Background: Nursing interventions tailored to the smoking triggers in patients with non-communicable chronic diseases are essential. However, these interventions are scant due to the nature of factors associated with smoking cessation and the poor understanding of the effect of nurse-led intervention in Iraq.Purpose: This study aimed to determine the dominant smoking triggers and examine the effects of a tailored nursing intervention on smoking behavior in patients with non-communicable chronic diseases.Methods: Convenience samples of 128 patients with non-communicable chronic diseases, male and female patients, who were 18-70 years old, were recruited in this quasi-experimental, randomized comparative trial in the outpatient clinic in one major teaching hospital in Baghdad City, Iraq. The intervention included simple yet specific instructions that were given both orally and in written form to the study samples to enable them to manage their craving to smoke for 6 weeks. The smoking triggers were assessed using Why Do You Smoke questionnaire. Participants were randomly allocated to receive either the nurse-led intervention or standard care. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, independent sample t-tests, logistic regression, and two-sided tests.Results: Stress reduction was the dominant smoking trigger among subjects. The percentage of participants who were either able to completely quit smoking or reduce the number of smoked cigarettes per day (n=19, 29.7%; n=28, 43.8%, respectively) was greater in the study group than those in the control group (n=5, 5.8%; n=5, 5.8%, respectively). Study findings demonstrated significant differences in the inability to improve readiness to quit smoking between the intervention group and control group (p=0.000) at the sixth-week follow-up.Conclusion: The tailored nursing intervention was effective for a successful achievement of smoking reduction and cessation among patients with non-communicable chronic diseases, and a potential to equip nurses in clinical settings to support patients to achieve this is recommended.
This study investigated the application of the crystallization process for oilfield produced water from the East Baghdad oilfield affiliated to the Midland Oil Company (Iraq). Zero liquid discharge system (ZLD) consists of several parts such as oil skimming, coagulation/flocculation, forward osmosis, and crystallization, the crystallization process is a final part of a zero liquid discharge system. The laboratory-scale simple evaporation system was used to evaluate the performance of the crystallization process. In this work, sodium chloride solution and East Baghdad oilfield produced water were used as a feed solution with a concentration of 177 and 220 g/l. The impact of temperature (70, 80, and 90 °C), mixing speed (300, 400, and 500 rp
... Show MoreA novel planar type antenna printed on a high permittivity Rogers’ substrate is proposed for early stage microwave breast cancer detection. The design is based on a p-shaped wide-slot structure with microstrip feeding circuit to eliminate losses of transmission. The design parameters are optimized resulting in a good reflection coefficient at −10 dB from 4.5 to 10.9 GHz. Imaging result using inhomogeneous breast phantom indicates that the proposed antenna is capable of detecting a 5 mm size cancerous tumor embedded inside the fibroglandular region with dielectric contrast between the target and the surrounding materials ranging from 1.7 : 1 to 3.6 : 1.
Smart cities have recently undergone a fundamental evolution that has greatly increased their potentials. In reality, recent advances in the Internet of Things (IoT) have created new opportunities by solving a number of critical issues that are allowing innovations for smart cities as well as the creation and computerization of cutting-edge services and applications for the many city partners. In order to further the development of smart cities toward compelling sharing and connection, this study will explore the information innovation in smart cities in light of the Internet of Things (IoT) and cloud computing (CC). IoT data is first collected in the context of smart cities. The data that is gathered is uniform. The Internet of Things,
... Show MoreEarth dams are constructed mainly from soil. A homogenous earth dam is composed of only one material. The seepage through such dams is quite high. Upstream impervious blanket is one of the methods used to control seepage through the dam foundations. Bennet's method is one of the commonly used methods to design an impervious upstream blanket. Design charts are developed relating the length of blanket, total reservoir head, total base width of the dam (excluding downstream drainage), the coefficient of permeability of the blanket material, blanket thickness, foundation thickness, and coefficient of permeability of the foundation soil, based on the equations governing the Bennet's method for a homogenous earth dam with a blanket of uniform
... Show MoreWithin the framework of big data, energy issues are highly significant. Despite the significance of energy, theoretical studies focusing primarily on the issue of energy within big data analytics in relation to computational intelligent algorithms are scarce. The purpose of this study is to explore the theoretical aspects of energy issues in big data analytics in relation to computational intelligent algorithms since this is critical in exploring the emperica aspects of big data. In this chapter, we present a theoretical study of energy issues related to applications of computational intelligent algorithms in big data analytics. This work highlights that big data analytics using computational intelligent algorithms generates a very high amo
... Show MoreA simple, fast, selective of a new flow injection analysis method coupled with potentiometric detection was used to determine vitamin B1 in pharmaceutical formulations via the prepared new selective membranes. Two electrodes were constructed for the determination of vitamin B1 based on the ion-pair vitamin B1-phosphotungestic acid (B1-PTA) in a poly (vinyl chloride) supported with a plasticized di-butyl phthalate (DBPH) and di-butyl phosphate (DBP). Applications of these ion selective electrodes for the determination of vitamin B1 in the pharmaceutical preparations for batch and flow injection systems were described. The ion selective membrane exhibited a near-Nernstian slope values 56.88 and 58.53 mV / decade, with the linear dy
... Show MoreMany oil and gas processes, including oil recovery, oil transportation, and petroleum processing, are negatively impacted by the precipitation and deposition of asphaltene. Screening methods for determining the stability of asphaltenes in crude oil have been developed due to the high cost of remediating asphaltene deposition in crude oil production and processing. The colloidal instability index, the Asphaltene-resin ratio, the De Boer plot, and the modified colloidal instability index were used to predict the stability of asphaltene in crude oil in this study. The screening approaches were investigated in detail, as done for the experimental results obtained from them. The factors regulating the asphaltene precipitation are different fr
... Show MoreCognitive-behavioral therapy is one of the most important relatively recent; treatment programs that attempt to modify behavior and control psychological disorders by modifying the individual's thinking style and awareness of himself and his environment, and cognitive reconstruction by replacing negative thoughts with positive ones. The current study aimed to know the effectiveness of a cognitive behavioral treatment program in reducing nervous fatigue among mothers of children with cerebral palsy. The sample on which the nervous fatigue scale was applied consisted of (30) mothers whose son suffers from cerebral palsy, and the results indicated that (24) mothers suffer from nervous fatigue. This sample was divided
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