Experiences of obesity among Saudi Arabian women contemplating bariatric surgery: An interpretative phenomenological analysis

This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final published article is available from the link below. Copyright @ 2013 The Authors.This study explored experiences of obesity, its perceived causes and motives for surgery, as described by seven Saudi women contemplating bariatric surgery. The women experienced cultural restrictions on their physical and social activities. Obesity embodied these restrictions, attracting stigma and moral failure. Traditional clothing, foods, hospitality norms and limited outdoor female activities were regarded as barriers to weight loss. Bariatric surgery was chosen to protect health and to access normative female roles. Some were encouraged by relatives who had undergone surgery. Opting for surgery reflected both participants’ sense of powerlessness to self-manage weight and the social acceptability, within their family context, of this biomedical approach

Metal Organic Frameworks as Promising High Surface Area Material for Work Function Gas Sensors

AbstractFloating gate FET (FGFET) gas sensors based on work function readout allows usage of a wide range of materials to be included as sensing materials. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are a new group of porous materials with extreme high inner surface area that have already shown high potential for applications in gas storage and separation, catalysis and sensing. In this work, MOFs are investigated for the first time with work function readout for gas sensing applications. The results demonstrate the high potential of MOFs for use as gas receptor materials in field- effect based gas sensors

A hybrid approach to recognising activities of daily living from object use in the home environment

Accurate recognition of Activities of Daily Living (ADL) plays an important role in providing assistance and support to the elderly and cognitively impaired. Current knowledge-driven and ontology-based techniques model object concepts from assumptions and everyday common knowledge of object use for routine activities. Modelling activities from such information can lead to incorrect recognition of particular routine activities resulting in possible failure to detect abnormal activity trends. In cases where such prior knowledge are not available, such techniques become virtually unemployable. A significant step in the recognition of activities is the accurate discovery of the object usage for specific routine activities. This paper presents a hybrid framework for automatic consumption of sensor data and associating object usage to routine activities using Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic modelling. This process enables the recognition of simple activities of daily living from object usage and interactions in the home environment. The evaluation of the proposed framework on the Kasteren and Ordonez datasets show that it yields better results compared to existing techniques

Combining Flexible Queries and Knowledge Anchors to facilitate the exploration of Knowledge Graphs

Semantic web and information extraction technologies are enabling the creation of vast information and knowledge repositories, particularly in the form of knowledge graphs comprising entities and the relationships between them. Users are often unfamiliar with the complex structure and vast content of such graphs. Hence, users need to be assisted by tools that support interactive exploration and flexible querying. In this paper we draw on recent work in flexible querying for graph-structured data and identifying good anchors for knowledge graph exploration in order to demonstrate how users can be supported in incrementally querying, exploring and learning from large complex knowledge graphs. We demonstrate our techniques through a case study in the domain of lifelong learning and career guidance

ACHIEVING NETWORK SECURITY WITH FIREWALLS

With the rapid increase in the number of LAN connections to the world's largest computer network (the Internet), new security techniques should be used to protect local networks against intrusion from the Internet. Basically, we need to prevent destruction of data by intruders, maintain the privacy of local information, and prevent unauthorized use of computing resources. To improve network security, network connections to the Internet, in general, do not take place transparently. Instead, firewall servers are used to protect the systems connected to the local network against assaults from the Internet. But, there is a price to pay, usually, because the firewall server results in a bottleneck for assaults from the Internet into the LAN as well as for allowed communication between the LAN and the Internet. In this paper, we will discuss how network security can be achieved via security and firewall design policies to satisfy deferent security requirements in order to protect computer networks against intrusion as they get connected to the Internet. We will also present some recommendations for achieving the security of networks using firewalls

Implementasi Model Siklus Belajar (Learning Cycle) untuk Meningkatkan Kualitas Proses dan Hasil Pembelajaran Mengelas dengan Gas Metal Siswa Kelas XII Sekolah Menengah Kejuruan Negeri 3 Makassar

Penelitian tindakan ini bertujuan mengimplementasikan model Siklus Belajar untuk meningkatkan kualitas proses pembelajaran dan hasil belajar mengelas dengan gas metal siswa kelas XII di SMK Negeri 3 Makassar. Masalah penelitian adalah 1) bagaimana cara agar melalui model siklus belajar dapat ditingkatkan proses pembelajaran mengelas dengan gas metal siswa kelas XII SMK Negeri 3 Makassar, dan 2) bagaimana cara agar melalui model siklus belajar dapat ditingkatkan hasil belajar mengelas dengan gas metal siswa kelas XII SMK Negeri 3 Makassar. Teknik analisis data yang digunakan adalah analisis statistik deskriptif. Hasil penelitian tindakan yang diperoleh adalah terjadi peningkatan kualitas proses pembelajaran siswa kelas XII semester 2 SMK Negeri 3 dari siklus I ke siklus II, meliputi: 1) aktivitas belajar semakin baik, 2) reliabilitas pengelolaan pembelajaran model siklus belajar sebesar 51%, 3) respon siswa terhadap pembelajaran sangat baik dan hasil belajar, yang meliputi (a) produk: sebesar 47 persen (ketuntasan individu) dan 55 persen (ketuntasan klasikal), (b) aspek afektif sebesar 30 persen, dan (c) aspek psikomotor 60 persen. Dengan demikian dengan mengimplementasikan model Siklus Belajar dapat meningkatkan kualitas proses pembelajaran dan hasil belajar mengelas dengan gas metal siswa kelas XII SMK Negeri 3 Makassar

A Process for Co-Designing Educational Technology Systems for Refugee Children

There is a growing interest in the potential for technology to facilitate emergency education of refugee children. However, designing in this space requires knowledge of the displaced population and the contextual dynamics surrounding it. Design should therefore be informed by both existing research across relevant disciplines, and from the practical experience of those who are on the ground facing the problem in real life. This paper describes a process for designing appropriate technology for these settings. The process draws on literature from emergency education, student engagement and motivation, educational technology, and participatory design. We emphasise a thorough understanding of the problem definition, the nature of the emergency, and of socio-cultural aspects that can inform the design process. We describe how this process was implemented leading to the design of a digital learning space for children living in a refugee camp in Greece. This drew on involving different groups of participants such as social-workers, parents, and children

MR-guided adaptive stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) of primary tumor for pain control in metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (mPDAC): an open randomized, multicentric, parallel group clinical trial (MASPAC)

BACKGROUND: Pain symptoms in the upper abdomen and back are prevalent in 80% of patients with metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (mPDAC), where the current standard treatment is a systemic therapy consisting of at least doublet-chemotherapy for fit patients. Palliative low-dose radiotherapy is a well-established local treatment option but there is some evidence for a better and longer pain response after a dose-intensified radiotherapy of the primary pancreatic cancer (pPCa). Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) can deliver high radiation doses in few fractions, therefore reducing chemotherapy-free intervals. However, prospective data on pain control after SBRT of pPCa is very limited. Therefore, we aim to investigate the impact of SBRT on pain control in patients with mPDAC in a prospective trial. METHODS: This is a prospective, double-arm, randomized controlled, international multicenter study testing the added benefit of MR-guided adaptive SBRT of the pPca embedded between standard of care-chemotherapy (SoC-CT) cycles for pain control and prevention of pain in patients with mPDAC. 92 patients with histologically proven mPDAC and at least stable disease after initial 8 weeks of SoC-CT will be eligible for the trial and 1:1 randomized in 3 centers in Germany and Switzerland to either experimental arm A, receiving MR-guided SBRT of the pPCa with 5 × 6.6 Gy at 80% isodose with continuation of SoC-CT thereafter, or control arm B, continuing SoC-CT without SBRT. Daily MR-guided plan adaptation intents to achieve good target coverage, while simultaneously minimizing dose to organs at risk. Patients will be followed up for minimum 6 and maximum of 18 months. The primary endpoint of the study is the “mean cumulative pain index” rated every 4 weeks until death or end of study using numeric rating scale. DISCUSSION: An adequate long-term control of pain symptoms in patients with mPDAC is an unmet clinical need. Despite improvements in systemic treatment, local complications due to pPCa remain a clinical challenge. We hypothesize that patients with mPDAC will benefit from a local treatment of the pPCa by MR-guided SBRT in terms of a durable pain control with a simultaneously favorable safe toxicity profile translating into an improvement of quality-of-life. TRIAL REGISTRATION: German Registry for Clinical Trials (DRKS): DRKS00025801. Meanwhile the study is also registered at ClinicalTrials.gov with the Identifier: NCT05114213

Unknotting night-time muscle cramp: a survey of patient experience, help-seeking behaviour and perceived treatment effectiveness

Background: Night-time calf cramping affects approximately 1 in 3 adults. The aim of this study was to explore the experience of night-time calf cramp; if and where people seek treatment advice; and perceived treatment effectiveness. Methods: 80 adults who experienced night-time calf cramp at least once per week were recruited from the Hunter region, NSW, Australia through newspaper, radio and television advertisements. All participants completed a pilot-tested survey about muscle cramp. Quantitative data were analysed with independent-sample t-tests, Chi square tests and Fisher’s tests. Qualitative data were transcribed and sorted into categories to identify themes. Results: Median recalled age of first night-time calf cramp was 50 years. Most participants recalled being awoken from sleep by cramping, and experiencing cramping of either calf muscle, calf-muscle soreness in the days following cramp and cramping during day-time. Despite current therapies, mean usual pain intensity was 66 mm on a 100 mm visual analogue scale. Participants described their cramps as being ‘unbearable’, ‘unmanageable’ and ‘cruel’. One participant stated that ‘sometimes I just wish I could cut my legs open’ and another reported ‘getting about 2h sleep a night due to cramps’. Most participants had sought advice about their night-time calf cramps from a health professional. Participants identified 49 different interventions used to prevent night-time calf cramp. Of all treatment ratings, 68% described the intervention used to prevent cramp as being ‘useless’ or of ‘a little help’. Of 14 participants who provided additional information regarding their use of quinine, eight had a current prescription of quinine for muscle cramp at the time of the survey. None had been asked by their prescribing doctor to stop using quinine. Conclusion: Night time calf cramps typically woke sufferers from sleep, affected either leg and caused ongoing pain. Most participants experienced little or no relief with current therapies used to prevent muscle cramp. Most people who were taking quinine for muscle cramp were unaware that the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration withdrew support of quinine for muscle cramp in 2004 due to the risk of thrombocytopaenia. Case-control studies are required to identify therapeutic targets so that clinical trials can evaluate safe interventions to prevent recurrent cramp