962 resultados para core humanitarian competencies
Resumo:
BACKGROUND: Core outcome sets can increase the efficiency and value of research and, as a result, there are an increasing number of studies looking to develop core outcome sets (COS). However, the credibility of a COS depends on both the use of sound methodology in its development and clear and transparent reporting of the processes adopted. To date there is no reporting guideline for reporting COS studies. The aim of this programme of research is to develop a reporting guideline for studies developing COS and to highlight some of the important methodological considerations in the process.
METHODS/DESIGN: The study will include a reporting guideline item generation stage which will then be used in a Delphi study. The Delphi study is anticipated to include two rounds. The first round will ask stakeholders to score the items listed and to add any new items they think are relevant. In the second round of the process, participants will be shown the distribution of scores for all stakeholder groups separately and asked to re-score. A final consensus meeting will be held with an expert panel and stakeholder representatives to review the guideline item list. Following the consensus meeting, a reporting guideline will be drafted and review and testing will be undertaken until the guideline is finalised. The final outcome will be the COS-STAR (Core Outcome Set-STAndards for Reporting) guideline for studies developing COS and a supporting explanatory document.
DISCUSSION: To assess the credibility and usefulness of a COS, readers of a COS development report need complete, clear and transparent information on its methodology and proposed core set of outcomes. The COS-STAR guideline will potentially benefit all stakeholders in COS development: COS developers, COS users, e.g. trialists and systematic reviewers, journal editors, policy-makers and patient groups.
Resumo:
Some reasons for registering trials might be considered as self-serving, such as satisfying the requirements of a journal in which the researchers wish to publish their eventual findings or publicising the trial to boost recruitment. Registry entries also help others, including systematic reviewers, to know about ongoing or unpublished studies and contribute to reducing research waste by making it clear what studies are ongoing. Other sources of research waste include inconsistency in outcome measurement across trials in the same area, missing data on important outcomes from some trials, and selective reporting of outcomes. One way to reduce this waste is through the use of core outcome sets: standardised sets of outcomes for research in specific areas of health and social care. These do not restrict the outcomes that will be measured, but provide the minimum to include if a trial is to be of the most use to potential users. We propose that trial registries, such as ISRCTN, encourage researchers to note their use of a core outcome set in their entry. This will help people searching for trials and those worried about selective reporting in closed trials. Trial registries can facilitate these efforts to make new trials as useful as possible and reduce waste. The outcomes section in the entry could prompt the researcher to consider using a core outcome set and facilitate the specification of that core outcome set and its component outcomes through linking to the original core outcome set. In doing this, registries will contribute to the global effort to ensure that trials answer important uncertainties, can be brought together in systematic reviews, and better serve their ultimate aim of improving health and well-being through improving health and social care.
Resumo:
BACKGROUND: A core outcome set (COS) can address problems of outcome heterogeneity and outcome reporting bias in trials and systematic reviews, including Cochrane reviews, helping to reduce waste. One of the aims of the international Core Outcome Measures in Effectiveness Trials (COMET) Initiative is to link the development and use of COS with the outcomes specified and reported in Cochrane reviews, including the outcomes listed in the summary of findings (SoF) tables. As part of this work, an earlier exploratory survey of the outcomes of newly published 2007 and 2011 Cochrane reviews was performed. This survey examined the use of COS, the variety of specified outcomes, and outcome reporting in Cochrane reviews by Cochrane Review Group (CRG). To examine changes over time and to explore outcomes that were repeatedly specified over time in Cochrane reviews by CRG, we conducted a follow-up survey of outcomes in 2013 Cochrane reviews.
METHODS: A descriptive survey of outcomes in Cochrane reviews that were first published in 2013. Outcomes specified in the methods sections and reported in the results section of the Cochrane reviews were examined by CRG. We also explored the uptake of SoF tables, the number of outcomes included in these, and the quality of the evidence for the outcomes.
RESULTS: Across the 50 CRGs, 375 Cochrane reviews that included at least one study specified a total of 3142 outcomes. Of these outcomes, 32 % (1008) were not reported in the results section of these reviews. For 23 % (233) of these non-reported outcomes, we did not find any reason in the text of the review for this non-report. Fifty-seven percent (216/375) of reviews included a SoF table.
CONCLUSIONS: The proportion of specified outcomes that were reported in Cochrane reviews had increased in 2013 (68 %) compared to 2007 (61 %) and 2011 (65 %). Importantly, 2013 Cochrane reviews that did not report specified outcomes were twice as likely to provide an explanation for why the outcome was not reported. There has been an increased uptake of SoF tables in Cochrane reviews. Outcomes that were repeatedly specified in Cochrane reviews by CRG in 2007, 2011, and 2013 may assist COS development.
Resumo:
Background:
Healthcare in Qatar is undergoing a period of major reform, driven by a strong economy and vision for a world-class healthcare system. One area identified as a potential contributor to developing a world-class healthcare system is interprofessional education (IPE), with the goal of facilitating healthcare workers to work together collaboratively. Several key steps have been taken towards developing IPE in Qatar, such as the formation of the Qatar Interprofessional Health Council (QIHC), the development of an IPE program for undergraduate healthcare students, the development of a set of shared core competencies, the receipt of substantial buy-in from leaders across the healthcare system, and recent approval of funding to develop a post-licensure healthcare IPE program. In order to improve IPE in Qatar, it is important to better understand the facilitators and barriers to interprofessional collaboration in Qatar. This study seeks to do so by qualitatively exploring facilitators and barriers to interprofessional collaboration for healthcare professional in Qatar from the perspective of health care professionals. By better understanding how health care workers give meaning to interprofessional education and collaboration, this research can assist in improving interprofessional activities in healthcare in Qatar.
Objectives
The purpose of this paper-presentation is to report on finding from a qualitative study that explored different facilitators and barriers of interprofessional practice in Qatar.
Method:
Ten healthcare professionals who work in Qatar were interviewed using semi-structured, open-ended interviews. Interview questions were organized by phenomenological (e.g. exploring the lived-experiences of healthcare workers) and ethnographic interviewing techniques (e.g. focusing on what people do). The questions explored the barriers, facilitators, and what is working well in terms of interprofessional practice for health care professional in Qatar.
Findings and Implications:
Different factors associated with interprofessional collaborations will be discussed. In doing so, this research adds to the literature on IPE by shedding light on interprofessional collaboration and education in the Middle East. Furthermore, this study identifies barriers for health care workers to work collaboratively in health care settings in Qatar. Addressing such barriers, and building off of what is working well, will facilitate Qatar in reaching one of the Vision 2030 goals of improving Qatar’s health and wellness.
Resumo:
Background:
Healthcare in Qatar is undergoing a period of major reform, driven by a strong economy and vision for a world-class healthcare system. One area identified as a potential contributor to developing a world-class healthcare system is interprofessional education (IPE), with the goal of facilitating healthcare workers to work together collaboratively. Several key steps have been taken towards developing IPE in Qatar, such as the formation of the Qatar Interprofessional Health Council (QIHC), the development of an IPE program for undergraduate healthcare students, the development of a set of shared core competencies, the receipt of substantial buy-in from leaders across the healthcare system, and recent approval of funding to develop a post-licensure healthcare IPE program. In order to improve IPE in Qatar, it is important to better understand the facilitators and barriers to interprofessional collaboration in Qatar. This study seeks to do so by qualitatively exploring facilitators and barriers to interprofessional collaboration for healthcare professional in Qatar from the perspective of health care professionals. By better understanding how health care workers give meaning to interprofessional education and collaboration, this research can assist in improving interprofessional activities in healthcare in Qatar.
Objectives
The purpose of this paper-presentation is to report on finding from a qualitative study that explored different facilitators and barriers of interprofessional practice in Qatar.
Method:
Ten healthcare professionals who work in Qatar were interviewed using semi-structured, open-ended interviews. Interview questions were organized by phenomenological (e.g. exploring the lived-experiences of healthcare workers) and ethnographic interviewing techniques (e.g. focusing on what people do). The questions explored the barriers, facilitators, and what is working well in terms of interprofessional practice for health care professional in Qatar.
Findings and Implications:
Different factors associated with interprofessional collaborations will be discussed. In doing so, this research adds to the literature on IPE by shedding light on interprofessional collaboration and education in the Middle East. Furthermore, this study identifies barriers for health care workers to work collaboratively in health care settings in Qatar. Addressing such barriers, and building off of what is working well, will facilitate Qatar in reaching one of the Vision 2030 goals of improving Qatar’s health and wellness.
Resumo:
Building Information Modelling (BIM) is continuing to evolve and develop as the construction industry progresses towards level 2 maturity. However, one of the core barriers in this progression is the aspect of interoperability between software packages. This research and paper stems from a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) where both industry and academia come together to address this shortcoming within the sector. One of the core objectives of this partnership and the aim of this study is investigating potential solutions to this barrier, while also developing best working practices to be applied in industry. Using one of the case studies from this partnership (a temporary steel structure), this paper demonstrates a potential solution to addressing interoperability within structural analysis and detailing packages, MasterSeries and Revit respectively. The findings of the research indicate that a process based approach rather than that of additional software coding as being the preferred solution. The results of this preliminary research will aid in the development of the topic of interoperability within the sector, while also developing the knowledge and competencies of the parties within the KTP. The findings are explored further, by providing an overview of the resolution process adopted in this case study, in overcoming the interoperability that arose as the project progressed. It is envisaged that this study will assist the construction sector and its adoption of BIM technologies, while also addressing the critical aspect of operability between software.
Resumo:
There is demand for an easily programmable, high performance image processing platform based on FPGAs. In previous work, a novel, high performance processor - IPPro was developed and a Histogram of Orientated Gradients (HOG) algorithm study undertaken on a Xilinx Zynq platform. Here, we identify and explore a number of mapping strategies to improve processing efficiency for soft-cores and a number of options for creation of a division coprocessor. This is demonstrated for the revised high definition HOG implementation on a Zynq platform, resulting in a performance of 328 fps which represents a 146% speed improvement over the original realization and a tenfold reduction in energy.
Resumo:
Software-programmable `soft' processors have shown tremendous potential for efficient realisation of high performance signal processing operations on Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), whilst lowering the design burden by avoiding the need to design fine-grained custom circuit archi-tectures. However, the complex data access patterns, high memory bandwidth and computational requirements of sliding window applications, such as Motion Estimation (ME) and Matrix Multiplication (MM), lead to low performance, inefficient soft processor realisations. This paper resolves this issue, showing how by adding support for block data addressing and accelerators for high performance loop execution, performance and resource efficiency over four times better than current best-in-class metrics can be achieved. In addition, it demonstrates the first recorded real-time soft ME estimation realisation for H.263 systems.
Resumo:
The increasing design complexity associated with modern Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) has prompted the emergence of 'soft'-programmable processors which attempt to replace at least part of the custom circuit design problem with a problem of programming parallel processors. Despite substantial advances in this technology, its performance and resource efficiency for computationally complex operations remains in doubt. In this paper we present the first recorded implementation of a softcore Fast-Fourier Transform (FFT) on Xilinx Virtex FPGA technology. By employing a streaming processing architecture, we show how it is possible to achieve architectures which offer 1.1 GSamples/s throughput and up to 19 times speed-up against the Xilinx Radix-2 FFT dedicated circuit with comparable cost.
Resumo:
In the reinsurance market, the risks natural catastrophes pose to portfolios of properties must be quantified, so that they can be priced, and insurance offered. The analysis of such risks at a portfolio level requires a simulation of up to 800 000 trials with an average of 1000 catastrophic events per trial. This is sufficient to capture risk for a global multi-peril reinsurance portfolio covering a range of perils including earthquake, hurricane, tornado, hail, severe thunderstorm, wind storm, storm surge and riverine flooding, and wildfire. Such simulations are both computation and data intensive, making the application of high-performance computing techniques desirable.
In this paper, we explore the design and implementation of portfolio risk analysis on both multi-core and many-core computing platforms. Given a portfolio of property catastrophe insurance treaties, key risk measures, such as probable maximum loss, are computed by taking both primary and secondary uncertainties into account. Primary uncertainty is associated with whether or not an event occurs in a simulated year, while secondary uncertainty captures the uncertainty in the level of loss due to the use of simplified physical models and limitations in the available data. A combination of fast lookup structures, multi-threading and careful hand tuning of numerical operations is required to achieve good performance. Experimental results are reported for multi-core processors and systems using NVIDIA graphics processing unit and Intel Phi many-core accelerators.
Resumo:
High resolution soft x-ray photoemission spectroscopy (SXPS) have been used to study the high temperature thermal stability of ultra-thin atomic layer deposited (ALD) HfO2 layers (∼1 nm) on sulphur passivated and hydrofluoric acid (HF) treated germanium surfaces. The interfacial oxides which are detected for both surface preparations following HfO2 deposition can be effectively removed by annealing upto 700 °C without any evidence of chemical interaction at the HfO2/Ge interface. The estimated valence and conduction band offsets for the HfO2/Ge abrupt interface indicated that effective barriers exist to inhibit carrier injection.