A-optimal designs for an additive quadratic mixture model

Quadratic models are widely used in the analysis of experiments involving mixtures. This paper gives A-optimal designs for an additive quadratic mixture model for q ≥ 3 mixture components. It is proved that in these A-optimal designs, vertices of the simplex S q-1 are support points, and other support points shift gradually from barycentres of depth 1 to barycentres of depth 3 as q increases. A-optimal designs with minimal support are also discussed.published_or_final_versio

Optimal designs for an additive quadratic mixture model involving the amount of mixture

This paper is concerned with D- and A-optimal designs for a quadratic additive model for experiments with mixtures, in which the response depends not only on the relative proportions but also on the actual amounts of the mixture components. It is found that the origin and vertices of the simplex are support points of these optimal designs, and when the number of mixture components increases, other support points shift gradually from barycentres of depth 1 to barycentres of higher depths. It is shown that the D-optimal designs have high efficiency in terms of A-optimality, and vice versa.published_or_final_versio

"Who are our support networks?" A qualitative study of informal support for carers

There is little information about the types of social support and content of assistance for informal carers. This article aims to fill this knowledge gap by studying 37 informal carers in a region of the UK. It was found that adult children were the main source of support for older carers regardless of ethnic backgrounds, minority ethnic carers supported their husband to fulfill traditional caring duties by taking care of mother-in-law in the same household. Young carers received support mainly from uncles and aunts to look after sick parents while adult carers obtained information and peer support from the internet. Surprisingly, support from neighbors was limited. Additionally, social support for carers was undermined by the stigmatization of drug and alcohol misuse and mental illness. It is proposed that different types of online support services and appropriate educational programs need to be offered to carers to set up self-help groups and tackle stigmatization associated with health problems. It is suggested that future studies can use a large representative sample to give a comprehensive picture on the contents of informal support for different types of caregivers and the impact of social support on helping informal carers to fulfill their duties

A Mobile App Platform for Discovering Learning Profiles and Analytics

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Brief advice and active referral for smoking cessation services among community smokers: a study protocol for randomized controlled trial

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Brief intervention to promote smoking cessation and improve glycemic control in smokers with type 2 diabetes: a randomized controlled trial

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The Temporal Experience of Pleasure Scale (TEPS) : exploration and confirmation of factor structure in a healthy Chinese sample

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Paternal smoking and maternal protective behaviors at home on infant’s saliva cotinine levels

BackgroundWe investigated the association between paternal smoking, avoidance behaviors and maternal protective actions and smoke-free home rules with infant's saliva cotinine in Hong Kong.MethodsSix hundred and seventy-five non-smoking mothers (mean age 32.6 years) who attended the maternal-child health clinics with their newborns aged ≤18 months completed a questionnaire about paternal smoking and avoidance behaviors, maternal protective actions, smoke-free rules at home, and infant's second-hand smoke (SHS) exposure. Three hundred and eighty-nine infants provided saliva sample and its cotinine was tested.ResultsThe geometric mean of infant's saliva cotinine was 1.07 ng/ml (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.98, 1.16). Infants living in smoking families with SHS exposure had significantly higher cotinine level than in non-smoking families (adjusted β=0.25, 95% CI: 0.16, 0.33). Paternal smoking near infants (within 1.5 m) was associated with higher cotinine level (adjusted β=0.60, 95% CI: 0.22, 0.98), which was not reduced by avoidance behaviors (e.g., smoking in kitchen or balcony). Even fathers smoking ≥3 m away from infants was associated with higher cotinine level than non-smoking families (adjusted β=0. 09, 95% CI: 0.01, 0.16). Maternal protective actions and smoke-free home rules were not significantly associated with reduced cotinine level.ConclusionPaternal smoking avoidance, maternal protective actions, and smoke-free policy at home did not reduce infant's saliva cotinine.Pediatric Research advance online publication, 13 December 2017; doi:10.1038/pr.2017.279

Association between employer’s knowledge and attitude towards smoking cessation and voluntary promotion in workplace: a survey study

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