Search results for: clinical communication

Authors: Lauren Dhugga, Meena Parameswaran, David Blundell, Abbas Khushnood

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Context: A multidisciplinary weekly safety briefing was implemented at the Paediatric Cardiothoracic Unit at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. It is a tertiary referral centre with a quarternary cardiac paediatric intensive care unit and provides complexed care including heart and lung transplants, mechanical support and advanced heart failure assessment. Aim: The aim of this briefing is to provide a structured platform of communication, in an effort to improve efficiency, safety, and patient care. Problem: The paediatric cardiothoracic unit is made up of a vast multidisciplinary team including doctors, intensivists, anaesthetists, surgeons, specialist nurses, echocardiogram technicians, physiotherapists, psychologists, dentists, and dietitians. It provides care for children with congenital and acquired cardiac disease and is one of only two units in the UK to offer paediatric heart transplant. The complexity of cases means that there can be many teams involved in providing care to each patient, and frequent movement of children between ward, high dependency, and intensive care areas. Currently, there is no structured forum for communicating important information across the department, for example, staffing shortages, prescribing errors and significant events. Strategy: An initial survey questioning the need for better communication found 90% of respondents agreed that they could think of an incident that had occurred due to ineffective communication, and 85% felt that incident could have been avoided had there been a better form of communication. Lastly, 80% of respondents felt that a weekly 60 second safety briefing would be beneficial to improve communication within our multidisciplinary team. Based on those promising results, a weekly 60 second safety briefing was implemented to be conducted on a Monday morning. The safety briefing covered four key areas (SAFE): staffing, awareness, fix and events. This was to highlight any staffing gaps, any incident reports to be learned from, any issues that required fixing and any events including teachings for the week ahead. The teams were encouraged to email suggestions or issues to be raised for the week or to approach in person with information to add. The safety briefing was implemented using change theory. Effect: The safety briefing has been trialled over 6 weeks and has received a good buy in from staff across specialties. The aim is to embed this safety briefing into a weekly meeting using the PDSA cycle. There will be a second survey in one month to assess the efficacy of the safety briefing and to continue to improve the delivery of information. The project will be presented at the next clinical governance briefing to attract wider feedback and input from across the trust. Lessons: The briefing displays promise as a tool to improve vigilance and communication in a busy multi-disciplinary unit. We have learned about how to implement quality improvement and about the culture of our hospital - how hierarchy influences change. We demonstrate how to implement change through a grassroots process, using a junior led briefing to improve the efficiency, safety, and communication in the workplace.

Keywords: briefing, communication, safety, team

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Authors: Inayah Hidayati

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Innovation in communication technology has opened up opportunities for student to migrate and study abroad. The increasing number of Indonesian students migrating to study abroad suggests the importance of understanding the reason underline their movements. Objective: This research aims to explain the migration decision-making process of Indonesian student migrants in Europe. In detail, this research will consider the innovation in communication technology in the migration decision-making process of students who emigrated from Indonesia and how they use that in the context of the migration decision-making process. Methods: The data collected included qualitative data from in-depth interviews. An interview guide was formulated to facilitate the in-depth interviews and generate a better understanding of migration behavior. Expectation: 1). Innovation in communication technology help Indonesian student migrants on migration decision making process. 2). Student migrants use communication technology platforms for searching information about destination area. Result: Student migrant in Europe use their communication technology platforms to gain information before they choose that country for study. They use WhatsApp and LINE to making contact with their friends and colleagues in the destination country. WhatsApp and LINE group help Indonesian student to get information about school and daily life.

Keywords: international migration, student, decision making process, communication technology platforms

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Authors: Jinan Fiaidhi, Hashmath Shaik

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Breaking the barrier for practicing evidence-based medicine relies on effective methods for rapidly identifying relevant evidence from the body of biomedical literature. An important challenge confronted by medical practitioners is the long time needed to browse, filter, summarize and compile information from different medical resources. Deep learning can help in solving this based on automatic question answering (Q&A) and transformers. However, Q&A and transformer technologies are not trained to answer clinical queries that can be used for evidence-based practice, nor can they respond to structured clinical questioning protocols like PICO (Patient/Problem, Intervention, Comparison and Outcome). This article describes the use of deep learning techniques for Q&A that are based on transformer models like BERT and GPT to answer PICO clinical questions that can be used for evidence-based practice extracted from sound medical research resources like PubMed. We are reporting acceptable clinical answers that are supported by findings from PubMed. Our transformer methods are reaching an acceptable state-of-the-art performance based on two staged bootstrapping processes involving filtering relevant articles followed by identifying articles that support the requested outcome expressed by the PICO question. Moreover, we are also reporting experimentations to empower our bootstrapping techniques with patch attention to the most important keywords in the clinical case and the PICO questions. Our bootstrapped patched with attention is showing relevancy of the evidence collected based on entropy metrics.

Keywords: automatic question answering, PICO questions, evidence-based medicine, generative models, LLM transformers

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Authors: Luziane De Fatima Kirchner, Maria De Jesus Dutra Dos Reis, Francine Nathalie Ferraresi Rodrigues Queluz

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This study evaluated the effect of two components of analytic-behavioral intervention (1-management of conditions of the physical environment, 2-management of the interpersonal relationship) of women with fibromyalgia (FM), besides Clinical Significance and Reliable Change at the end of the intervention. Self-report instruments were used to evaluate stress, anxiety, depression, social skills and disability due to pain and Cortisol Awakening Response (CAR). Four women with a medical diagnosis of FM (mean age 52.7; sd = 6.65), participated of the following procedures: initial evaluation, 10 sessions of component 1, intermediate evaluation, 10 sessions of component 2, and final evaluation. The 20 sessions were effective, with positive changes in the scores of all the self-report instruments, highlighting the results of the stress symptoms that had improvement in the intermediate evaluation. There was, however, no change in the cortisol response on awakening. The Clinical Significance or Reliable Change observed, according to the scores of the stress, anxiety, depression and social skills instruments, corroborated the reports of the participants in the session and the objectives of the treatment. Implications for future studies are discussed, above all, the importance in conducting evaluations with the use of direct measures together with self-report measures.

Keywords: behavioral intervention, clinical significance, fibromyalgia, reliable change

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Authors: Ramya Rathan, Miral N. F. Salama

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The variations in the arteries have been drawing attention of anatomists for a long time because of their clinical significance. The brachial artery is the principal artery of the arm which is the continuation of the axillary artery from the lower border of the Teres Major. It terminates into the radial and ulnar arteries below the elbow joint at the neck radius. The present study aims at exploring the clinical significance of the high termination of the brachial artery. During the routine cadaveric dissection of the arm, for the undergraduate students of medicine at our university, we observed a high bifurcation of the radial and the ulnar artery at the midshaft of the humerus. The median nerve was seen passing between these two junctions. Further, the course and the relations of this artery were studied. The accurate knowledge regarding these kinds of variation in the blood vessels is mandatory for planning of designing. General physicians, surgeons and radiologists should keep in mind the variations in the branching pattern of the arteries in their daily medical, diagnostic and therapeutic procedures to avoid complications in diagnostic and surgical procedures.

Keywords: brachial artery, high termination, radial artery, ulnar artery

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Authors: Promise Ufomadu, Edgar Rodriguez, Grace Lee

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Cutaneous Leishmaniasis (CL) is an infection caused by a variety of Leishmania species which are protozoan organisms that are typically carried by sandflies found in tropical regions. The parasite causes skin lesions that may resolve spontaneously but commonly become chronic and therefore necessitate thorough clinical attention. We present a 15-year-old female patient with CL of her bilateral dorsal hands, which resolved after a 28-day course of miltefosine. This case details the significance of compiling a thorough patient history and considering CL as a possible differential in patients from endemic regions.

Keywords: leishmaniasis, infection, immigrant, parasites, pediatrics

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Authors: Sireen Irsheid, Stephanie Keeney Parks, Michael A. Lindsey

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The medical and mental health field have been organized as reactive systems to respond to symptoms of mental health problems and disability. This becomes problematic particularly for those harmed by structural violence and racism, typically pushing us in the direction of alleviating symptoms and personalizing structural problems. The current paper examines how we assess, diagnose, and treat mental health and disability challenges in clinical spaces. We provide the readers with some context to think about the problem of racism and mental health/disability, ways to deconstruct the problem through the lens of structural violence, and recommendations to critically engage in clinical assessments, diagnosis, and treatment for young people impacted by structural violence and racism.

Keywords: mental health, disability, race and ethnicity, structural violence, structural racism, young people

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Authors: Varvara Tyurina

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In the age of globalization Internet communication as a new format of interactions have become an integral part of our daily routine. Internet environment allows for new conditions and provides participants to a communication act with extra communication tools which can be used on Internet forums or in chat rooms. As a result communicants tend to alternate their behavior patterns in contrast to those practiced in live communication. It is not yet clear which communication strategies participants to Internet communication abide by and what determines their choices. Given the continually changing environment of a forum or a chat the behavior of a communicant can be interpreted in terms of autopoiesis theory which sees adaptation as the major tool for coexistence between the living system and its niche. Each communication act is seen as interaction between the communicant (i.e. the living system) and the overall environment of the forum (i.e. the niche) rather than one particular interlocutor. When communicating via the Internet participants are believed to aim at reaching a balance between themselves and the environment of a forum or a chat. The research focuses on unveiling the adaptation strategies employed by a communicant in particular cases and looks into the reasons they are employed. There is a correlation between language faculty of the communicants and the strategies they opt for when communicating on Internet forums and in chat rooms. The research included an experiment with a sample of Russian-English asymmetric bilinguals aged 16-25. Respondents were given two texts of equivalent contents, but of different language complexity. They had to respond to the texts as if they were making a reciprocal comment at a forum. It has been revealed that when communicants realize that their language faculty is not sufficient to understand the initial text they tend to amend their communication strategy in order to maintain the balance with the niche (remain involved in the communication). Most common strategies for responding to a difficult-to-understand text were self-presentation, veiling poor language faculty and response evasion. The research has so far focused on a very narrow aspect of correlation between language faculty and communication behavior, namely the syntactic and lexicological complexity of initial texts. It is essential to conduct a series of experiments that dwell on other characteristics of the texts to determine the range of cases when language faculty determines the choice of adaptation strategy.

Keywords: adaptation, communication strategies, internet communication, verbal interaction, autopoiesis theory

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Authors: Kefayatullah Wahidi

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This article examines the challenges and opportunities of intercultural communication in Afghanistan. Afghanistan, with its ancient history and location on the Silk Road, connects the great civilizations of the world. This country holds a sensitive strategic and geopolitical position in the Middle East. In Afghanistan, various ethnic groups live, each with distinct linguistic, religious, and racial cultures. In today's world, elements such as identity, religion, and culture form the main components of international political relations. In some cases, these factors can even overshadow the materialistic and self-interest-driven aspects of international relations. Therefore, we used a qualitative case study method (using interviews) for this research. In this context, we attempted to discuss the issues and problems related to the challenges and opportunities of intercultural communication, with the participation of a sample of 12 Afghan people. The findings of this research show that Afghanistan is facing many challenges in the field of intercultural communication. Cultural dissatisfaction, linguistic and religious differences, and cultural sanctions are among the major challenges that can cause tensions and a lack of mutual understanding. At the same time, intercultural communication is an opportunity to increase mutual understanding, cultural exchange, and constructive interactions. Please note that I have made some minor edits for clarity and grammar, but the overall content remains the same.

Keywords: cultural dissatisfactions, language differences, intercultural communication, Afghanistan

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Authors: Boudene Maamar, Xu Mai

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Optical Intersatellite Links (OISLs) are wireless communications using optical signals to interconnect satellites. It is expected to be the next generation wireless communication technology according to its inherent characteristics like: an increased bandwidth, a high data rate, a data transmission security, an immunity to interference, and an unregulated spectrum etc. Optical space links are the best choice for the classical communication schemes due to its distinctive properties; high frequency, small antenna diameter and lowest transmitted power, which are critical factors to define a space communication. This paper discusses the development of free space technology and analyses the parameters and factors to establish a reliable intersatellite links using an optical signal to exchange data between satellites.

Keywords: optical intersatellite links, optical wireless communications, free space optical communications, next generation wireless communication

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Authors: Marina Laškarin, Vlado Galičić

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Quick adoption of e-business and emerging influence of “Electronic Word of Mouth e-WOM” communication on guests made leading hotel brands successful examples of electronic guest relationship management. Main reasons behind such success are well established procedures in collection, analysis and usage of highly valuable data available on the Internet, generated through some form of e-GRM programme. E-GRM is more than just a technology solution. It’s a system which balance respective guest demands, hotel technological capabilities and organizational culture of employees, discharging the universal approach in guest relations “same for all”. The purpose of this research derives from the necessity of determining the importance of monitoring and applying e-WOM communication as one of the methods used in managing guest relations. This paper analyses and compares different hotelier’s opinions on e-WOM communication.

Keywords: brand loyalty, e-WOM communication, GRM programmes, organizational culture

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Authors: Yasmin Tantawi, Mary Beth Rosson

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In response to the dearth of information about emoji use for different purposes in different settings, this paper investigates the paralinguistic function of emojis within Twitter communication in the United States. To conduct this investigation, the Twitter feeds from 16 population centers spread throughout the United States were collected from the Twitter public API. One hundred tweets were collected from each population center, totaling to 1,600 tweets. Tweets containing emojis were next extracted using the “emot” Python package; these were then analyzed via the IBM Watson API Natural Language Understanding module to identify the topics discussed. A manual content analysis was then conducted to ascertain the paralinguistic and emotional features of the emojis used in these tweets. We present our characterization of emoji usage in Twitter and discuss implications for the design of Twitter and other text-based communication tools.

Keywords: computer-mediated communication, content analysis, paralinguistics, sociology

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Authors: Emna Abid, Linda Chebbi, Yosra Mabrouk, Amel Labidi, Lamia Mansour

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Werner syndrome (WS) is a rare genetic disorder inherited in an autosomal recessive pattern characterized by accelerated aging. While extensive research has been conducted on its systemic manifestations, the specific dental implications of WS remain poorly understood. The medical history and the oral health status of two patients diagnosed with WS were detailed. Our findings revealed a high prevalence of dental problems in both patients, including periodontitis, xerostomia, and temporomandibular joint disorders. This article aims to investigate the dental challenges faced by individuals with WS as well as the prosthetic options envisaged through two clinical cases contributing to a deeper understanding of the dental implications of WS and to choose the appropriate prosthetic solution in this population. Future research should focus on larger scale studies and clinical trials to validate these proposed strategies.

Keywords: adult progeria, clinical symptoms, oral manifestations, dental care, prosthetic management

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Authors: Pisit Potjanajaruwit

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TThe research objective was to study the integrated marketing communication strategy that is affecting the student’s decision making to study at Rajabhat University in Thailand. This research is a quantitative research. The sampling for this study is the first year students of Rajabhat University for 400 sampling. The data collection is made by a questionnaire. The data analysis by the descriptive statistic include frequency, percentage, mean and standardization and influence statistic as the multiple regression. The results show that integrated marketing communication including the advertising, public relation, sale promotion is important and significant with the student’s making decision in terms of brand awareness and brand recognized. The university scholar and word of mouth have an impact on decision-making of the student. The direct marketing such as Facebook also relate to the student decision. In addition, we found that the marketing communication budget, university brand positioning and university mission have the direct effect on the marketing communication.

Keywords: decision making of higher education, integrated marketing communication, rajabhat university, social media

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Authors: Seung-Jun Yu, Young-Min Ko, Hyoung-Kyu Song

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Recently developed cooperative diversity scheme enables a terminal to get transmit diversity through the support of other terminals. However, most of the introduced cooperative schemes have a common fault of decreased transmission rate because the destination should receive the decodable compositions of symbols from the source and the relay. In order to achieve high data rate, we propose a cooperative scheme that employs hierarchical modulation. This scheme is free from the rate loss and allows seamless cooperative communication.

Keywords: cooperative communication, hierarchical modulation, high data rate, transmission scheme

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Authors: Olayinka Risiquat Raimi

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FOS was produced from FTase of Aspergillus niger. HPLC analysis showed 32.24%. Consisting of 28.57% ketose and 4.67% nystose. Effects of FOS were studied on 12 weeks old albino rats. All animals survived until scheduled euthanasia. A low incidence of clinical sign and no toxicological effect were observed. Male rats fed with 2500mg/kg fructooligosaccharides had the highest weight. Male and female rat showed a significant increase in weight from first week to the fifth week. All haematological parameters examined were normal in male and female rats. Mean haematological and haemoglobin values for 2500mg/kg bw FOS fed male rats were the highest. Clinical chemistry test, glucose, albumin, and cholesterol were within normal laboratory values for a rat. The mean glucose value was lower for FOS fed male and female rats compared to those fed with honey and 60% sucrose. Gross necropsy observation showed no remarkable internal gross abnormalities for any of the animals.

Keywords: fructooligosaccharide, white albino rat, haematology values, clinical chemistry values

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Authors: Mohammed S. Mohammed, Asmaa M. S. Mohammed

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Background: To achieve the quality of cancer care, the oncologic academic programs should be continuously developed with establishing new ones. We highlighted three disciplines, Clinical nutrition, medical biophysics and radiobiology and Psycho-oncology programs; without a doubt, the Egyptian National Cancer Institute, in ‎the accreditation era, will be establishing them ‎ due to their importance in improving the skills of cancer practitioners. Methods: The first suggested program in Clinical Nutrition that is dealing with the assessment of the patient's well-being before, during and after treatment to avoid the defects in the metabolism resulting from the cancer disease and its treatment by giving the supplements in the patient's diet. The second program is Medical Biophysics and Radiobiology, which there's no denying that it ‎is ‎provided ‎in Cairo University as a good program in the faculty of science but lacks the clinical ‎practice. Hence, it is probably better to establish this program in our institute to ‎improve the ‎practitioner skills and introduce a tailored radiation therapy regimen for every patient according to ‎their characteristic profile.‎ While patients are receiving their treatment, the risk of post-traumatic stress disorder arises, so the importance of the third program, Psycho-Oncology, is clearly obtained. This program is concerned with the psychological, social, behavioral, and ethical aspects of cancer. The area of multi-disciplinary interest has boundaries with the major specialties in oncology: the clinical disciplines (surgery, medicine, pediatrics, and radiotherapy), epidemiology, immunology, endocrinology, biology, pathology, bioethics, palliative care, rehabilitation medicine, clinical trials research and decision making, as well as psychiatry and psychology. Results: It is a prospective academic plan which is compatible with the institutional vision and its strategic plan. Conclusion: In this context, evaluating and understanding the suggested academic programs has become a mandatory part of cancer care. And it is essential to be provided by the NCI.

Keywords: clinical nutrition, psycho-oncology, medical biophysics and radiobiology, medical education

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Authors: Omer Ibrahim Abdallh Omer

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Cancer patients often face complex medication regimens, leading to challenges in treatment adherence and clinical outcomes. Pharmacist-led medication therapy management (MTM) has emerged as a potential solution to optimize medication use and improve patient outcomes in oncology settings. In this prospective intervention study, we aimed to evaluate the impact of pharmacist-led MTM on treatment adherence and clinical outcomes among cancer patients. Participants were randomized to receive either pharmacist-led MTM or standard care, with assessments conducted at baseline and follow-up visits. Pharmacist interventions included medication reconciliation, adherence counseling, and personalized care plans. Our findings reveal that pharmacist-led MTM significantly improved medication adherence rates and clinical outcomes compared to standard care. Patients receiving pharmacist interventions reported higher satisfaction levels and perceived value in pharmacist involvement in their cancer care. These results underscore the critical role of pharmacists in optimizing medication therapy and enhancing patient-centered care in oncology settings. Integration of pharmacist-led MTM into routine cancer care pathways holds promise for improving treatment outcomes and quality of life for cancer patients.

Keywords: cancer, medications adherence, medication therapy management, pharmacist

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Authors: Mahdi Asghari Ozma, Fatemeh Aghamohammadzadeh, Mahin Ahangar Oskouee

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In late 2019, the people of the world were involved with a new infection by the coronavirus, named SARS-COV-2 (COVID-19), which disseminated around the world quickly. This infection has the ability to affect various systems of the body, including respiratory, gastrointestinal, urinary, and hematology, which can be transmitted by various body samples in different ways. To control this fast-transmitted infection by preventing its transmission to other people, rapid diagnosis is vital, which can be done by examining the patient's clinical symptoms and also using various serological, molecular, and radiological methods. Symptoms caused by COVID-19 in patients include fever, cough, sore throat, headache, fatigue, shortness of breath, loss of taste or smell, skin rash, myalgia, and conjunctivitis. These clinical features were appearing gradually in different time periods from the onset of the infection, and patients showed varied and new symptoms at different times, which show the variety of symptoms over time during the spread of the infection.

Keywords: COVID-19, diagnosis, symptom, variation, novel coronavirus

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Authors: Shih-Hao Chen, Chi-Wai Chow

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Visible light communication combined with spread spectrum modulation is demonstrated in this study. Differential signaling method also ensures the proposed system that can support high immunity to ambient light interference. Experiment result shows the proposed system has 6 dB gain comparing with the original On-Off Keying modulation scheme.

Keywords: Visible Light Communication (VLC), Spread Spectrum Modulation (SSM), On-Off Keying, visible light communication

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Authors: Matthieu-P. Schapranow

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Recruitment of participants for clinical trials requires the screening of a big number of potential candidates, i.e. the testing for trial-specific inclusion and exclusion criteria, which is a time-consuming and complex task. Today, a significant amount of time is spent on identification of adequate trial participants as their selection may affect the overall study results. We introduce a unique patient eligibility metric, which allows systematic ranking and classification of candidates based on trial-specific filter criteria. Our web application enables real-time analysis of patient data and assessment of candidates using freely definable inclusion and exclusion criteria. As a result, the overall time required for identifying eligible candidates is tremendously reduced whilst additional degrees of freedom for evaluating the relevance of individual candidates are introduced by our contribution.

Keywords: in-memory technology, clinical trials, screening, eligibility metric, data analysis, clustering

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Authors: Pedram Behyar, Zahra Bayat

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The internet and web are changing ways of “far reaching scope and potential for transformation of the marketing functions”. The web is developing in a faster rate than any previous new communication medium. The website of destination has become a crucial branding channel, that is why all businesses are changing their way to communicate with their customers to encounter their needs and wants in better ways. Website provides numerous opportunities for businesses to strengthen their relationship with their customers. One of these opportunities is website component that enables internet users to make two-way communication with the businesses.

Keywords: marketing communication, brand image, usability, privacy and security, personalization and customization, responsiveness, customer online web experience

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Authors: Traci A. Hefner

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Limited research exists on the readiness of emergency departments to respond to human trafficking (HT). The purpose of this qualitative case study was to improve the readiness of a Department of Emergency Medicine (ED), located in the southeast region of the United States, in identifying, assessing, and responding to trafficked individuals. The research objectives were to 1) provide an organizing framework to understand the ED’s readiness to respond to HT, using the Transtheoretical Model’s stages of change construct, 2) explain the readiness of the ED through a three-pronged contextual approach that included policies and procedures, patient data collection processes, and clinical practice methods, and 3) develop recommendations to respond to HT. Content analysis was used for document reviews and on-site observations, while thematic analysis identified themes of staff perceptions of the ED’s readiness in interviews of over 30 clinical and non-clinical healthcare professionals. Results demonstrated low levels of readiness to identify HT through the ED’s policies and procedures, data collection processes, and clinical practice methods. Clinical practice-related factors consisted of limited awareness of HT warning signs and low-levels of knowledge about community resources for possible HT referrals. Policy and practice recommendations to increase the ED’s readiness to respond to HT included: developing staff trainings across the ED system to enhance awareness of HT warning signs, incorporating HT into current policies and procedures for vulnerable patient populations as well as creating a HT protocol that addresses policies and procedures, screening tools, and community referrals.

Keywords: emergency medicine, human trafficking, organizational assessment, stages of change

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Authors: Shahzamani Kiana, Esmaeil Lashgarian Hamed, Merat Shahin

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HCV and GBV-C belong to the Flaviviridae family of viruses and GBV-C is the closest virus to HCV genetically. Accumulative research is in progress all over the world to clarify clinical aspects of GBV-C. Possibility of interaction between HCV and GBV-C and also its consequence with other liver diseases are the most important clinical aspects which encourage researchers to develop a technique for simultaneous detection of these viruses. In this study a SYBR Green multiplex real time RT-PCR technique as a new economical and sensitive method was optimized for simultaneous detection of HCV/GBV-C in HCV positive plasma samples. After designing and selection of two pairs of specific primers for HCV and GBV-C, SYBR Green Real time RT-PCR technique optimization was performed separately for each virus. Establishment of multiplex PCR was the next step. Finally our technique was performed on positive and negative plasma samples. 89 cirrhotic HCV positive plasma samples (29 of genotype 3 a and 27 of genotype 1a) were collected from patients before receiving treatment. 14% of genotype 3a and 17.1% of genotype 1a showed HCV/GBV-C co-infection. As a result, 13.48% of 89 samples had HCV/GBV-C co-infection that was compatible with other results from all over the world. Data showed no apparent influence of HGV co-infection on the either clinical or virological aspect of HCV infection. Furthermore, with application of multiplex Real time RT-PCR technique, more time and cost could be saved in clinical-research settings.

Keywords: HCV, GBV-C, cirrhotic patients, multiplex real time RT- PCR

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Authors: Sumbal Riaz, Sardar-un-Nisa, Mehreen Sirshar

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5G - The 5th generation of mobile phone and data communication standards is the next edge of innovation for whole mobile industry. 5G is Real Wireless World System and it will provide a totally wireless communication system all over the world without limitations. 5G uses many 4g technologies and it will hit the market in 2020. This research is the comprehensive survey on the quality parameters of 5G technology.5G provide High performance, Interoperability, easy roaming, fully converged services, friendly interface and scalability at low cost. To meet the traffic demands in future fifth generation wireless communications systems will include i) higher densification of heterogeneous networks with massive deployment of small base stations supporting various Radio Access Technologies (RATs), ii) use of massive Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) arrays, iii) use of millimetre Wave spectrum where larger wider frequency bands are available, iv) direct device to device (D2D) communication, v) simultaneous transmission and reception, vi) cognitive radio technology.

Keywords: 5G, 5th generation, innovation, standard, wireless communication

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Authors: Amaal Almigal

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Neurotypical children learn to ask questions from natural exposure and this skill is fundamental for their academic success. However, children with autism spectrum disorder may not learn to ask in the same way due to earlier communication impairments, and some may need to use Augmentative and Alternative Communication systems (AAC) to ask questions. This paper aims to highlight issues related to questioning skills in children with autism giving a specific attention to asking questions within preverbal or minimally verbal children. Different procedures have been employed to teach these children, including AAC users, to ask questions. Therefore, these procedures will also be discussed to administrate how they were used and what they were aimed to teach. This paper also provides a suggested procedure to assist preverbal or minimally verbal children to ask questions using an iPad application for communication (Proloquo2Go) as AAC. This suggested procedure was used with 3 children with autism. Initial results will be discussed to clarify ways in which this procedure was used with each child based on his skills and which questioning skills each child has acquired using this procedure.

Keywords: AAC, autism, communication, information, iPad, requesting

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Authors: Zhipeng Yan, Janice Wing-Tung Kwong, Ching-Lung Lai

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Background: Advanced melanoma accounts for the majority of skin cancer death due to its poor prognosis. Nivolumab and ipilimumab are monoclonal antibodies targeting programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) and cytotoxic T-lymphocytes antigen 4 (CTLA-4). Nivolumab and ipilimumab combination therapy has been proven to be effective for advanced melanoma. This systematic review and meta-analysis are to evaluate its clinical efficacy and adverse events. Method: A systematic search was done on databases (Pubmed, Embase, Medline, Cochrane) on 21 June 2020. Search keywords were nivolumab, ipilimumab, melanoma, and randomised controlled trials. Clinical trials fulfilling the inclusion criteria were selected to evaluate the efficacy of combination therapy in terms of prolongation of progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), and objective response rate (ORR). The odd ratios and distributions of grade 3 or above adverse events were documented. Subgroup analysis was performed based on PD-L1 expression-status and BRAF-mutation status. Results: Compared with nivolumab monotherapy, the hazard ratios of PFS, OS and odd ratio of ORR in combination therapy were 0.64 (95% CI, 0.48-0.85; p=0.002), 0.84 (95% CI, 0.74-0.95; p=0.007) and 1.76 (95% CI, 1.51-2.06; p < 0.001), respectively. Compared with ipilimumab monotherapy, the hazard ratios of PFS, OS and odd ratio of ORR were 0.46 (95% CI, 0.37-0.57; p < 0.001), 0.54 (95% CI, 0.48-0.61; p < 0.001) and 6.18 (95% CI, 5.19-7.36; p < 0.001), respectively. In combination therapy, the odds ratios of grade 3 or above adverse events were 4.71 (95% CI, 3.57-6.22; p < 0.001) compared with nivolumab monotherapy, and 3.44 (95% CI, 2.49-4.74; p < 0.001) compared with ipilimumab monotherapy, respectively. High PD-L1 expression level and BRAF mutation were associated with better clinical outcomes in patients receiving combination therapy. Conclusion: Combination therapy is effective for the treatment of advanced melanoma. Adverse events were common but manageable. Better clinical outcomes were observed in patients with high PD-L1 expression levels and positive BRAF-mutation.

Keywords: nivolumab, ipilimumab, advanced melanoma, systematic review, meta-analysis

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Authors: O. Mauroner, L. Le, S. Best

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Digital technologies offer many opportunities in the design and implementation of brand communication and advertising. Augmented reality (AR) is an innovative technology in marketing communication that focuses on the fact that virtual interaction with a product ad offers additional value to consumers. AR enables consumers to obtain (almost) real product experiences by the way of virtual information even before the purchase of a certain product. Aim of AR applications in relation with advertising is in-depth examination of product characteristics to enhance product knowledge as well as brand knowledge. Interactive design of advertising provides observers with an intense examination of a specific advertising message and therefore leads to better brand knowledge. The elaboration likelihood model and the central route to persuasion strongly support this argumentation. Nevertheless, AR in brand communication is still in an initial stage and therefore scientific findings about the impact of AR on information processing and brand attitude are rare. The aim of this paper is to empirically investigate the potential of AR applications in combination with traditional print advertising. To that effect an experimental design with different levels of interactivity is built to measure the impact of interactivity of an ad on different variables o advertising effectiveness.

Keywords: advertising effectiveness, augmented reality, brand communication, brand recall

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Authors: Qingyu Zhang, Mei Cao

Abstract:

As the environments become increasingly uncertain, firms have attempted to achieve greater supply chain collaboration. Supply chain collaboration can generate significant benefits to its members, e.g., reducing risks and decreasing transaction costs. However, a strong relationship is often related to firm’s culture (e.g., short-term vs. long-term interests). The objective of the study is to explore the effect of long-term oriented culture on product quality in a supply chain. Data was collected through a Web survey of U.S. manufacturing firms. Structural equation modeling (LISREL) was used to analyze the data. The results support the mediating roles of goal congruence and communication in the relationship between long-term orientation and product quality in the supply chain. Goal congruence partially mediates the relationship between long-term orientation and communication; communication completely mediates the relationship between goal congruence and product quality. Without high levels of communication, goal congruence cannot improve product quality in a positive way.

Keywords: communication, long-term orientation, product quality, supply chain

Procedia PDF Downloads 338

Authors: M. Zaïgouche, A. Kouvahe, F. Stefanelli

Abstract:

IMPERTIO is a high technology based project aiming at offering efficient assistance help in communication for persons affected by Cerebral Palsy. The systems currently available are hardly used by these patients who are not satisfied by ergonomics and response time. The project rests upon the concept that, opposite to usual master-slave communication giving power to the entity with larger range of possibilities, providing conversely the mastery to the entity with smaller range of possibilities will allow a better understanding ground for both parties. Entirely customizable, the application developed from this idea gives full freedom to the user. Through pictograms (one button linked to a word or a sentence) and adapted keyboard, noticeable improvements are brought to the response time and ease to use ergonomics.

Keywords: cerebral palsy, master-slave relation, communication interface, virtual keyboard, word construction algorithm

Procedia PDF Downloads 396