigran V

2014-11-26

We describe a statistical thermodynamic approach to analyzing urea-dependent volumetric properties of proteins. We use this approach to analyze our urea-dependent data on the partial molar volume and adiabatic compressibility of lysozyme, apocytochrome c, ribonuclease A, and α-chymotrypsinogen A. The analysis produces the thermodynamic properties of elementary urea-protein association reactions while also yielding estimates of the effective solvent-accessible surface areas of the native and unfolded protein states. Lysozyme and apocytochrome c do not undergo urea-induced transitions. The former remains folded, while the latter is unfolded between 0 and 8 M urea. In contrast, ribonuclease A and α-chymotrypsinogen A exhibit urea-induced unfolding transitions. Thus, our data permit us to characterize urea-protein interactions in both the native and unfolded states. We interpreted the urea-dependent volumetric properties of the proteins in terms of the equilibrium constant, k, and changes in volume, ΔV0, and compressibility, ΔKT0, for a reaction in which urea binds to a protein with a concomitant release of two waters of hydration to the bulk. Comparison of the values of k, ΔV0, and ΔKT0 with the similar data obtained on small molecules mimicking protein groups reveals lack of cooperative effects involved in urea-protein interactions. In general, the volumetric approach, while providing a unique characterization of cosolvent-protein interactions, offers a practical way for evaluating the effective solvent accessible surface area of biologically significant fully or partially unfolded polypeptides.

Analytical validation of an ultra low-cost mobile phone microplate reader for infectious disease testing.

PubMed

Wang, Li-Ju; Naudé, Nicole; Demissie, Misganaw; Crivaro, Anne; Kamoun, Malek; Wang, Ping; Li, Lei

2018-07-01

Most mobile health (mHealth) diagnostic devices for laboratory tests only analyze one sample at a time, which is not suitable for large volume serology testing, especially in low-resource settings with shortage of health professionals. In this study, we developed an ultra-low-cost clinically-accurate mobile phone microplate reader (mReader), and clinically validated this optical device for 12 infectious disease tests. The mReader optically reads 96 samples on a microplate at one time. 771 de-identified patient samples were tested for 12 serology assays for bacterial/viral infections. The mReader and the clinical instrument blindly read and analyzed all tests in parallel. The analytical accuracy and the diagnostic performance of the mReader were evaluated across the clinical reportable categories by comparison with clinical laboratorial testing results. The mReader exhibited 97.59-99.90% analytical accuracy and <5% coefficient of variation (CV). The positive percent agreement (PPA) in all 12 tests achieved 100%, negative percent agreement (NPA) was higher than 83% except for one test (42.86%), and overall percent agreement (OPA) ranged 89.33-100%. We envision the mReader can benefit underserved areas/populations and low-resource settings in rural clinics/hospitals at a low cost (~$50 USD) with clinical-level analytical quality. It has the potential to improve health access, speed up healthcare delivery, and reduce health disparities and education disparities by providing access to a low-cost spectrophotometer. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

An evaluation of three methods of saying "no" to avoid an escalating response class hierarchy.

PubMed

Mace, F Charles; Pratt, Jamie L; Prager, Kevin L; Pritchard, Duncan

2011-01-01

We evaluated the effects of three different methods of denying access to requested high-preference activities on escalating problem behavior. Functional analysis and response class hierarchy (RCH) assessment results indicated that 4 topographies of problem behaviors displayed by a 13-year-old boy with high-functioning autism constituted an RCH maintained by positive (tangible) reinforcement. Identification of the RCH comprised the baseline phase, during which computer access was denied by saying "no" and providing an explanation for the restriction. Two alternative methods of saying "no" were then evaluated. These methods included (a) denying computer access while providing an opportunity to engage in an alternative preferred activity and (b) denying immediate computer access by arranging a contingency between completion of a low-preference task and subsequent computer access. Results indicated that a hierarchy of problem behavior may be identified in the context of denying access to a preferred activity and that it may be possible to prevent occurrences of escalating problem behavior by either presenting alternative options or arranging contingencies when saying "no" to a child's requests.

The introduction and evaluation of mobile devices to improve access to patient records: a catalyst for innovation and collaboration at BCCA.

PubMed

Wu, Jonn; Waldron, John; Hood, Shaina; Kahnamelli, Adam; Khan, Mohamed; Barnett, Jeff; French, John; Slager, Stacey; Melhem, Shadi; Shabestari, Omid

2013-01-01

Prompt and efficient access to patient records is vital in providing optimal patient care. The Cancer Agency Information System (CAIS) is the primary patient record repository for the British Columbia Cancer Agency (BCCA) but is only accessible on traditional computer workstations. The BCCA clinics have significant space limitations resulting in multiple health care professionals sharing each workstation. Furthermore, workstations are not available in examination rooms. A novel and cost efficient solution is necessary to improve clinician access to CAIS. This prompted the BCCA and IMITS to embark on an innovative provincial collaboration to introduce and evaluate the impact of a mobile device to improve access to CAIS. The project consisted of 2 phases with over 50 participants from multiple clinical disciplines across BCCA sites. Phase I evaluated the adoptability, effectiveness and costs associated with providing access to CAIS using a generic viewer (Citrix). Phase II incorporated the feedback and findings from Phase I to make available a customized mobile device-specific application. Phase II also addressed privacy and security requirements.

A tailored Internet-delivered intervention for smoking cessation designed to encourage social support and treatment seeking: usability testing and user tracing.

PubMed

Houston, Tom K; Ford, Daniel E

2008-03-01

While Internet technologies show promise for changing behavior, new methods for engaging individuals are needed to maximize effectiveness. The aim of this study is to design and evaluate an Internet-delivered intervention for smoking cessation that encouraged seeking support from family and treatment from doctors. To evaluate different introductions to the Internet site. We conducted usability testing and analyzed server logs to trace user participation in the website. Two groups of users (current smokers) were recruited using Google advertisements. In Phase 1, 58% (75/126) of users accessed the self-management strategies, but few users accessed the social support (28%) and treatment-seeking modules (33%). Then, a brief motivational introduction was added, stating the proven effectiveness of content in the unused modules, low use of these modules, and recommendations by two doctors to use all modules. Compared with Phase 1, in Phase 2 the mean time spent on the website per session increased (8 to 18 min, p = 0.01) and use of the social support (50%) and treatment seeking modules (56%) increased (both p < 0.01). At 1-month follow-up, reports of talking to family about smoking cessation also increased from 84% to 100% (p = 0.038). Changing the rationale and context of Web-based health information using a motivational introduction can change user behavior.

Formative Evaluation to Increase Availability of Healthy Snacks and Beverages in Stores Near Schools in Two Rural Oregon Counties, 2013

PubMed Central

Findholt, Nancy E.; Pickus, Hayley A.

2015-01-01

Introduction Children living in rural areas are at greater risk for obesity than their urban counterparts. Differences in healthy food access may contribute to this disparity. Most healthy food access initiatives target stores in urban areas. We conducted a formative evaluation to increase availability of healthy snacks and beverages in food stores near schools in rural Oregon. Methods We assessed availability of healthy snacks and beverages in food stores (n = 15) using the SNACZ (Students Now Advocating to Create Healthy Snacking Zones) checklist and conducted in-depth interviews with food store owners (n = 6). Frequency distributions were computed for SNACZ checklist items, and interview data were analyzed by using applied thematic analysis. Results Overall, availability of healthy snacks and beverages in study communities was low. Four interrelated themes regarding store owner perspectives on stocking healthy snacks and beverages emerged from the interviews: customer demand, space constraints, vendor influence, and perishability. Conclusion In addition to working with food store owners, efforts to increase availability of healthy snacks and beverages in rural areas should engage young people, food buyers (eg, schools), and vendors as stakeholders for identifying strategies to increase demand for and availability of these items. Further research will be needed to determine which strategies or combinations of strategies are feasible to implement in the study communities. PMID:26632956

Analysis of Consumers' Preferences and Price Sensitivity to Native Chickens.

PubMed

Lee, Min-A; Jung, Yoojin; Jo, Cheorun; Park, Ji-Young; Nam, Ki-Chang

2017-01-01

This study analyzed consumers' preferences and price sensitivity to native chickens. A survey was conducted from Jan 6 to 17, 2014, and data were collected from consumers (n=500) living in Korea. Statistical analyses evaluated the consumption patterns of native chickens, preference marketing for native chicken breeds which will be newly developed, and price sensitivity measurement (PSM). Of the subjects who preferred broilers, 24.3% do not purchase native chickens because of the dryness and tough texture, while those who preferred native chickens liked their chewy texture (38.2%). Of the total subjects, 38.2% preferred fried native chickens (38.2%) for processed food, 38.4% preferred direct sales for native chicken distribution, 51.0% preferred native chickens to be slaughtered in specialty stores, and 32.4% wanted easy access to native chickens. Additionally, the price stress range (PSR) was 50 won and the point of marginal cheapness (PMC) and point of marginal expensiveness (PME) were 6,980 won and 12,300 won, respectively. Evaluation of the segmentation market revealed that consumers who prefer broiler to native chicken breeds were more sensitive to the chicken price. To accelerate the consumption of newly developed native chicken meat, it is necessary to develop a texture that each consumer needs, to increase the accessibility of native chickens, and to have diverse menus and recipes as well as reasonable pricing for native chickens.

Analysis of Consumers’ Preferences and Price Sensitivity to Native Chickens

PubMed Central

Lee, Min-A; Jung, Yoojin; Jo, Cheorun

2017-01-01

This study analyzed consumers’ preferences and price sensitivity to native chickens. A survey was conducted from Jan 6 to 17, 2014, and data were collected from consumers (n=500) living in Korea. Statistical analyses evaluated the consumption patterns of native chickens, preference marketing for native chicken breeds which will be newly developed, and price sensitivity measurement (PSM). Of the subjects who preferred broilers, 24.3% do not purchase native chickens because of the dryness and tough texture, while those who preferred native chickens liked their chewy texture (38.2%). Of the total subjects, 38.2% preferred fried native chickens (38.2%) for processed food, 38.4% preferred direct sales for native chicken distribution, 51.0% preferred native chickens to be slaughtered in specialty stores, and 32.4% wanted easy access to native chickens. Additionally, the price stress range (PSR) was 50 won and the point of marginal cheapness (PMC) and point of marginal expensiveness (PME) were 6,980 won and 12,300 won, respectively. Evaluation of the segmentation market revealed that consumers who prefer broiler to native chicken breeds were more sensitive to the chicken price. To accelerate the consumption of newly developed native chicken meat, it is necessary to develop a texture that each consumer needs, to increase the accessibility of native chickens, and to have diverse menus and recipes as well as reasonable pricing for native chickens. PMID:28747834

Animated educational video to prepare children for MRI without sedation: evaluation of the appeal and value.

PubMed

Szeszak, Szofia; Man, Rachel; Love, Andrew; Langmack, Gill; Wharrad, Heather; Dineen, Robert A

2016-11-01

MRI scans can be distressing for children and often require sedation. Educating children about what to expect reduces anxiety and increases likelihood of successful non-sedated MRI scans. Multimedia tools are a popular means of education. Animated video could provide a free, accessible method of preparing children for MRI scans. To evaluate a new animation video for preparing children for MRI, specifically for decreasing in-scanner motion and examination failure. We recruited 24 healthy children ages 5-11 years. Participants underwent pre- and post-viewing questionnaires and structured interviews. We then compared median Likert scale score changes between pre- and post-animation questions and analyzed the interview framework. Participants were filmed viewing the animation to calculate time spent looking at the screen to assess how well the video retained children's attention. There were significant improvements in median scores regarding what to expect, checking for metal and keeping still. There were no significant changes in other knowledge-based topics. There were significant improvements in median scores for anxiety-based topics. On average, children watched the screen for 98.9% of the 174-s animation. The animation improved knowledge, reduced anxiety, retained attention and was enjoyed by participants. It can be accessed freely via the Internet to help prepare children ages 5-11 for having an MRI scan.

Formative Evaluation to Increase Availability of Healthy Snacks and Beverages in Stores Near Schools in Two Rural Oregon Counties, 2013.

PubMed

Izumi, Betty T; Findholt, Nancy E; Pickus, Hayley A

2015-12-03

Children living in rural areas are at greater risk for obesity than their urban counterparts. Differences in healthy food access may contribute to this disparity. Most healthy food access initiatives target stores in urban areas. We conducted a formative evaluation to increase availability of healthy snacks and beverages in food stores near schools in rural Oregon. We assessed availability of healthy snacks and beverages in food stores (n = 15) using the SNACZ (Students Now Advocating to Create Healthy Snacking Zones) checklist and conducted in-depth interviews with food store owners (n = 6). Frequency distributions were computed for SNACZ checklist items, and interview data were analyzed by using applied thematic analysis. Overall, availability of healthy snacks and beverages in study communities was low. Four interrelated themes regarding store owner perspectives on stocking healthy snacks and beverages emerged from the interviews: customer demand, space constraints, vendor influence, and perishability. In addition to working with food store owners, efforts to increase availability of healthy snacks and beverages in rural areas should engage young people, food buyers (eg, schools), and vendors as stakeholders for identifying strategies to increase demand for and availability of these items. Further research will be needed to determine which strategies or combinations of strategies are feasible to implement in the study communities.

[Poisoning with household cleaning products in a city in Northeast Brazil].

PubMed

Fook, Sayonara Maria Lia; Azevedo, Esthefanye Fernandes de; Costa, Monalisa Maciel; Feitosa, Itavielly Layany França; Bragagnoli, Gerson; Mariz, Saulo Rios

2013-05-01

This study analyzes toxic exposures to household cleaning products based on data from the Center for Notification and Treatment of Poisoning (CEATOX) in Campina Grande, Paraíba State, Brazil, from 2007 to 2010. The data were collected from the reporting forms from the Information System on Notifiable Diseases (SINAN), analyzed with SPSS (Version 17). Chemical identification was performed in urine samples using high-resolution chromatography techniques (GC-MS and HPLC-UV). Six hundred and sixty cases of poisoning were reported, with pesticides as the principal causal agents (42.2%). Poisoning with household cleaning products occurred mainly in children (30.1%) and/or females (55.21%) who were exposed to the product accidentally (55.4%) by the oral route (82%). These data indicate that poisoning with household cleaning products in Campina Grande should be treated with specific prevention and control measures, including evaluation of ease of access to pesticides, in order to reach the goals set by the Brazilian National Health Plan for 2012-2015.

"Touching Triton": Building Student Understanding of Complex Disease Risk.

PubMed

Loftin, Madelene; East, Kelly; Hott, Adam; Lamb, Neil

2016-01-01

Life science classrooms often emphasize the exception to the rule when it comes to teaching genetics, focusing heavily on rare single-gene and Mendelian traits. By contrast, the vast majority of human traits and diseases are caused by more complicated interactions between genetic and environmental factors. Research indicates that students have a deterministic view of genetics, generalize Mendelian inheritance patterns to all traits, and have unrealistic expectations of genetic technologies. The challenge lies in how to help students analyze complex disease risk with a lack of curriculum materials. Providing open access to both content resources and an engaging storyline can be achieved using a "serious game" model. "Touching Triton" was developed as a serious game in which students are asked to analyze data from a medical record, family history, and genomic report in order to develop an overall lifetime risk estimate of six common, complex diseases. Evaluation of student performance shows significant learning gains in key content areas along with a high level of engagement.

Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act Increases Phytochemicals in Menus and Curriculum Furthers Identification of Phytochemical-Rich Foods.

PubMed

Brewer, D; Hershberger, S; Gaetke, L

2016-01-01

This study evaluated whether providing the Fruits and Vegetables (F/V) required by the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act (HHFKA) increased phytochemical/antioxidant content of school lunches. Additionally, the ability of adolescents to apply their nutritional knowledge following participation in a nutrition-focused science-based curriculum was assessed. Changes in antioxidant/phytochemical content from F/V offered in school lunch menus were analyzed Pre-and Post-HHFKA. Food logs completed by 717 youth aged 10-18 were analyzed for correctly identifying "fighting foods". Significant increases in antioxidant/phytochemical content resulted following implementation of HHFKA (P<0.05 ) . Seventy-five percent [0, 100] of the time students accurately identified "fighting foods" in their one-day in-school food log (n=468). Creatively incorporating nutrition education into core curriculum, when paired with a supportive built environment that increases F/V access (HHFKA), generates a multilevel intervention promoting F/V consumption among school-aged youth.

Simultaneous acquisition of EEG and NIRS during cognitive tasks for an open access dataset.

PubMed

Shin, Jaeyoung; von Lühmann, Alexander; Kim, Do-Won; Mehnert, Jan; Hwang, Han-Jeong; Müller, Klaus-Robert

2018-02-13

We provide an open access multimodal brain-imaging dataset of simultaneous electroencephalography (EEG) and near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) recordings. Twenty-six healthy participants performed three cognitive tasks: 1) n-back (0-, 2- and 3-back), 2) discrimination/selection response task (DSR) and 3) word generation (WG) tasks. The data provided includes: 1) measured data, 2) demographic data, and 3) basic analysis results. For n-back (dataset A) and DSR tasks (dataset B), event-related potential (ERP) analysis was performed, and spatiotemporal characteristics and classification results for 'target' versus 'non-target' (dataset A) and symbol 'O' versus symbol 'X' (dataset B) are provided. Time-frequency analysis was performed to show the EEG spectral power to differentiate the task-relevant activations. Spatiotemporal characteristics of hemodynamic responses are also shown. For the WG task (dataset C), the EEG spectral power and spatiotemporal characteristics of hemodynamic responses are analyzed, and the potential merit of hybrid EEG-NIRS BCIs was validated with respect to classification accuracy. We expect that the dataset provided will facilitate performance evaluation and comparison of many neuroimaging analysis techniques.

Simultaneous acquisition of EEG and NIRS during cognitive tasks for an open access dataset

PubMed Central

Shin, Jaeyoung; von Lühmann, Alexander; Kim, Do-Won; Mehnert, Jan; Hwang, Han-Jeong; Müller, Klaus-Robert

2018-01-01

We provide an open access multimodal brain-imaging dataset of simultaneous electroencephalography (EEG) and near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) recordings. Twenty-six healthy participants performed three cognitive tasks: 1) n-back (0-, 2- and 3-back), 2) discrimination/selection response task (DSR) and 3) word generation (WG) tasks. The data provided includes: 1) measured data, 2) demographic data, and 3) basic analysis results. For n-back (dataset A) and DSR tasks (dataset B), event-related potential (ERP) analysis was performed, and spatiotemporal characteristics and classification results for ‘target’ versus ‘non-target’ (dataset A) and symbol ‘O’ versus symbol ‘X’ (dataset B) are provided. Time-frequency analysis was performed to show the EEG spectral power to differentiate the task-relevant activations. Spatiotemporal characteristics of hemodynamic responses are also shown. For the WG task (dataset C), the EEG spectral power and spatiotemporal characteristics of hemodynamic responses are analyzed, and the potential merit of hybrid EEG-NIRS BCIs was validated with respect to classification accuracy. We expect that the dataset provided will facilitate performance evaluation and comparison of many neuroimaging analysis techniques. PMID:29437166

[An interesting experience on the use of information and population data bases].

PubMed

Expósito, J; Johnson, A P

2012-01-01

In order to support decisions and analyze outcomes, the Spanish Health System has shown a great interest in developing data bases and high quality information systems. Nevertheless the use of these data bases are limited, not very systematized and, some times, their accessibility may be difficult. We describe in this review the experience in using the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Science (ICES, Ontario, Canada) as an efficient model to improve the usefulness of these data bases. Under restrictive conditions of confidentiality and privacy, the ICES has the legal capacity to use several population based data bases, for research projects and reports. ICES's functional structure (with an administrative and scientific level) is an interesting framework since it guarantees its independent and economic assessment. To date, its scientific production has been high in many areas of knowledge and open to those interested, with points of view of many health care professionals (including management), for whom the quality of research is of the ultimate importance, to be able to access these resources. Copyright © 2011 SECA. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

[Spending and financing in health care: situation and trends].

PubMed

Molina, R; Pinto, M; Henderson, P; Vieira, C

2000-01-01

Being knowledgeable about national health expenditures and sources of financing is essential for decision-making. This awareness also makes it possible to evaluate the equity of allocation and the efficiency of utilization of these resources. Changes in financing have been a substantial component of health sector reform in the Americas. The goal has shifted from merely one of financial sustainability to simultaneously seeking equitable access to quality services. In this article the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) presents a proposal for analyzing and designing a policy on health financing. The aim of the policy is to identify the mix of financing mechanisms most likely to simultaneously produce financial sustainability, equity, access, and efficiency. The PAHO proposal combines traditional mechanisms for generating resources (public funds from taxes, as well as private health insurance, national health insurance, and user fees) with complementary subsidy mechanisms for vulnerable groups. Health financing strategies ought to explicitly consider the financing both of care for individuals and of health interventions for the general public good, for which public financing is the most equitable and efficient approach.

Urate levels predict survival in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: Analysis of the expanded Pooled Resource Open-Access ALS clinical trials database.

PubMed

Paganoni, Sabrina; Nicholson, Katharine; Chan, James; Shui, Amy; Schoenfeld, David; Sherman, Alexander; Berry, James; Cudkowicz, Merit; Atassi, Nazem

2018-03-01

Urate has been identified as a predictor of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) survival in some but not all studies. Here we leverage the recent expansion of the Pooled Resource Open-Access ALS Clinical Trials (PRO-ACT) database to study the association between urate levels and ALS survival. Pooled data of 1,736 ALS participants from the PRO-ACT database were analyzed. Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to evaluate associations between urate levels at trial entry and survival. After adjustment for potential confounders (i.e., creatinine and body mass index), there was an 11% reduction in risk of reaching a survival endpoint during the study with each 1-mg/dL increase in uric acid levels (adjusted hazard ratio 0.89, 95% confidence interval 0.82-0.97, P < 0.01). Our pooled analysis provides further support for urate as a prognostic factor for survival in ALS and confirms the utility of the PRO-ACT database as a powerful resource for ALS epidemiological research. Muscle Nerve 57: 430-434, 2018. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

IEEE 802.15.4 MAC with GTS transmission for heterogeneous devices with application to wheelchair body-area sensor networks.

PubMed

Shrestha, Bharat; Hossain, Ekram; Camorlinga, Sergio

2011-09-01

In wireless personal area networks, such as wireless body-area sensor networks, stations or devices have different bandwidth requirements and, thus, create heterogeneous traffics. For such networks, the IEEE 802.15.4 medium access control (MAC) can be used in the beacon-enabled mode, which supports guaranteed time slot (GTS) allocation for time-critical data transmissions. This paper presents a general discrete-time Markov chain model for the IEEE 802.15.4-based networks taking into account the slotted carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance and GTS transmission phenomena together in the heterogeneous traffic scenario and under nonsaturated condition. For this purpose, the standard GTS allocation scheme is modified. For each non-identical device, the Markov model is solved and the average service time and the service utilization factor are analyzed in the non-saturated mode. The analysis is validated by simulations using network simulator version 2.33. Also, the model is enhanced with a wireless propagation model and the performance of the MAC is evaluated in a wheelchair body-area sensor network scenario.

Evaluation of the SPAR thermal analyzer on the CYBER-203 computer

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Robinson, J. C.; Riley, K. M.; Haftka, R. T.

1982-01-01

The use of the CYBER 203 vector computer for thermal analysis is investigated. Strengths of the CYBER 203 include the ability to perform, in vector mode using a 64 bit word, 50 million floating point operations per second (MFLOPS) for addition and subtraction, 25 MFLOPS for multiplication and 12.5 MFLOPS for division. The speed of scalar operation is comparable to that of a CDC 7600 and is some 2 to 3 times faster than Langley's CYBER 175s. The CYBER 203 has 1,048,576 64-bit words of real memory with an 80 nanosecond (nsec) access time. Memory is bit addressable and provides single error correction, double error detection (SECDED) capability. The virtual memory capability handles data in either 512 or 65,536 word pages. The machine has 256 registers with a 40 nsec access time. The weaknesses of the CYBER 203 include the amount of vector operation overhead and some data storage limitations. In vector operations there is a considerable amount of time before a single result is produced so that vector calculation speed is slower than scalar operation for short vectors.

[Online Activities to Support Networking in Mental Health Practices in Quebec].

PubMed

Michaud, Dominique; Briand, Catherine; Thibault, Véronique; Charbonneau, Karine

2015-01-01

To support knowledge application of evidence-based practices in mental health rehabilitation in Quebec, the Centre for Studies on Rehabilitation, Recovery and Social Inclusion (CÉRRIS--www.cerrisweb.com) has set up a community of practice and has organized online activities. In this article, the authors present the community of practice (457 members to date) and the results of a three-year experience aimed at evaluating their appreciation with two online activities of dissemination and knowledge exchange: Web conference and debate blog. The methodology used in this publication is part of a process of program evaluation. More specifically, a research mixed method was used (concurrent triangulation design). Qualitative data (from qualitative questionnaires) and quantitative data (from Google analytics -participation and attendance data) were collected in parallel and incorporated into analysis step. Forty qualitative questionnaires were completed to identify the benefits, barriers, challenges and facilitators encountered during their participation in the activity. The participants are members of the community of practice of the CÉRRIS and are people with mental illness, family members, practitioners, researchers, students, managers and policy makers in the field of mental health rehabilitation and come from different regions of Quebec, Canada and French speaking areas of Europe. Quantitative data on participation and attendance were collected and analyzed throughout the first three years of implementation of the CÉRRIS. Qualitative data from the questionnaires were analyzed following a content analysis process. Quantitative data were analyzed using Excel. Since September 2010, 14,061 unique visitors navigated on the CÉRRIS website (23,391 visits) and 2,278 people visited the blog (10,393 visits). Ninety-nine members of the community of practice attended at least one of the 13 Web conferences. Web conference allows a) access to evidence-based practices, b) networking and contact between individuals of different areas and c) access to continuing education remotely. A total of 62 members of the community of practice have actively taken part in one of the 5 debates on the blog. The activity of debate blog a) promotes egalitarian exchanges between different actors in mental health sector, b) encourages diversity of viewpoints and c) create a forum for dialogue and reduce stigma towards people with mental illnesses. For both types of Web activities, technological barriers (network security, outdated computer equipment, etc.) restrained the full participation of the participants. However, the assistance received from organizations and their openness towards new technologies has facilitated the experience of participants in both activities. Online activities as Web conference and debate blog are interesting avenues to facilitate access to knowledge and support exchanges between clinical, academic, community-based communities, people who use mental health services and their families.

Pilot Evaluation of a Web-Based Intervention Targeting Sexual Health Service Access

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, K. E.; Newby, K.; Caley, M.; Danahay, A.; Kehal, I.

2016-01-01

Sexual health service access is fundamental to good sexual health, yet interventions designed to address this have rarely been implemented or evaluated. In this article, pilot evaluation findings for a targeted public health behavior change intervention, delivered via a website and web-app, aiming to increase uptake of sexual health services among…

Evaluating the Accessibility of Web-Based Instruction for Students with Disabilities.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hinn, D. Michelle

This paper presents the methods and results of a year-long evaluation study, conducted for the purpose of determining disability accessibility barriers and potential solutions for those barriers found in four World Wide Web-based learning environments. The primary questions used to frame the evaluation study were: (1) Are there any features of the…

Assessing and quantifying public transit access.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2014-03-01

Measuring access to transit services is important in evaluating existing services, predicting travel demands, allocating transportation investments and making decisions on land development. A composite index for assessing accessibility of public tran...

Plastic surgery residency websites: a critical analysis of accessibility and content.

PubMed

Silvestre, Jason; Tomlinson-Hansen, Sandra; Fosnot, Joshua; Taylor, Jesse A

2014-03-01

Medical students applying for plastic surgery residency utilize the Internet to manage their residency applications. Applicants often apply to many programs and rely on advice from colleagues, mentors, and information gathered from plastic surgery residency websites (PSRWs). The purpose of the present study was to evaluate integrated and combined PSRWs with respect to accessibility, resident recruitment, and education. Websites from all 63 integrated and combined plastic surgery residencies available to graduating medical students during the 2013 academic year were available for study inclusion. Databases from national bodies for plastic surgery education were analyzed for accessibility of information. PSRWs were evaluated for comprehensiveness in the domains of resident education and recruitment. Residency programs were compared according to program characteristics using the Student t test and ANOVA with Tukey method. Of the 63 residencies available to graduating medical students, only 57 had combined or integrated program information on their PSRWs (90.5%). In the domain of resident recruitment, evaluators found an average of 5.5 of 15 content items (36.7%). As a whole, 26.3% of PSRWs had academic conference schedules, 17.5% had call schedules, and only 8.8% had operative case listings. For resident education, PSRWs provided an average of 4.6 of 15 content items (30.7%). Only 31.6% of PSRWs had interview schedules, 24.6% had graduate fellowship information, and 5.3% had information on board exam performance. Upon comparison, programs in the Midwest had more online recruitment content than programs in the West (47.1% vs. 24.2%, P < 0.01). Additionally, programs with a larger class of incoming residents (2 vs. 1) had greater online recruitment content (40.0% vs. 26.7%, P < 0.05). Larger programs with 3 integrated spots had more online education content than smaller programs with only 1 integrated spot (40.0% vs. 19.4%, P < 0.01). PSRWs are often not readily accessible and do not provide basic information that allow residency applicants to use this recruitment tool effectively. The paucity of online content suggests PSRWs are underutilized as an educational and recruitment tool. These findings have implications for applicants and plastic surgery residency programs, and there may be future opportunity to utilize this tool more effectively.

Path Analysis: Health Promotion Information Access of Parent Caretaking Pattern through Parenting Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sunarsih, Tri; Murti, Bhisma; Anantanyu, Sapja; Wijaya, Mahendra

2016-01-01

Parents often inhibit learning process organized by education, due to their ignorance about how to educate child well. Incapability of dealing with those changes leads to dysfunctional families, and problematic children. This research aimed: to analyzed the health promotion information access pattern of parent caretaking pattern through parenting…

Access to Higher Education in Colombia: An Assessment of Public Policy and Outcomes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Uribe Correa, Lina

2012-01-01

This research analyzes a set of national policy initiatives, 2002-2010, regularly referred to as Colombia's "Educational Revolution". Together these policies constitute a Colombian effort to increase access to higher education, an effort in partnership with the World Bank. The dissertation presents findings on policy goals, efforts,…

EVALIDatorReports: Reporting beyond the FIADB

Treesearch

Patrick D. Miles

2009-01-01

Tools for analyzing data collected by the U.S. Forest Service's Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program are available in Microsoft Access© format. Databases have been created for every state, except Hawaii, and are available for downloading. EVALIDatorReports is a Visual Basic Application that is stored within each Microsoft Access© database...

Report on Higher Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Office of Education (DHEW), Washington, DC.

This report by a task force funded by the Ford Foundation analyzes the problems facing the nation's system of higher education in the 1970's and discusses how well the functioning of that system matches the public interest. The problems are divided in the following categories: (1) the paradox of access, meaning that access alone does not…

Cost-Effective, Equitable and Flexible Higher Education through Open and Distance Learning in Bangladesh

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Islam, Tofazzal

2011-01-01

This paper examines how this mega-university offers increasing access to cost-effective, equitable and flexible higher education by analyzing data from primary and secondary sources, identifies challenges impacting the continued growth of enrollment in distance education, and outlines opportunities for increasing access to higher education through…

Acquired Severe Disabilities and Complex Health Care Needs: Access to Inclusive Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ballard, Sarah L.; Dymond, Stacy K.

2016-01-01

This case study examined one high school student's access to inclusive education and experiences in an inclusive English class after he acquired severe disabilities and complex health care needs from a nontraumatic brain injury. Multiple sources of data (i.e., interviews, field notes, and documents) were collected and analyzed to formulate…

Provision of assisted reproductive technology for single women in China: a new challenge.

PubMed

Zhou, Ling Jing

2004-01-01

Following the enactment of the Jilin Regulation, single women, for the first time, are allowed to access assisted reproductive services in China. This paper is intended to analyze the arguments over whether single women are entitled to access assisted reproductive services, in relation to Chinese legal, ethical and social characteristics.

Tag, You're It: Enhancing Access to Graphic Novels

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

West, Wendy

2013-01-01

Current users of academic libraries are avid readers of graphic novels. These thought-provoking materials are used for leisure reading, in instruction, and for research purposes. Libraries need to take care in providing access to these resources. This study analyzed the cataloging practices and social tagging of a specific list of graphic novel…

Multi-Center Evaluation of the Automated Immunohematology Instrument, the ORTHO VISION Analyzer.

PubMed

Aysola, Agnes; Wheeler, Leslie; Brown, Richard; Denham, Rebecca; Colavecchia, Connie; Pavenski, Katerina; Krok, Elizabeth; Hayes, Chelsea; Klapper, Ellen

2017-02-01

ORTHO VISION Analyzer (Vision), is an immunohematology instrument using ID-MT gel card technology with digital image processing. It has a continuous, random sample access with STAT priority processing. The efficiency and ease of operation of Vision was evaluated at 5 medical centers. De-identified patient samples were tested on the ORTHO ProVue Analyzer (ProVue) and repeated on the Vision mimicking the daily workload pattern. Turnaround times (TAT) were collected and compared. Operators rated key features of the analyzer on a scale of 1 to 5. A total of 507 samples were tested on both instruments at the 5 trial sites. The mean TAT (SD) were 31.6 minutes (5.5) with Vision and 35.7 minutes (8.4) with ProVue, which renders a 12% reduction. Type and screens were performed on 381 samples; the mean TAT (SD) was 32.2 minutes (4.5) with Vision and 37.0 minutes (7.4) with ProVue. Antibody identification with eleven panel cells was performed on 134 samples on Vision; TAT (SD) was 43.2 minutes (8.3). The installation, training, configuration, maintenance and validation processes are all streamlined to provide a short implementation time. The average rating of main functions by the operators was 4.1 to 4.8. Opportunities for improvement, such as flexibility with editing QC results, maintenance schedule, and printing options were identified. The capabilities to perform serial dilutions, to accept pediatric tubes, and review results by e-Connectivity are enhancements over the ProVue. Vision provides shorter TAT compared to ProVue. Every site described a positive experience using Vision. © American Society for Clinical Pathology, 2017. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Evaluating medical convenience in ethnic minority areas of Southwest China via road network vulnerability: a case study for Dehong autonomous prefecture.

PubMed

Wei, Xiaoyan; Liu, Xuejun; Cheng, Liang; Sun, Lele; Pan, Yingying; Zong, Wenwen

2017-11-28

Southwest China is home to more than 30 ethnic minority groups. Since most of these populations reside in mountainous areas, convenient access to medical services is an important metric of how well their livelihoods are being protected. This paper proposes a medical convenience index (MCI) and computation model for mountain residents, taking into account various conditions including topography, geology, and climate. Data on road networks were used for comprehensive evaluation from three perspectives: vulnerability, complexity, and accessibility. The model is innovative for considering road network vulnerability in mountainous areas, and proposing a method of evaluating road network vulnerability by measuring the impacts of debris flows based on only links. The model was used to compute and rank the respective MCIs for settlements of each ethnic population in the Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture of Yunnan Province, in 2009 and 2015. Data on the settlements over the two periods were also used to analyze the spatial differentiation of medical convenience levels within the study area. The medical convenience levels of many settlements improved significantly. 80 settlements were greatly improved, while another 103 showed slight improvement.Areas with obvious improvement were distributed in clusters, and mainly located in the southwestern part of Yingjiang County, northern Longchuan County, eastern Lianghe County, and the region where Lianghe and Longchuan counties and Mang City intersect. Development of the road network was found to be a major contributor to improvements in MCI for mountain residents over the six-year period.

Health in My Community: Conducting and evaluating photovoice as a tool to promote environmental health and leadership among Latino/a youth

PubMed Central

Madrigal, Daniel; Salvatore, Alicia; Casillas, Gardenia; Casillas, Crystal; Vera, Irene; Eskenazi, Brenda; Minkler, Meredith

2015-01-01

Background The photovoice method has shown substantial promise for work with youth in metropolitan areas, yet its potential for use with youth from farmworker families has not been documented. Objectives This project was designed to teach environmental health to 15 high school youth while building their individual and community capacity for studying and addressing shared environmental concerns. The project also aimed to test the utility of photovoice with Latino agricultural youth. Methods Fifteen members of the Youth Community Council (YCC), part of a 15-year project with farmworker families in Salinas, CA, took part in a 12-week photovoice project. Their pictures captured the assets and strengths of their community related to environmental health, and were then analyzed by participants. A multi-pronged evaluation was conducted. Results YCC members identified concerns such as poor access to affordable, healthy foods and lack of safe physical spaces in which to play, as well as assets, including caring adults and organizations, and open spaces in surrounding areas. Participants presented their findings on radio, television, at local community events, and to key policy makers. The youth also developed and implemented two action plans, a successful 5K run/walk and a school recycling project, still in progress. Evaluation results included significant changes or trends in such areas as perceived ability to make presentations, leadership, and self-confidence, as well as challenges including transportation, group dynamics, and gaining access to people in power. Conclusion The photovoice method shows promise for environmental health education and youth development in farmworker communities. PMID:25435558

Health in my community: conducting and evaluating PhotoVoice as a tool to promote environmental health and leadership among Latino/a youth.

PubMed

Madrigal, Daniel Santiago; Salvatore, Alicia; Casillas, Gardenia; Casillas, Crystal; Vera, Irene; Eskenazi, Brenda; Minkler, Meredith

2014-01-01

The PhotoVoice method has shown substantial promise for work with youth in metropolitan areas, yet its potential for use with Latino youth from agricultural areas has not been well documented. This project was designed to teach environmental health to 15 high school youth while building their individual and community capacity for studying and addressing shared environmental concerns. The project also aimed to test the utility of PhotoVoice with Latino agricultural youth. Fifteen members of the Youth Community Council (YCC), part of a 15-year project with farmworker families in Salinas, CA, took part in a 12-week PhotoVoice project. Their pictures captured the assets and strengths of their community related to environmental health, and were then analyzed by participants. A multi-pronged evaluation was conducted. YCC members identified concerns such as poor access to affordable, healthy foods and lack of safe physical spaces in which to play, as well as assets, including caring adults and organizations, and open spaces in surrounding areas. Participants presented their findings on radio, television, at local community events, and to key policy makers. The youth also developed two action plans, a successful 5K run/walk and a school recycling project, still in progress. Evaluation results included significant changes in such areas as perceived ability to make presentations, leadership, and self-confidence, as well as challenges including transportation, group dynamics, and gaining access to people in power. The PhotoVoice method shows promise for environmental health education and youth development in farmworker communities.

Genetic Identity in Genebanks: Application of the SolCAP 12K SNP Array in Fingerprinting and Diversity Analysis in the Global In Trust Potato Collection.

PubMed

Ellis, David; Chavez, Oswaldo; Coombs, Joseph J; Soto, Julian V; Gomez, Rene; Douches, David S; Panta, Ana; Silvestre, Rocio; Anglin, Noelle Lynette

2018-05-24

Breeders rely on genetic integrity of material from genebanks, however, mislabeling and errors in original data can occur. Paired samples of original material and their in vitro counterparts from 250 diverse potato landrace accessions from the International Potato Center (CIP), were fingerprinted using the Infinium 12K V2 Potato Array to confirm genetic identity and evaluate genetic diversity. Diploid, triploid, and tetraploid accessions were included representing seven cultivated potato taxa (Hawkes, 1990). Fingerprints between mother field plants and in vitro clones, were used to evaluate identity, relatedness, and ancestry. Clones of the same accession grouped together, however eleven (4.4%) accessions were mismatches genetically. SNP genotypes were used to construct a phylogeny to evaluate inter- and intraspecific relationships and population structure. Data suggests that the triploids evaluated are genetically similar. STRUCTURE analysis identified several putative hybrids and suggests six populations with significant gene flow between. This study provides a model for genetic identity of plant genetic resources collections as mistakes in conservation of these collections and in genebanks is a reality and confirmed identity is critical for breeders and other users of these collections, as well as for quality management programs and to provide insights into the diversity of the accessions evaluated.

Voluntary language switching in English-Spanish bilingual children

PubMed Central

Gross, Megan; Kaushanskaya, Margarita

2015-01-01

Although bilingual children frequently switch between languages, the psycholinguistic mechanisms underlying the emerging ability to control language choice are unknown. We examined the mechanisms of voluntary language switching in English-Spanish bilingual children during a picture-naming task under two conditions: 1) single-language naming in English and in Spanish; 2) either-language naming, when the children could use whichever language they wanted. The mechanism of inhibitory control was examined by analyzing local switching costs and global mixing costs. The mechanism of lexical accessibility was examined by analyzing the properties of the items children chose to name in their non-dominant language. The children exhibited significant switching costs across both languages and asymmetrical mixing costs; they also switched into their non-dominant language most frequently on highly accessible items. These findings suggest that both lexical accessibility and inhibition contribute to language choice during voluntary language switching in children. PMID:26889376

Health care of people in homelessness: a comparative study of mobile units in Portugal, United States and Brazil.

PubMed

Borysow, Igor da Costa; Conill, Eleonor Minho; Furtado, Juarez Pereira

2017-03-01

This paper describes and analyzes the legal and normative framework guiding the use of mobile units in Portugal, United States and Brazil, which seek to improve access and continuity of care for people in homelessness. We used a comparative analysis through literature and documentary review relating three categories: context (demographic, socio-economic and epidemiological), services system (access, coverage, organization, management and financing) and, specifically, mobile units (design, care and financing model). The analysis was based on the theory of convergence/divergence between health systems from the perspective of equity in health. Improving access, addressing psychoactive substances abuse, outreach and multidisciplinary work proved to be common to all three countries, with the potential to reduce inequities. Relationships with primary healthcare, use of vehicles and the type of financing are considered differently in the three countries, influencing the greater or lesser extent of equity in the analyzed proposals.

An analysis of current pharmaceutical industry practices for making clinical trial results publicly accessible.

PubMed

Viereck, Christopher; Boudes, Pol

2009-07-01

We compared the clinical trial transparency practices of US/European pharma by analyzing the publicly-accessible clinical trial results databases of major drugs (doripenem, varenicline, lapatinib, zoledronic acid, adalimumab, insulin glargine, raltegravir, gefitinib). We evaluated their accessibility and utility from the perspective of the lay public. We included databases on company websites, http://www.clinicalstudyresults.org, http://www.clinicaltrials.gov and http://clinicaltrials.ifpma.org. Only 2 of 8 company homepages provide a direct link to the results. While the use of common terms on company search engines led to results for 5 of the 8 drugs following 2-4 clicks, no logical pathway was identified. The number of clinical trials in the databases was inconsistent: 0 for doripenem to 45 for insulin glargine. Results from all phases of clinical development were provided for 2 (insulin glargine and gefitinib) of the 8 drugs. Analyses of phase III reports revealed that most critical elements of the International Conference of Harmonization E3 Structure and Content of Synopses for Clinical Trial Reports were provided for 2 (varenicline, lapatinib) of the 8 drugs. For adalimumab and zoledronic acid, only citations were provided, which the lay public would be unable to access. None of the clinical trial reports was written in lay language. User-friendly support, when provided, was of marginal benefit. Only 1 of the databases (gefitinib) permitted the user to find the most recently updated reports. None of the glossaries included explanations for adverse events or statistical methodology. In conclusion, our study indicates that the public faces significant hurdles in finding and understanding clinical trial results databases.

Hepatitis C Virus Infection Outcomes Among Immigrants to Canada: A Retrospective Cohort Analysis.

PubMed

Cooper, Curtis L; Thavorn, Kednapa; Damian, Ecaterina; Corsi, Daniel J

2017-01-01

HCV-infected immigrants contribute to the total prevalence in Canada and other developed nations. Little is known about engagement in care, access to service, and treatment outcomes in recipients of Direct Acting Antiviral (DAA) HCV therapies among immigrants living with HCV. HCV patients assessed at The Ottawa Hospital Viral Hepatitis Clinic between 2000-2016 were identified. Immigration history, race, socioeconomic status, HCV work-up, treatment and outcome data were evaluated. HCV fibrosis assessment, treatment and sustained virologic response (SVR) were compared using logistic regression. 2,335 HCV-infected patients were analyzed with 91% (2114) having data on immigration (23% immigrants). A median 16 years (Quartiles: 5, 29) passed from immigration to referral. Access to diagnostic procedures (Fibroscan/liver biopsy) was greater among immigrants compared to Canadian-born (78% vs. 68%, p = 0.001) and immigrants had an odds ratio of 1.72 (95% CI: 1.18-2.51) of receiving a FibroScan compared to Canadians after adjustment for demographic characteristics, HCV risk factors, and socioeconomic status. No differences in SVR were found between immigrants for IFN recipients. Among DAA recipients, rates of SVR were > 94% among all patients, 93% in Canadian-born and 98% among immigrants (p = 0.14). Nearly 80% of immigrants in this setting had access to fibrosis assessment which was higher than Canadian-born patients. Under half of both groups had initiated HCV therapy. Delays in accessing HCV care represent a missed opportunity to engage, treat and cure HCV patients. HCV screening and health care engagement at the time of immigration would optimize HCV care and therapeutic outcomes.

Effects of Domestic Violence Policies, Alcohol Taxes and Police Staffing Levels on Intimate Partner Homicide in Large U.S. Cities

PubMed Central

Zeoli, April M.; Webster, Daniel W.

2010-01-01

Objective To assess the relationships between intimate partner homicide (IPH) and public policies including police staffing levels in large U.S. cities. Design The research uses a multiple time-series design to examine the effects of statutes aimed at restricting access to firearms for perpetrators of domestic violence, allowing or mandating arrest for violators of domestic violence restraining orders (DVROs), beer excise taxes, and police staffing levels on IPH in 46 of the largest U.S. cities from 1979 to 2003. Both total IPH and IPH committed with a firearm are analyzed. Generalized estimating equations using a Poisson distribution are used to regress IPH on the policies and potential confounders. Results State statutes restricting those under DVROs from accessing firearms, and laws allowing the warrantless arrest of DVRO violators are associated with reductions in total and firearm IPH. Police staffing levels are also negatively associated with IPH and firearm IPH. There was no evidence that other policies to restrict firearm access to domestic violence offenders or alcohol taxes had a significant impact on IPH. Conclusions Reducing access to firearms for DVRO defendants, increasing police staffing levels and allowing the warrantless arrest of DVRO violators may reduce the city-level risk of IPH. Future research should evaluate factors that may mediate the effect of these laws and increased police staffing levels on IPH to determine if there are opportunities to increase their protective effect. Further research is needed on firearm law implementation to determine why the other tested laws were not found effective. PMID:20363814

Comparative Performance Analysis of Intel Xeon Phi, GPU, and CPU: A Case Study from Microscopy Image Analysis

PubMed Central

Teodoro, George; Kurc, Tahsin; Kong, Jun; Cooper, Lee; Saltz, Joel

2014-01-01

We study and characterize the performance of operations in an important class of applications on GPUs and Many Integrated Core (MIC) architectures. Our work is motivated by applications that analyze low-dimensional spatial datasets captured by high resolution sensors, such as image datasets obtained from whole slide tissue specimens using microscopy scanners. Common operations in these applications involve the detection and extraction of objects (object segmentation), the computation of features of each extracted object (feature computation), and characterization of objects based on these features (object classification). In this work, we have identify the data access and computation patterns of operations in the object segmentation and feature computation categories. We systematically implement and evaluate the performance of these operations on modern CPUs, GPUs, and MIC systems for a microscopy image analysis application. Our results show that the performance on a MIC of operations that perform regular data access is comparable or sometimes better than that on a GPU. On the other hand, GPUs are significantly more efficient than MICs for operations that access data irregularly. This is a result of the low performance of MICs when it comes to random data access. We also have examined the coordinated use of MICs and CPUs. Our experiments show that using a performance aware task strategy for scheduling application operations improves performance about 1.29× over a first-come-first-served strategy. This allows applications to obtain high performance efficiency on CPU-MIC systems - the example application attained an efficiency of 84% on 192 nodes (3072 CPU cores and 192 MICs). PMID:25419088

Assessment of exposure to electromagnetic fields from wireless computer networks (wi-fi) in schools; results of laboratory measurements.

PubMed

Peyman, A; Khalid, M; Calderon, C; Addison, D; Mee, T; Maslanyj, M; Mann, S

2011-06-01

Laboratory measurements have been carried out with examples of Wi-Fi devices used in UK schools to evaluate the radiofrequency power densities around them and the total emitted powers. Unlike previous studies, a 20 MHz bandwidth signal analyzer was used, enabling the whole Wi-Fi signal to be captured and monitored. The radiation patterns of the laptops had certain similarities, including a minimum toward the torso of the user and two maxima symmetrically opposed across a vertical plane bisecting the screen and keyboard. The maxima would have resulted from separate antennas mounted behind the top left and right corners of the laptop screens. The patterns for access points were more symmetrical with generally higher power densities at a given distance. The spherically-integrated radiated power (IRP) ranged from 5 to 17 mW for 15 laptops in the 2.45 GHz band and from 1 to 16 mW for eight laptops in the 5 GHz band. For practical reasons and because access points are generally wall-mounted with beams directed into the rooms, their powers were integrated over a hemisphere. These ranged from 3 to 28 mW for 12 access points at 2.4 GHz and from 3 to 29 mW for six access points at 5 GHz. In addition to the spherical measurements of IRP, power densities were measured at distances of 0.5 m and greater from the devices, and consistent with the low radiated powers, these were all much lower than the ICNIRP reference level.

Current state of web accessibility of Malaysian ministries websites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ahmi, Aidi; Mohamad, Rosli

2016-08-01

Despite the fact that Malaysian public institutions have progressed considerably on website and portal usage, web accessibility has been reported as one of the issues deserves special attention. Consistent with the government moves to promote an effective use of web and portal, it is essential for the government institutions to ensure compliance with established standards and guidelines on web accessibility. This paper evaluates accessibility of 25 Malaysian ministries websites using automated tools i.e. WAVE and Achecker. Both tools are designed to objectively evaluate web accessibility in conformance with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG 2.0) and United States Rehabilitation Act 1973 (Section 508). The findings reported somewhat low compliance to web accessibility standard amongst the ministries. Further enhancement is needed in the aspect of input elements such as label and checkbox to be associated with text as well as image-related elements. This findings could be used as a mechanism for webmasters to locate and rectify errors pertaining to the web accessibility and to ensure equal access of the web information and services to all citizen.

An economic analysis on optical Ethernet in the access network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Sung Hwi; Nam, Dohyun; Yoo, Gunil; Kim, WoonHa

2004-04-01

Nowadays, Broadband service subscribers have increased exponentially and have almost saturated in Korea. Several types of solutions for broadband service applied to the field. Among several types of broadband services, most of subscribers provided xDSL service like ADSL or VDSL. Usually, they who live in an apartment provided Internet service by Ntopia network as FTTC structure that is a dormant network in economical view at KT. Under competitive telecom environment for new services like video, we faced with needing to expand or rebuild portions of our access networks, are looking for ways to provide any service that competitors might offer presently or in the near future. In order to look for new business model like FTTH service, we consider deploying optical access network. In spite of numerous benefits of PON until now, we cannot believe that PON is the best solution in Korea. Because we already deployed optical access network of ring type feeder cable and have densely population of subscribers that mainly distributed inside 6km from central office. So we try to utilize an existing Ntopia network for FTTH service under optical access environment. Despite of such situations, we try to deploy PON solution in the field as FTTC or FTTH architecture. Therefore we analyze PON structure in comparison with AON structure in order to look for optimized structure in Korea. At first, we describe the existing optical access networks and network architecture briefly. Secondly we investigate the cost of building optical access networks by modeling cost functions on AON and PON structure which based on Ethernet protocol, and analyze two different network architectures according to different deployment scenarios: Urban, small town, rural. Finally we suggest the economic and best solution with PON structure to optimize to optical access environment of KT.

A global view of direct access and patient self-referral to physical therapy: implications for the profession.

PubMed

Bury, Tracy J; Stokes, Emma K

2013-04-01

International policy advocates for direct access, but the extent to which it exists worldwide was unknown. The purpose of this study was to map the presence of direct access to physical therapy services in the member organizations of the World Confederation for Physical Therapy (WCPT) in the context of physical therapist practice and health systems. A 2-stage, mixed-method, descriptive study was conducted. A purposive sample of member organizations of WCPT in Europe was used to refine the survey instrument, followed by an online survey sent to all WCPT member organizations. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, and content analysis was used to analyze open-ended responses to identify themes. A response rate of 68% (72/106) was achieved. Direct access to physical therapy was reported by 58% of the respondents, with greater prevalence in private settings. Organizations reported that professional (entry-level) education equipped physical therapists for direct access in 69% of the countries. National physical therapy associations (89%) and the public (84%) were thought to be in support of direct access, with less support perceived from policy makers (35%) and physicians (16%). Physical therapists' ability to assess, diagnose, and refer patients on to specialists was more prevalent in the presence of direct access. The findings may not be representative of the Asia Western Pacific (AWP) region, where there was a lower response rate. Professional legislation, the medical profession, politicians, and policy makers are perceived to act as both barriers to and facilitators of direct access. Evidence for clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness and examples of good practice are seen as vital resources that could be shared internationally, and professional leadership has an important role to play in facilitating change and advocacy.

Guided Tour of Pythonian Museum

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lee, H. Joe

2017-01-01

At http:hdfeos.orgzoo, we have a large collection of Python examples of dealing with NASA HDF (Hierarchical Data Format) products. During this hands-on Python tutorial session, we'll present a few common hacks to access and visualize local NASA HDF data. We'll also cover how to access remote data served by OPeNDAP (Open-source Project for a Network Data Access Protocol). As a glue language, we will demonstrate how you can use Python for your data workflow - from searching data to analyzing data with machine learning.

Was It Really Worth Pain? Refurbishment of Mercedes-Benz Trucks by Botswana Defence Force

DTIC Science & Technology

2005-12-01

staff, especially those who were involved in rework, was their inability to access the fleet management system Mincom Ellipse database. Access to...CHAPTER IV This chapter analyzes the survey/questionnaires that were sent to the users, the project middle managers, and the CMER. The CMER was a de ...transferred directly to the BDF; they were accessed from a fund set up for the project. This enabled the project manager to have versatility in the

Correlates of perceived access and implications for health system strengthening – lessons from HIV/AIDS treatment and care services in Ethiopia

PubMed Central

Ncama, Busisiwe Purity

2016-01-01

Background Access to healthcare is an important public health concept and has been traditionally measured by using population level parameters, such as availability, distribution and proximity of the health facilities in relation to the population. However, client based factors such as their expectations, experiences and perceptions which impact their evaluations of health care access were not well studied and integrated into health policy frameworks and implementation programs. Objective This study aimed to investigate factors associated with perceived access to HIV/AIDS Treatment and care services in Wolaita Zone, Ethiopia. Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted on 492 people living with HIV, with 411 using ART and 81 using pre-ART services accessed at six public sector health facilities from November 2014 to March 2015. Data were analyzed using the ologit function of STATA. The variables explored consisted of socio-demographic and health characteristics, type of health facility, type of care, distance, waiting time, healthcare responsiveness, transportation convenience, satisfaction with service, quality of care, financial fairness, out of pocket expenses and HIV disclosure. Results Of the 492 participants, 294 (59.8%) were females and 198 (40.2%) were males, with a mean age of 38.8 years. 23.0% and 12.2% believed they had ‘good’ or ‘very good’ access respectively, and 64.8% indicated lower ratings. In the multivariate analysis, distance from the health facility, type of care, HIV clinical stage, out of pocket expenses, employment status, type of care, HIV disclosure and perceived transportation score were not associated with the perceived access (PA). With a unit increment in satisfaction, perceived quality of care, health system responsiveness, transportation convenience and perceived financial fairness scores, the odds of providing higher rating of PA increased by 29.0% (p<0.001), 6.0%(p<0.01), 100.0% (p<0.001), 9.0% (p<0.05) and 6.0% (p<0.05) respectively. Conclusion Perceived quality of care, health system responsiveness, perceived financial fairness, transportation convenience and satisfaction with services were correlates of perceived access and affected healthcare performance. Interventions targeted at improving access to HIV/AIDS treatment and care services should address these factors. Further studies may be needed to confirm the findings. PMID:27548753

Correlates of Strengthening Lessons from HIV/AIDS Treatment and Care Services in Ethiopia Perceived Access and Implications for Health System.

PubMed

Yakob, Bereket; Ncama, Busisiwe Purity

2016-01-01

Access to healthcare is an important public health concept and has been traditionally measured by using population level parameters, such as availability, distribution and proximity of the health facilities in relation to the population. However, client based factors such as their expectations, experiences and perceptions which impact their evaluations of health care access were not well studied and integrated into health policy frameworks and implementation programs. This study aimed to investigate factors associated with perceived access to HIV/AIDS Treatment and care services in Wolaita Zone, Ethiopia. A cross-sectional survey was conducted on 492 people living with HIV, with 411 using ART and 81 using pre-ART services accessed at six public sector health facilities from November 2014 to March 2015. Data were analyzed using the ologit function of STATA. The variables explored consisted of socio-demographic and health characteristics, type of health facility, type of care, distance, waiting time, healthcare responsiveness, transportation convenience, satisfaction with service, quality of care, financial fairness, out of pocket expenses and HIV disclosure. Of the 492 participants, 294 (59.8%) were females and 198 (40.2%) were males, with a mean age of 38.8 years. 23.0% and 12.2% believed they had 'good' or 'very good' access respectively, and 64.8% indicated lower ratings. In the multivariate analysis, distance from the health facility, type of care, HIV clinical stage, out of pocket expenses, employment status, type of care, HIV disclosure and perceived transportation score were not associated with the perceived access (PA). With a unit increment in satisfaction, perceived quality of care, health system responsiveness, transportation convenience and perceived financial fairness scores, the odds of providing higher rating of PA increased by 29.0% (p<0.001), 6.0%(p<0.01), 100.0% (p<0.001), 9.0% (p<0.05) and 6.0% (p<0.05) respectively. Perceived quality of care, health system responsiveness, perceived financial fairness, transportation convenience and satisfaction with services were correlates of perceived access and affected healthcare performance. Interventions targeted at improving access to HIV/AIDS treatment and care services should address these factors. Further studies may be needed to confirm the findings.

Risk of infection due to medical interventions via central venous catheters or implantable venous access port systems at the middle port of a three-way cock: luer lock cap vs. luer access split septum system (Q-Syte).

PubMed

Pohl, Fabian; Hartmann, Werner; Holzmann, Thomas; Gensicke, Sandra; Kölbl, Oliver; Hautmann, Matthias G

2014-01-25

Many cancer patients receive a central venous catheter or port system prior to therapy to assure correct drug administration. Even appropriate hygienic intervention maintenance carries the risk of contaminating the middle port (C-port) of a three-way cock (TWC), a risk that increases with the number of medical interventions. Because of the complexity of the cleaning procedure with disconnection and reconnection of the standard luer lock cap (referred as "intervention"), we compared luer lock caps with a "closed access system" consisting of a luer access split septum system with regard to process optimization (work simplification, process time), efficiency (costs) and hygiene (patient safety). For determination of process optimization the workflow of an intervention according to the usual practice and risks was depicted in a process diagram. For determining the actual process costs, we analyzed use of material and time parameters per intervention and used the process parameters for programming the process into a simulation run (n = 1000) to determine the process costs as well as their differences (ACTUAL vs. NOMINAL) within the framework of a discrete event simulation.Additionally cultures were carried out at the TWC C-ports to evaluate possible contamination. With the closed access system, the mean working time of 5.5 minutes could be reduced to 2.97 minutes. The results for average process costs (labour and material costs per use) were 3.92 € for luer lock caps and 2.55 € for the closed access system. The hypothesis test (2-sample t-test, CI 0.95, p-value<0.05) confirmed the significance of the result.In 50 reviewed samples (TWC's), the contamination rate for the luer lock cap was 8% (4 out of 50 samples were positive), the contamination rate of the 50 samples with the closed access system was 0%.Possible hygienic risks (related to material, surroundings, staff handling) could be reduced by 65.38%. In the present research, the closed access system with a divided split septum was superior to conventional luer lock caps. The advantage of the closed access system lies in the simplified handling for staff, which results in a reduced risk of patient infection due to improved clinical hygiene.

Access to Strong Opioid Analgesics in the Context of Legal and Regulatory Barriers in Eleven Central and Eastern European Countries.

PubMed

Vranken, Marjolein J M; Mantel-Teeuwisse, Aukje K; Schutjens, Marie-Hélène D B; Scholten, Willem K; Jünger, Saskia; Medic, Dr Rer; Leufkens, Hubert G M

2018-04-06

In 2011-2013, >95% of the global opioid analgesics consumption occurred in three regions, accounting for 15% of the world population. Despite abundant literature on barriers to access, little is known on the correlation between actual access to opioid analgesics and barriers to access, including legal and regulatory barriers. This study aimed to evaluate the correlation between access to strong opioid analgesics and barriers to access in national legislation and regulations in 11 central and eastern European countries that participated in the Access to Opioid Medication in Europe (ATOME) project. Two variables were contrasted to assess their correlation: the country level of access to strong opioid analgesics indicated by the Adequacy of Consumption Measure (ACM) and the number of potential legal and regulatory barriers identified by an external review of legislation and regulations. A linear correlation was evaluated using a squared linear correlation coefficient. Evaluation of the correlation between the ACM and the number of potential barriers produces an R 2 value of 0.023 and a correlation plot trend line gradient of -0.075, indicating no correlation between access to strong opioid analgesics and the number of potential barriers in national legislation and regulations in the countries studied. No correlation was found, which indicates that other factors besides potential legal and regulatory barriers play a critical role in withholding prescribers and patients essential pain medication in the studied countries. More research is needed toward better understanding of the complex interplay of factors that determine access to strong opioid analgesics.

Need for speed: evaluating slopes of OCD recovery in behavior therapy enhanced with d-cycloserine.

PubMed

Chasson, Gregory S; Buhlmann, Ulrike; Tolin, David F; Rao, Sowmya R; Reese, Hannah E; Rowley, Theresa; Welsh, Kaitlyn S; Wilhelm, Sabine

2010-07-01

Evidence suggests that the antibiotic d-cycloserine (DCS) enhances the treatment effects of exposure and response prevention (ERP) for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Further, evidence suggests that the effects of DCS diminish partway through treatment, but it is unclear to what extent. In an effort to evaluate these issues, the current study re-analyzes data from a 10-session randomized controlled trial of ERP+DCS versus ERP+placebo in a sample of 22 adults with OCD. We analyzed repeated-measures mixed models with random slopes and intercepts across different intervals: sessions 1-10, 1-5, and 6-10. The results indicate that the course of ERP was 2.3 times faster over the full 10 sessions for the DCS compared to the placebo group, and nearly six times quicker in the first half of ERP. Further interpretation of the results suggests that DCS does not amplify the effects of ERP, but instead initiates treatment effects sooner in treatment. In addition, DCS does not necessarily lose its effect over repeated use, but instead may exhaust its maximum utility after effectively jump-starting ERP. Ultimately, DCS may provide a means for curtailing treatment costs, decreasing treatment dropout and refusal rates, and enhancing access to care. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Sociodemographic profile of medicines users in Brazil: results from the 2014 PNAUM survey

PubMed Central

Bertoldi, Andréa Dâmaso; Pizzol, Tatiane da Silva Dal; Ramos, Luiz Roberto; Mengue, Sotero Serrate; Luiza, Vera Lucia; Tavares, Noemia Urruth Leão; Farias, Mareni Rocha; Oliveira, Maria Auxiliadora; Arrais, Paulo Sergio Dourado

2016-01-01

ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE To analyze the prevalence of medicine use by the Brazilian population and its distribution according to sociodemographic factors. METHODS Study using data from the Pesquisa Nacional de Acesso, Utilização e Promoção do Uso Racional de Medicamentos (PNAUM – National Survey on Access, Use and Promotion of Rational Use of Medicines), a nationwide household survey of a representative sample of the Brazilian urban population. The data were collected between September 2013 and February 2014. The overall use of medicines, defined as the use of any medicine, use of medicines for treating chronic medical conditions and for acute health conditions, was evaluated. The independent variables included gender, age group, socioeconomic position, and region of Brazil. Analyzes included prevalence calculations, 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) and Pearson Chi-square tests to evaluate the differences between groups, considering a 5% level of significance. RESULTS The prevalence of medicines use was 50.7% (95%CI 49.3–52.2), with 39.3% (95%CI 37.5–41.1) accounting for men and 61.0% (95%CI 59.3–62.6) for women. Medicines use was observed to increase with increasing age, except among children within the zero to four years age group. The lowest prevalence for medicines use was found among those with a low socioeconomic position and those who reside in the North region of Brazil. The prevalence of medicine use to treat chronic diseases was 24.3% (95%CI 23.3–25.4), whereas it was 33.7% (95%CI 32.1–35.4) for treating acute diseases. CONCLUSIONS We found extensive variability in the prevalence of medicines use across regions of Brazil. The poorest regions (North, Northeast, and Midwest) have a lower prevalence of medicines use to treat chronic diseases, indicating the need to minimize inequalities in access to medicines within the country. PMID:27982375

Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Resident Use of iPad Mini Mobile Devices.

PubMed

Niehaus, William; Boimbo, Sandra; Akuthota, Venu

2015-05-01

Previous research on the use of tablet devices in residency programs has been undertaken in radiology and medicine or with standard-sized tablet devices. With new, smaller tablet devices, there is an opportunity to assess their effect on resident behavior. This prospective study attempts to evaluate resident behavior after receiving a smaller tablet device. To evaluate whether smaller tablet computers facilitate residents' daily tasks. Prospective study that administered surveys to evaluate tablet computer use. Residency program. Thirteen physical medicine and rehabilitation residents. Residents were provided 16-GB iPad Minis and surveyed with Redcap to collect usage information at baseline, 3, and 6 months. Survey analysis was conducted using SAS (SAS, Cary, NC) for descriptive analysis. To evaluate multiple areas of resident education, the following tasks were selected: accessing e-mail, logging duty hours, logging procedures, researching clinical information, accessing medical journals, reviewing didactic presentations, and completing evaluations. Then, measurements were taken of: (1) residents' response to how tablet computers made it easier to access the aforementioned tasks; and (2) residents' response to how tablet computers affected the frequency they performed the aforementioned tasks. After being provided tablet computers, our physical medicine and rehabilitation residents reported significantly greater access to e-mail, medical journals, and didactic material. Also, receiving tablet computers was reported to increase the frequency that residents accessed e-mail, researched clinical information, accessed medical journals, reviewed didactic presentations, and completed evaluations. After receiving a tablet computer, residents reported an increase in the use of calendar programs, note-taking programs, PDF readers, online storage programs, and file organization programs. These physical medicine and rehabilitation residents reported tablet computers increased access to e-mail, presentation material, and medical journals. Tablet computers also were reported to increase the frequency residents were able to complete tasks associated with residency training. Copyright © 2015 American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Evaluation of Diversity Based on Morphological Variabilities and ISSR Molecular Markers in Iranian Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers. Accessions to Select and Introduce Cold-Tolerant Genotypes.

PubMed

Akbari, M; Salehi, H; Niazi, A

2018-04-01

The main goals of the present study were to screen Iranian common bermudagrasses to find cold-tolerant accessions and evaluate their genetic and morphological variabilities. In this study, 49 accessions were collected from 18 provinces of Iran. One foreign cultivar of common bermudagrass was used as control. Morphological variation was evaluated based on 14 morphological traits to give information about taxonomic position of Iranian common bermudagrass. Data from morphological traits were evaluated to categorize all accessions as either cold sensitive or tolerant using hierarchical clustering with Ward's method in SPSS software. Inter-Simple Sequence Repeat (ISSR) primers were employed to evaluate genetic variability of accessions. The results of our taxonomic investigation support the existence of two varieties of Cynodon dactylon in Iran: var. dactylon (hairless plant) and var. villosous (plant with hairs at leaf underside and/or upper side surfaces or exterior surfaces of sheath). All 15 primers amplified and gave clear and highly reproducible DNA fragments. In total, 152 fragments were produced, of which 144 (94.73%) being polymorphic. The polymorphic information content (PIC) values ranged from 0.700 to 0.928. The average PIC value obtained with 15 ISSR primers was 0.800, which shows that all primers were informative. Probability identity (PI) and discriminating power between all primers ranged from 0.029 to 0.185 and 0.815 to 0.971, respectively. Genetic data were converted into a binary data matrix. NTSYS software was used for data analysis. Clustering was done by the unweighted pair-group method with arithmetic averages and principle coordinate analysis, separated the accessions into six main clusters. According to both morphological and genetic diversity investigations of accessions, they can be clustered into three groups: cold sensitive, cold semi-tolerant, and cold tolerant. The most cold-tolerant accessions were: Taft, Malayear, Gorgan, Safashahr, Naein, Aligoudarz, and the foreign cultivar. This study may provide useful information for further breeding programs on common bermudagrass. Selected genotypes can be evaluated for other abiotic stresses such as drought and salinity.

Primary health-care nurses and Internet health information-seeking: Access, barriers and quality checks.

PubMed

Gilmour, Jean; Strong, Alison; Chan, Helen; Hanna, Sue; Huntington, Annette

2016-02-01

Online information is a critical resource for evidence-based practice and patient education. This study aimed to establish New Zealand nurses' access and evaluation of online health information in the primary care context using a postal questionnaire survey; there were 630 respondents from a random sample of 931 nurses. The majority of respondents were satisfied with work access to online information (84.5%, n = 501) and searched for online information at least several times a week (57.5%, n = 343). The major barrier to online information seeking was insufficient time, but 68 respondents had no work online information access. The level of nursing qualification was significantly correlated with computer confidence and information quality checking. A range of information evaluation approaches was used. Most nurses in study accessed and evaluated Internet information in contrast to the findings of earlier studies, but there were barriers preventing universal integration into practice. © 2014 Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.

75 FR 56919 - Port Access Route Study: The Approaches to San Francisco

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-09-17

... Access Route Study: The Approaches to San Francisco AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS. ACTION: Notice of public... the study entitled ``Port Access Route Study: Off San Francisco'' that was published in the Federal... Access Route Study (PARS) to evaluate the continued applicability of and the potential need for...

A Quest for Website Accessibility in Higher Education Institutions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harper, Kelly A.; DeWaters, Jamie

2008-01-01

Researchers increasingly suggest that accessibility remains a prominent issue across the World Wide Web (www). This study raises awareness about issues of access in higher education. This qualitative research design utilized a listserv that invited university based webmasters to use freeware to evaluate the overall accessibility of their…

Surgical retroperitoneoscopic and transperitoneoscopic access in varicocelectomy: duplex scan results in pediatric population.

PubMed

Mancini, Stefano; Bulotta, Anna Lavinia; Molinaro, Francesco; Ferrara, Francesco; Tommasino, Giulio; Messina, Mario

2014-12-01

This is a retrospective study to compare duplex scan results of laparoscopic Palomo's technique through retroperitoneal and transperitoneal approach for varicocelectomy in children. We statistically analyzed recurrence, testicular volume growth and complications. Surgical intervention was performed utilizing transperitoneoscopic (group A) or retroperitoneoscopic access (group B). Duplex scan control was performed after 12 months (T1), after 2 years (T2) and the last one at 18 years old in most patients. Statistical analysis was performed using the t-test for parametric data. Differences in proportions were evaluated using χ2 or Fisher's exact test. We treated 120 children (age range 10-17 years) who presented an asymptomatic IV grade of reflux, Coolsaet 1, associated with a left testicular hypotrophy in 36.6% of the cases (44 patients). No post-operative complications were verified. Duplex scan exam showed an increase of left testicular growth in both groups, with complete hypotrophy disappear in patients in both groups after 24 months. Hydrocele, diagnosed clinically and confirmed with duplex scan, was the most frequent post-operative complication (22/120 cases; 18.3%). This study showed the importance of duplex scan at all steps of this vascular pathology in children, and that there is no significantly difference in results between the two surgical techniques except for hydrocele in transperitoneoscopic access. Copyright © 2014 Journal of Pediatric Urology Company. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

ScipionCloud: An integrative and interactive gateway for large scale cryo electron microscopy image processing on commercial and academic clouds.

PubMed

Cuenca-Alba, Jesús; Del Cano, Laura; Gómez Blanco, Josué; de la Rosa Trevín, José Miguel; Conesa Mingo, Pablo; Marabini, Roberto; S Sorzano, Carlos Oscar; Carazo, Jose María

2017-10-01

New instrumentation for cryo electron microscopy (cryoEM) has significantly increased data collection rate as well as data quality, creating bottlenecks at the image processing level. Current image processing model of moving the acquired images from the data source (electron microscope) to desktops or local clusters for processing is encountering many practical limitations. However, computing may also take place in distributed and decentralized environments. In this way, cloud is a new form of accessing computing and storage resources on demand. Here, we evaluate on how this new computational paradigm can be effectively used by extending our current integrative framework for image processing, creating ScipionCloud. This new development has resulted in a full installation of Scipion both in public and private clouds, accessible as public "images", with all the required preinstalled cryoEM software, just requiring a Web browser to access all Graphical User Interfaces. We have profiled the performance of different configurations on Amazon Web Services and the European Federated Cloud, always on architectures incorporating GPU's, and compared them with a local facility. We have also analyzed the economical convenience of different scenarios, so cryoEM scientists have a clearer picture of the setup that is best suited for their needs and budgets. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Changes in Access to Health Services of the Immigrant and Native-Born Population in Spain in the Context of Economic Crisis †

PubMed Central

Garcia-Subirats, Irene; Vargas, Ingrid; Sanz-Barbero, Belén; Malmusi, Davide; Ronda, Elena; Ballesta, Mónica; Vázquez, María Luisa

2014-01-01

Aim: To analyze changes in access to health care and its determinants in the immigrant and native-born populations in Spain, before and during the economic crisis. Methods: Comparative analysis of two iterations of the Spanish National Health Survey (2006 and 2012). Outcome variables were: unmet need and use of different healthcare levels; explanatory variables: need, predisposing and enabling factors. Multivariate models were performed (1) to compare outcome variables in each group between years, (2) to compare outcome variables between both groups within each year, and (3) to determine the factors associated with health service use for each group and year. Results: unmet healthcare needs decreased in 2012 compared to 2006; the use of health services remained constant, with some changes worth highlighting, such as the decline in general practitioner visits among autochthons and a narrowed gap in specialist visits between the two populations. The factors associated with health service use in 2006 remained constant in 2012. Conclusion: Access to healthcare did not worsen, possibly due to the fact that, until 2012, the national health system may have cushioned the deterioration of social determinants as a consequence of the financial crisis. Further studies are necessary to evaluate the effects of health policy responses to the crisis after 2012. PMID:25272078

beachmat: A Bioconductor C++ API for accessing high-throughput biological data from a variety of R matrix types

PubMed Central

Pagès, Hervé

2018-01-01

Biological experiments involving genomics or other high-throughput assays typically yield a data matrix that can be explored and analyzed using the R programming language with packages from the Bioconductor project. Improvements in the throughput of these assays have resulted in an explosion of data even from routine experiments, which poses a challenge to the existing computational infrastructure for statistical data analysis. For example, single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) experiments frequently generate large matrices containing expression values for each gene in each cell, requiring sparse or file-backed representations for memory-efficient manipulation in R. These alternative representations are not easily compatible with high-performance C++ code used for computationally intensive tasks in existing R/Bioconductor packages. Here, we describe a C++ interface named beachmat, which enables agnostic data access from various matrix representations. This allows package developers to write efficient C++ code that is interoperable with dense, sparse and file-backed matrices, amongst others. We evaluated the performance of beachmat for accessing data from each matrix representation using both simulated and real scRNA-seq data, and defined a clear memory/speed trade-off to motivate the choice of an appropriate representation. We also demonstrate how beachmat can be incorporated into the code of other packages to drive analyses of a very large scRNA-seq data set. PMID:29723188

Telemedicine Enables Broader Access to Movement Disorders Curricula for Medical Students.

PubMed

Cubo, Esther; Doumbe, Jacques; López, Emiliano; Lopez, Guadalupe A; Gatto, Emilia; Persi, Gabriel; Guttman, Mark

2017-01-01

The impact of tele-education for movement disorders on medical students is unknown. The present study had three objectives. First, to create a tele-education program for medical students in regions with limited access to movement disorders curricula. Second, to analyze the feasibility, satisfaction, and improvement of medical knowledge. Third, to assess the main reasons of medical students for attending this course. In 2016, a program was piloted in a low-middle income (Cameroon) and a middle-high income (Argentina) country. Medical students were offered a free movement disorder tele-education program (four medical schools in Argentina, and 1 medical school in Cameroon). Six real-time videoconferences covering hyperkinetic and hypokinetic movement disorders were included. Evaluations included attendance, pre- and post-medical knowledge, and satisfaction questionnaires. The study included 151 undergraduate medical students (79.4% from Argentina, 20.6% from Cameroon). Feasibility was acceptable with 100% and 85.7% of the videoconferences completed in Argentina and Cameroon, respectively. Attendance was higher in Argentina compared to Cameroon (75% vs. 33.1%). According to student reports, the topics and innovative educational environment were the main reasons for attendance. Both groups ranked satisfaction as moderate to high, and medical knowledge improved similarly in both countries. Tele-education can improve movement disorders knowledge in medical schools in high-middle and low-middle income countries lacking access to other educational opportunities.

The Palatability of Lopinavir and Ritonavir Delivered by an Innovative Freeze-Dried Fast-Dissolving Tablet Formulation

PubMed Central

Brantly, Alexandra M.; Drobonick, Alexandra L.; King, Hannah T.; Mesta, Daniel C.; Richards, Caroline G.; Lal, Manjari; Lai, Manshun

2018-01-01

Negative hedonic sensory qualities of HIV antiretroviral drugs often reduce patient adherence particularly in pediatric populations requiring oral consumption. This study examines the palatability of an innovative delivery mechanism utilizing a freeze-drying-in-blister approach to create fast-dissolving tablets (FDTs) containing a fixed-dose combination of lopinavir and ritonavir (LPV/r). Consumption patterns of solutions during brief-access and long-term testing and baby foodstuff consumption were analyzed to evaluate the orosensory detection and avoidance of placebo FDTs containing no LPV/r (FDT−) and FDTs containing LPV/r (FDT+). Rats showed no change in consumption patterns for the placebo FDT− compared with control solutions. Rats can detect but do not avoid FDT+ at body-weight-adjusted dosages in both brief-access (30-s) and long-term (23 h) consumption tests. There is an aversive response to concentrated doses of FDT+ during brief-access tests that cannot be masked by 25% sucrose. However, the strongest FDT+ concentration was not rejected when mixed with 50 g of applesauce, banana sauce, or rice cereal baby foodstuffs. The averseness of the FDT+ was associated with the presence of LPV/r and not the FDT− formulation itself. The novel FDT formulation appears to be a palatable delivery mechanism for oral antiretroviral pharmaceuticals especially when mixed with baby foodstuffs. PMID:29593900

The Palatability of Lopinavir and Ritonavir Delivered by an Innovative Freeze-Dried Fast-Dissolving Tablet Formulation.

PubMed

Pittman, David W; Brantly, Alexandra M; Drobonick, Alexandra L; King, Hannah T; Mesta, Daniel C; Richards, Caroline G; Lal, Manjari; Lai, Manshun

2018-01-01

Negative hedonic sensory qualities of HIV antiretroviral drugs often reduce patient adherence particularly in pediatric populations requiring oral consumption. This study examines the palatability of an innovative delivery mechanism utilizing a freeze-drying-in-blister approach to create fast-dissolving tablets (FDTs) containing a fixed-dose combination of lopinavir and ritonavir (LPV/r). Consumption patterns of solutions during brief-access and long-term testing and baby foodstuff consumption were analyzed to evaluate the orosensory detection and avoidance of placebo FDTs containing no LPV/r (FDT-) and FDTs containing LPV/r (FDT+). Rats showed no change in consumption patterns for the placebo FDT- compared with control solutions. Rats can detect but do not avoid FDT+ at body-weight-adjusted dosages in both brief-access (30-s) and long-term (23 h) consumption tests. There is an aversive response to concentrated doses of FDT+ during brief-access tests that cannot be masked by 25% sucrose. However, the strongest FDT+ concentration was not rejected when mixed with 50 g of applesauce, banana sauce, or rice cereal baby foodstuffs. The averseness of the FDT+ was associated with the presence of LPV/r and not the FDT- formulation itself. The novel FDT formulation appears to be a palatable delivery mechanism for oral antiretroviral pharmaceuticals especially when mixed with baby foodstuffs.

COMPARE/Radiology, an interactive Web-based radiology teaching program evaluation of user response.

PubMed

Wagner, Matthias; Heckemann, Rolf A; Nömayr, Anton; Greess, Holger; Bautz, Werner A; Grunewald, Markus

2005-06-01

The aim of this study is to assess user benefits of COMPARE/Radiology, a highly interactive World Wide Web-based training program for radiology, as perceived by its users. COMPARE/Radiology (http://www.idr.med.uni-erlangen.de/compare.htm), an interactive training program based on 244 teaching cases, was created by the authors and made publicly available on the Internet. An anonymous survey was conducted among users to investigate the composition of the program's user base and assess the acceptance of the training program. In parallel, Web access data were collected and analyzed using descriptive statistics. The group of responding users (n = 1370) consisted of 201 preclinical medical students (14.7%), 314 clinical medical students (22.9%), 359 residents in radiology (26.2%), and 205 users of other professions (14.9%). A majority of respondents (1230; 89%) rated the interactivity of COMPARE/Radiology as good or excellent. Many respondents use COMPARE/Radiology for self-study (971; 70%) and for teaching others (600; 43%). Web access statistics show an increase in number of site visits from 1248 in December 2002 to 4651 in April 2004. Users appreciate the benefits of COMPARE/Radiology. The interactive instructional design was rated positively by responding users. The popularity of the site is growing, evidenced by the number of network accesses during the observation period.

beachmat: A Bioconductor C++ API for accessing high-throughput biological data from a variety of R matrix types.

PubMed

Lun, Aaron T L; Pagès, Hervé; Smith, Mike L

2018-05-01

Biological experiments involving genomics or other high-throughput assays typically yield a data matrix that can be explored and analyzed using the R programming language with packages from the Bioconductor project. Improvements in the throughput of these assays have resulted in an explosion of data even from routine experiments, which poses a challenge to the existing computational infrastructure for statistical data analysis. For example, single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) experiments frequently generate large matrices containing expression values for each gene in each cell, requiring sparse or file-backed representations for memory-efficient manipulation in R. These alternative representations are not easily compatible with high-performance C++ code used for computationally intensive tasks in existing R/Bioconductor packages. Here, we describe a C++ interface named beachmat, which enables agnostic data access from various matrix representations. This allows package developers to write efficient C++ code that is interoperable with dense, sparse and file-backed matrices, amongst others. We evaluated the performance of beachmat for accessing data from each matrix representation using both simulated and real scRNA-seq data, and defined a clear memory/speed trade-off to motivate the choice of an appropriate representation. We also demonstrate how beachmat can be incorporated into the code of other packages to drive analyses of a very large scRNA-seq data set.

Economist intelligence unit democracy index in relation to health services accessibility: a regression analysis.

PubMed

Walker, Mary Ellen; Anonson, June; Szafron, Michael

2015-01-01

The relationship between political environment and health services accessibility (HSA) has not been the focus of any specific studies. The purpose of this study was to address this gap in the literature by examining the relationship between political environment and HSA. This relationship that HSA indicators (physicians, nurses and hospital beds per 10 000 people) has with political environment was analyzed with multiple least-squares regression using the components of democracy (electoral processes and pluralism, functioning of government, political participation, political culture, and civil liberties). The components of democracy were represented by the 2011 Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index (EIUDI) sub-scores. The EIUDI sub-scores and the HSA indicators were evaluated for significant relationships with multiple least-squares regression. While controlling for a country's geographic location and level of democracy, we found that two components of a nation's political environment: functioning of government and political participation, and their interaction had significant relationships with the three HSA indicators. These study findings are of significance to health professionals because they examine the political contexts in which citizens access health services, they come from research that is the first of its kind, and they help explain the effect political environment has on health. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

The Impacts of Using a Collaborative Evaluation Approach in Higher Education: A Case Study of Local YMCAs Providing College Access Services

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Campbell, Johnavae E.

2013-01-01

This dissertation offers a case study of the YMCA of the USA's pilot Higher Education Service Project (YHESP) with 61 local YMCAs on how the collaborative evaluation approach functioned to facilitate an organizational culture around evaluation and reinvention strategies of YMCAs as college access service providers. Multiple data collection sources…

TUW @ TREC Clinical Decision Support Track

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-11-01

and the ShARe/CLEF eHealth Evaluation Lab [8,3] running in 2013 and 2014. Here we briefly describe the goals of the first TREC Clinical Decision...Wendy W. Chapman, David Mart́ınez, Guido Zuccon, and João R. M. Palotti. Overview of the share/clef ehealth evalu- ation lab 2014. In Information Access...Zuccon. Overview of the share/clef ehealth evaluation lab 2013. In Information Access Evaluation. Multilinguality, Multimodality, and Visualization

Factors influencing the priority of access to food and their effects on the carcass traits for Japanese Black (Wagyu) cattle.

PubMed

Takanishi, N; Oishi, K; Kumagai, H; Uemura, M; Hirooka, H

2015-12-01

The factors influencing the priority of access to food and the effects of the priority of access to food on their carcass traits were analyzed for Japanese Black (Wagyu) cattle in a semi-intensive fattening production system. The records of 96 clinically healthy steers and heifers were analyzed. The calves at ∼3 to 4 months of age were allocated to pens with four animals per pen; all four animals in the same pen were of the same sex and of similar body size. The ranking of the animals' priority of access to food (1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th), which was determined by the farm manager, was used as an indicator of social dominance in the present study. Four models including sire line, maternal grandsire line and the difference in the animals' birth dates as fixed effects were used to analyze factors influencing the priority of access to food. Ranking was represented by ordinal scores (highest=4, lowest=1) in Model 1, and the binary scores were assigned in Model 2 (highest=1; 2nd, 3rd and 4th=0), Model 3 (1st and 2nd=1; 3rd and 4th=0) and Model 4 (1st, 2nd and 3rd=1; lowest=0). The results showed that the difference in the animals' birth dates had a significant effect on the establishment of the priority of access to food in Model 3 (P<0.05), suggesting that animals born earlier may become more dominant in the pen. The maternal grandsire line tended to affect the social rank score in Models 2 and 3 (P<0.10). Our results indicated that the maternal grandsire line may affect the temperament of calves through their mothers' genetic performance and thereby more aggressive calves may be more dominant and have higher priority of access to food. On the other hand, there was a significant effect of the priority of access to food on beef marbling score (BMS; P<0.05), and the priority of access to food also tended to influence the carcass weight (P=0.09). The highest BMS was observed for animals with the first rank of the priority of access to food (P<0.05), and the higher-ranking animals had the tendency to be heavier carcass than the lower-ranking animals. Our findings emphasized the importance of information about the priority of access to food determined by farmers' own observation on implementing best management practices in small-scaled semi-intensive beef cattle production systems.

[Study of access to health care and drugs in Cameroon: 1. Methods and validation].

PubMed

Commeyras, Christophe; Ndo, Jean Rolin; Merabet, Omar; Koné, Hamidou; Rakotondrabé, Faraniaina Patricia

2005-01-01

During the 1980s, an economic depression and the concomitant decrease in the national health budget modified the population's health behavior. Improvement of the economy since the late 1990s makes it possible to renew the national health policy. To prepare the highly indebted and poor countries' program (HIPC), the Minister of Health and its partners commissioned a survey to measure the population's real access to health care and the factors that determine this accessibility and to propose concrete corrective actions. To fulfill these objectives, the steering committee decided to analyze health care demand, through a national population survey, and supply capacity, through a national survey of pharmacies and other drug dispensers. A survey of persons using medications will also be conducted (Fig.1). Focusing on this component of health care is justified by these findings: 95% of persons feeling ill buy drugs, whereas only 31% consult a physician or other healthcare provider, and half of the average household's health expenditures are for drugs. Financial, geographic, social and quality indicators were defined to measure accessibility and its determining factors (Table 1). The smallest administrative unit, the health area (HA), was chosen as the sampling unit, to enable us to survey together healthcare demand, supply and consumption according to different concentrations of supply and demand . It behaves as a cluster of sampling units of different populations: drug retailers of all sectors, drug users, households, and ill persons within the households. The HA samples include Yaounde and Douala, with urban and rural sub-samples, for which sampling ratios increase with the diversity of supply and demand, according to several pre-defined factors. The study includes 400 HAs, covering more than one third of the population (Table 2). Within these HAs, 900 pharmacies and other formal drug retailers, 709 street vendors, 4,505 households, 2,532 ill persons in these households, 4,121 pharmacy customers and 850 customers of street vendors were surveyed, i.e., more than 13,600 questionnaires. Assessment of data quality shows that the sample is representative of the national population for its socioeconomic characteristics. Its geographic distribution, even after correction, nonetheless favors urban areas, where both supply and demand are high. Generalizing the 3 sub-samples to the national level thus requires caution, especially for the geographic distribution. Other limitations and possible biases are described and evaluated. However, the retrospective demographic and statistic evaluation shows that the samples are representative of their population and that the data quality can be considered good. This article describes the background of this study and justifies its methodological choices. Future publications will analyze the data collected.

Training for percutaneous renal access on a virtual reality simulator.

PubMed

Zhang, Yi; Yu, Cheng-fan; Liu, Jin-shun; Wang, Gang; Zhu, He; Na, Yan-qun

2013-01-01

The need to develop new methods of surgical training combined with advances in computing has led to the development of virtual reality surgical simulators. The PERC Mentor(TM) is designed to train the user in percutaneous renal collecting system access puncture. This study aimed to validate the use of this kind of simulator, in percutaneous renal access training. Twenty-one urologists were enrolled as trainees to learn a fluoroscopy-guided percutaneous renal accessing technique. An assigned percutaneous renal access procedure was immediately performed on the PERC Mentor(TM) after watching instruction video and an analog operation. Objective parameters were recorded by the simulator and subjective global rating scale (GRS) score were determined. Simulation training followed and consisted of 2 hours daily training sessions for 2 consecutive days. Twenty-four hours after the training session, trainees were evaluated performing the same procedure. The post-training evaluation was compared to the evaluation of the initial attempt. During the initial attempt, none of the trainees could complete the appointed procedure due to the lack of experience in fluoroscopy-guided percutaneous renal access. After the short-term training, all trainees were able to independently complete the procedure. Of the 21 trainees, 10 had primitive experience in ultrasound-guided percutaneous nephrolithotomy. Trainees were thus categorized into the group of primitive experience and inexperience. The total operating time and amount of contrast material used were significantly lower in the group of primitive experience versus the inexperience group (P = 0.03 and 0.02, respectively). The training on the virtual reality simulator, PERC Mentor(TM), can help trainees with no previous experience of fluoroscopy-guided percutaneous renal access to complete the virtual manipulation of the procedure independently. This virtual reality simulator may become an important training and evaluation tool in teaching fluoroscopy-guided percutaneous renal access.

Evaluating the feasibility of utilizing the Automated Self-administered 24-hour (ASA24) dietary recall in a sample of multiethnic older adults

PubMed Central

Ettienne-Gittens, Reynolette; Boushey, Carol J.; Au, Donna; Murphy, Suzanne P.; Lim, Unhee; Wilkens, Lynne

2016-01-01

The ASA24 is a web application which enables the collection of self-administered dietary recalls thus utilizing technology to overcome some of the limitations of traditional assessment methodologies. Older adults, particularly those from certain ethnic groups may have less access to and may be less receptive to technology. This research sought to determine the level of access to the internet as well as evaluate the feasibility of using a web-based alternative dietary data collection method in older, multiethnic adults. Participants completed three telephone administered diet recalls (n=347), and were asked to complete a one day recall via the ASA24. They were also asked to evaluate their experience with using the ASA24 system. Almost 60% of the participants reported no access to a computer or internet access, with African Americans and Latinos less likely than non-Hispanic Whites and Japanese-Americans to have access. Of those with access to the internet (n=100), 44% of the participants accessed the ASA24 system and 37% successfully launched the ASA24 program. However, most respondents preferred the traditional diet recall methodology over the ASA24. Further research is needed to investigate recruitment and use of electronic data collection methodologies in older adults. PMID:28149712

Perceived barriers in accessing food among recent Latin American immigrants in Toronto

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Objective In Canada, recent immigrant households experience more food insecurity than the general population, but limited information is available about the personal, cultural, and social factors that contribute to this vulnerability. This study focused on recent Latin American (LA) immigrants to explore their perceived barriers in acquiring safe, nutritious, and culturally-appropriate food. Design A cross-sectional mixed-method design was applied to collect information from a convenience sample of 70 adult Spanish/Portuguese speakers who had arrived in Toronto within the last five years. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with primary household caregivers to obtain responses about barriers to acquiring food for their households; data were analyzed using a thematic analysis technique. Results Four main categories of barriers were identified: limited financial resources; language difficulty; cultural food preferences; and poor knowledge of available community-based food resources and services. Inadequate income was the main impediment in accessing adequate food, and was related to affordability of food items, accessibility of food outlets and transportation cost, and limited time for grocery shopping due to work conditions. Language barriers affected participants’ ability to obtain well-paid employment and their awareness about and access to available community-based food resources. Cultural barriers were related to food preferences and limited access to culturally-appropriate foods and resources. Conclusion The main barrier to food security among our sample of LA newcomers to Toronto is limited financial resources, highlighting the need for policies and strategies that could improve their financial power to purchase sufficient, nutritious, and culturally-acceptable food. Linguistic barriers and limited information among newcomers suggest the need to provide linguistically- and culturally-appropriate information related to community-based food programs and resources, as well as accessible subsidized English language programs, in the community and at workplaces. Participatory community-based food programs can augment, in a socially acceptable manner, food resources and reduce the social stigma attached to food charity. Finally, it is crucial to monitor and evaluate existing social and community-based services for their accessibility, cultural appropriateness and diversity, and effectiveness. PMID:23286318

Improving Health Care Accessibility: Strategies and Recommendations.

PubMed

Almorsy, Lamia; Khalifa, Mohamed

2016-01-01

Access time refers to the interval between requesting and actual outpatient appointment. It reflects healthcare accessibility and has a great influence on patient treatment and satisfaction. King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia studied the accessibility to outpatient services in order to develop useful strategies and recommendations for improvement. Utilized, unutilized and no-show appointments were analyzed. It is crucial to manage no-shows and short notice appointment cancellations by preparing a waiting list for those patients who can be called in to an appointment on the same day using an open access policy. An overlapping appointment scheduling model can be useful to minimize patient waiting time and doctor idle time in addition to the sensible use of appointment overbooking that can significantly improve productivity.

Swallowing sounds in speech therapy practice: a critical analysis of the literature

PubMed Central

Ferrucci, Juliana Lopes; Mangilli, Laura Davison; Sassi, Fernanda Chiarion; Limongi, Suelly Cecilia Olivan; de Andrade, Claudia Regina Furquim

2013-01-01

ABSTRACT This study aimed to investigate international scientific papers published on the subject of cervical auscultation and its use in speech therapy. The study involved a qualitative review of the literature spanning the last 10 years. Articles were selected from the PubMed database using the following keywords: cervical auscultation, swallowing and swallowing disorders. Research was included that was conducted on adult humans (over 18 years of age) and was written in English. Each citation retrieved from the database was analyzed independently by each of the study researchers to ascertain its relevance for inclusion in the study. The methodology involved formulating the research question, locating and selecting studies and critically evaluating the articles according to the precepts of the Cochrane Handbook. As a result, 35 studies were identified; 13 articles were analyzed because they allowed access to the full text and were related directly to the subject. We found that the studies were performed with groups of healthy subjects and subjects with different types of base pathology. Some studies compared the patterns found in the different groups. Some of the research sought to study the pattern of swallowing sounds with different factors - evaluator experience, the specificity and sensitivity of the method and how to improve the technique of cervical auscultation through the use of instruments other than the stethoscope. The conclusion of this critical analysis is that cervical auscultation is an important tool to be used in conjunction with other assessment methods in the routine clinical evaluation of swallowing. PMID:24488399

Frequently Asked Questions | DOE PAGES

Science.gov Websites

read, download, and analyze at no charge to users. DOE PAGES offers free public access to the best manuscripts are hosted, DOE PAGES enables readers to search them all via a single query. In most cases, free . DOE PAGES offers free public access to the best available full-text version of DOE-funded scholarly

Access Patterns of ADHD Students Utilizing Campus Disability Services Supports

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jackson, Meribeth L.

2013-01-01

Source of initial access to disability services, accommodations received as supports on campus, and the rate of continuous enrollment data was measured and compared for students diagnosed with ADHD prior to age eighteen and those diagnosed with ADHD after age eighteen. These two groups were compared to analyze the assumption that students who were…

(Re)Examining the Role of Family and Community in College Access and Choice: A Metasynthesis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mwangi, Chrystal A. George

2015-01-01

Using meta-synthesis, this study analyzes higher education literature to provide a comprehensive understanding of the role of nonparent family and community (NPFC) members such as siblings, extended family, fictive kin, and peers in college access and choice. Findings revealed the diverse familial and community networks of today's college going…

Topographic Maps: Rediscovering an Accessible Data Source for Land Cover Change Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McChesney, Ron; McSweeney, Kendra

2005-01-01

Given some limitations of satellite imagery for the study of land cover change, we draw attention here to a robust and often overlooked data source for use in student research: USGS topographic maps. Topographic maps offer an inexpensive, rapid, and accessible means for students to analyze land cover change over large areas. We demonstrate our…

Avoidable costs of comprehensive case management.

PubMed

Issel, L M; Anderson, R A

1999-01-01

Comprehensive case management has become an industry standard and its pervasiveness raises questions about the ubiquitous need for this service. Analyzed from the perspective of transaction cost analysis and access, we argue that in some cases comprehensive case management is an avoidable cost incurred because of system problems that limit access to otherwise eligible clients. Implications are discussed.

The Stigma of Public Programs: Does a Separate S-CHIP Program Reduce It?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ketsche, Patricia; Adams, E. Kathleen; Minyard, Karen; Kellenberg, Rebecca

2007-01-01

Previous studies suggest access to and satisfaction with care may be different for enrollees in S-CHIP and Medicaid, but it is unclear whether those differences are fully explained by socioeconomic characteristics of the enrollees. We analyze access and satisfaction of three groups of children: Medicaid enrolled, S-CHIP enrolled, and children who…

Internet Activities Using Scientific Data. A Self-Guided Exploration.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Froseth, Stan; Poppe, Barbara

This guide is intended for the secondary school teacher (especially math or science) or the student who wants to access and learn about scientific data on the Internet. It is organized as a self-guided exploration. Nine exercises enable the user to access and analyze on-line information from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration…

Exclusion Factors in Latin American Higher Education: A Preliminary Analyze From University Governing Board Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Castro, Diego; Rodríguez-Gómez, David; Gairín, Joaquín

2017-01-01

Access to higher education has increased substantially in Latin America, but inequalities in access to and completion of higher education still remain. In this regard, identifying vulnerable groups and exclusion factors is a priority in Latin America's university systems. The aim of this article is to understand in depth governing board…

On board processing for future satellite communications systems: Comparison of FDM, TDM and hybrid accessing schemes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Berk, G.; Jean, P. N.; Rotholz, E.

1982-01-01

Several satellite uplink and downlink accessing schemes for customer premises service are compared. Four conceptual system designs are presented: satellite-routed frequency division multiple access (FDMA), satellite-switched time division multiple access (TDMA), processor-routed TDMA, and frequency-routed TDMA, operating in the 30/20 GHz band. The designs are compared on the basis of estimated satellite weight, system capacity, power consumption, and cost. The systems are analyzed for fixed multibeam coverage of the continental United States. Analysis shows that the system capacity is limited by the available satellite resources and by the terminal size and cost.

Mapping the literature of nursing: 1996–2000

PubMed Central

Allen, Margaret (Peg); Jacobs, Susan Kaplan; Levy, June R.

2006-01-01

Introduction: This project is a collaborative effort of the Task Force on Mapping the Nursing Literature of the Nursing and Allied Health Resources Section of the Medical Library Association. This overview summarizes eighteen studies covering general nursing and sixteen specialties. Method: Following a common protocol, citations from source journals were analyzed for a three-year period within the years 1996 to 2000. Analysis included cited formats, age, and ranking of the frequency of cited journal titles. Highly cited journals were analyzed for coverage in twelve health sciences and academic databases. Results: Journals were the most frequently cited format, followed by books. More than 60% of the cited resources were published in the previous seven years. Bradford's law was validated, with a small core of cited journals accounting for a third of the citations. Medical and science databases provided the most comprehensive access for biomedical titles, while CINAHL and PubMed provided the best access for nursing journals. Discussion: Beyond a heavily cited core, nursing journal citations are widely dispersed among a variety of sources and disciplines, with corresponding access via a variety of bibliographic tools. Results underscore the interdisciplinary nature of the nursing profession. Conclusion: For comprehensive searches, nurses need to search multiple databases. Libraries need to provide access to databases beyond PubMed, including CINAHL and academic databases. Database vendors should improve their coverage of nursing, biomedical, and psychosocial titles identified in these studies. Additional research is needed to update these studies and analyze nursing specialties not covered. PMID:16636714

Mapping the literature of nursing: 1996-2000.

PubMed

Allen, Margaret Peg; Jacobs, Susan Kaplan; Levy, June R

2006-04-01

This project is a collaborative effort of the Task Force on Mapping the Nursing Literature of the Nursing and Allied Health Resources Section of the Medical Library Association. This overview summarizes eighteen studies covering general nursing and sixteen specialties. Following a common protocol, citations from source journals were analyzed for a three-year period within the years 1996 to 2000. Analysis included cited formats, age, and ranking of the frequency of cited journal titles. Highly cited journals were analyzed for coverage in twelve health sciences and academic databases. Journals were the most frequently cited format, followed by books. More than 60% of the cited resources were published in the previous seven years. Bradford's law was validated, with a small core of cited journals accounting for a third of the citations. Medical and science databases provided the most comprehensive access for biomedical titles, while CINAHL and PubMed provided the best access for nursing journals. Beyond a heavily cited core, nursing journal citations are widely dispersed among a variety of sources and disciplines, with corresponding access via a variety of bibliographic tools. Results underscore the interdisciplinary nature of the nursing profession. For comprehensive searches, nurses need to search multiple databases. Libraries need to provide access to databases beyond PubMed, including CINAHL and academic databases. Database vendors should improve their coverage of nursing, biomedical, and psychosocial titles identified in these studies. Additional research is needed to update these studies and analyze nursing specialties not covered.

[Feasibility Study of Dual-source Computed Tomography High-pitch Scan Mode in Preoperative Evaluation of Aortic Stenosis Referred to Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation].

PubMed

Peng, Liqing; Yu, Jianqun; Li, Zhenlin; Li, Wanjiang; Cheng, Wei

2016-10-01

The purpose of this study was to explore the feasibility of dual-source computed tomography(DSCT)highpitch scan mode in the preoperative evaluation of severe aortic stenosis(AS)referred to transcatheter aortic valve implantation(TAVI).Thirty patients with severe AS referred for TAVI underwent cervico-femoral artery joint DSCT angiography.Measurement and calculation of contrast,contrast noise ratio(CNR)and noise of aorta and access vessels were performed.The intra-and inter-observer reproducibilities for assessing aortic root and access vessels were evaluated.Evaluation of shape and plagues of aorta and access vessels was performed.The contrast,CNR and noise of aorta and access vessels were 348.2~457.9HU,12.2~30.3HU and 19.1~48.1 HU,respectively.There were good intra-and inter-observer reproducibilities in assessing aortic root and access vessels by DSCT(mean difference:-0.73~0.79 mm,r=0.90~0.98,P<0.001;mean difference:-0.70~0.73 mm,r=0.90~0.96,P<0.001).In the 30 patients,the diameters of external iliac artery,femeral artery or subclavian artery were less than 7mm in 5cases(16.7%),marked calcification in bilateral common iliac arteries in 1case(3.3%)and marked soft plaque in left common iliac artery in 1case(3.3%).DSCT high-pitch scan mode was feasible in the preoperative evaluation of aorta and access vessels in patients with AS referred for TAVI.

Evaluation of CDMA system capacity for mobile satellite system applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, Partrick O.; Geraniotis, Evaggelos A.

1988-01-01

A specific Direct-Sequence/Pseudo-Noise (DS/PN) Code-Division Multiple-Access (CDMA) mobile satellite system (MSAT) architecture is discussed. The performance of this system is evaluated in terms of the maximum number of active MSAT subscribers that can be supported at a given uncoded bit-error probability. The evaluation decouples the analysis of the multiple-access capability (i.e., the number of instantaneous user signals) from the analysis of the multiple-access mutliplier effect allowed by the use of CDMA with burst-modem operation. We combine the results of these two analyses and present numerical results for scenarios of interest to the mobile satellite system community.

Oregon Department of Transportation : access management best practices manual.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2012-12-01

This manual is provided as a resource to help Oregon transportation professionals quantify the expected benefits of various access management applications. As a result, this manual includes recommendations for how to evaluate potential access managem...

A subjective scheduler for subjective dedicated networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suherman; Fakhrizal, Said Reza; Al-Akaidi, Marwan

2017-09-01

Multiple access technique is one of important techniques within medium access layer in TCP/IP protocol stack. Each network technology implements the selected access method. Priority can be implemented in those methods to differentiate services. Some internet networks are dedicated for specific purpose. Education browsing or tutorial video accesses are preferred in a library hotspot, while entertainment and sport contents could be subjects of limitation. Current solution may use IP address filter or access list. This paper proposes subjective properties of users or applications are used for priority determination in multiple access techniques. The NS-2 simulator is employed to evaluate the method. A video surveillance network using WiMAX is chosen as the object. Subjective priority is implemented on WiMAX scheduler based on traffic properties. Three different traffic sources from monitoring video: palace, park, and market are evaluated. The proposed subjective scheduler prioritizes palace monitoring video that results better quality, xx dB than the later monitoring spots.

[Web accessibility of Internet appointment scheduling in primary care].

PubMed

Casasola Balsells, Luis Alejandro; Guerra González, Juan Carlos; Casasola Balsells, María Araceli; Pérez Chamorro, Vicente Antonio

2017-12-16

To assess the accessibility level of Internet appointment scheduling in primary care and the fulfilment of the requirements of Spanish legislation. Descriptive study of the accessibility of 18 web sites corresponding to the autonomic health services responsible for Internet appointment scheduling for primary health care services. The level of web accessibility was evaluated by means of five automated tools. Only six websites self-declared to be in compliance with level AA of WCAG 2.0. The level of web accessibility according to the legal requirements in Spain is low. The evaluation tools identified the main errors to be corrected. Most of the autonomic health services responsible for Internet appointment scheduling in primary care need to improve their level of web accessibility and ensure that it complies with Spanish legislation. Copyright © 2017 SESPAS. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.