Effect of an audiovisual message for tetanus booster vaccination broadcast in the waiting room

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>General practitioners (GPs) often lack time and resources to invest in health education; audiovisual messages broadcast in the waiting room may be a useful educational tool. This work was designed to assess the effect of a message inviting patients to ask for a tetanus booster vaccination.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A quasi experimental study was conducted in a Belgian medical practice consisting of 6 GPs and 4 waiting rooms (total: 20,000 contacts/year). A tetanus booster vaccination audiovisual message was continuously broadcast for 6 months in 2 randomly selected waiting rooms (intervention group - 3 GPs) while the other 2 waiting rooms remained unequipped (control group - 3 GPs). At the end of the 6-month period, the number of vaccine adult-doses delivered by local pharmacies in response to GPs' prescriptions was recorded. As a reference, the same data were also collected retrospectively for the general practice during the same 6-month period of the previous year.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>During the 6-month reference period where no audiovisual message was broadcast in the 4 waiting rooms, the number of prescriptions presented for tetanus vaccines was respectively 52 (0.44%) in the intervention group and 33 (0.38%) in the control group (p = 0.50). By contrast, during the 6-month study period, the number of prescriptions differed between the two groups (p < 0.0001), rising significantly to 91 (0.79%) in the intervention group (p = 0.0005) while remaining constant in the control group (0.38% vs 0.39%; p = 0.90).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Broadcasting an audiovisual health education message in the GPs' waiting room was associated with a significant increase in the number of adult tetanus booster vaccination prescriptions delivered by local pharmacies.</p

Strategies for tropical forest protection and sustainable supply chains: challenges and opportunities for alignment with the UN sustainable development goals

Governance for sustainable development increasingly involves diverse stakeholder groups, with the promise of enhanced legitimacy and effectiveness in decision-making and implementation. The UN sustainable development goals (SDGs) emphasise the important role of multiple (non-state) actors, including businesses and non-governmental organisations, including in efforts to ensure the sustainability of supply chains, and to reduce tropical deforestation and forest degradation. This paper critically analyses sustainability strategies to examine how the UN SDG agendas related to ‘sustainable supply chains’ and ‘tropical forest protection’ are framed and enacted by two contrasting non-state actors: (1) Instituto Centro de Vida (ICV), an NGO in Brazil working to address deforestation, including by supporting farmers to produce commodities, and (2) Unilever, a global consumer goods manufacturer and major buyer of such commodities. By identifying areas of variability in the discursive techniques used by ICV and Unilever, we unearth particular power dynamics that can shape the processes and outcomes of sustainability strategies. This paper finds that the two organisations use diverse strategies at different levels of governance, both participate actively in multi-stakeholder forums to advance their organisations’ goals, but have divergent framings of ‘sustainability’. Despite being considered ‘non-state’ actors, the strategies of the two organisations examined both reflect, and influence, the structural effects of the state in the implementation of non-state organisations’ strategies, and progress towards the SDGs. Although there is alignment of certain strategies related to tropical forest protection, in some cases, there is a risk that more sustainable, alternative approaches to governing forests and supply chains may be excluded

Influence of MgO underlayers on the structure and magnetic properties of FePt-C nanogranular films for heat-assisted magnetic recording media

In order to optimize the nanogranular structure of FePt-C for heat-assisted magnetic recording media, we investigated the influence of MgO underlayers on the growth of FePt grains in the FePt-C layer. The FePt-C layer was deposited by using the alternating sputtering method, by which FePt and FePt-C layers were alternately deposited. To understand the growth mechanism of the FePt-C layer on the MgO underlayers deposited under various conditions, detailed plan-view and cross sectional transmission electron microscopy observations were made for different film thicknesses. We found that columnar FePt grains grow only when the deposition conditions of the MgO underlayer are optimal. Direct TEM observation of the growth process of the FePt-C layer revealed that the number density of nuclei is sufficient in the initial stage of the film deposition; however, coarsening of the grains after grain impingement causes a substantial decrease in the number density of the FePt grains

Design for IoT Business Modeling Workshop: A Case Study of Collaborative University–Industry Education Program

Part 5: Education in the Field of Industry 4.0International audienceOn January 11, 2017, Waseda University launched a university–industry collaboration program with a local government body in Kitakyushu City, Japan and 20 local businesses in the area. Officially called the “Waseda University IPS Kitakyushu Consortium (IPSKC),” the program aims to change the direction of local society and to develop innovative business and technology solutions in the era of Industry 4.0. In addition, it seeks to contribute to future global business development with neighboring Asian countries. As a first step, one of the program’s key initiatives was to offer consortium members an Internet of Things (IoT) business modeling workshop as part of the University’s industrial IoT/business engineering education program. This paper discusses an approach to facilitate workstream as a case study. We present the key results of the workshop; and discuss the future outlook of IoT and PLM education program

From divergence to convergence: re-evaluating the history behind China’s economic boom

China’s long-term economic dynamics pose a formidable challenge to economic historians. The Qing Empire (1644-1911), the world’s largest national economy prior to the 19th century, experienced a tripling of population during the 17th and 18th centuries with no signs of diminishing per capita income. In some regions, the standard of living may have matched levels recorded in advanced regions of Western Europe. However, with the Industrial Revolution a vast gap emerged between newly rich industrial nations and China’s lagging economy. Only with an unprecedented growth spurt beginning in the late 1970s has the gap separating China from the global leaders been substantially diminished, and China regained its former standing among the world’s largest economies. This essay develops an integrated framework for understanding this entire history, including both the long period of divergence and the more recent convergent trend. The analysis sets out to explain how deeply embedded political and economic institutions that had contributed to a long process of extensive growth subsequently prevented China from capturing the benefits associated with new technologies and information arising from the Industrial Revolution. During the 20th century, the gradual erosion of these historic constraints and of new obstacles created by socialist planning eventually opened the door to China’s current boom. Our analysis links China’s recent economic development to important elements of its past, while using the success of the last three decades to provide fresh perspectives on the critical obstacles undermining earlier modernization efforts, and their removal over the last century and a half

Supplementary Material for: Balloon Dilatation for Bronchoscope Delivery (BDBD) in a Swine Model: A Novel Technique for Ultra-Peripheral Lung Field Access and Accurate Biopsy

Introduction: In transbronchial biopsy of peripheral pulmonary lesions, the bronchoscope can reach only a limited depth due to the progressive narrowing of bronchi, which may reduce the diagnostic rate. This study examined the balloon dilatation for bronchoscope delivery (BDBD) technique, employing a novel balloon device to enhance bronchoscopy into the peripheral lung areas. Methods: Anaesthetised swine served as our primary model. Using computed tomography (CT) scans, we positioned virtual targets characterised by a positive bronchus sign and a diameter of 20 mm beneath the pleura. The bronchoscope was navigated along the pathways determined from the CT images. We performed balloon dilatation when bronchial narrowing obstructed progress to assess whether balloon dilatation would enable the bronchoscope to enter further into the periphery. Results: We established 21 virtual targets on the CT scans. An average of 12.1 branches were identified along the pathways on the CT scans; however, bronchoscopy without BDBD only allowed access to an average of 6.7 branches. Based on 72 balloon dilatations with 3.0-mm or 4.0-mm ultra-thin bronchoscopes, there was an average increased access of 3.43 and 5.14 branches per route, respectively, with no significant BDBD complications. The bronchoscope was able to reach the planned location along all pathways, and the mean final bronchoscopic endpoints were at an average distance of 14.7 mm from the pleura. Post-procedure CT confirmed biopsy accuracy. Conclusion: The BDBD technique can enhance access of a flexible bronchoscope into the peripheral lung fields, which could potentially allow more accurate transbronchial interventions for peripheral targets