138 research outputs found

    "Perceived skill level of librarians working at libraries of Tehran Medical Universities"

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    Background: Improving the quality of library services is influenced by the workforce employed, which requires the use of skilled and competent personnel. Therefore, identifying necessary skills for LIS professionals and assessing their skill level is important. Objectives: This study conducted to assess the discipline specific and general skill level of librarians working in libraries of the top three Iranian medical universities in Tehran. Methods: The survey was carried out among all 115 librarians working in the libraries of Iran, Tehran and Shahid-Beheshti University of Medical Sciences. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and one-way ANOVA. Results: The participants' perceived skill level in discipline specific set of skills was relatively unsatisfactory in total while their skill level in general skills was relatively satisfactory. The total mean score for discipline specific and general skills was also 2.97 and 3.03. Conclusion: Considering the unsatisfactory level of the librarians' discipline specific skills and the significant relationship between the degree of education and the level of discipline specific and general skills, more effective planning is needed for the training of the required skills, revising the curriculum, and planning for in-service training for LIS professionals. © 2019 Library Philosophy and Practice

    The effect of green chemistry education based on practical activity on learning and attitude of pre-service chemistry teachers

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    Background and Objective:Chemistry plays a fundamental role in human civilization and its place in economics, politics and life is becoming more and more prominent and covers a wide range of chemical products such as drugs, dyes, fertilizers, etc. However, the environmental damage caused by it is a major human concern. Many of us today take steps to reduce environmental impact, for example by participating in chemical recycling programs and using energy-saving light bulbs; we buy local products and maybe drive hybrid cars. But what if "we could somehow prevent pollution from the start?" Thus, with a new approach called green chemistry, chemists are being led to a new phase of research activities to develop green reactions and use them instead of the old methods, to help human health and society by eliminating toxins from chemical processes. The purpose of this research is education of green chemistry through the curriculum related to the principles of green chemistry in General Chemistry Lab 1and the effect of this educational course on learning and attitude of the pre-service chemistry teachers toward green chemistry principles. Methods: This educational course involves two green experiments implemented according to green chemistry principles. The experiments include determination of molar mass relation in a chemical reaction and determination of the amount of ascorbic acid in a tablet of vitamin C. The research methods are practical, experimental and quasi-experimental and the used instruments were the researcher-constructed tests in the field of learning and attitude domain. Statistic population of this study consists of experimental group (N=30) and control group (N=30) of the student teachers at Shahid Rajaee Teacher Training University in the academic year 2017-2018. Data analysis was done using descriptive and inferential statistics with SPSS software. Findings: The obtained results show that among12 principles of Green Chemistry, students have learned the principles of 1 to 4 and 7 to 12 of these 12 principles and they have been attracted to them. In addition, the implementation of a curriculum related to the principles of green chemistry has had a positive impact on the attitude of the pre-service chemistry teachers. Conclusion: Findings from the research show that teaching the principles of green chemistry can be done based on the activity-oriented approach in the chemistry curriculum as in most developed countries. Student-teacher education can lead them to develop a positive attitude towards green chemistry and to have more motivation and desire to study chemistry based on the principles of green chemistry and to pass this attitude on to their students in the teaching process. Also, in designing the curriculum, it should be noted that in the sequence of practical activities, it should be done in such a way that it includes all the principles of green chemistry so that education based on it can give all the principles of green chemistry to learners or give them a positive attitude.   ===================================================================================== COPYRIGHTS  ©2019 The author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, as long as the original authors and source are cited. No permission is required from the authors or the publishers.  ====================================================================================

    Universal HIV testing in London tuberculosis clinics: a cluster randomised controlled trial

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    We assessed whether implementation of a combination of interventions in London tuberculosis clinics raised the levels of HIV test offers, acceptance and coverage. A stepped-wedge cluster randomised controlled trial was conducted across 24 clinics. Interventions were training of clinical staff and provision of tailor-made information resources with or without a change in clinic policy from selective to universal HIV testing. The primary outcome was HIV test acceptance amongst those offered a test, before and after the intervention; the secondary outcome was an offer of HIV testing. Additionally, the number and proportion of HIV tests among all clinic attendees (coverage) was assessed. 1,315 patients were seen in 24 clinics. The offer and coverage of testing rose significantly in clinics without (p = 0.002 and p = 0.004, respectively) and with an existing policy of universal testing (p = 0.02 and p = 0.04, respectively). However, the level of HIV test acceptance did not increase in 18 clinics without routine universal testing (p = 0.76) or the six clinics with existing universal testing (p = 0.40). The intervention significantly increased the number of HIV tests offered and proportion of participants tested, although acceptance did not change significantly. However, the magnitude of increase is modest due to the high baseline coverage

    Health information prescription system for non communicable diseases: A systematic review and thematic analysis

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    Objective - Prescribing health information is very important to empower informed patients. The goal of present study is to recognize challenges for developing health information prescription on non-communicable diseases. Material and Methods - Six data bases related to health information prescription were investigated. They included Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, Google Scholar, Ovid and EMBASE. The investigated studies were published from 2000 to 2019. The language of the articles was English and the access to full text was one of the inclusion criteria. The research was evaluated by Prisma checklist and critical apprising. Different dimensions of health Information prescription system were recognized by thematic analysis. Results - 54 studies were recognized based on the inclusion criteria. The results showed that there were three main concepts related to primary dimensions of the system in designing health information prescription system: determination of system functional goals, recognition of implementation barriers and recognition of developmental sub-structures. There were 16 subcategories including primary goals for accessibility, the concerns related to patients information confidentiality, individual differences and interests and personalizing the process of information prescription, the lack of integrity in health Information system for providing pattern of health Information system related to diabetic patients. Conclusion - The goals, implementing barriers and functional substructures of health information prescription system should be recognized in order to improve self-care behaviors of diabetic patients in clinic. It is recommended that the future investigations focus on research gaps in personalizing health information prescription and integration of health information prescription process in health care system. © 2020, LLC Science and Innovations

    Relationship between the usage count and the number of citations in the journals of Library and Information Sciences: The case of access type

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    Nowadays, the open access movement has become one of the most effective to make upto- date information accessible to users. This study aimed at examining the relationship between the usage count and the number of citations of library and information sciences articles emphasizing on access type and the study used document analysis and scientometrics based on journals in the Web of Science. Openaccess journals (six journals with 60 articles) and non-open access journals (ten journals with 100 articles) were selected. The www.simagojr.com site was checked to get ensured about the field of journals. The findings indicated among openaccess journals, "Information Research-An International Electronic Journal"and "Information Technology and Libraries" were the oldest and had the highest number of articles. The average number of citations was related to Transinformacao (3.3) and Journal of the Medical Library Association (112.4). The use of open access journals varied between 10.1 (Information Research) and 17.9 (Revista Espanola de Documentacion Cientifica) since 2013. Accordingly, there was no significant relationship between the usage countof the articles in open access journals and the number of citations. Among the non-open access journals, the"International Journal of Information Management" was the oldest. The average number of citations was between 120.1 for the "International Journal of Information Management" and 709.4 for"Information System Research". The extent of using non-open access journals varied between 26.1 for "Journalofthe American Medical Informatics Association" and 181 for the "Journal of Computer -Mediated Communication".There was significant relationship between using the articles in non-open access journals and the number of citations. The total correlation for open-access journals and non-open access journals were 0.23 and 0.40, respectively. The correlation for each journal of any access type was weak to strong. © 2019 Library Philosophy and Practice

    The effect of the eye movement desensitization and reprocessing intervention on anxiety and depression among patients undergoing hemodialysis: A randomized controlled trial

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    Author's accepted version (postprint).This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Wiley in Perspectives in psychiatric care on 29/04/2019.Available online: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ppc.12389acceptedVersio

    Hospital outbreak of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales associated with a bla OXA-48 plasmid carried mostly by Escherichia coli ST399

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    A hospital outbreak of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales was detected by routine surveillance. Whole genome sequencing and subsequent analysis revealed a conserved promiscuous blaOXA-48 carrying plasmid as the defining factor within this outbreak. Four different species of Enterobacterales were involved in the outbreak. Escherichia coli ST399 accounted for 35 of all the 55 isolates. Comparative genomics analysis using publicly available E. coli ST399 genomes showed that the outbreak E. coli ST399 isolates formed a unique clade. We developed a mathematical model of pOXA-48-like plasmid transmission between host lineages and used it to estimate its conjugation rate, giving a lower bound of 0.23 conjugation events per lineage per year. Our analysis suggests that co-evolution between the pOXA-48-like plasmid and E. coli ST399 could have played a role in the outbreak. This is the first study to report carbapenem-resistant E. coli ST399 carrying blaOXA-48 as the main cause of a plasmid-borne outbreak within a hospital setting. Our findings suggest complementary roles for both plasmid conjugation and clonal expansion in the emergence of this outbreak

    FILTWAM and Voice Emotion Recognition

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    This paper introduces the voice emotion recognition part of our framework for improving learning through webcams and microphones (FILTWAM). This framework enables multimodal emotion recognition of learners during game-based learning. The main goal of this study is to validate the use of microphone data for a real-time and adequate interpretation of vocal expressions into emotional states were the software is calibrated with end users. FILTWAM already incorporates a valid face emotion recognition module and is extended with a voice emotion recognition module. This extension aims to provide relevant and timely feedback based upon learner's vocal intonations. The feedback is expected to enhance learner’s awareness of his or her own behavior. Six test persons received the same computer-based tasks in which they were requested to mimic specific vocal expressions. Each test person mimicked 82 emotions, which led to a dataset of 492 emotions. All sessions were recorded on video. An overall accuracy of our software based on the requested emotions and the recognized emotions is a pretty good 74.6% for the emotions happy and neutral emotions; but will be improved for the lower values of an extended set of emotions. In contrast with existing software our solution allows to continuously and unobtrusively monitor learners’ intonations and convert these intonations into emotional states. This paves the way for enhancing the quality and efficacy of game-based learning by including the learner's emotional states, and links these to pedagogical scaffolding.The Netherlands Laboratory for Lifelong Learning (NELLL) of the Open University of the Netherlands
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