Team effectiveness: epidemiologists' perception of collective performance during emergency response.

Background: To describe epidemiologists' experience of team dynamics and leadership during emergency response, and explore the utility of the Team Emergency Assessment Measure (TEAM) tool during future public health emergency responses. The TEAM tool included categories for leadership, teamwork, and task management.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey between October 2019 and February 2020 with the global applied field epidemiology workforce.

Antibiotic Prescribing Practices for Treating COVID-19 Patients in Bangladesh.

Although national and international guidelines have strongly discouraged use of antibiotics to treat COVID-19 patients with mild or moderate symptoms, antibiotics are frequently being used. This study aimed to determine antibiotics-prescribing practices among Bangladeshi physicians in treating COVID-19 patients. We conducted a cross-sectional survey among physicians involved in treating COVID-19 patients.

Spatiotemporal distribution characteristics of PM2.5 concentration in China from 2000 to 2018 and its impact on population.

PM2.5 is an important indicator reflecting changes in air quality. In recent years, affected by climate change and human activities, the problem of environmental pollution has become more and more prominent.

Influence and prediction of PM2.5 through multiple environmental variables in China.

Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) is an important indicator to measure the degree of air pollution. With the pursuit of sustainable development of China's economy and society, air pollution has been paid more and more attention.

Leadership, politics, and communication: challenges of the epidemiology workforce during emergency response.

Background: Improving the epidemiological response to emergencies requires an understanding of who the responders are, their role and skills, and the challenges they face during responses. In this paper, we explore the role of the epidemiologist and identify challenges they face during emergency response.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey to learn more about epidemiologists who respond to public health emergencies.

Finger Tapping Measures for Parkinson's Disease: Preliminary Evaluation of an Android Application for Data Collection in Australia.

Parkinson's Disease (PD) is a progressive chronic disorder with a high misdiagnosis rate. Because finger-tapping tasks correlate with its fine-motor symptoms, they could be used to help diagnose and assess PD. We first designed and developed an Android application to perform finger-tapping tasks without trained supervision, which is not always feasible for patients.

Comparison of Word and Character Level Information for Medical Term Identification Using Convolutional Neural Networks and Transformers.

Complexity and domain-specificity make medical text hard to understand for patients and their next of kin. To simplify such text, this paper explored how word and character level information can be leveraged to identify medical terms when training data is limited. We created a dataset of medical and general terms using the Human Disease Ontology from BioPortal and Wikipedia pages.

A Significance Assessment of Diabetes Diagnostic Biomarkers Using Machine Learning.

Diabetes can be diagnosed by either Fasting Plasma Glucose or Hemoglobin A1c. The aim of our study was to explore the differences between the two criteria through the development of a machine learning based diabetes diagnostic algorithm and analysing the predictive contribution of each input biomarker. Our study concludes that fasting insulin is predictive of diabetes defined by FPG, but not by HbA1c.

Optimum Hydrogen Injection in Phosphorus-Doped Polysilicon Passivating Contacts.

It has previously been shown that ex situ phosphorus-doped polycrystalline silicon on silicon oxide (poly-Si/SiO) passivating contacts can suffer a pronounced surface passivation degradation when subjected to a firing treatment at 800 °C or above. The degradation behavior depends strongly on the processing conditions, such as the dielectric coating layers and the firing temperature. The current work further studies the firing stability of poly-Si contacts and proposes a mechanism for the observed behavior based on the role of hydrogen.

The Effects of Public Participation on Multi-Level Water Governance, Lessons from Uganda.

Water governance occurs at multiple levels, from the local to the supra-national, which are often highly fragmented. The interconnected nature of water requires interactions among these multiple governance levels. Public participation may foster such interactions.

Improved integrated water resource modelling by combining DPSIR and system dynamics conceptual modelling techniques.

Similar to any modelling technique, system dynamics (SD) modelling should start with the essential step of scoping and identifying the problem of interest before further analysis and modelling. In practice, this first step is a challenging task, especially when wicked issues such as water management are being addressed. There is still a vital need for modelling methods and tools that can support modellers to identify and assemble essential data to inform problem scoping and boundary setting.

Fish consumption on the Amazon: a review of biodiversity, hydropower and food security issues.

The lack of knowledge about the majority of fish species harvested in Amazonian small-scale fisheries, in association with impacts from hydroelectric power plants, may lead to biodiversity loss and a decrease in the protein food supply for riverine Amazonians. This study uses existing datasets on fisheries and riverine developmental projects to infer effects associated with fish losses where actual data and outcomes are not available. The targeted fish species' status may be regarded as either threatened or there being no knowledge of their conservation requirements, biology or ecology.

Inter-laboratory study for the certification of trace elements in seawater certified reference materials NASS-7 and CASS-6.

Certification of trace metals in seawater certified reference materials (CRMs) NASS-7 and CASS-6 is described. At the National Research Council Canada (NRC), column separation was performed to remove the seawater matrix prior to the determination of Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Pb, Mn, Mo, Ni, U, V, and Zn, whereas As was directly measured in 10-fold diluted seawater samples, and B was directly measured in 200-fold diluted seawater samples. High-resolution inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (HR-ICPMS) was used for elemental analyses, with double isotope dilution for the accurate determination of B, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Pb, Mo, Ni, U, and Zn in seawater NASS-7 and CASS-6, and standard addition calibration for As, Co, Mn, and V.

Heparan sulfate as a receptor for poxvirus infections and as a target for antiviral agents.

To establish the importance of virus-heparan sulfate (HS) interactions in virus infectivity, the poxvirus vaccinia virus (VACV) was used, as it binds HS and has both enveloped virus (EV) and non-enveloped mature virus (MV) forms. Initial studies showed that heparin inhibited plaque formation by both MV-rich WR and EV-rich IHD-J strains of VACV, with the EV-rich strain also losing trademark 'comet'-shaped plaques. However, using GFP-tagged EV and MV forms of VACV, based on IC values, heparin was 16-fold more effective at inhibiting the infectivity of the EV form compared to the MV form.

Time and participation in workplace health promotion: Australian qualitative study.

Workplaces are considered promising settings for protecting and promoting the health and wellbeing of employees. To date, few workplaces, particularly small and medium sized enterprises (SME), or their workers, have adopted Workplace Health Promotion (WHP), raising questions as to why. We conducted interviews in 10 SME in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) asking managers and workers to reflect on the reasons for their participation (or not) in WHP activities.

Improved Outcomes Following a Single Session Web-Based Intervention for Problem Gambling.

Research suggests online interventions can have instant impact, however this is yet to be tested with help-seeking adults and in particular those with problem gambling. This study seeks to determine the immediate impact of a single session web-based intervention for problem gambling, and to examine whether sessions evaluated positively by clients are associated with greater improvement. The current study involved 229 participants classified as problem gamblers who agreed to participate after accessing Gambling Help Online between November 2010 and February 2012.

Superacid Passivation of Crystalline Silicon Surfaces.

The reduction of parasitic recombination processes commonly occurring within the silicon crystal and at its surfaces is of primary importance in crystalline silicon devices, particularly in photovoltaics. Here we explore a simple, room temperature treatment, involving a nonaqueous solution of the superacid bis(trifluoromethane)sulfonimide, to temporarily deactivate recombination centers at the surface. We show that this treatment leads to a significant enhancement in optoelectronic properties of the silicon wafer, attaining a level of surface passivation in line with state-of-the-art dielectric passivation films.

Four challenges in selecting and implementing methods to monitor and evaluate participatory processes: Example from the Rwenzori region, Uganda.

Participatory approaches are now increasingly recognized and used as an essential element of policies and programs, especially in regards to natural resource management (NRM). Most practitioners, decision-makers and researchers having adopted participatory approaches also acknowledge the need to monitor and evaluate such approaches in order to audit their effectiveness, support decision-making or improve learning. Many manuals and frameworks exist on how to carry out monitoring and evaluation (M&E) for participatory processes.

Gambling problems in treatment for affective disorders: Results from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC).

Background: Gambling problems co-occur frequently with other psychiatric difficulties and may complicate treatment for affective disorders. This study evaluated the prevalence and correlates of gambling problems in a U. S.

Magnesium Fluoride Electron-Selective Contacts for Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells.

In this study, we present a novel application of thin magnesium fluoride films to form electron-selective contacts to n-type crystalline silicon (c-Si). This allows the demonstration of a 20.1%-efficient c-Si solar cell.

Managing frame diversity in environmental participatory processes - Example from the Fogera woreda in Ethiopia.

Many participatory processes fail to generate social change and collaborative outcomes. This failure can partly be explained by how divergent stakeholders' frames are handled. This paper builds on the framing and participation literature to explain how facilitators can manage frame diversity and foster collaborative outcomes.