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Sample records for questionnaire fcq revisited

  1. Food Choice Questionnaire (FCQ) revisited: Suggestions for the development of an enhanced general food motivation typology

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Fotopoulos, Christos; Krystallis, Athanasios; Vassallo, Marco

    2009-01-01

    Recognising the need for a more statistically robust instrument to investigate general food selection determinants, the research validates and confirms Food Choice Questionnaire (FCQ's) factorial design, develops ad hoc a more robust FCQ version and tests its ability to discriminate between...... at the subpopulation level based on the enhanced FCQ version bring about an optimistic message for the FCQ's ability to predict food selection behaviour. The paper concludes that some of the basic components of the original FCQ can be used as a basis for a new general food motivation typology. The development...... consumer segments in terms of the importance they assign to the FCQ motivational factors. The original FCQ appears to represent a comprehensive and reliable research instrument. However, the empirical data do not support the robustness of its 9-factorial design. On the other hand, segmentation results...

  2. A short version of the Food Cravings Questionnaire – Trait: The FCQ-T-reduced

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adrian eMeule

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available One of the most often used instruments for the assessment of food cravings is the Food Cravings Questionnaire (FCQ, which consists of a trait (FCQ-T; 39 items and state (FCQ-S; 15 items version. Scores on the FCQ-T have been found to be positively associated with eating pathology, body-mass-index (BMI, low dieting success and increases in state food craving during cognitive tasks involving appealing food stimuli. The current studies evaluated reliability and validity of a reduced version of the FCQ-T consisting of 15 items only (FCQ-T-r. Study 1 was a questionnaire study conducted online among students (N = 323. In study 2, female students (N = 70 performed a working memory task involving food and neutral pictures. Study 1 indicated a one-factorial structure and high internal consistency ( = .94 of the FCQ-T-r. Scores on the FCQ-T-r were positively correlated with BMI and negatively correlated with dieting success. In study 2, participants reported higher state food craving after the task compared to before. This increase was positively correlated with the FCQ-T-r. Hours since the last meal positively predicted food craving before the task when controlling for FCQ-T-r scores and the interaction of both variables. Contrarily, FCQ-T-r scores positively predicted food craving after the task when controlling for food deprivation and the interaction term. Thus, trait food craving was specifically associated with state food craving triggered by palatable food-cues, but not with state food craving related to plain hunger. Results indicate high reliability of the FCQ-T-r. Replicating studies that used the long version, small-to-medium correlations with BMI and dieting success could be found. Finally, scores on the FCQ-T-r predicted cue-elicited food craving, providing further support of its validity. The FCQ-T-r constitutes a succinct, valid and reliable self-report measure to efficiently assess experiences of food craving as a trait.

  3. [Eppendorf Schizophrenia Inventory (ESI) vs. Frankfurt Complaint Questionnaire (FCQ). Direct comparison in a clinical trial].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mass, R

    2005-09-01

    This study is the first to directly compare two clinical questionnaires which are both aimed at self-experienced cognitive dysfunctions of schizophrenia: Eppendorf Schizophrenia Inventory (ESI) and Frankfurt Complaint Questionnaire (FCQ). Evaluated were (a) diagnostic validity, (b) psychometric properties, (c) scale intercorrelations, and (d) factor analytic stability. Ad (a): schizophrenic subjects (n=36) show highly significant increases in the ESI scales and sum score when compared to other clinical groups (patients with depression, alcohol dependence, or obsessive-compulsive disorder, n>30, respectively); on the other hand, the FCQ yields no systematic group differences. Ad (b): mean of reliability coefficients (Cronbach alpha) of the ESI scales is r(tt)=0.86, mean of reliability coefficients of the FCQ scales is significantly lower. Ad (c): the mean intercorrelation between ESI and FCQ scales amounts to r(xy)=0.56 (minimum 0.29, maximum 0.73), corresponding to an average shared variance of about 31%. Ad (d): factor analysis yielded an ESI factor and a FBF factor; one-way ANOVA with the factor scores confirms the diagnostic validity of the ESI. ESI and FCQ measure essentially different aspects of schizophrenic psychopathology. Regarding reliability and diagnostic validity, the ESI is superior to the FCQ.

  4. [Translation and cultural adaptation of the questionnaire on the reason for food choices (Food Choice Questionnaire - FCQ) into Portuguese].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heitor, Sara Franco Diniz; Estima, Camilla Chermont Prochnik; das Neves, Fabricia Junqueira; de Aguiar, Aline Silva; Castro, Sybelle de Souza; Ferreira, Julia Elba de Souza

    2015-08-01

    The Food Choice Questionnaire (FCQ) assesses the importance that subjects attribute to nine factors related to food choices: health, mood, convenience, sensory appeal, natural content, price, weight control, familiarity and ethical concern. This study sought to assess the applicability of the FCQ in Brazil; it describes the translation and cultural adaptation from English into Portuguese of the FCQ via the following steps: independent translations, consensus, back-translation, evaluation by a committee of experts, semantic validation and pre-test. The pre-test was run with a randomly sampled group of 86 male and female college students from different courses with a median age of 19. Slight differences between the versions were observed and adjustments were made. After minor changes in the translation process, the committee of experts considered that the Brazilian Portuguese version was semantically and conceptually equivalent to the English original. Semantic validation showed that the questionnaire is easily understood. The instrument presented a high degree of internal consistency. The study is the first stage in the process of validating an instrument, which consists of face and content validity. Further stages, already underway, are needed before other researchers can use it.

  5. Adapting the Facilitating Conditions Questionnaire (FCQ) for Bilingual Filipino Adolescents: Validating English and Filipino Versions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ganotice, Fraide A; Bernardo, Allan B I; King, Ronnel B

    2013-06-01

    This study examined the applicability of the English and Filipino versions of the Facilitating Conditions Questionnaire (FCQ) among Filipino high school students. The FCQ measures the external forces in students' social environments that can influence their motivation for school. It is composed of 11 factors: university intention, school valuing, parent support, teacher support, peer help, leave school, pride from others, negative parent influence, affect to school, negative peer influence, and positive peer influence. It was translated into conversational Filipino. Seven hundred sixty-five high school students answered one of the two language versions. Both within-network and between-network approaches to construct validation were used. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) of the two versions showed good fit. Results of the multigroup CFA indicated that there was invariance in terms of factor loadings for the two versions. Results of the between-network test also showed that the factors in the FCQ correlated systematically with theoretically relevant constructs. Taken together, this study supports the applicability of the FCQ for use with Filipino bilingual adolescents.

  6. Food choice questionnaire revisited in four countries. Does it still measure the same?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Januszewska, Renata; Pieniak, Zuzanna; Verbeke, Wim

    2011-08-01

    This study focuses on the implementation of the food choice questionnaire (FCQ) across four countries. The first objective is to examine the degree to which the factor structure of the FCQ is invariant across different populations. The second objective is to analyse the motives for food choice in different countries. The cross-sectional sample of 1420 consumers consisted of Belgians (N=458), Hungarians (N=401), Romanians (N=229) and Filipinos (N=332). Data analyses included estimation of five multi-group confirmatory factor analysis models; calculation of mean importance ratings for each food choice factor across countries; ANOVA and Tukey post hoc tests; and a rank order test of most to least important factors within each country. The results confirm that the factorial structure of the FCQ is invariant with respect to factor configuration, factor loadings and item intercept. Sensory appeal is the most important factor among all European consumers, while health, convenience and price were all among the five most important factors shaping food choice in Belgium, Hungary and Romania. For Filipinos, the most important were health, price and mood. Sensory appeal ranked on the fourth place. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. The development of a single-item Food Choice Questionnaire

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Onwezen, M.C.; Reinders, M.J.; Verain, M.C.D.; Snoek, H.M.

    2019-01-01

    Based on the multi-item Food Choice Questionnaire (FCQ) originally developed by Steptoe and colleagues (1995), the current study developed a single-item FCQ that provides an acceptable balance between practical needs and psychometric concerns. Studies 1 (N = 1851) and 2 (2a (N = 3290), 2b (N =

  8. Food4Me study: Validity and reliability of Food Choice Questionnaire in 9 European countries

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Markovina, J.; Stewart-Knox, B.J.; Rankin, A.; Gibney, M.; Almeida, M.D.V.; Fischer, A.R.H.; Kuznesof, S.A.; Poínhos, R.; Panzone, L.; Frewer, L.J.

    2015-01-01

    This analysis has been conducted to explore the validity and reliability of the Food Choice Questionnaire (FCQ) across 9 European countries. Variation in the factor structure and the perceived importance of food choice motives have been compared cross-nationally. Volunteers (N = 9381) were recruited

  9. Motives underlying healthy eating: using the Food Choice Questionnaire to explain variation in dietary intake.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pollard, T M; Steptoe, A; Wardle, J

    1998-04-01

    The Food Choice Questionnaire (FCQ), which measures the reported importance to a given individual of nine factors underlying food choice, and a food frequency questionnaire, were administered to 241 participants, who were also required to classify their diet as either 'standard', 'low in red meat' or 'vegetarian'. Respondents describing their diet as low in red meat attributed greater importance to health, natural content, weight control and ethical concern in their food choice than did those who described their diets as standard, whereas vegetarians differed significantly from those with a standard diet only on the score for ethical concern. Differences between men and women and between students and non-students in the frequency of consumption of a number of foods were shown to be mediated by differences in the importance attached to FCQ factors. Thus the generally healthier diets of women compared to men appeared to be accounted for by the greater importance attributed by women to weight control, natural content and ethical concerns.

  10. Development of a measure of the motives underlying the selection of food: the food choice questionnaire.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Steptoe, A; Pollard, T M; Wardle, J

    1995-12-01

    A number of factors are thought to influence people's dietary choices, including health, cost, convenience and taste, but there are no measures that address health-related and non-health-related factors in a systematic fashion. This paper describes the development of a multidimensional measure of motives related to food choice. The Food Choice Questionnaire (FCQ) was developed through factor analysis of responses from a sample of 358 adults ranging in age from 18 to 87 years. Nine factors emerged, and were labelled health, mood, convenience, sensory appeal, natural content, price, weight control, familiarity and ethical concern. The questionnaire structure was verified using confirmatory factor analysis in a second sample (n = 358), and test-retest reliability over a 2- to 3-week period was satisfactory. Convergent validity was investigated by testing associations between FCQ scales and measures of dietary restraint, eating style, the value of health, health locus of control and personality factors. Differences in motives for food choice associated with sex, age and income were found. The potential uses of this measure in health psychology and other areas are discussed.

  11. A comparative study of patients' and nurses' perceptions of the quality of nursing services, satisfaction and intent to revisit the hospital: a questionnaire survey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Mi Aie; Yom, Young-Hee

    2007-05-01

    Although it is very important to clarify the factors influencing the patients' and nurses' satisfaction with nursing services, very little research has been performed in this area. The purpose of this study was to compare the nursing service quality, satisfaction and intent to revisit the hospital perceived by hospitalized patients and nurses in Korea. SERVQUAL scale, an overall satisfaction and intent to revisit the hospital questionnaires were used. The sample consisted of 272 patients and 282 nurses. The data were collected using paper and pencil self-rating questionnaires and analyzed using frequency, %, mean, standard deviation, t-test and Pearson correlation coefficient. Overall, nurses' expectations and performance were higher than those of patients, while patients' overall satisfaction with nursing and medical care was higher than that of nurses. There was a strong positive relationship between satisfaction with nursing and medical care and intent to revisit the hospital for both groups. The performance was relatively lower than expectations, resulting in poor nursing care quality. Differences between expectations and performance for both patients and nurses need to be further reduced.

  12. Measurement and validation of measures for impulsive food choice across obese and healthy-weight individuals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hendrickson, Kelsie L; Rasmussen, Erin B; Lawyer, Steven R

    2015-07-01

    The present study established a brief measure of delay discounting for food, the Food Choice Questionnaire (FCQ), and compared it to another more established measure of food discounting that uses the adjusting amount (AA) procedure. One hundred forty-four undergraduate participants completed either two measures of hypothetical food discounting (a computerized food AA procedure or the FCQ) or two measures of hypothetical money discounting [a computerized monetary AA procedure or the Monetary Choice questionnaire (MCQ)]. The money condition was used as a replication of previous work. Results indicated that the FCQ yielded consistent data that strongly correlated with the AA food discounting task. Moreover, a magnitude effect was found with the FCQ, such that smaller amounts of food were discounted more steeply than larger amounts. In addition, individuals with higher percent body fat (PBF) discounted food more steeply than individuals with lower PBF. The MCQ, which also produced a magnitude effect, and the monetary adjusting amount procedure yielded data that were orderly, consistent, and correlated strongly with one another, replicating previous literature. This study is the first to show that a novel measure of food discounting (the FCQ) yields consistent data strongly correlated with an established measure of food discounting and is sensitive to PBF. Moreover, the FCQ is easier and quicker to administer than the AA procedure, which may interest researchers who use discounting tasks in food-related research. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. A Structural Equation Model of Risk Perception of Rockfall for Revisit Intention

    OpenAIRE

    Ya-Fen Lee; Yun-Yao Chi

    2014-01-01

    The study aims to explore the relationship between risk perception of rockfall and revisit intention using a Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis. A total of 573 valid questionnaires are collected from travelers to Taroko National Park, Taiwan. The findings show the majority of travelers have the medium perception of rockfall risk, and are willing to revisit the Taroko National Park. The revisit intention to Taroko National Park is influenced by hazardous preferences, willingness-to-pa...

  14. Regulatory focus and food choice motives. Prevention orientation associated with mood, convenience, and familiarity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pula, Kacy; Parks, Craig D; Ross, Carolyn F

    2014-07-01

    The authors tested the robustness of the Food Choice Questionnaire (FCQ) with a U.S. sample and examined the relationship between individual differences in regulatory focus and everyday food choice motives. Although a popular measure in cross-culture research, the FCQ has seen limited use with U.S. samples, and its psychometric properties have not been tested in this population. American participants (n = 408) completed the Regulatory Focus Questionnaire and a measure of food choice motives. The data did not support the nine-factor FCQ structure. An ad hoc revised measure of food choice motives showed complete measurement invariance (loadings, intercepts, and residuals) across regulatory focus. Regarding everyday food choices, participants with a prevention focus placed greater importance on mood, convenience, and familiarity than participants with a promotion focus. There were no significant differences regarding the importance of health, environmental protection, impression management, natural content, price, and sensory appeal. Several food choice motives were positively correlated. Compared with the promotion-focused participants, the prevention-focused participants more strongly associated the importance of sensory appeal with the importance of natural content and the importance of price. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  15. Targeting acceptance in the management of food craving: The mediating roles of eating styles and thought suppression.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coffino, Jaime A; Heiss, Sydney; Hormes, Julia M

    2018-04-01

    Food craving is now widely considered to be a cognitively motivated state. Acceptance-based treatments are effective in reducing the adverse impact of food cravings on consumption, via a hypothesized decrease in experiential avoidance. The mechanisms that drive the success of acceptance-based management of craving remain to be empirically tested. This study examined the role of eating styles and thought suppression as mediators in the relationship between experiential avoidance and craving. Participants (n = 298, 51.5% female) completed the Food Craving Acceptance and Awareness Questionnaire (FAAQ), the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ), the White Bear Suppression Inventory (WBSI; a measure of thought suppression), and the reduced version of the Food Craving Questionnaire- Trait (FCQ-T-r). Scores on the FAAQ were inversely associated with scores on the FCQ-T-r, DEBQ, and WBSI; FCQ-T-r scores were positively correlated with scores on the DEBQ and WBSI (all p styles and thought suppression, acceptance remained a significant predictor of craving. Results thus provide initial evidence that eating styles and thought suppression mediate the relationship between food-specific experiential avoidance and food craving. Findings lay the foundation for future study of the proximal antecedents of food cravings and lend preliminary support for targeting thought suppression and eating styles in acceptance-based approaches to the management of craving. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. Examining Relationships of Destination Image, Service Quality, e-WOM, and Revisit Intention to Sabang Island, Indonesia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rangga Restu Prayogo

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this research is to study the relationship among destination image, service quality, e-WOM, and revisit intentions in the tourism industry. A questionnaire given to tourists who visit one of the farrest island in western part of Indonesia, Sabang Island and using sampling through the convenience sampling. A structural equation model (SEM test with WarpPLS 3.0 was used to test the relationship between research variables. This research gathered from 150 respondents. The empirical results from PLS-SEM showed that; the destination image positive affect e-WOM and revisit intention; service quality affect e-WOM and revisit intention; e-WOM positive affect to revisit intention tourists. The implications and future research issues were discussed.

  17. Cultural specificity in food choice - The case of ethnography in Japan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Freedman, Irith

    2016-01-01

    Previous studies examining food choice from a cross-cultural perspective were based primarily on quantitative research using the Food Choice Questionnaire (FCQ). This study suggests ethnography as a complementary research method in cross-cultural food choice studies. While use of the FCQ resulted in findings of cultural differences in food choice processes, within a preliminary motive list, ethnography allows the exploration of new, possibly culture-specific motives for food choice. Moreover, ethnography allows a deeper understanding of the cultural background of food choice processes in a studied culture. Using Japan as a case study, this research demonstrates the use of ethnography to argue that variety is a primary motive for food choice in contemporary Japanese culture. Variety is hence regarded here as a part of a larger food culture attribute, an "adventurous palate," which can also provide a background for previous FCQ findings (Prescott, Young, O'neill, Yau, & Stevens, 2002). Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. An examination of the relationship among Iiraqi high school students' science achievement and perceptions of the value of education, parent support, and peer support in the United States

    Science.gov (United States)

    Al-Mandwee, Samir F.

    The objective of this dissertation was to quantitatively study Iraqi students (N=90) who arrived in the U.S.A. in the last 20 years. A non-experimental, descriptive research design was used for this study, which took place in one of three high schools in a large Midwestern suburban school district, during the 2013--2014 academic year. Three factors, including the students' perception of the value of education, the parental support, and the peer support, were examined using the Facilitating Conditions Questionnaire. The three subscales were part of a larger self-administered questionnaire used by McInerney (1997). In addition to the FCQ survey, a student demographic questionnaire was also used in the survey. Quantitative data from the FCQ survey reported that the students' perception of the value of education and their perception of peer support had a significant relationship with science academic achievement, which was measured for two semesters. Moreover, their peer support was the only predictor for science achievement.

  19. Analysis of Swedish consumers’ attitude to Chinese food

    OpenAIRE

    Chen, Jie

    2010-01-01

    The aim of this research is to find out what’s attitude Swedish consumers have to Chinese food. The questionnaires based on the Food Choice Questionnaire (FCQ) are handed out to 100 Swedish respondents in order to investigate their motivation on Chinese food choice. 78 questionnaires which were filled completely were selected for this study. Eleven factors involved in the questionnaire are labeled health, mood, convenience, sensory appeal, natural content, price, weight control, familiarity, ...

  20. Motives underlying food consumption in the Western Balkans

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mardon, Julie; Thiel, Elise; Laniau, Martine; Sijtsema, Siet; Zimmermann, Karin; Barjolle, Dominique

    2015-01-01

    Objectives: This study aims to identify subgroups of consumers based on the health motives underlying their food choice in Western Balkan Countries. Methods: The survey (n = 2943) was based on the Food Choice Questionnaire (FCQ) and elicited information on socio-demographic characteristics,

  1. Creative Experience and Revisit Intention of Handmade Oriental Parasol Umbrella in Kaohsiung

    OpenAIRE

    Yi-Ju Lee

    2015-01-01

    This study identified the hypothesised relationship between creative experience, and revisit intention of handmade oriental parasol umbrella in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. A face-to-face questionnaire survey was administered in Meinong town, Kaohsiung. The components of creative experience were found as "sense of achievement", "unique learning" and "interaction with instructors" in creative tourism. The result also revealed significant positive relationships between creative exper...

  2. The Effects of Korean Medical Service Quality and Satisfaction on Revisit Intention of the United Arab Emirates Government Sponsored Patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Seoyoung; Kim, Eun-Kyung

    2017-06-01

    The purpose of this study was to investigate medical service quality, satisfaction and to examine factors influencing hospital revisit intention of the United Arab Emirates government sponsored patients in Korea. A total of 152 UAE government sponsored patients who visited Korean hospitals participated in the questionnaire survey from August to November 2016. Stepwise multiple regression was used to identify the factors that affected the revisit intention of the participants. The mean scores of medical service quality, satisfaction, and revisit intention were 5.72 out of 7, 88.88 out of 100, 4.59 out of 5, respectively. Medical service quality and satisfaction, Medical service quality and revisit intention, satisfaction and revisit intention were positively correlated. Medical service of physician, visiting routes and responsiveness of medical service quality explained about 23.8% of revisit intention. There are needs for physicians to communicate with patients while ensuring sufficient consultation time based on excellent medical skills and nurses to respond immediately for the patients' needs through an empathic encounter in order to improve medical service quality and patient satisfaction so that to increase the revisit intention of the United Arab Emirates government sponsored patients. Further, it is necessary for the hospitals to have support plans for providing country specialized services in consideration of the UAE culture to ensure that physicians' and nurses' competencies are not undervalued by non-medical service elements such as interpreters and meals. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  3. Validity and reliability of the Cognitive Complaints in Bipolar Disorder Rating Assessment (COBRA) in Japanese patients with bipolar disorder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Toyoshima, Kuniyoshi; Fujii, Yutaka; Mitsui, Nobuyuki; Kako, Yuki; Asakura, Satoshi; Martinez-Aran, Anabel; Vieta, Eduard; Kusumi, Ichiro

    2017-08-01

    In Japan, there are currently no reliable rating scales for the evaluation of subjective cognitive impairment in patients with bipolar disorder. We studied the relationship between the Japanese version of the Cognitive Complaints in Bipolar Disorder Rating Assessment (COBRA) and objective cognitive assessments in patients with bipolar disorder. We further assessed the reliability and validity of the COBRA. Forty-one patients, aged 16-64, in a remission period of bipolar disorder were recruited from Hokkaido University Hospital in Sapporo, Japan. The COBRA (Japanese version) and Frankfurt Complaint Questionnaire (FCQ), the gold standard in subjective cognitive assessment, were administered. A battery of neuropsychological tests was employed to measure objective cognitive impairment. Correlations among the COBRA, FCQ, and neuropsychological tests were determined using Spearman's correlation coefficient. The Japanese version of the COBRA had high internal consistency, good retest reliability, and concurrent validity-as indicated by a strong correlation with the FCQ. A significant correlation was also observed between the COBRA and objective cognitive measurements of processing speed. These findings are the first to demonstrate that the Japanese version of the COBRA may be clinically useful as a subjective cognitive impairment rating scale in Japanese patients with bipolar disorder. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  4. eWOM, Revisit Intention, Destination Trust and Gender

    OpenAIRE

    Abubakar, Abubakar Mohammed; Ilkan, Mustafa; Al-Tal, Raad Meshall; Eluwole, Kayode

    2017-01-01

    This article investigates the impact of eWOM on intention to revisit and destination trust, and the moderating role of gender in medical tourism industry. Result from structural equation modeling (n=240) suggests the following: (1) that eWOM influences intention to revisit and destination trust; (2) that destination trust influences intention to revisit; (3) that the impact of eWOM on intention to revisit is about 1.3 times higher in men; (4) that the impact of eWOM on destination trust is ab...

  5. Food cravings in everyday life: An EMA study on snack-related thoughts, cravings, and consumption.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Richard, Anna; Meule, Adrian; Reichenberger, Julia; Blechert, Jens

    2017-06-01

    Food craving refers to an intense desire to consume a specific food and is regularly experienced by the majority of individuals. Yet, there are interindividual differences in the frequency and intensity of food craving experiences, which is often referred to as trait food craving. The characteristics and consequences of trait and state food craving have mainly been investigated in questionnaire-based and laboratory studies, which may not reflect individuals' behavior in daily life. In the present study, sixty-one participants completed the Food Cravings Questionnaire-Trait-reduced (FCQ-T-r) as measure of trait food craving, followed by seven days of Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA), during which they reported snack-related thoughts, craving intensity, and snack consumption at five times per day. Results showed that 86 percent of reported snacks were high-caloric, with chocolate-containing foods being the most often reported snacks. Individuals with high FCQ-T-r scores (high trait food cravers, HCs) thought more often about high-calorie than low-calorie snacks whereas no differences were found in individuals with low FCQ-T-r scores (low trait food cravers, LCs). Further, the relationship between craving intensity and snack-related thoughts was stronger in HCs than in LCs. Higher craving intensity was associated with more consumption of snacks and again this relationship was stronger in HCs than in LCs. Finally, more snack-related thoughts were related to more frequent consumption of snacks, independent of trait food craving. Thus, HCs are more prone to think about high-calorie snacks in their daily lives and to consume more snack foods when they experience intense cravings, which might be indicative of a heightened responding towards high-calorie foods. Thus, trait-level differences as well as snack-related thoughts should be targeted in dietary interventions. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  6. Motives underlying food consumption in the Western Balkans: consumers' profiles and public health strategies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mardon, Julie; Thiel, Elise; Laniau, Martine; Sijtsema, Siet; Zimmermann, Karin; Barjolle, Dominique

    2015-07-01

    This study aims to identify subgroups of consumers based on the health motives underlying their food choice in Western Balkan Countries. The survey (n = 2943) was based on the Food Choice Questionnaire (FCQ) and elicited information on socio-demographic characteristics, consumption frequency of healthy food products, nutrition knowledge and impulsiveness. Analysis of the FCQ data focused on items of "health and natural content" and "weight control" factors to identify clusters. The biggest group of the sample was weight control and health-concerned individuals (34 %), mainly urban women older than 50. The second group of respondents (31 %) was moderately motivated about health and weight. A third group was health concerned but paid less attention to weight control (21 %), mainly comprising men and people living with children. The last group consisted of unconcerned young men (14 %) eating less fruit and showing higher impulsiveness. Western Balkan consumers differ in the importance they attach to health and natural content and weight control. This insight is needed to target interventions.

  7. What matters to infrequent customers: a pragmatic approach to understanding perceived value and intention to revisit trendy coffee café.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ting, Hiram; Thurasamy, Ramayah

    2016-01-01

    Notwithstanding the rise of trendy coffee café, little is done to investigate revisit intention towards the café in the context of developing markets. In particular, there is a lack of study which provides theoretical and practical explanation to the perceptions and behaviours of infrequent customers. Hence, the study aims to look into the subject matter by using the theory of reasoned action and social exchange theory as the underpinning basis. The framework proposed by Pine and Gilmore (Strat Leadersh 28:18-23, 2000), which asserts the importance of product quality, service quality and experience quality in a progressive manner, is used to decompose perceived value in the model so as to determine their effects on intention to revisit the café. Given the importance to gain practical insights into revisit intention of infrequent customers, pragmatism stance is assumed. Explanatory sequential mixed-method design is thus adopted whereby qualitative approach is used to confirm and complement quantitative findings. Self-administered questionnaire-based survey is first administered before personal interview is carried out at various cafés. Partial least squares structural equation modelling and content analysis are appropriated successively. In the quantitative findings, although product quality, service quality and experience quality are found to have positive effect on perceived value and revisit intention towards trendy coffee café, experience quality is found to have the greater effect than the others among the infrequent customers. The qualitative findings not only confirm their importance, but most importantly explain the favourable impressions they have at trendy coffee café based on their last in-store experience. While product and service quality might not necessary stimulate them to revisit trendy coffee café, experience quality driven by purposes of visit would likely affect their intention to revisit. As retaining customers is of utmost importance to

  8. Investigating predictors of visiting, using, and revisiting an online health-communication program: a longitudinal study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Van 't Riet, Jonathan; Crutzen, Rik; De Vries, Hein

    2010-09-02

    Online health communication has the potential to reach large audiences, with the additional advantages that it can be operational at all times and that the costs per visitor are low. Furthermore, research shows that Internet-delivered interventions can be effective in changing health behaviors. However, exposure to Internet-delivered health-communication programs is generally low. Research investigating predictors of exposure is needed to be able to effectively disseminate online interventions. In the present study, the authors used a longitudinal design with the aim of identifying demographic, psychological, and behavioral predictors of visiting, using, and revisiting an online program promoting physical activity in the general population. A webpage was created providing the public with information about health and healthy behavior. The website included a "physical activity check," which consisted of a physical activity computer-tailoring expert system where visitors could check whether their physical activity levels were in line with recommendations. Visitors who consented to participate in the present study (n = 489) filled in a questionnaire that assessed demographics, mode of recruitment, current physical activity levels, and health motivation. Immediately after, participants received tailored feedback concerning their current physical activity levels and completed a questionnaire assessing affective and cognitive user experience, attitude toward being sufficiently physically active, and intention to be sufficiently physically active. Three months later, participants received an email inviting them once more to check whether their physical activity level had changed. Analyses of visiting showed that more women (67.5%) than men (32.5%) visited the program. With regard to continued use, native Dutch participants (odds ratio [OR] = 2.81, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.16-6.81, P = .02) and participants with a strong motivation to be healthy (OR = 1.46, CI = 1

  9. Lakatos Revisited.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Court, Deborah

    1999-01-01

    Revisits and reviews Imre Lakatos' ideas on "Falsification and the Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes." Suggests that Lakatos' framework offers an insightful way of looking at the relationship between theory and research that is relevant not only for evaluating research programs in theoretical physics, but in the social…

  10. How does the Ambience of Cafe Affect the Revisit Intention Among its Patrons? A S on the Cafes in Ipoh, Perak

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    AbuThahir Sharmeela-Banu Syed

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Food service industry is growing rapidly as a result of the changing consumer lifestyle. The food service industry is highly competitive due to the increasing number of new entrants offering inventive food products and services. In order to be outstanding in such competitive industry, retailers nowadays opt to emphasize on their store environment. Past studies discovered that store environment stimulates emotions that significantly boost customer revisit intention. As a result, retailers attempt to differentiate their store by combining various environmental stimuli to create an attractive ambience that will in turn draw in the customers. Hence, this study attempts to investigate the impact of various café ambience factors on the patrons’ revisit intention. The patrons of cafes in Ipoh, Perak were selected using purposive sampling technique to be the respondents of this study. 250 questionnaires were collected and Partial Least Square technique was used to analyse the data collected. Findings show that all the five factors of café ambience namely lighting, music, decoration, cleanliness and layouts were significantly influencing the patrons’ revisit intention. Of these five factors, lighting was most influential while music was the least influential in affecting the patrons’ revisit intention. Accordingly, this study lists several recommendations for practitioners and academics with regards to the store environment and its impact on the repurchase intention.

  11. Oxidative phosphorylation revisited

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nath, Sunil; Villadsen, John

    2015-01-01

    The fundamentals of oxidative phosphorylation and photophosphorylation are revisited. New experimental data on the involvement of succinate and malate anions respectively in oxidative phosphorylation and photophosphorylation are presented. These new data offer a novel molecular mechanistic...

  12. Long-Term Effects of Repeated Prefrontal Cortex Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) on Food Craving in Normal and Overweight Young Adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ljubisavljevic, M; Maxood, K; Bjekic, J; Oommen, J; Nagelkerke, N

    The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) plays an important role in the regulation of food intake. Several previous studies demonstrated that a single session of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) of the DLPFC reduces food craving and caloric intake. We hypothesized that repeated tDCS of the right DLPFC cortex may exert long-term changes in food craving in young, healthy adults and that these changes may differ between normal and overweight subjects. Thirty healthy individuals who reported frequent food cravings without a prior history of eating disorders were initially recruited. Subjects were randomized into an ACTIVE group who received 5 days of real tDCS (20 minutes, anode right-cathode left montage, 2 mA with current density kept at 0.06 mA/cm2, 1 min ramp-up/ramp-down), and a SHAM group, who received one day of real tDCS, on the first day (same parameters), followed by 4 days of sham tDCS. Food craving intensity was examined by Food Craving Questionnaires State and Trait and Food Craving Inventory before, during, (5-days) and one month (30-days) after tDCS. Single session of tDCS significantly reduced the intensity of current food craving (FCQ-S). Five days of active tDCS significantly reduced habitual experiences of food craving (FCQ-T), when compared to baseline pre-stimulation levels. Furthermore, both current (FCQ-S) and habitual craving (FCQ-T) were significantly reduced 30 days after active tDCS, while sham tDCS, i.e. a single tDCS session did not have significant effects. Also, active tDCS significantly decreased craving for fast food and sweets, and to a lesser degree for fat, while it did not have significant effects on craving for carbohydrates (FCI). There were no significant differences between individual FCQ-T subscales (craving dimensions) after 5 or 30 days of either sham or active tDCS. Changes in craving were not significantly associated with the initial weight, or with weight changes 30 days after the stimulation in the

  13. Circular revisit orbits design for responsive mission over a single target

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Taibo; Xiang, Junhua; Wang, Zhaokui; Zhang, Yulin

    2016-10-01

    The responsive orbits play a key role in addressing the mission of Operationally Responsive Space (ORS) because of their capabilities. These capabilities are usually focused on supporting specific targets as opposed to providing global coverage. One subtype of responsive orbits is repeat coverage orbit which is nearly circular in most remote sensing applications. This paper deals with a special kind of repeating ground track orbit, referred to as circular revisit orbit. Different from traditional repeat coverage orbits, a satellite on circular revisit orbit can visit a target site at both the ascending and descending stages in one revisit cycle. This typology of trajectory allows a halving of the traditional revisit time and does a favor to get useful information for responsive applications. However the previous reported numerical methods in some references often cost lots of computation or fail to obtain such orbits. To overcome this difficulty, an analytical method to determine the existence conditions of the solutions to revisit orbits is presented in this paper. To this end, the mathematical model of circular revisit orbit is established under the central gravity model and the J2 perturbation. A constraint function of the circular revisit orbit is introduced, and the monotonicity of that function has been studied. The existent conditions and the number of such orbits are naturally worked out. Taking the launch cost into consideration, optimal design model of circular revisit orbit is established to achieve a best orbit which visits a target twice a day in the morning and in the afternoon respectively for several days. The result shows that it is effective to apply circular revisit orbits in responsive application such as reconnoiter of natural disaster.

  14. Motives for food choice among Serbian consumers

    OpenAIRE

    Gagić Snježana; Jovičić Ana; Tešanović Dragan; Kalenjuk Bojana

    2014-01-01

    People's motives for food choice depend on a number of very complex economic, social and individual factors. A Food Choice Questionnaire (FCQ), an instrument that measures the importance of factors underlying food choice, was used to reveal the Serbian consumers' food choice motives by survey of 450 respondents of different age groups. A confirmatory factor analysis was conducted on the motive items, using 11 factors. Previous research shows that the nutrition in Serbia is not balanced enough,...

  15. PERCEPTION OF JUSTICE, POST SERVICE RECOVERY SATISFACTION, INTENTION TO REVISIT AND WOM RECOMMENDATIONS OF FOREIGN TOURISTS VISITING BALI

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    I Nyoman Sudiarta

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available This study aimed to determine the effect of perceptions of distributive, procedural and interactional justice on post-service recovery satisfaction and post-service recovery satisfaction effect on the intention to revisit and WOM recommendations of foreign tourists to Bali. The respondents of this study were foreign tourists who visited Bali and ever experienced complaint. The number of eligible samples was 100 respondents. The questionnaire was given to tourists visiting tourist attractions of Tanah Lot, Kintamani and Besakih. Data were analyzed using multivariate statistical analysis, namely structural equation modeling (SEM. The results of this study indicated that the perception of distributive justice, procedural and interactional had a positive and significant effect on the post-service recovery satisfaction of foreign tourists who visited Bali. The study also found a positive and significant effect of post-service recovery satisfaction on the intention to revisit and the intention of recommending positive WOM of foreign tourists who visited Bali.

  16. Food Choice Motives among the Students of a Dental Institution in Mysore City, India.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sushma, R; Vanamala, N; Nagabhushana, D; Maurya, M; Sunitha, S; Reddy, Cvk

    2014-09-01

    In pursuit of a more "holistic" dentistry and an increasing focus on promoting oral health, dental students are increasingly being trained to take a more active part in health promotion and education. In particular, this incorporates an emphasis on diet and educating people to eat in more healthy ways. This paper works from the premise that if dental students are to engage in oral health promotion, they will do so more effectively if they have first explored their own food choice motivations. A descriptive, cross-sectional questionnaire study. The food choice questionnaire (FCQ) was distributed to a comparative group of 1(st) and 5(th) year dental students in timetabled lecture slots. The FCQ is a previously validated measure designed to assess ten main factors relevant to peoples" food choices. The data was analyzed using SPSS version 18.0 (Chicago, IL, USA) using descriptive statistics and independent sample t-test. Nearly 77% (122/159) students responded. Findings were analyzed using independent sample t-test. Results indicated statistically significant differences in terms of food choice motivations between male and female students of 1(st) and 5(th) year. Awareness and an understanding of the differences in motivational factors affecting food choice between dental students is important as they are increasingly taught to play an active role in oral health promotion.

  17. Revisiting Okun's Relationship

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Dixon, R.; Lim, G.C.; van Ours, Jan

    2016-01-01

    Our paper revisits Okun's relationship between observed unemployment rates and output gaps. We include in the relationship the effect of labour market institutions as well as age and gender effects. Our empirical analysis is based on 20 OECD countries over the period 1985-2013. We find that the

  18. Tourists' perceptions and intention to revisit Norway

    OpenAIRE

    Lazar, Ana Florina; Komolikova-Blindheim, Galyna

    2016-01-01

    Purpose - The overall purpose of this study is to explore tourists' perceptions and their intention to revisit Norway. The aim is to find out what are the factors that drive the overall satisfaction, the willingness to recommend and the revisit intention of international tourists that spend their holiday in Norway. Design-Method-Approach - the Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen 1991), is used as a framework to investigate tourists' intention and behavior towards Norway as destination. The o...

  19. Predictors and Outcomes of Revisits in Older Adults Discharged from the Emergency Department.

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Gelder, Jelle; Lucke, Jacinta A; de Groot, Bas; Fogteloo, Anne J; Anten, Sander; Heringhaus, Christian; Dekkers, Olaf M; Blauw, Gerard J; Mooijaart, Simon P

    2018-04-01

    To study predictors of emergency department (ED) revisits and the association between ED revisits and 90-day functional decline or mortality. Multicenter cohort study. One academic and two regional Dutch hospitals. Older adults discharged from the ED (N=1,093). At baseline, data on demographic characteristics, illness severity, and geriatric parameters (cognition, functional capacity) were collected. All participants were prospectively followed for an unplanned revisit within 30 days and for functional decline and mortality 90 days after the initial visit. The median age was 79 (interquartile range 74-84), and 114 participants (10.4%) had an ED revisit within 30 days of discharge. Age (hazard ratio (HR)=0.96, 95% confidence interval (CI)=0.92-0.99), male sex (HR=1.61, 95% CI=1.05-2.45), polypharmacy (HR=2.06, 95% CI=1.34-3.16), and cognitive impairment (HR=1.71, 95% CI=1.02-2.88) were independent predictors of a 30-day ED revisit. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve to predict an ED revisit was 0.65 (95% CI=0.60-0.70). In a propensity score-matched analysis, individuals with an ED revisit were at higher risk (odds ratio=1.99 95% CI=1.06-3.71) of functional decline or mortality. Age, male sex, polypharmacy, and cognitive impairment were independent predictors of a 30-day ED revisit, but no useful clinical prediction model could be developed. However, an early ED revisit is a strong new predictor of adverse outcomes in older adults. © 2018 The Authors. The Journal of the American Geriatrics Society published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of The American Geriatrics Society.

  20. Sensemaking Revisited

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Holt, Robin; Cornelissen, Joep

    2014-01-01

    We critique and extend theory on organizational sensemaking around three themes. First, we investigate sense arising non-productively and so beyond any instrumental relationship with things; second, we consider how sense is experienced through mood as well as our cognitive skills of manipulation ...... research by revisiting Weick’s seminal reading of Norman Maclean’s book surrounding the tragic events of a 1949 forest fire at Mann Gulch, USA....

  1. The Faraday effect revisited

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Cornean, Horia; Nenciu, Gheorghe

    2009-01-01

    This paper is the second in a series revisiting the (effect of) Faraday rotation. We formulate and prove the thermodynamic limit for the transverse electric conductivity of Bloch electrons, as well as for the Verdet constant. The main mathematical tool is a regularized magnetic and geometric...

  2. Remembered Experiences and Revisit Intentions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Barnes, Stuart; Mattsson, Jan; Sørensen, Flemming

    2016-01-01

    Tourism is an experience-intensive sector in which customers seek and pay for experiences above everything else. Remembering past tourism experiences is also crucial for an understanding of the present, including the predicted behaviours of visitors to tourist destinations. We adopt a longitudinal...... approach to memory data collection from psychological science, which has the potential to contribute to our understanding of tourist behaviour. In this study, we examine the impact of remembered tourist experiences in a safari park. In particular, using matched survey data collected longitudinally and PLS...... path modelling, we examine the impact of positive affect tourist experiences on the development of revisit intentions. We find that longer-term remembered experiences have the strongest impact on revisit intentions, more so than predicted or immediate memory after an event. We also find that remembered...

  3. Understanding the motives for food choice in Western Balkan Countries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Milošević, Jasna; Žeželj, Iris; Gorton, Matthew; Barjolle, Dominique

    2012-02-01

    Substantial empirical evidence exists regarding the importance of different factors underlying food choice in Western Europe. However, research results on eating habits and food choice in the Western Balkan Countries (WBCs) remain scarce. A Food Choice Questionnaire (FCQ), an instrument that measures the reported importance of nine factors underlying food choice, was administered to a representative sample of 3085 adult respondents in six WBCs. The most important factors reported are sensory appeal, purchase convenience, and health and natural content; the least important are ethical concern and familiarity. The ranking of food choice motives across WBCs was strikingly similar. Factor analysis revealed eight factors compared to nine in the original FCQ model: health and natural content scales loaded onto one factor as did familiarity and ethical concern; the convenience scale items generated two factors, one related to purchase convenience and the other to preparation convenience. Groups of consumers with similar motivational profiles were identified using cluster analysis. Each cluster has distinct food purchasing behavior and socio-economic characteristics, for which appropriate public health communication messages can be drawn. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  4. Effect of Motives for Food Choice on Oral Health among Primary School Children in Mangalore: An Analytical Survey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mehta, Viral Vijay; Rajesh, Gururaghavendran; Rao, Ashwini; Shenoy, Ramya; Pai, Mithun; Nayak, Vijayendranath

    2017-05-01

    Parents influence children's eating behaviours by making some foods available than others and by acting as models of eating behaviour. Food selected by parents influence general and oral health of their children. Aim of this study was to assess oral health parameters among primary school children and motives for food choice among their parents in Mangalore. A total of 759 primary school children aged 5-10 years, and their parents participated in this study. Motives for food choice among parents of children were evaluated by using Food Choice Questionnaire (FCQ). Oral health status of students was assessed by using World Health Organisation (WHO) Basic Oral Health Assessment Form. Data pertaining to dietary habits and demographics was also collected. Descriptive and inferential statistics along with Pearson's correlation and Binary logistic regression were executed for the present study and level of significance was fixed at pfood choice motives positively influenced dietary patterns and caries experience of their children. Caries experience was less in children whose parents reported higher scores on FCQ. Understanding the barriers, identification of risk factors for poor food choices and targeting interventions might formulate ways by which the desired behaviour can be achieved.

  5. Impulsive reactions to food-cues predict subsequent food craving.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meule, Adrian; Lutz, Annika P C; Vögele, Claus; Kübler, Andrea

    2014-01-01

    Low inhibitory control has been associated with overeating and addictive behaviors. Inhibitory control can modulate cue-elicited craving in social or alcohol-dependent drinkers, and trait impulsivity may also play a role in food-cue reactivity. The current study investigated food-cue affected response inhibition and its relationship to food craving using a stop-signal task with pictures of food and neutral stimuli. Participants responded slower to food pictures as compared to neutral pictures. Reaction times in response to food pictures positively predicted scores on the Food Cravings Questionnaire - State (FCQ-S) after the task and particularly scores on its hunger subscale. Lower inhibitory performance in response to food pictures predicted higher FCQ-S scores and particularly those related to a desire for food and lack of control over consumption. Task performance was unrelated to current dieting or other measures of habitual eating behaviors. Results support models on interactive effects of top-down inhibitory control processes and bottom-up hedonic signals in the self-regulation of eating behavior, such that low inhibitory control specifically in response to appetitive stimuli is associated with increased craving, which may ultimately result in overeating. © 2013.

  6. Revisiting the Okun relationship

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Dixon, R. (Robert); Lim, G.C.; J.C. van Ours (Jan)

    2017-01-01

    textabstractOur article revisits the Okun relationship between observed unemployment rates and output gaps. We include in the relationship the effect of labour market institutions as well as age and gender effects. Our empirical analysis is based on 20 OECD countries over the period 1985–2013. We

  7. Bounded Intention Planning Revisited

    OpenAIRE

    Sievers Silvan; Wehrle Martin; Helmert Malte

    2014-01-01

    Bounded intention planning provides a pruning technique for optimal planning that has been proposed several years ago. In addition partial order reduction techniques based on stubborn sets have recently been investigated for this purpose. In this paper we revisit bounded intention planning in the view of stubborn sets.

  8. Revisiting Nursing Research in Nigeria

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    2016-08-18

    Aug 18, 2016 ... health care research, it is therefore pertinent to revisit the state of nursing research in the country. .... platforms, updated libraries with electronic resource ... benchmarks for developing countries of 26%, [17] the amount is still ...

  9. Time functions revisited

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fathi, Albert

    2015-07-01

    In this paper we revisit our joint work with Antonio Siconolfi on time functions. We will give a brief introduction to the subject. We will then show how to construct a Lipschitz time function in a simplified setting. We will end with a new result showing that the Aubry set is not an artifact of our proof of existence of time functions for stably causal manifolds.

  10. Weight loss decreases self-reported appetite and alters food preferences in overweight and obese adults

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andriessen, Charlotte; Christensen, Pia; Nielsen, Lone Vestergaard

    2018-01-01

    consumption (p meal. An interaction effect (visit x time) was found for hunger ratings (p ... preferences were measured before and after the LCD, in response to a standardized meal test, using visual analogue rating scales (VAS) and the Leeds Food Choice Questionnaire (FCQ). After the LCD, participants reported increased fullness (p ....9%. Preference for low-energy products measured by the Food Preference Checklist (FPC) decreased by 1.9% before the test meal and by 13.5% after the test meal (p meal and by 17.4% and 22.7% after the meal (p 

  11. The Influence Word of Mouth (Wom) on Revisit Intention: the Mediating Role of Destination Image (Case Study on Domestic Tourists Visiting Mount Bromo)

    OpenAIRE

    Ayuningtiyas, Galuh Ajeng; Nimran, Umar; Hamid, Djamhur

    2014-01-01

    The purpose of this research is to study the influence of Word of Mouth (WOM), on Revisit Intention with the intervening effect of Destination Image. 100 questionnaires were distributed to tourists who come to Mount Bromo through convenience sampling approach. The scales of measurement used in this study is Likert scale. Validity and Reliability of the measurement scale were established with the formula analysis correlation Product Moment Pearson and Cronbach's Alpha. The technique of data an...

  12. Revisiting tourist behavior via destination brand worldness

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Murat Kayak

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available Taking tourists’ perspective rather than destination offerings as its core concept, this study introduces “perceived destination brand worldness” as a variable. Perceived destination brand worldness is defined as the positive perception that a tourist has of a country that is visited by tourists from all over the world. Then, the relationship between perceived destination brand worldness and intention to revisit is analyzed using partial least squares regression. This empirical study selects Taiwanese tourists as its sample, and the results show that perceived destination brand worldness is a direct predictor of intention to revisit. In light of these empirical findings and observations, practical and theoretical implications are discussed.

  13. Revisiting Inter-Genre Similarity

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sturm, Bob L.; Gouyon, Fabien

    2013-01-01

    We revisit the idea of ``inter-genre similarity'' (IGS) for machine learning in general, and music genre recognition in particular. We show analytically that the probability of error for IGS is higher than naive Bayes classification with zero-one loss (NB). We show empirically that IGS does...... not perform well, even for data that satisfies all its assumptions....

  14. A Hydrostatic Paradox Revisited

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ganci, Salvatore

    2012-01-01

    This paper revisits a well-known hydrostatic paradox, observed when turning upside down a glass partially filled with water and covered with a sheet of light material. The phenomenon is studied in its most general form by including the mass of the cover. A historical survey of this experiment shows that a common misunderstanding of the phenomenon…

  15. THE INFLUENCE OF DESTINATION IMAGE AND TOURIST SATISFACTION TOWARD REVISIT INTENTION OF SETU BABAKAN BETAWI CULTURAL VILLAGE

    OpenAIRE

    Wibowo, Setyo Ferry; Sazali, Adnan; Kresnamurti R. P., Agung

    2016-01-01

    The purpose of this research are: 1) To find out the description of destination image, tourist satisfaction, and revisit intention of Betawi cultural village Setu Babakan, 2) test empirically the influence of destination image toward revisit intention of Betawi cultural village Setu Babakan, 3) test empirically the influence of tourist satisfaction toward revisit intention of Betawi cultural village Setu Babakan, 4) test empirically the influence of destination image toward revisit intention ...

  16. Seven Issues, Revisited

    OpenAIRE

    Whitehead, Jim; De Bra, Paul; Grønbæk, Kaj; Larsen, Deena; Legget, John; schraefel, monica m.c.

    2002-01-01

    It has been 15 years since the original presentation by Frank Halasz at Hypertext'87 on seven issues for the next generation of hypertext systems. These issues are: Search and Query Composites Virtual Structures Computation in/over hypertext network Versioning Collaborative Work Extensibility and Tailorability Since that time, these issues have formed the nucleus of multiple research agendas within the Hypertext community. Befitting this direction-setting role, the issues have been revisited ...

  17. 'Felson Signs' revisited

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    George, Phiji P.; Irodi, Aparna; Keshava, Shyamkumar N.; Lamont, Anthony C.

    2014-01-01

    In this article we revisit, with the help of images, those classic signs in chest radiography described by Dr Benjamin Felson himself, or other illustrious radiologists of his time, cited and discussed in 'Chest Roentgenology'. We briefly describe the causes of the signs, their utility and the differential diagnosis to be considered when each sign is seen. Wherever possible, we use CT images to illustrate the basis of some of these classic radiographic signs.

  18. THE INFLUENCE OF DESTINATION IMAGE AND TOURIST SATISFACTION TOWARD REVISIT INTENTION OF SETU BABAKAN BETAWI CULTURAL VILLAGE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Setyo Ferry Wibowo

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this research are: 1 To find out the description of destination image, tourist satisfaction, and revisit intention of Betawi cultural village Setu Babakan, 2 test empirically the influence of destination image toward revisit intention of Betawi cultural village Setu Babakan, 3 test empirically the influence of tourist satisfaction toward revisit intention of Betawi cultural village Setu Babakan, 4 test empirically the influence of destination image toward revisit intention of Betawi cultural village Setu Babakan. The object of this research was 200 respondents who have ever visit to Betawi cultural village Setu Babakan at one time. The results of descriptive test explained that the destination image provided is good according to the tourist, so that the tourist is satisfied and want to revisit intention of Betawi cultural village Setu Babakan. The hypothesis test shows: 1 the influence of destination image toward revisit intention by -30%, 2 the influence of tourist satisfaction toward revisit intention by 118%, 3 the influence of destination image toward tourist satisfaction by 92%.

  19. Leadership and Management Theories Revisited

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Madsen, Mona Toft

    2001-01-01

    The goal of the paper is to revisit and analyze key contributions to the understanding of leadership and management. As a part of the discussion a role perspective that allows for additional and/or integrated leader dimensions, including a change-centered, will be outlined. Seemingly, a major...

  20. Schroedinger's variational method of quantization revisited

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yasue, K.

    1980-01-01

    Schroedinger's original quantization procedure is revisited in the light of Nelson's stochastic framework of quantum mechanics. It is clarified why Schroedinger's proposal of a variational problem led us to a true description of quantum mechanics. (orig.)

  1. A practical method of predicting client revisit intention in a hospital setting.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Kyun Jick

    2005-01-01

    Data mining (DM) models are an alternative to traditional statistical methods for examining whether higher customer satisfaction leads to higher revisit intention. This study used a total of 906 outpatients' satisfaction data collected from a nationwide survey interviews conducted by professional interviewers on a face-to-face basis in South Korea, 1998. Analyses showed that the relationship between overall satisfaction with hospital services and outpatients' revisit intention, along with word-of-mouth recommendation as intermediate variables, developed into a nonlinear relationship. The five strongest predictors of revisit intention were overall satisfaction, intention to recommend to others, awareness of hospital promotion, satisfaction with physician's kindness, and satisfaction with treatment level.

  2. Mindful eating reduces impulsive food choice in adolescents and adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hendrickson, Kelsie L; Rasmussen, Erin B

    2017-03-01

    The present study tested the extent to which age and obesity predicted impulsive choices for food and monetary outcomes and tested how a brief mindful-eating training would alter delay discounting for food and money choices compared with control groups. First, 172 adolescents (M age = 13.13 years) and 176 (M age = 23.33 years) adults completed the Food Choice Questionnaire (FCQ) and Monetary Choice Questionnaire (MCQ) as measures of food and money delay discounting, respectively. Then, participants returned to the lab and were randomly assigned to complete a brief mindful-eating training, watch a DVD on nutrition, or serve as a control. Participants completed the FCQ and MCQ again as a postmanipulation measure. Participants with high percent body fat (PBF) were more impulsive for food than those with low PBF. Adults with high PBF were also more impulsive for money compared with adults with low PBF; no PBF-related differences were found for adolescents. Participants in the mindful-eating group exhibited more self-controlled choices for food, but not for money. The control conditions did not exhibit changes. The study suggests that individuals with high PBF make more impulsive food choices relative to those with low PBF, which could increase the risk of obesity over time. It also is the first to demonstrate shifts in choice patterns for food and money using a brief mindful-eating training with adolescents. Mindful eating is a beneficial strategy to reduce impulsive food choice, at least temporarily, that may impede weight gain. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

  3. Food-choice motives of adolescents in Jakarta, Indonesia: the roles of gender and family income.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maulida, Rizka; Nanishi, Keiko; Green, Joseph; Shibanuma, Akira; Jimba, Masamine

    2016-10-01

    The aims of the present study were to assess the reliability and validity of the Food Choice Questionnaire (FCQ) and to determine the factors associated with food-choice motives in public junior-high-school students in Jakarta, Indonesia. Cross-sectional study with self-administered questionnaires. Trained research assistants measured height and weight of the participants on the day of the data collection. Settings Fourteen randomly selected public junior-high schools in East Jakarta, Indonesia. Public junior-high-school students (n 681) in grades 7 and 8, aged 13-14 years (377 girls and 304 boys). Three food-choice motives (subscales) were obtained from factor analysis and reliability testing: (i) comfort; (ii) convenience and price; and (iii) health. The subscale with the greatest mean value was health. Family affluence was inversely associated with the convenience and price subscale (β=-0·05, P=0·01) and with the health subscale (β=-0·04; P=0·02). Females were less likely than males to consider health when choosing foods (β=-0·16; P=0·03). While its factor structure differed from those found in previous studies of adults, the FCQ can provide reliable measures of food-choice motives among these adolescents. Students from less affluent families placed more importance on food's convenience and price, but more affluent students did not necessarily make healthier choices. Compared with females, males were more likely to choose healthy foods. Future interventions should be tailored based on the socio-economic status of the target group.

  4. The Faraday effect revisited: General theory

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Cornean, Horia Decebal; Nenciu, Gheorghe; Pedersen, Thomas Garm

    This paper is the first in a series revisiting the Faraday effect, or more generally, the theory of electronic quantum transport/optical response in bulk media in the presence of a constant magnetic field. The independent electron approximation is assumed. For free electrons, the transverse...

  5. Revisited

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Tegtmeier, Silke; Meyer, Verena; Pakura, Stefanie

    2017-01-01

    were captured when they described entrepreneurs. Therefore, this paper aims to revisit gender role stereotypes among young adults. Design/methodology/approach: To measure stereotyping, participants were asked to describe entrepreneurs in general and either women or men in general. The Schein......Purpose: Entrepreneurship is shaped by a male norm, which has been widely demonstrated in qualitative studies. The authors strive to complement these methods by a quantitative approach. First, gender role stereotypes were measured in entrepreneurship. Second, the explicit notions of participants......: The images of men and entrepreneurs show a high and significant congruence (r = 0.803), mostly in those adjectives that are untypical for men and entrepreneurs. The congruence of women and entrepreneurs was low (r = 0.152) and insignificant. Contrary to the participants’ beliefs, their explicit notions did...

  6. Who should do the dishes now? Revisiting gender and housework in contemporary urban South Wales

    OpenAIRE

    Mannay, Dawn

    2016-01-01

    This chapter revisits Jane Pilcher’s (1994) seminal work ‘Who should do the dishes? Three generations of Welsh women talking about men and housework’, which was originally published in Our Sister’s Land: the changing identities of women in Wales. As discussed in the introductory chapter, I began revisiting classic Welsh studies as part of my doctoral study Mothers and daughters on the margins: gender, generation and education (Mannay, 2012); this lead to the later publication of a revisiting ...

  7. The Faraday effect revisited: General theory

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Cornean, Horia Decebal; Nenciu, Gheorghe; Pedersen, Thomas Garm

    2006-01-01

    This paper is the first in a series revisiting the Faraday effect, or more generally, the theory of electronic quantum transport/optical response in bulk media in the presence of a constant magnetic field. The independent electron approximation is assumed. At zero temperature and zero frequency...

  8. Deterministic Graphical Games Revisited

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andersson, Daniel; Hansen, Kristoffer Arnsfelt; Miltersen, Peter Bro

    2008-01-01

    We revisit the deterministic graphical games of Washburn. A deterministic graphical game can be described as a simple stochastic game (a notion due to Anne Condon), except that we allow arbitrary real payoffs but disallow moves of chance. We study the complexity of solving deterministic graphical...... games and obtain an almost-linear time comparison-based algorithm for computing an equilibrium of such a game. The existence of a linear time comparison-based algorithm remains an open problem....

  9. Revisiting Hansen Solubility Parameters by Including Thermodynamics

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Louwerse, Manuel J; Fernández-Maldonado, Ana María; Rousseau, Simon; Moreau-Masselon, Chloe; Roux, Bernard; Rothenberg, Gadi

    2017-01-01

    The Hansen solubility parameter approach is revisited by implementing the thermodynamics of dissolution and mixing. Hansen's pragmatic approach has earned its spurs in predicting solvents for polymer solutions, but for molecular solutes improvements are needed. By going into the details of entropy

  10. Bottomonium spectrum revisited

    CERN Document Server

    Segovia, Jorge; Entem, David R.; Fernández, Francisco

    2016-01-01

    We revisit the bottomonium spectrum motivated by the recently exciting experimental progress in the observation of new bottomonium states, both conventional and unconventional. Our framework is a nonrelativistic constituent quark model which has been applied to a wide range of hadronic observables from the light to the heavy quark sector and thus the model parameters are completely constrained. Beyond the spectrum, we provide a large number of electromagnetic, strong and hadronic decays in order to discuss the quark content of the bottomonium states and give more insights about the better way to determine their properties experimentally.

  11. Hospital revisit rate after a diagnosis of conversion disorder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Merkler, Alexander E; Parikh, Neal S; Chaudhry, Simriti; Chait, Alanna; Allen, Nicole C; Navi, Babak B; Kamel, Hooman

    2016-04-01

    To estimate the hospital revisit rate of patients diagnosed with conversion disorder (CD). Using administrative data, we identified all patients discharged from California, Florida and New York emergency departments (EDs) and acute care hospitals between 2005 and 2011 with a primary discharge diagnosis of CD. Patients discharged with a primary diagnosis of seizure or transient global amnesia (TGA) served as control groups. Our primary outcome was the rate of repeat ED visits and hospital admissions after initial presentation. Poisson regression was used to compare rates between diagnosis groups while adjusting for demographic characteristics. We identified 7946 patients discharged with a primary diagnosis of CD. During a mean follow-up of 3.0 (±1.6) years, patients with CD had a median of three (IQR, 1-9) ED or inpatient revisits, compared with 0 (IQR, 0-2) in patients with TGA and 3 (IQR, 1-7) in those with seizures. Revisit rates were 18.25 (95% CI, 18.10 to 18.40) visits per 100 patients per month in those with CD, 3.90 (95% CI, 3.84 to 3.95) in those with TGA and 17.78 (95% CI, 17.75 to 17.81) in those with seizures. As compared to CD, the incidence rate ratio for repeat ED visits or hospitalisations was 0.89 (95% CI, 0.86 to 0.93) for seizure disorder and 0.32 (95% CI 0.31 to 0.34) for TGA. CD is associated with a substantial hospital revisit rate. Our findings suggest that CD is not an acute, time-limited response to stress, but rather that CD is a manifestation of a broader pattern of chronic neuropsychiatric disease. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

  12. The Future of Engineering Education--Revisited

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wankat, Phillip C.; Bullard, Lisa G.

    2016-01-01

    This paper revisits the landmark CEE series, "The Future of Engineering Education," published in 2000 (available free in the CEE archives on the internet) to examine the predictions made in the original paper as well as the tools and approaches documented. Most of the advice offered in the original series remains current. Despite new…

  13. A comparative study of American and Chinese college students' motives for food choice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pearcey, Sharon M; Zhan, Ginny Q

    2018-04-01

    Previous cross-cultural research has examined college students' food choice decisions in different countries. The current study aimed to add to the literature by examining similarities and differences in motives for food choice between American (N = 328) and Chinese (N = 333) college students. The Food Choice Questionnaire (FCQ) was used to measure the participants' motives for food choice. Students' perceptions on the importance of diet and on their body satisfaction were also obtained. Results show that, while there are many similarities between the two cultural groups on the FCQ items, there are also significant differences. Specifically, the two groups view sensory appeal, weight, health, mood, and familiarity in a similar way, but the American participants score higher on price and convenience whereas the Chinese score higher on natural content and ethical concerns. We believe contextual cultural factors of each country may be related to these results. Women view sensory appeal and weight as significantly more important than men. Interactions between culture and gender are also found. For example, American women score significantly higher than American men on mood whereas there is no gender difference in the Chinese group; on the other hand, Chinese men score significantly higher on price than Chinese women whereas there is no gender difference in the American group. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  14. Revisiting Weak Simulation for Substochastic Markov Chains

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jansen, David N.; Song, Lei; Zhang, Lijun

    2013-01-01

    of the logic PCTL\\x, and its completeness was conjectured. We revisit this result and show that soundness does not hold in general, but only for Markov chains without divergence. It is refuted for some systems with substochastic distributions. Moreover, we provide a counterexample to completeness...

  15. Revisiting the formal foundation of Probabilistic Databases

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wanders, B.; van Keulen, Maurice

    2015-01-01

    One of the core problems in soft computing is dealing with uncertainty in data. In this paper, we revisit the formal foundation of a class of probabilistic databases with the purpose to (1) obtain data model independence, (2) separate metadata on uncertainty and probabilities from the raw data, (3)

  16. Revisiting Mutual Fund Performance Evaluation

    OpenAIRE

    Angelidis, Timotheos; Giamouridis, Daniel; Tessaromatis, Nikolaos

    2012-01-01

    Mutual fund manager excess performance should be measured relative to their self-reported benchmark rather than the return of a passive portfolio with the same risk characteristics. Ignoring the self-reported benchmark introduces biases in the measurement of stock selection and timing components of excess performance. We revisit baseline empirical evidence in mutual fund performance evaluation utilizing stock selection and timing measures that address these biases. We introduce a new factor e...

  17. Deterministic Graphical Games Revisited

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andersson, Klas Olof Daniel; Hansen, Kristoffer Arnsfelt; Miltersen, Peter Bro

    2012-01-01

    Starting from Zermelo’s classical formal treatment of chess, we trace through history the analysis of two-player win/lose/draw games with perfect information and potentially infinite play. Such chess-like games have appeared in many different research communities, and methods for solving them......, such as retrograde analysis, have been rediscovered independently. We then revisit Washburn’s deterministic graphical games (DGGs), a natural generalization of chess-like games to arbitrary zero-sum payoffs. We study the complexity of solving DGGs and obtain an almost-linear time comparison-based algorithm...

  18. Metamorphosis in Craniiformea revisited

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Altenburger, Andreas; Wanninger, Andreas; Holmer, Lars E.

    2013-01-01

    We revisited the brachiopod fold hypothesis and investigated metamorphosis in the craniiform brachiopod Novocrania anomala. Larval development is lecithotrophic and the dorsal (brachial) valve is secreted by dorsal epithelia. We found that the juvenile ventral valve, which consists only of a thin...... brachiopods during metamorphosis to cement their pedicle to the substrate. N. anomala is therefore not initially attached by a valve but by material corresponding to pedicle cuticle. This is different to previous descriptions, which had led to speculations about a folding event in the evolution of Brachiopoda...

  19. The hard-core model on random graphs revisited

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Barbier, Jean; Krzakala, Florent; Zhang, Pan; Zdeborová, Lenka

    2013-01-01

    We revisit the classical hard-core model, also known as independent set and dual to vertex cover problem, where one puts particles with a first-neighbor hard-core repulsion on the vertices of a random graph. Although the case of random graphs with small and very large average degrees respectively are quite well understood, they yield qualitatively different results and our aim here is to reconciliate these two cases. We revisit results that can be obtained using the (heuristic) cavity method and show that it provides a closed-form conjecture for the exact density of the densest packing on random regular graphs with degree K ≥ 20, and that for K > 16 the nature of the phase transition is the same as for large K. This also shows that the hard-code model is the simplest mean-field lattice model for structural glasses and jamming

  20. Coccolithophorids in polar waters: Wigwamma spp. revisited

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Thomsen, Helge Abildhauge; Østergaard, Jette B.; Heldal, Mikal

    2013-01-01

    A contingent of weakly calcified coccolithophorid genera and species were described from polar regions almost 40 years ago. In the interim period a few additional findings have been reported enlarging the realm of some of the species. The genus Wigwamma is revisited here with the purpose of provi...... appearance of the coccolith armour of the cell...

  1. The significance test controversy revisited the fiducial Bayesian alternative

    CERN Document Server

    Lecoutre, Bruno

    2014-01-01

    The purpose of this book is not only to revisit the “significance test controversy,”but also to provide a conceptually sounder alternative. As such, it presents a Bayesian framework for a new approach to analyzing and interpreting experimental data. It also prepares students and researchers for reporting on experimental results. Normative aspects: The main views of statistical tests are revisited and the philosophies of Fisher, Neyman-Pearson and Jeffrey are discussed in detail. Descriptive aspects: The misuses of Null Hypothesis Significance Tests are reconsidered in light of Jeffreys’ Bayesian conceptions concerning the role of statistical inference in experimental investigations. Prescriptive aspects: The current effect size and confidence interval reporting practices are presented and seriously questioned. Methodological aspects are carefully discussed and fiducial Bayesian methods are proposed as a more suitable alternative for reporting on experimental results. In closing, basic routine procedures...

  2. Satellite failures revisited

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balcerak, Ernie

    2012-12-01

    In January 1994, the two geostationary satellites known as Anik-E1 and Anik-E2, operated by Telesat Canada, failed one after the other within 9 hours, leaving many northern Canadian communities without television and data services. The outage, which shut down much of the country's broadcast television for hours and cost Telesat Canada more than $15 million, generated significant media attention. Lam et al. used publicly available records to revisit the event; they looked at failure details, media coverage, recovery effort, and cost. They also used satellite and ground data to determine the precise causes of those satellite failures. The researchers traced the entire space weather event from conditions on the Sun through the interplanetary medium to the particle environment in geostationary orbit.

  3. Pockets of Participation: Revisiting Child-Centred Participation Research

    Science.gov (United States)

    Franks, Myfanwy

    2011-01-01

    This article revisits the theme of the clash of interests and power relations at work in participatory research which is prescribed from above. It offers a possible route toward solving conflict between adult-led research carried out by young researchers, funding requirements and organisational constraints. The article explores issues of…

  4. Faraday effect revisited: sum rules and convergence issues

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Cornean, Horia; Nenciu, Gheorghe

    2010-01-01

    This is the third paper of a series revisiting the Faraday effect. The question of the absolute convergence of the sums over the band indices entering the Verdet constant is considered. In general, sum rules and traces per unit volume play an important role in solid-state physics, and they give...

  5. Short or Long End of the Lever? Associations between Provider Communication of the "Asthma-Action Plan" and Outpatient Revisits for Pediatric Asthma.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rangachari, Pavani; Mehta, Renuka; Rethemeyer, R Karl; Ferrang, Carole; Dennis, Clifton; Redd, Vickie

    2015-10-01

    At the Children's Hospital of Georgia (CHOG), we found that outpatient revisits for pediatric asthma were significantly above national norms. According to the NIH, costly hospital revisits for asthma can be prevented through guidelines-based self-management of asthma, central to which, is the use of a written Asthma-Action Plan (AAP). The asthma services literature has emphasized the role of the healthcare provider in promoting asthma self-management using the AAP, to prevent hospital revisits. On the other hand, the asthma policy literature has emphasized the need for community-based interventions to promote asthma self-management. A gap remains in understanding the extent of leverage that healthcare providers may have in preventing hospital revisits for asthma, through effective communication of AAP in the outpatient setting. Our study sought to address this gap. We conducted a 6-month intervention to implement "patient-and-family-centered communication of the AAP" in CHOG outpatient clinics, based on the "change-management" theoretical framework. Provider communication of AAP was assessed through a survey of "Parent Understanding of the Child's AAP." A quasi-experimental approach was used to measure outpatient revisits for pediatric asthma, pre- and post-intervention. Survey results showed that provider communication of the AAP was unanimously perceived highly positively by parents of pediatric asthma patients, across various metrics of patient-centered care. However, there were no statistically significant differences in outpatient "revisit behavior" for pediatric asthma between pre- and post-intervention periods after controlling for several demographic variables. Additionally, revisits remained significantly above national norms. Results suggest limited potential of "effective provider communication of AAP," in reducing outpatient revisits for pediatric asthma; and indicate need for broader community-based interventions to address patient life variables

  6. Additively homomorphic encryption with a double decryption mechanism, revisited

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Peter, Andreas; Kronberg, M.; Trei, W.; Katzenbeisser, S.

    We revisit the notion of additively homomorphic encryption with a double decryption mechanism (DD-PKE), which allows for additions in the encrypted domain while having a master decryption procedure that can decrypt all properly formed ciphertexts by using a special master secret. This type of

  7. Moral Judgment Development across Cultures: Revisiting Kohlberg's Universality Claims

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gibbs, John C.; Basinger, Karen S.; Grime, Rebecca L.; Snarey, John R.

    2007-01-01

    This article revisits Kohlberg's cognitive developmental claims that stages of moral judgment, facilitative processes of social perspective-taking, and moral values are commonly identifiable across cultures. Snarey [Snarey, J. (1985). "The cross-cultural universality of social-moral development: A critical review of Kohlbergian research."…

  8. Radiative corrections to double-Dalitz decays revisited

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kampf, Karol; Novotný, Jiři; Sanchez-Puertas, Pablo

    2018-03-01

    In this study, we revisit and complete the full next-to-leading order corrections to pseudoscalar double-Dalitz decays within the soft-photon approximation. Comparing to the previous study, we find small differences, which are nevertheless relevant for extracting information about the pseudoscalar transition form factors. Concerning the latter, these processes could offer the opportunity to test them—for the first time—in their double-virtual regime.

  9. A Feminist Revisit to the First-Year Curriculum.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bernstein, Anita

    1996-01-01

    A seminar at Chicago-Kent College of Law (Illinois) that reviews six first-year law school courses by focusing on feminist issues in course content and structure is described. The seminar functions as both a review and a shift in perspective. Courses revisited include civil procedure, contracts, criminal law, justice and the legal system,…

  10. Quantum duel revisited

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schmidt, Alexandre G M; Paiva, Milena M

    2012-01-01

    We revisit the quantum two-person duel. In this problem, both Alice and Bob each possess a spin-1/2 particle which models dead and alive states for each player. We review the Abbott and Flitney result—now considering non-zero α 1 and α 2 in order to decide if it is better for Alice to shoot or not the second time—and we also consider a duel where players do not necessarily start alive. This simple assumption allows us to explore several interesting special cases, namely how a dead player can win the duel shooting just once, or how can Bob revive Alice after one shot, and the better strategy for Alice—being either alive or in a superposition of alive and dead states—fighting a dead opponent. (paper)

  11. The Importance of Being a Complement: CED Effects Revisited

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jurka, Johannes

    2010-01-01

    This dissertation revisits subject island effects (Ross 1967, Chomsky 1973) cross-linguistically. Controlled acceptability judgment studies in German, English, Japanese and Serbian show that extraction out of specifiers is consistently degraded compared to extraction out of complements, indicating that the Condition on Extraction domains (CED,…

  12. The Effect of Brand Equity and Perceived Value on Customer Revisit Intention: A Study in Quick-Service Restaurants in Vietnam

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ly Thi Minh Pham

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this study is to examine how brand equity, from a customer point of view, influences quick-service restaurant revisit intention. The authors propose a conceptual framework in which three dimensions of brand equity including brand associations combined with brand awareness, perceived quality, brand loyalty and perceived value are related to revisit intention. Data from 570 customers who had visited four quick-service restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City were used for the structural equation modelling (SEM analysis. The results show that strong brand equity is significantly correlated with revisit intention. Additionally, the effect of brand equity on revisit intention was mediated by perceived value, among others. Overall, this study emphasizes the importance of perceived value in lodging in the customer’s mind. Finally, managerial implications are presented based on the study results.

  13. Literary Origins of the Term "School Psychologist" Revisited

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fagan, Thomas K.

    2005-01-01

    Previous research on the literary origins of the term "school psychologist" is revisited, and conclusions are revised in light of new evidence. It appears that the origin of the term in the American literature occurred as early as 1898 in an article by Hugo Munsterberg, predating the usage by Wilhelm Stern in 1911. The early references to the…

  14. A Multi-Level Model of Moral Functioning Revisited

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reed, Don Collins

    2009-01-01

    The model of moral functioning scaffolded in the 2008 "JME" Special Issue is here revisited in response to three papers criticising that volume. As guest editor of that Special Issue I have formulated the main body of this response, concerning the dynamic systems approach to moral development, the problem of moral relativism and the role of…

  15. Short or Long End of the Lever? Associations between Provider Communication of the “Asthma-Action Plan” and Outpatient Revisits for Pediatric Asthma

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rangachari, Pavani; Mehta, Renuka; Rethemeyer, R. Karl; Ferrang, Carole; Dennis, Clifton; Redd, Vickie

    2017-01-01

    Background At the Children’s Hospital of Georgia (CHOG), we found that outpatient revisits for pediatric asthma were significantly above national norms. According to the NIH, costly hospital revisits for asthma can be prevented through guidelines-based self-management of asthma, central to which, is the use of a written Asthma-Action Plan (AAP). Purpose The asthma services literature has emphasized the role of the healthcare provider in promoting asthma self-management using the AAP, to prevent hospital revisits. On the other hand, the asthma policy literature has emphasized the need for community-based interventions to promote asthma self-management. A gap remains in understanding the extent of leverage that healthcare providers may have in preventing hospital revisits for asthma, through effective communication of AAP in the outpatient setting. Our study sought to address this gap. Methods We conducted a 6-month intervention to implement “patient-and-family-centered communication of the AAP” in CHOG outpatient clinics, based on the “change-management” theoretical framework. Provider communication of AAP was assessed through a survey of “Parent Understanding of the Child’s AAP.” A quasi-experimental approach was used to measure outpatient revisits for pediatric asthma, pre- and post-intervention. Results Survey results showed that provider communication of the AAP was unanimously perceived highly positively by parents of pediatric asthma patients, across various metrics of patient-centered care. However, there were no statistically significant differences in outpatient “revisit behavior” for pediatric asthma between pre- and post-intervention periods after controlling for several demographic variables. Additionally, revisits remained significantly above national norms. Conclusions Results suggest limited potential of “effective provider communication of AAP,” in reducing outpatient revisits for pediatric asthma; and indicate need for

  16. Reframing in dentistry: Revisited

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sivakumar Nuvvula

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The successful practice of dentistry involves a good combination of technical skills and soft skills. Soft skills or communication skills are not taught extensively in dental schools and it can be challenging to learn and at times in treating dental patients. Guiding the child′s behavior in the dental operatory is one of the preliminary steps to be taken by the pediatric dentist and one who can successfully modify the behavior can definitely pave the way for a life time comprehensive oral care. This article is an attempt to revisit a simple behavior guidance technique, reframing and explain the possible psychological perspectives behind it for better use in the clinical practice.

  17. Relationships between food neophobia and food intake and preferences

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jaeger, S. R.; Rasmussen, Morten Arendt; Prescott, J.

    2017-01-01

    and preference data, in each case the food items were condensed into patterns described in terms of the foods/beverages with highest factor loadings. We then determined the impact of season and participant age, gender, education and income on these factors, as well as the interaction of these variables with FN......Food neophobia (FN) has been shown to be a strong influence on food preferences using primarily small data sets. This has limited the explanatory power of FN and the extent to which it can be related to other factors that influence food choice. To address these limitations, we collected Food...... Neophobia Scale data from 1167 adults from New Zealand over a 45-month period. Participants also completed a 112-item food preference questionnaire and a self-report 24 h, a 145 item food intake recall survey, and the Food Choice Questionnaire (FCQ). As a way of providing a structure to the food intake...

  18. Revisiting Jack Goody to Rethink Determinisms in Literacy Studies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Collin, Ross

    2013-01-01

    This article revisits Goody's arguments about literacy's influence on social arrangements, culture, cognition, economics, and other domains of existence. Whereas some of his arguments tend toward technological determinism (i.e., literacy causes change in the world), other of his arguments construe literacy as a force that shapes and is shaped by…

  19. A control center design revisited: learning from users’ appropriation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Souza da Conceição, Carolina; Cordeiro, Cláudia

    2014-01-01

    This paper aims to present the lessons learned during a control center design project by revisiting another control center from the same company designed two and a half years before by the same project team. In light of the experience with the first project and its analysis, the designers and res...

  20. PENGARUH GUIDE PERFORMANCE DAN QUALITY TOURISM SERVICE TERHADAP REVISIT INTENTION DI KEBUN RAYA BOGOR

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rian Andriani

    2016-11-01

    ABSTRACT Bogor Botanical Gardens is one of tourist destination in Bogor City, West Java, which the geographical in a strategic location between two big cities, Jakarta and Bandung. This location factor is can become an opportunity for Bogor Botanical Gardens to become a favorite tourist destination in Bogor City. Guide Performance and Quality Tourism Service is one of part of the tourism, so the researcher focus to Guide Performance and Quality Tourism Service To Revisit Intention in Bogor Botanical Gardens. In this research, the researcher used quantitative methode with descriptive verificative. The researcher used 100 respondent for a sample. In this research, the researcher used multiple linier regresion analysis with hypotesis test used determination coefficient test and F test. The classical assumption of this research is used normality test, multicollinearity test, heteroskedastisitas test and auto correlation test. In this research, the Guide Performance and Quality Tourism Service factors has an influence 33,2% of Revisit Intention in Bogor Botanical Garden. Keywords: Guide Performance, Quality Tourism Service and Revisit Intention

  1. Revisiting the Political Economy of Communication

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nicholas Garnham

    2014-02-01

    The task of the paper and the seminar was to revisit some of Nicholas Garnham’s ideas, writings and contributions to the study of the Political Economy of Communication and to reflect on the concepts, history, current status and perspectives of this field and the broader study of political economy today. The topics covered include Raymond Williams’ cultural materialism, Pierre Bourdieu’s sociology of culture, the debate between Political Economy and Cultural Studies, information society theory, Karl Marx’s theory and the critique of capitalism.

  2. The vacuum structure, special relativity theory and quantum mechanics revisited: a field theory-no-geometry approach

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bogolubov, N.N. Jr.; Prykarpatsky, A.K.; Ufuk Taneri

    2008-07-01

    The main fundamental principles characterizing the vacuum field structure are formulated and the modeling of the related vacuum medium and charged point particle dynamics by means of de- vised field theoretic tools are analyzed. The Maxwell electrodynamic theory is revisited and newly derived from the suggested vacuum field structure principles and the classical special relativity theory relationship between the energy and the corresponding point particle mass is revisited and newly obtained. The Lorentz force expression with respect to arbitrary non-inertial reference frames is revisited and discussed in detail, and some new interpretations of relations between the special relativity theory and quantum mechanics are presented. The famous quantum-mechanical Schroedinger type equations for a relativistic point particle in the external potential and magnetic fields within the quasiclassical approximation as the Planck constant (h/2π) → 0 and the light velocity c → ∞ are obtained. (author)

  3. K Mbugua The Problem of Hell Revisited pp93-103

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    K Mbugua

    The Problem of Hell Revisited: Towards a Gentler Theology of Hell 93 ... One who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear. Him! .... Suppose your spouse or parent or child goes to hell and you go to heaven.

  4. Radiative corrections to neutrino deep inelastic scattering revisited

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Arbuzov, Andrej B.; Bardin, Dmitry Yu.; Kalinovskaya, Lidia V.

    2005-01-01

    Radiative corrections to neutrino deep inelastic scattering are revisited. One-loop electroweak corrections are re-calculated within the automatic SANC system. Terms with mass singularities are treated including higher order leading logarithmic corrections. Scheme dependence of corrections due to weak interactions is investigated. The results are implemented into the data analysis of the NOMAD experiment. The present theoretical accuracy in description of the process is discussed

  5. Doppler Processing with Ultra-Wideband (UWB) Radar Revisited

    Science.gov (United States)

    2018-01-01

    REPORT TYPE Technical Note 3. DATES COVERED (From - To) December 2017 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE Doppler Processing with Ultra-Wideband (UWB) Radar...unlimited. 13. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES 14. ABSTRACT This technical note revisits previous work performed at the US Army Research Laboratory related to...target considered previously is proportional to a delayed version of the transmitted signal, up to a complex constant factor. We write the received

  6. Dynamics of Shape Fluctuations of Quasi-spherical Vesicles Revisited

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Miao, L.; Lomholt, Michael Andersen; Kleis, J.

    2002-01-01

    In this paper, the dynamics of spontaneous shape fluctuations of a single, giant quasi-spherical vesicle formed from a single lipid species is revisited theoretically. A coherent physical theory for the dynamics is developed based on a number of fundamental principles and considerations, and a sy......In this paper, the dynamics of spontaneous shape fluctuations of a single, giant quasi-spherical vesicle formed from a single lipid species is revisited theoretically. A coherent physical theory for the dynamics is developed based on a number of fundamental principles and considerations...... of the phenomenological constants in a canonical continuum description of fluid lipid-bilayer membranes and shown the consequences of this new interpretation in terms of the characteristics of the dynamics of vesicle shape fluctuations. Moreover, we have used the systematic formulation of our theory as a framework...... against which we have discussed the previously existing theories and their discrepancies. Finally, we have made a systematic prediction about the system-dependent characteristics of the relaxation dynamics of shape fluctuations of quasi-spherical vesicles with a view of experimental studies...

  7. Motives underlying food choice: dentists, porters and dietary health promotion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crossley, M L; Khan, S N

    2001-08-25

    Differences in dental decay and disease amongst socioeconomic groups are thought to derive, in part, from variations in dietary practices and differences in education. The aim of this exploratory study was to examine whether differences in motivating factors affecting food choice could be found in a comparison of two groups at very different ends of the social spectrum: dentists and porters/cleaners. A convenience sample of 100 people (51 porters/cleaners and 49 dentists) working in the dental school at a university in the North West of England were approached to interview face-to-face and complete the Food Choice Questionnaire (FCQ), a previously validated measure designed to assess nine main factors relevant to peoples' food choices. A sample size of 100 was chosen because it was adequate to test validity (using a two-group Chi-square test with a 0.050 two sided significance). Findings were analysed using independent sample t-test and multiple linear regression. Results indicated significant differences between porters/cleaners and dentists in terms of their motives for food choice on six of the nine FCQ factors. These included convenience (p motivational factors affecting food choice between different social groups is important to dental practitioners who are being taught to play an increasing role in health promotion. If dental practitioners are to partake meaningfully in such a role, it is necessary for them to be aware not only of their own motives in food selection, but also of the way in which those motives may differ from those of their clients.

  8. Revisiting Constructivist Teaching Methods in Ontario Colleges Preparing for Accreditation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schultz, Rachel A.

    2015-01-01

    At the time of writing, the first community colleges in Ontario were preparing for transition to an accreditation model from an audit system. This paper revisits constructivist literature, arguing that a more pragmatic definition of constructivism effectively blends positivist and interactionist philosophies to achieve both student centred…

  9. Thorbecke Revisited : The Role of Doctrinaire Liberalism in Dutch Politics

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Drentje, Jan

    2011-01-01

    Thorbecke Revisited: The Role of Doctrinaire Liberalism in Dutch Politics In the political history of the nineteenth century Thorbecke played a crucial role. As the architect of the 1848 liberal constitutional reform he led three cabinets. In many ways he dominated the political discourse during the

  10. Revisiting Cementoblastoma with a Rare Case Presentation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vijayanirmala Subramani

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Cementoblastoma is a rare benign odontogenic neoplasm which is characterized by the proliferation of cellular cementum. Diagnosis of cementoblastoma is challenging because of its protracted clinical, radiographic features, and bland histological appearance; most often cementoblastoma is often confused with other cementum and bone originated lesions. The aim of this article is to overview/revisit, approach the diagnosis of cementoblastoma, and also present a unique radiographic appearance of a cementoblastoma lesion associated with an impacted tooth.

  11. Increased 30-Day Emergency Department Revisits Among Homeless Patients with Mental Health Conditions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chun Nok Lam

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: Patients with mental health conditions frequently use emergency medical services. Many suffer from substance use and homelessness. If they use the emergency department (ED as their primary source of care, potentially preventable frequent ED revisits and hospital readmissions can worsen an already crowded healthcare system. However, the magnitude to which homelessness affects health service utilization among patients with mental health conditions remains unclear in the medical community. This study assessed the impact of homelessness on 30-day ED revisits and hospital readmissions among patients presenting with mental health conditions in an urban, safety-net hospital. Methods: We conducted a secondary analysis of administrative data on all adult ED visits in 2012 in an urban safety-net hospital. Patient demographics, mental health status, homelessness, insurance coverage, level of acuity, and ED disposition per ED visit were analyzed using multilevel modeling to control for multiple visits nested within patients. We performed multivariate logistic regressions to evaluate if homelessness moderated the likelihood of mental health patients’ 30-day ED revisits and hospital readmissions. Results: Study included 139,414 adult ED visits from 92,307 unique patients (43.5±15.1 years, 51.3% male, 68.2% Hispanic/Latino. Nearly 8% of patients presented with mental health conditions, while 4.6% were homeless at any time during the study period. Among patients with mental health conditions, being homeless contributed to an additional 28.0% increase in likelihood (4.28 to 5.48 odds of 30-day ED revisits and 38.2% increase in likelihood (2.04 to 2.82 odds of hospital readmission, compared to non-homeless, non-mental health (NHNM patients as the base category. Adjusted predicted probabilities showed that homeless patients presenting with mental health conditions have a 31.1% chance of returning to the ED within 30-day post discharge and a 3

  12. Surface tension in soap films: revisiting a classic demonstration

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Behroozi, F

    2010-01-01

    We revisit a classic demonstration for surface tension in soap films and introduce a more striking variation of it. The demonstration shows how the film, pulling uniformly and normally on a loose string, transforms it into a circular arc under tension. The relationship between the surface tension and the string tension is analysed and presented in a useful graphical form. (letters and comments)

  13. The Neutrosophic Logic View to Schrodinger's Cat Paradox, Revisited

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Florentin Smarandache

    2008-07-01

    Full Text Available The present article discusses Neutrosophic logic view to Schrodinger's cat paradox. We argue that this paradox involves some degree of indeterminacy (unknown which Neutrosophic logic can take into consideration, whereas other methods including Fuzzy logic cannot. To make this proposition clear, we revisit our previous paper by offering an illustration using modified coin tossing problem, known as Parrondo's game.

  14. Surface tension in soap films: revisiting a classic demonstration

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Behroozi, F [Department of Physics, University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, IA 50614 (United States)], E-mail: behroozi@uni.edu

    2010-01-15

    We revisit a classic demonstration for surface tension in soap films and introduce a more striking variation of it. The demonstration shows how the film, pulling uniformly and normally on a loose string, transforms it into a circular arc under tension. The relationship between the surface tension and the string tension is analysed and presented in a useful graphical form. (letters and comments)

  15. Revisiting the quantum harmonic oscillator via unilateral Fourier transforms

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nogueira, Pedro H F; Castro, Antonio S de

    2016-01-01

    The literature on the exponential Fourier approach to the one-dimensional quantum harmonic oscillator problem is revised and criticized. It is shown that the solution of this problem has been built on faulty premises. The problem is revisited via the Fourier sine and cosine transform method and the stationary states are properly determined by requiring definite parity and square-integrable eigenfunctions. (paper)

  16. Transport benchmarks for one-dimensional binary Markovian mixtures revisited

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Malvagi, F.

    2013-01-01

    The classic benchmarks for transport through a binary Markovian mixture are revisited to look at the probability distribution function of the chosen 'results': reflection, transmission and scalar flux. We argue that the knowledge of the ensemble averaged results is not sufficient for reliable predictions: a measure of the dispersion must also be obtained. An algorithm to estimate this dispersion is tested. (author)

  17. Resolution of Reflection Seismic Data Revisited

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Thomas Mejer; Mosegaard, Klaus; Zunino, Andrea

    The Rayleigh Principle states that the minimum separation between two reflectors that allows them to be visually separated is the separation where the wavelet maxima from the two superimposed reflections combine into one maximum. This happens around Δtres = λb/8, where λb is the predominant...... lower vertical resolution of reflection seismic data. In the following we will revisit think layer model and demonstrate that there is in practice no limit to the vertical resolution using the parameterization of Widess (1973), and that the vertical resolution is limited by the noise in the data...

  18. Sloan Digital Sky Survey Photometric Calibration Revisited

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Marriner, John

    2012-01-01

    The Sloan Digital Sky Survey calibration is revisited to obtain the most accurate photometric calibration. A small but significant error is found in the flat-fielding of the Photometric telescope used for calibration. Two SDSS star catalogs are compared and the average difference in magnitude as a function of right ascension and declination exhibits small systematic errors in relative calibration. The photometric transformation from the SDSS Photometric Telescope to the 2.5 m telescope is recomputed and compared to synthetic magnitudes computed from measured filter bandpasses.

  19. REVISITING A CLASSIC: THE PARKER–MOFFATT PROBLEM

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pezzi, O.; Servidio, S.; Valentini, F.; Malara, F.; Veltri, P.; Parashar, T. N.; Yang, Y.; Matthaeus, W. H.; Vásconez, C. L.

    2017-01-01

    The interaction of two colliding Alfvén wave packets is described here by means of magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) and hybrid kinetic numerical simulations. The MHD evolution revisits the theoretical insights described by Moffatt, Parker, Kraichnan, Chandrasekhar, and Elsässer in which the oppositely propagating large-amplitude wave packets interact for a finite time, initiating turbulence. However, the extension to include compressive and kinetic effects, while maintaining the gross characteristics of the simpler classic formulation, also reveals intriguing features that go beyond the pure MHD treatment.

  20. REVISITING A CLASSIC: THE PARKER–MOFFATT PROBLEM

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pezzi, O.; Servidio, S.; Valentini, F.; Malara, F.; Veltri, P. [Dipartimento di Fisica, Università della Calabria, 87036 Rende (CS) (Italy); Parashar, T. N.; Yang, Y.; Matthaeus, W. H. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Delaware, DE 19716 (United States); Vásconez, C. L. [Departamento de Física, Escuela Politécnica Nacional, Quito (Ecuador)

    2017-01-10

    The interaction of two colliding Alfvén wave packets is described here by means of magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) and hybrid kinetic numerical simulations. The MHD evolution revisits the theoretical insights described by Moffatt, Parker, Kraichnan, Chandrasekhar, and Elsässer in which the oppositely propagating large-amplitude wave packets interact for a finite time, initiating turbulence. However, the extension to include compressive and kinetic effects, while maintaining the gross characteristics of the simpler classic formulation, also reveals intriguing features that go beyond the pure MHD treatment.

  1. Sloan Digital Sky Survey Photometric Calibration Revisited

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Marriner, John; /Fermilab

    2012-06-29

    The Sloan Digital Sky Survey calibration is revisited to obtain the most accurate photometric calibration. A small but significant error is found in the flat-fielding of the Photometric telescope used for calibration. Two SDSS star catalogs are compared and the average difference in magnitude as a function of right ascension and declination exhibits small systematic errors in relative calibration. The photometric transformation from the SDSS Photometric Telescope to the 2.5 m telescope is recomputed and compared to synthetic magnitudes computed from measured filter bandpasses.

  2. Revisiting deforestation in Africa (1990–2010): One more lost ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This spotlight revisits the dynamics and prognosis outlined in the late 1980's published in Déforestation en Afrique. This book on deforestation in Africa utilized available statistical data from the 1980's and was a pioneering self - styled attempt to provide a holistic viewpoint of the ongoing trends pertaining to deforestation in ...

  3. Revisiting Individual Creativity Assessment: Triangulation in Subjective and Objective Assessment Methods

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, Namgyoo K.; Chun, Monica Youngshin; Lee, Jinju

    2016-01-01

    Compared to the significant development of creativity studies, individual creativity research has not reached a meaningful consensus regarding the most valid and reliable method for assessing individual creativity. This study revisited 2 of the most popular methods for assessing individual creativity: subjective and objective methods. This study…

  4. Logistics Innovation Process Revisited

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gammelgaard, Britta; Su, Shong-Iee Ivan; Yang, Su-Lan

    2011-01-01

    Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to learn more about logistics innovation processes and their implications for the focal organization as well as the supply chain, especially suppliers. Design/methodology/approach – The empirical basis of the study is a longitudinal action research project...... that was triggered by the practical needs of new ways of handling material flows of a hospital. This approach made it possible to revisit theory on logistics innovation process. Findings – Apart from the tangible benefits reported to the case hospital, five findings can be extracted from this study: the logistics...... innovation process model may include not just customers but also suppliers; logistics innovation in buyer-supplier relations may serve as an alternative to outsourcing; logistics innovation processes are dynamic and may improve supplier partnerships; logistics innovations in the supply chain are as dependent...

  5. Life quality index revisited

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ditlevsen, Ove Dalager

    2004-01-01

    The derivation of the life quality index (LQI) is revisited for a revision. This revision takes into account the unpaid but necessary work time needed to stay alive in clean and healthy conditions to be fit for effective wealth producing work and to enjoyable free time. Dimension analysis...... at birth should not vary between countries. Finally the distributional assumptions are relaxed as compared to the assumptions made in an earlier work by the author. These assumptions concern the calculation of the life expectancy change due to the removal of an accident source. Moreover a simple public...... consistency problems with the standard power function expression of the LQI are pointed out. It is emphasized that the combination coefficient in the convex differential combination between the relative differential of the gross domestic product per capita and the relative differential of the expected life...

  6. Klein's double discontinuity revisited

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Winsløw, Carl; Grønbæk, Niels

    2014-01-01

    Much effort and research has been invested into understanding and bridging the ‘gaps’ which many students experience in terms of contents and expectations as they begin university studies with a heavy component of mathematics, typically in the form of calculus courses. We have several studies...... of bridging measures, success rates and many other aspects of these “entrance transition” problems. In this paper, we consider the inverse transition, experienced by university students as they revisit core parts of high school mathematics (in particular, calculus) after completing the undergraduate...... mathematics courses which are mandatory to become a high school teacher of mathematics. To what extent does the “advanced” experience enable them to approach the high school calculus in a deeper and more autonomous way ? To what extent can “capstone” courses support such an approach ? How could it be hindered...

  7. Paper to Electronic Questionnaires: Effects on Structured Questionnaire Forms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trujillo, Anna C.

    2009-01-01

    With the use of computers, paper questionnaires are being replaced by electronic questionnaires. The formats of traditional paper questionnaires have been found to effect a subject's rating. Consequently, the transition from paper to electronic format can subtly change results. The research presented begins to determine how electronic questionnaire formats change subjective ratings. For formats where subjects used a flow chart to arrive at their rating, starting at the worst and middle ratings of the flow charts were the most accurate but subjects took slightly more time to arrive at their answers. Except for the electronic paper format, starting at the worst rating was the most preferred. The paper and electronic paper versions had the worst accuracy. Therefore, for flowchart type of questionnaires, flowcharts should start at the worst rating and work their way up to better ratings.

  8. Rereading Albert B. Lord's The Singer of Tales . Revisiting the ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Access to a fresh set of video-recordings of Sesotho praise-poetry made in the year 2000 enabled the author to revisit his adaptation of Albert Lord's definition of the formula as a dynamic compositional device that the oral poet utilizes during delivery. The basic adaptation made in 1983 pertains to heroic praises (dithoko tsa ...

  9. Re-Visit to the School Nurse and Adolescents' Medicine Use

    Science.gov (United States)

    Borup, Ina K.; Andersen, Anette; Holstein, Bjorn E.

    2011-01-01

    Objective: To examine if students who re-visit the school nurse use medicines differently than other students when exposed to aches and psychological problems. Methods: The study includes all 11-, 13- and 15-year-old students from a random sample of schools in Denmark, response rate 87 per cent, n = 5,205. The data collection followed the…

  10. An analytic algorithm for global coverage of the revisiting orbit and its application to the CFOSAT satellite

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Ming; Huang, Li

    2014-08-01

    This paper addresses a new analytic algorithm for global coverage of the revisiting orbit and its application to the mission revisiting the Earth within long periods of time, such as Chinese-French Oceanic Satellite (abbr., CFOSAT). In the first, it is presented that the traditional design methodology of the revisiting orbit for some imaging satellites only on the single (ascending or descending) pass, and the repeating orbit is employed to perform the global coverage within short periods of time. However, the selection of the repeating orbit is essentially to yield the suboptimum from the rare measure of rational numbers of passes per day, which will lose lots of available revisiting orbits. Thus, an innovative design scheme is proposed to check both rational and irrational passes per day to acquire the relationship between the coverage percentage and the altitude. To improve the traditional imaging only on the single pass, the proposed algorithm is mapping every pass into its ascending and descending nodes on the specified latitude circle, and then is accumulating the projected width on the circle by the field of view of the satellite. The ergodic geometry of coverage percentage produced from the algorithm is affecting the final scheme, such as the optimal one owning the largest percentage, and the balance one possessing the less gradient in its vicinity, and is guiding to heuristic design for the station-keeping control strategies. The application of CFOSAT validates the feasibility of the algorithm.

  11. The Peter Effect Revisited: Reading Habits and Attitudes of College Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Applegate, Anthony J.; Applegate, Mary DeKonty; Mercantini, Martha A.; McGeehan, Catherine M.; Cobb, Jeanne B.; DeBoy, Joanne R.; Modla, Virginia B.; Lewinski, Kimberly E.

    2014-01-01

    Certainly a primary goal of literacy education is the creation of avid, enthusiastic, and highly motivated readers. However, in this article revisiting the Peter Effect (Applegate & Applegate, 2004), researchers surveyed more than 1,000 college sophomores and found strikingly low levels of enthusiasm for reading. Only 46.6% of surveyed…

  12. Ambulatory thyroidectomy: A multistate study of revisits and complications

    OpenAIRE

    Orosco, RK; Lin, HW; Bhattacharyya, N

    2015-01-01

    © 2015 American Academy of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery Foundation. Objective. Determine rates and reasons for revisits after ambulatory adult thyroidectomy. Study Design. Cross-sectional analysis of multistate ambulatory surgery and hospital databases. Setting. Ambulatory surgery data from the State Ambulatory Surgery Databases of California, Florida, Iowa, and New York for calendar years 2010 and 2011. Subjects and Methods. Ambulatory thyroidectomy cases were linked to state ambul...

  13. Taï chimpanzees anticipate revisiting high-valued fruit trees from further distances.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ban, Simone D; Boesch, Christophe; Janmaat, Karline R L

    2014-11-01

    The use of spatio-temporal memory has been argued to increase food-finding efficiency in rainforest primates. However, the exact content of this memory is poorly known to date. This study investigated what specific information from previous feeding visits chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus), in Taï National Park, Côte d'Ivoire, take into account when they revisit the same feeding trees. By following five adult females for many consecutive days, we tested from what distance the females directed their travels towards previously visited feeding trees and how previous feeding experiences and fruit tree properties influenced this distance. To exclude the influence of sensory cues, the females' approach distance was measured from their last significant change in travel direction until the moment they entered the tree's maximum detection field. We found that chimpanzees travelled longer distances to trees at which they had previously made food grunts and had rejected fewer fruits compared to other trees. In addition, the results suggest that the chimpanzees were able to anticipate the amount of fruit that they would find in the trees. Overall, our findings are consistent with the hypothesis that chimpanzees act upon a retrieved memory of their last feeding experiences long before they revisit feeding trees, which would indicate a daily use of long-term prospective memory. Further, the results are consistent with the possibility that positive emotional experiences help to trigger prospective memory retrieval in forest areas that are further away and have fewer cues associated with revisited feeding trees.

  14. [Experiences with the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire-R21 in young men].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Czeglédi, Edit

    2017-09-01

    Eating behaviours play a crucial role in the development of obesity. To conduct a psychometric analysis of the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire-R21 and to investigate the correlates of obesogenic eating behaviours among males. Participants of the cross-sectional questionnaire-based study were male university students (n = 239, mean of age: 20.3 years, SD = 2.78 years). self-reported body weight and body height, Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire-R21, Trait Anxiety Scale of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Results of confirmatory factor analysis supported the theoretical model of the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire-R21 (χ 2 (186) = 366.1, peating behaviours, such as uncontrolled eating, cognitive restraint, and emotional eating. Results support the construct validity and reliability of the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire-R21 among males and highlight the importance of taking psychological factors into account in the prevention of obesity. Orv Hetil. 2017; 158(37): 1469-1477.

  15. High precision mass measurements in Ψ and Υ families revisited

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Artamonov, A.S.; Baru, S.E.; Blinov, A.E.

    2000-01-01

    High precision mass measurements in Ψ and Υ families performed in 1980-1984 at the VEPP-4 collider with OLYA and MD-1 detectors are revisited. The corrections for the new value of the electron mass are presented. The effect of the updated radiative corrections has been calculated for the J/Ψ(1S) and Ψ(2S) mass measurements [ru

  16. Primary caregivers of schizophrenia outpatients: burden and predictor variables.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grandón, Pamela; Jenaro, Cristina; Lemos, Serafín

    2008-04-15

    This article explores family burden in relation to relatives' coping strategies and social networks, as well as in relation to the patients' severity of positive and negative symptoms. Data on the severity of symptoms (Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale for Schizophrenia [PANSS]), social functioning (Social Functioning Scale [SFS]), caregivers burden (Interview on Objective and Subjective Family Burden or Entrevista de Carga Familiar Objetiva y Subjetiva [ECFOS]), coping skills (Family Coping Questionnaire [FCQ]), and social support (Social Network Questionnaire [SNQ]) were gathered from a randomized sample of 101 Chilean outpatients and their primary caregivers, mostly mothers. Low levels of burden were typically found, with the exception of moderate levels on general concerns for the ill relative. A hierarchical regression analysis with four blocks showed that clinical characteristics, such as higher frequency of relapses, more positive symptoms and lower independence-performance, together with lower self-control attributed to the patient, decrease in social interests, and less affective support, predict burden. The results support the relevance of psychoeducational interventions where families' needs are addressed.

  17. Commentary on "Distributed Revisiting: An Analytic for Retention of Coherent Science Learning"

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hewitt, Jim

    2015-01-01

    The article, "Distributed Revisiting: An Analytic for Retention of Coherent Science Learning" is an interesting study that operates at the intersection of learning theory and learning analytics. The authors observe that the relationship between learning theory and research in the learning analytics field is constrained by several…

  18. Double digest revisited : Complexity and Approximability in the Presence of Noisy Data

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Cieliebak, Mark; Eidenbenz, Stephan; Woeginger, Gerhard; Warnow, Tandy; Zhu, Binhai

    2003-01-01

    We revisit the Double Digest problem, which occurs in sequencing of large DNA strings and consists of reconstructing the relative positions of cut sites from two different enzymes: we first show that Double Digest is strongly NP-complete, improving upon previous results that only showed weak

  19. First-principles lattice-gas Hamiltonian revisited: O-Pd(100)

    OpenAIRE

    Kappus, Wolfgang

    2016-01-01

    The methodology of deriving an adatom lattice-gas Hamiltonian (LGH) from first principles (FP) calculations is revisited. Such LGH cluster expansions compute a large set of lateral pair-, trio-, quarto interactions by solving a set of linear equations modelling regular adatom configurations and their FP energies. The basic assumption of truncating interaction terms beyond fifth nearest neighbors does not hold when adatoms show longer range interactions, e.g. substrate mediated elastic interac...

  20. Advanced Change Theory Revisited: An Article Critique

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    R. Scott Pochron

    2008-12-01

    Full Text Available The complexity of life in 21st century society requires new models for leading and managing change. With that in mind, this paper revisits the model for Advanced Change Theory (ACT as presented by Quinn, Spreitzer, and Brown in their article, “Changing Others Through Changing Ourselves: The Transformation of Human Systems” (2000. The authors present ACT as a potential model for facilitating change in complex organizations. This paper presents a critique of the article and summarizes opportunities for further exploring the model in the light of current trends in developmental and integral theory.

  1. Revisiting fifth forces in the Galileon model

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Burrage, Clare [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg (Germany). Gruppe Theorie; Seery, David [Sussex Univ., Brighton (United Kingdom). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy

    2010-05-15

    A Galileon field is one which obeys a spacetime generalization of the non- relativistic Galilean invariance. Such a field may possess non-canonical kinetic terms, but ghost-free theories with a well-defined Cauchy problem exist, constructed using a finite number of relevant operators. The interactions of this scalar with matter are hidden by the Vainshtein effect, causing the Galileon to become weakly coupled near heavy sources. We revisit estimates of the fifth force mediated by a Galileon field, and show that the parameters of the model are less constrained by experiment than previously supposed. (orig.)

  2. Large J expansion in ABJM theory revisited.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dimov, H; Mladenov, S; Rashkov, R C

    Recently there has been progress in the computation of the anomalous dimensions of gauge theory operators at strong coupling by making use of the AdS/CFT correspondence. On the string theory side they are given by dispersion relations in the semiclassical regime. We revisit the problem of a large-charge expansion of the dispersion relations for simple semiclassical strings in an [Formula: see text] background. We present the calculation of the corresponding anomalous dimensions of the gauge theory operators to an arbitrary order using three different methods. Although the results of the three methods look different, power series expansions show their consistency.

  3. The power reinforcement framework revisited

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Jeppe; Andersen, Kim Normann; Danziger, James N.

    2016-01-01

    Whereas digital technologies are often depicted as being capable of disrupting long-standing power structures and facilitating new governance mechanisms, the power reinforcement framework suggests that information and communications technologies tend to strengthen existing power arrangements within...... public organizations. This article revisits the 30-yearold power reinforcement framework by means of an empirical analysis on the use of mobile technology in a large-scale programme in Danish public sector home care. It explores whether and to what extent administrative management has controlled decision......-making and gained most benefits from mobile technology use, relative to the effects of the technology on the street-level workers who deliver services. Current mobile technology-in-use might be less likely to be power reinforcing because it is far more decentralized and individualized than the mainly expert...

  4. Revisit boundary conditions for the self-adjoint angular flux formulation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wang, Yaqi [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Gleicher, Frederick N. [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

    2015-03-01

    We revisit the boundary conditions for SAAF. We derived the equivalent parity variational form ready for coding up. The more rigorous approach of evaluating odd parity should be solving the odd parity equation coupled with the even parity. We proposed a symmetric reflecting boundary condition although neither positive definiteness nor even-odd decoupling is achieved. A simple numerical test verifies the validity of these boundary conditions.

  5. Place attachment and social legitimacy: Revisiting the sustainable entrepreneurship journey

    OpenAIRE

    Kibler, E; Fink, M; Lang, R; Munoz, PA

    2015-01-01

    This paper revisits the sustainable entrepreneurship journey by introducing a ‘place- based’ sustainable venture path model. We suggest that distinguishing between emo- tional (‘caring about the place’) and instrumental (‘using the place’) place attachment of sustainable entrepreneurs deepens our understanding of how place-based challenges of sustainable venture legitimacy are managed over time. We conclude with avenues for future sustainable entrepreneurship research.

  6. Teacher Communication Concerns Revisited: Calling into Question the Gnawing Pull towards Equilibrium

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dannels, Deanna P.

    2015-01-01

    This study revisits the long-standing teacher communication concerns framework originating over three decades ago. Analysis of 10 years of contemporary GTA teacher communication concerns reveals a typology of 10 concerns, which taken together construct teaching as a process of negotiating relationships, managing identities, and focusing attention.…

  7. Revisiting Learning in Higher Education--Framing Notions Redefined through an Ecological Perspective

    Science.gov (United States)

    Damsa, Crina; Jornet, Alfredo

    2016-01-01

    This article employs an ecological perspective as a means of revisiting the notion of learning, with a particular focus on learning in higher education. Learning is reconceptualised as a process entailing mutually constitutive, epistemic, social and affective relations in which knowledge, identity and agency become collective achievements of whole…

  8. Lorentz violation naturalness revisited

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Belenchia, Alessio; Gambassi, Andrea; Liberati, Stefano [SISSA - International School for Advanced Studies, via Bonomea 265, 34136 Trieste (Italy); INFN, Sezione di Trieste, via Valerio 2, 34127 Trieste (Italy)

    2016-06-08

    We revisit here the naturalness problem of Lorentz invariance violations on a simple toy model of a scalar field coupled to a fermion field via a Yukawa interaction. We first review some well-known results concerning the low-energy percolation of Lorentz violation from high energies, presenting some details of the analysis not explicitly discussed in the literature and discussing some previously unnoticed subtleties. We then show how a separation between the scale of validity of the effective field theory and that one of Lorentz invariance violations can hinder this low-energy percolation. While such protection mechanism was previously considered in the literature, we provide here a simple illustration of how it works and of its general features. Finally, we consider a case in which dissipation is present, showing that the dissipative behaviour does not percolate generically to lower mass dimension operators albeit dispersion does. Moreover, we show that a scale separation can protect from unsuppressed low-energy percolation also in this case.

  9. Quark matter revisited with non-extensive MIT bag model

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cardoso, Pedro H.G.; Nunes da Silva, Tiago; Menezes, Debora P. [Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Departamento de Fisica, CFM, Florianopolis (Brazil); Deppman, Airton [Instituto de Fisica da Universidade de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo (Brazil)

    2017-10-15

    In this work we revisit the MIT bag model to describe quark matter within both the usual Fermi-Dirac and the Tsallis statistics. We verify the effects of the non-additivity of the latter by analysing two different pictures: the first order phase transition of the QCD phase diagram and stellar matter properties. While the QCD phase diagram is visually affected by the Tsallis statistics, the resulting effects on quark star macroscopic properties are barely noticed. (orig.)

  10. My First CMC Article Revisited: A Window on Spanish L2 Interlanguage

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blake, Robert

    2016-01-01

    The computer-assisted language learning (CALL) field seems to change overnight with new technological affordances. Blake revisits his 2000 "LLT" article on computer-mediation communication (CMC) in order to reflect on how the field has examined this topic over the past decade or so. While the Interaction Hypothesis continues to guide…

  11. Risk prediction of emergency department revisit 30 days post discharge: a prospective study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shiying Hao

    Full Text Available Among patients who are discharged from the Emergency Department (ED, about 3% return within 30 days. Revisits can be related to the nature of the disease, medical errors, and/or inadequate diagnoses and treatment during their initial ED visit. Identification of high-risk patient population can help device new strategies for improved ED care with reduced ED utilization.A decision tree based model with discriminant Electronic Medical Record (EMR features was developed and validated, estimating patient ED 30 day revisit risk. A retrospective cohort of 293,461 ED encounters from HealthInfoNet (HIN, Maine's Health Information Exchange (HIE, between January 1, 2012 and December 31, 2012, was assembled with the associated patients' demographic information and one-year clinical histories before the discharge date as the inputs. To validate, a prospective cohort of 193,886 encounters between January 1, 2013 and June 30, 2013 was constructed. The c-statistics for the retrospective and prospective predictions were 0.710 and 0.704 respectively. Clinical resource utilization, including ED use, was analyzed as a function of the ED risk score. Cluster analysis of high-risk patients identified discrete sub-populations with distinctive demographic, clinical and resource utilization patterns.Our ED 30-day revisit model was prospectively validated on the Maine State HIN secure statewide data system. Future integration of our ED predictive analytics into the ED care work flow may lead to increased opportunities for targeted care intervention to reduce ED resource burden and overall healthcare expense, and improve outcomes.

  12. The Best and the Rest: Revisiting the Norm of Normality of Individual Performance

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Boyle, Ernest, Jr.; Aguinis, Herman

    2012-01-01

    We revisit a long-held assumption in human resource management, organizational behavior, and industrial and organizational psychology that individual performance follows a Gaussian (normal) distribution. We conducted 5 studies involving 198 samples including 633,263 researchers, entertainers, politicians, and amateur and professional athletes.…

  13. The Game Experience Questionnaire

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    IJsselsteijn, W.A.; de Kort, Y.A.W.; Poels, K.

    2013-01-01

    This document contains the English version of the Game Experience Questionnaire. The development and testing of the Game Experience Questionnaire is described in project Deliverable 3.3. The Game Experience Questionnaire has a modular structure and consists of : 1. The core questionnaire 2. The

  14. The Levy sections theorem revisited

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Figueiredo, Annibal; Gleria, Iram; Matsushita, Raul; Silva, Sergio Da

    2007-01-01

    This paper revisits the Levy sections theorem. We extend the scope of the theorem to time series and apply it to historical daily returns of selected dollar exchange rates. The elevated kurtosis usually observed in such series is then explained by their volatility patterns. And the duration of exchange rate pegs explains the extra elevated kurtosis in the exchange rates of emerging markets. In the end, our extension of the theorem provides an approach that is simpler than the more common explicit modelling of fat tails and dependence. Our main purpose is to build up a technique based on the sections that allows one to artificially remove the fat tails and dependence present in a data set. By analysing data through the lenses of the Levy sections theorem one can find common patterns in otherwise very different data sets

  15. The Levy sections theorem revisited

    Science.gov (United States)

    Figueiredo, Annibal; Gleria, Iram; Matsushita, Raul; Da Silva, Sergio

    2007-06-01

    This paper revisits the Levy sections theorem. We extend the scope of the theorem to time series and apply it to historical daily returns of selected dollar exchange rates. The elevated kurtosis usually observed in such series is then explained by their volatility patterns. And the duration of exchange rate pegs explains the extra elevated kurtosis in the exchange rates of emerging markets. In the end, our extension of the theorem provides an approach that is simpler than the more common explicit modelling of fat tails and dependence. Our main purpose is to build up a technique based on the sections that allows one to artificially remove the fat tails and dependence present in a data set. By analysing data through the lenses of the Levy sections theorem one can find common patterns in otherwise very different data sets.

  16. "Rapid Revisit" Measurements of Sea Surface Winds Using CYGNSS

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, J.; Johnson, J. T.

    2017-12-01

    The Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) is a space-borne GNSS-R (GNSS-Reflectometry) mission that launched December 15, 2016 for ocean surface wind speed measurements. CYGNSS includes 8 small satellites in the same LEO orbit, so that the mission provides wind speed products having unprecedented coverage both in time and space to study multi-temporal behaviors of oceanic winds. The nature of CYGNSS coverage results in some locations on Earth experiencing multiple wind speed measurements within a short period of time (a "clump" of observations in time resulting in a "rapid revisit" series of measurements). Such observations could seemingly provide indications of regions experiencing rapid changes in wind speeds, and therefore be of scientific utility. Temporally "clumped" properties of CYGNSS measurements are investigated using early CYGNSS L1/L2 measurements, and the results show that clump durations and spacing vary with latitude. For example, the duration of a clump can extend as long as a few hours at higher latitudes, with gaps between clumps ranging from 6 to as high as 12 hours depending on latitude. Examples are provided to indicate the potential of changes within a clump to produce a "rapid revisit" product for detecting convective activity. Also, we investigate detector design for identifying convective activities. Results from analyses using recent CYGNSS L2 winds will be provided in the presentation.

  17. Re-visiting RHIC snakes: OPERA fields, n0 dance

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Meot, F. [Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Gupta, R. [Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Huang, H. [Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Ranjbar, V. [Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Robert-Demolaize, G. [Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)

    2017-09-22

    In this Tech. Note RHIC snakes and stable spin direction $\\vector{n}$0(s) are re-visited, based on OPERA-computed field maps of the former. The numerical simulations so undertaken provide various outcomes regarding RHIC optics and spin dynamics, in relation with orbital and focusing effects resulting from the use of this realistic 3-D representation of the snakes.

  18. Serotype-specific mortality from invasive Streptococcus pneumoniae disease revisited

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Martens, Pernille; Worm, Signe Westring; Lundgren, Bettina

    2004-01-01

    Serotype-specific mortality from invasive Streptococcus pneumoniae disease revisited.Martens P, Worm SW, Lundgren B, Konradsen HB, Benfield T. Department of Infectious Diseases 144, Hvidovre University Hospital, DK-2650 Hvidovre, Denmark. pernillemartens@yahoo.com BACKGROUND: Invasive infection...... with Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococci) causes significant morbidity and mortality. Case series and experimental data have shown that the capsular serotype is involved in the pathogenesis and a determinant of disease outcome. METHODS: Retrospective review of 464 cases of invasive disease among adults diagnosed...

  19. The Assassination of John F. Kennedy: Revisiting the Medical Data

    OpenAIRE

    Rohrich, Rod J.; Nagarkar, Purushottam; Stokes, Mike; Weinstein, Aaron; Mantik, David W.; Jensen, J. Arthur

    2014-01-01

    Thank you for publishing "The Assassination of John F. Kennedy: Revisiting the Medical Data."1 The central conclusion of this study is that the assassination remains controversial and that some of the controversy must be attributable to the "reporting and handling of the medical evidence." With the greatest respect for you and Dr. Robert McClelland, let me argue that your text and on-line interviews perpetuate the central misunderstanding of the assassination and there...

  20. Dispute Resolution and Technology: Revisiting the Justification of Conflict Management

    OpenAIRE

    Koulu, Riikka

    2016-01-01

    This study, Dispute Resolution and Technology: Revisiting the Justification of Conflict Management, belongs to the fields of procedural law, legal theory and law and technology studies. In this study the changes in dispute resolution caused by technology are evaluated. The overarching research question of this study is how does implementing technology to dispute resolution challenge the justification of law as a legitimised mode of violence? Before answering such an abstract research question...

  1. Deja vu: The Unified Command Plan of the Future Revisited

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-05-19

    Approved for Public Release; Distribution is Unlimited Déjà vu : The Unified Command Plan of the Future Revisited A Monograph by Lieutenant...DD-MM-YYYY) 19-05-2011 2. REPORT TYPE Monograph 3. DATES COVERED (From - To) JUL 2010 – MAY 2011 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE Déjà vu : The Unified...i SCHOOL OF ADVANCED MILITARY STUDIES MONOGRAPH APPROVAL Lieutenant Colonel Edward Francis Martignetti Title of Monograph: Déjà vu : The Unified

  2. Journal of Biosciences | Indian Academy of Sciences

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    ... Faculty of Veterinary, University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain; Foundation for the Conservation of the Bearded Vulture (FCQ), Zaragoza, Spain; Biodiversity Service, Agriculture and Environmental Department, Aragón Government, Aragón, Spain; Wildlife Conservation Centre La Alfranca, Zaragoza, Spain; Surgery Unit, ...

  3. Interpretation of transport barriers and of subneoclassical transport in the framework of the revisited neoclassical theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rogister, A.L.

    1999-01-01

    'Subneoclassical' heat fluxes are predicted in the high collisionality regime by the revisited neoclassical theory, which includes the roles of Finite Larmor Radius effects and Inertia, that we published earlier. Unlike conventional neoclassical theory, the revisited theory further provides a non degenerate ambipolarity constraint which defines unambiguously the radial electric field. Together with the parallel momentum equation, the ambipolarity constraint leads, under some conditions, to radial electric field profiles with high negative shear akin to those observed in spontaneous edge transport barriers. The predictions of the theory are outlined, with emphasis laid on the interpretation of experimental results such as magnitude of the jumps, width of the shear layer, local scaling laws. Extension of the theory to triggered transitions and cold pulse propagation studies is suggested. (author)

  4. Diet History Questionnaire II and Canadian Diet History Questionnaire II: Coding Guidelines

    Science.gov (United States)

    A questionnaire data file is an ASCII text file containing data from completed Diet History Questionnaires. If using paper forms, this file can be created by a scanner or a data entry system. If using DHQ*Web, the questionnaire data file is created automatically.

  5. Revisiting reflexology: Concept, evidence, current practice, and practitioner training

    OpenAIRE

    Embong, Nurul Haswani; Soh, Yee Chang; Ming, Long Chiau; Wong, Tin Wui

    2015-01-01

    Reflexology is basically a study of how one part of the human body relates to another part of the body. Reflexology practitioners rely on the reflexes map of the feet and hands to all the internal organs and other human body parts. They believe that by applying the appropriate pressure and massage certain spots on the feet and hands, all other body parts could be energized and rejuvenated. This review aimed to revisit the concept of reflexology and examine its effectiveness, practices, and th...

  6. Revisiting the Metaphor of the Island: Challenging "World Culture" from an Island Misunderstood

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rappleye, Jeremy

    2015-01-01

    This article revisits the newly "discovered" island that world culture theorists have repeatedly utilised to explain their theoretical stance, conceptual preferences and methodological approach. Yet, it seeks to (re)connect world culture with the real world by replacing their imagined atoll with a real one--the island-nation of Japan. In…

  7. Revisiting R-invariant direct gauge mediation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chiang, Cheng-Wei [Center for Mathematics and Theoretical Physics andDepartment of Physics, National Central University,Taoyuan, Taiwan 32001, R.O.C. (China); Institute of Physics, Academia Sinica,Taipei, Taiwan 11529, R.O.C. (China); Physics Division, National Center for Theoretical Sciences,Hsinchu, Taiwan 30013, R.O.C. (China); Kavli IPMU (WPI), UTIAS, University of Tokyo,Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8583 (Japan); Harigaya, Keisuke [Department of Physics, University of California,Berkeley, California 94720 (United States); Theoretical Physics Group, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory,Berkeley, California 94720 (United States); ICRR, University of Tokyo,Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8582 (Japan); Ibe, Masahiro [Kavli IPMU (WPI), UTIAS, University of Tokyo,Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8583 (Japan); ICRR, University of Tokyo,Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8582 (Japan); Yanagida, Tsutomu T. [Kavli IPMU (WPI), UTIAS, University of Tokyo,Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8583 (Japan)

    2016-03-21

    We revisit a special model of gauge mediated supersymmetry breaking, the “R-invariant direct gauge mediation.” We pay particular attention to whether the model is consistent with the minimal model of the μ-term, i.e., a simple mass term of the Higgs doublets in the superpotential. Although the incompatibility is highlighted in view of the current experimental constraints on the superparticle masses and the observed Higgs boson mass, the minimal μ-term can be consistent with the R-invariant gauge mediation model via a careful choice of model parameters. We derive an upper limit on the gluino mass from the observed Higgs boson mass. We also discuss whether the model can explain the 3σ excess of the Z+jets+E{sub T}{sup miss} events reported by the ATLAS collaboration.

  8. Revisiting kaon physics in general Z scenario

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Motoi Endo

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available New physics contributions to the Z penguin are revisited in the light of the recently-reported discrepancy of the direct CP violation in K→ππ. Interference effects between the standard model and new physics contributions to ΔS=2 observables are taken into account. Although the effects are overlooked in the literature, they make experimental bounds significantly severer. It is shown that the new physics contributions must be tuned to enhance B(KL→π0νν¯, if the discrepancy of the direct CP violation is explained with satisfying the experimental constraints. The branching ratio can be as large as 6×10−10 when the contributions are tuned at the 10% level.

  9. Revisiting the Decision of Death in Hurst v. Florida.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cooke, Brian K; Ginory, Almari; Zedalis, Jennifer

    2016-12-01

    The United States Supreme Court has considered the question of whether a judge or a jury must make the findings necessary to support imposition of the death penalty in several notable cases, including Spaziano v. Florida (1984), Hildwin v. Florida (1989), and Ring v. Arizona (2002). In 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court revisited the subject in Hurst v. Florida Florida Statute § 921.141 allows the judge, after weighing aggravating and mitigating circumstances, to enter a sentence of life imprisonment or death. Before Hurst, Florida's bifurcated sentencing proceedings included an advisory sentence from jurors and a separate judicial hearing without juror involvement. In Hurst, the Court revisited the question of whether Florida's capital sentencing scheme violates the Sixth Amendment, which requires a jury, not a judge, to find each fact necessary to impose a sentence of death in light of Ring In an eight-to-one decision, the Court reversed the judgment of the Florida Supreme Court, holding that the Sixth Amendment requires a jury to find the aggravating factors necessary for imposing the death penalty. The role of Florida juries in capital sentencing proceedings was thereby elevated from advisory to determinative. We examine the Court's decision and offer commentary regarding this shift from judge to jury in the final imposition of the death penalty and the overall effect of this landmark case. © 2016 American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law.

  10. Behavioral Assessment: Questionnaires.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilson, C. Chrisman

    1980-01-01

    This is a general discussion of the validity, reliability, function, and format of questionnaires designed to measure problem behavior, noncompliance, anxiety, social interaction, hyperactivity, drug use, and sexual behavior. Commonly used questionnaires are cited. (CP)

  11. Magnetic moments revisited

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Towner, I.S.; Khanna, F.C.

    1984-01-01

    Consideration of core polarization, isobar currents and meson-exchange processes gives a satisfactory understanding of the ground-state magnetic moments in closed-shell-plus (or minus)-one nuclei, A = 3, 15, 17, 39 and 41. Ever since the earliest days of the nuclear shell model the understanding of magnetic moments of nuclear states of supposedly simple configurations, such as doubly closed LS shells +-1 nucleon, has been a challenge for theorists. The experimental moments, which in most cases are known with extraordinary precision, show a small yet significant departure from the single-particle Schmidt values. The departure, however, is difficult to evaluate precisely since, as will be seen, it results from a sensitive cancellation between several competing corrections each of which can be as large as the observed discrepancy. This, then, is the continuing fascination of magnetic moments. In this contribution, we revisit the subjet principally to identify the role played by isobar currents, which are of much concern at this conference. But in so doing we warn quite strongly of the dangers of considering just isobar currents in isolation; equal consideration must be given to competing processes which in this context are the mundane nuclear structure effects, such as core polarization, and the more popular meson-exchange currents

  12. Growth of the firm and foreign trade: Adrian Wood's theory revisited

    OpenAIRE

    Catermol, Fabrício

    2006-01-01

    This paper analyzes the growth of the firm by foreign trade. The theory of Adrian Wood is revisited for the analysis of growth and profit trade-off and improved to cope with growth by exports. The main outcome of this paper is that low domestic demand can be a very important factor to firm choices growth by foreign market. However, the growth of domestic demand does not necessarily reduce exports.

  13. Revisiting the description of Protein-Protein interfaces. Part II: Experimental study

    OpenAIRE

    Cazals , Frédéric; Proust , Flavien

    2006-01-01

    This paper provides a detailed experimental study of an interface model developed in the companion article F. Cazals and F. Proust, Revisiting the description of Protein-Protein interfaces. Part I: algorithms. Our experimental study is concerned with the usual database of protein-protein complexes, split into five families (Proteases, Immune system, Enzyme Complexes, Signal transduction, Misc.) Our findings, which bear some contradictions with usual statements are the following: (i)Connectivi...

  14. Small-angle scattering theory revisited: Photocurrent and spatial localization

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Basse, N.P.; Zoletnik, S.; Michelsen, Poul

    2005-01-01

    In this paper theory on collective scattering measurements of electron density fluctuations in fusion plasmas is revisited. We present the first full derivation of the expression for the photocurrent beginning at the basic scattering concepts. Thereafter we derive detailed expressions for the auto......- and crosspower spectra obtained from measurements. These are discussed and simple simulations made to elucidate the physical meaning of the findings. In this context, the known methods of obtaining spatial localization are discussed and appraised. Where actual numbers are applied, we utilize quantities from two...

  15. Article Review: Advanced Change Theory Revisited: An Article Critique

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    R. Scott Pochron

    2008-12-01

    Full Text Available The complexity of life in 21st century society requires new models for leadingand managing change. With that in mind, this paper revisits the model for AdvancedChange Theory (ACT as presented by Quinn, Spreitzer, and Brown in their article,“Changing Others Through Changing Ourselves: The Transformation of HumanSystems” (2000. The authors present ACT as a potential model for facilitating change incomplex organizations. This paper presents a critique of the article and summarizesopportunities for further exploring the model in the light of current trends indevelopmental and integral theory.

  16. Characteristics of revisits of children at risk for serious infections in pediatric emergency care

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    E. De Vos-Kerkhof (Evelien); D.H.F. Geurts (Dorien); E.W. Steyerberg (Ewout); M. Lakhanpaul (Monica); H.A. Moll (Henriëtte); R. Oostenbrink (Rianne)

    2018-01-01

    textabstractIn this study, we aimed to identify characteristics of (unscheduled) revisits and its optimal time frame after Emergency Department (ED) discharge. Children with fever, dyspnea, or vomiting/diarrhea (1 month–16 years) who attended the ED of Erasmus MC-Sophia, Rotterdam (2010–2013), the

  17. Post-Inflationary Gravitino Production Revisited

    CERN Document Server

    Ellis, John; Nanopoulos, Dimitri V.; Olive, Keith A.; Peloso, Marco

    2016-01-01

    We revisit gravitino production following inflation. As a first step, we review the standard calculation of gravitino production in the thermal plasma formed at the end of post-inflationary reheating when the inflaton has completely decayed. Next we consider gravitino production prior to the completion of reheating, assuming that the inflaton decay products thermalize instantaneously while they are still dilute. We then argue that instantaneous thermalization is in general a good approximation, and also show that the contribution of non-thermal gravitino production via the collisions of inflaton decay products prior to thermalization is relatively small. Our final estimate of the gravitino-to-entropy ratio is approximated well by a standard calculation of gravitino production in the post-inflationary thermal plasma assuming total instantaneous decay and thermalization at a time $t \\simeq 1.2/\\Gamma_\\phi$. Finally, in light of our calculations, we consider potential implications of upper limits on the gravitin...

  18. Revisiting the Gun Ownership and Violence Link; a multi- level analysis of victimisation survey data.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Kesteren, J.N.

    2014-01-01

    The link between gun ownership victimisation by violent crime remains one of the most contested issues in criminology. Some authors claim that high gun availability facilitates serious violence. Others claim that gun ownership prevents crime. This article revisits these issues using individual and

  19. NP-hardness of the cluster minimization problem revisited

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adib, Artur B.

    2005-10-01

    The computational complexity of the 'cluster minimization problem' is revisited (Wille and Vennik 1985 J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 18 L419). It is argued that the original NP-hardness proof does not apply to pairwise potentials of physical interest, such as those that depend on the geometric distance between the particles. A geometric analogue of the original problem is formulated, and a new proof for such potentials is provided by polynomial time transformation from the independent set problem for unit disk graphs. Limitations of this formulation are pointed out, and new subproblems that bear more direct consequences to the numerical study of clusters are suggested.

  20. NP-hardness of the cluster minimization problem revisited

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Adib, Artur B

    2005-01-01

    The computational complexity of the 'cluster minimization problem' is revisited (Wille and Vennik 1985 J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 18 L419). It is argued that the original NP-hardness proof does not apply to pairwise potentials of physical interest, such as those that depend on the geometric distance between the particles. A geometric analogue of the original problem is formulated, and a new proof for such potentials is provided by polynomial time transformation from the independent set problem for unit disk graphs. Limitations of this formulation are pointed out, and new subproblems that bear more direct consequences to the numerical study of clusters are suggested

  1. NP-hardness of the cluster minimization problem revisited

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Adib, Artur B [Physics Department, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912 (United States)

    2005-10-07

    The computational complexity of the 'cluster minimization problem' is revisited (Wille and Vennik 1985 J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 18 L419). It is argued that the original NP-hardness proof does not apply to pairwise potentials of physical interest, such as those that depend on the geometric distance between the particles. A geometric analogue of the original problem is formulated, and a new proof for such potentials is provided by polynomial time transformation from the independent set problem for unit disk graphs. Limitations of this formulation are pointed out, and new subproblems that bear more direct consequences to the numerical study of clusters are suggested.

  2. Rural-Nonrural Disparities in Postsecondary Educational Attainment Revisited

    Science.gov (United States)

    Byun, Soo-yong; Meece, Judith L.; Irvin, Matthew J.

    2013-01-01

    Using data from the National Educational Longitudinal Study, this study revisited rural-nonrural disparities in educational attainment by considering a comprehensive set of factors that constrain and support youth's college enrollment and degree completion. Results showed that rural students were more advantaged in community social resources compared to nonrural students, and these resources were associated with a significant increase in the likelihood of bachelor's degree attainment. Yet results confirmed that rural students lagged behind nonrural students in attaining a bachelor's degree largely due to their lower socioeconomic background. The findings present a more comprehensive picture of the complexity of geographic residence in shaping college enrollment and degree attainment. PMID:24285873

  3. An Improvement on LSB Matching and LSB Matching Revisited Steganography Methods

    OpenAIRE

    Qazanfari, Kazem; Safabakhsh, Reza

    2017-01-01

    The aim of the steganography methods is to communicate securely in a completely undetectable manner. LSB Matching and LSB Matching Revisited steganography methods are two general and esiest methods to achieve this aim. Being secured against first order steganalysis methods is the most important feature of these methods. On the other hand, these methods don't consider inter pixel dependency. Therefore, recently, several steganalysis methods are proposed that by using co-occurrence matrix detec...

  4. Forecasting of Satisfaction and Revisit Intention of Indonesia Shoppers in Shopping Malls

    OpenAIRE

    Ayuni, Risca Fitri

    2017-01-01

    . Due to tight competition, changing value proposition of customer and shiftingof mall functions become center for leisure purposes, shopping mall developer mustfocus on create shopper satisfaction to influence their post-transaction behaviors. Thisstudy investigates the relationship between mall personality, self-congruity, perceivedquality, shopping value, shopper satisfaction and revisit intention. Two hundredrespondents participated in this study. In order to achieve the aim of this study...

  5. Feasibility testing of smart tablet questionnaires compared to paper questionnaires in an amputee rehabilitation clinic.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Payne, Michael; Janzen, Shannon; Earl, Eric; Deathe, Barry; Viana, Ricardo

    2017-08-01

    Capturing the variability that exists among patients attending an amputee clinic using standardized paper-based questionnaires is time-consuming and may not be practical for routine clinical use. Electronic questionnaires are a potential solution; however, the benefits are dependent on the feasibility and acceptance of this mode of data collection among patients. To determine the feasibility and patient preference/comfort in using a tablet-based questionnaire for data collection in an outpatient amputee rehabilitation clinic compared to a traditional paper-based questionnaire. Observational study. In all, 48 patients with major extremity amputations completed both tablet and paper questionnaires related to their amputation and prosthetic use. Both trials were timed; patients then completed a semi-structured questionnaire about their experience. In all, 20.5% of patients needed hands-on assistance completing the paper questionnaire compared to 20.8% for the tablet. The majority of participants (52.1%) indicated a preference for the tablet questionnaire; 64.6% of patients felt the tablet collected a more complete and accurate representation of their status and needs. In all, 70.8% of participants described themselves as comfortable using the tablet. Despite comorbidities, patients with amputations demonstrated excellent acceptance of the electronic tablet-based questionnaire. Tablet questionnaires have significant potential advantages over paper questionnaires and should be further explored. Clinical relevance A custom electronic questionnaire was found to be beneficial for routine clinic use and was well received by patients in an amputee rehabilitation clinic. Development of such questionnaires can provide an efficient mechanism to collect meaningful data that can be used for individual patient care and program quality improvement initiatives.

  6. Sparse random matrices: The eigenvalue spectrum revisited

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Semerjian, Guilhem; Cugliandolo, Leticia F.

    2003-08-01

    We revisit the derivation of the density of states of sparse random matrices. We derive a recursion relation that allows one to compute the spectrum of the matrix of incidence for finite trees that determines completely the low concentration limit. Using the iterative scheme introduced by Biroli and Monasson [J. Phys. A 32, L255 (1999)] we find an approximate expression for the density of states expected to hold exactly in the opposite limit of large but finite concentration. The combination of the two methods yields a very simple geometric interpretation of the tails of the spectrum. We test the analytic results with numerical simulations and we suggest an indirect numerical method to explore the tails of the spectrum. (author)

  7. Highway 61 Revisited: Bob Dilan i francuski poststrukturalizam / Highway 61 Revisited: Bob Dilan and French Poststructuralism

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nikola Dedić

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available The main aim of this text is to show parallels between rock music and poststructuralist philosophy. As a case study one of the most celebrated rock albums of all times – Bob Dylan’s Highway 61 Revisited from 1965 is taken. It is one of the crucial albums in the history of popular culture which influenced further development of rock music within American counter culture of the 60s. Dylan’s turn from the politics of American New Left and folk movement, his relation towards the notions of the author and intertextuality, and his connection with experimental usage of language in the manner of avant-garde and neoavant-garde poetry, are juxtaposed with the main philosophical standpoints of Jean-François Lyotard, Jean Baudrillard, Roland Barthes and Julia Kristeva which historically and chronologically coincide with the appearance of Dylan’s album.

  8. Structuralism's Relevance in a Post-Structural Era: Re-Visiting Research on Multicultural Curricular Studies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shim, Jenna Min

    2011-01-01

    At the current historical juncture in which differences and inequalities are surfacing greater than ever in the world, societies, and schools, the main goal of this essay is to revisit the aspects of structuralism that can potentially contribute productively to understanding the invisible structures and forces that everyone carries (mostly…

  9. The skeptical green consumer revisited: testing the relationship between green consumerism and skepticism toward advertising

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Matthes, J.; Wonneberger, A.

    2014-01-01

    This article revisits the widely believed notion of the skeptical green consumer, in other words, that green consumers tend to distrust green advertising. Study 1, a survey of U.S. consumers, found no positive relationship between green consumerism and general ad skepticism. However, green

  10. 19 CFR 357.105 - Questionnaires.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... 19 Customs Duties 3 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Questionnaires. 357.105 Section 357.105 Customs... Questionnaires. For reviews conducted under section 106(b)(2), the Secretary normally will send questionnaires to potential producers/suppliers of the product to determine whether it is in short supply. Questionnaires...

  11. A Cooperative Search and Coverage Algorithm with Controllable Revisit and Connectivity Maintenance for Multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhong Liu

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, we mainly study a cooperative search and coverage algorithm for a given bounded rectangle region, which contains several unknown stationary targets, by a team of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs with non-ideal sensors and limited communication ranges. Our goal is to minimize the search time, while gathering more information about the environment and finding more targets. For this purpose, a novel cooperative search and coverage algorithm with controllable revisit mechanism is presented. Firstly, as the representation of the environment, the cognitive maps that included the target probability map (TPM, the uncertain map (UM, and the digital pheromone map (DPM are constituted. We also design a distributed update and fusion scheme for the cognitive map. This update and fusion scheme can guarantee that each one of the cognitive maps converges to the same one, which reflects the targets’ true existence or absence in each cell of the search region. Secondly, we develop a controllable revisit mechanism based on the DPM. This mechanism can concentrate the UAVs to revisit sub-areas that have a large target probability or high uncertainty. Thirdly, in the frame of distributed receding horizon optimizing, a path planning algorithm for the multi-UAVs cooperative search and coverage is designed. In the path planning algorithm, the movement of the UAVs is restricted by the potential fields to meet the requirements of avoiding collision and maintaining connectivity constraints. Moreover, using the minimum spanning tree (MST topology optimization strategy, we can obtain a tradeoff between the search coverage enhancement and the connectivity maintenance. The feasibility of the proposed algorithm is demonstrated by comparison simulations by way of analyzing the effects of the controllable revisit mechanism and the connectivity maintenance scheme. The Monte Carlo method is employed to validate the influence of the number of UAVs, the sensing radius

  12. The role of brand destination experience in determining revisit intention

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mattsson, Jan; Barnes, Stuart; Sørensen, Flemming

    Destination branding has developed considerably as a topic area in the last decade with numerous conceptualizations focusing on different aspects of the brand. However, a unified view has not yet emerged. This paper examines destination branding via a new conceptualization, brand destination...... experience, which provides a more holistic and unified view of the brand destination. The research uses a logistic regression model to determine the role of satisfaction and brand experience in determining revisit intentions. The study also examines differences among subgroups and four brand experience sub...

  13. Parental authority questionnaire.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buri, J R

    1991-08-01

    A questionnaire was developed for the purpose of measuring Baumrind's (1971) permissive, authoritarian, and authoritative parental authority prototypes. It consists of 30 items per parent and yields permissive, authoritarian, and authoritative scores for both the mother and the father; each of these scores is derived from the phenomenological appraisals of the parents' authority by their son or daughter. The results of several studies have supported the Parental Authority Questionnaire as a psychometrically sound and valid measure of Baumrind's parental authority prototypes, and they have suggested that this questionnaire has considerable potential as a valuable tool in the investigation of correlates of parental permissiveness, authoritarianism, and authoritativeness.

  14. Explaining tourists satisfaction and intention to revisit Nha Trang, Viet Nam

    OpenAIRE

    Tran, Thi Ai Cam

    2011-01-01

    The first purpose of the thesis is to find how visitors evaluate the quality of different facets or attributes of a destination image of Nha Trang, how satisfied they are with Nha Trang, loyalty intention to revisit and willingness to recommend Nha Trang to others. The second is to investigate what “image” is most important to explain global satisfaction with visiting Nha Trang. The third is to investigate how perceived quality, satisfaction and other motivational or dismotivational factors ...

  15. Revisiting Organizational Credibility and Organizational Reputation – A Situational Crisis Communication Approach

    OpenAIRE

    Jamal Jamilah; Abu Bakar Hassan

    2017-01-01

    Organizational credibility, the extent of which an organization as the source of messages is perceived as trustworthy and reliable, is one important aspect to determine organization’s survival. The perceived credibility of the messages will either strengthen or worsen an organization reputation. The primary objective of this paper is to revisit the concept of organizational credibility and its interaction with organizational outcomes such as organizational reputation. Based on the situational...

  16. Questionnaire use among nordic neuropsychologists

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Egeland, Jens; Norup, Anne; Persson, Bengt A.

    2017-01-01

    The core method of neuropsychologists has been to collect structured samples of behavior through standardized tests. Information that cannot be elicited through tests may be gathered by questionnaires asking questions about behavior. Tests may deconstruct cognitive function precisely, but lack...... the ecological validity of questionnaires. Thus, many neuropsychologists have advocated more use of questionnaires, but it is not known whether professional practice has changed. Until recently, personality instruments were the only widespread questionnaires in frequent use among neuropsychologists. We studied...... the inventory use of 702 Nordic neuropsychologists. The most used questionnaires are listed, and differences between countries are analyzed. In addition, the questionnaires are grouped with regard to whether they map cognition, behavior not observable during consultations, emotional symptoms, personality...

  17. Service-Learning in Crisis Communication Education: Revisiting Coombs' Objectives for the Crisis Communication Course

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maresh-Fuehrer, Michelle M.

    2015-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to revisit Coombs' suggestions for teaching the crisis communication course using service-learning as a framework. The author sought to assess the effectiveness of using this method in terms of the benefits to both students and the partnering organization and students' perceptions of whether they met the learning…

  18. Revisiting coupled Shukla-Varma and convective cell mode in classical and quantum dusty magnetoplasmas

    Science.gov (United States)

    Masood, W.; Mirza, Arshad M.; Nargis, Shahida

    2010-08-01

    The coupled Shukla-Varma (SV) and convective cell mode is revisited in classical and quantum dusty magnetoplasmas. It is shown that the inclusion of electron thermal effects modifies the original coupled SV and convective cell mode. It is also discussed how the quantum effects can be incorporated in the coupled SV and convective cell mode.

  19. Methodological Issues in Questionnaire Design.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Song, Youngshin; Son, Youn Jung; Oh, Doonam

    2015-06-01

    The process of designing a questionnaire is complicated. Many questionnaires on nursing phenomena have been developed and used by nursing researchers. The purpose of this paper was to discuss questionnaire design and factors that should be considered when using existing scales. Methodological issues were discussed, such as factors in the design of questions, steps in developing questionnaires, wording and formatting methods for items, and administrations methods. How to use existing scales, how to facilitate cultural adaptation, and how to prevent socially desirable responding were discussed. Moreover, the triangulation method in questionnaire development was introduced. Steps were recommended for designing questions such as appropriately operationalizing key concepts for the target population, clearly formatting response options, generating items and confirming final items through face or content validity, sufficiently piloting the questionnaire using item analysis, demonstrating reliability and validity, finalizing the scale, and training the administrator. Psychometric properties and cultural equivalence should be evaluated prior to administration when using an existing questionnaire and performing cultural adaptation. In the context of well-defined nursing phenomena, logical and systematic methods will contribute to the development of simple and precise questionnaires.

  20. The Faraday effect revisited General theory

    CERN Document Server

    Cornean, H D; Pedersen, T G

    2005-01-01

    This paper is the first in a series revisiting the Faraday effect, or more generally, the theory of electronic quantum transport/optical response in bulk media in the presence of a constant magnetic field. The independent electron approximation is assumed. For free electrons, the transverse conductivity can be explicitly computed and coincides with the classical result. In the general case, using magnetic perturbation theory, the conductivity tensor is expanded in powers of the strength of the magnetic field $B$. Then the linear term in $B$ of this expansion is written down in terms of the zero magnetic field Green function and the zero field current operator. In the periodic case, the linear term in $B$ of the conductivity tensor is expressed in terms of zero magnetic field Bloch functions and energies. No derivatives with respect to the quasimomentum appear and thereby all ambiguities are removed, in contrast to earlier work.

  1. Re-visiting the electrophysiology of language.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Obleser, Jonas

    2015-09-01

    This editorial accompanies a special issue of Brain and Language re-visiting old themes and new leads in the electrophysiology of language. The event-related potential (ERP) as a series of characteristic deflections ("components") over time and their distribution on the scalp has been exploited by speech and language researchers over decades to find support for diverse psycholinguistic models. Fortunately, methodological and statistical advances have allowed human neuroscience to move beyond some of the limitations imposed when looking at the ERP only. Most importantly, we currently witness a refined and refreshed look at "event-related" (in the literal sense) brain activity that relates itself more closely to the actual neurobiology of speech and language processes. It is this imminent change in handling and interpreting electrophysiological data of speech and language experiments that this special issue intends to capture. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  2. Revisiting the Performance of MACD and RSI Oscillators

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Terence Tai-Leung Chong

    2014-02-01

    Full Text Available Chong and Ng (2008 find that the Moving Average Convergence–Divergence (MACD and Relative Strength Index (RSI rules can generate excess return in the London Stock Exchange. This paper revisits the performance of the two trading rules in the stock markets of five other OECD countries. It is found that the MACD(12,26,0 and RSI(21,50 rules consistently generate significant abnormal returns in the Milan Comit General and the S&P/TSX Composite Index. In addition, the RSI(14,30/70 rule is also profitable in the Dow Jones Industrials Index. The results shed some light on investors’ belief in these two technical indicators in different developed markets.

  3. Revisiting the level scheme of the proton emitter 151Lu

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang, F.; Sun, B.H.; Liu, Z.; Scholey, C.; Eeckhaudt, S.; Grahn, T.; Greenlees, P.T.; Jones, P.; Julin, R.; Juutinen, S.; Kettelhut, S.; Leino, M.; Nyman, M.; Rahkila, P.; Saren, J.; Sorri, J.; Uusitalo, J.; Ashley, S.F.; Cullen, I.J.; Garnsworthy, A.B.; Gelletly, W.; Jones, G.A.; Pietri, S.; Podolyak, Z.; Steer, S.; Thompson, N.J.; Walker, P.M.; Williams, S.; Bianco, L.; Darby, I.G.; Joss, D.T.; Page, R.D.; Pakarinen, J.; Rigby, S.; Cullen, D.M.; Khan, S.; Kishada, A.; Gomez-Hornillos, M.B.; Simpson, J.; Jenkins, D.G.; Niikura, M.; Seweryniak, D.; Shizuma, Toshiyuki

    2015-01-01

    An experiment aiming to search for new isomers in the region of proton emitter 151 Lu was performed at the Accelerator Laboratory of the University of Jyväskylä (JYFL), by combining the high resolution γ-ray array JUROGAM, gas-filled RITU separator and GREAT detectors with the triggerless total data readout acquisition (TDR) system. In this proceeding, we revisit the level scheme of 151 Lu by using the proton-tagging technique. A level scheme consistent with the latest experimental results is obtained, and 3 additional levels are identified at high excitation energies. (author)

  4. The importance of jet bending in gamma-ray AGNs—revisited

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Graham, P. J. [School of Physics, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052 (Australia); Tingay, S. J. [International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, Curtin University, Bentley, WA (Australia)

    2014-04-01

    We investigate the hypothesis that γ-ray-quiet active galactic nuclei (AGNs) have a greater tendency for jet bending than γ-ray-loud AGNs, revisiting the analysis of Tingay et al. We perform a statistical analysis using a large sample of 351 radio-loud AGNs along with γ-ray identifications from the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT). Our results show no statistically significant differences in jet-bending properties between γ-ray-loud and γ-ray-quiet populations, indicating that jet bending is not a significant factor for γ-ray detection in AGNs.

  5. Silent cries, dancing tears: the metapsychology of art revisited/revised.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aragno, Anna

    2011-04-01

    Against the backdrop of a broad survey of the literature on applied psychoanalysis, a number of concepts underpinning the metapsychology of art are revisited and revised: sublimation; interrelationships between primary and secondary processes; symbolization; "fantasy"; and "cathexis." Concepts embedded in dichotomous or drive/energic contexts are examined and reformulated in terms of a continuum of semiotic processes. Freudian dream structure is viewed as a biological/natural template for nonrepressive artistic forms of sublimation. The synthesis presented proposes a model of continuous rather than discontinuous processes, in a nonenergic, biosemiotic metatheoretical framework.

  6. Simulation of Two-Way Pushdown Automata Revisited

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Robert Glück

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available The linear-time simulation of 2-way deterministic pushdown automata (2DPDA by the Cook and Jones constructions is revisited. Following the semantics-based approach by Jones, an interpreter is given which, when extended with random-access memory, performs a linear-time simulation of 2DPDA. The recursive interpreter works without the dump list of the original constructions, which makes Cook's insight into linear-time simulation of exponential-time automata more intuitive and the complexity argument clearer. The simulation is then extended to 2-way nondeterministic pushdown automata (2NPDA to provide for a cubic-time recognition of context-free languages. The time required to run the final construction depends on the degree of nondeterminism. The key mechanism that enables the polynomial-time simulations is the sharing of computations by memoization.

  7. Distractor dwelling, skipping, and revisiting determine target absent performance in difficult visual search

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gernot Horstmann

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available Some targets in visual search are more difficult to find than others. In particular, a target that is similar to the distractors is more difficult to find than a target that is dissimilar to the distractors. Efficiency differences between easy and difficult searches are manifest not only in target-present trials but also in target-absent trials. In fact, even physically identical displays are searched through with different efficiency depending on the searched-for target. Here, we monitored eye movements in search for a target similar to the distractors (difficult search versus a target dissimilar to the distractors (easy search. We aimed to examine three hypotheses concerning the causes of differential search efficiencies in target-absent trials: (a distractor dwelling (b distractor skipping, and (c distractor revisiting. Reaction times increased with target similarity which is consistent with existing theories and replicates earlier results. Eye movement data indicated guidance in target trials, even though search was very slow. Dwelling, skipping, and revisiting contributed to low search efficiency in difficult search, with dwelling being the strongest factor. It is argued that differences in dwell time account for a large amount of total search time differences.

  8. Distractor Dwelling, Skipping, and Revisiting Determine Target Absent Performance in Difficult Visual Search

    Science.gov (United States)

    Horstmann, Gernot; Herwig, Arvid; Becker, Stefanie I.

    2016-01-01

    Some targets in visual search are more difficult to find than others. In particular, a target that is similar to the distractors is more difficult to find than a target that is dissimilar to the distractors. Efficiency differences between easy and difficult searches are manifest not only in target-present trials but also in target-absent trials. In fact, even physically identical displays are searched through with different efficiency depending on the searched-for target. Here, we monitored eye movements in search for a target similar to the distractors (difficult search) versus a target dissimilar to the distractors (easy search). We aimed to examine three hypotheses concerning the causes of differential search efficiencies in target-absent trials: (a) distractor dwelling (b) distractor skipping, and (c) distractor revisiting. Reaction times increased with target similarity which is consistent with existing theories and replicates earlier results. Eye movement data indicated guidance in target trials, even though search was very slow. Dwelling, skipping, and revisiting contributed to low search efficiency in difficult search, with dwelling being the strongest factor. It is argued that differences in dwell time account for a large amount of total search time differences. PMID:27574510

  9. The Super-GUT CMSSM Revisited

    CERN Document Server

    Ellis, John

    2016-01-01

    We revisit minimal supersymmetric SU(5) grand unification (GUT) models in which the soft supersymmetry-breaking parameters of the minimal supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) are universal at some input scale, $M_{in}$, above the supersymmetric gauge coupling unification scale, $M_{GUT}$. As in the constrained MSSM (CMSSM), we assume that the scalar masses and gaugino masses have common values, $m_0$ and $m_{1/2}$ respectively, at $M_{in}$, as do the trilinear soft supersymmetry-breaking parameters $A_0$. Going beyond previous studies of such a super-GUT CMSSM scenario, we explore the constraints imposed by the lower limit on the proton lifetime and the LHC measurement of the Higgs mass, $m_h$. We find regions of $m_0$, $m_{1/2}$, $A_0$ and the parameters of the SU(5) superpotential that are compatible with these and other phenomenological constraints such as the density of cold dark matter, which we assume to be provided by the lightest neutralino. Typically, these allowed regions appear for $m_0$ and $m_{1/...

  10. Critical boundary sine-Gordon revisited

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hasselfield, M.; Lee, Taejin; Semenoff, G.W.; Stamp, P.C.E.

    2006-01-01

    We revisit the exact solution of the two space-time dimensional quantum field theory of a free massless boson with a periodic boundary interaction and self-dual period. We analyze the model by using a mapping to free fermions with a boundary mass term originally suggested in Ref. [J. Polchinski, L. Thorlacius, Phys. Rev. D 50 (1994) 622]. We find that the entire SL (2, C) family of boundary states of a single boson are boundary sine-Gordon states and we derive a simple explicit expression for the boundary state in fermion variables and as a function of sine-Gordon coupling constants. We use this expression to compute the partition function. We observe that the solution of the model has a strong-weak coupling generalization of T-duality. We then examine a class of recently discovered conformal boundary states for compact bosons with radii which are rational numbers times the self-dual radius. These have simple expression in fermion variables. We postulate sine-Gordon-like field theories with discrete gauge symmetries for which they are the appropriate boundary states

  11. Post-inflationary gravitino production revisited

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ellis, John [Theoretical Particle Physics and Cosmology Group, Department of Physics, King' s College London, London WC2R 2LS (United Kingdom); Garcia, Marcos A.G.; Olive, Keith A. [William I. Fine Theoretical Physics Institute, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota, 116 Church Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455 (United States); Nanopoulos, Dimitri V. [George P. and Cynthia W. Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy, Texas A and M University, College Station, TX 77843 (United States); Peloso, Marco, E-mail: john.ellis@cern.ch, E-mail: garciagarcia@physics.umn.edu, E-mail: dimitri@physics.tamu.edu, E-mail: olive@physics.umn.edu, E-mail: peloso@physics.umn.edu [School of Physics and Astronomy and Minnesota Institute for Astrophysics, University of Minnesota, 116 Church Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455 (United States)

    2016-03-01

    We revisit gravitino production following inflation. As a first step, we review the standard calculation of gravitino production in the thermal plasma formed at the end of post-inflationary reheating when the inflaton has completely decayed. Next we consider gravitino production prior to the completion of reheating, assuming that the inflaton decay products thermalize instantaneously while they are still dilute. We then argue that instantaneous thermalization is in general a good approximation, and also show that the contribution of non-thermal gravitino production via the collisions of inflaton decay products prior to thermalization is relatively small. Our final estimate of the gravitino-to-entropy ratio is approximated well by a standard calculation of gravitino production in the post-inflationary thermal plasma assuming total instantaneous decay and thermalization at a time t ≅ 1.2/Γ{sub φ}. Finally, in light of our calculations, we consider potential implications of upper limits on the gravitino abundance for models of inflation, with particular attention to scenarios for inflaton decays in supersymmetric Starobinsky-like models.

  12. Motives for food choice among Serbian consumers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gagić Snježana

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available People's motives for food choice depend on a number of very complex economic, social and individual factors. A Food Choice Questionnaire (FCQ, an instrument that measures the importance of factors underlying food choice, was used to reveal the Serbian consumers' food choice motives by survey of 450 respondents of different age groups. A confirmatory factor analysis was conducted on the motive items, using 11 factors. Previous research shows that the nutrition in Serbia is not balanced enough, and therefore the analysis of motives for food choice is considered a useful tool for the planning of more efficient public policies and interventions aimed at influencing healthier eating habits. Hence the results can be useful for researchers as well as for public institutions which deal with creating the strategy of public health or businessmen who produce and sell food products, because knowing consumer behaviour is necessary for product success on the market.

  13. Operator entanglement of two-qubit joint unitary operations revisited: Schmidt number approach

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Xia, Hui-Zhi; Li, Chao; Yang, Qing; Yang, Ming, E-mail: mingyang@ahu.edu.cn [Key Laboratory of Opto-electronic Information Acquisition and Manipulation, Ministry of Education, School of Physics and Material Science, Anhui University Hefei (China); Cao, Zhuo-Liang [School of Electronic Information Engineering, Hefei Normal University (China)

    2012-08-15

    The operator entanglement of two-qubit joint unitary operations is revisited. The Schmidt number, an important attribute of a two-qubit unitary operation, may have connection with the entanglement measure of the unitary operator. We find that the entanglement measure of a two-qubit unitary operators is classified by the Schmidt number of the unitary operators. We also discuss the exact relation between the operator entanglement and the parameters of the unitary operator. (author)

  14. Revisit the spin-FET: Multiple reflection, inelastic scattering, and lateral size effects

    OpenAIRE

    Xu, Luting; Li, Xin-Qi; Sun, Qing-feng

    2014-01-01

    We revisit the spin-injected field effect transistor (spin-FET) by simulating a lattice model based on recursive lattice Green's function approach. In the one-dimensional case and coherent regime, the simulated results reveal noticeable differences from the celebrated Datta-Das model, which motivate thus an improved treatment and lead to analytic and generalized result. The simulation also allows us to address inelastic scattering (using B\\"uttiker's fictitious reservoir approach) and lateral...

  15. Development and validation of a questionnaire to measure preferences and expectations of patients undergoing palliative chemotherapy: EXPECT questionnaire.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Patil, V M; Chakraborty, S; Jithin, T K; Dessai, S; Sajith Babu, T P; Raghavan, V; Geetha, M; Kumar, T Shiva; Biji, M S; Bhattacharjee, A; Nair, C

    2016-01-01

    The objective was to design and validate the questionnaire for capturing palliative chemotherapy-related preferences and expectations. Single arm, unicentric, prospective observational study. EXPECT questionnaire was designed to capture preferences and expectations of patients undergoing palliative chemotherapy. This questionnaire underwent a linguistic validation and then was tested in patients. Ten patients are undergoing chemotherapy for solid tumors who fulfilled the inclusion and exclusion criteria self-administered the EXPECT questionnaire in regional language. After filling this questionnaire, they self-administered quick questionnaire-10 (QQ-10). SPSS version 16 (IBM New York) was used for analysis. Completion rate of EXPECT questionnaire was calculated. The feasibility, face validity, utility and time taken for completion of EXPECT questionnaire was also assessed. The completion rate of this questionnaire was 100%. All patients completed questionnaire within 5 min. The QQ-10 tool confirmed the feasibility, face validity and utility of the questionnaire. EXPECT questionnaire was validated in the regional language, and it's an effective tool for capturing patient's preferences and expectation from chemotherapy.

  16. Entropy of measurement and erasure: Szilard's membrane model revisited

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leff, Harvey S.; Rex, Andrew F.

    1994-11-01

    It is widely believed that measurement is accompanied by irreversible entropy increase. This conventional wisdom is based in part on Szilard's 1929 study of entropy decrease in a thermodynamic system by intelligent intervention (i.e., a Maxwell's demon) and Brillouin's association of entropy with information. Bennett subsequently argued that information acquisition is not necessarily irreversible, but information erasure must be dissipative (Landauer's principle). Inspired by the ensuing debate, we revisit the membrane model introduced by Szilard and find that it can illustrate and clarify (1) reversible measurement, (2) information storage, (3) decoupling of the memory from the system being measured, and (4) entropy increase associated with memory erasure and resetting.

  17. Revisit to diffraction anomalous fine structure

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kawaguchi, T.; Fukuda, K.; Tokuda, K.; Shimada, K.; Ichitsubo, T.; Oishi, M.; Mizuki, J.; Matsubara, E.

    2014-01-01

    The diffraction anomalous fine structure method has been revisited by applying this measurement technique to polycrystalline samples and using an analytical method with the logarithmic dispersion relation. The diffraction anomalous fine structure (DAFS) method that is a spectroscopic analysis combined with resonant X-ray diffraction enables the determination of the valence state and local structure of a selected element at a specific crystalline site and/or phase. This method has been improved by using a polycrystalline sample, channel-cut monochromator optics with an undulator synchrotron radiation source, an area detector and direct determination of resonant terms with a logarithmic dispersion relation. This study makes the DAFS method more convenient and saves a large amount of measurement time in comparison with the conventional DAFS method with a single crystal. The improved DAFS method has been applied to some model samples, Ni foil and Fe 3 O 4 powder, to demonstrate the validity of the measurement and the analysis of the present DAFS method

  18. The critical catastrophe revisited

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    De Mulatier, Clélia; Rosso, Alberto; Dumonteil, Eric; Zoia, Andrea

    2015-01-01

    The neutron population in a prototype model of nuclear reactor can be described in terms of a collection of particles confined in a box and undergoing three key random mechanisms: diffusion, reproduction due to fissions, and death due to absorption events. When the reactor is operated at the critical point, and fissions are exactly compensated by absorptions, the whole neutron population might in principle go to extinction because of the wild fluctuations induced by births and deaths. This phenomenon, which has been named critical catastrophe, is nonetheless never observed in practice: feedback mechanisms acting on the total population, such as human intervention, have a stabilizing effect. In this work, we revisit the critical catastrophe by investigating the spatial behaviour of the fluctuations in a confined geometry. When the system is free to evolve, the neutrons may display a wild patchiness (clustering). On the contrary, imposing a population control on the total population acts also against the local fluctuations, and may thus inhibit the spatial clustering. The effectiveness of population control in quenching spatial fluctuations will be shown to depend on the competition between the mixing time of the neutrons (i.e. the average time taken for a particle to explore the finite viable space) and the extinction time

  19. SUSY S4×SU(5) revisited

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hagedorn, Claudia; King, Stephen F.; Luhn, Christoph

    2012-01-01

    Following the recent results from Daya Bay and RENO, which measure the lepton mixing angle θ 13 l ≈0.15, we revisit a supersymmetric (SUSY) S 4 ×SU(5) model, which predicts tri-bimaximal (TB) mixing in the neutrino sector with θ 13 l being too small in its original version. We show that introducing one additional S 4 singlet flavon into the model gives rise to a sizable θ 13 l via an operator which leads to the breaking of one of the two Z 2 symmetries preserved in the neutrino sector at leading order (LO). The results of the original model for fermion masses, quark mixing and the solar mixing angle are maintained to good precision. The atmospheric and solar mixing angle deviations from TB mixing are subject to simple sum rule bounds.

  20. Neutrino dark energy. Revisiting the stability issue

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Eggers Bjaelde, O.; Hannestad, S. [Aarhus Univ. (Denmark). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy; Brookfield, A.W. [Sheffield Univ. (United Kingdom). Dept. of Applied Mathematics and Dept. of Physics, Astro-Particle Theory and Cosmology Group; Van de Bruck, C. [Sheffield Univ. (United Kingdom). Dept. of Applied Mathematics, Astro-Particle Theory and Cosmology Group; Mota, D.F. [Heidelberg Univ. (Germany). Inst. fuer Theoretische Physik]|[Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics, Oslo (Norway); Schrempp, L. [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg (Germany); Tocchini-Valentini, D. [Johns Hopkins Univ., Baltimore, MD (United States). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy

    2007-05-15

    A coupling between a light scalar field and neutrinos has been widely discussed as a mechanism for linking (time varying) neutrino masses and the present energy density and equation of state of dark energy. However, it has been pointed out that the viability of this scenario in the non-relativistic neutrino regime is threatened by the strong growth of hydrodynamic perturbations associated with a negative adiabatic sound speed squared. In this paper we revisit the stability issue in the framework of linear perturbation theory in a model independent way. The criterion for the stability of a model is translated into a constraint on the scalar-neutrino coupling, which depends on the ratio of the energy densities in neutrinos and cold dark matter. We illustrate our results by providing meaningful examples both for stable and unstable models. (orig.)

  1. Questionnaires for Measuring Refractive Surgery Outcomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kandel, Himal; Khadka, Jyoti; Lundström, Mats; Goggin, Michael; Pesudovs, Konrad

    2017-06-01

    To identify the questionnaires used to assess refractive surgery outcomes, assess the available questionnaires in regard to their psychometric properties, validity, and reliability, and evaluate the performance of the available questionnaires in measuring refractive surgery outcomes. An extensive literature search was done on PubMed, MEDLINE, Scopus, CINAHL, Cochrane, and Web of Science databases to identify articles that described or used at least one questionnaire to assess refractive surgery outcomes. The information on content quality, validity, reliability, responsiveness, and psychometric properties was extracted and analyzed based on an extensive set of quality criteria. Eighty-one articles describing 27 questionnaires (12 refractive error-specific, including 4 refractive surgery-specific, 7 vision-but-non-refractive, and 8 generic) were included in the review. Most articles (56, 69.1%) described refractive error-specific questionnaires. The Quality of Life Impact of Refractive Correction (QIRC), the Quality of Vision (QoV), and the Near Activity Visual Questionnaire (NAVQ) were originally constructed using Rasch analysis; others were developed using the Classical Test Theory. The National Eye Institute Refractive Quality of Life questionnaire was the most frequently used questionnaire, but it does not provide a valid measurement. The QoV, QIRC, and NAVQ are the three best existing questionnaires to assess visual symptoms, quality of life, and activity limitations, respectively. This review identified three superior quality questionnaires for measuring different aspects of quality of life in refractive surgery. Clinicians and researchers should choose a questionnaire based on the concept being measured with superior psychometric properties. [J Refract Surg. 2017;33(6):416-424.]. Copyright 2017, SLACK Incorporated.

  2. Experiments on the Divergence between Willingness to Pay and Willingness to Accept: The Issue Revisited

    OpenAIRE

    Rodolfo M. Nayga, Jr.; Wipon Aiew; Richard Woodward

    2005-01-01

    Many empirical studies have discovered large discrepancies between willingness to pay (WTP) and willingness to accept (WTA) measures. This paper revisits the WTP and WTA divergence issue using a non-hypothetical market experiment, actual products, cash, and exchange in a market setting. We find WTA/WTP ratios that are significantly lower than most such studies.

  3. Using destination image to predict visitors' intention to revisit three Hudson River Valley, New York, communities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rudy M. Schuster; Laura Sullivan; Duarte Morais; Diane Kuehn

    2009-01-01

    This analysis explores the differences in Affective and Cognitive Destination Image among three Hudson River Valley (New York) tourism communities. Multiple regressions were used with six dimensions of visitors' images to predict future intention to revisit. Two of the three regression models were significant. The only significantly contributing independent...

  4. How to score questionnaires

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hofstee, W.K.B.; Ten Berge, J.M.F.; Hendriks, A.A.J.

    The standard practice in scoring questionnaires consists of adding item scores and standardizing these sums. We present a set of alternative procedures, consisting of (a) correcting for the acquiescence variance that disturbs the structure of the questionnaire; (b) establishing item weights through

  5. Polish Adaptation of Wrist Evaluation Questionnaires.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Czarnecki, Piotr; Wawrzyniak-Bielęda, Anna; Romanowski, Leszek

    2015-01-01

    Questionnaires evaluating hand and wrist function are a very useful tool allowing for objective and systematic recording of symptoms reported by the patients. Most questionnaires generally accepted in clinical practice are available in English and need to be appropriately adapted in translation and undergo subsequent validation before they can be used in another culture and language. The process of translation of the questionnaires was based on the generally accepted guidelines of the International Quality of Life Assessment Project (IQOLA). First, the questionnaires were translated from English into Polish by two independent translators. Then, a joint version of the translation was prepared collectively and translated back into English. Each stage was followed by a written report. The translated questionnaires were then evaluated by a group of patients. We selected 31 patients with wrist problems and asked them to complete the PRWE, Mayo, Michigan and DASH questionnaires twice at intervals of 3-10 days. The results were submitted for statistical analysis. We found a statistically significant (pquestionnaires. A comparison of the PRWE and Mayo questionnaires with the DASH questionnaire also showed a statistically significant correlation (pquestionnaires was successful and that the questionnaires may be used in clinical practice.

  6. Asian Lifelong Learning in the Context of a Global Knowledge Economy: A Task Re-Visited

    Science.gov (United States)

    Han, Soonghee

    2007-01-01

    This article revisits and reinterprets my previous paper. It is a snapshot of the lifelong learning system building in selected Asian countries, reflected in the mirror of the Asian Financial Crisis in the 1997s and the aftermath of that event. I reconsidered the arguments (1) the economic recession had delivered a global dimension of lifelong…

  7. Revisiting "Kindergarten as Academic Boot Camp": A Nationwide Study of Ability Grouping and Psycho-Social Development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Catsambis, Sophia; Buttaro, Anthony, Jr.

    2012-01-01

    We revisit Harry L. Gracey's perspective of kindergarten as academic boot camp where, at school entry, children acquire the student role through a structured program of activities. We provide further insights into the crucial mechanisms of socialization that occur in U.S. kindergartens by examining the relationship between within-class ability…

  8. Vestindien Revisited: I kølvandet på kuldampere og cruiseturister

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Brichet, Nathalia Sofie; Hastrup, Frida; Ørstedholm, Maroe

    2017-01-01

    What traces did Denmark officially leave behind when the West Indies were sold to the United States in 1917? And how are the islands still affected today by Denmark’s presence on the islands? The M/S Maritime Museum tries to answer these questions in its special new exhibition, ‘U.S. VIRGIN ISLAN...... special exhibition “U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS REVISITED – in the wake of colliers and cruise tourists,” to commemorate the centennial anniversary of selling the West Indies to the United States of America....

  9. The Tension between the Decision and Control Perspectives of Accounting Revisited

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Christensen, John

    2009-01-01

    to use different accounting systems for different purposes. That is not the norm. The tensions are managed within a single accounting system and that leads to trade-offs in the accounting system. I will revisit these conflicts of uses of accounting systems using product costing, transfer pricing and fair......The accounting system is a carefully managed information system which is used for multiple purposes. Traditionally, the uses are categorized using the main headings of decision and control. Numerous conflicts are the consequence of the multi-purpose accounting system. The easy way out is apparently...

  10. Determining the quark charges by one and two photon processes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Janah, A.

    1982-01-01

    Testable predictions are presented, which may be used to decide between the gauge theories of integer and fractionally charged quarks (icq and fcq). Two distinctive features of icq are exploited, namely (a) presence of color non-singlet components in weak and electromagnetic currents and (b) possible liberation of color non-singlet states above a threshold energy. Consequences are sought in lepton-hadron interaction processes, taking into account the known color-suppression effect. Single photon/weak-boson processes such as nuN → nuX distinguish between icq and fcq only above color-threshold. Experimental consequences of color-liberation in the above process are obtained. It is found that the gluon-parton contribution survives color-suppression to produce a significant rise in the structure functions when color-threshold is exceeded. Two-photon processes such as e + e - → e + e - + 2 jets distinguish between the two theories even below color threshold. To obtain the icq predictions for this process, one must take into account (a) the (momentum-dependent) color suppression and (b) the added contribution from pair production of charged gluons

  11. Sexual behavioral abstine HIV/AIDS questionnaire: Validation study of an Iranian questionnaire.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Najarkolaei, Fatemeh Rahmati; Niknami, Shamsaddin; Shokravi, Farkhondeh Amin; Tavafian, Sedigheh Sadat; Fesharaki, Mohammad Gholami; Jafari, Mohammad Reza

    2014-01-01

    This study was designed to assess the validity and reliability of the designed sexual, behavioral abstinence, and avoidance of high-risk situation questionnaire (SBAHAQ), with an aim to construct an appropriate development tool in the Iranian population. A descriptive-analytic study was conducted among female undergraduate students of Tehran University, who were selected through cluster random sampling. After reviewing the questionnaires and investigating face and content validity, internal consistency of the questionnaire was assessed by Cronbach's alpha. Explanatory and confirmatory factor analysis was conducted using SPSS and AMOS 16 Software, respectively. The sample consisted of 348 female university students with a mean age of 20.69 ± 1.63 years. The content validity ratio (CVR) coefficient was 0.85 and the reliability of each section of the questionnaire was as follows: Perceived benefit (PB; 0.87), behavioral intention (BI; 0.77), and self-efficacy (SE; 0.85) (Cronbach's alpha totally was 0.83). Explanatory factor analysis showed three factors, including SE, PB, and BI, with the total variance of 61% and Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) index of 88%. These factors were also confirmed by confirmatory factor analysis [adjusted goodness of fitness index (AGFI) = 0.939, root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = 0.039]. This study showed the designed questionnaire provided adequate construct validity and reliability, and could be adequately used to measure sexual abstinence and avoidance of high-risk situations among female students.

  12. The Groningen Radiotherapy-Induced Xerostomia questionnaire : Development and validation of a new questionnaire

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Beetz, I.; Burlage, Fred; Bijl, H.P.; Chouvalova, Olga; Christianen, M.E.; Vissink, A.; van der Laan, B.F.; de Bock, G.H.; Langendijk, J.A.

    2010-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a questionnaire (Groningen Radiotherapy-Induced Xerostomia (GRIX) questionnaire) that has the ability to distinguish between patient-rated xerostomia during day and night and can be used to evaluate the impact of emerging radiation

  13. Leukemia and ionizing radiation revisited

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cuttler, J.M. [Cuttler & Associates Inc., Vaughan, Ontario (Canada); Welsh, J.S. [Loyola University-Chicago, Dept. or Radiation Oncology, Stritch School of Medicine, Maywood, Illinois (United States)

    2016-03-15

    A world-wide radiation health scare was created in the late 19508 to stop the testing of atomic bombs and block the development of nuclear energy. In spite of the large amount of evidence that contradicts the cancer predictions, this fear continues. It impairs the use of low radiation doses in medical diagnostic imaging and radiation therapy. This brief article revisits the second of two key studies, which revolutionized radiation protection, and identifies a serious error that was missed. This error in analyzing the leukemia incidence among the 195,000 survivors, in the combined exposed populations of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, invalidates use of the LNT model for assessing the risk of cancer from ionizing radiation. The threshold acute dose for radiation-induced leukemia, based on about 96,800 humans, is identified to be about 50 rem, or 0.5 Sv. It is reasonable to expect that the thresholds for other cancer types are higher than this level. No predictions or hints of excess cancer risk (or any other health risk) should be made for an acute exposure below this value until there is scientific evidence to support the LNT hypothesis. (author)

  14. An Examination of the Relationship between Rural Tourists’ Satisfaction, Revisitation and Information Preferences: A Korean Case Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hee-Sun Cho

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available To encourage the sustainability of rural tourism and to achieve success in the tourist industry, an understanding of the factors by which tourists are motivated to visit rural areas is required. This study aims to measure factors affecting rural tourists’ satisfaction in relation to different aspects of a destination and to increase the likelihood of revisitation and recommendation. This study also attempts to examine differences in relation to satisfaction depending on the information source preference. Overall satisfaction was influenced by physical infrastructure, service quality and satisfaction level with tour programs. However, the quality of services was more related to tourists’ intentions to revisit and recommend, suggesting that its qualitative improvement can contribute to vitalizing stagnant domestic tourism. The findings revealed that tourists’ satisfaction was high when people mainly gained tourist information through formal government sources, word-of-mouth and Internet advertising, suggesting that the positive correlation between tourists’ satisfaction and information sources reflects the reliability and credibility of those sources.

  15. The random field Blume-Capel model revisited

    Science.gov (United States)

    Santos, P. V.; da Costa, F. A.; de Araújo, J. M.

    2018-04-01

    We have revisited the mean-field treatment for the Blume-Capel model under the presence of a discrete random magnetic field as introduced by Kaufman and Kanner (1990). The magnetic field (H) versus temperature (T) phase diagrams for given values of the crystal field D were recovered in accordance to Kaufman and Kanner original work. However, our main goal in the present work was to investigate the distinct structures of the crystal field versus temperature phase diagrams as the random magnetic field is varied because similar models have presented reentrant phenomenon due to randomness. Following previous works we have classified the distinct phase diagrams according to five different topologies. The topological structure of the phase diagrams is maintained for both H - T and D - T cases. Although the phase diagrams exhibit a richness of multicritical phenomena we did not found any reentrant effect as have been seen in similar models.

  16. Development of a cohesion questionnaire for youth: the Youth Sport Environment Questionnaire.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eys, Mark; Loughead, Todd; Bray, Steven R; Carron, Albert V

    2009-06-01

    The purpose of the current study was to initiate the development of a psychometrically sound measure of cohesion for youth sport groups. A series of projects were undertaken in a four-phase research program. The initial phase was designed to garner an understanding of how youth sport group members perceived the concept of cohesion through focus groups (n = 56), open-ended questionnaires (n = 280), and a literature review. In Phase 2, information from the initial projects was used in the development of 142 potential items and content validity was assessed. In Phase 3, 227 participants completed a revised 87-item questionnaire. Principal components analyses further reduced the number of items to 17 and suggested a two-factor structure (i.e., task and social cohesion dimensions). Finally, support for the factorial validity of the resultant questionnaire was provided through confirmatory factor analyses with an independent sample (n = 352) in Phase 4. The final version of the questionnaire contains 16 items that assess task and social cohesion in addition to 2 negatively worded spurious items. Specific issues related to assessing youth perceptions of cohesion are discussed and future research directions are suggested.

  17. PERANAN SERVICE QUALITY TERHADAP PATIENT REVISIT INTENTION MELALUI PATIENT SATISFACTION PADA RUMAH SAKIT UMUM DAN RUMAH SAKIT SWASTA TIPE B

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Febry Adhiana

    2008-03-01

    Findin s: There are no differences between private and public hospitals in service quality, patient satisf Um and patient revisit intention. Finally the implications of the results are highlighted for health :are managers.

  18. The MPC and A Questionnaire

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Powell, Danny H.; Elwood, Robert H. Jr.

    2011-01-01

    The questionnaire is the instrument used for recording performance data on the nuclear material protection, control, and accountability (MPC and A) system at a nuclear facility. The performance information provides a basis for evaluating the effectiveness of the MPC and A system. The goal for the questionnaire is to provide an accurate representation of the performance of the MPC and A system as it currently exists in the facility. Performance grades for all basic MPC and A functions should realistically reflect the actual level of performance at the time the survey is conducted. The questionnaire was developed after testing and benchmarking the material control and accountability (MC and A) system effectiveness tool (MSET) in the United States. The benchmarking exercise at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) proved extremely valuable for improving the content and quality of the early versions of the questionnaire. Members of the INL benchmark team identified many areas of the questionnaire where questions should be clarified and areas where additional questions should be incorporated. The questionnaire addresses all elements of the MC and A system. Specific parts pertain to the foundation for the facility's overall MPC and A system, and other parts pertain to the specific functions of the operational MPC and A system. The questionnaire includes performance metrics for each of the basic functions or tasks performed in the operational MPC and A system. All of those basic functions or tasks are represented as basic events in the MPC and A fault tree. Performance metrics are to be used during completion of the questionnaire to report what is actually being done in relation to what should be done in the performance of MPC and A functions.

  19. Revisited neoclassical transport theory for steep, collisional plasma edge profiles

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rogister, A.L.

    1994-01-01

    Published neoclassical results are misleading as concerns the plasma edge for they do not adequately take the peculiar local conditions into account, in particular the fact that the density and temperature variation length-scales are quite small. Coupled novel neoclassical equations obtain, not only for the evolution of the density and temperatures, but also for the radial electric field and the evolution of the parallel ion momentum: gyro-stresses and inertia indeed upset the otherwise de facto ambipolarity of particle transport and a radial electric field necessarily builds up. The increased nonlinear character of these revisited neoclassical equations widens the realm of possible plasma behaviors. (author)

  20. Surveys and questionnaires in nursing research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Timmins, Fiona

    2015-06-17

    Surveys and questionnaires are often used in nursing research to elicit the views of large groups of people to develop the nursing knowledge base. This article provides an overview of survey and questionnaire use in nursing research, clarifies the place of the questionnaire as a data collection tool in quantitative research design and provides information and advice about best practice in the development of quantitative surveys and questionnaires.

  1. Comparison of Food Choice Motives between Malay Husbands and Wives in an Urban Community.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Asma, A; Nawalyah, A G; Rokiah, M Y; Mohd Nasir, M T

    2010-04-01

    The main objective of this study was to determine the motives underlying the selection of foods between husbands and wives in an urban community. Thiscross-sectional study was carried out in Bandar Baru Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia among 150 married couples aged 20 and above, who voluntarily agreed to participate and were not on any special diet. Data were collected using the Food Choice Questionnaire (FCQ) which measured the health-related and non health related factor that influence people's food choices. It consisted of 36 items designed to assess the reported importance of nine factors: health, mood, convenience, sensory appeal, natural content, price, weight control, familiarity, and ethical concern. In this study, the FCQ was adapted and a new factor, religion (religious guidelines), was included. Demographic characteristics including age, occupation, education, household income and household size were also collected. Data were analysed using SPSS version 16. Results showed that 40.7% of husbands (mean age= 43.33 + 11.16 years) and 55.3% of wives (mean age= 41.28 + 10.93 years) perceived themselves as the main food shopper while 12.0% of the husbands and 85.3% of the wives perceived themselves as the main meal planner. Husbands rated religion as the most prominent factor in food choice motives with a mean average rating of 4.56 + 0.59 on a 5-point rating scale, followed by health and convenience factor. Meanwhile, the wives rated health as the most essential factor with mean average rating of 4.49 + 0.58, followed by religion and convenience factor. Sensory appeal, ethical concerns and familiarity were rated as the bottom three factors of food choice motives among these two groups. Price of foods was not considered as an important factor in making food choices for the subjects in this study. In conclusion, the husbands and wives of this urban community rated religion, health and convenience as the three most important food choice motives in food selection.

  2. Grammatical Relations and Grammatical Categories in Malay; the Indonesian Prefix MeN- Revisited

    OpenAIRE

    Tjia, Johnny

    2015-01-01

    The lexical roots of Malay are flexible with regard to their grammatical categories, which presents a problem in providing grammatical evidence for their category determination. This paper attempts to propose the use of affixes as one way to deal with the issue. Data from Indonesian and Ambon (Malay) language are among others given for clarification. The grammatical evidence from Indonesian active meN-, together with other affixes, are revisited as they can contribute to our understanding of ...

  3. Diet History Questionnaire: Suggested Citations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Use of the Diet History Questionnaire and Diet*Calc Analysis Software for publication purposes should contain a citation which includes version information for the software, questionnaire, and nutrient database.

  4. Revisit complexation between DNA and polyethylenimine — Effect of length of free polycationic chains on gene transfection

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Yue, Yanan; Jin, Fan; Deng, Rui

    2011-01-01

    Our revisit of the complexation between DNA and polyethylenimine (PEI) by using a combination of laser light scattering and gel electrophoresis confirms that nearly all the DNA chains are complexed with PEI to form polyplexes when the molar ratio of nitrogen from PEI to phosphate from DNA (N:P) r...

  5. Multi-national knowledge strategies, policy and the upgrading process of regions: Revisiting the automotive industry in Ostrava and Shanghai

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Tuijl, E. van; Carvalho, L.; Winden, W. van; Jacobs, W.A.A.

    2012-01-01

    This paper revisits how and why new multinational knowledge-based strategies and multi-level governmental policies influence the upgrading process of regions in developing economies. Automotive multinationals traditionally exploited local asset conditions, but it is shown that they have also been

  6. Revisiting Johnson and Jackson boundary conditions for granular flows

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Li, Tingwen; Benyahia, Sofiane

    2012-07-01

    In this article, we revisit Johnson and Jackson boundary conditions for granular flows. The oblique collision between a particle and a flat wall is analyzed by adopting the classic rigid-body theory and a more realistic semianalytical model. Based on the kinetic granular theory, the input parameter for the partial-slip boundary conditions, specularity coefficient, which is not measurable in experiments, is then interpreted as a function of the particle-wall restitution coefficient, the frictional coefficient, and the normalized slip velocity at the wall. An analytical expression for the specularity coefficient is suggested for a flat, frictional surface with a low frictional coefficient. The procedure for determining the specularity coefficient for a more general problem is outlined, and a working approximation is provided.

  7. Revisiting the melting temperature of NpO2 and the challenges associated with high temperature actinide compound measurements

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Böhler, R.; Welland, M.J.; De Bruycker, F.; Boboridis, K.; Janssen, A.; Eloirdi, R.; Konings, R.J.M.; Manara, D.

    2012-01-01

    This work revisits the melting behaviour of neptunium dioxide, an actinide compound which can be produced in the nuclear fuel during operation, and which has an important impact on the nuclear fuel and waste radioactivity especially on the very long term. The present experimental approach employs

  8. Revisiting instanton corrections to the Konishi multiplet

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Alday, Luis F. [Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford,Andrew Wiles Building, Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, Woodstock Road, Oxford, OX2 6GG (United Kingdom); Korchemsky, Gregory P. [Institut de Physique Théorique, Université Paris Saclay, CNRS, CEA,F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette (France)

    2016-12-01

    We revisit the calculation of instanton effects in correlation functions in N=4 SYM involving the Konishi operator and operators of twist two. Previous studies revealed that the scaling dimensions and the OPE coefficients of these operators do not receive instanton corrections in the semiclassical approximation. We go beyond this approximation and demonstrate that, while operators belonging to the same N=4 supermultiplet ought to have the same conformal data, the evaluation of quantum instanton corrections for one operator can be mapped into a semiclassical computation for another operator in the same supermultiplet. This observation allows us to compute explicitly the leading instanton correction to the scaling dimension of operators in the Konishi supermultiplet as well as to their structure constants in the OPE of two half-BPS scalar operators. We then use these results, together with crossing symmetry, to determine instanton corrections to scaling dimensions of twist-four operators with large spin.

  9. Diet History Questionnaire: International Applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    ARP staff adapted the Diet History Questionnaire (DHQ) for use by Canadian populations in collaboration with the Alberta Cancer Board. This questionnaire takes into account the different food fortification polices of the U.S. and Canada.

  10. Grammatical relations and grammatical categories in Malay; The Indonesian prefix meN- revisited

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Johnny Tjia

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available The lexical roots of Malay are flexible with regard to their grammatical categories, which presents a problem in providing grammatical evidence for their category determination. This paper attempts to propose the use of affixes as one way to deal with the issue. Data from Indonesian and Ambon (Malay language are among others given for clarification. The grammatical evidence from Indonesian active meN-, together with other affixes, are revisited as they can contribute to our understanding of the matter.

  11. ACADEMIC TRAINING LECTURES-QUESTIONNAIRE

    CERN Multimedia

    Françoise Benz

    2004-01-01

    ACADEMIC TRAINING Françoise Benz tel. 73127 academic.training@cern.ch SUGGEST AND WIN! Its time to plan the 2004-2005 lecture series. From today until March 19 you have the chance to give your contribution to planning for next year's Academic Training Lecture Series. At the web site: http://cern.ch/Academic.Training/questionnaire you will find questionnaires proposing topics in high energy physics, applied physics and science and society. Answering the questionnaire will help ensure that the selected topics are as close as possible to your interests. In particular requests and comments from students will be much appreciated. To encourage your contribution, the AT Committee will reward one lucky winner with a small prize, a 50 CHF coupon for a book purchase at the CERN bookshop.

  12. Early-Transition Output Decline Revisited

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Crt Kostevc

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available In this paper we revisit the issue of aggregate output decline that took place in the early transition period. We propose an alternative explanation of output decline that is applicable to Central- and Eastern-European countries. In the first part of the paper we develop a simple dynamic general equilibrium model that builds on work by Gomulka and Lane (2001. In particular, we consider price liberalization, interpreted as elimination of distortionary taxation, as a trigger of the output decline. We show that price liberalization in interaction with heterogeneous adjustment costs and non-employment benefits lead to aggregate output decline and surge in wage inequality. While these patterns are consistent with actual dynamics in CEE countries, this model cannot generate output decline in all sectors. Instead sectors that were initially taxed even exhibit output growth. Thus, in the second part we consider an alternative general equilibrium model with only one production sector and two types of labor and distortion in a form of wage compression during the socialist era. The trigger for labor mobility and consequently output decline is wage liberalization. Assuming heterogeneity of workers in terms of adjustment costs and non-employment benefits can explain output decline in all industries.

  13. Neutrino assisted GUT baryogenesis revisited

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Wei-Chih; Päs, Heinrich; Zeißner, Sinan

    2018-03-01

    Many grand unified theory (GUT) models conserve the difference between the baryon and lepton number, B -L . These models can create baryon and lepton asymmetries from heavy Higgs or gauge boson decays with B +L ≠0 but with B -L =0 . Since the sphaleron processes violate B +L , such GUT-generated asymmetries will finally be washed out completely, making GUT baryogenesis scenarios incapable of reproducing the observed baryon asymmetry of the Universe. In this work, we revisit the idea to revive GUT baryogenesis, proposed by Fukugita and Yanagida, where right-handed neutrinos erase the lepton asymmetry before the sphaleron processes can significantly wash out the original B +L asymmetry, and in this way one can prevent a total washout of the initial baryon asymmetry. By solving the Boltzmann equations numerically for baryon and lepton asymmetries in a simplified 1 +1 flavor scenario, we can confirm the results of the original work. We further generalize the analysis to a more realistic scenario of three active and two right-handed neutrinos to highlight flavor effects of the right-handed neutrinos. Large regions in the parameter space of the Yukawa coupling and the right-handed neutrino mass featuring successful baryogenesis are identified.

  14. The validated sun exposure questionnaire

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Køster, B; Søndergaard, J; Nielsen, J B

    2017-01-01

    Few questionnaires used in monitoring sun-related behavior have been tested for validity. We established criteria validity of a developed questionnaire for monitoring population sun-related behavior. During May-August 2013, 664 Danes wore a personal electronic UV-dosimeter for one week...... that measured the outdoor time and dose of erythemal UVR exposure. In the following week, they answered a questionnaire on their sun-related behavior in the measurement week. Outdoor time measured by dosimetry correlated strongly with both outdoor time and the developed exposure scale measured...... in the questionnaire. Exposure measured in SED by dosimetry correlated strongly with the exposure scale. In a linear regression model of UVR (SED) received, 41 percent of the variation was explained by skin type, age, week of participation and the exposure scale, with the exposure scale as the main contributor...

  15. Questionnaire discrimination: (re-introducing coefficient δ

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hankins Matthew

    2007-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Questionnaires are used routinely in clinical research to measure health status and quality of life. Questionnaire measurements are traditionally formally assessed by indices of reliability (the degree of measurement error and validity (the extent to which the questionnaire measures what it is supposed to measure. Neither of these indices assesses the degree to which the questionnaire is able to discriminate between individuals, an important aspect of measurement. This paper introduces and extends an existing index of a questionnaire's ability to distinguish between individuals, that is, the questionnaire's discrimination. Methods Ferguson (1949 1 derived an index of test discrimination, coefficient δ, for psychometric tests with dichotomous (correct/incorrect items. In this paper a general form of the formula, δG, is derived for the more general class of questionnaires allowing for several response choices. The calculation and characteristics of δG are then demonstrated using questionnaire data (GHQ-12 from 2003–2004 British Household Panel Survey (N = 14761. Coefficients for reliability (α and discrimination (δG are computed for two commonly-used GHQ-12 coding methods: dichotomous coding and four-point Likert-type coding. Results Both scoring methods were reliable (α > 0.88. However, δG was substantially lower (0.73 for the dichotomous coding of the GHQ-12 than for the Likert-type method (δG = 0.96, indicating that the dichotomous coding, although reliable, failed to discriminate between individuals. Conclusion Coefficient δG was shown to have decisive utility in distinguishing between the cross-sectional discrimination of two equally reliable scoring methods. Ferguson's δ has been neglected in discussions of questionnaire design and performance, perhaps because it has not been implemented in software and was restricted to questionnaires with dichotomous items, which are rare in health care research. It is

  16. Food frequency questionnaires.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pérez Rodrigo, Carmen; Aranceta, Javier; Salvador, Gemma; Varela-Moreiras, Gregorio

    2015-02-26

    Food Frequency Questionnaires are dietary assessment tools widely used in epidemiological studies investigating the relationship between dietary intake and disease or risk factors since the early '90s. The three main components of these questionnaires are the list of foods, frequency of consumption and the portion size consumed. The food list should reflect the food habits of the study population at the time the data is collected. The frequency of consumption may be asked by open ended questions or by presenting frequency categories. Qualitative Food Frequency Questionnaires do not ask about the consumed portions; semi-quantitative include standard portions and quantitative questionnaires ask respondents to estimate the portion size consumed either in household measures or grams. The latter implies a greater participant burden. Some versions include only close-ended questions in a standardized format, while others add an open section with questions about some specific food habits and practices and admit additions to the food list for foods and beverages consumed which are not included. The method can be self-administered, on paper or web-based, or interview administered either face-to-face or by telephone. Due to the standard format, especially closed-ended versions, and method of administration, FFQs are highly cost-effective thus encouraging its widespread use in large scale epidemiological cohort studies and also in other study designs. Coding and processing data collected is also less costly and requires less nutrition expertise compared to other dietary intake assessment methods. However, the main limitations are systematic errors and biases in estimates. Important efforts are being developed to improve the quality of the information. It has been recommended the use of FFQs with other methods thus enabling the adjustments required. Copyright AULA MEDICA EDICIONES 2015. Published by AULA MEDICA. All rights reserved.

  17. The Groningen Radiotherapy-Induced Xerostomia questionnaire: Development and validation of a new questionnaire

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Beetz, Ivo; Burlage, Fred R.; Bijl, Henk P.; Hoegen-Chouvalova, Olga; Christianen, Miranda E.M.C.; Vissink, Arjan; Laan, Bernard F.A.M. van der; Bock, Geertruida H. de; Langendijk, Johannes A.

    2010-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a questionnaire (Groningen Radiotherapy-Induced Xerostomia (GRIX) questionnaire) that has the ability to distinguish between patient-rated xerostomia during day and night and can be used to evaluate the impact of emerging radiation delivery techniques aiming at prevention of xerostomia in more detail. Materials and methods: All questions in the GRIX were generated from an exhaustive list of relevant questions according to xerostomia as reported in the literature and reported by patients and health care providers. Finally the GRIX was reduced from 56 questions to a 14-item questionnaire, with four subscales; xerostomia during day and night and sticky saliva during day and night. 315 patients filled out 2936 questionnaires and the GRIX was evaluated by calculating Crohnbach's α for all subscales. Criterion validity was evaluated to compare the GRIX with patient-rated xerostomia scored with the EORTC QLQ-HN35 and physician-rated xerostomia, test-retest analysis and responsiveness were also tested. Results: Crohnbach's α varied for all subscales between 0.88 and 0.94. The GRIX scored well for criterion-related validity on all subscales with high correlations with the EORTC QLQ-HN35 xerostomia and sticky saliva scale as well with physician-rated toxicity scoring. No significant differences were found between test and retest score and the GRIX showed good responsiveness with different time points for all subscales. Conclusion: The GRIX is a validated questionnaire which can be used in future research focusing on patient-rated xerostomia and sticky saliva during day and night in relation with the impact of emerging radiation delivery techniques aiming at reduction of xerostomia.

  18. Usefulness of self-report questionnaires for psychological assessment of patients with tinnitus and hyperacusis and patients' views of the questionnaires.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aazh, Hashir; Moore, Brian C J

    2017-07-01

    The objective was to determine the relevance and applicability of psychological questionnaires to patients seeking help for tinnitus and/or hyperacusis. This was a questionnaire-based survey. The following questionnaires were administered: Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7), Short Health Anxiety Inventory (SHAI), Mini-Social Phobia Inventory (Mini-SPIN), Obsessive Compulsive Inventory-Revised (OCI-R), Panic Disorder Severity Scale-Self Report (PDSS-SR), Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and Penn State Worry Questionnaire-Abbreviated version (PSWQ-A). In addition, a patient feedback questionnaire was completed asking about the extent to which each questionnaire was relevant to them and how strongly they would recommend its use in the assessment of patients with tinnitus and hyperacusis. A total of 150/402 consecutive patients seen in a one-year period completed the questionnaires. 65% of patients had abnormal scores for one or more of the questionnaires. All questionnaires except the PDSS-SR were rated as relevant and recommended for use. The GAD-7, SHAI, Mini-SPIN, OCI-R, PSWQ-A and PHQ-9 are recommended for evaluation of psychological problems for patients seeking help for tinnitus and/or hyperacusis. Abnormal results on these questionnaires may indicate the need for referral for possible treatment of psychological problems.

  19. Response variance in functional maps: neural darwinism revisited.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hirokazu Takahashi

    Full Text Available The mechanisms by which functional maps and map plasticity contribute to cortical computation remain controversial. Recent studies have revisited the theory of neural Darwinism to interpret the learning-induced map plasticity and neuronal heterogeneity observed in the cortex. Here, we hypothesize that the Darwinian principle provides a substrate to explain the relationship between neuron heterogeneity and cortical functional maps. We demonstrate in the rat auditory cortex that the degree of response variance is closely correlated with the size of its representational area. Further, we show that the response variance within a given population is altered through training. These results suggest that larger representational areas may help to accommodate heterogeneous populations of neurons. Thus, functional maps and map plasticity are likely to play essential roles in Darwinian computation, serving as effective, but not absolutely necessary, structures to generate diverse response properties within a neural population.

  20. Response variance in functional maps: neural darwinism revisited.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Takahashi, Hirokazu; Yokota, Ryo; Kanzaki, Ryohei

    2013-01-01

    The mechanisms by which functional maps and map plasticity contribute to cortical computation remain controversial. Recent studies have revisited the theory of neural Darwinism to interpret the learning-induced map plasticity and neuronal heterogeneity observed in the cortex. Here, we hypothesize that the Darwinian principle provides a substrate to explain the relationship between neuron heterogeneity and cortical functional maps. We demonstrate in the rat auditory cortex that the degree of response variance is closely correlated with the size of its representational area. Further, we show that the response variance within a given population is altered through training. These results suggest that larger representational areas may help to accommodate heterogeneous populations of neurons. Thus, functional maps and map plasticity are likely to play essential roles in Darwinian computation, serving as effective, but not absolutely necessary, structures to generate diverse response properties within a neural population.

  1. Polish adaptation of Bad Sobernheim Stress Questionnaire-Brace and Bad Sobernheim Stress Questionnaire-Deformity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Misterska, Ewa; Głowacki, Maciej; Harasymczuk, Jerzy

    2009-12-01

    Bad Sobernheim Stress Questionnaire-Brace and Bad Sobernheim Stress Questionnaire-Deformity are relatively new tools aimed at facilitating the evaluation of long-term results of therapy in persons with idiopathic scoliosis undergoing conservative treatment. To use these tools properly in Poland, they must be translated into Polish and adapted to the Polish cultural settings. The process of cultural adaptation of the questionnaires was compliant with the guidelines of International Quality of Life Assessment (IQOLA) Project. In the first stage, two independent translators converted the originals into Polish. Stage two, consisted of a comparison of the originals and two translated versions. During that stage, the team of two translators and authors of the project identified differences in those translations and created a combination of the two. In the third stage, two independent translators, who were native speakers of German, translated the adjusted version of the Polish translation into the language of the original document. At the last stage, a commission composed of: specialists in orthopedics, translators, a statistician and a psychologist reviewed all translations and drafted a pre-final version of the questionnaires. Thirty-five adolescent girls with idiopathic scoliosis who were treated with Cheneau brace were subjected to the questionnaire assessment. All patients were treated in an out-patient setting by a specialist in orthopedics at the Chair and Clinic of Orthopedics and Traumatology. Median age of patients was 14.8 SD 1.5, median value of the Cobb's angle was 27.8 degrees SD 7.4. 48.6% of patients had thoracic scoliosis, 31.4% had thoracolumbar scoliosis, and 20% patients had lumbar scoliosis. Median results obtained by means of the Polish version of BSSQ-Brace and BSSQ-Deformity questionnaires were 17.9 SD 5.0 and 11.3 SD 4.7, respectively. Internal consistency of BSSQ-Brace and BSSQ-Deformity was at the level of 0.80 and 0.87, whereas the value of

  2. Meta-analysis in clinical trials revisited.

    Science.gov (United States)

    DerSimonian, Rebecca; Laird, Nan

    2015-11-01

    In this paper, we revisit a 1986 article we published in this Journal, Meta-Analysis in Clinical Trials, where we introduced a random-effects model to summarize the evidence about treatment efficacy from a number of related clinical trials. Because of its simplicity and ease of implementation, our approach has been widely used (with more than 12,000 citations to date) and the "DerSimonian and Laird method" is now often referred to as the 'standard approach' or a 'popular' method for meta-analysis in medical and clinical research. The method is especially useful for providing an overall effect estimate and for characterizing the heterogeneity of effects across a series of studies. Here, we review the background that led to the original 1986 article, briefly describe the random-effects approach for meta-analysis, explore its use in various settings and trends over time and recommend a refinement to the method using a robust variance estimator for testing overall effect. We conclude with a discussion of repurposing the method for Big Data meta-analysis and Genome Wide Association Studies for studying the importance of genetic variants in complex diseases. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  3. Physiotherapy Questionnaires App to Deliver Main Musculoskeletal Assessment Questionnaires: Development and Validation Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Teixeira Neto, Nestor Cavalcante; Lima, Yuri Lopes; Almeida, Gabriel Peixoto Leão; Bezerra, Márcio Almeida; Lima, Pedro Olavo De Paula; de Oliveira, Rodrigo Ribeiro

    2018-02-23

    Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) translate subjective outcomes into objective data that can be quantified and analyzed. Nevertheless, the use of PROs in their traditional paper format is not practical for clinical practice due to limitations associated with the analysis and management of the data. To address the need for a viable way to group and utilize the main functioning assessment tools in the field of musculoskeletal disorders, the Physiotherapy Questionnaires app was developed. This study aims to explain the development of the app, to validate it using two questionnaires, and to analyze whether participants prefer to use the app or the paper version of the questionnaires. In the first stage, the app for an Android operational system was developed. In the second stage, the aim was to select questionnaires that were most often used in musculoskeletal clinical practice and research. The Foot and Ankle Outcome Score (FAOS) and American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society (AOFAS) questionnaire were selected to validate the app. In total, 50 participants completed the paper and app versions of the AOFAS and 50 completed the FAOS. The study's outcomes were the correlation of the data between the paper and app versions as well as the preference of the participants between the two versions. The app was approved by experts after the adaptations of the layout for mobile phones and a total of 18 questionnaires were included in the app. Moreover, the app allows the generation of PDF and Excel files with the patients' data. In regards to validity, the mean of the total scores of the FAOS were 91.54% (SD 8.86%) for the paper version and 91.74% (SD 9.20%) for the app. There was no statistically significant differences in the means of the total scores or the subscales (P=.11-.94). The mean total scores for the AOFAS were 93.94 (SD 8.47) for the paper version and 93.96 (SD 8.48) for the app. No statistically significant differences were found for the total scores for the AOFAS

  4. PIRLS 2011 User Guide for the International Database. Supplement 1: International Version of the PIRLS 2011, Background Questionnaires and Curriculum Questionnaire

    Science.gov (United States)

    Foy, Pierre, Ed.; Drucker, Kathleen T., Ed.

    2013-01-01

    The PIRLS 2011 international database includes data for all questionnaires administered as part of the PIRLS 2011 assessment. This supplement contains the international version of the PIRLS 2011 background questionnaires and curriculum questionnaires in the following 5 sections: (1) Student Questionnaire; (2) Home Questionnaire (Learning to Read…

  5. Conservation laws for steady flow and solitons in a multifluid plasma revisited

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mace, R. L.; McKenzie, J. F.; Webb, G. M.

    2007-01-01

    The conservation laws used in constructing the governing equations for planar solitons in multifluid plasmas are revisited. In particular, the concept of generalized vorticity facilitates the derivation of some general ''Bernoulli theorems,'' which reduce, in specific instances, to conservation laws previously deduced by other means. These theorems clarify the underlying physical principles that give rise to the conserved quantities. As an example of the usefulness of the techniques, even for relatively simple flows and progressive waves, the equations governing stationary nonlinear whistler waves propagating parallel to an ambient magnetic field are derived using generalized vorticity concepts

  6. Gaussian entanglement revisited

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lami, Ludovico; Serafini, Alessio; Adesso, Gerardo

    2018-02-01

    We present a novel approach to the separability problem for Gaussian quantum states of bosonic continuous variable systems. We derive a simplified necessary and sufficient separability criterion for arbitrary Gaussian states of m versus n modes, which relies on convex optimisation over marginal covariance matrices on one subsystem only. We further revisit the currently known results stating the equivalence between separability and positive partial transposition (PPT) for specific classes of Gaussian states. Using techniques based on matrix analysis, such as Schur complements and matrix means, we then provide a unified treatment and compact proofs of all these results. In particular, we recover the PPT-separability equivalence for: (i) Gaussian states of 1 versus n modes; and (ii) isotropic Gaussian states. In passing, we also retrieve (iii) the recently established equivalence between separability of a Gaussian state and and its complete Gaussian extendability. Our techniques are then applied to progress beyond the state of the art. We prove that: (iv) Gaussian states that are invariant under partial transposition are necessarily separable; (v) the PPT criterion is necessary and sufficient for separability for Gaussian states of m versus n modes that are symmetric under the exchange of any two modes belonging to one of the parties; and (vi) Gaussian states which remain PPT under passive optical operations can not be entangled by them either. This is not a foregone conclusion per se (since Gaussian bound entangled states do exist) and settles a question that had been left unanswered in the existing literature on the subject. This paper, enjoyable by both the quantum optics and the matrix analysis communities, overall delivers technical and conceptual advances which are likely to be useful for further applications in continuous variable quantum information theory, beyond the separability problem.

  7. 'Counterfeit deviance' revisited.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Griffiths, Dorothy; Hingsburger, Dave; Hoath, Jordan; Ioannou, Stephanie

    2013-09-01

    The field has seen a renewed interest in exploring the theory of 'counterfeit deviance' for persons with intellectual disability who sexually offend. The term was first presented in 1991 by Hingsburger, Griffiths and Quinsey as a means to differentiate in clinical assessment a subgroup of persons with intellectual disability whose behaviours appeared like paraphilia but served a function that was not related to paraphilia sexual urges or fantasies. Case observations were put forward to provide differential diagnosis of paraphilia in persons with intellectual disabilities compared to those with counterfeit deviance. The brief paper was published in a journal that is no longer available and as such much of what is currently written on the topic is based on secondary sources. The current paper presents a theoretical piece to revisit the original counterfeit deviance theory to clarify the myths and misconceptions that have arisen and evaluate the theory based on additional research and clinical findings. The authors also propose areas where there may be a basis for expansion of the theory. The theory of counterfeit deviance still has relevance as a consideration for clinicians when assessing the nature of a sexual offence committed by a person with an intellectual disability. Clinical differentiation of paraphilia from counterfeit deviance provides a foundation for intervention that is designed to specifically treat the underlying factors that contributed to the offence for a given individual. Counterfeit deviance is a concept that continues to provide areas for consideration for clinicians regarding the assessment and treatment of an individual with an intellectual disability who has sexually offended. It is not and never was an explanation for all sexually offending behavior among persons with intellectual disabilities. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  8. Destination Brand Equity, Satisfaction And Revisit Intention: An Application In TRNC As a Tourism Destination

    OpenAIRE

    Sarvari, Neda Gholizadeh

    2012-01-01

    ABSTRACT: This study revisits the previous studies carried out by several researchers on Customer – Based Brand Equity with an intension to further investigate the applications and testing of the Customer-Based Brand Equity (CBBE) model in relation to destination branding. The study specifically examines the effects of Brand Equity Dimensions (Brand Awareness, Brand Loyalty, Brand Value, Brand Quality and Brand Image) on Tourists Satisfaction and ultimately on Future Behaviours that result i...

  9. The Allolobophora sturanyi species group revisited: Integrated taxonomy and new taxa (Clitellata: Megadrili

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Szederjesi, T.

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available The Allolobophora sturanyi Rosa, 1895 species group is revisited using DNA barcoding and morphology. Barcoding results corroborated the previous treatment of the Allolobophora sturanyi subspecies and furthermore proved that the morphologically similar Allolobophora gestroides Zicsi, 1970 species belong to this species group. Elaboration of new samples from the Apuseni Mts resulted in discovery of a new subspecies A. sturanyi biharica ssp. nov. from the summit of the Bihor range, and a new species A. zicsica from the Vladeasa range similar to A. gestroides described from Northern Hungary.

  10. Thermal ignition revisited with two-dimensional molecular dynamics: role of fluctuations in activated collisions

    OpenAIRE

    Sirmas, Nick; Radulescu, Matei I.

    2016-01-01

    The problem of thermal ignition in a homogeneous gas is revisited from a molecular dynamics perspective. A two-dimensional model is adopted, which assumes reactive disks of type A and B in a fixed area that react to form type C products if an activation threshold for impact is surpassed. Such a reaction liberates kinetic energy to the product particles, representative of the heat release. The results for the ignition delay are compared with those obtained from the continuum description assumi...

  11. Revisiting the dilatation operator of the Wilson-Fisher fixed point

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Liendo, Pedro [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg (Germany). Theory Group

    2017-01-15

    We revisit the order ε dilatation operator of the Wilson-Fisher fixed point obtained by Kehrein, Pismak, and Wegner in light of recent results in conformal field theory. Our approach is algebraic and based only on symmetry principles. The starting point of our analysis is that the first correction to the dilatation operator is a conformal invariant, which implies that its form is fixed up to an infinite set of coefficients associated with the scaling dimensions of higher-spin currents. These coefficients can be fixed using well-known perturbative results, however, they were recently re-obtained using CFT arguments without relying on perturbation theory. Our analysis then implies that all order-ε scaling dimensions of the Wilson-Fisher fixed point can be fixed by symmetry.

  12. Carbon emission from global hydroelectric reservoirs revisited.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Siyue; Zhang, Quanfa

    2014-12-01

    Substantial greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from hydropower reservoirs have been of great concerns recently, yet the significant carbon emitters of drawdown area and reservoir downstream (including spillways and turbines as well as river reaches below dams) have not been included in global carbon budget. Here, we revisit GHG emission from hydropower reservoirs by considering reservoir surface area, drawdown zone and reservoir downstream. Our estimates demonstrate around 301.3 Tg carbon dioxide (CO2)/year and 18.7 Tg methane (CH4)/year from global hydroelectric reservoirs, which are much higher than recent observations. The sum of drawdown and downstream emission, which is generally overlooked, represents 42 % CO2 and 67 % CH4 of the total emissions from hydropower reservoirs. Accordingly, the global average emissions from hydropower are estimated to be 92 g CO2/kWh and 5.7 g CH4/kWh. Nonetheless, global hydroelectricity could currently reduce approximate 2,351 Tg CO2eq/year with respect to fuel fossil plant alternative. The new findings show a substantial revision of carbon emission from the global hydropower reservoirs.

  13. Presenting the Prenatal Caregiving Experiences Questionnaire

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Røhder, Katrine; Trier, Christopher Høier; Brennan, Jessica

    to the child´s attachment system. The Prenatal Caregiving Experiences Questionnaire (PCEQ) (Brennan, George, & Solomon, 2013) is the first questionnaire that directly assesses prenatal caregiving representation. This poster presentation brings together different researchers who use the instrument in ongoing...... longitudinal research projects. The poster includes a description of the development of the PCEQ questionnaire, the theoretical background, as well as preliminary data on future mothers and fathers from the WARM study....

  14. Questionnaire surveys of dentists on radiology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shelley, A M; Brunton, P; Horner, K

    2012-05-01

    Survey by questionnaire is a widely used research method in dental radiology. A major concern in reviews of questionnaires is non-response. The objectives of this study were to review questionnaire studies in dental radiology with regard to potential survey errors and to develop recommendations to assist future researchers. A literature search with the software search package PubMed was used to obtain internet-based access to Medline through the website www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed. A search of the English language peer-reviewed literature was conducted of all published studies, with no restriction on date. The search strategy found articles with dates from 1983 to 2010. The medical subject heading terms used were "questionnaire", "dental radiology" and "dental radiography". The reference sections of articles retrieved by this method were hand-searched in order to identify further relevant papers. Reviews, commentaries and relevant studies from the wider literature were also included. 53 questionnaire studies were identified in the dental literature that concerned dental radiography and included a report of response rate. These were all published between 1983 and 2010. In total, 87 articles are referred to in this review, including the 53 dental radiology studies. Other cited articles include reviews, commentaries and examples of studies outside dental radiology where they are germane to the arguments presented. Non-response is only one of four broad areas of error to which questionnaire surveys are subject. This review considers coverage, sampling and measurement, as well as non-response. Recommendations are made to assist future research that uses questionnaire surveys.

  15. Searle's"Dualism Revisited"

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    P., Henry

    2008-11-20

    A recent article in which John Searle claims to refute dualism is examined from a scientific perspective. John Searle begins his recent article 'Dualism Revisited' by stating his belief that the philosophical problem of consciousness has a scientific solution. He then claims to refute dualism. It is therefore appropriate to examine his arguments against dualism from a scientific perspective. Scientific physical theories contain two kinds of descriptions: (1) Descriptions of our empirical findings, expressed in an every-day language that allows us communicate to each other our sensory experiences pertaining to what we have done and what we have learned; and (2) Descriptions of a theoretical model, expressed in a mathematical language that allows us to communicate to each other certain ideas that exist in our mathematical imaginations, and that are believed to represent, within our streams of consciousness, certain aspects of reality that we deem to exist independently of their being perceived by any human observer. These two parts of our scientific description correspond to the two aspects of our general contemporary dualistic understanding of the total reality in which we are imbedded, namely the empirical-mental aspect and the theoretical-physical aspect. The duality question is whether this general dualistic understanding of ourselves should be regarded as false in some important philosophical or scientific sense.

  16. Individualist Biocentrism vs. Holism Revisited

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Katie McShane

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available While holist views such as ecocentrism have considerable intuitive appeal, arguing for the moral considerability of ecological wholes such as ecosystems has turned out to be a very difficult task. In the environmental ethics literature, individualist biocentrists have persuasively argued that individual organisms—but not ecological wholes—are properly regarded as having a good of their own . In this paper, I revisit those arguments and contend that they are fatally flawed. The paper proceeds in five parts. First, I consider some problems brought about by climate change for environmental conservation strategies and argue that these problems give us good pragmatic reasons to want a better account of the welfare of ecological wholes. Second, I describe the theoretical assumptions from normative ethics that form the background of the arguments against holism. Third, I review the arguments given by individualist biocentrists in favour of individualism over holism. Fourth, I review recent work in the philosophy of biology on the units of selection problem, work in medicine on the human biome, and work in evolutionary biology on epigenetics and endogenous viral elements. I show how these developments undermine both the individualist arguments described above as well as the distinction between individuals and wholes as it has been understood by individualists. Finally, I consider five possible theoretical responses to these problems.

  17. The Integral Theory System Questionnaire: an anatomically directed questionnaire to determine pelvic floor dysfunctions in women.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wagenlehner, Florian Martin Erich; Fröhlich, Oliver; Bschleipfer, Thomas; Weidner, Wolfgang; Perletti, Gianpaolo

    2014-06-01

    Anatomical damage to pelvic floor structures may cause multiple symptoms. The Integral Theory System Questionnaire (ITSQ) is a holistic questionnaire that uses symptoms to help locate damage in specific connective tissue structures as a guide to reconstructive surgery. It is based on the integral theory, which states that pelvic floor symptoms and prolapse are both caused by lax suspensory ligaments. The aim of the present study was to psychometrically validate the ITSQ. Established psychometric properties including validity, reliability, and responsiveness were considered for evaluation. Criterion validity was assessed in a cohort of 110 women with pelvic floor dysfunctions by analyzing the correlation of questionnaire responses with objective clinical data. Test-retest was performed with questionnaires from 47 patients. Cronbach's alpha and "split-half" reliability coefficients were calculated for inner consistency analysis. Psychometric properties of ITSQ were comparable to the ones of previously validated Pelvic Floor Questionnaires. Face validity and content validity were approved by an expert group of the International Collaboration of Pelvic Floor surgeons. Convergent validity assessed using Bayesian method was at least as accurate as the expert assessment of anatomical defects. Objective data measurement in patients demonstrated significant correlations with ITSQ domains fulfilling criterion validity. Internal consistency values ranked from 0.85 to 0.89 in different scenarios. The ITSQ proofed accurate and is able to serve as a holistic Pelvic Floor Questionnaire directing symptoms to site-specific pelvic floor reconstructive surgery.

  18. Development of a Maltese version of oral health-associated questionnaires: OHIP-14, GOHAI, and the Denture Satisfaction Questionnaire.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Santucci, Daniela; Camilleri, Liberato; Kobayashi, Yasuyoshi; Attard, Nikolai

    2014-01-01

    To show the reliability of the Maltese translations of OHIP-14, GOHAI, and the Denture Satisfaction Questionnaire, define the reliability of the responses, and determine the correlation between OHIP-14 and GOHAI. The items of the three questionnaires (OHIP-14, GOHAI, and Denture Satisfaction) were translated into Maltese and back into English to compare with the original version. Specific sampling of a population well versed in Maltese and English was carried out to obtain a sample of respondents for each questionnaire. Data were gathered through self-administered questionnaires: first administering the Maltese version and following with the English version 1 week later. Participation rates were high (98%). Cronbach's alpha for all three questionnaires was high (> 0.7), indicating satisfactory test-retest reliability of the instruments. Similarly, the Spearman correlation coefficients for both the English and Maltese versions of OHIP-14 and GOHAI were good (> 0.6). The Maltese versions of OHIP-14, GOHAI, and the Denture Satisfaction Questionnaire can be safely used as a valid alternative to the English versions in studies of patients who are limited in linguistic proficiency.

  19. Theory of magnetohydrodynamic waves: The WKB approximation revisited

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Barnes, A.

    1992-01-01

    Past treatments of the eikonal or WKB theory of the propagation of magnetohydrodynamics waves have assumed a strictly isentropic background. IF in fact there is a gradient in the background entropy, then in second order in the WKB ordering, adiabatic fluctuations (in the Lagrangian sense) are not strictly isentropic in the Eulerian sense. This means that in the second order of the WKB expansion, which determines the variation of wave amplitude along rays, the violation of isentropy must be accounted for. The present paper revisits the derivation of the WKB approximation for small-amplitude magnetohydrodynamic waves, allowing for possible spatial variation of the background entropy. The equation of variation of wave amplitude is rederived; it is a bilinear equation which, it turns out, can be recast in the action conservation form. It is shown that this action conservation equation is in fact equivalent to the action conservation law obtained from Lagrangian treatments

  20. Revisitation: a trans phenomenology of the media image

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cael M Keegan

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available How might certain moving images move us into transgender becoming? The recent proliferation of transgender images in the media of the Global North has been widely regarded as supporting transgender political and social equality. But do these images do justice to the complexity of transgender lives? Who are images of transgender identity made for, and whose interests do they serve? Instead of discussing media that produce a transgender object for public consumption, this essay’s author is interested in theorizing a trans point of media reception for the popular image. This essay illustrates how transgender subjects might fashion their own archives of becoming through encounters with media that unintentionally support transgender embodiment as a possibility in the world. Revisiting his phenomenological encounters with the film Under the Skin and the “Milk: It Does a Body Good” ad campaign, the author analyzes how certain media objects have the unexpected power to “move” the transgender subject into becoming.

  1. PENGARUH PERCEIVED JUSTICE TERHADAP WORD OF MOUTH, TRUST DAN REVISIT INTENTION YANG DIMEDIASI OLEH RECOVERY SATISFACTION

    OpenAIRE

    Sembodo Herry C

    2008-01-01

    The purpose: of this study is to assess the relative influences of distributive (DJ), procedural (PJ), and interactional (Li) justice on customer satisfaction on service recovery and to examine the relationship between recovery satisfaction and subsequent customer relationships: trust, word-of-riwuth (WOM), and revisit intention. Methodology: On-site surveys were administered to collect data from insurance customer who bought, and experienced a service failure. Findings: The effect of D...

  2. Systematic review: questionnaires for assessment of gastroesophageal reflux disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bolier, E A; Kessing, B F; Smout, A J; Bredenoord, A J

    2015-01-01

    Numerous questionnaires with a wide variety of characteristics have been developed for the assessment of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). Four well-defined dimensions are noticeable in these GERD questionnaires, which are symptoms, response to treatment, diagnosis, and burden on the quality of life of GERD patients. The aim of this review is to develop a complete overview of all available questionnaires, categorized per dimension of the assessment of GERD. A systematic search of the literature up to January 2013 using the Pubmed database and the Embase database, and search of references and conference abstract books were conducted. A total number of 65 questionnaires were extracted and evaluated. Thirty-nine questionnaires were found applicable for the assessment of GERD symptoms, three of which are generic gastrointestinal questionnaires. For the assessment of response to treatment, 14 questionnaires were considered applicable. Seven questionnaires with diagnostic purposes were found. In the assessment of quality of life in GERD patients, 18 questionnaires were found and evaluated. Twenty questionnaires were found to be used for more than one assessment dimension, and eight questionnaires were found for GERD assessment in infants and/or children. A wide variety of GERD questionnaires is available, of which the majority is used for assessment of GERD symptoms. Questionnaires differ in aspects such as design, validation and translations. Also, numerous multidimensional questionnaires are available, of which the Reflux Disease Questionnaire is widely applicable. We provided an overview of GERD questionnaires to aid investigators and clinicians in their search for the most appropriate questionnaire for their specific purposes. © 2013 International Society for Diseases of the Esophagus.

  3. Supervision of radiography licensees - using electronic questionnaires

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Olson, Aa. [Swedish Radiation Protection Authority, Stockholm (Sweden)

    2005-09-15

    The results from this questionnaire gave a general view of the state of the radiography practices in Sweden, and the questionnaire hopefully contributed to improve the knowledge of these regulations for the licensees. The largest deficiencies were found in the documentation of the radiation protection organisation as well as documentation of quality assurance and operational statistics. The results of the questionnaire constitute a useful basis for selecting companies for future inspections by SSI. Those who has not answered the questionnaire and are working with site radiography can expect a visit in the near future.

  4. Changes in composition, ecology and structure of high-mountain vegetation: a re-visitation study over 42 years.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Evangelista, Alberto; Frate, Ludovico; Carranza, Maria Laura; Attorre, Fabio; Pelino, Giovanni; Stanisci, Angela

    2016-01-27

    High-mountain ecosystems are increasingly threatened by climate change, causing biodiversity loss, habitat degradation and landscape modifications. However, very few detailed studies have focussed on plant biodiversity in the high mountains of the Mediterranean. In this study, we investigated the long-term changes that have occurred in the composition, structure and ecology of high-mountain vegetation in the central Apennines (Majella) over the last 42 years. We performed a re-visitation study, using historical and newly collected vegetation data to explore which ecological and structural features have been the most successful in coping with climatic changes. Vegetation changes were analysed by comparing geo-referenced phytosociological relevés collected in high-mountain habitats (dolines, gentle slopes and ridges) on the Majella massif in 1972 and in 2014. Composition analysis was performed by detrended correspondence analysis, followed by an analysis of similarities for statistical significance assessment and by similarity percentage procedure (SIMPER) for identifying which species indicate temporal changes. Changes in ecological and structural indicators were analysed by a permutational multivariate analysis of variance, followed by a post hoc comparison. Over the last 42 years, clear floristic changes and significant ecological and structural variations occurred. We observed a significant increase in the thermophilic and mesonitrophilic plant species and an increment in the frequencies of hemicryptophytes. This re-visitation study in the Apennines agrees with observations in other alpine ecosystems, providing new insights for a better understanding of the effects of global change on Mediterranean high-mountain biodiversity. The observed changes in floristic composition, the thermophilization process and the shift towards a more nutrient-demanding vegetation are likely attributable to the combined effect of higher temperatures and the increase in soil nutrients

  5. REVISITING THE SCATTERING GREENHOUSE EFFECT OF CO2 ICE CLOUDS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kitzmann, D.

    2016-01-01

    Carbon dioxide ice clouds are thought to play an important role for cold terrestrial planets with thick CO 2 dominated atmospheres. Various previous studies showed that a scattering greenhouse effect by carbon dioxide ice clouds could result in a massive warming of the planetary surface. However, all of these studies only employed simplified two-stream radiative transfer schemes to describe the anisotropic scattering. Using accurate radiative transfer models with a general discrete ordinate method, this study revisits this important effect and shows that the positive climatic impact of carbon dioxide clouds was strongly overestimated in the past. The revised scattering greenhouse effect can have important implications for the early Mars, but also for planets like the early Earth or the position of the outer boundary of the habitable zone

  6. Revisiting the argument from fetal potential

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Manninen Bertha

    2007-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract One of the most famous, and most derided, arguments against the morality of abortion is the argument from potential, which maintains that the fetus' potential to become a person and enjoy the valuable life common to persons, entails that its destruction is prima facie morally impermissible. In this paper, I will revisit and offer a defense of the argument from potential. First, I will criticize the classical arguments proffered against the importance of fetal potential, specifically the arguments put forth by philosophers Peter Singer and David Boonin, by carefully unpacking the claims made in these arguments and illustrating why they are flawed. Secondly, I will maintain that fetal potential is morally relevant when it comes to the morality of abortion, but that it must be accorded a proper place in the argument. This proper place, however, cannot be found until we first answer a very important and complex question: we must first address the issue of personal identity, and when the fetus becomes the type of being who is relevantly identical to a future person. I will illustrate why the question of fetal potential can only be meaningfully addressed after we have first answered the question of personal identity and how it relates to the human fetus.

  7. QUESTIONNAIRES PRETESTING IN MARKETING RESEARCH

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    ALINA-MIHAELA BABONEA

    2011-04-01

    Full Text Available Designing the perfect survey questionnaire is impossible. However, researchers can still create an effective research. To make your questionnaire effective, it is necessary to pretest it before actually using it. The following paper reveals some general guidelines on pretesting and what to do for a more effective marketing research giving the fact that the existing literature highlights the importance and indispensability of pretesting and on the other hand, does not provide sufficient information in terms of methodology about it. Also, we have tried to explain the importance of questionnaires pretesting before applying them in order to obtain the best results in marketing research and we’ve kept in mind that high quality in this domain means using new tools and improving the existing ones if one searches for efficient results.

  8. Governing Education: a revisiting of ‘Political Power beyond the State’ 25 years on

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lim, Miguel Antonio

    2016-01-01

    that are used in classrooms, management offices, and policy setting agencies. Each of these instruments and calculative devices is pregnant with interest. They bridge the gap between everyday practices and larger governance goals. Yet as the technical sophistication of these instruments increases......This article revisits Political Power Beyond the State: Problematics of Government by sociologist Nikolas Rose and critical accounting scholar Peter Miller. The reach of this influential critique of the nature of power and its exercise ‘beyond the state’ continues to this day, 25 years after...

  9. Agglomeration externalities, market structure and employment growth in high-tech industries: Revisiting the evidence

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cieślik Andrzej

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available In this paper we revisit the existing empirical evidence on the effects of various agglomeration externalities and the market structure on employment growth in the high-tech industries of the European Economic Area (EEA. Our study is based on the dynamic panel dataset of two-digit NACE rev 1.1. industries in 285 regions of the European Economic Area for the period 1995-2007. We find that employment growth is negatively related to competition, while localization and urbanization externalities do not seem to affect growth.

  10. The Kickstart of the Age of the Earth Race: Revisiting the Experiment of the Comte de Buffon at School

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pincelli, M. M.; Prat, M. R.; Lescano, G. M.; Formichella, M. del C.; Brustle, M.; Otranto, S.

    2018-01-01

    In this work, the first experiment ever done to determine the age of the Earth is revisited. The benefits of its application at primary and secondary school levels are presented and discussed. In particular, emphasis is placed on the advantage of facing students with the challenges that scientists have had to overcome during the past three…

  11. Quality of life questionnaires in otorhinolaryngology: a systematic overview.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koenraads, S P C; Aarts, M C J; van der Veen, E L; Grolman, W; Stegeman, I

    2016-12-01

    The importance of quality of life (QOL) as an endpoint and the use of validated QOL questionnaires have increased over time. To evaluate health-related quality of life (HR-QOL) measurement instruments used in patients in otorhinolaryngology (ORL). We aimed to establish the use of QOL questionnaires in ORL over a period of time, establish the use of QOL questionnaires within different domains and determine the use of validated QOL questionnaires. We performed a comprehensive search in PubMed up to 1 January 2014. Articles were included that measured HR-QOL questionnaires in clinical practice in children, adolescents or adults in 42 journals of ORL. Multiple unique QOL questionnaires, organised according to domain, time and survey of validation, were extracted from reported articles. Of 2442 articles, we utilised 1196 publications with a total of 2103 QOL questionnaires regarding ORL. We evaluated a variety of 363 unique QOL questionnaires in which 60% (n = 220) QOL questionnaires had been validated. We found a continuing increase in the amount of articles which used QOL questionnaires since the beginning of the 20th century, while the percentage of validated QOL questionnaires remained the same (76%). Most QOL questionnaires were used in the domains oncology (35%), otology (21%) and rhinology (20%). The domain otology had the largest amount of unique QOL questionnaires (n = 122). We identified and evaluated all unique HR-QOL questionnaires utilised in patients in ORL. Recently, the use of validated and non-validated HR-QOL questionnaires has increased within all domains of ORL. The assessment of QOL has become an important outcome measure in clinical practice, in medical research and for healthcare organisations. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  12. Revisiting the safety of aspartame.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Choudhary, Arbind Kumar; Pretorius, Etheresia

    2017-09-01

    Aspartame is a synthetic dipeptide artificial sweetener, frequently used in foods, medications, and beverages, notably carbonated and powdered soft drinks. Since 1981, when aspartame was first approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, researchers have debated both its recommended safe dosage (40 mg/kg/d) and its general safety to organ systems. This review examines papers published between 2000 and 2016 on both the safe dosage and higher-than-recommended dosages and presents a concise synthesis of current trends. Data on the safe aspartame dosage are controversial, and the literature suggests there are potential side effects associated with aspartame consumption. Since aspartame consumption is on the rise, the safety of this sweetener should be revisited. Most of the literature available on the safety of aspartame is included in this review. Safety studies are based primarily on animal models, as data from human studies are limited. The existing animal studies and the limited human studies suggest that aspartame and its metabolites, whether consumed in quantities significantly higher than the recommended safe dosage or within recommended safe levels, may disrupt the oxidant/antioxidant balance, induce oxidative stress, and damage cell membrane integrity, potentially affecting a variety of cells and tissues and causing a deregulation of cellular function, ultimately leading to systemic inflammation. © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Life Sciences Institute. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  13. Pair Production Constraints on Superluminal Neutrinos Revisited

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brodsky, Stanley

    2012-01-01

    We revisit the pair creation constraint on superluminal neutrinos considered by Cohen and Glashow in order to clarify which types of superluminal models are constrained. We show that a model in which the superluminal neutrino is effectively light-like can evade the Cohen-Glashow constraint. In summary, any model for which the CG pair production process operates is excluded because such timelike neutrinos would not be detected by OPERA or other experiments. However, a superluminal neutrino which is effectively lightlike with fixed p 2 can evade the Cohen-Glashow constraint because of energy-momentum conservation. The coincidence involved in explaining the SN1987A constraint certainly makes such a picture improbable - but it is still intrinsically possible. The lightlike model is appealing in that it does not violate Lorentz symmetry in particle interactions, although one would expect Hughes-Drever tests to turn up a violation eventually. Other evasions of the CG constraints are also possible; perhaps, e.g., the neutrino takes a 'short cut' through extra dimensions or suffers anomalous acceleration in matter. Irrespective of the OPERA result, Lorentz-violating interactions remain possible, and ongoing experimental investigation of such possibilities should continue.

  14. Revisiting the Survival Mnemonic Effect in Children

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Josefa N. S. Pand Eirada

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available The survival processing paradigm is designed to explore the adaptive nature of memory functioning. The mnemonic advantage of processing information in fitness-relevant contexts, as has been demonstrated using this paradigm, is now well established, particularly in young adults; this phenomenon is often referred to as the “survival processing effect.” In the current experiment, we revisited the investigation of this effect in children and tested it in a new cultural group, using a procedure that differs from the existing studies with children. A group of 40 Portuguese children rated the relevance of unrelated words to a survival and a new moving scenario. This encoding task was followed by a surprise free-recall task. Akin to what is typically found, survival processing produced better memory performance than the control condition (moving. These data put on firmer ground the idea that a mnemonic tuning to fitness-relevant encodings is present early in development. The theoretical importance of this result to the adaptive memory literature is discussed, as well as potential practical implications of this kind of approach to the study of memory in children.

  15. Izmit Foreshocks Revisited

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ellsworth, W. L.; Bulut, F.

    2016-12-01

    Much of what we know about the initiation of earthquakes comes from the temporal and spatial relationship of foreshocks to the initiation point of the mainshock. The 1999 Mw 7.6 Izmit, Turkey, earthquake was preceded by a 44 minute-long foreshock sequence. Bouchon et al. (Science, 2011) analyzed the foreshocks using a single seismic station, UCG, located to the north of the east-west fault, and concluded on the basis of waveform similarity that the foreshocks repeatedly re-ruptured the same fault patch, driven by slow slip at the base of the crust. We revisit the foreshock sequence using seismograms from 9 additional stations that recorded the four largest foreshocks (Mw 2.0 to 2.8) to better characterize spatial and temporal evolution of the foreshock sequence and their relationship to the mainshock hypocenter. Cross-correlation timing and hypocentroid location with hypoDD reveals a systematic west-to-east propagation of the four largest foreshocks toward the mainshock hypocenter. Foreshock rupture dimensions estimated using spectral ratios imply no major overlap for the first three foreshocks. The centroid of 4th and largest foreshock continues the eastward migration, but lies within the circular source area of the 3rd. The 3rd, however, has a low stress drop and strong directivity to the west . The mainshock hypocenter locates on the eastern edge of foreshock 4. We also re-analyzed waveform similarity of all 18 foreshocks recorded at UCG by removing the common mode signal and clustering the residual seismogram using the correlation coefficient as the distance metric. The smaller foreshocks cluster with the larger events in time order, sometimes as foreshocks and more commonly as aftershocks. These observations show that the Izmit foreshock sequence is consistent with a stress-transfer driven cascade, moving systematically to the east along the fault and that there is no observational requirement for creep as a driving mechanism.

  16. A revisited Johnson-Mehl-Avrami-Kolmogorov model and the evolution of grain-size distributions in steel

    OpenAIRE

    Hömberg, D.; Patacchini, F. S.; Sakamoto, K.; Zimmer, J.

    2016-01-01

    The classical Johnson-Mehl-Avrami-Kolmogorov approach for nucleation and growth models of diffusive phase transitions is revisited and applied to model the growth of ferrite in multiphase steels. For the prediction of mechanical properties of such steels, a deeper knowledge of the grain structure is essential. To this end, a Fokker-Planck evolution law for the volume distribution of ferrite grains is developed and shown to exhibit a log-normally distributed solution. Numerical parameter studi...

  17. Revisit to Grad's Closure and Development of Physically Motivated Closure for Phenomenological High-Order Moment Model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Myong, R. S.; Nagdewe, S. P.

    2011-01-01

    The Grad's closure for the high-order moment equation is revisited and, by extending his theory, a physically motivated closure is developed for the one-dimensional velocity shear gas flow. The closure is based on the physical argument of the relative importance of various terms appearing in the moment equation. Also, the closure is derived such that the resulting theory may be inclusive of the well established linear theory (Navier-Stokes-Fourier) as limiting case near local thermal equilibrium.

  18. Developement of supervisor's bullying questionnaire at workplace

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohsen Golparvar

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Bullying is one of behaviors which occur in various forms at workplaces. These types of behaviors are associated with diverse range of behaviors and other variables. Considering the lack of instrument to assess supervisor's bullying in workplaces of Iran, this research was carried out to constructing and studying reliability and validity of supervisor's bullying questionnaire at workplace. Statistical population of this research was all of Isfahan oil refinery’s staff that 402 participants was chosen as participant by simple random sampling mehod. The tools included perceived organizational justice questionnaire, organizational citizenship behaviors questionnaire and deviant behaviors questionnaire which used for studying convergent and divergent validity of researcher-made questionnaire of supervisor's bullying. Data were analyzed by using confirmatory and exploratory factor analysis, canonical correlation coefficient (for studying convergent and divergent validity and reliability coefficient (Cronbach’s alpha and test- retest reliability. Results showed that supervisor's bullying questionnaire has five factor structures which named: supervisors’ threat, insult and scorn by supervisor, anger and revengefulness of supervisor, ignorance and unconventional work pressure of supervisor, supervisors’ boring and cheap. Cronbach’s alpha for the five factors was equal to 0.87, 0.84, 0.82, 0.81, 0.81, and test-retest reliability for those five factors was equal to 0.81, 0.59, 0.58, 0.83, and 0.77. The results of this study revealed that supervisor's bullying questionnaire has suitable validity and reliability for assessment the level of supervisor's bullying at workplaces.

  19. A practical guide to surveys and questionnaires.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Slattery, Eric L; Voelker, Courtney C J; Nussenbaum, Brian; Rich, Jason T; Paniello, Randal C; Neely, J Gail

    2011-06-01

    Surveys with questionnaires play a vital role in decision and policy making in society. Within medicine, including otolaryngology, surveys with questionnaires may be the only method for gathering data on rare or unusual events. In addition, questionnaires can be developed and validated to be used as outcome measures in clinical trials and other clinical research architecture. Consequently, it is fundamentally important that such tools be properly developed and validated. Just asking questions that have not gone through rigorous design and development may be misleading and unfair at best; at worst, they can result in under- or overtreatment and unnecessary expense. Furthermore, it is important that consumers of the data produced by these instruments understand the principles of questionnaire design to interpret results in an optimal and meaningful way. This article presents a practical guide for understanding the methodologies of survey and questionnaire design, including the concepts of validity and reliability, how surveys are administered and implemented, and, finally, biases and pitfalls of surveys.

  20. 75 FR 30364 - Information Collection; Outreach Opportunity Questionnaire

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-06-01

    ... Collection; Outreach Opportunity Questionnaire AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA. ACTION: Notice; request for... approved information collection, Outreach Opportunity Questionnaire. DATES: Comments must be received in...: Outreach Opportunity Questionnaire. OMB Number: 0596-0207. Expiration Date of Approval: November 30, 2010...

  1. Validation of a Comprehensive Early Childhood Allergy Questionnaire.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Minasyan, Anna; Babajanyan, Arman; Campbell, Dianne E; Nanan, Ralph

    2015-09-01

    Parental questionnaires to assess incidence of pediatric allergic disease have been validated for use in school-aged children. Currently, there is no validated questionnaire-based assessment of food allergy, atopic dermatitis (AD), and asthma for infants and young children. The Comprehensive Early Childhood Allergy Questionnaire was designed for detecting AD, asthma, and IgE-mediated food allergies in children aged 1-5 years. A nested case-control design was applied. Parents of 150 children attending pediatric outpatient clinics completed the questionnaire before being clinically assessed by a pediatrician for allergies. Sensitivity, specificity, and reproducibility of the questionnaire were assessed. Seventy-seven children were diagnosed with one or more current allergic diseases. The questionnaire demonstrated high overall sensitivity of 0.93 (95% CI 0.86-0.98) with a specificity of 0.79 (95% CI 0.68-0.88). Questionnaire reproducibility was good with a kappa agreement rate for symptom-related questions of 0.45-0.90. Comprehensive Early Childhood Allergy Questionnaire accurately and reliably reflects the presence of allergies in children aged 1-5 years. Its use is warranted as a tool for determining prevalence of allergies in this pediatric age group. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  2. Validity of the international consultation on incontinence questionnaire-pediatric lower urinary tract symptoms: a screening questionnaire for children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    De Gennaro, Mario; Niero, Mauro; Capitanucci, Maria Luisa; von Gontard, Alexander; Woodward, Mark; Tubaro, Andrea; Abrams, Paul

    2010-10-01

    Lower urinary tract symptoms are common in pediatric patients. To our knowledge no validated instruments properly designed to screen lower urinary tract symptoms in the pediatric population have been published to date. In the International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire Committee the psychometric properties of a screening questionnaire for pediatric lower urinary tract symptoms were assessed. The 12-item International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire-Pediatric Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms was developed in child and parent self-administered versions, and produced in English, Italian and German using a standard cross-cultural adaptation process. The questionnaire was self-administered to children 5 to 18 years old and their parents presenting for lower urinary tract symptoms (cases) or to pediatric/urological clinics for other reasons (controls). A case report form included history, urinalysis, bladder diary, flowmetry/post-void residual urine volume and clinician judgment on whether each child did or did not have lower urinary tract symptoms. Questionnaire psychometric properties were evaluated and data were stratified into 3 age groups, including 5 to 9, 10 to 13 and 14 to 18 years. A total of 345 questionnaires were completed, of which 147 were negative and 198 were positive for lower urinary tract symptoms. A mean of 1.67% and 2.10% of items were missing in the child and parent versions, respectively. Reliability (Cronbach's α) was unacceptable in only the 5 to 9-year-old group. The high ICC of 0.847 suggested fair child/parent equivalence. Sensitivity and specificity were 89% and 76% in the child version, and 91% and 73.5% in the parent version, respectively. The questionnaire is an acceptable, reliable tool with high sensitivity and specificity to screen for lower urinary tract symptoms in pediatric practice. Problems related to literacy suggest use of the child versions for patients older than 9 years. In research this questionnaire

  3. Tensions of Reimagining Our Roles as Teacher Educators in a Third Space: Revisiting a Co/Autoethnography through a Faculty Lens

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taylor, Monica; Klein, Emily J.; Abrams, Linda

    2014-01-01

    This co/autoethnography uses our lens as university faculty to examine how engaging in a year-long self-study with mentors nurtured a complicated third space where we could together begin to reimagine our roles as teacher educators. Two secondary faculty members and a doctoral assistant used co/autoethnography to revisit a collaborative self-study…

  4. Running spectral index from large-field inflation with modulations revisited

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Czerny, Michael, E-mail: mczerny@tuhep.phys.tohoku.ac.jp [Department of Physics, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8578 (Japan); Kobayashi, Takeshi, E-mail: takeshi@cita.utoronto.ca [Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Toronto, 60 St. George Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3H8 (Canada); Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, 31 Caroline Street North, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 2Y5 (Canada); Takahashi, Fuminobu, E-mail: fumi@tuhep.phys.tohoku.ac.jp [Department of Physics, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8578 (Japan); Kavli IPMU, TODIAS, University of Tokyo, Kashiwa 277-8583 (Japan)

    2014-07-30

    We revisit large field inflation models with modulations in light of the recent discovery of the primordial B-mode polarization by the BICEP2 experiment, which, when combined with the Planck+WP+highL data, gives a strong hint for additional suppression of the CMB temperature fluctuations at small scales. Such a suppression can be explained by a running spectral index. In fact, it was pointed out by two of the present authors (TK and FT) that the existence of both tensor mode perturbations and a sizable running of the spectral index is a natural outcome of large inflation models with modulations such as axion monodromy inflation. We find that this holds also in the recently proposed multi-natural inflation, in which the inflaton potential consists of multiple sinusoidal functions and therefore the modulations are a built-in feature.

  5. Revisiting of Stommel's model for the understanding of the abrupt climate change

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Scatamacchia, R.; Purini, R.; Rafanelli, C.

    2010-01-01

    Despite the enormous number of papers devoted to modelling climate changes, the pionieristic Stommel paper (1961) remains a still valid tool for the understanding of the basic mechanism that governs the abrupt climate change, i.e. the existence of multipla equilibria in the governing non-linear equations. Using non-dimensional quantities, Stommel did not provide any explicit information about the temporal scale affecting the process under examination when the control parameters are varied. On the basis of this consideration, the present paper revisits the Stommel theory putting some emphasis on the quantitative estimate of how the variations of the control system parameters system modify the fundamental motor of the climate change, i.e. the thermohaline circulation.

  6. Validation of a New Questionnaire with Generic and Disease-Specific Qualities: The Mcgill Copd Quality of Life Questionnaire

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Smita Pakhale

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: A validated health-related quality of life questionnaire in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD with advantages of both generic- and disease-specific questionnaires is needed to capture patients’ perspectives of severity and impact of the disease. The McGill COPD questionnaire was created to include these advantages in English and French. It assesses three domains: symptoms, physical function and feelings with 29 items (12 from the 36-item Short-Form Health Survey with 17 from the previously developed COPD-specific module.

  7. arXiv Uncertainties in WIMP Dark Matter Scattering Revisited

    CERN Document Server

    Ellis, John; Olive, Keith A.

    We revisit the uncertainties in the calculation of spin-independent scattering matrix elements for the scattering of WIMP dark matter particles on nuclear matter. In addition to discussing the uncertainties due to limitations in our knowledge of the nucleonic matrix elements of the light quark scalar densities , we also discuss the importances of heavy quark scalar densities , and comment on uncertainties in quark mass ratios. We analyze estimates of the light-quark densities made over the past decade using lattice calculations and/or phenomenological inputs. We find an uncertainty in the combination that is larger than has been assumed in some phenomenological analyses, and a range of that is smaller but compatible with earlier estimates. We also analyze the importance of the {\\cal O}(\\alpha_s^3) calculations of the heavy-quark matrix elements that are now available, which provide an important refinement of the calculation of the spin-independent scattering cross section. We use for illustration a benchmar...

  8. Revisiting Cross-Channel Information Transfer for Chromatic Aberration Correction

    KAUST Repository

    Sun, Tiancheng; Peng, Yifan; Heidrich, Wolfgang

    2017-01-01

    Image aberrations can cause severe degradation in image quality for consumer-level cameras, especially under the current tendency to reduce the complexity of lens designs in order to shrink the overall size of modules. In simplified optical designs, chromatic aberration can be one of the most significant causes for degraded image quality, and it can be quite difficult to remove in post-processing, since it results in strong blurs in at least some of the color channels. In this work, we revisit the pixel-wise similarity between different color channels of the image and accordingly propose a novel algorithm for correcting chromatic aberration based on this cross-channel correlation. In contrast to recent weak prior-based models, ours uses strong pixel-wise fitting and transfer, which lead to significant quality improvements for large chromatic aberrations. Experimental results on both synthetic and real world images captured by different optical systems demonstrate that the chromatic aberration can be significantly reduced using our approach.

  9. Revisiting Cross-Channel Information Transfer for Chromatic Aberration Correction

    KAUST Repository

    Sun, Tiancheng

    2017-12-25

    Image aberrations can cause severe degradation in image quality for consumer-level cameras, especially under the current tendency to reduce the complexity of lens designs in order to shrink the overall size of modules. In simplified optical designs, chromatic aberration can be one of the most significant causes for degraded image quality, and it can be quite difficult to remove in post-processing, since it results in strong blurs in at least some of the color channels. In this work, we revisit the pixel-wise similarity between different color channels of the image and accordingly propose a novel algorithm for correcting chromatic aberration based on this cross-channel correlation. In contrast to recent weak prior-based models, ours uses strong pixel-wise fitting and transfer, which lead to significant quality improvements for large chromatic aberrations. Experimental results on both synthetic and real world images captured by different optical systems demonstrate that the chromatic aberration can be significantly reduced using our approach.

  10. Questionnaires that screen for multiple sleep disorders.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Klingman, Karen J; Jungquist, Carla R; Perlis, Michael L

    2017-04-01

    The goal of this review was to identify, describe, and evaluate the existing multiple sleep disorders screening questionnaires for their comprehensiveness, brevity, and psychometric quality. A systematic review was conducted using Medline/PubMed, cumulative index to nursing & allied health literature, health and psychosocial instruments and the "grey literature". Search terms were "sleep disorders, screening, questionnaires, and psychometrics". The scope of the search was limited to English language articles for adult age groups from 1989 through 2015. Of the n = 2812 articles identified, most were assessment or treatment guideline reviews, topical reviews, and/or empirical articles. Seven of the articles described multiple sleep disorders screening instruments. Of the identified instruments, two questionnaires (the Holland sleep Disorders questionnaire and sleep-50) were evaluated as comprehensive and one questionnaire (the global sleep assessment questionnaire [GSAQ]) was judged to be both comprehensive and efficient. The GSAQ was found to cover four of the six core intrinsic disorders, sleep insufficiency, and daytime sequela with 11 questions. Accordingly, the GSAQ is the most suitable for application as a general sleep disorders screener. Additional work is required to validate this instrument in the context of primary care. Finally, the future development of multiple sleep disorders screening questionnaires should not only cover all six intrinsic sleep disorders but also acquire some basic demographic information (age, sex, body mass index, presence/absence of bed partner, work status and shift) and some limited data regarding sleep sufficiency and the daytime consequences of sleep disturbance. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. The role of glycans in immune evasion: the human fetoembryonic defence system hypothesis revisited.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clark, Gary F

    2014-03-01

    Emerging data suggest that mechanisms to evade the human immune system may be shared by the conceptus, tumour cells, persistent pathogens and viruses. It is therefore timely to revisit the human fetoembryonic defense system (Hu-FEDS) hypothesis that was proposed in two papers in the 1990s. The initial paper suggested that glycoconjugates expressed in the human reproductive system inhibited immune responses directed against gametes and the developing human by employing their carbohydrate sequences as functional groups. These glycoconjugates were proposed to block specific binding interactions and interact with lectins linked to signal transduction pathways that modulated immune cell functions. The second article suggested that aggressive tumour cells and persistent pathogens (HIV, H. pylori, schistosomes) either mimicked or acquired the same carbohydrate functional groups employed in this system to evade immune responses. This subterfuge enabled these pathogens and tumour cells to couple their survival to the human reproductive imperative. The Hu-FEDS model has been repeatedly tested since its inception. Data relevant to this model have also been obtained in other studies. Herein, the Hu-FEDS hypothesis is revisited in the context of these more recent findings. Far more supportive evidence for this model now exists than when it was first proposed, and many of the original predictions have been validated. This type of subterfuge by pathogens and tumour cells likely applies to all sexually reproducing metazoans that must protect their gametes from immune responses. Intervention in these pathological states will likely remain problematic until this system of immune evasion is fully understood and appreciated.

  12. Test-Retest Reliability of the Parent Behavior Importance Questionnaire-Revised and the Parent Behavior Frequency Questionnaire-Revised

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mowder, Barbara A.; Shamah, Renee

    2011-01-01

    This study evaluated the test-retest reliability of two parenting measures: the Parent Behavior Importance Questionnaire-Revised (PBIQ-R) and Parent Behavior Frequency Questionnaire-Revised (PBFQ-R). These self-report parenting behavior assessment measures may be utilized as pre- and post-parent education program measures, with parents as well as…

  13. Database of Standardized Questionnaires About Walking & Bicycling

    Science.gov (United States)

    This database contains questionnaire items and a list of validation studies for standardized items related to walking and biking. The items come from multiple national and international physical activity questionnaires.

  14. Questionnaire Construction Manual

    Science.gov (United States)

    1976-07-01

    fwiW ........ ..., „.,. , r-m-lili^fa^BMiai igMiit VI-C Page 3 1 Jul 76 (2) All questionnaire items should be gramatically correct. (3) All...kept in mind: a. All response alternatives should follow the stem both gramatically and logically, and if possible, be parallel in structure. b

  15. Development of a Diagnostic Complexity Questionnaire

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Collier, Steve

    1998-02-01

    The HRP human error analysis project has for some time been investigating what makes certain fault scenarios difficult for operators. One line of research has been to develop a questionnaire to measure diagnostic complexity. This report concerns some theoretical and experimental work underpinning the development of the questionnaire. A study of the literature reviewed the factors or components thought to contribute to difficulty in diagnosing and problem-solving. Two experimental studies of complexity were carried out using two versions of a questionnaire based on the review. The studies were simulator based, using scenarios designed to be diagnostically challenging. A factor-analytic approach to the analysis of the study data was suggested in the literature review. This is reported here (together with other analyses) though the factor analysis did not produce so clear results as was hoped. The present analysis found no clear factor structure with the first version of the complexity questionnaire used in experiment I. Partly because of this result, a factor-analytic approach to a second version of the questionnaire used in experiment II was not considered appropriate. A descriptive and qualitative analysis of the two questionnaire studies and a synthesis of the results from them both was promising. There were indications of components of complexity and some indications of what contributes to a personal perception of high or low diagnostic difficulty in fault scenarios. Components adding to diagnostic difficulty were tentatively named 'severity', 'need for co-operation', 'stress' and 'spread of changes'. Components not adding to difficulty were 'directness of indications', 'familiarity' and 'lack of stress'. There was some evidence of different responses to these components in a comparison of rule-based vs. knowledge-based diagnostic scenarios. These findings and experience with analysis techniques will feed into the design of further work on the human error

  16. Questionnaire Adapting: Little Changes Mean a Lot.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sousa, Vanessa E C; Matson, Jeffrey; Dunn Lopez, Karen

    2017-09-01

    Questionnaire development involves rigorous testing to ensure reliability and validity. Due to time and cost constraints of developing new questionnaires, researchers often adapt existing questionnaires to better fit the purpose of their study. However, the effect of such adaptations is unclear. We conducted cognitive interviews as a method to evaluate the understanding of original and adapted questionnaire items to be applied in a future study. The findings revealed that all subjects (a) comprehended the original and adapted items differently, (b) changed their scores after comparing the original to the adapted items, and (c) were unanimous in stating that the adapted items were easier to understand. Cognitive interviewing allowed us to assess the interpretation of adapted items in a useful and efficient manner before use in data collection.

  17. Development and validation of a new questionnaire assessing quality of life in adults with hypopituitarism: Adult Hypopituitarism Questionnaire (AHQ).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ishii, Hitoshi; Shimatsu, Akira; Okimura, Yasuhiko; Tanaka, Toshiaki; Hizuka, Naomi; Kaji, Hidesuke; Hanew, Kunihiko; Oki, Yutaka; Yamashiro, Sayuri; Takano, Koji; Chihara, Kazuo

    2012-01-01

    To develop and validate the Adult Hypopituitarism Questionnaire (AHQ) as a disease-specific, self-administered questionnaire for evaluation of quality of life (QOL) in adult patients with hypopituitarism. We developed and validated this new questionnaire, using a standardized procedure which included item development, pilot-testing and psychometric validation. Of the patients who participated in psychometric validation, those whose clinical conditions were judged to be stable were asked to answer the survey questionnaire twice, in order to assess test-retest reliability. Content validity of the initial questionnaire was evaluated via two pilot tests. After these tests, we made minor revisions and finalized the initial version of the questionnaire. The questionnaire was constructed with two domains, one psycho-social and the other physical. For psychometric assessment, analyses were performed on the responses of 192 adult patients with various types of hypopituitarism. The intraclass correlations of the respective domains were 0.91 and 0.95, and the Cronbach's alpha coefficients were 0.96 and 0.95, indicating adequate test-retest reliability and internal consistency for each domain. For known-group validity, patients with hypopituitarism due to hypothalamic disorder showed significantly lower scores in 11 out of 13 sub-domains compared to those who had hypopituitarism due to pituitary disorder. Regarding construct validity, the domain structure was found to be almost the same as that initially hypothesized. Exploratory factor analysis (n = 228) demonstrated that each domain consisted of six and seven sub-domains. The AHQ showed good reliability and validity for evaluating QOL in adult patients with hypopituitarism.

  18. The odd one out: Revisiting and investigating the gender imbalance in ICT study choices

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Scott Morton

    Full Text Available For the past two decades there has been an imbalance between male and female students entering the Bachelor of Information Technology degree from high schools. The literature suggests that only one in six students entering higher education to study computer related degrees are female. It also suggests that occupational stereotyping can be linked to the decline in the number of females entering computing degree courses. This research is proposing to revisit and investigate why this is still prevalent in today\\'s society that has been brought up on technology and can see the benefits of good careers and good jobs.

  19. Post-Cruise Questionnaire - Legacy

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The Post-Cruise Questionnaire is a mandatory post trip legal document that observers fill out after every trip they have completed.

  20. A questionnaire comparison of two alarm systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Collier, Steven G.

    1997-11-01

    A questionnaire was developed, based on guidelines for alarm system design given in NUREG/CR-6105. The intentions were both to develop a subjective instrument for rating the effectiveness of alarm systems and to learn lessons on alarm system design from a comparison of two systems. The questionnaire was administered to reactor operations staff at two locations with different alarm systems embedded in a simulation of the same underlying PWR power plant: Loviisa NPP and Halden Man-Machine Laboratory. The questionnaire, considered as a measuring instrument, had good to high reliability and moderate to good content validity. The questionnaire is considered suitable for further use in the shortened form resulting from this study. Further work is also recommended. The degree of reliability and validity also lend a degree of validation to the NUREG guidelines. The questionnaire was able to show differences between ratings of the two alarm systems. The Loviisa system showed more consistency with other control room features and was better at drawing the operators' attention to important alarms. Both systems were not rated particularly well on alarm prioritisation and spurious alarms. The Halden system was better at showing naturally occurring relationships between alarms. Some of these differences may have been due to the subjects' greater familiarity with the Loviisa alarm system. The results nevertheless show that the questionnaire can measure subjective responses to alarm systems. (author)

  1. Revisiting top-bottom-tau Yukawa unification in supersymmetric grand unified theories

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tobe, Kazuhiro; Wells, James D.

    2003-01-01

    Third family Yukawa unification, as suggested by minimal SO(10) unification, is revisited in light of recent experimental measurements and theoretical progress. We characterize unification in a semi-model-independent fashion, and conclude that finite b quark mass corrections from superpartners must be non-zero, but much smaller than naively would be expected. We show that a solution that does not require cancellations of dangerously large tanβ effects in observables implies that scalar superpartner masses should be substantially heavier than the Z scale, and perhaps inaccessible to all currently approved colliders. On the other hand, gauginos must be significantly lighter than the scalars. We demonstrate that a spectrum of anomaly-mediated gaugino masses and heavy scalars works well as a theory compatible with third family Yukawa unification and dark matter observations

  2. REVISITING THE SCATTERING GREENHOUSE EFFECT OF CO{sub 2} ICE CLOUDS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kitzmann, D., E-mail: daniel.kitzmann@csh.unibe.ch [Center for Space and Habitability, University of Bern, Sidlerstr. 5, 3012 Bern (Switzerland)

    2016-02-01

    Carbon dioxide ice clouds are thought to play an important role for cold terrestrial planets with thick CO{sub 2} dominated atmospheres. Various previous studies showed that a scattering greenhouse effect by carbon dioxide ice clouds could result in a massive warming of the planetary surface. However, all of these studies only employed simplified two-stream radiative transfer schemes to describe the anisotropic scattering. Using accurate radiative transfer models with a general discrete ordinate method, this study revisits this important effect and shows that the positive climatic impact of carbon dioxide clouds was strongly overestimated in the past. The revised scattering greenhouse effect can have important implications for the early Mars, but also for planets like the early Earth or the position of the outer boundary of the habitable zone.

  3. 7 CFR 550.31 - Questionnaires and survey plans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 6 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Questionnaires and survey plans. 550.31 Section 550.31... Agreements Program Management § 550.31 Questionnaires and survey plans. The Cooperator is required to submit to the REE Agency copies of questionnaires and other forms for clearance in accordance with the...

  4. 19 CFR 207.63 - Circulation of draft questionnaires.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... 19 Customs Duties 3 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Circulation of draft questionnaires. 207.63... SUBSIDIZED EXPORTS TO THE UNITED STATES Five-Year Reviews § 207.63 Circulation of draft questionnaires. (a) The Director shall circulate draft questionnaires to the parties for comment in each full review. (b...

  5. Sleep quality in children: questionnaires available in Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maria Gabriela Cavalheiro

    Full Text Available Introduction: The purpose of this paper was to evaluate and compare the questionnaires regarding sleep quality among children aged up to 12 years old, used in the Portuguese language in Brazil. Material and methods: A search at the literature databases of Lilacs, Scielo and Pubmed was performed using keywords “sleep quality” and “children”. Selected Articles were analysed for age of the studied population, the number of questions and the issues addressed thereby, who realized the application, the analysis of the results, and content. Results: Out of 9377 titles, 11 studies were included, performing 7 different questionnaires: Questionnaire to measure quality of life among children with enlarged palatine and pharyngeal tonsils (translation of OSD-6 (1; Inventory of Sleep Habits for Preschool Children (2; the Questionnaire on Obstructive Sleep Apnoea-18 (OSA-18 (3, Sleep Questionnaire by Reimão and Lefévre - QRL (4; the Questionnaire on Sleep Behaviour Patterns (5 and the translation of the Sleep Disturbance Scale for Children (6; Brief Infant Sleep Questionnaire - BISQ (7 . Six of the questionnaires have covered the following issues: snoring and daytime sleepiness. Conclusions: A total of 7 protocols were found to be available in Brazil, the most commonly mentioned being OSA-18 and OSD-6. The use of protocols as a guided interview helps to define diagnosis and treatment among the paediatric population, but its large variability makes it difficult to compare a standardised monitoring process.

  6. Validated questionnaires heighten detection of difficult asthma comorbidities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Radhakrishna, Naghmeh; Tay, Tunn Ren; Hore-Lacy, Fiona; Stirling, Robert; Hoy, Ryan; Dabscheck, Eli; Hew, Mark

    2017-04-01

    Multiple extra-pulmonary comorbidities contribute to difficult asthma, but their diagnosis can be challenging and time consuming. Previous data on comorbidity detection have focused on clinical assessment, which may miss certain conditions. We aimed to locate relevant validated screening questionnaires to identify extra-pulmonary comorbidities that contribute to difficult asthma, and evaluate their performance during a difficult asthma evaluation. MEDLINE was searched to identify key extra-pulmonary comorbidities that contribute to difficult asthma. Screening questionnaires were chosen based on ease of use, presence of a cut-off score, and adequate validation to help systematically identify comorbidities. In a consecutive series of 86 patients referred for systematic evaluation of difficult asthma, questionnaires were administered prior to clinical consultation. Six difficult asthma comorbidities and corresponding screening questionnaires were found: sinonasal disease (allergic rhinitis and chronic rhinosinusitis), vocal cord dysfunction, dysfunctional breathing, obstructive sleep apnea, anxiety and depression, and gastro-oesophageal reflux disease. When the questionnaires were added to the referring clinician's impression, the detection of all six comorbidities was significantly enhanced. The average time for questionnaire administration was approximately 40 minutes. The use of validated screening questionnaires heightens detection of comorbidities in difficult asthma. The availability of data from a battery of questionnaires prior to consultation can save time and allow clinicians to systematically assess difficult asthma patients and to focus on areas of particular concern. Such an approach would ensure that all contributing comorbidities have been addressed before significant treatment escalation is considered.

  7. MIDAS questionnaire modification for a new MIDAS junior questionnaire: a clinical experience at the Neurological Institute "C. Besta".

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grazzi, L

    2004-10-01

    During the last decade researchers have begun to employ standardised methodologies to investigate the global impact of primary headaches. Disease-specific instruments have been developed to measure headache-related disability. The MIDAS questionnaire, which is the most extensively studied of these instruments, was designed to assess the overall impact of headaches over the 3 months before compilation. The MIDAS questionnaire is an optimal tool to assess headache-related disability in adults in relation to patients' daily activities. Primary headaches are a recurrent problem for children and adolescents. Forty percent of children have experienced headaches by the age of 7 years increasing to 75% by the age of 15. In a recent report we determined the suitability of the MIDAS questionnaire in its original form for assessing disability in children and adolescents suffering from different kinds of headache. This was the first step of a line of research aimed to develop a new MIDAS questionnaire adapted for young patients. In this second study the aims were: (1) to produce a new version of the MIDAS questionnaire specific for young patients suffering from different forms of headache; (2) to assess the reliability of this new instrument; (3) to assess its sensitivity to treatment intervention.

  8. VALIDITATION OF A LIGHT QUESTIONNAIRE WITH REAL-LIFE PHOTOPIC ILLUMINANCE MEASUREMENTS: THE HARVARD LIGHT EXPOSURE ASSESSMENT QUESTIONNAIRE

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bajaj, Archna; Rosner, Bernard; Lockley, Steven; Schernhammer, Eva S.

    2011-01-01

    Background Light exposure at night is now considered a probable carcinogen. To study the effects of light on chronic diseases like cancer, methods to measure light exposure in large observational studies are needed. We aimed to investigate the validity of self-reported current light exposure. Methods We developed a self-administered semiquantitative light questionnaire, the Harvard Light Exposure Assessment (H-LEA) questionnaire, and compared photopic scores derived from this questionnaire with actual photopic and circadian measures obtained from a real-life 7-day light meter application among 132 women (85 rotating night shift workers and 47 day workers) participating in the Nurses' Health Study II. Results After adjustment for age, BMI, collection day, and night work status, the overall partial Spearman correlation between self-report of light exposure and actual photopic light measurements was 0.72 (P<0.001; Kendall τ =0.57) and 0.73 (P<0.0001; Kendall τ =0.58) when correlating circadian light measurements. There were only minimal differences in accuracy of self-report of light exposure and photopic or circadian light measurement between day (r=0.77 and 0.78, respectively) and rotating night shift workers (r=0.68 and 0.69, respectively). Conclusions The results of this study provide evidence of the criterion validity of self-reported light exposure using the H-LEA questionnaire. Impact: This questionnaire is a practical method of assessing light exposure in large scale epidemiologic studies. PMID:21737411

  9. Developing questionnaires for educational research: AMEE Guide No. 87

    Science.gov (United States)

    La Rochelle, Jeffrey S.; Dezee, Kent J.; Gehlbach, Hunter

    2014-01-01

    In this AMEE Guide, we consider the design and development of self-administered surveys, commonly called questionnaires. Questionnaires are widely employed in medical education research. Unfortunately, the processes used to develop such questionnaires vary in quality and lack consistent, rigorous standards. Consequently, the quality of the questionnaires used in medical education research is highly variable. To address this problem, this AMEE Guide presents a systematic, seven-step process for designing high-quality questionnaires, with particular emphasis on developing survey scales. These seven steps do not address all aspects of survey design, nor do they represent the only way to develop a high-quality questionnaire. Instead, these steps synthesize multiple survey design techniques and organize them into a cohesive process for questionnaire developers of all levels. Addressing each of these steps systematically will improve the probabilities that survey designers will accurately measure what they intend to measure. PMID:24661014

  10. Aesthetic dermatology and emotional well-being questionnaire.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martínez-González, M Covadonga; Martínez-González, Raquel-Amaya; Guerra-Tapia, Aurora

    2014-12-01

    In recent years, there has been a great development of esthetic dermatology as a subspecialty of dermatology. It is important to know to which extent the general population regard this branch of medical surgical specialty as being of interest and contributing to emotional well-being. To analyze the technical features of a questionnaire which has been designed to reflect such perception of the general population about esthetic dermatology and its contribution to emotional well-being. Production and psychometric analysis of a self-filled in questionnaire in relation to esthetic dermatology and emotional well-being (DEBIE). This questionnaire is made of 57 items and has been applied to a sample of 770 people within the general population. The drawing-up process of the questionnaire is described to provide content validity. Items analysis was carried out together with exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis to assess the structure and construct validity of the tool. The extent of internal consistency (reliability) and concurrent validity has also been verified. DEBIE questionnaire (Spanish acronym for Aesthetic Dermatology and Emotional Well-being) revolves around six factors explaining 53.91% of the variance; there is a high level of internal consistency (Cronbach's α 0.90) and reasonable criterion validity. DEBIE questionnaire brings together adequate psychometric properties that can be applied to assess the perception that the general population have in relation to esthetic dermatology and its contribution to their emotional well-being. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  11. A Tool for Preventing Teamwork Failure: the TFP Questionnaire

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Qvist, Palle; Rebollar, Rubeén; Lidón, Iván

    2010-01-01

    This paper presents the process used to devise the Teamwork Failure Prevention Questionnaire (TFP Questionnaire), a tool that allows teams with problems in functioning to be detected early. The TFP Questionnaire was formulated in a project management course at the University of Zaragoza (Spain......). In this course, teams of five or six students have to manage a project for a real client. The questionnaire was then tested on students on this course and on a similar one at Aalborg University (Denmark). This article analyses the psychometric characteristics of the TFP Questionnaire and then presents...

  12. Pipe failure probability - the Thomas paper revisited

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lydell, B.O.Y.

    2000-01-01

    Almost twenty years ago, in Volume 2 of Reliability Engineering (the predecessor of Reliability Engineering and System Safety), a paper by H. M. Thomas of Rolls Royce and Associates Ltd. presented a generalized approach to the estimation of piping and vessel failure probability. The 'Thomas-approach' used insights from actual failure statistics to calculate the probability of leakage and conditional probability of rupture given leakage. It was intended for practitioners without access to data on the service experience with piping and piping system components. This article revisits the Thomas paper by drawing on insights from development of a new database on piping failures in commercial nuclear power plants worldwide (SKI-PIPE). Partially sponsored by the Swedish Nuclear Power Inspectorate (SKI), the R and D leading up to this note was performed during 1994-1999. Motivated by data requirements of reliability analysis and probabilistic safety assessment (PSA), the new database supports statistical analysis of piping failure data. Against the background of this database development program, the article reviews the applicability of the 'Thomas approach' in applied risk and reliability analysis. It addresses the question whether a new and expanded database on the service experience with piping systems would alter the original piping reliability correlation as suggested by H. M. Thomas

  13. [Questionnaire for the mobbing risk: CDL2.0].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gilioli, R; Cassitto, M G; Campanini, P; Punzi, S; Consonni, D; Rengo, C; Fattorini, E; Foá, V

    2005-01-01

    The aim of the study is to develop and validate a questionnaire able to evaluate the risk of mobbing at the workplace. A multiple-choice questionnaire has been developed which contains, among the different items, only one revealing a mobbing situation. The questionnaire has been administered to two groups (group A--243 subjects in a mobbing situation and group B--63 subjects without exposure to mobbing) and the differences in the scores obtained have been analysed. The questionnaire has proved to be valid and reliable. The results show that the presence of five mobbing actions is sufficient to define the workplace situation as potentially at risk for mobbing. The study reveals some limits in the selection of the two samples thus needing some adjustment. However, the questionnaire, also in the present form, can be considered a tool able to detect the mobbing situations.

  14. Questionnaires for assessment of female sexual dysfunction

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Giraldi, Annamaria; Rellini, Alessandra; Pfaus, James G

    2011-01-01

    There are many methods to evaluate female sexual function and dysfunction (FSD) in clinical and research settings, including questionnaires, structured interviews, and detailed case histories. Of these, questionnaires have become an easy first choice to screen individuals into different categories...

  15. A new approach for agroecosystems monitoring using high-revisit multitemporal satellite data series

    Science.gov (United States)

    Diez, M.; Moclán, C.; Romo, A.; Pirondini, F.

    2014-10-01

    With increasing population pressure throughout the world and the need for increased agricultural production there is a definite need for improved management of the world's agricultural resources. Comprehensive, reliable and timely information on agricultural resources is necessary for the implementation of effective management decisions. In that sense, the demand for high-quality and high-frequency geo-information for monitoring of agriculture and its associated ecosystems has been growing in the recent decades. Satellite image data enable direct observation of large areas at frequent intervals and therefore allow unprecedented mapping and monitoring of crops evolution. Furthermore, real time analysis can assist in making timely management decisions that affect the outcome of the crops. The DEIMOS-1 satellite, owned and operated by ELECNOR DEIMOS IMAGING (Spain), provides 22m, 3-band imagery with a very wide (620-km) swath, and has been specifically designed to produce high-frequency revisit on very large areas. This capability has been proved through the contracts awarded to Airbus Defence and Space every year since 2011, where DEIMOS-1 has provided the USDA with the bulk of the imagery used to monitor the crop season in the Lower 48, in cooperation with its twin satellite DMCii's UK-DMC2. Furthermore, high density agricultural areas have been targeted with increased frequency and analyzed in near real time to monitor tightly the evolution. In this paper we present the results obtained from a campaign carried out in 2013 with DEIMOS-1 and UK-DMC2 satellites. These campaigns provided a high-frequency revisit of target areas, with one image every two days on average: almost a ten-fold frequency improvement with respect to Landsat-8. The results clearly show the effectiveness of a high-frequency monitoring approach with high resolution images with respect to classic strategies where results are more exposed to weather conditions.

  16. Climatology and trend of wind power resources in China and its surrounding regions: a revisit using Climate Forecast System Reanalysis data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lejiang Yu; Shiyuan Zhong; Xindi Bian; Warren E. Heilman

    2015-01-01

    The mean climatology, seasonal and interannual variability and trend of wind speeds at the hub height (80 m) of modern wind turbines over China and its surrounding regions are revisited using 33-year (1979–2011) wind data from the Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR) that has many improvements including higher spatial resolution over previous global reanalysis...

  17. Revisiting and Reinforcing the Farmers Fox Theory: A Study (Test) of Three Cases in Cross-border Inbound Acquisitions

    OpenAIRE

    Reddy, Kotapati Srinivasa

    2015-01-01

    This paper aims to revisit and reinforce the early-development of Farmers Fox theory (Reddy et al. 2014a) through analyzing three cases in cross-border inbound acquisitions stream. A qualitative case method is adopted to explore findings from sampling cases include Vodafone-Hutchison telecom deal, Bharti Airtel-MTN broken telecom deal and Vedanta-Cairn India oil deal. We have highlighted discussions on organizational factors, due diligence issues, deal characteristics and country-specific det...

  18. Academic Training: Academic Training Lectures-Questionnaire

    CERN Multimedia

    2004-01-01

    ACADEMIC TRAINING Françoise Benz tel. 73127 academic.training@cern.ch SUGGEST AND WIN! Its time to plan the 2004-2005 lecture series. From today until March 19 you have the chance to give your contribution to planning for next year's Academic Training Lecture Series. At the web site: http://cern.ch/Academic.Training/questionnaire you will find questionnaires proposing topics in high energy physics, applied physics and science and society. Answering the questionnaire will help ensure that the selected topics are as close as possible to your interests. In particular requests and comments from students will be much appreciated. To encourage your contribution, the AT Committee will reward one lucky winner with a small prize, a 50 CHF coupon for a book purchase at the CERN bookshop.

  19. Regulamin rezerwatu. O książce "Jewish Poland Revisited" Eriki Lehrer

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Konrad Matyjaszek

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The rules of the reservation. On the book Jewish Poland Revisited by Erica Lehrer The paper offers a review of Erica Lehrer’s Jewish Poland Revisited, a publication presenting outcomes of an anthropological research on Jewish-Polish memory projects in Cracow's former Jewish district of Kazimierz. In a discussion of the book's theses, the author critically analyses Lehrer's postulate of 'ethnography of possibility' and the resultant strategy of approval for contemporary Kazimierz as a 'space of encounter' alongside with its rules of participation, imposed by the Polish proprietors of the district on its visitors. The article focuses on two such rules that condition a visitor’s possibility of participation in shrinking public spaces of Kazimierz. First of these laws is discussed as an imperative of abandoning the immediacy of district's physical space and its histories signified by the surviving built environment. Instead, Lehrer introduces a conceptual division of "social" and "physical" spaces, which leads to silencing of otherwise immediately present evidence of the violent past. The second rule is analyzed as a requirement of accepting the contemporary Polish owners’ role of 'brokers" and "purveyors" of Jewish heritage, consequential with an approval of a doubtful legal and moral title to the appropriated spaces. Through focusing on these rules of participation that determine and perpetuate the conditionality of Jewish presence in the space of Kazimierz, the author argues for a necessity of questioning and re-defining the traditional divisions of disciplines that establish conceptual separations of "social" and "built" spaces, as well as for a necessity of a critical outlook on contemporary Central European understandings of "heritage". Such an inquiry is discussed as conditional for overcoming the largely avoided yet still present "heritages" in the history of Polish-Jewish relations: the traditions of violence and exclusion, either

  20. A physical activity questionnaire for the elderly

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Voorrips, L. E.; Ravelli, A. C.; Dongelmans, P. C.; Deurenberg, P.; van Staveren, W. A.

    1991-01-01

    A validated physical activity questionnaire for young adults was adapted and validated for use in free living, apparently healthy people, aged 63-80 yr. Test-retest reliability of the questionnaire on 29 participants was 0.89 as determined by Spearman's correlation coefficient. Further

  1. Food choice motives, attitude towards and intention to adopt personalised nutrition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rankin, Audrey; Bunting, Brendan P; Poínhos, Rui; van der Lans, Ivo A; Fischer, Arnout Rh; Kuznesof, Sharron; Almeida, Mdv; Markovina, Jerko; Frewer, Lynn J; Stewart-Knox, Barbara J

    2018-05-17

    The present study explored associations between food choice motives, attitudes towards and intention to adopt personalised nutrition, to inform communication strategies based on consumer priorities and concerns.Design/SettingA survey was administered online which included the Food Choice Questionnaire (FCQ) and items assessing attitudes towards and intention to adopt personalised nutrition. Nationally representative samples were recruited in nine EU countries (n 9381). Structural equation modelling indicated that the food choice motives 'weight control', 'mood', 'health' and 'ethical concern' had a positive association and 'price' had a negative association with attitude towards, and intention to adopt, personalised nutrition. 'Health' was positively associated and 'familiarity' negatively associated with attitude towards personalised nutrition. The effects of 'weight control', 'ethical concern', 'mood' and 'price' on intention to adopt personalised nutrition were partially mediated by attitude. The effects of 'health' and 'familiarity' were fully mediated by attitude. 'Sensory appeal' was negatively and directly associated with intention to adopt personalised nutrition. Personalised nutrition providers may benefit from taking into consideration the importance of underlying determinants of food choice in potential users, particularly weight control, mood and price, when promoting services and in tailoring communications that are motivationally relevant.

  2. Physical Appearance Concern Questionnaire (PACQ in Iranian Population

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Katayoun Khademi

    2011-10-01

    Full Text Available Objectives: The purpose of this study is to make questionnaire for screening body dysmorphic disorder sufferers in cosmetic clinics. Methods: A sample of 150 female patients with age average 29.4 years completed Physical Appearance Concern Questionnaire. It has been used as screening tool for screening patients with body dysmorphic disorder symptoms in cosmetic clinics. Results: Result of reliability analysis (α=0.908 and validity have shown the effectiveness of this questionnaire for recognizing individuals with BDD symptoms. Discussion: Physical appearance concern questionnaire can be used in cosmetic clinics for identifying BDD sufferers among clients, with score for the severity of symptoms. Almost all of the researches have been studying in cosmetic clinics or dermatology settings and there is no investigation for people with special needs, thus further research is required in the development of a screening questionnaire or interview for identifying patients with BDD with special needs.

  3. Development of an Individual Work Performance Questionnaire

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Koopmans, L.; Bernaards, C.M.; Hildebrandt, V.H.; van Buuren, S.; van der Beek, A.J.; de Vet, H.C.W.

    2013-01-01

    The purpose of the current study is to develop a generic and short questionnaire to measure work performance at the individual level – the Individual Work Performance Questionnaire (IWPQ). The IWPQ was based on a four-dimensional conceptual framework, in which individual work performance consisted

  4. Generalized Fractional Processes with Long Memory and Time Dependent Volatility Revisited

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Shelton Peiris

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available In recent years, fractionally-differenced processes have received a great deal of attention due to their flexibility in financial applications with long-memory. This paper revisits the class of generalized fractionally-differenced processes generated by Gegenbauer polynomials and the ARMA structure (GARMA with both the long-memory and time-dependent innovation variance. We establish the existence and uniqueness of second-order solutions. We also extend this family with innovations to follow GARCH and stochastic volatility (SV. Under certain regularity conditions, we give asymptotic results for the approximate maximum likelihood estimator for the GARMA-GARCH model. We discuss a Monte Carlo likelihood method for the GARMA-SV model and investigate finite sample properties via Monte Carlo experiments. Finally, we illustrate the usefulness of this approach using monthly inflation rates for France, Japan and the United States.

  5. Network and system diagrams revisited: Satisfying CEA requirements for causality analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Perdicoulis, Anastassios; Piper, Jake

    2008-01-01

    Published guidelines for Cumulative Effects Assessment (CEA) have called for the identification of cause-and-effect relationships, or causality, challenging researchers to identify methods that can possibly meet CEA's specific requirements. Together with an outline of these requirements from CEA key literature, the various definitions of cumulative effects point to the direction of a method for causality analysis that is visually-oriented and qualitative. This article consequently revisits network and system diagrams, resolves their reported shortcomings, and extends their capabilities with causal loop diagramming methodology. The application of the resulting composite causality analysis method to three Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) case studies appears to satisfy the specific requirements of CEA regarding causality. Three 'moments' are envisaged for the use of the proposed method: during the scoping stage, during the assessment process, and during the stakeholder participation process

  6. What drives health care expenditure?--Baumol's model of 'unbalanced growth' revisited.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hartwig, Jochen

    2008-05-01

    The share of health care expenditure in GDP rises rapidly in virtually all OECD countries, causing increasing concern among politicians and the general public. Yet, economists have to date failed to reach an agreement on what the main determinants of this development are. This paper revisits Baumol's [Baumol, W.J., 1967. Macroeconomics of unbalanced growth: the anatomy of urban crisis. American Economic Review 57 (3), 415-426] model of 'unbalanced growth', showing that the latter offers a ready explanation for the observed inexorable rise in health care expenditure. The main implication of Baumol's model in this context is that health care expenditure is driven by wage increases in excess of productivity growth. This hypothesis is tested empirically using data from a panel of 19 OECD countries. Our tests yield robust evidence in favor of Baumol's theory.

  7. Revisiting climate change adaptation through proactive policy designing and institutional mechanism

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ashish K. Chaturvedi

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Climate change is a foremost challenge for agricultural productivity. The vulnerability is predominantly located in tropical regions with marginal farmers of developing countries. Enhancement of the adaptive capacity to climate change could be possible through revisiting the policy options with institutional reforms for adapting to the climate risks and sustaining the resilience in India. Innovative win-win approaches with key policy framework include innovative institutions, technologies, management systems and necessary financing mechanisms. Areas for utmost importance comprise agricultural research, irrigation, information technologies, market support, rural roads and extension services. Support from stakeholders to ensure effective adaptation/ mitigation strategy implementation and to provide financial support for addressing climate change issue is very essential. Along with these principles, a strong public-private partnership with successful institutional mechanisms may lead to the formulation of climate change adaptation strategies.

  8. Revisiting an open access monograph experiment: measuring citations and tweets 5 years later.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Snijder, Ronald

    An experiment run in 2009 could not assess whether making monographs available in open access enhanced scholarly impact. This paper revisits the experiment, drawing on additional citation data and tweets. It attempts to answer the following research question: does open access have a positive influence on the number of citations and tweets a monograph receives, taking into account the influence of scholarly field and language? The correlation between monograph citations and tweets is also investigated. The number of citations and tweets measured in 2014 reveal a slight open access advantage, but the influence of language or subject should also be taken into account. However, Twitter usage and citation behaviour hardly overlap.

  9. Finite density two color chiral perturbation theory revisited

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adhikari, Prabal; Beleznay, Soma B.; Mannarelli, Massimo

    2018-06-01

    We revisit two-color, two-flavor chiral perturbation theory at finite isospin and baryon density. We investigate the phase diagram obtained varying the isospin and the baryon chemical potentials, focusing on the phase transition occurring when the two chemical potentials are equal and exceed the pion mass (which is degenerate with the diquark mass). In this case, there is a change in the order parameter of the theory that does not lend itself to the standard picture of first order transitions. We explore this phase transition both within a Ginzburg-Landau framework valid in a limited parameter space and then by inspecting the full chiral Lagrangian in all the accessible parameter space. Across the phase transition between the two broken phases the order parameter becomes an SU(2) doublet, with the ground state fixing the expectation value of the sum of the magnitude squared of the pion and the diquark fields. Furthermore, we find that the Lagrangian at equal chemical potentials is invariant under global SU(2) transformations and construct the effective Lagrangian of the three Goldstone degrees of freedom by integrating out the radial fluctuations.

  10. Marginalization: A Revisitation With Integration of Scholarship on Globalization, Intersectionality, Privilege, Microaggressions, and Implicit Biases.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hall, Joanne M; Carlson, Kelly

    2016-01-01

    In 1994, the concept of marginalization was explored in an article in Advances in Nursing Science. This is a revisitation of the concept incorporating new scholarship. This update is founded on feminism, postcolonialism, critical race theory, and discourse deconstruction, all viewpoints that have been explicated in nursing. The purpose of this analysis is to look at new scholarship and concepts useful to applying marginalization in nursing knowledge development from the standpoint of Bourdieu's macro, meso, and micro levels. New scholarship includes globalization, intersectionality, privilege, microaggressions, and implicit bias. Implications for decreasing health disparities through this new scholarship are discussed.

  11. The drive revisited: Mastery and satisfaction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Denis, Paul

    2016-06-01

    Starting from the theory of the libido and the notions of the experience of satisfaction and the drive for mastery introduced by Freud, the author revisits the notion of the drive by proposing the following model: the drive takes shape in the combination of two currents of libidinal cathexis, one which takes the paths of the 'apparatus for obtaining mastery' (the sense-organs, motricity, etc.) and strives to appropriate the object, and the other which cathects the erotogenic zones and the experience of satisfaction that is experienced through stimulation in contact with the object. The result of this combination of cathexes constitutes a 'representation', the subsequent evocation of which makes it possible to tolerate for a certain period of time the absence of a satisfying object. On the basis of this conception, the author distinguishes the representations proper, vehicles of satisfaction, from imagos and traumatic images which give rise to excitation that does not link up with the paths taken by the drives. This model makes it possible to conciliate the points of view of the advocates of 'object-seeking' and of those who give precedence to the search for pleasure, and, further, to renew our understanding of object-relations, which can then be approached from the angle of their relations to infantile sexuality. Destructiveness is considered in terms of "mastery madness" and not in terms of the late Freudian hypothesis of the death drive. Copyright © 2015 Institute of Psychoanalysis.

  12. THE CONCEPT OF REFERENCE CONDITION, REVISITED ...

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ecological assessments of aquatic ecosystems depend on the ability to compare current conditions against some expectation of how they could be in the absence of significant human disturbance. The concept of a ‘‘reference condition’’ is often used to describe the standard or benchmark against which current condition is compared. If assessments are to be conducted consistently, then a common understanding of the definitions and complications of reference condition is necessary. A 2006 paper (Stoddard et al., 2006, Ecological Applications 16:1267-1276) made an early attempt at codifying the reference condition concept; in this presentation we will revisit the points raised in that paper (and others) and examine how our thinking has changed in a little over 10 years.Among the issues to be discussed: (1) the “moving target” created when reference site data are used to set thresholds in large scale assessments; (2) natural vs. human disturbance and their effects on reference site distributions; (3) circularity and the use of biological data to assist in reference site identification; (4) using site-scale (in-stream or in-lake) measurements vs. landscape-level human activity to identify reference conditions. Ecological assessments of aquatic ecosystems depend on the ability to compare current conditions against some expectation of how they could be in the absence of significant human disturbance. The concept of a ‘‘reference condition’’ is often use

  13. Appraisal of dental anxiety and fear questionnaires: a review.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Schuurs, A.H.B.; Hoogstraten, J.

    1993-01-01

    This article reviews and assesses six dental anxiety and fear questionnaires. The construct aimed at by the questionnaires, the data collected, their reliability, validity and normative scores are considered. Some attention is given to the correlations between the questionnaires, their ambiguity,

  14. A new self-rating questionnaire for dementia screening

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jin WANG

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available Background The AD8 plays an important role in the early diagnosis of dementia. However, because of cultural and language difference, it is difficult for Chinese subjects to understand and answer questions in AD8. This paper aims to make a new dementia self-rating questionnaire for Chinese people based on the AD8, and to determine its value for dementia screening.  Methods According to early symptoms of dementia and life style of old Chinese people, a dementia self-rating questionnaire was made based on the AD8. The new questionnaire includes 10 questions, and can be finished in 3 min. The reliability and validity was validated by a questionnaire survey in senior citizens older than 50 years in urban Xi'an. All patients were screened by Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE and dementia was diagnosed according to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Forth Edition (DSM-Ⅳ criteria.  Results A total of 620 patients finished the new questionnaire, and among them 17 patients (2.74% were diagnosed as dementia. The score of each question in the questionnaire was positively correlated with the total score (rs = 0.300-0.709; P = 0.000, for all. The Cronbach α was 0.795, indicating that the questionnaire got good internal consistency reliability. Two principal components were extracted, and the cumulative variance contribution ratio was 49.771%. Factor loading of each subitem was > 0.500, indicating a good construct validity. According to receiver operating characteristic (ROC curve, the critical value was 2, with the sensitivity 94.10% and specificity 82.10%. Youden index was 0.762.  Conclusions The new dementia self-rating questionnaire can detect dementia patients sensitively and correctly, and is very useful for early screening of dementia. DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1672-6731.2015.07.009

  15. Sustainable Development of Rural Tourism in An Giang Province, Vietnam

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nguyen Thanh Long

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available This study aims at sustainably developing rural tourism in An Giang Province, an agricultural province located in the South of Vietnam, by identifying the determinants of the satisfaction and revisit intention of tourists based on both qualitative and quantitative approaches. From exploratory interviews with experts and comprehensive group discussions, we developed a questionnaire for an official survey of 507 tourists at different tour-sites in An Giang Province. It is found that: (1 there are seven key factors affecting the satisfaction of the tourists, including: spirituality, tourism safety and security, people, food and beverage, natural environment, service prices and tourism infrastructure; and (2 revisit intention of tourists is affected by six factors, including: satisfaction, spirituality, tourism safety and security, people, food and beverage and service prices. Among them, spirituality is a new factor to be thoughtfully considered due to its significant influence on both the tourist satisfaction and revisit intention. From these findings, we proposed some managerial implications for the sustainable development of rural tourism in An Giang Province by enhancing the satisfaction and revisit intention of the tourists after they visit the province.

  16. On the ionospheric perturbation for the 1995 Kobe earthquake: revisited

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Masashi Hayakawa

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The presence of seismo-lower ionospheric perturbation for the Kobe earthquake (EQ has been revisited with a relatively new phenomenon of ULF (ultra-low-frequency magnetic field depression effect. By using the ULF data in Japan only at Kakioka belonging to Japan Meteorological Agency (because data from Memambetsu and Kanoya were not available, we have found that a very clear ULF depression was observed at Kakioka on 14 January 1995. A comparison with our former result on subionospheric VLF (very low frequency propagation anomaly indicates that the occurrence of ULF depression exhibits a temporal coincidence (synchronization with that of subionospheric VLF anomaly. This may be acceptable because the ULF depression can be explained in terms of enhanced absorption of magnetospheric ULF waves through the disturbed lower ionosphere prior to an EQ. The result of ULF magnetic field depression in this paper is likely to provide a further support to the presence of the lower ionospheric perturbation before the Kobe EQ.

  17. Evans Blue Dye: A Revisit of Its Applications in Biomedicine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yao, Linpeng; Xue, Xing; Yu, Peipei; Ni, Yicheng; Chen, Feng

    2018-01-01

    Evans blue (EB) dye has owned a long history as a biological dye and diagnostic agent since its first staining application by Herbert McLean Evans in 1914. Due to its high water solubility and slow excretion, as well as its tight binding to serum albumin, EB has been widely used in biomedicine, including its use in estimating blood volume and vascular permeability, detecting lymph nodes, and localizing the tumor lesions. Recently, a series of EB derivatives have been labeled with PET isotopes and can be used as theranostics with a broad potential due to their improved half-life in the blood and reduced release. Some of EB derivatives have even been used in translational applications in clinics. In addition, a novel necrosis-avid feature of EB has recently been reported in some preclinical animal studies. Given all these interesting and important advances in EB study, a comprehensive revisiting of EB has been made in its biomedical applications in the review.

  18. International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ and New Zealand Physical Activity Questionnaire (NZPAQ: A doubly labelled water validation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rodgers Anthony

    2007-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Accurate measurement of physical activity is a pre-requisite for monitoring population health and for evaluating effective interventions. The International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ is used as a comparable and standardised self-report measure of habitual physical activity of populations from different countries and socio-cultural contexts. The IPAQ has been modified to produce a New Zealand physical activity questionnaire (NZPAQ. The aim of this study was to validate the IPAQ and NZPAQ against doubly labelled water (DLW. Method: Total energy expenditure (TEE was measured over a 15-day period using DLW. Activity-related energy expenditure (AEE was estimated by subtracting the energy expenditure from resting metabolic rate and thermic effect of feeding from TEE. The IPAQ (long form and NZPAQ (short form were completed at the end of each 7-day period. Activity-related energy expenditure (IPAQAEE and NZPAQAEE was calculated from each questionnaire and compared to DLWAEE. Results Thirty six adults aged 18 to 56 years (56% female completed all measurements. Compared to DLWAEE, IPAQAEE and NZPAQAEE on average underestimated energy expenditure by 27% and 59%, respectively. There was good agreement between DLWAEE and both IPAQAEE and NZPAQAEE at lower levels of physical activity. However there was marked underestimation of questionnaire-derived energy expenditure at higher levels of activity. Conclusion Both the IPAQ and NZPAQ instruments have a demonstrated systematic bias toward underestimation of physical activity-related energy expenditure at higher levels of physical activity compared to DLW. Appropriate calibration factors could be used to correct for measurement error in physical activity questionnaires and hence improve estimation of AEE.

  19. The Virtual Care Climate Questionnaire: Development and Validation of a Questionnaire Measuring Perceived Support for Autonomy in a Virtual Care Setting.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smit, Eline Suzanne; Dima, Alexandra Lelia; Immerzeel, Stephanie Annette Maria; van den Putte, Bas; Williams, Geoffrey Colin

    2017-05-08

    Web-based health behavior change interventions may be more effective if they offer autonomy-supportive communication facilitating the internalization of motivation for health behavior change. Yet, at this moment no validated tools exist to assess user-perceived autonomy-support of such interventions. The aim of this study was to develop and validate the virtual climate care questionnaire (VCCQ), a measure of perceived autonomy-support in a virtual care setting. Items were developed based on existing questionnaires and expert consultation and were pretested among experts and target populations. The virtual climate care questionnaire was administered in relation to Web-based interventions aimed at reducing consumption of alcohol (Study 1; N=230) or cannabis (Study 2; N=228). Item properties, structural validity, and reliability were examined with item-response and classical test theory methods, and convergent and divergent validity via correlations with relevant concepts. In Study 1, 20 of 23 items formed a one-dimensional scale (alpha=.97; omega=.97; H=.66; mean 4.9 [SD 1.0]; range 1-7) that met the assumptions of monotonicity and invariant item ordering. In Study 2, 16 items fitted these criteria (alpha=.92; H=.45; omega=.93; mean 4.2 [SD 1.1]; range 1-7). Only 15 items remained in the questionnaire in both studies, thus we proceeded to the analyses of the questionnaire's reliability and construct validity with a 15-item version of the virtual climate care questionnaire. Convergent validity of the resulting 15-item virtual climate care questionnaire was confirmed by positive associations with autonomous motivation (Study 1: r=.66, Pperceived competence for reducing alcohol intake (Study 1: r=.52, Pperceived competence for learning (Study 2: r=.05, P=.48). The virtual climate care questionnaire accurately assessed participants' perceived autonomy-support offered by two Web-based health behavior change interventions. Overall, the scale showed the expected properties

  20. Digital questionnaire platform in the Danish Blood Donor Study

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Burgdorf, K S; Felsted, N; Mikkelsen, S

    2016-01-01

    with the questionnaire data in the DBDS database. RESULTS: The digital platform enables personalized questionnaires, presenting only questions relevant to the specific donor by hiding unneeded follow-up questions on screening question results. New versions of questionnaires are immediately available at all blood...

  1. Reference values for the CAVIPRES-30 questionnaire, a global questionnaire on the health-related quality of life of patients with prostate cancer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gómez-Veiga, F; Silmi-Moyano, A; Günthner, S; Puyol-Pallas, M; Cózar-Olmo, J M

    2014-06-01

    Define and establish the reference values of the CAVIPRES-30 Questionnaire, a health related quality of life questionnaire specific for prostate cancer patients. The CAVIPRES-30 was administered to 2,630 males with prostate cancer included by 238 Urologist belonging to the Spanish National Healthcare System. Descriptive analysis on socio-demographic and clinical data were performed, and multivariate analyses were used to corroborate that stratification variables were statistically significantly and independently associated to the overall score of the questionnaire. The variables Time since diagnosis of the illness, whether the patient had a Stable partner or not, if he was, or not, undergoing Symptomatic treatment were statistically significantly and independently associated (P < .001) to the overall score of the questionnaire. The reference values table of the CAVIPRES-30 questionnaire is made up of different kinds of information of each patient profile: sample size, descriptive statistics with regard to the overall score, Cronbach's alpha value (between .791 and .875) and the questionnaire's values are reported by deciles. The results of this study contribute new proof as to the suitability and usefulness of the CAVIPRES-30 questionnaire as an instrument for assessing individually the quality of life of prostate cancer. Copyright © 2013 AEU. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

  2. Revisiting the long memory dynamics of implied-realized volatility relation: A new evidence from wavelet band spectrum regression

    OpenAIRE

    Barunik, Jozef; Barunikova, Michaela

    2015-01-01

    This paper revisits the fractional co-integrating relationship between ex-ante implied volatility and ex-post realized volatility. Previous studies on stock index options have found biases and inefficiencies in implied volatility as a forecast of future volatility. It is argued that the concept of corridor implied volatility (CIV) should be used instead of the popular model-free option-implied volatility (MFIV) when assessing the relation as the latter may introduce bias to the estimation. In...

  3. Questionnaire measuring training's impact

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Corfield, R.A.

    1987-01-01

    A questionnaire has been prepared to evaluate the impact of training of a nuclear power plant. Items covered are the degree to which training is systematic, the influence that should be exerted by INPO, and the costs of an effective training program

  4. Effects of a Structured Discharge Planning Program on Perceived Functional Status, Cardiac Self-efficacy, Patient Satisfaction, and Unexpected Hospital Revisits Among Filipino Cardiac Patients: A Randomized Controlled Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cajanding, Ruff Joseph

    Cardiovascular diseases remain the leading cause of morbidity and mortality among Filipinos and are responsible for a very large number of hospital readmissions. Comprehensive discharge planning programs have demonstrated positive benefits among various populations of patients with cardiovascular disease, but the clinical and psychosocial effects of such intervention among Filipino patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) have not been studied. In this study we aimed to determine the effectiveness of a nurse-led structured discharge planning program on perceived functional status, cardiac self-efficacy, patient satisfaction, and unexpected hospital revisits among Filipino patients with AMI. A true experimental (randomized control) 2-group design with repeated measures and data collected before and after intervention and at 1-month follow-up was used in this study. Participants were assigned to either the control (n = 68) or the intervention group (n = 75). Intervention participants underwent a 3-day structured discharge planning program implemented by a cardiovascular nurse practitioner, which is comprised of a series of individualized lecture-discussion, provision of feedback, integrative problem solving, goal setting, and action planning. Control participants received standard routine care. Measures of functional status, cardiac self-efficacy, and patient satisfaction were measured at baseline; cardiac self-efficacy and patient satisfaction scores were measured prior to discharge, and perceived functional status and number of revisits were measured 1 month after discharge. Participants in the intervention group had significant improvement in functional status, cardiac self-efficacy, and patient satisfaction scores at baseline and at follow-up compared with the control participants. Furthermore, participants in the intervention group had significantly fewer hospital revisits compared with those who received only standard care. The results demonstrate that a

  5. The water balance questionnaire: design, reliability and validity of a questionnaire to evaluate water balance in the general population.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Malisova, Olga; Bountziouka, Vassiliki; Panagiotakos, Demosthenes B; Zampelas, Antonis; Kapsokefalou, Maria

    2012-03-01

    There is a need to develop a questionnaire as a research tool for the evaluation of water balance in the general population. The water balance questionnaire (WBQ) was designed to evaluate water intake from fluid and solid foods and drinking water, and water loss from urine, faeces and sweat at sedentary conditions and physical activity. For validation purposes, the WBQ was administrated in 40 apparently healthy participants aged 22-57 years (37.5% males). Hydration indices in urine (24 h volume, osmolality, specific gravity, pH, colour) were measured through established procedures. Furthermore, the questionnaire was administered twice to 175 subjects to evaluate its reliability. Kendall's τ-b and the Bland and Altman method were used to assess the questionnaire's validity and reliability. The proposed WBQ to assess water balance in healthy individuals was found to be valid and reliable, and it could thus be a useful tool in future projects that aim to evaluate water balance.

  6. Detecting Careless Responses to Self-Reported Questionnaires

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kountur, Ronny

    2016-01-01

    Problem Statement: The use of self-report questionnaires may lead to biases such as careless responses that distort the research outcomes. Early detection of careless responses in self-report questionnaires may reduce error, but little guidance exists in the literature regarding techniques for detecting such careless or random responses in…

  7. Pengetahuan Akseptor Tentang KB Suntik 3 Bulan Dengan Ketepatan Waktu Kunjungan Ulang di BPRB Bina Sehat Kasihan, Bantul, Yogyakarta

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sri Lestari

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available Family planning (FP program has important role in realizing Indonesian people prosperous, besides health and education program. Contraceptive injection high effectiveness if the injection carried out regularly and appropriate schedule. Promptness revisit in FP injection is infl uenced by acceptors knowledge about FP injection and supported with a good memory. The knowledge level is one factor that causing acceptors choosing or not a method of contraception. The purpose of this study was to know relationship between knowledge level of acceptors and three months contraception injection with promptness revisit. This study was an observational analytic with cross sectional design. Technique sampling used was purposive sampling, resulted on 63 respondents. The study was done by granting the questionnaire to acceptors who revisit at BPRB Bina Sehat Kasihan Bantul In July 2014. Test analysis used chi-square. The results showed that knowledge of acceptors family planning about 3 months injection was 57 (90.5% respondents in high knowledge. Timeliness revisit of acceptors 3 months injection was 60 (95.2% respondents revisit timely. According to the analysis of using formulas chi-square test with standard signifi cance 0.05 and degrees of freedom 1, obtained chi-square count was 0.332 or p-value 0.565 while chi-square table was 3.841. In conclusion, there was no relationship between knowledge level of acceptors family planning and 3 months injection with promptness revisit at BPRB Bina Sehat Kasihan Bantul.

  8. Usual Dietary Intakes: NHANES Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ)

    Science.gov (United States)

    NCI developed a new instrument called the NHANES Food Frequency Questionnaire (formerly called Food Propensity Questionnaire) and supported its application in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).

  9. Preservice to Inservice: Does Mathematics Anxiety Change with Teaching Experience?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gresham, Gina

    2018-01-01

    Inservice teachers, participants in a prior study on mathematics anxiety, were revisited to determine whether their levels of mathematics anxiety still existed and/or continued to change after 5 years teaching experience. A 98-item Likert-type survey, informal discussions, informal interviews, and questionnaire-guided narrative interviews were…

  10. Spherical indentation of a freestanding circular membrane revisited: Analytical solutions and experiments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jin, Congrui; Davoodabadi, Ali; Li, Jianlin; Wang, Yanli; Singler, Timothy

    2017-01-01

    Because of the development of novel micro-fabrication techniques to produce ultra-thin materials and increasing interest in thin biological membranes, in recent years, the mechanical characterization of thin films has received a significant amount of attention. To provide a more accurate solution for the relationship among contact radius, load and deflection, the fundamental and widely applicable problem of spherical indentation of a freestanding circular membrane have been revisited. The work presented here significantly extends the previous contributions by providing an exact analytical solution to the governing equations of Föppl–Hecky membrane indented by a frictionless spherical indenter. In this study, experiments of spherical indentation has been performed, and the exact analytical solution presented in this article is compared against experimental data from existing literature as well as our own experimental results.

  11. Polycarbonate crowns for primary teeth revisited: restorative options, technique and case reports.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Venkataraghavan, Karthik; Chan, John; Karthik, Sandhya

    2014-01-01

    Esthetics by definition is the science of beauty - that particular detail of an animate or inanimate object that makes it appealing to the eye. In the modern, civilized, and cosmetically conscious world, well-contoured and well-aligned white teeth set the standard for beauty. Such teeth are not only considered attractive but are also indicative of nutritional health, self esteem, hygienic pride, and economic status. Numerous treatment approaches have been proposed to address the esthetics and retention of restorations in primary teeth. Even though researchers have claimed that certain restorations are better than the others, particularly owing to the issues mentioned above, the search for the ideal esthetic restoration for the primary teeth continues. This paper revisits and attempts to reintroduce the full coverage restoration, namely, polycarbonate crown, for use in primary anterior teeth.

  12. The well-being questionnaire

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pouwer, F; Snoek, Frank J; Van Der Ploeg, Henk M

    2000-01-01

    BACKGROUND: The Well-being Questionnaire (W-BQ) has been designed to measure psychological well-being in people with a chronic somatic illness and is recommended by the World Health Organization for widespread use. However, studies into the factor structure of this instrument are still limited...

  13. Adaptive Vocational Personality Questionnaire Development and Validation of an adaptive personality questionnaire to analyze the vocational behavior of university students

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Amparo Gómez-Artiga

    2013-05-01

    Full Text Available This study presents a personality evaluation instrument adapted to the vocational setting: the Adaptive Vocational Personality Questionnaire (AVPQ. The questionnaire was developed and tested in a sample of 2160 university students in the final years of their degree programs. The purpose of the study is to validate the questionnaire, providing evidence about its internal structure and its usefulness for predicting scores on a criterion scale. A confirmatory factor analysis combined with a cross-validation design was used: the exploratory sample (n = 879 helped to identify the model with the factorial structure that best fit the relations among the items. As expected, this model had two related but clearly separate factors: Adaptive Personality Characteristics (AC with 9 items and Non-Adaptive Personality Characteristics (NAC with 11 items. The validation sample (n =932 was used to test the generalization capacity of this model, which was satisfactory and showed a good reliability index. Regarding its usefulness in predicting proactive job-search behaviors, the results were also satisfactory. The questionnaire and keys are provided, as well as the criteria for calculating the scores on each scale and on the entire questionnaire.

  14. African Primary Care Research: Performing surveys using questionnaires

    OpenAIRE

    Govender, Indiran; Mabuza, Langalibalele H.; Ogunbanjo, Gboyega A.; Mash, Bob

    2014-01-01

    The aim of this article is to provide practical guidance on conducting surveys and the use of questionnaires for postgraduate students at a Masters level who are undertaking primary care research. The article is intended to assist with writing the methods section of the research proposal and thinking through the relevant issues that apply to sample size calculation, sampling strategy, design of a questionnaire and administration of a questionnaire. The articleis part of a larger series on pri...

  15. Methodology Series Module 8: Designing Questionnaires and Clinical Record Forms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Setia, Maninder Singh

    2017-01-01

    As researchers, we often collect data on a clinical record form or a questionnaire. It is an important part of study design. If the questionnaire is not well designed, the data collected will not be useful. In this section of the module, we have discussed some practical aspects of designing a questionnaire. It is useful to make a list of all the variables that will be assessed in the study before preparing the questionnaire. The researcher should review all the existing questionnaires. It may be efficient to use an existing standardized questionnaire or scale. Many of these scales are freely available and may be used with an appropriate reference. However, some may be under copyright protection and permissions may be required to use the same questionnaire. While designing their own questionnaire, researchers may use open- or close-ended questions. It is important to design the responses appropriately as the format of responses will influence the analysis. Sometimes, one can collect the same information in multiple ways - continuous or categorical response. Besides these, the researcher can also use visual analog scales or Likert's scale in the questionnaire. Some practical take-home points are: (1) Use specific language while framing the questions; (2) write detailed instructions in the questionnaire; (3) use mutually exclusive response categories; (4) use skip patterns; (5) avoid double-barreled questions; and (6) anchor the time period if required.

  16. Research Paper Reliability of self report questionnaires for ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The scales used were: the Short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (SMFQ), Zung Self-rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), Self-esteem Questionnaire (SEQ), Harvard ... (HTQ) and Multi-Dimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS).

  17. Construction and validation of attitudes toward plagiarism questionnaire.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mavrinac, Martina; Brumini, Gordana; Bilić-Zulle, Lidija; Petrovecki, Mladen

    2010-06-01

    To develop and test the psychometric characteristics of a questionnaire measuring attitudes toward plagiarism. Participants were 227 undergraduates and graduate students (128 women and 99 men) from three Croatian universities, with a median age of 21 years (range 18 to 48). Research was conducted from March to June 2009. For the purpose of construction of the first version of the questionnaire, 67 statements (items) were developed. The statements were based on the relevant literature and were developed following rules and recommendations for questionnaire writing, and 36 items were chosen for final validation. Factor analysis was used to find out the factor structure of the questionnaire and to measure construct validity. The final version of the questionnaire consisted of 29 items divided into a three-factor structure: factor I - positive attitude toward plagiarism (12 items); factor II - negative attitude toward plagiarism (7 items); and factor III - subjective norms toward plagiarism (10 items). Cronbach alpha was calculated to confirm the reliability of the scale: factor I - alpha=0.83; factor II - alpha=0.79; and factor III - alpha=0.85. Correlations between factors were: -0.37 between I and II, -0.41 between I and III, and +0.31 between II and III. Attitudes Toward Plagiarism questionnaire was developed, with good psychometric characteristics. It will be used in future research as a standardized tool for measuring attitudes toward plagiarism.

  18. The Depression Coping Questionnaire.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kleinke, Chris L.

    College students (N=396), chronic pain patients (N=319), and schizophrenic veterans (N=43) completed the Depression Coping Questionnaire (DCQ) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Factor analysis of the DCQ identified eleven coping responses: social support, problem solving, self-blame/escape, aggression, indulgence, activities, medication,…

  19. ACADEMIC TRAINING LECTURES-QUESTIONNAIRE: SUGGEST AND WIN!

    CERN Multimedia

    2003-01-01

    Its time to plan for the 2003-2004 lecture series. From today until April 25 you have the chance to give your contribution to planning for next year's Academic Training Lectures Series. At the web site : http://cern.ch/Academic.Training/questionnaire you will find questionnaires proposing topics in high energy physics, applied physics and science and society. Answering the questionnaire will help ensure that the selected topics are as close as possible to your interests. In particular requests and comments from students will be much appreciated. To encourage your contribution, the AT Committee will reward one lucky winner with a small prize, a 50 CHF coupon for a book purchase at the CERN bookshop.

  20. ACADEMIC TRAINING LECTURES-QUESTIONNAIRE: SUGGEST AND WIN !

    CERN Multimedia

    2003-01-01

    Its time to plan for the 2003-2004 lecture series. From today until April 25 you have the chance to give your contribution to planning for next year's Academic Training Lectures Series. At the web site : http://cern.ch/Academic.Training/questionnaire you will find questionnaires proposing topics in high energy physics, applied physics and science and society. Answering the questionnaire will help ensure that the selected topics are as close as possible to your interests. In particular requests and comments from students will be much appreciated. To encourage your contribution, the AT Committee will reward one lucky winner with a small prize, a 50 CHF coupon for a book purchase at the CERN bookshop.

  1. Validation of the Pregnancy Physical Activity Questionnaire (PPAQ

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Edyta Suliga

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available Introduction : The results of many studies confirm the positive effect of physical activity during pregnancy on the health of both mother and child. Due to this, it is important to use standardised methods of its assessment. In 2004, Chasan-Taber et al. developed the Pregnancy Physical Activity Questionnaire (PPAQ, taking into account household/caregiving activities, occupational activities, sports/exercise activities, transportation activities, and inactivity. Aim of the research : The validation of the Pregnancy Physical Activity Questionnaire (PPAQ by determination of its reproducibility. Material and methods : The questionnaire was validated from June 2014 to February 2015 among 164 women. The respondents were surveyed twice in a 2-week interval. The repeatability of the questionnaire was verified by determining the Pearson correlation coefficient between the results obtained for the same people in the first and second interview, thus determining the intra-subject variability. Inter-subject variability was analysed by comparing the average values of physical activity for the whole group using the Student’s t-test for dependent samples. Results : For all levels of physical activity, a high correlation between the results obtained in both interviews was found. The correlation coefficient for total physical activity was r = 0.96. The reproducibility of the results obtained from PPAQ questionnaire was the highest for inactivity and moderate activity (r = 0.96. The analysis according to the type of activity showed that the reproducibility was the highest for occupational activity (r = 0.98. Conclusions : High reproducibility of results obtained using PPAQ questionnaire was found. This allows the assessed questionnaire to be considered as an accurate measurement tool that can be a source of reliable information about physical activity in pregnant women.

  2. Meeting Earth Observation Requirements for Global Agricultural Monitoring: An Evaluation of the Revisit Capabilities of Current and Planned Moderate Resolution Optical Earth Observing Missions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alyssa K. Whitcraft

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Agriculture is a highly dynamic process in space and time, with many applications requiring data with both a relatively high temporal resolution (at least every 8 days and fine-to-moderate (FTM < 100 m spatial resolution. The relatively infrequent revisit of FTM optical satellite observatories coupled with the impacts of cloud occultation have translated into a barrier for the derivation of agricultural information at the regional-to-global scale. Drawing upon the Group on Earth Observations Global Agricultural Monitoring (GEOGLAM Initiative’s general satellite Earth observation (EO requirements for monitoring of major production areas, Whitcraft et al. (this issue have described where, when, and how frequently satellite data acquisitions are required throughout the agricultural growing season at 0.05°, globally. The majority of areas and times of year require multiple revisits to probabilistically yield a view at least 70%, 80%, 90%, or 95% clear within eight days, something that no present single FTM optical observatory is capable of delivering. As such, there is a great potential to meet these moderate spatial resolution optical data requirements through a multi-space agency/multi-mission constellation approach. This research models the combined revisit capabilities of seven hypothetical constellations made from five satellite sensors—Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper (Landsat 7 ETM+, Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager and Thermal Infrared Sensor (Landsat 8 OLI/TIRS, Resourcesat-2 Advanced Wide Field Sensor (Resourcesat-2 AWiFS, Sentinel-2A Multi-Spectral Instrument (MSI, and Sentinel-2B MSI—and compares these capabilities with the revisit frequency requirements for a reasonably cloud-free clear view within eight days throughout the agricultural growing season. Supplementing Landsat 7 and 8 with missions from different space agencies leads to an improved capacity to meet requirements, with Resourcesat-2 providing the largest

  3. A lattice calculation of the nucleon's spin-dependent structure function g2 revisited

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Goeckeler, M.; Rakow, P.E.L.; Schaefer, A.; Schierholz, G.

    2000-11-01

    Our previous calculation of the spin-dependent structure function g 2 is revisited. The interest in this structure function is to a great extent motivated by the fact that it receives contributions from twist-two as well as from twist-three operators already in leading order of 1/Q 2 thus offering the unique possibility of directly assessing higher-twist effects. In our former calculation the lattice operators were renormalized perturbatively and mixing with lower-dimensional operators was ignored. However, the twist-three operator which gives rise to the matrix element d 2 mixes non-perturbatively with an operator of lower dimension. Taking this effect into account leads to a considerably smaller value of d 2 , which is consistent with the experimental data. (orig.)

  4. Economy and job contract as contexts of sickness absence practices: revisiting locality and habitus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Virtanen, P; Vahtera, J; Nakari, R; Pentti, J; Kivimäki, M

    2004-04-01

    This study revisits two Finnish local governments-Raisio and Nokia-that in an earlier study showed different sickness absence rates in the early 1990s. The locality difference was interpreted sociologically, within a framework inspired by Bourdieu's theory of social field, habitus and practice. The same framework is applied in the present study, starting out from the hypothesis that a constant historical and cultural locality context tends to reproduce prevailing sickness absence practices. The hypothesis was tested by extending the context beyond the locality to the macroeconomic fluctuations that occurred during the 1990s and to the type of employment contract. In both localities a 30% rise was observed in levels of sickness absence from 1991-1993 to 1997-2000. At the beginning of the 1990s the absence rate among permanent employees was 1.86 times higher in Nokia than in Raisio; at the end of the decade the corresponding rate ratio was 1.88. The absence rates were significantly lower among fixed-term employees than permanent employees, but the locality difference was seen in their case, too. Both results support the hypothesis. In spite of major changes taking place in the national economy, the differences between the two towns' sickness absence rates persisted, which in this particular case probably reflects the persisting working-class character of Nokia and middle-class character of Raisio. The theory also applies to the difference between permanent and fixed-term employees: the peripheral power position of the latter on work related social fields leads to the observed practices, i.e. to the relatively low absence rate. The results of our revisit give reason to recapitulate and elaborate upon our theoretical interpretation with a view to deepening our understanding of the social origins of sickness absence practices in the post-industrial workplace, which is characterised by increasing atypical employment and growing job insecurity.

  5. Design and validation of a comprehensive fecal incontinence questionnaire.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Macmillan, Alexandra K; Merrie, Arend E H; Marshall, Roger J; Parry, Bryan R

    2008-10-01

    Fecal incontinence can have a profound effect on quality of life. Its prevalence remains uncertain because of stigma, lack of consistent definition, and dearth of validated measures. This study was designed to develop a valid clinical and epidemiologic questionnaire, building on current literature and expertise. Patients and experts undertook face validity testing. Construct validity, criterion validity, and test-retest reliability was undertaken. Construct validity comprised factor analysis and internal consistency of the quality of life scale. The validity of known groups was tested against 77 control subjects by using regression models. Questionnaire results were compared with a stool diary for criterion validity. Test-retest reliability was calculated from repeated questionnaire completion. The questionnaire achieved good face validity. It was completed by 104 patients. The quality of life scale had four underlying traits (factor analysis) and high internal consistency (overall Cronbach alpha = 0.97). Patients and control subjects answered the questionnaire significantly differently (P validity testing. Criterion validity assessment found mean differences close to zero. Median reliability for the whole questionnaire was 0.79 (range, 0.35-1). This questionnaire compares favorably with other available instruments, although the interpretation of stool consistency requires further research. Its sensitivity to treatment still needs to be investigated.

  6. Is Sky the Limit? Revisiting ‘Exogenous Productivity of Judges’ Argument

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kamil Jonski

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper revisits ‘exogenous productivity of judges’ hypothesis, laid down in numerous Law & Economics studies based on ‘production function’ approach. It states that judges confronted with growing caseload pressure, adjust their productivity thereby increasing number of resolved cases. We attribute such results to assumptions regarding the shape of court’s ‘production function’, and present alternative – hockey-stick ‘production function’ model, explicitly taking into account the time constraint faced by judges. Hence, we offer an attempt to reconcile ‘production function’ with more traditional approaches to the court performance – such as weighted caseload methods. We argue that such empirical strategy is particularly valuable in case of continental legal systems – characterized by higher procedural formalism. We also propose extended methodology of model evaluation, taking into account their ability to reproduce empirical regularities observed in ‘real world’ court systems.

  7. The role of questionnaires in the assessment of asthma control.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Przybyszowski, Marek; Bochenek, Grażyna

    2015-01-01

    The achievement and the maintenance of asthma control is currently considered the main goal of asthma treatment. Recent guidelines recommend regular assessment of asthma control and indicate questionnaires as important tools that can facilitate its evaluation. Questionnaires relate to GINA or NAEPP guidelines. Questionnaires constitute complex numerical or categorical scales and consist of several to over a dozen questions relating to the patient's symptoms of asthma, limitations in daily activities and usage of rescue medications within a period of time. Each questionnaire is characterized by the features that affect its reliability and usefulness. In the following paper we discuss most of the questionnaires which assess asthma control. We focus on the items they include and present the results of studies that prove the effectiveness of individual questionnaires in assessment of asthma control. Attention was drawn to the patient groups to which the questionnaires are addressed. We list the features of the questionnaire which should be considered before choosing a test, so that it satisfies both the doctor's and the patient's needs. The role of questionnaires as the easy-to-use tools is growing steadily. Unfortunately, not all are available in Polish language. Conducting appropriate validation studies may allow to use many of them in Polish conditions.

  8. Regulating Flexibility and Small Business: Revisiting the LRA and BCEA. A Response to Halton Cheadle’s Concept Paper

    OpenAIRE

    André van Niekerk

    2007-01-01

    This paper is a response, from a business perspective, to Halton Cheadle’s concept paper titled ‘Regulating flexibility: Revisiting the LRA and the BCEA’ (DPRU Working Paper 06/109). This paper seeks to respond to each of the issues raised by Cheadle, and to his reflections on each. As previously noted, the paper has been drafted to present a business perspective. This brief presents its own difficulties. The business community in South Africa is a broad church, and encompasses manifold shade...

  9. Usefulness of questionnaires on advance directives in haemodialysis units.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jornet, Angel Rodríguez; Castellanos, Loreley Ana Betancourt; Contador, Maria Isabel Bolós; Morera, Juan Carlos Oliva; López, José Antonio Ibeas

    2017-10-01

    As renal replacement therapy has become universal practice in medicine, there is a need to consider whether this treatment is suitable for elderly people. These patients have high comorbidity and may require dialysis withdrawal in certain clinical circumstances. Advance directives (ADs) drawn up by patients facilitate treatment-related decisions if they lose cognitive capacity. Questionnaires dealing with possible extreme clinical circumstances can thus help clinicians and relatives reach pertinent decisions in such cases. We studied the usefulness of questionnaires on ADs in patients who started periodic haemodialysis over a period of 10 years. Telephone interviews were conducted to assess satisfaction level among relatives/representatives of deceased patients who had been advised to limit therapeutic efforts in certain clinical situations. The questionnaire was assessed using a six-factor degree of satisfaction. Four hundred and forty-three questionnaires were distributed over a period of 10 years. A total of 41.3% of patients stated that they wished to limit therapeutic efforts in the serious clinical situations presented; 37.9% refused to complete the questionnaire; 14.7% expressed their wishes without any written confirmation; and 6.1% expressed their wish to continue on dialysis in all situations. Two hundred and twenty-four patients had died by the study end date. The cause of death in 20.2% was scheduled dialysis withdrawal. Representatives reported an extremely high degree of satisfaction with the questionnaire (94.7%). Younger people, however, were more reluctant to consider and answer questionnaires on ADs. Questionnaires on ADs are a useful tool in daily nephrology practice and should be distributed to those patients willing to consider the limitation of therapeutic efforts in extreme clinical circumstances. In general terms, these questionnaires should be given to all elderly patients. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on

  10. [The Italian version of Nordic Musculoskeletal Standardized Questionnaire].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ghersi, R; Martinelli, S; Richeldi, A; Clerici, P; Grazioli, P; Gobba, F M

    2007-01-01

    We translated into Italian the Nordic musculoskelethal questionnaire, as completed by Canadian IRSST with Authors' agreement in 2001, according to OMS recommendations. This translation involved the following items: aches and troubles of neck, dorsal region, low back, shoulders, elbows, hands and wrists, hips and thighs, ankles and feet in the last 12 months. The questionnaire was then submitted to reliability and stability tests. The Italian version of the questionnaire, already used in different languages, proved to be suitable and reliable also for self administration.

  11. [Humor at Work Questionnaire - Polish adaptation of Humor Climate Questionnaire (HCQ)].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stańczak, Aleksander; Drabek, Marcin

    2018-03-09

    The aim of the paper is to present the Polish adaptation of the Humor Climate Questionnaire (HCQ), designed to measure humor as organizational climate feature. The authors employed back-translation and independent judges method to choose the best version of the translated items. The psychometric properties of HCQ were estimated on the basis of 2 samples: the basic group of employees (N = 217) and the group of employees who had completed the survey twice (N = 55). The results of statistical analyses proved that HCQ is a reliable tool. Explorative Factor Analysis supported the 4-factor structure of the original method's theoretical model. The validity of the subscales is high, Cronbach's α varied from 0.8 to 0.9. The directions and values of intercorrelations between subscales were similar to those of the English version. The Humor Climate Questionnaire is a relatively time-stable tool (r = 0.44-0.74). Polish adaptation is reliable and applicable for cross-sectional studies. The obtained results are comparable to the characteristics of the original version. However, the results of factor analysis show that the data do not fully fit the theoretical model. Med Pr 2018;69(2):143-152. This work is available in Open Access model and licensed under a CC BY-NC 3.0 PL license.

  12. Acromegaly Quality of Life Questionnaire (AcroQoL

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lara Nuria

    2004-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Acromegaly is a chronic disease with an important impact on patients, Health Related Quality of Life (HRQoL. The ability to effectively measure Health Related Quality of Life is central to describing the impacts of disease or treatment upon the patient, therefore the importance of having a disease specific questionnaire for acromegaly. For the development of the AcroQoL questionnaire different sources of information were used: first a literature search was performed to identify relevant papers describing the impact of acromegaly in HRQoL, second the main domains of impact on HRQoL were identified by 10 experts endocrinologists, and third ten in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted in acromegalic patients to identify domains and items related to the self-perceived impact of acromegaly in patients' life. After a proper qualitative analysis a preliminary 38 item questionnaire was obtained. Rasch analysis concluded with a final 22 item questionnaire. The measurement properties (validity and reliability of the resulting final questionnaire were tested and compared using standard procedures (Cronbach's Alpha and item-total correlation. The evaluation of the item parameters confirmed the construct validity of the new instrument. Responsiveness to change was assessed in a small sample of 32 acromegalic patients with active disease in Spain who were administered the AcroQoL and the generic questionnaire EuroQoL 5-D. The results showed a statistically significant relationship between all the dimensions of AcroQoL and the VAS (visual analogic scale of EQ-5D. An improvement in the global score of AcroQoL was related to a global improvement in the VAS of the EQ-5D. Following the current recommended standard methodology the Spanish questionnaire was translated into eleven other languages.

  13. Analytical Report 2017 “Fraud and mutual cooperation” Questionnaire for FreSsco national experts : Questionnaire for FreSsco national experts

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kramer, Sander

    2017-01-01

    In this questionnaire, several scenarios are described where cooperation is required to find out whether or not there is a risk of fraud and error. For each scenario, some questions are asked. In addition, the questionnaire contains some general questions allowing to find out which steps social

  14. Comparison of Endoscopic Findings with Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease Questionnaires (GerdQ) and Reflux Disease Questionnaire (RDQ) for Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease in Medan

    OpenAIRE

    Siregar, Gontar Alamsyah; Halim, Sahat; Sitepu, Ricky Rivalino

    2015-01-01

    ABSTRACT Background: There are many questionnaires that have been developed to diagnose gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), i.e. reflux disease questionnaire (RDQ), and the recently developed, gastroesophageal reflux disease questionnaires (GerdQ). In this study, we tried to compare GerdQ and RDQ in terms of sensitivity and specificity to diagnose GERD and its relationship with endoscopic findings. Method: This study was a cross sectional analytical study. Subsequently, all the subj...

  15. What matters to infrequent customers: a pragmatic approach to understanding perceived value and intention to revisit trendy coffee caf?

    OpenAIRE

    Ting, Hiram; Thurasamy, Ramayah

    2016-01-01

    Notwithstanding the rise of trendy coffee caf?, little is done to investigate revisit intention towards the caf? in the context of developing markets. In particular, there is a lack of study which provides theoretical and practical explanation to the perceptions and behaviours of infrequent customers. Hence, the study aims to look into the subject matter by using the theory of reasoned action and social exchange theory as the underpinning basis. The framework proposed by Pine and Gilmore (Str...

  16. Dynamic Topography Revisited

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moresi, Louis

    2015-04-01

    Dynamic Topography Revisited Dynamic topography is usually considered to be one of the trinity of contributing causes to the Earth's non-hydrostatic topography along with the long-term elastic strength of the lithosphere and isostatic responses to density anomalies within the lithosphere. Dynamic topography, thought of this way, is what is left over when other sources of support have been eliminated. An alternate and explicit definition of dynamic topography is that deflection of the surface which is attributable to creeping viscous flow. The problem with the first definition of dynamic topography is 1) that the lithosphere is almost certainly a visco-elastic / brittle layer with no absolute boundary between flowing and static regions, and 2) the lithosphere is, a thermal / compositional boundary layer in which some buoyancy is attributable to immutable, intrinsic density variations and some is due to thermal anomalies which are coupled to the flow. In each case, it is difficult to draw a sharp line between each contribution to the overall topography. The second definition of dynamic topography does seem cleaner / more precise but it suffers from the problem that it is not measurable in practice. On the other hand, this approach has resulted in a rich literature concerning the analysis of large scale geoid and topography and the relation to buoyancy and mechanical properties of the Earth [e.g. refs 1,2,3] In convection models with viscous, elastic, brittle rheology and compositional buoyancy, however, it is possible to examine how the surface topography (and geoid) are supported and how different ways of interpreting the "observable" fields introduce different biases. This is what we will do. References (a.k.a. homework) [1] Hager, B. H., R. W. Clayton, M. A. Richards, R. P. Comer, and A. M. Dziewonski (1985), Lower mantle heterogeneity, dynamic topography and the geoid, Nature, 313(6003), 541-545, doi:10.1038/313541a0. [2] Parsons, B., and S. Daly (1983), The

  17. Validation of Online Versions of Tinnitus Questionnaires Translated into Swedish

    Science.gov (United States)

    Müller, Karolina; Edvall, Niklas K.; Idrizbegovic, Esma; Huhn, Robert; Cima, Rilana; Persson, Viktor; Leineweber, Constanze; Westerlund, Hugo; Langguth, Berthold; Schlee, Winfried; Canlon, Barbara; Cederroth, Christopher R.

    2016-01-01

    Background: Due to the lack of objective measures for assessing tinnitus, its clinical evaluation largely relies on the use of questionnaires and psychoacoustic tests. A global assessment of tinnitus burden would largely benefit from holistic approaches that not only incorporate measures of tinnitus but also take into account associated fears, emotional aspects (stress, anxiety, and depression), and quality of life. In Sweden, only a few instruments are available for assessing tinnitus, and the existing tools lack validation. Therefore, we translated a set of questionnaires into Swedish and evaluated their reliability and validity in a group of tinnitus subjects. Methods: We translated the English versions of the Tinnitus Functional Index (TFI), the Fear of Tinnitus Questionnaire (FTQ), the Tinnitus Catastrophizing Scale (TCS), the Perceived Stress Questionnaire (PSQ-30), and the Tinnitus Sample Case History Questionnaire (TSCHQ) into Swedish. These translations were delivered via the internet with the already existing Swedish versions of the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI), the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), the Hyperacusis Questionnaire (HQ), and the World Health Organization Quality of Life questionnaire (WHOQoL-BREF). Psychometric properties were evaluated by means of internal consistency [Cronbach's alpha (α)] and test–retest reliability across a 9-week interval [Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC), Cohen's kappa] in order to establish construct as well as clinical validity using a sample of 260 subjects from a population-based cohort. Results: Internal consistency was acceptable for all questionnaires (α > 0.7) with the exception of the “social relationships” subscale of the WHOQoL-BREF. Test–retest reliability was generally acceptable (ICC > 0.70, Cohens kappa > 0.60) for the tinnitus-related questionnaires, except for the TFI “sense of control” subscale and 15 items of the TSCHQ. Spearmen rank correlations showed that

  18. Validation of online versions of tinnitus questionnaires translated into Swedish

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Karolina Müller

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available BackgroundDue to the lack of objective measures for assessing tinnitus, its clinical evaluation largely relies on the use of questionnaires and psychoacoustic tests. A global assessment of tinnitus burden would largely benefit from holistic approaches that not only incorporate measures of tinnitus but also take into account associated fears, emotional aspects (stress, anxiety, and depression, and quality of life. In Sweden, only a few instruments are available for assessing tinnitus, and the existing tools lack validation. Therefore, we translated a set of questionnaires into Swedish and evaluated their reliability and validity in a group of tinnitus subjects. MethodsWe translated the English versions of the Tinnitus Functional Index (TFI, the Fear of Tinnitus Questionnaire (FTQ, the Tinnitus Catastrophizing Scale (TCS, the Perceived Stress Questionnaire (PSQ-30, and the Tinnitus Sample Case History Questionnaire (TSCHQ into Swedish. These translations were delivered via the internet with the already existing Swedish versions of the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS, the Hyperacusis Questionnaire (HQ, and the World Health Organization Quality of Life questionnaire (WHOQoL-BREF. Psychometric properties were evaluated by means of internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha α and test-retest reliability across a 9-week interval (Intraclass Correlation Coefficient ICC, Cohen’s kappa in order to establish construct as well as clinical validity using a sample of 260 subjects from a population-based cohort.ResultsInternal consistency was acceptable for all questionnaires (α >0.7 with the exception of the ‘social relationships’ subscale of the WHOQoL-BREF. Test-retest reliability was generally acceptable (ICC >.70, Cohens Kappa >.60 for the tinnitus-related questionnaires, except for the TFI ‘sense of control’ subscale and 15 items of the TSCHQ. Spearmen rank correlations showed that almost all

  19. Polycarbonate crowns for primary teeth revisited: Restorative options, technique and case reports

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Karthik Venkataraghavan

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Esthetics by definition is the science of beauty - that particular detail of an animate or inanimate object that makes it appealing to the eye. In the modern, civilized, and cosmetically conscious world, well-contoured and well-aligned white teeth set the standard for beauty. Such teeth are not only considered attractive but are also indicative of nutritional health, self esteem, hygienic pride, and economic status. Numerous treatment approaches have been proposed to address the esthetics and retention of restorations in primary teeth. Even though researchers have claimed that certain restorations are better than the others, particularly owing to the issues mentioned above, the search for the ideal esthetic restoration for the primary teeth continues. This paper revisits and attempts to reintroduce the full coverage restoration, namely, polycarbonate crown, for use in primary anterior teeth.

  20. Revisiting the use of sPLA2-sensitive liposomes in cancer therapy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pourhassan, Houman; Clergeaud Veiga, Gael; Hansen, Anders Elias

    2017-01-01

    The first developed secretory phospholipase A2 (sPLA2) sensitive liposomal cisplatin formulation (LiPlaCis®) is currently undergoing clinical evaluation. In the present study we revisit and evaluate critical preclinical parameters important for the therapeutic potential and safety of platinum drugs......, here oxaliplatin (L-OHP), formulated in sPLA2 sensitive liposomes. We show the mole percentage of negatively charged phospholipid needed to obtain enzyme-sensitivity for saturated systems is ≥ 25% for 16-carbon chain lipid membranes, and > 40% for 18-chain lipid membranes, which was surprising as 25......% is used clinically in LiPlaCis®. Efficient sPLA2-dependent growth inhibition of colorectal cancer cells was demonstrated in vitro, where cell membrane degradation and cytolysis depends on the sensitivity of the formulation towards the enzyme and is governed by the amount of lysolipids generated...

  1. Psychosocial aspects of hereditary cancer (PAHC) questionnaire: development and testing of a screening questionnaire for use in clinical cancer genetics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eijzenga, W; Bleiker, E M A; Hahn, D E E; Kluijt, I; Sidharta, G N; Gundy, C; Aaronson, N K

    2014-08-01

    Up to three-quarters of individuals who undergo cancer genetic counseling and testing report psychosocial problems specifically related to that setting. The objectives of this study were to develop and evaluate the screening properties of a questionnaire designed to assess specific psychosocial problems related to cancer genetic counseling. We adopted the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Group guidelines to develop the Psychosocial Aspects of Hereditary Cancer (PAHC) questionnaire, a 26-item questionnaire organized into six problem domains: genetics, practical issues, family, living with cancer, emotions, and children. The Distress Thermometer and a question per domain on the perceived need for extra psychosocial services were included as well. We administered the questionnaire and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale to 127 counselees at the time of genetic counseling and 3 weeks after DNA test disclosure. As a gold standard to evaluate the screening properties of the questionnaire, participants underwent a semi-structured interview with an experienced social worker who assessed the presence and severity of problems per domain. A cutoff score representing responses of 'quite a bit' or 'very much' to one or more items within a given problem domain yielded moderate to high sensitivity across domains. A cutoff of 4 on the Distress Thermometer yielded high sensitivity. The questions regarding the perceived need for extra psychosocial services yielded high specificity and negative predictive values. The Psychosocial Aspects of Hereditary Cancer questionnaire in combination with the Distress Thermometer can be used as a first-line screener for psychosocial problems within the cancer genetic counseling setting. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  2. Validity of the international physical activity questionnaire and the Singapore prospective study program physical activity questionnaire in a multiethnic urban Asian population

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tai E Shyong

    2011-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Physical activity patterns of a population remain mostly assessed by the questionnaires. However, few physical activity questionnaires have been validated in Asian populations. We previously utilized a combination of different questionnaires to assess leisure time, transportation, occupational and household physical activity in the Singapore Prospective Study Program (SP2. The International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ has been developed for a similar purpose. In this study, we compared estimates from these two questionnaires with an objective measure of physical activity in a multi-ethnic Asian population. Methods Physical activity was measured in 152 Chinese, Malay and Asian Indian adults using an accelerometer over five consecutive days, including a weekend. Participants completed both the physical activity questionnaire in SP2 (SP2PAQ and IPAQ long form. 43subjects underwent a second set of measurements on average 6 months later to assess reproducibility of the questionnaires and the accelerometer measurements. Spearman correlations were used to evaluate validity and reproducibility and correlations for validity were corrected for within-person variation of accelerometer measurements. Agreement between the questionnaires and the accelerometer measurements was also evaluated using Bland Altman plots. Results The corrected correlation with accelerometer estimates of energy expenditure from physical activity was better for the SP2PAQ (vigorous activity: r = 0.73; moderate activity: r = 0.27 than for the IPAQ (vigorous activity: r = 0.31; moderate activity: r = 0.15. For moderate activity, the corrected correlation between SP2PAQ and the accelerometer was higher for Chinese (r = 0.38 and Malays (r = 0.57 than for Indians (r = -0.09. Both questionnaires overestimated energy expenditure from physical activity to a greater extent at higher levels of physical activity than at lower levels of physical activity. The

  3. A measurement error model for physical activity level as measured by a questionnaire with application to the 1999-2006 NHANES questionnaire.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tooze, Janet A; Troiano, Richard P; Carroll, Raymond J; Moshfegh, Alanna J; Freedman, Laurence S

    2013-06-01

    Systematic investigations into the structure of measurement error of physical activity questionnaires are lacking. We propose a measurement error model for a physical activity questionnaire that uses physical activity level (the ratio of total energy expenditure to basal energy expenditure) to relate questionnaire-based reports of physical activity level to true physical activity levels. The 1999-2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey physical activity questionnaire was administered to 433 participants aged 40-69 years in the Observing Protein and Energy Nutrition (OPEN) Study (Maryland, 1999-2000). Valid estimates of participants' total energy expenditure were also available from doubly labeled water, and basal energy expenditure was estimated from an equation; the ratio of those measures estimated true physical activity level ("truth"). We present a measurement error model that accommodates the mixture of errors that arise from assuming a classical measurement error model for doubly labeled water and a Berkson error model for the equation used to estimate basal energy expenditure. The method was then applied to the OPEN Study. Correlations between the questionnaire-based physical activity level and truth were modest (r = 0.32-0.41); attenuation factors (0.43-0.73) indicate that the use of questionnaire-based physical activity level would lead to attenuated estimates of effect size. Results suggest that sample sizes for estimating relationships between physical activity level and disease should be inflated, and that regression calibration can be used to provide measurement error-adjusted estimates of relationships between physical activity and disease.

  4. A closer look at web questionnaire design

    OpenAIRE

    Toepoel, V.

    2008-01-01

    This dissertation deals with the design of online questionnaires and its consequences for data quality: what is the effect of the number of items placed on a screen, the response categories, layout choices et cetera. It also focuses on attrition and panel conditioning: what do people learn from taking surveys both in content and in the response process. In short: A Closer Look at Web Questionnaire Design.

  5. Application of summative content analysis to a postal questionnaire.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Griffiths, Thomas Howard

    2016-01-01

    Content analysis of replies to closed questions in questionnaires can be undertaken to understand remarks that may explain the responses, provide illustrative examples of issues raised in the questionnaire, define new issues or issues of importance that were not covered in the questionnaire and inform the design of new questions in future surveys. To discuss the usefulness of summative content analysis to free text in postal questionnaires. Content analysis provides useful comparative insights between two respondent groups in the case example provided. Five themes emerged: poor understanding of the concept of 'patient lateral transfer work technique' and the direct instrument nursing observation (DINO) instrument's key directions; outcomes of patient transfer; positive responses; manual handling risk; and poor translation into English of DINO. Respondents need an opportunity to clarify their responses to questionnaires using free text, to provide insight into their understanding of the question being asked, understanding of the concept or construct being discussed, and data triangulation through the confirmation of item responses and free-text comments. Responses to questions in a postal questionnaire and the opportunity for free-text commentary by respondents enable the identification of hidden meanings behind tickbox responses to questions.

  6. ACADEMIC TRAINING LECTURES-QUESTIONNAIRE: SUGGEST AND WIN!

    CERN Multimedia

    Françoise Benz

    2002-01-01

    Its time to plan for the 2002-2003 lecture series. From today until April 26 you have the chance to give your contribution to improved planning for next year's Academic Training Lectures Series. At the web site, you will find questionnaires concerning the following different categories: high energy physics, applied physics, science and society and post-graduate student lectures. Answering the questionnaire will help ensure that the selected topics are as close as possible to your interests. In particular requests and comments from students will be much appreciated. To encourage your contribution, the AT Committee is offering 10 prizes of a self-teach web based training course to people who provide their email address when filling in the questionnaire. The 10 winners will be chosen randomly from the replies received before the closing date.

  7. Development and Validation of the Bicultural Youth Acculturation Questionnaire.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kukaswadia, Atif; Janssen, Ian; Pickett, William; Bajwa, Jasmine; Georgiades, Katholiki; Lalonde, Richard N; Quon, Elizabeth C; Safdar, Saba; Pike, Ian

    2016-01-01

    Acculturation is a multidimensional process involving changes in behaviour and beliefs. Questionnaires developed to measure acculturation are typically designed for specific ethnic populations and adult experiences. This study developed a questionnaire that measures acculturation among ethnically diverse populations of youth that can be included as a module in population surveys. Questionnaires measuring acculturation in youth were identified in the literature. The importance of items from the existing questionnaires was determined using a Delphi process and this informed the development of our questionnaire. The questionnaire was then pilot tested using a sample of 248 Canadians aged 18-25 via an online system. Participants identified as East and South East Asian (27.8%), South Asian (17.7%) and Black (13.7%). The majority were 1st (33.5%) or 2nd generation immigrants (52.0%). After redundant items were eliminated, exploratory factor analysis grouped items into domains, and, for each domain, internal consistency, and convergent validity with immigrant generation then age at immigration estimated. A subset of participants re-completed the questionnaire for reliability estimation. The literature review yielded 117 articles that used 13 questionnaires with a total of 440 questions. The Delphi process reduced these to 32 questions. Pilot testing occurred in 248 Canadians aged 18-25. Following item reduction, 16 questions in three domains remained: dominant culture, heritage language, and heritage culture. All had good internal consistency (Cronbach's alphas > .75). The mean dominant domain score increased with immigrant generation (1st generation: 3.69 (95% CI: 3.49-3.89), 2nd: 4.13 (4.00-4.26), 3rd: 4.40 (4.19-4.61)), and mean heritage language score was higher among those who immigrated after age 12 than before (p = .0001), indicative of convergent validity. This Bicultural Youth Acculturation Questionnaire has demonstrated validity. It can be incorporated into

  8. Development and Validation of the Bicultural Youth Acculturation Questionnaire

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kukaswadia, Atif; Janssen, Ian; Pickett, William; Bajwa, Jasmine; Georgiades, Katholiki; Lalonde, Richard N.; Quon, Elizabeth C.; Safdar, Saba; Pike, Ian

    2016-01-01

    Objectives Acculturation is a multidimensional process involving changes in behaviour and beliefs. Questionnaires developed to measure acculturation are typically designed for specific ethnic populations and adult experiences. This study developed a questionnaire that measures acculturation among ethnically diverse populations of youth that can be included as a module in population surveys. Methods Questionnaires measuring acculturation in youth were identified in the literature. The importance of items from the existing questionnaires was determined using a Delphi process and this informed the development of our questionnaire. The questionnaire was then pilot tested using a sample of 248 Canadians aged 18–25 via an online system. Participants identified as East and South East Asian (27.8%), South Asian (17.7%) and Black (13.7%). The majority were 1st (33.5%) or 2nd generation immigrants (52.0%). After redundant items were eliminated, exploratory factor analysis grouped items into domains, and, for each domain, internal consistency, and convergent validity with immigrant generation then age at immigration estimated. A subset of participants re-completed the questionnaire for reliability estimation. Results The literature review yielded 117 articles that used 13 questionnaires with a total of 440 questions. The Delphi process reduced these to 32 questions. Pilot testing occurred in 248 Canadians aged 18–25. Following item reduction, 16 questions in three domains remained: dominant culture, heritage language, and heritage culture. All had good internal consistency (Cronbach’s alphas > .75). The mean dominant domain score increased with immigrant generation (1st generation: 3.69 (95% CI: 3.49–3.89), 2nd: 4.13 (4.00–4.26), 3rd: 4.40 (4.19–4.61)), and mean heritage language score was higher among those who immigrated after age 12 than before (p = .0001), indicative of convergent validity. Conclusions This Bicultural Youth Acculturation Questionnaire has

  9. QUESTIONNAIRE 5YR 2013

    CERN Multimedia

    Association du personnel

    2013-01-01

    CERN must remain the centre of excellence that it has been for the last sixty years. Therefore, the Organization must continue to be able to attract, motivate and retain the best specialists coming from all the Member States. This is why, every five years, on the occasion of a five-yearly review, our employment conditions are compared with bodies having similar activities.In order to prepare the next five-yearly review, the topics of which will be decided by the CERN Council in June 2014, the Staff Association has drawn up a questionnaire that gives you the opportunity to tell us what you think about your current employment conditions. You can also indicate how you wish to see them evolve, and to help you we present some proposals for improvement on which you can give your opinion. Above all, do not hesitate, by using the comments’ fields available in the questionnaire, to formulate your own suggestions in all areas of your conditions of employment that are of interest to you. Your replies will hel...

  10. The pornography craving questionnaire: psychometric properties.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kraus, Shane; Rosenberg, Harold

    2014-04-01

    Despite the prevalence of pornography use, and recent conceptualization of problematic use as an addiction, we could find no published scale to measure craving for pornography. Therefore, we conducted three studies employing young male pornography users to develop and evaluate such a questionnaire. In Study 1, we had participants rate their agreement with 20 potential craving items after reading a control script or a script designed to induce craving to watch pornography. We dropped eight items because of low endorsement. In Study 2, we revised both the questionnaire and cue exposure stimuli and then evaluated several psychometric properties of the modified questionnaire. Item loadings from a principal components analysis, a high internal consistency reliability coefficient, and a moderate mean inter-item correlation supported interpreting the 12 revised items as a single scale. Correlations of craving scores with preoccupation with pornography, sexual history, compulsive internet use, and sensation seeking provided support for convergent validity, criterion validity, and discriminant validity, respectively. The enhanced imagery script did not impact reported craving; however, more frequent users of pornography reported higher craving than less frequent users regardless of script condition. In Study 3, craving scores demonstrated good one-week test-retest reliability and predicted the number of times participants used pornography during the following week. This questionnaire could be applied in clinical settings to plan and evaluate therapy for problematic users of pornography and as a research tool to assess the prevalence and contextual triggers of craving among different types of pornography users.

  11. Questionnaires for eliciting evaluation data from users of interactive question answering

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kelly, Diane; Kantor, Paul B.; Morse, Emile; Scholtz, Jean; Sun, Y.

    2009-01-01

    Evaluating interactive question answering (QA) systems with real users can be challenging because traditional evaluation measures based on the relevance of items returned are difficult to employ since relevance judgments can be unstable in multi-user evaluations. The work reported in this paper evaluates, in distinguishing among a set of interactive QA systems, the effectiveness of three questionnaires: a Cognitive Workload Questionnaire (NASA TLX), and Task and System Questionnaires customized to a specific interactive QA application. These Questionnaires were evaluated with four systems, seven analysts, and eight scenarios during a 2-week workshop. Overall, results demonstrate that all three Questionnaires are effective at distinguishing among systems, with the Task Questionnaire being the most sensitive. Results also provide initial support for the validity and reliability of the Questionnaires.

  12. Revisiting the mesoscopic Termonia and Smith model for deformation of polymers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Krishna Reddy, B; Basu, Sumit; Estevez, Rafael

    2008-01-01

    Mesoscopic models for polymers have the potential to link macromolecular properties with the mechanical behaviour without being too expensive computationally. An interesting, popular and rather simple model to this end was proposed by Termonia and Smith (1987 Macromolecules 20 835–8). In this model the macromolecular ensemble is viewed as a collection of two-dimensional self-avoiding random walks on a regular lattice whose lattice points represent entanglements. The load is borne by members representing van der Waals bonds as well as macromolecular strands between two entanglement points. Model polymers simulated via this model exhibited remarkable qualitative similarity with real polymers with respect to their molecular weight, entanglement spacing, strain rate and temperature dependence. In this work, we revisit this model and present a detailed reformulation within the framework of a finite deformation finite element scheme. The physical origins of each of the parameters in the model are investigated and inherent assumptions in the model which contribute to its success are critically probed

  13. Revisited the mathematical derivation wall thickness measurement of pipe for radiography

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hamzah, A.R.; Amir, S.M.M. [Non Destructive Testing(NDT) Group, Industrial Technology Div., Malaysian Nuclear Agency, Selangor (Malaysia)

    2007-07-01

    Wall thickness measurement of pipe is very important of the structural integrity of the industrial plant. However, the radiography method has an advantage because the ability of penetrating the insulated pipe. This will have economic benefit for industry. Moreover, the era of digital radiography has more advantages because the speed of radiographic work, less exposure time and no chemical used for film development. Either the conventional radiography or digital radiology, the wall thickness measurement is using the tangential radiography technique (TRT). In case, of a large diameter, pipe (more than inches) the determination maximum penetration wall thickness must be taken into the consideration. This paper is revisited the mathematical derivation of the determination of wall thickness measurement based on tangential radiography technique (TRT). The mathematical approach used in this derivation is the Pythagoras theorem and geometrical principles. In order to derive the maximum penetration wall thickness a similar approach is used. (authors)

  14. Revisiting reflexology: Concept, evidence, current practice, and practitioner training.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Embong, Nurul Haswani; Soh, Yee Chang; Ming, Long Chiau; Wong, Tin Wui

    2015-10-01

    Reflexology is basically a study of how one part of the human body relates to another part of the body. Reflexology practitioners rely on the reflexes map of the feet and hands to all the internal organs and other human body parts. They believe that by applying the appropriate pressure and massage certain spots on the feet and hands, all other body parts could be energized and rejuvenated. This review aimed to revisit the concept of reflexology and examine its effectiveness, practices, and the training for reflexology practitioners. PubMed, SCOPUS, Google Scholar, and SpringerLink databases were utilized to search the following medical subject headings or keywords: foot massage, reflexology, foot reflexotherapy, reflexological treatment, and zone therapy. The articles published for the last 10 years were included. Previous systematic reviews failed to show concrete evidence for any specific effect of reflexology in any conditions. Due to its non-invasive, non-pharmacological complementary nature, reflexology is widely accepted and anecdotal evidence of positive effect reflexology in a variety of health conditions are available. Adequate training for practitioners is necessary to ensure the consistency of service provided.

  15. Revisiting reflexology: Concept, evidence, current practice, and practitioner training

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nurul Haswani Embong

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available Reflexology is basically a study of how one part of the human body relates to another part of the body. Reflexology practitioners rely on the reflexes map of the feet and hands to all the internal organs and other human body parts. They believe that by applying the appropriate pressure and massage certain spots on the feet and hands, all other body parts could be energized and rejuvenated. This review aimed to revisit the concept of reflexology and examine its effectiveness, practices, and the training for reflexology practitioners. PubMed, SCOPUS, Google Scholar, and SpringerLink databases were utilized to search the following medical subject headings or keywords: foot massage, reflexology, foot reflexotherapy, reflexological treatment, and zone therapy. The articles published for the last 10 years were included. Previous systematic reviews failed to show concrete evidence for any specific effect of reflexology in any conditions. Due to its non-invasive, non-pharmacological complementary nature, reflexology is widely accepted and anecdotal evidence of positive effect reflexology in a variety of health conditions are available. Adequate training for practitioners is necessary to ensure the consistency of service provided.

  16. International recognition of the Chronic Otitis Media Questionnaire 12.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kosyakov, S I; Minavnina, J V; Phillips, J S; Yung, M W

    2017-06-01

    The Chronic Otitis Media Questionnaire 12 was developed initially in the UK to assess patient-reported health-related quality of life associated with chronic otitis media. This study aimed to determine whether this tool is applicable to the Russian population, which has a materially different healthcare system. A total of 108 patients with different forms of chronic otitis media completed the Russian Chronic Otitis Media Questionnaire 12. The average Russian Chronic Otitis Media Questionnaire 12 score was 19.4 (standard deviation = 8.3). The internal consistency of the Russian Chronic Otitis Media Questionnaire 12 was high, with a Cronbach's alpha value of 0.860. The Russian version of the Chronic Otitis Media Questionnaire 12 was found to be a reliable tool for the assessment of health-related quality of life in patients with chronic otitis media. This sets the scene for international collaboration, using this tool to assess the effectiveness of surgical treatments even amongst countries with different healthcare systems.

  17. [The Family Questionnaire (FB-K) - A Short Version of the General Family Questionnaire and its Reliability and Validity].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sidor, Anna; Cierpka, Manfred

    2016-01-01

    A standardized assessment of a family system plays a crucial role in family therapy research and diagnostic, as well as in a family therapy itself. A 14-item short version of the General Family Questionnaire (FB-K) was designed to get a tool for assessing family functionality that is low time-consuming. The short version was developed by factor analysis from the long version FA-A. The quality criteria of the family questionnaire were verified in a control sample of 208 high-risk families four months after the birth of their child. The new family questionnaire demonstrates a very good reliability and a satisfactory 8-months-stability. The concurrent validity with the FACES scale "cohesion" is assured. Regarding the construct validity a positive correlation to the feeling of coherence was found. The family questionnaire shows a negative correlation to the maternal postnatal depressive symptoms, the degree of maternal stress burden, the dysfunctionality of the mother-child-relationship and impaired bonding. The values taken from a norm sample with infants are higher by trend and in the sample with children under 18 do not deviate from the values of the risk sample. FB-K covers two aspects of family functioning, the bond between family members and their willingness to communicate. The internal consistency of FB-K is excellent, the criterion and the construct validity are good.

  18. Questionnaire typography and production.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gray, M

    1975-06-01

    This article describes the typographic principles and practice which provide the basis of good design and print, the relevant printing processes which can be used, and the graphic designer's function in questionnaire production. As they impose constraints on design decisions to be discussed later in the text, the various methods of printing and production are discussed first.

  19. Nuclear wastes, a questionnaire

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1980-01-01

    Questionnaire giving basic information for the public on nuclear wastes and radioactive waste management. Risk and regulations to reduce the risk to permissible limits are more particularly developed. A survey of radioactive wastes is made along the fuel cycle: production, processing, transport, disposal to end on effect of waste management on the cost of nuclear kWh [fr

  20. Updating energy security and environmental policy: Energy security theories revisited.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Proskuryakova, L

    2018-06-18

    The energy security theories are based on the premises of sufficient and reliable supply of fossil fuels at affordable prices in centralized supply systems. Policy-makers and company chief executives develop energy security strategies based on the energy security theories and definitions that dominate in the research and policy discourse. It is therefore of utmost importance that scientists revisit these theories in line with the latest changes in the energy industry: the rapid advancement of renewables and smart grid, decentralization of energy systems, new environmental and climate challenges. The study examines the classic energy security concepts (neorealism, neoliberalism, constructivism and international political economy) and assesses if energy technology changes are taken into consideration. This is done through integrative literature review, comparative analysis, identification of 'international relations' and 'energy' research discourse with the use of big data, and case studies of Germany, China, and Russia. The paper offers suggestions for revision of energy security concepts through integration of future technology considerations. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  1. Revisiting the quasi-particle model of the quark-gluon plasma

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bannur, V.M.

    2007-01-01

    The quasi-particle model of the quark-gluon plasma (QGP) is revisited here with a new method, different from earlier studies, one without the need of a temperature dependent bag constant and other effects such as confinement, effective degrees of freedom etc. Our model has only one system dependent parameter and shows a surprisingly good fit to the lattice results for the gluon plasma, and for 2-flavor, 3-flavor and (2+1)-flavor QGP. The basic idea is first to evaluate the energy density ε from the grand partition function of quasi-particle QGP, and then derive all other thermodynamic functions from ε. Quasi-particles are assumed to have a temperature dependent mass equal to the plasma frequency. Energy density, pressure and speed of sound at zero chemical potential are evaluated and compared with the available lattice data. We further extend the model to a finite chemical potential, without any new parameters, to obtain the quark density, quark susceptibility etc., and the model fits very well with the lattice results on 2-flavor QGP. (orig.)

  2. Internal wave focusing revisited; a reanalysis and new theoretical links

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lam, Frans-Peter A; Maas, Leo R M

    2008-01-01

    An experiment which discussed the appearance of an internal wave attractor in a uniformly stratified, free-surface fluid [Maas, L.R.M., Benielli, D., Sommeria, J., Lam, F.-P.A., 1997. Observation of an internal wave attractor in a confined, stably stratified fluid. Nature 388(6642), 557-561] is revisited. This is done in order to give a more detailed and more accurate description of the underlying focusing process. Evolution of the attractor can now be quantified. For the tank with one sloping sidewall, and for the parameter regime (density stratification, forcing frequency) studied, the inverse exponential growth rate determined at several locations in the fluid turns out to be 122 s always. Only the start and duration of the growth differed: away from the attractor region it appeared later and of shorter duration. Here, these features are interpreted by employing a new theoretical basis that incorporates an external forcing via a surface boundary condition (an infinitesimal barotropic seiche) and that describes the solution in terms of propagating waves.

  3. An Adaptive and Hybrid Approach for Revisiting the Visibility Pipeline

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ícaro Lins Leitão da Cunha

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available We revisit the visibility problem, which is traditionally known in Computer Graphics and Vision fields as the process of computing a (potentially visible set of primitives in the computational model of a scene. We propose a hybrid solution that uses a dry structure (in the sense of data reduction, a triangulation of the type J1a, to accelerate the task of searching for visible primitives. We came up with a solution that is useful for real-time, on-line, interactive applications as 3D visualization. In such applications the main goal is to load the minimum amount of primitives from the scene during the rendering stage, as possible. For this purpose, our algorithm executes the culling by using a hybrid paradigm based on viewing-frustum, back-face culling and occlusion models. Results have shown substantial improvement over these traditional approaches if applied separately. This novel approach can be used in devices with no dedicated processors or with low processing power, as cell phones or embedded displays, or to visualize data through the Internet, as in virtual museums applications.

  4. Cognitive Laboratory Experiences : On Pre-testing Computerised Questionnaires

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Snijkers, G.J.M.E.

    2002-01-01

    In the literature on questionnaire design and survey methodology, pre-testing is mentioned as a way to evaluate questionnaires (i.e. investigate whether they work as intended) and control for measurement errors (i.e. assess data quality). As the American Statistical Association puts it (ASA, 1999,

  5. Taxonomy-based content analysis of sedentary behavior questionnaires: A systematic review

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rivière, Fabien; Aubert, Salomé; Omorou, Abdou Yacoubou; Ainsworth, Barbara E.

    2018-01-01

    Background Health effects of sedentary behaviors (SB) may vary depending on their characteristics such as type, purpose, duration, and intensity of the behavior. While a growing number of questionnaires assess sedentary behaviors, it is unclear which characteristics of SB are measured. The aim of this review was to examine the content of self-report SB questionnaires. Methods Three databases were searched for sedentary behavior questionnaires published before January 1st, 2016. Based on the inclusion criteria, 82 articles out of 1369 were retrieved for a total of 60 questionnaires. For each questionnaire, the sedentary behavior characteristics identified were reported and analyzed. Results Most of the questionnaires assessed the time (n = 60), posture (n = 54), purpose (n = 46) and the types (n = 45) of SB performed. Fewer questionnaires assessed the environment (n = 20) social context (n = 11), status (n = 2), and associated behaviors (n = 2) related to sedentary behaviors. All the questionnaires except two assessed time spent in SB with 17 assessing frequency and 6 assessing breaks in SB. The most frequent characteristics identified in the questionnaires were the categories of sitting (90%), a day (95%), watching television (65%) and using a computer (55%). Many characteristics of SB were not measured. Conclusions By knowing the breadth of SB included in questionnaires, this review provides support to shape the design of new questionnaires designed to reduce the gaps in measuring sedentary behaviors. PMID:29509791

  6. Screening Questionnaires for Obstructive Sleep Apnea: An Updated Systematic Review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Amra, Babak; Rahmati, Behzad; Soltaninejad, Forogh; Feizi, Awat

    2018-05-01

    Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is the most common sleep-related breathing disorder and is associated with significant morbidity. We sought to present an updated systematic review of the literature on the accuracy of screening questionnaires for OSA against polysomnography (PSG) as the reference test. Using the main databases (including Medline, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews and Scopus) we used a combination of relevant keywords to filter studies published between January 2010 and April 2017. Population-based studies evaluating the accuracy of screening questionnaires for OSA against PSG were included in the review. Thirty-nine studies comprising 18 068 subjects were included. Four screening questionnaires for OSA had been validated in selected studies including the Berlin questionnaire (BQ), STOP-Bang Questionnaire (SBQ), STOP Questionnaire (SQ), and Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS). The sensitivity of SBQ in detecting mild (apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) ≥ 5 events/hour) and severe (AHI ≥ 30 events/hour) OSA was higher compared to other screening questionnaires (range from 81.08% to 97.55% and 69.2% to 98.7%, respectively). However, SQ had the highest sensitivity in predicting moderate OSA (AHI ≥ 15 events/hour; range = 41.3% to 100%). SQ and SBQ are reliable tools for screening OSA among sleep clinic patients. Although further validation studies on the screening abilities of these questionnaires on general populations are required.

  7. Conversion of Questionnaire Data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Powell, Danny H.; Elwood, Robert H. Jr.

    2011-01-01

    During the survey, respondents are asked to provide qualitative answers (well, adequate, needs improvement) on how well material control and accountability (MC and A) functions are being performed. These responses can be used to develop failure probabilities for basic events performed during routine operation of the MC and A systems. The failure frequencies for individual events may be used to estimate total system effectiveness using a fault tree in a probabilistic risk analysis (PRA). Numeric risk values are required for the PRA fault tree calculations that are performed to evaluate system effectiveness. So, the performance ratings in the questionnaire must be converted to relative risk values for all of the basic MC and A tasks performed in the facility. If a specific material protection, control, and accountability (MPC and A) task is being performed at the 'perfect' level, the task is considered to have a near zero risk of failure. If the task is performed at a less than perfect level, the deficiency in performance represents some risk of failure for the event. As the degree of deficiency in performance increases, the risk of failure increases. If a task that should be performed is not being performed, that task is in a state of failure. The failure probabilities of all basic events contribute to the total system risk. Conversion of questionnaire MPC and A system performance data to numeric values is a separate function from the process of completing the questionnaire. When specific questions in the questionnaire are answered, the focus is on correctly assessing and reporting, in an adjectival manner, the actual performance of the related MC and A function. Prior to conversion, consideration should not be given to the numeric value that will be assigned during the conversion process. In the conversion process, adjectival responses to questions on system performance are quantified based on a log normal scale typically used in human error analysis (see A

  8. Improving research questionnaires by means of intralingual translation

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Clear research questionnaires ultimately help to ensure the reliability and comparability of the data that they gather (Fowler 1992; Lenzner 2012; Moroney and Cameron 2016). This paper explores the intersection of best practices in the fields of questionnaire design and intralingual translation as a means to ensure clarity ...

  9. Validity of Self Completed Health Questionnaire among Oral ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Objective of this study is to determine the degree of validity of self completed health questionnaire among oral surgery patient at the Capitol Dental when compared with a structured oral interview. A prospective random selection method was applied using a standardized questionnaire. The cohorts are patients attending ...

  10. Alien Species and the Water Framework Directive - Questionnaire Results

    OpenAIRE

    VANDEKERKHOVE JOCHEN; CARDOSO Ana

    2010-01-01

    Alien species constitute a major pressure in aquatic environments, both ecologically and economically. This recognition has initiated a debate on the role of alien species in ecological status classifications. We distributed a questionnaire to review how EU Member States (MSs) deal with alien species in their national status assessments under the Water Framework Directive (WFD). The questionnaire was filled and returned by 23 EU MSs and Norway. Analysis of the questionnaire returns and referr...

  11. Validation of the Reflux Disease Questionnaire into Greek

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eirini Oikonomidou

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available Primary care physicians face challenges in diagnosing and managing gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD. The Reflux Disease Questionnaire (RDQ meets the standards of validity, reliability, and practicability. This paper reports on the validation of the Greek translation of the RDQ. RDQ is a condition specific instrument. For the validation of the questionnaire, the internal consistency of its items was established using the alpha coefficient of Chronbach. The reproducibility (test-retest reliability was measured by kappa correlation coefficient and the criterion of validity was calculated against the diagnosis of another questionnaire already translated and validated into Greek (IDGP using kappa correlation coefficient. A factor analysis was also performed. Greek RDQ showed a high overall internal consistency (alpha value: 0.91 for individual comparison. All 8 items regarding heartburn and regurgitation, GERD, had good reproducibility (Cohen’s κ 0.60-0.79, while the remaining 4 items about dyspepsia had a moderate reproducibility (Cohen’s κ=’ 0.40-0.59 The kappa coefficient for criterion validity for GERD was rather poor (0.20, 95% CI: 0.04, 0.36 and the overall agreement between the results of the RDQ questionnaire and those based on the IDGP questionnaire was 70.5%. Factor analysis indicated 3 factors with Eigenvalue over 1.0, and responsible for 76.91% of variance. Regurgitation items correlated more strongly with the third component but pain behind sternum and upper stomach pain correlated with the second component. The Greek version of RDQ seems to be a reliable and valid instrument following the pattern of the original questionnaire, and could be used in primary care research in Greece.

  12. [The "Baltic Frontier" revisited. Power structures and gross-cultural interactions in the Baltic region. Proceedings of the international symposium in Florence, February 29th and March Ist, 2008] / Karsten Brüggemann

    Index Scriptorium Estoniae

    Brüggemann, Karsten, 1965-

    2010-01-01

    Arvustus: The "Baltic Frontier" revisited. Power structures and gross-cultural interactions in the Baltic region. Proceedings of the international symposium in Florence, February 29th and March Ist, 2008. Vienna, 2009

  13. A geopolítica do poder terrestre revisitada The geopolitics of land power revisited

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Leonel Itaussu Almeida Mello

    1994-12-01

    Full Text Available O pensamento geopolítico do geógrafo inglês Halford Mackind-er é revisitado com três objetivos: a analisar criticamente os conceitos que formam o arcabouço da teoria do poder terrestre; b enfocar à luz dessa teoria a vitória incruenta da potência insular americana sobre a potência continental soviética no âmbito do sistema bipolar da Guerra Fria; c discutir a atualidade ou obsolescência da geopolítica de Mackinder no contexto da "nova ordem mundial" emergente.The goepolitical ideas of the English geographer Halford J. Mackinder are revisited in order to examine the foundations and contemporary relevance, or obsolescence, of his theory of the land power.

  14. A Taiwanese food frequency questionnaire correlates with plasma docosahexaenoic acid but not with plasma eicosapentaenoic acid levels: questionnaires and plasma biomarkers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chien, Kuo-Liong; Lee, Meei-Shyuan; Tsai, Yi-Tsen; Chen, Pey-Rong; Lin, Hung-Ju; Hsu, Hsiu-Ching; Lee, Yuan-The; Chen, Ming-Fong

    2013-02-16

    Little evidence is available for the validity of dietary fish and polyunsaturated fatty acid intake derived from interviewer-administered questionnaires and plasma docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) concentration. We estimated the correlation of DHA and EPA intake from both questionnaires and biochemical measurements. Ethnic Chinese adults with a mean (± SD) age of 59.8 (±12.8) years (n = 297) (47% women) who completed a 38-item semi-quantitative food-frequency questionnaire and provided a plasma sample were enrolled. Plasma fatty acids were analyzed by capillary gas chromatography. The Spearmen rank correlation coefficients between the intake of various types of fish and marine n-3 fatty acids as well as plasma DHA were significant, ranging from 0.20 to 0.33 (P food frequency questionnaire, were correlated with the percentages of these fatty acids in plasma, and in particular with plasma DHA. Plasma DHA levels were correlated to dietary intake of long-chain n-3 fatty acids.

  15. African primary care research: performing surveys using questionnaires.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Govender, Indiran; Mabuza, Langalibalele H; Ogunbanjo, Gboyega A; Mash, Bob

    2014-04-25

    The aim of this article is to provide practical guidance on conducting surveys and the use of questionnaires for postgraduate students at a Masters level who are undertaking primary care research. The article is intended to assist with writing the methods section of the research proposal and thinking through the relevant issues that apply to sample size calculation, sampling strategy, design of a questionnaire and administration of a questionnaire. The articleis part of a larger series on primary care research, with other articles in the series focusing on the structure of the research proposal and the literature review, as well as quantitative data analysis.

  16. Comparing the Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire and Munich ChronoType Questionnaire to the Dim Light Melatonin Onset.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kantermann, Thomas; Sung, Haein; Burgess, Helen J

    2015-10-01

    The dim light melatonin onset (DLMO) is the most reliable measure of central circadian timing in humans. However, it is not always possible to measure the DLMO because sample collection has to occur in the hours before usual sleep onset, it requires staff support and considerable participant effort, and it is relatively expensive. Questionnaires that ask people about the timing of their behavior, such as their sleep, may provide an easier and less expensive estimate of circadian timing. The objective of this analysis was to compare the MEQ score derived from the Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ) and the MSFsc derived from the Munich ChronoType Questionnaire (MCTQ) to the DLMO in the largest sample to date (N = 60). Our hypothesis was that MSFsc would correlate more highly with the DLMO than MEQ score. Our sample of 36 healthy controls and 24 patients with delayed sleep phase disorder ranged in age from 18 to 62 years. All participants slept at times of their own choosing for a week before the assessment of their DLMO. The DLMO correlated significantly with both the MEQ score (r = -0.70, p light or exogenous melatonin treatment, as this could result in the mistiming of these treatments relative to the DLMO, thereby potentially worsening circadian misalignment. © 2015 The Author(s).

  17. Evaluate Stochastikon Magister by Questionnaire

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiaomin Zhai

    2011-03-01

    Full Text Available This paper is the continuation of the work of articles “Strategies for Teaching a Novel Approach to Handling Uncertainty Scientifically via Internet”, “A Graphical Tool for Visualizing Bernoulli Stochastics” and “Empirical Evaluation of Stochastikon Magister”. In this paper we evaluate the usability and learnability of the virtual classroom – Stochastikon Magister by questionnaire. The result shows that more than 70% of the teacher candidates, who selected Magister E-Learning programme to learn Bernoulli Stochastics, feel satisfactory with both Magister learning environment and Bernoulli Stochastics teaching content. Besides, most of the participants hold positive attitudes toward the possibility of using E-Learning systems as a replacement of classroom teaching for educating other subjects of mathematics and natural science. The response to the questionnaire is identical with another empirical evaluation of Stochastikon Magister.

  18. Self-Rated Competences Questionnaires from a Design Perspective

    Science.gov (United States)

    Braun, Edith; Woodley, Alan; Richardson, John T. E.; Leidner, Bernhard

    2012-01-01

    This paper provides a theoretical review of self-rated competences questionnaires. This topic is influenced by the ongoing world-wide reform of higher education, which has led to a focus on the learner outcomes of higher education. Consequently, questionnaires on self-rated competences have increasingly been employed. However, self-ratings are…

  19. Credible checklists and quality questionnaires a user-centered design method

    CERN Document Server

    Wilson, Chauncey

    2013-01-01

    Credible Checklists and Quality Questionnaires starts off with an examination of the critical but commonly overlooked checklist method. In the second chapter, questionnaires and surveys are discussed. Asking questions sounds simple, but the hard truth is that asking questions (and designing questionnaires) is a difficult task. This chapter discusses being mindful of the choice of words, order of questions and how early questions influence later questions, answer scales and how they impact the user response, questionnaire design, and much more. The final chapter provides examples of some common questionnaires (both free and fee-based) for assessing the usability of products. After reading this book, readers will be able to use these user design tools with greater confidence and certainty.

  20. Re-Examining the Source of Morality in Citizenship Education: A ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The work has established that the teaching of moral virtue (as providing a rationale for authoritative appeals to morality) has been woefully lacking in. African schools today and so there is need to revisit it if children are to be moulded into good moral citizens. Through the use of conceptual analysis and the questionnaire ...

  1. [Shoulder disability questionnaires: a systematic review].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fayad, F; Mace, Y; Lefevre-Colau, M M

    2005-07-01

    To identify all available shoulder disability questionnaires designed to measure physical functioning and to examine those with satisfactory clinimetric quality. We used the Medline database and the "Guide des outils de mesure de l'évaluation en médecine physique et de réadaptation" textbook to search for questionnaires. Analysis took into account the development methodology, clinimetric quality of the instruments and frequency of their utilization. We classified the instruments according to the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health. Thirty-eight instruments have been developed to measure disease-, shoulder- or upper extremity-specific outcome. Four scales assess upper-extremity disability and 3 others shoulder disability. We found 6 scales evaluating disability and shoulder pain, 7 scales measuring the quality of life in patients with various conditions of the shoulder, 14 scales combining objective and subjective measures, 2 pain scales and 2 unclassified scales. Older instruments developed before the advent of modern measurement development methodology usually combine objective and subjective measures. Recent instruments were designed with appropriate methodology. Most are self-administered questionnaires. Numerous shoulder outcome measure instruments are available. There is no "gold standard" for assessing shoulder function outcome in the general population.

  2. [Patient satisfaction in hospital: critical incident technique or standardised questionnaire?].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eckhardt-Abdulla, R; Bock, M; Bauer, M

    2008-03-01

    Questionnaires are usually used for the measurement of patient satisfaction, however, it is increasingly being recognized that the critical incident technique (CIT) also provides valuable insight. Questionnaires of the "Hamburger questionnaire on hospital stay" were distributed to 650 consecutive patients before discharge. Additionally 103 interviews were conducted in which the patients were asked to describe positive and negative incidents during their hospital stay. The results of both methods were then compared. A total of 369 patients returned the questionnaire and 103 patients participated in the interviews. The duration of a single interview was between 5 and 45 min with a mean of 12.7 min+/-10.1 min standard deviation (SD). Cronbach's alpha of the questionnaire was 0.9. A total of 424 incidents were reported, 301 of them were negative compared to 123 positive events. The questionnaires and interviews yielded partly similar and partly different results at category and subcategory levels concerning the areas of weaknesses and strengths in quality performance. The CIT was more concrete but did not give results for all aspects of quality. The CIT, but not the questionnaire, was able to detect 40/56 (71%) of the positive and 33/75 (44%) of the negative reports regarding medical performance and 25/42 (60%) of the positive and 15/51 (29.4%) of the negative reports of the performance of the nurses were revealed by the CIT and not by the questionnaires. The CIT gives valuable insights into the patient's perspective of strengths and weaknesses in hospital care, which might be overlooked by the questionnaire alone. However, the CIT is probably not suited for routine use because it is very time-consuming.

  3. Revisiting essential hypertension--a "mechanism-based" approach may argue for a better definition of hypertension.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Calò, L A

    2009-08-01

    Several major overarching themes have recently emerged in our understanding of the pathophysiology of hypertension which may allow to revisit essential hypertension with an eye towards the possibility of adopting a more rational "mechanistic-based" definition of hypertension and moving away from the unsatisfactory "essential" label for hypertension from unknown cause. As our understanding of the biochemical and physiological mechanisms that control blood pressure rapidly evolves, the "essential" label of hypertension is losing both value as well as utility as it will describe an increasingly small number of hypertensive patients. This paper uses some recently identified pathways central to hypertension and uses this understanding of pathophysiology to argue for a better definition of hypertension.

  4. 2006-2007 Academic Training Programme Questionnaire

    CERN Multimedia

    Françoise Benz

    2006-01-01

    Please help the Academic Training Committee to plan the 2006-07 programme of lectures by filling in the 2006-07 Academic Training Programme Questionnaire, which can be found at: http://academia.web.cern.ch/academia/questionnaire/ If you wish to participate in one of the following courses, please tell to your supervisor and apply electronically from the course description pages that can be found on the Web at: http://www.cern.ch/Training/ or fill in an 'application for training'form available from your Departmental Secretariat or from your DTO (Departmental Training Officer). Applications will be accepted in the order in which they are received.

  5. Revisiting the age of enlightenment from a collective decision making systems perspective

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rodriguez, Marko A [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Watkins, Jennifer H [Los Alamos National Laboratory

    2009-01-01

    The ideals of the eighteenth century's Age of Enlightenment are the foundation of modern democracies. The era was characterized by thinkers who promoted progressive social reforms that opposed the long-established aristocracies and monarchies of the time. Prominent examples of such reforms include the establishment of inalienable human rights, self-governing republics, and market capitalism. Twenty-first century democratic nations can benefit from revisiting the systems developed during the Enlightenment and reframing them within the techno-social context of the Information Age. This article explores the application of social algorithms that make use of Thomas Paine's (English: 1737--1809) representatives, Adam Smith's (Scottish: 1723--1790) self-interested actors, and Marquis de Condorcet's (French: 1743--1794) optimal decision making groups. It is posited that technology-enabled social algorithms can better realize the ideals articulated during the Enlightenment.

  6. Revisitation of FRET methods to measure intraprotein distances in Human Serum Albumin

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Santini, S.; Bizzarri, A.R.; Cannistraro, S., E-mail: cannistr@unitus.it

    2016-11-15

    We revisited the FRET methods to measure the intraprotein distance between Trp-214 (used as donor) of Human Serum Albumin and its Cys-34, labelled with 1.5-Iaedans (used as acceptor). Variation of Trp fluorescence emission in terms of both intensity and lifetime, as well the enhancement of the acceptor fluorescence emission upon Trp excitation, have been monitored. A careful statistical analysis of the fluorescence results from ten independently prepared samples, combined with suitable spectral corrections, provided reproducible distances estimations by each one of the three methods. Even if monitoring of the donor lifetime variation in the presence of the acceptor reproduces at the best the crystallographic data, by allowing even sub-nanometre distance variations to be appreciated, we suggest that a comparative analysis of all the three methods, applied with statistical significance, should be preferred to achieve a better reliability of the FRET technique.

  7. Revisiting the Corrosion of the Aluminum Current Collector in Lithium-Ion Batteries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ma, Tianyuan; Xu, Gui-Liang; Li, Yan; Wang, Li; He, Xiangming; Zheng, Jianming; Liu, Jun; Engelhard, Mark H; Zapol, Peter; Curtiss, Larry A; Jorne, Jacob; Amine, Khalil; Chen, Zonghai

    2017-03-02

    The corrosion of aluminum current collectors and the oxidation of solvents at a relatively high potential have been widely investigated with an aim to stabilize the electrochemical performance of lithium-ion batteries using such components. The corrosion behavior of aluminum current collectors was revisited using a home-build high-precision electrochemical measurement system, and the impact of electrolyte components and the surface protection layer on aluminum foil was systematically studied. The electrochemical results showed that the corrosion of aluminum foil was triggered by the electrochemical oxidation of solvent molecules, like ethylene carbonate, at a relative high potential. The organic radical cations generated from the electrochemical oxidation are energetically unstable and readily undergo a deprotonation reaction that generates protons and promotes the dissolution of Al 3+ from the aluminum foil. This new reaction mechanism can also shed light on the dissolution of transitional metal at high potentials.

  8. The coordinate coherent states approach revisited

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Miao, Yan-Gang; Zhang, Shao-Jun

    2013-01-01

    We revisit the coordinate coherent states approach through two different quantization procedures in the quantum field theory on the noncommutative Minkowski plane. The first procedure, which is based on the normal commutation relation between an annihilation and creation operators, deduces that a point mass can be described by a Gaussian function instead of the usual Dirac delta function. However, we argue this specific quantization by adopting the canonical one (based on the canonical commutation relation between a field and its conjugate momentum) and show that a point mass should still be described by the Dirac delta function, which implies that the concept of point particles is still valid when we deal with the noncommutativity by following the coordinate coherent states approach. In order to investigate the dependence on quantization procedures, we apply the two quantization procedures to the Unruh effect and Hawking radiation and find that they give rise to significantly different results. Under the first quantization procedure, the Unruh temperature and Unruh spectrum are not deformed by noncommutativity, but the Hawking temperature is deformed by noncommutativity while the radiation specturm is untack. However, under the second quantization procedure, the Unruh temperature and Hawking temperature are untack but the both spectra are modified by an effective greybody (deformed) factor. - Highlights: ► Suggest a canonical quantization in the coordinate coherent states approach. ► Prove the validity of the concept of point particles. ► Apply the canonical quantization to the Unruh effect and Hawking radiation. ► Find no deformations in the Unruh temperature and Hawking temperature. ► Provide the modified spectra of the Unruh effect and Hawking radiation.

  9. Assessing the Efficacy of a Student Expectations Questionnaire

    Science.gov (United States)

    Warwick, Jon

    2012-01-01

    This article uses Rasch analysis to explore the efficacy of a questionnaire designed to assist university teaching staff in identifying those Level 4 students most in need of mathematics support. The students were all taking a mathematics module as part of their first year Computing curriculum, and the questionnaire explores the students' previous…

  10. 77 FR 64187 - Proposed Collection; Comment Request for Form 637 Questionnaires

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-10-18

    ... 637 Questionnaires AGENCY: Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Treasury. ACTION: Notice and request for... Questionnaires A, B, C, D, E, F, H, I, J, K, M, Q, R, S, T, UP, UV, V, W, X, and Y, Form 637 Questionnaires... information or copies of Form 637 Questionnaires should be directed to Allan Hopkins, (202)-622-6665, at...

  11. Assessing obstetric patient experience: a SERVQUAL questionnaire.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garrard, Francesca; Narayan, Harini

    2013-01-01

    Across health services, there is a drive to respond to patient feedback and to incorporate their views into service improvement. The SERVQUAL method has been used in several clinical settings to quantify whether services meet patient expectations. However, work has been limited in the obstetric population. This paper seeks to address these issues. This study used an adapted SERVQUAL questionnaire to assess a reconfigured antenatal clinic service. The most important care aspects, as rated by patients, were used to construct the SERVQUAL questions. The questionnaire was administered to eligible women in two parts. The first was completed before their first hospital antenatal appointment and the second either at home (a postal-chasing exercise) or while waiting for their next appointment. Only fully completed questionnaires (both parts) were analysed. Service strengths included staff politeness, patient respect and privacy. Areas for improvement included hand cleanliness, women's involvement in decision making and communicating risk. However, the low variability in patient responses makes concrete conclusions difficult and methodological issues complicate evaluating hand cleanliness. The new antenatal clinic service received low negative weighted and un-weighted overall scores. The SERVQUAL measure was developed from patient feedback and used to further improve services. The SERVQUAL-based measure allowed an internal evaluation of patient experience and highlighted areas for improvement. However, without validation, the questionnaire cannot be used as an outcome measure and variation between published SERVQUAL questionnaires makes comparisons difficult. This highlights an important balance in patient evaluation measures--between locally responsive and externally comparable. The SERVQUAL approach allows healthcare teams to evaluate patient experience, while accounting for variation in their expectations and priorities. The study highlights several areas that are

  12. The Development of a Self-Report Questionnaire on Coping with Cyberbullying: The Cyberbullying Coping Questionnaire

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Niels C.L. Jacobs

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available The negative effects and the continuation of cyberbullying seem to depend on the coping strategies the victims use. To assess their coping strategies, self-report questionnaires (SRQs are used. However, these SRQs are often subject to several shortcomings: the (single and topological categorizations used in SRQs do not always adequately differentiate among various coping responses, in addition the strategies of general SRQs fail to accurately measure coping with cyberbullying. This study is therefore aimed to develop a SRQ that specifically measures coping with cyberbullying (i.e., Cyberbullying Coping Questionnaire; CCQ and to discover whether other, not single and topological, categorizations of coping strategies can be found. Based on previous SRQs used in the (cyberbullying (i.e., traditional and cyberbullying literature (i.e., 49 studies were found with three different SRQs measuring coping with traditional bullying, cyberbullying or (cyberbullying items and categorizations were selected, compared and merged into a new questionnaire. In compliance with recommendations from the classical test-theory, a principal component analysis and a confirmatory factor analysis were done, and a final model was constructed. Seventeen items loaded onto four different coping categorizations: mental-, passive-, social-, and confrontational-coping. The CCQ appeared to have good internal consistency, acceptable test-retest reliability, good discriminant validity and the development of the CCQ fulfilled many of the recommendations from classical test-theory. The CCQ omits working in single and topological categorizations and measures cognitive, behavioral, approach and avoidance strategies.

  13. Quality Assessment of TPB-Based Questionnaires: A Systematic Review

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oluka, Obiageli Crystal; Nie, Shaofa; Sun, Yi

    2014-01-01

    Objective This review is aimed at assessing the quality of questionnaires and their development process based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB) change model. Methods A systematic literature search for studies with the primary aim of TPB-based questionnaire development was conducted in relevant databases between 2002 and 2012 using selected search terms. Ten of 1,034 screened abstracts met the inclusion criteria and were assessed for methodological quality using two different appraisal tools: one for the overall methodological quality of each study and the other developed for the appraisal of the questionnaire content and development process. Both appraisal tools consisted of items regarding the likelihood of bias in each study and were eventually combined to give the overall quality score for each included study. Results 8 of the 10 included studies showed low risk of bias in the overall quality assessment of each study, while 9 of the studies were of high quality based on the quality appraisal of questionnaire content and development process. Conclusion Quality appraisal of the questionnaires in the 10 reviewed studies was successfully conducted, highlighting the top problem areas (including: sample size estimation; inclusion of direct and indirect measures; and inclusion of questions on demographics) in the development of TPB-based questionnaires and the need for researchers to provide a more detailed account of their development process. PMID:24722323

  14. Child abuse: validation of a questionnaire translated into Brazilian Portuguese

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Glaucia Marengo

    2013-04-01

    Full Text Available This study sought to validate the Portuguese translation of a questionnaire on maltreatment of children and adolescents, developed by Russell et al. and to test its psychometric properties for use in Brazil. The original questionnaire was translated into Portuguese using a standardized forward-backward linguistic translation method. Both face and content validity were tested in a small pilot study (n = 8. In the main study, a convenience sample of 80 graduate dentistry students with different specialties, from Curitiba, PR, Brazil, were invited to complete the final Brazilian version of the questionnaire. Discriminant validity was assessed by comparing the results obtained from the questionnaire for different specialties (pediatric dentistry, for example. The respondents completed the questionnaire again after 4 weeks to evaluate test-retest reliability. The comparison of test versus retest questionnaire answers showed good agreement (kappa > 0.53, intraclass correlation > 0.84 for most questions. In regard to discriminant validity, a statistically significant difference was observed only in the experience and interest domains, in which pediatric dentists showed more experience with and interest in child abuse compared with dentists of other specialties (Mann-Whitney test, p < 0.05. The Brazilian version of the questionnaire was valid and reliable for assessing knowledge regarding child abuse by Portuguese-speaking dentists.

  15. Validation of a questionnaire of knowledge about asthma

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rodriguez Martinez, Carlos; Sossa, Monica Patricia

    2004-01-01

    An educative intervention destined to increase the knowledge in asthma allows the children and/or its parents to acquire abilities that allow to prevent and/or to handle the asthmatic attacks, decreasing the morbidity produced by the disease, nevertheless we do not account with a validated instrument that allows us to quantify the level of asthma knowledge. The objective is to develop and to validate a questionnaire of knowledge about asthma to be filled out by the parents and/or people in charge of the care of the asthmatic pediatric patients. The 17 items that conform the questionnaire were obtained alter literature review, realization of focal groups the professional experience of the investigators and the realization of pilot studies. The face content and concurrent validity of the instrument was evaluated; we also determined the factor structure, test-retest reproducibility, and sensitivity to change of the questionnaire. We included 120 patients with average age of 4.5 %3.7 years the factor analysis demonstrated a probable structure of three factors that altogether explain 85% of the total variance of the results the face and content validity was based on the concept of a multi-disciplinary group of experts in the field the concurrent validity was demonstrated by the ability of the questionnaire to distinguish low from high knowledge parents. Test-retest reproducibility and sensitivity to change were demonstrated comparing scores of the questionnaire filled out in two different occasions. The questionnaire of knowledge of asthma developed in the study is a useful and reliable tool to quantify the basal level of asthma knowledge in parents of asthmatic children and to determine the effectiveness of an educative intervention destined to increase the knowledge and understanding of the disease

  16. Shortcomings of the written survey questionnaire for discovering ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    In this article I describe my reflections on using a written survey questionnaire to investigate, on a large-scale, students' perceptions of studying Xhosa as a first language in high schools. I describe the aims of the project, how the questionnaire was designed, and the problems I encountered with the analysis of the data.

  17. The reliability and concurrent validity of the Scoliosis Research Society-22r patient questionnaire compared with the Child Health Questionnaire-CF87 patient questionnaire for adolescent spinal deformity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Glattes, R Christopher; Burton, Douglas C; Lai, Sue Min; Frasier, Elizabeth; Asher, Marc A

    2007-07-15

    This is a clinic-based cross-sectional study involving 2 health-related quality-of-life (HRQL) questionnaires. To compare the score distribution and reliability of the spinal deformity specific Scoliosis Research Society-22r (SRS-22r) questionnaire and the established generic Child Health Questionnaire-CF87 (CHQ-CF87), and to assess the concurrent validity of the SRS-22r using the CHQ-CF87 in an adolescent spine deformity population. Different questionnaires are commonly thought to be necessary to assess the HRQL of adolescent and adult populations. But since spinal deformities usually begin in the second decade of life, longitudinal follow-up with the same HRQL is desirable. The SRS-22r HRQL has recently been validated for score distribution and internal consistency in a spinal deformity population ranging in age from 7 to 78 years. The SRS-22r and CHQ-CF87 HRQLs were completed by 70 orthopedic spinal deformity outpatients 8 to 18 years of age, of whom 54 returned mailed retest questionnaires at an average of 24 days later. The ceiling effect averaged 27% for the SRS-22r and 36% for the CHQ-CF87. Respective values for internal consistency (Cronbach alpha) were 0.81 and 0.82, and for test-retest reproducibility the intraclass correlations (ICC) were 0.73 and 0.61. Concurrent validity was r > or = 0.68 or more for relevant function, pain, and mental health domains. The SRS Self-Image and particularly the Satisfaction/Dissatisfaction with Management domains did not correlate well with any CHQ-CF87 domains (r = 0.50 and 0.30, respectively). In a spinal deformity population 8 to 18 years of age, the score distribution and reliability, internal consistency, and reproducibility of the SRS-22r were at least as good as the CHQ-CF87. The SRS-22r function, pain, and mental health domains were concurrently valid in comparison to relevant CHQ-CF87 domains, but the SRS-22r self-image and satisfaction/dissatisfaction domains were not, thereby providing health-related quality

  18. [Hearing aid application performance evaluation questionnaire to presbycusis].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Xianghong; Zhou, Huifang; Zhang, Jing; Wang, Liqun

    2011-02-01

    By matching patients with presbycusis hearing aids,hearing aid performance assessment questionnaire to fill out to assess the effect of its use and targeted to solve problems encountered in its use and improve the quality of life of older persons. Through face to face way to investigate and analyse patients with hearing aids fitting, totally 30 subjects accepted the analysis, preliminary assessment of the use of hearing aids in patient with presbycusis results and solve problems encountered in its use by using SPSS software to analyze the collecting data. HHIE questionnaire on statistical analysis, obtained in patients with hearing loss use hearing aids after the problem is a significant improvement statistical analysis of the SADL questionnaire, the conclusion is relatively satisfied with the overall satisfaction. Effects Assessment Questionnaire in patients with hearing aids hearing impairment can be epitomized the disabled after use to improve the situation and understand the satisfaction of patients with hearing aids can be an initial effect as the rehabilitation of a reliable subjective assessment of the impact assessment indicators.

  19. The purpose, design and administration of a questionnaire for data collection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Marshall, Gill

    2005-01-01

    This paper considers the use of questionnaires as a data collection tool. A range of issues will be discussed, including whether previously validated questionnaires already exist for utilisation, the advantages and disadvantages of employing questionnaires, optimum design features including the wording and language used and the ordering of questions, distribution methods, ways of maximizing response rates and managing non-responses, reliability and validity, the benefits of piloting the questionnaire and approval before the questionnaire is used. Questionnaire-based research is increasing evident within the NHS and elsewhere and from this presentation it is clear that a range of issues must be taken into account so that collected data can be gathered effectively in a format that can be appropriately used

  20. Towards Usable E-Health. A Systematic Review of Usability Questionnaires.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sousa, Vanessa E C; Dunn Lopez, Karen

    2017-05-10

    The use of e-health can lead to several positive outcomes. However, the potential for e-health to improve healthcare is partially dependent on its ease of use. In order to determine the usability for any technology, rigorously developed and appropriate measures must be chosen. To identify psychometrically tested questionnaires that measure usability of e-health tools, and to appraise their generalizability, attributes coverage, and quality. We conducted a systematic review of studies that measured usability of e-health tools using four databases (Scopus, PubMed, CINAHL, and HAPI). Non-primary research, studies that did not report measures, studies with children or people with cognitive limitations, and studies about assistive devices or medical equipment were systematically excluded. Two authors independently extracted information including: questionnaire name, number of questions, scoring method, item generation, and psychometrics using a data extraction tool with pre-established categories and a quality appraisal scoring table. Using a broad search strategy, 5,558 potentially relevant papers were identified. After removing duplicates and applying exclusion criteria, 35 articles remained that used 15 unique questionnaires. From the 15 questionnaires, only 5 were general enough to be used across studies. Usability attributes covered by the questionnaires were: learnability (15), efficiency (12), and satisfaction (11). Memorability (1) was the least covered attribute. Quality appraisal showed that face/content (14) and construct (7) validity were the most frequent types of validity assessed. All questionnaires reported reliability measurement. Some questionnaires scored low in the quality appraisal for the following reasons: limited validity testing (7), small sample size (3), no reporting of user centeredness (9) or feasibility estimates of time, effort, and expense (7). Existing questionnaires provide a foundation for research on e-health usability. However

  1. The Danish anal sphincter rupture questionnaire: Validity and reliability

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Due, Ulla; Ottesen, Marianne

    2008-01-01

    Objective. To revise, validate and test for reliability an anal sphincter rupture questionnaire in relation to construct, content and face validity. Setting and background. Since 1996 women with anal sphincter rupture (ASR) at one of the public university hospitals in Copenhagen, Denmark have been...... main questions but one. Two questions needed further explanation. Seven women made minor errors. Conclusion. The validated Danish questionnaire has a good construct, content and face validity. It is a well accepted, reliable, simple and clinically relevant screening tool. It reveals physical problems...... offered pelvic floor muscle examination and instruction by a specialist physiotherapist. In relation to that, a non-validated questionnaire about anal and urinary incontinence was to be answered six months after childbirth. Method. The original questionnaire was revised and a pilot test was performed...

  2. A comparison of the standard and the computerized versions of the Well-being Questionnaire (WBQ) and the Diabetes Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire (DTSQ)

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pouwer, F; Snoek, Frank J; Van Der Ploeg, Henk M

    1998-01-01

    In the present study, the equivalence of paper and pencil assessment versus computer assessment of two self-administered questionnaires was investigated by means of a randomized cross-over design. Therefore, 105 out-patients with diabetes were invited to participate; 76 patients completed both...... the computer and the paper and pencil version of the Well-being Questionnaire (WBQ) and the Diabetes Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire (DTSQ) in a randomized order, with a mean interval of 7 days. The scales showed high test-retest correlations and the means, dispersions, kurtosis and skewness were found...... of a questionnaire was easy. It is concluded that the paper and pencil and the computerized versions of the WBQ and DTSQ can be considered equivalent. Therefore, the norms and cut-off scores obtained from paper and pencil assessments can be used in computerized versions of the WBQ and DTSQ and vice versa....

  3. Methodology Series Module 9: Designing Questionnaires and Clinical Record Forms - Part II.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Setia, Maninder Singh

    2017-01-01

    This article is a continuation of the previous module on designing questionnaires and clinical record form in which we have discussed some basic points about designing the questionnaire and clinical record forms. In this section, we will discuss the reliability and validity of questionnaires. The different types of validity are face validity, content validity, criterion validity, and construct validity. The different types of reliability are test-retest reliability, inter-rater reliability, and intra-rater reliability. Some of these parameters are assessed by subject area experts. However, statistical tests should be used for evaluation of other parameters. Once the questionnaire has been designed, the researcher should pilot test the questionnaire. The items in the questionnaire should be changed based on the feedback from the pilot study participants and the researcher's experience. After the basic structure of the questionnaire has been finalized, the researcher should assess the validity and reliability of the questionnaire or the scale. If an existing standard questionnaire is translated in the local language, the researcher should assess the reliability and validity of the translated questionnaire, and these values should be presented in the manuscript. The decision to use a self- or interviewer-administered, paper- or computer-based questionnaire depends on the nature of the questions, literacy levels of the target population, and resources.

  4. [Transcultural adaptation of scales for treatment adherence in hemodialysis: Renal Adherence Behaviour Questionnaire(RABQ) and Renal Adherence Attitudes Questionnaire(RAAQ)].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Machado, Inês Maria de Jesus; Bandeira, Marina Bittencourt; Pinheiro, Hélady Sanders; Dutra, Nathália Dos Santos

    2015-10-01

    Treatment adherence in hemodialysis is important for guaranteeing better results for patients, but Brazil still lacks validated assessment tools for this purpose. The current study aimed to perform a cross-cultural adaptation of the Renal Adherence Behaviour Questionnaire (RABQ) and the Renal Adherence Attitudes Questionnaire (RAAQ). The two questionnaires were submitted to the following cross-cultural adaptation procedures: translation, back-translation, expert panel review, and pilot study. Changes were made in the items' wording and application, which requires a face-to-face interview. It was not necessary to change the choices of answers. The Brazilian versions of the RABQ and RAAQ showed semantic and cultural equivalence to the original versions and are easy for the target population to understand. The two scales still require validity and reliability studies before use in the field.

  5. Menstrual questionnaires for clinical and research use.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matteson, Kristen A

    2017-04-01

    Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) have the potential to be extremely valuable in the clinical care delivery for women who report heavy menstrual bleeding (HMB). Increasingly, studies on HMB have incorporated PROMs to evaluate the impact of bleeding on quality of life. These measures have included semiquantitative charts and pictograms, questionnaires to assess symptoms and impact on quality of life, and health-related quality of life questionnaires. Recent systematic reviews have highlighted inconsistency of outcome measurement across studies on HMB as a challenge limiting the interpretability of the body of literature and the ability to generate consensus on the relative effectiveness of treatment options. Consequently, research initiatives and international collaborations are working to harmonize outcome measurement. Harmonizing the use of questionnaires in research and clinical care has the potential to improve patient-centered care delivery for women with HMB and improve the generation of patient-focused evidence-based guidelines for the evaluation and treatment of HMB. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  6. Orthorexia nervosa: validation of a diagnosis questionnaire.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Donini, L M; Marsili, D; Graziani, M P; Imbriale, M; Cannella, C

    2005-06-01

    To validate a questionnaire for the diagnosis of orhorexia oervosa, an eating disorder defined as "maniacal obsession for healthy food". 525 subjects were enrolled. Then they were randomized into two samples (sample of 404 subjects for the construction of the test for the diagnosis of orthorexia ORTO-15; sample of 121 subjects for the validation of the test). The ORTO-15 questionnaire, validated for the diagnosis of orthorexia, is made-up of 15 multiple-choice items. The test we proposed for the diagnosis of orthorexia (ORTO 15) showed a good predictive capability at a threshold value of 40 (efficacy 73.8%, sensitivity 55.6% and specificity 75.8%) also on verification with a control sample. However, it has a limit in identifying the obsessive disorder. For this reason we maintain that further investigation is necessary and that new questions useful for the evaluation of the obsessive-compulsive behavior should be added to the ORTO-15 questionnaire.

  7. Revisiting the Master-Signifier, or, Mandela and Repression.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hook, Derek; Vanheule, Stijn

    2015-01-01

    The concept of the master-signifier has been subject to a variety of applications in Lacanian forms of political discourse theory and ideology critique. While there is much to be commended in literature of this sort, it often neglects salient issues pertaining to the role of master signifiers in the clinical domain of (individual) psychical economy. The popularity of the concept of the master (or "empty") signifier in political discourse analysis has thus proved a double-edged sword. On the one hand it demonstrates how crucial psychical processes are performed via the operations of the signifier, extending thus the Lacanian thesis that identification is the outcome of linguistic and symbolic as opposed to merely psychological processes. On the other, the use of the master signifier concept within the political realm to track discursive formations tends to distance the term from the dynamics of the unconscious and operation of repression. Accordingly, this paper revisits the master signifier concept, and does so within the socio-political domain, yet while paying particular attention to the functioning of unconscious processes of fantasy and repression. More specifically, it investigates how Nelson Mandela operates as a master signifier in contemporary South Africa, as a vital means of knitting together diverse elements of post-apartheid society, enabling the fantasy of the post-apartheid nation, and holding at bay a whole series of repressed and negated undercurrents.

  8. Revisited global drift fluid model for linear devices

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Reiser, Dirk

    2012-01-01

    The problem of energy conserving global drift fluid simulations is revisited. It is found that for the case of cylindrical plasmas in a homogenous magnetic field, a straightforward reformulation is possible avoiding simplifications leading to energetic inconsistencies. The particular new feature is the rigorous treatment of the polarisation drift by a generalization of the vorticity equation. The resulting set of model equations contains previous formulations as limiting cases and is suitable for efficient numerical techniques. Examples of applications on studies of plasma blobs and its impact on plasma target interaction are presented. The numerical studies focus on the appearance of plasma blobs and intermittent transport and its consequences on the release of sputtered target materials in the plasma. Intermittent expulsion of particles in radial direction can be observed and it is found that although the neutrals released from the target show strong fluctuations in their propagation into the plasma column, the overall effect on time averaged profiles is negligible for the conditions considered. In addition, the numerical simulations are utilised to perform an a-posteriori assessment of the magnitude of energetic inconsistencies in previously used simplified models. It is found that certain popular approximations, in particular by the use of simplified vorticity equations, do not significantly affect energetics. However, popular model simplifications with respect to parallel advection are found to provide significant deterioration of the model consistency.

  9. Standing and travelling waves in a spherical brain model: The Nunez model revisited

    Science.gov (United States)

    Visser, S.; Nicks, R.; Faugeras, O.; Coombes, S.

    2017-06-01

    The Nunez model for the generation of electroencephalogram (EEG) signals is naturally described as a neural field model on a sphere with space-dependent delays. For simplicity, dynamical realisations of this model either as a damped wave equation or an integro-differential equation, have typically been studied in idealised one dimensional or planar settings. Here we revisit the original Nunez model to specifically address the role of spherical topology on spatio-temporal pattern generation. We do this using a mixture of Turing instability analysis, symmetric bifurcation theory, centre manifold reduction and direct simulations with a bespoke numerical scheme. In particular we examine standing and travelling wave solutions using normal form computation of primary and secondary bifurcations from a steady state. Interestingly, we observe spatio-temporal patterns which have counterparts seen in the EEG patterns of both epileptic and schizophrenic brain conditions.

  10. Revisiting Stock Market Integration Pre-Post Subprime Mortgage Crisis: Insight From BRIC Countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chin-Hong Puah

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available This study revisits the long-run relationships and short-run dynamic causal linkages among BRIC stock market, with the particular attention to the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis. Extending related empirical studies, comparative analyses of pre-crisis, and post-crisis periods were conducted to comprehensively evaluate how stock market integration was affected by financial crises. In general, after employing cointegration test and VAR test, the results reveal the increase of stock market integration in BRICs after the subprime crisis. The evidence also found that China stock market is the most influential among the BRICs, in which China stock market has the ability to Granger cause the other three BRICs member countries. An important implication of our findings is that the degree of integration among countries tends to change over time, especially around periods marked by financial crises.

  11. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission and gender: The Testimony of Mrs Konile revisited

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sandiswa L. Kobe

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available This article draws on a well-known narration of the Gugulethu Seven incident from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC proceedings with specific reference to testimonies of the mothers of the Gugulethu Seven. The article focuses on Mrs Konile’s testimony as a case study: Testimony of a black woman whose son was murdered by the apartheid government’s security forces. During the TRC hearings, Mrs Konile ‘failed’ to effectively narrate her story, which resulted in her testimony being dismissed as being incoherent. This article examines the underlying attributes of Mrs Konile’s testimony and revisits why she was considered ‘incapable’ of articulating her experience in a convincing manner. The analysis aims to acknowledge, identify and give insights about this woman’s testimony from an African women theologian viewpoint (specifically with references to the Isixhosa religious cultural background.

  12. Testing Psychometrics of Healthcare Empowerment Questionnaires ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Testing Psychometrics of Healthcare Empowerment Questionnaires (HCEQ) among Iranian ... PROMOTING ACCESS TO AFRICAN RESEARCH ... translation and backtranslation procedures, pilot testing, and getting views of expert panel.

  13. Patients' expectations of orthodontic treatment: part 1 - development of a questionnaire.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sayers, M S; Newton, J T

    2006-12-01

    The development of a questionnaire to measure patients' and their parents' expectations before orthodontic treatment, and to test the reliability and validity of this measure. A two-stage methodology, with open-ended interviews to identify themes and concepts followed by development and testing of the questionnaire. GKT Orthodontic Department, King's College Dental Hospital. The sample consisted of 140 participants, 70 patients aged 12-14 years, who had been referred to the orthodontic department for treatment. One parent of each patient was also recruited. The study was in two phases. In the first phase 30 participants (15 new patients and their 15 parents) participated in open-ended interviews, which were analysed qualitatively. Information from these interviews was used to construct a questionnaire. During the second phase, the questionnaire was piloted on 10 participants, five new consecutive patients and their parents. The questionnaire was then distributed to 174 subjects (87 new patients and their 87 parents). Seventy-eight subjects (39 new patients and their 39 parents) completed the questionnaire before their orthodontic consultation. Another 96 subjects (48 new patients and their 48 parents) were invited to complete the questionnaire prior to and at their orthodontic consultation. Test-retest analysis was conducted on 22 participants (11 patients and their 11 parents), who completed the questionnaire previous to and at their orthodontic consultation, and contributed to the psychometric validation of this questionnaire. A questionnaire was devized using the key themes and concepts identified in the open-ended interviews. As a result, 10 questions, some with sub-questions were constructed using a visual analogue scale as the response format. The questionnaire developed had good face validity. Internal consistency of the questionnaire using Cronbach's alpha, produced an overall inter-item reliability > 0.7 along with item-total correlations > 0.3 in over 50

  14. Identification of validated questionnaires to measure adherence to pharmacological antihypertensive treatments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pérez-Escamilla, Beatriz; Franco-Trigo, Lucía; Moullin, Joanna C; Martínez-Martínez, Fernando; García-Corpas, José P

    2015-01-01

    Background Low adherence to pharmacological treatments is one of the factors associated with poor blood pressure control. Questionnaires are an indirect measurement method that is both economic and easy to use. However, questionnaires should meet specific criteria, to minimize error and ensure reproducibility of results. Numerous studies have been conducted to design questionnaires that quantify adherence to pharmacological antihypertensive treatments. Nevertheless, it is unknown whether questionnaires fulfil the minimum requirements of validity and reliability. The aim of this study was to compile validated questionnaires measuring adherence to pharmacological antihypertensive treatments that had at least one measure of validity and one measure of reliability. Methods A literature search was undertaken in PubMed, the Excerpta Medica Database (EMBASE), and the Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences Literature database (Literatura Latino-Americana e do Caribe em Ciências da Saúde [LILACS]). References from included articles were hand-searched. The included papers were all that were published in English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish from the beginning of the database’s indexing until July 8, 2013, where a validation of a questionnaire (at least one demonstration of the validity and at least one of reliability) was performed to measure adherence to antihypertensive pharmacological treatments. Results A total of 234 potential papers were identified in the electronic database search; of these, 12 met the eligibility criteria. Within these 12 papers, six questionnaires were validated: the Morisky–Green–Levine; Brief Medication Questionnaire; Hill-Bone Compliance to High Blood Pressure Therapy Scale; Morisky Medication Adherence Scale; Treatment Adherence Questionnaire for Patients with Hypertension (TAQPH); and Martín–Bayarre–Grau. Questionnaire length ranged from four to 28 items. Internal consistency, assessed by Cronbach’s α, varied from 0

  15. 2005-06 Academic Training Programme Questionnaire

    CERN Multimedia

    Françoise Benz

    2005-01-01

    Please help the Academic Training Committee to plan the 2005-06 programme of lectures by filling in the 2005-06 Academic Training Programme Questionnaire which can be found at: http://cern.ch/Academic.Training/questionnaire ENSEIGNEMENT ACADEMIQUE ACADEMIC TRAINING Françoise Benz 73127 academic.training@cern.ch If you wish to participate in one of the following courses, please discuss with your supervisor and apply electronically directly from the course description pages that can be found on the Web at: http://www.cern.ch/Training/ or fill in an 'application for training' form available from your Divisional Secretariat or from your DTO (Divisional Training Officer). Applications will be accepted in the order of their receipt.

  16. Development and validation of a brief, descriptive Danish pain questionnaire (BDDPQ)

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Perkins, F M; Werner, M U; Persson, F

    2004-01-01

    . chronic), and location of the pain. CONCLUSIONS: A Danish pain questionnaire that subjects and patients can self-administer has been developed and validated relative to the words used in the English McGill Pain questionnaire. The discriminative ability of the questionnaire among some common painful......BACKGROUND: A new pain questionnaire should be simple, be documented to have discriminative function, and be related to previously used questionnaires. METHODS: Word meaning was validated by using bilingual Danish medical students and asking them to translate words taken from the Danish version...... of the McGill pain questionnaire into English. Evaluative word value was estimated using a visual analog scale (VAS). Discriminative function was assessed by having patients with one of six painful conditions (postherpetic neuralgia, phantom limb pain, rheumatoid arthritis, ankle fracture, appendicitis...

  17. Reducing questionnaire length did not improve physician response rate: a randomized trial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bolt, Eva E; van der Heide, Agnes; Onwuteaka-Philipsen, Bregje D

    2014-04-01

    To examine the effect of reducing questionnaire length on the response rate in a physician survey. A postal four double-page questionnaire on end-of-life decision making was sent to a random sample of 1,100 general practitioners, 400 elderly care physicians, and 500 medical specialists. Another random sample of 500 medical specialists received a shorter questionnaire of two double pages. After 3 months and one reminder, all nonresponding physicians received an even shorter questionnaire of one double page. Total response was 64% (1,456 of 2,269 eligible respondents). Response rate of medical specialists for the four double-page questionnaire was equal to that of the two double-page questionnaire (190 and 191 questionnaires were returned, respectively). The total response rate increased from 53% to 64% after sending a short one double-page questionnaire (1,203-1,456 respondents). The results of our study suggest that reducing the length of a long questionnaire in a physician survey does not necessarily improve response rate. To improve response rate and gather more information, researchers could decide to send a drastically shortened version of the questionnaire to nonresponders. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  18. Survey on data processing needs: questionnaires synthesis - abridged version

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nomine, J.P.; Chineaud, M.; Fournier, Y.

    1998-01-01

    A study of users needs in the domain of processing of simulation code data was launched in July 1996. A questionnaire with both closed and open questions and 'state-of-the-art' questions was addressed to a panel of 23 users of CEA-LV and CEA-VM. This note makes a synthesis of the information collected in the questionnaires. Chapter 3 summarizes the problems encountered during the information collection task. Chapter 4 recalls and summarizes the topics covered in the questionnaire. Chapter 5 presents the main tools referenced in the questionnaire. Chapter 6 describes the present day practices and the expected improvements in terms of answers analysis. Chapter 7 lists the advantage and drawbacks of the present day situation. Chapter 8 presents the priorities on the requested evolutions. Chapter 9 gives the perspectives formulated after this collect of information

  19. Managing missing scores on the Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kent, Peter; Lauridsen, Henrik Hein

    2011-01-01

    Study Design: Analysis of Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire (RMDQ) and Oswestry Disability Index (Oswestry) responses.Objectives: To determine the prevalence of unanswered questions on the RMDQ23 (23-item RMDQ version) and Oswestry questionnaires. To determine if managing RMDQ23 missing data...... fully completed RMDQ23 and matching Oswestry questionnaire sets. Raw sum scores were calculated, and questions systematically dropped. At each stage, sum scores were converted to a score on a 0-100 scale and the error calculated. Wilcoxon Tests were used to compare the magnitude of the error scores...

  20. Dysphagia in Multiple Sclerosis: Evaluation and Validation of the DYMUS Questionnaire.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alali, Dalal; Ballard, Kirrie; Vucic, Steve; Bogaardt, Hans

    2018-06-01

    The 10-item Dysphagia in Multiple Sclerosis (DYMUS) questionnaire is a self-administered tool used to identify swallowing problems in adults with MS. The questionnaire was not validated against other existing questionnaires to assess its convergent validity. Moreover, its test-retest reliability was not measured previously. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess the factor analysis, internal consistency and test-retest reliability of the DYMUS, as well as its convergent validity against an established and validated questionnaire, the EAT-10. English-speaking adults with MS in New South Wales, Australia who were seen for routine medical check-ups were invited to complete two questionnaires across two phases. One hundred participants completed phase 1, while 55 completed phase 2. Statistical analyses were performed to investigate the psychometric properties of the DYMUS questionnaire. Internal consistency (Cronbach's Alpha) reduced the DYMUS questionnaire from ten to five items. The shortened version of the DYMUS showed high internal consistency (alpha = 0.904). It also showed satisfactory reproducibility, and adequate correlation with the 10-item Eating Assessment Tool (EAT-10). Evaluation of the DYMUS resulted in a shortened version of the questionnaire with five questions related to dysphagia. This shortened version is considered an easy and useful tool in identifying patients with MS-related dysphagia.

  1. Systematic review: questionnaires for assessment of gastroesophageal reflux disease

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bolier, E. A.; Kessing, B. F.; Smout, A. J.; Bredenoord, A. J.

    2015-01-01

    Numerous questionnaires with a wide variety of characteristics have been developed for the assessment of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). Four well-defined dimensions are noticeable in these GERD questionnaires, which are symptoms, response to treatment, diagnosis, and burden on the quality

  2. A PHYSICAL ACTIVITY QUESTIONNAIRE: REPRODUCIBILITY AND VALIDITY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nicolas Barbosa

    2007-12-01

    Full Text Available This study evaluates the Quantification de L'Activite Physique en Altitude chez les Enfants (QAPACE supervised self-administered questionnaire reproducibility and validity on the estimation of the mean daily energy expenditure (DEE on Bogotá's schoolchildren. The comprehension was assessed on 324 students, whereas the reproducibility was studied on a different random sample of 162 who were exposed twice to it. Reproducibility was assessed using both the Bland-Altman plot and the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC. The validity was studied in a sample of 18 girls and 18 boys randomly selected, which completed the test - re-test study. The DEE derived from the questionnaire was compared with the laboratory measurement results of the peak oxygen uptake (Peak VO2 from ergo-spirometry and Leger Test. The reproducibility ICC was 0.96 (95% C.I. 0.95-0.97; by age categories 8-10, 0.94 (0.89-0. 97; 11-13, 0.98 (0.96- 0.99; 14-16, 0.95 (0.91-0.98. The ICC between mean TEE as estimated by the questionnaire and the direct and indirect Peak VO2 was 0.76 (0.66 (p<0.01; by age categories, 8-10, 11-13, and 14-16 were 0.89 (0.87, 0.76 (0.78 and 0.88 (0.80 respectively. The QAPACE questionnaire is reproducible and valid for estimating PA and showed a high correlation with the Peak VO2 uptake

  3. An appraisal of the utility or futility of ENT consultant postal questionnaires.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ryan, Stephen; Saunders, J; Clarke, E; Fenton, J E

    2013-03-01

    Despite an increase in ENT postal questionnaires, the quality of their methodology has been questioned (Ramphul et al. in J Laryngol Otol 119:175-178, 1). This retrospective study examined whether quality and utility of such questionnaires published since 2005 has improved. Seventeen consultant postal questionnaires published between 2005 and 2012 were reviewed. Quality of questionnaires was assessed using a 30-point score based on compliance with 15 criteria previously established to evaluate postal questionnaire study-design (Ramphul et al. in J Laryngol Otol 119:175-178, 1). Citation rates were used as an indicator of utility. The specific comments made in each citing paper was reviewed providing information on whether questionnaire findings (a) had an impact on clinical practice, (b) were the citing comments positive, (c) negative or (d) non-specific. Recurrent methodological flaws were identified in all questionnaires. The average score assigned was 44 %, versus 32 % previously reported (Ramphul et al. in J Laryngol Otol 119:175-178, 1) (P questionnaires. Citations were general non-specific referencing with no clear indication that questionnaire findings positively impacted clinical practice. In conclusion, although the quality of ENT postal questionnaire has improved since the original study (Ramphul et al. in J Laryngol Otol 119:175-178, 1), important recurring methodological flaws still exist. The poor utility, based on low citation rates, also reflects the continued deficiencies in design quality. It is recommended that authors of questionnaire-based research should ensure that guidelines for questionnaire design are adhered in order to improve the validity of findings and hence impact on clinical practice.

  4. Spanish translation Questionnaire of the Developmental Coordination Disorder

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Salamanca LM

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available The developmental coordination disorder can be recognized by motor difficulties that affect the performance in daily and school activities; therefore, it is necessary to get its early diagnosis in order to initiate early intervention. A tool for diagnosis is the Developmental coordination disorder questionnaire’07, DCDQ’07. Objective: the translation and cultural adaptation of the DCDQ’07 into Spanish. Materials and methods: three independent translators translated the questionnaire into Spanish. Its items were classified according to their equivalent or non-equivalent problems in some words, and also according to their experiential, semantic, conceptual or idioms equivalence. Results: 8 items out of 15 questionnaire items were classified as equivalent 8, 6 of them presented problems in a few words and only one was classified as non-equivalent, 10 items correspond to experiential equivalence translation, 4 items were classified as semantic equivalent and only one got two equivalents. The author agreed the Spanish version. Also, the parent´s opinions about the questionnaire were positive. Conclusions: most of the items of the questionnaire did not have translation difficulties. It allowed its translation and cultural adaptation into Spanish as well as its validation continuity and reliability process

  5. ISLAM, ADAT, AND THE STATE: Matrifocality in Aceh Revisited

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eka Srimulyani

    2010-08-01

    Full Text Available Matrifocality has been a rooted tradition in the social history of the community in Aceh. The principles of matrifocality have also affected on how women are positioned in the community, and the socio-gender relation within the community. The fact that Aceh has strongly associated to the Islamic values that claimed to support the paternal traditions. Apparently, the Islamic values and the local matrifocality practices juxtaposed through the roles of adat, which considered as inseparable to Islamic law or teaching, or in local term known as zat ngeun sifeut. Another point in revisiting matrifocality in Aceh in Aceh is an examination of how gender state ideology, particularly during the New Order Regime disregarded some local gender practices across some ethnics in the archipelago. Meanwhile, the state also hegemonied and promoted particular gender state ideology such as state ibuism. Nonetheless, the modernity and social changes have also contributed to the shifting of some matrifocality practices in contemporary Acehnese society. However, since the matrifocality has a strong root in the social life of the community, the principles of the matrifocality still survived until currently, although it transformed into ‘new matrifocality’ practices. Keywords: matrifocality, Aceh, gender, shari‘a law

  6. Using existing questionnaires in latent class analysis

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Anne Molgaard; Vach, Werner; Kent, Peter

    2016-01-01

    BACKGROUND: Latent class analysis (LCA) is increasingly being used in health research, but optimal approaches to handling complex clinical data are unclear. One issue is that commonly used questionnaires are multidimensional, but expressed as summary scores. Using the example of low back pain (LBP......), the aim of this study was to explore and descriptively compare the application of LCA when using questionnaire summary scores and when using single items to subgrouping of patients based on multidimensional data. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Baseline data from 928 LBP patients in an observational study were...

  7. Converting ODM Metadata to FHIR Questionnaire Resources.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Doods, Justin; Neuhaus, Philipp; Dugas, Martin

    2016-01-01

    Interoperability between systems and data sharing between domains is becoming more and more important. The portal medical-data-models.org offers more than 5.300 UMLS annotated forms in CDISC ODM format in order to support interoperability, but several additional export formats are available. CDISC's ODM and HL7's framework FHIR Questionnaire resource were analyzed, a mapping between elements created and a converter implemented. The developed converter was integrated into the portal with FHIR Questionnaire XML or JSON download options. New FHIR applications can now use this large library of forms.

  8. Revisiting the plant hyperaccumulation criteria to rare plants and earth abundant elements

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Branquinho, Cristina [Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciencias, Centro de Ecologia e Biologia Vegetal, Campo Grande C2, Piso 4, 1749-016 Lisbon (Portugal) and Universidade Atlantica, Antiga Fabrica da Polvora de Barcarena, 2745-615 Barcarena (Portugal)]. E-mail: cmbranquinho@fc.ul.pt; Serrano, Helena Cristina [Universidade de Lisboa, Museu Nacional de Historia Natural, Jardim Botanico (Portugal); Pinto, Manuel Joao [Universidade de Lisboa, Museu Nacional de Historia Natural, Jardim Botanico (Portugal); Martins-Loucao, Maria Amelia [Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciencias, Centro de Ecologia e Biologia Vegetal, Campo Grande C2, Piso 4, 1749-016 Lisbon (Portugal); Universidade de Lisboa, Museu Nacional de Historia Natural, Jardim Botanico (Portugal)

    2007-03-15

    The several established criteria to define a hyperaccumulator plant were applied to a rare and endangered species, Plantago almogravensis, and to the 3rd most abundant element in the earth crust, Al. Using the most common criteria, P. almogravensis undoubtedly is an Al hyperaccumulator plant. If the recent proposed requirements were considered, most of them matching those for a plant to be used in phytoextraction, it can only be considered an unusual accumulator of Al. A discussion is made concerning the several criteria of a hyperaccumulator plant in order to include rare and endemic ones and abundant elements. In ecological terms, the enrichment in Al and Fe observed may account for the differences in the vegetation pattern. Due to the rarity and endangered nature of this plant, the contribution of this work is also relevant for the ecological understanding and the development of conservation options of this endemic species. - Revisiting plant hyperaccumulation criteria.

  9. Revisiting the plant hyperaccumulation criteria to rare plants and earth abundant elements

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Branquinho, Cristina; Serrano, Helena Cristina; Pinto, Manuel Joao; Martins-Loucao, Maria Amelia

    2007-01-01

    The several established criteria to define a hyperaccumulator plant were applied to a rare and endangered species, Plantago almogravensis, and to the 3rd most abundant element in the earth crust, Al. Using the most common criteria, P. almogravensis undoubtedly is an Al hyperaccumulator plant. If the recent proposed requirements were considered, most of them matching those for a plant to be used in phytoextraction, it can only be considered an unusual accumulator of Al. A discussion is made concerning the several criteria of a hyperaccumulator plant in order to include rare and endemic ones and abundant elements. In ecological terms, the enrichment in Al and Fe observed may account for the differences in the vegetation pattern. Due to the rarity and endangered nature of this plant, the contribution of this work is also relevant for the ecological understanding and the development of conservation options of this endemic species. - Revisiting plant hyperaccumulation criteria

  10. Sub-Chandrasekhar-mass White Dwarf Detonations Revisited

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shen, Ken J.; Kasen, Daniel; Miles, Broxton J.; Townsley, Dean M.

    2018-02-01

    The detonation of a sub-Chandrasekhar-mass white dwarf (WD) has emerged as one of the most promising Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) progenitor scenarios. Recent studies have suggested that the rapid transfer of a very small amount of helium from one WD to another is sufficient to ignite a helium shell detonation that subsequently triggers a carbon core detonation, yielding a “dynamically driven double-degenerate double-detonation” SN Ia. Because the helium shell that surrounds the core explosion is so minimal, this scenario approaches the limiting case of a bare C/O WD detonation. Motivated by discrepancies in previous literature and by a recent need for detailed nucleosynthetic data, we revisit simulations of naked C/O WD detonations in this paper. We disagree to some extent with the nucleosynthetic results of previous work on sub-Chandrasekhar-mass bare C/O WD detonations; for example, we find that a median-brightness SN Ia is produced by the detonation of a 1.0 {M}ȯ WD instead of a more massive and rarer 1.1 {M}ȯ WD. The neutron-rich nucleosynthesis in our simulations agrees broadly with some observational constraints, although tensions remain with others. There are also discrepancies related to the velocities of the outer ejecta and light curve shapes, but overall our synthetic light curves and spectra are roughly consistent with observations. We are hopeful that future multidimensional simulations will resolve these issues and further bolster the dynamically driven double-degenerate double-detonation scenario’s potential to explain most SNe Ia.

  11. Development and Validation of the Geriatric In-Hospital Nursing Care Questionnaire

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Persoon, Anke; Bakker, Franka C.; van der Wal-Huisman, Hanneke; Rikkert, Marcel G. M. Olde

    ObjectivesTo develop a questionnaire, the Geriatric In-hospital Nursing Care Questionnaire (GerINCQ), to measure, in an integrated way, the care that older adults receive in the hospital and nurses' attitudes toward and perceptions about caring for older adults. DesignQuestionnaire development.

  12. Human T-cell recognition of synthetic peptides representing conserved and variant sequences from the merozoite surface protein 2 of Plasmodium falciparum

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Theander, T G; Hviid, L; Dodoo, D

    1997-01-01

    Merozoite surface protein 2 (MSP2) is a malaria vaccine candidate currently undergoing clinical trials. We analyzed the peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) response to synthetic peptides corresponding to conserved and variant regions of the FCQ-27 allelic form of MSP2 in Ghanaian individuals....... The findings are encouraging for the development of a vaccine based on these T-epitope containing regions of MSP2, as the peptides were broadly recognized suggesting that they can bind to diverse HLA alleles and also because they include conserved MSP2 sequences. Immunisation with a vaccine construct...

  13. A new psychometric questionnaire for reporting of somatosensory percepts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, L. H.; McLeod, R. S.; Kiss, Z. H. T.

    2018-02-01

    Objective. There have been remarkable advances over the past decade in neural prostheses to restore lost motor function. However, restoration of somatosensory feedback, which is essential for fine motor control and user acceptance, has lagged behind. With an increasing interest in using electrical stimulation to restore somatosensory sensations within the peripheral (PNS) and central nervous systems (CNS), it is critical to characterize the percepts evoked by electrical stimulation in a standardized manner with a validated psychometric questionnaire. This will allow comparison of results from applications at various nervous system levels in multiple settings. Approach. We compiled a summary of published reports of somatosensory percepts that were elicited by electrical stimulation in humans and used these to develop a new psychometric questionnaire. Results. This new questionnaire was able to characterize subjective evoked sensations with good test-retest reliability (Spearman’s correlation coefficients ranging 0.716  ⩽  ρ  ⩽  1.000, p  ⩽  0.005) in 13 subjects receiving stimulation through neural implants in both the CNS and PNS. Furthermore, the new questionnaire captured more descriptors (M  =  2.65, SD  =  0.91) that would have been missed by being categorized as ‘other sensations’, using a previous questionnaire (M  =  1.40, SD  =  0.77, t(12)  =  -10.24, p  psychometric questionnaire will aid in establishing consistency and standardization of reporting in future studies of somatosensory neural prostheses.

  14. Double neutron stars: merger rates revisited

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chruslinska, Martyna; Belczynski, Krzysztof; Klencki, Jakub; Benacquista, Matthew

    2018-03-01

    We revisit double neutron star (DNS) formation in the classical binary evolution scenario in light of the recent Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO)/Virgo DNS detection (GW170817). The observationally estimated Galactic DNS merger rate of R_MW = 21^{+28}_{-14} Myr-1, based on three Galactic DNS systems, fully supports our standard input physics model with RMW = 24 Myr-1. This estimate for the Galaxy translates in a non-trivial way (due to cosmological evolution of progenitor stars in chemically evolving Universe) into a local (z ≈ 0) DNS merger rate density of Rlocal = 48 Gpc-3 yr-1, which is not consistent with the current LIGO/Virgo DNS merger rate estimate (1540^{+3200}_{-1220} Gpc-3 yr-1). Within our study of the parameter space, we find solutions that allow for DNS merger rates as high as R_local ≈ 600^{+600}_{-300} Gpc-3 yr-1 which are thus consistent with the LIGO/Virgo estimate. However, our corresponding BH-BH merger rates for the models with high DNS merger rates exceed the current LIGO/Virgo estimate of local BH-BH merger rate (12-213 Gpc-3 yr-1). Apart from being particularly sensitive to the common envelope treatment, DNS merger rates are rather robust against variations of several of the key factors probed in our study (e.g. mass transfer, angular momentum loss, and natal kicks). This might suggest that either common envelope development/survival works differently for DNS (˜10-20 M⊙ stars) than for BH-BH (˜40-100 M⊙ stars) progenitors, or high black hole (BH) natal kicks are needed to meet observational constraints for both types of binaries. Our conclusion is based on a limited number of (21) evolutionary models and is valid within this particular DNS and BH-BH isolated binary formation scenario.

  15. [Validation of a questionnaire to evaluate patient safety in clinical laboratories].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giménez Marín, Ángeles; Rivas-Ruiz, Francisco

    2012-01-01

    The aim of this study was to prepare, pilot and validate a questionnaire to evaluate patient safety in the specific context of clinical laboratories. A specific questionnaire on patient safety in the laboratory, with 62 items grouped into six areas, was developed, taking into consideration the diverse human and laboratory contextual factors which may contribute to producing errors. A pilot study of 30 interviews was carried out, including validity and reliability analyses using principal components factor analysis and Cronbach's alpha. Subsequently, 240 questionnaires were sent to 21 hospitals, followed by a test-retest of 41 questionnaires with the definitive version. The sample analyzed was composed of 225 questionnaires (an overall response rate of 80%). Of the 62 items initially assessed, 17 were eliminated due to non-compliance with the criteria established before the principal components factor analysis was performed. For the 45 remaining items, 12 components were identified, with an cumulative variance of 69.5%. In seven of the 10 components with two or more items, Cronbach's alpha was higher than 0.7. The questionnaire items assessed in the test-retest were found to be stable. We present the first questionnaire with sufficiently proven validity and reliability for evaluating patient safety in the specific context of clinical laboratories. This questionnaire provides a useful instrument to perform a subsequent macrostudy of hospital clinical laboratories in Spain. The questionnaire can also be used to monitor and promote commitment to patient safety within the search for continuous quality improvement. Copyright © 2011 SESPAS. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

  16. Biogas from Macroalgae: is it time to revisit the idea?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hughes Adam D

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract The economic and environmental viability of dedicated terrestrial energy crops is in doubt. The production of large scale biomass (macroalgae for biofuels in the marine environment was first tested in the late 1960’s. The culture attempts failed due to the engineering challenges of farming offshore. However the energy conversion via anaerobic digestion was successful as the biochemical composition of macroalgae makes it an ideal feedstock. The technology for the mass production of macroalgae has developed principally in China and Asia over the last 50 years to such a degree that it is now the single largest product of aquaculture. There has also been significant technology transfer and macroalgal cultivation is now well tried and tested in Europe and America. The inherent advantage of production of biofuel feedstock in the marine environment is that it does not compete with food production for land or fresh water. Here we revisit the idea of the large scale cultivation of macroalgae at sea for subsequent anaerobic digestion to produce biogas as a source of renewable energy, using a European case study as an example.

  17. The evolution of the mitochondrial genetic code in arthropods revisited.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abascal, Federico; Posada, David; Zardoya, Rafael

    2012-04-01

    A variant of the invertebrate mitochondrial genetic code was previously identified in arthropods (Abascal et al. 2006a, PLoS Biol 4:e127) in which, instead of translating the AGG codon as serine, as in other invertebrates, some arthropods translate AGG as lysine. Here, we revisit the evolution of the genetic code in arthropods taking into account that (1) the number of arthropod mitochondrial genomes sequenced has triplicated since the original findings were published; (2) the phylogeny of arthropods has been recently resolved with confidence for many groups; and (3) sophisticated probabilistic methods can be applied to analyze the evolution of the genetic code in arthropod mitochondria. According to our analyses, evolutionary shifts in the genetic code have been more common than previously inferred, with many taxonomic groups displaying two alternative codes. Ancestral character-state reconstruction using probabilistic methods confirmed that the arthropod ancestor most likely translated AGG as lysine. Point mutations at tRNA-Lys and tRNA-Ser correlated with the meaning of the AGG codon. In addition, we identified three variables (GC content, number of AGG codons, and taxonomic information) that best explain the use of each of the two alternative genetic codes.

  18. Revisiting NLTE Rovibrational Excitation of CO in UV Irradiated Environments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Ziwei; Yang, Benhui H.; Stancil, Phillip C.; Walker, Kyle M.; Forrey, Robert C.; Naduvalath, Balakrishnan

    2018-06-01

    Being the second most abundant molecule in the ISM, CO has been well observed and studied as a tracer for many astrophysical processes. Highly rovibrationally excited CO emission is used to reveal features in intense UV-irradiated regions such as the inner rim of protoplanetary disks, carbon star envelopes, and star forming regions. Collisional rate coefficients are crucial for non-local thermodynamic equilibrium (NLTE) molecular analysis in such regions, while data for high rovibrational levels for CO were previously unavailable. Here we revisit CO excitation properties with comprehensive collisional data including high rovibrational states (up to v=5 and J=40) colliding with H2, H and He, in various NLTE astrophysical environments with the spectral modeling packages RADEX and Cloudy. We studied line ratio diagnostics between low- and high-vibrational transitions with RADEX. Using Cloudy, we investigated molecular properties in complex environments, such as photodissociation regions and the outflow of the carbon star IRC+10216, illustrating the potential for utilizing high rovibrational NLTE analysis in future astrophysical modeling.This work was supported by NASA Grants NNX15AI61G and NNX16AF09G.

  19. Heavy-quark spin symmetry partners of the X(3872 revisited

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    V. Baru

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available We revisit the consequences of the heavy-quark spin symmetry for the possible spin partners of the X(3872. We confirm that, if the X(3872 were a DD¯⁎ molecular state with the quantum numbers JPC=1++, then in the strict heavy-quark limit there should exist three more hadronic molecules degenerate with the X(3872, with the quantum numbers 0++, 1+−, and 2++ in line with previous results reported in the literature. We demonstrate that this result is robust with respect to the inclusion of the one-pion exchange interaction between the D mesons. However, this is true only if all relevant partial waves as well as particle channels which are coupled via the pion-exchange potential are taken into account. Otherwise, the heavy-quark symmetry is destroyed even in the heavy-quark limit. Finally, we solve the coupled-channel problem in the 2++ channel with nonperturbative pions beyond the heavy-quark limit and, contrary to the findings of previous calculations with perturbative pions, find for the spin-2 partner of the X(3872 a significant shift of the mass as well as a width of the order of 50 MeV.

  20. Revisiting the “Secret Consort” (gsang yum in Tibetan Buddhism

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    Holly Gayley

    2018-06-01

    Full Text Available This article revisits the question, first introduced by feminist scholars in the mid-1990s, about whether sexual practices within Buddhist tantra (heterosexually conceived are empowering or exploitative to women. The purpose here is to complicate this question, given the different geographic settings and cultural contexts in which consort relationships have been embedded—from eastern Tibet to North America—and to nuance our understanding of the potential and pitfalls of sexuality in tantric contexts. To do so, I query the dynamics of secrecy and sexuality in tantric practice, examining twentieth century examples of female practitioners of Tibetan Buddhism who have participated in such relationships and thereby highlighting the localized ways that the “secret consort” (gsang yum has been invoked as a social role. This issue is especially relevant today in light of the global #MeToo movement and recent disclosures of sexual improprieties and alleged abuse involving Tibetan teachers at the head of Buddhist communities in Europe and North America. For this reason, to conclude, I discuss shifting perspectives on sexuality as Buddhist tantra has spread beyond Asia and draw attention to current voices calling for greater transparency and community accountability.