DIFFERENCES IN PSYCHOPATHOLOGY AMONG SUBSTANCE USERS IN RESIDENTIAL TREATMENT RELATED TO HIV STATUS

HIV-positive individuals engage in substance use at higher rates than the general population and are more likely to also suffer from concurrent psychiatric disorders and substance use disorders. Despite this, little is known about the unique clinical concerns of HIV-positive individuals entering substance use treatment. This study examined the clinical characteristics of clients (N=1712) entering residential substance use treatment as a function of self-reported HIV status (8.65% HIV-positive). Results showed higher levels of concurrent substance use and psychiatric disorders for HIV-positive individuals, who were also significantly more likely to meet criteria for bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder. Past diagnoses of depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, and social phobia were also significantly more common. Study findings indicate a need to provide more intensive care for HIV-positive individuals, including resources targeted at concurrent psychiatric problems, to ensure positive treatment outcomes following residential substance use treatment discharge.

Towards sustainable transport: A comparison of demographic and behavioural characteristics of Finnish and international car sharing users

Strong evidence suggests that the climate is changing and that these changes are largely caused by human activities. A consensus exists among researchers that human activity is causing global warming and that actions to mitigate global warming need to be taken swiftly. The transportation sector, which relies heavily on fossil fuel burning and primarily oil, is one of the big contributors to air pollution problems at local, regional and global levels. It is the fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions and is estimated to be responsible for nearly a quarter of global energyrelated carbon dioxide emissions. Car sharing is a mobility solution encouraging its users to decrease private car usage in favour of communal transit and environmental goals. The idea of car sharing originates from the aspiration to decrease personal car ownership and to reduce vehicle distance travelled. This thesis seeks to complement the understanding of Finnish car sharing users and their usage through better categorization. Through better categorization and segmentation of Finnish car sharing users the thesis seeks to provide information for improved marketing insight. Research is done on the demographic and behavioural characteristics of Finnish car sharing users and they are compared with international findings about the characteristics of International car sharing users. The main research problem is Are Finnish car sharing users similar to international ones? A theoretical research framework on the determinants of individual car sharing usage is built based on international research about demographic and behaviouristic characteristics. After this a quantitative survey is performed to the customers of a Finnish car sharing organization. The data analysed in the thesis consist out of 532 answers received from the car sharing organizations customers. The data is analysed with descriptive and other exploratory methods, which create an understanding of Finnish car sharing users. At the end of the analysis the demographic and behavioural characteristics of Finnish car sharing users are compared with international ones. The research findings of the thesis indicate that the demographic and behavioural characteristics of Finnish car sharing usage largely follow those of their international counterparts. Thanks to the thesis results the car sharing organization is able to better target their customers through improved marketing insight.

Non-use of Formal Health Services in Malawi: Perceptions from Non-users

Background The study upon which this paper is based was undertaken to understand users’ and non-users’ perceptions concerning facilitators and barriers to equitable and universal access to health care in resource-poor countries such as Malawi. In this study, non-users of health services were defined as people who were not in need of health services or those who had stopped using them due to significant barriers. Methods A total of 80 interviews with non-users of health services were conducted in Rumphi, Ntchisi, Phalombe and Blantyre Districts of Malawi. Interviews focused on why informants were not using formal health services at the time of data collection. In order to identify non-users, snowballing was used health surveillance assistants, village headmen and community members also helped. One focus group discussion was also conducted with non-users of health services who were members of the Zion Church. Results Informants described themselves as non-users of health services due to several reasons: cost of health services; long distances to health facilities; poor attitude of health workers; belief in the effectiveness of traditional medicines; old age and their failure to walk. Others were non-users due to their disability; hence they could not walk over long distances or could not communicate effectively with health providers. Some of these non-users were complete non-users, namely members of the Zion Church and those who believed in traditional medicine, and they stated that nothing could be done to transform them into users of health services. Other non-users stated that they could become users if their challenges were addressed e.g. for those who were non-users of health services due to poor attitudes of health workers, they stated that if these health workers were transferred they would be able to access health services. Conclusions Public health education targeting both health workers and non-users, ensuring a functional outreach program and addressing other health system challenges such as shortage of drugs and human resources would assist in transforming non-users into users of health services.

Light losses in hollow, prismatic light guides related to prim defects: a transmittance model

Hollow, cylindrical, prismatic light guides (CPLGs) are optical components that, using total internal reflection (TIR), are able to transmit high-diameter light beams in daylight and artificial lighting applications without relevant losses. It is necessary to study the prism defects of their surfaces to quantify the behavior of these optical components. In this Letter, we analyze a CPLG made of a transparent dielectric material. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and the topographic optical profilometry by absorption in fluids (TOPAF) imaging technique are conducted to determine if there are defects in the corners of the prisms. A model for light guide transmittance that is dependent on prism defects is proposed. Finally, a simulation and an experimental study are carried out to check the validity of the proposed model.

How does the healthcare industry involve users in medical device development? Pointers for UbiHealth

This paper introduces the Multidisciplinary Assessment of Technology Centre for Healthcare (MATCH) and outlines the problem of integrating a user-centred approach for development of medical devices together with the information and communication technology environments in which they are increasingly required to operate. We highlight some of the regulatory requirements that are relevant to user needs consideration in medical device development. Finally, we reveal a range of limitations in the current practice of the medical device industry in the area of user needs capture, based on responses from interviews with MATCH’s industry partners.

Evaluation of influenza vaccination services and users’ perception about its utility: a study in a community pharmacy in Lisbon, Portugal

Poster presented at the 25th European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID). Copenhagen, Denmark, 25–28 April 2015

"España Verde": tourism destination image among German Facebook users

Dissertação de Mestrado, Economia do Turismo e da Economia Regional, Faculdade de Economia, Universidade do Algarve, 2016

Reliability of infrared thermography in skin temperature evaluation of wheelchair users

To examine the reliability of infrared thermography (IRT) in wheelchair users (WCUs), as a noninvasive and risk-free technique to detect the natural thermal radiation emitted by human skin and to allow subsequent interpretations of temperature distributions.

Neuroimaging of the human brain in adolescent substance users

Included among the topics: Cognitive development, learning, and drug use. Neurobiology of the action of drugs of abuse. Findings in adolescents with substance dependence based on neuroimaging tests.

Meeting art with art : arts-based methods enhance researcher reflexivity in research with mental health service users

This paper presents a rationale for arts-based practices in music therapy research, and provides an example of using ABR techniques in research. Arts-based materials are increasingly demonstrated to have the capacity to extend processes of reflexivity and analysis in a range of qualitative health research studies. By comparison, music therapy research studies have rarely employed arts-based methods or techniques. There is a need for more studies in music therapy that employ arts-based research to demystify and elaborate a wider range of creative approaches within music therapy inquiry. In the study described in this paper, ABR was used to reflect on the contribution of a service user in a community mental health context who participated in a focus group about his experiences of music therapy. ABR was found to offer a creative way to engage service users, and to deepen and extend the researcher's reflexivity when responding to materials created by research participants.

First-priority relation graph-based malicious users detection in mobile social networks

Mobile social networks (MSNs) consist of many mobile users (individuals) with social characteristics, that provide a variety of data delivery services involving the social relationship among mobile individuals. Because mobile users move around based on their common interests and contact with each other more frequently if they have more social features in common in MSNs. In this paper, we first propose the first-priority relation graph, say FPRG, of MSNs. However, some users in MSNs may be malicious. Malicious users can break the data delivery through terminating the data delivery or tampering with the data. Therefore, malicious users will be detected in the process of looking for the data delivery routing to obtain efficient and reliable data delivery routing along the first-priority relation graph. Secondly, we propose one hamiltonian cycle decomposition of FPRG-based adaptive detection algorithm based on in MSNs under the PMC detection model (the system-level detection model).

Assessment of eating rate and food intake in spoon versus fork users in a laboratory setting

Accumulating evidence show positive relationships between eating rate and body weight. Acute food intake is affected by eating rate, bite size, and palatability. The objective was to assess differences between participants who chose to use a spoon vs. fork in eating rate and food intake of four meals that differ in palatability (low vs. high salt) and in energy density (low vs. high fat). Forty-eight healthy adults (16 males, 18-54 y, BMI: 17.8-34.4 kg/m2) were recruited. Participants attended four lunch time sessions after a standardised breakfast. Meals were either (1) low-fat/low-salt, (2) low-fat/high-salt, (3) high-fat/low-salt, or (4) high-fat/high-salt. Nineteen participants (6 males) consistently used a fork and 21 (8 males) used a spoon, 8 participants were inconsistent in cutlery use and excluded from analyses. Spoon users had on average a higher BMI than fork users (p=0.006). Effects of cutlery use, BMI status (BMI<25 vs. BMI>25), salt, and fat, and their interactions were assessed in a General Linear Model. Spoon users consumed faster (fork: 53±2.8g/min; spoon: 62±2.1g/min, p=0.022) and tended to consume more (p=0.09), whereas the duration of the meals were similar (fork: 6.9±0.3min; spoon: 6:7±0.2min, p=0.55). BMI status affected both eating rate and food intake (p=0.005). There were no significant two-way or three-way interactions between salt, fat, and cutlery use on eating rate or food intake. In conclusion, participants who chose to consume with forks ate slower compared to spoon users.

Exploring users' health experiences in hospital gardens

 Findings from this phenomenological study revealed physical, psychological, emotional, social and spiritual benefits from accessing hospital gardens. The use and benefits gained through access to the gardens were context dependent, based on the needs and individual stressors faced by each user group.

The e-health literacy framework: A conceptual framework for characterizing e-health users and their interaction with e-health systems

In current e-health research and development there is a need for a broader understanding of the capabilities and resources required for individuals to use and benefit from e-health services, i.e. their e-health literacy. The aim of
this study was to develop a new conceptualisation of e-health literacy with consideration of the experiences of a wide range of stakeholders and in alignment with current technologies. Concept mapping was used to generate a comprehensive and grounded model of e-health literacy. Concept mapping workshop participants included patients, health professionals and medical informatics experts. Eight workshops, carried out in Denmark and United Kingdom, generated 450 statements, separated into 128 clusters. Through an inductive structured analysis, seven domains were identified: 1. Ability to process information, 2. Engagement in own health, 3. Ability to engage actively with digital services, 4. Feeling safe and in control, 5. Motivation to engage with digital services, 6. Having access to systems that work, and 7. Digital services that suit individual needs. These empirically derived domains form an e-health literacy framework (eHLF) and provide new insights into the user’s ability to understand, access and use e-health technologies. The eHLF offers a framework for evaluating an individual’s or a population’s capacity to understand, use and benefit from technology to promote and maintain their health. Such a framework also provides a potential checklist for the development and improvement of e-health services.