Modeling the Relationship between Job Demands, Work Attitudes and Performance among Nurses in a Transition Economy

Nurses are critical human resource input in the hospitals' functions of health promotion, curative and preventive care and; effective performance of their roles have implications for patients' health outcomes. This study based on data obtained from 2 2 8 nurses in general and specialist hospitals explores the link between various dimensions of nurses' job demand, job security and work attitude. Structural equation model analysis results indicate that workfamily conflict and work pressures have implications for absenteeism; and that absenteeism is strongly linked with turnover while being a symptom of low job satisfaction. In addition, while job security negatively impact on absenteeism it has direct positive effect on both job satisfaction and commitment. This underlies the need for specific managerial countermeasures to balance work-family responsibilities as well as balance work load as measures to limit work pressures on nurses and hedge against absenteeism and turnover among nurse

Assessing Parental Knowledge on Sickle Cell Disease: A Phenomenological Study

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a genetic disease affecting millions of people in the world, making the disease a global problem. It is an inherited blood disorder, resulting in morbidity and mortality among disease sufferers. Consequently, the incidence of Sickle Cell Disease in Ghana has increased dramatically over the last decade affecting 2% of newborns in the Kumasi Metropolis yearly. While the overwhelming majority of people born with the disease still come from Africa, least developed services exist for people living with the disease. Efforts to coordinate knowledge among health care givers and parental/ community care can significantly improve health and well-being of individuals with the disease. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore parents’ knowledge on SCD at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH). It involved 10 parents who were purposively sampled and interviewed from the Sickle Cell Clinic at KATH. Data was analysed using thematic content analysis. The study revealed that there is a gap in knowledge on Sickle cell disease and crisis and thus recommend the intensification of education as it plays a vital role in giving optimal care and preventing complications. Keywords: Sickle cell disease, knowledge, educatio

A Single Visualization Technique for Displaying Multiple Metabolite-Phenotype Associations.

To assist with management and interpretation of human metabolomics data, which are rapidly increasing in quantity and complexity, we need better visualization tools. Using a dataset of several hundred metabolite measures profiled in a cohort of ~1500 individuals sampled from a population-based community study, we performed association analyses with eight demographic and clinical traits and outcomes. We compared frequently used existing graphical approaches with a novel 'rain plot' approach to display the results of these analyses. The 'rain plot' combines features of a raindrop plot and a conventional heatmap to convey results of multiple association analyses. A rain plot can simultaneously indicate effect size, directionality, and statistical significance of associations between metabolites and several traits. This approach enables visual comparison features of all metabolites examined with a given trait. The rain plot extends prior approaches and offers complementary information for data interpretation. Additional work is needed in data visualizations for metabolomics to assist investigators in the process of understanding and convey large-scale analysis results effectively, feasibly, and practically

ANALISA NILAI EKUIVALENSI MOBIL PENUMPANG (emp) DENGAN METODE TIME HEADWAY DAN REGRESI LINEAR BERGANDA (STUDI KASUS: JALAN RAYA TOMOHON)

Evaluasi kinerja jalan memerlukan informasi terbaru mengenai kondisi dan karakteristik lalu lintas suatu jalan. Selama ini dalam perhitungan kinerja jalan menggunakan arus lalu lintas dari berbagai tipe kendaraan yang dikonversikan ke satuan mobil penumpang menggunakan nilai ekuivalen mobil penumpang (emp) berdasarkan MKJI 1997. Tiap-tiap jalan memiliki kondisi lalu lintas dan geomerik yang berbeda-beda yang membuat nilai emp menurut MKJI tidak lagi sesuai dengan karakteristik lalu lintas jalan tersebut. Untuk itu perlu dilakukan penelitian lebih lanjut mengenai nilai emp untuk mendapatkan hasil evaluasi kinerja jalan yang benar-benar sesuai dengan karakteristik lalu lintas di jalan Raya Tomohon.Penelitian dilaksanakan pada dua titik lokasi di ruas jalan Raya Tomohon yang dibagi menjadi dua segmen. Nilai emp dihitung dengan menggunakan dua metode yaitu metode regresi linear dan metode Time Headway. Metode regresi linear akan mendapatkan nilai emp dari hasil analisis dan perhitungan data arus kendaraan bermotor dengan menggunakan pendekatan matematik dan statistic, sedang metode time headway akan mendapatkan nilai emp dengan cara melakukan perhitungan waktu antara bumper depan kendaraan di depan dengan bumper depan kendaraan dibelakangnya pada saat melewati batas headway. Nilai emp yang didapatkan melalui perhitungan dengan kedua metode ini kemudian digunakan dalam perhitungan kinerja ruas jalan.Dari hasil perhitungan diperoleh nilai emp dengan menggunakan metode time headway di segmen satu untuk untuk arah ke Manado dan sebaliknya nilai emp MC sebesar 0,98 dan 0,9 dan HV sebesar 0,0. Dan 0,53. Dan untuk segmen dua arah ke Kawangkoan dan sebaliknya nilai emp MC sebesar 0,86 dan 1,11 dan HV 0,38 dan 0,24. Untuk nilai emp hasil perhitungan dengan menggunakan metode regresi linear berganda di segmen satu arah ke manado dan sebaliknya untuk MC sebesar 0.6 dan 0,4 dan HV 1,4 dan 1,2. Untuk segmen dua arah ke Kawangkoan dan sebaliknya nilai emp MC adalah 0,2 dan 0,5 dan HV 1,4 dan 1,2. Kemudian dilakukan perhitungan untuk menganalisis kinerja ruas jalan dan didapatkan nilai DS dengan menggunakan nilai emp hasil perhitungan metode time headway di segmen satu DS sebesar 0,58 dan segmen dua DS sebesar 0,72. Sedangkan nilai DS menggunakan emp yang dihitung dengan metode regresi linear berganda di segmen satu adalah DS sebesar 0,5 dan segmen dua DS sebesar 0,53. Perbedaan nilai emp antara beberapa metode diatas disebabkan oleh perbedaan dalam pengumpulan data dan metode perhitungan. Nilai DS yang disarankan oleh MKJI 1997 adalah <0,75. Didapatkan untuk hasil DS menggunakan metode time headway dan metode regresi linear berganda untuk kedua segmen di jalan Raya Tomohon cukup layak untuk melayani arus lalu lintas di jam sibuk. Kata Kunci: emp, Time Headway, Regresi Linear, Kinerja Jala

OPV strains circulation in HIV infected infants after National Immunisation Days in Bangui, Central African Republic

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Humans are the only host of polioviruses, thus the prospects of global polio eradication look reasonable. However, individuals with immunodeficiencies were shown to excrete vaccine derived poliovirus for long periods of time which led to reluctance to prolong the vaccination campaign for fear of this end result. Therefore, we aimed to assess the duration of excretion of poliovirus after the 2001 National Immunization Days according to Human immunodeficiency virus status.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>Fifty three children were enrolled. Sequential stool samples were collected in between National Immunisation Days rounds and then every month during one year. Children were classified into 2 groups: no immunodepression (n = 38), immunodepression (n = 15) according to CD4+ lymphocytes cells count. Thirteen poliovirus strains were isolated from 11 children: 5 Human immunodeficiency virus positive and 6 Human immunodeficiency virus negative. None of the children excreted poliovirus for more than 4 weeks. The restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis showed that all strains were of Sabin origin including a unique Polio Sabine Vaccine types 2 and 3 (S2/S3) recombinant.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>From these findings we assume that Human immunodeficiency virus positive children are not a high risk population for long term poliovirus excretion. More powerful studies are needed to confirm our findings.</p

Mixing in a swarm of bubbles rising in a confined cell measured by mean of PLIF with two different dyes

The present contribution reports an experimental study of the mixing of a passive scalar of very low diffusivity in a homogeneous swarm of inertial bubbles rising in a thin gap. A patch of fluorescent dye is injected within the swarm, and we observe the evolution of its mass in a given region of observation. We analyse the effect of the liquid agitation on the mixing mechanisms varying the gas volume fraction from 1.3 to 7.5 %, while the Reynolds number of the bubbles, Re = 450, their Weber number, We = 0.7, and the gapto-bubble diameter ratio, w/d = 0.25, are kept approximately constant. Here, the in-plane local mass of dye is measured by using a two-dyes planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) technique that has been adapted to fix the problem of multiple light reflections at the bubble interfaces. Indeed, they induce both temporal and spatial variations of the captured light intensity that are superimposed to the effective fluorescence signal and prevent from using a standard PLIF technique. The analysis of the instantaneous concentration fields reveals the dominant role of the bubble wakes in the scalar transport. It is shown that mixing in this planar confined geometry is very efficient and enhanced by the increasing gas volume fraction. The present study also highlights that the mixing is not governed by a Fickian law of diffusion

Putative pleiotropic effects of the knockdown resistance (L1014F) allele on the life-history traits of Anopheles gambiae.

Background Existing mechanisms of insecticide resistance are known to help the survival of mosquitoes following contact with chemical compounds, even though they could negatively affect the life-history traits of resistant malaria vectors. In West Africa, the knockdown resistance mechanism kdrR (L1014F) is the most common. However, little knowledge is available on its effects on mosquito life-history traits. The fitness effects associated with this knockdown resistance allele in Anopheles gambiae sensu stricto (s.s.) were investigated in an insecticide-free laboratory environment. Methods The life-history traits of Kisumu (susceptible) and KisKdr (kdr resistant) strains of An. gambiae s.s. were compared. Larval survivorship and pupation rate were assessed as well as fecundity and fertility of adult females. Female mosquitoes of both strains were directly blood fed through artificial membrane assays and then the blood-feeding success, blood volume and adult survivorship post-blood meal were assessed. Results The An. gambiae mosquitoes carrying the kdrR allele (KisKdr) laid a reduced number of eggs. The mean number of larvae in the susceptible strain Kisumu was three-fold overall higher than that seen in the KisKdr strain with a significant difference in hatching rates (81.89% in Kisumu vs 72.89% in KisKdr). The KisKdr larvae had a significant higher survivorship than that of Kisumu. The blood-feeding success was significantly higher in the resistant mosquitoes (84%) compared to the susceptible ones (34.75%). However, the mean blood volume was 1.36 µL/mg, 1.45 µL/mg and 1.68 µL/mg in Kisumu, homozygote and heterozygote KisKdr mosquitoes, respectively. After blood-feeding, the heterozygote KisKdr mosquitoes displayed highest survivorship when compared to that of Kisumu. Conclusions The presence of the knockdown resistance allele appears to impact the life-history traits, such as fecundity, fertility, larval survivorship, and blood-feeding behaviour in An. gambiae. These data could help to guide the implementation of more reliable strategies for the control of malaria vectors

An investigation of the predictability of the Brazilian three-modal hand-based behavioural biometric: a feature selection and feature-fusion approach

Abstract: New security systems, methods or techniques need to have their performance evaluated in conditions that closely resemble a real-life situation. The effectiveness with which individual identity can be predicted in different scenarios can benefit from seeking a broad base of identity evidence. Many approaches to the implementation of biometric-based identification systems are possible, and different configurations are likely to generate significantly different operational characteristics. The choice of implementational structure is, therefore, very dependent on the performance criteria, which is most important in any particular task scenario. The issue of improving performance can be addressed in many ways, but system configurations based on integrating different information sources are widely adopted in order to achieve this. Thus, understanding how each data information can influence performance is very important. The use of similar modalities may imply that we can use the same features. However, there is no indication that very similar (such as keyboard and touch keystroke dynamics, for example) basic biometrics will perform well using the same set of features. In this paper, we will evaluate the merits of using a three-modal hand-based biometric database for user prediction focusing on feature selection as the main investigation point. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first thought-out analysis of a database with three modalities that were collected from the same users, containing keyboard keystroke, touch keystroke and handwritten signature. First, we will investigate how the keystroke modalities perform, and then, we will add the signature in order to understand if there is any improvement in the results. We have used a wide range of techniques for feature selection that includes filters and wrappers (genetic algorithms), and we have validated our findings using a clustering technique