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Background: Studies have shown limited awareness about cancer risk factors among hospital-based staff. Less is known about general cancer awareness among community frontline National Health Service and social care staff.Methods: A cross-sectional computer-assisted telephone survey of 4664 frontline community-based health and social care staff in North West England.Results: A total of 671 out of 4664 (14.4%) potentially eligible subjects agreed to take part. Over 92% of staff recognised most warning signs, except an unexplained pain (88.8%, n=596), cough or hoarseness (86.9%, n=583) and a sore that does not heal (77.3%, n=519). The bowel cancer-screening programme was recognised by 61.8% (n=415) of staff. Most staff agreed that smoking and passive smoking 'increased the chance of getting cancer.' Fewer agreed about getting sunburnt more than once as a child (78.0%, n=523), being overweight (73.5%, n=493), drinking more than one unit of alcohol per day (50.2%, n=337) or doing less than 30 min of moderate physical exercise five times a week (41.1%, n=276).Conclusion: Cancer awareness is generally good among frontline staff, but important gaps exist, which might be improved by targeted education and training and through developing clearer messages about cancer risk factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a methodology using evolutionary computation techniques based on system measurements to construct power system load models and achieve distribution network reduction. An equivalent area load model is proposed to represent the loads in an area of the power system. A population diversity-based genetic algorithm is used to obtain the structure and parameters of the load model. Simulation results on a 5-bus power system and an IEEE 30-bus power system are given to show the potential of this novel methodology of power system load modeling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work describes a brushless permanent magnet motor in which the stator field is produced from coils wound onto individual stator teeth and energized from a commutation system that is self-controlled directly from the stator coil transient electrical characteristics. This concept allows flexibility to optimize the performance of the motor while eliminating the need for a separate rotor position sensor to control commutation. The system has been designed as the first step toward the integration of the drive system inside the motor itself, which promises a compact, optimized motor/drive unit with low electromagnetic emission properties. This work describes a prototype system developed to provide a practical demonstration of the commutation scheme and presents the circuits used and sample waveforms obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]