A printed hemispherical helical antenna for GPS receivers

A self-matched printed hemispherical helical antenna for potential use in global positioning system receivers is introduced. Unlike wired hemispherical helical antennas, its printed form renders it a much more stable and endurable structure and also easier for fabrication. The optimized antenna shows an impedance bandwidth of 6%, a 3-dB axial ratio bandwidth of 6%-7%, a return loss greater than 20 dB, and a gain of about 9 dB at the center frequency. The patterns of the antenna show a larger mainlobe in the upper half space with relatively small backlobes. Both theoretical and experimental results will be presented.

Predictors of an antibiotic prescription by GPs for respiratory tract infections: a pilot

Background. Antibiotics are over-prescribed for respiratory tract infections in Australia. Objectives. The aim of this study was to describe the clinical predictors of GPs' prescribing of antibiotics. Methods. We used Clinical Judgment Analysis to study the responses of GPs to hypothetical paper-based vignettes of a 20-year-old with a respiratory tract infection. The nature of four symptoms and signs (colour of nasal mucous discharge; soreness of the throat; presence of fever; and whether any cough was productive of sputum) was varied and their effect on prescribing measured using logistic regression. Results. Twenty GPs participated. The nature of each symptom and sign significantly predicted prescribing of an antibiotic. Cough productive of yellow sputum; presence of sore throat; fever; and coloured nasal mucus increased the probability of an antibiotic being prescribed. Conclusions. GPs are influenced by clinical signs and symptoms to use antibiotics for respiratory infections for which there is poor evidence of efficacy from the literature.

Evaluation of the Heart of Birmingham teaching Primary Care Trust (HoBtPCT): My Choice Weight Management Programme:report commissioned by Heart of Birmingham teaching Primary Care Trust

This report details an evaluation of the My Choice Weight Management Programme undertaken by a research team from the School of Pharmacy at Aston University. The My Choice Weight Management Programme is delivered through community pharmacies and general practitioners (GPs) contracted to provide services by the Heart of Birmingham teaching Primary Care Trust. It is designed to support individuals who are ‘ready to change’ by enabling the individual to work with a trained healthcare worker (for example, a healthcare assistant, practice nurse or pharmacy assistant) to develop a care plan designed to enable the individual to lose 5-10% of their current weight. The Programme aims to reduce adult obesity levels; improve access to overweight and obesity management services in primary care; improve diet and nutrition; promote healthy weight and increased levels of physical activity in overweight or obese patients; and support patients to make lifestyle changes to enable them to lose weight. The Programme is available for obese patients over 18 years old who have a Body Mass Index (BMI) greater than 30 kg/m2 (greater than 25 kg/m2 in Asian patients) or greater than 28 kg/m2 (greater than 23.5 kg/m2 in Asian patients) in patients with co-morbidities (diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease). Each participant attends weekly consultations over a twelve session period (the final iteration of these weekly sessions is referred to as ‘session twelve’ in this report). They are then offered up to three follow up appointments for up to six months at two monthly intervals (the final of these follow ups, taking place at approximately nine months post recruitment, is referred to as ‘session fifteen’ in this report). A review of the literature highlights the dearth of published research on the effectiveness of primary care- or community-based weight management interventions. This report may help to address this knowledge deficit. A total of 451 individuals were recruited on to the My Choice Weight Management Programme. More participants were recruited at GP surgeries (n=268) than at community pharmacies (n=183). In total, 204 participants (GP n=102; pharmacy n=102) attended session twelve and 82 participants (GP n=22; pharmacy 60) attended session fifteen. The unique demographic characteristics of My Choice Weight Management Programme participants – participants were recruited from areas with high levels of socioeconomic deprivation and over four-fifths of participants were from Black and Minority Ethnic groups; populations which are traditionally underserved by healthcare interventions – make the achievements of the Programme particularly notable. The mean weight loss at session 12 was 3.8 kg (equivalent to a reduction of 4.0% of initial weight) among GP surgery participants and 2.4 kg (2.8%) among pharmacy participants. At session 15 mean weight loss was 2.3 kg (2.2%) among GP surgery participants and 3.4 kg (4.0%) among pharmacy participants. The My Choice Weight Management Programme improved the general health status of participants between recruitment and session twelve as measured by the validated SF-12 questionnaire. While cost data is presented in this report, it is unclear which provider type delivered the Programme more cost-effectively. Attendance rates on the Programme were consistently better among pharmacy participants than among GP participants. The opinions of programme participants (both those who attended regularly and those who failed to attend as expected) and programme providers were explored via semi-structured interviews and, in the case of the participants, a selfcompletion postal questionnaire. These data suggest that the Programme was almost uniformly popular with both the deliverers of the Programme and participants on the Programme with 83% of questionnaire respondents indicating that they would be happy to recommend the Programme to other people looking to lose weight. Our recommendations, based on the evidence provided in this report, include: a. Any consideration of an extension to the study also giving comparable consideration to an extension of the Programme evaluation. The feasibility of assigning participants to a pharmacy provider or a GP provider via a central allocation system should also be examined. This would address imbalances in participant recruitment levels between provider type and allow for more accurate comparison of the effectiveness in the delivery of the Programme between GP surgeries and community pharmacies by increasing the homogeneity of participants at each type of site and increasing the number of Programme participants overall. b. Widespread dissemination of the findings from this review of the My Choice Weight Management Project should be undertaken through a variety of channels. c. Consideration of the inclusion of the following key aspects of the My Choice Weight Management Project in any extension to the Programme: i. The provision of training to staff in GP surgeries and community pharmacies responsible for delivery of the Programme prior to patient recruitment. ii. Maintaining the level of healthcare staff input to the Programme. iii. The regular schedule of appointments with Programme participants. iv. The provision of an increased variety of printed material. d. A simplification of the data collection method used by the Programme commissioners at the individual Programme delivery sites.

Verification of the indoor GPS system, by comparison with calibrated coordinates and by angular reference

This paper details work carried out to verify the dimensional measurement performance of the Indoor GPS (iGPS) system; a network of Rotary-Laser Automatic Theodolites (R-LATs). Initially tests were carried out to determine the angular uncertainties on an individual R-LAT transmitter-receiver pair. A method is presented of determining the uncertainty of dimensional measurement for a three dimensional coordinate measurement machine. An experimental procedure was developed to compare three dimensional coordinate measurements with calibrated reference points. The reference standard used to calibrate these reference points was a fringe counting interferometer with the multilateration technique employed to establish three dimensional coordinates. This is an extension of the established technique of comparing measured lengths with calibrated lengths. The method was found to be practical and able to establish that the expanded uncertainty of the basic iGPS system was approximately 1 mm at a 95% confidence level. Further tests carried out on a highly optimized version of the iGPS system have shown that the coordinate uncertainty can be reduced to 0.25 mm at a 95% confidence level.

Spatio-temporal techniques for user identification by means of GPS mobility data

One of the greatest concerns related to the popularity of GPS-enabled devices and applications is the increasing availability of the personal location information generated by them and shared with application and service providers. Moreover, people tend to have regular routines and be characterized by a set of “significant places”, thus making it possible to identify a user from his/her mobility data. In this paper we present a series of techniques for identifying individuals from their GPS movements. More specifically, we study the uniqueness of GPS information for three popular datasets, and we provide a detailed analysis of the discriminatory power of speed, direction and distance of travel. Most importantly, we present a simple yet effective technique for the identification of users from location information that are not included in the original dataset used for training, thus raising important privacy concerns for the management of location datasets.

GPs' perspectives on managing the NHS Health Check in primary care:a qualitative evaluation of implementation in one area of England

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the implementation of the National Health Service (NHS) Health Check programme in one area of England from the perspective of general practitioners (GPs). DESIGN: A qualitative exploratory study was conducted with GPs and other healthcare professionals involved in delivering the NHS Health Check and with patients. This paper reports the experience of GPs and focuses on the management of the Heath Check programme in primary care. SETTING: Primary care surgeries in the Heart of Birmingham region (now under the auspices of the Birmingham Cross City Clinical Commissioning Group) were invited to take part in the larger scale evaluation. This study focuses on a subset of those surgeries whose GPs were willing to participate. PARTICIPANTS: 9 GPs from different practices volunteered. GPs served an ethnically diverse region with areas of socioeconomic deprivation. Ethnicities of participant GPs included South Asian, South Asian British, white, black British and Chinese. METHODS: Individual semistructured interviews were conducted with GPs face to face or via telephone. Thematic analysis was used to analyse verbatim transcripts. RESULTS: Themes were generated which represent GPs' experiences of managing the NHS Health Check: primary care as a commercial enterprise; 'buy in' to concordance in preventive healthcare; following protocol and support provision. These themes represent the key issues raised by GPs. They reveal variability in the implementation of NHS Health Checks. GPs also need support in allocating resources to the Health Check including training on how to conduct checks in a concordant (or collaborative) way. CONCLUSIONS: The variability observed in this small-scale evaluation corroborates existing findings suggesting a need for more standardisation. Further large-scale research is needed to determine how that could be achieved. Work needs to be done to further develop a concordant approach to lifestyle advice which involves tailored individual goal setting rather than a paternalistic advice-giving model.

Estudo sobre a relação entre a atividade geomagnética e cintilações de sinais de GPS em Natal-RN (Brasil)

To identify the relationship between GPS scintillation in Natal-RN (Brazil) and geomagnetic disturbances of any intensities and variations, this work made analysis of the ionospheric behavior and magnetic indexes (Dst , AE and Bz of the interplanetary magnetic field) concerning to different periods of the solar cycle between 2000 and 2014. Part of the data of this research originated at the UFRN observatory, from a GEC Plessey board connected to an ANP -C 114 antenna, modified by Cornell University’s Space group Plasma Physics in order to operate the ScintMon, a GPS monitoring program. This study, therefore, found several cases of inhibited scintillations after the main phase of magnetic storms, a fact that, along with others, corroborated with categorization of Aarons (1991) and models of disturbed dynamo (according to Bonelli, 2008) and over-shielding penetration, defended by Kelley et al. (1979) and Abdu (2011) [4]. In addition to these findings, different morphologies were noted in such disruptions in the GPS signal in accordance with previous magnetic activities. It also found a moderate relationship (R2 = 0.52) between the Dst rate (concerning to specific time) and the average of S4 through a polynomial function. This finding therefore, corroborating Ilma et al. (2012) [17], is an important evidence that the scintillation GPS are not directly controlled by magnetic induction of storms. Completing this work, this relation did show itself as a way of partial predicting of scintillations.

Algoritmo eficiente para aquisição de sinais de GPS por software

O NAVSTAR/GPS (NAVigation System with Timing And Ranging/Global Po- sitioning System), mais conhecido por GPS, _e um sistema de navegacão baseado em sat_elites desenvolvido pelo departamento de defesa norte-americano em meados de 1970. Criado inicialmente para fins militares, o GPS foi adaptado para o uso civil. Para fazer a localização, o receptor precisa fazer a aquisição de sinais dos satélites visíveis. Essa etapa é de extrema importância, pois é responsável pela detecção dos satélites visíveis, calculando suas respectivas frequências e fases iniciais. Esse processo pode demandar bastante tempo de processamento e precisa ser implementado de forma eficiente. Várias técnicas são utilizadas atualmente, mas a maioria delas colocam em conflito questões de projeto tais como, complexidade computacional, tempo de aquisição e recursos computacionais. Objetivando equilibrar essas questões, foi desenvolvido um método que reduz a complexidade do processo de aquisição utilizando algumas estratégias, a saber, redução do efeito doppler, amostras e tamanho do sinal utilizados, além do paralelismo. Essa estratégia é dividida em dois passos, um grosseiro em todo o espaço de busca e um fino apenas na região identificada previamente pela primeira etapa. Devido a busca grosseira, o limiar do algoritmo convencional não era mais aceitável. Nesse sentido, um novo limiar foi estabelecido baseado na variância dos picos de correlação. Inicialmente, é feita uma busca com pouca precisão comparando a variância dos cinco maiores picos de correlação encontrados. Caso a variância ultrapasse um certo limiar, a região de maior pico torna-se candidata à detecção. Por fim, essa região passa por um refinamento para se ter a certeza de detecção. Os resultados mostram que houve uma redução significativa na complexidade e no tempo de execução, sem que tenha sido necessário utilizar algoritmos muito complexos.

GPS linked photos of benthic cover transect surveys in Heron Reef

Underwater photo-transect surveys were conducted on September 23-27, 2007 at different sections of the reef flat, reef crest and reef slope in Heron Reef. This survey was done by swimming along pre-defined transect sites and taking a picture of the bottom substrate parallel to the bottom at constant vertical distance (30cm) every two to three metres. A total of 3,586 benthic photos were taken. A floating GPS setup connected to the swimmer/diver by a line enabled recording of coordinates of transect surveys. Approximation of the coordinates for each benthic photo was based on the photo timestamp and GPS coordinate time stamp, using GPS Photo Link Software. Coordinates of each photo were interpolated by finding the the gps coordinates that were logged at a set time before and after the photo was captured. The output of this process was an ArcMap point shapefile, a Google Earth KML file and a thumbnail of each benthic photo taken. The data in the ArcMap shapefile and in the Google Earth KML file consisted of the approximated coordinate of each benthic photo taken during the survey. Using the GPS Photo Link extension within the ArcMap environment, opening the ArcMap shapefile will enable thumbnail to be displayed on the associated benthic cover photo whenever hovering with the mouse over a point on the transect. By downloading the GPSPhotoLink software from the www.geospatialexperts.com, and installing it as a trial version the ArcMap exstension will be installed in the ArcMap environment.