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The COVID-19 hurt various lifestyle aspects, especially the treatment and follow-up of patients with chronic diseases such as autoimmune inflammatory rheumatic diseases (RD). The new circumstances changed the frequency of medical examinations and the way patients with rheumatic diseases are followed up. The objective is to study the impact of COVID-19 on RD patients' satisfaction with access to medical services. A national multicenter observational cross-sectional anonymous online survey was conducted on patients with RD using a specially developed web-based platform and structured questionnaire https://rheumatologycovid19.bg/. The study was carried out with the support of intra-university project №6/2022 MU—Plovdiv. 1288 patients participated, with an average age of 47.03 (SD ± 12.80 years), of whom 992 (81.6%) were women. The questionnaire contained 41 questions grouped into 5 panels. Descriptive statistics were used—mean, alternative analysis, logistic regression and Decision Tree using the CRT (classification and regression trees) method. The study found that RD patients' satisfaction with access to medical services was influenced by communication type and the frequency of visits to the rheumatologist, difficulties in prescribing and finding medicines and the presence of comorbidities. The likelihood of patients' satisfaction with their rheumatologist was 5.5 and 3 times higher for in-person and other means of communication, respectively, compared to those without any communication. The relative share of patients who communicated by phone was larger (59%) compared to pre-pandemic (41%), where direct contact with the physician prevailed (80%). The results of the study confirmed the need to optimize remote access to medical care for patients with RD during the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among alternative descriptors of seismic effects, intensity is a significant measure. Along with the instrumental ground motion parameters, seismic intensity has been recently used extensively. Despite the subjectivity involved in their estimation, intensity values provide valuable information regarding the distribution of seismic effects. Correlations between felt intensity and instrumental peak ground motion derived with data from past earthquakes are employed recently all over the world. To derive such correlations, intensity values are collected systematically after damaging earthquakes and paired with nearby recordings. In Turkey, there is neither a systematic intensity database nor a framework for collecting such data. In this study, a review of current intensity data collection procedures is performed followed by a proposal of a 3-stage framework to be used in Turkey. The first stage is a very short term one, which is planned to be completed within a week after the earthquake. This stage involves the collection of online questionnaires and production of an initial intensity map. If the maximum reported MMI value in stage 1 for an earthquake exceeds VII, stage 2 is recommended where systematic field surveys by experts in addition to electronic data collected are used to obtain a calibrated intensity map. The last stage is optional consisting of advanced level calibrations of the MMI values obtained in the previous stages. Such efforts, in the long run, will lead to a comprehensively structured intensity database for Turkey and more accurate estimations of potential damage and intensity distributions of severe earthquakes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Visual analogue scales (VASs) have shown superior measurement qualities in comparison to traditional Likert-type response scales in previous studies. The present study expands the comparison of response scales to properties of Internet-based personality scales in a within-subjects design. A sample of 879 participants filled out an online questionnaire measuring Conscientiousness, Excitement Seeking, and Narcissism. The questionnaire contained all instruments in both answer scale versions in a counterbalanced design. Results show comparable reliabilities, means, and SDs for the VAS versions of the original scales, in comparison to Likert-type scales. To assess the validity of the measurements, age and gender were used as criteria, because all three constructs have shown non-zero correlations with age and gender in previous research. Both response scales showed a high overlap and the proposed relationships with age and gender. The associations were largely identical, with the exception of an increase in explained variance when predicting age from the VAS version of Excitement Seeking (B =1318.95, ΔR =.025). VASs showed similar properties to Likert-type response scales in most cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Requirements engineering is a discipline with numerous challenges to overcome. One of these challenges is the implementation of requirements reuse approaches. Although several theoretical proposals exist, little is known about the practices that are currently adopted in industry. Our goal is to contribute to the investigation of the state of the practice in the reuse of requirements, eliciting current practices from practitioners, and their opinions whenever appropriate. Besides reuse in general, we focus on requirement patterns as a particular strategy to reuse. We conducted an exploratory survey based on an online questionnaire. We received 71 responses from requirements engineers with industrial experience in the field, which were analyzed in order to derive observations. Although we found that a high majority of respondents declared some level of reuse in their projects (in particular, non-functional requirements were identified as the most similar and recurrent among projects), it is true that only a minority of them declared such reuse as a regular practice. Larger IT organizations and IT organizations with well-established software processes and methods present higher levels of reuse. Ignorance of reuse techniques and processes is the main reason preventing wider adoption. From the different existing reuse techniques, the simplest ones based on textual copy and subsequent tailoring of former requirements are the most adopted techniques. However, participants who apply reuse more often tend to use more elaborate techniques. Opinions of respondents about the use of requirement patterns show that they can be expected to mitigate problems related to the quality of the resulting requirements, such as lack of uniformity, inconsistency, or ambiguity. The main reasons behind the lack of adoption of requirement patterns by practitioners (in spite of the increasing research approaches proposed in the community) are related to the lack of a well-defined reuse method and involvement of requirement engineers. The results of our paper are interesting for practitioners since we highlight relevant observations from the survey participants' experiences when deciding to implement requirements reuse practices. We also suggest future lines of research based on the needs pointed out in the results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Pharmacist-led medication reviews have shown to prevent drug-related problems (DRPs). So far, data is rare about the implementation in routine care, the conditions for intensifying this service and the practical skills of community pharmacists to perform medication reviews. Objective To assess the current status of medication review implementation in German community pharmacies and the performance of identifying DRPs in a ficticious patient example. Setting German community pharmacies. Method An online survey was conducted from July to September 2015 including questions about medication reviews currently performed in routine care of community pharmacies and hidden DRPs in a ficticious patient example. Pharmacists were invited via newsletters from three local chambers of pharmacists. Main outcome measure (i) Frequency, conditions for implementation, and criteria of medication reviews currently being performed in routine care, (ii) requested further information to perform medication reviews, and (iii) proportion of pharmacists who identify DRPs in the patient example. Results A total of 143 community pharmacists completed the questionnaire. (i) One hundred and twenty-seven respondents (89 %) reported reviewing the medication regularly in routine care, whereas 56 (39 %) stated that they performed medication reviews between one and five times monthly. For 124 pharmacists (87 %), remuneration would be a necessary condition for performing medication reviews more frequently. When reviewing the medication, 112 (78 %) of the pharmacists considered the criterion 'drug-drug interactions' and 107 (75 %) reviewed the criterion 'correct dosage'. One of the least reviewed criteria was 'effectiveness of medication' [22 (16 %)]. (ii) According to the participants, laboratory values should be available in the community pharmacy, since 87/143 (61 %) would appreciate the GFR and the HbA1c level. Twenty-two of 54 respondents (41 %) would appreciate further administration instructions and 5 of 54 (15 %) think they would benefit from information about the recommended duration of drug use. (iii) Depending on the category, 4 (3 %) to 49 (34 %) of all 143 pharmacists identified the hidden DRP in the patient example. Conclusion German community pharmacists reported reviewing the medication of their patients regularly; however, most of the respondents review the medication very rarely in routine care. Consequently, their practical performance needs to be improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives This study explored nutrition knowledge of pregnant women, and how it correlated with participant characteristics, their main sources of information and changes to their diet since becoming pregnant. Methods Pregnant women residing in Australia accessing pregnancy forums on the internet were invited to complete a web-based questionnaire on general nutrition and pregnancy-specific nutrition guidelines. Results Of the 165 eligible questionnaire responses, 114 were complete and included in the analysis. Pregnancy nutrition knowledge was associated with education ( r = 0.21, p < 0.05) and income ( r = 0.21, p < 0.05). Only 2 % of pregnant women achieved nutrition knowledge scores over 80 %. Few women received nutrition advice during their pregnancy, of which most were advised by their doctor. Dietary changes adopted since becoming pregnant included consuming more fruit, vegetables, dairy and high fibre foods. Conclusions for Practice Pregnant women in this study had limited knowledge of the dietary guidelines for healthy eating during pregnancy. Furthermore, nutrition counselling in maternity care appears to be infrequent. One approach to optimising maternal diets and subsequently preventing adverse health outcomes is to enhance their knowledge of the pregnancy nutrition guidelines through the provision of nutritional counselling. Furthermore, research exploring the access and use of nutrition resources, and nutrition advice provided to pregnant women is recommended to understand how knowledge impacts on dietary behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to obtain an accreditation, the university management must implement a quality assurance system and be able to document that quality policy and procedures are followed and acted upon as appropriate. One element in this system is monitoring students’ satisfaction. In this paper, we describe a method of acquiring the necessary information to enable school managers to efficiently summarize a substantial amount of information to detect issues of concern. The collection of information is performed in a systematic and consistent manner. It allows rapid feedback to students and staff, and is an integrated component of the quality assurance system. As successive evaluations are completed, school performance can be monitored, facilitating the development of strategies for continuous quality improvement. Finally, the context in which the evaluation is implemented as well as benefits and drawbacks are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Comparison between accelerometric and macroseismic observations is made for three M = 4.5 earthquakes, which occurred in north-eastern France and south-western Germany in 2003 and 2004. Scalar and spectral instrumental parameters are processed from the accelerometric data recorded by nine accelerometric stations located between 29 and 180 km from the epicentres. Macroseismic data are based on French Internet reports. In addition to the single questionnaire intensity, analysis of the internal correlation between the encoded answers highlights four predominant fields of questions bearing different physical meanings: (1) 'vibratory motions of small objects', (2) 'displacement and fall of objects', (3) 'acoustic noise' and (4) 'personal feelings'. Best correlations between macroseismic and instrumental observations are obtained when the macroseismic parameters are averaged over 10-km-radius circles around each station. Macroseismic intensities predicted by published peak ground velocity (PGV)-intensity relationships agree with our observed intensities, contrary to those based on peak ground acceleration (PGA). Correlation between the macroseismic and instrumental data for intensities between II and V (EMS-98) is better for PGV than for PGA. Correlation with the response spectra exhibits clear frequency dependence for all macroseismic parameters. Horizontal and vertical components are significantly correlated with the macroseismic parameters between 1 and 10 Hz, a range corresponding to both natural frequencies of most buildings and high energy content in the seismic ground motion. Between 10 and 25 Hz, a clear lack of correlation between macroseismic and instrumental observations exists. It could be due to a combination of the decrease in the energy signal above 10 Hz, a high level of anthropogenic noise and an increase in variability in soil conditions. Above 25 Hz, the correlation coefficients between the acceleration response spectra and the macroseismic parameters are close to the PGA correlation level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study we evaluated indicators of the feasibility, reliability, and validity of the Child Health Questionnaire-Child Form (CHQ-CF). We compared the results in a subgroup of adolescents who completed the standard paper version of the CHQ-CF with the results in another subgroup of adolescents who completed an internet version, i.e., an online, web-based CHQ-CF questionnaire. Under supervision at school, 1,071 adolescents were randomized to complete the CHQ-CF and items on chronic conditions by a paper questionnaire or by an internet administered questionnaire. The participation rate was 87%; age range 13–17 years. The internet administration resulted in fewer missing answers. All but one multi-item scale showed internal consistency reliability (Cronbach’s α > 0.70). All scales clearly discriminated between adolescents with no, a few, or many self-reported chronic conditions. The paper administration resulted in statistically significant, higher scores on 4 of 10 CHQ-CF scales compared with the internet administration ( P < 0.05), but Cohen’s effect sizes d were ≤ 0.21. Mode of administration interacted significantly with age ( P < 0.05) on four CHQ-CF scales, but Cohen’s effect sizes for these differences were also ≤ 0.21. This study supports the feasibility, internal consistency reliability of the scales, and construct validity of the CHQ-CF administered by either a paper questionnaire or online questionnaire. Given Cohen’s suggested guidelines for the interpretation of effect sizes, i.e., 0.20–0.50 indicates a small effect, differences in CHQ-CF scale scores between paper and internet administration can be considered as negligible or small. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the current interest in and need for studies in the conceptualization and measurement of social resilience to hazards and disasters, there remains significant research gaps within this area. This study seeks to fill one such gap via the provision of an innovative unified framework of social resilience across three disaster phases (i.e., pre-disaster, response and recovery) using a quantitative research method. We utilized the survey results from the New South Wales State Emergency Service volunteers to validate a conceptualization framework that aimed to enhance social resilience across all disaster phases. This study had shown the positive correlation between identified indicators and social resilience but varying in impact strength depending on disaster phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]