| 1. |
- Abbafati, Cristiana, et al.
(författare)
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- 2020
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)
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| 2. |
- Graetz, N, et al.
(författare)
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Mapping disparities in education across low- and middle-income countries
- 2020
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Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1476-4687 .- 0028-0836. ; 577:77907789, s. 235-238
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Educational attainment is an important social determinant of maternal, newborn, and child health1–3. As a tool for promoting gender equity, it has gained increasing traction in popular media, international aid strategies, and global agenda-setting4–6. The global health agenda is increasingly focused on evidence of precision public health, which illustrates the subnational distribution of disease and illness7,8; however, an agenda focused on future equity must integrate comparable evidence on the distribution of social determinants of health9–11. Here we expand on the available precision SDG evidence by estimating the subnational distribution of educational attainment, including the proportions of individuals who have completed key levels of schooling, across all low- and middle-income countries from 2000 to 2017. Previous analyses have focused on geographical disparities in average attainment across Africa or for specific countries, but—to our knowledge—no analysis has examined the subnational proportions of individuals who completed specific levels of education across all low- and middle-income countries12–14. By geolocating subnational data for more than 184 million person-years across 528 data sources, we precisely identify inequalities across geography as well as within populations.
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| 3. |
- Kinyoki, DK, et al.
(författare)
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Mapping child growth failure across low- and middle-income countries
- 2020
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Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1476-4687 .- 0028-0836. ; 577:7789, s. 231-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Childhood malnutrition is associated with high morbidity and mortality globally1. Undernourished children are more likely to experience cognitive, physical, and metabolic developmental impairments that can lead to later cardiovascular disease, reduced intellectual ability and school attainment, and reduced economic productivity in adulthood2. Child growth failure (CGF), expressed as stunting, wasting, and underweight in children under five years of age (0–59 months), is a specific subset of undernutrition characterized by insufficient height or weight against age-specific growth reference standards3–5. The prevalence of stunting, wasting, or underweight in children under five is the proportion of children with a height-for-age, weight-for-height, or weight-for-age z-score, respectively, that is more than two standard deviations below the World Health Organization’s median growth reference standards for a healthy population6. Subnational estimates of CGF report substantial heterogeneity within countries, but are available primarily at the first administrative level (for example, states or provinces)7; the uneven geographical distribution of CGF has motivated further calls for assessments that can match the local scale of many public health programmes8. Building from our previous work mapping CGF in Africa9, here we provide the first, to our knowledge, mapped high-spatial-resolution estimates of CGF indicators from 2000 to 2017 across 105 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where 99% of affected children live1, aggregated to policy-relevant first and second (for example, districts or counties) administrative-level units and national levels. Despite remarkable declines over the study period, many LMICs remain far from the ambitious World Health Organization Global Nutrition Targets to reduce stunting by 40% and wasting to less than 5% by 2025. Large disparities in prevalence and progress exist across and within countries; our maps identify high-prevalence areas even within nations otherwise succeeding in reducing overall CGF prevalence. By highlighting where the highest-need populations reside, these geospatial estimates can support policy-makers in planning interventions that are adapted locally and in efficiently directing resources towards reducing CGF and its health implications.
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| 4. |
- Schweiker, Marcel, et al.
(författare)
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Evaluating assumptions of scales for subjective assessment of thermal environments – Do laypersons perceive them the way, we researchers believe?
- 2020
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Ingår i: Energy and Buildings. - : Elsevier BV. - 0378-7788. ; 211
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- People's subjective response to any thermal environment is commonly investigated by using rating scales describing the degree of thermal sensation, comfort, and acceptability. Subsequent analyses of results collected in this way rely on the assumption that specific distances between verbal anchors placed on the scale exist and that relationships between verbal anchors from different dimensions that are assessed (e.g. thermal sensation and comfort) do not change. Another inherent assumption is that such scales are independent of the context in which they are used (climate zone, season, etc.). Despite their use worldwide, there is indication that contextual differences influence the way the scales are perceived and therefore question the reliability of the scales’ interpretation. To address this issue, a large international collaborative questionnaire study was conducted in 26 countries, using 21 different languages, which led to a dataset of 8225 questionnaires. Results, analysed by means of robust statistical techniques, revealed that only a subset of the responses are in accordance with the mentioned assumptions. Significant differences appeared between groups of participants in their perception of the scales, both in relation to distances of the anchors and relationships between scales. It was also found that respondents’ interpretations of scales changed with contextual factors, such as climate, season, and language. These findings highlight the need to carefully consider context-dependent factors in interpreting and reporting results from thermal comfort studies or post-occupancy evaluations, as well as to revisit the use of rating scales and the analysis methods used in thermal comfort studies to improve their reliability.
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| 5. |
- Jahan, Yasmin, et al.
(författare)
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Increasing Awareness and Use of Mobile Health Technology Among Individuals With Hypertension in a Rural Community of Bangladesh: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial
- 2020
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Ingår i: JMIR Research Protocols. - : JMIR PUBLICATIONS, INC. - 1929-0748. ; 9:8
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Hypertension remains one of the foremost noncommunicable diseases that most often lead to cardiovascular diseases and its different complications. The prevalence of hypertension in Bangladesh has been increasing. However, there are very limited studies that have evaluated the impact of health education and awareness development in mitigating the burden of hypertension and its complications in Bangladesh. Objective: This study aims to increase awareness, enhance knowledge, and change lifestyle behaviors through health education and the use of mobile health (mHealth) technology among individuals with hypertension living in a rural community of Bangladesh. Methods: A randomized controlled trial is underway in a Mirzapur subdistrict of Bangladesh. This trial compares two groups of individuals with hypertension: The comparison arm receives health education and the intervention arm receives health education and a periodic mobile phone-based text message intervention. The trial duration is 5 months. The primary end point is participants actual behavior changes brought about by increased awareness and knowledge. Results: Enrollment of participants started in August 2018, and collection of follow-up data was completed at the end of July 2019. A total of 420 participants volunteered to participate, and among them, 209 and 211 were randomly allocated to the intervention group and the control group, respectively. Among them, the ratio of males/females was 12.0/88.0 in the intervention group and 16.1/83.9 in the control group. Data cleaning and analyses have been completed and the results have been submitted for publication. Conclusions: Periodic short education using mHealth technology in addition to face-to-face health education may be an effective method for increasing awareness and knowledge about behavioral changes and maintaining healthy lifestyle behaviors.
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| 6. |
- Khojasteh, D., et al.
(författare)
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Numerical analysis of shipping water impacting a step structure
- 2020
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Ingår i: Ocean Engineering. - : Elsevier Ltd. - 0029-8018 .- 1873-5258. ; 209
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Shipping water, the flow washing over and impacting the upper decks of ships and offshore structures, occurs frequently during their service life and often causes structural problems. For engineers to design safe floating structures subjected to shipping water it is essential to gain an in-depth understanding of its depth and flow field, and the resulting impact forces. In this work, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is applied to understand the physics of shipping water washing over a stepped platform. We find that the most accurate solutions are obtained with the k−ε turbulence closure. The hydrodynamic load generated by the shipping water is found to strongly depends on the kinematic energy of the water hitting the step. It is shown that with smaller values of the freeboard a more dynamic flow ensues, with a stronger vortex and larger velocity gradient resulting in deeper shipping water and a larger impact force.
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