Internal Face Research Articles

The quality improvement attitude survey: Development and preliminary psychometric characteristics.

To report the development of a tool to measure nurse's attitudes about quality improvement in their practice setting and to examine preliminary psychometric characteristics of the Quality Improvement Nursing Attitude Scale. Human factors such as nursing attitudes of complacency have been identified as root causes of sentinel events. Attitudes of nurses concerning use of Quality and Safety Education for nurse's competencies can be most challenging to teach and to change. No tool has been developed measuring attitudes of nurses concerning their role in quality improvement. A descriptive study design with preliminary psychometric evaluation was used to examine the preliminary psychometric characteristics of the Quality Improvement Nursing Attitude Scale. Registered bedside clinical nurses comprised the sample for the study (n=57). Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics and Cronbach's alpha reliability. Total score and individual item statistics were evaluated. Two open-ended items were used to collect statements about nurses' feelings regarding their experience in quality improvement efforts. Strong support for the internal consistency reliability and face validity of the Quality Improvement Nursing Attitude Scale was found. Total scale scores were high indicating nurse participants valued Quality and Safety Education for Nurse competencies in practice. However, item-level statistics indicated nurses felt powerless when other nurses deviate from care standards. Additionally, the sample indicated they did not consistently report patient safety issues and did not have a feeling of value in efforts to improve care. Findings suggested organisational culture fosters nurses' reporting safety issues and feeling valued in efforts to improve care. Participants' narrative comments and item analysis revealed the need to generate new items for the Quality Improvement Nursing Attitude Scale focused on nurses' perception of their importance in quality and safety and their power to enact principles. The Quality Improvement Nursing Attitude Scale-Revised edition was designed to help in understanding nurses' attitudes and values. It can be used to further explore broad concepts of quality improvement efforts.

Development of a battery of tests to measure attitudes and intended behaviours of dental students towards people with disability or those in marginalised groups.

Recommended curricula in Special Care Dentistry (SCD) outline learning objectives that include the domain of attitudes and behaviours, but these are notoriously difficult to measure. The aims of this study were (i) to develop a test battery comprising adapted and new scales to evaluate values, attitudes and intentions of dental students towards people with disability and people in marginalised groups and (ii) to determine reliability (interitem consistency) and validity of the scales within the test battery. A literature search identified pre-existing measures and models for the assessment of attitudes in healthcare students. Adaptation of three pre-existing scales was undertaken, and a new scale was developed based upon the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) using an elicitation survey. These scales underwent a process of content validation. The three adapted scales and the TPB scale were piloted by 130 students at 5 different professional stages, from 4 different countries. The scales were adjusted to ensure good internal reliability, variance, distribution, and face and content validity. In addition, the different scales showed good divergent validity. These results are positive, and the scales now need to be validated in the field. It is hoped that these tools will be useful to educators in SCD to evaluate the impact of teaching and clinical exposure on their students.

Pseudomembranous Erythematous Candida Stomatitis in an Immunocompetent Male Cameroonian: A Case Rapport

Candida erythematous stomatitis is frequently seen in immunocompromised adults, and the first signs of immunodeficiency are seen in the oral cavity in which the weakened immune defense system, favors proliferation of saprophytic microbes. We report a case of candida pseudomembranous erythematous stomatitis in a 35year old immunocompetent Cameroonian male. Clinical examination showed erythematous lesions and white spots on the tongue, the internal face of the jaws, lower lips and the labial commissures. Mycologic tests showed the presence of fungi. The outcome was favorable with systemic and local anti mycotics and antiseptics.

Dynamic Monitoring of Water in a Working Face Floor Using 2D Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT)

The roof and floor of a water-rich area can be explored using traditional two-dimensional (2D) electrical resistivity tomography (ERT), but this method cannot be applied to a water-rich internal working face. In this paper, the resistivity of an internal working face was determined using 2D ERT by laying electrodes and cables in two adjacent roadways and using an equatorial dipole device. The water inrush process of the goaf floor in the study area was monitored with pre-implanted electrodes and cables at the front of the mining working face and was analyzed using the processed results of four acquired data sets. The location of the water inrush from the floor was determined based on the change in the resistivity of the floor and the hydrological variations at the observational hole, which provided the basis for how to stop the water inrush.

Fourier optics of constant-thickness three-dimensional objects on the basis of diffraction models

Results of investigations of diffraction phenomena on constant-thickness three-dimensional objects with flat inner surfaces (thick plates) are summarized on the basis of our constructive theory of their calculation as applied to dimensional inspection. It is based on diffraction models of 3D objects with the use of equivalent diaphragms (distributions), which allow the Kirchhoff–Fresnel approximation to be effectively used. In contrast to available rigorous and approximate methods, the present approach does not require cumbersome calculations; it is a clearly arranged method, which ensures sufficient accuracy for engineering applications. It is found that the fundamental diffraction parameter for 3D objects of constant thickness d is the critical diffraction angle $${\theta _{cr}} = \sqrt {\lambda /d} $$ at which the effect of three-dimensionality on the spectrum of the 3D object becomes appreciable. Calculated Fraunhofer diffraction patterns (spectra) and images of constant-thickness 3D objects with absolutely absorbing, absolutely reflecting, and gray internal faces are presented. It is demonstrated that selection of 3D object fragments can be performed by choosing an appropriate configuration of the wave illuminating the object (plane normal or inclined waves, spherical waves).

PERCENTAGE DIFFERENCE OF RESISTIVITY OF NANOPARTICLES IN DETERMINING CRUDE OIL USING SAND-PACK EXPERIMENTAL METHOD

Nanoparticle with its nanoscale can be used as a data collector in every part of the development of the petroleum field. By having a hydrophilic condition for the nanoparticles, it can move to the targeted area in the water zone. The hydrophilic condition will differentiate between oil zone and water zone. The objective of the study is to use the hydrophilic nanoparticles to detect the oil and water zones using sand-pack displacement test. An experiment using the sand-pack method was done to show that the hydrophilic nanoparticles can be used to collect data. The nanoparticles used were aluminum oxide (Al) and nickel zinc ferrite oxide (NiZnFeO). The results showed that for NiZnFeO, at 3-inch distance from the injection point, the percentage difference increased from 15% to 25%, while for Al2O, the nanoparticles also showed the same increment but different in values, which were from 6% to 15%. This is shown by the significant change of resistivity percentage at the 3-inch distance. To conclude, the use of both types of nanoparticles that have hydrophilic nanoparticles can show the significant changes for resistivity at internal short front face of well reservoir with oil zone only.

Familiarity and Within-Person Facial Variability: The Importance of the Internal and External Features.

As faces become familiar, we come to rely more on their internal features for recognition and matching tasks. Here, we assess whether this same pattern is also observed for a card sorting task. Participants sorted photos showing either the full face, only the internal features, or only the external features into multiple piles, one pile per identity. In Experiments 1 and 2, we showed the standard advantage for familiar faces-sorting was more accurate and showed very few errors in comparison with unfamiliar faces. However, for both familiar and unfamiliar faces, sorting was less accurate for external features and equivalent for internal and full faces. In Experiment 3, we asked whether external features can ever be used to make an accurate sort. Using familiar faces and instructions on the number of identities present, we nevertheless found worse performance for the external in comparison with the internal features, suggesting that less identity information was available in the former. Taken together, we show that full faces and internal features are similarly informative with regard to identity. In comparison, external features contain less identity information and produce worse card sorting performance. This research extends current thinking on the shift in focus, both in attention and importance, toward the internal features and away from the external features as familiarity with a face increases.

Study of the block/grout interface in concrete and clay block masonry structures

ABSTRACT This work aims to study the behavior of the block/grout interface for concrete and clay block masonry. This was achieved by push-out and pull-out experimental tests including reinforcement bar in the latter one. The experimental result showed that there is a good bond between the concrete blocks internal faces and the grout, enough to prevent infill-slippage, and that the whole tensile strength of the usual reinforcement bars is achieved provided they are properly anchored. Nevertheless, for clay blocks there is a low bond between the clay blocks internal faces and the grout, allowing the infill-slippage before the reinforcement bars reach their yield stress.

Face, Content, and Construct Validity of an Aneurysm Clipping Model Using Human Placenta.

Proficient open surgical treatment of cerebral aneurysms requires extensive training and practice. This study tested the validity of a human placenta aneurysm model for surgical simulation training of aneurysm clipping. There were 30 participants divided into 3 groups (n= 10 per group) according to their neurosurgical experience: low experience, intermediate experience, and attending. Subjective measures were collected using the Aneurysm Clipping Participant Survey (n= 27). Objective measures were collected by observing the participants (n= 30) work through a series of aneurysm clipping tasks while 2 independent raters evaluated them using a newly developed standardized tool, the Objective Structured Assessment of Aneurysm Clipping Skills. In terms of the subjective measures of face validity, most of the attending group (7/10; 70%) rated the models as "somewhat" to "very well" replicating real surgery. Content validity assessment of the model showed that it could improve the following skills: microdissection technique (27/27; 100%), use of clip appliers for aneurysm clipping (27/27; 100%), and surgical technique when applied to patients (25/27; 93%). The objective measure for construct validity demonstrated that mean Objective Structured Assessment of Aneurysm Clipping Skills scores between the 3 groups (low-experience group, 22.9 ± 5.4; intermediate-experience group, 32.8 ± 4.0; attending group, 43.3 ± 1.3) differed significantly (P < 0.001). The human placenta aneurysm clipping model is a useful training tool for teaching residents, with evidence of internal consistency and face, content, and construct validities. The Objective Structured Assessment of Aneurysm Clipping Skills scale is a feasible tool to assess aneurysm clipping skills quantitatively.

Description of small and large-scale cross laminated timber fire tests

A large-scale fire test was conducted on a compartment constructed from cross laminated timber (CLT). The internal faces of the compartment were lined with non-combustible board, with the exception of one wall and the ceiling where the CLT was exposed directly to the fire inside the compartment. Extinction of the fire occurred without intervention. During the fire test, measurements were made of incident radiant heat flux, gas phase temperature, and in-depth temperature in the CLT. In addition, gas flow velocities and gas phase temperatures at the opening were measured, as well as incident heat fluxes at the facade due to flames and the plume leaving the opening. The fuel load was chosen to be sufficient to attain flashover, to achieve steady-state burning conditions of the exposed CLT, but to minimize the probability of uncertain behaviors induced by the specific characteristics of the CLT. Ventilation conditions were chosen to approximate maximum temperatures within a compartment. Wood cribs were used as fuel and, following decay of the cribs, self-extinction of the exposed CLT rapidly occurred. In parallel with the large-scale test, a small scale study focusing on CLT self-extinction was conducted. This study was used to establish: the range of incident heat fluxes for which self-extinction of the CLT can occur; the duration of exposure after which steady-state burning occurred; and the duration of exposure at which debonding of the CLT could occur. The large-scale test is described, and the results from both the small and large-scale tests are compared. It is found that self-extinction occurred in the large-scale compartment within the range of critical heat fluxes obtained from the small scale tests.

Beam duct for the 1 MW neutral beam heating injector on TCV

The Tokamak à Configuration Variable (TCV) has been recently equipped with a 1MW neutral beam heating (NBH) injector A. Fasoli for the TCV team, 2015 [1]. Two new stainless steel ports with rectangular aperture of 170×220mm have been manufactured and installed for this purpose. The NBH injector is connected to one of them via a stainless steel port extension. The port and its extension together form the beam duct between the TCV vacuum vessel (VV) and the NBH injector.A preliminary thermal analysis of the beam duct showed no expectation of thermal events such as overheating. Indeed, although the beam power density near the internal faces of the beam duct reaches ∼10MW/m2, the very grazing incidence angle between the beam axis and the wall was expected to lead to a maximal effective heat flux of ∼350kW/m2 for a maximal duration of 2s, resulting in acceptable temperature rise.As a result, the beam duct did not include any provision for cooling. However, early in 2016 the commissioning of the NBH injector showed high overheating of the port extension, resulting in local melting and ultimately vacuum leak. This paper describes the design and analysis of an actively cooled beam duct and the status of the beam duct.

Person recognition: Qualitative differences in how forensic face examiners and untrained people rely on the face versus the body for identification

ABSTRACTProfessional forensic face examiners surpass untrained individuals on challenging face-identity matching tasks. We investigated qualitative/strategic differences in how forensic face examiners versus untrained people perform identity-matching tasks by analysing item responses (ratings of the likelihood that two images show the same person). We developed a novel analysis for quantifying item difficulty for participant groups and establishing group “winners” for items in conditions of interest. “Wisdom-of-the-crowds” effects were explored by fusing responses from varying numbers of participants to amplify strategic differences across groups. Results indicated that examiners use the internal face more effectively than untrained participants, but failed to exploit identity information in the external face and body. We also show that accuracy measures for examiners and controls must include both same-identity verifications and different-identity rejections to understand the role of perceptual skill and response bias in performance differences across participant groups.

Evaluation of Modified Patient Health Questionnaire-9 Teen in South African Adolescents.

Background:This report describes the findings of the survey conducted by South African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG) in a cohort of disadvantaged South African adolescent scholars in which PHQ-9 teen version was modified and adapted (PHQ-9M) to improve the response rate.Method:PHQ-9M was administered to 2025 secondary students of 35 schools over 2 years in Gauteng Province, South Africa.Results:The mean age was 15.8 years. 23% of respondents scored 9 or above, 26.7% reported suicidal ideations in last month, 21.8% reported lifetime suicide attempts and 9.3% had severe functional impairment. PHQ-9M showed a fair internal consistency and face validity in this study.Conclusion:The PHQ-9M could be useful in conducting surveys in settings of low mental health literacy after further evaluation of its psychometric properties. The high rates of suicidal ideations, suicide attempts, and functional impairment in this population suggest the need for preventive interventions.

Effect of internal angles between limbs of cross plan shaped tall building under wind load

The present study revealed comparison the pressure distribution on the surfaces of regular cross plan shaped building with angular cross plan shaped building which is being transformed from basic cross plan shaped building through the variation of internal angles between limbs by 15 for various wind incidence angle from 0 to 180 at an interval of 30. In order to maintain the area same the limbs sizes are slightly increased accordingly. Numerical analysis has been carried out to generate similar nature of flow condition as per IS: 875 (Part –III):1987 (a mean wind velocity of 10 m/s) by using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) with help of ANSYS CFX (k-e model). The variation of mean pressure coefficients, pressure distribution over the surface, flow pattern and force coefficient are evaluated for each cases and represented graphically to understand extent of nonconformities due to such angular modifications in plan. Finally regular cross shaped building results are compared with wind tunnel results obtained from similar \'+\' shaped building study with similar flow condition. Reduction in along wind force coefficients for angular crossed shaped building, observed for various skew angles leads to develop lesser along wind force on building compared to regular crossed shaped building and square plan shaped building. Interference effect within the internal faces are observed in particular faces of building for both cases, considerably. Significant deviation is noticed in wind induced responses for angular cross building compared to regular cross shaped building for different direction wind flow.

Anti-insulation mitigation by altering the envelope layers’ configuration

There is a knowledge gap regarding anti-insulation behaviour. Previous studies pointed to its existence, with questions remaining about its characteristics. This research delved into finding a mitigation strategy where altering the building envelope layers’ configuration was proposed. Using EnergyPlus, six layer configurations were simulated under 13 climates and four occupancy profiles. The Point of Thermal Inflexion (PTI) was the evaluation criteria. PTI is the cooling set-point where the building switches to anti-insulation. Based on annual cooling loads only, the results showed that 80% of the cases had a PTI between 22 and 30°C. The climatic conditions influenced the presence of anti-insulation without a correlation to the layer configurations. Opposite to dry climates (B), the marine climates (C) had the lowest PTI’s. Increasing the insulation levels have always produced a lower PTI, and also reduced the performance variation between the configurations. There was a clear correlation between the occupancy profiles and the configurations sets performance against anti-insulation. Configurations with a thermal mass at its internal face are best for mitigating anti-insulation under Residential and Office profiles. Configurations with external insulation are best under Residential with continuous load profiles, while internal insulation facings are best under Office with continuous load profile.

Finance Department Restructuring at the Field Museum

Discusses the challenges that internal departments face as organizations grow and expand. The Field Museum in Chicago, Illinois, grew significantly over a short period of time, creating considerable problems in the finance department, as staff and systems failed to keep pace with the evolving demands placed by the museum departments. These problems resulted in outdated policies and procedures, unhappy users, and frustrated employees. The finance department needed big changes but had to make them while maintaining vital functions, improving morale, and instituting new policies and procedures. Discusses several key nonprofit management issues, including change management, the role of leadership in a crisis, the challenge of informal personnel networks and knowledge management, and key financial issues facing nonprofit organizations.

Star-Shaped and L-Shaped Orthogonal Drawings

An orthogonal drawing of a plane graph $G$ is a planar drawing of $G$, denoted by $D(G)$, such that each vertex of $G$ is drawn as a point on the plane, and each edge of $G$ is drawn as a sequence of horizontal and vertical line segments with no crossings. An orthogonal polygon $P$ is called orthogonally convex if the intersection of any horizontal or vertical line $L$ and $P$ is either a single line segment or empty. An orthogonal drawing $D(G)$ is called orthogonally convex if all of its internal faces are orthogonally convex polygons. An orthogonal polygon $P$ is called a star-shaped polygon if there is a point $p\in P$ such that the entire $P$ is visible from $p$. An orthogonal drawing $D(G)$ is called a star-shaped orthogonal drawing (SSOD) if all of its internal faces are star-shaped polygons. Every SSOD is an orthogonally convex drawing, but the reverse is not true. SSOD is visually more appealing than orthogonally convex drawings. Recently, Chang et al. gave a necessary and sufficient condition for a plane graph to have an orthogonally convex drawing. In this paper, we show that if $G$ satisfies the same condition given by Chang et al., it not only has an orthogonally convex drawing, but also a SSOD, which can be constructed in linear time. An orthogonal drawing $D(G)$ is called an $L$-shaped drawing if each face of $D(G)$ is an $L$-shaped polygon. In this paper we also show that an $L$-shaped orthogonal drawing can be constructed in $O(n)$ time. The same algorithmic technique is used for solving both problems. It is based on regular edge labeling and is quite different from the methods used in previous results.

Development of a Super-insulating, Aerogel-based Textile Wallpaper for the Indoor Energy Retrofit of Existing Residential Buildings

Retrofitting the residential building stock poses a major challenge for the European building sector in the coming years. It is also crucial to achieve the decarbonisation goals set by the EU's Energy Roadmap 2050. The EASEE research project, funded by the European Commission, addressed this issue by developing a holistic approach to envelope retrofitting.This paper presents an innovative technical solution developed within this research project: a lightweight, aerogel-based wallpaper that can be easily installed on the inner side of perimeter walls. The system is composed of an aerogel-impregnated textile layer, forming the insulating core, and a fabric finishing that can be easily installed and replaced thanks to a bespoke tensioning device.The development of the system is explained starting from the identification of the challenges related to the application of an insulating layer to the internal face of an existing wall. These include building physics, as well as operational aspects to reduce disturbances of users. The insulating layer, based on a textile mat impregnated with aerogel, was tested and characterised at laboratory scale to ensure its high thermal performances and its permeability to water vapour. The fabric finishing system was also designed to provide the possibility of easy tensioning and disassembly for cleaning or replacement. An innovative device, based on plastic zips, was developed and patented within the project. As part of the process, specific studies were developed about cold bridges, thermal capacity and environmental impact of the system.The wallpaper was finally tested and monitored to assess its in-situ thermal performance and the assembly procedure on a building at Politecnico di Milano.

Crowd Dynamics and Control in High-Volume Metro Rail Stations

Overcrowding in mass rapid transit stations is a chronic issue affecting daily commute in Metro Manila, Philippines. As a high-capacity public transportation, the Metro Rail Transit has been operating at a level above its intended capacity of 350,000 passengers daily. Despite numerous efforts in implementing an effective crowd control scheme, it still falls short in containing the formation of crowds and long lines, thus affecting the amount of time before they can proceed to the platforms. A crowd dynamics model of commuters in one of the high-volume terminal stations, the Taft Ave station, was developed to help discover emergent behavior in crowd formation and assess infrastructure preparedness. The agent-based model uses static floor fields derived from the MRT3 live feed, and implements a number of social force models to optimize the path-finding of the commuter agents. Internal face validation, historical validation and parameter variability-sensitivity analysis were employed to validate the crowd dynamics model and assess different operational scenarios. It was determined that during peak hours, when the expected crowd inflow may reach up to 7,500 commuters, at least 11 ticket booths and 6 turnstiles should be open to have low turnaround times of commuters. For non-peak hours, at least 10 ticket booths and 5 turnstiles are needed to handle a crowd inflow reaching up to 5,000 commuters. In the current set-up, the usual number of ticket booths open in the MRT Taft Station is 11, and there are usually 6 turnstiles open. It was observed that as the crowd inside the station increases to 200-250 commuters, there is a significant increase in the increase rate of the turnaround times of the commuters, which signifies the point at which the service provided starts to degrade and when officials should start to intervene.

Measuring women’s experience of induction of labor using prostaglandin vaginal gel

ObjectiveTo describe and examine the EXIT (EXperiences of Induction Tool), and report on the experience of women undergoing PGE2 vaginal gel IOL, who were participants in a randomized controlled trial comparing early amniotomy with repeat-PGE2. Study designFollowing an evening dose of PGE2 vaginal gel, 245 women with live singleton term pregnancies were randomized to amniotomy or repeat-PGE2. Women’s experience of IOL was a secondary outcome measure, assessed using the self-report EXIT administered by phone at 7–9days post-partum. The 10-item EXIT assessed women’s experiences in multiple domains using a 5-point agreement scale. Principal components analysis with orthogonal varimax rotation was undertaken to examine the scale structure. Internal consistency, face, content, construct and discriminant validity were also assessed. ResultsThe final 3-component solution comprised 8 of the 10 EXIT items, explained 76.1% of the variance and had a good fit to model (p<0.001). The three resulting components were representative of women’s experience of the time taken to give birth, discomfort with IOL, and subsequent contractions. The items loading to each component showed good internal consistency for time taken to give birth (α=0.88), discomfort with IOL (α=0.78), and experience of subsequent contractions (α=0.87). Women in the repeat-PGE2 group reported a less favorable experience with the time taken to give birth (mean (SD): 3.5 (1.4) vs 3.9 (1.2); p=0.04) and more discomfort with IOL (2.9 (1.1) vs 2.5 (1.0); p=0.04) compared to women in the amniotomy group. At the individual item level, women in the amniotomy group responded more positive about the time taken to have their baby (median (IQR): 4 (3–5) vs 3 (2–5); p<0.01); and less negative to the question about the number of vaginal examinations (2 (1–3) vs 2 (1–4); p=0.05). ConclusionsThe EXIT shows promise as an instrument for assessing women’s experience of IOL. Women undergoing PGE2 vaginal gel IOL reports a more positive experience with an early amniotomy rather than with repeat-PGE2.