Modeling Public Transport Network System by Using Statistics, Network Theory and Ant Colony Optimization

In some countries, bicycles are often used to access public transit stations, but the proportion of out-of-the-way travel is much smaller due to the limited availability of bicycles. Public bicycles are innovative rental or free bicycle schemes in urban areas that can be used for day-to-day mobility as one-way use is possible and can be considered as part of a public transport system. Different from traditional, mostly leisure bike rental services, they provide fast and easy access and have a variety of organizational layout, business models and useful technology for smart bikes (rented via smart cards or mobile phones). We find that bicycle-sharing systems that complement the traditional public transport system could potentially increase the competitiveness and attractiveness of sustainable modes of urban transport and thus help cities to promote sustainable daily mobility. Finally, we emphasize that the availability of open sources of urban transport information, such as public transport in our case, is crucial for analyzing urban mobility patterns. The aim of the research is to analyze and model PPP bicycle rentals using mathematical and computer methods. The article presents the application of the statistical and topological properties of bicycle rental and return network theory in city Novo mesto. The article uses swarm intelligence, a colony of ants to optimize the development of wheels across 14 stations. The wider city Novo mesto region with a population of almost 30 000 people, as a key industrial center, is heavily dependent on urban transport

Validation of the Slovenian Version of Patient Assessment of Chronic Illness Care (PACIC) in Patients with Coronary Heart Disease

The Chronic Care Model (CCM) is a conceptual framework that supports the evidence-based proactive and planned care of chronic diseases. Our aim was to validate a Slovenian translation of Patient Assessment of Chronic Illness Care (PACIC) – a self-reported instrument designed to measure the extent to which patients with chronic illnesses receive care congruent with CCM – on a sample of patients with coronary heart disease. Secondary analysis of patients’ evaluation of general practice care (EPA Cardio study) was done in patients with coronary heart disease in Slovenia. Patients completed a written questionnaire, which included the instrument for assessing chronic illness care (PACIC), the EUROPEP questionnaire and demographical data. Internal consistency was expressed in terms of Cronbach’s á. Reliability was expressed as the intra class correlation coefficient (ICC). Correlation between PACIC and EUROPEP was considered as a measure of construct validity. Factor analysis was done to identify number and types of domains in the instrument. Questionnaires of 843 patients were analysed. The mean age was 68.2 (SD 11.1) years, 34.6% of participants were female. 32.7% of PACIC questionnaires were not completely fulfilled. The internal consistency of the entire questionnaire assessed by Cronbach’s á was 0.953 and reliability was 0.937. Construct validity was confirmed with important and significant correlation between PACIC and EUROPEP questionnaire (Spearman’s correlation coefficient =0.60, p<0.001). Principal component factor analysis identifies two major factors which we labeled according to the PACIC domains as »Patient activation, decision support and problem solving« and »Goal settings and coordination«. A translated and validated Slovenian version of PACIC questionnaire is now available. Further research on its validity in other groups of chronically ill patients and the use of instrument for monitoring changes of chronic care over time is recommended

Pomen izobraževanja diplomiranih medicinskih sester v referenčnih ambulantah: primer arterijske hipertenzije

Uvod: Diplomirane medicinske sestre se za delo v referenčnih ambulantah dodatno izobražujejo. Namen raziskave je bil preveriti potrebo in oceniti uspešnost izobraževanja za diplomirane medicinske sestre v referenčnih ambulantah za področje arterijske hipertenzije. Metode: Vključene so bile diplomirane medicinske sestre (n = 143), ki so obiskovale petintrideseturno urno izobraževanje o arterijski hipertenziji v času od januarja 2012 do marca 2013. Ugotavljali smo spremembo v znanju o vodenju bolnika z arterijsko hipertenzijo, zadovoljstvo udeležencev s celotnim modulom in posameznimi vsebinami modulov ter izbranimi učnimi metodami. Uporabili smo kvantitativno (deskriptivna statistika, parni t-test, enovzorčni t-test) in kvalitativno analizo podatkov. Rezultati: Z vstopnim testom so bile prepoznane velike razlike v znanju udeležencev (zbrali so med 15,0 % in 100,0 % točk). Z izobraževanjem se je njihovo znanje pomembno izboljšalo (vstopni test 56,6 % vs. končni test 89,1 %, p < 0,001). Zadovoljstvo s celotnim modulom in posameznimi deli modula je bilo visoko: povprečna vrednost za celoten modul na lestvici od 5 do 10 je znašala 8,6 (s = 1,3). Metode poučevanja so bile ocenjene kot ustrezne: povprečna vrednost na lestvici od 1 do 5 je bila 4,6 (s = 0,6). Udeleženci so najbolj pohvalili uporabnost in kakovost predavanj, dostopnost predavateljev in povezovanje teorije s prakso preko prikazov praktičnih primerov. Diskusija in zaključek: Ugotovitve naše raziskave podpirajo potrebo po dodatnem izobraževanju diplomiranih medicinskih sester v referenčnih ambulantah s področja arterijske hipertenzije

Validation of Slovenian version of Jefferson scale of empathy for students

Namen: Empatija je najpogosteje omenjena človeška lastnost v odnosu do bolnika in predstavlja pomembno vrednoto v zdravniškem poklicu. Krepitev empatičnega odnosa pri študentih medicine je pogosto poudarjena v mednarodnih smernicah za medicinsko izobraževanje. Namen raziskave je bil validacija in adaptacija slovenske variante študentske različice Jeffersonove lestvice za merjenje empatije na vzorcu študentov prvega letnika medicine

A New Method of Quantifying the Complexity of Fractal Networks

There is a large body of research devoted to identifying the complexity of structures in networks. In the context of network theory, a complex network is a graph with nontrivial topological features&mdash;features that do not occur in simple networks, such as lattices or random graphs, but often occur in graphs modeling real systems. The study of complex networks is a young and active area of scientific research inspired largely by the empirical study of real-world networks, such as computer networks and logistic transport networks. Transport is of great importance for the economic and cultural cooperation of any country with other countries, the strengthening and development of the economic management system, and in solving social and economic problems. Provision of the territory with a well-developed transport system is one of the factors for attracting population and production, serving as an important advantage for locating productive forces and providing an integration effect. In this paper, we introduce a new method for quantifying the complexity of a network based on presenting the nodes of the network in Cartesian coordinates, converting to polar coordinates, and calculating the fractal dimension using the ReScaled ranged (R/S) method. Our results suggest that this approach can be used to determine complexity for any type of network that has fixed nodes, and it presents an application of this method in the public transport system