Background‘Treatment burden’, defined as both the workload and impact of treatment regimens on function and well-being, has been associated with poor adherence and unfavourable outcomes. Previous research focused on treatment workload but our understanding of treatment impact is limited. This research aimed to systematically review qualitative research to identify: 1) what are the treatment generated disruptions experienced by patients across all chronic conditions and treatments? 2) what strategies do patients employ to minimise these treatment generated disruptions?Methods and FindingsThe search strategy centred on: treatment burden and qualitative methods. Medline, CINAHL, Embase, and PsychINFO were searched electronically from inception to Dec 2013. No language limitations were set. Teams of two reviewers independently conducted paper screening, data extraction, and data analysis. Data were analysed using framework synthesis informed by Cumulative Complexity Model. Eleven papers reporting data from 294 patients, across a range of conditions, age groups and nationalities were included. Treatment burdens were experienced as a series of disruptions: biographical disruptions involved loss of freedom and independence, restriction of meaningful activities, negative emotions and stigma; relational disruptions included strained family and social relationships and feeling isolated; and, biological disruptions involved physical side-effects. Patients employed “adaptive treatment work” and “rationalised non-adherence” to minimise treatment disruptions. Rationalised non-adherence was sanctioned by health professionals at end of life; at other times it was a “secret-act” which generated feelings of guilt and impacted on family and clinical relationships.ConclusionsTreatments generate negative emotions and physical side effects, strain relationships and affect identity. Patients minimise these disruptions through additional adaptive work and/or by non-adherence. This affects physical outcomes and care relationships. There is a need for clinicians to engage with patients in honest conversations about treatment disruptions and the ‘adhere-ability’ of recommended regimens. Patient-centred practice requires management plans which optimise outcomes and minimise disruptions.

An experimental design methodology has been drawn regarding the model contaminant 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP) oxidation using Fenton's reagent. This multivariable and multilevel approach allowed us to investigate the effects between the experimental variables (temperature and iron(II) and hydrogen peroxide concentrations) in the process performance, with the minimum number of experiments. Response factors considered were 2,4-DCP degradation after 5, 10, and 20 min of reaction time, for an initial 2,4-DCP concentration of 100 mg/L. This approach provided statistically significant models, which allowed process optimization. It was found that, within the range studied, the ferrous concentration has a positive effect on the oxidation performance. However, for the peroxide load, and particularly for temperature, an optimal value exists that must be taken into account in order to obtain the best results. Besides, the optimal conditions depend on the response considered, with it being advisable to use less-aggressive conditions if responses are taken at longer reaction times. Finally, the kinetic model proposed was useful for predicting the evolution of the 2,4-DCP concentration within the batch reactor over time. Moreover, this kinetic analysis also allowed us to establish the reaction rate for 2,4-DCP degradation.

In order to achieve the targets underlined in the European Strategy for climate change and energy efficiency, the so called 20-20-20 package, the European Commission launched the Covenant of Mayors to endorse and support the efforts deployed by local authorities in the implementation of sustainable energy plans, and at the same time contribute to greenhouse gases emissions mitigation. This paper explores how the Covenant of Mayors (CoM) has been adopted in Portugal, and which type of measures are being defined and implemented by the municipalities. For that, all Sustainable Energy Action Plan (SEAP) submitted by Portuguese municipalities (124) have been examined, for which a detailed analysis was performed, including the Baseline Emission Inventory (70, i.e., around 50%). The municipalities that submitted SEAP cover 60% of the total population of the country because the main urban centres are a part of the 30% that have signed the CoM. Most common measures are related with changes on behaviour and infrastructure related to energy (such as renewable energies, energy efficiency in buildings, public lighting, etc.), waste and transport (for example optimization of: transport infrastructures, used vehicles and road operations). Public lighting is one of the energy measures present in all submitted SEAP, which plays a key role in energy consumption, reaching values of upwards of 12%, particularly in coastal areas due to higher population density and urban residential areas. Besides all efforts there is still a long way to go in terms of energy consumption reduction at local level.

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Usually, packets involved in a collision are lost, requiring their retransmission. However, the signal associated to collisions has important information concerning the packets involved. In fact, with proper retransmissions we can efficiently resolve collisions.In this paper we propose a frequency-domain multipacket detection technique for SC-FDE schemes (Single-Carrier with Frequency-Domain Equalization) that allows an efficient packet separation in the presence of successive collisions.This technique allows high throughputs, since the total number of transmissions is equal to the number of packets involved in the collision, even when the channel remains fixed for the retransmissions. Since we consider SC-FDE schemes and the complexity is concentrated in the receiver, this technique particularly appealing for the uplink of broadband wireless systems. 1

This paper derives the distribution of the residual self-interference (SI) power in an analog post-mixer canceler adopted in a wireless in-band full-duplex communication system. We focus on the amount of uncanceled SI power due to SI channel estimation errors. Closed form expressions are provided for the distribution of the residual SI power when Rician and Rayleigh fading SI channels are considered. Moreover, the distribution of the residual SI power is derived for low and high channel gain dynamics, by considering the cases when the SI channel gain is time-invariant and time-variant. While for time-invariant channels the residual SI power is exponentially distributed, for time-variant channels the exponential distribution is not a valid assumption. Instead, the distribution of the residual SI power can be approximated by a product distribution. Several Monte Carlo simulation results show the influence of the channel dynamics on the distribution of the residual SI power. Finally, the accuracy of the theoretical approach is assessed through the comparison of numerical and simulated results, which confirm its effectiveness. INDEX TERMSIn-band full-duplex radio systems, residual self-interference power, stochastic modeling, performance analysis.

Non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) technique and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been recognized as promising technologies for enabling the stringent requirements of the different network infrastructures expected for the next generation of wireless networks. In parallel, intelligent reconfigurable surfaces (IRSs) have been widely pointed out as an auspicious solution to further improve spectral efficiency, coverage range, and connectivity. By integrating IRS with UAV and NOMA schemes with multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) it is possible to smartly improve the overall network performance. In order to explore some of these potentials, this paper provides a comprehensive discussion about the interplay of aerial IRS in MIMO-NOMA (AIRS-NOMA) networks, as well its architecture, functionality principles, and performance gains. In particular, attractive gains related to the data rate maximization, user fairness, energy efficiency, and coverage range are highlighted. Simulation results are provided to support our insightful discussions, in which it is revealed that the performance gains of AIRS-NOMA networks are superior when compared to terrestrial deployment. In addition, to guide new studies perspectives, it is addressed some issues and research opportunities associated with this potential integration.

In this paper, we characterize the wireless interference of a mobile ad hoc network, where the nodes move according to the random waypoint model. The interferers are assumed to be located within an interference region that is defined as a circular region centered in a fixed node located at a given point of the mobility scenario. The main contribution of this paper is the characterization of the aggregate interference caused to the fixed node by mobile interferers located within the interference region. The distribution of the interference is analyzed taking into account the stochastic nature of the path loss due to the mobility of the nodes, as well as fast fading and shadowing effects. The derivation of the characteristic function of the aggregate interference is used in two different estimators, which successfully characterize the interference using only a small set of samples. The theoretical approach is validated through simulations, which confirm its effectiveness. Finally, we assess the accuracy of the proposed estimators, demonstrating the practical value of this paper.