16,000 research outputs found
Older Adults at Risk for Atrial Fibrillation Lack Knowledge and Confidence to Seek Treatment for Signs and Symptoms.
Early detection of atrial fibrillation (AF) is crucial for averting AF-related stroke and heart failure, but treatment is delayed when AF is not recognized. The critical need for early detection and treatment requires education to promote AF awareness. Knowledge deficits, attitudes, and beliefs about AF that should be addressed to improve awareness and reduce treatment-seeking delay in older adults at risk for developing AF have not been well documented. The purpose of this study was to describe knowledge, treatment-seeking attitudes, and beliefs about AF in adults ⩾ 65 years old and identify demographic characteristics associated with knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs. Patients with no history of AF recruited from an academic medical center were interviewed using the Knowledge, Attitudes, and Beliefs about Atrial Fibrillation Survey. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and independent t tests. Participants (N = 180) were 63% male with a mean age of ±3.± 6.0 years, and 52% held ⩾ 4-year college degree. About one third could not identify common symptoms of AF including palpitations (31%), chest pain (36%), dyspnea (30%), and fatigue (35%). A majority (84%) lacked confidence to recognize AF, and 58% were not sure when they should seek care for AF symptoms. Nearly a third (32%) believed palpitations are always present with AF, and 74% believed that low energy would not be their only symptom of AF. Higher scores for AF Symptom Knowledge (p = .02) were observed in females, and General Knowledge about AF was greater for younger participants (p < .001). Participants lacked knowledge and confidence to aid decision-making for treatment-seeking for symptoms of AF and held inaccurate beliefs about AF that could hinder early treatment-seeking. Programs to promote AF awareness should explain the spectrum of symptoms that may be manifested by AF and include action plans for responding to symptoms
Computer program to predict noise of general aviation aircraft: User's guide
Program NOISE predicts General Aviation Aircraft far-field noise levels at FAA FAR Part 36 certification conditions. It will also predict near-field and cabin noise levels for turboprop aircraft and static engine component far-field noise levels
Plastic-crystalline solid-state electrolytes: Ionic conductivity and orientational dynamics in nitrile mixtures
Many plastic crystals, molecular solids with long-range, center-of-mass
crystalline order but dynamic disorder of the molecular orientations, are known
to exhibit exceptionally high ionic conductivity. This makes them promising
candidates for applications as solid-state electrolytes, e.g., in batteries.
Interestingly, it was found that the mixing of two different
plastic-crystalline materials can considerably enhance the ionic dc
conductivity, an important benchmark quantity for electrochemical applications.
An example is the admixture of different nitriles to succinonitrile, the latter
being one of the most prominent plastic-crystalline ionic conductors. However,
until now only few such mixtures were studied. In the present work, we
investigate succinonitrile mixed with malononitrile, adiponitrile, and
pimelonitrile, to which 1 mol% of Li ions were added. Using differential
scanning calorimetry and dielectric spectroscopy, we examine the phase behavior
and the dipolar and ionic dynamics of these systems. We especially address the
mixing-induced enhancement of the ionic conductivity and the coupling of the
translational ionic mobility to the molecular reorientational dynamics,
probably arising via a "revolving-door" mechanism.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures; revised version as accepted for publication in J.
Chem. Phy
Large-area CCD imagers for spacecraft applications
Backside illuminated CCD imagers with 100 x 160 resolution elements have been fabricated using double level metal technology. Detailed study of the optical performance of such arrays has been performed between 24 C and -40 C using data rates from 10 kHz to 1 MHz. A 400 x 400 array is presently being fabricated
Phase diagram of a generalized ABC model on the interval
We study the equilibrium phase diagram of a generalized ABC model on an
interval of the one-dimensional lattice: each site is occupied by a
particle of type \a=A,B,C, with the average density of each particle species
N_\a/N=r_\a fixed. These particles interact via a mean field
non-reflection-symmetric pair interaction. The interaction need not be
invariant under cyclic permutation of the particle species as in the standard
ABC model studied earlier. We prove in some cases and conjecture in others that
the scaled infinite system N\rw\infty, i/N\rw x\in[0,1] has a unique
density profile \p_\a(x) except for some special values of the r_\a for
which the system undergoes a second order phase transition from a uniform to a
nonuniform periodic profile at a critical temperature .Comment: 25 pages, 6 figure
A review of residual stress analysis using thermoelastic techniques
Thermoelastic Stress Analysis (TSA) is a full-field technique for experimental stress analysis
that is based on infra-red thermography. The technique has proved to be extremely effective for
studying elastic stress fields and is now well established. It is based on the measurement of the
temperature change that occurs as a result of a stress change. As residual stress is essentially a
mean stress it is accepted that the linear form of the TSA relationship cannot be used to
evaluate residual stresses. However, there are situations where this linear relationship is not
valid or departures in material properties due to manufacturing procedures have enabled
evaluations of residual stresses. The purpose of this paper is to review the current status of
using a TSA based approach for the evaluation of residual stresses and to provide some
examples of where promising results have been obtained
Feasibility Testing of the Alert for AFib Intervention.
Improving early detection and treatment of atrial fibrillation (AF) is critical because untreated AF is a major contributor to stroke and heart failure. We sought to generate knowledge about the feasibility of conducting a randomized controlled trial to test the effect of the Alert for AFib intervention on knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about treatment-seeking for signs and symptoms of AF. Adults ≥65 years old (96% White) at risk for developing AF were randomized to receive the Alert for AFib intervention ( n = 40) or an attention control session ( n = 40). Feasibility goals for recruitment, participant retention, adherence, perceived satisfaction and burden, and intervention fidelity were met. From baseline to study completion, knowledge ( p = .005) and attitudes ( p < .001) about treatment-seeking improved more in the intervention group compared with the control group. Results support testing the effectiveness of the Alert for AFib intervention in a large trial
Levy distribution in many-particle quantum systems
Levy distribution, previously used to describe complex behavior of classical
systems, is shown to characterize that of quantum many-body systems. Using two
complimentary approaches, the canonical and grand-canonical formalisms, we
discovered that the momentum profile of a Tonks-Girardeau gas, -- a
one-dimensional gas of impenetrable (hard-core) bosons, harmonically
confined on a lattice at finite temperatures, obeys Levy distribution. Finally,
we extend our analysis to different confinement setups and demonstrate that the
tunable Levy distribution properly reproduces momentum profiles in
experimentally accessible regions. Our finding allows for calibration of
complex many-body quantum states by using a unique scaling exponent.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, results are generalized, new examples are adde
A generic map has no absolutely continuous invariant probability measure
Let be a smooth compact manifold (maybe with boundary, maybe
disconnected) of any dimension . We consider the set of maps
which have no absolutely continuous (with respect to Lebesgue)
invariant probability measure. We show that this is a residual (dense
C^1$ topology.
In the course of the proof, we need a generalization of the usual Rokhlin
tower lemma to non-invariant measures. That result may be of independent
interest.Comment: 12 page
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