| 1. |
- Aasa, Ulrika, et al.
(författare)
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The impact of object size and precision demands on fatigue during computer mouse use
- 2011
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Ingår i: Advances in Physiotherapy. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1403-8196 .- 1651-1948. ; 13:3, s. 118-127
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Prolonged computer use, especially if fatigue ensues, is associated with visual and musculoskeletal symptoms. The aim was to determine the time-course of perceived fatigue in the wrist, forearm, shoulder and eyes during a 60-min mouse task (painting rectangles), and whether object size and/or mouse use demands were of infl uence. Also, we investigated performance (number of rectangles painted), and whether perceived fatigue was paralleled by local muscle fatigue or tissue oxygenation.Ten women performed the task for three conditions (crossover design). At condition 1, rectangles were 45 25 mm, square paint cursor size 1.3 1.3 mm, and mouse – pointer movement ratio 1:26. At condition 2, the same cursor size and mouse – pointer movement ratio was used, but rectangles were smaller. At condition 3, the smaller rectangles were used, but the cursor size was also smaller and mouse – pointer movement ratio was 1:8. The results showed increased self-reported fatigue over time, with the observed increase greater for the eyes, but no change in physiological responses. Condition 2 resulted in higher performance and increased eye fatigue. Perceived fatigue in the muscles or physiological responses did not differ between conditions. In conclusion, computer work tasks imposing high visual and motor demands, and with high performance, seemed to have an infl uence on eye fatigue.
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| 2. |
- Abbasi, Seyed H, et al.
(författare)
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Gender Differences in the Risk of Coronary Artery Disease in Iran
- 2012
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Ingår i: Iranian Journal of Public Health. - 0304-4556. ; 41:3, s. 36-47
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Given gender differences in the risk of coronary artery disease (CAD), the present study sought to investigate these dissimilarities amongst patients who underwent angiography at a major, tertiary heart hospital in Iran. Methods: Between 2005 and 2010, 44,820 patients who underwent coronary angiography were enrolled in a registry. Pre-procedural data such as demographics, CAD risk factors, presenting symptoms, and laboratory tests, as well as postprocedural data were collected. The data were, subsequently, compared between the men and women. Results: Out of the 44,820 patients (16,378 women), who underwent coronary angiography, 37,358 patients (11,995 women) had CAD. Amongst the CAD patients, the females were not only significantly older, less educated, and more overweight than were the males but also had higher levels of triglyceride, cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein, highdensity lipoprotein, and fasting blood sugar (P< 0.001). Of all the risk factors, hypertension and diabetes mellitus showed the strongest association in our female CAD patients (OR=3.45, 95%CI: 3.28-3.61 and OR=2.37, 95%CI: 2.26- 2.48, respectively). Acute coronary syndrome was more prevalent in the men (76.1% vs. 68.6%, P< 0.001), and chronic stable angina was more frequent in the females (31.4% vs. 23.9%, P< 0.001). With respect to post-procedural recommendations, the frequency of recommendations for non-invasive modalities was higher in the females (20.1% vs. 18.6%, P< 0.001). Conclusion: Hypertension and diabetes mellitus had the strongest association with CAD in our female patients. In the extensive CAD patients, medical treatment was recommended to the women more often.
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| 3. |
- Abbott, Rebecca, et al.
(författare)
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Patterning of children's sedentary time at and away from school
- 2013
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Ingår i: Obesity. - : Wiley. - 1930-7381 .- 1930-739X. ; 21, s. E131-E133
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Objective:Sedentary behavior in children is positively associated with an increased risk of both obesity and insulin resistance. Children spend a considerable portion of their awake time in sedentary behavior; however, the pattern of accumulation is not known. Thus the objective of this study was to describe the patterning of sedentary behavior of children at and away from school.Design and Methods:The patterns of sedentary time in a sample of 53 children (28 girls) aged 10-12 years during school-term time were examined. Children wore an accelerometer for 1 week. Total sedentary time, prolonged sequences (bouts) of sedentary time, and frequency of active interruptions to sedentary were examined on school days and weekends and within school time and non-school time on school days.Results:The data did not support our hypothesis that children accumulated more sedentary time on school days when compared with weekend days (mean [SD]: 64.4% [5.3] vs. 64.9% [9.0], P = 0.686). However, when comparing school time with non-school time on school days, children accumulated more sedentary time at school (66.8% [7.3] vs. 62.4% [5.2], P < 0.001) and spent more time at school in sustained sedentary sequences, that is, uninterrupted sedentary time for 30 min or more (75.6 min [45.8] vs. 45.0 min [26.8], P < 0.002). The children also recorded less breaks per sedentary hour within school time when compared with non-school time (8.9 h−1 vs. 10.2 h−1, P < 0.001).Conclusion:Reducing total sedentary time spent both in and out of school remains an important challenge. Interrupting sedentary time more often in the “working” (school) day could also reap important musculoskeletal and metabolic health rewards for children.
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| 4. |
- Abdelrazek, Fathya, et al.
(författare)
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Leadership and management skills of first-line managers of elderly care and their work environment
- 2010
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Ingår i: Journal of Nursing Management. - : Hindawi Limited. - 0966-0429 .- 1365-2834. ; 18:6, s. 736-745
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Aim To study the leadership and management skills of first-line managers (FLMs) of elderly care and their work environment in Egypt and Sweden. Background FLMs in Egypt and Sweden are directly responsible for staff and quality of care. However, FLMs in Sweden, in elderly care, have smaller units/organizations to manage than do their colleagues in Egypt. Furthermore, family care of the elderly has been the norm in Egypt, but in recent years institutional care has increased, whereas in Sweden, residential living homes have existed for a longer period. Methods A convenience sample of FLMs, 49 from Egypt and 49 from Sweden, answered a questionnaire measuring leadership and management skills, structural and psychological empowerment, job satisfaction and psychosomatic health. Results In both countries, FLMs' perceptions of their leadership and management skills and psychological empowerment were quite high, whereas scores for job satisfaction and psychosomatic health were lower. FLMs had higher values in several factors/study variables in Egypt compared with in Sweden. Conclusion and implications The work environment, both in Egypt and Sweden, needs to be improved to increase FLMs' job satisfaction and decrease stress. The cultural differences and levels of management have an effect on the differences between the two countries.
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| 5. |
- Abid, Muhammad, et al.
(författare)
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Factors affecting global supply chain design
- 2012
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Due to the limited existing knowledge pertaining to the factors which govern localization of operations and capabilities in a global supply chain, the purpose of the paper is to find out which factors and how they jointly affect the design of global supply chains. The relevant literature is reviewed and a concept matrix is developed. Five companies were selected in order to illustrate the issues of global supply chain design. Among them, three companies are considered to have efficient supply chain and less complex products, while the two others are considered to have responsive supply chain and more complex products. The issues discussed with the selected companies cover global sourcing, challenges, technological advancement and issues related to management control. The study identifies about fifty factors that affect global supply chain design, and specifically how theses relate to design decisions on location of factories and production, supplier selection and development, distribution of products and organisation of interfaces along the supply chain. The discrepancies between theory and practice as well as the implications for further research are discussed.
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| 6. |
- Abid, Muhammad, et al.
(författare)
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Factors affecting shifts in global supply chain networks : A configurational approach
- 2013
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the 20th International Annual EurOMA conference, Dublin, Ireland, 9-12 June 2013, 2013.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- In certain situations, global companies strive to take advantage of short-term changes in economic and exchange rates on the never-ending journey of competitiveness. This paper seeks to extend Ferdows’s (2008) production network models by adding the factors affecting shifts between rooted and footloose network configurations. Two companies were selected in order to illustrate the models and reveal other possible factors. The identified factors are differentiated in terms of configuration and coordination and merged in a matrix. The trends and implications on global supply chains are also discussed.
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| 7. |
- Abid, Muhammad, 1981-, et al.
(författare)
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Global supply chain design : Building a decision model
- 2012
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The knowledge pertaining to the factors, which govern localization of operations and capabilities in a global supply chain, is limited. The purpose of the paper is to find out which factors and how they jointly affect the design of a global supply chain. The relevant literature is reviewed and a concept matrix is developed. The study identifies 30 factors that affect a global supply chain design and specifically how theses relate to the design decisions on location of factories and production, supplier selection and development, distribution logistics, organisation of interfaces/enterprise information infrastructure along the supply chain and human resource development. The decision model is developed and the description of the model is done with the help of an example (location of a factory) by using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) (Saaty, 1990).
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| 8. |
- Aboul-Ata, Aboul-Ata E, et al.
(författare)
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Plant-based vaccines: novel and low-cost possible route for mediterranean innovative vaccination strategies.
- 2014
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Ingår i: Advances in Virus Research. - : Elsevier. - 1557-8399. ; 89, s. 1-37, s. 1-37
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- A plant bioreactor has enormous capability as a system that supports many biological activities, that is, production of plant bodies, virus-like particles (VLPs), and vaccines. Foreign gene expression is an efficient mechanism for getting protein vaccines against different human viral and nonviral diseases. Plants make it easy to deal with safe, inexpensive, and provide trouble-free storage. The broad spectrum of safe gene promoters is being used to avoid risk assessments. Engineered virus-based vectors have no side effect. The process can be manipulated as follows: (a) retrieve and select gene encoding, use an antigenic protein from GenBank and/or from a viral-genome sequence, (b) design and construct hybrid-virus vectors (viral vector with a gene of interest) eventually flanked by plant-specific genetic regulatory elements for constitutive expression for obtaining chimeric virus, (c) gene transformation and/or transfection, for transient expression, into a plant-host model, that is, tobacco, to get protocols processed positively, and then moving into edible host plants, (d) confirmation of protein expression by bioassay, PCR-associated tests (RT-PCR), Northern and Western blotting analysis, and serological assay (ELISA), (e) expression for adjuvant recombinant protein seeking better antigenicity, (f) extraction and purification of expressed protein for identification and dosing, (g) antigenicity capability evaluated using parental or oral delivery in animal models (mice and/or rabbit immunization), and (h) growing of construct-treated edible crops in protective green houses. Some successful cases of heterologous gene-expressed protein, as edible vaccine, are being discussed, that is, hepatitis C virus (HCV). R9 mimotope, also named hypervariable region 1 (HVR1), was derived from the HVR1 of HCV. It was used as a potential neutralizing epitope of HCV. The mimotope was expressed using cucumber mosaic virus coat protein (CP), alfalfa mosaic virus CP P3/RNA3, and tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) CP-tobacco mild green mosaic virus (TMGMV) CP as expression vectors into tobacco plants. Expressed recombinant protein has not only been confirmed as a therapeutic but also as a diagnostic tool. Herpes simplex virus 2 (HSV-2), HSV-2 gD, and HSV-2 VP16 subunits were transfected into tobacco plants, using TMV CP-TMGMV CP expression vectors.
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| 9. |
- Abugessaisa, Imad, et al.
(författare)
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Testing-SDI : E-government Prospective, Requirements, and Challenges
- 2011
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Ingår i: International Journal of Public Information Systems. - Sundsvall : Mid University Sweden. - 1653-4360. ; 2011:1, s. 11-47
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Spatial Data Infrastructure denotes the collection of technologies, policies and institutional arrangements that facilitate the availability of and access to spatial information. During the last few years the development of spatial data infrastructure in Sweden has been influenced by two actions. The first was the European Directive in spatial data infrastructure namely Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe (INSPIRE), and the second action was the Swedish parliament's directive early in 2008 on e-Government. In a modern society, spatial data play major roles and have different applications such as information support during disaster prevention and management. These two milestones involving Geodata development have created huge demands and represent great challenges for researchers in the area of spatial data infrastructure. One of these challenges concerned the methodologies involved for testing proposed data specifications from INSPIRE. This paper addresses the above challenge and introduces a framework for testing Geodata. The testing of Geodata includes, the testing of the data specifications for different geographical themes and data structure, the performance testing of Opengeospatial Web Services (OWS) and the usability of Geoportals and services. The proposed methods were evaluated during a pilot test for a regional geoportal in Sweden, and the reported results in this paper show the feasibility and applicability of the methods used. The methods used assisted in the identification of the performance related defects and the bottleneck involved in relation to the response time, stress and load. The methods support the detection of different types of errors that occur during the testing time such as http error, timeout error, and socket error. During the pilot test of a geoportal, it was discovered that the response time was 30 seconds which is 6 times higher than the INSPIRE required time (Maximum 5 second), with 500 virtual users accessing the system and performing a specific task. A usability test was conducted which focused on the users' acceptance and the “think aloud” methods. The usability testing enabled the identification of user-interface related problems and the results were quantified to enable comparisons to be made with current results and those from the new test.
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| 10. |
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Adaptive Mobile Robotics : Proceedings Of The 15th International Conference On Climbing And Walking Robots And The Support Technologies For Mobile Machines, Baltimore, USA, 23–26 July 2012
- 2012
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Proceedings (redaktörskap) (refereegranskat)abstract
- This book provides state-of-the-art scientific and engineering research findings and developments in the area of mobile robotics and associated support technologies. The book contains peer reviewed articles presented at the CLAWAR 2012 conference. Robots are no longer confined to industrial manufacturing environments. A great deal of interest is invested in the use of robots outside the factory environment. The CLAWAR conference series, established as a high profile international event, acts as a platform for dissemination of research and development findings and supports such a trend to address the current interest in mobile robotics to meet the needs of mankind in various sectors of the society. These include personal care, public health, services in the domestic, public and industrial environments. The editors of the book have extensive research experience and publications in the area of robotics in general and in mobile robotics specifically, and their experience is reflected in editing the contents of the book.
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