25 research outputs found

    Quizizz for Teaching and Learning About Adherence to Antipsychotics: A Pilot Study of Students’ Perception and Their Level of Knowledge

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    Digital gamification fosters high-level thinking. While other platforms like Jeopardy and Kahoot were frequently studied, the evidence against or in favour of Quizziz, a student-engagement software for use in classroom group assignments and formative assessments were limited. This study aimed at pilot-testing the use of Quizizz to assess its value or appeal as a gamification tool, and to assess the correlation between students’ perceptions and their scores (knowledge). A Quizziz game entitled, “Adherence to antipsychotics” was developed and tested on undergraduates from health (pharmacy and health sciences) and non-health (control) related programs. Their responses to a 15-item validated questionnaire assessing perception were recorded. Students perceived the experience of learning about antipsychotics via Quizizz as positive. Their perceptions correlated positively with their game scores (r = 0.617, p= 0.004). Understandably, students enrolled in health-related programs scored higher than their counterparts (p<0.001), although the mean between-group perception scores did not differ. Quizziz could foster cognitive presence of millennials and equip them to be 21st-century healthcare providers capable of tackling non-adherent, psychiatric patients

    Identifying High Influence Parameters using Genetic Algorithm (GA) Chromosomes for Water Consumption

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    Severe uncertainties climate changes course flood and droughts disaster have made clean water precious for domestic consumption. Thus, securing clean water is important. Wastage of water comes from water consumption such as from household usage. However, monitoring water consumption from household usage is tedious and time consuming. This work utilized Genetic Algorithm (GA) to optimize the coefficient of micro-components of water consumption (CMWC) values to determine high influential household routine parameters. Nine household parameters have been investigated namely, bath/shower, personal hygiene, flush toilet, wash cloth by hand, wash cloth by washing machine, food preparation, water plant, washing car and miscellaneous. These parameters are encoded as a chromosome data in GA to incorporate the CMWC values. The aim is to minimize the residential water consumption estimation error rates and subsequently enabling increased accuracy towards estimating and classifying the amount of residential water consumption. Data average monthly water consumption were collected from 80 households in Seremban. Water consumption has been categorized into three groups of low (L-PDWC), medium (M-PDWC) and high (H-PDWC). Comparison was made between per capita water consumption (PCC) and Domestic Water Consumption via Genetic Algorithm (DWC-GA) error rate’s values. The results are as follows; PCC method’s error rates of 9.49 and DWC-GA error rate is 1.05

    Evaluation of energy consumption in small-scale agarwood distillation pot based on averaged control signal simulation

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    Water temperature of a hydro distillation process are represented by using first order plus dead time (FOPDT) model by performing a step test. From the model obtained, a PID controller have been implemented based on several tuning method includes Ziegler-Nichols, Cohen-Coon and Integral Square Error (ISE)-Load to enhance the performance of the system. In this study, a setpoint was set to 80°C and the comparative performance of PID controller with several tuning rules was evaluate and analyse via simulation. The analysis of the performance was depend on settling time, percentage of overshoot and rise time. Moreover, in this study, the average amount of control signal have been evaluated based on several tuning rules by using an integral control signal. The simulation result shows the ISE-Load that completed with minimum percentage of overshoot could result in best temperature control for hydro distillation process. However, in term of energy consumption, PID ZN gives lower energy usage

    Evaluation on energy consumption in compact hydro distillation process between MPC and PID control

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    This paper presents the comparison of the MPC and PID control in compact hydro distillation process. Both of PID controllers and MPC undergone the performances of controller tests such as set point, set point change and load disturbances. The comparative performances of MPC and PID controllers (PIDCC and PIDZN) were evaluated and analysed based on transient responses performance and also in term of energy consumption via simulation. The simulation results show that MPC gives good performances in term of transient responses such as settling time, rise time and percentage of overshoot. Moreover, in term of energy consumption, the integral absolute control signal (IACS) has been used to simulate the energy that have been consumed. The result indicates that, MPC produces lower IACS compared to both PID controllers

    PRACTICING OF PHYSICAL EXERCISE AMONG ACADEMIC STAFFS IN FACULTY OF MEDICINE: IS IT VARIES WITH SOCIO-DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS?

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    Healthy lifestyle and regular physical exercise are well documented preventive factors of several chronic diseases. As the frontline of health care services, medical practitioners should be among the healthiest members of the community. Unfortunately most of the physicians have routinely neglected their own health in favor of their profession and personal obligations. Hence, the stress due to increased workloads and long working shifts may adversely affect the habit of engagement in physical exercise. To evaluate the adequacy of physical exercise performance and to identify the barrier in performing physical exercise among medical staffs A cross sectional study was conducted among the academic staffs of Faculty of Medicine UiTM. Each participant was given structured questionnaire to be answered. The questionnaire consists of 1) socio-demographic and medical details and 2) practice of exercise. A total of 155 participants enrolled. More than half of them were performing exercise. Jogging was the most performed exercise followed by body stretching and cycling. Tiredness, time constraint and work commitment were identified as important barrier in performing exercise. Ethnicity was significantly associated with practice of exercise (x2=4.101, OR: 0.285, 95%CI 0.79-1.02). Clinicality of academic staffs was also associated with adequacy of exercise (x2=3.861, OR: 2.567, 95% CI: 0.99-6.68). Despite living in medical line, lecturers of Faculty of Medicine UiTM practice exercise.&nbsp

    The valorisation of grass waste for the green synthesis of graphene quantum dots for nonlinear optical applications

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    The recent years have seen an increase in efforts to develop a simple and less complex method of converting waste materials into graphene nanomaterials. Herein, we present the valorisation of grass waste for the green synthesis of graphene quantum dots (GQDs) using hydrothermal technique. The efficacy of using three different precursors that had been sourced from green waste materials to produce GQDs was investigated; namely, grass waste, and grass waste-derived cellulose, and cellulose nanocrystals. The resulting GQDs were characterised using UV–Vis spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The UV–Vis analysis revealed the existence of π-π* transition of the Cdouble bondC bond of the GQDs samples while the FTIR results showed the samples contained typical functional groups; such as O–H, Cdouble bondO, and C–O. The surface functionalisation of the GQDs was further corroborated by the XPS analysis. The Raman analysis indicated that the structure of the GQDs was highly functionalised, with a more prominent D-band than G-band indicating a high ID/IG ratio. The morphological analyses, which were conducted using TEM and AFM, showed that the particles of the samples were uniform in size and circular in shape. The AFM analysis found that the thickness of the GQDs samples ranged between 0.5 and 2.6 nm, implying that the samples contained 1–3 layers of GQDs. Further analysis using the Z-scan technique indicated that the GQDs exhibited strong nonlinear refraction and nonlinear absorption which holds great promise for nonlinear integrated applications such as optical limiting, optical switching, image transmission, logic devices and mode-locked laser system, and so on

    Antimicrobial resistance among migrants in Europe: a systematic review and meta-analysis

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    BACKGROUND: Rates of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) are rising globally and there is concern that increased migration is contributing to the burden of antibiotic resistance in Europe. However, the effect of migration on the burden of AMR in Europe has not yet been comprehensively examined. Therefore, we did a systematic review and meta-analysis to identify and synthesise data for AMR carriage or infection in migrants to Europe to examine differences in patterns of AMR across migrant groups and in different settings. METHODS: For this systematic review and meta-analysis, we searched MEDLINE, Embase, PubMed, and Scopus with no language restrictions from Jan 1, 2000, to Jan 18, 2017, for primary data from observational studies reporting antibacterial resistance in common bacterial pathogens among migrants to 21 European Union-15 and European Economic Area countries. To be eligible for inclusion, studies had to report data on carriage or infection with laboratory-confirmed antibiotic-resistant organisms in migrant populations. We extracted data from eligible studies and assessed quality using piloted, standardised forms. We did not examine drug resistance in tuberculosis and excluded articles solely reporting on this parameter. We also excluded articles in which migrant status was determined by ethnicity, country of birth of participants' parents, or was not defined, and articles in which data were not disaggregated by migrant status. Outcomes were carriage of or infection with antibiotic-resistant organisms. We used random-effects models to calculate the pooled prevalence of each outcome. The study protocol is registered with PROSPERO, number CRD42016043681. FINDINGS: We identified 2274 articles, of which 23 observational studies reporting on antibiotic resistance in 2319 migrants were included. The pooled prevalence of any AMR carriage or AMR infection in migrants was 25·4% (95% CI 19·1-31·8; I2 =98%), including meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (7·8%, 4·8-10·7; I2 =92%) and antibiotic-resistant Gram-negative bacteria (27·2%, 17·6-36·8; I2 =94%). The pooled prevalence of any AMR carriage or infection was higher in refugees and asylum seekers (33·0%, 18·3-47·6; I2 =98%) than in other migrant groups (6·6%, 1·8-11·3; I2 =92%). The pooled prevalence of antibiotic-resistant organisms was slightly higher in high-migrant community settings (33·1%, 11·1-55·1; I2 =96%) than in migrants in hospitals (24·3%, 16·1-32·6; I2 =98%). We did not find evidence of high rates of transmission of AMR from migrant to host populations. INTERPRETATION: Migrants are exposed to conditions favouring the emergence of drug resistance during transit and in host countries in Europe. Increased antibiotic resistance among refugees and asylum seekers and in high-migrant community settings (such as refugee camps and detention facilities) highlights the need for improved living conditions, access to health care, and initiatives to facilitate detection of and appropriate high-quality treatment for antibiotic-resistant infections during transit and in host countries. Protocols for the prevention and control of infection and for antibiotic surveillance need to be integrated in all aspects of health care, which should be accessible for all migrant groups, and should target determinants of AMR before, during, and after migration. FUNDING: UK National Institute for Health Research Imperial Biomedical Research Centre, Imperial College Healthcare Charity, the Wellcome Trust, and UK National Institute for Health Research Health Protection Research Unit in Healthcare-associated Infections and Antimictobial Resistance at Imperial College London

    Surgical site infection after gastrointestinal surgery in high-income, middle-income, and low-income countries: a prospective, international, multicentre cohort study