Effectiveness of Short Message Service Support on Adherence to Chemotherapy Treatment among Patients Attending Cancer Treatment Facilities in Kenya

Introduction: Cancer is a chronic debilitating disease that unnerves patients, communities, and nations. At some point in cancer patient’s disease experience, chemotherapy is used, and the patient is expected to adhere to treatment to improve survival and quality of life. Methods: This multisite Cluster Randomized Trial (CRT) evaluated the effectiveness of mobile phone Short Message Service (SMS) support on the adherence to treatment schedules among adult cancer patients in Kenya. Data was collected using questionnaires. Ethical approvals were obtained from relevant Ethical Review Boards (ERBs). Results: The mean adherence was 83%. There was a significant difference between treatment arms in relation to the adherence. The intervention arm had a higher mean adherence difference, M = 3.913, 95% CI 2.632-5.193, t (402) = 6.006, p ≤ 0.001), with Cohen’s d = 0.60. Although not significant, (χ2dd = 0.151, df = 1, p = 2.064), more women were perfect adheres than males. Perfect adherers were satisfied with SMS support (χ2dd = 7.620, df = 1, p = 0.06), were in the intervention arm (χ2dd = 22.942, df = 1, p ≤ 0.001), and had trust in the care provider (χ2dd = 10.591 p ≤ 0.001). SMS support was not significant in the multivariate analysis but had an estimated effect size of 0.958 (z = 1.424, p = 0.154, CI = 0.242-3.781), indicating that mean adherence was slightly better in the presence of the intervention. Conclusions: SMS-support intervention has demonstrated superiority in influencing adherence. Further, health system-related factors have a significant influence on the adherence to chemotherapy treatment. Interventions to re-design health systems that are responsive to unmet care needs of cancer patients must be explored. .

Master Curve Method of Cumulative Damage for Prediction of Service Life

目的研究固体火箭推进剂药柱贮存使用寿命预测的理论与方法．方法采用非接触测试技术和热加速老化累积损伤法，实测得出药柱空穴率随老化时间变化的等温线，根据时温等效原理求得使用寿命预测粘弹性主曲线．结果与结论预测得出ＨＭＸＣＭＤＢ固体火箭推进剂药柱的使用寿命．由于该方法中药柱贮存失效的临界点是实测的，所以大大地提高了火箭推进剂药柱使用寿命预测的精度．

Fatigue Life Prediction under Service Load Considering Strengthening Effect of Loads below Fatigue Limit

Lightweight design requires an accurate life prediction for structures and components under service loading histories. However, predicted life with the existing methods seems too conservative in some cases, leading to a heavy structure. Because these methods are established on the basis that load cycles would only cause fatigue damage, ignore the strengthening effect of loads. Based on Palmgren-Miner Rule （PMR）, this paper introduces a new method for fatigue life prediction under service loadings by taking into account the strengthening effect of loads below the fatigue limit. In this method, the service loadings are classified into three categories： damaging load, strengthening load and none-effect load, and the process for fatigue life prediction is divided into two stages： stage I and stage II, according to the best strengthening number of cycles. During stage I, fatigue damage is calculated considering both the strengthening and damaging effect of load cycles. While during stage II, only the damaging effect is considered. To validate this method, fatigue lives of automobile half shaft and torsion beam rear axle are calculated based on the new method and traditional methods, such as PMR and Modified Miner Rule （MMR）, and fatigue tests of the two components are conducted under service loading histories. The tests results show that the percentage errors of the predicted life with the new method to mean life of tests for the two components are –3.78% and –1.76% separately, much lesser than that with PMR and MMR. By considering the strengthening effect of loads below the fatigue limit, the new method can significantly improve the accuracy for fatigue life prediction. Thus lightweight design can be fully realized in the design stage.

Service Life Prediction of Lining Concrete of Subsea Tunnel under Combined Compressive Load and Carbonation

Qingdao Jiaozhou Bay subsea tunnel is the second self-built tunnel in China with the designed service life over 100 years.The durability of lining concrete are one of an important factors to determinate the service life of tunnel.Considering the main environmental loads and mechanical loads of subsea tunnel,the durability properties of lining concrete under combined action of compressive load and carbonation has been studied through the critical compressive load test,accelerated carbonation test,natural carbonation test and capillary suction test.The tests results show that critical compressive load apparently accelerates the carbonation and deteriorates the anti-permeability of concrete.Under the combined action of critical compressive load and carbonation,the durability of lining concrete decreases.Based on the carbonization life criteria and research results,for the high-performance concrete with proposed mix ratio,the predicted service life of lining concrete for Jiaozhou bay subsea tunnel is about 80 years which fails to reach the required service life.It is necessary to adopt other measurements simultaneously to improve the durability of lining concrete.

Reliability-based service life prediction of existing concrete structures under marine environment

Chloride-induced corrosion of the reinforcement is considered as one of the major mechanisms resulting in the reduction of structural resistance of reinforced concrete structural elements located in marine and other aggressive environments. A study of reinforced concrete structures located at the Fangcheng dock in the Beibu Gulf port, China, was present. The result from field survey indicates that the concrete cover depth and chloride diffusion coefficient fit best normal distribution and lognormal distribution, respectively. The service life of structure is about 55 a, while initiation time is 45 a. Sensitivity analysis indicates that the most influential factor of the structure service life prediction is concrete cover, followed by diffusion coefficient, diffusion decay index, critical chloride concentration, surface chloride concentration, current density and localized pitting corrosion. Finally, the effects of diffusion decay index and critical chloride concentration on structure service life prediction are discussed.

Improvement of Service Life of Small Furnace Covers on 150 t Refining Ladles

The factors restricting the life of the refining furnace cover were introduced,including the airflow erosion of the refining dust removal system,the melting loss caused by the arc radiation of the electrode,the chemical erosion and penetration of slag and gas,and the condition of refining slag.The improvement measures are adjusting the material of the small furnace cover from corundum to chrome corundum,using a large shaking table to vibrate,optimizing the size design of the small furnace cover,and appropriately thickening the weak areas in the triangular area.The average service life of the refining furnace cover has been increased from one week to two months,reaching 4 maintenance cycles,which meets the needs of the refining production.

Effects of Operation Conditions on Service Life of Ladle Lining

Effects of operation conditions such as ladle temperature, remining time of molten steel, slag basicity, slag oxidation, slag viscosity , vacuum treatment, ultra-high temperature, gas blowing and stirring, intermittent operation, and different refining equipment on service life of ladle lining refractories were researched. The following conclusions are drawn ： （1） molten steel temperature rising, remaiaing time prolonging, slag oxidation ability enhancing, slag viscosity and basicity decreasing can aecelerate the corrosion of ladle lining ; （2） ultra-high temperature and vacuum treatment of ladle not only acceler- ate the fusion corrasion of ladle lining, but also make the carbon containing refractories react forming gases leading to more corrosion, so carbon containing refractories are not stdtable.for the smelting conditions of long term vacuum treatment and ultra-high temperature, especially carbon containing refractories added with conventional additives such as A1 and Si powders ; （ 3 ） argon blowing does not accelerate the corrosion of ladle lining obvioasly, but oxygen blowing does; （4） the corrosion degree of refractories varies with the refining equipment, and the service life of ladle lining decreases according to a certain proportion with the refining ratio increasing.

Study on the mechanical properties and service life of H13 mandrels

The microstructures and mechanical properties of H13 mandrels made by Baosteel and foreign companies were investigated in this study. Based on the comparison research, the processes were optimized, such as steelmaking, heat treatment and multiple forging processes. The quality of Baosteel mandrels was greatly improved by increasing the homogenizing of an annealing temperature and refining processes. The results of the pilot trial showed that the average number of piercing steel tubes for Baosteel mandrels was over 3000 ,which reached the level of imported mandrels.

Service Life Design for Concrete Engineering in Marine Environments of Northern China Based on a Modified Theoretical Model of Chloride Diffusion and Large Datasets of Ocean Parameters

In this study,through experimental research and an investigation on large datasets of the durability parameters in ocean engineering,the values,ranges,and types of distribution of the durability parameters employed for the durability design in ocean engineering in northern China were confirmed.Based on a modified theoretical model of chloride diffusion and the reliability theory,the service lives of concrete structures exposed to the splash,tidal,and underwater zones were calculated.Mixed concrete proportions meeting the requirement of a service life of 100 or 120 years were designed,and a cover thickness requirement was proposed.In addition,the effects of the different time-varying relationships of the boundary condition(Cs)and diffusion coefficient(Df)on the service life were compared;the results showed that the time-varying relationships used in this study(i.e.,Cscontinuously increased and then remained stable,and Dfcontinuously decreased and then remained stable)were beneficial for the durability design of concrete structures in marine environment.

Overloading and Pavement Service Life <br/>—A Case Study on Narayanghat-Mugling Road, Nepal

The ability of a pavement structure in carrying out its function reduces in line with the increase of traffic load, especially if there are overloaded heavy vehicle passing through the road. This study was done to know the effect of overloading vehicles on the road pavement and remaining service life of the pavement. In this study, the service life of pavement due to overloaded vehicles was analyzed using the AASHTO 1993. In Narayanghat-Mugling road the composition of traffic seems to be 83.76% heavy vehicles, 9.18% medium vehicle and 7.05% light vehicle. For the direction of Narayanghat-Mugling, the pavement service life might be reduced by 59.90% due to overloading condition, while for the opposite direction, the service life would not reduced caused by the same factor. The impact of overload conditions on the road pavement showed premature failure;that is, a condition which the damage reduced the life of roads before the design life of the road is reached. From the results, it can be concluded that overloaded vehicles on the road are very influential to the reduction in pavement service life. Therefore, it is expected that road users to comply with existing regulations in the conduct of transportation. As overloading is increasing, it has to be controlled by rules and regulations with penalty to control the overloading. So fines must be associated with intensified enforcement when considered in further strategy. Regular monitoring, inspection and enforcement are the effective ways to control overloading. Use of technology (Automatic overloading information system) may be the effective way to control the overloading.

Sociodemographic Predictors of Health-Related Quality of Life and Healthcare Service Utilisation among Young Refugees in South Australia

Although refugee adolescents and children are recognised as a health risk population, few studies have explored their Health-related Quality of Life (HRQOL). The present study investigated 1) the sociodemographic predictors of HRQOL such as ethnicity, trauma exposure, and length of residency in Australia in a multiethnic paediatric population with refugee experiences and 2) the relationship between mental healthcare utilisation and HRQOL. Method: Participants were 458 adolescents and children, aged 4 - 17 years, living in South Australia. Parents provided data across the sample and adolescents also completed questionnaires. Overall HRQOL and its composite functional dimensions were assessed using the Paediatric Quality of Life (PedsQL) instrument. Questions from the Child and Adolescent Component of the Australian National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing were used to assess service utilisation. Results: Migration region/ethnicity predicted better HRQOL as well as physical, emotional and psychosocial functioning for both children and adolescents. African youths indicated higher HRQOL than those from the former Yugoslavia and the Middle East/South Asia respectively. Pre-migration trauma exposure was associated with lower HRQOL;and longer stay in Australia was related to lower emotional functioning in children. There was a negative association between healthcare service utilisation and PedsQL scores, with participants accessing services demonstrating lower HRQOL. Conclusion: Using more rigorous methods, future research is needed to investigate additional sociodemographic predictors of HRQOL, and protective/risk factors that impact on HRQOL of young refugees.

A Semi-Mechanistic Model for Predicting the Service Life of Composite Coatings on VW63Z Magnesium Alloy

The application of Mg alloys is always accompanied by various coating technology, but a reliable model predicting the service life of coatings on Mg alloys is lacking but urgent. In this work, a semi-mechanistic model was proposed to predict the service life of plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) coating/electrophoretic coatings on a VW63Z Mg alloy;the model was decomposed into three parts: a first part depicting the degradation time of organic coating (L_(1)) and the diffusion time of electrolyte in the inorganic coating (L_(2)), respectively;a second part interpreting the breakdown of coatings due to the corrosion process (L_(3));a final part establishing an algorithm converting the accelerated tests into the real service environment (α);the effect of structural stress and dissimilar metal joints on the service life of coatings was also considered. Based on the ongoing accelerated experiments, the semi-mechanistic model could be able to predict the service life of both PEO coatings and composite coatings on VW63Z Mg alloy with a satisfiable precision.

Effect of precise nursing service mode on postoperative urinary incontinence prevention in patients with prostate disease

BACKGROUND Patients with benign prostatic disease often experience detrusor morphological changes and dysfunction.In severe cases,it leads to bladder detrusor dysfunction,resulting in dysuria,frequent urination,urgent urination,incomplete urination,and other symptoms including renal function injury.An operation to restore normal urination function and to control postoperative complications,as far as possible,is the most common method for benign prostatic disease.AIM To observe the effect of precise nursing service mode on postoperative urinary incontinence prevention in patients with prostate disease.METHODS In total,130 patients diagnosed with benign prostatic disease,from January 2018 to June 2021,in our hospital,were selected and divided into observation and control groups according to their treatment options.Sixty-five cases in the control group were given routine nursing mode intervention and 65 cases in the observation group received precise nursing service mode intervention.The intervention with the observation group included psychological counseling about negative emotions,pelvic floor exercises,and post-hospital discharge care.The complications of the two groups were counted,and the general postoperative conditions of the two groups were recorded.The urinary flow dynamics indexes of the two groups were detected,and differences in clinical international prostate system score(IPSS)and urinary incontinence quality of life questionnaire(I-QOL)scores were evaluated.RESULTS Postoperative exhaust time(18.65±3.23 h and 24.63±4.51 h),the time of indwelling catheter(4.85±1.08 d and 5.63±1.24 d),and hospitalization time(8.78±2.03 d and 10.23±2.28 d)in the observation group were lower than in the control group.The difference was statistically significant(P<0.05).After the operation,the maximum urinary flow rate(Qmax)increased(P<0.05),the residual urine volume(RUV)decreased(P<0.05),and the maximum closed urethral pressure(MUCP)was not statistically significant(P>0.05)compared to pre-operation.The Qmax of the observation group was higher than that of the control group,while the RUV was lower than that of the control group.There was no significant difference in MUCP between the observation and control groups(P>0.05).The I-QOL score of the two groups improved(P<0.05),and the IPSS decreased(P<0.05).After the operation,the I-QOL score of the observation group was higher than that of the control group,and the IPSS was lower than that of the control group(P<0.05).There were no significant differences in the incidence of urethral injury(1.54%and 3.08%),bladder spasm(0.00%and 1.54%),and secondary bleeding(1.54%and 4.62)between the observation and control groups(P>0.05).CONCLUSION The precise nursing service mode can reduce the incidence of postoperative urinary incontinence in patients with prostate disease,thus improving postoperative urodynamics and rehabilitation,and quality of life.

SERVICE-AWARE BASED FUZZY ADMISSION CONTROL SCHEME IN MULTI-SERVICE NETWORKS

Multi-service aggregated transmission is the direction of IP network. Providing different Quality of Service (QoS) assurance for different services has become a crucial problem in future network. Admission control is a vital function for multi-service IP network. This paper proposes a novel fuzzy admission control scheme based on coarse granularity service-aware technique. Different service has discriminative sensitivity to the same QoS characteristic parameter in general. The traffic class can be perceived by the service request parameter and the proposed QoS function. And requirements of dif- ferent applications can be met by maintaining the life parameter. From simulation results, the proposed scheme shows a better QoS provisioning than those traditional fuzzy logic based methods under the same admission probability.

Ecosystem services assessment using a valuation framework for the Bangladesh Sundarbans: livelihood contribution and degradation analysis

The ecosystem services provided by the Bangladesh Sundarbans contribute in various sectors especially to the livelihood of the surrounding peoples, but they are often overlooked in the valuation process. This study investigates the significance of ecosystem services on peoples＇ lives and how these services are affected by climate change and other factors. Here an economic valuation framework was used to list the ecosystem services provided by this mangrove forest. Direct uses included timber, gol- pata （Nypa fruticans）, honey, beeswax, fish, shrimp larvae and tourism. Indirect uses included carbon storage, protection from cyclones and tidal surges, breeding and nursery grounds for the aquatic species, and biodiversity conservation. This work also found that the ecosystem services were diminished by fresh water flow reduction, overharvesting, sea level rise, salinity increase, poaching, and climate change. In the present context and future scenario, sea level rise will be an important contributor to changes in ecosystem services. But because many factors impact sea level rise, the impact of climate change takes on less importance than many other causes of ecosystem service degradation in the Bangladesh Sundarbans.

Emerging Trends of Outsourcing Business to Cloud Computing Services: A Perspective Study

Developments in service oriented architecture (SOA) have taken us near to the once fictional dream of forming and running an online business, such commercial activity in which most or all of its commercial roles are outsourced to online services. The novel concept of cloud computing gives a understanding of SOA in which Information Technology assets are provided as services that are extra flexible, inexpensive and striking to commercial activities. In this paper, we concisely study developments in concept of cloud computing, and debate the advantages of using cloud services for commercial activities and trade-offs that they have to consider. Further we presented a layered architecture for online business, and then we presented a conceptual architecture for complete online business working atmosphere. Moreover, we discuss the prospects and research experiments that are ahead of us in realizing the technical components of this conceptual architecture. We conclude by giving the outlook and impact of cloud services on both large and small businesses.

Carbon Footprint of Recycling Service in Waste Treatment: Used Beverage Cans and Waste Papers

There are very few studies of the Carbon Footprint of Products (CFPs) in the service sector (e.g. transport and waste treatment) in comparison with those of industrial products and farm products. In this study, the CFPs of the recycling services of used beverage cans (aluminum and steel) and waste papers (cardboard, magazine and newspaper) in waste treatment were estimated as a first trial model of the service sector. Regarding the CFPs of whole life cycle of the recycling services, the amounts of CO2-equivalent (CO2e) greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the collection and transportation process were the largest in all recycling cases. The reason that the collection and transportation process emits the largest amounts of GHG emissions is that the collection vehicles (trucks) consume the large amounts of diesel fuel. Regarding the CFPs of the capital equipment, the amounts of GHG emissions from the capital equipment were the second largest in all recycling cases. It was found that the percentages of amounts of GHG emissions from the capital equipment in the recycling services were larger than those of industrial products and farm products.

An Automated Semantic Negotiation for Cloud Service Level Agreements

Mostly, cloud agreements are signed between the consumer and the provider using online click-through agreements. Several issues and conflicts exist in the negotiation of cloud agreement terms due to the legal and ambiguous terms in Service Level Agreements (SLA). Semantic knowledge applied during the formation and negotiation of SLA can overcome these issues. Cloud SLA negotiation consists of numerous activities such as formation of SLA templates, publishing it in registry, verification and validation of SLA, monitoring for violation, logging and reporting and termination. Though these activities are interleaved with each other, semantic synchronization is still lacking. To overcome this, a novel SLA life cycle using semantic knowledge to automate the cloud negotiation has been formulated. Semantic web platform using ontologies is designed, developed and evaluated. The resultant platform increases the task efficiency of the consumer and the provider during negotiation. Precision and recall scores for Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) SLAs were calculated. And it reveals that applying semantic knowledge helps the extraction of meaningful answers from the cloud actors.