Media training for diabetes prevention: a participatory evaluation.

The Media and the Message - Promoting Healthy Eating and Active Living for Diabetes Prevention was a project aimed at raising awareness of diabetes risk factors and enhancing the public's access to credible, up-to-date, healthy eating and active living messages in the media. Cross-country workshops were held to teach media strategies and key diabetes prevention messages to multidisciplinary groups of health professionals. Evaluation was integral to the project; both the process and outcomes were assessed using Health Canada's Population Health Approach. Timeline and budget were tracked. Questionnaires were created to evaluate advisory committee conference calls and to determine participants' perceptions of the 19 workshops and resources. A pre-workshop/post-workshop and three-month follow-up questionnaire format, along with an online media-tracking tool, was used to collect outcome data and to measure changes in confidence and media behaviour. Sixty-three percent of participants (150 of 238) reported that multidisciplinary workshops were very valuable. Three-month follow-up revealed a significant increase in confidence in all media activities taught at the workshops, although this failed to translate into increased media activity. Sixty-eight percent (78 of 115) of responding participants disseminated workshop learning. Detailed evaluation revealed that multidisciplinary workshops are valued and effective in increasing confidence. However, eliciting behaviour change following a workshop remains a challenge.     

New Insights of the Glycine-Nitrate Process For the Synthesis of Nano-Crystalline 8YSZ

Nano-crystalline 8YSZ was synthesized by the glycine-nitrate process in a muffle furnace using zirconyl nitrate and yttrium nitrate as sources of oxidants. The effect of changing the elemental stoichiometric coefficient over a wide range (0.756–1.605) on the product characteristics (crystallite size, percent unreacted, surface area) has been investigated. It is demonstrated that the combustion reaction proceeds most efficiently in the fuel-lean region. A novel and simple mathematical model is presented that allows to evaluate the thickness of the sheet-like particles of the foamy final product based on BET data. The calculated thickness values are in good agreement with the experimental data. For the first time, the effect of using ammonium nitrate as a combustion aid for the stoichiometric precursor composition has been studied. The optimum amount of combustion aid addition has been determined.     

Blockchain and Machine Learning for Intelligent Multiple Factor-Based Ride-Hailing Services

One of the common transportation systems in Korea is calling taxis through online applications, which is more convenient for passengers and drivers in the modern area. However, the driver's passenger taxi request can be rejected based on the driver's location and distance. Therefore, there is a need to specify driver's acceptance and rejection of the received request. The security of this system is another main core to save the transaction information and safety of passengers and drivers. In this study, the origin and destination of the Jeju island South Korea were captured from T-map and processed based on machine learning decision tree and XGBoost techniques. The blockchain framework is implemented in the Hyperledger Fabric platform. The experimental results represent the features of socio-economic. The cross-validation was accomplished. Distance is another factor for the taxi trip, which in total trip in midnight is quite shorter. This process presents the successful matching of ride-hailing taxi services with the specialty of distance, the trip request, and safety based on the total city measurement.     

Effect of Microstructural Features on Magnetic Properties of High-Carbon Steel

Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A - Industrially produced high-carbon steel has been heat treated in order to obtain various microstructures of the single phase of martensite, bainite,...     

Assessment of reservoir heterogeneity by using produced water chemistry in SAGD

The key challenge of extracting oil from oil sand reservoirs is the viscosity of the oil which is typically between 100 000 and several million cP. To reduce the viscosity of the oil, high pressure, high temperature steam, typically between about 185 and 250 °C, is injected into the reservoir by using recovery processes such as the steam‐assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) process. In this process, steam heats the bitumen and as a consequence, its viscosity drops to about 5 cP and it readily flows under gravity within the reservoir. One key issue that has not gained much attention with respect to SAGD process evolution are steam–rock reactions, water geochemistry, and how the produced water composition varies as the process evolves. Here, we examine how the produced water composition varies in SAGD operations. For the first time, we show that the produced water composition can be used to detect shale barriers and contact of the steam chamber with the overburden. As yet, the produced water composition is not used to understand in situ process development but as we show here, this could be a rich data source for understanding process dynamics. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Molecular Recognition of Two 2,4‐syn‐Functionalized (S)‐Glutamate Analogues by the Kainate Receptor GluK3 Ligand Binding Domain

The kainate receptors are the least studied subfamily of ionotropic glutamate receptors. These receptors are thought to have a neuromodulatory role and have been associated with a variety of disorders in the central nervous system. This makes kainate receptors interesting potential drug targets. Today, structures of the ligand binding domain (LBD) of the kainate receptor GluK3 are only known in complex with the endogenous agonist glutamate, the natural product kainate, and two synthetic agonists. Herein we report structures of GluK3 LBD in complex with two 2,4‐syn‐functionalized (S)‐glutamate analogues to investigate their structural potential as chemical scaffolds. Similar binding affinities at GluK3 were determined for the 2‐(methylcarbamoyl)ethyl analogue (K_i=4.0 μM ) and the 2‐(methoxycarbonyl)ethyl analogue (K_i=1.7 μM ), in agreement with the similar positioning of the compounds within the binding pocket. As the binding affinity is similar to that of glutamate, this type of Cγ substituent could be used as a scaffold for introduction of even larger substituents reaching into unexplored binding site regions to achieve subtype selectivity.     

An efficient,clean synthesis of 3,3′-(arylmethylene)bis(2-hydroxynaphthalene-1,4-dione) derivatives

A clean, simple and efficient method for the synthesis of 3,3′-(arylmethylene)bis(2-hydroxynaphthalene-1,4-dione) derivatives has been developed which uses the reaction of 2-hydroxynaphthalene-1,4-dione and aromatic aldehydes in the presence of a catalytic amount of LiCl in aqueous media. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on such a synthesis of 3,3′-(arylmethylene)bis(2-hydroxynaphthalene-1,4-dione).     

Low temperature synthesis of nanocrystalline magnesium aluminate with high surface area by surfactant assisted precipitation method: Effect of preparation conditions

A surfactant assisted co-precipitation method was employed for the low temperature synthesis of magnesium aluminate spinel with nanocrystalline size and high specific surface area. Pluronic P123 triblock copolymer and ammonia solution were used as surfactant and precipitation agent, respectively. The prepared samples were characterized by thermal gravimetric and differential thermal gravimetric analyses (TG/DTG), X-ray diffraction (XRD), N₂ adsorption (BET) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques. The effects of several process parameters such as refluxing temperature, refluxing time, pH, P123 to metals mole ratio (P123/metals) and calcination temperature on the structural properties of the samples were investigated. The obtained results showed that, among the process parameters pH and refluxing temperature have a significant effect on the structural properties of samples. The results revealed that increase in pH from 9.5 to 11 and refluxing temperature from 40 °C to 80 °C increased the specific surface area of prepared samples in the range of 157–188 m² g^?1 and 162–184 m² g^?1, respectively. The XRD analysis showed the single-phase MgAl₂O₄ was formed at 700 °C.     

Synthesis and characterisation of iron oxide nanoparticles conjugated with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) monoclonal antibody as MRI contrast agent for cancer detection

The aim of this study is to synthesise superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles conjugated with anti‐epidermal growth factor receptor monoclonal antibody (ANTI‐EGFR‐SPION) and investigate its physicochemical characterisation and biocompatibility as a targeted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agent for the EGFR‐specific detection in EGFR expressing tumour cells. These particles employed biocompatible polymers, poly(D,L‐lactide‐co‐glycolide) (PLGA) and polyethylene glycol aldehyde (PEG‐aldehyde), to increase the half‐life of particles in circulation and reduce their side effects. The Fe₃ O₄ ‐loaded PLGA‐PEG‐aldehyde nanoparticles were prepared by a modified water‐in‐oil‐in‐water double emulsion method. The EGFR antibody was conjugated to the surface of SPIONs using the aldehyde‐amine reaction. Synthesised conjugates (nanoprobes) were characterised using Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometry, dynamic light scattering, transmission electron microscopy images, and vibrating‐sample magnetometery, and the results showed that the conjugation was successful. The mean diameter of nanoprobes was about 25 nm. These nanoprobes exhibited excellent water‐solubility, stability, and biocompatibility. Meanwhile, MR susceptibility test proved that synthesised nanoprobes can be managed for negative contrast enhancement. The results of this study suggested the potential use of these nanoprobes for non‐invasive molecular MRI in EGFR detection in the future.Inspec keywords: solubility, nanomedicine, cancer, spectrophotometry, emulsions, biomedical MRI, nanomagnetics, nanofabrication, tumours, nanoparticles, magnetic particles, molecular biophysics, light scattering, proteins, cellular biophysics, Fourier transform spectra, superparamagnetism, polymers, transmission electron microscopy, iron compoundsOther keywords: physicochemical characterisation, superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles, novel targeting cancer detection, anti‐epidermal growth factor receptor monoclonal antibody, ANTI‐EGFR‐SPION, biocompatibility, targeted magnetic resonance imaging contrast agent, EGFR‐specific detection, EGFR expressing tumour cells, biocompatible polymers, PLGA‐PEG‐aldehyde nanoparticles, modified water‐in‐oil‐in‐water double emulsion method, EGFR antibody, aldehyde‐amine reaction, synthesised conjugates were characterised using Fourier, transmission electron microscopy images, synthesised nanoprobes, EGFR detection, size 25.0 nm, Fe₃ O₄