ABSTRACT
Background There has been a dramatic increase in the incidence and prevalence rate of autism globally. This increase could be correlated to the increase in the awareness level and understanding of the disorder among healthcare providers and autistic children's families. Aim This study aimed to assess undergraduate nursing students' knowledge about and attitudes toward children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Methods A cross-sectional quantitative study design was used. A convenience sample of 235 undergraduate nursing students from all levels was obtained. Data were collected using a questionnaire. Descriptive analysis (including mean, median, and standard deviation) was conducted. Inferential analysis was conducted to identify the relation between participants' demographic data and the subscales. Results The majority of the studied sample was aged 20 years or over (n=194, 82.55%) and was from the second year of undergraduate nursing school (n=120, 51.1%). The total mean score of the overall knowledge levels among nursing students at King Abdulaziz University (KAU) was mild (M=0.91, SD=±1.04), whereas the overall mean percentage score of undergraduate nursing students' attitudes toward care, education, and advocacy for autistic children was 74.38%, indicating a positive high level of attitude. Conclusions This study highlighted the level of nursing students' knowledge about childhood autism. Additionally, it disclosed their attitudes toward autistic children. The study filled a gap in the literature by revealing the perspectives of nursing students toward ASD.
ABSTRACT
In this work, we present and explore the characteristics of a plasmonic metamaterial absorber based on a metal-insulator-metal functional stack. The proposed structure consists of glass "sandwiched" between a silver reflector and a titanium metallic disc, embedded inside a Ti periodic nano-hole array, as an outside layer. In the visible and infrared regimes, the optical absorption spectra of such structures have been investigated using the finite difference time domain method. The impact of modifying nano-hole and embedded disc diameters on the absorber's performance has been investigated. Changing these two distinct structural parameters tunes the coupling effect between the localized and propagating surface plasmons. The adequate bandwidth, average spectral absorption rate, and short circuit current density are calculated to determine the performance of the designated absorber. The proposed structure of the plasmonic metamaterial absorber reaches an average absorption of over 94% in a bandwidth of 0.81 µm and near-perfect absorption of 98% around the wavelength of 0.7 µm, with an almost 100% relative absorption bandwidth and 41 mA/cm2 short circuit current density. In addition, the results show that the disc-in-hole absorber's structural parameters can be changed precisely and facilely to tailor to the absorption spectra.