1,378 research outputs found
Irritable bowel syndrome among nurses working in King Abdulaziz University Hospital, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Background: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a highly prevalent gastrointestinal disorder that can cause disability and economic burden. Nurses are a vital part of the medical team and their well-being is an important issue. Yet, few studies have been done concerning IBS among nurses.Objectives: To determine the prevalence, severity, and predictors of IBS among nurses working at King Abdulaziz University Hospital, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 229 nurses who fulfilled the eligibility criteria. They were selected by stratified random sampling during 20142015. A validated, confidential, selfadministered data collection sheet was used for collection of personal and sociodemographic data. Rome III Criteria, IBS Severity Scoring System (IBS-SSS), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) were included. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were done. A multiple logistic regression analysis was done to determine the predictors of IBS.Results: The prevalence of IBS among nurses was 14.4%, and IBS-Mixed type was the commonest variety (54.5%). Positive family history of IBS, working in outpatient clinics, having day shift, poor sleep quality, and high anxiety and depression scale scores were significantly associated with IBS. After controlling for confounding factors in regression analysis, the predictors of IBS were food hypersensitivity (aOR4.52; 95% CI: 1.8011.33), morbid anxiety (aOR4.34; 95% CI: 1.4912.67), and positive family history of IBS (aOR3.38; 95% CI: 1.1213.23).Conclusion: The prevalence of IBS was 14.4%. Food hypersensitivity, morbid anxiety, and family history were the predictors of IBS. Screening and management of IBS, food hypersensitivity, and psychological problems among nurses are recommended.Keywords: irritable bowel syndrome; nurses; prevalence; predictors; severity; anxiety; depression; sleep qualit
Signalized Intersection Capacity Adjustment Factors for Makkah, Saudi Arabia
Operation and performance of signalized intersection relies on roadway’s environmental features and users’ behavioral characteristics which significantly differ among locations. Although Highway Capacity Manual (HCM) provides general guide for designing traffic elements, its recommendations regarding particular values of the design parameters may not be universally applicable. This paper analyses saturation flow rate and capacity adjustment factors for signalized intersection in Mecca, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The research reveals that the capacity of a signalized intersection in Mecca is 2500 pcphpl which is much higher than the value prescribed in HCM. Capacity adjustments factors also vary from HCM recommendations. Estimated parameters may be useful in signal design and traffic system performance analysis in Saudi Arabia. Moreover, research outputs might be utilized for formulating Highway Capacity Manual for the country
The Nondeterministic Waiting Time Algorithm: A Review
We present briefly the Nondeterministic Waiting Time algorithm. Our technique
for the simulation of biochemical reaction networks has the ability to mimic
the Gillespie Algorithm for some networks and solutions to ordinary
differential equations for other networks, depending on the rules of the
system, the kinetic rates and numbers of molecules. We provide a full
description of the algorithm as well as specifics on its implementation. Some
results for two well-known models are reported. We have used the algorithm to
explore Fas-mediated apoptosis models in cancerous and HIV-1 infected T cells
Trace as an alternative decategorification functor
Categorification is a process of lifting structures to a higher categorical
level. The original structure can then be recovered by means of the so-called
"decategorification" functor. Algebras are typically categorified to additive
categories with additional structure and decategorification is usually given by
the (split) Grothendieck group. In this expository article we study an
alternative decategorification functor given by the trace or the zeroth
Hochschild--Mitchell homology. We show that this form of decategorification
endows any 2-representation of the categorified quantum sl(n) with an action of
the current algebra U(sl(n)[t]) on its center.Comment: 47 pages with tikz figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with
arXiv:1405.5920 by other author
Crowd and environmental management during mass gatherings.
Crowds are a feature of large cities, occurring not only at mass gatherings but also at routine events such as the journey to work. To address extreme crowding, various computer models for crowd movement have been developed in the past decade, and we review these and show how they can be used to identify health and safety issues. State-of-the-art models that simulate the spread of epidemics operate on a population level, but the collection of fine-scale data might enable the development of models for epidemics that operate on a microscopic scale, similar to models for crowd movement. We provide an example of such simulations, showing how an individual-based crowd model can mirror aggregate susceptible-infected-recovered models that have been the main models for epidemics so far
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Revisiting Egyptian Foreign Policy towards Israel under Mubarak: From Cold Peace to Strategic Peace
This article is the first academic study of Egyptian foreign policy towards Israel under Hosni Mubarak (1981–2011). It challenges a deeply entrenched conventional wisdom that Egypt pursued a cold-peace foreign policy towards Israel throughout this period. We demonstrate that Egyptian foreign policy towards Israel was dynamic – comprising cold peace (1981–91), a hybrid foreign policy of cold peace and strategic peace (1991–2003), and a pure strategic peace posture (2003–11). We also use the case of Egyptian foreign policy towards Israel as a heuristic to develop a conception of a new type of peace, strategic peace, as an intermediary analytical category between cold and stable peace
Occupying wide open spaces? Late Pleistocene hunter–gatherer activities in the Eastern Levant
With a specific focus on eastern Jordan, the Epipalaeolithic Foragers in Azraq Project explores changing hunter-gatherer strategies, behaviours and adaptations to this vast area throughout the Late Pleistocene. In particular, we examine how lifeways here (may have) differed from surrounding areas and what circumstances drew human and animal populations to the region. Integrating multiple material cultural and environmental datasets, we explore some of the strategies of these eastern Jordanian groups that resulted in changes in settlement, subsistence and interaction and, in some areas, the occupation of substantial aggregation sites. Five years of excavation at the aggregation site of Kharaneh IV suggest some very intriguing technological and social on-site activities, as well as adaptations to a dynamic landscape unlike that of today. Here we discuss particular aspects of the Kharaneh IV material record within the context of ongoing palaeoenvironmental reconstructions and place these findings in the wider spatial and temporal narratives of the Azraq Basin
Network Archaeology: Uncovering Ancient Networks from Present-day Interactions
Often questions arise about old or extinct networks. What proteins interacted
in a long-extinct ancestor species of yeast? Who were the central players in
the Last.fm social network 3 years ago? Our ability to answer such questions
has been limited by the unavailability of past versions of networks. To
overcome these limitations, we propose several algorithms for reconstructing a
network's history of growth given only the network as it exists today and a
generative model by which the network is believed to have evolved. Our
likelihood-based method finds a probable previous state of the network by
reversing the forward growth model. This approach retains node identities so
that the history of individual nodes can be tracked. We apply these algorithms
to uncover older, non-extant biological and social networks believed to have
grown via several models, including duplication-mutation with complementarity,
forest fire, and preferential attachment. Through experiments on both synthetic
and real-world data, we find that our algorithms can estimate node arrival
times, identify anchor nodes from which new nodes copy links, and can reveal
significant features of networks that have long since disappeared.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figure
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