The Blue Button Project: Engaging Patients in Healthcare by a Click of a Button

The Blue Button project has become a way for many Americans to download their health records by just a click in any way that suits them, such as in print, on a thumb drive, or on their mobile devices and smartphones. Several organizations have developed and applied Blue Buttons on their websites to allow beneficiaries to securely access and view personal medical information and claims. The purpose of this literature review is to highlight the significance of the Blue Button project in the field of health information management. Findings suggest that the project could empower and engage consumers and patients in a healthcare system by allowing access to medical records, thereby promoting better management and overall improvement of their healthcare. To date, the project has gained wide support from insurers, technology companies, and health providers despite the challenges of standardization and interoperability

Propagation Path Loss Modeling and Outdoor Coverage Measurements Review in Millimeter Wave Bands for 5G Cellular Communications

The global bandwidth inadequacy facing wireless carriers has motivated the exploration of the underutilized millimeter wave (mm-wave) frequency spectrum for future broadband cellular communication networks, and mmWave band is one of the promising candidates due to wide spectrum. This paper presents propagation path loss and outdoor coverage and link budget measurements for frequencies above 6 GHz (mm-wave bands) using directional horn antennas at the transmitter and omnidirectional antennas at the receiver. This work presents measurements showing the propagation time delay spread and path loss as a function of separation distance for different frequencies and antenna pointing angles for many types of real-world environments. The data presented here show that at 28 GHz, 38 GHz and 60 GHz, unobstructed Line of Site (LOS) channels obey free space propagation path loss while non-LOS (NLOS) channels have large multipath delay spreads and can utilize many different pointing angles to provide propagation links. At 60 GHz, there is more path loss and smaller delay spreads. Power delay profiles PDPs were measured at every individual pointing angle for each TX and RX location, and integrating each of the PDPs to obtain received power as a function of pointing angle. The result shows that the mean RMS delay spread varies between 7.2 ns and 74.4 ns for 60 GHz and 28 GHz respectively in NLOS scenario

Machine learning based lightweight interference mitigation scheme for wireless sensor network

The interference issue is most vibrant on low-powered networks like wireless sensor network (WSN). In some cases, the heavy interference on WSN from different technologies and devices result in life threatening situations. In this paper, a machine learning (ML) based lightweight interference mitigation scheme for WSN is proposed. The scheme detects and identifies heterogeneous interference like Wifi, bluetooth and microwave oven using a lightweight feature extraction method and ML lightweight decision tree. It also provides WSN an adaptive interference mitigation solution by helping to choose packet scheduling, Acknowledgement (ACK)-retransmission or channel switching as the best countermeasure. The scheme is simulated with test data to evaluate the accuracy performance and the memory consumption. Evaluation of the proposed scheme’s memory profile shows a 14% memory saving compared to a fast fourier transform (FFT) based periodicity estimation technique and 3% less memory compared to logistic regression-based ML model, hence proving the scheme is lightweight. The validation test shows the scheme has a high accuracy at 95.24%. It shows a precision of 100% in detecting WiFi and microwave oven interference while a 90% precision in detecting bluetooth interference

Exploring the effect of Internet marketing orientation, Learning Orientation and Market Orientation on innovativeness and performance: SME (exporters) perspectives

This study explores the relationship between Internet Marketing Orientation, Market Orientation, Learning Orientation, Innovation Capabilities and Performance. The study also investigates the role of Internet Marketing Orientation integration in the linkage between Market Orientation-Innovativeness and Learning Orientation-Innovativeness. From an analysis of usable survey data from 101 Bumiputera SMEs-Exporters, three dimensions of Market Orientation (Customer Focus, Inter-Functional Coordination, Information Dissemination), two dimensions of Learning Orientation (Shared Knowledge, and Vision and Commitment to Learning), one dimension of Internet Marketing Orientation and one dimension of Innovation Capabilities and Performance are extracted from the factor analysis results. The results of regression analysis show that Customer Focus, Shared Knowledge and Vision, and Internet Marketing Orientation directly influenced SMEs’ Innovation Capabilities. However, Internet Marketing Orientation is more influential in developing innovation capabilities among SMEs compared to others. While, Shared Knowledge and Vision is the crucial factor in enhancing the business performance among SME (exporters). The relationship among a firm's Internet Marketing Orientation, Learning Orientation, Market Orientation and Innovation Capabilities and Performance are considered a crucial research area in developing countries. The implications for Malaysian SMEs are discussed

Evaluating Teaching Performance in View of Learning and Innovation Skills among Saudi University Instructors

This novel study evaluated Saudi university instructors’ teaching performance at King Khalid University, College of Education, in view of learning and innovation skills from their students’ perspectives in postgraduate programs. The study adopted descriptive analytical method. A checklist of appropriate teaching performance was prepared in view of learning and innovation skills. Based on the checklist, an electronic questionnaire was prepared and distributed on line in the form of a five-point rating scale. The participants consisted of (136) male and female students, enrolled in master and doctoral programs in six majors. The study tool was applied during the academic year 2018/209AD. The results revealed that Saudi university instructors’ level of teaching performance was high with a rate of (78.8%), and there was no statistically significant difference at (0.05) between the level of teaching performance and the competence level, specified educationally at (80%) in overall performance. The results also indicated that there were no statistically significant differences at (0.05) within the instructors’ teaching performance degree in the light of learning and innovation skills regarding the demographic variables of the participants. Briefly, many applications are suggested for the university beneficiaries

The impact of board diversity on financial reporting quality in the GCC listed firms: the role of family and royal directors

The present study examines the impact of board diversity on financial reporting quality with special consideration of the extent to which family and royal directors influence financial reporting quality (FRQ). The study utilises a sample of 181 listed GCC firms over the period from 2010 to 2016. Board personal attributes, including board expertise, age, gender, and nationality are investigated along with some other board issues such as; board size, meetings, and independence. Panel data analysis with fixed and random effect models are conducted to estimate the results. The results reveal that companies with large board size and greater age have less FRQ. Further, the results report that institutional founders, higher board independence, and expertise associate with greater levels of FRQ. The results also find that board meetings and family founders negatively influence FRQ. However, female directors, foreign directors, and royal board members setting in the board did not contribute to the levels of FRQ in the sampled companies. Finally, the results indicate that companies with a CEO royal member have higher levels of FRQ however, companies with chair board royals have less levels of FRQ. This research has valuable implications for investors, board of directors, analysts, academicians, and policymakers

Distribution of two Pomacea spp. in rice fields of Peninsular Malaysia

Aim:This study aims to understand the distribution of Pomaceaspp. in various rice fields of Peninsular Malaysia. Place and Duration of study:The study was conducted at twenty five rice fieldsfrom five states in Peninsular Malaysia (Selangor, Perak, Penang, Kedah and Kelantan) during the sowing and harvesting of off rice season-2013. Methodology:This study was carried out on rice fields of one acre in size which were further divided into four blocks. A 0.5m2 quadrate was used for sampling and snails within the quad rate were collected, counted and identified based on their shell morphology by the experts. Results:Based on this study, Pomacea maculata was more abundant and widely distributed as compared to Pomacea canaliculata. Rice fields in Perak showed the highest population distribution of Pomacea spp. during both sowing and harvesting of rice. Meanwhile, the lowest population was observed in rice fields during the sowing of rice in Kelantan and during harvesting of rice in Kedah. Comparatively higher population of Pomacea spp. was recorded during sowing of rice than harvesting. No population of P. canaliculata was observed from the rice fields of Penang state. Water temperature, p Hand the number of rice seedlings does not have a significant effect on the distribution of Pomacea spp. Conclusion:The results from this study could help in an area wide management program against Pomaceaspp., not only to minimize their damage to rice but also to control their further spread

Novel quinazoline-based sulfonamide derivative (3D) induces apoptosis in colorectal cancer by inhibiting JAK2–STAT3 pathway

Introduction: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a major worldwide health problem owing to its high prevalence and mortality rate. Developments in screening, prevention, biomarker, personalized therapies and chemotherapy have improved detection and treatment. However, despite these advances, many patients with advanced metastatic tumors still succumb to the disease. New anticancer agents are needed for treating advanced stage CRC as most of the deaths occur due to cancer metastasis. A recently developed novel sulfonamide derivative 4-((2-(4-(dimethylamino) phenyl)quinazolin-4-yl)amino)benzenesulfonamide (3D) has shown potent antitumor effect; however, the mechanism underlying the antitumor effect remains unknown. Materials and methods: 3D-mediated inhibition on cell viability was evaluated by MTT and real-time cell proliferation was measured by xCelligence RTDP instrument. Western blotting was used to measure pro-apoptotic, anti-apoptotic proteins and JAK2-STAT3 phosphorylation. Flow cytometry was used to measure ROS production and apoptosis. Results: Our study revealed that 3D treatment significantly reduced the viability of human CRC cells HT-29 and SW620. Furthermore, 3D treatment induced the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in human CRC cells. Confirming our observation, N-acetylcysteine significantly inhibited apoptosis. This is further evidenced by the induction of p53 and Bax; release of cytochrome c; activation of caspase-9, caspase-7 and caspase-3; and cleavage of PARP in 3D-treated cells. This compound was found to have a significant effect on the inhibition of antiapoptotic proteins Bcl2 and BclxL. The results further demonstrate that 3D inhibits JAK2–STAT3 pathway by decreasing the constitutive and IL-6-induced phosphorylation of STAT3. 3D also decreases STAT3 target genes such as cyclin D1 and survivin. Furthermore, a combination study of 3D with doxorubicin (Dox) also showed more potent effects than single treatment of Dox in the inhibition of cell viability. Conclusion: Taken together, these findings indicate that 3D induces ROS-mediated apoptosis and inhibits JAK2–STAT3 signaling in CRC