Exploratory analysis of the relationships among different methods of assessing adherence and glycemic control in youth with type 1 diabetes mellitus

Objectives: The present study examined four methods of assessing diabetes adherence (self-report, diary measure, electronic monitoring, and provider rating) within a population of youth with Type I Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM). Methods: Comparisons were conducted among the four methods of assessing diabetes adherence. Associations among the seven different measures of blood glucose monitoring (BGM) and HbA1c were examined. An exploratory stepwise regression analysis was conducted to determine the best predictors of glycemic control (i.e., Hemoglobin A1c; HbA1c) while controlling for relevant demographic variables. Results: The adherence measures appeared to be interrelated. The relationships between many of the BGM measures and HbA1c demonstrated a medium effect size. The Self Care Inventory (SCI) adjusted global score was the strongest predictor of HbA1c, even after taking the demographic variables into account. Conclusions: The SCI is a robust, easy-to-use, and cost-efficient measure of adherence that has a strong relationship to HbA1c. Demographic variables are important to examine within the context of different methods of assessing adherence. The research methodology utilized to assess both general diabetes adherence and more specific behavioral measurements of BGM should be clearly documented in future studies to ensure accurate interpretation of results. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved

Coffee, tea, and caffeinated cognition

People associate coffee with urgency and tea with relaxation due to their differing levels of caffeine. Accordingly, tea anchors thoughts in the future, boosting creativity and dampening the relevance of product-related details; coffee reverses these effects. This holds when thinking about or consuming the beverages and disappears for decaffeinated drinks

Toward a sustainable mobility: A solar vehicle for a new quality of life

The vehicular mobility causes 15% of greenhouse gases emission: one million tons of carbon anhydrite per hour. In addition, it produces CO, NOx, fine powders, carcinogenic and mutagenic elements: These substances will disappear in the presence of solar vehicles. And solar mobility would also mitigate indirect effects: fuel used to transport fuel, energy for the distillation of hydrocarbons, gas leaks, even fracking, explosions, rivers and oceans. In contrast, electric and hybrid vehicles do not allow this improvement in the quality of life. In almost all modern countries, the energy mix is strongly unbalanced towards fossil fuels: massive electrification would not make mobility sustainable, but rather risks worsening its effect on the environment by shifting the problem of emissions from cities to power plants. The Sun, indeed, can guarantee long-Term sustainable mobility: for every circulating solar vehicle CO2 production is really zero. From July to today, our solar racing car has travelled 3000 km, avoiding to emit half a ton of CO2: reporting these data to a conventional use, each solar vehicle would avoid the release of 1.5 tons of CO2 per year: like planting 10 large trees for each month in our garden. This study describes how to transform a solar super-car into an ordinary vehicle for urban and everyday mobility

INNOVATION IN SOLAR VEHICLES: FROM THE IDEA TO THE PROTOTYPE IN LESS THAN 24 MONTHS

The article aims to describe the integrated path used for the conceptual, functional and constructive design of an exclusive solar vehicle. The project was based on the massive implementation of concurrent engineering and quality tools, rarely used in such an integrated way. New and attractive design, 3D CAD modelling, details design, structural and fluid dynamic validations, in-scale rapid prototyping, functional tests, multi-objective optimization, parts manufacturing and assembly. Thanks to this approach, the solar prototype presents high technological contents, especially in terms of materials, structures and processes, together with their optimizations. Furthermore, large CNC-machined multi-material molds, hybrid manufacturing solutions: everything was used to speed up phases permitting to move from the initial idea to the final prototype in 24 months. Since June 2018, the solar vehicle is on the road, transporting 4 people, weighing less than 300kg, reaching speeds of 120km/h and able to run hundreds of km without fuel

Towards a service system ontology for service science

Service Science is a new interdisciplinary approach to the study, design, implementation, and innovation of service systems. However due to the variety in service research, there is no consensus yet about the theoretical foundation of this domain. In this paper we clarify the service systems worldview proposed by Service Science researchers Spohrer and Kwan by investigating its foundational concepts from the perspective of established service theories and frameworks. By mapping the proposed service system concepts on the selected service theories and frameworks, we investigate their theoretical foundations, examine their proposed definitions and possible conflicting interpretations, discover their likely relationships and general structure, and identify a number of issues that need further discussion and elaboration. This analysis is visualised in a multi-view conceptual model (in the form of a UML class diagram) which we regard as a first step towards an explicitly and formally defined service system ontology

Dimensional Regularization of Topological Terms in Dilaton Gravity

The possibility of evading Lovelock's theorem at d = 4, via a singular redefinition of the dimensionless coupling of the Gauss-Bonnet term, has been extensively discussed in the cosmological context. The term is added as a quadratic contribution of the curvature tensor to the Einstein-Hilbert action, originating theories of "Einstein Gauss-Bonnet" (EGB) type. These studies are interlaced with those of the conformal anomaly effective action. We review some basic results concerning the structure of these actions, their conformal constraints around flat space and their relation to EGB theories. The local and nonlocal formulations of such effective actions are illustrated. This class of theories find applications in the seemingly unrelated context of topological materials, subjected to thermal and mechanical stress

Co-doped 1.3μm InAs Quantum Dot Lasers with high gain and low threshold current

The mechanism by which co-doping reduces threshold current in O-band Quantum dot lasers is examined, with n-type direct doping of the dots reducing threshold current and p-type modulation doping improving the temperature dependence of threshold current density, relative to undoped samples

1.3-μm InAs Quantum Dot Lasers with P-type modulation and direct N-type co-doping

O-band quantum dot lasers with co-doping reduce threshold current density relative to the undoped case, for 1mm long uncoated lasers from 245Acm-2 to 132Acm-2 at 27°C and 731Acm-2 to 312Acm-2 at 97°C. Improvements are also significant compared to lasers employing any one doping strategy

QCSE and carrier blocking in P-modulation doped InAs/InGaAs quantum dots

The quantum confined Stark effect in InAs/InGaAs QDs using an undoped and p-modulation doped active region was investigated. Doping potentially offers more than a 3x increase in figure of merit modulator performance up to 100°C