Electricity use in the commercial kitchen

Academic and industrial literature concerning the energy use of commercial kitchens is scarce. Electricity consumption data were collected from distribution board current transformers in a sample of fourteen UK public house-restaurants. This was set up to identify patterns of appliance use as well as to assess the total energy consumption of these establishments. The electricity consumption in the selected commercial kitchens was significantly higher than current literature estimates. On average, 63% of the premises’ electricity consumption was attributed to the catering activity. Key appliances that contributed to the samples average daily electricity consumption of the kitchen were identified as refrigeration (70 kWh, 41%), fryers (11 kWh, 13%), combination ovens (35 kWh, 12%), bain maries (27 kWh, 9%) and grills (37 kWh, 12%). Behavioural factors and poor maintenance were identified as major contributors to excessive electricity usage with potential savings of 70% and 45% respectively. Initiatives are required to influence operator behaviour, such as the expansion of mandatory energy labelling, improved feedback information and the use of behaviour change campaigns. Strict maintenance protocols and more appropriate sizing of refrigeration would be of great benefit to energy reduction.

Weighted alpha-rate dominating sets in social networks

We are looking into variants of a domination set problem in social networks. While randomised algorithms for solving the minimum weighted domination set problem and the minimum alpha and alpha-rate domination problem on simple graphs are already present in the literature, we propose here a randomised algorithm for the minimum weighted alpha-rate domination set problem which is, to the best of our knowledge, the first such algorithm. A theoretical approximation bound based on a simple randomised rounding technique is given. The algorithm is implemented in Python and applied to a UK Twitter mentions networks using a measure of individuals’ influence (klout) as weights. We argue that the weights of vertices could be interpreted as the costs of getting those individuals on board for a campaign or a behaviour change intervention. The minimum weighted alpha-rate dominating set problem can therefore be seen as finding a set that minimises the total cost and each individual in a network has at least alpha percentage of its neighbours in the chosen set. We also test our algorithm on generated graphs with several thousand vertices and edges. Our results on this real-life Twitter networks and generated graphs show that the implementation is reasonably efficient and thus can be used for real-life applications when creating social network based interventions, designing social media campaigns and potentially improving users’ social media experience.

Design and baseline characteristics of the Food4Me study: a web-based randomised controlled trial of personalised nutrition in seven European countries

Improving lifestyle behaviours has considerable potential for reducing the global burden of non-communicable diseases, promoting better health across the life-course and increasing well-being. However, realising this potential will require the development, testing and implementation of much more effective behaviour change interventions than are used conventionally. Therefore, the aim of this study was to conduct a multi-centre, web-based, proof-of-principle study of personalised nutrition (PN) to determine whether providing more personalised dietary advice leads to greater improvements in eating patterns and health outcomes compared to conventional population-based advice. A total of 5,562 volunteers were screened across seven European countries; the first 1,607 participants who fulfilled the inclusion criteria were recruited into the trial. Participants were randomly assigned to one of the following intervention groups for a 6-month period: Level 0-control group-receiving conventional, non-PN advice; Level 1-receiving PN advice based on dietary intake data alone; Level 2-receiving PN advice based on dietary intake and phenotypic data; and Level 3-receiving PN advice based on dietary intake, phenotypic and genotypic data. A total of 1,607 participants had a mean age of 39.8 years (ranging from 18 to 79 years). Of these participants, 60.9 % were women and 96.7 % were from white-European background. The mean BMI for all randomised participants was 25.5 kg m(-2), and 44.8 % of the participants had a BMI ≥ 25.0 kg m(-2). Food4Me is the first large multi-centre RCT of web-based PN. The main outcomes from the Food4Me study will be submitted for publication during 2015.

Uma avaliação do programa de DST/AIDS do município do Rio de Janeiro: a ótica dos atores sociais

Avaliação do Programa de DST/AIDS do Município do Rio de Janeiro. A pesquisa objetiva identificar as percepções, expectativas e sugestões sobre o referido Programa, a partir da ótica dos usuários, profissionais de saúde e coordenadores das unidades no que tange à qualidade dos serviços prestados. A opção teóricometodológica do estudo fundamenta-se na abordagem hermenêutico-dialética, pois busca a análise dos significados sociais. Tendo em vista a complexidade da temática em destaque, prioriza a metodologia qualitativa na coleta e no tratamento dos dados, por considerar que a abordagem permite uma aproximação e aprofundamento da compreensão do fenômeno. Privilegia a pesquisa descritiva e analítica. A pesquisa de campo ocorre num Centro Municipal de Saúde e num Centro de Testagem Anônima de AIDS situados no Rio de Janeiro, que prestam serviços de atendimento ambulatorial e testagem, com ênfase na prevenção. Para o resgate da fala dos atores, foi utilizada a entrevista semi-estruturada. A pesquisa focaliza a ótica dos atores sociais sobre a assistência prestada. A análise do material empírico indica que a qualidade dos serviços prestados pelo programa de DST/AIDS no município é eficiente no que tange aos meios utilizados no desenvolvimento do trabalho. Porém, em relação aos recursos humanos e materiais ocorrem limitações para o alcance da eficácia e ter um impacto mais efetivo, do ponto de vista de mudança de comportamento e controle da epidemia no Município do Rio de Janeiro. Essa problemática aponta para uma reformulação das diretrizes, políticas, técnicas e orçamentárias e, principalmente de canais de comunicação mais eficazes junto à população usuária dos serviços e aos profissionais que desenvolvem atividades do Programa, a fim de ouvir e discutir suas demandas, o que incidirá numa contribuição para o encaminhamento do programa.

WalkNRide: contextualising feedback in physical activity trackers

Increasing levels of sedentarism and obesity, along with advances in sensor technologies have instigated a market for wearable activity trackers, electronic devices that sense users’ physical activity levels with the goals of self-monitoring and behaviour change. Nowadays, activity trackers are one of the most desirable technologies, making up for a market of over $230 million in 2013. However, despite the spike of users’ interest, activity trackers have been shown to lose their appeal over time, with a recent survey suggesting that one out of three users discard the tracker in the course of the first six months of use. The question we pose is: how can we design activity tracker so that users’ interests is sustained over the long term? Our design approach focuses on contextualising physical activity. We do this through sensing users’ locations and activities (such as being still, walking or commuting through a car, bus or other means) and thus providing innovative ways of presenting feedback on users. This thesis presents the design and evaluation of WalkNRide, a physical activity tracker for Google Android. Through a longitudinal field study of WalkNRide, we attempt to inquire into the factors that drive the adoption (or non-adoption) of the tool as well as the ways in which the use of the tool contributes towards habit formation.

Aplicação da metodologia seis sigma em uma empresa de médio porte do setor têxtil

The Six Sigma methodology has received considerable attention in the last two decades. This is due to its great potencial to reduce processes variability, through the use of accurate data, facts and statistical techniques. The methodology seeks to improve the quality of products and services, maximizing the company s financial performance. Specifically, its implementation and results in medium-sized textile enterprises is unknow, although there are signs that the methodology can be applied with success. Considering this scenario, the goal of this research is to describe the application of the Six Sigma methodology in a médium-sized textile company specialized in the production of male shirts in the satate of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. First, we present a literature review, seeking to highlight the themes of quality, Six Sigma and its methodology for improvement. Then, we show the implementation of the project selected, depicting the steps and procedures that must be performed. The results confirm the efficiency of Six Sigma in providing significant gains to companies. It is observed substantial improvements in the speed of product development and the flexibility of the parts produced, reducing the process lead time from 12.5 to 6.2 days, which means a performance improvement of over 50%. This leads also to cultural and behaviour change, creating motivation for implementation of new projects and a continuous search for knowledge

Six and 12 months' effects of individual joint protection education in people with rheumatoid arthritis: A randomized controlled trial

Joint protection (JP) education for people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is effective when applying psycho-educational teaching strategies. The Pictorial Representation of Illness and Self Measure (PRISM) was used to identify relevant JP education goals and life aspects, both supporting motivation and behaviour change. The objective of this study was to compare the effects of individual JP education, PRISM-based (PRISM-JP) vs. conventional (C-JP), in people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Tobacco use cessation provided by dental hygienists

Second to regular mechanical plaque control, tobacco use cessation has become the most important measure for the treatment of periodontal diseases. In contrast to general medical professionals, dental hygienists are seeing their patients regularly and are therefore available for supporting their patients to quit tobacco use. Tobacco use disease consists of both a physical addiction and a psychological dependence. Therefore, the combination of behaviour change support with pharmacotherapy is recommended for tobacco use cessation counselling. The use of brief motivational interviewing for tobacco use short interventions in the dental practice appears to be suitable. In addition to behavioural support, the use for nicotine replacement therapy is the treatment of choice for the dental practice. Following a critical review of the literature on this topic, a step by step approach for tobacco use cessation is presented for the dental hygienists to be implemented in their daily practice routine.

Predicting Physical Activity in Adolescents: The Role of Compensatory Health Beliefs within the Health Action Process Approach

Objective: Compensatory health beliefs (CHBs), defined as beliefs that healthy behaviours can compensate for unhealthy behaviours, may be one possible factor hindering people in adopting a healthier lifestyle. This study examined the contribution of CHBs to the prediction of adolescents’ physical activity within the theoretical framework of the Health Action Process Approach (HAPA). Design: The study followed a prospective survey design with assessments at baseline (T1) and two weeks later (T2). Method: Questionnaire data on physical activity, HAPA variables and CHBs were obtained twice from 430 adolescents of four different Swiss schools. Multilevel modelling was applied. Results: CHBs added significantly to the prediction of intentions and change in intentions, in that higher CHBs were associated with lower intentions to be physically active at T2 and a reduction in intentions from T1 to T2. No effect of CHBs emerged for the prediction of self-reported levels of physical activity at T2 and change in physical activity from T1 to T2. Conclusion: Findings emphasise the relevance of examining CHBs in the context of an established health behaviour change model and suggest that CHBs are of particular importance in the process of intention formation.

A game theory based strategy for reducing energy consumption in cognitive WSN

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are one of the most important users of wireless communication technologies in the coming years and some challenges in this area must be addressed for their complete development. Energy consumption and spectrum availability are two of the most severe constraints of WSNs due to their intrinsic nature. The introduction of cognitive capabilities into these networks has arisen to face the issue of spectrum scarcity but could be used to face energy challenges too due to their new range of communication possibilities. In this paper a new strategy based on game theory for cognitive WSNs is discussed. The presented strategy improves energy consumption by taking advantage of the new change-communication-channel capability. Based on game theory, the strategy decides when to change the transmission channel depending on the behavior of the rest of the network nodes. The strategy presented is lightweight but still has higher energy saving rates as compared to noncognitive networks and even to other strategies based on scheduled spectrum sensing. Simulations are presented for several scenarios that demonstrate energy saving rates of around 65% as compared to WSNs without cognitive techniques.

Persuasive system design methods to deliver a cardio-rehabilitation program of post mi outpatients

Las enfermedades no transmisibles provocan cada ano 38 millones de fallecimientos en el mundo. Entre ellas, tan solo cuatro enfermedades son responsables del 82% de estas muertes: las enfermedades cardiovasculares, las enfermedades crónicas respiratorias, la diabetes, y el cáncer. Se prevé que estas cifras aumenten en los próximos anos, ya que las tendencias indican que en el año 2030 las muertes por esta causa ascenderán a 53 millones de personas. La Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS) considera importante buscar soluciones para afrontar esta situación y ha solicitado a los gobiernos del mundo la implementación de intervenciones para mejorar los hábitos de vida de las personas y reducir así el riesgo de desarrollo de enfermedades no trasmisibles. Cada año se producen 32 millones de infartos de miocardio y derrames celebrales, de los cuales 12.5 son mortales. En el mundo entre el 40% y 75% de la víctimas de un infarto de miocardio mueren antes de su ingreso en el hospital. En los casos que sobreviven, la adopción de un estilo de vida saludable puede evitar infartos sucesivo, y supone un ahorro potencial de 6 billones de euros al año. La rehabilitación cardiaca es un programa individualizado que aplica un método multidisciplinar para ayudar al paciente a recuperar su condición física, a gestionar la enfermedad cardiovascular y sus comorbilidades, a adoptar hábitos de vida saludables, y a promover su salud mental. La rehabilitación cardiaca requiere la total involucración y motivación del paciente, solo de esta manera se podrán promover hábitos saludables y mejorar la gestión y prevención de su enfermedad. Aunque la participación en los programas de rehabilitación cardiaca es baja, hoy en día existen programas de rehabilitación cardiaca que el paciente puede realizar en su casa. Estos suponen una solución prometedora para aumentar la participación. La rehabilitación cardiaca se considera una intervención integral donde los modelos de psicología de la salud son aplicados para promover un cambio en el estilo de vida de las personas así como para ayudarles a afrontar su propia enfermedad. Existen métodos para implementar cambios de hábitos y de aptitud, y también se considera muy relevante promover no solo el bienestar físico sino también el mental. Existen tecnologías que promueven los cambios de comportamientos en los seres humanos. En concreto, las tecnologías persuasivas y los sistemas de apoyo al cambio de comportamientos modelan las características, las estrategias y los métodos de diseño para promover cambios usando la tecnología. Pero estos modelos tienen algunas limitaciones: todavía no se ha definido que rol tienen las emociones en el cambio de comportamientos y como traducir los métodos de la psicología de la salud en la tecnología. Esta tesis se centra en tres elementos que tienen un rol clave en los cambios de hábitos y actitud: el estado físico, el estado mental, y la tecnología. -Estado de salud: un estado de salud critico puede modificar la actitud del ser humano respecto al cambio. A la vez un buen estado de salud hace que la necesidad del cambio sea menos percibida. -Estado emocional: la actitud tiene un componente afectivo. Los estados emocionales negativos pueden reducir la habilidad de una persona para adoptar nuevos comportamientos. La salud mental es la situación ideal donde los individuos tienen predisposición a los cambios. La tecnología puede ayudar a las personas a adoptar nuevos hábitos, así como a mantener una salud física y mental. Este trabajo de investigación se centra en el diseño de tecnologías para la mejora del estado físico y emocional de las personas. Se ha propuesto un marco de diseño llamado “Well.Be.Sign”. El marco se basa en tres aspectos: El marco teórico: representa los elementos que se tienen que definir para diseñar tecnologías para promover el bienestar de las personas. -El diagrama de influencia: presenta las fuerzas de ‘persuasión’ en el contexto de la salud. El rol de las tecnologías persuasivas ha sido contextualizado en una dimensión donde otros elementos influencian el usuario.  El proceso de diseño: describe el proceso de diseño utilizando una metodología iterativa e incremental que aplica una combinación de métodos de diseño existentes (Diseño Orientado a Objetivos, Diseño de Sistemas Persuasivos) así como elementos originales de este trabajo de investigación. Los métodos se han aplicados para diseñar un sistema que ofrezca un programa de tele-rehabilitación cardiaca. Inicialmente se ha diseñado un prototipo de acuerdo con las necesidades del usuario. En segundo lugar, el prototipo se ha extendido especificando la intervención requerida para al programa de rehabilitación cardiaca. Finalmente el sistema se ha desarrollado y validado en un ensayo clínico con grupo control, donde se observaron las variaciones del estado cardiovascular, el nivel de conocimiento acerca de la enfermedad, la percepción de la enfermedad, la persistencia de hábitos saludables, y la aceptabilidad del sistema. Los resultados muestran que el grupo de intervención tiene una superior capacidad cardiovascular, mejor conocimiento acerca de la enfermedad, y más percepción de control de la enfermedad. Asimismo, en algunos casos se ha registrado persistencia de los hábitos de ejercicios 6 meses después del uso del sistema. Otros dos estudios se han presentado para demonstrar la relevancia del estado emocional del usuario en el diseño de aplicaciones para la promoción del bienestar.  En personas con una grave enfermedad crónica como la insuficiencia cardiaca, donde se ha presentado las conexiones entre estado de salud y estado emocional. En el estudio se ensena la relaciones que tienen los síntomas y las emociones negativas y como un estado negativo emocional puede empeorar la condición física del paciente. -Personas con trastornos del humor: el estudio muestra como las emociones pueden tener un impacto en la percepción de la tecnología por parte del usuario. ABSTRACT Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) cause the death of 38 million people every year. Four major NCDs are responsible for 82% of these deaths: cardio vascular disease, chronic respiratory disease, diabetes and cancer. These pandemic numbers are projected to raise to 53 million deaths in 2030, and for this reason the assembly of the World Health Organization (WHO) considers communicable diseases as an urgent need to be addressed. It is also a trend to advocate the adoption of mobile technology to deliver health services and to promote healthy behaviours among citizens, but adopting healthS promoting lifestyle is still a difficult task facing human tendencies. Within this context, there is a promising opportunity: persuasive technologies. These technologies are intentionally designed to change a person’s attitudes or behaviours; when applied in this context, than can be used to change health-related attitudes, beliefs, and behaviours. Each year there are 32 million heart attacks and strokes globally, of which about 12.5 million are fatal. Worldwide between 40 and 75% of all heart-attack victims die before reaching hospital. Avoiding a second heart attack by improving adherence to lifestyle and medication regimens has a cost saving potential of around €6 billion per year. In most of the cases the cardiovascular event has been provoked by unhealthy lifestyle. Furthermore, after an MI event the patient's decision to adopt or not healthier behaviour will influence the progress of the disease. Cardio-rehabilitation is an individualized program that follows a multidisciplinary approach to support the user to recover from the Myocardial Infarction, manage the Cardio Vascular Disease and the comorbidities, adopt healthy habits, and cope with any emotional distress. Cardio- rehabilitation requires patient participation and willingness to perform behavioral modifications and change the attitude toward the management and prevention of the disease. Participation in the Cardio Rehabilitation program is not high; the home-based rehabilitation program is a promising solution to increase participation. Nowadays cardio rehabilitation is considered a comprehensive intervention in which models of health psychology are applied to promote the behaviour change of the individuals. Relevant methods that have been successfully applied to foster healthy habits include the Health Belief Model and the Trans Theoretical Model. Studies also demonstrate the importance to promote not only the physical but also the mental well being of the individuals. The idea of also promoting behaviour change using technologies has been defined by the literature as persuasive technologies or behaviour change support systems, in which the features, the strategies and the design method have been modelled to foster the behaviour change using technology. Limitations have been found in this model: there is still research to be done on the role of the emotions and how psychological health intervention can be translated into computer methods. This research focuses on three elements that could foster behaviour change in individuals: the physical and emotional status of the person, and the technology. Every component can influence the user's attitude and behaviour in the following ways: ' Physical status: bad physical status could change human attitude toward the necessity to adopt health behaviours; at the same time, good health status reduces the need to adopt healthy habits. ' Emotional status: the attitude has an affective component, negative emotional state can reduce the ability of a person to adopt new behaviours, and mental well being is the ideal situation in which individuals have a predisposition to adopt healthy behaviours. ' Technology: it can help users to adopt new behaviours and can also be support to promote physical and emotional status. Following this approach the idea driven in this research is that technology that is designed to improve the physical status and the emotional status of the individual could better foster behaviour change. According to this principle, the Well.Be.Sign framework has been proposed. The framework is based on three views: ' The theoretical framework: it represents the patterns that have to be defined to design the technologies to promote well being. ' The influence diagram: it shows the persuasive forces in the context of health care. The role of the persuasive technologies is contextualized in a wider universe where other factors and persuasive forces influence a patient. ' The design process: it shows the process of design using an iterative, incremental methodology that applies a combination of existing methodologies (Goal Directed Design and Persuasive System Design) and others that are original to this research. The methods have been applied to design a system to deliver cardio rehabilitation at home: first a prototype has been defined according to the user’s needs, then it has been extended with the specific intervention required for the cardio–rehabilitation, finally the system has been developed and validated in a controlled clinical study in which the cardiovascular fitness, the level of knowledge, the perception of the illness, the persistence of healthy habits and the system acceptance (only the intervention group) were measured. The results show that the intervention group increased cardiovascular capacity, knowledge, feeling of control of illness and perceived benefits of exercise at the end of the study. After six months of the study, a followSup of the exercise habits was performed. Some individuals of the intervention group continued to be engaged in the running exercise sessions promoted in the designed system. Two other cases have been presented to demonstrate the foundations of the Well.Be.Sign’s approach to promote both physical and emotional status: ' People affected by Heart Failure, in which a bidirectional connection between health status and emotions has been discussed with patients. Two correlations were demonstrated: the relationship between symptoms and negative emotional response, and that negative emotional status is correlated with worsening of chronic conditions. ' People with mood disorders: the study shows that emotions could also impact how the user perceives the technology.

Identifying effective behavioural components of Intervention and Comparison group support provided in SMOKing cEssation interventions (IC-SMOKE) : a systematic review protocol

Funding The research described in this paper is funded by Cancer Research UK, registered under application number C50862/A18446. The systematic review protocol reported in this paper was previously peer-reviewed by Cancer Research UK as part of the funding process. The funders had no role in protocol design, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

“You Can't Always Get What You Want” : A Novel Research Paradigm to Explore the Relationship between Multiple Intentions and Behaviours

Funded by •Centre for Translational Research in Public Health •United Kingdom Clinical Research Collaboration Public Health Research Centre •British Heart Foundation •Cancer Research United Kingdom •Economic and Social Research Council •Medical Research Council •National Institute for Health

Cessação tabágica em adolescentes : situação em Portugal e revisão da evidência

Trabalho Final do Curso de Mestrado Integrado em Medicina, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Lisboa, 2014

The Queensland Cancer Risk Study: Behavioural risk factor results

Objective: To describe the population prevalence of key cancer risk behaviours in Queensland. Methods: The Queensland Cancer Risk Study was a population-based survey of 9,419 Queensland residents aged 20-75 years. Information was collected through an anonymous, computer-assisted telephone interview between February and November 2004. Outcome measures included tobacco smoking, alcohol consumption, sun-tanning and sunburn, obesity physical inactivity and poor diet, weighted by age, gender and geographic region. Results: Prevalence of current smoking was 25.2% for males and 20.8% for females and was highest in the 20-39 year age group and in rural/remote areas. Two-thirds of participants regularly drank alcohol; of these, 63% consumed excessive amounts of alcohol. Excessive sun exposure is still a problem; 70% of Queenslanders reported an episode of sunburn and 12% reported attempting to get a suntan in the past year. More than half of the respondents (53.9%) were above the healthy weight range, and 17.1% of males and 18.4% of females were obese. Just over 40% of Queensland adults reported having insufficient levels of physical activity. Fewer than half of the participants met recommended levels of fruit or vegetable consumption. Conclusions and implications: The majority of Queensland adults exhibit known, modifiable cancer risk behaviours. These results suggest that continuing efforts to reduce the prevalence of these risk factors are warranted. Specifically, significant gains could be made by targeting behaviour change programs at younger Queenslanders (aged 20-39 years), men, and those living in remote/ very remote areas of Queensland.