92 research outputs found

    Effectiveness of a training course on smoking cessation knowledge and behaviour for health profession students. The SISMA project

    Get PDF
    Introduction. University students are at risk of starting smoking or continuing and increasing the consumption of tobacco products. The aim of the study was to assess the impact of the training course, Sisma Project, about smoking in healthcare degree courses, in terms of knowledge, behaviour and to evaluate the course. Methods. SISMA project was a pre- post study about an intervention delivered to healthcare profession students about smoking and smoking cessation. It had a before-after design and was an online optional course available on the eLearning platform Moodle 2. The course was structured in four lessons of sixty minutes, a debate among experts and a final test of evaluation. The McNemar test was used to measure the effectiveness of Sisma on smoking behaviour of students after the intervention. Students rated the course assigning a score from one to ten, and expressed free comments about point of strength and weakness of Sisma project. Results. The participants were 365 students, 28.5% males and 71.5% females, most were nursing 194 (53.2%) and dental hygienists students 105 (28.8%). Current smokers were 161 (44.1%) before and 142 (38.9%) after the course, there was statistical significant difference in smoking status after attending the course (p < 0.001). Students evaluated the course giving a high score with a mean of 8.13 (SD: 1.1); the main points of strength were the content (33.2%), the structure (15.6%) and knowledge given by the course (12.6%). The main point of weakness were the online structure 62 (37%), problem related to length and time 17 (10%) and the final test 15 (9%). Discussion. Given the central role health professionals play in patient care, students need to be aware and trained in tobacco cessation techniques. Our results indicate that smoking behaviour significantly changed after attending a university course for smoking cessation and students appreciated its contents and structure

    The effect of temporal pattern of injury on disability in learning networks

    Get PDF
    How networks endure damage is a central issue in neural network research. This includes temporal as well as spatial pattern of damage. Here, based on some very simple models we study the difference between a slow-growing and acute damage and the relation between the size and rate of injury. Our result shows that in both a three-layer and a homeostasis model a slow-growing damage has a decreasing effect on network disability as compared with a fast growing one. This finding is in accord with clinical reports where the state of patients before and after the operation for slow-growing injuries is much better that those patients with acute injuries.Comment: Latex, 17 pages, 7 figures, 2 table

    Pd-Ir alloy as an anode material for borohydride oxidation

    Get PDF
    A Pd-Ir alloy (1:1) coated on microfibrous carbon (11 μm diameter) supported on a titanium plate was evaluated as an electrode for the anodic oxidation of borohydride. The hydrogen generated, due to the parallel reaction of borohydride hydrolysis, was measured during the electrolysis obtaining less than 0.1 cm 3 min -1 H 2 between -1 and 0 V vs. Hg/HgO (-0.86 and 0.14 V vs. SHE), while the current densities for the oxidation of borohydride were up to 367 mA cm -2 in 0.5 mol dm -3 NaBH 4 + 3 mol dm -3 NaOH. The low rate of hydrogen generation suggests that Pd-Ir could be a promising catalyst for borohydride oxidation. However, higher rates of hydrogen were generated at the open circuit potential, which is inconvenient in the direct borohydride fuel cell. Cyclic voltammetry allowed analysis of the oxidation peaks due to the borohydride oxidation. To obtain a further understanding of the borohydride oxidation mechanism at Pd-Ir electrodes, density functional theory (DFT) was used to examine the reaction mechanism at Pd 2 -Ir 1 (111) and Pd 2 -Ir 2 (111) surfaces. The competition between borohydride oxidation and hydrogen evolution on the Pd-Ir alloys is compared with that on pure Pd(111), suggesting that the presence of Ir favors borohydride oxidation rather than hydrogen evolution. © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

    High rate capabilities Fe3O4-based Cu nano-architectured electrodes for lithium-ion battery applications

    Get PDF
    All battery technologies are known to suffer from kinetic problems linked to the solid-state diffusion of Li in intercalation electrodes, the conductivity of the electrolyte in some cases and the quality of interfaces. For Li-ion technology the latter effect is especially acute when conversion rather than intercalation electrodes are used. Nano-architectured electrodes are usually suggested to enhance kinetics, although their realization is cumbersome. To tackle this issue for the conversion electrode material Fe3O4, we have used a two-step electrode design consisting of the electrochemically assisted template growth of Cu nanorods onto a current collector followed by electrochemical plating of Fe3O4. Using such electrodes, we demonstrate a factor of six improvement in power density over planar electrodes while maintaining the same total discharge time. The capacity at the 8C rate was 80% of the total capacity and was sustained over 100 cycles. The origin of the large hysteresis between charge and discharge, intrinsic to conversion reactions, is discussed and approaches to reduce it are proposed. We hope that such findings will help pave the way for the use of conversion reaction electrodes in future-generation Li-ion batteries
    • …
    corecore