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Background Determinants of hypertension diagnosis and/or awareness and control among older adults are understudied in Albania, a former communist country in South Eastern Europe, which is experiencing rapid demographic, socioeconomic and epidemiological transition. This paper examines the association of individual, interpersonal, organizational and community factors with hypertension awareness and control among older adults in Tirana, the Albanian capital. Methods Using 2012 International Mobility in Aging Study data on older adults from Albania's capital city (n = 393) and the socioecological model as a conceptual framework, multinomial regression models identified factors associated with controlled, uncontrolled and undiagnosed hypertension. Results For hypertension, 17.3% participants had none, 23.4% were controlled, 48.4% were uncontrolled and 10.9% were undiagnosed/unaware. Compared to those with controlled hypertension, in multivariable models, a high level of friend support was negatively associated with uncontrolled (OR: 0.4; 95% CI: 0.2–0.9) and undiagnosed (OR: 0.2; 95% CI: 0.1–0.6) hypertension. A high level of perceived neighbourhood safety was negatively associated with uncontrolled (OR: 0.6; 95% CI: 0.3–1.0) and undiagnosed (OR: 0.4; 95% CI: 0.2–1.0) hypertension. Compared to those with no hypertension, children's social support was positively associated with uncontrolled (OR: 2.2; 95% CI: 1.1–4.3) and undiagnosed (OR: 3.6; 95% CI: 1.3–9.6) hypertension. Conclusion This study provides new insights about distinct risk factors for inadequate hypertension management in Albania. It highlights the importance of community-level factors (safety) and interpersonal factors (family and friend ties) to hypertension diagnosis/awareness and control, which may provide novel intervention opportunities for hypertension programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To improve the quality of human–computer interaction, it is important for computers to be able to identify the images quickly that can trigger pleasant feelings and create a good user experience. To reach this goal, the affective classification of images is an important prerequisite. Prior research into affective image classification used image features as categorical measurable signals. However, these techniques failed to provide a good correlation between the signal properties of image features and the expected affective experience of the viewer, leaving the research unable to bridge the affective gap. To solve this problem, in this paper we propose a method of affective image classification based on information about the user's experience collected through measurable eye movements and electroencephalography (EEG) signals. This approach bridges the affective gap by establishing an association between experience information (measurable signal properties) and the expected affective experience of the viewer. First, we screened eye movement indexes and EEG indexes to provide an affective correlation index. Then we built an experience space based on participants' physiological data obtained using an eye tracker and EEG recorder simultaneously. Next, physiological experience data from the experience space were extracted, analyzed mathematically and normalized to obtain parametric physiological experience data. Using a multiple linear regression technique, we connected the participants' affective states and physiological experience data. We developed a quantitative mapping between the affective experience states and the sample images to acquire the classification of affective images. To demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed classification method, we conducted a study in which 16 abstract art paintings were classified as positive, negative or neutral based on subjects' physiological responses. The results showed that the proposed affective image classification method was accurate and successful in identifying images that can lead to a pleasurable experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is commonly believed that human-centred design (HCD) approach is very beneficial to interactive systems development. However, not much is known about the state of HCD practice in developing countries, especially the sub-Saharan Africa. This paper explores the state of HCD practice in three Nigerian software companies. We used the interview technique to explore two key issues. First, the perception of humans as a component of sociotechnical systems, and second, how HCD process is being approached in software companies. A cross-case analysis of the three companies was performed and the usability maturity model-human-centredness scale was used to determine the state of maturity of the three companies. The outcomes of this study reveal that HCD practice is currently at the least stage of maturity in the three companies and user involvement is not practiced in the right manner. The outcomes of the study suggest the need for reflective HCD practice and localizing human–computer interaction approaches to contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been observed that converting scFv formatted antibodies to full-length IgG often associates with loss of affinity. We aim to address this issue in this paper by establishing an integrated affinity maturation method applying yeast display technology platform. To demonstrate that, we employed a human thrombopoietin receptor targeting antibody named 3D9 which was identified previously from a combinational antibody library in scFv-Fc fusion protein form. We have observed that significant potency loss happened when 3D9 was transformed to full-length IgG form. In this study, we tested whether the potency of the full-length IgG can be improved by affinity maturation of 3D9 using a modified Fab yeast display platform. An efficient CDR3 targeted mutagenesis strategy was designed for Fab library with pre-designed CDR diversity. Next generation sequencing was also used for evaluation of the enrichment process and investigation of sequence-function relationship of the antibody. A variant with improved affinity and higher potency was identified. The study demonstrates that the strategy we used here are efficient for optimizing affinity and activity of full-length IgGs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on a solar jet phenomenon associated with the C5.4 class flare on 2014 November 11. The data of the jet was provided by the Solar Dynamics Observatory, the X-Ray Telescope (XRT) aboard Hinode, and the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph and Domeless Solar Telescope (DST) at Hida Observatory, Kyoto University. These plentiful data enabled us to present this series of papers to discuss all the processes of the observed phenomena, including energy storage, event trigger, and energy release. In this paper, we focus on the energy release process of the observed jet, and mainly describe our spectral analysis on the Hα data of DST to investigate the internal structure of the Hα jet and its temporal evolution. This analysis reveals that in the physical quantity distributions of the Hα jet, such as line-of-sight velocity and optical thickness, there is a significant gradient in the direction crossing the jet. We interpret this internal structure as the consequence of the migration of the energy release site, based on the idea of ubiquitous reconnection. Moreover, by measuring the horizontal flow of the fine structures in the jet, we succeeded in deriving the three-dimensional velocity field and the line-of-sight acceleration field of the Hα jet. The analysis result indicates that part of the ejecta in the Hα jet experienced additional acceleration after it had been ejected from the lower atmosphere. This secondary acceleration was found to occur in the vicinity of the intersection between the trajectories of the Hα jet and the X-ray jet observed by Hinode/XRT. We propose that a fundamental cause of this phenomenon is magnetic reconnection involving the plasmoid in the observed jet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]