Painting Supports: Significance, Historical Review, Types and Appropriate Preparations for Effective Painting

Paintings tend to appeal to many art lovers due to their colourful schemes, emotional expressiveness, and aesthetic attractions, among others. Additionally, they are comparatively less cumbersome to produce with easy-to-obtain tools and materials; and also, have expansive possibilities for diverse styles and techniques pliable on almost any available surface. However, one important factor that gives them solid foundations for durability and longer lifespan, and to which many painters fail to attach much attention, is the surfaces on which paintings are executed. Through observation, it is established that most painting supports in Ghana are restricted to canvas making them monotonous, less exploratory and markedly limited in pursuit of individual artistic talents. Interviews conducted with some selected painters in Ghana suggest insufficient knowledge about diversified painting surfaces and their appropriate paint systems. This paper explores into the importance of painting supports, their historical antecedents, types, surface treatments, and relative paint mediums. It explains the advantages of various painting supports and their techniques to facilitate the acquisition of knowledge and skills needed to diversify their usage in Ghana. Keywords: Painting Support, Paint system, Grounding, Paint Medium, Ke

Ontology-based IT pedagogical knowledge framework

Prospective students often have trouble differentiating between many computer-related programs of study such as computer science (CS), information systems (IS), information engineering (IE), software engineering (SE), information technology (IT), electronic commerce (EC), computer engineering (CE), etc. To compound the problem many institutions offer programs with similar names but with different content, or programs with different names but with similar content. The extensive overlap in course content in many computing-focused disciplines has even created confusion among academics. This paper first reviews relevant literature on the topic and then presents a high-level view of an Information Technology (IT) Pedagogical Knowledge framework from an ontological point of view

Unblocking high-value botanical value chains: Is there a role for blockchain systems?

Blockchain systems are a fast emerging and a currently widely discussed novel strategy for a decentralised cryptographically-enhanced digital ledger recording transactions among stakeholders. This perspective paper looks at its potential uses in the context of high value and mostly low volume botanical material traded globally and used as medicines, health foods, in cosmetics and other applications. We offer a perspective on key areas in the supply of such products globally and how blockchain systems may help in sustainable sourcing, quality assurance, and in tackling supply problems in cases of complex multiherbal preparations. Both open and closed blockchain systems are feasible, and it seems likely that, at least in the initial development, closed ones are the main ones to be utilized. While blockchain’s potential is not yet clear, the examples presented here highlight the opportunities of this new technology

Barriers to Remote Health Interventions for Type 2 Diabetes: A Systematic Review and Proposed Classification Scheme

BACKGROUND: Diabetes self-management involves adherence to healthy daily habits typically involving blood glucose monitoring, medication, exercise, and diet. To support self-management, some providers have begun testing remote interventions for monitoring and assisting patients between clinic visits. Although some studies have shown success, there are barriers to widespread adoption. OBJECTIVE: The objective of our study was to identify and classify barriers to adoption of remote health for management of type 2 diabetes. METHODS: The following 6 electronic databases were searched for articles published from 2010 to 2015: MEDLINE (Ovid), Embase (Ovid), CINAHL, Cochrane Central, Northern Light Life Sciences Conference Abstracts, and Scopus (Elsevier). The search identified studies involving remote technologies for type 2 diabetes self-management. Reviewers worked in teams of 2 to review and extract data from identified papers. Information collected included study characteristics, outcomes, dropout rates, technologies used, and barriers identified. RESULTS: A total of 53 publications on 41 studies met the specified criteria. Lack of data accuracy due to input bias (32%, 13/41), limitations on scalability (24%, 10/41), and technology illiteracy (24%, 10/41) were the most commonly cited barriers. Technology illiteracy was most prominent in low-income populations, whereas limitations on scalability were more prominent in mid-income populations. Barriers identified were applied to a conceptual model of successful remote health, which includes patient engagement, patient technology accessibility, quality of care, system technology cost, and provider productivity. In total, 40.5% (60/148) of identified barrier instances impeded patient engagement, which is manifest in the large dropout rates cited (up to 57%). CONCLUSIONS: The barriers identified represent major challenges in the design of remote health interventions for diabetes. Breakthrough technologies and systems are needed to alleviate the barriers identified so far, particularly those associated with patient engagement. Monitoring devices that provide objective and reliable data streams on medication, exercise, diet, and glucose monitoring will be essential for widespread effectiveness. Additional work is needed to understand root causes of high dropout rates, and new interventions are needed to identify and assist those at the greatest risk of dropout. Finally, future studies must quantify costs and benefits to determine financial sustainability

Evidence for partial melt in the crust beneath Mt. Paektu (Changbaishan), Democratic People's Republic of Korea and China

Mt. Paektu (also known as Changbaishan) is an enigmatic volcano on the border between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and China. Despite being responsible for one of the largest eruptions in history, comparatively little is known about its magmatic evolution, geochronology, or underlying structure. We present receiver function results from an unprecedented seismic deployment in the DPRK. These are the first estimates of the crustal structure on the DPRK side of the volcano and, indeed, for anywhere beneath the DPRK. The crust 60 km from the volcano has a thickness of 35 km and a bulk $V_\text{P}$/$V_\text{S}$ of 1.76, similar to that of the Sino-Korean craton. The $V_\text{P}$/$V_\text{S}$ ratio increases ~20 km from the volcano, rising to >1.87 directly beneath the volcano. This shows that a large region of the crust has been modified by magmatism associated with the volcanism. Such high values of $V_\text{P}$/$V_\text{S}$ suggest that partial melt is present in the crust beneath Mt. Paektu. This region of melt represents a potential source for magmas erupted in the last few thousand years and may be associated with an episode of volcanic unrest observed between 2002 and 2005.This work was supported by the Richard Lounsbery Foundation. The UK seismic instruments and data management facilities were provided under loan number 976 by SEIS-UK at the University of Leicester. The facilities of SEIS-UK are supported by the NERC under Agreement R8/H10/64. J.O.S.H. was supported by an NERC Fellowship NE/I020342/1

Relationship between platelet parameters and sudden sensorineural hearing loss: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Sudden deafness or sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHO is defined as sensorineural hearing loss of greater than 30 dB over 3 contiguous puretone frequencies occurring within 3 days' periodObjective: To investigate the relationship of some platelet parameters including platelet count (PC), mean platelet volume (MPV) and platelet distribution width (PDW) with the occurrence of SSNHL.Data source: A PubMed, Science Direct, Scopus, OVID, EMBASE and Google Scholar search (date last searchedApril2016) search was done. No restrictions of time, language and location were placed.Study selection: All case-control studies which have been studied the relationship of PC, MPV and PDW with the occurrence of SSNHL were included in the meta-analysis.Data extraction: The required data from selected studies including the title, authors, publication date, location of study, sample size of patients and control groups, number of withdrawals, the mean and standard deviation of PC, MPV and PDW for patients and control groups and the result of different tests were extracted and entered to EX CELL.Data synthesis: A total of 9 case-control studies were r found in our search from them 8 studies have reported mean PC, 7 studies have reported mean MPV and 4 studies have reported mean PDW. Our analysis showed that mean PC of patients is 0.03 (-0.14-0.20) unit higher than that of controls with 95% CI which is not statistically significant. Also, mean MPV of patients is 0.31 (-0.03-0.65) unit higher than that of controls with 95% CI which is statistically not significant too. Finally, mean PDW of patients is 0.70 (0.03- 1.37) unit higher than that of controls with 95% CI which is statistically significant.Conclusions: Our study confirmed only the probable relationship of PDW and SSNHL but due to the limited studies on this subject more studies is needed

Privacy preserving interactive record linkage (PPIRL)

Record linkage to integrate uncoordinated databases is critical in biomedical research using Big Data. Balancing privacy protection against the need for high quality record linkage requires a human–machine hybrid system to safely manage uncertainty in the ever changing streams of chaotic Big Data

Unblocking High-Value Botanical Value Chains: Is There a Role for Blockchain Systems?

Blockchain systems are a fast emerging and a currently widely discussed novel strategy for a decentralized cryptographically enhanced digital ledger recording transactions among stakeholders. This perspective paper looks at its potential uses in the context of high value and mostly low volume botanical material traded globally and used as medicines, health foods, in cosmetics and other applications. We offer a perspective on key areas in the supply of such products globally and how blockchain systems may help in sustainable sourcing, quality assurance, and in tackling supply problems in cases of complex multiherbal preparations. Both open and closed blockchain systems are feasible, and it seems likely that, at least in the initial development, closed ones are the main ones to be utilized. While blockchain’s potential is not yet clear, the examples presented here highlight the opportunities of this new technolog