Delta T, a Useful Indicator for Pharmacy Dispensing Data to Monitor Medication Adherence

Introduction: Calculating patients’ medication availability from dispensing or refill data is a common method to estimate adherence. The most often used measures, such as the medication possession ratio (MPR), average medication supplies over an arbitrary period. Averaging masks the variability of refill behavior over time. Goal: To derive a new absolute adherence estimate from dispensing data. Method: Dispensing histories of patients with 19 refills of direct oral anticoagulants (DOAC) between 1 January 2008 and 31 December 2017 were extracted from 39 community pharmacies in Switzerland. The difference between the calculated and effective refill day (ΔT) was determined for each refill event. We graphed ΔT and its dichotomized version (dΔT) against the MPR, calculated mean ΔT and mean dΔT per refill, and applied cluster analysis. Results: We characterized 2204 refill events from 116 DOAC patients. MPR was high (0.975 ± 0.129) and showed a positive correlation with mean ΔT. Refills occurred on average 17.8 ± 27.9 days “too early”, with a mean of 75.8 ± 20.2 refills being “on time”. Four refill behavior patterns were identified including constant gaps within or at the end of the observation period, which were critical. Conclusion: We introduce a new absolute adherence estimate ΔT that characterizes every refill event and shows that the refill behavior of DOAC patients is dynamic.

Evaluating the environmental maintenance impact (EMI): a carbon life cycle assessment (LCA) of the Singgora roof tiles repair in heritage buildings

PurposeHeritage buildings are consistently impacted by technical and pathological issues associated with their maintenance and conservation such as diminish of building's authenticity and damaging environmental impact. This paper aims to evaluate the environmental maintenance impact (EMI) of the Singgora roof tiles repair in heritage buildings. The EMI is an evaluation upon embodied carbon expenditure during maintenance phase, thus important in repair efficiency appraisal.Design/methodology/approachCalculation procedures within selected boundaries of life cycle assessment (LCA) and arbitrary period enabled evaluation of the EMI of Singgora roof tiles repair in heritage buildings during the maintenance phase.FindingsEvaluation of the EMI could be appreciated as a carbon LCA of Singgora roof tiles repair and has been recognised in embodied carbon expenditure reduction in the form of CO2 emissions mitigation. Importantly, the evaluation underpins decision-making for heritage buildings repair.Practical implicationsEMI evaluation encompasses all building types and forms, thus comprehends the associated applied methodologies. Moreover, the evaluation reflects the emerging environmental challenges of sustaining resilient buildings globally.Social implicationsEMI evaluation highlights options that may be adopted in repair. Indirectly, this implicates heritage building preservation and place's identity protection. Significantly, the evaluation supports environmentally focused conservation and promotes a sustainable repair approach.Originality/valueEMI evaluation of this paper may devoted to the holistic understanding of the complex relations between Singgora roof materials and their environmental performance. Meanwhile, the application of a carbon LCA had dictated integration of multidisciplinary of heritage buildings maintenance and conservation.

Prototype Material for New Strategy of Photon Energy Storage

The smart utilization of photons is paid global attention from the viewpoint of renewable energy and information technology. However, it is still impossible to store photons as batteries and condensers do for electrons. All the present technologies utilize (the energy of) photons in situ, such as solar panels, or in spontaneous relaxation processes, such as photoluminescence. If we can store the energy of photons over an arbitrary period and utilize them on demand, not only we will make an innovative progress in energy management, but we will also be able to replace a part of electrons by photons in the information technology for more efficient performance. In this article, we review a prototype of such a material including the current status of related research as well as where we are heading for.

Image Encryption Algorithm Based on Image Element and DFRCT

A discrete fractional cosine transform with arbitrary period is proposed, which is a linear combination of discrete fractional cosine transform (DFRCT). We propose a new image encryption algorithm based on the discrete fractional cosine transform with arbitrary period, and set up some experiments by the different image block methods. The specific steps of encryption and decryption are given, and this encryption algorithm in items of many evaluation indexes is analyzed. The results of the detailed analysis demonstrate that the encryption algorithm effectiveness, efficiency and ability to resist brute-force attack are satisfying.