Medical waste management and environmental assessment in the Rio University Hospital,Western Greece

At this study a multi-criteria model was developed to examine the available procedures, techniques and methods of handling infectious waste in the large healthcare unit of University Regional General Hospital of Patras, Western Greece. Particularly, this study examined the: a) current legislation and Directives issued for medical waste management at Greece and among the other EU-members, b) contribution of healthcare wastes (HCW) generation rate on social and economic parameters in selected European countries, c) available procedures, techniques, and methods upon the disposal of infectious wastes at the healthcare studied, and, d) propositions for integrated management of such hazardous wastes. Specifically, the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) methodology was applied under pair wise comparison matrices in two stages: 1) the scale factors and the indicators, and 2) the criteria and their sub–criteria. The assessment of these pair wise matrices included the indicators and the sub–criteria. Subsequently, two pair wise comparison matrices, upon a) the “Fulfillment of environmental objectives” indicator and b) the “Energy consumption” sub criterion, were denoted. The AHP methodology yielded good results; however there is still space of improving the environmental performance. The normalized relative weights obtained for the criteria and sub criteria motivated specific actions that have to be handled. Particularly, the results indicated a very good value in environmental management criteria due the values obtained for the commitment towards the environmental policy standards and the waste management procedures. However, further improvements on staff awareness (such as development programs to enhance sensitivity) and more green purchasing suppliers, should be further addressed.     

A conceptual model and detailed framework for stress-related,strain-related,and overuse athletic injury

A multitude of athletic injuries occur when the various tissues that make up the human body experience stresses and strains that exceed their material strength. The precise amount of stress and strain that any given tissue can withstand is determined by the mechanical properties and resultant strength of that particular tissue. These mechanical properties are directly determined by an individual’s physiology and acute regulation of these properties. A number of theoretical frameworks for athletic injury occurrence have been proposed, however, a detailed conceptual framework for injury aetiology that considers the interplay between the physiological and mechanical factors and outlines the causal pathways to tissue damage and injury is needed. This will guide injury research towards a more thorough investigation of causal mechanisms and understanding of risk factors. Further, it is important to take into account the considerable differences in loading patterns which can result in varying injury outcomes such as acute stress-related, strain-related, or overuse injury. Within this article a simplified conceptual model of athletic injury is proposed along with a detailed, evidence-informed, conceptual framework for athletic injury aetiology that focuses on stress-related, strain-related, and overuse injury.     

概念设计在结构设计中的重要性

通过对某一工程的设计分析，表明了概念设计在结构设计中的重要性。     

Insights into the origins of knowledge from the cognitive neuroscience of blindness

Children learn about the world through senses such as touch, smell, vision, and audition, but they conceive of the world in terms of objects, events, agents, and their mental states. A fundamental question in cognitive science is how nature and nurture contribute to the development of such conceptual categories. What innate mechanisms do children bring to the learning problem? How does experience contribute to development? In this article we discuss insights into these longstanding questions from cognitive neuroscience studies of blindness. Despite drastically different sensory experiences, behavioural and neuroscientific work suggests that blind children acquire typical concepts of objects, actions, and mental states. Blind people think and talk about these categories in ways that are similar to sighted people. Neuroimaging reveals that blind people make such judgements relying on the same neural mechanisms as sighted people. One way to interpret these findings is that neurocognitive development is largely hardwired, and so differences in experience have little consequence. Contrary to this interpretation, neuroimaging studies also show that blindness profoundly reorganizes the visual system. Most strikingly, developmental blindness enables “visual” circuits to participate in high-level cognitive functions, including language processing. Thus, blindness qualitatively changes sensory representations, but leaves conceptual representations largely unchanged. The effect of sensory experience on concepts is modest, despite the brain's potential for neuroplasticity.     

The effectiveness and experience of self-management following acute coronary syndrome: A review of the literature

ObjectivesTo evaluate the effectiveness of interventions used to support self-management, and to explore patients’ experiences after acute coronary syndrome in relation to self-management.DesignScoping review.Data sourcesKeyword search of CINAHL Plus, Medline, the Cochrane Library, and PsycINFO databases for studies conducted with adult population and published in English between 1993 and 2014.Review methodsFrom title and abstract review, duplicated articles and obviously irrelevant studies were removed. The full texts of the remaining articles were assessed against the selection criteria. Studies were included if they were original research on: (1) effectiveness of self-management interventions among individuals following acute coronary syndrome; or (2) patients’ experience of self-managing recovery from acute coronary syndrome.Results44 articles (19 quantitative and 25 qualitative) were included. Most studies were conducted in western countries and quantitative studies were UK centric. Self-management interventions tended to be complex and include several components, including education and counselling, goal setting and problem solving skills which were mainly professional-led rather than patient-led. The review demonstrated variation in the effectiveness of self-management interventions in main outcomes assessed – anxiety and depression, quality of life and health behavioural outcomes.For most participants in the qualitative studies, acute coronary syndrome was unexpected and the recovery trajectory was a complex process. Experiences of making adjustment and adopting lifestyle changes following acute coronary syndrome were influenced by subjective life experiences and individual, sociocultural and environmental contexts. Participants’ misunderstandings, misconceptions and confusion about disease processes and management were another influential factor. They emphasised a need for ongoing input and continued support from health professionals in their self-management of rehabilitation and recovery, particularly during the initial recovery period following hospital discharge.ConclusionsEvidence of the effectiveness of self-management interventions among people with acute coronary syndrome remains inconclusive. Findings from the patients’ experiences in relation to self-management following acute coronary syndrome provided important insights into what problems patients might have encountered during self-managing recovery and what support they might need, which can be used to inform the development of self-management interventions. Theoretical or conceptual frameworks have been minimally employed in these studies and should be incorporated in future development and evaluation of self-management interventions as a way of ensuring clarity and consistency related to how interventions are conceptualised, operationalised and empirically studied. Further research is needed to evaluate self-management interventions among people following acute coronary syndrome for sustained effect and within different health care contexts.     

Using conceptual work products of health care to design health IT

This paper introduces a new, model-based design method for interactive health information technology (IT) systems. This method extends workflow models with models of conceptual work products. When the health care work being modeled is substantially cognitive, tacit, and complex in nature, graphical workflow models can become too complex to be useful to designers. Conceptual models complement and simplify workflows by providing an explicit specification for the information product they must produce. We illustrate how conceptual work products can be modeled using standard software modeling language, which allows them to provide fundamental requirements for what the workflow must accomplish and the information that a new system should provide. Developers can use these specifications to envision how health IT could enable an effective cognitive strategy as a workflow with precise information requirements. We illustrate the new method with a study conducted in an outpatient multiple sclerosis (MS) clinic. This study shows specifically how the different phases of the method can be carried out, how the method allows for iteration across phases, and how the method generated a health IT design for case management of MS that is efficient and easy to use.     

Curb Your Embodiment

To explain how abstract concepts are grounded in sensory-motor experiences, several theories have been proposed. I will discuss two of these proposals, Conceptual Metaphor Theory and Situated Cognition, and argue why they do not fully explain grounding. A central idea in Conceptual Metaphor Theory is that image schemas ground abstract concepts in concrete experiences. Image schemas might themselves be abstractions, however, and therefore do not solve the grounding problem. Moreover, image schemas are too simple to explain the full richness of abstract concepts. Situated cognition might provide such richness. Research in our laboratory, however, has shown that even for concrete concepts, sensory-motor grounding is task dependent. Therefore, it is questionable whether abstract concepts can be significantly grounded in sensory-motor processing.     

Considering daily mobility for a more comprehensive understanding of contextual effects on social inequalities in health: A conceptual proposal

Despite growing interest in integrating people׳s daily mobility into contextual studies of social inequalities in health, the links between daily mobility and health inequalities remain inadequately conceptualised. This conceptual proposal anchors the relationship between daily mobility and contextual influences on social inequalities in health into the concept of mobility potential, which encompasses the opportunities and places individuals can choose (or are constrained) to access. Mobility potential is realized as actual mobility through agency. Being shaped by socially-patterned personal and geographic characteristics, mobility potential is unequally distributed across social groups. Social inequalities in realized mobility may thus result. We discuss pathways by which these may contribute to contextual influences on social inequalities in health. One pathway is reflected in disadvantaged groups encountering more fast-food outlets during their daily activities, which may relate to their higher risk of unhealthy eating. This proposal lays the bases for empirical research explicitly testing hypotheses regarding the contribution of daily mobility to social inequalities in health.     

护理学基础理论课混合式“金课”的建设

目的探讨护理学基础理论课程混合式“金课”教学模式及实施效果。方法便利抽取2017级护理本科生(211名)为试验组,在护理学基础理论教学中采用混合式“金课”教学模式,依据“金课”标准从教学前期设计、创设教学情境、开展混合教学活动、课程考核评价进行教学改革,其中混合式教学包括课前自学、课堂互动和课后巩固;2016级护理本科生(238名)为对照组,进行课堂理论教学。课程结束后评价试验组学生线上学习完成情况及比较两组课程成绩、学生自主学习能力及教学满意度。结果试验组的课程平台点击率超过10万次,学生学习任务的完成率超过95%,试验组的期末考试成绩、自主学习能力总分和各维度得分、教学满意度均高于对照组(P<0.001),89.10%学生对课程教学满意。结论混合式“金课”教学在护理学基础理论教学中取得了较好成效。教师应以“金课”为标准进行课程改革,对课前、课中、课后进行全方位课程建设,打造有高阶性、创新性、挑战度的“金课”。     

无托槽隐形矫治用热压膜材料的共混改性及性能研究

目的 选择性能优越的高分子材料,应用共混改性的方法改善相关性能,进一步研制无托槽隐形矫治专用的热压膜材料.方法 将PETG(聚对苯二甲酸乙二醇酯-1,4-环己烷二甲醇酯)及PBT(聚对苯二甲酸丁二醇酯)按照不同质量比进行共混,测量各个比例两元共混物的吸水性、弹性模量、屈服强度及应力松弛速率,比较不同比例两元共混物性能与Erkodur膜片及PETG/PC/TPU为70/10/20的三元共混物的性能.结果 PETG/PBT为75/25的两元共混物综合性能最佳,较Erkodur膜片有更适宜的弹性模量和更小的吸水率,较PETG/PC/TPU为70/10/20的三元共混物有更小的吸水率.结论 选择不同的原材料,改变共混物组成成分的质量比可以很好的改善共混物的相关性能.