Holstein magneto-polarons: from Landau levels to Hofstadter butterflies

We study the Holstein polaron in transverse magnetic field using non-perturbational methods. At strong fields and large coupling, we show that the polaron has a Hofstadter spectrum, however very distorted and of lower symmetry than that of a (heavier) bare particle. For weak magnetic fields, we identify non-perturbational behaviour of the Landau levels not previously known.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

A three person poncho and a set of maracas:designing Ola De La Vida, a co-located social play computer game

Events that bring people together to play video games as a social experience are growing in popularity across the western world. Amongst these events are ‘play parties,’ temporary social play environments which create unique shared play experiences for attendees unlike anything they could experience elsewhere. This paper explores co-located play experience design and proposes that social play games can lead to the formation of temporary play communities. These communities may last for a single gameplay session, for a whole event, or beyond the event. The paper analyses games designed or enhanced by social play contexts and evaluates a social play game, Ola de la Vida. The research findings suggest that social play games can foster community through the design of game play within the game itself, through curation which enhances their social potential, and through design for ‘semi-spectatorship’, which blurs the boundaries between player and spectator thus widening the game’s magic circle

Influence of Landscape Elements on Visual Design Elements in Order to Enhance the Visual Quality of Urban Spaces

Visual quality of urban spaces is an important component in the process of research and development of the physical structure of the built environment. It establishes a comfortable and satisfying experience for the community. A good visual image of urban space will lead to positive perceptions and meanings stimulating the community to produce a good reaction to its urban space. The purpose of this study is to extract the most effective landscape elements that affect the visual quality which contribute designers to make better decisions for designing urban spaces. From this point of view the paper aims to identify the landscape elements and the visual design element that enhance the visual quality of urban spaces. Then the paper will rank the most effective landscape elements according to their influence on the visual design elements from the experts (urban designer and architects) point of view to reach the main objective of the paper which is to create a prospected framework for the urban designer and architects to help them in future decisions in designing landscape elements that promote the visual quality of urban spaces

Influence of Landscape Elements on Visual Design Elements in Order to Enhance the Visual Quality of Urban Spaces

Visual quality of urban spaces is an important component in the process of research and development of the physical structure of the built environment. It establishes a comfortable and satisfying experience for the community. A good visual image of urban space will lead to positive perceptions and meanings stimulating the community to produce a good reaction to its urban space. The purpose of this study is to extract the most effective landscape elements that affect the visual quality which contribute designers to make better decisions for designing urban spaces. From this point of view the paper aims to identify the landscape elements and the visual design element that enhance the visual quality of urban spaces. Then the paper will rank the most effective landscape elements according to their influence on the visual design elements from the experts (urban designer and architects) point of view to reach the main objective of the paper which is to create a prospected framework for the urban designer and architects to help them in future decisions in designing landscape elements that promote the visual quality of urban spaces

Determinants of Diabetic Knowledge and Self-Efficacy and Their Associations with Diabetic Management in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes

BACKGROUND: Diabetic management and education are inadequate in Saudi Arabia. Diabetic knowledge and self-efficacy are believed to mediate the impact of diabetic education. The objective was to examine the association of diabetic knowledge and self-efficacy and their associations with diabetic self-management behaviors and control outcomes.  METHOD: A cross-sectional study among patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) receiving care at King Abdulaziz Medical City, Riyadh. Patients were interviewed using a detailed questionnaire covering sociodemographics, knowledge (29 questions), self-efficacy (16 questions), and diabetic self-management behaviors and outcomes. Scores corrected to 100-point scale for both knowledge and self-efficacy were calculated. Glycemic control has been abstracted from the patient chart. RESULTS: A total 160 patients gave consent and completed the study. Patients were 56.2% females with an average age of 49.9±14.7 years. The overall average (±SD) knowledge and self-efficacy scores were 65.4%±16.4% and 57.9±17.1%. There was a significant moderate positive correlation between overall knowledge and self-efficacy scores (r=0.486, p<0.001). Both knowledge and self-efficacy scores were associated with better self-monitoring of blood glucose, frequent checkup, controlled 2-hour blood glucose level, adherence to diabetic medications, appropriate diabetic diet, and doing regular exercise. CONCLUSION: The levels of knowledge and self-efficacy scores were moderate among a sample of Saudi patients with T2D. The current findings show the positive impact of and the need to better improve knowledge and self-efficacy among Saudi patients with T2D. Diabetic education offered to patients with T2D should focus more on self-efficacy. Keywords: Type 2 diabetes, self-efficacy, knowledge, management, Saudi Arabi

Health Assessment Tool for Undergraduate Nursing Students and Novice Instructors; Validity, Reliability and User Satisfaction

BACKGROUND: Available tools for health assessment course lack guidance to novice instructors, detailed performance checklists, and domain-specific information that takes into consideration the limited health experience and tight schedule of undergraduate nursing students. The researcher developed a health assessment tool, including student’s manual and instructor’s guide to help both students and novice instructors. OBJECTIVES: To assess the validity and reliability of the newly developed tool and to measure tool-related satisfaction among recently graduated nursing students and novice instructors. METHODS: A cross-sectional design was utilized in 2014. Face and content validity were assessed by experts (N=21). The reliability was examined by comparing the students’ marks (N=63) for health assessment skills, as assessed by two different experienced raters. The satisfactions of both students and novice instructors (N=7) were measured using two-different questionnaires that covered different aspects of the relevant manual. RESULTS: Experts had 90.8% positive score for face and content validity for the tool including laboratory evaluation. The tool was highly reliable in assessing of students’ skills during laboratory evaluation, with intraclass correlation of 0.99. Both students and novice instructors had high satisfaction level with their respective version of the tool (83% versus 91%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: The developed tool for health assessment course is highly valid, reliable, and satisfying both student and instructor expectations. Future studies are required to examine the effectiveness of the newly developed tool in improving the health assessment skills of the students and to assess how much of these skills are actually retained and practiced after clinical placement. Keywords: Health Assessment, manual, undergraduate education, Nursing, Validity, Saudi Arabi

STRESS AND COPING STRATEGIES AMONG PARENTS OF CHILDREN WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER

Having a child with autism is a major event that negatively affects families, and force families to re-evaluate its plans, goals, and relationships in light of restrictions and limitations associated with child's disability, and resultant stresses in parents and their efficiency in coping with these stresses. This study aimed to assess stress and coping strategies among parents of children with autistic disorder. A purposive sample of thirty Parents of Autistic Children was recruited from the Center for Social and Preventive Medicine (child psychiatry out-patient clinic) in Abou-El-Rish University Hospital. Three tools were used to conduct the current study, demographic and medical data sheet, parent stress scale and coping strategies scale. The results indicated that, sixty percent of the studied parents had moderate level of stress. The results also showed that, more than fifty percent were using seeking information, avoidance and denial coping strategies. And finally, the results indicated high positive and significant correlation and acceptable predictable relation between levels of stress and coping strategies. In conclusion, children with autism require lifelong provision, management and service coordination.&nbsp

SERVQUAL DIMENSION ANALYSIS AT HBKU STUDENTS HOUSING FACILITIES

In this competitive era, the improvement of any organization robustly relies on increasing their customer satisfaction about the provided services. It is more important to provide the customers with what they want especially in a case of students housing facilities at universities. For that, organizations need to start paying close attention to their customer voice and constantly work to meet their needs. The aim of this project is to assess the current level of the actual services delivered by HBKU students housing facilities against the level of importance of these services to the students. It also presents a review of current literature on SERVQUAL and how it is applicable to measure quality in the provision of services quality on housing and residential services. The purpose of this project is to determine the gap between the expectation and perception of student housing services provided by HBKU. It utilizes an instrument based on the SERVQUAL model. SERVQUAL is based on the premise that service quality can be measured between the gap that exists between what the customer expects and what they have perceived they have received. To collect primary research data, the questionnaire has been prepared based on the original SERVQUAL framework of 22 questions adapted with minor modifications to be more applicable to HBKU’s students housing facilities case. The survey has been completed by approximately 194 out of 622 iv the total number of students currently utilizing the student housing facility at HBKU. It is important for educational institutions to have deep insight into their students’ experiences. In addition, of contributing to current literature on the topic, the outcome of the project provides information and suggestions to HBKU HRL team so that it can improve its future services offering to students to enable it to bridge the gap between its students’ expectations and perceptions