User testing of a Scottish Intercollegiate Guideline Network public guideline for the parents of children with autism

Background The Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) is the leading national clinical guideline producer in Scotland. Improved design and dissemination of guidelines produced for the public can empower people to take an active role in self-management and shared decision-making. The public version of the guideline examined covered getting assessed and diagnosed with autism, and approaches that can help. The aim of this study was to test a public version of a guideline for the parents of children and young people with autism, implement improvements, and identify what works in making it usable and accessible. Methods We recruited mothers from across Scotland. User testing involved formal ‘think aloud’ semi-structured interviews that guided users through the booklet. Interviews took place individually and were recorded and transcribed. Key findings were identified and themed using the honeycomb user experience model. Results Fourteen user-testing interviews were conducted. Facilitators for usability and desirability of the guideline included the chunking of text, consistent use of colour and boxes to highlight important information. Simple language, written in a tone of partnership, helped to engage mothers. Value arose from the guidelines ability to explain the process of diagnosis and make mothers feel empowered in their relationships with healthcare professionals. There was a lack of consensus on the usefulness of rating the strength of evidence and recommendations. Conclusion There was a marked similarity between what was important to the mothers and what has been found to be important to other groups. The involvement of service users and carers in the guidelines development was key to its credibility. One size does not fit all in presenting evidence-based recommendations to the public and it is a challenge to provide sufficient information while avoiding information overload. Recommendations and evidence levels are suitable for use in public versions, but these should be kept as simple as possible.

Thermal Behavior of a Light Timber-Frame Wall vs. a Theoretical Simulation with Various Insulation Materials

The objective of this paper is to compare the thermal behavior of a light frame timber wall by measuring 15 test samples with various insulation materials versus a theoretical simulation with the use of a software. This work establishes the variance between the two different methods to measure the thermal transmittance coefficient of timber walls. It is verified that the mean percentage alteration between the two methods is 4.25%. Furthermore, this approach proved that with the use of a simulation software, additional readings (humidity, vapor flux, heat flux, and vapor pressure) can also be considered and measured, enhancing the overall development of a timber wall. This can provide additional information regarding to the characteristics of the masonry’s elements assisting in an improved design of a timber wall with upgraded performance.

Improved Design of Lifting Slide Rail System of Stone Processing Machine

In this research, improved design for the lifting slide rail system on stone processing machine has innovated in a few aspects, including the innovative design of the lifting rail, fixture to fix and connect with the hydraulic tappet, and the sliding block equipped with limit device etc. The improved design has been successfully applied to the stone processing machine to crush and process block and stone flake processing waste of different shapes, it turned out that the needle flake particle content and crushing index of the processed stone are in line with the national standard requirements, i.e. crushing index of 7.2%, reaching the technical requirements of Class I crushed stone. In another words, the improved design has significantly improved the processing efficiency and safety and reduced costs effectively; meanwhile, its handy operation and utilization has made it ready to promote in a wider range.

Medication Nonadherence: Implications for patient health outcomes in pharmacy practice

ABSTRACT Objectives: The primary objective of this review is (1) to better understand the prevalence and impact of medication nonadherence, (2) to identify risk factors for medication nonadherence, (3) to understand the association between nonadherence and its implications on patient health outcomes in pharmacy practice, and (4) to study interventions designed to improve patient adherence to prescribed medications for medical conditions, considering its impact on both medication adherence and patient health outcomes. Methods: Published journal articles were manually sorted. Additional references were obtained from citations within the retrieved articles. This review surveyed the findings of the identified articles with data extracted to presents various strategies and resources on medication nonadherence related to patients and healthcare providers. English languages were considered inclusion criteria in reviewing published articles related to medication nonadherence. This review also surveyed identified articles to determine both subjective and objective medication adherence measures. Key findings: The research in this field needs advances, including improved design of feasible long‐term interventions, objective adherence measures, and sufficient study power to detect improvements in patient health outcomes. Conclusion: Current methods of improving medication adherence for chronic health problems are mostly complex and ineffective so full benefits of treatment cannot be realized. To date, monitoring of patient medication adherence and use of interventions to improve adherence are rare in routine clinical practice.

THEORETICAL ANALYSIS OF STRENGTH RESISTANCE TO DISPLACEMENT OF IMPROVED DIGGING WORKING BODY OF POTATOE HARVESTING COMBINE

The amount of energy required to perform technological processes in agriculture largely depends on the size of the resistance to the displacement of the working bodies of machines. The main factor of energy consumption performing the technological process of potato harvesting is the resistance to the displacement of the digestive working body. In order to reduce the resistance to displacement an improved design of the digging body is proposed. An analytical study was conducted to determine the problem of moving the working body in the soil environment. The strength of the soil resistance is determined and the regularity of the influence on its change of parameters and the shape of the blade and separation parts of the digging working body is established. Calculations are made using the Mathematica application programm. The graphic dependences and contours of the isoline of the traction flange of the working part of the working body are obtained. Analysis of the calculations allowed to set the parameters of the surface of the dashboard, which provide a minimum of traction resistance. The schedule and contours of isolines of the change of the total resistance to the displacement of the soil mass with the tubers by the separation surface of the working organ in the function of the distance between the bars and the size of their intersection are also obtained. Analysis of the dependence of soil resistance and tubers on the separation surface indicates that an increase in the size of the geometric size of the intersection of the rods leads to a significant increase in the resistance of the medium. The material presented in the article can be used for analytical determination of the resistance of the excavation working body of potato harvesting machines of arbitrary geometric shape in the soil medium with tubers.

Chemical Targeting of Rhodol Voltage Sensitive Dyes to Dopaminergic Neurons

Optical imaging of changes in membrane potential of living cells can be achieved by the means of fluorescent voltage sensitive dyes (VSDs). A particularly challenging task is to efficiently deliver these highly lipophilic probes to specific neuronal subpopulations in brain tissue. We have tackled this task by designing a solubilizing, hydrophilic polymer platform that carries a high-affinity ligand for a membrane protein marker of interest and a fluorescent VSD. Here, we disclose an improved design of polymer supported probes for chemical, non-genetic targeting of voltage sensors to axons natively expressing the dopamine transporter in ex vivo mouse brain tissue. We first show that for negatively charged rhodol VSDs functioning on the photoinduced electron transfer principle, poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) as a carrier enables targeting with higher selectivity than the polysaccharide dextran in HEK cell culture. In the same experimental setting, we also demonstrate that incorporation of an azetidine ring in the rhodol chromophore substantially increases the brightness and voltage sensitivity of the respective VSD. We show that the superior properties of the optimized sensor are transferable to recording of electrically evoked activity from dopaminergic axons in mouse striatal slices after averaging of multiple trials. Finally, we suggest the next milestones for the field to achieve single-scan recordings with non-genetically targeted VSDs in native brain tissue.

Datasets for the Determination of Evaporative Flux from Distilled Water and Saturated Brine Using Bench-Scale Atmospheric Simulators

Evaporation from fresh water and saline water is critical for the estimation of water budget in the Canadian Prairies. Predictive models using empirical field-based data are subject to significant errors and uncertainty. Therefore, highly controlled test conditions and accurately measured experimental data are required to understand the relationship between atmospheric variables at water surfaces. This paper provides a comprehensive dataset generated for the determination of evaporative flux from distilled water and saturated brine using the bench-scale atmospheric simulator (BAS) and the subsequently improved design (BAS2). Analyses of the weather scenarios from atmospheric parameters and evaporative flux from the experimental data are provided.