Communication skills in diagnostic pathology.

Communication is an essential element of good medical practice also in pathology. In contrast to technical or diagnostic skills, communication skills are not easy to define, teach, or assess. Rules almost do not exist. In this paper, which has a rather personal character and cannot be taken as a set of guidelines, important aspects of communication in pathology are explored. This includes what should be communicated to the pathologist on the pathology request form, communication between pathologists during internal (interpathologist) consultation, communication around frozen section diagnoses, modalities of communication of a final diagnosis, with whom and how critical and unexpected findings should be communicated, (in-)adequate routes of communication for pathology diagnoses, who will (or might) receive pathology reports, and what should be communicated and how in case of an error or a technical problem. An earlier more formal description of what the responsibilities are of a pathologist as communicator and as collaborator in a medical team is added in separate tables. The intention of the paper is to stimulate reflection and discussion rather than to formulate strict rules.

Control remoto del robot ABB IRB 120 por tecnología Wifi

Durante toda la evolución de la tecnología, se han empleado aparatos interconexionados por cables. Los cables limitan la libertad de movimiento del usuario y pueden captar interferencias entre ellos si la red de cableado es elevada. Mientras avanzaba la tecnología inalámbrica, se ha ido adaptando al equipamiento electrónico a la vez que se iban haciendo cada vez más pequeños. Por esto, se impone la necesidad de utilizarlos como controles a distancia sin el empleo de cables debido a los inconvenientes que estos conllevan. El presente trabajo, pretende unificar tres tecnologías que pueden tener en el futuro una gran afinidad. · Dispositivos basados en el sistema Android. Desde sus inicios, han tenido una evolución meteórica. Se han ido haciendo cada vez más rápidos y mejores. · Sistemas inalámbricos. Los sistemas wifi o bluetooth, se han ido incorporando a nuestras vidas cada vez más y están prácticamente en cualquier aparato. · Robótica. Cualquier proceso de producción incorpora un robot. Son necesarios para hacer muchos trabajos que, aunque el hombre lo puede realizar, un robot reduce los tiempos y la peligrosidad de los procesos. Aunque las dos primeras tecnologías van unidas, ¿quién no tiene un teléfono con conexión wifi y bluetooth?, pocos diseños aúnan estos campos con la Robótica. El objetivo final de este trabajo es realizar una aplicación en Android para el control remoto de un robot, empleando el sistema de comunicación inalámbrico. La aplicación desarrollada, permite controlar el robot a conveniencia del usuario en un entorno táctil/teledirigido. Gracias a la utilización de simulador en ambos lenguajes (RAPID y Android), ha sido posible realizar la programación sin tener que estar presente ante el robot objeto de este trabajo. A través de su progreso, se ha ido evolucionando en la cantidad de datos enviados al robot y complejidad en su procesamiento, a la vez que se ha mejorado en la estética de la aplicación. Finalmente se usó la aplicación desarrollada con el robot, consiguiendo con éxito que realizara los movimientos que eran enviados con la tablet programada.

Savoir-faire communicationnels et communication des compétences en Master de spécialisation ès Lettres

Notre article porte sur la mise en oeuvre d'un dispositif de portfolio en ligne (ePortfolio) dans le cadre d'un Master de spécialisation ès lettres en Analyse des discours et de la communication publics. Dans le but d'améliorer la transférabilité de compétences académiques vers les contextes professionnels, l'équipe enseignante de ce Master a créé un ensemble d'activités permettant à l'étudiant de prendre conscience des compétences qu'il a développées et d'apprendre à mieux communiquer celles-ci. La démarche articule deux dimensions : réflexive et communicative. Sur le premier point, le projet se focalise sur le développement de l'attitude réflexive de l'étudiant par rapport à son apprentissage. Sur le second point, le projet se concentre sur le développement d'une aptitude à communiquer ses compétences. Vu la nature du cursus, communiquer à propos de ses compétences reflète précisément des compétences à communiquer et ce type de savoir-faire discursif représente une distinction essentielle par rapport à d'autres filières de formation en communication.

Power line communication in motor cables of variable-speed electric drives − analysis and

Data transmission between an electric motor and a frequency converter is required in variablespeed electric drives because of sensors installed at the motor. Sensor information can be used for various useful applications to improve the system reliability and its properties. Traditionally, the communication medium is implemented by an additional cabling. However, the costs of the traditional method may be an obstacle to the wider application of data transmission between a motor and a frequency converter. In any case, a power cable is always installed between a motor and a frequency converter for power supply, and hence it may be applied as a communication medium for sensor level data. This thesis considers power line communication (PLC) in inverter-fed motor power cables. The motor cable is studied as a communication channel in the frequency band of 100 kHz−30 MHz. The communication channel and noise characteristics are described. All the individual components included in a variable-speed electric drive are presented in detail. A channel model is developed, and it is verified by measurements. A theoretical channel information capacity analysis is carried out to estimate the opportunities of a communication medium. Suitable communication and forward error correction (FEC) methods are suggested. A general method to implement a broadband and Ethernet-based communication medium between a motor and a frequency converter is proposed. A coupling interface is also developed that allows to install the communication device safely to a three-phase inverter-fed motor power cable. Practical tests are carried out, and the results are analyzed. Possible applications for the proposed method are presented. A speed feedback motor control application is verified in detail by simulations and laboratory tests because of restrictions for the delay in the feedback loop caused by PLC. Other possible applications are discussed at a more general level.

Older consumers adopting information and communication technology: Evaluating opportunities for health care applications

The purpose of this dissertation is to analyse older consumers' adoption of information and communication technology innovations, assess the effect of aging related characteristic, and evaluate older consumers' willingness to apply these technologies in health care services. This topic is considered important, because the population in Finland (as in other welfare states) is aging and thus offers a possibility for marketers, but on the other hand threatens society with increasing costs for healthcare. Innovation adoption has been under research from several aspects in both organizational and consumer research. In the consumer behaviour, several theories have been developed to predict consumer responses to innovation. The present dissertation carefully reviews previous research and takes a closer look at the theory of planned behaviour, technology acceptance model and diffusion of innovations perspective. It is here suggested that there is a possibility that these theories can be combined and complemented to predict the adoption of ICT innovations among aging consumers, taking the aging related personal characteristics into account. In fact, there are very few studies that have concentrated on aging consumers in the innovation research, and thus there was a clear indent for the present research. ICT in the health care context has been studied mainly from the organizational point of view. If the technology is thus applied for the communication between the individual end-user and service provider, the end-user cannot be shrugged off. The present dissertation uses empirical evidence from a survey targeted to 55-79 year old people from one city in Southern-Carelia. The empirical analysis of the research model was mainly based on structural equation modelling that has been found very useful on estimating causal relationships. The tested models were targeted to predict the adoption stage of personal computers and mobile phones, and the adoption intention of future health services that apply these devices for communication. The present dissertation succeeded in modelling the adoption behaviour of mobile phones and PCs as well as adoption intentions of future services. Perceived health status and three components behind it (depression, functional ability, and cognitive ability) were found to influence perception of technology anxiety. Better health leads to less anxiety. The effect of age was assessed as a control variable, in order to evaluate its effect compared to health characteristics. Age influenced technology perceptions, but to lesser extent compared to health. The analyses suggest that the major determinant for current technology adoption is perceived behavioural control, and additionally technology anxiety that indirectly inhibit adoption through perceived control. When focusing on future service intentions, the key issue is perceived usefulness that needs to be highlighted when new services are launched. Besides usefulness, the perception of online service reliability is important and affects the intentions indirectly. To conclude older consumers' adoption behaviour is influenced by health status and age, but also by the perceptions of anxiety and behavioural control. On the other hand, launching new types of health services for aging consumers is possible after the service is perceived reliable and useful.

“That you too were the I”: Forms of polyphonic communication in John Ashbery’s poetry

Tarkastelen tutkimuksessani amerikkalaisen John Ashberyn (1927–) runoudessa lmenevää moniäänisyyttä. Runoutta pidetään yleensä yksiäänisenä puheena, kun taas omaanin ajatellaan erityisesti Mihail Bahtinin vaikutuksesta olevan luonnostaan oniääninen kirjallisuudenlaji. Ashberyn postmoderni runous haastaa tämän äsityksen. Ashbery tunnetaan vakiintuneita runouskäsityksiä vastaan kirjoittavana avantgarde-runoilijana. Pääasiallisina tutkimuskohteinani ovat Ashberyn pitkä runoelma nimeltä ”Litany” (1979) sekä lyhyiden runojen valikoima Your Name Here (2000). Vertailukohtana tarkastelen Ashberyn yhdessä James Schuylerin kanssa kirjoittamaa romaania A Nest of Ninnies (1969). Teoreettisena pohjana on käytetty Ashberyä käsittelevän muun tutkimuksen lisäksi muun muassa jälkistrukturalistisiin teorioihin liittyviä ajatuksia pronominien vaikutuksesta siihen miten lukija muodostaa käsityksen subjektiivisesta läsnäolosta runossa. Ashbery käyttää persoonapronomineja ilman selkeitä viittaussuhteita. Viittaussuhteiden hämärtymisen ja fragmentaarisuuden vuoksi Ashberyn runoja pidetään usein vaikeina, eikä niistä ole helppo löytää yhtä selkeää aihetta. Hajanaisuus on kuitenkin motivoitua, koska juuri se mahdollistaa moniäänisyyden ja avoimen tekstin, joka voi sisältää monia merkityksiä. Kun runossa ei ole yhden puhujan hallitsevaa ääntä, lukijan rooli merkitysten muodostajana nousee keskeiseksi. ”Litany” on selkeästi metatekstuaalinen runo, jossa fiktiivinen taso sekoittuu runouden, taiteen ja kritiikin mahdollisuuksien pohdintaan. Runo hahmottelee uudenlaista, moniäänistä teorian ja runouden rajoja purkavaa kommunikaation muotoa. Toisen persoonan pronominien voidaan runossa usein ajatella puhuttelevan lukijaa. Your Name Here -kokoelmassa puolestaan toisen persoonan pronominipositiot määrittyvät usein tietyiksi henkilöhahmoiksi runojen maailmassa, ja pronominipositioiden kautta runoissa rakentuu moniäänisiä dialogeja määrittymättömien henkilöhahmojen välille. Näin lukijan huomio suunnataan ensisijaisesti kommunikaation ja arkipäivän kielenkäytön kliseiden sävyihin ja asiayhteyksiin pikemminkin kuin yksittäisten lausumien sisältöön. A Nest of Ninnies -romaani toimii näennäisestä dialogisuudestaan huolimatta ennen kaikkea yksiäänisesti, sillä romaanin yksiulotteisten henkilöhahmojen esittämiä ajatuksia hallitsee parodioimaan pyrkivä kertojanääni. Ashberyn runojen ja romaanin tarkasteleminen osoittaa, että käsitys runoudesta väistämättä yksiäänisenä ja romaanista moniäänisenä ei ole kaikilta osin ongelmaton. Moniääninen, monimerkityksinen runo voi tarjota toiselle itsenäisen aseman.

ESTRO-HERO survey: Guidelines for equipment and staffing of radiotherapy facilities in the European countries: Final results of the ESTRO-HERO survey

Background and purpose: In planning to meet evidence based needs for radiotherapy, guidelines for the provision of capital and human resources are central if access, quality and safety are not to be compromised. A component of the ESTRO-HERO (Health Economics in Radiation Oncology) project is to document the current availability and content of guidelines for radiotherapy in Europe. Materials and methods: An 84 part questionnaire was distributed to the European countries through their national scientific and professional radiotherapy societies with 30 items relating to the availability of guidelines for equipment and staffing and selected operational issues. Twenty-nine countries provided full or partial evaluable responses. Results: The availability of guidelines across Europe is far from uniform. The metrics used for capital and human resources are variable. There seem to have been no major changes in the availability or specifics of guidelines over the ten-year period since the QUARTS study with the exception of the recent expansion of RTT staffing models. Where comparison is possible it appears that staffing for radiation oncologists, medical physicists and particularly RTTs tend to exceed guidelines suggesting developments in clinical radiotherapy are moving faster than guideline updating. Conclusion: The efficient provision of safe, high quality radiotherapy services would benefit from the availability of well-structured guidelines for capital and human resources, based on agreed upon metrics, which could be linked to detailed estimates of need

ESTRO-HERO survey: Radiotherapy equipment and departments in the European countries: Final results from the ESTRO-HERO survey

Background: Documenting the distribution of radiotherapy departments and the availability of radiotherapy equipment in the European countries is an important part of HERO the ESTRO Health Economics in Radiation Oncology project. HERO has the overall aim to develop a knowledge base of the provision of radiotherapy in Europe and build a model for health economic evaluation of radiation treatments at the European level. The aim of the current report is to describe the distribution of radiotherapy equipment in European countries. Methods: An 84-item questionnaire was sent out to European countries, principally through their national societies. The current report includes a detailed analysis of radiotherapy departments and equipment (questionnaire items 2629), analyzed in relation to the annual number of treatment courses and the socio-economic status of the countries. The analysis is based on validated responses from 28 of the 40 European countries defined by the European Cancer Observatory (ECO). Results: A large variation between countries was found for most parameters studied. There were 2192 linear accelerators, 96 dedicated stereotactic machines, and 77 cobalt machines reported in the 27 countries where this information was available. A total of 12 countries had at least one cobalt machine in use. There was a median of 0.5 simulator per MV unit (range 0.31.5) and 1.4 (range 0.44.4) simulators per department. Of the 874 simulators, a total of 654 (75%) were capable of 3D imaging (CT-scanner or CBCToption). The number of MV machines (cobalt, linear accelerators, and dedicated stereotactic machines) per million inhabitants ranged from 1.4 to 9.5 (median 5.3) and the average number of MV machines per department from 0.9 to 8.2 (median 2.6). The average number of treatment courses per year per MV machine varied from 262 to 1061 (median 419). While 69% of MV units were capable of IMRT only 49% were equipped for image guidance (IGRT). There was a clear relation between socio-economic status, as measured by GNI per capita, and availability of radiotherapy equipment in the countries. In many low income countries in Southern and Central-Eastern Europe there was very limited access to radiotherapy and especially to equipment for IMRT or IGRT. Conclusions: The European average number of MV machines per million inhabitants and per department is now better in line with QUARTS recommendations from 2005, but the survey also showed a significant heterogeneity in the access to modern radiotherapy equipment in Europe. High income countries especially in Northern-Western Europe are well-served with radiotherapy resources, other countries are facing important shortages of both equipment in general and especially machines capable of delivering high precision conformal treatments (IMRT, IGRT)

Core communication components along the cancer care process: the perspective of breast cancer patients

This study sought to assess the impact of health care professional (HCP) communication on breast cancer patients across the acute care process as perceived by patients. Methodological approach was based on eight focus groups conducted with a sample of patients (n ¼ 37) drawn from 15 Spanish Regions; thematic analysis was undertaken using the National Cancer Institute (NCI) framework of HCP communication as the theoretical basis. Relevant results of this study were the identification of four main communication components: (1) reassurance in coping with uncertainty after symptom detection and prompt access until confirmed diagnosis; (2) fostering involvement before delivering treatments, by anticipating information on practical and emotional illness-related issues; (3) guidance on the different therapeutic options, through use of clinical scenarios; and, (4) eliciting the feeling of emotional exhaustion after ending treatments and addressing the management of potential treatment-related effects. These communication-related components highlighted the need for a comprehensive approach in this area of cancer care

Protection of the high-voltage equipment with reduced insulation strength

Power transformer is the most expensive equipment on a substation. It is always necessary to get needed benefit with the lowest expenses. Producing of power transformers with reduced insulation strength is one of the possible ways to reduce expenses. Exploitation of such transformers was begun in the end of 70-th in the last century. Protection from overvoltages was done with valve-type magnetic combined surge arresters with increased blanking voltage during switching overvoltages. Nowadays there is the necessity of replacement of those devices. That’s why modernized nonlinear surge arrester was invented. This master’s thesis is focused on the use research of that modernized device in comparison with usual nonlinear surge arresters. The goal is to show the lightning overvoltages level using different types of nonlinear surge arresters and then calculations of the lightning protection reliability.

Multichannel distribution strategy for electrical equipment marketing

The thesis examines System Integration and original equipment manufacturer (OEM) channel in the St. Petersburg drives market. The aim of the study was to increase understanding the relationship between OEM and SI and producers, problems and ongoing trends. The collected data was analyzed in order to find out which features of a power electronic drive product exercise a significant influence for the Russian companies decision. An essential part of this study was interviews as primary information sources, organized with SI and OEM companies which represented the basic SPb industry segments. The wholesalers and end users are left out from the analysis. The collected data was analyzed in order to find out which features of a power electronic drive product exercise a significant influence for the Russian companies decision.

A Markov chain analysis of emotional exchange in voice-to-voice communication: Testing for the mimicry hypothesis of emotional contagion

Mimicry is a central plank of the emotional contagion theory; however, it was only tested with facial and postural emotional stimuli. This study explores the existence of mimicry in voice-to-voice communication by analyzing 8,747 sequences of emotional displays between customers and employees in a call-center context. We listened live to 967 telephone inter-actions, registered the sequences of emotional displays, and analyzed them with a Markov chain. We also explored other propositions of emotional contagion theory that were yet to be tested in vocal contexts. Results supported that mimicry is significantly present at all levels. Our findings fill an important gap in the emotional contagion theory; have practical implications regarding voice-to-voice interactions; and open doors for future vocal mimicry research.

TransPromo communication as a part of company’s marketing communications when the e-bill is a medium

The goal of this thesis was to research what TransPromo is, why companies want to implement TransPromo communication, and what the elements of effective Transpromo communication are. Furthermore, the goal was to develop a TransPromo communication strategy and a normative model for TeliaSonera Finland, which depicts the elements of effective TransPromo communication when the electronic bill is a medium. Abductive reasoning was utilized in this thesis, which means that empirical and theoretical worlds are alternating in researcher’s reasoning process. This thesis didn’t rely on any specific theory nor did it utilize any previous theoretical model. However, certain theoretical connections existed so this thesis cannot be considered purely inductive. The empirical part of this thesis was conducted by examining secondary industry data and by conducting specialist interviews at TeliaSonera Finland and Strålfors. Grounded Theory approach was utilized in the analysis of the interview data and content analysis was used in the analysis of secondary industry data. This thesis increases knowledge in the area of TransPromo communication, and provides one definition of TransPromo communication. As a result of this thesis, a TransPromo communication strategy and a normative model for TeliaSonera Finland was built. The model depicts the elements of the effective TransPromo communication when the e-bill is a medium. The TranPromo communication objective is to utilize transaction documents, such as bills, in order to deliver targeted and personalized marketing messages to current customers. The aim is to strengthen the customer relationship, and to enforce up-sell and cross-sell opportunities and cost savings.