Factors Underlying Technology Adoption in Academic Libraries in Kuwait     

Meshal Al-Fadhli  Andrew Cox 《New Review of Academic Librarianship》2016,22(4):370-390

The study analyzed factors shaping adoption of technology in academic libraries in Kuwait. The research was based on interviews conducted with library directors, staff, and users, combined with observation and document analysis. A major aspect of the Kuwaiti context was a relative lack of financial restraints and an enthusiasm for technology within society as a whole. Other important influences shaping technology adoption specifically within libraries were the top down decision-making style and a quest for prestige, in a context of a lack of library culture among users, shortage of professional staff, and a strong, perhaps exaggerated, faith in technology as a solution to problems.  相似文献   

Reference values for the incremental shuttle walk test in patients with cardiovascular disease entering exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation     

Fernando M.F. Cardoso  Meshal Almodhy  Garyfalia Pepera  Dimitrios M. Stasinopoulos 《Journal of sports sciences》2017,35(1):1-6

The incremental shuttle walk test (ISWT) is used to assess functional capacity of patients entering cardiac rehabilitation. Factors such as age and sex account for a proportion of the variance in test performance in healthy individuals but there are no reference values for patients with cardiovascular disease. The aim of this study was to produce reference values for the ISWT. Participants were n = 548 patients referred to outpatient cardiac rehabilitation who underwent a clinical examination and performed the ISWT. We used regression to identify predictors of performance and produced centile values using the generalised additive model for location, scale and shape model. Men walked significantly further than women (395 ± 165 vs. 269 ± 118 m; t = 9.5, P < 0.001) so data were analysed separately by sex. Age (years) was the strongest predictor of performance in men (β = ?5.9; 95% CI: ?7.1 to ?4.6 m) and women (β = ?4.8; 95% CI: ?6.3 to 3.3). Centile curves demonstrated a broadly linear decrease in expected ISWT values in males (25–85 years) and a more curvilinear trend in females. Patients entering cardiac rehabilitation present with highly heterogeneous ISWT values. Much of the variance in performance can be explained by patients’ age and sex. Comparing absolute values with age-and sex-specific reference values may aid interpretation of ISWT performance during initial patient assessment at entry to cardiac rehabilitation.  相似文献