Learning 21st century science in context with mobile technologies

The paper describes a project to support personal inquiry learning with handheld and desktop technology between formal and informal settings. It presents a trial of the technology and learning across a school classroom, sports hall, and library. The main aim of the study was to incorporate inquiry learning activities within an extended school science environment in order to investigate opportunities for technological mediations and to extract initial recommendations for the design of mobile technology to link inquiry learning across different contexts. A critical incident analysis was carried out to identify learning breakdowns and breakthroughs that led to design implications. The main findings are the opportunities that a combination of mobile and fixed technology bring to: manage the formation of groups, display live visualisations of student and teacher data on a shared screen to facilitate motivation and personal relevance, incorporate broader technical support, provide context-specific guidance on the sequence, reasons and aims of learning activities, offer opportunities to micro-sites for reflection and learning in the field, to explicitly support appropriation of data within inquiry and show the relation between specific activities and the general inquiry process

Effectiveness of personalised risk information and taster sessions to increase the uptake of smoking cessation services (Start2quit): a randomised controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: National Health Service Stop Smoking Services (SSSs) offer help to smokers motivated to quit; however, attendance rates are low and recent figures show a downward trend. We aimed to assess the effectiveness of a two-component personalised intervention on attendance at SSSs. METHODS: We did this randomised controlled trial in 18 SSSs in England. Current smokers (aged ≥16 years) were identified from medical records in 99 general practices and invited to participate by their general practitioner. Individuals who gave consent, were motivated to quit, and had not attended the SSS within the past 12 months, were randomly assigned (3:2), via computer-generated randomisation with permuted blocks (block size of five), to receive either an individually tailored risk letter and invitation to attend a no-commitment introductory session run by the local SSS (intervention group) or a standard generic letter advertising the local SSS (control group). Randomisation was stratified by sex. Masking of participants to receipt of a personal letter and invitation to a taster session was not possible. The personal letter was generated by a research assistant, but the remainder of the research team were masked to group allocation. General practitioners, practice staff, and SSS advisers were unaware of their patients' allocation. The primary outcome was attendance at the first session of an SSS course within 6 months from randomisation. We did analysis by intention to treat. This trial is registered with Current Controlled Trials, number ISRCTN 76561916. FINDINGS: Recruitment, collection of baseline data, delivery of the intervention, and follow up of participants took place between Jan 31, 2011, and July 12, 2014. We randomly assigned 4384 smokers to the intervention group (n=2636) or the control group (n=1748); 4383 participants comprised the intention-to-treat population. Attendance at the first session of an SSS course was significantly higher in the intervention group than in the control group (458 [17·4%] vs 158 [9·0%] participants; unadjusted odds ratio 2·12 [95% CI 1·75-2·57]; p<0·0001). INTERPRETATION: Delivery of personalised risk information alongside an invitation to an introductory session more than doubled the odds of attending the SSS compared with a standard generic invitation to contact the service. This result suggests that a more proactive approach, combined with an opportunity to experience local services, can reduce patient barriers to receiving treatment and has high potential to increase uptake. FUNDING: National Institutes of Health Research Health Technology Assessment

Cost-effectiveness of personal tailored risk information and taster sessions to increase the uptake of the NHS stop smoking services: the Start2quit randomized controlled trial.

AIMS: To assess the cost-effectiveness of a two-component intervention designed to increase attendance at the NHS Stop Smoking Services (SSSs) in England. DESIGN: Cost-effectiveness analysis alongside a randomized controlled trial (Start2quit). SETTING: NHS SSS and general practices in England. PARTICIPANTS: The study comprised 4384 smokers aged 16 years or more identified from medical records in 99 participating practices, who were motivated to quit and had not attended the SSS in the previous 12 months. INTERVENTION AND COMPARATOR: Intervention was a personalized and tailored letter sent from the general practitioner (GP) and a personal invitation and appointment to attend a taster session providing information about SSS. Control was a standard generic letter from the GP advertising SSS and asking smokers to contact the service to make an appointment. MEASUREMENTS: Costs measured from an NHS/personal social services perspective, estimated health gains in quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) measured with EQ-5D and incremental cost per QALY gained during both 6 months and a life-time horizon. FINDINGS: During the trial period, the adjusted mean difference in costs was £92 [95% confidence interval (CI) = -£32 to -£216) and the adjusted mean difference in QALY gains was 0.002 (95% CI = -0.001 to 0.004). This generates an incremental cost per QALY gained of £59 401. The probability that the tailored letter and taster session is more cost-effective than the generic letter at 6 months is never above 50%. In contrast, the discounted life-time health-care cost was lower in the intervention group, while the life-time QALY gains were significantly higher. The probability that the intervention is more cost-effective is more than 83% using a £20 000-30 000 per QALY-gained decision-making threshold. CONCLUSIONS: An intervention designed to increase attendance at the NHS Stop Smoking Services (tailored letter and taster session in the services) appears less likely to be cost-effective than a generic letter in the short term, but is likely to become more cost-effective than the generic letter during the long term

Convexifying Star-Shaped Polygons

International audienceWe show that all star-shaped simple polygons can be transformed, in O(n) steps each of which takes O(n) time to compute in an extended real RAM model, into convex polygons by continuous motions during which the edges remain rigid and the polygon remains star-shaped and simple. For each step, the trajectories of the vertices are given explicitly. In particular, the vertices move along straight lines, circular-arcs, or on the curve traced by an intersection point of two circles whose centers move along straight lines

Prevalencia de factores de riesgo reproductivo en embarazadas en la unidad de salud “Dr. Carlos Díaz del Pinal”, Santa Tecla, periodo junio-septiembre 2023

En el presente trabajo se investigó la prevalencia de diversos factores de riesgo que pueden presentarse durante el embarazo y que están asociados al alto riesgo reproductivo en embarazadas en la Unidad de Salud Dr. Carlos Díaz del Pinal, San Salvador, con especial énfasis en factores demográficos, relacionados a patologías preexistentes, antecedentes obstétricos y comportamientos nocivos dentro del estilo de vida de las mujeres embarazadas, para lo cual se realizó un estudio de tipo descriptivo, transversal y cuantitativo. Todos los datos en los que se basa el análisis del estudio fueron obtenidos a través de un instrumento tipo encuesta, la cual fue aplicada a una muestra de 131 personas que cumplían con los criterios de inclusión previamente razonados

Maintaining Visibility Information of Planar Point Sets with a Moving Viewpoint

International audienceGiven a set of n points in the plane, we consider the problem of computing the circular ordering of the points about a viewpoint q and efficiently maintaining this ordering information as q moves

Understanding the impacts of novel coronavirus outbreaks on people who use drugs: A systematic review to inform practice and drug policy responses to COVID-19

People who use drugs (PWUD) experience many social and health harms and are considered at greater risk of acquiring COVID-19. Little research has examined the impact of coronaviruses either on PWUD, or on services targeted to PWUD. We report the findings of a systematic review of empirical evidence from studies which have examined the impact of coronaviruses (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV-1) and Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and COVID-19) on PWUD or on service responses to them. Five databases were searched (MEDLINE, PsycINFO, CINAHL, ASSIA and EMBASE) as well as COVID-19 specific databases. Inclusion criteria were studies reporting any impact of SARS, MERS or COVID-19 or any service responses to those, published between January 2000 and October 2020. Weight of Evidence judgements and quality assessment were undertaken. In total, 27 primary studies were included and grouped by seven main themes: treatment/recovery services; emergency medical settings; low-threshold services; prison setting, PWUD/substance use disorder (SUD) diagnosis; people with SUD and HIV; ‘Sexual minority’ men. Overall, research in the area was scant, and of average/poor quality. More robust research is required to inform on-going and future responses to coronavirus epidemics for PWUD.This review was funded by Scottish Government under the auspices of the Drugs Death Taskforce, Grant No DDTFRF0

Evaluating the clinical and cost effectiveness of a behaviour change intervention for lowering cardiovascular disease risk for people with severe mental illnesses in primary care (PRIMROSE study):study protocol for a cluster randomised controlled trial

BACKGROUND: People with severe mental illnesses die up to 20 years earlier than the general population, with cardiovascular disease being the leading cause of death. National guidelines recommend that the physical care of people with severe mental illnesses should be the responsibility of primary care; however, little is known about effective interventions to lower cardiovascular disease risk in this population and setting. Following extensive peer review, funding was secured from the United Kingdom National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) to deliver the proposed study. The aim of the trial is to test the effectiveness of a behavioural intervention to lower cardiovascular disease risk in people with severe mental illnesses in United Kingdom General Practices. METHODS/DESIGN: The study is a cluster randomised controlled trial in 70 GP practices for people with severe mental illnesses, aged 30 to 75 years old, with elevated cardiovascular disease risk factors. The trial will compare the effectiveness of a behavioural intervention designed to lower cardiovascular disease risk and delivered by a practice nurse or healthcare assistant, with standard care offered in General Practice. A total of 350 people will be recruited and followed up at 6 and 12 months. The primary outcome is total cholesterol level at the 12-month follow-up and secondary outcomes include blood pressure, body mass index, waist circumference, smoking status, quality of life, adherence to treatments and services and behavioural measures for diet, physical activity and alcohol use. An economic evaluation will be carried out to determine the cost effectiveness of the intervention compared with standard care. DISCUSSION: The results of this pragmatic trial will provide evidence on the clinical and cost effectiveness of the intervention on lowering total cholesterol and addressing multiple cardiovascular disease risk factors in people with severe mental illnesses in GP Practices. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN13762819 . Date of Registration: 25 February 2013. Date and Version Number: 27 August 2014 Version 5

Responsive Operations for Key Services (ROKS): A Modular, Low SWaP Quantum Communications Payload

Quantum key distribution (QKD) is a theoretically proven future-proof secure encryption method that inherits its security from fundamental physical principles. With a proof-of-concept QKD payload having flown on the Micius satellite since 2016, efforts have intensified globally. Craft Prospect, working with a number of UK organisations, has been focused on miniaturising the technologies that enable QKD so that they may be used in smaller platforms including nanosatellites. The significant reduction of size, and therefore the cost of launching quantum communication technologies either on a dedicated platform or hosted as part of a larger optical communications will improve potential access to quantum encryption on a relatively quick timescale. The Responsive Operations for Key Services (ROKS) mission seeks to be among the first to send a QKD payload on a CubeSat into low Earth orbit, demonstrating the capabilities of newly developed modular quantum technologies. The ROKS payload comprises a quantum source module that supplies photons randomly in any of four linear polarisation states fed from a quantum random number generator; an acquisition, pointing, and tracking system to fine-tune alignment of the quantum source beam with an optical ground station; an imager that will detect cloud cover autonomously; and an onboard computer that controls and monitors the other modules, which manages the payload and assures the overall performance and security of the system. Each of these modules have been developed with low Size, Weight and Power (SWaP) for CubeSats, but with interoperability in mind for other satellite form factors. We present each of the listed components, together with the initial test results from our test bench and the performance of our protoflight models prior to initial integration with the 6U CubeSat platform systems. The completed ROKS payload will be ready for flight at the end of 2022, with various modular components already being baselined for flight and integrated into third party communication missions