Raising Public Awareness of Mathematics
Behrends, Ehrhard; Rodrigues, José Francisco
2012-01-01
This collective book aims to encourage and inspire actions directed towards raising public awareness of the importance of mathematical sciences for our contemporary society in a cultural and historical perspective. Mathematical societies, in Europe and around the world, can find ideas, blueprints and suggestions for activities - including concerted actions with other international organizations - directed towards raising public awareness of science, technology and other fields where mathematics plays a strong role. The material is divided into four parts: * National experiences * Exhibitions /
43 CFR 7.20 - Public awareness programs.
2010-10-01
... 43 Public Lands: Interior 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Public awareness programs. 7.20 Section 7.20 Public Lands: Interior Office of the Secretary of the Interior PROTECTION OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESOURCES Uniform Regulations § 7.20 Public awareness programs. (a) Each Federal land manager will establish a program to increase public awareness of the...
Public awareness of autism spectrum disorder.
Alsehemi, Matar A; Abousaadah, Mahmoud M; Sairafi, Razan A; Jan, Mohammed M
2017-07-01
Examine the awareness of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in our community which would help in early recognition and improved support of affected families. A focused 20-item questionnaire was designed to survey the public awareness and knowledge of ASD. Personal interviews were conducted during an ASD awareness day, which was organized in a major shopping mall on February 20, 2015 in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. A total of 259 individuals participated in the study with 47% being 30 years of age). Females were more likely to think that autistic children can be employed in the future (p=0.008), whereas males were more likely to think that autism is similar to mental retardation (p=0.005). The public awareness of ASD needs improvement. Areas for targeted education were identified to help improve the quality of life of autistic children and their families.
Global public awareness of venous thromboembolism
Wendelboe, A. M.; McCumber, M.; Hylek, E. M.; Buller, H.; Weitz, J. I.; Raskob, G.; Angchaisuksiri, P.; Blanco, A. N.; Hunt, B. J.; Kakkar, A.; Konstantinides, S. V.; McLintock, C.; Ozaki, Y.
2015-01-01
Data on public awareness about thrombosis in general and venous thromboembolism (VTE) in particular are limited. We aimed to measure the global awareness of thrombosis to address this gap. With Ipsos-Reid, from 22 July to 5 August 2014, we surveyed 800 respondents in their native language from each
Simpson, Sue; Cook, Alison; Miles, Kathryn
2018-01-01
The aim of this study is to report on the experiences, benefits, and challenges of patient and public involvement and engagement (PPIE) from a publicly funded early awareness and alert (EAA) system in the United Kingdom. Using email, telephone, a Web site portal, Twitter and focus groups, patients and the public were involved and engaged in the recognized stages of an EAA system: identification, filtration, prioritization, early assessment, and dissemination. Approaches for PPIE were successfully integrated into all aspects of the National Institute for Health Research Horizon Scanning Research and Intelligence Centre's EAA system. Input into identification activities was not as beneficial as involvement in prioritization and early assessment. Patients gave useful insight into the Centre's Web site and engaging patients using Twitter has enabled the Centre to disseminate outputs to a wider audience. EAA systems should consider involving and engaging with patients and the public in identification, prioritization, and assessment of emerging health technologies where practicable. Further research is required to examine the value and impact of PPIE in EAA activities and in the early development of health technologies.
Public awareness hypertension: findings of a kidney day
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Khan, R.M.A.; Saeed, T.; Awan, S.R.; Ahmad, M.
2008-01-01
To determine the frequency of hypertension, its associated life style factors and to explore the level of awareness about hypertension among adult populace attending the kidney day and to formulate the strategies to improve the awareness. A total of one hundred participants were interviewed. The structured questionnaire was filled at the spot to obtain socio demographic information after taking verbal informed consent. Height, weight, pulse, blood pressure were recorded. A total of one hundred participants were interviewed. Overall frequency of hypertension in the study population was twenty five percent (25%). The prevalence of hypertension increased with increasing age and body mass index. Only thirty five percent (35%) could define hypertension and this awareness was significantly associated with educational level. Lack of physical activity, card playing and televisionization was observed in sixty percent of participants while thirty three percent were overweight. Fifty nine percent were using additional salt while seventy percent were having meals and snacks outside. High frequency of hypertension, obesity, lack of physical activity, unhealthy nutrition, and faulty dietary habits was observed in the study population. Emphasis on health education and use of electronic and print media is recommended to improve the public awareness about the risk factors and consequences of hypertension like stroke, heart attack, kidney failure etc. (author)
Public awareness of human papillomavirus.
Cuschieri, K S; Horne, A W; Szarewski, A; Cubie, H A
2006-01-01
The main objective of this study was to review the evidence relating to the level of awareness of human papillomavirus (HPV) in the general population and the implications for the potential introduction of HPV vaccination and HPV testing as part of screening. PubMed search performed on terms: 'HPV education', 'HPV awareness' 'Genital Warts Awareness' Results: Public awareness of HPV is generally very low, particularly with respect to its relation to abnormal smears and cervical cancer although knowledge levels vary to some extent according to sociodemographic characteristics. There is also much confusion around which types cause warts and the types that can cause cancer. The sexually transmissible nature of the infection is of major concern and confusion to women. Due to the lack of current awareness of HPV, significant education initiatives will be necessary should HPV vaccination and/or HPV testing be introduced. Organized edification of health-care workers and the media, who constitute the two most preferred sources of information, will be crucial.
The Space Situational Assessment Report to Improve Public Awareness in China
Li, Hongbo; Zhang, Qi; Xie, Zebing; Wei, Xiangwang; Wang, Tao
For improvement of public awareness of the impact of space activities in China, a Space Situational Assessment Report 2013 will be issued in March 2014. More than ten Chinese main medium are invited for a special press conference. The Space Situational Assessment Report aims to introduce international space activities to Chinese public, and provide a common, comprehensive knowledge base to support the development of national policies and international security cooperation of outer space. The full report organizes international space activities until 2013 according to three parts those are Foundations, Strategies and Environment, including nine chapters, such as Space laws and policies; Space facility and equipment; Institutions and Human Resource; Military space, Civil space and Commercial space; Natural space environment; Space situational awareness, etc. A kind of Space Situational Assessment Index System is presented as a globally-focused analytic framework that defines, measures, and ranks national space activity. To use for a variety of public themes, different assessment indexes are constituted by scores of individual qualitative and quantitative metrics based on the Index System. Three research organizaitons of space sciences and technologies collaborated on the Space Situational Assessment Report. It is a scholarly and ungovernmental work.
Public awareness of income-related health inequalities in Ontario, Canada
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Shankardass Ketan
2012-05-01
Full Text Available Abstract Introduction Continued action is needed to tackle health inequalities in Canada, as those of lower income continue to be at higher risk for a range of negative health outcomes. There is arguably a lack of political will to implement policy change in this respect. As a result, we investigated public awareness of income-related health inequalities in a generally representative sample of Ontarians in late 2010. Methods Data were collected from 2,006 Ontario adults using a telephone survey. The survey asked participants to agree or disagree with various statements asserting that there are or are not health inequalities in general and by income in Ontario, including questions pertaining to nine specific conditions for which inequalities have been described in Ontario. A multi-stage process using binary logistic regression determined whether awareness of health inequalities differed between participant subgroups. Results Almost 73% of this sample of Ontarians agreed with the general premise that not all people are equally healthy in Ontario, but fewer participants were aware of health inequalities between the rich and the poor (53%–64%, depending on the framing of the question. Awareness of income-related inequalities in specific outcomes was considerably lower, ranging from 18% for accidents to 35% for obesity. Conclusions This is the first province-wide study in Canada, and the first in Ontario, to explore public awareness on health inequalities. Given that political will is shaped by public awareness and opinion, these results suggest that greater awareness may be required to move the health equity agenda forward in Ontario. There is a need for health equity advocates, physicians and researchers to increase the effectiveness of knowledge translation activities for studies that identify and explore health inequalities.
The Impact of Public Health Awareness Campaigns on the Awareness and Quality of Palliative Care.
Seymour, Jane
2018-01-01
The right to health includes a right of access to good quality palliative care, but inequalities persist. Raising awareness is a key plank of the public health approach to palliative care, but involves consideration of subjects most of us prefer not to address. This review addresses the question: "do public health awareness campaigns effectively improve the awareness and quality of palliative care"? The evidence shows that public awareness campaigns can improve awareness of palliative care and probably improve quality of care, but there is a lack of evidence about the latter. Rapid review and synthesis. A comprehensive public awareness campaign about palliative care (including advance care planning and end-of-life decision making) should be based on clear and shared terminology, use well piloted materials, and the full range of mass media to suit different ages, cultures, and religious/spiritual perspectives. Arts and humanities have a role to play in allowing individuals and communities to express experiences of illness, death, and grief and encourage conversation and thoughtful reflection. There is evidence about key factors for success: targeting, networking, and use of specific, measurable, achievable, realistic time-bound objectives; continuous evaluation; and complementarity to national and international policy. Campaigns should be located within the framework of public health promotion and the synergy between short national mass media campaigns and longer term local community action initiatives carefully considered. National and local projects to raise awareness should identify and address any barriers at the level of individuals, communities, and systems of care, for example, literacy skills and unequal access to resources.
34 CFR 303.320 - Public awareness program.
2010-07-01
... public awareness program that focuses on the early identification of children who are eligible to receive... informing the public about— (a) The State's early intervention program; (b) The child find system, including... the general public about the provisions of this part include: (1) Use of television, radio, and...
Hoggard, Amy
Cybersecurity awareness is an important issue that affects everyone who uses a computer or a mobile device. Canada and the United States both recognize the value of mitigating cybersecurity risks in terms of national safety, economic stability and protection of their citizens. The research performed compared the levels of cybersecurity awareness in Canadian and American Internet users. Canadian and American users were equally aware of cybersecurity measures, but were not implementing best practices to keep themselves safe. The research suggested users needed to understand why a cybersecurity measure was important before being motivated to implement it. Educational strategies were reviewed in both Canada and the United States and it was determined that although there were significant resources available, they were not being utilized by both the educators and the public. In order to increase cybersecurity awareness levels, nations should focus on increasing the public's awareness by using various types of messaging, such as cartoons, in media. One possible consideration is a compulsory awareness model before accessing the Internet. Cybersecurity topics should be included in the curriculum for students at all levels of education and a focus on providing training and resources to teachers will help increase the cybersecurity knowledge of children and youth.
Energy and the public: public awareness workshop and plenary session
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
1979-07-01
This publication of these two sessions of the conference on February 22 and 23, 1979 was prepared from a verbatim record made by a reporting firm. A separate abstract was prepared for each of the seventeen papers of the public awareness workshops and of the six papers of the plenary session.
Kyei, Samuel; Tettey, Bernard; Asiedu, Kofi; Awuah, Agnes
2016-10-28
Ocular allergy is a growing public health problem that greatly impacts the day-to-day life of sufferers and their families. Other aspects of their activities of daily living such as schooling, professional, and social life are affected hence an increased awareness and knowledge of ocular allergies, their detection and treatment is paramount. This study was to assess the level of knowledge and awareness of ocular allergy among undergraduate students of public universities in Ghana. A descriptive cross sectional survey was conducted among 1000 students from three selected public universities in Ghana. Each respondent completed a questionnaire that had questions concerning awareness and knowledge of ocular allergy. Out of the 1000 students, 347 (34.7 %) were aware of ocular allergy. Of these 347 students, the level of knowledge of ocular allergy was generally low. Majority of the students had their source of information about ocular allergy from the media and the internet. There was statistical significant association among awareness of ocular allergy, sources of information and programme of study (p students is generally low. Students' programmes of study influenced their knowledge of ocular allergy. Public health measures are recommended to help educate students on the prevention and control of ocular allergy as well as the complications associated with this condition.
Upaya Peningkatkan Brand Awareness PT. Go-Jek Indonesia Melalui Aktivitas Marketing Public Relations
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Umaimah Wahid
2017-07-01
Full Text Available Online transportation is nowadays popular in Indonesia and becomes a new alternative for people due to its efficiency and effectivity. One of the most famous online transportations is PT.Go-Jek Indonesia. People prefer to choose it to anticipate traffic jam in Jakarta and the surroundings. Besides PT. Go-Jek, there are some similar transportations such as PT.GRAB, UBER, and so on. This condition caused the competition among the online transportations resulting in the necessity to create a strong brand around the people. In accordance to that matter, the role of public relation is quite significant to increase Brand awareness in society. This research focus on the role of public relations to increase the brand awareness of PT Go-Jek using the theory of mixed public relation strategy by Thomas L. Harris that is famous of his concept, ‘P.E.N.C.I.L.S’. The method of this research is case study by interview completed by data as data collection technique. The activity of public relations involves the 7 strategies of public relation to increase brand awareness. The activities were for example publication, holding interesting events, establishing good relationship with society, cooperating with other companies, creating a positive image, providing services and new features for the society. Those are meant to show that PT. GO-JEK gives the best service for customers and society to strengthen the brand awareness of PT. Go-Jek. Those efforts of PT Go-Jek resulted in increasing the brand awareness so that society chooses that online transportation as an alternative of nowadays internet-based transformation. Transportasi online saat ini marak di Indonesia dan menjadi alternatif baru bagi masyarakat karena efisien dan efektif. Salah satu transportasi online yang fenomena adalah PT. Go-Jek Indonesia yang menjadi pilihan masyarakat dalam mengantisipasi kemacetan Jakarta dan sekitarnya. Selain PT. Go-Jek, terdapat beberapa transportasi sejenis lannya yang
Morales Pedraza, Jorge
2008-12-01
The main purpose of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Public Awareness Strategies for Tissue Banks is to provide guidance on organizing and running awareness campaigns, in order to consolidate tissue banking activities. Within the IAEA Public Awareness Strategies for Tissue Banks, there are two important topics, which need to be singled out due to their importance for a successful public and professional awareness campaign. These are the selection of the audiences and the organization of media events within a Communication Strategy. The experience in the field of tissue banking in several countries has shown that interaction between the public, the professional health care staff, the media and the tissue bank personnel is essential if the activities of the banks are to be successful. It must be emphasized however, that any public and professional awareness strategy will not be successful, unless it is considered as part of an integrated system that is adopted by the concerned Government.
Knowledge-based public health situation awareness
Mirhaji, Parsa; Zhang, Jiajie; Srinivasan, Arunkumar; Richesson, Rachel L.; Smith, Jack W.
2004-09-01
There have been numerous efforts to create comprehensive databases from multiple sources to monitor the dynamics of public health and most specifically to detect the potential threats of bioterrorism before widespread dissemination. But there are not many evidences for the assertion that these systems are timely and dependable, or can reliably identify man made from natural incident. One must evaluate the value of so called 'syndromic surveillance systems' along with the costs involved in design, development, implementation and maintenance of such systems and the costs involved in investigation of the inevitable false alarms1. In this article we will introduce a new perspective to the problem domain with a shift in paradigm from 'surveillance' toward 'awareness'. As we conceptualize a rather different approach to tackle the problem, we will introduce a different methodology in application of information science, computer science, cognitive science and human-computer interaction concepts in design and development of so called 'public health situation awareness systems'. We will share some of our design and implementation concepts for the prototype system that is under development in the Center for Biosecurity and Public Health Informatics Research, in the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. The system is based on a knowledgebase containing ontologies with different layers of abstraction, from multiple domains, that provide the context for information integration, knowledge discovery, interactive data mining, information visualization, information sharing and communications. The modular design of the knowledgebase and its knowledge representation formalism enables incremental evolution of the system from a partial system to a comprehensive knowledgebase of 'public health situation awareness' as it acquires new knowledge through interactions with domain experts or automatic discovery of new knowledge.
Awareness and use of electronic databases by public library users ...
African Journals Online (AJOL)
The study investigated awareness, access and use of electronic database by public library users in Ibadan Oyo State in Nigeria. The purpose of this study was to determine awareness of public library users' electronic databases, find out what these users used electronic databases to do and to identify problems associated ...
Using Internet search behavior to assess public awareness of protected wetlands.
Do, Yuno; Kim, Ji Yoon; Lineman, Maurice; Kim, Dong-Kyun; Joo, Gea-Jae
2015-02-01
Improving public awareness of protected wetlands facilitates sustainable wetland management, which depends on public participation. One way of gauging public interest is by tracking Internet search behavior (ISB). We assessed public awareness of issues related to protected wetland areas (PWAs) in South Korea by examining the frequencies of specific queries (PWAs, Ramsar, Upo wetland, Sunchon Bay, etc.) using relative search volumes (RSVs) obtained from an Internet search engine. RSV shows how many times a search term is used relative to a second search term during a specific period. Public awareness of PWAs changed from 2007 to 2013. Initially the majority of Internet searches were related to the most well-known tidal and inland wetlands Sunchon Bay and Upo wetlands, which are the largest existing wetlands in Korea with the greatest historical exposure. Public awareness, as reflected in RSVs, of wetlands increased significantly following PWA designation for the wetlands in 2008, which followed the Ramsar 10th Conference of Contracting Parties to the Convention on Wetlands (COP10) meeting. Public interest was strongly correlated to the number of news articles in the popular media, as evidenced by the increase in Internet searches for specific wetlands and words associated with specific wetlands. Correspondingly, the number of visitors to specific wetlands increased. To increase public interest in wetlands, wetland aspects that enhance wetland conservation should be promoted by the government and enhanced via public education. Our approach can be used to gauge public awareness and participation in a wide range of conservation efforts. © 2014 Society for Conservation Biology.
International Patterns of the Public Awareness of Aphasia
Code, Chris; Papathanasiou, Ilias; Rubio-Bruno, Silvia; Cabana, María de la Paz; Villanueva, Maria Marta; Haaland-Johansen, Line; Prizl-Jakovac, Tatjana; Leko, Ana; Zemva, Nada; Patterson, Ruth; Berry, Richard; Rochon, Elizabeth; Leonard, Carol; Robert, Amelie
2016-01-01
Background: It has been suggested that public awareness of aphasia is vital for extending services, research support, social inclusion and targeted raising of awareness. Earlier studies show that knowledge of aphasia varies across a range of variables, but is very low compared with other conditions. Aims: To report a series of surveys of public…
Predictors of public climate change awareness and risk perception around the world
Lee, Tien Ming; Markowitz, Ezra M.; Howe, Peter D.; Ko, Chia-Ying; Leiserowitz, Anthony A.
2015-11-01
Climate change is a threat to human societies and natural ecosystems, yet public opinion research finds that public awareness and concern vary greatly. Here, using an unprecedented survey of 119 countries, we determine the relative influence of socio-demographic characteristics, geography, perceived well-being, and beliefs on public climate change awareness and risk perceptions at national scales. Worldwide, educational attainment is the single strongest predictor of climate change awareness. Understanding the anthropogenic cause of climate change is the strongest predictor of climate change risk perceptions, particularly in Latin America and Europe, whereas perception of local temperature change is the strongest predictor in many African and Asian countries. However, other key factors associated with public awareness and risk perceptions highlight the need to develop tailored climate communication strategies for individual nations. The results suggest that improving basic education, climate literacy, and public understanding of the local dimensions of climate change are vital to public engagement and support for climate action.
Awareness and Use of Open Access Scholarly Publications by ...
African Journals Online (AJOL)
The study investigated the awareness and use of Open Access scholarly publications by postgraduate students of Faculty of Science in Ahmadu Bello University Zaria (ABU), Kaduna State, Nigeria. The study was guided by four research objectives namely to determine the channels of awareness of Open Access ...
A Study of Public Awareness of Speech-Language Pathology in Amman
Mahmoud, Hana; Aljazi, Aya; Alkhamra, Rana
2014-01-01
Background: Statistical levels of awareness and knowledge of speech-language pathology and of communication disorders are currently unknown among the public in the Middle East, including Jordan. Aims: This study reports the results of an investigation of public awareness and knowledge of speech-language pathology in Amman-Jordan. It also…
Nuclear energy sustainable development and public awareness
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Murty, G.S.
2001-01-01
This paper provides the latest information about the importance of energy needs and its growth in the years to come, the role of the nuclear energy and the need for public awareness and acceptability of the programs to achieve sustainable development
GLOBE at Night: Raising Public Awareness and Involvement through Citizen Science
Walker, C. E.; Pompea, S. M.; Sparks, R. T.
2010-12-01
With half of the world’s population now living in cities, many urban dwellers have never experienced the wonderment of pristinely dark skies and maybe never will. Light pollution is obscuring people’s long-standing natural heritage to view stars. The GLOBE at Night program (www.globeatnight.org) is an international citizen-science campaign to raise public awareness of the impact of light pollution by encouraging everyone everywhere to measure local levels of night sky brightness and contribute observations online to a world map. In the last 5 years, GLOBE at Night has been the most productive public light pollution monitoring campaign, collecting over 52,000 observations in a two-week period annually. This year, during the moonless two weeks in March, the campaign set a record high of over 17,800 measurements from people in 86 countries. Foundational resources are available to facilitate the public’s participation in promoting dark skies awareness. The GLOBE at Night website explains clearly the simple-to-participate-in 5 step program and offers background information and interactive games on key concepts. The program has been expanded to include trainings of the general public, but especially educators in schools, museums and science centers, in unique ways. Education kits for dark skies awareness have been distributed at the training workshops. The kit includes material for a light shielding demonstration, a digital Sky Quality Meter and “Dark Skies Rangers” activities. The activities are on how unshielded light wastes energy, how light pollution affects wildlife and how you can participate in a citizen-science star-hunt like GLOBE at Night. In addition, projects are being developed for what to do with the data once it is taken. The GLOBE at Night data from different years can be compared to look for trends over time or with population density maps. The data can also be used to search for dark sky oases or to monitor lighting ordinance compliance. Most
Extending knowledge of the public awareness of aphasia in the Balkans: Serbia and Montenegro.
Vuković, Mile; Matić, Dušanka; Kovač, Ana; Vuković, Irena; Code, Chris
2017-11-01
Public awareness of aphasia has been surveyed in a number of countries revealing that it is universally low. We report results of surveys in the Balkan countries Serbia and Montenegro and compare results with data from Croatia and Slovenia. Convenience surveys of the general public were conducted in public places like shopping centers/malls and parks in Serbia (N = 400) and Montenegro (N = 500) using an adapted version of the public awareness of aphasia survey questionnaire. Respondents were asked whether they have heard of aphasia and tested with questions about aphasia. Information on gender, age, occupation and education was recorded. Twelve percent (Serbia) and 11% (Montenegro) had heard of aphasia, but just 4% (Serbia) and 3.2% (Montenegro) had a basic knowledge of aphasia. Age, gender and occupation interacted variably with awareness. Between 16% (Slovenia) and 60% (Croatia) said they had heard of aphasia (10.5% overall mean for the four countries) and basic knowledge of aphasia across the four countries ranged between 3.2 and 7%. Levels of awareness of aphasia in the Balkans are low and variably associated with age, gender, socio-economic and educational levels. Respondents with some knowledge of aphasia gained it through personal or professional interaction with aphasia or the media. The data provide a basis for awareness raising in Balkan countries to reduce stigmatization, improve community access and understanding. Implications for rehabilitation Awareness of aphasia is low universally, even among healthcare workers. Low public awareness of a condition, like aphasia, results in under-funded research and service provision. In order to raise public awareness of aphasia we need to know how many members of the general public know about it. Improvements in public awareness could positively affect funding, the quality of services, and the public understanding and acceptance of individuals with aphasia in the community. Improving awareness of aphasia in
Public awareness and perception toward Adverse Drug Reactions reporting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Sales, Ibrahim; Aljadhey, Hisham; Albogami, Yasser; Mahmoud, Mansour A
2017-09-01
Purpose: To assess the general public awareness and perception about Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs) reporting and pharmacovigilance. Method: A cross-sectional study conducted on June 2012 during awareness campaign held in two malls in Riyadh city for two days. A self-administered questionnaire consisting of three parts was distributed to the attendees who accepted to participate in the study. Results: A total of 204 questionnaires were collected with a response rate of 68%. Twenty-three percent could correctly define ADRs. Only 13(15.7%) of responders were familiar with the term "Pharmacovigilance" and only 78.6% were aware about the Saudi Pharmacovigilance Center. Sixty-seventy percent indicated that their physicians or pharmacists don't actively encourage them to report ADRs that may occur when they take their medications. The majority of responders (73.2%) believed that the medical team, rather than consumers, should report ADRs. When asked why patients do not report ADRs, 19.1(48.5%) believed that patients do not know whether the ADR is from the medication or not, 18.1(46.1%) stated that the reason was because patients don't know about the Pharmacovigilance Center, 16(40.7%) think that patients don't know about the importance of ADRs reporting, and 14(36.3%) responded that patients probably don't know how to report ADRs. Conclusion: The general public in Saudi Arabia are not aware about ADRs reporting and the pharmacovigilance system. The Saudi Food and Drug Authorities (FDA) need to put more efforts to increasing public awareness about the importance of ADRs reporting process and the importance of pharmacovigilance system in promoting patient safety.
Price, P; Kobau, R; Buelow, J; Austin, J; Lowenberg, K
2015-03-01
It is a significant public health concern that epilepsy, the fourth most common neurological disorder in the United States, is generally poorly understood by both the public and those living with the condition. Lack of understanding may magnify the challenges faced by those with epilepsy, including limiting treatment opportunities, effective management of symptoms, and full participation in daily life activities. Insufficient awareness of epilepsy and appropriate seizure first aid among the public and professionals can result in insufficient treatment, inappropriate seizure response, physical restraint, social exclusion, or other negative consequences. To address the need for increased public education and awareness about epilepsy, the national Epilepsy Foundation, supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has conducted yearly multifaceted public education and awareness campaigns designed to reach the broad population and targeted segments of the population including youth, young adults, racial/ethnic groups (i.e., African-, Hispanic-, and Asian-Americans), and people with epilepsy and their caregivers. Campaign channels have included traditional media, social media, and community opinion leaders and celebrity spokespersons. The key activities of these campaigns, conducted from 2001 to 2013, are summarized in this report. Published by Elsevier Inc.
Using Awareness Training to Decrease Nervous Habits during Public Speaking
Spieler, Claire; Miltenberger, Raymond
2017-01-01
This study evaluated the effectiveness of awareness training for the reduction of three nervous habits that manifest during public speaking: filled pauses, tongue clicks, and inappropriate use of the word "like." Four university students delivered short speeches during baseline and assessment sessions. Awareness training resulted in…
Effective mechanisms for environmental awareness enhancement of the Thai public company
Tilokwan, P.; Limjirakan, S.
2018-02-01
The purpose of this paper is to explore effective mechanisms towards environmental awareness enhancement of the Thai public company. The environmental awareness has been strongly mentioned in the international agenda such as Agenda 21 to achieve sustainable development and be implemented at the global communities in all sectors. Thailand’s environmental awareness has been set up as the national policy and continuously promoted in the business sectors. The selected study area is one of Thai industrial public companies mainly utilizing natural resources for its business. Data collection was conducted by using questionnaires with a stratified sampling method comprising of 28 managerial and 134 operational levels. Descriptive statistics were be used for data analysis presented in terms of percentage. The study found that the effective mechanisms towards environmental awareness enhancement include employees’ participation in environmental friendly field trip, environmental knowledge provided by the company, supply chain involvement, law enforcement, and international environmental standard applied by the company. This study would recommend that public participation should be involved in order to make the mechanisms effectively.
Public awareness and perception of clinical trials: Quantitative study in Pune
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Veena D Joshi
2013-01-01
Full Text Available Context: Studies have reported that clinical research has experienced tremendous growth during past few decades with many multinational pharmaceutical companies recruiting millions of Indians in clinical trials (CTs. However, there is hardly any literature that talks about the participants, their knowledge, and awareness of CTs. It is important that the general public is aware about CTs so that they can take their own informed decision to participate in CTs. Aim: To assess public awareness, perceptions, and attitudes toward CTs and their views on various methods to create awareness about CTs. Materials and Methods: Cross sectional survey was conducted with 200 non trial participants (NTPs and 40 trial participants (TPs. Results: TPs were significantly (P < 0.0001 older than NTPs. More than 80% of both TPs and NTPs mentioned participation in CT helps advance medical science and strongly felt that there is a need to create awareness about CTs. Nearly 70% of TPs could not remember the phase of the trial while 20% did not know which type of trial they had participated . The main reason for participation in the trial was physician′s advice. About 80% of both TPs and NTPs felt that participation in CT will increase with free medications and advice from friends/relatives who had good experience with trial. Conclusion: Results of this pilot study revealed need to create CT awareness among the general public. However, considering ethno-cultural, regional, and literacy-level differences throughout the country, a nationwide study would be appropriate to provide reliable results about awareness of CTs among Indians.
Public information activities in Japan
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Ijima, Kazunori
1998-01-01
This is a slide presentation dealing with the public information (PI) activities in Japan. At present in Japan 51 nuclear power plants are in commercial operation contributing with a capacity of about 440 G We, i.e. 1/3 of the total electricity is produced by nuclear power. An investigation conducted by Advisory Committee for Energy resulted in the following guidelines in the advancing the Nuclear Power Policy: - maintain transparency in determining policy and reflect the voice of people, making information available to the public; - promote mutual understanding between areas that produce electricity by nuclear power and those that consume electricity; - cultivate an awareness of energy issues amongst the public to encourage them to take issues regarding Japan's energy policy to heart. Concerning the current PI, the following actions are undertaken at a nationwide scale: - for all people, supplying information by mass media, internet and holding lecture meetings and panel discussions etc; - for women, advertisements in journals; - for youth, educational materials, exhibition of energy etc; - for teachers, seminars; for opinion leaders, sending newsletters on nuclear energy. In areas for planned or constructed nuclear plants the PI actions are addressed to all people, women, fishermen, farmers and opinion leaders. There are given the responses to the following three questions addressed to the public concerning the nuclear power: - do you think whether we need nuclear power plants? - do you think whether nuclear power plants are safe? - what mechanism do you think generates energy during the production of nuclear power. A discussion of the results is presented. As future objectives of PI activities the following are in view: to cultivate reliability, to aware of information about nuclear power, to promote awareness of nuclear power, to promote mutual understanding of nuclear power. In conclusion, the need is stressed to make the PI activities more effective, to find
Public awareness and the professional society
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Feldman, M.J.
1977-01-01
As the American Nuclear Society (ANS) supports scientific and engineering disciplines with a responsibility to communicate with the public they serve, it has been and will continue to be involved in public awareness and public acceptance. Their efforts address two distinct audiences. This was not immediately apparent but time and experience have clarified the two publics concerned. The first of these is the significant audience, an unpolarized, undecided, confused and overwhelmed group which, in the USA, represents 80-90% of the population. This group has been bombarded by technological developments that have evolved at a rate exceeding the educational process and leaving the majority without the tools for understnading. Only the technologists can fill this void. The second public is a very polarized, anti-technology group, that has adopted an anti-nuclear character as one of its costumes. It is a vocal group of limited size, adamantly devoted to its cause. It has attracted the attention of the media and so appears larger than it is. Being strongly polarized, this group cannot be converted but it can be neutralised. It does not seek facts but wants to cultivate a public reaction; here the equally polarized pro-nuclear group must expend its effort. The ANS programmes are responding to these two publics. For the larger public, ANS tries to satisfy their need for information with publications that build on their inherent knowledge and provide information, perspective and assurance in understandable terms and examples. ANS has also organized its members to interface with the public. This interface is very important and the public welcomes it although the professionals have not yet recognized that it is essential. The major single measureable experience of ANS was in California where with Proposition 15 a legal attempt was made to limit nuclear power development. Similar efforts continue elsewhere in the USA but their effects have not been measured. The California
Public Libraries Participation In Hiv/Aids Awareness Campaign In ...
African Journals Online (AJOL)
The paper examines public libraries involvement in HIV/AIDS awareness campaign in South West Nigeria. These include the materials and services available on HIV/AIDS and challenges to their participation in the war against the epidemic. The study revealed that public libraries in South West Nigeria are not participating ...
34 CFR 303.164 - Public awareness program.
2010-07-01
... 34 Education 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Public awareness program. 303.164 Section 303.164 Education Regulations of the Offices of the Department of Education (Continued) OFFICE OF SPECIAL EDUCATION AND REHABILITATIVE SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION EARLY INTERVENTION PROGRAM FOR INFANTS AND TODDLERS WITH DISABILITIES State Application for a...
Western public awareness of the Ukrainian famine in the early 1930s
Edvīns Šnore
2013-01-01
Doctoral thesis: Western public awareness of the Ukrainian famine in the early 1930s Doctoral thesis “Western public awareness of the Ukrainian famine in the early 1930s” analyses the reaction of the West to the Ukrainian famine in 1932/33. The thesis chronologically reviews 1932/33 Western press publications about the Ukrainian famine, analyses their content and factors, which influenced it such as the work of Western correspondents in Moscow, their motivations, Soviet censors...
Awareness of Daily Life Activities
Metaxas, G.; Metin, B.; Schneider, J.M.; Markopoulos, P.; de Ruyter, B.; Markopoulos, P.
2009-01-01
The well-publicized aging of Western societies has prompted a growing interest into technologies that support awareness in cross-generational families. The idea of supporting continual and partly automated flow of information between seniors living alone and their social intimates has been gaining
Factors associated with public awareness of the Crown Health Program in the Al-Jouf Region.
Memish, Ziad A; Saeedi, Mohammad Y; Al Madani, Ahmed J; Junod, Bernard; Jamo, Abdelgadier; Abid, Omer; Alanazi, Faisal M; Alrewally, Fayez G; Mandil, Ahmed M A
2015-01-01
A community-based intervention, the Crown Health Project (CHP), was developed by the Ministry of Health. It was implemented on a small-scale in Al-Jouf Region in Northern Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to assess its feasibility and effectiveness so that it can be scaled up. This study primarily aimed at investigating factors associated with the awareness of CHP in order to improve subsequent campaigns for the program in Al-Jouf and other regions. A secondary aim was to assess possible changes of public awareness during intensification of the awareness campaign between October 2011 and May 2012. A pre- and post-questionnaire cross-sectional approach was undertaken, and the intervention was an awareness campaign. Variables collected included demographic characteristics (e.g., age, gender, education, occupation, urban/rural residence) and CHP awareness (its existence, sources of knowledge about CHP, its goals and objectives, its target diseases, location of activities, participation in such activities). Logistic regression was used to analyze the awareness of the program according to participant characteristics, with a time of the survey as a variable. Awareness of the program was found to be 11 times higher among postsurvey respondents than presurvey respondents. Respondents of the second survey were better at correctly identifying "health education" as the main goal of the CHP (odds ratio [OR], 4.1; 95% confidence interval [CI], 3.1-5.5), "noncommunicable diseases" as the main diseases targeted (OR, 4.8; 95% CI, 3.6-6.4) and "attention to health" as the purpose (OR, 6.0; 95% CI, 4.0-8.9). The different activities of the CHP were successful in dramatically increasing awareness of the CHP program in Al-Jouf.
Factors associated with public awareness of the Crown Health Program in the Al-Jouf Region
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Ziad A Memish
2015-01-01
Full Text Available Objectives: A community-based intervention, the Crown Health Project (CHP, was developed by the Ministry of Health. It was implemented on a small-scale in Al-Jouf Region in Northern Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to assess its feasibility and effectiveness so that it can be scaled up. This study primarily aimed at investigating factors associated with the awareness of CHP in order to improve subsequent campaigns for the program in Al-Jouf and other regions. A secondary aim was to assess possible changes of public awareness during intensification of the awareness campaign between October 2011 and May 2012. Methods: A pre- and post-questionnaire cross-sectional approach was undertaken, and the intervention was an awareness campaign. Variables collected included demographic characteristics (e.g., age, gender, education, occupation, urban/rural residence and CHP awareness (its existence, sources of knowledge about CHP, its goals and objectives, its target diseases, location of activities, participation in such activities. Logistic regression was used to analyze the awareness of the program according to participant characteristics, with a time of the survey as a variable. Results: Awareness of the program was found to be 11 times higher among postsurvey respondents than presurvey respondents. Respondents of the second survey were better at correctly identifying "health education" as the main goal of the CHP (odds ratio [OR], 4.1; 95% confidence interval [CI], 3.1-5.5, "noncommunicable diseases" as the main diseases targeted (OR, 4.8; 95% CI, 3.6-6.4 and "attention to health" as the purpose (OR, 6.0; 95% CI, 4.0-8.9. Conclusion: The different activities of the CHP were successful in dramatically increasing awareness of the CHP program in Al-Jouf.
How Smog Awareness Influences Public Acceptance of Congestion Charge Policies
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Lingyi Zhou
2017-09-01
Full Text Available Although various studies have investigated public acceptance of congestion charge policies, most of them have focused on behavioral and policy-related factors, and did not consider the moderating influence that individual concern about smog and perceived smog risk may have on public acceptance. This paper takes the congestion charge policy in China, targeted at smog and traffic control, and checks how smog awareness—including smog concerns and perceived smog risks, besides behavioral and policy-related factors—might influence public acceptance of the policy. In this paper, we found both a direct and moderating causal relationship between smog awareness and public acceptance. Based on a sample of 574 valid questionnaires in Beijing and Shanghai in 2016, an ordered logistic regression modeling approach was used to delineate the causality between smog awareness and public acceptance. We found that both smog concerns, such as perceived smog risk, and willingness to pay (WTP were both directly and indirectly positively correlated with public acceptance. These findings imply that policymakers should increase policy fairness with environmental-oriented policy design and should express potential policy effectiveness of the smog controlling policy to citizens to increase their acceptance level.
Agurs-Collins, Tanya; Ferrer, Rebecca; Ottenbacher, Allison; Waters, Erika A; O'Connell, Mary E; Hamilton, Jada G
2015-12-01
Although the availability of direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic testing has increased in recent years, the general public's awareness of this testing is not well understood. This study examined levels of public awareness of DTC genetic testing, sources of information about testing, and psychosocial factors associated with awareness of testing in the USA. Data were obtained from the nationally representative 2013 U.S. Health Information National Trends Survey. Guided by a social-cognitive conceptual framework, univariable and multivariable logistic regressions were conducted to identify factors associated with awareness of DTC genetic tests. Of 3185 participants, 35.6% were aware of DTC genetic tests, with the majority learning about these tests through radio, television, and the Internet. In the final adjusted model, participants with annual incomes of $99,999 or less had lower odds of being aware of DTC genetic testing (ORs ranging from 0.46-0.61) than did those participants with incomes of $100,000 or more. The odds of awareness of DTC genetic tests were significantly higher for those who actively seek cancer information (OR=1.91, 95% CI=1.36-2.69), use the Internet (OR=1.81, 95% CI=1.05-3.13), and have high numeracy skills (OR=1.67, 95% CI=1.17-2.38). It will be critical for healthcare researchers and practitioners to understand predictors and consequences of the public's awareness of DTC genetic tests, as well as how such awareness may translate into DTC genetic testing uptake, health behavior change, and ultimately disease prevention.
The Canadian public's awareness and perception of the Atomic Energy Control Board. V. 2
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Lacy, F.J.
1989-01-01
The primary objective of the research is to measure how the Atomic Energy Control Board (AECB) stands with the Canadian public. The research examines the existing level of awareness and knowledge about the AECB and the image that people have about the Board. Another issue addressed in the research is the level of confusion within the public between the AECB and Atomic Energy of Canada Limited. The data in this report can also be used as a benchmark against which improvements can be measured from the AECB's communications programs and activities undertaken in the future
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Brunsting, S.; Pol, M.; Mastop, E.A. [ECN Policy Studies, Energy research Centre of the Netherlands ECN, Amsterdam (Netherlands); Kaiser, M.; Zimmer, R. [Unabhaengiges Institut fuer Umweltfragen UfU, Berlin (Germany); Shackley, S.; Mabon, L.; Howell, R. [Scottish Carbon Capture and Storage SCCS, Edinburg, Scotland (United Kingdom)
2012-08-15
At local level, public support has proven crucial to the implementation of CO2 capture and storage (CCS) demonstration projects. Whereas no method exists to guarantee public acceptability of any project, a constructive stakeholder and community engagement process does increase the likelihood thereof. This deliverable is a follow-up to deliverable D8.1 'Social site characterisation'. Social site characterisation can be used as an instrument to explore, plan and evaluate a process of active and constructive local stakeholder and citizen engagement in a prospective CCS project as a parallel activity to technical site characterisation. It serves as an analytical tool to describe the local social circumstances in the area and to design and evaluate stakeholder and community engagement efforts with the aims of building trust and raising public awareness. Using results from the social site characterisation of the area, the present deliverable focuses on the second purpose. It presents results from public engagement activities designed to raise public awareness and inform public opinion of a prospective CCS site in Poland (onshore) and the UK (offshore): focus conferences. Furthermore, by initiating an enhanced cooperation in planning of new storage sites between project developers, authorities and the local public, focus conferences aim to serve as a 'hinge' between social site characterisation as a research effort and application to real-life project settings. The focus conferences are part of a range of public engagement activities including the setup of public information websites on generic and site-specific CCS, information meetings. A second survey eventually shall evaluate the results of the public engagement activities. The aim of the focus conferences was to raise public awareness and assist public opinion forming processes of a prospective CCS site in Poland (onshore) and the UK (offshore). At the same time, it aimed to present and test a
Han, Zhiyong; Duan, Qingqing; Fei, Yongqiang; Zeng, Dan; Shi, Guozhong; Li, Haimei; Hu, Meilun
2018-05-01
Public awareness of domestic waste characteristics and management (PADWCM) is a prerequisite for a domestic waste management (DWM) plan. In this study, we considered China as a typical example of developing countries to investigate the public perception of environmental pollution (PEP), its PADWCM, and its socioeconomic factors, using questionnaires and statistical methods. The results indicated that the public PEP was mainly due to obvious environmental contamination in local villages, and the PADWCM is still inadequate in rural areas. However, 83.9% of the respondents agreed that DWM is highly necessary. The PADWCM, including the hazard, recyclability, and characteristic pollution caused by domestic waste, was learned mainly from people's direct PEP, experiences, and repurchasing by recyclers. Education period had highly significant positive correlations and regressions with PEP and PADWCM, respectively. Additionally, education directly affected public awareness in different income and age groups. Demonstration projects had a significant positive effect on the awareness of characteristic pollution caused by domestic waste, which was readily perceived. Propaganda had a significant positive influence on the awareness of treatment necessity. Age and gender had no obvious effects on public PEP and PADWCM. Some aspects of PADWCM requiring a deep understanding became stronger as income increased; however, the PADWCM located close to poor people became weaker. Some aspects of PEP could significantly influence the awareness of characteristic pollution caused by domestic waste and awareness of treatment necessity. Therefore, improving environmental education, performing demonstration projects and effective environmental propaganda, increasing people's income, and attracting young people to participate in DWM will be important for enhancing environmental awareness and DWM in rural areas. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2018;14:395-406. © 2018 SETAC. © 2018 SETAC.
Global projects and Astronomy awareness activities in Nepal
Gautam, Suman
2015-08-01
Modern astronomy is a crowning achievement of human civilization which inspires teenagers to choose career in science and technology and is a stable of adult education. It is a unique and cost effective tool for furthering sustainable global development because of its technological, scientific and cultural dimensions which allow us to reach with the large portion of the community interact with children and inspire with our wonderful cosmos.Using astronomy to stimulate quality and inspiring education for disadvantaged children is an important goal of Nepal Astronomical Society (NASO) since its inception. NASO is carrying out various awareness activities on its own and in collaboration with national and international organizations like Central Department of Physics Tribhuvan University (TU), International astronomical Union (IAU), Department of Physics Prithvi Narayan Campus Pokhara, Nepal academy of science and technology (NAST), Global Hands on Universe (GHOU), EU- UNAWE and Pokhara Astronomical Society (PAS) to disseminate those activities for the school children and teachers in Nepal. Our experiences working with kids, students, teachers and public in the field of universe Awareness Activities for the school children to minimize the abstruse concept of astronomy through some practical approach and the project like Astronomy for the visually impaired students, Galileo Teacher Training program and International School for young astronomers (ISYA) outskirts will be explained which is believed to play vital role in promoting astronomy and space science activities in Nepal.
The effect of public awareness campaigns on suicides: evidence from Nagoya, Japan.
Matsubayashi, Tetsuya; Ueda, Michiko; Sawada, Yasuyuki
2014-01-01
Public awareness campaigns about depression and suicide have been viewed as highly effective strategies in preventing suicide, yet their effectiveness has not been established in previous studies. This study evaluates the effectiveness of a public-awareness campaign by comparing suicide counts before and after a city-wide campaign in Nagoya, Japan, where the city government distributed promotional materials that were aimed to stimulate public awareness of depression and promote care-seeking behavior during the period of 2010-2012. In each of the sixteen wards of the city of Nagoya, we count the number of times that the promotional materials were distributed per month and then examine the association between the suicide counts and the frequency of distributions in the months following such distributions. We run a Poisson regression model that controls for the effects of ward-specific observed and unobserved heterogeneities and temporal shocks. Our analysis indicates that more frequent distribution of the campaign material is associated with a decrease in the number of suicides in the subsequent months. The campaign was estimated to have been especially effective for the male residents of the city. The underlying mechanism of how the campaign reduced suicides remains to be unclear. Public awareness campaigns can be an effective strategy in preventing suicide. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
LeBlanc, Allana G; Berry, Tanya; Deshpande, Sameer; Duggan, Mary; Faulkner, Guy; Latimer-Cheung, Amy E; O'Reilly, Norm; Rhodes, Ryan E; Spence, John C; Tremblay, Mark S
2015-07-01
The aim of this review was to consolidate and synthesize existing evidence regarding current knowledge and awareness of the Canadian Physical Activity (PA) and Sedentary Behaviour (SB) Guidelines. MEDLINE, Embase, and PsycINFO were searched for peer-reviewed publications pertaining to the guidelines. Content experts, key organizations (i.e., ParticipACTION and the Canadian Fitness and Lifestyle Research Institute), journal Web sites, and service organizations (i.e., the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology (CSEP) and the Public Health Agency of Canada) were consulted for additional evidence. Scientific publications (n = 6) and research from ParticipACTION and the Canadian Fitness and Lifestyle Research Institute reported that awareness of the guidelines is low, especially with respect to the SB guidelines. Less than 10% of survey respondents from the Canadian population were aware of the PA guidelines, and less than 5% were aware of the SB guidelines. Information on the guidelines was available on 51% of public health unit and CSEP partner Web sites. Online metrics (e.g., downloads, site accessions) from CSEP, the Public Health Agency of Canada, and journal Web sites showed that online accession of the guidelines was high (e.g., all "highly accessed" on journal Web sites). This review showed that awareness of the Canadian PA and SB Guidelines is low among the general population but higher among the scientific and stakeholder communities. Governmental, nongovernmental, and stakeholder organizations should collaborate in creating sustained, long-term, and well-resourced communication plans to reach the Canadian population to raise awareness of PA and SB guidelines and should implement programs to facilitate their uptake.
Laughter and collective awareness: The cinema auditorium as public space
Hanich, Julian
2014-01-01
This article looks at how the collective experience of laughter in the movie theater is related to the idea of the cinema as a public space. Through the non-verbal expression of laughter the audience ‘constructs’ a public space the viewers may not have been aware of to the same degree prior to the
Public awareness of human papillomavirus as a causative factor for oropharyngeal cancer.
Williams, Michael U; Carr, Michele M; Goldenberg, David
2015-06-01
To assess the public's awareness of human papillomavirus (HPV) as a causative factor for oropharyngeal cancer. Twenty-three-item survey. Local shopping malls and Maxwell Air Force Base in 2012. Respondents were randomly chosen to participate in 23-item survey at various local shopping malls and at Maxwell Air Force Base in 2012. The χ(2) test was used in statistical analysis. The majority of respondents (n = 319) were civilians; 158 were military officer trainees (MOTs). All MOTs had a bachelor's degree or higher, while 37% of civilian respondents had a bachelor's degree or higher. Most MOTs (82%) were aware of oropharyngeal cancer, and 53% of civilians had not heard of oropharyngeal cancer (P aware of the association between HPV and cervical cancer. Conversely, 75% of civilian population and 49% of MOTs were not aware of the association between HPV and oropharyngeal cancer (P aware that HPV is a causative agent of cervical cancer. However, the majority were not aware of the association between oropharyngeal cancer and HPV. Furthermore, many respondents were not aware that HPV equally affects males and females and that the vaccine is available for both sexes. This underscores the need to educate the public on the availability of HPV vaccine and the association between HPV and oropharyngeal cancer. © American Academy of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery Foundation 2015.
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Tigere Chagutah
2009-04-01
Full Text Available Southern Africa has frequently been struck by damaging climate hazards which increasingly continue to threaten sustainable development efforts. Ominously, climate models predict that the incidence of major ‘wet’ events, such as floods and cyclones will increase in frequency against the background of a changing climate. Unfortunately, local mechanisms for communicating and raising public awareness of the consequent risks and appropriate risk reduction options remain weak. At the core of policy responses to the threat posed by climate related hazards, the South African government has adopted a disaster risk reduction approach to disaster management. This article details how, among many other measures to limit the adverse impacts of natural hazards, South Africa’s National Disaster Management Framework calls for the implementation of effective public awareness activities to increase the knowledge among communities of the risks they face and what risk-minimising actions they can take. Emphasis is laid on the importance of information provision and knowledge building among at-risk communities. Citing established theories and strategies, the author proposes a participatory development communication approach through Development Support Communication strategies for the provision of disaster risk reduction public awareness activities by government and other disaster risk reduction role-players in South Africa. By way of a review of completed studies and literature, the article provides guidance on the planning and execution of successful public communication campaigns and also discusses the constraints of communication campaigns as an intervention for comprehensive disaster risk reduction.
Public awareness regarding children vaccination in Jordan
Masadeh, Majed M; Alzoubi, Karem H; Al-Azzam, Sayer I; Al-Agedi, Hassan S; Abu Rashid, Baraa E; Mukattash, Tariq L
2014-01-01
Immunization can contribute to a dramatic reduction in number of vaccine-preventable diseases among children. The aim of this study is to investigate mothers? awareness about child vaccines and vaccination in Jordan. This study was a community-based, cross-sectional study that was performed at public places in Irbid City. Data was collected from 506 mothers. After verbal approval, mothers were interviewed to assess their knowledge, attitudes, and practice toward vaccination. Results show that...
Public Perception of Media Coverage of the Activities of the ...
African Journals Online (AJOL)
This study set out to investigate the awareness level, attention and attitude of the public towards media coverage of the activities of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC). It also considered the appraisal of how the public select, organize and interpret stimuli about the commission.
Ismail, Abdussalaam Iyanda; Abdul Majid, Abdul Halim; Zakaria, Mohd Normani; Abdullah, Nor Azimah Chew; Hamzah, Sulaiman; Mukari, Siti Zamratol-Mai Sarah
2018-06-01
The current study aims to examine the effects of human resource (measured with the perception of health workers' perception towards UNHS), screening equipment, program layout and screening techniques on healthcare practitioners' awareness (measured with knowledge) of universal newborn hearing screening (UNHS) in Malaysian non-public hospitals. Via cross sectional approach, the current study collected data using a validated questionnaire to obtain information on the awareness of UNHS program among the health practitioners and to test the formulated hypotheses. 51, representing 81% response rate, out of 63 questionnaires distributed to the health professionals were returned and usable for statistical analysis. The survey instruments involving healthcare practitioners' awareness, human resource, program layout, screening instrument, and screening techniques instruments were adapted and scaled with 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (little) to 7 (many). Partial Least Squares (PLS) algorithm and bootstrapping techniques were employed to test the hypotheses of the study. With the result involving beta values, t-values and p-values (i.e. β=0.478, t=1.904, phealth practitioners. Likewise, program layout, human resource, screening technique and screening instrument explain 71% variance in health practitioners' awareness. Health practitioners' awareness is explained by program layout, human resource, and screening instrument with effect size (f2) of 0.065, 0.621, and 0.211 respectively, indicating that program layout, human resource, and screening instrument have small, large and medium effect size on health practitioners' awareness respectively. However, screening technique has zero effect on health practitioners' awareness, indicating the reason why T-statistics is not significant. Having started the UNHS program in 2003, non-public hospitals have more experienced and well-trained employees dealing with the screening tools and instrument, and the program layout is well
Public Attitudes to and Awareness of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome in Young Adults.
Oei, Tian P. S.; And Others
1986-01-01
Assessed public attitude toward, and awareness of possible problems and risks associated with, the consumption of alcohol during pregnancy. Results indicated a high awareness of the problem, knowledge of the specific effects to the offspring, and of quantities and frequency of consumption of alcohol which would have teratogenic effects were…
Awareness of Entities, Activities and Contexts in Ambient Systems
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Kristensen, Bent Bruun
2013-01-01
Ambient systems are modeled by entities, activities and contexts, where entities exist in contexts and engage in activities. A context supports a dynamic collection of entities by services and offers awareness information about the entities. Activities also exist in contexts and model ongoing...... collaborations between entities. Activities and local contexts also obtain awareness information from the context about the dynamic collection of entities. Similarly activities, local contexts and entities are offered awareness information about activities and local contexts....
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Jashi, K.B.; Sathish, A.V.; Vijayakumar, B.; Pandaram, P.; Kalirajan, S.
2014-01-01
The significance of public awareness (PA) programme at Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) was well recognised since the inception stage itself and several PA programme were organised around Kudankulam through different means of communication. In its chequered progress, the Kudankulam project has seen ups and downs from the initial stage and in the year 2011, the site witnessed an impasse due to public interest and concerns on nuclear projects. Subsequently PA programmes were taken up on a war footing with persistent efforts, public fear on nuclear energy and safety concerns were allayed among local public in the villages in and around Kudankulam and also far and wide in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. This paper discusses the various measures initiated to disseminate the right information and educating public on nuclear energy as a clean energy option for environmental safety. In addition, it is a requirement of the country in the face of impending climate change concerns and warming of the earth's surface
Mackenzie, Isla S; Wei, Li; Rutherford, Daniel; Findlay, Evelyn A; Saywood, Wendy; Campbell, Marion K; Macdonald, Thomas M
2010-02-01
WHAT IS ALREADY KNOWN ABOUT THIS SUBJECT * Recruitment is key to the success of clinical trials. * Many clinical trials fail to achieve adequate recruitment. * Public understanding and engagement in clinical research could be improved. WHAT THIS STUDY ADDS * 'Get Randomised' is the first campaign of its kind in the UK. * It is possible to improve public awareness of clinical research using the media. * Further work is needed to determine whether improved public awareness leads to increased participation in clinical research in the future. AIM To increase public awareness and understanding of clinical research in Scotland. METHODS A generic media campaign to raise public awareness of clinical research was launched in 2008. The 'Get Randomised' campaign was a Scotland-wide initiative led by the University of Dundee in collaboration with other Scottish universities. Television, radio and newspaper advertising showed leading clinical researchers, general practitioners and patients informing the public about the importance of randomised clinical trials (RCTs). 'Get Randomised' was the central message and interested individuals were directed to the http://www.getrandomised.org website for more information. To assess the impact of the campaign, cross-sectional surveys were conducted in representative samples of 1040 adults in Scotland prior to campaign launch and again 6 months later. RESULTS There was an improvement in public awareness of clinical trials following the campaign; 56.7% [95% confidence interval (CI) 51.8, 61.6] of the sample recalled seeing or hearing advertising about RCTs following the campaign compared with 14.8% (10.8, 18.9) prior to the campaign launch (difference = 41.4%; 95% CI for difference 35.6, 48.3; P advertising, 49% felt that the main message was that people should take part more in medical research. However, on whether they would personally take part in a clinical trial if asked, there was little difference in response following the campaign
Newsletter published by Malaysian Nuclear Agency, medium conducive injection of public awareness
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Norzehan Ngadiron
2008-01-01
This article discusses the role of the pamphlet issued by the Malaysian Nuclear Agency in promoting public awareness about the use of nuclear technology in the country. In line with the vision of the government to introduce and promote the use of nuclear science and technology in national development, the Malaysian Nuclear Agency has published various brochures in an effort to promote community awareness. In fact, published pamphlets also are symbolic of the important role of the Agency in delivering accurate information to people about nuclear technology. It indirectly nurtures the society to look at nuclear technology to a more positive direction. Brochures are not only targeted towards professionals but it is also distributed to schoolchildren, the public and students of higher education institutions, regardless of race. In conclusion, publish and distribute pamphlets to the community represents the general form of undivided Malaysia Nuclear Agency in the mission to create awareness among Malaysian of nuclear technology and the role of the agency itself. Any information will help readers increase awareness and enhance knowledge related to nuclear science and technology.
Laughter and collective awareness: The cinema auditorium as public space
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Julian Hanich
2014-12-01
Full Text Available This article looks at how the collective experience of laughter in the movie theater is related to the idea of the cinema as a public space. Through the nonverbal expression of laughter the audience ‘constructs’ a public space the viewers may not have been aware of to the same degree prior to the collective public expression. Moreover, the public space created through laughter allows for an expedient type of monitoring: inappropriate laughter may be exposed in front of others. With viewers who laugh approvingly about racist violence or misogynist jokes, we can easily lay bare the ethical implications.
An audit on public awareness of depression symptoms in Jordan
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Sayer Al-Azzam
2013-08-01
Full Text Available Objectives: Depression is acommon mental health disorder. The aim of this study is to determine the level of public awareness regarding this illness, its symptoms, associated factors, available forms of treatment, and the attitude towards depressed people. Methods: A self administered questionnaire was filled in by approximately 5000 individuals selected from various regions of Jordan. Results: The majority of participants thought that depression is a treatable condition that can affect patient at any age, and may be controlled by the will power. Loss of interest in things and presence of negative feelings were the most commonly recognized symptoms of depression, while, unemployment and poverty were found to be the most recognized risk factors for depression. In addition, most participants considered support from family and friends (93.6% as well as exercise (80.4% to be the best available forms of depression treatment. Respondents found it acceptable to work, make friends with, or marry depressed individuals. The first choice persons for seeking help by most participants were family members and friends (49.8%. Conclusion: Collectively, the level of awareness of depression was acceptable. However, further efforts are necessary to establish public educational programs related to depression in order to raise awareness regarding the disease.
The physician's role in suicide prevention: lessons learned from a public awareness campaign.
Boeke, Melissa; Griffin, Tom; Reidenberg, Daniel J
2011-01-01
The suicide rate in Minnesota has increased every year since 2000, making suicide a serious public health problem. In the spring and summer of 2009, the nonprofit organization Suicide Awareness Voices of Education (SAVE) launched a public awareness campaign targeting four populations at high risk of suicidal behavior and suicide: adult men, seniors, teens, and American Indians. The goals of the campaign were to increase awareness about suicide in general and to let people know how they could help someone who may be at risk. In their evaluation of the campaign, researchers found a need to provide physicians and other health care professionals with appropriate information about suicide and resources that are available for those who may need help.They also learned the importance of engaging physicians in planning future campaigns.
Female Sex Offenders: Public Awareness and Attributions.
Cain, Calli M; Anderson, Amy L
2016-12-01
Traditional gender roles, sex scripts, and the way female sex offenders are portrayed in the media may lead to misconceptions about who can commit sexual offenses. Sexual crimes by women may go unnoticed or unreported if there is a general lack of awareness that females commit these crimes. Data from the 2012 Nebraska Annual Social Indicators Survey were used to determine whether the public perceives women as capable sex offenders and the perceived causes of female sex offending. The traditional focus on male sex offenders by researchers, media, and politicians, in addition to gender stereotypes, introduces the possibility of group differences (e.g., between men and women) in perceptions of female sex offenders. Consequently, two secondary analyses were conducted that tested for group differences in both the public's perception of whether females can commit sex offenses and the explanations selected for why females sexually offend. The findings suggest that the public does perceive women as capable sex offenders, although there were group differences in the causal attributions for female sex offending.
78 FR 30964 - Pipeline Safety: Workshop on Public Awareness Programs
2013-05-23
... Richardson, Texas. The workshop serves as an opportunity to bring pipeline safety stakeholders together to..., and excavators) will share their perspectives on what is working and what is not working with existing... discuss recent inspection findings; (2) Understand what's working and not working with public awareness...
InforMD: a new initiative to raise public awareness about breast density.
Hugo, Honor J; Zysk, Aneta; Dasari, Pallave; Britt, Kara; Hopper, John L; Stone, Jennifer; Thompson, Erik W; Ingman, Wendy V
2018-01-01
On a mammogram, breast density (also known as mammographic density) is shown as white and bright regions and is associated with reduced sensitivity in cancer detection and increased breast cancer risk. However, many Australian women are unaware of the significance of breast density as it is not routinely reported or discussed. In order to address this lack of knowledge, Australian breast cancer researchers with expertise in mammographic density formed the InforMD alliance (INformation FORum on Mammographic Density) in 2016. The alliance is working to raise awareness of breast density with the goal of improving breast cancer diagnosis and health outcomes for women. The InforMD website (www.InforMD.org.au) was launched in October 2016, coinciding with a major nationwide public awareness campaign by the alliance during breast cancer awareness month. The website contains unbiased, accurate, updated information on breast density. The website also provides summaries of major research articles in layperson language, recent news items related to breast density, links to relevant information for health professionals, events, and feature articles. Members of the public and health professionals can also subscribe for news updates. The interactive online Forum section facilitates discussion between health professionals, scientists and members of the public. To increase online traffic to the website, Facebook (www.facebook.com/BeInforMD) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/BeInforMD_) pages were launched in December 2016. Since its launch, InforMD has generated considerable interest. The public awareness campaign reached over 7 million Australians through a combination of newspaper, TV, radio, and online news. The website has attracted 13,058 unique visitors and 30,353 page views (data as of 19/12/2017). Breast cancer researchers have a significant role to play in disseminating information to the public on breast density. A combination of mainstream and social media, together with
Public Awareness and Knowledge of Stuttering in Rio De Janeiro
de Britto Pereira, Monica Medeiros; Rossi, Jamile Perni; Van Borsel, John
2008-01-01
This study reports the results of an investigation of public awareness and knowledge of stuttering in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. A total number of 606 street recruited respondents answered questions on various aspects of stuttering, including prevalence, onset, gender distribution, occurrence in different cultures, cause, treatment, intelligence, and…
Tulunay, Y.; Tulunay, E.; Kocabas, Z.; Altuntas, E.; Yapici, T.; Senalp, E. T.; Hippler, R.
2009-04-01
Space Weather has important effects on many systems and peripherals that human interacts with. However, most of the people are not aware of those interactions. During the FP6 SWEETS, COST 724 and the ‘I love my Sun' activities it was aimed to create basis to bring together academicians from universities, experts from industry, scientific institutes, and the public, especially the school children of age 7-11, in order to enhance the awareness of space weather effects and to discuss appropriate countermeasures by different education and promotion methods including non-technical ones. This work mentions the activities performed in Turkey within the framework. Since 1990, a small group at METU has been developing data driven models in order to forecast some critical system parameters related with the near-Earth space processes. With the background on the subject the group feels responsible to organise activities in Turkey to inform public on enhancing the awareness of space weather effects. In order to inform and educate public on their interaction with the Space Weather, distinct social activities which take quick and strong attention were organised. Those include art shows and workshops, quizes, movies and entertainments, special programs for school children of age 7-11 under the ‘I love my Sun' activities, press releases, audio-visual media including webpages [Tulunay, 2007]. The impact of the activities can be evaluated considering the before and after activity record materials of the participants. For instance, under the ‘I love my Sun' activities, the school children drew pictures related with Sun before and after the informative programs. The performance of reaching the school children on the subject is very promising. Sub-activities conducted under the action are: 1. Space Weather Dance Show "Sonnensturm" 2. Web Quiz all over Europe: In Türkiye 3. Space Weather / Sun / Heliospheric Public Science Festivals in 27 Countries: In Türkiye 4. Space Weather on
Amin, Tarek Tawfik; Al-Hammam, Abudllah Mohammed; AlMulhim, Nasser Abdullah; Al-Hayan, Mohammed Ibrahim; Al-Mulhim, Mona Mohammed; Al-Mosabeh, Modhahir Jawad; Al-Subaie, Mohammed Ali; Al-Hmmad, Qassem Ahmed; Al-Omran, Ahmed Adi
2014-01-01
There is a scarcity of information about the proportion of the adult Saudi population that meet the recommended guidelines of physical activity (PA) to reduce cancer risk. Moreover, their awareness about the role of PA in cancer prevention is unclear. This cross-sectional study aimed at estimating the proportion of adult Saudis meeting the PA guidelines, specifically those recommended by American Cancer Society (ACS) for cancer prevention, and to assess the public awareness about the role of PA in cancer prevention. Using a multistage sampling method, 2,127 adult Saudis of both genders were recruited from 6 urban and 4 rural primary health care centers in Al Hassa, Saudi Arabia. Participants were personally interviewed to gather information about their sociodemographic characteristics, searching activity about PA and cancer, and the time spent in leisure time PA (moderate and vigorous)/week using the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire with show cards. Finally, items about the role of PA in cancer risk reduction were inquired. Of the included participants, 11.6% met the recommendations for cancer prevention (≥ 45 minutes of moderate-vigorous PA activity/≥ 5 days/week or 225 minutes/week). Multivariate regression showed that being male (AOR=1.49, CI=1.09-2.06), cancer prevention. Only 11.4% of the sample indicated correctly the frequency and duration of PA required for an average adult to be physically active and while >70% of them indicated the role of PA in prevention of hypertension, coronary heart disease and lowering elevated blood cholesterol, only 18.6% and 21.7% correctly mentioned the role of PA in reducing colon and breast cancer risk, respectively. Poor knowledge was found among those with less than college education and aged ≥ 50 years. The level of knowledge was significantly positively correlated with total leisure time PA of the participants. A minority of adult Saudis in Al Hassa was aware about the role of PA in cancer prevention and
Managing radioactive waste safely. Awareness and attitudes of the Scottish public
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Rodger, N.
2002-01-01
Between January and April 2002, the Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs department inducted a consultation exercise in conjunction with DEFRA on 'Managing Radioactive Waste Safely', and commissioned several pieces of supplementary research to gauge levels of awareness of the issues around radioactive waste among the Scottish public. This research was conducted as part of this process. Its main aims were to measure awareness and assess attitudes towards radioactive waste, its sources, its perceived risks and its management. Reflecting a key objective of the main consultation, this research also sought to assess how the public rate a variety of possible actions that could be taken to involve them in this debate and decision-making process. A representative sample of 1,000 Scottish adults (age 18+) was interviewed by telephone using 'Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing' during February 2002
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Li Wang
2018-04-01
Full Text Available To understand public awareness about drinking water safety and water contamination accidents in rural areas of China, two rural counties of Hainan Province were selected as pilot sites for investigation. We explored the degree of public satisfaction with drinking water quality, public trust of drinking water safety, and public awareness about drinking water problems and solutions. The results showed that 80.3% of respondents were satisfied with the quality of their drinking water. About 78.8% of respondents paid special attention or comparatively high attention to drinking water quality and contamination accidents, especially regarding potential damage to the human body and health, the influence scope, and the causes of accidents. A total 52.4% of respondents solved drinking water problems by themselves; few respondents complained to the health department or called the local telephone hotline. Age and sex did not play significant roles in the degree of public satisfaction with water quality or in the public perception of water pollution accidents; however, residents in rural areas within a drinking water quality monitoring network were more satisfied with their drinking water quality and more aware of drinking water contamination accidents than in areas outside of such a network. Respondents with higher education levels had greater awareness than those with lower education levels with respect to water quality and water pollution accidents.
Niederdeppe, Jeff; Bu, Q Lisa; Borah, Porismita; Kindig, David A; Robert, Stephanie A
2008-09-01
Raising public awareness of the importance of social determinants of health (SDH) and health disparities presents formidable communication challenges. This article reviews three message strategies that could be used to raise awareness of SDH and health disparities: message framing, narratives, and visual imagery. Although few studies have directly tested message strategies for raising awareness of SDH and health disparities, the accumulated evidence from other domains suggests that population health advocates should frame messages to acknowledge a role for individual decisions about behavior but emphasize SDH. These messages might use narratives to provide examples of individuals facing structural barriers (unsafe working conditions, neighborhood safety concerns, lack of civic opportunities) in efforts to avoid poverty, unemployment, racial discrimination, and other social determinants. Evocative visual images that invite generalizations, suggest causal interpretations, highlight contrasts, and create analogies could accompany these narratives. These narratives and images should not distract attention from SDH and population health disparities, activate negative stereotypes, or provoke counterproductive emotional responses directed at the source of the message. The field of communication science offers valuable insights into ways that population health advocates and researchers might develop better messages to shape public opinion and debate about the social conditions that shape the health and well-being of populations. The time has arrived to begin thinking systematically about issues in communicating about SDH and health disparities. This article offers a broad framework for these efforts and concludes with an agenda for future research to refine message strategies to raise awareness of SDH and health disparities.
A Questionnaire Case Study to Investigate Public Awareness of Smog Pollution in China’s Rural Areas
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Li Jiang
2016-10-01
Full Text Available Smog pollution is one of China’s most pressing public health issues today and has therefore received significant attention worldwide. Not only cities but also villages in China are suffering from smog pollution, especially since 2013. However, there is limited information available about public awareness on smog pollution in China, especially for where it concerns the residents living in villages. Based on a questionnaire survey, this study aims to help fill this gap. The results of the study show that the income of the majority of respondents comes from working in the city, accounting for 31.6% of the total income. The percentages for respondents related to access to smog information from various channels are as follows: TV (28.5%, radio (24.2%, neighbors (13.5%, Internet (9.8%, newspapers (8.3% and others (7.8%. As for attitudes regarding the severity degree and main cause of smog pollution, most respondents (33.7% thought smog pollution in villages was somewhat severe, while 26.3% agreed that the main contributor to smog pollution was industrial emissions, followed by coal burning at power plants (20.9% and vehicle emissions (17.7%. The results also indicate that most of the respondents were satisfied with the government’s performance in terms of smog control. However, 67.9% of respondents indicated they would remain silent and not intervene when confronted by an activity that causes smog pollution. This study can help to improve an understanding of public awareness regarding smog pollution in China’s rural areas and thereby activate positive public participation in smog pollution prevention and management in the search for sustainable development.
Singh, Balbir
This paper is an effort to study and analyze several constraints and issues of space technology and education that organizations other than governmental organizations face in awareness program. In recent years, advancements in technologies have made it possible for Volunteer and Technical Communities, non-government organizations, private agencies and academic research institutions to provide increasing support to space education management and emphasis on response efforts. Important cornerstones of this effort and support are the possibility to access and take advantage of satellite imagery as well as the use of other space-based technologies such as telecommunications satellites and global navigation satellite systems included in main curriculum plus the implementation of programs for use of high class sophisticated technologies used by industries to the students and researchers of non-space faring nations. The authors recognize the importance of such new methodologies for education and public Awareness. This paper demonstrates many hurdles universities and scientific institutions face including lack of access in terms of financial and technical resources for better support. A new model for coordinated private sector partnership in response to space sciences and education has been discussed. In depth analysis and techniques need to connect these pioneering communities with the space industry as well as the space governmental agencies, with special emphasis on financial constraints. The paper mandates its role to promote the use of space-based information; its established networks bringing together national institutions responsible for these space based activities, as well as other end users, and space solution experts; and its technical foundation, particularly in the area of information technologies. To help building a tighter cooperation and further understanding among all these communities, paper delivers an intensive report and solutions for future
Public Awareness of the Scientific Consensus on Climate
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Lawrence C. Hamilton
2016-11-01
Full Text Available Questions about climate change elicit some of the widest political divisions of any items on recent U.S. surveys. Severe polarization affects even basic questions about the reality of anthropogenic climate change (ACC, or whether most scientists agree that humans are changing the Earth’s climate. Statements about scientific consensus have been contentious among social scientists, with some arguing for consensus awareness as a “gateway cognition” that leads to greater public acceptance of ACC, but others characterizing consensus messaging (deliberate communication about the level of scientific agreement as a counterproductive tactic that exacerbates polarization. A series of statewide surveys, with nationwide benchmarks, repeated questions about the reality of ACC and scientific consensus many times over 2010 to 2016. These data permit tests for change in beliefs and polarization. ACC and consensus beliefs have similar trends and individual background predictors. Both rose gradually by about 10 points over 2010 to 2016, showing no abrupt shifts that might correspond to events such as scientific reports, leadership statements, or weather. Growing awareness of the scientific consensus, whether from deliberate messaging or the cumulative impact of many studies and publicly engaged scientists, provides the most plausible explanation for this rise in both series. In state-level data, the gap between liberal and conservative views on the reality of ACC did not widen over this period, whereas the liberal–conservative gap regarding existence of a scientific consensus narrowed.
AANCART best practices: cancer awareness activities for Seattle's Combodian community.
Seng, Paularita; Acorda, Elizabeth; Carey Jackson, J; Marchand, Ann; Thai, Hue; Tu, Shin-Ping; Taylor, Vicky
2005-12-15
Census data indicate that Cambodian Americans are economically disadvantaged and linguistically isolated. In addition, cancer registry data show that Southeast Asians experience several cancer-related health disparities (e.g., markedly elevated risks of cervical and liver cancer). The Seattle regional Asian American Network for Cancer, Awareness, Research, and Training (AANCART) site has implemented a community-based cancer awareness program for Cambodian immigrants in collaboration with a Cambodian community coalition. Our cancer awareness program has the following goals: to assist individuals and organizations in advocating for a healthy community, to provide information within a cultural context, and to deliver information in ways that are useful and meaningful to the community. The program was guided by a community assessment that included the use of published data as well as information from qualitative interviews, focus groups, and quantitative surveys. Examples of community awareness activities include group presentations at community-based organizations (e.g., during English as a second language classes), health fair participation (including at nontraditional venues such as a farmers' market serving Cambodians), and educational displays in neighborhood locations (e.g., at Cambodian video stores). In addition, the Seattle AANCART site has both inventoried and developed culturally appropriate Khmer language cancer education materials and disseminated materials through the ETHNO-MED website. Our approach recognizes that limited English language proficiency may preclude many Cambodians from understanding publicly disseminated information, and Cambodian immigrants are often isolated and tend to stay close to their own neighborhoods. Cancer 2005. (c) 2005 American Cancer Society.
Provan, K.; Beagles, J.; Mercken, L.; Leischow, S.J.
2013-01-01
This research examines the awareness of evidence-based practices by the public organizations that fund services in the North American Quitline Consortium (NAQC). NAQC is a large, publicly funded, goal-directed “whole network,” spanning both Canada and the United States, working to get people to quit
Awareness and habit: important factors in physical activity in children
Kremers, S.P.J.; Dijkman, M.A.M.; de Meij, J.S.B.; Jurg, M.E.; Brug, J.
2008-01-01
Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to gain insight into the extent to which Dutch children are aware of their own physical activity level, and to what extent children's physical activity is habitual. Special attention was paid to the potential moderating effect of "awareness" and "habit
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Aziz Nather
1999-01-01
Public education is vital for the viability and development of any tissue bank. Whilst the Medical Therapy, Education and Research Act 1972 requiring consent from relative or next kin provides for procurement and transplantation of tissues, the public needs to be educated. Whilst much is known about kidney, liver and heart transplantation. NUH Tissue Bank adopts a 4-point strategy for public education:- 1.The Kidney Team headed by National Kidney Foundation has an aggressive, yearly public education drive. Our first strategy has been to join them in the National Kidney Donation Campaigns and slowly use their forum for Tissue Donation Drives. This has proved successful. 2. We took a key role in supporting the formation of the Society of transplantation of Singapore. I was elected Member of the Executive Committee and currently its Treasurer. The Society itself run scientific and public forums and with each one the public became more informed about us. 3.We ourselves actively publicise our workshops - seize every opportunity via TV, Radio, Newspaper, Hospital Bulletins, Campus News, Asian Medical News, etc. We did this once a year conservatively since 1995. 4. NUH Tissue Bank was invited to join a task force headed by Director of Medical Services, Dr Chen Ai Ju for increasing Organ and Tissue Donation in Singapore in January 1997. This has been very productive. Government is providing a one to two million dollars budget per year. March has been designed 'National Donation March'. The first drive will be in March 1999. In all our deliberation, we always take into consideration the cultural values and religious sensitivities of our multiracial population 80% Chinese, 15% Malays, 5% Indians
Turning on the light of public information: the work of the US Committee for Energy Awareness
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Finger, H.B.
1983-01-01
The work of the US Committee for Energy Awareness (USCEA) in promoting the public acceptance of nuclear power is described. Details of the public education programme are given and include television and printed messages, advertising, a range of public information programmes and public opinion research polls before and afterwards. (U.K.)
Mackenzie, Isla S; Wei, Li; Rutherford, Daniel; Findlay, Evelyn A; Saywood, Wendy; Campbell, Marion K; MacDonald, Thomas M
2010-01-01
AIM To increase public awareness and understanding of clinical research in Scotland. METHODS A generic media campaign to raise public awareness of clinical research was launched in 2008. The ‘Get Randomised’ campaign was a Scotland-wide initiative led by the University of Dundee in collaboration with other Scottish universities. Television, radio and newspaper advertising showed leading clinical researchers, general practitioners and patients informing the public about the importance of randomised clinical trials (RCTs). ‘Get Randomised’ was the central message and interested individuals were directed to the http://www.getrandomised.org website for more information. To assess the impact of the campaign, cross-sectional surveys were conducted in representative samples of 1040 adults in Scotland prior to campaign launch and again 6 months later. RESULTS There was an improvement in public awareness of clinical trials following the campaign; 56.7% [95% confidence interval (CI) 51.8, 61.6] of the sample recalled seeing or hearing advertising about RCTs following the campaign compared with 14.8% (10.8, 18.9) prior to the campaign launch (difference = 41.4%; 95% CI for difference 35.6, 48.3; P advertising, 49% felt that the main message was that people should take part more in medical research. However, on whether they would personally take part in a clinical trial if asked, there was little difference in response following the campaign [‘yes’ 31.3% (28.4, 34.1) prior; 30.4% (27.6, 33.2) following; difference =−0.9%; 95% CI for difference −4.8, 3.1%; P= 0.92]. CONCLUSIONS It is possible to raise public awareness of clinical research using the media, but further efforts may be required to influence individuals' decisions to take part in clinical research. PMID:20233175
Earnshaw, S; Monnet, D L; Duncan, B; O'Toole, J; Ekdahl, K; Goossens, H
2009-07-30
Antibiotic resistance is a major European and global public health problem and is, for a large part, driven by misuse of antibiotics. Hence, reducing unnecessary antibiotic use, particularly for the treatment of certain respiratory tract infections where they are not needed, is a public health priority. The success of national awareness campaigns to educate the public and primary care prescribers about appropriate antibiotic use in Belgium and France stimulated a European initiative coordinated by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), and named European Antibiotic Awareness Day (EAAD), to take place each year on 18 November. Specific campaign materials, including key messages, logos, slogans and a media toolkit, were developed and made available for use in European countries. The focus of the first EAAD campaign was about not taking antibiotics for viral infections such as colds and flu. A post-campaign survey was conducted in January 2009. Thirty-two European countries participated in the first EAAD, producing information materials and implementing activities to mark EAAD. Media coverage peaked on 18 and 19 November. At EU level, EAAD was launched at a scientific meeting in the European Parliament, Strasbourg. The event received EU political engagement through support from the EU Commissioner for Health, the Slovenian and French EU Presidencies, and Members of the European Parliament. Critical factors that led to the success of the first EAAD were good cooperation and process for building the campaign, strong political and stakeholder support and development of campaign materials based on scientific evidence. Countries indicated wide support for another EAAD in 2009. For this purpose, ECDC is developing several TV spots as well as a second set of EAAD campaign materials targeting primary care prescribers.
ZombiesâA Pop Culture Resource for Public Health Awareness
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Podcasts
2013-04-24
Reginald Tucker reads an abridged version of the Emerging Infectious Diseases Another Dimension, ZombiesâA Pop Culture Resource for Public Health Awareness. Created: 4/24/2013 by National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (NCEZID). Date Released: 4/24/2013.
Dark Skies Ahead? Activities to Raise Awareness during the International Year of Astronomy
Walker, Constance E.; Isbell, D.; Pompea, S.
2007-12-01
"Dark Skies as a Universal Resource” is one of 7 themes targeted for the International Year of Astronomy in 2009. The theme's goal is to raise public awareness of the impact of artificial lighting on local environments and the ongoing loss of a dark night sky as a natural resource for much of the world's population. To reach this goal, activities are being developed which highlight dark skies preservation issues 1) through new technology (e.g., programs at planetaria, blogging, podcasting); 2) at events such as star parties and observatory open houses; 3) in arts, entertainment and storytelling (e.g., art competitions, documentaries, lectures, native American traditions); 4) through unaided-eye and digital-meter star count programs involving citizen-scientists; and 5) by relating them to public health, economic issues, ecological consequences, energy conservation, safety and security. A centerpiece of the Dark Skies theme is the unaided-eye and digital-meter versions of the GLOBE at Night program. The unaided-eye version directs citizen-scientists on how to observe and record the brightness of the night sky by matching its appearance toward the constellation of Orion with one of 7 stellar maps of different limiting magnitudes. For the "digital” version, low-cost meters are used by citizen-scientists to measure the integrated sky brightness. Data sets and maps of both versions are supplied on-line for further capstone activities. In the presentation, we will outline the activities being developed as well as plans for funding, implementation, marketing and the connections to the global cornerstone IYA project, "Dark Skies Awareness".
A Novel Approach for Creating Activity-Aware Applications in a Hospital Environment
Bardram, Jakob E.
Context-aware and activity-aware computing has been proposed as a way to adapt the computer to the user’s ongoing activity. However, deductively moving from physical context - like location - to establishing human activity has proved difficult. This paper proposes a novel approach to activity-aware computing. Instead of inferring activities, this approach enables the user to explicitly model their activity, and then use sensor-based events to create, manage, and use these computational activities adjusted to a specific context. This approach was crafted through a user-centered design process in collaboration with a hospital department. We propose three strategies for activity-awareness: context-based activity matching, context-based activity creation, and context-based activity adaptation. We present the implementation of these strategies and present an experimental evaluation of them. The experiments demonstrate that rather than considering context as information, context can be a relational property that links ’real-world activities’ with their ’computational activities’.
Situational awareness in public health preparedness settings
Mirhaji, Parsa; Michea, Yanko F.; Zhang, Jiajie; Casscells, Samuel W.
2005-05-01
September 11 2001 attacks and following Anthrax mailings introduced emergent need for developing technologies that can distinguish between man made and natural incidents in the public health level. With this objective in mind, government agencies started a funding effort to foster the design, development and implementation of such systems on a wide scale. But the outcomes have not met the expectations set by the resources invested. Multiple elements explain this phenomenon: As it has been frequent with technology, introduction of new surveillance systems to the workflow equation has occurred without taking into consideration the need for understanding and inclusion of deeper personal, psychosocial, organizational and methodological concepts. The environment, in which these systems are operating, is complex, highly dynamic, uncertain, risky, and subject to intense time pressures. Such 'difficult' environments are very challenging to the human as a decision maker. In this paper we will challenge these systems from the perspective of human factors design. We will propose employment of systematic situational awareness research for design and implementation of the next generation public health preparedness infrastructures. We believe that systems designed based on results of such analytical definition of the domain enable public health practitioners to effectively collect the most important cues from the environment, process, interpret and understand the information in the context of organizational objectives and immediate tasks at hand, and use that understanding to forecast the short term and long term impact of the events in the safety and well being of the community.
Cardiovascular Disease and Cancer: Student Awareness Activities.
Meyer, James H., Comp.
Awareness activities pertaining to cancer and cardiovascular disease are presented as a supplement for high school science classes. The exercises can be used to enrich units of study dealing with the circulatory system, the cell, or human diseases. Eight activities deal with the following topics: (1) cardiovascular disease risk factors; (2)…
A Novel Approach for Creating Activity-Aware Applications in a Hospital Environment
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Bardram, Jakob Eyvind
2009-01-01
Context-aware and activity-aware computing has been proposed as a way to adapt the computer to the user’s ongoing activity. However, deductively moving from physical context - like location - to establishing human activity has proved difficult. This paper proposes a novel approach to activity...
Error-related anterior cingulate cortex activity and the prediction of conscious error awareness
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Catherine eOrr
2012-06-01
Full Text Available Research examining the neural mechanisms associated with error awareness has consistently identified dorsal anterior cingulate activity (ACC as necessary but not predictive of conscious error detection. Two recent studies (Steinhauser and Yeung, 2010; Wessel et al. 2011 have found a contrary pattern of greater dorsal ACC activity (in the form of the error-related negativity during detected errors, but suggested that the greater activity may instead reflect task influences (e.g., response conflict, error probability and or individual variability (e.g., statistical power. We re-analyzed fMRI BOLD data from 56 healthy participants who had previously been administered the Error Awareness Task, a motor Go/No-go response inhibition task in which subjects make errors of commission of which they are aware (Aware errors, or unaware (Unaware errors. Consistent with previous data, the activity in a number of cortical regions was predictive of error awareness, including bilateral inferior parietal and insula cortices, however in contrast to previous studies, including our own smaller sample studies using the same task, error-related dorsal ACC activity was significantly greater during aware errors when compared to unaware errors. While the significantly faster RT for aware errors (compared to unaware was consistent with the hypothesis of higher response conflict increasing ACC activity, we could find no relationship between dorsal ACC activity and the error RT difference. The data suggests that individual variability in error awareness is associated with error-related dorsal ACC activity, and therefore this region may be important to conscious error detection, but it remains unclear what task and individual factors influence error awareness.
Public Awareness and Practice of Responsible Gambling in Macao.
Tong, Kwok-Kit; Hung, Eva P W; Lei, Caren M W; Wu, Anise M S
2018-01-30
Responsible gambling (RG) is a relatively new concept to the Macao gambling industry. Although recent studies reported a heightened public awareness of RG, the prevalence of disordered gambling is still high. This discrepancy may suggest an existing gap between RG awareness and gambling practices, pinpointing aspects that need to be improved by different RG stakeholders. The gap may be attributable to people's limited knowledge toward practices favoring RG. To explore means for enhancing the RG campaign, we studied Macao residents' interpretation and adoption of RG practices. In Study 1, a random community sample was collected to assess the extent to which common RG practices were adopted. Results suggested that there was a fair proportion of gamblers not adhering to them and gambling disorder tendency was related to the adoption of RG practices. It implied a successful promotion of RG practices may reduce gambling problems. In Study 2, focus group discussions were conducted to explore how RG was conceptualized. Twenty-five participants (including 11 casino employees) took part in four focus group interviews. All participants were aware of RG but their knowledge of RG practices was limited. Very few of them were able to identify major practices such as putting constraints on gambling amount and time and the application for self-exclusion. We argue that future RG promotion needs to be more specific and behavior-oriented and it should also address various procedural concerns on how RG practices can be implemented.
Awareness and knowledge of the youth 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans.
DeBastiani, Summer Dawn; Carroll, Dianna D; Cunningham, Melissa; Lee, Sarah; Fulton, Janet
2014-03-01
To measure parental awareness of government physical activity guidelines and knowledge of the amount of physical activity recommended for youth (ie, 60 minutes per day, 7 days per week) as specified in the 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. A cross-sectional national sample of adults responded to physical activity guideline questions added to the HealthStyles survey in 2009 (n = 1552). The prevalence of parents aware of government physical activity guidelines and knowledgeable of the youth physical activity guideline, specifically, was estimated overall and by parental demographic characteristics (sex, education, income level, race/ethnicity, age group, marital status) and body mass index. In 2009, 34.8% of parents reported being aware of physical activity guidelines, and 9.7% were knowledgeable of the amount of physical activity recommended for youth. Many parents lack awareness and knowledge of the youth physical activity guidelines. The low prevalence estimates suggest the 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans has not been effectively disseminated. These results may also indicate a need for effective communication strategies to educate and inform parents, an important influencer of children's health behaviors.
The importance of environmental awareness and public participation for sustainable development
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Metka Špes
2008-12-01
Full Text Available In sustainable development which requires the balance between the economic, social and environmental objectives, it is of key importance that the public also participates in the broadest sense. For the comprehension of ecological and developmental decisions it is necessary to provide information and to raise the general environmental awareness. An individual or groups of people base their reactions to negative phenomena in the environment on their perception of it, which does not always correspond to the objective state but is modified by different factors, also by the access to information and by the participation of the public in taking the decisions.
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Balagnesh G
1996-01-01
Full Text Available Research Question: What is the level of Public awareness on AIDS in a rural community and to what extent the government and non-government agencies have played their role in creating the awareness? Objectives: (i To study the public awareness on AIDS in a rural community (ii To Study role of government and non-government agencies in creating the awareness on AIDS. Design: Cross-sectional study Setting: Rural area under S. V. Medical College Triputi (AP Participants: 100 males (15-45 yrs and 100 females (15-45 yrs. Study variables: Awareness on AIDS, Government and non-government agencies. Statistical Analysis: Percentages Results: Most of the persons interviewed had minimal knowledge on AIDS. Quite a large section of the ‘ study population was ignorant over the safety offered by condoms in preventing AIDS. Doordarshan and Newspaper agencies played much role in creation the awareness on AIDS, while the non-government agencies like Lions†Club, Rotary Club. Indian Junior Chamber etc. played no role in creating the awareness on AIDS in the study area. Recommendations: Government health sector should take more responsibility in educating the people and creating adequate awareness on AIDS. Non-government agencies should involve themselves in creating awareness on AIDS.
Tabassum, Tahirah; Ashraf, Mariam; Thaver, Inayat
2016-01-01
The awareness of patient's rights is negligible in developing countries where no legal framework is present to protect these rights and Pakistan is no exception. Not only is there an absence of legal structure for protection of patients' rights, but the enforcement and implementation for existing law is also questionable. Pakistan has an Islamic Charter of Medical and Health Ethics which includes the medical behaviour and physician's rights and duties towards the patients. Despite all these charters on patients' rights, there is little to no awareness regarding these rights and their practice remains low in healthcare system of Pakistan. This assessment of awareness among patients about their rights will guide in formulating recommendations to improve the existing system of healthcare delivery in the country. This descriptive cross-sectional comparative study was conducted in two hospitals in Lahore, each belonging to public and private sector. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from patients. A total of 220 patients were selected to participate in the study, 110 belonging to each private and public hospital. The findings indicate that most of the patients (64%) were not aware of their rights. The awareness level was better in patients seeking care from private hospital than those from public hospital. Education, monthly income and type of hospital utilized were found to be positively associated with the level of awareness. Most of the patients were not satisfied with the practices of their rights, especially in public hospitals. The lack of awareness regarding the rights of a patient was more common in patients of public/government hospitals compared to private hospitals. A nation-wide healthcare education program is needed to increase awareness and practice of patients' rights in the country.
Riordan, Fiona; Papoutsi, Chrysanthi; Reed, Julie E.; Marston, Cicely; Bell, Derek; Majeed, Azeem
2015-01-01
Background The development of Electronic Health Records (EHRs) forms an integral part of the information strategy for the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK, with the aim of facilitating health information exchange for patient care and secondary use, including research and healthcare planning. Implementing EHR systems requires an understanding of patient expectations for consent mechanisms and consideration of public awareness towards information sharing as might be made possible through integrated EHRs across primary and secondary health providers. Objectives To explore levels of public awareness about EHRs and to examine attitudes towards different consent models with respect to sharing identifiable and de-identified records for healthcare provision, research and planning. Methods A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was administered to adult patients and members of the public in primary and secondary care clinics in West London, UK in 2011. In total, 5331 individuals participated in the survey, and 3157 were included in the final analysis. Results The majority (91%) of respondents expected to be explicitly asked for consent for their identifiable records to be accessed for health provision, research or planning. Half the respondents (49%) did not expect to be asked for consent before their de-identified records were accessed. Compared with White British respondents, those from all other ethnic groups were more likely to anticipate their permission would be obtained before their de-identified records were used. Of the study population, 59% reported already being aware of EHRs before the survey. Older respondents and individuals with complex patterns of interaction with healthcare services were more likely to report prior awareness of EHRs. Individuals self-identifying as belonging to ethnic groups other than White British, and those with lower educational qualifications were less likely to report being aware of EHRs than White British respondents and
Gase, Lauren N; Barragan, Noel C; Simon, Paul A; Jackson, Richard J; Kuo, Tony
2015-03-01
Policies to promote active transportation are emerging as a best practice to increase physical activity, yet relatively little is known about public opinion on utilizing transportation funds for such investments. This study sought to assess public awareness of and support for investments in walking and biking infrastructure in Los Angeles County. In the fall of 2013, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health conducted a telephone survey with a random sample of registered voters in the region. The survey asked respondents to report on the presence and importance of walking and biking infrastructure in their community, travel behaviors and preferences, and demographics. One thousand and five interviews were completed (response rate 20%, cooperation rate 54%). The majority of participants reported walking, biking, and bus/rail transportation investments as being important. In addition, participants reported a high level of support for redirecting transportation funds to active transportation investment - the population average was 3.28 (between 'strongly' and 'somewhat' support) on a 4 point Likert scale. Voters see active transportation infrastructure as being very important and support redirecting funding to improve the infrastructure. These findings can inform policy-decisions and planning efforts in the jurisdiction. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Oral cancer awareness of the general public in Gorakhpur city, India.
Agrawal, Mamta; Pandey, Sushma; Jain, Shikha; Maitin, Shipra
2012-01-01
Global cancer statistical data show that India has one of the highest incidence rates of oral cancer worldwide. Early detection is extremely important as it results in lower morbidity and death rates. The present study was undertaken to assess awareness of oral cancer and knowledge of its early signs and risk factors in the general public of the semi-urban Gorakhpur area of Uttar Pradesh (India). It was also intended to educate the same population for early detection by increasing their ability to recognize signs and risk factors. A questionnaire-based household survey was conducted over a period of one month in different parts of Gorakhpur district, a region where tobacco use is apparently very high. A total of 2,093 persons participated in the survey. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS software to assess and associate oral cancer awareness with the prevalence, and abstract risk factors, as well as other confounding variables. The general awareness, knowledge of signs and risk factors of oral cancer were found to be proportionate to the literacy level with the highest rate of awareness being among high school and graduates and lowest among illiterates. It was also observed that on most of these dimensions the younger age groups (awareness of oral cancer in the high-risk population of Gorakhpur was not satisfactory, pointing to a need for further dissemination of information on this issue and its associated risks. This is especially important for the youngsters, as this may possibly help them keep away from the deleterious habit of tobacco indulgence in any form. If necessary risk factor cessation counselling should be provided.
Public Awareness of and Contact With Physicians Who Receive Industry Payments: A National Survey.
Pham-Kanter, Genevieve; Mello, Michelle M; Lehmann, Lisa Soleymani; Campbell, Eric G; Carpenter, Daniel
2017-07-01
The Physician Payments Sunshine Act, part of the Affordable Care Act, requires pharmaceutical and medical device firms to report payments they make to physicians and, through its Open Payments program, makes this information publicly available. To establish estimates of the exposure of the American patient population to physicians who accept industry payments, to compare these population-based estimates to physician-based estimates of industry contact, and to investigate Americans' awareness of industry payments. Cross-sectional survey conducted in late September and early October 2014, with data linkage of respondents' physicians to Open Payments data. A total of 3542 adults drawn from a large, nationally representative household panel. Respondents' contact with physicians reported in Open Payments to have received industry payments; respondents' awareness that physicians receive payments from industry and that payment information is publicly available; respondents' knowledge of whether their own physician received industry payments. Among the 1987 respondents who could be matched to a specific physician, 65% saw a physician who had received an industry payment during the previous 12 months. This population-based estimate of exposure to industry contact is much higher than physician-based estimates from the same period, which indicate that 41% of physicians received an industry payment. Across the six most frequently visited specialties, patient contact with physicians who had received an industry payment ranged from 60 to 85%; the percentage of physicians with industry contact in these specialties was much lower (35-56%). Only 12% of survey respondents knew that payment information was publicly available, and only 5% knew whether their own doctor had received payments. Patients' contact with physicians who receive industry payments is more prevalent than physician-based measures of industry contact would suggest. Very few Americans know whether their own doctor
Kohls, Elisabeth; Coppens, Evelien; Hug, Juliane; Wittevrongel, Eline; Van Audenhove, Chantal; Koburger, Nicole; Arensman, Ella; Székely, András; Gusmão, Ricardo; Hegerl, Ulrich
2017-08-01
Public attitudes toward depression and help-seeking behaviour are important factors influencing depressed people to obtain professional help and adequate treatment. OSPI-Europe is a multi-level suicide prevention programme including a public awareness campaign. It was implemented in four regions of four European countries (Germany, Hungary, Ireland and Portugal). This paper reports the results of the evaluation of the campaign, including its visibility and effects of the campaign on stigma associated with depression and help-seeking behaviour. A representative general population survey (N=4004) including measures on personal stigma, perceived stigma, openness to help, perceived value of help, and socio-demographic variables was conducted in the four intervention and four control regions in a cross-sectional pre-post design. The public awareness campaign was considerably more visible in Germany and Portugal compared to Ireland and Hungary. Visibility was further affected by age and years of schooling. Personal stigma, perceived stigma and openness toward professional help varied significantly across the four countries. Respondents in the intervention regions showed significantly less personal depression stigma than respondents in the control regions after the campaign. Respondents of the intervention region who were aware of the campaign reported more openness toward seeking professional help than respondents who were unaware of it. The OSPI-Europe awareness campaign was visible and produced some positive results. At the same time, it proved to be difficult to show strong, measurable and unambiguous effects, which is in line with previous studies. Public awareness campaigns as conducted within OSPI-Europe can contribute to improved attitudes and knowledge about depression in the general public and produce synergistic effects, in particular when the dissemination of awareness campaign materials is simultaneously reinforced by other intervention levels of a multi
Creating Public Awareness of Renewable Energy by Combining a Photovoltaic System and Nature
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Knott, Arnold; Lund, Dorthe Hedensted; Andersen, Thomas
2011-01-01
Energy is seemingly permanently and nearly everywhere in the western world available to the end consumer. While a majority of the western civilization is aware of the downsides of fossil energy sources and is favoring renewable energy sources, the energy consumption is still increasing. The situa......Energy is seemingly permanently and nearly everywhere in the western world available to the end consumer. While a majority of the western civilization is aware of the downsides of fossil energy sources and is favoring renewable energy sources, the energy consumption is still increasing....... The situation is quite clear to the experts in the field, but further awareness in the public must be created. Therefore this paper addresses a method of creating this awareness: installations that stimulate conversations of renewable energy. A solar tree was developed and built to serve young people with an AC....... The mechanical requirements and the developed solution is shown, before providing intensive insight into the electrical configuration, consisting of a battery, photovoltaic cells and a DC-AC converter. Furthermore a low complexity charge controller is presented. The resulting solar tree is capable of attracting...
Brennan, Emily; Wakefield, Melanie A; Durkin, Sarah J; Jernigan, David H; Dixon, Helen G; Pettigrew, Simone
2017-08-01
DrinkWise Australia is an alcohol industry Social Aspects/Public Relations Organisation (SAPRO). We assessed the Australian public's awareness of DrinkWise, beliefs about its funding source, and associations between funding beliefs and perceptions of DrinkWise. A total of 467 adult weekly drinkers completed an online cross-sectional survey in February 2016. Half the sample had heard of DrinkWise (48.6%); of these, the proportion aware that DrinkWise is industry funded (37.0%) was much smaller than the proportion believing it receives government funding (84.1%). Respondents who incorrectly believed DrinkWise receives government funding were more likely to hold a favourable perception of the organisation's credibility, trustworthiness and respectability than those who did not believe it receives government funding (75.9% vs. 58.3%; p=0.032). The drinking population is vulnerable to believing that alcohol industry public relations organisations such as DrinkWise are government funded, which in turn is associated with more favourable perceptions of the organisation's credibility, trustworthiness, and respectability. Implications for public health: Favourable perceptions of DrinkWise may enhance the industry's ability to delay or dilute potentially effective alcohol control policies. Future research should investigate whether educating the public about DrinkWise's alcohol industry funding alters the public's perception of how credible, trustworthy and respectable the organisation is. © 2017 The Authors.
Tissue banking: public awareness in Indonesia
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Nazly Hilmy
1999-01-01
Public awareness and acceptance on the benefit of Tissue Bank (TB) and its products in Indonesia are still very low, however four productive TBs are in operation by using mostly tissues from living donors. Except for medical doctors, nurses and experts who are involved in the establishment of the TB as well as who applied the products, almost nobody else understand what kind of bank this tissue bank is. Ethical in collecting tissues from non- living donors and using of this human tissues for safe medical application has several considerations that should be overcome, such as religious, legal and medical considerations. Legal and medical considerations are not very difficult to be faced. People are reluctant to give up by cutting off the needed tissue of a dead relative to help someone else who is suffering from a life threatening disease. Our duty is to enlighten the public about this bank by means of seminars, exposition, writings and discussions. We can use the electronic mass- media or printed one to explain the necessity of this tissue bank. We also need to involve leaders of religions, government high ranking officials as well as related Government institutions. Otherwise the tissues that are needed can only be obtained from the poor, the homeless whose health condition we do not know and no relatives who can give their permission for the taking of parts of the body. This is a very unethical way. Since January 1998, Batan Research Tissue Bank together with several hospitals in Indonesia have done four seminars, two discussions, two expositions, producing leaflets and carried out training in this matter. But it is not enough. More efforts should be done
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For... Bono, Google and Glaucoma Awareness.
Lyons, C; Ellard, R; McElnea, E; Townley, D
2017-05-10
The effect of celebrity diagnosis on public awareness of health conditions has already been well documented. In October 2014, Bono, the lead singer with U2, revealed publicly for the first time that he has glaucoma. This study aimed to analyze the impact of Bono's announcement on public awareness of glaucoma using Google Search trends as an indicator of public interest in the disease. Google Trends was used to examine Google Search activity for the term 'Glaucoma' between 2009 and 2015 in both Ireland and the United Kingdom. Trend analyses were performed using Microsoft Excel Version 14.3.5. Increased Google Search activity for 'Glaucoma' in October 2014 was found in both Ireland and the United Kingdom. A five-fold increase from the mean Google Search activity for this term was found in Ireland and a two-fold increase from the mean Google Search activity for this term was found in the United Kingdom. No such increase in Google Search activity occurred during each country's 2014 Glaucoma Awareness week. Google Trends is useful in medical research as a means of assessing public awareness of, and/or interest in, health related topics. Current approaches to glaucoma related health promotion in both Ireland and the United Kingdom have failed to yield an increase in on-line Google Search activity. While there was an increase in interest in glaucoma it is unclear whether this led to an increase in health seeking behaviour.
I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For….. Bono, Google and Glaucoma Awareness
LENUS (Irish Health Repository)
Lyons, C
2017-05-01
The effect of celebrity diagnosis on public awareness of health conditions has already been well documented. In October 2014, Bono, the lead singer with U2, revealed publicly for the first time that he has glaucoma. This study aimed to analyze the impact of Bono’s announcement on public awareness of glaucoma using Google Search trends as an indicator of public interest in the disease. Google Trends was used to examine Google Search activity for the term ‘Glaucoma’ between 2009 and 2015 in both Ireland and the United Kingdom. Trend analyses were performed using Microsoft Excel Version 14.3.5. Increased Google Search activity for ‘Glaucoma’ in October 2014 was found in both Ireland and the United Kingdom. A five-fold increase from the mean Google Search activity for this term was found in Ireland and a two-fold increase from the mean Google Search activity for this term was found in the United Kingdom. No such increase in Google Search activity occurred during each country’s 2014 Glaucoma Awareness week. Google Trends is useful in medical research as a means of assessing public awareness of, and\\/or interest in, health related topics. Current approaches to glaucoma related health promotion in both Ireland and the United Kingdom have failed to yield an increase in on-line Google Search activity. While there was an increase in interest in glaucoma it is unclear whether this led to an increase in health seeking behaviour.
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Sedat Şen
2017-01-01
Full Text Available The purpose of this study is to measure the level of awareness and perception of Turkish public personnel working in public institutions regarding the problem of online child pornography. Participants include 100 public officials positioned in various ministries. Quantitative research method was used in order to obtain information from participants. A questionnaire was submitted to the participants with meetings in person or via the Internet and data were collected. In order to ensure reliability and validity issues, expert opinion was sought as a means to measure validity and reliability. Necessary corrections were made based on the feedback provided. Outputs from the questionnaire were analyzed using the SPSS and the findings were evaluated. The results showed that participants who are rather young with high education levels, well-versed in national regulations, they have the knowledge about digital citizenship; however, it was found that they were not informed about technical issues such as international activities related to child pornography (CP, online child pornography, Darknet, p2p networks and hash databases. The findings showed that the reason behind the lack of awareness on some of these phenomena was the inherent problems in the education system and the insufficiency of the curriculum. Findings clearly show that it is necessary to establish an organic network among several ministries which are responsible for the fight with child pornography. Furthermore, to create a national CP images (Hash database which can detect the IP number and other information of the ones who share such images online using a national analysis software is another solution proposed.
Finney Rutten, Lila J; Gollust, Sarah E; Naveed, Sana; Moser, Richard P
2012-01-01
Uncertainty around the value of and appropriate regulatory models for direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic testing underscores the importance of tracking public awareness of these services. We analyzed nationally representative, cross-sectional data from the Health Information National Trends Survey in 2008 (n = 7, 674) and 2011 (n = 3, 959) to assess population-level changes in awareness of DTC genetic testing in the U.S. and to explore sociodemographic, health care, Internet use, and population density correlates. Overall, awareness increased significantly from 29% in 2008 to 37% in 2011. The observed increase in awareness from 2008 to 2011 remained significant (OR = 1.39) even when adjusted for sociodemographic variables, health care access, Internet use, and population density. Independent of survey year, the odds of awareness of DTC genetic tests were significantly higher for those aged 50-64 (OR = 1.64), and 65-74 (OR = 1.60); college graduates (OR = 2.02); those with a regular source of health care (OR = 1.27); those with a prior cancer diagnosis (OR = 1.24); those who use the Internet (OR = 1.27); and those living in urban areas (OR = 1.25). Surveillance of awareness-along with empirical data on use of and response to genetic risk information-can inform public health and policy efforts to maximize benefits and minimize risks of DTC genetic testing.
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Rutten, L. J. F.; Gollust, S. E.; Naveed, S.; Moser, R. P.
2012-01-01
Uncertainty around the value of and appropriate regulatory models for direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic testing underscores the importance of tracking public awareness of these services. We analyzed nationally representative, cross-sectional data from the Health Information National Trends Survey in 2008 (n=7, 674) and 2011 (n=3, 959) to assess population-level changes in awareness of DTC genetic testing in the U.S. and to explore socio demographic, health care, Internet use, and population density correlates. Overall, awareness increased significantly from 29% in 2008 to 37% in 2011. The observed increase in awareness from 2008 to 2011 remained significant (OR=1.39) even when adjusted for socio demographic variables, health care access, Internet use, and population density. Independent of survey year, the odds of awareness of DTC genetic tests were significantly higher for those aged 50-64 (OR=1.64), and 65-74 (O R=1.60); college graduates (OR=2.02 ); those with a regular source of health care (OR=1.27); those with a prior cancer diagnosis (OR=1.24); those who use the Internet (OR=1.27); and those living in urban areas ( OR=1.25). Surveillance of awareness-along with empirical data on use of and response to genetic risk information-can inform public health and policy efforts to maximize benefits and minimize risks of DTC genetic testing.
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Ria Sandra Alimbudiono
2014-03-01
Full Text Available This study aims to give an insight about environmental awareness from public accountant and the role of Indonesian accounting professional bodies in ensuring professional sustainability. A naturalistic method was applied to get deep understanding about the perspectives of the boards of professional bodies as a representation from the condition of public accountants in general. Data collection methods used in this study were interviews and focus group discussion. The findings highlight a variety of perspectives on knowledge of environment, interest in environmental accounting and moral responsibility on environmental damage. This variation shows different levels of awareness and it is mainly caused by the lack of law enforcement and no mandatory standards on environmental issues. This condition will threat legitimacy of accounting profession and finally, be able to endangered professional accounting sustainability. Limitations are about the scope and sample,which provide insights of the boards of public accountant professional bodies on environmental accounting issues. Future studies should be done on other accounting fields such as environmental audit, environmental accounting and reporting and environmental costing.
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Daryai-Hansen, Petra; Layne, Heidi; Lefever, Samúel
2018-01-01
which focus on parents’ perspective on plurilingualism and language awareness. In the project, a set of teaching activities focusing on language awareness and diversity were developed in schools in the participating countries in order to contribute to language dehierarchisations. The theoretical framing...
Awareness and Perception About Cancer Among the Public in Chennai, India
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Vidhubala Elangovan
2017-10-01
Full Text Available Purpose: Cancer-related stigma influences the way people perceive cancer, which renders cancer control—beginning with prevention and proceeding to palliation—a challenging task. This study aimed to assess the current levels of awareness and perceptions about cancer among people with various socioeconomic status and diverse backgrounds in the city of Chennai, India. Patients and Methods: The sample population (N = 2,981; 18 to 88 years of age was stratified into four groups: patients (n = 510, caregivers (n = 494 consulting at the Cancer Institute (Women Indian Association, college students (n = 978, and general public (n = 999. Fourteen statements related to cancer stigma or myths were identified and categorized by awareness (10 items or perception (4 items. Responses to those statements were recorded by using a Likert scale (yes, no, and don’t know. The data were described by frequency analysis and χ2 test using SPSS Version 13 (SPSS, Chicago, IL. Results: More than 70% of the study participants were aware that cancer is curable, that cancer is not contagious, and that cancer is not a curse or a death sentence. However, only approximately half believed that surgery or biopsy do not cause cancer to spread to other organs or that radiation therapy does not consist of receiving an electric shock. Higher education, younger age, male sex, personal experience with cancer (either as a patient or caregiver, and high socioeconomic status were the categories of people with increased awareness about cancer. Conclusion: These factors need to be taken into consideration in tailoring information, education, and communication campaigns. Resource allocation for these campaigns is an investment in cancer control.
Awareness and Perception About Cancer Among the Public in Chennai, India
Rajaraman, Swaminathan; Basumalik, Barsha; Pandian, Dhivya
2017-01-01
Purpose Cancer-related stigma influences the way people perceive cancer, which renders cancer control—beginning with prevention and proceeding to palliation—a challenging task. This study aimed to assess the current levels of awareness and perceptions about cancer among people with various socioeconomic status and diverse backgrounds in the city of Chennai, India. Patients and Methods The sample population (N = 2,981; 18 to 88 years of age) was stratified into four groups: patients (n = 510), caregivers (n = 494) consulting at the Cancer Institute (Women Indian Association), college students (n = 978), and general public (n = 999). Fourteen statements related to cancer stigma or myths were identified and categorized by awareness (10 items) or perception (4 items). Responses to those statements were recorded by using a Likert scale (yes, no, and don’t know). The data were described by frequency analysis and χ2 test using SPSS Version 13 (SPSS, Chicago, IL). Results More than 70% of the study participants were aware that cancer is curable, that cancer is not contagious, and that cancer is not a curse or a death sentence. However, only approximately half believed that surgery or biopsy do not cause cancer to spread to other organs or that radiation therapy does not consist of receiving an electric shock. Higher education, younger age, male sex, personal experience with cancer (either as a patient or caregiver), and high socioeconomic status were the categories of people with increased awareness about cancer. Conclusion These factors need to be taken into consideration in tailoring information, education, and communication campaigns. Resource allocation for these campaigns is an investment in cancer control. PMID:29094085
Motivate: context aware mobile application for activity recommendation
Lin, Y.; Jessurun, A.J.; Vries, de B.; Timmermans, H.J.P.; Keyson, D.
2011-01-01
This paper presents the design, implementation and evaluation of a context-aware recommendation system that promotes the adoption of a healthy and active lifestyle. A Smartphone application that provides personalized and contextualized advice based on geo information, weather, user location and
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Arthur Oscar Schelp
Full Text Available Abstract Dementia is a progressive and debilitating disease affecting an increasing number of people worldwide. Despite its importance, only a few studies have examined public awareness of dementia. We present a study of the public awareness of dementia in Botucatu, São Paulo, Brazil. Methods: A sample of 73 individuals answered a questionnaire approved by the Medical Ethics Research Committee inquiring about the characteristics of healthy old-aged and demented individuals. Results: Those interviewed believed that dementia is characterized by prevalent memory impairment (41% and behavioral changes (32.9% with onset in the 60's or older (42.5% and upon suspecting dementia, only a few would seek specialized medical help. Discussion: Better understanding of public awareness of dementia provides the clue to more effective health and social policies in order to achieve a higher rate of early diagnosis and thereby possibly decreasing patient, family and caregiver distress.
An active cooperation-aware spectrum allocation mechanism for body sensor networks.
Jiang, Fu; Guo, Ying; Peng, Jun; Hu, Jiankun
2015-01-28
A cognitive radio-based spectrum allocation scheme using an active cooperative-aware mechanism is proposed in this paper. The scheme ensures that the primary user and secondary users cooperate actively for their own benefits. The primary user releases some spectrum resources to secondary users to actively stimulate them to actively join the cooperative transmission of the primary user, and secondary users help the primary user to relay data in return, as well as its self-data transmission at the same time. The Stackelberg game is used to evenly and jointly optimize the utilities of both the primary and secondary users. Simulation results show that the proposed active cooperation-aware mechanism could improve the body sensor network performance.
Conflict-related activity in the caudal anterior cingulate cortex in the absence of awareness
Ursu, Stefan; Clark, Kristi A.; Aizenstein, Howard J.; Stenger, V. Andrew; Carter, Cameron S.
2009-01-01
The caudal anterior cingulate cortex (cACC) is thought to be involved in performance monitoring, as conflict and error-related activity frequently co-localize in this area. Recent results suggest that these effects may be differentially modulated by awareness. To clarify the role of awareness in performance monitoring by the cACC, we used rapid event-related fMRI to examine the cACC activity while subjects performed a dual task: a delayed recognition task and a serial response task (SRT) with an implicit probabilistic learning rule (i.e. the stimulus location followed a probabilistic sequence of which the subjects were unaware). Task performance confirmed that the location sequence was learned implicitly. Even though we found no evidence of awareness for the presence of the sequence, imaging data revealed increased cACC activity during correct trials which violated the sequence (high conflict), relative to trials when stimuli followed the sequence (low conflict). Errors made with awareness also activated the same brain region. These results suggest that the performance monitoring function of the cACC extends beyond detection of errors made with or without awareness, and involves detection of multiple responses even when they are outside of awareness. PMID:19026710
Scior, K; Addai-Davis, J; Kenyon, M; Sheridan, J C
2013-11-01
Attitudes to the inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities (IDs) have been studied extensively, yet evidence on public awareness about ID and stigma is limited. The relationship between attitudes, knowledge and stigma associated with ID is poorly understood. The present study examined these factors and the relationships between them in the context of a multicultural society. UK residents of working age (n = 1002) were presented with a diagnostically unlabelled vignette of someone with a mild ID. They were asked to label the difficulties presented and to complete measures of social distance and attitudes to the inclusion of people with IDs. While attitudes to the inclusion of people with IDs were relatively positive overall, social contact was viewed with ambivalence. Inclusion attitudes and social distance were only moderately correlated. Across the whole sample 28% recognised typical symptoms of mild ID. Recognition of ID was associated with lower stigma and more positive attitudes than attribution of the difficulties presented to other causes. White Westerners showed increased knowledge, lower stigma and favoured inclusion more than participants from ethnic minorities. Among the latter group, Asians showed lower stigma and attitudes more in line with inclusion policies than participants of Black African/Caribbean backgrounds. Once a host of contextual factors were considered jointly, only contact was consistently associated with the variables measured. Stigma associated with ID is of concern across all ethnic groups, although it appears to be increased among the public from ethnic minorities. Given that contact and awareness are associated with reduced stigma, they should be considered as prime foci for efforts to tackle ID stigma. The current findings serve as baseline for attempts to increase public awareness and tackle stigma. © 2012 The Authors. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research © 2012 John Wiley & Sons Ltd, MENCAP & IASSID.
Smith, Samuel G; Osborne, Kirstie; Tring, Sophie; George, Helen; Power, Emily
2016-06-01
Improving public awareness of cancer and encouraging health behavior change are important aspects of cancer control. We investigated whether a community-based roadshow was an effective way of communicating with the public about cancer and encouraging behavior change. Data were from 1196 people who completed questionnaires at a Cancer Research UK Cancer Awareness Roadshow in 2013. Of these, 511 (43%) completed questionnaires immediately before their visit (pre-visit group) and 685 (57%) completed questionnaires immediately after their visit (post-visit group). Among the post-visit sample, 217 (32%) were retained after two months. Self-reported data were available on risk factor and symptom awareness, help-seeking barriers, use of healthcare services and health behaviors. Compared with the pre-visit sample, the post-visit group had greater awareness of cancer risk factors and was more positive about aspects of help-seeking but awareness of potential symptoms was similar. Most effects were maintained over two months. Intentions to eat more fruit and vegetables and to exercise more were comparable between the groups but more people in the post-visit sample intended to quit smoking. At 2-month follow-up, smoking prevalence had significantly reduced but fruit and vegetable consumption decreased and there was no change to physical activity. User of weight loss services and general practitioner visits were high at follow-up and largely attributed to the Roadshow. The Cancer Research UK Roadshow appears to improve risk factor awareness, promote positive attitudes towards help-seeking and increase smoking cessation. This approach could be a useful building block for additional cancer prevention and control strategies. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Public knowledge awareness and attitudes toward epilepsy in Al-Kharj Governorate Saudi Arabia
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Khaled K Al-Dossari
2018-01-01
Full Text Available Introduction: Epilepsy is one of the most stigmatizing disorders. Stigmas and negative attitudes associating epilepsy are due to poor public awareness and knowledge. This study evaluated Saudi public Knowledge, awareness, and attitude towards epilepsy. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study conducted during the period from September 16, 2014 to January 1st 2015. A 20-item questionnaire adapted from the literature was validated and distributed to 422 adults living in Al-Kharj governorate, and 22 participants were excluded as they have never heard or read about epilepsy. Results: About 94.79% of participants have heard or read about epilepsy, 63% of them knew someone with epilepsy, and 49.75% have witnessed a seizure attack. Seventy per cent of subjects thought that epilepsy is a neurological disease and 59% believed it is a brain disease. Almost 46.5% selected possession by demons or evil spirits and 51.25% cited envy or evil eye. More than half of subjects selected the medical treatment and follow-up as the most effective treatment of epilepsy. Rather, 41% believed in the faith healing. Most of respondents (81.5% believed that epileptic children could be successful in normal classes. The vast majority agreed with that epileptic woman can get married and have children. Moreover, 65.25% would allow their offspring to play with epileptic persons and surprisingly, 59% would let their offspring marrying a person with epilepsy. As much as 82.75% agreed to work with epileptic persons and 85.5% would easily become a close friend of them. The equal job opportunity for epileptic and normal persons should be practiced to about 53.75% of subjects. The predictors of good knowledge, limited misconception, and positive attitudes were female gender, being a relative of an epileptic person, and having high educational level. Conclusion: The public knowledge, awareness of and attitudes toward epilepsy were acceptable with regard to this study. However
Thai Youths and Global Warming: Media Information, Awareness, and Lifestyle Activities
Chokriensukchai, Kanchana; Tamang, Ritendra
2010-01-01
This study examines the exposure of Thai youths to media information on global warming, the relationship between exposure to global warming information and awareness of global warming, and the relationship between that awareness and lifestyle activities that contribute to global warming. A focus group of eight Thai youths provided information that…
Ser, Ping Han; Watanabe, Chiho
2012-01-01
Some countries have established fish advisories to manage fish consumption to minimize methylmercury exposure. Our objective was to compare the fish advisories and the resultant consumer behavior in the United States of America (USA) and Japan. Both countries have national consumption guidelines, but American states enjoy greater independence in issuing guidelines for local water bodies and vary in the information that is provided for the public. The proportion of the American public that has heard of state fish advisories is thought to be close to 30%. There is a concern that this low level of awareness extends to pregnant women. In Japan, the current problem is the lack of comprehensive studies on the public awareness of fish advisories. Nonetheless, there is evidence that fish consumption has decreased in both countries. In USA, there is a possibility that the strong emphasis on mercury toxicity drives the general population towards a trend of lower fish consumption. In Japan, the fish advisory encourages seafood consumption for nutritional benefits. Consequently, the decrease may be due to the shift towards a "Western diet". Also, the Japanese fish advisory seems to be less active in advocating the issue of fish consumption and mercury exposure, which may be partly responsible for the possible lesser attention of the consumers. Cultural factors may explain for the baseline difference in consumption and account partly for the change in Japanese consumer behavior. However, the dissimilarities in fish advisories may also be responsible for the variations in consumer behavior.
Utilization of Dental Services in Public Health Center: Dental Attendance, Awareness and Felt Needs.
Pewa, Preksha; Garla, Bharath K; Dagli, Rushabh; Bhateja, Geetika Arora; Solanki, Jitendra
2015-10-01
In rural India, dental diseases occur due to many factors, which includes inadequate or improper use of fluoride and a lack of knowledge regarding oral health and oral hygiene, which prevent proper screening and dental care of oral diseases. The objective of the study was to evaluate the dental attendance, awareness and utilization of dental services in public health center. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 251 study subjects who were visiting dental outpatient department (OPD) of public health centre (PHC), Guda Bishnoi, and Jodhpur using a pretested proforma from month of July 2014 to October 2014. A pretested questionnaire was used to collect the data regarding socioeconomic status and demographic factors affecting the utilization of dental services. Pearson's Chi-square test and step-wise logistic regression were applied for the analysis. Statistically significant results were found in relation to age, educational status, socioeconomic status and gender with dental attendance, dental awareness and felt needs. p-value dental services, thereby increasing the oral health status of the population.
RAISING YOUNG LEARNERS‟ AWARENESS OF GRAMMAR THROUGH CREATIVE LANGUAGE ACTIVITIES
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
C. Murni Wahyanti
2017-04-01
Full Text Available Current developments in foreign language teaching have shown the need to reconsider the role of grammar. It is argued that grammar understanding can promote more precise use of the foreign language. This belief has led to an increased interest in grammar teaching, including grammar teaching for young learners. In teaching English to young learners, activities that can promote grammar awareness are needed. The activities should be presented in context to make sure that the meaning is clear. The activities should also be creatively designed in order to challenge students‘ motivation and involvement. Grammar activities presented creatively in meaningful contexts are useful for noticing the language patterns. This paper focuses on the changing status of grammar, the importance of grammar in the young learner classroom, and how to raise grammar awareness through creative language activities. It also reports the result of a small-scale study on implementing grammarawareness activities for teaching English to Elementary School students.
An Active Cooperation-Aware Spectrum Allocation Mechanism for Body Sensor Networks
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Fu Jiang
2015-01-01
Full Text Available A cognitive radio-based spectrum allocation scheme using an active cooperative-aware mechanism is proposed in this paper. The scheme ensures that the primary user and secondary users cooperate actively for their own benefits. The primary user releases some spectrum resources to secondary users to actively stimulate them to actively join the cooperative transmission of the primary user, and secondary users help the primary user to relay data in return, as well as its self-data transmission at the same time. The Stackelberg game is used to evenly and jointly optimize the utilities of both the primary and secondary users. Simulation results show that the proposed active cooperation-aware mechanism could improve the body sensor network performance.
Ehrenfreund, P.; Peter, N.; Billings, L.
2010-08-01
Space exploration is a multifaceted endeavor and will be a "grand challenge" of the 21st century. It has already become an element of the political agenda of a growing number of countries worldwide. However, the public is largely unaware of space exploration activities and in particular does not perceive any personal benefit. In order to achieve highly ambitious space exploration goals to explore robotically and with humans the inner solar system, space agencies must improve and expand their efforts to inform and raise the awareness of the public about what they are doing, and why. Therefore adopting new techniques aiming at informing and engaging the public using participatory ways, new communication techniques to reach, in particular, the younger generation will be a prerequisite for a sustainable long-term exploration program: as they will enable it and carry most of the associated financial burden. This paper presents an environmental analysis of space exploration in the United States and Europe and investigates the current branding stature of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the European Space Agency (ESA). We discuss how improved market research and new branding methods can increase public space awareness and improve the image of NASA and ESA. We propose a new participatory approach to engage the public as major stakeholder (along governments, the industrial space sector and the science community) that may provide sufficient resources for and sustainability of a long-term space exploration program.
Hands-On and Kinesthetic Activities for Teaching Phonological Awareness
Rule, Audrey C.; Dockstader, C. Jolene; Stewart, Roger A.
2006-01-01
Object box and environmental print card activities and kinesthetic/oral activities used in two before school programs for Title 1 students are presented for teaching phonological awareness concepts to students in primary grades. A small program evaluation study in which the two experimental groups made similar improvements and larger gains than a…
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Lila J. Finney Rutten
2012-01-01
Full Text Available Uncertainty around the value of and appropriate regulatory models for direct-to-consumer (DTC genetic testing underscores the importance of tracking public awareness of these services. We analyzed nationally representative, cross-sectional data from the Health Information National Trends Survey in 2008 (n=7,674 and 2011 (n=3,959 to assess population-level changes in awareness of DTC genetic testing in the U.S. and to explore sociodemographic, health care, Internet use, and population density correlates. Overall, awareness increased significantly from 29% in 2008 to 37% in 2011. The observed increase in awareness from 2008 to 2011 remained significant (OR=1.39 even when adjusted for sociodemographic variables, health care access, Internet use, and population density. Independent of survey year, the odds of awareness of DTC genetic tests were significantly higher for those aged 50–64 (OR=1.64, and 65–74 (OR=1.60; college graduates (OR=2.02; those with a regular source of health care (OR=1.27; those with a prior cancer diagnosis (OR=1.24; those who use the Internet (OR=1.27; and those living in urban areas (OR=1.25. Surveillance of awareness—along with empirical data on use of and response to genetic risk information—can inform public health and policy efforts to maximize benefits and minimize risks of DTC genetic testing.
Cause marketing for tissue and organ donation to increase public awareness
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Strong, M.; Neely, D.; Warnack, K.; Willits, M.; Yriondo, L.
1999-01-01
Today the science of marketing is being applied more and more to increase the rate of tissue and organ donation in the United States. To benefit from the proven tools and techniques of successful marketing in the for-profit world transplantation agencies across the country are turning to integrated marketing communications strategies and strategic partnerships to help achieve their goals.The methods used in cause marketing include: Establishing clear and measurable outcomes and goals; building a marketing plan and timeline to achieve the goals; gathering resources (funding, personnel, organizations, partnerships) to execute the plan, implementation, and measurement of outcomes. This session will review the Tissue and Organ Donation campaign implemented in the Northwest and will touch on the national awareness program developed by United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) in the United States. Segments of the Northwest's integrated campaign will include market segmentation strategies and targeted marketing, campaign development, public service advertising and public education campaigns. Media utilized include print, bus signs and billboards, broadcast (radio and TV), video and the internet. Strategies include public service advertising, paid advertising through sponsorships, direct mail, workshops and public speaking. The success of traditional product marketing can be achieved in cause marketing with a long-term, focused public education campaign. The potential benefit to the international community warrants exploration of similar strategies to overcome cultural resistance to life saving transplantation
How aware is the public of carbon capture and storage?
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Curry, T.; Herzog, H.J. [Massachusetts Inst. of Technology, Cambridge, MA (United States). Lab. for Energy and the Environment; Reiner, D.M. [Cambridge Univ., Cambridge, (United States). Judge Inst. of Management; Ansolabehere, S. [Massachusetts Inst. of Technology, Cambridge, MA (United States). Dept. of Political Science
2005-07-01
This paper presented the results of a survey conducted in the fall of 2003 that examined attitudes toward, and understanding of, carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS), also known as carbon sequestration. The study was conducted as part of broad range of questions about energy and the environment. The goal of the survey was to determine attitudes toward spending on the environment. In particular, the survey asked 17 questions to determine the level of public understanding of global warming and the carbon cycle and to determine public awareness of CCS. In addition to demographic information, the survey determined the effect of national energy usage information and price data on public preferences. The paper also presented some implications for public acceptance. The survey showed that the environment ranked thirteenth on a list of 22 issues facing the United States at the time of the survey, with the top three being terrorism, health care and the economy. The survey also asked respondents to choose the 2 most important of 10 environmental problems, namely water pollution, destruction of ecosystems, toxic waste, overpopulation, ozone depletion, global warming, urban sprawl, smog, endangered species, and acid rain. Global warming ranked sixth out of the issues in the survey. It was noted that very few people in the United States have heard of CCS, and those who have heard of it were no more likely to know what environmental concern it addressed than those who had not heard of CCS. 13 refs.
How aware is the public of carbon capture and storage?
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Curry, T.; Herzog, H.J.; Reiner, D.M.; Ansolabehere, S.
2005-01-01
This paper presented the results of a survey conducted in the fall of 2003 that examined attitudes toward, and understanding of, carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS), also known as carbon sequestration. The study was conducted as part of broad range of questions about energy and the environment. The goal of the survey was to determine attitudes toward spending on the environment. In particular, the survey asked 17 questions to determine the level of public understanding of global warming and the carbon cycle and to determine public awareness of CCS. In addition to demographic information, the survey determined the effect of national energy usage information and price data on public preferences. The paper also presented some implications for public acceptance. The survey showed that the environment ranked thirteenth on a list of 22 issues facing the United States at the time of the survey, with the top three being terrorism, health care and the economy. The survey also asked respondents to choose the 2 most important of 10 environmental problems, namely water pollution, destruction of ecosystems, toxic waste, overpopulation, ozone depletion, global warming, urban sprawl, smog, endangered species, and acid rain. Global warming ranked sixth out of the issues in the survey. It was noted that very few people in the United States have heard of CCS, and those who have heard of it were no more likely to know what environmental concern it addressed than those who had not heard of CCS. 13 refs
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Ramos, Juan David Hincapie; Tabard, Aurélien; Bardram, Jakob
2010-01-01
We introduce GridOrbit, a public awareness display that visualizes the activity of a community grid used in a biology laboratory. This community grid executes bioin-formatics algorithms and relies on users to donate CPU cycles to the grid. The goal of GridOrbit is to create a shared awareness about...
Challenges in public awareness: reports of uranium poisoning in Punjab
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Virk, Hardev Singh
2012-01-01
Public interest and concern about environmental radiation hazards has increased after the Chernobyl reactor accident on 26 April 1 986 and, more recently, after the Japanese Radiation Disaster at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant when it was hit by Tsunami on March 11, 2011. Reactor accidents and nuclear explosions have created a media-hype and a 'nuclear neurosis' among the general public to veto setting up any nuclear facility in the neighbourhood or even in remote areas. There is lot of public protest in Tamil Nadu against setting up of Kudankulam Atomic Power Project. Public awareness of environmental radiation hazards is an area which is most neglected in India. A typical case study is the uranium poisoning of ground water Bathinda district of Punjab, where contradictory reports have been published in newspapers during last years (2009-11). Uranium poisoning in Punjab first made news in March 2009, when a South African Clinical Metal Toxicologist, Carin Smit (www.carinsmit.co.za), visiting Faridkot city in Punjab found surprisingly high levels of uranium 88% of the blood samples collected from amongst mentally retarded children in the Malwa region of Punjab. The results of this study were published in a peer review Journal: Clinical Medicine Insights: Therapeutics (2010:2 655-661; doi: 10.4137/CMT.S5154). The results revealed that 87% of children below 12 years and 82% beyond that age having uranium levels high enough to cause diseases, and in the case of one child, the levels were more than 60 times the maximum safe limit. The reports of this study when published in local newspapers created a fear psychosis in the minds of public. Many scientists from Universities of Punjab jumped on the band wagon of Carin Smit to support her claim of high uranium content in blood samples by providing results of uranium analysis of soil and groundwater samples collected from some villages of Bathinda district of Punjab. The present author has carried out an exhaustive
van Lutterveld, Remko; Houlihan, Sean D; Pal, Prasanta; Sacchet, Matthew D; McFarlane-Blake, Cinque; Patel, Payal R; Sullivan, John S; Ossadtchi, Alex; Druker, Susan; Bauer, Clemens; Brewer, Judson A
2017-05-01
Meditation is increasingly showing beneficial effects for psychiatric disorders. However, learning to meditate is not straightforward as there are no easily discernible outward signs of performance and thus no direct feedback is possible. As meditation has been found to correlate with posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) activity, we tested whether source-space EEG neurofeedback from the PCC followed the subjective experience of effortless awareness (a major component of meditation), and whether participants could volitionally control the signal. Sixteen novice meditators and sixteen experienced meditators participated in the study. Novice meditators were briefly trained to perform a basic meditation practice to induce the subjective experience of effortless awareness in a progressively more challenging neurofeedback test-battery. Experienced meditators performed a self-selected meditation practice to induce this state in the same test-battery. Neurofeedback was provided based on gamma-band (40-57Hz) PCC activity extracted using a beamformer algorithm. Associations between PCC activity and the subjective experience of effortless awareness were assessed by verbal probes. Both groups reported that decreased PCC activity corresponded with effortless awareness (Pneurofeedback to link an objective measure of brain activity with the subjective experience of effortless awareness, and suggest potential utility of this paradigm as a tool for meditation training. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Jacobs, Silke; Sioen, Isabelle; De Henauw, Stefaan; Rosseel, Yves; Calis, Tanja; Tediosi, Alice; Nadal, Martí; Marques, António; Verbeke, Wim
2015-11-01
Given the potential of Perceived Consumer Effectiveness (PCE) in shaping pro-environmental behavior, the relationships between PCE, awareness of causes of contaminants in the marine environment, and concern about marine environmental contamination were investigated using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). PCE is the belief that an individual has in being able to make a difference when acting alone. A web-based survey was performed in one western European country (Belgium), one northern European country (Ireland) and three southern European countries (Italy, Portugal and Spain), resulting in a total sample size of 2824 participants. The analyses confirm that European citizens are concerned about marine environmental problems. Participants from the southern countries reported the highest concern. In addition, the study participants did not have a strong belief in themselves in being capable of making a difference in tackling marine environmental problems. However, a higher awareness, which was associated with a higher degree of concern, enhanced the belief that an individual can make a difference in tackling marine environmental problems, though only when a concrete action was proposed. Consequently, information campaigns focusing on pro-environmental behavior are recommended to raise public awareness about marine environmental problems and at the same time explicitly refer to concrete possible actions. The findings indicate that when only awareness and concern are raised without mentioning a concrete action, PCE might even decrease and render the communication effort ineffective. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
LENUS (Irish Health Repository)
Glynn, Ronan W
2011-10-12
Abstract Background This work aimed to assess the effects of the annual breast cancer awareness campaign on internet search activity, and to compare these effects with those of similar campaigns in prostate and lung cancer. We further aimed to assess overall levels of online activity relating to all three neoplasms between 2004 and 2009. Methods Google Insights for Search was employed to examine search trends for the term "breast cancer", across all Google domains between January 2004 and December 2009 (6 years). Search trends for both "prostate cancer" and "lung cancer" across all domains were also analysed for the same period, and these trends were compared with those for "breast cancer". Repeated measures ANOVA and Tukey post-hoc analyses were performed to assess for significant differences in activity. Results Increased levels of online activity relating to breast cancer are consistently generated each October. There is a significantly higher level of background activity in breast cancer compared with that in lung or prostate cancer (p < 0.001), and the October campaign stimulates online activity more effectively than equivalent campaigns for these other malignancies (p < 0.001). Conclusions The annual breast cancer awareness campaign is proving effective in stimulating online activity and may hold useful lessons for other cancer awareness initiatives.
Schreck Reis, Catarina; Marchante, Helia; Freitas, Helena; Marchante, Elizabete
2013-01-01
Invasive species are one of the main threats to biodiversity worldwide. Even though they are identified and recognized as such by the Portuguese law, the majority of the population is not yet aware of this problem. Aiming to increase awareness about biological invasions among young students, a workshop on Invasive Plant Species was organized at…
Tail Docking and Ear Cropping Dogs: Public Awareness and Perceptions.
Mills, Katelyn E; Robbins, Jesse; von Keyserlingk, Marina A G
2016-01-01
Tail docking and ear cropping are two surgical procedures commonly performed on many dog breeds. These procedures are classified as medically unnecessary surgeries whose purpose is primarily cosmetic. Available attitude research surrounding these controversial practices has been limited to surveys of veterinarians and dog breeders familiar with both practices. The aim of this project was to: 1) assess public awareness of tail docking and ear cropping, 2) determine whether physical alteration of a dog affects how the dog, and 3) owner are perceived. In Experiment 1 awareness was measured using a combination of both explicit and implicit measures. We found that 42% of participants (n = 810) were unable to correctly explain the reason why tail docked and ear cropped dogs had short ears and tails. Similarly, an implicit measure of awareness ('nature vs nurture task'), found that the majority of participants believed short tails and erect ears were a consequence of genetics rather than something the owner or breeder had done. The results obtained in Experiment 2 (n = 392) provide evidence that ear cropped and tail docked dogs are perceived differently than an identical dog in its 'natural' state. Modified dogs were perceived as being more aggressive, more dominant, less playful and less attractive than natural dogs. Experiment 3 (n = 410) is the first evidence that owners of modified dogs are perceived as being more aggressive, more narcissistic, less playful, less talkative and less warm compared to owners of natural dogs. Taken together, these results suggest that although a significant proportion of subjects appear unaware of the practices of tail docking and ear cropping in dogs, these procedures have significant impacts on how modified dogs and their owners are perceived by others.
Tail Docking and Ear Cropping Dogs: Public Awareness and Perceptions.
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Katelyn E Mills
Full Text Available Tail docking and ear cropping are two surgical procedures commonly performed on many dog breeds. These procedures are classified as medically unnecessary surgeries whose purpose is primarily cosmetic. Available attitude research surrounding these controversial practices has been limited to surveys of veterinarians and dog breeders familiar with both practices. The aim of this project was to: 1 assess public awareness of tail docking and ear cropping, 2 determine whether physical alteration of a dog affects how the dog, and 3 owner are perceived. In Experiment 1 awareness was measured using a combination of both explicit and implicit measures. We found that 42% of participants (n = 810 were unable to correctly explain the reason why tail docked and ear cropped dogs had short ears and tails. Similarly, an implicit measure of awareness ('nature vs nurture task', found that the majority of participants believed short tails and erect ears were a consequence of genetics rather than something the owner or breeder had done. The results obtained in Experiment 2 (n = 392 provide evidence that ear cropped and tail docked dogs are perceived differently than an identical dog in its 'natural' state. Modified dogs were perceived as being more aggressive, more dominant, less playful and less attractive than natural dogs. Experiment 3 (n = 410 is the first evidence that owners of modified dogs are perceived as being more aggressive, more narcissistic, less playful, less talkative and less warm compared to owners of natural dogs. Taken together, these results suggest that although a significant proportion of subjects appear unaware of the practices of tail docking and ear cropping in dogs, these procedures have significant impacts on how modified dogs and their owners are perceived by others.
Interfaith Program for Public Awareness of Nuclear Issues
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
1985-11-01
Planning for the Interfaith Progam for Public Awareness of Nuclear Issues (IPPANI) began at the time of the Falkland Islands crisis. At that time representatives of certain of the faith groups in Toronto became concerned about the moral and ethical implications of Canada's export of fuel for a CANDU nuclear generating plant in Argentina. In order to accomplish its goals, the Planning Committee devised a program to provide unbiased input to the faith groups' deliberations on the ethical and moral issues involved in the nuclear debate. The development of a fair set of questions was aided by obtaining advice from the Canadian Nuclear Association (CNA), and from Energy Probe and others. The work of preparing a suitable agenda was completed early in 1984. Its result was embodied in appendices to the public document promoting the program, which is appended to this report. Invitations were sent to over six hundred individuals and organizations to appear before the panelists as 'presenters'. The resulting invitation list included spokespeople for both 'pro' and 'anti' nuclear positions on each of the three topics, as well as some who were found to be 'in the middle'. The three major topics were domestic nuclear issues, international trade and military uses of nuclear materials and technology. The next task of the Planning Committee is that of embodying the process and its results in an educational program for the supplementary and parochial school systems. The production of this book is the first step in that task
Herbert, Beate M; Herbert, Cornelia; Pollatos, Olga; Weimer, Katja; Enck, Paul; Sauer, Helene; Zipfel, Stephan
2012-01-01
The perception of internal bodily signals (interoception) plays a relevant role for emotion processing and feelings. This study investigated changes of interoceptive awareness and cardiac autonomic activity induced by short-term food deprivation and its relationship to hunger and affective experience. 20 healthy women were exposed to 24h of food deprivation in a controlled setting. Interoceptive awareness was assessed by using a heartbeat tracking task. Felt hunger, cardiac autonomic activity, mood and subjective appraisal of interoceptive sensations were assessed before and after fasting. Results show that short-term fasting intensifies interoceptive awareness, not restricted to food cues, via changes of autonomic cardiac and/or cardiodynamic activity. The increase of interoceptive awareness was positively related to felt hunger. Additionally, the results demonstrate the role of cardiac vagal activity as a potential index of emotion related self-regulation, for hunger, mood and the affective appraisal of interoceptive signals during acute fasting. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Epidemic spreading with activity-driven awareness diffusion on multiplex network.
Guo, Quantong; Lei, Yanjun; Jiang, Xin; Ma, Yifang; Huo, Guanying; Zheng, Zhiming
2016-04-01
There has been growing interest in exploring the interplay between epidemic spreading with human response, since it is natural for people to take various measures when they become aware of epidemics. As a proper way to describe the multiple connections among people in reality, multiplex network, a set of nodes interacting through multiple sets of edges, has attracted much attention. In this paper, to explore the coupled dynamical processes, a multiplex network with two layers is built. Specifically, the information spreading layer is a time varying network generated by the activity driven model, while the contagion layer is a static network. We extend the microscopic Markov chain approach to derive the epidemic threshold of the model. Compared with extensive Monte Carlo simulations, the method shows high accuracy for the prediction of the epidemic threshold. Besides, taking different spreading models of awareness into consideration, we explored the interplay between epidemic spreading with awareness spreading. The results show that the awareness spreading can not only enhance the epidemic threshold but also reduce the prevalence of epidemics. When the spreading of awareness is defined as susceptible-infected-susceptible model, there exists a critical value where the dynamical process on the awareness layer can control the onset of epidemics; while if it is a threshold model, the epidemic threshold emerges an abrupt transition with the local awareness ratio α approximating 0.5. Moreover, we also find that temporal changes in the topology hinder the spread of awareness which directly affect the epidemic threshold, especially when the awareness layer is threshold model. Given that the threshold model is a widely used model for social contagion, this is an important and meaningful result. Our results could also lead to interesting future research about the different time-scales of structural changes in multiplex networks.
Epidemic spreading with activity-driven awareness diffusion on multiplex network
Guo, Quantong; Lei, Yanjun; Jiang, Xin; Ma, Yifang; Huo, Guanying; Zheng, Zhiming
2016-04-01
There has been growing interest in exploring the interplay between epidemic spreading with human response, since it is natural for people to take various measures when they become aware of epidemics. As a proper way to describe the multiple connections among people in reality, multiplex network, a set of nodes interacting through multiple sets of edges, has attracted much attention. In this paper, to explore the coupled dynamical processes, a multiplex network with two layers is built. Specifically, the information spreading layer is a time varying network generated by the activity driven model, while the contagion layer is a static network. We extend the microscopic Markov chain approach to derive the epidemic threshold of the model. Compared with extensive Monte Carlo simulations, the method shows high accuracy for the prediction of the epidemic threshold. Besides, taking different spreading models of awareness into consideration, we explored the interplay between epidemic spreading with awareness spreading. The results show that the awareness spreading can not only enhance the epidemic threshold but also reduce the prevalence of epidemics. When the spreading of awareness is defined as susceptible-infected-susceptible model, there exists a critical value where the dynamical process on the awareness layer can control the onset of epidemics; while if it is a threshold model, the epidemic threshold emerges an abrupt transition with the local awareness ratio α approximating 0.5. Moreover, we also find that temporal changes in the topology hinder the spread of awareness which directly affect the epidemic threshold, especially when the awareness layer is threshold model. Given that the threshold model is a widely used model for social contagion, this is an important and meaningful result. Our results could also lead to interesting future research about the different time-scales of structural changes in multiplex networks.
Wager, Elizabeth; Woolley, Karen; Adshead, Viv; Cairns, Angela; Fullam, Josh; Gonzalez, John; Grant, Tom; Tortell, Stephanie
2014-04-19
To gather information about current practices and implementation of publication guidelines among publication professionals working in or for the pharmaceutical industry. Web-based survey publicised via email and social media to members of the International Society for Medical Publication Professionals (ISMPP) and other organisations from November 2012 to February 2013. 469 individuals involved in publishing industry-sponsored research in peer-reviewed journals, mainly working in pharmaceutical or device companies ('industry', n=144), communication agencies ('agency', n=238), contract research organisations (CRO, n=15) or as freelancers (n=34). Most respondents (78%) had worked on medical publications for ≥5 years and 62% had a PhD/MD. Over 90% of industry, agency and CRO respondents routinely refer to Good Publication Practice (GPP2) and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors' Uniform Requirements. Most respondents (78% industry, 79% agency) received mandatory training on ethical publication practices. Over 90% of respondents' companies had publication guidelines or policies and required medical writing support to be acknowledged in publications (96% industry, 99% agency). Many industry respondents used publication management tools to monitor compliance with company guidelines and about half (46%) stated that their company had formal publication audits. Fewer agencies audited adherence to guidelines but 20% of agency respondents reported audits of employees and 6% audits of freelancers. Of concern, 37% of agency respondents reported requests from authors or sponsors that they believed were unethical, although 93% of these requests were withdrawn after respondents explained the need for compliance with guidelines. Most respondents' departments (63% industry, 58% agency, 60% CRO) had been involved in publishing studies with negative or inconclusive results. Within this sample, most publication professionals working in or for industry were aware of
Public Awareness on Cord Blood Banking in Saudi Arabia
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Dunia Jawdat
2018-01-01
Full Text Available Background. In the last decade, cord blood (CB has proven to be a valuable source of hematopoietic stem cells for transplantation to treat many hematological disorders. Since then, many CB banks have been established worldwide. Our aim was to estimate the level of public awareness of CB banking in Saudi Arabia. Study Design and Methods. A self-administered questionnaire of 22 multiple choices was conveniently distributed, consisting of demographics, awareness measure, attitude toward banking preference, and donation for research data. Results. A total of 1146 participants have completed the questionnaire. The majority were young female 19–25 years old (26%, who are college graduates (57% with middle class socioeconomic status (82%. The subjective assessment of the overall knowledge was inadequate (66%. For the objective assessment, 12 questions were asked about CB source, collection, storage, and usage. Only half of the subjects (52% knew that CB is a source of stem cells. More than half did not know the main use of CB. About half did not know about the method of collection nor the condition of storing. Conclusion. This study shows a high lack of knowledge about CB banking. More than half of the subjects were unaware of CB banking and its uses. However, most subjects are accepting CB storage, which anticipates great impact and efficacy on educational programs. Moreover, the data demonstrated that health professionals were not the source of knowledge. We recommend having comprehensive educational campaigns with clear information about CB banking to facilitate positive perspectives towards donation and scientific research.
Public Awareness on Cord Blood Banking in Saudi Arabia
AlTwijri, Sulaiman; AlSemari, Hadeel; Saade, Mayssa; Alaskar, Ahmed
2018-01-01
Background In the last decade, cord blood (CB) has proven to be a valuable source of hematopoietic stem cells for transplantation to treat many hematological disorders. Since then, many CB banks have been established worldwide. Our aim was to estimate the level of public awareness of CB banking in Saudi Arabia. Study Design and Methods A self-administered questionnaire of 22 multiple choices was conveniently distributed, consisting of demographics, awareness measure, attitude toward banking preference, and donation for research data. Results A total of 1146 participants have completed the questionnaire. The majority were young female 19–25 years old (26%), who are college graduates (57%) with middle class socioeconomic status (82%). The subjective assessment of the overall knowledge was inadequate (66%). For the objective assessment, 12 questions were asked about CB source, collection, storage, and usage. Only half of the subjects (52%) knew that CB is a source of stem cells. More than half did not know the main use of CB. About half did not know about the method of collection nor the condition of storing. Conclusion This study shows a high lack of knowledge about CB banking. More than half of the subjects were unaware of CB banking and its uses. However, most subjects are accepting CB storage, which anticipates great impact and efficacy on educational programs. Moreover, the data demonstrated that health professionals were not the source of knowledge. We recommend having comprehensive educational campaigns with clear information about CB banking to facilitate positive perspectives towards donation and scientific research. PMID:29765424
Public awareness - calendar with information about emergency preparedness
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Podhraski Benkovic, S.; Novosel, N.
2009-01-01
State Office for Nuclear Safety in co-operation with the Ministry of Science, Education and Sport, Nuclear Power Plant Krsko (in Slovenia) and Agency for Education during the years 2002 till now realized the project of preparing the calendar for families living in the circle 25 km from the Nuclear Power Plant Krsko (Slovenia) and in the circle of 100 km from Nuclear Power Plant Paks (Hungary). The calendars are containing primary school pupils' paintings about energy, environment, nuclear technology and additional information about preparedness in the Republic of Croatia in the case of nuclear accident and recommendation for acting. Collecting of paintings is carried out each year between pupils from second to eight grades in the schools near Nuclear Power Plant Krsko and Nuclear Power Plant Paks. Expert commission chose twelve best paintings for the following year. This kind of project is only one way of public relations and awareness which helps in expanding knowledge about successful living close to nuclear and other energy technologies. In this poster presentation more about this project will be presented.(author)
Public awareness - calendar with information about emergency preparedness
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Podhraski Benkovic, S; Novosel, N [State Office for Nuclear Safety, Zagreb (Croatia)
2009-07-01
State Office for Nuclear Safety in co-operation with the Ministry of Science, Education and Sport, Nuclear Power Plant Krsko (in Slovenia) and Agency for Education during the years 2002 till now realized the project of preparing the calendar for families living in the circle 25 km from the Nuclear Power Plant Krsko (Slovenia) and in the circle of 100 km from Nuclear Power Plant Paks (Hungary). The calendars are containing primary school pupils' paintings about energy, environment, nuclear technology and additional information about preparedness in the Republic of Croatia in the case of nuclear accident and recommendation for acting. Collecting of paintings is carried out each year between pupils from second to eight grades in the schools near Nuclear Power Plant Krsko and Nuclear Power Plant Paks. Expert commission chose twelve best paintings for the following year. This kind of project is only one way of public relations and awareness which helps in expanding knowledge about successful living close to nuclear and other energy technologies. In this poster presentation more about this project will be presented.(author)
Public Awareness - Calendar with Information about Emergency Preparedness
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Podhraski Benkovic, S.; Novosel, N.
2008-01-01
State Office for Nuclear Safety in co-operation with the Ministry of Science, Education and Sport, Nuclear Power Plant Krsko (in Slovenia) and Agency for Education during the years 2002 till now realized the project of preparing the calendar for families living in the circle 25 km from the Nuclear Power Plant Krsko (Slovenia) and in the circle of 100 km from Nuclear Power Plant Paks (Hungary). The calendars are containing primary school pupils' paintings about energy, environment, nuclear technology and additional information about preparedness in the Republic of Croatia in the case of nuclear accident and recommendation for acting. Collecting of paintings is carried out each year between pupils from second to eight grades in the schools near Nuclear Power Plant Krsko and Nuclear Power Plant Paks. Expert commission chose twelve best paintings for the following year. This kind of project is only one way of public relations and awareness which helps in expanding knowledge about successful living close to nuclear and other energy technologies. In this poster presentation more about this project will be presented.(author)
Awareness in cardiac anesthesia.
LENUS (Irish Health Repository)
Serfontein, Leon
2010-02-01
Cardiac surgery represents a sub-group of patients at significantly increased risk of intraoperative awareness. Relatively few recent publications have targeted the topic of awareness in this group. The aim of this review is to identify areas of awareness research that may equally be extrapolated to cardiac anesthesia in the attempt to increase understanding of the nature and significance of this scenario and how to reduce it.
Awareness and attitude of the public toward personalized medicine in Korea
Lee, Iyn-Hyang; Kang, Hye-Young; Suh, Hae Sun; Lee, Sukhyang; Oh, Eun Sil
2018-01-01
Objectives As personalized medicine (PM) is expected to greatly improve health outcomes, efforts have recently been made for its clinical implementation in Korea. We aimed to evaluate public awareness and attitude regarding PM. Methods We performed a self-administered questionnaire survey to 703 adults, who participated in the survey on a voluntary basis. The primary outcome measures included public knowledge, attitude, and acceptance of PM. We conducted multinomial multivariate logistic analysis for outcome variables with three response categories and performed multivariate logistic regression analyses for dichotomous outcome variables. Results Only 28% of participants had knowledge that genetic factors can contribute to inter-individual variations in drug response and the definition of PM (199 out of 702). Higher family income was correlated with greater knowledge concerning PM (OR = 3.76, p = 0.034). A majority of respondents preferred integrated pharmacogenomic testing over drug-specific testing and agreed to inclusion of pharmacogenomic testing in the national health examination (64% and 77%, respectively), but only 51% were willing to pay for it. Discussion Our results identify the urgent need for public education as well as the potential health disparities in access to PM. This study helps to frame policies for implementing PM in clinical practice. PMID:29451916
Youth's Awareness of and Reactions to The Real Cost National Tobacco Public Education Campaign.
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Jennifer C Duke
Full Text Available In 2014, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA launched its first tobacco-focused public education campaign, The Real Cost, aimed at reducing tobacco use among 12- to 17-year-olds in the United States. This study describes The Real Cost message strategy, implementation, and initial evaluation findings. The campaign was designed to encourage youth who had never smoked but are susceptible to trying cigarettes (susceptible nonsmokers and youth who have previously experimented with smoking (experimenters to reassess what they know about the "costs" of tobacco use to their body and mind. The Real Cost aired on national television, online, radio, and other media channels, resulting in high awareness levels. Overall, 89.0% of U.S. youth were aware of at least one advertisement 6 to 8 months after campaign launch, and high levels of awareness were attained within the campaign's two targeted audiences: susceptible nonsmokers (90.5% and experimenters (94.6%. Most youth consider The Real Cost advertising to be effective, based on assessments of ad perceived effectiveness (mean = 4.0 on a scale from 1.0 to 5.0. High levels of awareness and positive ad reactions are requisite proximal indicators of health behavioral change. Additional research is being conducted to assess whether potential shifts in population-level cognitions and/or behaviors are attributable to this campaign. Current findings demonstrate that The Real Cost has attained high levels of ad awareness which is a critical first step in achieving positive changes in tobacco-related attitudes and behaviors. These data can also be used to inform ongoing message and media strategies for The Real Cost and other U.S. youth tobacco prevention campaigns.
Youth's Awareness of and Reactions to The Real Cost National Tobacco Public Education Campaign
Duke, Jennifer C.; Alexander, Tesfa N.; Zhao, Xiaoquan; Delahanty, Janine C.; Allen, Jane A.; MacMonegle, Anna J.; Farrelly, Matthew C.
2015-01-01
In 2014, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) launched its first tobacco-focused public education campaign, The Real Cost, aimed at reducing tobacco use among 12- to 17-year-olds in the United States. This study describes The Real Cost message strategy, implementation, and initial evaluation findings. The campaign was designed to encourage youth who had never smoked but are susceptible to trying cigarettes (susceptible nonsmokers) and youth who have previously experimented with smoking (experimenters) to reassess what they know about the “costs” of tobacco use to their body and mind. The Real Cost aired on national television, online, radio, and other media channels, resulting in high awareness levels. Overall, 89.0% of U.S. youth were aware of at least one advertisement 6 to 8 months after campaign launch, and high levels of awareness were attained within the campaign’s two targeted audiences: susceptible nonsmokers (90.5%) and experimenters (94.6%). Most youth consider The Real Cost advertising to be effective, based on assessments of ad perceived effectiveness (mean = 4.0 on a scale from 1.0 to 5.0). High levels of awareness and positive ad reactions are requisite proximal indicators of health behavioral change. Additional research is being conducted to assess whether potential shifts in population-level cognitions and/or behaviors are attributable to this campaign. Current findings demonstrate that The Real Cost has attained high levels of ad awareness which is a critical first step in achieving positive changes in tobacco-related attitudes and behaviors. These data can also be used to inform ongoing message and media strategies for The Real Cost and other U.S. youth tobacco prevention campaigns. PMID:26679504
Youth's Awareness of and Reactions to The Real Cost National Tobacco Public Education Campaign.
Duke, Jennifer C; Alexander, Tesfa N; Zhao, Xiaoquan; Delahanty, Janine C; Allen, Jane A; MacMonegle, Anna J; Farrelly, Matthew C
2015-01-01
In 2014, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) launched its first tobacco-focused public education campaign, The Real Cost, aimed at reducing tobacco use among 12- to 17-year-olds in the United States. This study describes The Real Cost message strategy, implementation, and initial evaluation findings. The campaign was designed to encourage youth who had never smoked but are susceptible to trying cigarettes (susceptible nonsmokers) and youth who have previously experimented with smoking (experimenters) to reassess what they know about the "costs" of tobacco use to their body and mind. The Real Cost aired on national television, online, radio, and other media channels, resulting in high awareness levels. Overall, 89.0% of U.S. youth were aware of at least one advertisement 6 to 8 months after campaign launch, and high levels of awareness were attained within the campaign's two targeted audiences: susceptible nonsmokers (90.5%) and experimenters (94.6%). Most youth consider The Real Cost advertising to be effective, based on assessments of ad perceived effectiveness (mean = 4.0 on a scale from 1.0 to 5.0). High levels of awareness and positive ad reactions are requisite proximal indicators of health behavioral change. Additional research is being conducted to assess whether potential shifts in population-level cognitions and/or behaviors are attributable to this campaign. Current findings demonstrate that The Real Cost has attained high levels of ad awareness which is a critical first step in achieving positive changes in tobacco-related attitudes and behaviors. These data can also be used to inform ongoing message and media strategies for The Real Cost and other U.S. youth tobacco prevention campaigns.
Performances of Occupational Therapy in the museum context: awareness of the diversity
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Desirée Nobre Salasar
2016-01-01
Full Text Available The paper discusses the Occupational Therapist actions in a museum. Therefore, we approach issues that characterize the areas of museum environment presenting it as a possible workplace for the professionals, and will discuss which activities can be performed by professional occupational therapy in a museum, its relevance, and the achievement gap when performed by the occupational therapist and other professionals. Thus, the study’s main objective is to present a new occupational therapy work field for the highlighting the importance of public awareness activities and how these can influence the museum visitor experiences. We report two distinct activities with visually impaired awareness theme, conducted between February and March 2015, at the Batalha Community Museum in Portugal. We report the activities and analyze the results, seeking to qualitatively assess the public participation, and its response to the impact that such activities may bear in the cultural inclusion of visually impaired people.
Aung, Than Htike; Go, Yun Yun; Low, Lip Ping; Chua, Terrance
2013-01-01
Hyperlipidaemia is a major risk factor for coronary artery disease (CAD). Its effective treatment has been shown to reduce the incidence of cardiovascular events, both in secondary and primary prevention. An essential component of risk factor management at the community level is public awareness and knowledge of treatment benefits. However, this data is limited in Singapore. A cross-sectional survey questionnaire of public perception and knowledge on cholesterol treatment among adult Singaporeans aged 30-69 years was commissioned by the Singapore Heart Foundation and conducted by a professional market survey company. Regional quota sampling was performed to ensure that the sample was representative of the Singapore population. This was followed by random sampling of households and respondents. Of the 365 respondents, 40.9% were male, 70.3% were Chinese, 18.8% Malay and 10.9% Indian. The mean age was 47.5 years. Although 81.9% of respondents had medical check-ups involving blood tests, only 11.0% knew their actual cholesterol levels. A third of the respondents saw herbal medicine as healthier and safer than Western medication. More than 80% of respondents believed that diet and exercise were equally effective at lowering cholesterol as medication. About half of the respondents associated long-term use of statins with damage to the liver and kidney, while a third associated chronic statin use with the development of cancer. There are gaps in the level of public awareness and understanding of cholesterol treatment in Singapore. Common misconceptions should be addressed, as they could potentially impair effective management or treatment compliance.
Human Resource and Nuclear Awareness Development: A Common Synergetic Approach
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Dreimanis, A.
2016-01-01
Full text: The nuclear education problem is treated as societal optimization task of nuclear energy management, with the key parameter of optimization—stakeholder awareness level. As the key principles of optimisation are chosen: a self-organization concept, the principle of the requisite variety, where as a primary source of growth of internal variety is information and knowledge. We have shown: public education, social learning and the use of mass media are efficient self-organization mechanisms, thereby forming a knowledge-creating community. Such a created knowledge could facilitate solution of key issues: a) public acceptance of novel nuclear objects, b) promotion of adequate risk perception, and c) fostering of interest to nuclear energy. Comprehensive knowledge management and informational support firstly is needed in: a) for increasing general nuclear awareness and confidence level to nuclear activities, b) personnel education and training, c) reliable staff renascence, d) public education and involvement of all stakeholder categories in decision making, e) risk management. A common approach to nuclear education should include also comprehensive research activities, thereby joining knowledge acquisition with the generation of novel advanced knowledge. (author
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Xu, Ting; Wakabayashi, Toshio
2012-01-01
The purpose of this study is to clarify public awareness of utilizing nuclear power in China and to determine the effects of the accident of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plants. Web online surveys were carried out before and after the accident of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plants. The online survey before the accident of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plants had 4,255 adult respondents consisting of 1,851 males and 2,404 females. The online survey after the accident had 721 respondents consisting of 406 males and 315 females. The two online surveys about the attitude toward nuclear power plants consisted of 37 items, such as the necessity of nuclear power plants, the reliability of safety, and government confidence. As a result, respondents of the online surveys in China consider that nuclear energy is more important than the anxiety of accident. On the other hand, women have sensation of fear for the accident of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plants and radiation. (author)
Pacing and awareness: brain regulation of physical activity.
Edwards, A M; Polman, R C J
2013-11-01
The aim of this current opinion article is to provide a contemporary perspective on the role of brain regulatory control of paced performances in response to exercise challenges. There has been considerable recent conjecture as to the role of the brain during exercise, and it is now broadly accepted that fatigue does not occur without brain involvement and that all voluntary activity is likely to be paced at some level by the brain according to individualised priorities and knowledge of personal capabilities. This article examines the role of pacing in managing and distributing effort to successfully accomplish physical tasks, while extending existing theories on the role of the brain as a central controller of performance. The opinion proposed in this article is that a central regulator operates to control exercise performance but achieves this without the requirement of an intelligent central governor located in the subconscious brain. It seems likely that brain regulation operates at different levels of awareness, such that minor homeostatic challenges are addressed automatically without conscious awareness, while larger metabolic disturbances attract conscious awareness and evoke a behavioural response. This supports the view that the brain regulates exercise performance but that the interpretation of the mechanisms underlying this effect have not yet been fully elucidated.
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Mohamed Azmi Hassali
2012-01-01
Full Text Available Context: A better understanding of medication safety ensures better health state among healthcare consumers. Aim: The study aims to assess general public awareness toward issues related to medication safety. Settings and Design: A cross-sectional study was conducted among general public selected conveniently in the state of Penang, Malaysia. Materials and methods: A total of 500 respondents were approached and 476 consumers participated in the survey giving a response rate of 95.2%. Statistical analysis: Data were analyzed by using SPSS version 12.0 and descriptive statistics were reported where appropriate. Results: Majority of the respondents (n=292, 61.3% stated that they were well aware of the possible side effects of their current medications. A total of 196 respondents (41.17% believed that all medicines registered in Malaysia are safe to use as these medicines have no side effects. About 40.33% (n=192 of the respondents claimed that they share their unused medicines with family and friends who are having similar illness. Majority of respondents 57.7% (n=275 were satisfied with the drug information provided by the healthcare professionals. This study also found that more than 80% of the respondents (n=409 did report that they read the labels of their medication before using. Conclusions: In this study, it was revealed that there is a moderate level of public knowledge regarding medication safety. It is evident that public underestimates the risk of their medications. There is a general lack of awareness and understanding among the public especially toward side effects.
Wager, Elizabeth; Woolley, Karen; Adshead, Viv; Cairns, Angela; Fullam, Josh; Gonzalez, John; Grant, Tom; Tortell, Stephanie
2014-01-01
, most publication professionals working in or for industry were aware of, and applying, major publication guidelines. However, the survey also identified specific areas where education and promotion of guidelines are needed to ensure ethical publication practices. PMID:24747794
Awareness of rabies prevention and control measures among public health workers in Northern Vietnam.
Nguyen, A K T; Nguyen, H T T; Pham, T N; Hoang, T V; Olowokure, B
2015-12-01
To assess and compare rabies related knowledge and awareness of public health workers at provincial and district levels in the seven provinces with the highest number of deaths from human rabies in northern Vietnam. A cross-sectional study. A survey was administered to a convenience sample of public health workers attending four workshops on rabies disease, control and prevention between 16 October and 21 November, 2012. Total knowledge scores (maximum 38 points) were categorized into: 'high' (>30 points) 'moderate' (21-30) and 'low' (workers attending the workshops: 57% were male; 76% worked at the district level compared with 24% who worked at provincial level; and 45% had worked in rabies control for control for >5 years. Overall knowledge was patchy and ranked as 'moderate'. Important gaps in knowledge were identified particularly in relation to indications for rabies vaccine and rabies immunoglobulin, and routes of exposure to rabies virus. One in ten respondents did not know that rabies virus could be transmitted by the bite of an infected animal. When examining the overall mean knowledge scores, marginally significant differences were identified. The average scores for district level health workers (DLHW) and provincial level health workers (PLHW) were 28 ± 3 and 29 ± 3 points respectively (p = 0.098), which fell within the study definition of 'moderate' knowledge. In contrast, when 'high' knowledge scores were compared, a significantly greater proportion of PLHW achieved >30 points compared to DLHW (44.0% vs 22.5%, p = 0.044). Important gaps in knowledge and awareness of public health workers were identified particularly in relation to routes of exposure to rabies virus and indications for rabies vaccine and rabies immunoglobulin. Overall, comparison of knowledge scores revealed significant differences between district and provincial public health workers. The results obtained suggest that in order for rabies control programmes to succeed public health
Error-related brain activity and error awareness in an error classification paradigm.
Di Gregorio, Francesco; Steinhauser, Marco; Maier, Martin E
2016-10-01
Error-related brain activity has been linked to error detection enabling adaptive behavioral adjustments. However, it is still unclear which role error awareness plays in this process. Here, we show that the error-related negativity (Ne/ERN), an event-related potential reflecting early error monitoring, is dissociable from the degree of error awareness. Participants responded to a target while ignoring two different incongruent distractors. After responding, they indicated whether they had committed an error, and if so, whether they had responded to one or to the other distractor. This error classification paradigm allowed distinguishing partially aware errors, (i.e., errors that were noticed but misclassified) and fully aware errors (i.e., errors that were correctly classified). The Ne/ERN was larger for partially aware errors than for fully aware errors. Whereas this speaks against the idea that the Ne/ERN foreshadows the degree of error awareness, it confirms the prediction of a computational model, which relates the Ne/ERN to post-response conflict. This model predicts that stronger distractor processing - a prerequisite of error classification in our paradigm - leads to lower post-response conflict and thus a smaller Ne/ERN. This implies that the relationship between Ne/ERN and error awareness depends on how error awareness is related to response conflict in a specific task. Our results further indicate that the Ne/ERN but not the degree of error awareness determines adaptive performance adjustments. Taken together, we conclude that the Ne/ERN is dissociable from error awareness and foreshadows adaptive performance adjustments. Our results suggest that the relationship between the Ne/ERN and error awareness is correlative and mediated by response conflict. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Yordanova, Juliana; Kolev, Vasil; Bruns, Eike; Kirov, Roumen; Verleger, Rolf
2017-11-01
The present study explored the sleep mechanisms which may support awareness of hidden regularities. Before sleep, 53 participants learned implicitly a lateralized variant of the serial response-time task in order to localize sensorimotor encoding either in the left or right hemisphere and induce implicit regularity representations. Electroencephalographic (EEG) activity was recorded at multiple electrodes during both task performance and sleep, searching for lateralized traces of the preceding activity during learning. Sleep EEG analysis focused on region-specific slow (9-12 Hz) and fast (13-16 Hz) sleep spindles during nonrapid eye movement sleep. Fast spindle activity at those motor regions that were activated during learning increased with the amount of postsleep awareness. Independently of side of learning, spindle activity at right frontal and fronto-central regions was involved: there, fast spindles increased with the transformation of sequence knowledge from implicit before sleep to explicit after sleep, and slow spindles correlated with individual abilities of gaining awareness. These local modulations of sleep spindles corresponded to regions with greater presleep activation in participants with postsleep explicit knowledge. Sleep spindle mechanisms are related to explicit awareness (1) by tracing the activation of motor cortical and right-hemisphere regions which had stronger involvement already during learning and (2) by recruitment of individually consolidated processing modules in the right hemisphere. The integration of different sleep spindle mechanisms with functional states during wake collectively supports the gain of awareness of previously experienced regularities, with a special role for the right hemisphere. © Sleep Research Society 2017. Published by Oxford University Press [on behalf of the Sleep Research Society].
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Waleed A. Al Rashed
2017-01-01
Full Text Available Aim. The current study aimed to evaluate the knowledge of eye disease and awareness of eye care among the Saudi adults and to explore existing eye-related misconceptions in the community. Methods. A cross-sectional study was conducted in Riyadh city during May and June 2016. A self-administered anonymous online questionnaire was used to explore the most common misconceptions related to eye diseases and eye care. Results. Out of 1000 individuals, only 711 (71.1% participant responses were received. The participants’ acceptable knowledge (score ≥50% was high about the eye problem in diabetes (88.6%, ocular trauma (81.2%, and other general eye diseases (91.3%, whereas low about refractive errors (63%, pediatric eye problems (51.5%, and glaucoma (14.8%. The variation in knowledge about specific ocular morbidities was significant (p<0.001. The majority of participants reported sources of information about the common eye diseases and eye care encountered from the community, internet-based resources, and social media. Conclusions. The majority of the participants had awareness about the common eye diseases, whereas low percentage of participant’s awareness about specific condition of eye diseases. Public eye health awareness should be more focused on social media and the internet to be able to cover the younger individuals of the community.
Importance of Public Communication Campaigns and Art Activities in Social Education
Bilgehan Gültekin; Tuba Gültekin
2012-01-01
Universities have an important role in social education in many aspects. In terms of creating awareness and convincing public about social issues, universities take a leading position for public. The best way to provide public support for social education is to develop public communication campaigns. The aim of this study is to present a public communication model which will be guided in social education practices. The study titled “Importance of public communication campaigns and art activit...
Induction of self awareness in dreams through frontal low current stimulation of gamma activity.
Voss, Ursula; Holzmann, Romain; Hobson, Allan; Paulus, Walter; Koppehele-Gossel, Judith; Klimke, Ansgar; Nitsche, Michael A
2014-06-01
Recent findings link fronto-temporal gamma electroencephalographic (EEG) activity to conscious awareness in dreams, but a causal relationship has not yet been established. We found that current stimulation in the lower gamma band during REM sleep influences ongoing brain activity and induces self-reflective awareness in dreams. Other stimulation frequencies were not effective, suggesting that higher order consciousness is indeed related to synchronous oscillations around 25 and 40 Hz.
Leveraging Social Media to Promote Public Health Knowledge: Example of Cancer Awareness via Twitter.
Xu, Songhua; Markson, Christopher; Costello, Kaitlin L; Xing, Cathleen Y; Demissie, Kitaw; Llanos, Adana Am
2016-01-01
As social media becomes increasingly popular online venues for engaging in communication about public health issues, it is important to understand how users promote knowledge and awareness about specific topics. The aim of this study is to examine the frequency of discussion and differences by race and ethnicity of cancer-related topics among unique users via Twitter. Tweets were collected from April 1, 2014 through January 21, 2015 using the Twitter public streaming Application Programming Interface (API) to collect 1% of public tweets. Twitter users were classified into racial and ethnic groups using a new text mining approach applied to English-only tweets. Each ethnic group was then analyzed for frequency in cancer-related terms within user timelines, investigated for changes over time and across groups, and measured for statistical significance. Observable usage patterns of the terms "cancer", "breast cancer", "prostate cancer", and "lung cancer" between Caucasian and African American groups were evident across the study period. We observed some variation in the frequency of term usage during months known to be labeled as cancer awareness months, particularly September, October, and November. Interestingly, we found that of the terms studied, "colorectal cancer" received the least Twitter attention. The findings of the study provide evidence that social media can serve as a very powerful and important tool in implementing and disseminating critical prevention, screening, and treatment messages to the community in real-time. The study also introduced and tested a new methodology of identifying race and ethnicity among users of the social media. Study findings highlight the potential benefits of social media as a tool in reducing racial and ethnic disparities.
Stein, Karen
2016-01-01
This commentary discusses the need to evaluate the impact of World Elder Abuse Awareness Day activities, the elder abuse field's most sustained public awareness initiative. A logic model is proposed with measures for short-term, medium-term, and long-term outcomes for community-based programs.
Buykx, Penny; Li, Jessica; Gavens, Lucy; Hooper, Lucie; Lovatt, Melanie; Gomes de Matos, Elena; Meier, Petra; Holmes, John
2016-11-30
Public knowledge of the association between alcohol and cancer is reported to be low. We aimed to provide up-to-date evidence for England regarding awareness of the link between alcohol and different cancers and to determine whether awareness differs by demographic characteristics, alcohol use, and geographic region. A representative sample of 2100 adults completed an online survey in July 2015. Respondents were asked to identify which health outcomes, including specific cancers, may be caused by alcohol consumption. Logistic regressions explored whether demographic, alcohol use, and geographic characteristics predicted correctly identifying alcohol-related cancer risk. Unprompted, 12.9% of respondents identified cancer as a potential health outcome of alcohol consumption. This rose to 47% when prompted (compared to 95% for liver disease and 73% for heart disease). Knowledge of the link between alcohol and specific cancers varied between 18% (breast) and 80% (liver). Respondents identified the following cancers as alcohol-related where no such evidence exists: bladder (54%), brain (32%), ovarian (17%). Significant predictors of awareness of the link between alcohol and cancer were being female, more highly educated, and living in North-East England. There is generally low awareness of the relationship between alcohol consumption and cancer, particularly breast cancer. Greater awareness of the relationship between alcohol and breast cancer in North-East England, where a mass media campaign highlighted this relationship, suggests that population awareness can be influenced by social marketing.
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Penny Buykx
2016-11-01
Full Text Available Abstract Background Public knowledge of the association between alcohol and cancer is reported to be low. We aimed to provide up-to-date evidence for England regarding awareness of the link between alcohol and different cancers and to determine whether awareness differs by demographic characteristics, alcohol use, and geographic region. Methods A representative sample of 2100 adults completed an online survey in July 2015. Respondents were asked to identify which health outcomes, including specific cancers, may be caused by alcohol consumption. Logistic regressions explored whether demographic, alcohol use, and geographic characteristics predicted correctly identifying alcohol-related cancer risk. Results Unprompted, 12.9% of respondents identified cancer as a potential health outcome of alcohol consumption. This rose to 47% when prompted (compared to 95% for liver disease and 73% for heart disease. Knowledge of the link between alcohol and specific cancers varied between 18% (breast and 80% (liver. Respondents identified the following cancers as alcohol-related where no such evidence exists: bladder (54%, brain (32%, ovarian (17%. Significant predictors of awareness of the link between alcohol and cancer were being female, more highly educated, and living in North-East England. Conclusion There is generally low awareness of the relationship between alcohol consumption and cancer, particularly breast cancer. Greater awareness of the relationship between alcohol and breast cancer in North-East England, where a mass media campaign highlighted this relationship, suggests that population awareness can be influenced by social marketing.
Melanoma early detection and awareness
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Wainstein, Alberto; Algarra, Salvador Martin; Bastholt, Lars
2014-01-01
to increase public awareness and favor early diagnosis. Awareness campaigns, doctor education, and screening of high-risk subjects have all contributed to improve disease outcome in developed countries. The role of primary care physicians is particularly relevant in this regard. Developing countries...
LANet: An Enriched Knowledgebase for Location-aware Activity Recommendation System
Mazumder, Sahisnu
2016-01-01
Accumulation of large amount of location-specific reviews on web due to escalating popularity of Location-based Social Networking platforms like Yelp, Foursquare, Brightkite etc. in recent years, has created the opportunity to discover location-specific activities and develop myriads of location-aware activity recommendation applications. The performance and popularity of such recommendation applications greatly depend on the richness and accuracy of the back-end knowledgebase, which intern i...
Howard, E. M.; Reynolds, R. M.; Wright, A. K.; Deschenes, H. A.
2016-02-01
Half the global population lives within 60 km of the ocean, profoundly influencing environmental quality and services to local communities. Adoption of marine science curricula creates opportunities for educators and scientists to engage and entrain K-12 students as ocean stewards. In particular, boat-based science activities facilitate hands-on inquiry. These activities reinforce key science concepts while creating a tangible connection to our shared coastal "backyard." A collaboration between Zephyr Education Foundation, the New England Aquarium, the University of Massachusetts Boston and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution has taken >500 Boston, MA area students from 26 public schools on boat-based education trips in Boston Harbor. Marine science and technology professionals and educators facilitate participatory activities using modern marine technology aboard a research vessel. Trips are funded at no cost to participants by a grant from the Richard Lounsbery Foundation; cost-free outings are essential for participation from underserved public school districts. Participants perceived three important outcomes of their outings: the trips 1) enhanced in-class curricular learning and improved marine science literacy 2) increased personal connections to local marine environments, and 3) increased interest in careers in marine science, including engineering and technical positions. Despite living in close proximity to water, this was the first boat outing for many students; boat-based education trips enhanced student awareness of local environments in a way that curricular study had not. Boston trip results are being evaluated, but 3000 evaluations from similar trips in Woods Hole, MA indicate that 98% of participants gained a better understanding and appreciation of the work conducted by marine scientists, engineers, and other professionals, and 82% said their experience made them more interested in becoming involved in science at school and/or as a job. In summary
Motivate : a context-aware mobile application for physical activity promotion
Lin, Y.
2013-01-01
The objective of this research is to explore the potential and feasibility of LBS on mobile platform in the field of healthy living promotion. The context-aware suggestion on physical activity intervenes at the right time and location. We are interested in the user acceptance of contextualized and
THE EFFECT OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING ACTIVITIES ON BRAND AWARENESS, BRAND IMAGE AND BRAND LOYALTY
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Yusuf BİLGİN
2018-04-01
Full Text Available The aim of this research is to examine the effect of social media marketing activities on brand awareness, brand image and brand loyalty. In addition, it has been aimed to analyze the effect of brand awareness and brand image on brand loyalty in this research. The population of the research consists of the consumers who actively follow five brands with the highest social score according to the Marketing Turkey social media brand performance data on social media communication channels such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. In this research, quantitative method has been used and research data has been obtained via online questionnaires shared on social media from 547 brand followers with applying convenience sampling method. The obtained data have been analyzed by structural equation modeling (SEM. As a result of the analysis, social media marketing activities have been found as effective factors on brand image and brand loyalty, besides it has been determined that the most obvious effect seen on brand awareness. In addition, it has been found out that brand awareness and brand image have a significant effect on brand loyalty. Furthermore, in the research, it has been achieved that the brand awareness has a limited effect on the brand image.
Public perspective towards marine litter in West Aceh City
Kusumawati, I.; Setyowati, M.; Riana, E.; Prartono, T.
2018-03-01
Marine litter or marine debris is a man-made solid material discarded, abandoned or lost in coastline or into the sea. To reduce the amount of marine litter in the ocean, raising public awareness is an important way. One of the contributing factors on marine litter is the lack of understanding within the community, but to identify how people notice the problem is required adequate research literature. The purpose of this study is to examine the awareness of West Aceh community on marine litter along western coastal area. The research objectives; 1) to evaluate societal perception towards marine litter; 2) to examine the urgent indicator of public awareness in West Aceh City. This study will employ a survey approach by distributing questionnaires to 383 respondents. It was found that respondents show low awareness on marine litter according to statistical data, but there are some rooms to manage in order to raise the level of public awareness. It concludes that sense of responsibility could be enhanced by involving public in any activities for preventing and eradicating marine litter. Education aspect is also important to increase public understanding about the threats of marine debris on environment, human health and economic income.
Change of public awareness on nuclear power generation in 2010
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Shimooka, Hiroshi
2011-01-01
The eighth attitude survey for nuclear power generation was carried out by two methods (the written questionnaire survey and online survey), from 22nd in October to 22nd in November, 2010. The survey population of the first method was 500, 250 of male and 250 female from over twenty years old lived within 30 km from Tokyo station. That of second method was 500 from over twenty years old lived in the Metropolitan area. The questionnaire consisted of four items such as awareness on the general public and life, energy problems, nuclear power generation and others. The written questionnaire survey showed almost same results as the previous surveys. New results showed some subjects (23%) thought the nuclear power generation was useful at that time but not useful in the future. Outline of survey, the main results, the analytical results and comparison between the written questionnaire survey and online survey were reported. (S.Y.)
Wood, Lauren N; Jamnagerwalla, Juzar; Markowitz, Melissa A; Thum, D Joseph; McCarty, Philip; Medendorp, Andrew R; Raz, Shlomo; Kim, Ja-Hong
2018-04-26
Uterine power morcellation, where the uterus is shred into smaller pieces, is a widely used technique for removal of uterine specimens in patients undergoing minimally invasive abdominal hysterectomy or myomectomy. Complications related to power morcellation of uterine specimens led to US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) communications in 2014 ultimately recommending against the use of power morcellation for women undergoing minimally invasive hysterectomy. Subsequently, practitioners drastically decreased the use of morcellation. We aimed to determine the effect of increased patient awareness on the decrease in use of the morcellator. Google Trends is a public tool that provides data on temporal patterns of search terms, and we correlated this data with the timing of the FDA communication. Weekly relative search volume (RSV) was obtained from Google Trends using the term “morcellation.” Higher RSV corresponds to increases in weekly search volume. Search volumes were divided into 3 groups: the 2 years prior to the FDA communication, a 1-year period following, and thereafter, with the distribution of the weekly RSV over the 3 periods tested using 1-way analysis of variance. Additionally, we analyzed the total number of websites containing the term “morcellation” over this time. The mean RSV prior to the FDA communication was 12.0 (SD 15.8), with the RSV being 60.3 (SD 24.7) in the 1-year after and 19.3 (SD 5.2) thereafter (PGoogle search activity about morcellation of uterine specimens increased significantly after the FDA communications. This trend indicates an increased public awareness regarding morcellation and its complications. More extensive preoperative counseling and alteration of surgical technique and clinician practice may be necessary. ©Lauren N Wood, Juzar Jamnagerwalla, Melissa A Markowitz, D Joseph Thum, Philip McCarty, Andrew R Medendorp, Shlomo Raz, Ja-Hong Kim. Originally published in JMIR Public Health and Surveillance (http
Environmental Awareness and Public Support for Protecting and Restoring Puget Sound
Safford, Thomas G.; Norman, Karma C.; Henly, Megan; Mills, Katherine E.; Levin, Phillip S.
2014-04-01
In an effort to garner consensus around environmental programs, practitioners have attempted to increase awareness about environmental threats and demonstrate the need for action. Nonetheless, how beliefs about the scope and severity of different types of environmental concerns shape support for management interventions are less clear. Using data from a telephone survey of residents of the Puget Sound region of Washington, we investigate how perceptions of the severity of different coastal environmental problems, along with other social factors, affect attitudes about policy options. We find that self-assessed environmental understanding and views about the seriousness of pollution, habitat loss, and salmon declines are only weakly related. Among survey respondents, women, young people, and those who believe pollution threatens Puget Sound are more likely to support policy measures such as increased enforcement and spending on restoration. Conversely, self-identified Republicans and individuals who view current regulations as ineffective tend to oppose governmental actions aimed at protecting and restoring Puget Sound. Support for one policy measure—tax credits for environmentally-friendly business practices—is not significantly affected by political party affiliation. These findings demonstrate that environmental awareness can influence public support for environmental policy tools. However, the nature of particular management interventions and other social forces can have important mitigating effects and need to be considered by practitioners attempting to develop environment-related social indicators and generate consensus around the need for action to address environmental problems.
Coordinated computer-supported collaborative learning: Awareness and awareness tools
Janssen, J.J.H.M.; Bodermer, D.
2013-01-01
Traditionally, research on awareness during online collaboration focused on topics such as the effects of spatial information about group members’ activities on the collaborative process. When the concept of awareness was introduced to computer-supported collaborative learning, this focus shifted to
Karahan, Engin; Roehrig, Gillian
2015-02-01
Current science education reforms and policy documents highlight the importance of environmental awareness and perceived need for activism. As "environmental problems are socially constructed in terms of their conceptualized effects on individuals, groups, other living things and systems research based on constructivist principles provides not only a coherent framework in which to theorize about learning, but also a context for understanding socially constructed issues" (Palmer and Suggate in Res Pap Educ 19(2), 2004, p. 208). This research study investigated the impacts of the learning processes structured based on the theories of constructionism and social constructivism on students' environmental awareness and perceived need for activism. Students constructed multimedia artifacts expressing their knowledge, attitudes, awareness, and activism about environmental issues through a constructionist design process. In addition, a social networking site was designed and used to promote social interaction among students. Twenty-two high school environmental science students participated in this study. A convergent mixed methods design was implemented to allow for the triangulation of methods by directly comparing and contrasting quantitative results with qualitative findings for corroboration and validation purposes. Using a mixed method approach, quantitative findings are supported with qualitative data (student video projects, writing prompts, blog entries, video projects of the students, observational field notes, and reflective journals) including spontaneous responses in both synchronous and asynchronous conversations on the social network to provide a better understanding of the change in students' environmental awareness and perceived need for activism. The findings of the study indicated that students' environmental awareness and perceived need for activism were improved at different scales (personal, community, global) throughout the constructionist and social
Public awareness regarding children vaccination in Jordan.
Masadeh, Majed M; Alzoubi, Karem H; Al-Azzam, Sayer I; Al-Agedi, Hassan S; Abu Rashid, Baraa E; Mukattash, Tariq L
2014-01-01
Immunization can contribute to a dramatic reduction in number of vaccine-preventable diseases among children. The aim of this study is to investigate mothers' awareness about child vaccines and vaccination in Jordan. This study was a community-based, cross-sectional study that was performed at public places in Irbid City. Data was collected from 506 mothers. After verbal approval, mothers were interviewed to assess their knowledge, attitudes, and practice toward vaccination. Results show that majority of mothers had acceptable knowledge and positive attitude toward vaccination. Most of mothers (94.7-86.8%) were able to identify vaccines that are mandatory as per the national vaccination program. Lower knowledge was observed among mothers (71.6%) for HIB vaccination being mandatory. Most mothers (97.2%) had vaccination card for their baby form the national vaccination programs. Vaccination delay was reported by about 36.6% of mothers and was shown to be associated with significantly (P = 0.001) lower vaccination knowledge/attitude score. Additionally, mothers who reported to be regularly offered information about vaccination during visits and those who identified medical staff members as their major information source had significantly higher vaccination knowledge/attitude score (P = 0.002). In conclusion, vaccination coverage rate is high; however, some aspects of knowledge, attitudes, and practice of vaccination need to be improved. Knowledge and attitudes of mothers were directly associated with their practice of vaccination. Medical staff education about vaccination during each visit seems to be the most effective tool that directly reflects on better practice of vaccination such as reducing the possibility for vaccination delay.
Noorhosseini, Seyyed Ali; Allahyari, Mohammad Sadegh; Damalas, Christos A; Moghaddam, Sina Siavash
2017-12-01
Rivers in urban areas have been associated with water quality problems because of the practice of discharging untreated domestic and industrial waste into the water bodies. However, to what extent the public can identify specific environmental problems and whether people are ready to cope with potential risks is to a great extent unknown. Public environmental awareness of factors underpinning the pollution of rivers and approaches for reducing it were studied in Rasht City of Guilan Province in northern Iran, with Zarjub and Goharrud rivers as a case study. Data were collected from residents on the banks of the studied rivers using a questionnaire. Industrial areas, hospitals, and poultry farms were perceived as the main factors deteriorating water pollution of Zarjub and Goharrud rivers in Guilan Province. The discharge of urban sewage into the rivers was the second most important polluting factor. Most residents on the banks of Zarjub and Goharrud rivers showed high interest in the conservation of the environment. Overall, 62.7% of the residents had moderate, 20% had high, and 4% had very high environmental awareness. Families and mass media (TV and radio) were perceived of being the most important sources of information of family members concerning environmental awareness. According to the residents, the main approach for alleviating the pollution of Zarjub and Goharrud rivers were creating green spaces, dredging the rivers, establishing a water purifying system, and establishing a waste incinerator with a separation system (based on municipal planning). The public in the study area appeared well prepared to cope with the risks of water pollution, but further improving environmental awareness of the community can be a first step for preventing environmental degradation. The positive attitudes of the residents towards environmental conservation, the use of proper information sources, and practical training in the context of extension services can be effective in
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Putra Perdana Suteja
2018-01-01
Full Text Available Electrical is a fundamental process in the company that has high risk and responsibility especially in public service company such as an airport. Hence, the company that operates activities in the airport has to identify and control the safety activities of workers. On the safety implementation, the lack of workers’ awareness is fundamental aspects to the safety failure. Therefore, this study aimed to analyse the safety awareness and identify risk in the electrical workplace. Safety awareness questionnaires are distributed to ten workers in order to analyse their awareness. Job safety analysis method used to identify the risk in the electrical workplace. The preliminary study stated that workers were not aware of personal protective equipment usage so that the awareness and behavioural need to be analysed. The result is the hazard was found such as electrical shock and noise for various intensity in the workplace. While electrical workers were aware of safety implementation but less of safety behaviour. Furthermore, the recommendation can be implemented are the implementation of behaviour-based safety (BBS, 5S implementation and accident report list.
Takada, Katsuko; Ishii, Akira; Matsuo, Takashi; Nakamura, Chika; Uji, Masato; Yoshikawa, Takahiro
2018-02-15
Obesity is a major public health problem in modern society. Appetitive behavior has been proposed to be partially driven by unconscious decision-making processes and thus, targeting the unconscious cognitive processes related to eating behavior is essential to develop strategies for overweight individuals and obese patients. Here, we presented food pictures below the threshold of awareness to healthy male volunteers and examined neural activity related to appetitive behavior using magnetoencephalography. We found that, among participants who did not recognize food pictures during the experiment, an index of heart rate variability assessed by electrocardiography (low-frequency component power/high-frequency component power ratio, LF/HF) just after picture presentation was increased compared with that just before presentation, and the increase in LF/HF was negatively associated with the score for cognitive restraint of food intake. In addition, increased LF/HF was negatively associated with increased alpha band power in Brodmann area (BA) 47 caused by food pictures presented below the threshold of awareness, and level of cognitive restraint was positively associated with increased alpha band power in BA13. Our findings may provide valuable clues to the development of methods assessing unconscious regulation of appetite and offer avenues for further study of the neural mechanisms related to eating behavior.
Wu, Tingting; Hu, Ping; Huang, Hao; Wu, Chengbin; Fu, Zhirong; Du, Lei; Xu, Xianglong; Shi, Zumin; Zhao, Yong
2017-01-01
The aim of this study is to evaluate the influence of public service advertising on the awareness and attitude of Chongqing urban citizens. The theme of the public service advertisement launched in Chongqing was chronic disease prevention and control. A self-designed questionnaire was used in an outdoor intercept survey to collect information about the perception of citizens toward the effect of the advertisement on awareness and attitude situation. Respondents had good knowledge of chronic d...
Awareness of risk factors for cancer: a comparative study of Sweden and Denmark.
Lagerlund, Magdalena; Hvidberg, Line; Hajdarevic, Senada; Fischer Pedersen, Anette; Runesdotter, Sara; Vedsted, Peter; Tishelman, Carol
2015-11-23
Sweden and Denmark are neighbouring countries with similarities in culture, healthcare, and economics, yet notable differences in cancer statistics. A crucial component of primary prevention is high awareness of risk factors in the general public. We aimed to determine and compare awareness of risk factors for cancer between a Danish and a Swedish population sample, and to examine whether there are differences in awareness across age groups. Data derive from Module 2 of the International Cancer Benchmarking Partnership. Telephone interviews were conducted with 3000 adults in Denmark and 3070 in Sweden using the Awareness and Beliefs about Cancer measure. Data reported here relate to awareness of 13 prompted risk factors for cancer. Prevalence ratios with 95 % confidence intervals were calculated to examine associations between country, age, and awareness of risk factors. Over 90 % of respondents in both countries recognized smoking, use of sunbeds and ionizing radiation as risk factors for cancer. Lowest awareness (awareness than Danish respondents for ten of the 13 risk factors studied. Respondents from Denmark reported higher awareness only regarding low fruit and vegetable intake and use of sunbeds. Low physical activity was the only risk factor for which there was no difference in awareness between the countries. A decline in awareness was generally seen with increasing age in both countries, but deviating patterns were seen for alcohol intake, red/processed meat, obesity and age 70+. This study supports findings from other European studies that generally demonstrate modest public awareness of many established cancer risk factors. Efforts should be made to improve awareness of the cancer risk factors HPV-infection, low fruit and vegetable intake and alcohol intake, which showed particularly low awareness in both countries. Previous studies indicate that repeated, broad campaigns are successful, and suggest that a multimedia approach is used.
LENUS (Irish Health Repository)
Casey, Rowan G
2012-02-01
OBJECTIVES: Delay in treatment of testis cancer (TC) has a proven negative impact on disease stage, treatment outcome, and mortality. Poor public awareness of the disease and lack of testis self-examination (TSE) may account for late presentation. The aim of this study was to examine the knowledge of TC and performance of TSE in a group of men over 2 time periods 20 years apart. METHODS: In the current study, 677 men from a banking institution were surveyed on their knowledge of TC and their performance of TSE. Comparisons were made from the current data and those from the original study in 1986. RESULTS: This study demonstrates an increase in public awareness and modest concomitant increase in TSE since first studied in this country in 1986. There was no difference in knowledge across age groups in this study. Furthermore, men who demonstrate a superior degree of knowledge were more likely to perform TSE. Limitations included possible selection bias in the 2 studies conducted in a banking institution. CONCLUSIONS: Increased testicular cancer knowledge combined with TSE may have a role in improving detection of significant testicular pathology.
High levels of confusion for cholesterol awareness campaigns.
Hall, Danika V
2008-09-15
Earlier this year, two industry-sponsored advertising campaigns for cholesterol awareness that target the general public were launched in Australia. These campaigns aimed to alert the public to the risks associated with having high cholesterol and encouraged cholesterol testing for wider groups than those specified by the National Heart Foundation. General practitioners should be aware of the potential for the two campaigns to confuse the general public as to who should be tested, and where. The campaign sponsors (Unilever Australasia and Pfizer) each have the potential to benefit by increased market share for their products, and increased profits. These disease awareness campaigns are examples of what is increasingly being termed "condition branding" by pharmaceutical marketing experts.
Lim, Sang Seop; Innes, John L; Meitner, Michael
2015-03-01
Korea, China, Japan and Canada are all members of the Montreal Process (MP). However, there has been little comparative research on the public awareness of forest values within the framework of Sustainable Forest Management, not only between Asia and Canada, but also among these three Asian countries. This is true of aesthetic values, especially as the MP framework has no indicator for aesthetic values. We conducted surveys to identify similarities and differences in the perceptions of various forest values, including aesthetic values, between residents of the four countries: university student groups in Korea, China, Japan and Canada, as well as a more detailed assessment of the attitudes of Koreans by including two additional groups, Korean office workers, and Koreans living in Canada. A multivariate analysis of variance test across the four university student groups revealed significant differences in the rating of six forest functions out of 31. However the same test across the three Korean groups indicated no significant differences indicating higher confidence in the generalizability of our university student comparisons. For the forest aesthetic values, an analysis of variance test showed no significant differences across all groups. The forest aesthetic value was rated 6.95 to 7.98 (out of 10.0) depending on the group and rated relatively highly among ten social values across all the groups. Thurstone scale rankings and relative distances of six major forest values indicated that climate change control was ranked as the highest priority and scenic beauty was ranked the lowest by all the groups. Comparison tests of the frequencies of preferred major forest values revealed no significant differences across the groups with the exception of the Japanese group. These results suggest that public awareness of aesthetic and other forest values are not clearly correlated with the cultural backgrounds of the individuals, and the Korean university students' awareness
Ntaios, George; Melikoki, Vasiliki; Perifanos, George; Perlepe, Kalliopi; Gioulekas, Fotios; Karagiannaki, Anastasia; Tsantzali, Ioanna; Lazarou, Chrysanthi; Beradze, Nikolaos; Poulianiti, Evdoxia; Poulikakou, Matina; Palantzas, Theofanis; Kaditi, Stavrina; Perlepe, Fay; Sidiropoulos, George; Papageorgiou, Kyriaki; Papavasileiou, Vasileios; Vemmos, Konstantinos; Makaritsis, Konstantinos; Dalekos, George N
2015-04-01
Although stroke is the fourth cause of death in Western societies, public stroke awareness remains suboptimal. The aim of this study was to estimate stroke risk perception and stroke awareness in Greece through a cross-sectional telephone survey. A trained interview team conducted this cross-sectional telephone survey between February and April 2014 using an online structured questionnaire. Participants were selected using random digit dialing of landline and mobile telephone numbers with quota sampling weighted for geographical region based on the most recent General Population Census (2011). Between February and April 2014, 723 individuals (418 women [58%], 47.4 ± 17.8 years) agreed to respond. Among all respondents, 642 (88.8%) were able to provide at least 1 stroke risk factor; 673 respondents (93.08%) were able to provide correctly at least 1 stroke symptom or sign. When asked what would they do in case of acute onset of stroke symptoms, 497 (68.7%) responded that they would either call the ambulance or visit the closest emergency department. Only 35.3%, 18.9%, 17.2%, 20.7%, and 15.0% of respondents with atrial fibrillation, arterial hypertension, dyslipidemia, diabetes mellitus, and current smoking, respectively, considered themselves as being in high risk for stroke. Stroke risk perception in Greece is low despite moderate public stroke awareness. Copyright © 2015 National Stroke Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Dominika Szalewska
2016-07-01
Women who were physically active after delivery were characterized by higher health awareness and more frequent return to pre-pregnancy weight. Physical activity may be important for reducing the risk of postnatal depression.
Tsai, Adam G.; Boyle, Tracy F.; Hill, James O.; Lindley, Corina; Weiss, Karl
2014-01-01
Background: Due to the high prevalence of obesity, individuals may be desensitized to weight as a personal health concern. Purpose: To evaluate changes in obesity awareness associated with a statewide public education campaign in Colorado. Methods: Cross-sectional random digit dial telephone surveys (n = 1,107 pre, n = 1101 post) were conducted…
Public awareness and disaster risk reduction: just-in-time networks and learning.
Ardalan, Ali; Linkov, Faina; Shubnikov, Eugene; LaPorte, Ronald E
2008-01-01
Improving public awareness through education has been recognized widely as a basis for reducing the risk of disasters. Some of the first disaster just-in-time (JIT) education modules were built within 3-6 days after the south Asia tsunami, Hurricane Katrina, and the Bam, Pakistan, and Indonesia earthquakes through a Supercourse. Web monitoring showed that visitors represented a wide spectrum of disciplines and educational levels from 120 developed and developing countries. Building disaster networks using an educational strategy seizes the opportunity of increased public interest to teach and find national and global expertise in hazard and risk information. To be effective, an expert network and a template for the delivery of JIT education must be prepared before an event occurs, focusing on developing core materials that could be customized rapidly, and then be based on the information received from a recent disaster. The recyclable process of the materials would help to improve the quality of the teaching, and decrease the time required for preparation. The core materials can be prepared for disasters resulting from events such as earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis, floods, and bioterrorism.
THE EFFECT OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING ACTIVITIES ON BRAND AWARENESS, BRAND IMAGE AND BRAND LOYALTY
Yusuf BİLGİN
2018-01-01
The aim of this research is to examine the effect of social media marketing activities on brand awareness, brand image and brand loyalty. In addition, it has been aimed to analyze the effect of brand awareness and brand image on brand loyalty in this research. The population of the research consists of the consumers who actively follow five brands with the highest social score according to the Marketing Turkey social media brand performance data on social media communication channels such as ...
Knowledge and Awareness of Congenital Cytomegalovirus Among Women
Jeon, Jiyeon; Victor, Marcia; Adler, Stuart P.; Arwady, Abigail; Demmler, Gail; Fowler, Karen; Goldfarb, Johanna; Keyserling, Harry; Massoudi, Mehran; Richards, Kristin; Staras, Stephanie A. S.; Cannon, Michael J.
2006-01-01
Background. Congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is a leading cause of disabilities in children, yet the general public appears to have little awareness of CMV. Methods. Women were surveyed about newborn infections at 7 different geographic locations. Results. Of the 643 women surveyed, 142 (22%) had heard of congenital CMV. Awareness increased with increasing levels of education (P < .0001). Women who had worked as a healthcare professional had a higher prevalence of awareness of CMV than had other women (56% versus 16%, P < .0001). Women who were aware of CMV were most likely to have heard about it from a healthcare provider (54%), but most could not correctly identify modes of CMV transmission or prevention. Among common causes of birth defects and childhood illnesses, women's awareness of CMV ranked last. Conclusion. Despite its large public health burden, few women had heard of congenital CMV, and even fewer were aware of prevention strategies. PMID:17485810
Knowledge and Awareness of Congenital Cytomegalovirus Among Women
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Jiyeon Jeon
2006-01-01
Full Text Available Background. Congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV infection is a leading cause of disabilities in children, yet the general public appears to have little awareness of CMV. Methods. Women were surveyed about newborn infections at 7 different geographic locations. Results. Of the 643 women surveyed, 142 (22% had heard of congenital CMV. Awareness increased with increasing levels of education (P<.0001. Women who had worked as a healthcare professional had a higher prevalence of awareness of CMV than had other women (56% versus 16%, P <.0001. Women who were aware of CMV were most likely to have heard about it from a healthcare provider (54%, but most could not correctly identify modes of CMV transmission or prevention. Among common causes of birth defects and childhood illnesses, women's awareness of CMV ranked last. Conclusion. Despite its large public health burden, few women had heard of congenital CMV, and even fewer were aware of prevention strategies.
Using an Activity Dashboard to Support Awareness and Reflection in a European Virtual Seminar
Scheffel, Maren; Drachsler, Hendrik; Specht, Marcus
2017-01-01
In order to support students in online learning environments to become more aware of and reflect on their activities we have implemented an Activity Dashboard within the learning environment of an online course. The Activity Dashboard provides feedback, visualised in radar diagrams and bar charts.
Murase, Noriaki; Murayama, Takehiko; Nishikizawa, Shigeo; Sato, Yuriko
2017-10-01
Many cities in Indonesia are under pressure to reduce solid waste and dispose of it properly. In response to this pressure, the Japan International Cooperation Agency and the Indonesian Government have implemented a solid waste separation and collection project to reduce solid waste in the target area (810 households) of Balikpapan City. We used a cluster randomised controlled trial method to measure the impact of awareness-raising activities that were introduced by the project on residents' organic solid waste separation behaviour. The level of properly separated organic solid waste increased by 6.0% in areas that conducted awareness-raising activities. Meanwhile, the level decreased by 3.6% in areas that did not conduct similar activities. Therefore, in relative comparison, awareness-raising increased the level by 9.6%. A comparison among small communities in the target area confirmed that awareness-raising activities had a significant impact on organic solid waste separation. High frequencies of monitoring at waste stations and door-to-door visits by community members had a positive impact on organic solid waste separation. A correlation between the proximity of environmental volunteers' houses to waste stations and a high level of separation was also confirmed. The awareness-raising activities introduced by the project led to a significant increase in the separation of organic solid waste.
REAL-LIFE ACTIVITIES: BOOSTING MY STUDENTS’ AWARENESS OF HONESTY IN CREATING GENRE
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Rr. Dewi Wahyu Mustikasari
2017-04-01
Full Text Available My students was strugled to write genre without copypasting sentences or texts from the internet. On the other hand, it was a huge challange for me to teach five big writing classes. Each class consisted of 25-30 students who tended (mostly collecting unoriginal writing works. This paper discusses the real-life activities that can be used to enhance my students’ aweareness of honesty in creating genre. My students must write some genres namely recount, descriptive (optional, spoof (optional, procedure, hortatory (optional and analytical exposition (optional text. I also took some benefits of ICT to equip the learning process. Browsing and experiencing the menu of premierskills.britishcouncil.org were the real-life activities that explore their personal memories to be told as the recount text. Then they defined the feature of one of the menu of the previous website to be informed as the descriptive text. Furthermore, they wrote their personal funny experiences which were related to the Indonesian culture as the spoof text. The procedure text can be produced by exploring the daily activities in the pictures such as how to make a cup of tea/coffee, cook a sunny side-up egg, insert sim card into mobile phone, etc. Next, my students visited the tourism and public places in Salatiga, and they observed the strength and weekness of those places as the production of hortatory or analytical exposition text. The real-life activities were able to foster my students’ awareness of honesty. It was fantastic that my students were able to create the genre honestly.
Awareness of wearing an accelerometer does not affect physical activity in youth
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Jérémy Vanhelst
2017-07-01
Full Text Available Abstract Background This study aimed to investigate whether awareness of being monitored by an accelerometer has an effect on physical activity in young people. Methods Eighty healthy participants aged 10–18 years were randomized between blinded and nonblinded groups. The blinded participants were informed that we were testing the reliability of a new device for body posture assessment and these participants did not receive any information about physical activity. In contrast, the nonblinded participants were informed that the device was an accelerometer that assessed physical activity levels and patterns. The participants were instructed to wear the accelerometer for 4 consecutive days (2 school days and 2 school-free days. Results Missing data led to the exclusion of 2 participants assigned to the blinded group. When data from the blinded group were compared with these from the nonblinded group, no differences were found in the duration of any of the following items: (i wearing the accelerometer, (ii total physical activity, (iii sedentary activity, and (iv moderate-to-vigorous activity. Conclusions Our study shows that the awareness of wearing an accelerometer has no influence on physical activity patterns in young people. This study improves the understanding of physical activity assessment and underlines the objectivity of this method. Trial registration NCT02844101 (retrospectively registered at July 13th 2016.
Asthma and public awareness in Italy: results from CHAOS (Chronic Airway Obstruction Survey
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Stefano Uleri
2007-06-01
Full Text Available Despite last years advances in asthma knowledge and treatment, its management and control remains a critical issue. Many surveys on general practitioners (GPs and patients were conducted but no data, in Italy, are collected about the public awareness. The population cognition appears critic on decision maker health programs. This survey, with a face to face questionnaire, explored the perception of social relevance of asthma through the main chronic diseases and tests the disease knowledge in 1161 Italian citizens. Even if the sensibility of asthmatic (82 and their relatives (243 is superior to general population, some critical issues outcrop regarding beliefs, habits and therapy. People not related to asthma have not cognition of social and economic burden. Asthmatic group is not confident with therapy value and possibility to measure organic damage. Educational intervention would be addressed first of all to GPs and then to patients and their relatives, while on the other hand it is important to enhance the public and decision maker sensibility to reduce the disease welfare and social cost.
Harris, Joseph A; Wu, Chien-Te; Woldorff, Marty G
2011-06-07
It is generally agreed that considerable amounts of low-level sensory processing of visual stimuli can occur without conscious awareness. On the other hand, the degree of higher level visual processing that occurs in the absence of awareness is as yet unclear. Here, event-related potential (ERP) measures of brain activity were recorded during a sandwich-masking paradigm, a commonly used approach for attenuating conscious awareness of visual stimulus content. In particular, the present study used a combination of ERP activation contrasts to track both early sensory-processing ERP components and face-specific N170 ERP activations, in trials with versus without awareness. The electrophysiological measures revealed that the sandwich masking abolished the early face-specific N170 neural response (peaking at ~170 ms post-stimulus), an effect that paralleled the abolition of awareness of face versus non-face image content. Furthermore, however, the masking appeared to render a strong attenuation of earlier feedforward visual sensory-processing signals. This early attenuation presumably resulted in insufficient information being fed into the higher level visual system pathways specific to object category processing, thus leading to unawareness of the visual object content. These results support a coupling of visual awareness and neural indices of face processing, while also demonstrating an early low-level mechanism of interference in sandwich masking.
McVey, Gail L.; Walker, Kathryn S.; Beyers, Joanne; Harrison, Heather L.; Simkins, Sari W.; Russell-Mayhew, Shelly
2013-01-01
Introduction Promoting healthy weight is a top priority in Canada. Recent federal guidelines call for sustained, multisectoral partnerships that address childhood obesity on multiple levels. Current healthy weight messaging does not fully acknowledge the influence of social determinants of health on weight. Methods An interactive workshop was developed and implemented by a team of academic researchers and health promoters from the psychology and public health disciplines to raise awareness ab...
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Dan Wu
2013-06-01
Full Text Available Objective: To evaluate the association between smoke-free regulations in public places and secondhand smoke exposure and related beliefs, awareness, attitudes, and behavior among urban residents in China. Methods: We selected one city (Hangzhou as the intervention city and another (Jiaxing as the comparison. A structured self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection, and implemented at two time points across a 20-month interval. Both unadjusted and adjusted logistic methods were considered in analyses. Multiple regression procedures were performed in examining variation between final and baseline measures. Results: Smoke-free regulations in the intervention city were associated with a significant decline in personal secondhand smoke exposure in government buildings, buses or taxis, and restaurants, but there was no change in such exposure in healthcare facilities and schools. In terms of personal smoking beliefs, awareness, attitudes, and practices, the only significant change was in giving quitting advice to proximal family members. Conclusions: There was a statistically significant association between implementation of smoke-free regulations in a city and inhibition of secondhand tobacco smoking exposure in public places. However, any such impact was limited. Effective tobacco control in China will require a combination of strong public health education and enforcement of regulations.
Bakr, Mahmoud M; Skerman, Emma; Khan, Usman; George, Roy
To evaluate the knowledge of signs, symptoms and risk factors associated with oral cancer amongst undergraduate dental students and members of the general public. This study was open for a period of six months (Jan-June, 2013) to all undergraduate dental students in the 4th and 5th year of the dental science programme and dental patients attending the School of Dentistry, Griffith University, Australia. The survey evaluated the knowledge and awareness of clinical signs and symptoms and risk factors of oral cancers. A total of 100 undergraduate students and 150 patients provided informed consent and participated in this survey study. Both patients and dental students were aware of the importance of early detection of oral cancer. With the exception of smoking and persistent ulceration, this study indicated that the knowledge about oral cancer, its signs, symptoms and risk factors was limited amongst participants. This study highlights the need to raise awareness and knowledge pertaining to oral cancer, not only in the general community but also amongst those in the dental field. Specific points of concern were the common intraoral sites for oral cancer, erythroplakia as a risk factor, the synergistic action of smoking and alcohol, and HPV (human papilloma virus) as risk factors for oral cancer.
Veluswamy, Sundar Kumar; Maiya, Arun G; Nair, Suma; Guddattu, Vasudeva; Nair, Narayanapillai Sreekumaran; Vidyasagar, Sudha
2014-02-27
mentioned health benefits related to heart disease or stroke. There is low awareness of chronic disease related benefits of physical activity and participants do not see a need to increase their physical activity level. Public health awareness programs on importance and health benefits of physical activity would be useful to counter the anticipated decline in physical activity.
Moreira, Natália Boneti; Rodacki, Andre Luiz Felix; Pereira, Gléber; Bento, Paulo Cesar Barauce
2018-04-11
The aims of this study were to examine whether: i) functional capacity and physical activity level differ between fallers and non-fallers older adults, by controlling for fall risk awareness; ii) functional capacity, fall risk awareness and physical activity differ between fallers and non-fallers older adults, by controlling for age; iii) variables and which may predict falls in different age groups. 1826 older adults performed a series of functional tests and reported their fall episodes, fall risk awareness and physical activity level. The overall incidence of falls was high (40.2%), and falls risk awareness scores reduced with age. The older adults with greater falls risk awareness and non-fallers presented better scores in all functional tests and physical activity level (P age groups and differed between fallers and non-fallers, irrespective of age group (P age groups (odds ranging: 1.05-1.09). Handgrip strength and balance scores predicted falls until 79 years (OR = 1.04, 95%CI = 1.01-1.06). The physical activity level predicted falls up to 70 years (OR = 1.09, 95%CI = 1.06-1.12). Functional mobility was able to predict falls up to 80 years (OR = 1.06, 95%CI = 1.01-1.08). Therefore, according to age, functional capacity, physical activity level and falls risk awareness can be a predictor of falls in older adults. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Developing public awareness for climate change: Support from international research programs
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Barnes, F.J.; Clements, W.E.
1998-12-31
Developing regional and local public awareness and interest in global climate change has been mandated as an important step for increasing the ability for setting policy and managing the response to climate change. Research programs frequently have resources that could help reach regional or national goals for increasing the capacity for responding to climate change. To obtain these resources and target recipients appropriately, research investigators need clear statements of national and regional strategies or priorities as a guide. One such program, the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program, has a requirement to develop local or regional education enrichment programs at their observational sites in the central US, the tropical western Pacific (TWP), and on the north slope of alaska. ARM's scientific goals will result in a flow of technical data and as well as technical expertise that can assist with regional needs to increase the technical resources needed to address climate change issues. Details of the ARM education program in the Pacific will be presented.
Crossman, H. Anthony
2017-01-01
This research assesses what knowledge upper-level accounting students possess about the distinctions between the public and private branches of accounting, as well as the influence such knowledge might have on their accounting branch choice. Overall, the study concluded that, before they were aware of the pros and cons of each career path,…
Awareness of risk factors for cancer
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Lagerlund, Magdalena; Hvidberg, Line; Hajdarevic, Senada
2015-01-01
Background: Sweden and Denmark are neighbouring countries with similarities in culture, healthcare, and economics, yet notable differences in cancer statistics. A crucial component of primary prevention is high awareness of risk factors in the general public. We aimed to determine and compare...... awareness of risk factors for cancer between a Danish and a Swedish population sample, and to examine whether there are differences in awareness across age groups. Methods: Data derive from Module 2 of the International Cancer Benchmarking Partnership. Telephone interviews were conducted with 3000 adults...... in Denmark and 3070 in Sweden using the Awareness and Beliefs about Cancer measure. Data reported here relate to awareness of 13 prompted risk factors for cancer. Prevalence ratios with 95 % confidence intervals were calculated to examine associations between country, age, and awareness of risk factors...
Precuneus-prefrontal activity during awareness of visual verbal stimuli
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Kjaer, T W; Nowak, M; Kjær, Klaus Wilbrandt
2001-01-01
Awareness is a personal experience, which is only accessible to the rest of world through interpretation. We set out to identify a neural correlate of visual awareness, using brief subliminal and supraliminal verbal stimuli while measuring cerebral blood flow distribution with H(2)(15)O PET. Awar...
Math, Science, and Web-Based Activities to Raise Awareness about Nutrition and Obesity
Zuercher, Deborah K.
2011-01-01
The incidence of child obesity in the United States is increasing at an alarming rate. This article provides information about nutrition, obesity, and related health conditions and suggests some classroom activities to raise awareness about these issues and empower students to live healthier, more active lives. A list of recommended health-related…
Luther, J.; Meyer, V.; Kuhlicke, C.; Scheuer, S.; Unnerstall, H.
2012-04-01
The EU Floods Directive requires the establishment of flood risk maps for high risk areas in all EU Member States by 2013. However, if existing at all, the current practice of risk mapping still shows some deficits: Risk maps are often seen as an information tool rather than a communication tool. This means that e.g. important local knowledge is not incorporated and forms a contrast to the understanding of capacity building which calls for engaging individuals in the process of learning and adapting to change and for the establishment of a more interactive public administration that learns equally from its actions and from the feedback it receives. Furthermore, the contents of risk maps often do not match the requirements of the end users, so that risk maps are often designed and visualised in a way which cannot be easily understood by laypersons and/or which is not suitable for the respective needs of public authorities in risk and flood event management. The project RISK MAP aimed at improving flood risk maps as a means to foster public participation and raising flood risk awareness. For achieving this aim, RISK MAP (1) developed rules for appropriate stakeholder participation enabling the incorporation of local knowledge and preferences; (2) improved the content of risk maps by considering different risk criteria through the use of a deliberative multicriteria risk mapping tool; and (3) improved the visualisation of risk maps in order to produce user-friendly risk maps by applying the experimental graphic semiology (EGS) method that uses the eye tracking approach. The research was carried out in five European case studies where the status quo of risk mapping and the legal framework was analysed, several stakeholder interviews and workshops were conducted, the visual perception of risk maps was tested and - based on this empirical work - exemplary improved risk maps were produced. The presentation and paper will outline the main findings of the project which
Huesch, Marco D; Currid-Halkett, Elizabeth; Doctor, Jason N
2014-03-11
Publicly available hospital quality reports seek to inform consumers of important healthcare quality and affordability attributes, and may inform consumer decision-making. To understand how much consumers search for such information online on one Internet search engine, whether they mention such information in social media and how positively they view this information. A leading Internet search engine (Google) was the main focus of the study. Google Trends and Google Adwords keyword analyses were performed for national and Californian searches between 1 August 2012 and 31 July 2013 for keywords related to 'top hospital', best hospital', and 'hospital quality', as well as for six specific hospital quality reports. Separately, a proprietary social media monitoring tool was used to investigate blog, forum, social media and traditional media mentions of, and sentiment towards, major public reports of hospital quality in California in 2012. (1) Counts of searches for keywords performed on Google; (2) counts of and (3) sentiment of mentions of public reports on social media. National Google search volume for 75 hospital quality-related terms averaged 610 700 searches per month with strong variation by keyword and by state. A commercial report (Healthgrades) was more commonly searched for nationally on Google than the federal government's Hospital Compare, which otherwise dominated quality-related search terms. Social media references in California to quality reports were generally few, and commercially produced hospital quality reports were more widely mentioned than state (Office of Statewide Healthcare Planning and Development (OSHPD)), or non-profit (CalHospitalCompare) reports. Consumers are somewhat aware of hospital quality based on Internet search activity and social media disclosures. Public stakeholders may be able to broaden their quality dissemination initiatives by advertising on Google or Twitter and using social media interactively with consumers looking
Huesch, Marco D; Currid-Halkett, Elizabeth; Doctor, Jason N
2014-01-01
Objectives Publicly available hospital quality reports seek to inform consumers of important healthcare quality and affordability attributes, and may inform consumer decision-making. To understand how much consumers search for such information online on one Internet search engine, whether they mention such information in social media and how positively they view this information. Setting and design A leading Internet search engine (Google) was the main focus of the study. Google Trends and Google Adwords keyword analyses were performed for national and Californian searches between 1 August 2012 and 31 July 2013 for keywords related to ‘top hospital’, best hospital’, and ‘hospital quality’, as well as for six specific hospital quality reports. Separately, a proprietary social media monitoring tool was used to investigate blog, forum, social media and traditional media mentions of, and sentiment towards, major public reports of hospital quality in California in 2012. Primary outcome measures (1) Counts of searches for keywords performed on Google; (2) counts of and (3) sentiment of mentions of public reports on social media. Results National Google search volume for 75 hospital quality-related terms averaged 610 700 searches per month with strong variation by keyword and by state. A commercial report (Healthgrades) was more commonly searched for nationally on Google than the federal government's Hospital Compare, which otherwise dominated quality-related search terms. Social media references in California to quality reports were generally few, and commercially produced hospital quality reports were more widely mentioned than state (Office of Statewide Healthcare Planning and Development (OSHPD)), or non-profit (CalHospitalCompare) reports. Conclusions Consumers are somewhat aware of hospital quality based on Internet search activity and social media disclosures. Public stakeholders may be able to broaden their quality dissemination initiatives by
The Role of Blogs and Web Resources in Students' Autonomous Learning Awareness
Ballén, Diana
2014-01-01
This article focuses on the way in which technology-based activities may shape and characterize students' awareness of their own learning processes and their understanding of autonomy. The study was carried out at a public university in Colombia. Data collection was done through the implementation of class observations, a survey, and some focus…
McVey, Gail L; Walker, Kathryn S; Beyers, Joanne; Harrison, Heather L; Simkins, Sari W; Russell-Mayhew, Shelly
2013-04-04
Promoting healthy weight is a top priority in Canada. Recent federal guidelines call for sustained, multisectoral partnerships that address childhood obesity on multiple levels. Current healthy weight messaging does not fully acknowledge the influence of social determinants of health on weight. An interactive workshop was developed and implemented by a team of academic researchers and health promoters from the psychology and public health disciplines to raise awareness about 1) weight bias and its negative effect on health, 2) ways to balance healthy weight messaging to prevent the triggering of weight and shape preoccupation, and 3) the incorporation of mental health promotion into healthy weight messaging. We conducted a full-day workshop with 342 Ontario public health promoters and administered a survey at preintervention, postintervention, and follow-up. Participation in the full-day workshop led to significant decreases in antifat attitudes and the internalization of media stereotypes and to significant increases in self-efficacy to address weight bias. Participants reported that the training heightened their awareness of their own personal weight biases and the need to broaden their scope of healthy weight promotion to include mental health promotion. There was consensus that additional sessions are warranted to help translate knowledge into action. Buy-in and resource support at the organizational level was also seen as pivotal. Professional development training in the area of weight bias awareness is associated with decreases in antifat attitudes and the internalization of media stereotypes around thinness. Health promoters' healthy weight messaging was improved by learning to avoid messages that trigger weight and shape preoccupation or unhealthful eating practices among children and youth. Participants also learned ways to integrate mental health promotion and resiliency-building into daily practice.
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Prachi Renjhen
2016-06-01
Full Text Available Background Young people’s vulnerability to risky or unwanted sex and other unhealthy behaviours is tied to host of individual, family, and community factors and is closely related to economic and educational opportunities. Aims This study aimed to identify factors determining the sexual activity, awareness and use of contraception among college students in Malaysia. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted among students aged 17–24 years in four colleges of Malaysia. Data were collected via a self-administered multiple response questionnaire. Data analysis was performed on 552 completed questionnaires. Results The mean age of the participants was 19.7±1.6 years. The majority of the respondents were females, Malays, residing in rented accommodations. Contraceptive awareness, sexual activity and use of contraception increased significantly with age of the respondents and were more in males. Better contraceptive awareness was found in those staying away from parents and those studying in colleges with urban exposure. Almost 40 per cent respondents had indulged in sexual activity but only 37 per cent reported use of contraception. A significantly higher proportion of respondents who did not use contraception were females, those in the age group of 19–20 years old and those who were studying in colleges with rural exposure. Male students were more likely to engage in sexual activity and use contraception compared to females. Conclusion There is a need to impart sexual and reproductive health knowledge during the adolescent period so that young people can make informed choices and be motivated to use of contraceptives effectively.
Walker, Constance E.
2009-05-01
The arc of the Milky Way seen from a truly dark location is part of our planet's natural heritage. More than one fifth of the world population, two thirds of the United States population and one half of the European Union population have already lost naked eye visibility of the Milky Way. This loss, caused by light pollution, is a serious and growing issue that impacts astronomical research, the economy, ecology, energy conservation, human health, public safety and our shared ability to see the night sky. For this reason, "Dark Skies” is a cornerstone project of the International Year of Astronomy. Its goal is to raise public awareness of the impact of artificial lighting on local environments by getting people worldwide involved in a variety of programs that: 1. Teach about dark skies using new technology (e.g., an activity-based planetarium show on DVD, podcasting, social networking on Facebook and MySpace, a Second Life presence) 2. Provide thematic events on light pollution at star parties and observatory open houses (Dark Skies Discovery Sites, Nights in the (National) Parks, Sidewalk Astronomy) 3. Organize events in the arts (e.g., a photography contest) 4. Involve citizen-scientists in naked-eye and digital-meter star hunting programs (e.g., GLOBE at Night, "How Many Stars?", the Great World Wide Star Count and the radio frequency interference equivalent: "Quiet Skies") and 5. Raise awareness about the link between light pollution and public health, economic issues, ecological consequences, energy conservation, safety and security, and astronomy (e.g., The Starlight Initiative, World Night in Defense of Starlight, International Dark Sky Week, International Dark-Sky Communities, Earth Hour, The Great Switch Out, a traveling exhibit, downloadable posters and brochures). The presentation will provide an update, describe how people can become involved and take a look ahead at the program's sustainability. For more information, visit www.darkskiesawareness.org.
Public awareness of Pharmaceutical care availability in community ...
African Journals Online (AJOL)
Furthermore, the awareness of availability of pharmaceutical care services in community pharmacies was 3% while 75% of the respondents believed a community pharmacy was just a place drugs can be obtained. As the profession and pharmacists endeavour to improve knowledge and skill to deliver pharmaceutical care ...
Increasing awareness of gynaecological cancer symptoms: a GP perspective.
Evans, Ruth E C; Morris, Melanie; Sekhon, Mandeep; Buszewicz, Marta; Walter, Fiona M; Waller, Jo; Simon, Alice E
2014-06-01
In the UK there has been an effort, through the National Awareness and Early Diagnosis Initiative (NAEDI), to increase early stage diagnoses and ultimately cancer survival. Encouraging early symptom presentation through awareness-raising activities in primary care is one method to achieve this goal. Understanding GPs' views about this type of activity, however, is crucial prior to implementation. To describe GPs' attitudes to raising public awareness of gynaecological cancers, and their views about the potential impact on primary care services. An online survey with a convenience sample recruited from 1860 UK general practices. An invitation was emailed to GPs via practice managers and included a weblink to a draft education leaflet and an online survey about the impact of sending a leaflet giving information about symptoms associated with gynaecological cancers to all women on GPs' lists. Participants could offer additional free text comments which were coded using content analysis. A total of 621 GPs participated. Most (77%, 477) felt that raising awareness of cancers was important. Only half (50%, 308), however, indicated that they would distribute such a leaflet from their practice. Barriers to implementation included concerns about financial costs; emotional impact on patients; increased demand for appointments and diagnostic services, such as ultrasound. GPs were generally positive about an intervention to improve patients' awareness of gynaecological cancers, but had concerns about increasing rates of presentation. There is a need for research quantifying the benefits of earlier diagnosis against resource costs such as increased consultations, investigations, and referrals. © British Journal of General Practice 2014.
McLennan, Stuart; Strech, Daniel; Meyer, Andrea; Kahrass, Hannes
2017-11-09
searching for a new physician, respondents significantly more often reported that family, friends and colleagues (259/277, 93.5%), other physicians (219/274, 79.9%), and practice websites (108/266, 40.6%) were important information sources. Whereas awareness of German PRWs appears to have substantially increased, the use of PRWs and contribution of ratings remains relatively low. Further research is needed to examine the reasons why only a few patients are rating physicians. However, given the information inequality between provider and consumer will always be higher for consumers using the services of physicians, it is possible that people will always rely more on interpersonal recommendations than impersonal public information before selecting a physician. ©Stuart McLennan, Daniel Strech, Andrea Meyer, Hannes Kahrass. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (http://www.jmir.org), 09.11.2017.
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Kiseleva N. V.
2014-12-01
Full Text Available In the modern period of the development of statehood in Russia the significant increase of attention is attributed to the issue of effectiveness of state power and government not only on the federal and regional levels, but on the local level as well. In 2009 there was developed and implemented the system of indicators of the effectiveness’ estimates of the activity of local self-government. The system of effectiveness’ estimates included sociological indices of satisfaction of population. Implementation of sociological indices in the system of effectiveness’ estimates of the activity of local self-government brought positive responses from academic community, politicians, managers, and the public. In the article the analysis of influence of cognitive factor (being kept informed on the level of social contentment of the activity of local self-government’ bodies is done. We do this, based on the results of sociological studies of the major Russian research organizations and data from the aggregate reports, which deal with the monitoring of effectiveness of local self-government of some subjects in the Central federal district of Russia.
Public awareness, knowledge and practice relating to epilepsy ...
African Journals Online (AJOL)
Introduction: Epilepsy associated stigma remains a main hindrance to epilepsy care, especially in developing countries. In Africa, anti-epileptic drugs are available, affordable and effective. As of now, no community survey on epilepsy awareness and attitudes has been reported from this area Cameroon with a reported high ...
Al-Azri, Mohammed; Al-Hamedi, Ibtisam; Al-Awisi, Huda; Al-Hinai, Mustafa; Davidson, Robin
2015-01-01
The majority of deaths from cancer occur in low and middle income countries, partly due to poor public awareness of the signs and symptoms of cancer. A community based survey using the Cancer Awareness Measure (CAM) questionnaire was conducted in three different communities in Oman. Omani adults aged 18 years and above were invited to participate in the study. A total of 345 responded from 450 invited participants (response rate=76.7%). The majority of respondents were unable to identify the common signs and symptoms of cancer identified in the CAM (average awareness was 40.6%). The most emotional barrier to seeking help was worry about what the doctor might find (223, 64.6%); a practical barrier was too busy to make an appointment (259, 75.1%) and a service barrier was difficulty talking to the doctor (159, 46.1%). The majority of respondents (more than 60% for seven out of ten symptoms) would seek medical help in two weeks for most signs or symptoms of cancer. Females were significantly more likely than males to be embarrassed (pawareness of the signs and symptoms of cancer in Oman. This might leads to earlier diagnosis, improved prognosis and reduced mortality from cancer.
Miyawaki, Rina; Shibata, Ai; Ishii, Kaori; Oka, Koichiro
2014-07-07
Although considerable evidence has demonstrated that physical activity is associated with breast cancer prevention, few studies have assessed the level of awareness of this association. Awareness is a key first step to successful of behavior change. Increasing awareness may contribute to promote physical activity and prevent breast cancer at the population level. The present study examined the prevalence and correlates of awareness about the role of physical activity in breast cancer prevention among Japanese women. 1,000 Japanese women aged 20-69 years (mean age: 44.3 ± 13.4 years) who responded to an internet-based cross-sectional survey. Awareness of the role of physical activity in breast cancer prevention, knowledge of breast cancer (symptom, risk factor, screening), exposure to information about physical activity and cancer, a self-reported physical activity, and sociodemographic variables (age, marital status, having a child, education level, employment status, and household income) were obtained. Force-entry logistic regression analysis was used. The prevalence of awareness was 31.5% (95% CI: 28.6-34.4). Factors significantly associated with awareness included sociodemographic variables, exposure to information, and knowledge of breast cancer. Being married (AOR, 95% CI: 1.75, 1.05-2.92) was positively related to awareness, while having children (0.65, 0.36-0.86) was negatively related. College graduates or those with higher levels of education (1.50, 1.01-2.22) were significantly more likely to be aware than those who had not graduated high school. Moreover, exposure to information (2.11, 1.51-2.95), and high knowledge of symptoms (2.43, 1.75-3.36) were positively associated with awareness. Finally, low knowledge of risk factors (0.30, 0.22-0.40) was negatively associated with awareness. Japanese women through internet-based study were poorly aware of the role of physical activity in breast cancer prevention. Awareness was especially low among
Dissemination and Awareness Activities Reporting Period 1 – (M01-M18)
Blanes Restoy, Luis Miguel; McCabe, Bryan; Keane, Marcus M.; Monaghan, Rory
2017-01-01
This deliverable presents the dissemination and awareness activities conducted by the HIT2GAP project partners according to the marketing strategies planned in Work Package 7 and defined in Deliverable 7.2 – “Marketing Communication Strategy”. The report describes in detail these activities in the next sections as follows, organized in categories: Section 2 – Introduces the overall marketing and dissemination strategy followed aligned with the scientific objectives of HIT2GAP; Secti...
Awareness and knowledge on modern biotechnology | Amin ...
African Journals Online (AJOL)
... to a theory on decision making, people only form attitudes about technologies when they have acquired relevant information. The purpose of this paper is to study the awareness and knowledge level of the Malaysia public in the Klang Valley region and to compare their awareness and knowledge level across stakeholder ...
Framing knowledge and awareness of energy efficiency among the Malaysian public
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Mohammed Zin Nordin; Shanthi Balraj; Nor Azilah Ngah; Irfan Naufal Umar; Kamarulazizi Ibrahim
2006-01-01
Energy is a key component in Malaysian economy and contributes to the industrialization of the economy. Energy production in Malaysia, however, is mainly based on burning fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal, all of which emit pollutants. Improving the energy performance of the nation and reducing overall energy consumption will lead to a meaningful environment and economic progress. The first part of the paper looks at the agenda on energy efficiency (EE) while the second part of the paper examines the Malaysian public knowledge on EE based on survey information obtained from 2,444 respondents by way of questionnaires. The study notes that in general most Malaysian have very little knowledge on energy efficiency, as it is a relatively new area to the people of Malaysia. This paper argues that education and training in raising awareness on energy efficiency (EE) is critical to the Malaysian society as we cannot be complacent with the existing sources of energy derived from crude oil and gas. The findings will chart some of the challenges confronting the country in promoting the agenda on energy efficiency
Authentic L2 Interactions as Material for a Pragmatic Awareness-Raising Activity
Cheng, Tsui-Ping
2016-01-01
This study draws on conversation analysis to explore the pedagogical possibility of using audiovisual depictions of authentic disagreement sequences from L2 interactions as sources for an awareness-raising activity in an English as a Second Language (ESL) classroom. Video excerpts of disagreement sequences collected from two ESL classes were used…
Wu, Tingting; Hu, Ping; Huang, Hao; Wu, Chengbin; Fu, Zhirong; Du, Lei; Zhao, Yong
2017-01-01
The aim of this study is to evaluate the influence of public service advertising on the awareness and attitude of Chongqing urban citizens. The theme of the public service advertisement launched in Chongqing was chronic disease prevention and control. A self-designed questionnaire was used in an outdoor intercept survey to collect information about the perception of citizens toward the effect of the advertisement on awareness and attitude situation. Respondents had good knowledge of chronic disease (17.11 ± 3.23, total score: 23), but only 58.4% of participants thought cancer is one type of chronic disease. The awareness of cancer as a chronic disease among the group who had seen this advertisement (63.6%) was higher than that of the group who had not seen the advertisement (56.5%) (p = 0.046). The attitude of respondents was good after watching the advertisement, approximately 77.4% of respondents attempted to remind their family and friends to prevent chronic diseases, roughly. 78.2% tried to persuade their family and friends to change their unhealthy lifestyle habits, and 84.7% of participants reported that the advertising increased the possibility of their own future lifestyle change. There was minimal change of awareness of the participants who saw the advertisement. This study did not show significant differences on chronic disease related knowledge between the participants who have seen the advertisement and who have not seen the advertisement. The public service advertisement may help participants improve the attitude of future behavior change. Further researches combining the sustained intervention and support through clinical and community health programs media campaigns are needed to support public health. PMID:29206192
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Tingting Wu
2017-12-01
Full Text Available The aim of this study is to evaluate the influence of public service advertising on the awareness and attitude of Chongqing urban citizens. The theme of the public service advertisement launched in Chongqing was chronic disease prevention and control. A self-designed questionnaire was used in an outdoor intercept survey to collect information about the perception of citizens toward the effect of the advertisement on awareness and attitude situation. Respondents had good knowledge of chronic disease (17.11 ± 3.23, total score: 23, but only 58.4% of participants thought cancer is one type of chronic disease. The awareness of cancer as a chronic disease among the group who had seen this advertisement (63.6% was higher than that of the group who had not seen the advertisement (56.5% (p = 0.046. The attitude of respondents was good after watching the advertisement, approximately 77.4% of respondents attempted to remind their family and friends to prevent chronic diseases, roughly. 78.2% tried to persuade their family and friends to change their unhealthy lifestyle habits, and 84.7% of participants reported that the advertising increased the possibility of their own future lifestyle change. There was minimal change of awareness of the participants who saw the advertisement. This study did not show significant differences on chronic disease related knowledge between the participants who have seen the advertisement and who have not seen the advertisement. The public service advertisement may help participants improve the attitude of future behavior change. Further researches combining the sustained intervention and support through clinical and community health programs media campaigns are needed to support public health.
Wu, Tingting; Hu, Ping; Huang, Hao; Wu, Chengbin; Fu, Zhirong; Du, Lei; Xu, Xianglong; Shi, Zumin; Zhao, Yong
2017-12-05
The aim of this study is to evaluate the influence of public service advertising on the awareness and attitude of Chongqing urban citizens. The theme of the public service advertisement launched in Chongqing was chronic disease prevention and control. A self-designed questionnaire was used in an outdoor intercept survey to collect information about the perception of citizens toward the effect of the advertisement on awareness and attitude situation. Respondents had good knowledge of chronic disease (17.11 ± 3.23, total score: 23), but only 58.4% of participants thought cancer is one type of chronic disease. The awareness of cancer as a chronic disease among the group who had seen this advertisement (63.6%) was higher than that of the group who had not seen the advertisement (56.5%) ( p = 0.046). The attitude of respondents was good after watching the advertisement, approximately 77.4% of respondents attempted to remind their family and friends to prevent chronic diseases, roughly. 78.2% tried to persuade their family and friends to change their unhealthy lifestyle habits, and 84.7% of participants reported that the advertising increased the possibility of their own future lifestyle change. There was minimal change of awareness of the participants who saw the advertisement. This study did not show significant differences on chronic disease related knowledge between the participants who have seen the advertisement and who have not seen the advertisement. The public service advertisement may help participants improve the attitude of future behavior change. Further researches combining the sustained intervention and support through clinical and community health programs media campaigns are needed to support public health.
Klapwijk, Maartje J; Hopkins, Anna J M; Eriksson, Louise; Pettersson, Maria; Schroeder, Martin; Lindelöw, Åke; Rönnberg, Jonas; Keskitalo, E Carina H; Kenis, Marc
2016-02-01
Intensifying global trade will result in increased numbers of plant pest and pathogen species inadvertently being transported along with cargo. This paper examines current mechanisms for prevention and management of potential introductions of forest insect pests and pathogens in the European Union (EU). Current European legislation has not been found sufficient in preventing invasion, establishment and spread of pest and pathogen species within the EU. Costs associated with future invasions are difficult to estimate but past invasions have led to negative economic impacts in the invaded country. The challenge is combining free trade and free movement of products (within the EU) with protection against invasive pests and pathogens. Public awareness may mobilise the public for prevention and detection of potential invasions and, simultaneously, increase support for eradication and control measures. We recommend focus on commodities in addition to pathways, an approach within the EU using a centralised response unit and, critically, to engage the general public in the battle against establishment and spread of these harmful pests and pathogens.
a Context-Aware Tourism Recommender System Based on a Spreading Activation Method
Bahramian, Z.; Abbaspour, R. Ali; Claramunt, C.
2017-09-01
Users planning a trip to a given destination often search for the most appropriate points of interest location, this being a non-straightforward task as the range of information available is very large and not very well structured. The research presented by this paper introduces a context-aware tourism recommender system that overcomes the information overload problem by providing personalized recommendations based on the user's preferences. It also incorporates contextual information to improve the recommendation process. As previous context-aware tourism recommender systems suffer from a lack of formal definition to represent contextual information and user's preferences, the proposed system is enhanced using an ontology approach. We also apply a spreading activation technique to contextualize user preferences and learn the user profile dynamically according to the user's feedback. The proposed method assigns more effect in the spreading process for nodes which their preference values are assigned directly by the user. The results show the overall performance of the proposed context-aware tourism recommender systems by an experimental application to the city of Tehran.
A CONTEXT-AWARE TOURISM RECOMMENDER SYSTEM BASED ON A SPREADING ACTIVATION METHOD
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Z. Bahramian
2017-09-01
Full Text Available Users planning a trip to a given destination often search for the most appropriate points of interest location, this being a non-straightforward task as the range of information available is very large and not very well structured. The research presented by this paper introduces a context-aware tourism recommender system that overcomes the information overload problem by providing personalized recommendations based on the user’s preferences. It also incorporates contextual information to improve the recommendation process. As previous context-aware tourism recommender systems suffer from a lack of formal definition to represent contextual information and user’s preferences, the proposed system is enhanced using an ontology approach. We also apply a spreading activation technique to contextualize user preferences and learn the user profile dynamically according to the user’s feedback. The proposed method assigns more effect in the spreading process for nodes which their preference values are assigned directly by the user. The results show the overall performance of the proposed context-aware tourism recommender systems by an experimental application to the city of Tehran.
PS-CARA: Context-Aware Resource Allocation Scheme for Mobile Public Safety Networks
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Zeeshan Kaleem
2018-05-01
Full Text Available The fifth-generation (5G communications systems are expecting to support users with diverse quality-of-service (QoS requirements. Beside these requirements, the task with utmost importance is to support the emergency communication services during natural or man-made disasters. Most of the conventional base stations are not properly functional during a disaster situation, so deployment of emergency base stations such as mobile personal cell (mPC is crucial. An mPC having moving capability can move in the disaster area to provide emergency communication services. However, mPC deployment causes severe co-channel interference to the users in its vicinity. The problem in the existing resource allocation schemes is its support for static environment, that does not fit well for mPC. So, a resource allocation scheme for mPC users is desired that can dynamically allocate resources based on users’ location and its connection establishment priority. In this paper, we propose a public safety users priority-based context-aware resource allocation (PS-CARA scheme for users sum-rate maximization in disaster environment. Simulations results demonstrate that the proposed PS-CARA scheme can increase the user average and edge rate around 10.3% and 32.8% , respectively because of context information availability and by prioritizing the public safety users. The simulation results ensure that call blocking probability is also reduced considerably under the PS-CARA scheme.
Peculiarities of activities of public administration subjects in the public finance
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Світлана Миколаївна Клімова
2017-12-01
administration operates. Public administration (in the sense of activity has certain forms, functions and methods. A number of peculiarities of public administration in the sphere of public finances are formulated using the viewpoints of T.M. Kravtsova, A.V. Solonar, I. Richter and G.F. Shupperta, S.S. Vitvitsky: 1 it is a certain coordinated and organized system of organs; 2 the entity acts as a state represented by bodies of state executive power and executive bodies of local self-government; 3 the constituent elements of the system are also state institutions, organizations, institutions; 4 public administration is based on authority, performs administrative and managerial functions; 5 the activity of public administration extends to the whole society, as well as to separate territories of the state - the regions, as well as certain spheres (branches of public life, one of which is the sphere of public finances functioning; 6 in the structure of the public administration activity in the field of public finances should be allocated "two components: a organizational, including public service; b control "; 7 the purpose of public administration in the field of public finances is a combination of interests of the state, interests of regions, individual collective formations and interests, human and civil rights and freedoms; 8 the forms and methods of public administration in the field of public finances are determined primarily by the nature of the security functions of public administration, and secondary importance in this case have the following management functions as: law enforcement; human rights; regulating; norm-setting; jurisdictional; 9 the main forms of public administration include: a law-making (regulations, statutes, administrative requirements; b administrative acts; c public-law contracts; d simple administrative actions; e private law administrative activity; 10 to ensure the necessary level of legality in the field of public finance management, a complex of
Bennett, Kelly J; Olsen, Jennifer M; Harris, Sara; Mekaru, Sumiko; Livinski, Alicia A; Brownstein, John S
2013-12-16
Hurricane Isaac made landfall in southeastern Louisiana in late August 2012, resulting in extensive storm surge and inland flooding. As the lead federal agency responsible for medical and public health response and recovery coordination, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) must have situational awareness to prepare for and address state and local requests for assistance following hurricanes. Both traditional and non-traditional data have been used to improve situational awareness in fields like disease surveillance and seismology. This study investigated whether non-traditional data (i.e., tweets and news reports) fill a void in traditional data reporting during hurricane response, as well as whether non-traditional data improve the timeliness for reporting identified HHS Essential Elements of Information (EEI). HHS EEIs provided the information collection guidance, and when the information indicated there was a potential public health threat, an event was identified and categorized within the larger scope of overall Hurricane Issac situational awareness. Tweets, news reports, press releases, and federal situation reports during Hurricane Isaac response were analyzed for information about EEIs. Data that pertained to the same EEI were linked together and given a unique event identification number to enable more detailed analysis of source content. Reports of sixteen unique events were examined for types of data sources reporting on the event and timeliness of the reports. Of these sixteen unique events identified, six were reported by only a single data source, four were reported by two data sources, four were reported by three data sources, and two were reported by four or more data sources. For five of the events where news tweets were one of multiple sources of information about an event, the tweet occurred prior to the news report, press release, local government\\emergency management tweet, and federal situation report. In all circumstances where
Political and news media factors shaping public awareness of the HPV vaccine.
Gollust, Sarah E; Attanasio, Laura; Dempsey, Amanda; Benson, Allison M; Fowler, Erika Franklin
2013-01-01
In 2006, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration licensed a vaccine for the human papillomavirus (HPV) that prevents the strains of HPV that cause 70% of cervical cancers. Within months, many states introduced legislation requiring the vaccine for girls, prompting controversy and heightened political and media attention to the issue. Previous research has shown differences in HPV vaccine awareness by individual-level characteristics such as race/ethnicity, income, and education levels. We examined how individual political orientation and exposure to media coverage can also shape awareness of the vaccine. Using data from a 2009 Internet survey of 1,216 nationally representative adult respondents linked to data on state-specific news coverage, we assessed how political orientation, media exposure, and state political context predicted HPV vaccine awareness. Younger people, women, and those with more education were significantly more likely to be aware of the vaccine. Even after controlling for these characteristics, we found that exposure to news media was associated with higher HPV vaccine awareness. Whereas liberals and conservatives were both more aware of the vaccine compared with moderates, the data are suggestive that liberals were more sensitive to news coverage. These findings suggest that individual-level political identities and their interaction with the informational environment may be important factors to consider in evaluating the determinants of individuals' attitudes and behaviors related to politically charged women's health issues. Copyright © 2013 Jacobs Institute of Women's Health. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Saha, Koustuv; Weber, Ingmar; Birnbaum, Michael L; De Choudhury, Munmun
2017-05-08
Schizophrenia is a rare but devastating condition, affecting about 1% of the world's population and resulting in about 2% of the US health care expenditure. Major impediments to appropriate and timely care include misconceptions, high levels of stigma, and lack of public awareness. Facebook offers novel opportunities to understand public awareness and information access related to schizophrenia, and thus can complement survey-based approaches to assessing awareness that are limited in scale, robustness, and temporal and demographic granularity. The aims of this study were to (1) construct an index that measured the awareness of different demographic groups around schizophrenia-related information on Facebook; (2) study how this index differed across demographic groups and how it correlated with complementary Web-based (Google Trends) and non-Web-based variables about population well-being (mental health indicators and infrastructure), and (3) examine the relationship of Facebook derived schizophrenia index with other types of online activity as well as offline health and mental health outcomes and indicators. Data from Facebook's advertising platform was programmatically collected to compute the proportion of users in a target demographic group with an interest related to schizophrenia. On consultation with a clinical expert, several topics were combined to obtain a single index measuring schizophrenia awareness. This index was then analyzed for differences across US states, gender, age, ethnic affinity, and education level. A statistical approach was developed to model a group's awareness index based on the group's characteristics. Overall, 1.03% of Facebook users in the United States have a schizophrenia-related interest. The schizophrenia awareness index (SAI) is higher for females than for males (1.06 vs 0.97, PFacebook's advertising platform can be used to construct a plausible index of population-scale schizophrenia awareness. However, only estimates of
Yang, Hongxi; Li, Shu; Sun, Li; Zhang, Xinyu; Hou, Jie; Wang, Yaogang
2017-10-03
In October 2013, the International Agency for Research on Cancer classified the particulate matter from outdoor air pollution as a group 1 carcinogen and declared that particulate matter can cause lung cancer. Fine particular matter (PM 2.5 ) pollution is becoming a serious public health concern in urban areas of China. It is essential to emphasize the importance of the public's awareness and knowledge of modifiable risk factors of lung cancer for prevention. The objective of our study was to explore the public's awareness of the association of PM 2.5 with lung cancer risk in China by analyzing the relationship between the daily PM 2.5 concentration and searches for the term "lung cancer" on an Internet big data platform, Baidu. We collected daily PM 2.5 concentration data and daily Baidu Index data in 31 Chinese capital cities from January 1, 2014 to December 31, 2016. We used Spearman correlation analysis to explore correlations between the daily Baidu Index for lung cancer searches and the daily average PM 2.5 concentration. Granger causality test was used to analyze the causal relationship between the 2 time-series variables. In 23 of the 31 cities, the pairwise correlation coefficients (Spearman rho) between the daily Baidu Index for lung cancer searches and the daily average PM 2.5 concentration were positive and statistically significant (P<.05). However, the correlation between the daily Baidu Index for lung cancer searches and the daily average PM 2.5 concentration was poor (all r 2 s <.1). Results of Granger causality testing illustrated that there was no unidirectional causality from the daily PM 2.5 concentration to the daily Baidu Index for lung cancer searches, which was statistically significant at the 5% level for each city. The daily average PM 2.5 concentration had a weak positive impact on the daily search interest for lung cancer on the Baidu search engine. Well-designed awareness campaigns are needed to enhance the general public's awareness of
Americans' awareness, knowledge, and behaviors regarding fats: 2006-2007.
Eckel, Robert H; Kris-Etherton, Penny; Lichtenstein, Alice H; Wylie-Rosett, Judith; Groom, Allison; Stitzel, Kimberly F; Yin-Piazza, Shirley
2009-02-01
In recent years, epidemiologic and clinical studies, public and regulatory policy activity, and media coverage have focused on issues related to trans fats. To help increase awareness and understanding of trans fats and other fats, the American Heart Association (AHA) launched the "Face the Fats" national consumer education campaign in April 2007. The AHA commissioned a quantitative tracking survey between 2006 and 2007 to measure changes in consumer awareness, knowledge, and behaviors related fats and oils and their perceived impact on heart disease. The survey was conducted by Cogent Research. Data were collected during March 2006 and May 2007. At both time points, the survey included a representative sample of the American population age 18 to 65 years (n=1,000). The sampling plan for the survey was designed based on the 2000 and 2003 US Census. The margin of error was +/-3.10 percentage points. Awareness of trans fats increased during the 1-year study period. In 2007, 92% of respondents were aware of trans fats, an increase from 84% in 2006 (Pincreased for trans fats (73% in 2007 vs 63% in 2006; Pfood sources of different fats remained low. On an unaided basis, 21% could name three food sources of trans fats in 2007, up from 17% in 2006 (Pfood sources of saturated fat remained unchanged at 30% in 2007. Significantly more respondents in 2007 reported behavioral changes related to trans fat information, such as buying food products because they show "zero trans fat" on labels or packages (37% in 2007 vs. 32% in 2006; Pincreased and attained awareness levels similar to saturated fats. The increased awareness is associated with improved self-reported behaviors in grocery shopping. Nonetheless, overall knowledge, especially regarding food sources of saturated and trans fats, remains relatively low, underscoring the need for heightened consumer education activities. The positive change in consumer awareness about trans fats is likely attributable to the wide range of
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Katarzyna NOSAL
2016-09-01
Full Text Available The article presents selected aspects of the implementation of the EU’s SmartMove project, which aims to promote feeder public transport systems in rural areas through the implementation of an active marketing campaign (AMC. Campaigns of this type are connected with providing general and personalized information concerning the functioning of public transport services. In the article, characteristics of one of the implementation areas of the project are presented, namely, the Liszki district near Cracow. Transport services were also evaluated. In addition, selected results are presented from a survey that was conducted among residents of the area from the point of view of the implementation of the AMC. The results concerned data about the means of transport that were currently used for travelling, the knowledge of bus services, the reasons for their use and the factors that might encourage residents to use public transport
Saha, Koustuv; Weber, Ingmar; Birnbaum, Michael L; De Choudhury, Munmun
2017-01-01
Background Schizophrenia is a rare but devastating condition, affecting about 1% of the world?s population and resulting in about 2% of the US health care expenditure. Major impediments to appropriate and timely care include misconceptions, high levels of stigma, and lack of public awareness. Facebook offers novel opportunities to understand public awareness and information access related to schizophrenia, and thus can complement survey-based approaches to assessing awareness that are limited...
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Chhabi Mohan
2010-06-01
Full Text Available .Research Question: What is the level of awareness about different modes of transmission and related misconception about HIV/AIDS among secondary school going females of public and Govt. Schools of Kanpur city. Study Area: Public and Govt. Schools of Kanpur city. Participatns: 120 Govt. and 120 Public secondary School females students. Results: 100% Public school female students knew about heterosexual mode of transmission of HI V/AIDS as compared to 80% of Govt. School students. Among Public School students knowledge about transmission of HIV/AIDS by contaminated needle and syringe intravenous drug abuse, blood transfusion and mother to child was known to almost 80% student. Among Govt. School students except for knowledge about transmission by contaminated needle and syringe (60% and mother to child transmission (55% the other modes were poorly known (<50%.
Cyber defense and situational awareness
Kott, Alexander; Erbacher, Robert F
2015-01-01
This book is the first publication to give a comprehensive, structured treatment to the important topic of situational awareness in cyber defense. It presents the subject in a logical, consistent, continuous discourse, covering key topics such as formation of cyber situational awareness, visualization and human factors, automated learning and inference, use of ontologies and metrics, predicting and assessing impact of cyber attacks, and achieving resilience of cyber and physical mission. Chapters include case studies, recent research results and practical insights described specifically for th
Massett, Holly A; Dilts, David M; Bailey, Robert; Berktold, Jennifer; Ledsky, Rebecca; Atkinson, Nancy L; Mishkin, Grace; Denicoff, Andrea; Padberg, Rose Mary; Allen, Marin P; Silver, Karen; Carrington, Kelli; Johnson, Lenora E
2017-05-01
Clinical trials are essential for developing new and effective treatments and improving patient quality of life; however, many trials cannot answer their primary research questions because they fall short of their recruitment goals. This article reports the results of formative research conducted in two populations, the public and primary care physicians, to identify messages that may raise awareness and increase interest in clinical trials and be used in a national communication campaign. Results suggested that participants were primarily motivated to participate in clinical trials out of a self-interest to help themselves first. Messages illustrated that current treatments were tested via clinical trials, helped normalize trials as routine practices, and reduced concerns over trying something new first. Participants wanted messages that portray trials as state-of-the-art choices that offer some hope, show people like themselves, and are described in a clear, concise manner with actionable steps for them to take. The study revealed some differences in message salience, with healthy audiences exhibiting lower levels of interest. Our results suggest that targeted messages are needed, and that communication with primary health-care providers is an important and necessary component in raising patient awareness of the importance of clinical trials.
Public Telecommunications Policies and Education's Options.
Norwood, Frank W.
The use of satellite telecommunications for educational and other public service purposes has been restricted by educators' lack of awareness of the potential that exists. While industry actively promotes its own interests, educators rarely even realize that international policies being made today will affect critically the options available for…
IMPRESS: medical location-aware decision making during emergencies
Gkotsis, I.; Eftychidis, G.; Leventakis, G.; Mountzouris, M.; Diagourtas, D.; Kostaridis, A.; Hedel, R.; Olunczek, A.; Hahmann, S.
2017-09-01
Emergency situations and mass casualties involve several agencies and public authorities, which need to gather data from the incident scene and exchange geo-referenced information to provide fast and accurate first aid to the people in need. Tracking patients on their way to the hospitals can prove critical in taking lifesaving decisions. Increased and continuous flow of information combined by vital signs and geographic location of emergency victims can greatly reduce the response time of the medical emergency chain and improve the efficiency of disaster medicine activity. Recent advances in mobile positioning systems and telecommunications are providing the technology needed for the development of location-aware medical applications. IMPRESS is an advanced ICT platform based on adequate technologies for developing location-aware medical response during emergencies. The system incorporates mobile and fixed components that collect field data from diverse sources, support medical location and situation-based services and share information on the patient's transport from the field to the hospitals. In IMPRESS platform tracking of victims, ambulances and emergency services vehicles is integrated with medical, traffic and crisis management information into a common operational picture. The Incident Management component of the system manages operational resources together with patient tracking data that contain vital sign values and patient's status evolution. Thus, it can prioritize emergency transport decisions, based on medical and location-aware information. The solution combines positioning and information gathered and owned by various public services involved in MCIs or large-scale disasters. IMPRESS solution, were validated in field and table top exercises in cooperation with emergency services and hospitals.
Awareness of colorectal cancer among public in Asir region
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Mohammad Nassir Al-Sharif
2018-01-01
Full Text Available Introduction: Colorectal cancer (CRC has different forms of colon cancer or rectal cancer. CRCs are often considered together because they possess many similar features. A severe form of the disease with higher mortality rate increases with increase in age. The most common CRC risk factors include smoking, diabetes, and obesity. This study aims to evaluate the awareness of CRC in a random population of Asir region and to identify the subpopulation that can be recipients of awareness and screening programs. Material and Methods: Cross-sectional nonprobable random sampling study using a self-administered questionnaire survey which was employed to include healthy males and females from Asir region. The questionnaire included ten questions in Arabic language and data were categorized according to gender, marital status, age, and level of education to determine whether these demographic groups possess difference in knowledge about CRC. Results: Most of the respondents (51% and 71.6% knew what is colon and rectum. About 33.8% know the correct function of the colon while 22.5% know the correct incidence and 22.1% know the correct time of screening for CRC. Very few respondents know the symptoms, risks, and screening modalities of CRC.Pearson's Chi-square test was employed to evaluate the differences in responses in four demographic categories of the study population. P <0.05 was considered as statistically significant Conclusions: Single less educated males lack knowledge of CRC. In addition, there is very low awareness of CRC symptoms, risk factors, and screening modalities among the entire surveyed population.
Diabetes and hypertension: public awareness and lifestyle-findings of a health mela
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Rafique, G.; Khuwaja, A.K.
2003-01-01
Objective: To determine the frequencies of diabetes, hypertension and their established lifestyle risk factors and to assess the level of awareness about diabetes and hypertension amongst persons attending a health mela at the Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH), Karachi. Subjects and methods: A total of 264 participants were administered structured questionnaire to obtain demographic data and perceptions about diabetes and hypertension after taking verbal informed consent. Height, weight, blood pressure and random blood glucose were measured. Results: Overall frequency of type-2 diabetes was 13.5%, impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) 8.3% and hypertension 24%. Frequency of diabetes and hypertension in both men and women increased with increasing age (p< .001) and body mass index (p=0.02). Over half the men and women with type 2 diabetes (53% and 57% respectively) and 42% men and 60% women with IGT also had hypertension. Diabetes and hypertension were correctly defined by 52% and 37% subjects respectively and this was significantly associated with educational level (p=.001). Lack of physical exercise was observed in 59% participants, while 53.6% men and 67.5% women were overweight/obese. As compared to women, men used more additional salt (p = 0.03) and had more outside meals (p<0.001) and lack of physical exercise was observed in 59% participants, while 53.6% men and 67% women were overweight/obese. As compared to women, men used more additional salts (p=0.03) and had a more outside meals (p<0.001) and snacks (p=0.01). Conclusion: High frequencies of diabetes, hypertension, obesity, unhealthy nutrition and lack of exercise were observed in the study population. Emphasis on health education is needed to increase public awareness of the warming signs and risk factors of these common conditions. (author)
Women's role for public acceptance - WEN activities
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Asada, Kiyoe
1999-01-01
WEN (Women's Energy Network) is a national network of women working professionally in the field of public relations or technologies in various energy-related companies and organizations or interested in energy public acceptance (PA) activities including nuclear PA. This paper describes goals, organization, activities of WEN, and survey on public consciousness. 10 figs
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Nordbrandt, Maja Sticker; Carlsson, Jessica; Lindberg, Laura Glahder
2015-01-01
. In clinical studies, physical activity has shown a positive effect on psychiatric illnesses such as depression and anxiety and for patients with chronic pain. However, scientific knowledge about physical activity as part of the treatment for traumatised refugees is very limited and no guidelines exist......-based Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. The first group only receives treatment as usual while the second and the third groups receive either Basic-Body Awareness Therapy or mixed physical activity as add-on treatments. Each physical activity is provided for an individual 1-hour consultation per week...... as well as quality of life, functional capacity, coping with pain, body awareness and physical fitness. DISCUSSION: This study will examine the effect of physical activity for traumatised refugees. This has not yet been done in a randomised controlled setting on such a large scale before. Hereby the study...
Department of Housing and Urban Development — CDBG activity related to public services, including senior services, legal services, youth services, employment training, health services, homebuyer counseling, food...
Public awareness and knowledge of stuttering in Japan.
Iimura, Daichi; Yada, Yasuto; Imaizumi, Kazuya; Takeuchi, Toshimitsu; Miyawaki, Manami; Van Borsel, John
To determine laypeople's knowledge and awareness of stuttering in Japan. A total of 303 respondents, recruited by street sampling, completed a questionnaire assessing the prevalence, onset, gender distribution, occurrence in different races, cause, treatment, association with intelligence, and hereditariness of stuttering. The questionnaire used was a Japanese version of that devised by Van Borsel, Verniers, and Bouvry (1999) for use in Belgium. Although around half of the respondents had heard or met a stutterer, they tended to misunderstand the stuttering; e.g., respondents estimated the prevalence of stuttering as high. Knowledge also differed according to age, gender, and education level. Specifically, older individuals, females, and individuals with higher levels of education tended to have greater knowledge of stuttering. In comparing the results of the present study with similar studies conducted in Belgium, China, and Brazil, we observed several similarities and differences. Although most respondents were to some extent familiar with stuttering, their overall knowledge of the condition was limited. Certain factors could be involved in having knowledge of stuttering, such as one's life experience, cultural background, and social attitudes toward stuttering. The findings suggest the need for growing knowledge and awareness of stuttering. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
DETERMINATION OF CYBER SECURITY AWARENESS OF PUBLIC EMPLOYEES AND CONSCIOUSNESS-RISING SUGGESTIONS
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Huseyin Kuru
2016-07-01
Full Text Available The aim of this study is to measure Turkish government employees’ awareness of cyber security and cyber space elements. Participants were 71 Turkish public employees working for various ministries. Both qualitative and quantitative research methods were used to get the most detailed information from the participants. A survey was administered to cyber security officers in chosen state institutions. For qualitative research, open-ended questions were administered to the participants. Reliability and validity issues were established for both surveys. Results show that employees have enough information about cyber security and cyber warfare. Findings clearly suggests that cyber defense policy should be planned in coordination with other state institutions and experiences should be shared. In order to create feasible and realistic cyber security policy at institutional level, experts at cyber security must be trained, hired and help must be requested from specialized individuals and institutions. This study recommends that rapid reaction teams (RRT should be established to take care of cyber systems, to react against cyber breaches in time, to alert staff for cyber-attacks in order to establish effective recovery.
A rural, community-based suicide awareness and intervention program.
Jones, Sharon; Walker, Coralanne; Miles, Alison C J; De Silva, Eve; Zimitat, Craig
2015-01-01
Suicide is a prominent public health issue in rural Australia and specifically in Tasmania, which has one of the highest suicide rates in the country. The Community Response to Eliminating Suicide (CORES) program was developed in rural Tasmania in response to a significant number of suicides over a short period of time. CORES is unique in that it is both a community-based and gatekeeper education model. CORES aims to build and empower communities to take ownership of suicide prevention strategies. It also aims to increase the individual community member's interpersonal skills and awareness of suicide risks, while building peer support and awareness of suicide prevention support services within the community itself. Pre- and post-test surveys after the CORES 1-day suicide awareness and intervention program (SAIP) showed significant increases in levels of comfort and confidence in discussing suicide with those who may be contemplating that action. CORES builds community capital through establishing new connections within communities. Establishment of local executive groups, funding and SAIP are key activities of successful CORES programs in communities around Australia. Over half of the initial leaders are still actively involved after a decade, which reflects positively on the quality and outcomes of the program. This study supports CORES as a beneficial and feasible community-based suicide intervention program for rural communities.
Breast cancer knowledge and awareness among university students ...
African Journals Online (AJOL)
Background: The high breast cancer mortality rate in Sub-Saharan Africa has been attributed to a lack of public awareness of the disease which often leads to late diagnosis of the disease. Little is known about the level of knowledge and awareness of breast cancer in Angola. Previous studies have shown that breast cancer ...
CDBG Public Improvements Activity
Department of Housing and Urban Development — CDBG activity related to public improvements, including senior centers, youth centers, parks, street improvements, water/sewer improvements, child care centers, fire...
THE DILEMMA "FOR" AND "AGAINST" EUTHANASIA AND LEGAL AWARENESS OF THE DISABLED
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Paraskeva Mancheva
2016-10-01
Full Text Available Aim: to study the legal awareness of the disabled and to solve the "for" or "against" euthanasia issue Material and methods: The study includes 305 polymorbid disabled people and is certificated by the General territorial Expert Medical Commission (LEDC at University Hospital "St. Marina " Varna for the period October-December 2011. The study uses sociological method - direct and group inquiry and statistical methods: analysis (χ2, analysis of variance, correlation analysis (r, regression analysis (β. The processing of the results was performed by SPSS v.17.0 for Windows. Results: The study of the legal awareness of euthanasia revealed a need for more information among polymorbid disabled people. There is a discrepancy between their more positive, supportive attitude (acceptance of euthanasia and lack of willingness to actually conduct. The reasons for this can be found in the sporadic public discussions on the debate on euthanasia and in the increased distrust of the health care system. Respondents believe that euthanasia at this stage cannot be imputed as an obligation for the Bulgarian medics. Conclusion: The legal public awareness issue is essential to protect the rights of the citizens, for the realization of those activities that require strict compliance with the Constitution, laws and regulations. The legal awareness study of the disabled for solution of the "for" or "against" euthanasia issue presents an opportunity to discuss a way out of a hopeless situation for patients in terminal condition.
Survey of women's awareness about radiation
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Onishi, Keiko; Aomi, Yuki; Asada, Kiyoe; Kamiya, Masami; Mitsuishi, Haruko
2008-01-01
A project in a voluntary group 'Women's Energy Network' conducted two questionnaire surveys on Japanese women's awareness about radiation. The survey was conducted to investigate how women(non-experts) perceive radiation and radioactivity, what is their image about radiation, to what extent they are aware of the use of radiation in their daily life, and whether they find nuclear related information useful or not. The results of those surveys have led WEN to publish a booklet entitled 'Our Life and Radiation' to be used for public communication and to hold public forums in various cities in Japan. The first survey was conducted in 2001 to those living in big cities such as Tokyo and Osaka and to those living in the area where the nuclear power plant is installed. The response rate was 72.4% (1,028 out of 1,419). The second one was done in 2005 to those living in Tokyo and other big cities. The response rate was 84.7% (888 our of 983). It was derived from the two surveys that they were not so much aware of various applications of radiation for daily use (awareness rate was low), but they considered those information would be useful when it becomes available for them and they were interested in knowing about it. As for the image of radiation, about 80% have shown fear when they see or hear a word 'radiation'. This report provides the result of questionnaire surveys on women's awareness about radiation conducted by 'Our Daily Life and Radiation' project in Women's Energy Network. (author)
Aydin-Güç, Funda; Aygün, Müge; Ceylan, Derya; Çavus-Güngören, Seda; Durukan, Ümmü Gülsüm; Hacioglu, Yasemin; Yekeler, Ayse Dilek
2018-01-01
The aim of this study is to determine the effect of the interdisciplinary (the disciplines of Turkish, Social Science, Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Public Administration) activities performed in the scope of the Community Service Practices Course on the air pollution awareness (APW). This study has been performed as a multiple case study.…
Situation awareness of active distribution network: roadmap, technologies, and bottlenecks
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Lin, Jin; Wan, Can; Song, Yonghua
2016-01-01
With the rapid development of local generation and demand response, the active distribution network (ADN), which aggregates and manages miscellaneous distributed resources, has moved from theory to practice. Secure and optimal operations now require an advanced situation awareness (SA) system so...... in the project of developing an SA system as the basic component of a practical active distribution management system (ADMS) deployed in Beijing, China, is presented. This paper reviews the ADN’s development roadmap by illustrating the changes that are made in elements, topology, structure, and control scheme....... Taking into consideration these hardware changes, a systematic framework is proposed for the main components and the functional hierarchy of an SA system for the ADN. The SA system’s implementation bottlenecks are also presented, including, but not limited to issues in big data platform, distribution...
Goldberg, Dena
Understanding awareness and perceptions of genetic counseling (GC) is important in identifying and overcoming potential barriers to GC services. However, there are relatively few empirical data regarding these factors among US-based populations. To address this, we attended various community events for the general public, disability community, and new parents and recruited participants for a survey-based study comprising demographic questions, closed-ended knowledge-based and awareness questions, and open text sections. We applied descriptive statistics to responses about demographics, awareness of GC, purposes of GC, and perceptions of GC practice. In total, 320 individuals participated, including 69 from the general public, 209 from the disability community, and 42 from the new parent community. Slightly more than half of respondents (n =173, 54%) had heard of GC. Risk assessment and counseling were among the most frequently cited activities attributed to genetic counselors; a few felt that GC was related to eugenics. Respondents thought that GC aims to prevent genetic disorders (n=82, 74%), helps people find their ethnic origins and understand their ancestry (n=176, 55%), advises people whether to have children (n=140, 44%), and helps couples have children with desirable characteristics (n=126, 39%). Our data showed the majority of participants preferred to watch a medical thriller involving genetic counseling, followed by documentary series; comedy was rated the lowest. These data revealed gaps in awareness of GC and misperceptions about its purpose and can be useful in devising targeted interventions by developing entertainment-based education to improve public knowledge of genetic health and the roles of GCs.
Dal, Burçkin; Alper, Umut; Özdem-Yilmaz, Yasemin; Öztürk, Nilay; Sönmez, Duygu
2015-01-01
Public awareness of the negative effects of climate change is vital since it leads to collective action for prevention and adaptation. However, investigations on to what extent people are aware of the climate change issue are rare in the literature. The present study reported the adaptation process of awareness to climate change questionnaire into…
Awareness of fetal echo in Indian scenario
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Warrier, Dhanya; Saraf, Rahul; Maheshwari, Sunita; Suresh, PV; Shah, Sejal
2012-01-01
Fetal echocardiography is a well established sensitive tool to diagnose congenital heart disease (CHD) in utero. One of the determinants of effective utilization of fetal echocardiography is its awareness in the general population. The present hospital based study was undertaken to assess the awareness of the need for fetal echocardiography amongst Indian parents. One thousand one hundred and thirty eight consecutive parents who visited the pediatric cardiology outpatient department of a tertiary care centre over a period of two months were asked to fill up a questionnaire that included their demographic data, educational status, history of CHD in children, awareness of fetal echocardiography and source of information and timing of fetal echocardiogram if performed. The data was categorized and awareness was noted in different groups. The awareness in the study population was 2.2%. Awareness was found to be similar across the study population irrespective of the demographics and high risk status of the parents. The awareness of fetal echocardiography, an important tool in reducing the incidence of complex CHD, thereby impacting public health, is alarmingly low in the population studied. Appropriate action to increase awareness of fetal echocardiography needs to be looked into
Candan, Sevcan; Erten, Sinan
2015-01-01
In this study, the effectiveness of Eco-Friendly Person Activity Package developed in order to raise environmental awareness in pre-service teachers and enable them to be an example of an eco-friendly teacher for their future students, and the responses about Eco-Friendly Person Activity Package were investigated. The study was conducted on 75…
Context-awareness and Mobile HCI
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Qin, Xiangang; Tan, Chee Wee; Clemmensen, Torkil
2017-01-01
-awareness has been employed broadly in developing applications and services on mobile platform, has had a huge impact on mobile user experience, and has altered the interaction between humans and computers by giving the latter a more active role to play. The significance of context-awareness in the usage......Context-awareness endows mobile devices and services with the capability of interacting with users in an efficient, intelligent, natural and smart fashion. Consequently, context-awareness makes a significant difference to mobile HCI. However, the challenges brought by context-awareness to users...... of mobile devices are rarely examined in depth. In this paper, previous conceptions of context and their contribution to context-awareness in mobile HCI is scrutinized and a preliminary context-computer interaction (CCI) model is advanced to illustrate the interaction characterized by mobile context...
Cervical cancer and HPV: Awareness and vaccine acceptability among parents in Morocco.
Mouallif, Mustapha; Bowyer, Harriet L; Festali, Soukaina; Albert, Adelin; Filali-Zegzouti, Younes; Guenin, Samuel; Delvenne, Philippe; Waller, Jo; Ennaji, Moulay Mustapha
2014-01-09
Cervical cancer is a major public health concern in Morocco where it represents the second most common and lethal cancer in women. Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines have been licensed in Morocco since 2008 but there are no available data on their acceptability. This study aimed to assess awareness of HPV and the vaccine, and to identify factors associated with acceptability of the vaccine among parents in Morocco. We carried out a questionnaire-based survey using face-to-face interviews in a sample of 852 parents (670 mothers and 182 fathers) with at least one unmarried daughter ≤26 years. We collected data within public and private health centres and clinics in four regions in Morocco between July and August 2012. The main outcome measure was parental acceptability of the HPV vaccine for their daughter(s). Responses revealed very low awareness of HPV infection (4.7%) and the HPV vaccine (14.3%). None of the participants had vaccinated their daughter(s) against HPV and vaccine acceptability was low among mothers (32%) and fathers (45%). Higher education and income, previous awareness of the HPV vaccine and endorsement of the belief that a recommendation from the Ministry of Health or a doctor to have the vaccine would be encouraging, were associated with mothers' HPV vaccine acceptability. Non-acceptability among mothers was associated with having more than two daughters, believing the vaccine was expensive, lack of information and believing that whatever happens to an individual's health is God's will. The only factor associated with the fathers' acceptability of the vaccine was the cost of the vaccine. Increasing HPV and HPV vaccine awareness through educational campaigns, along with active recommendation by physicians and a publically funded vaccination programme could increase parental acceptability of the HPV vaccine in Morocco. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Tuberculosis awareness program and associated changes in knowledge levels of school students
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Jayashree S Gothankar
2013-01-01
Conclusions: Health education program by medical students helped significantly to improve the knowledge of school students regarding tuberculosis. Thus, medical college students can be involved to some extent for conducting health-related behavioral change communication (BCC activities in schools during their Community Medicine morning posting. Collaboration of private medical colleges, schools, and district tuberculosis units (DTUs can be ideally achieved under public private partnership (PPP for health awareness programs.
Assessment of awareness on food borne zoonosis and its relation ...
African Journals Online (AJOL)
The use of inspected animal products is found statistically different (P<0.05) among ... The importance of veterinary public health in the overall public health ... the awareness of the public using the appropriate communication media, and to ...
The Central Neural Foundations of Awareness and Self-Awareness
Pfaff, D.; Martin, E. M.; Weingarten, W.; Vimal, V.
In the past, neuroscientists have done very well to concentrate onexplaining the mechanisms for very specific, simple behaviors. For example, our laboratory's work with molecular and neural mechanisms of a simple sex behavior proved for the first time that specific biochemical reactions in specific parts of the brain govern a specific behavior [D. W. Pfaff, Drive: Neurobiological and Molecular Mechanisms of Sexual Motivation (The MIT Press, Cambridge, 1999)]. Now, advances in our field coupled with new techniques permit us to attack the problems of explaining global changes of state in the central nervous system. For example, how does a simple sex behavior depend on sexual arousal, and in turn, how does that sexual arousal depend on other forms of CNS arousal? Of surpassing interest is the explanation of the primary causes of brain arousal [D. W. Pfaff, textit{Brain Arousal and Information Theory: Neural and Genetic Mechanisms} (Harvard University Press, Cambridg e, 2006)]. We have hypothesized that the earliest and most elementary event in waking up the brain is the activation of certain primitive nerve cells in the hindbrain reticular formation. Hypothesizing a `generalized arousal' force emanating from these cells puts forth an idea roughly analogous to the hypothesis of a `big bang' in astrophysics, or to our ideas about the magma of the earth in geophysics. Following the activation of this primitive arousal force we are able to be alert and aware. The neuroanatomical pathways serving brain arousal are fairly well known: they are Bilateral, Bidirectional, Universal among vertebrate animals including humans, and they are always involved in Response Potentiation, approach or avoidance responses (BBURP theory). More than 120 genes are involved in the regulation of brain arousal. In theoretical terms, the discussion so far has dealt with `bottoms up' approaches to awareness -- from mechanisms in the hindbrain working through several phylogenetically ancient
Moorhead, Laura L; Holzmeyer, Cheryl; Maggio, Lauren A; Steinberg, Ryan M; Willinsky, John
2015-01-01
Through funding agency and publisher policies, an increasing proportion of the health sciences literature is being made open access. Such an increase in access raises questions about the awareness and potential utilization of this literature by those working in health fields. A sample of physicians (N=336) and public health non-governmental organization (NGO) staff (N=92) were provided with relatively complete access to the research literature indexed in PubMed, as well as access to the point-of-care service UpToDate, for up to one year, with their usage monitored through the tracking of web-log data. The physicians also participated in a one-month trial of relatively complete or limited access. The study found that participants' research interests were not satisfied by article abstracts alone nor, in the case of the physicians, by a clinical summary service such as UpToDate. On average, a third of the physicians viewed research a little more frequently than once a week, while two-thirds of the public health NGO staff viewed more than three articles a week. Those articles were published since the 2008 adoption of the NIH Public Access Policy, as well as prior to 2008 and during the maximum 12-month embargo period. A portion of the articles in each period was already open access, but complete access encouraged a viewing of more research articles. Those working in health fields will utilize more research in the course of their work as a result of (a) increasing open access to research, (b) improving awareness of and preparation for this access, and (c) adjusting public and open access policies to maximize the extent of potential access, through reduction in embargo periods and access to pre-policy literature.
Recommendation-Aware Smartphone Sensing System
Chen, Mu-Yen; Wu, Ming-Ni; Chen, Chia-Chen; Chen, Young-Long; Lin, Hsien-En
2014-01-01
The context-aware concept is to reduce the gap between users and information systems so that the information systems actively get to understand users’ context and demand and in return provide users with better experience. This study integrates the concept of context-aware with association algorithms to establish the context-aware recommendation systems (CARS). The CARS contains three modules and provides the product recommendations for users with their smartphone. First, the simple RSSI Indoo...
How to Measure Consumer Awareness of Mass-Media Campaigns for Public Health Purposes.
Peetz-Schou, Mette
1997-01-01
The measurement of "consumer awareness" in health promotion campaigns is discussed. Seven effectiveness evaluations are reviewed. Problem areas, including interpretation of differently phrased awareness questions and response bias, are discussed. Recommendations for overcoming common problems are made, and an open discussion based on…
He, Jiang-Hong; Yang, Yi; Zhang, Yi; Qiu, Si-You; Zhou, Zhen-Yu; Dang, Yuan-Yuan; Dai, Yi-Wu; Liu, Yi-Jun; Xu, Ru-Xiang
2014-08-01
Resting-state functional MRI (fMRI) has emerged as a valuable tool to characterize the complex states encompassing disorders of consciousness (DOC). Awareness appears to comprise two coexistent, anticorrelated components named the external and internal awareness networks. The present study hypothesizes that DOC interrupts the balance between the internal and external awareness networks. To gain more understanding of this phenomenon, the present study analyzed resting-state fMRI data from 12 patients with DOC versus 12 healthy age-matched controls. The data were explored using independent component analysis and amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) analysis. The results indicated that DOC deactivated midline areas associated with internal awareness. In addition, external awareness was strengthened in DOC because of increased activation in the insula, lingual gyrus, paracentral and supplementary motor area. The activity patterns suggested strengthened external awareness against weakened internal awareness in DOC. In particular, increased activity found in the insula, lingual gyrus, paracentral and supplementary motor area of patients with DOC implied possible involvement of augmented visuo-motor modulation in these patients. DOC is probably related to hyperactive external awareness opposing hypoactive internal awareness. This unique pattern of brain activity may potentially be a prognostic marker for DOC. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Usikov, Denis A.
2013-09-01
The 2007 Planetary Defense Conference recommends "to provide or enhance Internet sites to show how threats evolve and to illustrate possible action scenarios". Thereby, establishment of informational and communicational AsteroidAware web-site with the exact, authentic data about the past and the present of Earth's impact events will assist in achievement of positive results and progress in different directions on political, international, social and scientific levels. Expanded ICT's capabilities for popularization of planetary defense can help in resolving the problem of low public interest. The project's primary intent lies in popularizing the concept of planetary defenses and attracting attention to the potential dangers that threaten the Earth from outer space. The result of the efforts falling into the boundaries of this project would be an increased amount of social participation in the process of developing solutions for and increasing awareness of potential collisions between various astral bodies and the Earth. The project is also aimed at creating a foundation for the interaction between scientists and executives from around the world to facilitate international efforts of searching for fitting measures towards lowering threat levels and developing strategies revolving around united actions against potential threats.
The role of public relations activities in hospital choice.
Tengilimoglu, Dilaver; Yesiltas, Mehmet; Kisa, Adnan; Dziegielewski, Sophia F
2007-01-01
Public relations activities for all organizations can have an important effect on consumer decision-making when buying goods or services. This study examines the effect that public relations activities can have regarding consumer decisions and choice. To explore exemplify this relationship a questionnaire was given to 971 patients within public, university and private hospitals in Ankara, Turkey. Study results show that public relations activities were a crucial factor in determining consumer hospital choice. The majority of respondents reported that the behaviors and attitude of personnel as public relations activities that support the hospital's reputation within the public were the primary variables in hospital choice. Health care managers can use these findings to further understand how patients make informed choices related to usage of a health care facility and to develop and/or improve public relations activities.
Pascal Iloh, Gabriel Uche; Collins, Peace Ifeoma
2017-01-01
Background: Cigarette smoking whether actively or passively is a growing public health problem. Despite the wealth of information on the hazards of active cigarette smoking, awareness of the health effects of passive smoking on human population is often neglected in Nigeria. Aim: The study was aimed at describing the awareness of health effects of exposure to secondhand smoke from cigarettes among never-smoked adult primary care patients in Eastern Nigeria. Materials and Methods: A hospital-b...
Risoe Publication Activities in 1997
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Alvi, Hanne; Bennov, Solvejg
1998-08-01
Risoe's publication and lecture activities in the last decades are presented through data of total number of publications, distribution of types of publications, number of citations to the international scientific journal articles, and institutions with which Risoe has published the largest number of articles. The data are derived from Risoe's in-house Publications Database and from the Risoe Institutional Citation Report database produced by the Institute for Scientific Information. The largest part of the report contains a list of references to the scientific and technical journal articles, books, reports, lectures, and to publications for a broader readership authored by researchers at Risoe National Laboratory during the year 1997. The references are organised according to the programme areas of Risoe. (au)
Impact of a social marketing media campaign on public awareness of hypertension.
Petrella, Robert J; Speechley, Mark; Kleinstiver, Peter W; Ruddy, Terry
2005-02-01
Barriers to high blood pressure (BP) awareness and control are exacerbated by poor knowledge of the consequences and uncertainty regarding how to and who should direct care. We developed a social marketing hypertension awareness program to determine baseline awareness, knowledge, and treatment behavior, and then studied the impact of a targeted, media intervention among randomly surveyed adults at risk in a representative urban community compared to a control community immediately and 6 months after the intervention. The program consisted of three random-digit telephone surveys conducted in two mid-sized Ontario cities to determine high BP awareness, knowledge, and treatment behavior. Using baseline knowledge and attitudes toward high BP in both communities, a social marketing awareness strategy and mass media intervention campaign incorporating television, radio, print, direct to patient, and interactive techniques was developed and implemented in the test city only. Both test and control cities were resurveyed immediately after and at 6 months post-media intervention to detect change and decay. A sample of 6873 men and women more than 35 years old who were aware of their high BP demonstrated a high prevalence of high BP in the general population ( approximately 34% in both communities). At baseline this population had poor knowledge of their own BP numbers and poor understanding of the diseases related to high BP. Although few considered high BP a health concern, they had good understanding of lifestyle interventions for high BP prevention and control. The number of the respondents who claimed to have high BP increased immediately after intervention in the test city (38%; P < .02), whereas the number of respondents who were treated and uncontrolled decreased (P < .05) compared to control. There was a significant increase in patients' knowledge of consequences and in their perception that they were most responsible for high BP control in the test city (P < .005
Bray, Janet E; Smith, Karen; Case, Rosalind; Cartledge, Susie; Straney, Lahn; Finn, Judith
2017-04-01
To provide contemporary Australian data on the public's training in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and awareness of hands-only CPR. A cross-sectional telephone survey in April 2016 of adult residents of the Australian state of Victoria was conducted. Primary outcomes were rates of CPR training and awareness of hands-only CPR. Of the 404 adults surveyed (mean age 55 ± 17 years, 59% female, 73% metropolitan residents), 274 (68%) had undergone CPR training. Only 50% (n = 201) had heard of hands-only CPR, with most citing first-aid courses (41%) and media (36%) as sources of information. Of those who had undergone training, the majority had received training more than 5 years previously (52%) and only 28% had received training or refreshed training in the past 12 months. Most received training in a formal first-aid class (43%), and received training as a requirement for work (67%). The most common reasons for not having training were: they had never thought about it (59%), did not have time (25%) and did not know where to learn (15%). Compared to standard CPR, a greater proportion of respondents were willing to provide hands-only CPR for strangers (67% vs 86%, P CPR training rates and awareness of hands-only CPR. Further promotion of hands-only CPR and self-instruction (e.g. DVD kits or online) may see further improvements in CPR training and bystander CPR rates. © 2017 Australasian College for Emergency Medicine and Australasian Society for Emergency Medicine.
Awareness of Cancer Susceptibility Genetic Testing
Mai, Phuong L.; Vadaparampil, Susan Thomas; Breen, Nancy; McNeel, Timothy S.; Wideroff, Louise; Graubard, Barry I.
2014-01-01
Background Genetic testing for several cancer susceptibility syndromes is clinically available; however, existing data suggest limited population awareness of such tests. Purpose To examine awareness regarding cancer genetic testing in the U.S. population aged ≥25 years in the 2000, 2005, and 2010 National Health Interview Surveys. Methods The weighted percentages of respondents aware of cancer genetic tests, and percent changes from 2000–2005 and 2005–2010, overall and by demographic, family history, and healthcare factors were calculated. Interactions were used to evaluate the patterns of change in awareness between 2005 and 2010 among subgroups within each factor. To evaluate associations with awareness in 2005 and 2010, percentages were adjusted for covariates using multiple logistic regression. The analysis was performed in 2012. Results Awareness decreased from 44.4% to 41.5% (pAwareness increased between 2005 and 2010 in most subgroups, particularly among individuals in the South (p-interaction=0.03) or with a usual place of care (p-interaction=0.01). In 2005 and 2010, awareness was positively associated with personal or family cancer history and high perceived cancer risk, and inversely associated with racial/ethnic minorities, age 25–39 or ≥60 years, male gender, lower education and income levels, public or no health insurance, and no provider contact in 12 months. Conclusions Despite improvement from 2005 to 2010, ≤50% of the U.S. adult population was aware of cancer genetic testing in 2010. Notably, disparities persist for racial/ethnic minorities and individuals with limited health care access or income. PMID:24745633
Koohsari, Mohammad Javad; Mavoa, Suzanne; Villanueva, Karen; Sugiyama, Takemi; Badland, Hannah; Kaczynski, Andrew T; Owen, Neville; Giles-Corti, Billie
2015-05-01
Public open spaces such as parks and green spaces are key built environment elements within neighbourhoods for encouraging a variety of physical activity behaviours. Over the past decade, there has been a burgeoning number of active living research studies examining the influence of public open space on physical activity. However, the evidence shows mixed associations between different aspects of public open space (e.g., proximity, size, quality) and physical activity. These inconsistencies hinder the development of specific evidence-based guidelines for urban designers and policy-makers for (re)designing public open space to encourage physical activity. This paper aims to move this research agenda forward, by identifying key conceptual and methodological issues that may contribute to inconsistencies in research examining relations between public open space and physical activity. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Above and beyond basic public participation
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Mathai, L.P.; Lefkoff, M.S.; Kelly, E.J.
1995-01-01
This paper evolved out of a discussion about public participation as it is currently being brought to the fore-front of clean-up activities at hazardous waste sites. There exists much official and unofficial documentation pertaining to the need for public involvement. The purposes for public involvement efforts in Environmental Restoration are: to enable substantive input to the clean-up process; methods for establishing formal, and now informal, mechanisms for public input and awareness of on-going facility activities; and the opening of better channels for communication and conflict resolution between the public and the facility. This presentation will briefly outline the regulatory approach for public outreach because many of these terms are used with such frequency, their meanings tend to get forgotten or misconstrued. Then, the authors will critique the most common methods for conducting public involvement as attempted through advisory boards and public meetings. For illustrative purposes, they will be referring to the site they are most familiar with, which is Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL)
Building Public Confidence in Nuclear Activities
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Isaacs, T
2002-01-01
Achieving public acceptance has become a central issue in discussions regarding the future of nuclear power and associated nuclear activities. Effective public communication and public participation are often put forward as the key building blocks in garnering public acceptance. A recent international workshop in Finland provided insights into other features that might also be important to building and sustaining public confidence in nuclear activities. The workshop was held in Finland in close cooperation with Finnish stakeholders. This was most appropriate because of the recent successes in achieving positive decisions at the municipal, governmental, and Parliamentary levels, allowing the Finnish high-level radioactive waste repository program to proceed, including the identification and approval of a proposed candidate repository site. Much of the workshop discussion appropriately focused on the roles of public participation and public communications in building public confidence. It was clear that well constructed and implemented programs of public involvement and communication and a sense of fairness were essential in building the extent of public confidence needed to allow the repository program in Finland to proceed. It was also clear that there were a number of other elements beyond public involvement that contributed substantially to the success in Finland to date. And, in fact, it appeared that these other factors were also necessary to achieving the Finnish public acceptance. In other words, successful public participation and communication were necessary but not sufficient. What else was important? Culture, politics, and history vary from country to country, providing differing contexts for establishing and maintaining public confidence. What works in one country will not necessarily be effective in another. Nonetheless, there appear to be certain elements that might be common to programs that are successful in sustaining public confidence and some of
Building Public Confidence in Nuclear Activities
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Isaacs, T
2002-01-01
Achieving public acceptance has become a central issue in discussions regarding the future of nuclear power and associated nuclear activities. Effective public communication and public participation are often put forward as the key building blocks in garnering public acceptance. A recent international workshop in Finland provided insights into other features that might also be important to building and sustaining public confidence in nuclear activities. The workshop was held in Finland in close cooperation with Finnish stakeholders. This was most appropriate because of the recent successes in achieving positive decisions at the municipal, governmental, and Parliamentary levels, allowing the Finnish high-level radioactive waste repository program to proceed, including the identification and approval of a proposed candidate repository site Much of the workshop discussion appropriately focused on the roles of public participation and public communications in building public confidence. It was clear that well constructed and implemented programs of public involvement and communication and a sense of fairness were essential in building the extent of public confidence needed to allow the repository program in Finland to proceed. It was also clear that there were a number of other elements beyond public involvement that contributed substantially to the success in Finland to date. And, in fact, it appeared that these other factors were also necessary to achieving the Finnish public acceptance. In other words, successful public participation and communication were necessary but not sufficient. What else was important? Culture, politics, and history vary from country to country, providing differing contexts for establishing and maintaining public confidence. What works in one country will not necessarily be effective in another. Nonetheless, there appear to be certain elements that might be common to programs that are successful in sustaining public confidence, and some of
Lee, Kunsei; Kim, Hyun Joo; You, Myoungsoon; Lee, Jin-Seok; Eun, Sang Jun; Jeong, Hyoseon; Ahn, Hye Mi; Lee, Jin Yong
2017-03-01
This study aims to identify which activities of a public community hospital (PHC) should be included in their definition of publicness and tries to achieve a consensus among experts using the Delphi method. We conduct 2 rounds of the Delphi process with 17 panel members using a developed draft of tentative activities for publicness including 5 main categories covering 27 items. The questions remain the same in both rounds and the applicability of each of the 27 items to publicness is measured on a 9-point scale. If the participants believe government funding is needed, we ask how much they think the government should support each item on a 0% to 100% scale. After conducting 2 rounds of the Delphi process, 22 out of the 27 items reached a consensus as activities defining the publicness of the PHCs. Among the 5 major categories, in category C, activities preventing market failure, all 10 items were considered activities of publicness. Nine of these were evaluated as items that should be compensated at 100% of total financial loss by the Korean government. Throughout results, we were able to define the activities of the PCH that encompassed its publicness and confirm that there are "good deficits" in the context of the PCHs. Thus, some PCH deficits are unavoidable and not wasted as these monies support a necessary role and function in providing public health. The Korean government should therefore consider taking actions such as exempting such "good deficits" or providing additional financial aid to reimburse the PHCs for "good deficits."
Process-aware information systems : bridging people and software through process technology
Dumas, M.; Aalst, van der W.M.P.; Hofstede, ter A.H.M.
2005-01-01
A unifying foundation to design and implement process-aware information systems This publication takes on the formidable task of establishing a unifying foundation and set of common underlying principles to effectively model, design, and implement process-aware information systems. Authored by
Improving Financial Education and Awareness on Insurance and Private Pensions
OECD Publishing (NJ3), 2008
2008-01-01
With public pensions under pressure and private pensions exposed to risk, individuals face an increasing variety of financial risks, particularly those linked to their retirement. This book analyzes the level of risk awareness of consumers and highlights good practices governments might initiate to enhance consumers' awareness and education on…
An exploration of residents’ low-carbon awareness and behavior in Tianjin, China
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Bai, Yin; Liu, Yong
2013-01-01
This paper explores the empirical evidence of the link between residents’ low-carbon awareness and their behaviors in China. A questionnaire measuring seven dimensions (including low-carbon knowledge, low-carbon value, low-carbon attitude, private low-carbon behavior, public low-carbon behavior, barrier and motivator) was distributed to the residents of Tianjin, yielding 354 valid responses. The results indicated that there was a low-carbon awareness–behavior gap. In particular, the level of behavior was higher than awareness because the motivators were stronger than the barriers. Second, in exploring the affects of motivators versus barriers on the residents’ private and public low-carbon behaviors, we found that motivators promoted both private and public low-carbon behaviors while barriers significantly inhibited public low-carbon behaviors. Third, Chinese social and cultural factors are discussed to inform our exploration of the mechanisms forming the residents’ awareness–behavior gap. - Highlights: • There was a low-carbon awareness–behavior gap. • The level of behavior was higher than awareness. • The motivators promoted both private and public low-carbon behaviors. • The barriers significantly inhibited public low-carbon behaviors
Public acceptance activities by the Rokkasho project
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Ushida, Yasunori
1993-01-01
Japan Nuclear Fuel Limited, incorporated by mainly ten Japanese utilities, engages in constructing and operating nuclear fuel cycle facilities such as reprocessing, uranium enrichment and low level radioactive waste disposal at Rokkasho village in Aomori prefecture, 600 kilometers north of Tokyo, where is the most northern part of Honshu island. This presentation deals with the situation concerning the Rokkasho project and our public acceptance activities. The expansion of anti nuclear movement was spread not only Aomori prefecture but also all over Japan, affected strongly by the Chernobyl accident. In 1988,16 anti-nuclear groups including labor-union organized a committee for the purpose of a campaign to collect signatures for opposing nuclear fuel cycle facilities. Those groups brought in a lawsuit against the Japan Nuclear Fuel Limited, for stopping the construction of enrichment plant. Facing furious anti nuclear fuel cycle movements in Aomori prefecture, the Federation of Electric Power Companies decided to re strengthen the public acceptance activities and established the Nuclear Fuel Joint head office together with Japan Nuclear Fuel Service Co.and Japan Nuclear Fuel Industry Co. To this new organization many excellent members were dispatched from all electric power companies. The target area for public acceptance activities expanded from the surrounding area to all area of Aomori prefecture. The first policy of public acceptance activities is 'Appealing by face to face' which means the direct personal contact with people being anxious about nuclear fuel cycle facilities. The second main policy is 'Seeing the plant itself is better than persuading orally.' Survey conducted by a newspaper company in respect with the public acceptance of Rokkasho project in July 1989 July 1992 showed a favorable change of the public acceptance. However, one also has to recognize that most of people still have anxiety about the nuclear fuel cycle facilities and we shall
Abel, Gregory A; Burstein, Harold J; Hevelone, Nathanael D; Weeks, Jane C
2009-09-01
Although cancer-related direct-to-consumer advertising (CR-DTCA) is prevalent, little is known about cancer patients' experiences with this controversial medium of medical communication. We administered a 41-item, mailed questionnaire to consecutive patients with breast and hematologic malignancies who were undergoing active treatment at our institution. We assessed awareness of CR-DTCA within the prior year, perceptions of CR-DTCA, and CR-DTCA-prompted patient and provider behaviors. We received 348 completed questionnaires (response rate, 75.0%). Overall, 86.2% reported being aware of CR-DTCA, most frequently from television (77.7%). Awareness did not vary with clinical or sociodemographic factors except that patients were more likely to be aware of CR-DTCA for products specific to their cancer types (P advertised medication, although less than one fifth of those reported receiving a prescription for the advertised medication. The patients in our cohort were highly aware of CR-DTCA. CR-DTCA was found to be accessible and useful; however, it decreased some patients' confidence in their providers' judgment. CR-DTCA prompted a modest amount of patient-provider discussion but infrequent patient-reported changes in therapy.
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
1977-01-01
The objective of the Symposium for Public Awareness on Energy was to provide an information exchange among the members of the technical community and the public, civic, fraternal, service, and labor organizations on timely energy-related issues. The 1977 symposium was oriented toward state and local governmental officials in the southeastern states. Since it is these officials who have the responsibility for the development and actualization of local energy strategies, the program was directed toward providing information which would be of help to them in considering energy plans. The symposium presentations featured speakers who are recognized in many facets of the energy field. A variety of views were expressed and a number of policy alternatives were suggested. It is hoped that the presentations provided the motivation for the audience to return to their respective communities with a new and expanded perspective regarding energy issues and policies. The private and public organizations represented at the symposium can continue to provide pertinent information to those who are interested. A separate abstract was prepared for each of the 9 presentations.
Berkowitz, Judy M; Huhman, Marian; Nolin, Mary Jo
2008-06-01
Although VERB was designed as a national media campaign, funding and donated media time enabled more-intensive advertising and marketing in certain communities. To investigate the effect of increased advertising on physical activity outcomes, six "high-dose" communities were selected to receive more hours of advertising and additional promotional activities. Longitudinal quasi-experimental design comparing outcomes in six communities that received additional VERB marketing activities with outcomes in a comparison group that received only the national dose of advertising. Two cohorts of dyads of youth aged 9-13 years (tweens) and one parent at baseline (2002), followed for 2 years. During the first year of the VERB campaign, each of the six high-dose communities received 50% more advertising and conducted special campaign activities. During the second year, only four of the six communities received the larger dose of advertising and additional promotional activities because of reduced funding. Awareness and understanding of VERB messages; attitudes about physical activity (self-efficacy, social influences, and outcome expectations); and physical activity behaviors. After 1 year, tweens in the high-dose communities reported higher levels of awareness and understanding of VERB and scored higher on the social influences scale than did tweens in a comparison group in areas that received only the national dose of advertising. After 2 years, tweens in the high-dose communities reported higher awareness and understanding of VERB, greater self-efficacy, more sessions of free-time physical activity per week, and were more active on the day before being surveyed than tweens in the comparison group who received the average national dose. Providing communities with a higher dose of marketing activities and sustaining those activities over time yields more positive outcomes.
Activating the Forces of Public Service Motivation
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Pedersen, Mogens Jin
2015-01-01
Employees with higher public service motivation (PSM) are likely to perform better in public service jobs. However, research on how practitioners may capitalize on this knowledge is sparse. This article expands the understanding of how to activate employee PSM, which is understood as a human...... resource that is present in the work environment. Using a randomized survey experiment with 528 law students, this article shows how low-intensity treatments may activate PSM and how the effect of PSM activation efforts compares with efforts to activate another, less self-determined type of motivation...
Patients′ awareness of antibiotic use in Bahraini health centers and community pharmacies
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Sayed Mahmood Alqallaf
2015-01-01
Conclusion: Bahraini patients are mostly aware of 12 antibiotic aspects despite some misconceptions. The public awareness and their expectations warrant further studies on a large scale to understand their self-medication and demand for antibiotic prescriptions.
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Brunsting, S.; Pol, M.; Mastop, J. [Energy research Centre of the Netherlands ECN, Policy Studies, Petten (Netherlands); Kaiser, M.; Zimmer, R. [UfU - Independent Institute for Environmental Issues, Berlin (Germany); Shackley, S.; Mabon, L.; Howell, R. [The University of Edinburgh - School of Geosciences, Edinburgh, Scotland (United Kingdom); Hepplewhite, F.; Loveridge, R. [Scottish Government, Edinburgh, Scotland (United Kingdom); Mazurowski, M. [PGNiG - Polskie Gornictwo Naftowe i Gazownictwo SA, Warszawa (Poland); Rybicki, C. [AGH - University of Science and Technology, Krakow (Poland)
2013-05-01
Public support has proven crucial to the implementation of CO2 capture and storage (CCS) demonstration projects. Whereas no method exists to guarantee local public acceptability of any project, a constructive stakeholder engagement process does increase the likelihood thereof. Social site characterisation can be used as an instrument to plan and evaluate an approach for actively engaging local stakeholders. Social site characterisation is the process of repeatedly investigating local public awareness and opinions of a specific CCS project, changes therein over time, and underlying factors shaping public opinion as a parallel activity to technical site characterization. This paper presents results from the EU FP7 SiteChar project in which social site characterisation (a.o. surveys) and public participation activities (focus conferences) were conducted by a multidisciplinary team at two prospective CCS sites in in Poland (onshore) and Scotland (offshore). Results demonstrate that social site characterization and focus conferences are powerful tools to raise public awareness about complex issues such as CCS and to initiate local discussion and planning processes with the appropriate type of information, through appropriate media, and involving all relevant stakeholders. Application and the duration of effects in real-life project settings will be discussed.
Information Security Awareness On-Line Materials Design with Knowledge Maps
Shaw, Ruey-Shiang; Keh, Huan-Chao; Huang, Nan-Ching; Huang, Tien-Chuan
2011-01-01
Information Security Awareness, though known as a primary and important issue in the domain of Information Security, CSI computer crime and security survey showed poor security awareness training in public and private sectors. In many studies, the authors have found that the usage of knowledge maps helps the process of learning and conception…
Public acceptance in nuclear activities
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Paunescu, A.; Stiopol, M.; Manole, F.; Petran, C.; Chiper, L.
1998-01-01
All over the world the most part of population considers nuclear power as the energy of the future. To reinforce this opinion some fundamental requirements should be met, namely: - nuclear facilities and power plants should be safe and competitive in point of costs; - nuclear activity should record no severe accidents; - to make actual progress in the field of radwaste management and disposal; - to actually witness and increase of electric power demands. In Romania the activities related to the nuclear research and power sum-up about 40 years of experience and these can be structured as per the following directions: - nuclear power and related activities (industrial, mining, processing, storage); - research reactors; - nuclear sciences and techniques and their applications. Public opinion information is aimed at assisting such activities and make the public familiar with the concepts typical for the nuclear field. Generally, there is a feeling of fear on the part of the officials in supporting the nuclear. The basic cause would be application of on incomplete and obsolete model when educating the public opinion. That model leads to the conclusion that the open expression of one's support in favour of nuclear is a political risk. A new, more, comprehensive model leading to different conclusions was conceived and finalized lately. The two models are different from each other by 3 characteristic elements: - influence of perception; - approach of the opinion; - definition of the support. The paper describes the actions undertaken in Romania in order to fulfill these requirements
77 FR 36901 - World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, 2012
2012-06-20
... this global public health issue, and we rededicate ourselves to providing our elders the care and... abuse cuts across race, gender, culture, and circumstance, and whether physical, emotional, or financial... signs of elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation, and by raising awareness about this public health issue...
Donnelly, Tam Truong; Khater, Al-Hareth Al; Al-Bader, Salha Bujassoum; Al Kuwari, Mohammed Ghaith; Malik, Mariam; Al-Meer, Nabila; Singh, Rajvir; Fung, Tak
2014-01-01
Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women in the State of Qatar. Due to low participation in breast cancer screening (BCS) activities, women in Qatar are often diagnosed with breast cancer at advanced stages of the disease. Findings indicate that low participation rates in BCS activities are significantly related to women's low level of awareness of breast cancer screening. The objectives of this study were to: (1) determine the factors that influence Qatari women's awareness of breast cancer and its screening activities: and (2) to find ways to effectively promote breast cancer screening activities among Arabic speaking women in Qatar. A multicenter, cross-sectional quantitative survey of 1,063 (87.5% response rate) female Qatari citizens and non-Qatari Arabic-speaking residents, 35 years of age or older, was conducted in Qatar from March 2011 to July 2011. Outcome measures included participant awareness levels of the most recent national recommended guidelines of BCS, participation rates in BCS activities, and factors related to awareness of BCS activities. While most participants (90.7%) were aware of breast cancer, less than half had awareness of BCS practices (28.9% were aware of breast self-examination and 41.8% of clinical breast exams, while 26.4% knew that mammography was recommended by national screening guidelines. Only 7.6% had knowledge of all three BCS activities). Regarding BCS practice, less than one-third practiced BCS appropriately (13.9% of participants performed breast self-examination (BSE) monthly, 31.3% had a clinical breast exam (CBE) once a year or once every two years, and 26.9% of women 40 years of age or older had a mammogram once every year or two years). Awareness of BCS was significantly related to BCS practice, education level, and receipt of information about breast cancer and/or BCS from a variety of sources, particularly doctors and the media. The low levels of participation rates in BCS among Arab women in this study
Fadeyi, A; Fowotade, A; Abiodun, M O; Jimoh, A K; Nwabuisi, C; Desalu, O O
2011-06-01
To determine the level of awareness and practice of SP among laboratory workers at two tertiary public health facilities in Nigeria. A semi-structured, self-administered questionnaire was used to assess the awareness, attitude and adherence to SP among laboratory workers. Information on the availability of safety equipment was also sought. The laboratory safety practice of respondents was assessed based on self-reported observance of basic principles of universal precautions in clinical settings. Study participants were 130, mean age: 28.2 years (SD±6.6), number of years in hospital employment: 3.7 years (SD±2.4) and the male to female ratio was 1.8:1. Many (41.5%) were unaware and 25.4% do not observe SP. Participants attest to availability of various safety devices and equipment including hand gloves (86.2%), disinfectants (84.6%), HBV immunisation (46.2%) and post exposure prophylaxis (PEP) for HIV and HBV (79.6%). Attitude to safety is unsatisfactory as 60.0% eat and drink in the laboratory, 50.8% recap needles and 56.9% use sharps box. Even though 83.1% are willing to take PEP, only 1.5% will present self following laboratory injury. This study shows the deficit in the awareness of SP among laboratory personnel and demonstrates that attitude and practice of safety rules are unsatisfactory. Training and re-training on SP is therefore desired. Counselling to induce a positive attitudinal change on HBV immunisation and PEP is similarly necessary.
Ghazali, Zulkipli; Zahid, Muhammad; Kee, Tan Siok; Ibrahim, M. Yussoff
2016-01-01
Public awareness is crucial to mitigate negative impacts on the environment. The aim of the study is to explore the level of public awareness in five states of Malaysia (Perak, Melaka, Johor, Pahang and Terengganu) regarding CO2 emissions, climate change and carbon capture and storage (CCS). A questionnaire floated for exploring public awareness regarding CO2 emissions, climate change and CCS. Based on the questionnaire data was collected from five states (Perak, Melaka, Johor, Pahang and Ter...
CURRENT SITUATION OF CIVIL AWARENESS OF UNDERGRADUATE AND PROMOTION STRATEGY RESEARCH
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Li Hong-Mei
2017-06-01
Full Text Available We conducted on a questionnaire survey for the current college students’ civic awareness from four aspects of equality consciousness, national consciousness, freedom consciousness and public consciousness. Survey data was analyzed with the SAS® statistical software, the results shown that some of our country’s College Students with a strong national consciousness, and their patriotic feeling is deep at present. They identity the consciousness of equality, but their awareness of fighting for rights is not strong. They have a sense of freedom, but some students are not clear about the relationship between freedom and law. Their enthusiasm to participate in public affairs is not high. Their awareness of social morality is not comprehensive. The reason is that the influence of traditional culture and the political development can’t keep up with the development of economy and the systematic citizenship education is lacked. Finally, we put forward a method of improve the civic awareness of Contemporary College Students in this paper.
Awareness and understanding of earthquake hazards at school
Saraò, Angela; Peruzza, Laura; Barnaba, Carla; Bragato, Pier Luigi
2014-05-01
Schools have a fundamental role in broadening the understanding of natural hazard and risks and in building the awareness in the community. Recent earthquakes in Italy and worldwide, have clearly demonstrated that the poor perception of seismic hazards diminishes the effectiveness of mitigation countermeasures. Since years the Seismology's department of OGS is involved in education projects and public activities to raise awareness about earthquakes. Working together with teachers we aim at developing age-appropriate curricula to improve the student's knowledge about earthquakes, seismic safety, and seismic risk reduction. Some examples of education activities we performed during the last years are here presented. We show our experience with the primary and intermediate schools where, through hands-on activities, we explain the earthquake phenomenon and its effects to kids, but we illustrate also some teaching interventions for high school students. During the past years we lectured classes, we led laboratory and field activities, and we organized summer stages for selected students. In the current year we are leading a project aimed at training high school students on seismic safety through a multidisciplinary approach that involves seismologists, engineers and experts of safety procedures. To combine the objective of dissemination of earthquake culture, also through the knowledge of the past seismicity, with that of a safety culture, we use innovative educational techniques and multimedia resources. Students and teachers, under the guidance of an expert seismologist, organize a combination of hands-on activities for understanding earthquakes in the lab through cheap tools and instrumentations At selected schools we provided the low cost seismometers of the QuakeCatcher network (http://qcn.stanford.edu) for recording earthquakes, and we trained teachers to use such instruments in the lab and to analyze recorded data. Within the same project we are going to train
Location-aware mobile media and urban sociability
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Sutko, Daniel; de Souza e Silva, Adriana Araujo
2011-01-01
Location-aware mobile media allow users to see their locations on a map on their mobile phone screens. These applications either disclose the physical positions of known friends, or represent the locations of groups of unknown people. We call these interfaces eponymous and anonymous, respectively...... location-aware mobile media, namely their ability to increase one’s spatial awareness and to encourage one to meet more people in public spaces, might be fallacious due to pre-existing practices of sociability in the city. We explore these issues in the light of three bodies of theory: Goffman......’s presentation of self in everyday life, Simmel’s ideas on sociability, and Lehtonen and Mäenpää’s concept of street sociability....
Case, Jonathan L.; Zavodsky, Bradley T.; White, Kristopher D.; Bell, Jesse E.
2015-01-01
This paper provided a brief background on the work being done at NASA SPoRT and the CDC to create a soil moisture climatology over the CONUS at high spatial resolution, and to provide a valuable source of soil moisture information to the CDC for monitoring conditions that could favor the development of Valley Fever. The soil moisture climatology has multi-faceted applications for both the NOAA/NWS situational awareness in the areas of drought and flooding, and for the Public Health community. SPoRT plans to increase its interaction with the drought monitoring and Public Health communities by enhancing this testbed soil moisture anomaly product. This soil moisture climatology run will also serve as a foundation for upgrading the real-time (currently southeastern CONUS) SPoRT-LIS to a full CONUS domain based on LIS version 7 and incorporating real-time GVF data from the Suomi-NPP Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (Vargas et al. 2013) into LIS-Noah. The upgraded SPoRT-LIS run will serve as a testbed proof-of-concept of a higher-resolution NLDAS-2 modeling member. The climatology run will be extended to near real-time using the NLDAS-2 meteorological forcing from 2011 to present. The fixed 1981-2010 climatology shall provide the soil moisture "normals" for the production of real-time soil moisture anomalies. SPoRT also envisions a web-mapping type of service in which an end-user could put in a request for either an historical or real-time soil moisture anomaly graph for a specified county (as exemplified by Figure 2) and/or for local and regional maps of soil moisture proxy percentiles. Finally, SPoRT seeks to assimilate satellite soil moisture data from the current Soil Moisture Ocean Salinity (SMOS; Blankenship et al. 2014) and the recently-launched NASA Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP; Entekhabi et al. 2010) missions, using the EnKF capability within LIS. The 9-km combined active radar and passive microwave retrieval product from SMAP (Das et al. 2011
Global trends in the awareness of sepsis: insights from search engine data between 2012 and 2017.
Jabaley, Craig S; Blum, James M; Groff, Robert F; O'Reilly-Shah, Vikas N
2018-01-17
Sepsis is an established global health priority with high mortality that can be curtailed through early recognition and intervention; as such, efforts to raise awareness are potentially impactful and increasingly common. We sought to characterize trends in the awareness of sepsis by examining temporal, geographic, and other changes in search engine utilization for sepsis information-seeking online. Using time series analyses and mixed descriptive methods, we retrospectively analyzed publicly available global usage data reported by Google Trends (Google, Palo Alto, CA, USA) concerning web searches for the topic of sepsis between 24 June 2012 and 24 June 2017. Google Trends reports aggregated and de-identified usage data for its search products, including interest over time, interest by region, and details concerning the popularity of related queries where applicable. Outlying epochs of search activity were identified using autoregressive integrated moving average modeling with transfer functions. We then identified awareness campaigns and news media coverage that correlated with epochs of significantly heightened search activity. A second-order autoregressive model with transfer functions was specified following preliminary outlier analysis. Nineteen significant outlying epochs above the modeled baseline were identified in the final analysis that correlated with 14 awareness and news media events. Our model demonstrated that the baseline level of search activity increased in a nonlinear fashion. A recurrent cyclic increase in search volume beginning in 2012 was observed that correlates with World Sepsis Day. Numerous other awareness and media events were correlated with outlying epochs. The average worldwide search volume for sepsis was less than that of influenza, myocardial infarction, and stroke. Analyzing aggregate search engine utilization data has promise as a mechanism to measure the impact of awareness efforts. Heightened information-seeking about sepsis
Prachi Renjhen; Wah Yun Low; Wen Ting Tong
2016-01-01
Background Young people’s vulnerability to risky or unwanted sex and other unhealthy behaviours is tied to host of individual, family, and community factors and is closely related to economic and educational opportunities. Aims This study aimed to identify factors determining the sexual activity, awareness and use of contraception among college students in Malaysia. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted among students aged 17–24 years in four colleges of Malaysia. Data ...
Cortical networks involved in visual awareness independent of visual attention.
Webb, Taylor W; Igelström, Kajsa M; Schurger, Aaron; Graziano, Michael S A
2016-11-29
It is now well established that visual attention, as measured with standard spatial attention tasks, and visual awareness, as measured by report, can be dissociated. It is possible to attend to a stimulus with no reported awareness of the stimulus. We used a behavioral paradigm in which people were aware of a stimulus in one condition and unaware of it in another condition, but the stimulus drew a similar amount of spatial attention in both conditions. The paradigm allowed us to test for brain regions active in association with awareness independent of level of attention. Participants performed the task in an MRI scanner. We looked for brain regions that were more active in the aware than the unaware trials. The largest cluster of activity was obtained in the temporoparietal junction (TPJ) bilaterally. Local independent component analysis (ICA) revealed that this activity contained three distinct, but overlapping, components: a bilateral, anterior component; a left dorsal component; and a right dorsal component. These components had brain-wide functional connectivity that partially overlapped the ventral attention network and the frontoparietal control network. In contrast, no significant activity in association with awareness was found in the banks of the intraparietal sulcus, a region connected to the dorsal attention network and traditionally associated with attention control. These results show the importance of separating awareness and attention when testing for cortical substrates. They are also consistent with a recent proposal that awareness is associated with ventral attention areas, especially in the TPJ.
Determinants of glaucoma awareness in urban punjab
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Farooq, S.; Jaffar, S.; Kausar, A.
2015-01-01
To assess the awareness about glaucoma and the factors affecting it in urban Punjab population. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Study was conducted in March-April 2011 in Rawalpindi District Punjab, Pakistan. Material and Methods: Glaucoma awareness study was conducted on urban population of Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Lahore and Taxila. Individuals belonging to medical profession (doctors, nurses and paramedics etc) were not included. Demographic details and educational status of all participants were documented. A brief structured close-ended study questionnaire was used to collect information about their awareness of risk factors, treatment aspects and complication of glaucoma. Results: There were 729 participants in the study. Majority were females (60.1%) and adults (76.1%). Literacy level of 40.2% was up to matriculate level. The study indicated that the awareness level about glaucoma was low especially about the recognition of high-risk groups and symptoms. Only one-third of respondents i.e. 32.6% had an idea about the symptoms of the disease and 27.4% participants had awareness of glaucoma as a blinding eye disease. Determinants of glaucoma awareness amongst study participants were gender, age, education level and occupation. Conclusion: Awareness of glaucoma was quite low among the urban population in Punjab. There is need of increased public health education to reduce glaucoma associated blindness and its burden on society. (author)
OPTIMALISASI FUNGSI HUMAS PEMERINTAH THE OPTIMIZATION OF GOVERNMENT PUBLIC RELATIONS FUNCTION
Anwar Sani
2014-01-01
Abstract, world democratization forces many organizations including the government in this case, of all types in many regions of the world, to consider giving more attention to the government public relations activities. The role will include contributing to good governance and respect for human rights. That would mean public relations in Indonesia, as elsewhere in Asia, will be involved in the development of public diplomacy. Aware of the problems as well as the demands of optimization and r...
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Mehmet Kildir; Inci Goekmen; Ali Goekmen
2016-01-01
Indoor radon concentrations at METU, CIGDEM and DOSTLAR in Ankara were measured using electrets. The statistical analysis of the data indicated a lognormal distribution of radon concentrations, with no significant difference between CIGDEM and DOSTLAR with geometric means of GM = 87.5 and 54.5 Bq m -3 , respectively. Radon concentrations did not change seasonally at CIGDEM which contain modern buildings, but at the slum district DOSTLAR, with poor insulation of houses a seasonal variation was observed. Annual effective radon doses were estimated (0.4-8.4 mSv). Public awareness about indoor radon was raised. (author)
Some aspects of public relation activities at Russian NPPs
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Ermakov, Sergei
1995-01-01
Full text: Since 1992 Rosenergoatom has managed most of the Russian NPPs. Here in this report we present its main public relations activities. 1. The leading role of the management of Rosenergoatom (Direction of Public Relations) is in relations with the public. 2. The main public relations activities are: - contact with the selected and administrative authorities of different levels, - interaction with mass media, - information of employees, - information of, and interaction with, the people of the areas close to the NPPs and especially of the nearby towns, - organising and carrying out opinion polls, - celebration campaigns at NPPs. 3. The use of NPPs' information centers and groups for PR activities: - construction and equipping of NPPs' public information centers; organising excursions, lectures, debates at NPPs; - publishing of news papers at NPPs and at NPPs' towns. 4. Public information in the regions close to the NPPs construction sites (Far East, Kostroma, Rostov, Veronezh regions). 5. Conclusions on the activities and plans for the future. (author)
Evaluation of a Public Awareness Campaign to Prevent High School Dropout.
Babinski, Leslie M; Corra, Ashley J; Gifford, Elizabeth J
2016-08-01
Many advocacy organizations devote time and resources to increasing community awareness and educating the public in an effort to gain support for their issue. One such effort, the Dropout Prevention Campaign by America's Promise Alliance, aimed to increase the visibility of the high school dropout problem and mobilize the community to take action. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the framing of the Dropout Prevention Campaign in television news media. To evaluate this campaign, television news coverage about high school dropout in 12 U.S. communities (N = 982) was examined. A content analysis of news transcripts was conducted and coded to determine the definition of the problem, the reasons for dropout and the possible solutions. Findings indicated that the high school dropout problem was most often framed (30 % of news segments) in terms of the economic and societal implications for the community. Individual student factors as well as broader societal influences were frequently discussed as possible reasons for dropout. The most commonly mentioned solutions were school-based interventions. News segments that mentioned America's Promise Alliance were more likely to frame the issue as a crisis and to use statistics to illustrate that point. Solutions that were more likely to appear in America's Promise segments promoted community and cross-sector involvement, consistent with the messages promoted by the Dropout Prevention Campaign. The findings suggest that a media content analysis can be an effective framework for analyzing a prevention campaign.
Awareness of the general public relations strategy for nuclear power generation in Korea
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Kim, Chano-Ok
1989-02-01
Ten years has passed since the first nuclear power plant was established in Korea. During the period, the total nuclear power generation capacity has increased to 5,716,000 kW, and additional two 950,000 kW plants currently under construction will start operating in 1988 and 1989, respectively. As of the end of 1987, nuclear power generation accounted for 53.1 % of the total power generated in the nation. The average utilization rate of the plants increased continuously from 46.3 % ten years ago up to 79.7 % in 1987. Public opinion polls were conducted in August and October of 1986, the year when the Chernobyl accident took place. The first survey covered 2,000 residents in urban and rural areas while the second one covered a total 1,000 nuclear-related engineers, scientists, administrative officials, businessmen, journalists and writers. The surveys have shown that 74.4 % of the general public agree on the construction of more nuclear power plants. The corresponding figure was 75 % for engineers and 50 % for journalists and writers. However, 73 % of the respondents who are for their construction did not want such a plant to be constructed near their residences. Concerning the safety of these plants, 79.5 % of the experts gave a positive reply while the corresponding figure was only 48.3 % for the general public. It is concluded that more active public relations activities are required in the future. (Nogami, K.).
Awareness of the general public relations strategy for nuclear power generation in Korea
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Kim, Chano-Ok
1989-01-01
Ten years has passed since the first nuclear power plant was established in Korea. During the period, the total nuclear power generation capacity has increased to 5,716,000 kW, and additional two 950,000 kW plants currently under construction will start operating in 1988 and 1989, respectively. As of the end of 1987, nuclear power generation accounted for 53.1 % of the total power generated in the nation. The average utilization rate of the plants increased continuously from 46.3 % ten years ago up to 79.7 % in 1987. Public opinion polls were conducted in August and October of 1986, the year when the Chernobyl accident took place. The first survey covered 2,000 residents in urban and rural areas while the second one covered a total 1,000 nuclear-related engineers, scientists, administrative officials, businessmen, journalists and writers. The surveys have shown that 74.4 % of the general public agree on the construction of more nuclear power plants. The corresponding figure was 75 % for engineers and 50 % for journalists and writers. However, 73 % of the respondents who are for their construction did not want such a plant to be constructed near their residences. Concerning the safety of these plants, 79.5 % of the experts gave a positive reply while the corresponding figure was only 48.3 % for the general public. It is concluded that more active public relations activities are required in the future. (Nogami, K.)
Immigrants' access to health insurance: no equality without awareness.
Dzúrová, Dagmar; Winkler, Petr; Drbohlav, Dušan
2014-07-14
The Czech government has identified commercial health insurance as one of the major problems for migrants' access to health care. Non-EU immigrants are eligible for public health insurance only if they have employee status or permanent residency. The present study examined migrants' access to the public health insurance system in Czechia. A cross-sectional survey of 909 immigrants from Ukraine and Vietnam was conducted in March and May 2013, and binary logistic regression was applied in data analysis. Among immigrants entitled to Czech public health insurance due to permanent residency/asylum, 30% were out of the public health insurance system, and of those entitled by their employment status, 50% were out of the system. Migrants with a poor knowledge of the Czech language are more likely to remain excluded from the system of public health insurance. Instead, they either remain in the commercial health insurance system or they simultaneously pay for both commercial and public health insurance, which is highly disadvantageous. Since there are no reasonable grounds to stay outside the public health insurance, it is concluded that it is lack of awareness that keeps eligible immigrants from entering the system. It is suggested that no equal access to health care exists without sufficient awareness about health care system.
Immigrants’ Access to Health Insurance: No Equality without Awareness
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Dagmar Dzúrová
2014-07-01
Full Text Available The Czech government has identified commercial health insurance as one of the major problems for migrants’ access to health care. Non-EU immigrants are eligible for public health insurance only if they have employee status or permanent residency. The present study examined migrants’ access to the public health insurance system in Czechia. A cross-sectional survey of 909 immigrants from Ukraine and Vietnam was conducted in March and May 2013, and binary logistic regression was applied in data analysis. Among immigrants entitled to Czech public health insurance due to permanent residency/asylum, 30% were out of the public health insurance system, and of those entitled by their employment status, 50% were out of the system. Migrants with a poor knowledge of the Czech language are more likely to remain excluded from the system of public health insurance. Instead, they either remain in the commercial health insurance system or they simultaneously pay for both commercial and public health insurance, which is highly disadvantageous. Since there are no reasonable grounds to stay outside the public health insurance, it is concluded that it is lack of awareness that keeps eligible immigrants from entering the system. It is suggested that no equal access to health care exists without sufficient awareness about health care system.
Karahan, Engin; Roehrig, Gillian
2015-01-01
Current science education reforms and policy documents highlight the importance of environmental awareness and perceived need for activism. As "environmental problems are socially constructed in terms of their conceptualized effects on individuals, groups, other living things and systems research based on constructivist principles provides…
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Hah, Yeon Hee; Chung, Yun Hyung; Lee, Gey Hwi; Choi, Yong Seog
2006-01-01
The fundamental objective of nuclear regulatory organization is to ensure that nuclear activities are conducted at all times in an acceptably safe manner. When we are talking about 'acceptable' safety, it means that we have to try to achieve the safety level as 'acceptable' as perceived by the public, not the one conceptualized by the technology itself. In meeting this objective, the regulatory organization continues to ensure that its activities are transparent, technically sound, credible, and independent. More importantly, it should strive to ensure that the public are well informed about such activities and are confident upon regulatory organization. Public communication is one of the key approaches to attain such a goal. The availability of on-line communications based on the development of information technology has made a major impact on the public's better awareness of nuclear safety issues. Nuclear regulatory organization and operators are increasingly under pressure to communicate more actively with the public to satisfy their demand for knowing about the safety of nuclear facility. In coping with such challenges, KINS has developed a public information and communication policy to make public confident in their information and thus to earn the public trust and confidence toward nuclear safety. It is widely acknowledged that public communication for ensuring nuclear safety has been an integral part of the operators' activity. However, the roles and activities by the regulator in the area of public communication are increasingly required as the public become more interested in and concerned about safety issues. Taking this into account, KINS has carried out several activities to be well-informed about how the public perceive nuclear safety and how much they are satisfied with the regulator's activities, etc
Peppoloni, Silvia; Di Capua, Giuseppe; Haslinger, Florian
2017-04-01
Over the last years the attention to ethical and social aspects of scientific research has grown remarkably. Large scientific projects that refer to environment, resources, or natural hazards, assign great importance to the topics of big data and data management, environmental impact, science dissemination and education. These topics are also analyzed from an ethical and social perspective, recognizing the close relation to and evident repercussions on the life and activity of the human communities touched by those projects. ENVRIplus is a Horizon2020 project in which ethics applied to geosciences features as a fundamental issue, at the base of scientific activities. It brings together Environmental and Earth System Research Infrastructures (RIs), projects, and networks, with technical specialist partners to create a more coherent, interdisciplinary and interoperable cluster of Environmental Research Infrastructures across Europe (http://www.envriplus.eu/). In ENVRIplus, ethics applied to geosciences features as a fundamental issue at the base of scientific activities. Within the theme "Societal relevance and understanding", an entire work package aims at developing an ethical framework for RIs. Its objectives are: • increase the awareness of both the scientists and the public on the importance of ethical aspects in Earth and Environmental sciences; • establish a shared ethical reference framework, to be adopted by RIs governing bodies; • increase the awareness of RIs management and operational levels and of the individual involved scientists on their social role in conducting research activities and research work environment; • assess the ethical and social aspects related to the results achieved and deliverables released within the project. As one element of this work we created a questionnaire to investigate how each RI participating in ENVRI Plus faces ethical issues in relation to its activities, and so to understand the level of perception that
Hepp, Shelanne L; Tarraf, Rima C; Birney, Arden; Arain, Mubashir Aslam
2017-01-01
Electronic health records are becoming increasingly common in the health care industry. Although information technology (IT) poses many benefits to improving health care and ease of access to information, there are also security and privacy risks. Educating health care providers is necessary to ensure proper use of health information systems and IT and reduce undesirable outcomes. This study evaluated employees' awareness and perceptions of the effectiveness of two IT educational training modules within a large publicly funded health care system in Canada. Semi-structured interviews and focus groups included a variety of professional roles within the organisation. Participants also completed a brief demographic data sheet. With the consent of participants, all interviews and focus groups were audio recorded. Thematic analysis and descriptive statistics were used to evaluate the effectiveness of the IT security training modules. Five main themes emerged: (i) awareness of the IT training modules, (ii) the content of modules, (iii) staff perceptions about differences between IT security and privacy issues, (iv) common breaches of IT security and privacy, and (v) challenges and barriers to completing the training program. Overall, nonclinical staff were more likely to be aware of the training modules than were clinical staff. We found e-learning was a feasible way to educate a large number of employees. However, health care providers required a module on IT security and privacy that was relatable and applicable to their specific roles. Strategies to improve staff education and mitigate against IT security and privacy risks are discussed. Future research should focus on integrating health IT competencies into the educational programs for health care professionals.
Promotion of public awareness relating nuclear power in young generation
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Kobayashi, Yoko
2011-01-01
Although nuclear power presents problems of waste, safety and non-proliferation, many people understand that it is an essential energy for addressing the global climate and reducing CO2. However, a vague negative-image to the radiation and nuclear power is deep-rooted among the public. Young generation is not an exception. It is very important to transfer many information from the experienced generation in the industry to young generations. In this paper, the research that applied the information intelligence to nuclear power, which involves of the nuclear fuel cycle, and the communication related activities for the social acceptance and improvement. (author)
Gordova, Yulia; Gordov, Evgeny; Okladnikov, Igor; Titov, Alexander
2017-04-01
Due to a global climate change the following consequences are predicted: rise in sea level due to melting glaciers and polar ice, changes in precipitation, changes in the hydrological regime, impact on ecosystems, agriculture and forestry. In Russia's vast territory these effects will be most dramatic. According to Hydrometeorological Center of Russian Federation report there is an increase in the magnitude and frequency of extreme weather events, as well as in their damage to ecosystems and infrastructure. In the framework of adaptation to climate change and mitigation of its consequences it is necessary to promote and support activities aimed at reducing possible risks. Adaptation methods include among others improving seasonal weather forecasts, systems of early warning and systems of management of risks. But there is a problem of insufficient awareness among decision-makers, as well a lack of scientific background. Those responsible for making decisions, stakeholders and the public do not have the skills and knowledge to work with the accumulated climate data to development an adaptation and sustainable development strategy. The goal is to provide these groups with tools, skills, thematic information for understanding climate processes occurring in the region. We believe that the preparation of both the persons responsible for decision-making, and the future specialist in environmental sciences shouldn't be realized artificial learning environment, but on the basis of actual operating computational and information systems used in climate research. Such kind of a system was developed by a team of the Institute of Monitoring of Climatic and Ecological Systems SB RAS. The information-computational Web GIS "Climate" (http://climate.climate.scert.ru) provides opportunities to study regional climate change and its consequences providing access to climate and weather models, a large set of geophysical data and means of processing and visualization. Also, the system is
Nuclear Malaysia Strategic Approach Towards Public Acceptance on Nuclear Technology
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Hasfazilah Hassan; Redzuan Mohamad; Abdul Halim Jumat; Sabariah Kader Ibrahim
2016-01-01
Full text: This paper describes the strategic approach taken by Malaysian Nuclear Agency in carrying out public information and public acceptance on nuclear technology activities. The main objective of this study is to ensure that public and stake holders are continuously getting correct information from credible sources. Through the feedback received, comprehensive and holistic approach provides the desired impact. Obtaining the correct information from credible sources culture should always be inculcate to ensure that the benefits of nuclear technologies can be practiced and accepted by civil society without prejudice. Through strategic approach and activities implemented, monitoring and review, and measurement of the effectiveness of ongoing programs are expected to increase public awareness of the importance and contribution of nuclear technology in Malaysia. (author)
Cortical networks involved in visual awareness independent of visual attention
Webb, Taylor W.; Igelström, Kajsa M.; Schurger, Aaron; Graziano, Michael S. A.
2016-01-01
Do specific areas of the brain participate in subjective visual experience? We measured brain activity in humans using fMRI. Participants were aware of a visual stimulus in one condition and unaware of it in another condition. The two conditions were balanced for their effect on visual attention. Specific brain areas were more active in the aware than in the unaware condition, suggesting they were involved in subjective awareness independent of attention. The largest cluster of activity was f...
Towards risk-aware communications networking
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Chołda, Piotr; Følstad, Eirik L.; Helvik, Bjarne E.; Kuusela, Pirkko; Naldi, Maurizio; Norros, Ilkka
2013-01-01
We promote introduction of risk-awareness in the design and operation of communications networks and services. This means explicit and systematic consideration of uncertainties related to improper behavior of the web of interdependent networks and the resulting consequences for individuals, companies and a society as a whole. Central activities are the recognition of events challenging dependability together with the assessment of their probabilities and impacts. While recognizing the complex technical, business and societal issues, we employ an overall risk framing approach containing risk assessment, response and monitoring. Our paradigm gathers topics that are currently dispersed in various fields of network activities. We review the current state of risk-related activities in networks, identify deficiencies and challenges, and suggest techniques, procedures, and metrics towards higher risk-awareness.
Activating Public Space: How to Promote Physical Activity in Urban Environment
Kostrzewska, Małgorzata
2017-10-01
Physical activity is an essential component of a healthy lifestyle. The quality and equipment of urban public space plays an important role in promoting physical activity among people (residents, tourists). In order for recreation and sports activities to be undertaken willingly, in a safe and comprehensive manner, certain spatial conditions and requirements must be met. The distinctive feature of contemporary large cities is the disappearance of local, neighbourly relations, and the consequent loneliness, alienation, and atomization of the residents. Thus, the design of public spaces should be an expression of the values of social inclusion and integration. A properly designed urban space would encourage people to leave their homes and integrate, also by undertaking different forms of physical activities. This, in turn, can lead to raising the quality of the space, especially in the context of its “familiarization” and “domestication”. The aim of the research was to identify the architectural and urban features of the public spaces of contemporary cities that can contribute to the promotion of physical activity. The paper presents the research results and the case studies of such spatial solutions and examples of good practices, which invite residents to undertake different forms of physical activities in public spaces. The issue of the integrating, inclusionary, and social function of physical recreation and sport is discussed as well, and so are the possibilities of translating these values into physical characteristics of an urban space. The main conclusions are that taking into account the diverse needs of different social groups, participation in the design and construction process, aesthetic and interesting design, vicinity of the residence, open access for all age groups and the disabled would be the most important spatial determinants of a properly designed, physically activating public space. Strategies of planning the sports and recreation
Compagno, C; Brambilla, L; Capitanio, D; Boschi, F; Ranzi, B M; Porro, D
2001-05-01
In order to keep subscribers up-to-date with the latest developments in their field, this current awareness service is provided by John Wiley & Sons and contains newly-published material on yeasts. Each bibliography is divided into 10 sections. 1 Books, Reviews & Symposia; 2 General; 3 Biochemistry; 4 Biotechnology; 5 Cell Biology; 6 Gene Expression; 7 Genetics; 8 Physiology; 9 Medical Mycology; 10 Recombinant DNA Technology. Within each section, articles are listed in alphabetical order with respect to author. If, in the preceding period, no publications are located relevant to any one of these headings, that section will be omitted. (4 weeks journals - search completed 7th Mar. 2001)
A Context-Aware System Infrastructure for Monitoring Activities of Daily Living in Smart Home
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Qin Ni
2016-01-01
Full Text Available We propose a three-layered context-aware architecture for monitoring activities of daily life in smart home. This architecture provides for the inclusion of functionalities that range from low-level data collection to high-level context knowledge extraction. We have also devised an upper-level ontology to model the context in which the activities take place. This enables having a common activity-related context representation, on which to infer and share knowledge. Furthermore, we have begun to implement a platform that realizes our architecture and ontology, making use of Microsoft’s Lab of Things (LoT platform, being the preliminary results on this task also described in the paper.
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Temaugee, S.T.; Daniel, T.A.; Oladejo, K.O.; Daniel, S.
2014-01-01
This study investigated the level of public awareness of detrimental effects of ionizing radiation in Nigeria, a case study of Federal College of Education Kontagora Niger State. A total of thirty-five (35) lecturers and seventy-five (75) students were randomly selected from the five schools in the College. The instrument used for data collection was a questionnaire. Data obtained from the questionnaire was analysed using simple percentages. The result of the study revealed that 10 (28.6%) out of 35 lecturers and 32 (42.7%) out of 75 students of the sampled population were totally unaware of ionization radiation and its health detriments. Moreover, the remaining percentage of both lecturers and students had limited knowledge about ionizing radiation and its detrimental effects to humans. The research also shows that a significant percentage of both lecturers and students claimed that the topic 'Ionizing radiations and their health detriments' is not relevant to their field of academic inclination. Based on the findings of the research, it was therefore recommended that the government, Nigeria Nuclear Regulatory Agency (NNRA), physicists and concerned individuals should enlighten the general public on ionizing radiations, its health detriment and safety measures through seminars and the mass media.
Public health genetic counselors: activities, skills, and sources of learning.
McWalter, Kirsty M; Sdano, Mallory R; Dave, Gaurav; Powell, Karen P; Callanan, Nancy
2015-06-01
Specialization within genetic counseling is apparent, with 29 primary specialties listed in the National Society of Genetic Counselors' 2012 Professional Status Survey (PSS). PSS results show a steady proportion of genetic counselors primarily involved in public health, yet do not identify all those performing public health activities. Little is known about the skills needed to perform activities outside of "traditional" genetic counselor roles and the expertise needed to execute those skills. This study aimed to identify genetic counselors engaging in public health activities, the skills used, and the most influential sources of learning for those skills. Participants (N = 155) reported involvement in several public health categories: (a) Education of Public and/or Health Care Providers (n = 80, 52 %), (b) Population-Based Screening Programs (n = 70, 45 %), (c) Lobbying/Public Policy (n = 62, 40 %), (d) Public Health Related Research (n = 47, 30 %), and (e) State Chronic Disease Programs (n = 12, 8 %). Regardless of category, "on the job" was the most common primary source of learning. Genetic counseling training program was the most common secondary source of learning. Results indicate that the number of genetic counselors performing public health activities is likely higher than PSS reports, and that those who may not consider themselves "public health genetic counselors" do participate in public health activities. Genetic counselors learn a diverse skill set in their training programs; some skills are directly applicable to public health genetics, while other public health skills require additional training and/or knowledge.
Hsu, Ching-Kun; Hwang, Gwo-Jen
2014-01-01
Personal computer assembly courses have been recognized as being essential in helping students understand computer structure as well as the functionality of each computer component. In this study, a context-aware ubiquitous learning approach is proposed for providing instant assistance to individual students in the learning activity of a…
Online Social Media and Political Awareness in Autoritarian Regimes
John Reuter; David Szakonyi
2012-01-01
Does online social media undermine authoritarianism? We examine the conditions under which online social networks can increase public awareness of electoral fraud in non-democracies. We argue that a given online social network will only increase political awareness if it is first politicized by elites. Using survey data from the 2011 Russian parliamentary elections, we show that usage of Twitter and Facebook, which were politicized by opposition elites, significantly increased respondents' pe...
Muggler, C.
2012-04-01
Soils are usually overlooked as part of geodiversity and geoheritage. Increasing the public awareness about soils is a key issue in our changing world. Furthering public awareness involves developing a better understanding of soils, their functions, importance for environment and society, as well as a personal and collective commitment in the stewardship and protection from degradation and loss. This presentation describes the Soil and Environmental Education and Outreach Programme of the Alexis Dorofeef Earth Sciences Museum of the Soil University Department in Viçosa, Brazil. The program has developed different activities linked to formal and non formal education and its main audience are basic education teachers, school children and the general public. The museum acts in different and diverse fronts, supported on a pedagogical background based on Paulo Freire's educational approach, the social-constructivism, which considers social inclusion, knowledge building, horizontal learning and collective action. In its early years, the museum was mainly focused on formal education and this changed with time as our action was reshaped into a broader outreach action stimulated by the new Brazilian government. The museum's indoor activities consist of accompanied thematic visits, hands on experiments, basic school teacher's courses, development of learning materials and methods and professional training. Beyond of the Museum space local interdisciplinary projects with basic education schools are run along with temporary expositions coupled with short courses and workshops with farmers and social movements. We present the results of the changes in awareness about soils among three main groups: school teachers, basic education children and general public. After 10 years of activities, the Soil Education action of the Museum is recognized and well spread among school communities in the town and its neighbourhood. Many school teachers approach the contents and methodologies
Awareness of orthodontists regarding oral hygiene performance during active orthodontic treatment.
Berlin-Broner, Y; Levin, L; Ashkenazi, M
2012-09-01
The aim of the present study was orthodontist's awareness for maintenance of several home and professional prevention measures during active orthodontic treatment according to patients' report. A structured questionnaire was distributed to 122 patients undergoing active orthodontic treatment with fixed appliances. Patients were treated by 38 different orthodontists. The questionnaire accessed information regarding instructions patients received from their orthodontist concerning maintenance of their oral hygiene during orthodontic treatment. Most of the patients (94%) reported that their orthodontists informed them at least once about the importance of tooth-brushing, and 74.5% received instructions for correct performance of tooth brushing or alternatively were referred to dental hygienist. However, only 24.5% of the patients reported that their orthodontist instructed them to use the correct fluoride concentration in their toothpaste, to use daily fluoride mouthwash (31.5%) and to brush their teeth once a week with high concentration of fluoride gel (Elmex gel; 10.2%). Only 13.8% received application of high concentration of fluoride gel or varnish at the dental office, and 52% of the patients reported that their orthodontist verified that they attend regular check-ups by their dentist. A significant positive correlation was found between explaining the patients the importance of tooth brushing and the following variables: instructing them on how to brush their teeth correctly (p<0.0001), explaining them which type of toothbrush is recommended for orthodontic patients (p=0.002), recommending to perform daily fluoride oral rinse (p=0.036) and referring them to periodic check-ups (p=0.024). Orthodontists should increase their awareness and commitment for instructing their patient on how to maintain good oral hygiene in order to prevent caries and periodontal disease during orthodontic treatment.
Access to public spaces and physical activity for Mexican adult women
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Ietza Bojorquez
2018-04-01
Full Text Available The aim of this article was to explore the association between access to public spaces and physical activity for adult women, controlling and testing interactions with sociodemographic and public spaces characteristics. We combined sociodemographic data from a survey with the adult (18-65 years of age women population of Tijuana, Mexico, conducted in 2014 (N = 2,345; with data from a 2013 study on public spaces in the same city. We evaluated access to public spaces by the presence and total area of public spaces in buffers of 400, 800, 1,000 and 1,600m around the participants’ homes. We measured physical activity with the short version of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ-short. We employed multinomial logistic models to evaluate the association between access to public spaces and physical activity, and tested for interactions between access to public spaces and public spaces quality and sociodemographic characteristics. We observed no interaction between access to public spaces and public spaces quality in their effect on physical activity. There was an association between the presence of public spaces in the 400m buffer, and higher odds of being in the low physical activity level (as opposed to being in the moderate level (coefficient: 0.50; 95%CI: 0.13; 0.87. Participants who used public transport were less likely to be in the low physical activity level (coefficient: -0.57; 95%CI: -0.97; -0.17. We suggest that, in this population, the access to public spaces might be less relevant for physical activity than other elements of the urban environment and sociodemographic characteristics.
Productivity improvement opportunities at Navy public works activities
Dieffenbach, Richard Jacob
1992-01-01
Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited This study identifies six principal opportunities for productivity improvement at Navy Public Works in-house maintenance activities: improving work assignment, increasing shop supervisor effectiveness, reducing long lunches and early quits (through understanding of work impediments as demotivational contributors), improving service order management, improving job quality and miscellaneous opportunities. Activity "productivity opportu...
Rahimirad, Maryam; Shams, Mohammad Reza
2014-01-01
This study investigates the effect of activating metacognitive strategies on the listening performance of English as a foreign language (EFL) university students and explores the impact of such strategies on their metacognitive awareness of the listening task. The participants were N = 50 students of English literature at the state university of…
Mittler, Jessica N; Landon, Bruce E; Zaslavsky, Alan M; Cleary, Paul D
2011-10-14
Medicare beneficiaries' awareness of Medicare managed care plans is critical for realizing the potential benefits of coverage choices. To assess the relationships of the number of Medicare risk plans, managed care penetration, and stability of plans in an area with traditional Medicare beneficiaries' awareness of the program. Cross-sectional analysis of Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey data about beneficiaries' awareness and knowledge of Medicare managed care plan availability. Logistic regression models used to assess the relationships between awareness and market characteristics. Traditional Medicare beneficiaries (n = 3,597) who had never been enrolled in Medicare managed care, but had at least one plan available in their area in 2002, and excluding beneficiaries under 65, receiving Medicaid, or with end stage renal disease. Traditional Medicare beneficiaries' knowledge of Medicare managed care plans in general and in their area. Having more Medicare risk plans available was significantly associated with greater awareness, and having an intermediate number of plans (2-4) was significantly associated with more accurate knowledge of Medicare risk plan availability than was having fewer or more plans. Medicare may have more success engaging consumers in choice and capturing the benefits of plan competition by more actively selecting and managing the plan choice set. Public Domain.
SmartContent—Self-Protected Context-Aware Active Documents for Mobile Environments
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Francesco Luca De Angelis
2017-03-01
Full Text Available Mobile devices make it possible to create, store, access, share or publish personal content on the Internet, anywhere and at anytime. This leads to situations of potential intentional or unintentional misuse of content as well as privacy issues. Recent techniques involving the use of contextual information focus on access of documents stored in clouds, or authentication for secured Web sites. These techniques or more traditional solutions, such as steganography or Digital Rights Management, do not empower the user itself, or data controller in professional settings, with a fine-grained control of the access to or manipulations actions on documents stored on mobile devices, e.g., copying, sharing, etc. In this paper, we propose SmartContent, a novel approach for content protection and privacy. Documents are active and context-aware documents that sense and analyse their current context, e.g., location, noise, neighbouring devices, social network, expiration time, etc. Based on user provided policies, they grant, deny or limit access and manipulation actions, or destroy themselves if necessary. We present the generic model of SmartContent, a concrete architecture and an implementation of a proof-of-concept specifically designed for mobile devices. We deployed it on tablets and showed that a picture dynamically reveals or conceals itself based on sensed context or on changing policies. The implementation leverages the SAPERE middleware specifically developed for context-aware systems.
Disparities in Oral Cancer Awareness: a Population Survey in Tehran, Iran.
Azimi, Somayyeh; Ghorbani, Zahra; Ghasemi, Erfan; Tennant, Marc; Kruger, Estie
2018-03-10
Oral cancer is a life-threatening disease with low survival rates, especially when diagnosed in an advanced stage. Lack of awareness about this cancer among the population is proposed as a possible reason for this diagnostic delay. The aim of this study was to evaluate oral cancer awareness, as well as the association of this with sociodemographic status in Tehran. In this cross-sectional population-based survey, 1800 self-administered questionnaires (collecting sociodemographic data, questions regarding oral cancer awareness and the source of information) were distributed through multistage stratified random sampling. Scores for questions ranged from 0 to 4, and totals were summed. The outcome of question responses was also analyzed separately. In total, 1312 questionnaires were available for analysis, from 788 females and 489 males (37.8 ± 9.02 years). Only 30% of the respondents were aware of oral cancer. The average score for awareness was 1.09 ± 1.6 with no significant differences between age groups and genders. Almost 6.5% of participants had complete awareness about oral cancer. A significant difference was found between mean scores in different levels of education and occupation (p = 0.0001). From 585 responses to the "source of information" question, "public media" was the most important source (almost 50%). Only 2% mentioned "dentists" as a source of information. This study indicated an alarming lack of oral cancer awareness and literacy in Tehran, Iran. Dentists should be obliged to practice their pivotal role in informing the public about oral cancer.
Daily Public Assistance Grants Award Activity
Department of Homeland Security — Daily activity of Public Assistance Grant Awards, including FEMA Region, State, Disaster Declaration Number, Event description, Mission Assigned agency, Assistance...
Environmental guidance for public participation in environmental restoration activities
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
1991-11-01
The US Department of Energy (DOE) is issuing this document, entitled Guidance on Public Participation for US Department of Energy Environmental Restoration Activities, to summarize policy and provide guidance for public participation in environmental restoration activities at DOE Headquarters, Field Offices, facilities, and laboratories. While the Office of Environmental Restoration and Waste Management (EM) has environmental restoration responsibility for the majority of DOE sites and facilities, other DOE Project Offices have similar responsibilities at their sites and facilities. This guidance is applicable to all environment restoration activities conducted by or for DOE under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA) as amended by the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986 (SARA); the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 (RCRA) as amended by the Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments of 1984 (HSWA) (corrective actions only); and the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA). This guidance also is applicable to CERCLA remedial action programs under the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act of 1978 and the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program, where DOE is the designated lead. The primary objectives of this guidance document are as follows: acclimate DOE staff to a changing culture that emphasizes the importance of public participation activities; provide direction on implementing these public participation activities; and, provide consistent guidance for all DOE Field Offices and facilities. The purpose of this document is to provide guidance on conducting effective public participation activities for environmental restoration activities under CERCLA; RCRA corrective actions under sections 3004(u), 3004(v), and 3008(h); and NEPA public participation activities.
Anonymous birth law saves babies--optimization, sustainability and public awareness.
Grylli, Chryssa; Brockington, Ian; Fiala, Christian; Huscsava, Mercedes; Waldhoer, Thomas; Klier, Claudia M
2016-04-01
The aims of this study are to assess the impact of Austria's anonymous birth law from the time relevant statistical records are available and to evaluate the use of hatches versus anonymous hospital delivery. This study is a complete census of police-reported neonaticides (1975-2012) as well as anonymous births including baby hatches in Austria during 2002-2012. The time trends of neonaticide rates, anonymous births and baby hatches were analysed by means of Poisson and logistic regression model. Predicted and observed rates were derived and compared using a Bayesian Poisson regression model. Predicted numbers of neonaticides for the period of the active awareness campaign, 2002-2004, were more than three times larger than the observed number (p = 0.0067). Of the 365 women who benefitted from this legislation, only 11.5% chose to put their babies in a baby hatch. Since the law was introduced, a significant decreasing tendency of numbers of anonymous births (p = 047) was observed, while there was significant increase of neonaticide rates (p = 0.0001). The implementation of the anonymous delivery law is associated with a decrease in the number of police-reported neonaticides. The subsequent significantly decreasing numbers of anonymous births with an accompanying increase of neonaticides represents additional evidence for the effectiveness of the measure.
Continuous measures of situation awareness and workload
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Droeivoldsmo, Asgeir; Skraaning, Gyrd jr.; Sverrbo, Mona; Dalen, Joergen; Grimstad, Tone; Andresen, Gisle
1998-03-01
This report presents methods for continuous measures for Situation Awareness and Workload. The objective has been to identify, develop and test the new measures, and compare them to instruments that require interruptions of scenarios. The new measures are: (1) the Visual Indicator of Situation Awareness (VISA); where Situation Awareness is scored from predefined areas of visual interest critical for solving scenarios. Visual monitoring of areas was recorded by eye-movement tracking. (2) Workload scores reflected by Extended Dwell Time (EDT) and the operator Activity Level. EDT was calculated from eye-movement data files, and the activity level was estimated from simulator logs. Using experimental data from the 1996 CASH NRC Alarm study and the 1997 Human Error Analysis Project/ Human-Centred Automation study, the new measurement techniques have been tested and evaluated on a preliminary basis. The results showed promising relationships between the new continuous measures of situation awareness and workload, and established instruments based upon scenario interruptions. (author)
Multi-Sensor Fusion for Enhanced Contextual Awareness of Everyday Activities with Ubiquitous Devices
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
John J. Guiry
2014-03-01
Full Text Available In this paper, the authors investigate the role that smart devices, including smartphones and smartwatches, can play in identifying activities of daily living. A feasibility study involving N = 10 participants was carried out to evaluate the devices’ ability to differentiate between nine everyday activities. The activities examined include walking, running, cycling, standing, sitting, elevator ascents, elevator descents, stair ascents and stair descents. The authors also evaluated the ability of these devices to differentiate indoors from outdoors, with the aim of enhancing contextual awareness. Data from this study was used to train and test five well known machine learning algorithms: C4.5, CART, Naïve Bayes, Multi-Layer Perceptrons and finally Support Vector Machines. Both single and multi-sensor approaches were examined to better understand the role each sensor in the device can play in unobtrusive activity recognition. The authors found overall results to be promising, with some models correctly classifying up to 100% of all instances.
Active Learning by Design: An Undergraduate Introductory Public Health Course
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Karin eYeatts
2014-12-01
Full Text Available Principles of active learning were used to design and implement an introductory public health course. Students were introduced to the breadth and practice of public health through team and individual-based activities. Team assignments covered topics in epidemiology, biostatistics, health behavior, nutrition, maternal and child health, environment, and health policy. Students developed an appreciation of the population perspective through an experience trip and related intervention project in a public health area of their choice. Students experienced several key critical component elements of a public health undergraduate major; they cover key public health domains, experience public health practice, and integrated concepts with their assignments. In this paper, course assignments, lessons learned, and student successes are described. Given the increased growth in the undergraduate public health major, these active learning assignments may be of interest to undergraduate public health programs at both liberal arts colleges and research universities.
Ethics in public health: call for shared moral public health literacy.
Maeckelberghe, Els L M; Schröder-Bäck, Peter
2017-10-01
Public Health (PH) in Europe has become much more vocal about its moral understandings since 1992. The rising awareness that PH issues were inseparable from issues of human rights and social justice almost self-evidently directed the agenda of EUPHA and the European Public Health (EPH)-conferences. Problems of cultural and behavioural change, and environmental issues on a global scale were also added. The Section Ethics in PH invited the EPH community to join in 'arm chair thinking': coming together at conferences not only to share the 'how' and 'what' of PH research, practices and policies but also the 'why'. Time has been reserved to genuinely discuss what moral values are at stake in the work of PH and to actively develop a moral language and framework for PH Ethics. The challenge for the next decades is to find ways to involve the general public in the cultivation of a shared moral PH literacy. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Public Health Association. All rights reserved.
Assessment of radiation dose awareness among pediatricians
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Thomas, Karen E.; Parnell-Parmley, June E.; Charkot, Ellen; BenDavid, Guila; Krajewski, Connie; Haidar, Salwa; Moineddin, Rahim
2006-01-01
There is increasing awareness among pediatric radiologists of the potential risks associated with ionizing radiation in medical imaging. However, it is not known whether there has been a corresponding increase in awareness among pediatricians. To establish the level of awareness among pediatricians of the recent publicity on radiation risks in children, knowledge of the relative doses of radiological investigations, current practice regarding parent/patient discussions, and the sources of educational input. Multiple-choice survey. Of 220 respondents, 105 (48%) were aware of the 2001 American Journal of Roentgenology articles on pediatric CT and radiation, though only 6% were correct in their estimate of the quoted lifetime excess cancer risk associated with radiation doses equivalent to pediatric CT. A sustained or transient increase in parent questioning regarding radiation doses had been noticed by 31%. When estimating the effective doses of various pediatric radiological investigations in chest radiograph (CXR) equivalents, 87% of all responses (and 94% of CT estimates) were underestimates. Only 15% of respondents were familiar with the ALARA principle. Only 14% of pediatricians recalled any relevant formal teaching during their specialty training. The survey response rate was 40%. Awareness of radiation protection issues among pediatricians is generally low, with widespread underestimation of relative doses and risks. (orig.)
Awareness and Knowledge of Ergonomics Among Medical ...
African Journals Online (AJOL)
Aim: This cross‑sectional descriptive study aimed at assessing the level of awareness and knowledge of the science of ergonomics among Medical Laboratory Scientists in Benin City, Nigeria. Subjects and Methods: A total of 106 medical laboratory scientists comprising 64 and 42 in public and private laboratories, ...
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Bourassa, H. [Centre d' expertise hydrique du Quebec, Quebec, PQ (Canada)
2009-07-01
Fourty public dams are managed on a real-time basis by the Centre d'expertise hydrique du Quebec (CEHQ). This presentation described the public dams owned by the CEHQ and discussed the public safety measures at the dams. The dams serve various purposes, including protection against floods; industrial or drinking water supply; resort or recreational activities; hydroelectric development; and wildlife conservation. Trigger events were also discussed, such as the complaint at Rapides-des-Cedres dam and deaths that occurred in 2004 when water from a dam was released without warning. Several photographs were presented to illustrate that people were unaware of the danger. Initiatives aimed at raising awareness and studying public safety issues were discussed. A pilot project was launched and a permanent committee was created to evaluate all aspects of public safety at the dams owned by CEHQ. The first tasks of the committee were to establish requirements for waterway safety barriers, both upstream and downstream, for all public dams; to establish requirements for safety signage for all public dams; and to develop criteria to decide on safety signage at each dam. figs.
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Bourassa, H [Centre d' expertise hydrique du Quebec, Quebec, PQ (Canada)
2009-07-01
Fourty public dams are managed on a real-time basis by the Centre d'expertise hydrique du Quebec (CEHQ). This presentation described the public dams owned by the CEHQ and discussed the public safety measures at the dams. The dams serve various purposes, including protection against floods; industrial or drinking water supply; resort or recreational activities; hydroelectric development; and wildlife conservation. Trigger events were also discussed, such as the complaint at Rapides-des-Cedres dam and deaths that occurred in 2004 when water from a dam was released without warning. Several photographs were presented to illustrate that people were unaware of the danger. Initiatives aimed at raising awareness and studying public safety issues were discussed. A pilot project was launched and a permanent committee was created to evaluate all aspects of public safety at the dams owned by CEHQ. The first tasks of the committee were to establish requirements for waterway safety barriers, both upstream and downstream, for all public dams; to establish requirements for safety signage for all public dams; and to develop criteria to decide on safety signage at each dam. figs.
Forensic devices for activism: Metadata tracking and public proof
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Lonneke van der Velden
2015-10-01
Full Text Available The central topic of this paper is a mobile phone application, ‘InformaCam’, which turns metadata from a surveillance risk into a method for the production of public proof. InformaCam allows one to manage and delete metadata from images and videos in order to diminish surveillance risks related to online tracking. Furthermore, it structures and stores the metadata in such a way that the documentary material becomes better accommodated to evidentiary settings, if needed. In this paper I propose InformaCam should be interpreted as a ‘forensic device’. By using the conceptualization of forensics and work on socio-technical devices the paper discusses how InformaCam, through a range of interventions, rearranges metadata into a technology of evidence. InformaCam explicitly recognizes mobile phones as context aware, uses their sensors, and structures metadata in order to facilitate data analysis after images are captured. Through these modifications it invents a form of ‘sensory data forensics'. By treating data in this particular way, surveillance resistance does more than seeking awareness. It becomes engaged with investigatory practices. Considering the extent by which states conduct metadata surveillance, the project can be seen as a timely response to the unequal distribution of power over data.
Supporting awareness in creative group work by exposing design rationale
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Umer Farooq
2011-01-01
Full Text Available When creativity is taken as a long-term, complex, and collaborative activity, support for awareness is required for group members to monitor the development of ideas, track how these ideas became narrowed, and understand how alternatives are being implemented and integrated by colleagues. In this paper, we investigate the effects of exposing design rationale to convey awareness, specifically activity awareness, in group creativity. Through evaluating a prototype, we investigate status updates that convey design rationale, and to what consequences, in small groups in fully distributed collaboration. We found that status updates are used for a variety of purposes and that participants’ comments on their collaborators’ status updates provided feedback. Overall, results suggest that participants’ awareness about their collaborators’ future plans increased over time. Majority of participants found the status updates useful, particularly those with higher metacognitive knowledge. Based on our results, two design strategies for activity awareness are proposed.
Gaps in awareness of peripheral arterial disease in Sri Lanka: a cross sectional study
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Janaka Weragoda
2016-10-01
Full Text Available Abstract Background Peripheral arterial disease (PAD is an emerging problem in Sri Lanka, particularly with the ageing population. A considerable number of patients are detected at a late stage with severe limb ischemia or chronic non-healing leg ulceration. Public awareness about PAD is important in developing preventive strategies. Methods A cross sectional study was conducted to assess awareness of PAD among adults aged 40–74 years in a district in Sri Lanka. In total, 2912 adults were selected for the study using a multistage probability proportionate to size sampling technique. Data were collected by an interviewer-administered questionnaire. Participants who were aware of PAD were asked about common risk factors, possible consequences of untreated PAD, and sources of information. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to assess the independent predictors of PAD awareness. Results We found that 4.1 % of participants were aware of PAD (95 % confidence interval: 3.4–4.8, which was significantly lower than awareness of other cardiovascular diseases such as cerebrovascular accidents (67.3 % and myocardial infarction (57.6 % (p < 0.001. Being male, an urban resident, and having a higher level of education were independent predictors of high PAD awareness. Conclusions Our findings suggest that a comprehensive PAD awareness program that covers risk factors, consequences, and preventative strategies is needed to enhance public awareness of PAD.
Reflective self-awareness and conscious states
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Kjaer, Troels W; Nowak, Markus; Lou, Hans C
2002-01-01
A recent meta-analysis has shown precuneus, angular gyri, anterior cingulate gyri, and adjacent structures to be highly metabolically active in support of resting consciousness. We hypothesize that these regions constitute a functional network of reflective self-awareness thought to be a core...... function of consciousness. Seven normal volunteers were asked to think intensely on how they would describe the personality traits and physical appearance of themselves and a neutral reference person known to all the subjects (the Danish Queen). During each of the four conditions cerebral blood flow...... during reflective self-awareness. The commonality between the neural networks of the resting conscious state and self-awareness reflects the phenomenological concept of a fundamental contribution of reflective self-awareness to the contents and coherence of the conscious state....
Android integrated urea biosensor for public health awareness
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Pranali P. Naik
2015-03-01
Full Text Available Integration of a biosensor with a wireless network on the Android 4.2.1 (Jelly Bean platform has been demonstrated. The present study reports an android integrated user friendly Flow injection analysis-Enzyme thermistor (FIA-ET urea biosensor system. This android-integrated biosensor system will facilitate enhanced consumer health and awareness alongside abridging the gap between the food testing laboratory and the concerned higher authorities. Data received from a flow injection mode urea biosensor has been exploited as an integration point among the analyst, the food consumer and the responsible higher authorities. Using the urea biosensor as an example, an alarm system has also been demonstrated both graphically and through text message on a mobile handset. The presented sensor integrated android system will also facilitate decision making support system in various fields of food quality monitoring and clinical analysis.
Eyes wide open: an essay on developing an engaged awareness in global medicine and public health.
Ventres, William B; Fort, Meredith P
2014-10-28
There is a growing understanding of the role social determinants such as poverty, gender discrimination, racial prejudice, and economic inequality play on health and illness. While these determinants and effects may be challenging to identify in parts of high-income countries, they are patently obvious in many other areas of the world. How we react to these determinants and effects depends on what historical, cultural, ideological, and psychological characteristics we bring to our encounters with inequity, as well as how our feelings and thoughts inform our values and actions. To address these issues, we share a series of questions we have asked ourselves-United States' citizens with experience living and working in Central America-in relation to our encounters with inequity. We offer a conceptual framework for contemplating responses in hopes of promoting among educators and practitioners in medicine and public health an engaged awareness of how our every day work either perpetuates or breaks down barriers of social difference. We review key moments in our own experiences as global health practitioners to provide context for these questions. Introspective reflection can help professionals in global medicine and public health recognize the dynamic roles that they play in the world. Such reflection can bring us closer to appreciating the forces that have worked both for and in opposition to global health, human rights, and well-being. It can help us recognize how place, time, environment, and context form the social determination of health. It is from this holistic perspective of social relations that we can work to effect fair, equitable, and protective environments as they relate to global medicine and public health.
A planetary nervous system for social mining and collective awareness
Giannotti, F.; Pedreschi, D.; Pentland, A.; Lukowicz, P.; Kossmann, D.; Crowley, J.; Helbing, D.
2012-11-01
We present a research roadmap of a Planetary Nervous System (PNS), capable of sensing and mining the digital breadcrumbs of human activities and unveiling the knowledge hidden in the big data for addressing the big questions about social complexity. We envision the PNS as a globally distributed, self-organizing, techno-social system for answering analytical questions about the status of world-wide society, based on three pillars: social sensing, social mining and the idea of trust networks and privacy-aware social mining. We discuss the ingredients of a science and a technology necessary to build the PNS upon the three mentioned pillars, beyond the limitations of their respective state-of-art. Social sensing is aimed at developing better methods for harvesting the big data from the techno-social ecosystem and make them available for mining, learning and analysis at a properly high abstraction level. Social mining is the problem of discovering patterns and models of human behaviour from the sensed data across the various social dimensions by data mining, machine learning and social network analysis. Trusted networks and privacy-aware social mining is aimed at creating a new deal around the questions of privacy and data ownership empowering individual persons with full awareness and control on own personal data, so that users may allow access and use of their data for their own good and the common good. The PNS will provide a goal-oriented knowledge discovery framework, made of technology and people, able to configure itself to the aim of answering questions about the pulse of global society. Given an analytical request, the PNS activates a process composed by a variety of interconnected tasks exploiting the social sensing and mining methods within the transparent ecosystem provided by the trusted network. The PNS we foresee is the key tool for individual and collective awareness for the knowledge society. We need such a tool for everyone to become fully aware of how
Quesnel, K.; Roby, N.; Gonzales, P.; Ajami, N.
2016-12-01
In the midst of California's current drought, authorities have enacted widespread initiatives aimed at coping with water scarcity, for example the first mandatory statewide urban water use reductions in 2015. But to what extent have these measures resulted in decreased water consumption? To answer this question, our research examines the impact of political actions on water use by using media as a proxy. News media outlets have heavily covered the progression of the California drought, and this outreach has played an important role in disseminating information and raising public awareness. To our knowledge, the relationship between political action/media coverage and water use has yet to be examined. In this study, we extract the number of articles related to the term "California Drought" from six widely-read national and statewide newspapers from 2005 to 2015. We study the relationship between media and monthly urban water use at the utility level using multivariate panel regression and principal components analysis to examine how media interacts with other modes of influence such as climate, price, and the state of the economy and how populations of different socio-demographics are affected by media outreach. We also use daily household-level water use readings from recently installed Automated Meter Infrastructure (AMI) in one utility to examine the relationship on a finer spatiotemporal scale. Using a policy timeline, Google search rates, and newspaper article trends confirms the relationship between political actions, public awareness, and media outreach. Preliminary modeling indicates that media plays a significant role in altering water use patterns for residential customers and in utilities with specific local characteristics.
Analysis of university student awareness of radiation exposures from consumer products
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Kim, Seung Hwan [Korean Advance Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Cho, Kun Woo [Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)
2016-05-15
Since the terminology 'radioactive consumer product' is not quite familiar to the public and is often considered as negative and detrimental things, the educational curriculum is essential for establishing reliability of nuclear energy related and for the development of better communication strategy of radiation risk with the public. To provide base data which is valuable for establishing efficient curriculum of education and training about radiation safety, it is necessary to apprehend the different level of awareness of radiation exposures classified by various consumer products. On November 2014, a question investigation about asking awareness level of radiation exposure from various consumer products was done for university students who are highly educated. The object students are studied at a four-year-course universities which is located at Daejeon City. Although the average awareness level is comparatively low, the awareness of senior students, who major in radiation, nuclear related departments and male students are relatively high. On the other hand, the awareness of freshman, sophomore, junior students, who do not major in radiation, nuclear related departments and female students are relatively low. It is necessary to provide various information to avoid unnecessary concerns and misconceptions about radiation exposure. This paper will be an instrument for efficient establishment of curriculum of education and training related with radiation safety.
Analysis of university student awareness of radiation exposures from consumer products
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Kim, Seung Hwan; Cho, Kun Woo
2016-01-01
Since the terminology 'radioactive consumer product' is not quite familiar to the public and is often considered as negative and detrimental things, the educational curriculum is essential for establishing reliability of nuclear energy related and for the development of better communication strategy of radiation risk with the public. To provide base data which is valuable for establishing efficient curriculum of education and training about radiation safety, it is necessary to apprehend the different level of awareness of radiation exposures classified by various consumer products. On November 2014, a question investigation about asking awareness level of radiation exposure from various consumer products was done for university students who are highly educated. The object students are studied at a four-year-course universities which is located at Daejeon City. Although the average awareness level is comparatively low, the awareness of senior students, who major in radiation, nuclear related departments and male students are relatively high. On the other hand, the awareness of freshman, sophomore, junior students, who do not major in radiation, nuclear related departments and female students are relatively low. It is necessary to provide various information to avoid unnecessary concerns and misconceptions about radiation exposure. This paper will be an instrument for efficient establishment of curriculum of education and training related with radiation safety
Academic ethical awareness among undergraduate nursing students.
Cho, Ok-Hee; Hwang, Kyung-Hye
2017-01-01
Academic ethical awareness is an important aspect especially for nursing students who will provide ethical nursing care to patients in future or try to tread the path of learning toward professional acknowledgement in nursing scholarship. The purpose of this study was to explore academic ethical awareness and its related characteristics among undergraduate nursing students. This study commenced the survey with cross-sectional, descriptive questions and enrolled convenient samples of 581 undergraduate nursing students from three universities in South Korea. It was investigated with structured questionnaires including general characteristics and academic ethical awareness related. Ethical considerations: This study was reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board at National University. Academic ethical awareness was the highest regarding behaviors violating the respect or confidentiality of patients and cheating on exams, while it was the lowest for inappropriate behaviors in class. From the result of general characteristics difference, male students showed higher score than female students in relative; first-year students showed higher score than other year students; the higher score was rated from students who were highly satisfied with their major than the other not satisfied with their major; and students with low academic stress showed higher ethical awareness score than persons with higher stress. Personal behaviors were rated with low ethical awareness in relative, but items related to public rules and actual effects on patients or others were rated with higher score. Nursing satisfaction and academic stress are main factors on ethical awareness. To improve overall ethical awareness level of nursing students, it is required to provide more education about the importance of personal behaviors in class and need to improve the understanding of how it will be connected with future situation and effect.
The association between access to public transportation and self-reported active commuting.
Djurhuus, Sune; Hansen, Henning S; Aadahl, Mette; Glümer, Charlotte
2014-12-05
Active commuting provides routine-based regular physical activity which can reduce the risk of chronic diseases. Using public transportation involves some walking or cycling to a transit stop, transfers and a walk to the end location and users of public transportation have been found to accumulate more moderate physical activity than non-users. Understanding how public transportation characteristics are associated with active transportation is thus important from a public health perspective. This study examines the associations between objective measures of access to public transportation and self-reported active commuting. Self-reported time spent either walking or cycling commuting each day and the distance to workplace were obtained for adults aged 16 to 65 in the Danish National Health Survey 2010 (n = 28,928). Access to public transportation measures were computed by combining GIS-based road network distances from home address to public transit stops an integrating their service level. Multilevel logistic regression was used to examine the association between access to public transportation measures and active commuting. Distance to bus stop, density of bus stops, and number of transport modes were all positively associated with being an active commuter and with meeting recommendations of physical activity. No significant association was found between bus services at the nearest stop and active commuting. The results highlight the importance of including detailed measurements of access to public transit in order to identify the characteristics that facilitate the use of public transportation and active commuting.
The Association between Access to Public Transportation and Self-Reported Active Commuting
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Sune Djurhuus
2014-12-01
Full Text Available Active commuting provides routine-based regular physical activity which can reduce the risk of chronic diseases. Using public transportation involves some walking or cycling to a transit stop, transfers and a walk to the end location and users of public transportation have been found to accumulate more moderate physical activity than non-users. Understanding how public transportation characteristics are associated with active transportation is thus important from a public health perspective. This study examines the associations between objective measures of access to public transportation and self-reported active commuting. Self-reported time spent either walking or cycling commuting each day and the distance to workplace were obtained for adults aged 16 to 65 in the Danish National Health Survey 2010 (n = 28,928. Access to public transportation measures were computed by combining GIS-based road network distances from home address to public transit stops an integrating their service level. Multilevel logistic regression was used to examine the association between access to public transportation measures and active commuting. Distance to bus stop, density of bus stops, and number of transport modes were all positively associated with being an active commuter and with meeting recommendations of physical activity. No significant association was found between bus services at the nearest stop and active commuting. The results highlight the importance of including detailed measurements of access to public transit in order to identify the characteristics that facilitate the use of public transportation and active commuting.
Breast Cancer awareness among Saudi females in Jeddah.
Radi, Sahar Mahmoud
2013-01-01
Breast cancer is the most frequent malignancy of women worldwide. It is the leading cause of female cancer related disability and mortality. In Saudi Arabia breast cancer ranks first among cancerous diseases in females. In the Gulf region, and especially in Saudi Arabia, few studies have been conducted to address breast cancer awareness. The purpose of the current study was therefore to investigate the level of breast cancer awareness among Saudi females in Jeddah, focusing on knowledge of breast cancer warning signs, risk factors, screening programs and breast self-examination (BSE). The design of this study was an exploratory correlational analysis. The sample comprised 200 Saudi females aged 20 and older living in Jeddah. Data were collected using face-to- face interviews. Breast cancer awareness was measured using a modified Arabic version of the Breast Cancer Awareness Measure (Breast CAM) version 2. Descriptive statistical analysis, Pearson's Product Moment correlation coefficients and ANOVA test were used to answer study questions. Out of 200 participants, 50.5% were aware of breast lump as a warning sign of breast cancer, 57.5% claimed that family history was risk factor, 20.5% had undergone breast screening, 79% heard about BSE, and 47.5% knew how to perform BSE. Findings indicated that Saudi females level of awareness of breast cancer is very inadequate. Public awareness interventions are needed in order to overcome an ever-increasing burden of this disease among Saudi females.
Evaluating public awareness of new currency design features
DiNunzio, Lisa; Church, Sara E.
2002-04-01
One of the goals of the 1996 series design was to integrate highly recognizable features that enable the general public to more easily distinguish counterfeit from genuine notes, thereby reducing the chance of counterfeit notes being passed. The purpose of this study is to evaluate how knowledgeable the public is concerning the new currency, to identify the channels through which the public learns about new currency design, and to assess the usefulness of the new currency's authentication features. Also, the study will serve as a baseline measurement for future design studies and in comparative analysis with other countries. The results of the qualitative research will be described in the following sections of this paper. The quantitative research is scheduled to begin in February 2002, at the same time as the Netherlands' opinion poll of the Euro and NLG-notes in an effort to compare results.
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Fei Xu
Full Text Available Physical activity (PA promotion has proven effectiveness in preventing childhood obesity. Increasing children's health knowledge is the most frequently used approach in PA intervention programs targeting childhood obesity prevention. However, little is known about the specific association between the change in a child's knowledge awareness and their PA practice.A one-year follow-up study was conducted among primary and junior high school students in Nanjing, China. At baseline students' knowledge of healthy behavior, and their PA levels, were assessed. Students who were unaware of the association between PA and obesity were followed for one academic year. After nine-months their knowledge and PA levels were re-measured using the same validated questionnaire. Mixed effects regression models were used to estimate the relationship between awareness of knowledge about the link between PA and obesity and PA changes.Of the 1899 students who were unaware of the association between PA and obesity at baseline, 1859 (follow-up rate = 97.9% were successfully followed-up. After nine months 1318 (70.9% participants had become aware of PA-obesity association. Compared to their counterparts who remained unaware, students who became aware of the PA-obesity association were more likely to increase both the frequency (odds ratio (OR = 1.34, 95%CI = 1.09, 1.64 and duration (OR = 1.34, 95%CI = 1.09, 1.65 of PA, after adjusting for potentially confounding variables.Becoming aware of the known link between PA and obesity led to positive behavior modification regarding PA in this cohort of Chinese students. This is of particular importance that knowledge disimination and health education may be a useful approach for population-based physical activity promotion aiming at childhood obesity prevention in China.
Awareness of human papillomavirus among women attending a well woman clinic.
Waller, J; McCaffery, K; Forrest, S; Szarewski, A; Cadman, L; Wardle, J
2003-08-01
To assess the level and accuracy of public understanding of human papillomavirus (HPV) in the United Kingdom. Women attending a well woman clinic were asked to complete a questionnaire assessing HPV awareness and specific knowledge about the virus. Questionnaires were completed by 1032 women, of whom 30% had heard of HPV. Older women, non-smokers, and those with a history of candida, genital warts, or an abnormal smear result were more likely to have heard of HPV. Even among those who had heard of HPV, knowledge was generally poor, and fewer than half were aware of the link with cervical cancer. There was also confusion about whether condoms or oral contraceptives could protect against HPV infection. In this relatively well educated sample, awareness and knowledge of HPV were poor. Public education is urgently needed so that women participating in cervical cancer screening are fully informed about the meaning of their results, especially if HPV testing is soon to be introduced.
Public education in cancer prevention.
Van Parijs, L G
1986-01-01
Life-style is now recognized as a main determinant of cancer risk. Public education is an important component of cancer control programmes and has been shown to be effective in leading to life-style changes. Four basic types of education programmes are reviewed: for increasing the public's awareness of cancer, for changing specific risk behaviour (such as stopping smoking), for learning self-examination skills (such as breast self-examination), and for promoting early cancer detection in the community.To change human behaviour it is best to approach the risk habit through the same forces that develop and sustain the habit. Simply giving information of an association between specific habits and cancer, even if repeated several times, will lead to increased public awareness and encourage some to make a minimal effort to change their behaviour, but in general the new habit does not persist and continuing and intensifying this approach are ineffective. An alternative strategy utilizes socially active forces to support the prevention practice and remove possible barriers to action. For example, an antismoking programme should create a favourable social image of the non-smoker. Although a culturally and socially relevant mass media campaign can influence knowledge and beliefs and induce people to participate in a screening activity, this needs to be supplemented over a period of time by personal contact methods, such as group discussions, telephone conversations and home visits, in order to promote a regular screening habit. Contrary to popular opinion, mass communication methods can be expensive on a per person cost-effectiveness basis because of low participation rates and weakness in sustaining healthy behaviour.
Mosconi, Paola; Antes, Gerd; Barbareschi, Giorgio; Burls, Amanda; Demotes-Mainard, Jacques; Chalmers, Iain; Colombo, Cinzia; Garattini, Silvio; Gluud, Christian; Gyte, Gill; Mcllwain, Catherine; Penfold, Matt; Post, Nils; Satolli, Roberto; Valetto, Maria Rosa
2016-01-01
BACKGROUND: The ECRAN (European Communication on Research Awareness Needs) project was initiated in 2012, with support from the European Commission, to improve public knowledge about the importance of independent, multinational, clinical trials in Europe. \\ud \\ud METHODS: Participants in the ECRAN consortium included clinicians and methodologists directly involved in clinical trials; researchers working in partnership with the public and patients; representatives of patients; and experts in s...
Chua, Michael E.; Lapitan, Marie Carmela M.; Morales Jr, Marcelino L.; Roque, Aristotle Bernard Maniego; Domingo, John Kenneth
2014-01-01
Purpose: “Mag-paDRE” is a yearly prostate health public awareness program initiated by the Philippine Urological Association. This study aimed to describe the demographic and clinical data of the participants in the 2013 “Mag-paDRE” program and to identify factors that will further improve prostate health public awareness. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study undertaken to collect and assess the demographic data, International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) and digital rectal examinati...
Cardiovascular risk in active, insufficiently active and inactive users of public parks
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Gustavo Fernades de Oliveira
2008-07-01
Full Text Available http://dx.doi.org/10.5007/1980-0037.2008v10n2p170 Physical activity has been recommended for heart disease prevention and rehabilitation. However, when performed incorrectly, which is more common when practiced without supervision and in public places, the risk of cardiovascular events increases. The objective of this study was to compare cardiovascular risk factors among users of São Paulo´s public parks with differing levels of physical activity – active, insuffi ciently active, and inactive. The evaluation consisted of a questionnaire about cardiovascular diseases, symptoms and risk factors; physical activity practice; and anthropometric and arterial blood pressure measurements. There was no difference between the groups in terms of the prevalence of cardiovascular disease or controllable risk factors. However, inactive people had a higher prevalence of cardiovascular symptoms (35%. With regard to uncontrollable cardiovascular risk factors, there was a higher prevalence of the gender/age factor among active (50% and insuffi ciently active (45% subjects, and heredity was more prevalent among inactive people (35%. There was no difference in obesity or blood pressure between the groups. The study also showed that active and insuffi ciently active subjects have a better knowledge of their health status, and a higher prevalence of being prescribed physical activity by physicians. The results demonstrate that most of the people who exercise in public parks are elderly and are at a moderate to high cardiovascular risk from this practice, which suggests that a physical education professional should be present.
Awareness and minimisation of systematic bias in research.
LENUS (Irish Health Repository)
Malone, Helen
2014-03-01
A major goal of nursing and midwifery is the delivery of evidence-based practice. Consequently, it is essential for the quality and safety of patient\\/client care that policy makers, educators and practitioners are aware of the presence of potential systematic bias in research practice and research publications so that only sound evidence translates into practice. The main aim of this paper is to highlight the need for ongoing awareness of the potential presence of systematic bias in research practice, to explore commonly reported types of systematic bias and to report some methods that can be applied to minimise systematic bias in research.
Evaluation of the Physical Activity and Public Health Course for Practitioners
Evenson, Kelly R.; Brown, David R.; Pearce, Emily; Camplain, Ricky; Jernigan, Jan; Epping, Jacqueline; Shepard, Dennis M.; Dorn, Joan M.
2016-01-01
Purpose: From 1996 to 2013, a 6-day Physical Activity and Public Health Course for Practitioners has been offered yearly in the United States. An evaluation was conducted to assess the impact of the course on building public health capacity for physical activity and on shaping the physical activity and public health careers of fellows since taking…
Hirano, Kayoko; Ikeda, Nobuko; Kanagawa, Katuko; Shiomi, Sigeki; Suzuki, Akira; Hirayama, Tomoko; Furuya, Akie; Ymazaki, Kyoko; Yasumura, Seiji
2005-08-01
Changes in public health nursing education have been consideration. Theses changes include a dramatic increase in the number of public health nurses (PHNs) who have enrolled for nursing courses at university. This study was conducted to assess the current status and future of public health nursing education as perceived by teachers and students at three types of schools: universities offering nursing courses, advanced courses for PHNs with junior nursing colleges, and public health nursing schools. Questionnaires were distributed to teachers and students by mail. The questions that were sent to teachers asked which subjects were required to become a certified PHN, which lecture methods were employed to teach public health-particularly community health assessment methods, and what was the level of awareness of the activities of PHNs. Students were asked about their motivation to be a PHN, their understanding of public health, their views of public health activities and their images of PHNs. Responses were analyzed and differences between questionnaires from different schools were noted. These included the number of subjects and the total number of hours spent doing practical training and field experience in universities and the other types of schools, and the number of teachers. Differences also were noted among students at three types of schools about their age, methods of public health activities, knowledge about activities undertaken by PHNs, and their images of PHNs. No differences were observed among the schools with respect to the students' conceptual understanding of public health. Student age, practical training and field experience were found to contribute to their level of understanding of public health and public health nursing. It is thus necessary to consider the teaching methods employed by universities that administer nursing courses and the effectiveness of courses offered by graduate schools.
Prevalence and awareness of hypertension and associated risk ...
African Journals Online (AJOL)
Background: Hypertension is largely asymptomatic and common among adult Nigerians, and considered to be of public health importance. Banking work is associated with stress, a risk for hypertension. Aim: To evaluate the prevalence and awareness of hypertension and its associated risk factors among bankers in Owerri.
Consumer Perceptions of Sponsors of Disease Awareness Advertising
Hall, Danika V.; Jones, Sandra C.; Iverson, Donald C.
2011-01-01
Purpose: In many countries there is emerging concern regarding alliances between the pharmaceutical industry and health non-profit organizations (NPOs), and the increase of co-sponsored marketing activities such as disease awareness advertising. The current study aims to explore Australian women's perceptions of disease awareness advertising with…
Playful Interactions Stimulating Physical Activity in Public Spaces
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Sturm, Janienke; Bekker, Tilde; Vanden Abeele, Vero
In this position paper we describe our vision on designing playful interactions to persuade people to be physically active in public spaces. Social embeddedness and playful interaction are the core elements of this vision. We illustrate how our design vision is incorporated into innovative concepts...... to motivate each other to be physically active by creating challenges for each other. Designing playful solutions for public spaces asks for low-threshold solutions that support easy stepping in and stepping out solutions....
Green Open Space: Awareness for Health or Sustainability?
Dewi, O. C.; Chairunnisa, I.; Hidayat, T.; Anggraini, M.; Napitupulu, A.
2018-03-01
Universitas Indonesia in cooperation with American Red Cross and Indonesian Red Cross have been assisting green open space revitalisation program in 7 locations in Bogor Regency (2016-2017). The program was held under The Urban Disaster Risk Reduction Greater Jakarta Project; an initiative program from American Red Cross Indonesia. This project was not only improving the existing green open space quality, but also creating one adapted from public land. The revitalization project figures what happened on daily basis on the existing land, proposing new programming facilities, community-based construction, monitoring and handing over. This paper discovers the meaning of a green space for the community, whether the community aware of its benefit on human health or environmental sustainability. The research question is does the community aware of green open space benefit for human health or environmental sustainability? Or both? The original data from the community was gathered and grouped based on its relevance with environmental quality and public health.
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Brunsting, Suzanne; Mastop, Jessanne; Kaiser, Marta; Zimmer, Rene; Shackley, Simon; Mabon, Leslie; Howell, Rhys
2015-01-01
This paper summarizes the work on the social dimension conducted within the EU FP7 SiteChar project. The most important aim of the research was to advance public awareness and draw lessons for successful public engagement activities when developing a CO 2 storage permit application. To this end, social site characterization (e.g. representative surveys) and public participation activities (focus conference) were conducted at two prospective Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) sites: an onshore site in Poland and an offshore site in Scotland. The research consisted of four steps over a time period of 1.5 year, from early 2011 to mid-2012. The first step consisted of four related qualitative and quantitative research activities to provide a social characterization of the areas: desk research, stakeholder interviews, media analyses, and a survey among representative samples of the local community. The aim was to identify: - stakeholders or interested parties; - factors that may drive their perceptions of and attitudes towards CCS. Results were used to as input for the second step, in which a new format for public engagement named 'focus conferences' was tested at both sites involving a small sample of the local community. The third step consisted of making available generic as well as site-specific information to the general and local public, by: - setting up a bilingual set of information pages on the project web site suitable for a lay audience; - organizing information meetings at both sites that were open to all who took interest. The fourth step consisted of a second survey among a new representative sample of the local community. The survey was largely identical to the survey in step 1 to enable the monitoring of changes in awareness, knowledge and opinions over time. Results provide insight in the way local CCS plans may be perceived by the local stakeholders, how this can be reliably assessed at early stage without raising unnecessary concerns, and how
National awareness campaign to prevent medication-overuse headache in Denmark.
Carlsen, Louise Ninett; Westergaard, Maria Lurenda; Bisgaard, Mette; Schytz, Julie Brogaard; Jensen, Rigmor Højland
2017-01-01
Background Medication-overuse headache is prevalent, but in principle preventable. Objective To describe the Danish national awareness campaign for medication-overuse headache. Methods The Danish Headache Center, the Association of Danish Pharmacies, and headache patient organizations implemented a four-month medication-overuse headache awareness campaign in 2016. Target groups were the general public, general practitioners, and pharmacists. Key messages were: Overuse of pain-medication can worsen headaches; pain-medication should be used rationally; and medication-overuse headache is treatable. A range of communication technologies was used. A survey on the public's awareness of medication-overuse headache was conducted. Results The Danish adult population is 4.2 million. Online videos were viewed 297,000 times in three weeks. All 400 pharmacies received campaign materials. Over 28,000 leaflets were distributed. Two radio interviews were conducted. A television broadcast about headache reached an audience of 520,000. Forty articles were published in print media. Information was accessible at 32 reputable websites and five online news agencies. Three scientific papers were published. Information was available at an annual conference of general practitioners, including a headache lecture. The survey showed an increase in percentage of the public who knew about medication-overuse headache (from 31% to 38%). Conclusion A concerted campaign to prevent medication-overuse headache can be implemented through involvement of key stakeholders.
Study on Public Flood Risk Cognition and Behavioral Response Based on IEC Strategy
Shen, Xin; Xu, Xiaofeng; Zhou, Guilin; Pan, Shaolin; Mi, Tengfei
2017-11-01
In order to disseminate knowledge and information on flood risks in flood-prone areas, raise public awareness of flood risks and reduce possible damage to the public, a questionnaire survey was coducted among 260 residents of nine selected communities in Jiaozhou City to learn the public awareness and behavioral response to flood risks at different early warning levels. IEC key information of flood risk awareness was modified and formulated through group discussions, in-depth individual interviews and on-site observation. The awareness of residents in the project area was enhanced through the public participation, environmental management and flood management training, which plays a very important role in reducing flood losses.
Awareness Becomes Necessary Between Adaptive Pattern Coding of Open and Closed Curvatures
Sweeny, Timothy D.; Grabowecky, Marcia; Suzuki, Satoru
2012-01-01
Visual pattern processing becomes increasingly complex along the ventral pathway, from the low-level coding of local orientation in the primary visual cortex to the high-level coding of face identity in temporal visual areas. Previous research using pattern aftereffects as a psychophysical tool to measure activation of adaptive feature coding has suggested that awareness is relatively unimportant for the coding of orientation, but awareness is crucial for the coding of face identity. We investigated where along the ventral visual pathway awareness becomes crucial for pattern coding. Monoptic masking, which interferes with neural spiking activity in low-level processing while preserving awareness of the adaptor, eliminated open-curvature aftereffects but preserved closed-curvature aftereffects. In contrast, dichoptic masking, which spares spiking activity in low-level processing while wiping out awareness, preserved open-curvature aftereffects but eliminated closed-curvature aftereffects. This double dissociation suggests that adaptive coding of open and closed curvatures straddles the divide between weakly and strongly awareness-dependent pattern coding. PMID:21690314
Krakow, Melinda; Ratcliff, Chelsea L; Hesse, Bradford W; Greenberg-Worisek, Alexandra J
2018-05-31
Public understanding of the role of genetics in disease risk is key to appropriate disease prevention and detection. This study assessed the current extent of awareness and use of genetic testing in the US population. Additionally, the study identified characteristics of subgroups more likely to be at risk for low genetic literacy. The study used data from the National Cancer Institute's 2017 Health Information National Trends Survey, including measures of genetic testing awareness, genetic testing applications and genetic testing usage. Multivariable logistic regression models estimated associations between sociodemographics, genetic testing awareness, and genetic testing use. Fifty-seven percent of respondents were aware of genetic tests. Testing awareness differed by age, household income, and race/ethnicity. Most participants had heard of using tests to determine personal disease risk (82.58%) or inherited disease risk in children (81.41%), but less were familiar with determining treatment (38.29%) or drug efficacy (40.76%). Among those with genetic testing awareness, actual testing uptake was low. A large portion of the general public lacks genetic testing awareness and may benefit from educational campaigns. As precision medicine expands, increasing public awareness about genetic testing applications for disease prevention and treatment will be important to support population health. This is a work of the US Government and is not subject to copyright protection in the United States. Foreign copyrights may apply. Published by S. Karger AG, Basel.
"In-Awareness" Approach to International Public Relations.
Zaharna, R. S.
2001-01-01
Presents a three-tiered framework intended to expose hidden cultural assumptions and expectations that plague international public relations. Notes the country profile outlines what may be feasible within a particular country; the cultural profile speaks to what may be effective in that country; and the communication profile delineates…
Chen, Chen Hsiu; Kuo, Su Ching; Tang, Siew Tzuh
2017-05-01
No systematic meta-analysis is available on the prevalence of cancer patients' accurate prognostic awareness and differences in accurate prognostic awareness by publication year, region, assessment method, and service received. To examine the prevalence of advanced/terminal cancer patients' accurate prognostic awareness and differences in accurate prognostic awareness by publication year, region, assessment method, and service received. Systematic review and meta-analysis. MEDLINE, Embase, The Cochrane Library, CINAHL, and PsycINFO were systematically searched on accurate prognostic awareness in adult patients with advanced/terminal cancer (1990-2014). Pooled prevalences were calculated for accurate prognostic awareness by a random-effects model. Differences in weighted estimates of accurate prognostic awareness were compared by meta-regression. In total, 34 articles were retrieved for systematic review and meta-analysis. At best, only about half of advanced/terminal cancer patients accurately understood their prognosis (49.1%; 95% confidence interval: 42.7%-55.5%; range: 5.4%-85.7%). Accurate prognostic awareness was independent of service received and publication year, but highest in Australia, followed by East Asia, North America, and southern Europe and the United Kingdom (67.7%, 60.7%, 52.8%, and 36.0%, respectively; p = 0.019). Accurate prognostic awareness was higher by clinician assessment than by patient report (63.2% vs 44.5%, p cancer patients accurately understood their prognosis, with significant variations by region and assessment method. Healthcare professionals should thoroughly assess advanced/terminal cancer patients' preferences for prognostic information and engage them in prognostic discussion early in the cancer trajectory, thus facilitating their accurate prognostic awareness and the quality of end-of-life care decision-making.
Public knowledge of head and neck cancer.
LENUS (Irish Health Repository)
O'Connor, T E
2010-04-01
Studies show 60% of patients with newly diagnosed Head & Neck Squamous Cell Cancer in Ireland, present with advanced disease. A poor level of knowledge and awareness among the public of Head & Neck Cancer, is an important consideration in the often delayed presentation for medical attention in many of these cases. Our study surveyed 200 members of the public to assess their knowledge and awareness of Head & Neck Cancer. One hundred and forty (70%) of respondents had never encountered the term "Head & Neck Cancer". One hundred and forty six (73%) failed to identify excessive alcohol consumption as a risk factor. Less than 100 (50%) would have concern about persisting hoarseness or a prolonged oral ulcer. An urgent need exists to raise awareness of Head & Neck Cancer among the public in Ireland.
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Kendra M. Hill
2014-02-01
Full Text Available Current research supports the role of metacognitive strategies to enhance reading comprehension. This study measured the effectiveness of online versus face-to-face metacognitive and active reading skills lessons introduced by Biology faculty to college students in a non-majors introductory biology course. These lessons were delivered in two lectures either online (Group 1: N = 154 or face-to-face (Group 2: N = 152. Previously validated pre- and post-surveys were used to collect and compare data by paired and independent t-test analysis (α = 0.05. Pre- and post-survey data showed a statistically significant improvement in both groups in metacognitive awareness (p = 0.001, p = 0.003, respectively and reading comprehension (p < 0.001 for both groups. When comparing the delivery mode of these lessons, no difference was detected between the online and face-to-face instruction for metacognitive awareness (pre- p = 0.619, post- p = 0.885. For reading comprehension, no difference in gains was demonstrated between online and face-to-face (p = 0.381, however, differences in pre- and post- test scores was measured (pre- p = 0.005, post- p = 0.038. This study suggests that biology instructors can easily introduce effective metacognitive awareness and active reading lessons into their course, either through online or face-to-face instruction.
Brain mechanisms for loss of awareness of thought and movement
Oakley, David A.; Halligan, Peter W.; Mehta, Mitul A.; Deeley, Quinton
2017-01-01
Abstract Loss or reduction of awareness is common in neuropsychiatric disorders and culturally influenced dissociative phenomena but the underlying brain mechanisms are poorly understood. fMRI was combined with suggestions for automatic writing in 18 healthy highly hypnotically suggestible individuals in a within-subjects design to determine whether clinical alterations in awareness of thought and movement can be experimentally modelled and studied independently of illness. Subjective ratings of control, ownership, and awareness of thought and movement, and fMRI data were collected following suggestions for thought insertion and alien control of writing movement, with and without loss of awareness. Subjective ratings confirmed that suggestions were effective. At the neural level, our main findings indicated that loss of awareness for both thought and movement during automatic writing was associated with reduced activation in a predominantly left-sided posterior cortical network including BA 7 (superior parietal lobule and precuneus), and posterior cingulate cortex, involved in self-related processing and awareness of the body in space. Reduced activity in posterior parietal cortices may underlie specific clinical and cultural alterations in awareness of thought and movement. Clinically, these findings may assist development of imaging assessments for loss of awareness of psychological origin, and interventions such as neurofeedback. PMID:28338742
Exploring the Integration of Disability Awareness into Tertiary Teaching and Learning Activities
Hale, Leigh; van der Meer, Jacques; Rutherford, Gill; Clay, Lynne; Janssen, Jessie; Powell, Denise
2013-01-01
A desire to have every student attending our University be aware of, and reflect on, disability in their studies and future careers, initiated our project to explore how to enhance disability awareness within all our University's papers. In this project we systematically reviewed pertinent literature and ran an action research workshop for staff.…
Perception and Awareness of Islamic Accounting: Student Perspectives
Siswantoro, Dodik
2015-01-01
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the perception and awareness of Islamic accounting of undergraduate accounting students at Universitas Indonesia. The Indonesian Institute of Accountants has an Islamic Accounting Certification and a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) test, meaning that the course's competency should satisfy both…
Users Behavior in Location-Aware Services: Digital Natives versus Digital Immigrants
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Marco Furini
2014-01-01
Full Text Available Location-aware services may expose users to privacy risks as they usually attach user’s location to the generated contents. Different studies have focused on privacy in location-aware services, but the results are often conflicting. Our hypothesis is that users are not fully aware of the features of the location-aware scenario and this lack of knowledge affects the results. Hence, in this paper we present a different approach: the analysis is conducted on two different groups of users (digital natives and digital immigrants and is divided into two steps: (i understanding users’ knowledge of a location-aware scenario and (ii investigating users’ opinion toward location-aware services after showing them an example of an effective location-aware service able to extract personal and sensitive information from contents publicly available in social media platforms. The analysis reveals that there is relation between users’ knowledge and users’ concerns toward privacy in location-aware services and also reveals that digital natives are more interested in the location-aware scenario than digital immigrants. The analysis also discloses that users’ concerns toward these services may be ameliorated if these services ask for users’ authorization and provide benefits to users. Other interesting findings allow us to draw guidelines that might be helpful in developing effective location-aware services.
Westinghouse Hanford Company waste minimization and pollution prevention awareness program plan
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Craig, P.A.; Nichols, D.H.; Lindsey, D.W.
1991-08-01
The purpose of this plan is to establish the Westinghouse Hanford Company's Waste Minimization Program. The plan specifies activities and methods that will be employed to reduce the quantity and toxicity of waste generated at Westinghouse Hanford Company (Westinghouse Hanford). It is designed to satisfy the US Department of Energy (DOE) and other legal requirements that are discussed in Subsection C of the section. The Pollution Prevention Awareness Program is included with the Waste Minimization Program as permitted by DOE Order 5400.1 (DOE 1988a). This plan is based on the Hanford Site Waste Minimization and Pollution Prevention Awareness Program Plan, which directs DOE Field Office, Richland contractors to develop and maintain a waste minimization program. This waste minimization program is an organized, comprehensive, and continual effort to systematically reduce waste generation. The Westinghouse Hanford Waste Minimization Program is designed to prevent or minimize pollutant releases to all environmental media from all aspects of Westinghouse Hanford operations and offers increased protection of public health and the environment. 14 refs., 2 figs., 1 tab
Distributed context-aware systems
Ferreira, Paulo
2014-01-01
Context-aware systems aim to deliver a rich user experience by taking into?account the current user context (location, time, activity, etc.), possibly?captured without his intervention. For example, cell phones are now able to?continuously update a user's location while, at the same time, users execute?an increasing amount of activities online, where their actions may be easily?captured (e.g. login in a web application) without user consent. In the last decade, this topic has seen numerous developments that demonstrate its relevance and usefulness. The?trend was accelerated with the widespread?availability of powerful mobile devices (e.g. smartphones) that include a myriad of?sensors which enable applications to capture the user context. However, there are several challenges that must be addressed; we focus on scalability?(large number of context aware messages) and privacy (personal data that may be propagated).?This book is organized in five chapters starting with an introduction to?the theme raising the mo...
Anderson, Allison C; Mackey, Tim K; Attaran, Amir; Liang, Bryan A
2016-01-01
Illicit online pharmacies are a growing global public health concern. Stakeholders have started to engage in health promotion activities to educate the public, yet their scope and impact has not been examined. We wished to identify health promotion activities focused on consumer awareness regarding the risks of illicit online pharmacies. Organizations engaged on the issue were first identified using a set of engagement criteria. We then reviewed these organizations for health promotion programs, educational components, public service announcements, and social media engagement. Our review identified 13 organizations across a wide spectrum of stakeholders. Of these organizations, 69.2% (n = 9) had at least one type of health promotion activity targeting consumers. Although the vast majority of these organizations were active on Facebook or Twitter, many did not have dedicated content regarding online pharmacies (Facebook: 45.5%, Twitter: 58.3%). An online survey administered to 6 respondents employed by organizations identified in this study found that all organizations had dedicated programs on the issue, but only half had media planning strategies in place to measure the effectiveness of their programs. Overall, our results indicate that though some organizations are actively engaged on the issue, communication and education initiatives have had questionable effectiveness in reaching the public. We note that only a few organizations offered comprehensive and dedicated content to raise awareness on the issue and were effective in social media communications. In response, more robust collaborative efforts between stakeholders are needed to educate and protect the consumer about this public health and patient safety danger.
Quality of Care and Services of a Public Hospital: Awareness and Assessment
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Abdel-ilah Aziane
2015-04-01
Full Text Available In order to give everyone access to quality care, this study attempts to make quality awareness, highlighting the importance of the implementation of the quality management system in health care facilities. The objective of our work is to make a quality awareness, to analyze the current situation and to provide recommendations. The analysis of the existing situation consists of identifying, describing, and analyzing the key processes implemented, listing the dysfunctions, classifying them, deciding on the corresponding actions and putting in place indicators and dashboards, which will help track improvements. The overall situation of the hospital regarding the requirements of ISO 9001 indicated a respect of about 28% of the requirements of the standard. The state of the premises of the establishment does not indicate a clear organization at the hospital. The hospital environment is a prerequisite to the establishment of a system of quality management that enables you to deploy a clear and shared policy to improve the quality of care and services.
Awareness of Breast Cancer among Female Care Givers in Tertiary Cancer Hospital, China
Dinegde, Negalign Getahun; Xuying, Li
2017-01-01
Objective: Breast cancer is a worldwide public health issue and most common cancer diagnosed among women including China, where advanced stages at diagnosis appears to be increasing and an ever-rising incidence twice as fast as global rates. The study was conducted to describe the awareness of breast cancer and associated factors among care giver women in tertiary Cancer Hospital, China. Methods: Institutional based cross-sectional study was conducted among 261 women selected by systematic random sampling. Information provided by the participants was converted into awareness scores for analysis using SPSS version 23. Awareness scores were dichotomized in to ‘good awareness and ‘poor awareness’ taking median score=11 as the cut-off point. Data analysis was performed using the binary logistic regression. A p-value of awareness. Breast lump was the most commonly known symptom of cancer by 61.7% of the respondents. Slightly more than half of the study participants acknowledged having a past history of breast cancer, drinking alcohol and having close relative with breast cancer as potential risk factors for breast cancer (63.6%, 58.6%, and 55.6% respectively). Nevertheless, a vast majority of the study participants were unable to appreciate modifiable risk factors of the disease. More than half of the participants had never/rarely checked their breasts and all of the participants wrongly answered breast cancer knowledge age related risk. Awareness level was significantly associated with entertainment preference (OR=3.57; 95%CI=1.71, 7.44) and residence setting areas (OR=2.4; 95%CI=1.04, 5.69). Conclusion: The study indicated suboptimal awareness while entertainment preference and residence setting were significantly associated with awareness level. Public awareness campaigns should be made by dissemination of information about breast cancer through health education and printed Medias with great emphases on women living in rural areas. PMID:28749635
The Association between Access to Public Transportation and Self-Reported Active Commuting
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Djurhuus, Sune; Hansen, Henning S; Aadahl, Mette
2014-01-01
Active commuting provides routine-based regular physical activity which can reduce the risk of chronic diseases. Using public transportation involves some walking or cycling to a transit stop, transfers and a walk to the end location and users of public transportation have been found to accumulate...... more moderate physical activity than non-users. Understanding how public transportation characteristics are associated with active transportation is thus important from a public health perspective. This study examines the associations between objective measures of access to public transportation...... and self-reported active commuting. Self-reported time spent either walking or cycling commuting each day and the distance to workplace were obtained for adults aged 16 to 65 in the Danish National Health Survey 2010 (n = 28,928). Access to public transportation measures were computed by combining GIS...
Lapate, R. C.; Rokers, B.; Tromp, D. P. M.; Orfali, N. S.; Oler, J. A.; Doran, S. T.; Adluru, N.; Alexander, A. L.; Davidson, R. J.
2016-01-01
Conscious awareness of negative cues is thought to enhance emotion-regulatory capacity, but the neural mechanisms underlying this effect are unknown. Using continuous flash suppression (CFS) in the MRI scanner, we manipulated visual awareness of fearful faces during an affect misattribution paradigm, in which preferences for neutral objects can be biased by the valence of a previously presented stimulus. The amygdala responded to fearful faces independently of awareness. However, when awareness of fearful faces was prevented, individuals with greater amygdala responses displayed a negative bias toward unrelated novel neutral faces. In contrast, during the aware condition, inverse coupling between the amygdala and prefrontal cortex reduced this bias, particularly among individuals with higher structural connectivity in the major white matter pathway connecting the prefrontal cortex and amygdala. Collectively, these results indicate that awareness promotes the function of a critical emotion-regulatory network targeting the amygdala, providing a mechanistic account for the role of awareness in emotion regulation. PMID:27181344
Fault Activity Aware Service Delivery in Wireless Sensor Networks for Smart Cities
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Xiaomei Zhang
2017-01-01
Full Text Available Wireless sensor networks (WSNs are increasingly used in smart cities which involve multiple city services having quality of service (QoS requirements. When misbehaving devices exist, the performance of current delivery protocols degrades significantly. Nonetheless, the majority of existing schemes either ignore the faulty behaviors’ variability and time-variance in city environments or focus on homogeneous traffic for traditional data services (simple text messages rather than city services (health care units, traffic monitors, and video surveillance. We consider the problem of fault-aware multiservice delivery, in which the network performs secure routing and rate control in terms of fault activity dynamic metric. To this end, we first design a distributed framework to estimate the fault activity information based on the effects of nondeterministic faulty behaviors and to incorporate these estimates into the service delivery. Then we present a fault activity geographic opportunistic routing (FAGOR algorithm addressing a wide range of misbehaviors. We develop a leaky-hop model and design a fault activity rate-control algorithm for heterogeneous traffic to allocate resources, while guaranteeing utility fairness among multiple city services. Finally, we demonstrate the significant performance of our scheme in routing performance, effective utility, and utility fairness in the presence of misbehaving sensors through extensive simulations.
Our Light or Starlight? Citizen Science, Public Involvement and You
Walker, Constance E.
2010-10-01
With half of the world's population now living in cities, many urban dwellers have never experienced the wonderment of pristinely dark skies and maybe never will. Light pollution is obscuring people's long-standing natural heritage to view stars. The GLOBE at Night program (www.globeatnight.org) is an international citizen-science campaign to raise public awareness of the impact of light pollution by encouraging everyone everywhere to measure local levels of night sky brightness and contribute observations online to a world map. In the last 5 years, GLOBE at Night has been the most productive public light pollution monitoring campaign, collecting over 52,000 observations in a two-week period annually. This year, during the moonless two weeks in March, the campaign set a record high of over 17,800 measurements from people in 86 countries. Foundational resources are available to facilitate the public's participation in promoting dark skies awareness. The GLOBE at Night website explains clearly the simple-to-participate-in 5 step program and offers background information and interactive games on key concepts. The program has been expanded to include trainings of the general public, but especially educators in schools, museums and science centers, in unique ways. Education kits for dark skies awareness have been distributed at the training workshops. The kit includes material for a light shielding demonstration, a digital Sky Quality Meter and ``Dark Skies Rangers'' activities. The activities are on how unshielded light wastes energy, how light pollution affects wildlife and how you can participate in a citizen-science star-hunt like GLOBE at Night. In addition, projects are being developed for what to do with the data once it is taken. The GLOBE at Night data from different years can be compared to look for trends over time or with population density maps. The data can also be used to search for dark sky oases or to monitor lighting ordinance compliance. Most recently
Hajdarevic, Senada; Hvidberg, Line; Lin, Yulan; Donnelly, Conan; Gavin, Anna; Lagerlund, Magdalena; Pedersen, Anette F; Rasmussen, Birgit H; Runesdotter, Sara; Vedsted, Peter; Tishelman, Carol
2016-02-01
Malignant melanoma (MM) is increasing rapidly in Northern Europe. To reduce incidence and mortality through earlier diagnosis, public awareness of MM is important. Thus, we aim to examine awareness of risk factors and a symptom of MM, and how awareness varies by country and socio-demographic factors in Denmark, Northern Ireland (NI), Norway and Sweden. Population-based telephone interviews using the 'Awareness and Beliefs about Cancer' measure were conducted in 2011 among 8355 adults ≥50 years as part of the International Cancer Benchmarking Partnership Module 2. Prevalence ratios (PRs) with 95% confidence intervals were calculated. In these four countries, lowest awareness was found for 'sunburn in childhood' (63%), whereas awareness was high for 'use of sunbeds' (91%) and 'mole change' (97%). Lack of awareness of 'sunburn in childhood' was more prevalent among respondents from Norway [PR = 1.38 (1.28-1.48)] but less prevalent among respondents from Northern Ireland (NI) [PR = 0.78 (0.72-0.85)] and Sweden [PR = 0.86 (0.79-0.93)] compared with respondents from Denmark. Lack of awareness of 'use of sunbeds' was more prevalent among respondents from Norway [PR = 2.99 (2.39-3.74)], Sweden [PR = 1.57 (1.22-2.00)], and NI [PR = 1.65 (1.30-2.10)] compared with respondents form Denmark. Being a man, age ≥70, living alone, and having lower education, were each independently associated with lack of MM-awareness. The results indicate relatively low awareness of 'sunburn in childhood' as a risk factor for MM, and important disparities in MM-awareness across countries and socio-demographic groups. Improved and more directed initiatives to enhance public MM-awareness, particularly about 'sunburn in childhood', are needed. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Public Health Association. All rights reserved.
Counterterrorism and cybersecurity total information awareness
Lee, Newton
2013-01-01
Provides a broad survey of the United States' counterterrorism history, the use of artificial intelligence in data mining, social media and privacy, cyber attacks and prevention, and longstanding issues of war and peace Closely examines how Total Information Awareness, a governmental data mining project focused on scanning public and private data, plays an integral role in cybersecurity Analyzes recent cyberattacks across the globe orchestrated by 'hacktivist' groups, such as Anonymous
Pedunculopontine Nucleus Gamma Band Activity-Preconscious Awareness, Waking, and REM Sleep
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Francisco J Urbano
2014-10-01
Full Text Available The pedunculopontine nucleus (PPN is a major component of the reticular activating system (RAS that regulates waking and REM sleep, states of high frequency EEG activity. Recently, we described the presence of high threshold, voltage-dependent N- and P/Q-type calcium channels in RAS nuclei that subserve gamma band oscillations in the mesopontine pedunculopontine nucleus (PPN, intralaminar parafascicular nucleus (Pf, and pontine Subcoeruleus nucleus dorsalis (SubCD. Cortical gamma band activity participates in sensory perception, problem solving, and memory. Rather than participating in the temporal binding of sensory events as in the cortex, gamma band activity in the RAS may participate in the processes of preconscious awareness, and provide the essential stream of information for the formulation of many of our actions. That is, the RAS may play an early permissive role in volition. Our latest results suggest that, 1 the manifestation of gamma band activity during waking may employ a separate intracellular pathway compared to that during REM sleep, 2 neuronal calcium sensor (NCS-1 protein, which is over expressed in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, modulates gamma band oscillations in the PPN in a concentration-dependent manner, 3 leptin, which undergoes resistance in obesity resulting in sleep dysregulation, decreases sodium currents in PPN neurons, accounting for its normal attenuation of waking, and 4 following our discovery of electrical coupling in the RAS, we hypothesize that there are cell clusters within the PPN that may act in concert. These results provide novel information on the mechanisms controlling high frequency activity related to waking and REM sleep by elements of the RAS.
Assessing the public health impact of using poison center data for public health surveillance.
Wang, Alice; Law, Royal; Lyons, Rebecca; Choudhary, Ekta; Wolkin, Amy; Schier, Joshua
2017-12-13
The National Poison Data System (NPDS) is a database and surveillance system for US poison centers (PCs) call data. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC) use NPDS to identify incidents of potential public health significance. State health departments are notified by CDC of incidents identified by NPDS to be of potential public health significance. Our objective was to describe the public health impact of CDC's notifications and the use of NPDS data for surveillance. We described how NPDS data informed three public health responses: the Deepwater Horizon incident, national exposures to laundry detergent pods, and national exposures to e-cigarettes. Additionally, we extracted survey results of state epidemiologists regarding NPDS incident notification follow-up from 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2016 to assess current public health application of NPDS data using Epi Info 7.2 and analyzed data using SAS 9.3. We assessed whether state health departments were aware of incidents before notification, what actions were taken, and whether CDC notifications contributed to actions. NPDS data provided evidence for industry changes to improve laundry detergent pod containers safety and highlighted the need to regulate e-cigarette sale and manufacturing. NPDS data were used to improve situational awareness during the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Of 59 health departments and PCs who responded to CDC notifications about anomalies (response rate = 49.2%), 27 (46%) reported no previous awareness of the incident, and 20 (34%) said that notifications contributed to public health action. Monitoring NPDS data for anomalies can identify emerging public health threats and provide evidence-based science to support public health action and policy changes.
Knowledge and awareness of Tuberculosis among Students of ...
African Journals Online (AJOL)
Background: Tuberculosis (TB) is a major health problem worldwide, as one third of the world population is infected with M. tuberculosis. It is still a major cause of morbidity and mortality and a major public health concern in Sudan. Objectives: to determine the awareness and knowledge of tuberculosis among students.
Extension Agents' Awareness of Climate Change in Ethiopia
Abegaz, Dagmawi M.; Wims, Padraig
2015-01-01
Purpose: The fact that highly vulnerable countries like Ethiopia face far greater challenges from climate change makes agricultural adaptation a top priority. Even though the public agriculture extension system in Ethiopia plays a central role in facilitating and supporting adaptation, very limited information is available on how aware the actual…
Data Placement for Privacy-Aware Applications over Big Data in Hybrid Clouds
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Xiaolong Xu
2017-01-01
Full Text Available Nowadays, a large number of groups choose to deploy their applications to cloud platforms, especially for the big data era. Currently, the hybrid cloud is one of the most popular computing paradigms for holding the privacy-aware applications driven by the requirements of privacy protection and cost saving. However, it is still a challenge to realize data placement considering both the energy consumption in private cloud and the cost for renting the public cloud services. In view of this challenge, a cost and energy aware data placement method, named CEDP, for privacy-aware applications over big data in hybrid cloud is proposed. Technically, formalized analysis of cost, access time, and energy consumption is conducted in the hybrid cloud environment. Then a corresponding data placement method is designed to accomplish the cost saving for renting the public cloud services and energy savings for task execution within the private cloud platforms. Experimental evaluations validate the efficiency and effectiveness of our proposed method.
AnalyzeThis: An Analysis Workflow-Aware Storage System
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Sim, Hyogi [ORNL; Kim, Youngjae [ORNL; Vazhkudai, Sudharshan S [ORNL; Tiwari, Devesh [ORNL; Anwar, Ali [Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA; Butt, Ali R [Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA; Ramakrishnan, Lavanya [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL)
2015-01-01
The need for novel data analysis is urgent in the face of a data deluge from modern applications. Traditional approaches to data analysis incur significant data movement costs, moving data back and forth between the storage system and the processor. Emerging Active Flash devices enable processing on the flash, where the data already resides. An array of such Active Flash devices allows us to revisit how analysis workflows interact with storage systems. By seamlessly blending together the flash storage and data analysis, we create an analysis workflow-aware storage system, AnalyzeThis. Our guiding principle is that analysis-awareness be deeply ingrained in each and every layer of the storage, elevating data analyses as first-class citizens, and transforming AnalyzeThis into a potent analytics-aware appliance. We implement the AnalyzeThis storage system atop an emulation platform of the Active Flash array. Our results indicate that AnalyzeThis is viable, expediting workflow execution and minimizing data movement.
Loganathan, Santosh; Iyengar, Vijeth; Chowdappa, Suresh Vedalaveni; Varghese, Mathew
2017-10-01
India is poised to experience dramatic shifts in the age and makeup of its population. Specifically, projections havehighlighted an increase in both the percentage of the elderly and those suffering from dementia-related disorders.Previous studies have examined the demographics of aging, its impact on the healthcare infrastructure and recommended policies to better cater to the elderly. This article focuses on a summary of these findings in relation to key stakeholders in the care of the elderly including mental health professionals, family caregivers, and public health officials. We broadly conclude that there exists a general shallow level of understanding of what constitutes pathological aging (i.e. dementia) across all stakeholders, and this creates a cascade of effects including delays in treatment seeking and barriers in conducting and having accurate demographic studies. Moreover, addressing this knowledge gap can help enhance communication between these three stakeholders in the hopes of the following: (a) increased education and awareness, (b) faster seeking of care, and (c) earlier diagnoses leading to better opportunities to collect accurate demographics of those suffering from dementia-related disorders. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Body awareness and responses to experimentally Induced pain
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
M. Minev
2017-09-01
Full Text Available PURPOSE. The aim of this study is to discuss personal and demographic factors that influence the relationship between physical activity and awareness of one's own body, as well as the pain response (threshold and tolerance of pain, situational anxiety and personality. In the study 38 healthy individual- volunteers, students in Trakia University - Stara Zagora were selected. All participants were divided into two groups: actively involved in individual or team sport (n = 19 and healthy normaly active subjects (non-athletes, n = 19. The age of the study participants ranged between 18 and 39 years, while the gender breakdown was as follows: men - 22 women – 16. Methods: Psychological Questionnaires: Body Awareness Questionnaire that asks subjects to rate, on a 4 point scale, the degree to which they were currently experiencing symptoms of sympathetic arousal, State Trait Anger Scale, and State Trait Anxiety Scale. Objective methods (cold pressure test are used only to determine the pain sensation and pain tolerance thresholds. The results of investigation support significant differences between athletes and non-athletes in pain thershold, body awareness and anxiety. The study conclusions discuss body awareness as an increasing factor for pain resistance in athletes and as an integral part of the learning process among them.
Cyberbiosecurity: From Naive Trust to Risk Awareness.
Peccoud, Jean; Gallegos, Jenna E; Murch, Randall; Buchholz, Wallace G; Raman, Sanjay
2018-01-01
The cyber-physical nature of biotechnology raises unprecedented security concerns. Computers can be compromised by encoding malware in DNA sequences, and biological threats can be synthesized using publicly available data. Trust within the biotechnology community creates vulnerabilities at the interface between cyberspace and biology. Awareness is a prerequisite to managing these risks. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
The Advancement of Public Awareness, Concerning TRU Waste Characterization, Using a Virtual Document
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
West, T. B.; Burns, T. P.; Estill, W. G.; Riggs, M. J.; Taggart, D. P.; Punjak, W. A.
2002-01-01
Building public trust and confidence through openness is a goal of the DOE Carlsbad Field Office for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). The objective of the virtual document described in this paper is to give the public an overview of the waste characterization steps, an understanding of how waste characterization instrumentation works, and the type and amount of data generated from a batch of drums. The document is intended to be published on a web page and/or distributed at public meetings on CDs. Users may gain as much information as they desire regarding the transuranic (TRU) waste characterization program, starting at the highest level requirements (drivers) and progressing to more and more detail regarding how the requirements are met. Included are links to: drivers (which include laws, permits and DOE Orders); various characterization steps required for transportation and disposal under WIPP's Hazardous Waste Facility Permit; physical/chemical basis for each characterization method; types of data produced; and quality assurance process that accompanies each measurement. Examples of each type of characterization method in use across the DOE complex are included. The original skeleton of the document was constructed in a PowerPoint presentation and included descriptions of each section of the waste characterization program. This original document had a brief overview of Acceptable Knowledge, Non-Destructive Examination, Non-Destructive Assay, Small Quantity sites, and the National Certification Team. A student intern was assigned the project of converting the document to a virtual format and to discuss each subject in depth. The resulting product is a fully functional virtual document that works in a web browser and functions like a web page. All documents that were referenced, linked to, or associated, are included on the virtual document's CD. WIPP has been engaged in a variety of Hazardous Waste Facility Permit modification activities. During the
Dundas, Kate Joanne; Hansen, Vibeke; Outram, Suzanne; James, Erica L
2017-01-01
analytical awareness of health determinants and the measures in place to protect health. The TIPH photo essay and reflective task was successful in providing undergraduate students with an experiential activity that resulted in increased knowledge and understanding of public health strategies. The task was a valuable pedagogical experience.
Context-Aware Active Authentication using Touch Gestures, Typing Patterns and Body Movement
2016-03-01
Division Information Directorate This report is published in the interest of scientific and technical information exchange, and its publication does...CA policy clarification memorandum dated 16 Jan 09. 13. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES 14. ABSTRACT Design, develop and evaluate a desktop based active...of this project was to design, develop and evaluate a desktop active authentication system that uses the following keystroke timing based biometric
Metzger, Brian A; Mathewson, Kyle E; Tapia, Evelina; Fabiani, Monica; Gratton, Gabriele; Beck, Diane M
2017-06-01
Research on the neural correlates of consciousness (NCC) has implicated an assortment of brain regions, ERP components, and network properties associated with visual awareness. Recently, the P3b ERP component has emerged as a leading NCC candidate. However, typical P3b paradigms depend on the detection of some stimulus change, making it difficult to separate brain processes elicited by the stimulus itself from those associated with updates or changes in visual awareness. Here we used binocular rivalry to ask whether the P3b is associated with changes in awareness even in the absence of changes in the object of awareness. We recorded ERPs during a probe-mediated binocular rivalry paradigm in which brief probes were presented over the image in either the suppressed or dominant eye to determine whether the elicited P3b activity is probe or reversal related. We found that the timing of P3b (but not its amplitude) was closely related to the timing of the report of a perceptual change rather than to the onset of the probe. This is consistent with the proposal that P3b indexes updates in conscious awareness, rather than being related to stimulus processing per se. Conversely, the probe-related P1 amplitude (but not its latency) was associated with reversal latency, suggesting that the degree to which the probe is processed increases the likelihood of a fast perceptual reversal. Finally, the response-locked P3b amplitude (but not its latency) was associated with the duration of an intermediate stage between reversals in which parts of both percepts coexist (piecemeal period). Together, the data suggest that the P3b reflects an update in consciousness and that the intensity of that process (as indexed by P3b amplitude) predicts how immediate that update is.
Entrepreneurship in a Finnish public institution
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Marin Burcea
2012-12-01
Full Text Available During the last decades the idea of entrepreneurship in public institutions has been the subject of intense debates, activities and academic research. The scopes of our article are to briefly underline the importance of developing an entrepreneurial spirit by presenting a case study from a Finnish local public administration and making aware the proactive aspect in the process of managing public institutions in Romania. Our hypotheses have been mainly of an interrogative nature. Hypothesis testing was achieved through the analysis of statistical data and conducting a set of sociological interviews with key people from Finnish institutions which were used in the survey. The results of the research emphasize that where there is an entrepreneurial behaviour with the local administration management, the community undergoes a process of conservation and development. The way in which they relate to community partners (such as entrepreneurs, non-profit organizations, citizens is essential to the entrepreneurial spirit within the local public institution.
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Laura Newton Miller
2012-03-01
Full Text Available Objective– To explore the current state of information literacy (IL training in Canadian public libraries, and to identify strategies used for improving IL training skills for staff and patrons.Design – Mixed-methods approach, including document analysis, observations, and focus group interviews.Setting – Two libraries of a large public library system in Canada: the central library and one branch library.Subjects – Six staff members (manager, administrator, training coordinator, instructor, and computer technician who have been involved in designing and teaching information literacy courses for library patrons and staff.Methods – The researcher analyzed internal and external library documents related to information literacy, including, but not limited to, reports, posters, lesson plans, newsletters, and training scripts. He also observed interactions and behaviours of patrons during IL training sessions. Finally, he conducted a focus group with people involved in IL training, asking questions about facilities and resources, programs, patron reaction, librarian knowledge of IL theory, and impediments and benefits of IL training programs in public libraries.Main Results – Staff were aware of the importance of IL training in the library. Attracting more library patrons (including building partnerships with other organizations, improving staff IL and training skills, employing effective strategies for running training programs, and dealing with financial issues were all concerns about running IL training that were highlighted.Conclusion – Canadian public libraries are well aware of their role as IL training providers, but they still face several challenges in order to improve their effectiveness.
Situational Awareness Support to Enhance Teamwork in Collaborative Environments
Kulyk, Olga Anatoliyivna; van der Veer, Gerrit C.; van Dijk, Elisabeth M.A.G.; Jorge, J
2008-01-01
Modern collaborative environments often provide an overwhelming amount of visual information on multiple displays. The multitude of personal and shared interaction devices leads to lack of awareness of team members on ongoing activities, and awareness of who is in control of shared artefacts. This
Awareness of climate change and indigenous coping strategies of ...
African Journals Online (AJOL)
The study assessed the awareness and indigenous coping mechanism employed by women crop farmers to cope with climate change in Kogi State, Nigeria. Respondents' socioeconomic characteristic, level of awareness about climate change, and indigenous coping strategies to climate change as well as activities of ...
THE PUBLIC OFFICER - THE ACTIVE SUBJECT OF A CRIME
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
NICOLETA-ELENA BUZATU
2011-04-01
Full Text Available The present study intends to analyze the active subject of the crime committed by an individual - the public officer, for example - during his daily duty program or with reference to the attributions he has versus the public office he holds, in the light of the regulations provided not only by the Penal Code in force but also by the future New Penal Code, as, among the important amendments it provides, the definition of the public officer is also mentioned. In the case of such a trespassing, the active subject shall hold the quality of a public officer the way this quality is regulated by the Penal Code, even if the definition is much ampler as compared to the one given by the Statute of the Public Officers. According to Art 147, paragraph 1 Penal Code, a public officer is any individual who permanently or temporarily exercises - irrespective of his/her rank or of the way this office was appointed, a paid or unpaid task of no matter what nature or importance - in the service of a department Art 145 refers to. The regulation proposed in perfect agreement with the solutions offered by other international legislations and conventions in the domain, the definition of a public officer refers to the individual who - permanently or temporarily appointed, paid or unpaid - shall exercise attributions specific to the legislative, executive or judiciary powers, a function of public dignity or a function of any other type - alone or in a group - within a self-governing management of another economic agent or of a legal person with a whole or a greater capital, or belonging to a legally declared person capital or to a legal person considered to be of public utility - attributions connected with the object of the latter’s activity.
Awareness of HIV / AIDS among the grass-widows
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Tazreen Mona
2011-01-01
Full Text Available The migrant workers in Bangladesh are at high risk of getting HIV infection due to factors like staying away from family for long periods which leave them vulnerable towards sexual relationship with commercial sex workers (CSW and having sexual relationship with other men (MSM. This paper aimed to explore the level of awareness on HIV/AIDs among the women whose husbands stay apart from them for over a period of 6 months. For this cross sectional study, women attending public and private hospitals in Dhaka city were selected purposively. The participants were interviewed using a partially open-structured questionnaire. A total of 404 subjects were interviewed. Most of the respondents were housewives (85.7%. The higher education group had a high prevalence of awareness (>=HSC vs. SSC: 45.0% vs. 8.5%; p<0.001. The prevalence of awareness was significantly higher among the employed than the housewives (50% vs. 12.4%, p<0.001. Although the wives of the unskilled labor and the skilled employee were equal (25% vs. 25%, the wives of skilled employee had significantly higher awareness than the wives of the unskilled laborer (30.7 vs. 10.9%, p = 0.001. The study concludes that higher awareness level was significantly associated with higher education of the participants and higher education of the husband. Occupationally, housewives were found to have very low level of awareness compared with the employed group of participants. Again the wives of skilled employees had a significantly higher prevalence of awareness compared with the wives of unskilled laborer. Ibrahim Med. Coll. J. 2011; 5(1: 25-28
The role of phonological awareness in reading comprehension
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Maria Silvia Cárnio
Full Text Available ABSTRACT Purpose: to characterize the performance of 4th grade-Elementary School students with and without signs of reading and writing disorders as for phonological awareness and reading comprehension, and also verify possible correlations between them. Methods: 60 children enrolled in the 4th grade of Elementary School from two public schools, whose parents signed the Informed Consent Form, participated in the present study. They were selected and organized in groups, with and without signs of reading and writing disorders. All students were individually assessed regarding their phonological awareness and reading comprehension of sentences and texts through standardized tests. The data underwent statistical analysis. Results: those with signs of reading and writing disorders showed the lowest performance in the reading comprehension of sentences and texts. A correlation was found between phonological awareness and reading comprehension of sentences and texts in both groups. Conclusion: students with no signs of reading and writing disorders had a higher performance in the skills assessed. The correlation found between phonological awareness and reading comprehension of sentences and texts shows not only the importance of metaphonological skills for a proficient reading, but also for a comprehensive one.
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Anon.
1993-01-01
Public opinion plays a critical role in ensuring the future of nuclear energy. After the events at Three Mile Island in 1979, and more recently the Chernobyl accident, worldwide antinuclear movements surged upward. As a result, the global nuclear industry was compelled to institute education programs aimed at allaying public apprehension surrounding nuclear power. The US Council for Energy Awareness strives to disseminate information on nuclear issues in an effort to educate the public and thus create a foundation of support for this important energy option. The US Council for Energy Awareness (USCEA) is the national communications and information organization for the US commercial nuclear power industry. The organization provides a national voice for an industry whose issues are not always well understood by the public or by policy makers. It performs many functions for member companies, and offers information to the public. Included in the primary functions USCEA conducts on behalf of the nuclear industry are advertising, public and media relations, technical programs, and conferences. Worldwide, its membership is approximately 400, and includes utilities, vendors, consultants, universities, and other organizations with an interest in nuclear power
PERCEPTION AND AWARENESS OF THE EUROPEAN UNION FOOD SAFETY FRAMEWORK
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Emanuele Boselli
2015-03-01
Full Text Available A survey was conducted on a Turkish Educated Group (TG, European Educated Group (EG and a Turkish Public Group (TPG, to reveal possible differences in the perception and awareness of the EU Food Safety policy. The majority was aware which authority is responsible for food safety at national level but did not clearly understand how to make food complains (mostly made to food companies instead of public institutions. The manufacturer name and price were important for the Turks, the food label for EG. “Food safety” was associated to “quality control” and “healthy life” by the TG and EG groups; however, the TPG understood it as “healthy life” and “food terror”.Individuals with higher education showed a high interest in the food package. Halal certification was highly appreciated by TG and TPG.
Djurhuus, Sune; Hansen, Henning Sten; Aadahl, Mette; Glümer, Charlotte
2014-01-01
Active commuters have lower risk of chronic disease. Understanding which of the, to some extent, modifiable characteristics of public transportation that facilitate its use is thus important in a public health perspective. The aim of the study was to examine the association between individual public transportation accessibility and self-reported active commuting, and whether the associations varied with commute distance, age, and gender. Twenty-eight thousand nine hundred twenty-eight commuters in The Capital Region of Denmark reported self-reported time spent either walking or cycling to work or study each day and the distance to work or study. Data were obtained from the Danish National Health Survey collected in February to April 2010. Individual accessibility by public transportation was calculated using a multi-modal network in a GIS. Multilevel logistic regression was used to analyze the association between accessibility, expressed as access area, and being an active commuter. Public transport accessibility area based on all stops within walking and cycling distance was positively associated with being an active commuter. Distance to work, age, and gender modified the associations. Residing within 10 km commute distance and in areas of high accessibility was associated with being an active commuter and meeting the recommendations of physical activity. For the respondents above 29 years, individual public transportation accessibility was positively associated with being an active commuter. Women having high accessibility had significantly higher odds of being an active commuter compared to having a low accessibility. For men, the associations were insignificant. This study extends the knowledge about the driving forces of using public transportation for commuting by examining the individual public transportation accessibility. Findings suggest that transportation accessibility supports active commuting and planning of improved public transit accessibility
Public health awareness of autoimmune diseases after the death of a celebrity.
Bragazzi, Nicola Luigi; Watad, Abdulla; Brigo, Francesco; Adawi, Mohammad; Amital, Howard; Shoenfeld, Yehuda
2017-08-01
Autoimmune disorders impose a high burden, in terms of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Vasculitis is an autoimmune disorder that causes inflammation and destruction of blood vessels. Harold Allen Ramis, a famous American actor, director, writer, and comedian, died on the February 24, 2014, of complications of an autoimmune inflammatory vasculitis. To investigate the relation between interests and awareness of an autoimmune disease after a relevant event such as the death of a celebrity, we systematically mined Google Trends, Wikitrends, Google News, YouTube, and Twitter, in any language, from their inception until October 31, 2016. Twenty-eight thousand eight hundred fifty-two tweets; 4,133,615 accesses to Wikipedia; 6780 news; and 11,400 YouTube videos were retrieved, processed, and analyzed. The Harold Ramis death of vasculitis resulted into an increase in vasculitis-related Google searches, Wikipedia page accesses, and tweet production, documenting a peak in February 2014. No trend could be detected concerning uploading YouTube videos. The usage of Big Data is promising in the fields of immunology and rheumatology. Clinical practitioners should be aware of this emerging phenomenon.
Awareness in the Home: The Nuances of Relationships, Domestic Coordination and Communication
Greenberg, Saul; Neustaedter, Carman; Elliot, Kathryn
Computing has changed dramatically over the last decade. While some changes arose from technological advances, the most profound effects are in how technologies are used by everyday people for activities other than task-oriented work. Computers are now central to new ways of engaging in play, interpersonal and small group communication, community interaction, entertainment, personal creativity dissemination, personal publication, and so on. We are particularly interested in domestic computing, where technology mediates how families and other inhabitants interact within the context of the home. While domestic computing can incorporate many things, we focus in this chapter on the role awareness plays in domestic coordination and communication.
Awareness of BIM adoption in Brunei
Rahman, Md Motiar
2017-09-01
Building Information Modelling (BIM) is getting increased attention day-by-day due to its many benefits, including clash detection, collaboration between contract parties, visualization future structure, optimized schedule and project control, waste control, design documentation, and harmonized facilities management. As such, many countries have already adopted BIM, and many other countries are exploring the potential of adopting it. However, it is still relatively new and unknown to some other countries like Brunei. This study was therefore undertaken to generate and/or gauge the awareness of Brunei construction industry participants, targeting adoption of BIM, through a structured questionnaire survey. Responses from 90 industry participants reveal that Brunei Construction industry is not well aware of BIM, lack the required technical knowledge and application in construction, and cost involvement. They are unsure about the potential benefits and barriers to implementing BIM. However, respondents are hopeful that BIM can bring the required changes in construction, willing to adopt BIM, expects cliental support with initial investment for its adoption, and believe that BIM is the future of construction project information management. On the whole, private sector was seen to be more aware on BIM than public sector. The study outcomes are expected to provide the policy makers a first-hand information on the industry awareness on BIM, which in turn help them for further exploration / examination and to design any action plan and guidelines for BIM adoption.
Climate Change Action Fund: public education and outreach. Change: think climate
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
2001-05-01
This illustrated booklet provides a glimpse of the many creative approaches being adopted by educators, community groups, industry associations and governments at all levels to inform Canadians about the causes and effects of climate change. It also provides suggestions about how each individual person can contribute to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through residential energy efficiency, by participating in ride-share programs, by planting trees and a myriad of other community action projects and public awareness campaigns. The booklet describes educational resources and training available to teachers, science presentations, climate change workshops, public awareness initiatives, community action on climate change, and sector-specific actions underway in the field of transportation and in improving energy efficiency in residential and large buildings. Descriptive summaries of the activities of organizations involved in climate change advocacy and promotion, and a list of contacts for individual projects also form part of the volume
Dark Skies Awareness Programs for the U.S. International Year of Astronomy
Walker, Constance E.; U. S. IYA Dark Skies Working Group
2009-01-01
The loss of a dark night sky as a natural resource is a growing concern. It impacts not only astronomical research, but also our ecology, health, safety, economics and energy conservation. For this reason, "Dark Skies are a Universal Resource” is one of seven primary themes of the U.S. International Year of Astronomy program in 2009. Its goal is to raise public awareness of the impact of artificial lighting on local environments by getting people involved in a variety of dark skies-related programs. To reach this goal, activities have been developed that: 1) Teach about dark skies using new technology (e.g., an activity-based planetarium show on DVD, podcasting, social networking, Second Life) 2) Provide thematic events on light pollution at star parties and observatory open houses (Dark Skies Discovery Sites, Astronomy Nights in the (National) Parks, Sidewalk Astronomy Nights) 3) Organize an event in the arts (e.g., a photography contest) 4) Involve citizen-scientists in unaided-eye and digital-meter star counting programs, as well as RFI monitoring (e.g., GLOBE at Night and Quiet Skies) and 5) Raise awareness about the link between light pollution and public health, economic issues, ecological consequences, energy conservation, safety and security (e.g., the Dark Skies Toolkit, Good Neighbor Lighting, Earth Hour, National Dark Skies Week, traveling exhibits and a 6-minute video tutorial). To deliver these programs, strategic networks have been established with astronomy clubs (ASP's Night Sky Network's astronomy clubs and the Astronomical League), science and nature centers (Astronomy from the Ground Up and the Association of Science and Technology), educational programs (Project ASTRO and GLOBE) and the International Dark-sky Association. The poster will describe the "know-how” and the means for people to become community advocates in promoting Dark Skies programs as public events at their home institutions. For more information, visit http://astronomy2009
Awareness and Perception About Cancer Among the Public in Chennai, India
Elangovan, Vidhubala; Rajaraman, Swaminathan; Basumalik, Barsha; Pandian, Dhivya
2016-01-01
Purpose: Cancer-related stigma influences the way people perceive cancer, which renders cancer control—beginning with prevention and proceeding to palliation—a challenging task. This study aimed to assess the current levels of awareness and perceptions about cancer among people with various socioeconomic status and diverse backgrounds in the city of Chennai, India. Patients and Methods: The sample population (N = 2,981; 18 to 88 years of age) was stratified into four groups: patients (n = 510...
Communicating on risk and safety in terms of awareness
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Hammar, L.; Andersson, Kjell
1999-01-01
'Safety awareness' is proposed as a possibly constructive concept for the purpose of promoting initiatives in nuclear safety work and gaining improved understanding when communicating on nuclear safety. Safety is thus conceived as resulting essentially from and actually constituting awareness of critical factors in regard of safety. The concept aims specifically at promoting the view of 'safety' as 'awareness of required conditions for being in control of risk'. It aims as well at making clearer sense in calling for constant improvement of safety, according to practice in a safety culture. This proposed view would be expected to lead to applying the usual types of safety criteria but offers the merit of attracting due attention to 'awareness goals' in process oriented safety management which are fundamental to maintaining and improving safety. Applications are discussed in regard of communicating on nuclear safety between decision-makers and the general public, developing and maintaining safety culture, integrating specialist expert contributions in over-all safety assessment, setting safety goals and using safety indicators
Romero, N.; Markopoulos, P.; Markopoulos, P.; De Ruyter, B.; MacKay, W.
2009-01-01
By their very nature, awareness systems bring about an increase in the level of communication between the individuals they connect. Sharing information regarding people’s whereabouts and activities raises privacy concerns, potentially compromising their ability to control who receives what
Position-aware deep multi-task learning for drug-drug interaction extraction.
Zhou, Deyu; Miao, Lei; He, Yulan
2018-05-01
A drug-drug interaction (DDI) is a situation in which a drug affects the activity of another drug synergistically or antagonistically when being administered together. The information of DDIs is crucial for healthcare professionals to prevent adverse drug events. Although some known DDIs can be found in purposely-built databases such as DrugBank, most information is still buried in scientific publications. Therefore, automatically extracting DDIs from biomedical texts is sorely needed. In this paper, we propose a novel position-aware deep multi-task learning approach for extracting DDIs from biomedical texts. In particular, sentences are represented as a sequence of word embeddings and position embeddings. An attention-based bidirectional long short-term memory (BiLSTM) network is used to encode each sentence. The relative position information of words with the target drugs in text is combined with the hidden states of BiLSTM to generate the position-aware attention weights. Moreover, the tasks of predicting whether or not two drugs interact with each other and further distinguishing the types of interactions are learned jointly in multi-task learning framework. The proposed approach has been evaluated on the DDIExtraction challenge 2013 corpus and the results show that with the position-aware attention only, our proposed approach outperforms the state-of-the-art method by 0.99% for binary DDI classification, and with both position-aware attention and multi-task learning, our approach achieves a micro F-score of 72.99% on interaction type identification, outperforming the state-of-the-art approach by 1.51%, which demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed approach. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Maryam Huda
2017-06-01
Full Text Available In the megacity of Karachi, which has a population of more than 24 million, more than 9.2 million people (approximately 40 per cent live in squatter settlements. Communities here are characterised by low socioeconomic settings, crowded living conditions, inadequate water and sanitation facilities, and poor health-related behaviours. Such conditions create an environment favourable to the spread of communicable diseases like tuberculosis (TB, hepatitis and dengue. Since 1985, the Department of Community Health Sciences at the Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan has run the Urban Health Program (UHP, a community-campus partnership operating in these disadvantaged squatter settlements. Recent explosive increases in the spread of dengue, hepatitis and TB, however, necessitated special attention and activities on a scale and pace that was greater than could be accommodated as part of UHP’s core work. Thus, having an already well-established collaborative model with social accountability measures in place, a dedicated mass awareness program was initiated over the course of one year, from mid 2015: the AGAHI project. This article describes AGAHI’s innovative, low-cost, collaborative activities conducted in partnership with two squatter communities, Sultanabad and Rehri Goth, to build health awareness, improved care-seeking and compliance to treatment. Activities ranged from school sessions, role plays and awareness walks to laneway meetings, training of health care workers, door-to-door campaigns and collaboration with local religious leaders, public sector groups and NGOs. Building on the collaborative work of the UHP, in just 12 months AGAHI was able to conduct 80 health awareness sessions with 4000 participants. Moreover, high-risk and vulnerable populations were identified and referred for further treatment. A comparative cross-sectional survey afterwards revealed a significant increase in knowledge among Sultanabad residents as compared to
Building Cybersecurity Awareness : The need for evidence-based framing strategies
de Bruijn, J.A.; Janssen, M.F.W.H.A.
2017-01-01
Cybersecurity is a global phenomenon representing a complex socio-technical challenge for governments, but requiring the involvement of individuals. Although cybersecurity is one of the most important challenges faced by governments today, the visibility and public awareness remains limited.
Trends in awareness and use of electronic cigarettes among US adults, 2010-2013.
King, Brian A; Patel, Roshni; Nguyen, Kimberly H; Dube, Shanta R
2015-02-01
Electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) marketing has increased considerably since the product entered the US market in 2007, thereby warranting additional surveillance to monitor recent trends in population-level awareness and utilization. We assessed the prevalence, characteristics, and trends in e-cigarette awareness and use among nationally representative samples of US adults during 2010-2013. Data came from the 2010-2013 HealthStyles survey, an annual consumer-based web survey of US adults aged ≥ 18 years. Sample sizes ranged from 2,505 (2010) to 4,170 (2012). Descriptive statistics were used to assess e-cigarette awareness, ever use, and current use (use within the past 30 days) overall and by sex, age, race/ethnicity, education, income, US region, and cigarette smoking status. Trends were assessed using logistic regression. During 2010-2013, increases (p e-cigarette awareness (40.9%-79.7%), ever use (3.3%-8.5%), and current use (1.0%-2.6%). Awareness increased among all socio demographic subpopulations during 2010-2013 (p impact of e-cigarettes, continued surveillance of emerging use patterns is critical for public health planning. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco 2014. This work is written by (a) US Government employee(s) and is in the public domain in the US.
Awareness of the Link between Alcohol Consumption and Cancer across the World: A Review.
Scheideler, Jennifer K; Klein, William M P
2018-04-01
Since 1988, the International Agency for Research on Cancer has classified alcohol as a Group 1 carcinogen, the highest level of risk. Growing evidence suggests that alcohol increases the risk of several types of cancer including breast, bowel, prostate, and liver, and accounts for a significant proportion of preventable cancers. Despite ample evidence of this relationship, public awareness is less clear. Following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, we reviewed 32 studies examining lay awareness of alcohol as a risk factor for cancer in 16 countries. Our results show that awareness appears to be low and varies internationally; it is relatively higher in the United Kingdom, Morocco, and Australia. Methodologic differences in assessment obfuscate cross-country and cross-sample comparisons. In general, people are more likely to endorse alcohol as a risk factor when presented with a list of possible risk factors than when asked to list risk factors in an open-ended format. Attempts to increase awareness have been limited and constitute a significant public health need. We provide potential strategies to increase awareness, such as alcohol bottle labeling and fostering patient/physician discussions regarding the link. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 27(4); 429-37. ©2018 AACR . ©2018 American Association for Cancer Research.
Barnes, Priscilla A; Curtis, Amy B; Hall-Downey, Laura; Moonesinghe, Ramal
2012-01-01
This study examines whether partnership-related measures in the second version of the National Public Health Performance Standards (NPHPS) are useful in evaluating level of activity as well as identifying latent constructs that exist among local public health systems (LPHSs). In a sample of 110 LPHSs, descriptive analysis was conducted to determine frequency and percentage of 18 partnership-related NPHPS measures. Principal components factor analysis was conducted to identify unobserved characteristics that promote effective partnerships among LPHSs. Results revealed that 13 of the 18 measures were most frequently reported at the minimal-moderate level (conducted 1%-49% of the time). Coordination of personal health and social services to optimize access (74.6%) was the most frequently reported measure at minimal-moderate levels. Optimal levels (conducted >75% of the time) were reported most frequently in 2 activities: participation in emergency preparedness coalitions and local health departments ensuring service provision by working with state health departments (67% and 61% of respondents, respectively) and the least optimally reported activity was review partnership effectiveness (4% of respondents). Factor analysis revealed categories of partnership-related measures in 4 domains: resources and activities contributing to relationship building, evaluating community leadership activities, research, and state and local linkages to support public health activities. System-oriented public health assessments may have questions that serve as proxy measures to examine levels of interorganizational partnerships. Several measures from the NPHPS were useful in establishing a national baseline of minimal and optimal activity levels as well as identifying factors to enhance the delivery of the 10 essential public health services among organizations and individuals in public health systems.
Awareness of cervical cancer and its prevention among young ...
African Journals Online (AJOL)
Background: Cancer of the cervix is a major public health issue in the developing countries. The burden of the disease is considerable with associated morbidity and mortality among women in their productive years. The lack of awareness and adequate information about cervical cancer and its prevention may be ...
My face, my heart: cultural differences in integrated bodily self-awareness.
Maister, Lara; Tsakiris, Manos
2014-01-01
Body-awareness is produced by an integration of both interoceptive and exteroceptive bodily signals. However, previous investigations into cultural differences in bodily self-awareness have only studied these two aspects in isolation. We investigated the interaction between interoceptive and exteroceptive self-processing in East Asian and Western participants. During an interoceptive awareness task, self-face observation improved performance of those with initially low awareness in the Western group, but did not benefit the East Asian participants. These results suggest that the integrated, coherent experience of the body differs between East Asian and Western cultures. For Western participants, viewing one's own face may activate a bodily self-awareness which enhances processing of other bodily information, such as interoceptive signals. Instead, for East Asian individuals, the external appearance of the self may activate higher-level, social aspects of self-identity, reflecting the importance of the sociocultural construct of "face" in East Asian cultures.
Public awareness of nuclear energy
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Aykol, F.; Tanker, E.; Oezkan, R.; Atila, B.; Seckin, O.; Guerel, Z.; Aksu, M. L.
2001-01-01
The history of civilization is full of striking examples of nations which were not able to develop their technology either disappeared from the stage of the history or lost their independence and were forced to live under the domination of others. The major cause of the wars that caused the lives of millions of people in 20th century is, to possess the energy sources, which are the basis of social and economic development. Ataturk has shown a personal interest to energy issue saying t o be industrialized is a must for the development . The encouragement of industry act in 1927 stated t he most important priority of Turkey is the energy problem . For economic and social wealth, freeing the country from the dependency on other countries and solving the energy bottleneck, the Turkish media is to know the nuclear technology rather than being scared of it and realize that it is the integral part of the solution of the energy problem. In conclusion Turkey is to realize and do necessities of the nuclear era in order to catch a bright future. Due to these facts, this study aims to furnish the public with bare facts of nuclear energy and technology to eliminate the biased wiew regarding to nuclear technology
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Pyroh Olha V.
2017-12-01
Full Text Available The article is concerned with research on public-private partnership in foreign economic activity as process of interaction of the State and business-structures – entities of economic activity of Ukraine along with foreign entities of economic activity, this process includes attraction of investments, acceleration of economic development, etc. The factors determining public-private partnership in the foreign economic sphere (system of the State government bodies, system of economic relations in the State, financial resources of various States, experience in the implementation of public-private partnership projects, trust between partners are researched and generalized. Influence of each of the factors was defined by means of conjunctive analysis, determining that the system of economic relations in the State is most influenced by the formation of conditions, rules and implementation of principles of functioning of public-private partnership in the foreign economic sphere.
2014-01-01
Background Developing countries have limited air quality management systems due to inadequate legislation and lack of political will, among other challenges. Maintaining a balance between economic development and sustainable environment is a challenge, hence investments in pollution prevention technologies get sidelined in favor of short-term benefits from increased production and job creation. This lack of air quality management capability translates into lack of air pollution data, hence the false belief that there is no problem. The objectives of the study were to: assess the population’s environmental awareness, explore their perception of pollution threat to their health; examine the association between specific health hazards. Methods A cross-sectional study was implemented by gathering quantitative information on demographic, health status, environmental perception and environmental knowledge of residents to understand their view of pollution in their neighborhood. Focus group discussions (FGDs) allowed for corroboration of the quantitative data. Results Over 80% of respondents perceived industrial pollution as posing a considerable risk to them despite the fact that the economy of the area largely depended on the factory. Respondents also argued that they had not been actively involved in identifying solutions to the environmental challenges. The study revealed a significant association between industrial pollution as a risk and, perception of risk from other familiar health hazards. The most important factors influencing the respondents’ pollution risk perception were environmental awareness and family health status. Conclusion This study avails information to policy makers and researchers concerning public awareness and attitudes towards environmental pollution pertinent to development and implementation of environmental policies for public health. PMID:24742166
Omanga, Eunice; Ulmer, Lisa; Berhane, Zekarias; Gatari, Michael
2014-04-17
Developing countries have limited air quality management systems due to inadequate legislation and lack of political will, among other challenges. Maintaining a balance between economic development and sustainable environment is a challenge, hence investments in pollution prevention technologies get sidelined in favor of short-term benefits from increased production and job creation. This lack of air quality management capability translates into lack of air pollution data, hence the false belief that there is no problem. The objectives of the study were to: assess the population's environmental awareness, explore their perception of pollution threat to their health; examine the association between specific health hazards. A cross-sectional study was implemented by gathering quantitative information on demographic, health status, environmental perception and environmental knowledge of residents to understand their view of pollution in their neighborhood. Focus group discussions (FGDs) allowed for corroboration of the quantitative data. Over 80% of respondents perceived industrial pollution as posing a considerable risk to them despite the fact that the economy of the area largely depended on the factory. Respondents also argued that they had not been actively involved in identifying solutions to the environmental challenges. The study revealed a significant association between industrial pollution as a risk and, perception of risk from other familiar health hazards. The most important factors influencing the respondents' pollution risk perception were environmental awareness and family health status. This study avails information to policy makers and researchers concerning public awareness and attitudes towards environmental pollution pertinent to development and implementation of environmental policies for public health.
Market Dynamics, Inc., Princeton, NJ.
In order to structure an effective campaign aimed at increasing the usage of the public libraries in Essex County, New Jersey, this research project was undertaken to determine the consumer attitudes toward various aspects of public library services. These aspects include: extent of public library usage; awareness of library services offered,…
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
W Alexander Escobar
2013-11-01
Full Text Available The proposed model holds that, at its most fundamental level, visual awareness is quantized. That is to say that visual awareness arises as individual bits of awareness through the action of neural circuits with hundreds to thousands of neurons in at least the human striate cortex. Circuits with specific topologies will reproducibly result in visual awareness that correspond to basic aspects of vision like color, motion and depth. These quanta of awareness (qualia are produced by the feedforward sweep that occurs through the geniculocortical pathway but are not integrated into a conscious experience until recurrent processing from centers like V4 or V5 select the appropriate qualia being produced in V1 to create a percept. The model proposed here has the potential to shift the focus of the search for visual awareness to the level of microcircuits and these likely exist across the kingdom Animalia. Thus establishing qualia as the fundamental nature of visual awareness will not only provide a deeper understanding of awareness, but also allow for a more quantitative understanding of the evolution of visual awareness throughout the animal kingdom.
Knowledge and awareness of hypertension among patients with systemic hypertension.
Familoni, B. Oluranti; Ogun, S. Abayomi; Aina, A. Olutoyin
2004-01-01
BACKGROUND: In Nigeria, systemic hypertension is the commonest noncommunicable disease, and public awareness about hypertension and its determinants is poor. This study aims to assess the knowledge and level of awareness of the disease among hypertensive patients attending the medical outpatient clinic of Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital (OOUTH). METHODOLOGY: Hypertensive patients who attended the medical outpatient clinic during the one-year study period and gave their consent were recruited into the study. Response to a questionnaire on various aspects of hypertension was analyzed using the STATA for Windows software. RESULTS: There were 254 hypertensive patients, of which 111 were males and 143 were females, giving a male: female ratio of 1:1.3. The mean age (SD) of the patients was 51 years +/- 12.2; 52.4% of the participants were aware that hypertension was the commonest noncommunicable disease in Nigeria. About one in 10 patients (11.4%) was aware that "nil symptom" is the commonest symptom of hypertension, while 37% were not aware that hypertension could cause renal failure. Only about one-third (35.4%) of the patients knew that hypertension should ideally be treated for life, while 58.3% believed that antihypertensive drugs should be used only when there are symptoms. The remaining 6.3% believed that the treatment of hypertension should be for periods ranging from two weeks to five years but not for life. CONCLUSION: This study has demonstrated inadequate knowledge of hypertension in patients with hypertension in our study population. Conscious efforts should be made and time set aside to health educate hypertensive patients. Organization of "hypertensive club or society" could be encouraged. These will reduce dissemination of false or inaccurate information by hypertensive patients to the public and its attendant dangers. PMID:15160976
Is the low level of physical activity a public policy issue?
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Kalman Michal
2013-03-01
Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Many studies and scientific evidence confirm a positive effect of physical activity on the quality of life and human health. Physical activity, which is also one of the key factors preventing mass non-communicable diseases, is decreasing in Europe, including the Czech Republic, both in children and adults. Serious health consequences for the population and economy of the countries are a reason for a discussion about including the low level of physical activity among public policy issues and a higher allocation of public sources into the area of physical activity promotion. OBJECTIVES: The main objective of the paper is to determine whether the low level of physical activity is a public policy issue. An issue that should by systematically addressed by national, regional as well as local policy. METHODS: Through the policy analysis approach we conducted a content analysis of 25 systematically selected foreign national strategies aimed at the issue of physical activity promotion. The data source was an internal database of the World Health Organization - the International Inventory of Documents on Physical Activity Promotion. The content analysis of the strategies was performed using the Atlas.ti software tool. RESULTS: During a content analysis of 25 foreign strategies a total of 411 text segments (quotations relating to the low level of physical activity were selected. These text segments showed five basic features of a public policy issue according to a conceptual framework developed by Bardach (2000 and Patton and Sawicky (1993 - 1 affects the lives of a significant number of people of a society; 2 is analysable; 3 can be solved through public policy tools; 4 the primary cause or problem can be defined; 5 cannot be solved easily and quickly. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that the low level of physical activity is a public policy issue that must be systematically addressed at national level.
49 CFR 37.61 - Public transportation programs and activities in existing facilities.
2010-10-01
... 49 Transportation 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Public transportation programs and activities in... TRANSPORTATION SERVICES FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES (ADA) Transportation Facilities § 37.61 Public transportation programs and activities in existing facilities. (a) A public entity shall operate a designated...
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Kate Joanne Dundas
2017-05-01
importance of preventative health measures, and an improved analytical awareness of health determinants and the measures in place to protect health.ConclusionThe TIPH photo essay and reflective task was successful in providing undergraduate students with an experiential activity that resulted in increased knowledge and understanding of public health strategies. The task was a valuable pedagogical experience.
Awareness and Self-Awareness for Multi-Robot Organisms
Kernbach, Serge
2011-01-01
Awareness and self-awareness are two different notions related to knowing the environment and itself. In a general context, the mechanism of self-awareness belongs to a class of co-called "self-issues" (self-* or self-star): self-adaptation, self-repairing, self-replication, self-development or self-recovery. The self-* issues are connected in many ways to adaptability and evolvability, to the emergence of behavior and to the controllability of long-term developmental processes. Self-* are ei...
Awareness of risk factors for cancer among Omani adults--a community based study.
Al-Azri, Mohammed; Al-Rasbi, Khadija; Al-Hinai, Mustafa; Davidson, Robin; Al-Maniri, Abdullah
2014-01-01
Cancer is the leading cause of mortality around the world. However, the majority of cancers occur as a result of modifiable risk factors; hence public awareness of cancer risk factors is crucial to reduce the incidence. The objective of this study was to identify the level of public awareness of cancer risk factors among the adult Omani population. A community based survey using the Cancer Awareness Measure (CAM) questionnaire was conducted in three areas of Oman to measure public awareness of cancer risk factors. Omani adults aged 18 years and above were invited to participate in the study. SPPSS (ver.20) was used to analyse the data. A total of 384 participated from 500 invited individuals (response rate =77%). The majority of respondents agreed that smoking cigarettes (320, 83.3%), passive smoking (279, 72.7%) and excessive drinking of alcohol (265, 69%) are risks factors for cancer. However, fewer respondents agreed that eating less fruit and vegetables (83, 21.6%), eating more red or processed meat (116, 30.2%), being overweight (BMI>25) (123, 32%), doing less physical exercise (119, 31%), being over 70 years old (72, 18.8%), having a close relative with cancer (134, 34.9%), infection with human papilloma virus (HPV) (117, 30.5%) and getting frequent sunburn during childhood (149, 38.8%) are risk factors for cancer. A significant association was found between participant responses and their educational level. The higher the educational level, the more likely that respondents identified cancer risk factors including smoking (paware of the common risk factors for cancer. It may be possible to reduce the incidence of cancers in Oman by developing strategies to educate the public about these risk factors.
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Yasuharu Nagano
Full Text Available Raising awareness on a disorder is important for its prevention and for promoting public health. However, for sports injuries like the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL injury no studies have investigated the awareness on risk factors for injury and possible preventative measures in the general population. The sources of information among the population are also unclear. The purpose of the present study was to identify these aspects of public awareness about the ACL injury.A questionnaire was randomly distributed among the general population registered with a web based questionnaire supplier, to recruit 900 participants who were aware about the ACL injury. The questionnaire consisted of two parts: Question 1 asked them about their sources of information regarding the ACL injury; Question 2 asked them about the risk factors for ACL injury. Multivariate logistic regression was used to determine the information sources that provide a good understanding of the risk factors.The leading source of information for ACL injury was television (57.0%. However, the results of logistic regression analysis revealed that television was not an effective medium to create awareness about the risk factors, among the general population. Instead "Lecture by a coach", "Classroom session on Health", and "Newspaper" were significantly more effective in creating a good awareness of the risk factors (p < 0.001.
Breast cancer knowledge and awareness among university students in Angola.
Sambanje, Martha Nyanungo; Mafuvadze, Benford
2012-01-01
The high breast cancer mortality rate in Sub-Saharan Africa has been attributed to a lack of public awareness of the disease which often leads to late diagnosis of the disease. Little is known about the level of knowledge and awareness of breast cancer in Angola. Previous studies have shown that breast cancer awareness is higher among well-educated people. The goal of this study was to assess breast cancer knowledge and awareness among university students in Angola. We conducted a cross-sectional survey of university students using a self-administered questionnaire to investigate participants' awareness and knowledge of breast cancer. A total of 595 university students in medical and non-medical programs successfully completed the survey. Our results showed insufficient knowledge of breast cancer among university students in Angola irrespective of whether they were in medical or non-medical programs. The majority of the participants were not aware of some of the early signs of breast cancer such as change in color or shape of the nipple, even though they appreciated the need for monthly breast self-examination. Overall most of the participants indicated the need for increased breast cancer awareness among university students. The study points to the insufficient knowledge of university students in Angola about breast cancer. We expect that our results may provide useful data that may be used by the department of health in Angola and other African countries to formulate health education programs aimed at increasing awareness and promote screening and early detection of breast cancer in the continent.
Study on Nuclear Facility Cyber Security Awareness and Training Programs
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Lee, Jung-Woon; Song, Jae-Gu; Lee, Cheol-Kwon
2016-01-01
Cyber security awareness and training, which is a part of operational security controls, is defined to be implemented later in the CSP implementation schedule. However, cyber security awareness and training is a prerequisite for the appropriate implementation of a cyber security program. When considering the current situation in which it is just started to define cyber security activities and to assign personnel who has responsibilities for performing those activities, a cyber security awareness program is necessary to enhance cyber security culture for the facility personnel to participate positively in cyber security activities. Also before the implementation of stepwise CSP, suitable education and training should be provided to both cyber security teams (CST) and facility personnel who should participate in the implementation. Since such importance and urgency of cyber security awareness and training is underestimated at present, the types, trainees, contents, and development strategies of cyber security awareness and training programs are studied to help Korean nuclear facilities to perform cyber security activities more effectively. Cyber security awareness and training programs should be developed ahead of the implementation of CSP. In this study, through the analysis of requirements in the regulatory standard RS-015, the types and trainees of overall cyber security training programs in nuclear facilities are identified. Contents suitable for a cyber security awareness program and a technical training program are derived. It is suggested to develop stepwise the program contents in accordance with the development of policies, guides, and procedures as parts of the facility cyber security program. Since any training programs are not available for the specialized cyber security training in nuclear facilities, a long-term development plan is necessary. As alternatives for the time being, several cyber security training courses for industrial control systems by
Study on Nuclear Facility Cyber Security Awareness and Training Programs
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Lee, Jung-Woon; Song, Jae-Gu; Lee, Cheol-Kwon [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)
2016-10-15
Cyber security awareness and training, which is a part of operational security controls, is defined to be implemented later in the CSP implementation schedule. However, cyber security awareness and training is a prerequisite for the appropriate implementation of a cyber security program. When considering the current situation in which it is just started to define cyber security activities and to assign personnel who has responsibilities for performing those activities, a cyber security awareness program is necessary to enhance cyber security culture for the facility personnel to participate positively in cyber security activities. Also before the implementation of stepwise CSP, suitable education and training should be provided to both cyber security teams (CST) and facility personnel who should participate in the implementation. Since such importance and urgency of cyber security awareness and training is underestimated at present, the types, trainees, contents, and development strategies of cyber security awareness and training programs are studied to help Korean nuclear facilities to perform cyber security activities more effectively. Cyber security awareness and training programs should be developed ahead of the implementation of CSP. In this study, through the analysis of requirements in the regulatory standard RS-015, the types and trainees of overall cyber security training programs in nuclear facilities are identified. Contents suitable for a cyber security awareness program and a technical training program are derived. It is suggested to develop stepwise the program contents in accordance with the development of policies, guides, and procedures as parts of the facility cyber security program. Since any training programs are not available for the specialized cyber security training in nuclear facilities, a long-term development plan is necessary. As alternatives for the time being, several cyber security training courses for industrial control systems by
Public Energy Education: Issues for Discussion. Draft.
Public Energy Education Task Force.
This paper was intended to stimulate discussion of energy education issues at a conference on energy issues. The discussion ranges through numerous topics at issue in energy education including public energy awareness, definition of public education, the distinction between public education and public relations, and the presentation of a model…
2002-02-01
In order to keep subscribers up-to-date with the latest developments in their field, this current awareness service is provided by John Wiley & Sons and contains newly-published material on yeasts. Each bibliography is divided into 10 sections. 1 Books, Reviews & Symposia; 2 General; 3 Biochemistry; 4 Biotechnology; 5 Cell Biology; 6 Gene Expression; 7 Genetics; 8 Physiology; 9 Medical Mycology; 10 Recombinant DNA Technology. Within each section, articles are listed in alphabetical order with respect to author. If, in the preceding period, no publications are located relevant to any one of these headings, that section will be omitted. (3 weeks journals - search completed 5th. Dec. 2001)
Diabetes Awareness and Body Size Perceptions of Cree Schoolchildren
Willows, Noreen D.; Marshall, Dru; Raine, Kim; Ridley, Denise C.
2009-01-01
Native American Indians and First Nations are predisposed to obesity and diabetes. A study was done to understand Cree schoolchildren's diabetes awareness and body size perceptions in two communities that had diabetes awareness-raising activities in the Province of Quebec, Canada. Children (N = 203) in grades 4-6 were classified into weight…
Awareness of eye donation in an adult population of southern India. A pilot study.
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Priyadarshini Brinda
2003-01-01
Full Text Available Purpose: To determine "awareness of eye donation" and corneal transplantation in an adult population of southern India. Methods: 507 participants chosen by systematic random sampling were interviewed using a structured questionnaire. Participants were selected among patients attending two community outreach programmes at different sites, and from patients presenting directly to the hospital. Results: 257 participants (50.69% were aware of eye donations. The major source of awareness was publicity campaigns (n=105. Only 22 (4.34% participants were aware that eye donation had to be done within 6 hours of death. Four hundred and three (79.50% participants were not aware of corneal transplantation. Illiteracy and rural residence were more likely predictors of ignorance. Conclusion: Although multiple strategies are currently followed to increase awareness of eye donations and corneal transplants, more innovative strategies have to be developed, especially to target illiterate and rural populations.
Hybrid-Aware Model for Senior Wellness Service in Smart Home.
Jung, Yuchae
2017-05-22
Smart home technology with situation-awareness is important for seniors to improve safety and security. With the development of context-aware computing, wearable sensor technology, and ubiquitous computing, it is easier for seniors to manage their health problem in smart home environment. For monitoring senior activity in smart home, wearable, and motion sensors-such as respiration rate (RR), electrocardiography (ECG), body temperature, and blood pressure (BP)-were used for monitoring movements of seniors. For context-awareness, environmental sensors-such as gas, fire, smoke, dust, temperature, and light sensors-were used for senior location data collection. Based on senior activity, senior health status can be classified into positive and negative. Based on senior location and time, senior safety is classified into safe and emergency. In this paper, we propose a hybrid inspection service middleware for monitoring elderly health risk based on senior activity and location. This hybrid-aware model for the detection of abnormal status of seniors has four steps as follows: (1) data collection from biosensors and environmental sensors; (2) monitoring senior location and time of stay in each location using environmental sensors; (3) monitoring senior activity using biometric data; finally, (4) expectation-maximization based decision-making step recommending proper treatment based on a senior health risk ratio.
American Lung Association's radon public information program
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
McCurdy, L.E.
1992-01-01
The American Lung Association (ALA), the nation's oldest voluntary health organization, is dedicated to the conquest of lung disease and the promotion of lung health. The objective of the ALA Radon Public Information Program is to reduce public exposure to elevated indoor radon levels through implementing grassroots-based radon public awareness campaigns by 22 local ALA groups. The program, which is funded by a grant from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), was initiated in December 1989; the first phase will continue until May, 1991. Activities of local Lung Associations include distribution of free or reduced-cost radon kits; presenting programs in elementary and secondary schools; presenting information on TV news series and talk shows, and on radio Public Service Announcements and talk shows; presenting articles and feature stories in the print media; holding conferences, workshops, and displays at fairs and other exhibitions; distributing radon fact sheets through libraries and utility company mailings; and distributing videos through video chains and libraries. The local Lung Associations also serve as promoters for the EPA/Advertising Council Radon Public Service Announcement Campaign. We will highlight the activities of the groups in communicating radon health risks to the public; we will describe the results obtained and will attempt to evaluate the merits of the various approaches on the basis of the initial results
Knowledge and awareness of high blood pressure in Ward F, Ifako ...
African Journals Online (AJOL)
2012-07-14
Jul 14, 2012 ... same time, public awareness of hypertension in low- and ... to determine whether or not they had the correct information on their blood pressure readings. .... The participants were both men and women. .... Natl Med J India.
Actively learning human gaze shifting paths for semantics-aware photo cropping.
Zhang, Luming; Gao, Yue; Ji, Rongrong; Xia, Yingjie; Dai, Qionghai; Li, Xuelong
2014-05-01
Photo cropping is a widely used tool in printing industry, photography, and cinematography. Conventional cropping models suffer from the following three challenges. First, the deemphasized role of semantic contents that are many times more important than low-level features in photo aesthetics. Second, the absence of a sequential ordering in the existing models. In contrast, humans look at semantically important regions sequentially when viewing a photo. Third, the difficulty of leveraging inputs from multiple users. Experience from multiple users is particularly critical in cropping as photo assessment is quite a subjective task. To address these challenges, this paper proposes semantics-aware photo cropping, which crops a photo by simulating the process of humans sequentially perceiving semantically important regions of a photo. We first project the local features (graphlets in this paper) onto the semantic space, which is constructed based on the category information of the training photos. An efficient learning algorithm is then derived to sequentially select semantically representative graphlets of a photo, and the selecting process can be interpreted by a path, which simulates humans actively perceiving semantics in a photo. Furthermore, we learn a prior distribution of such active graphlet paths from training photos that are marked as aesthetically pleasing by multiple users. The learned priors enforce the corresponding active graphlet path of a test photo to be maximally similar to those from the training photos. Experimental results show that: 1) the active graphlet path accurately predicts human gaze shifting, and thus is more indicative for photo aesthetics than conventional saliency maps and 2) the cropped photos produced by our approach outperform its competitors in both qualitative and quantitative comparisons.
Adaptive and Context-Aware Reconciliation of Reactive and Pro-active Behavior in Evolving Systems
Trajcevski, Goce; Scheuermann, Peter
One distinct characteristics of the context-aware systems is their ability to react and adapt to the evolution of the environment, which is often a result of changes in the values of various (possibly correlated) attributes. Based on these changes, reactive systems typically take corrective actions, e.g., adjusting parameters in order to maintain the desired specifications of the system's state. Pro-active systems, on the other hand, may change the mode of interaction with the environment as well as the desired goals of the system. In this paper we describe our (ECA)2 paradigm for reactive behavior with proactive impact and we present our ongoing work and vision for a system that is capable of context-aware adaptation, while ensuring the maintenance of a set of desired behavioral policies. Our main focus is on developing a formalism that provides tools for expressing normal, as well as defeasible and/or exceptional specification. However, at the same time, we insist on a sound semantics and the capability of answering hypothetical "what-if" queries. Towards this end, we introduce the high-level language L_{ EAR} that can be used to describe the dynamics of the problem domain, specify triggers under the (ECA)2 paradigm, and reason about the consequences of the possible evolutions.
Oral Cancer: Awareness and Knowledge Among Dental Patients in Riyadh.
Al-Maweri, Sadeq Ali; Al-Soneidar, Walid Ahmed; Dhaifullah, Esam; Halboub, Esam Saleh; Tarakji, Bassel
2017-06-01
More than 50 % of oral cancer cases are diagnosed at advanced stages. Public knowledge about oral cancer can help in prevention and early detection of the disease. The aim of the present study was to assess the levels of awareness and knowledge about signs and risk factors of oral cancer among dental patients in Saudi Arabia. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect information from 1410 randomly selected patients attending dental departments within public hospitals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS software. The significance level was set at P oral cancer. Some 68.2 and 56.5 %, respectively, were able to correctly identify tobacco and alcohol as risk factors. More than two thirds of subjects had no knowledge about any signs of oral cancer. Participants with lower than university education were significantly less aware, and had much less knowledge, of the signs and risk factors of oral cancer. The knowledge regarding oral cancer among Saudi dental patients is alarmingly low. Interventions to improve public knowledge about oral cancer and attitudes towards early diagnosis and treatment are urgently indicated.
Ainley, Vivien; Tsakiris, Manos
2013-01-01
'Self-objectification' is the tendency to experience one's body principally as an object, to be evaluated for its appearance rather than for its effectiveness. Within objectification theory, it has been proposed that self-objectification accounts for the poorer interoceptive awareness observed in women, as measured by heartbeat perception. Our study is, we believe, the first specifically to test this relationship. Using a well-validated and reliable heartbeat perception task, we measured interoceptive awareness in women and compared this with their scores on the Self-Objectification Questionnaire, the Self-Consciousness Scale and the Body Consciousness Questionnaire. Interoceptive awareness was negatively correlated with self-objectification. Interoceptive awareness, public body consciousness and private body consciousness together explained 31% of the variance in self-objectification. However, private body consciousness was not significantly correlated with interoceptive awareness, which may explain the many nonsignificant results in self-objectification studies that have used private body consciousness as a measure of body awareness. We propose interoceptive awareness, assessed by heartbeat perception, as a measure of body awareness in self-objectification studies. Our findings have implications for those clinical conditions, in women, which are characterised by self-objectification and low interoceptive awareness, such as eating disorders.
Students multicultural awareness
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
F.I Soekarman
2016-12-01
Full Text Available Multicultural awareness is the foundation of communication and it involves the ability of standing back from ourselves and becoming aware of our cultural values, beliefs and perceptions. Multicultural awareness becomes central when we have to interact with people from other cultures. People see, interpret and evaluate things in a different ways. What is considered an appropriate behaviour in one culture is frequently inappropriate in another one. this research use descriptive- quantitative methodology to indentify level of students multicultural awareness specifically will be identified by gender and academic years. This research will identify multicultural awareness based on differences of gender, academic years. This research use random and purposive random sampling of 650 students from university. These studies identify of multicultural awareness 34, 11, 4% in high condition, 84, 1% medium and 4, 5% in low. Further, there is a significant difference in the level of multicultural awareness based on gender and academic year. These findings could not be generalized because of the limited sample and ethnicity; it should need a wider research so that can be generalized and recommended the efforts to development and improvement of multicultural awareness conditions for optimization the services.
Koay, S. P.; Tay, L. T.; Fukuoka, H.; Koyama, T.; Sakai, N.; Jamaludin, S. B.; Lateh, H.
2015-12-01
Northeast monsoon causes heavy rain in east coast of Peninsular Malaysia from November to March, every year. During this monsoon period, besides the happening of flood along east coast, landslides also causes millions of Malaysian Ringgit economical losses. Hence, it is essential to study the prediction of slope failure to prevent the casualty of landslides happening. In our study, we introduce prediction method of the accumulated rainfall affecting the stability of the slope. If the curve, in the graph, which is presented by rainfall intensity versus accumulated rainfall, crosses over the critical line, the condition of the slope is considered in high risk where the data are calculated and sent from rain gauge in the site via internet. If the possibility of slope failure is going high, the alert message will be sent out to the authorities for decision making on road block or setting the warning light at the road side. Besides road block and warning light, we propose to disseminate short message, to pre-registered mobile phone user, to notify the public for easing the traffic jam and avoiding unnecessary public panic. Prediction is not enough to prevent the casualty. Early warning awareness of the public is very important to reduce the casualty of landslides happening. IT technology does not only play a main role in disseminating information, early warning awareness education, by using IT technology, should be conducted, in schools, to give early warning awareness on natural hazard since childhood. Knowing the pass history on landslides occurrence will gain experience on the landslides happening. Landslides historical events with coordinate information are stored in database. The public can browse these historical events via internet. By referring to such historical landslides events, the public may know where did landslides happen before and the possibility of slope failure occurrence again is considered high. Simulation of rainfall induced slope failure mechanism
Lin, Leesa; McCloud, Rachel F; Bigman, Cabral A; Viswanath, Kasisomayajula
2017-06-01
Large-scale influenza outbreaks over the last decade, such as SARS and H1N1, have brought to global attention the importance of emergency risk communication and prompted the international community to develop communication responses. Since pandemic outbreaks are relatively infrequent, there is a dearth of evidence addressing the following questions: (i) Have the resources invested in strategic and routine communication for past pandemic outbreaks yielded public health preparedness benefits? (ii) Have past efforts sensitized people to pay attention to new pandemic threats? The Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) that was followed closely by major media outlets in the USA provides an opportunity to examine the relationship between exposure to public communication about epidemics and public awareness and knowledge about new risks. In December, 2013, we surveyed a nationally representative sample of 627 American adults and examined the associations between people's awareness to prior pandemics and their awareness of and knowledge about MERS. Awareness of prior pandemics was significantly associated with awareness and knowledge of MERS. The most common sources from which people first heard about MERS were also identified. Communication inequalities were observed between racial/ethnic and socioeconomic positions, suggesting a need for more effective pandemic communication. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Faculty of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.
Present situation of Japan's public acceptance of nuclear energy - JAERO's activities
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Akama, Kozo
1993-01-01
Electricity demand in Japan is expected to keep increasing without doubt, reflecting her constant economic growth and the rising living standard of the people. The target figure is 20.5% or a capacity of 52 million kW, and 11 nuclear power plants with a capacity of 12 million kW are under construction. Whether such a target is achievable depends on whether or not information activities will succeed in obtaining public consensus to the siting of the new nuclear power plants. According to the result of public opinion poll by the Science and Technology Agency in 1992, 73 % people recognize the necessity of nuclear energy, however, 10% feel uneasy as well. It seems that the scale of damage caused by severe accidents and the distrust against nuclear promoters are major factors to create uneasiness among the people. This presentation describes public information activities by JAERO, the Japan Atomic Energy Relations Organization (JAERO), a non-profit organization established in 1969. There is no secret strategy or specific remedy to obtain public consensus on the nuclear issues, and an immediate effect is in no way expected, either. It is all the more imperative to enhance the safety of nuclear power plants, pursue further the operational safety, and to gain the trust from the general public. We must investigate more effective means for public information activities to gain public consent, and implement them positively and continuously with beliefs. We are prepared to do so. Activities for public acceptance of nuclear energy may vary in line with the situation in each country. It is therefore very meaningful to have the experts' gatherings like this workshop to exchange, views on the public acceptance
Yong, H-H; Borland, R; Hammond, D; Sirirassamee, B; Ritthiphakdee, B; Awang, R; Omar, M; Kin, F; Zain, Z bt M; Lee, W B; Siahpush, M; Fong, G T
2008-02-01
To examine the impact of tobacco advertising policy on adult smokers' awareness of tobacco promotion in two developing countries--Malaysia and Thailand. Data from 2004 Malaysian and 2000 Thai adult smokers who participated in the baseline wave of the International Tobacco Control Southeast Asia survey (ITC-SEA). Respondents were asked in a face-to-face interview conducted between January and March 2005 to indicate their levels of awareness of tobacco advertising and promotional activities in the last six months. Unprompted awareness of any tobacco marketing activities was very low in Thailand (20%) but significantly higher in Malaysia (53%; OR = 5.6, 95% CI: 3.5 to 8.9, ptobacco advertising where it was banned, being highest around point of sale, particularly street vendors (7.5%). In contrast, Malaysian adult smokers reported significantly higher levels of awareness of tobacco advertising in all locations (range = 17.7% noticing in disco lounges to 59.3% on posters) including where they are notionally banned (for example, billboards). These findings demonstrate that comprehensive tobacco advertising legislation when well implemented can lead to dramatic decline in awareness of tobacco promotion, thus supporting strong implementation of Article 13 of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
Macdiarmid, Jennie I; Douglas, Flora; Campbell, Jonina
2016-01-01
Reducing meat consumption is central to many of the scientific debates on healthy, sustainable diets because of the high environmental impact of meat production. Missing from these debates are the public perspectives about eating less meat and consideration of cultural and social values associated with meat. The aim of this study was to explore public awareness of the environmental impact of food and their willingness to reduce meat consumption. Twelve focus groups and four individual interviews were conducted with adults from a range of socio-economic groups living in both rural and urban settings in Scotland. Public understanding of the link between food, environment and climate change was explored, with a focus on meat and attitudes towards reducing meat consumption. Data were transcribed and analysed thematically. Three dominant themes emerged: a lack of awareness of the association between meat consumption and climate change, perceptions of personal meat consumption playing a minimal role in the global context of climate change, and resistance to the idea of reducing personal meat consumption. People associated eating meat with pleasure, and described social, personal and cultural values around eating meat. Some people felt they did not need to eat less meat because they had already reduced their consumption or that they only ate small quantities. Scepticism of scientific evidence linking meat and climate change was common. Changing non-food related behaviours was viewed as more acceptable and a greater priority for climate change mitigation. The study highlights the role meat plays in the diet for many people, beyond nutritional needs. If healthy, sustainable dietary habits are to be achieved, cultural, social and personal values around eating meat must be integrated into the development of future dietary recommendations. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Awareness, knowledge and attitude on cleft lip and palate among ...
African Journals Online (AJOL)
2012-11-09
Nov 9, 2012 ... negative beliefs and attitudes toward the condition. The objective of this ... Conclusion: There is need for increased public enlightenment/health education to increase awareness and subsequently ... The parent's feelings about their child's cleft defect ..... Gene/environment causes of cleft lip and/or palate.
Vossen, Oscar Bjørn; Grundahl, Mathias Sterlet Schack; Johansen, Søren Ulrik
2016-01-01
The purpose of this paper is to model a software program, using Unified Modelling Language, which can assist players in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive in becoming aware of their own development through an analysis tool. The idea behind this tool is based on the recognition of possibilities that lies in the use of eye-tracking technology in psychology. Required knowledge about the target users will be acquired through a variety of activities facilitated by the MUST method. Furthermore, this ...
Shen, Qi; Liu, Yan
2018-03-01
This paper discusses the association between the morphology of tree planting in urban riverside brown field and user activities. With the growth of popularity, the revitalisation of urban public space is also promising. This research used drone photography and mapping to systematically surveys sample sites. An original observation study of user activities proceed in four sample public spaces in Sheffield. The study results found there are huge popularity and duration difference of user activities between various tree planting morphologies and typologies. The public space with lawn and rounded by mature trees attracted most users with the most activity types; the neat and silent public space is the favourite choice of lunch and reading, meanwhile it got the longest activity duration; but the space with sparse morphology and small trees are more likely be forgotten and abandoned. This finding offered a great opportunity for urban public space revitalisation in post-industrial cities.
Why public information works: Research findings on organizational and individual impact
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Bisconti, A.S.
1989-01-01
Broad and growing public recognition of the importance of nuclear energy in the United States is evident in the public opinion polls, continued defeat of antinuclear referenda, positive Congressional actions, and open support by politicians-from the National Conference of State Legislatures to President Bush. At leadership levels, the need to address the looming electricity crisis without increasing dependence on foreign oil or greenhouse gas emissions is being voiced increasingly. Within this context, the industry is beginning to be successful in getting its message across to the American public through national advertising and media and public relations programs of the U.S. Council for Energy Awareness (USCEA). And the author knows that the American Nuclear Society (ANS) Public Information Committee is working hard in complementary kinds of public education. Research shows that the public's attitudes toward nuclear energy become more favorable when they are exposed to public information and that a more active scientific community could greatly increase public recognition of the benefits that nuclear energy provides
Investigation of Fire Safety Awareness and Management in Mall
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Abdul Rahim N.
2014-03-01
Full Text Available In spite of having sufficient fire safety system installed in buildings, the incidence of fire hazard becomes the furthermost and supreme threat to health and safety, as well as property to any community. In order to make sure that the safety of the building and its users, the fundamental features depends on the fire precaution system and equipment which should be according to the standard requirements. Nevertheless, the awareness on fire safety could necessarily alleviate the damages or rate of fatality during the event of fire. This paper presents the results on the investigation of fire safety awareness and management, concentrating on shopping mall. The endeavour of this study is to explore the level of fire safety knowledge of the users in the mall, and to study the effectiveness level of fire safety management in a mall. From the study, public awareness is highly related to understanding human behaviour and their personal background. The respondents’ levels of awareness are rather low, which reflects on their poor action when facing emergency situation during fire. The most effective methods identified to improve the awareness and effectiveness of fire safety level is through involvement in related fire safety programmes, distribution of pamphlets or brochures on fire safety and appointing specific personnel for Emergency Response Team in the mall.
Neurochemical enhancement of conscious error awareness.
Hester, Robert; Nandam, L Sanjay; O'Connell, Redmond G; Wagner, Joe; Strudwick, Mark; Nathan, Pradeep J; Mattingley, Jason B; Bellgrove, Mark A
2012-02-22
How the brain monitors ongoing behavior for performance errors is a central question of cognitive neuroscience. Diminished awareness of performance errors limits the extent to which humans engage in corrective behavior and has been linked to loss of insight in a number of psychiatric syndromes (e.g., attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, drug addiction). These conditions share alterations in monoamine signaling that may influence the neural mechanisms underlying error processing, but our understanding of the neurochemical drivers of these processes is limited. We conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over design of the influence of methylphenidate, atomoxetine, and citalopram on error awareness in 27 healthy participants. The error awareness task, a go/no-go response inhibition paradigm, was administered to assess the influence of monoaminergic agents on performance errors during fMRI data acquisition. A single dose of methylphenidate, but not atomoxetine or citalopram, significantly improved the ability of healthy volunteers to consciously detect performance errors. Furthermore, this behavioral effect was associated with a strengthening of activation differences in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and inferior parietal lobe during the methylphenidate condition for errors made with versus without awareness. Our results have implications for the understanding of the neurochemical underpinnings of performance monitoring and for the pharmacological treatment of a range of disparate clinical conditions that are marked by poor awareness of errors.
``DarkSky.gr'' — A Greek Campaign for Light Pollution Awareness
Papalambrou, A.; Antonopoulos, P.; Zafiropoulos, B.
2010-07-01
In April 2009 the web site under the title darksky.gr went online. This site is an attempt to communicate the problem of light pollution to the public. Light pollution is treated not as an isolated problem but as part of a more general and complex issue which affects the environment, energy resources and human health. Darksky.gr aims to become a meeting point and unite the efforts of Greek amateur astronomy clubs and other organizations interested in the issue such as scientific societies, environmental organizations, technical chambers, mass media and private companies involved in electricity and lighting. Its creation has been suggested by the Astronomical Society of Patras “Orion” and ratified in the annual meeting of Greek amateur astronomy clubs that took place in Alexandroupoli in November 2008. We believe that amateur astronomy clubs represent a very active cell in the field of scientific knowledge communication to the public and that they can play an important role in raising awareness of the problem in cooperation with active organizations in related fields. The goal is to launch a wide cooperation between interested parties targeting to prevent the increasing light pollution. In this work, the goals and methods of the campaign are analyzed and an attempt to assess the very first results is made.
Awareness of cord blood banking among pregnant women in semi urban area
Poomalar G. K.; Jayasree M.
2016-01-01
Background: Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are multipotent stem cells, derived from bone marrow, peripheral blood and umbilical cord. These HSC are accepted method of treatment for various disorders. Cord blood can be stored either in private or public bank. Awareness about cord blood banking among semi urban and rural population is less compared to urban population. The aim of our study is to evaluate the awareness of cord blood banking among pregnant women in semi urban area and to evaluat...
Dark Skies Awareness Programs for the International Year of Astronomy
Walker, Constance E.; US IYA Dark Skies Working Group
2009-05-01
The arc of the Milky Way seen from a truly dark location is part of our planet's cultural and natural heritage. More than 1/5 of the world population, 2/3 of the United States population and 1/2 of the European Union population have already lost naked-eye visibility of the Milky Way. This loss, caused by light pollution, is a serious and growing issue that impacts astronomical research, the economy, ecology, energy conservation, human health, public safety and our shared ability to see the night sky. For this reason, "Dark Skies” is a cornerstone project of the International Year of Astronomy. Its goal is to raise public awareness of the impact of artificial lighting on local environments by getting people worldwide involved in a variety of programs that: 1) Teach about dark skies using new technology (e.g., an activity-based planetarium show on DVD, podcasting, social networking on Facebook and MySpace, a Second Life presence) 2) Provide thematic events on light pollution at star parties and observatory open houses (Dark Skies Discovery Sites, Nights in the (National) Parks, Sidewalk Astronomy) 3) Organize events in the arts (e.g., a photography contest) 4) Involve citizen-scientists in naked-eye and digital-meter star hunting programs (e.g., GLOBE at Night, "How Many Stars?", the Great World Wide Star Count and the radio frequency interference equivalent: "Quiet Skies") and 5) Raise awareness about the link between light pollution and public health, economic issues, ecological consequences, energy conservation, safety and security, and astronomy (e.g., The Starlight Initiative, World Night in Defense of Starlight, International Dark Sky Week, International Dark-Sky Communities, Earth Hour, The Great Switch Out, a traveling exhibit, downloadable posters and brochures). The poster will provide an update, describe how people can continue to participate, and take a look ahead at the program's sustainability. For more information, visit www.darkskiesawareness.org.
Akinboro, Oladimeji; Ottenbacher, Allison; Martin, Marcus; Harrison, Roderick; James, Thomas; Martin, Eddilisa; Murdoch, James; Linnear, Kim; Cardarelli, Kathryn
2016-03-01
Little is known about the awareness of public health professionals regarding racial and ethnic disparities in health in the United States of America (USA). Our study objective was to assess the awareness and perceptions of a group of public health workers in Texas regarding racial health disparities and their chief contributing causes. We surveyed public health professionals working on a statewide grant in Texas, who were participants at health disparities' training workshops. Multivariable logistic regression was employed in examining the association between the participants' characteristics and their perceptions of the social determinants of health as principal causes of health disparities. There were 106 respondents, of whom 38 and 35 % worked in health departments and non-profit organizations, respectively. The racial/ethnic groups with the highest incidence of HIV/AIDS and hypertension were correctly identified by 63 and 50 % of respondents, respectively, but only 17, and 32 % were knowledgeable regarding diabetes and cancer, respectively. Seventy-one percent of respondents perceived that health disparities are driven by the major axes of the social determinants of health. Exposure to information about racial/ethnic health disparities within the prior year was associated with a higher odds of perceiving that social determinants of health were causes of health disparities (OR 9.62; 95 % CI 2.77, 33.41). Among public health workers, recent exposure to information regarding health disparities may be associated with their perceptions of health disparities. Further research is needed to investigate the impact of such exposure on their long-term perception of disparities, as well as the equity of services and programs they administer.
The analysis of the publications in the most active countries in nanotechnology
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Joksimović Dušan
2014-01-01
Full Text Available Nanotechnology publications as one of the parameters of a country's level of nanotechnology (nanotech innovation, while nanotechnology innovations are considered the source of its competitive advantage. The country's competitiveness in the level of nanotechnology activity determine the total number of nanotechnology publications and the mean number of citations. In this paper, we have analyzed the scientific nanotechnology activity of the most active countries in this field (countries whose number of nanotechnology publications exceeds 1,000 annually. We used data on nanotechnology publications collected from Web of Science - WoS database and published by Nano Statistics - Nano Science, Technology and Industry Scoreboard. We analyzed the trend of the total number of published nanotechnology publications, the mean number of citations trend, trend of the relations of published nanotechnology publications and gross domestic product, and the trend of relations of published nanotechnology publications and the number of residents in the surveyed countries. Based on the regression-correlation analysis, we predicted the expected value of the total number of nanotechnology publications published in 2015 for China and the United States, because these are the countries that dominate in the total number of published nanotechnology publications in the world.
Light mobility applications towards public education and research
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Ceviz, Y.; Eroglu, M.; Akfidan, T.; Altinel, S.; Yazici, M.S. [UNIDO-ICHET - International Centre for Hydrogen Energy Technologies, Istanbul (Turkey)
2010-07-01
International Center for Hydrogen Energy Technologies (ICHET) has been implementing measures to demonstrate potential benefits of the ''hydrogen and fuel cell systems'' in developing countries. As part of applied R and D activities, various prototype vehicles (a small tri-wheel scooter, a four-passenger cart integrated with a 2 kW fuel cell, a mobile caravan with wind, solar and fuel cell power and a forklift with the necessary fuelling options and controls) were demonstrated utilizing hydrogen as fuel. Performance analysis, sizing of the various system components and modeling will be carried out as part of applied R and D program. A long-term objective of the projects is to push for use of fuel cell powered light mobile vehicles in public places and encourage local industry to manufacturer similar vehicles and explore market potential for such use. As a benefit of this activity, public awareness on applications of renewable and fuel cell technologies will increase and viability of such systems will be demonstrated to change public perception. (orig.)
Human Ecology: Acid Rain and Public Policy.
Bybee, Rodger W.
1983-01-01
A connection between science and society can be seen in the human and ecological dimensions of one contemporary problem: acid rain. Introduces a human ecological theme and relationships between acid rain and public policy, considering scientific understanding and public awareness, scientific research and public policy, and national politics and…
Assessment of Awareness and Knowledge of Hepatitis B among the ...
African Journals Online (AJOL)
knowledge and awareness of the subjects among various age groups (p < 0.05), ethnic groups (p <. 0.005) and ... education and frequent vaccination programs on Hepatitis B among the public; especially in Puchong, ... prevention of this disease is essential to improve ..... in Malaysia, sexual transmission of the virus can.
Amin, Tarek Tawfik; Mohamed Abdelmoaty, Alshaimaa; Fouad Abd El Badei, Alaa; Obaid, Hamzah Ahmed; Mohamed, Esraa Mowafy; abosheab, Alaa; Abdulkarim, Ali; Abdelsadek, Omar
2017-01-01
Background: Physical inactivity is accountable for a sizable proportion of breast and colorectal cancers and other non-communicable diseases. The higher the individual’s awareness about the protective role of physical activity (PA) in reducing chronic disease, the greater the adoption of PA will be. Objectives: To determine the level of leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) and awareness towards the role of LTPA in cancer prevention among a sample of Medical students at Cairo University, Egypt. Subjects and Methods: A cross-sectional study, with multistage sampling (a total of 519 students from second to six year students) and a self administered questionnaire covering the study objectives. Results: A significant decrease in the actual?? level of LTPA was noted with students’ year of enrollment at the medical school. However, their knowledge about roles of PA in preventing coronary heart, elevated blood pressure, and elevated cholesterol exceeded 80%, with steady increase in relation to the year of enrolment from the second to 6th years. Their knowledge about PA preventive influence for cancer was low irrespective of the year enrolment (32.2% for prevention of colon and 16.2% for breast cancers). The main sources of knowledge about the role of PA in cancer prevention were the internet and media (77%). Conclusion: The students demonstrated a decline in their LTPA coupled with poor knowledge about the role of LTPA in cancer prevention. Revision of the current curricula should be considered with inclusion of more information on the role of LTPA in cancer prevention to facilitate better awareness of medical students and through them their future patients. Creative Commons Attribution License
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Roh, Seungkook; Jeong, Ik; Lee, Kibog; Kim, Dongwook; Kim, Hyunjin
2016-01-01
Controversy on nuclear energy has persisted ever since, but nuclear energy has maintained around 30% of electricity generation in Korea. This is because Korean wants to secure energy security and diversity of energy sources, but the most rational driver behind nuclear energy is the economic feasibility. Looking at the actual prices of electricity traded in the Korean Power Exchange, the price of electricity generated by nuclear energy is 39.1 Korean won per kWh, which is lower than that of other sources: 58.9 (bituminous coal), 221.8 (oil), 158.6 (gas), 170.9 (hydropower), 162.8 (wind) and 463.1 (photovoltaic). However only experts, regulators and people from electricity generation industry are aware of this fact and the public does not seem to be perceiving this correctly. This research, therefore, will compare the economic feasibility of energy sources and how it is perceived by the public in general. This research was able to identify the large gap between public's perception on and reality of economic feasibility of energy sources. There are two possible reasons for the gap. Firstly, the electricity price paid by the public is agnostic of energy sources. Therefore, it is difficult for the public to be aware that the electricity from nuclear energy is benefiting them and hence the public would be indifferent to the real economic feasibility. Secondly, public's awareness of nuclear reactor decommissioning and spent fuel processing along with easier access to relevant information the media would have played a role. In fact, number of press and media has questioned the economic feasibility of nuclear energy. However, the price of electricity generated by nuclear energy includes costs for future activities such as decommissioning, radioactive waste disposal and spent fuel disposal. The public seems to be not aware of such fact and therefore favoring the media. Such analysis leads to two major policy implications. Most importantly, the government should emphasize the
41 CFR 105-74.215 - What must I include in my drug-free awareness program?
2010-07-01
... 41 Public Contracts and Property Management 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false What must I include in my drug-free awareness program? 105-74.215 Section 105-74.215 Public Contracts and Property Management Federal Property Management Regulations System (Continued) GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION...
Classification of gene expression data: A hubness-aware semi-supervised approach.
Buza, Krisztian
2016-04-01
Classification of gene expression data is the common denominator of various biomedical recognition tasks. However, obtaining class labels for large training samples may be difficult or even impossible in many cases. Therefore, semi-supervised classification techniques are required as semi-supervised classifiers take advantage of unlabeled data. Gene expression data is high-dimensional which gives rise to the phenomena known under the umbrella of the curse of dimensionality, one of its recently explored aspects being the presence of hubs or hubness for short. Therefore, hubness-aware classifiers have been developed recently, such as Naive Hubness-Bayesian k-Nearest Neighbor (NHBNN). In this paper, we propose a semi-supervised extension of NHBNN which follows the self-training schema. As one of the core components of self-training is the certainty score, we propose a new hubness-aware certainty score. We performed experiments on publicly available gene expression data. These experiments show that the proposed classifier outperforms its competitors. We investigated the impact of each of the components (classification algorithm, semi-supervised technique, hubness-aware certainty score) separately and showed that each of these components are relevant to the performance of the proposed approach. Our results imply that our approach may increase classification accuracy and reduce computational costs (i.e., runtime). Based on the promising results presented in the paper, we envision that hubness-aware techniques will be used in various other biomedical machine learning tasks. In order to accelerate this process, we made an implementation of hubness-aware machine learning techniques publicly available in the PyHubs software package (http://www.biointelligence.hu/pyhubs) implemented in Python, one of the most popular programming languages of data science. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
Factors affecting awareness of emergency contraception among women
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Gamze Can
2015-04-01
CONCLUSION: Being aware of emergency contraception and its usage were low in our study. As emergency contraception is considered to be a second chance method, indications of emergency contraception should firstly be known by health professionals and correct informations should be transferred to public. Thereby, emergency contraception methods can be used effectively and practically. [TAF Prev Med Bull 2015; 14(2.000: 101-106
Wu, Po-Han; Hwang, Gwo-Jen; Tsai, Wen-Hung
2013-01-01
Context-aware ubiquitous learning has been recognized as being a promising approach that enables students to interact with real-world learning targets with supports from the digital world. Several researchers have indicated the importance of providing learning guidance or hints to individual students during the context-aware ubiquitous learning…
Mobile Context-Aware Support for Public Transportation Users
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
von Buchwald, Esben; Larsen, Jakob Eg; Murray-Smith, Roderick
2012-01-01
compass bearing, in addition to a distance range chosen by a physical gesture. The main application tested in this paper is a system to support public transport users in Copenhagen. Users can point at any bus-stop or train station and be given timetables, next departure times, and buy a ticket via SMS...
A Survey on Cyber Security awareness among college students in Tamil Nadu
Senthilkumar, K.; Easwaramoorthy, Sathishkumar
2017-11-01
The aim of the study is to analyse the awareness of cyber security on college students in Tamil Nadu by focusing various security threats in the internet. In recent years cybercrime is an enormous challenge in all areas including national security, public safety and personal privacy. To prevent from a victim of cybercrime everyone must know about their own security and safety measures to protect by themselves. A well-structured questionnaire survey method will be applied to analyse the college student’s awareness in the area of cyber security. This survey will be going to conducted in major cities of Tamil Nadu by focusing various security threats like email, virus, phishing, fake advertisement, popup windows and other attacks in the internet. This survey examines the college students’ awareness and the level of awareness about the security issues and some suggestions are set forth to overcome these issues.