Investigating the Reliability and Factor Structure of Kalichman's "Survey 2: Research Misconduct" Questionnaire: A Post Hoc Analysis Among Biomedical Doctoral Students in Scandinavia.

Science.gov (United States)

Holm, Søren; Hofmann, Bjørn

2017-10-01

A precondition for reducing scientific misconduct is evidence about scientists' attitudes. We need reliable survey instruments, and this study investigates the reliability of Kalichman's "Survey 2: research misconduct" questionnaire. The study is a post hoc analysis of data from three surveys among biomedical doctoral students in Scandinavia (2010-2015). We perform reliability analysis, and exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis using a split-sample design as a partial validation. The results indicate that a reliable 13-item scale can be formed (Cronbach's α = .705), and factor analysis indicates that there are four reliable subscales each tapping a different construct: (a) general attitude to misconduct (α = .768), (b) attitude to personal misconduct (α = .784), (c) attitude to whistleblowing (α = .841), and (d) attitude to blameworthiness/punishment (α = .877). A full validation of the questionnaire requires further research. We, nevertheless, hope that the results will facilitate the increased use of the questionnaire in research.

Factors that Motivate Business Faculty to Conduct Research: An Expectancy Theory Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Yining; Gupta, Ashok; Hoshower, Leon

2006-01-01

In this study, the authors used expectancy theory to examine key factors that motivate business faculty to conduct research. The survey results, from 320 faculty members at 10 business schools, showed that faculty members who assign higher importance ratings to both the extrinsic and the intrinsic rewards of research exhibit higher research…

Human factors research in Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry creation of safety culture

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Horie, Yasuo

2002-01-01

To prevent accident of nuclear power plant, Human Factors Center was built in the Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry in July 1987. It developed an evaluation method of human error cases and an application method of human factors information. Now it continues analysis and application of human factors information, development of training/work support tools and research/experiment of human behavior. Japan-Human Performance Evaluation System (J-HPES) was developed as an analytical system for analysis and evaluation of human factors related to the trouble and for using the result as the common property by storage the analytical results. J-HPES has a standard procedure consisted of collecting and analyzing data and proposing the countermeasures. The analytical results are arranged by 4 kinds of charts by putting into the form of a diagram. Moreover, it tries to find the causes with indirect and potential causes. Two kinds of materials, Caution Report and Human Factors Precept by means of Illustrations, are published. People can gain access to HFC database by URL http://criepi.denken.or.jp/CRIEPI/HFC/DB. To prevent these accidents, creation of human factors culture has been required. Five kinds of teaching materials and the training method are developed. (S.Y.)

Factor Economic Analysis at Forestry Enterprises

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M.Yu. Chik

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The article studies the importance of economic analysis according to the results of research of scientific works of domestic and foreign scientists. The calculation of the influence of factors on the change in the cost of harvesting timber products by cost items has been performed. The results of the calculation of the influence of factors on the change of costs on 1 UAH are determined using the full cost of sold products. The variable and fixed costs and their distribution are allocated that influences the calculation of the impact of factors on cost changes on 1 UAH of sold products. The paper singles out the general results of calculating the influence of factors on cost changes on 1 UAH of sold products. According to the results of the analysis, the list of reserves for reducing the cost of production at forest enterprises was proposed. The main sources of reserves for reducing the prime cost of forest products at forest enterprises are investigated based on the conducted factor analysis.

Research and development studies on human factors: new trends

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Llory, M.; Larchier-Boulanger, J.

1988-01-01

This paper is aimed at describing where the research work on human factors undertaken at EDF stands in relation to this European trend and to define the problematics of cognitive phenomena in relation to all (non cognitive) human phenomena, on the one hand, and to individual aspects as compared to collective and organizational aspects, on the other. Some important trends in the research and development studies will thus be examined one lay one: - analysis of operators' activity; - analysis of the activity cognitive aspects; - problem of the impact of non-cognitive aspects

Analysis of the intellectual structure of human space exploration research using a bibliometric approach: Focus on human related factors

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Tai Sik; Lee, Yoon-Sun; Lee, Jaeho; Chang, Byung Chul

2018-02-01

Human space exploration (HSE) is an interdisciplinary field composed of a range of subjects that have developed dramatically over the last few decades. This paper investigates the intellectual structure of HSE research with a focus on human related factors. A bibliometric approach with quantitative analytical techniques is applied to study the development and growth of the research. This study retrieves 1921 papers on HSE related to human factors from the year 1990 to the year 2016 from Web of Science and constructs a critical citation network composed of 336 papers. Edge-betweenness-based clustering is used to classify the citation network into twelve distinct research clusters based on four research themes: "biological risks from space radiation," "health and performance during long-duration spaceflight," "program and in-situ resources for HSE missions," and "habitat and life support systems in the space environment." These research themes are also similar to the classification results of a co-occurrence analysis on keywords for a total of 1921 papers. Papers with high centrality scores are identified as important papers in terms of knowledge flow. Moreover, the intermediary role of papers in exchanging knowledge between HSE sub-areas is identified using brokerage analysis. The key-route main path highlights the theoretical development trajectories. Due to the recent dramatic increase in investment by international governments and the private sector, the theoretical development trajectories of key research themes have been expanding from furthering scientific and technical knowledge to include various social and economic issues, thus encouraging massive public participation. This study contributes to an understanding of research trends and popular issues in the field of HSE by introducing a powerful way of determining major research themes and development trajectories. This study will help researchers seek the underlying knowledge diffusion flow from multifaceted

Exploring Technostress: Results of a Large Sample Factor Analysis

OpenAIRE

Jonušauskas, Steponas; Raišienė, Agota Giedrė

2016-01-01

With reference to the results of a large sample factor analysis, the article aims to propose the frame examining technostress in a population. The survey and principal component analysis of the sample consisting of 1013 individuals who use ICT in their everyday work was implemented in the research. 13 factors combine 68 questions and explain 59.13 per cent of the answers dispersion. Based on the factor analysis, questionnaire was reframed and prepared to reasonably analyze the respondents’ an...

Boolean Factor Analysis by Attractor Neural Network

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Frolov, A. A.; Húsek, Dušan; Muraviev, I. P.; Polyakov, P.Y.

2007-01-01

Roč. 18, č. 3 (2007), s. 698-707 ISSN 1045-9227 R&D Projects: GA AV ČR 1ET100300419; GA ČR GA201/05/0079 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10300504 Keywords : recurrent neural network * Hopfield-like neural network * associative memory * unsupervised learning * neural network architecture * neural network application * statistics * Boolean factor analysis * dimensionality reduction * features clustering * concepts search * information retrieval Subject RIV: BB - Applied Statistics, Operational Research Impact factor: 2.769, year: 2007

Analysis on Pollution Factors in Asparagus Production and Research on Safety Production Technology

OpenAIRE

Ma, Liping; Hao, Bianqing; Qiao, Xiongwu

2013-01-01

Based on the analysis on the infection degree, infection law and influencing factors of the main diseases on asparagus and the analysis on the pollution factors in asparagus production such as blind pesticide use, atmospheric pollution and acid rain, the pollution of soil and fertilizer, this article proposes asparagus safety production technologies which include the selection of disease-resistant variety and suitable planting field, scientific and reasonable disease control, balanced fertili...

Research overview of microblog analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bin LIU

Full Text Available Microblog is one of the important social information communication platform. Because of its characteristics of easy operation and fast spread, people can directly and quickly express their attitude to emergencies, public figures, hot products and daily life through microblog. In order to utilize the vast microblog information, it needs to combine various microblog analysis methods to discover the potential value of information. This paper first reviews the current research of microblog analysis field and puts forward the independent research and development system of microblog analysis, then explores the future research direction of microblog analysis.First of all, this paper introduces two dominating technical methods of microblog analysis, including microblog open platform and web crawler technology. People can have convenient and prompt access to microblog information resources via open interface of microblog, such as microblog content, user reviews, user personal details, the number of fans, the number of attention, etc.. But it also has many limitations. For example, it can only be grabbed for limited times every hour and it is not open for all the resources information. Utilizing the web crawler technology, more information resources can be obtained. For example, the information acquisition technology based on general web crawler can cover a wider range and based on the focused crawler, the predefined theme can be crawled selectively.Secondly, this paper presents the hot issues of current microblog, including analysis on users' behavior and microblog content. Research on microblog user behavior includes: 1 Research on information communication network. Its purpose is to predict future propagation, which uses Gephi visualization tools to present propagation path under microblog diffusion, propagation range and the key of forwarding nodes, etc.. 2 Research on propagation factors. It reveals the possible causes of information

Organizational safety factors research lessons learned

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ryan, T.G.

1995-01-01

This Paper reports lessons learned and state of knowledge gained from an organizational factors research activity involving commercial nuclear power plants in the United States, through the end of 1991, as seen by the scientists immediately involved in the research. Lessons learned information was gathered from the research teams and individuals using a question and answer format. The following five questions were submitted to each team and individual: (1) What organizational factors appear to influence safety performance in some systematic way, (2) Should organizational factors research focus at the plant level, or should it extend beyond the plant level to the parent company, rate setting commissions, regulatory agencies, (3) How important is having direct access to plants for doing organizational factors research, (4) What lessons have been learned to date as the result of doing organizational factors research in a nuclear regulatory setting, and (5) What organizational research topics and issues should be pursued in the future? Conclusions based on the responses provided for this report are that organizational factors research can be conducted in a regulatory setting and produce useful results. Technologies pioneered in other academic, commercial, and military settings can be adopted for use in a nuclear regulatory setting. The future success of such research depends upon the cooperation of regulators, contractors, and the nuclear industry

Cancer Research Participation Beliefs and Behaviors of a Southern Black Population: A Quantitative Analysis of the Role of Structural Factors in Cancer Research Participation.

Science.gov (United States)

Farr, Deeonna E; Brandt, Heather M; Comer, Kimberly D; Jackson, Dawnyéa D; Pandya, Kinjal; Friedman, Daniela B; Ureda, John R; Williams, Deloris G; Scott, Dolores B; Green, Wanda; Hébert, James R

2015-09-01

Increasing the participation of Blacks in cancer research is a vital component of a strategy to reduce racial inequities in cancer burden. Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is especially well-suited to advancing our knowledge of factors that influence research participation to ultimately address cancer-related health inequities. A paucity of literature focuses on the role of structural factors limiting participation in cancer research. As part of a larger CBPR project, we used survey data from a statewide cancer needs assessment of a Black faith community to examine the influence of structural factors on attitudes toward research and the contributions of both structural and attitudinal factors on whether individuals participate in research. Regression analyses and non-parametric statistics were conducted on data from 727 adult survey respondents. Structural factors, such as having health insurance coverage, experiencing discrimination during health care encounters, and locale, predicted belief in the benefits, but not the risks, of research participation. Positive attitudes toward research predicted intention to participate in cancer research. Significant differences in structural and attitudinal factors were found between cancer research participants and non-participants; however, directionality is confounded by the cross-sectional survey design and causality cannot be determined. This study points to complex interplay of structural and attitudinal factors on research participation as well as need for additional quantitative examinations of the various types of factors that influence research participation in Black communities.

A Comparison of Distribution Free and Non-Distribution Free Factor Analysis Methods

Science.gov (United States)

Ritter, Nicola L.

2012-01-01

Many researchers recognize that factor analysis can be conducted on both correlation matrices and variance-covariance matrices. Although most researchers extract factors from non-distribution free or parametric methods, researchers can also extract factors from distribution free or non-parametric methods. The nature of the data dictates the method…

Critical survey of research on human factors and the man-machine interaction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Watson, L.A.

1984-01-01

A case is developed for placing a high priority on research into human factors in the nuclear power industry. This is based essentially on the fact that human error is a significant factor in plant reliability and the assurance of safety. Control of human error can therefore produce benefits in the reduction of both operational costs and public risk. Descriptions are given of activities initiated by the Commission of the European Communities in conjunction with institutes within the Member States. These include: a comprehensive survey and analysis of current relevant work; considerations of classification schemes for human factors activities; the use of simulators for human factors research; and a proposed European collaborative research programme. (author)

Logistic regression for risk factor modelling in stuttering research.

Science.gov (United States)

Reed, Phil; Wu, Yaqionq

2013-06-01

To outline the uses of logistic regression and other statistical methods for risk factor analysis in the context of research on stuttering. The principles underlying the application of a logistic regression are illustrated, and the types of questions to which such a technique has been applied in the stuttering field are outlined. The assumptions and limitations of the technique are discussed with respect to existing stuttering research, and with respect to formulating appropriate research strategies to accommodate these considerations. Finally, some alternatives to the approach are briefly discussed. The way the statistical procedures are employed are demonstrated with some hypothetical data. Research into several practical issues concerning stuttering could benefit if risk factor modelling were used. Important examples are early diagnosis, prognosis (whether a child will recover or persist) and assessment of treatment outcome. After reading this article you will: (a) Summarize the situations in which logistic regression can be applied to a range of issues about stuttering; (b) Follow the steps in performing a logistic regression analysis; (c) Describe the assumptions of the logistic regression technique and the precautions that need to be checked when it is employed; (d) Be able to summarize its advantages over other techniques like estimation of group differences and simple regression. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Highly effective cystic fibrosis clinical research teams: critical success factors.

Science.gov (United States)

Retsch-Bogart, George Z; Van Dalfsen, Jill M; Marshall, Bruce C; George, Cynthia; Pilewski, Joseph M; Nelson, Eugene C; Goss, Christopher H; Ramsey, Bonnie W

2014-08-01

Bringing new therapies to patients with rare diseases depends in part on optimizing clinical trial conduct through efficient study start-up processes and rapid enrollment. Suboptimal execution of clinical trials in academic medical centers not only results in high cost to institutions and sponsors, but also delays the availability of new therapies. Addressing the factors that contribute to poor outcomes requires novel, systematic approaches tailored to the institution and disease under study. To use clinical trial performance metrics data analysis to select high-performing cystic fibrosis (CF) clinical research teams and then identify factors contributing to their success. Mixed-methods research, including semi-structured qualitative interviews of high-performing research teams. CF research teams at nine clinical centers from the CF Foundation Therapeutics Development Network. Survey of site characteristics, direct observation of team meetings and facilities, and semi-structured interviews with clinical research team members and institutional program managers and leaders in clinical research. Critical success factors noted at all nine high-performing centers were: 1) strong leadership, 2) established and effective communication within the research team and with the clinical care team, and 3) adequate staff. Other frequent characteristics included a mature culture of research, customer service orientation in interactions with study participants, shared efficient processes, continuous process improvement activities, and a businesslike approach to clinical research. Clinical research metrics allowed identification of high-performing clinical research teams. Site visits identified several critical factors leading to highly successful teams that may help other clinical research teams improve clinical trial performance.

Strategic Decision-Making: Research Mapping from Exploratory Factor Analysis and Multidimensional Scaling

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Ivano Ribeiro

2017-04-01

Full Text Available To understand the connection between authors, concepts and theories that address strategic decision-making, in this article the citations and co-citations of works published up to 2014 were analyzed. The sample consists of 489 articles published in international periodicals included in the Web of Science-ISI Web of Knowledge database. The search was conducted using key words that enabled the identification of the highest possible number of articles on the subject in question. Through Multidimensional Scaling (MDS and Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA, the conceptual and theoretical relationships involved in these studies were identified. The results show that from 1980 to 2014 three different factors are highlighted: the first has to do with studies on conflict; the second factor is the Top Management Team (TMT and decision-making; and the third is related to processes. More recently (2013-2014, studies on strategic decision-making are converging towards analysis of conflict and process, composition and control, with Upper Echelon Theory being maintained as the central theory in these studies. This finding is the main contribution of this article.

Foundations of factor analysis

CERN Document Server

Mulaik, Stanley A

2009-01-01

Introduction Factor Analysis and Structural Theories Brief History of Factor Analysis as a Linear Model Example of Factor AnalysisMathematical Foundations for Factor Analysis Introduction Scalar AlgebraVectorsMatrix AlgebraDeterminants Treatment of Variables as Vectors Maxima and Minima of FunctionsComposite Variables and Linear Transformations Introduction Composite Variables Unweighted Composite VariablesDifferentially Weighted Composites Matrix EquationsMulti

Safety analysis for research reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2008-01-01

computational tools and presentation of the results of the analysis. It also discusses various factors that need to be considered to ensure that the safety analysis is of an acceptable quality. In specific terms, the calculations and methods in this report can be used for the safety analysis of newly designed research reactors, modifications and experiments with impact on safety, and upgrades of existing reactors, and can also be used for updating or reassessing previous safety analyses of operating research reactors. This publication will be particularly useful to organizations, safety analysts and reviewers in fulfilling regulatory requirements and recommendations related to the preparation of the safety analysis and its presentation in the safety analysis report. In addition, it will help regulators conduct safety reviews and assessments of the topics covered

Genre analysis of linguistics research introductions

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Anthony Porras

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The emergence of exploring genre analysis has been a trend in Applied Linguistics, not only for its interesting factor, but also because of its pedagogical implications. This study aimed to determine the overall structure, specifically the presence and conformity of moves and steps of the research introductions in the field of Linguistics. Twelve (12 available research introductions were analyzed using Create-A-Research-Space (CARS model. The findings revealed that moves and steps across the research introductions are present. Majority of the research introductions conformed to the CARS model, but did not necessarily follow the suggested sequence. Results imply that teachers of research writing should acknowledge and introduce the CARS model as a basis for teaching the method of writing research introductions effectively.

What factors influence the production of orthopaedic research in East Africa? A qualitative analysis of interviews.

Science.gov (United States)

Elliott, Iain S; Sonshine, Daniel B; Akhavan, Sina; Slade Shantz, Angelique; Caldwell, Amber; Slade Shantz, Jesse; Gosselin, Richard A; Coughlin, R Richard

2015-06-01

Research addressing the burden of musculoskeletal disease in low- and middle-income countries does not reflect the magnitude of the epidemic in these countries as only 9% of the world's biomedical resources are devoted to addressing problems that affect the health of 90% of the world's population. Little is known regarding the barriers to and drivers of orthopaedic surgery research in such resource-poor settings, the knowledge of which would help direct specific interventions for increasing research capacity and help surgeons from high-income countries support the efforts of our colleagues in low- and middle-income countries. We sought to identify through surveying academic orthopaedic surgeons in East Africa: (1) barriers impeding research, (2) factors that support or drive research, and (3) factors that were identified by some surgeons as barriers and others as drivers (what we term barrier-driver overlap) as they considered the production of clinical research in resource-poor environments. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 21 orthopaedic surgeon faculty members at four academic medical centers in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. Qualitative content analysis of the interviews was conducted using methods based in grounded theory. Grounded theory begins with qualitative data, such as interview transcripts, and analyzes the data for repeated ideas or concepts which then are coded and grouped into categories which allow for identification of subjects or problems that may not have been apparent previously to the interviewer. We identified and quantified 19 barriers to and 21 drivers of orthopaedic surgery research (mentioned n = 1688 and n = 1729, respectively). Resource, research process, and institutional domains were identified to categorize the barriers (n = 7, n = 5, n = 7, respectively) and drivers (n = 7, n = 8, n = 6, respectively). Resource barriers (46%) were discussed more often by interview subjects compared with the

Exploratory Analysis of the Factors Affecting Consumer Choice in E-Commerce: Conjoint Analysis

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Elena Mazurova

2017-05-01

Full Text Available According to previous studies of online consumer behaviour, three factors are the most influential on purchasing behavior - brand, colour and position of the product on the screen. However, a simultaneous influence of these three factors on the consumer decision making process has not been investigated previously. In this particular work we aim to execute a comprehensive study of the influence of these three factors. In order to answer our main research questions, we conducted an experiment with 96 different combinations of the three attributes, and using statistical analysis, such as conjoint analysis, t-test analysis and Kendall analysis we identified that the most influential factor to the online consumer decision making process is brand, the second most important attribute is the colour, which was estimated half as important as brand, and the least important attribute is the position on the screen. Additionally, we identified the main differences regarding consumers stated and revealed preferences regarding these three attributes.

MOOC Success Factors: Proposal of an Analysis Framework

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Margarida M. Marques

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Aim/Purpose: From an idea of lifelong-learning-for-all to a phenomenon affecting higher education, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs can be the next step to a truly universal education. Indeed, MOOC enrolment rates can be astoundingly high; still, their completion rates are frequently disappointingly low. Nevertheless, as courses, the participants’ enrolment and learning within the MOOCs must be considered when assessing their success. In this paper, the authors’ aim is to reflect on what makes a MOOC successful to propose an analysis framework of MOOC success factors. Background: A literature review was conducted to identify reported MOOC success factors and to propose an analysis framework. Methodology: This literature-based framework was tested against data of a specific MOOC and refined, within a qualitative interpretivist methodology. The data were collected from the ‘As alterações climáticas nos média escolares - Clima@EduMedia’ course, which was developed by the project Clima@EduMedia and was submitted to content analysis. This MOOC aimed to support science and school media teachers in the use of media to teach climate change Contribution: By proposing a MOOC success factors framework the authors are attempting to contribute to fill in a literature gap regarding what concerns criteria to consider a specific MOOC successful. Findings: This work major finding is a literature-based and empirically-refined MOOC success factors analysis framework. Recommendations for Practitioners: The proposed framework is also a set of best practices relevant to MOOC developers, particularly when targeting teachers as potential participants. Recommendation for Researchers: This work’s relevance is also based on its contribution to increasing empirical research on MOOCs. Impact on Society: By providing a proposal of a framework on factors to make a MOOC successful, the authors hope to contribute to the quality of MOOCs. Future Research: Future

Use of multivariate analysis to research career advancement of academic librarians

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Filiberto Felipe Martínez Arellano

2004-01-01

Full Text Available Diverse variables dealing with credential factors, bureaucratiuc factors, organizational and disciplinary achievements, academic culture factors, social ascribed factors, and institutional factors were stated as explanatory elements of promotion, tenure status, and earnings. A survey was the research instrument for collecting data to test diverse variables dealing with academic librarians rewards and earnings. Since the study attempted to analyze variables in a multivariate context, variable interactions were tested using multiple regression analysis. Findings of this study contribute to a better understanding of those factors influencing career advancement of academic librarians. Likewise, research methodology of this study could be used in Library and Information Science(LIS research.

Text mining factor analysis (TFA) in green tea patent data

Science.gov (United States)

Rahmawati, Sela; Suprijadi, Jadi; Zulhanif

2017-03-01

Factor analysis has become one of the most widely used multivariate statistical procedures in applied research endeavors across a multitude of domains. There are two main types of analyses based on factor analysis: Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). Both EFA and CFA aim to observed relationships among a group of indicators with a latent variable, but they differ fundamentally, a priori and restrictions made to the factor model. This method will be applied to patent data technology sector green tea to determine the development technology of green tea in the world. Patent analysis is useful in identifying the future technological trends in a specific field of technology. Database patent are obtained from agency European Patent Organization (EPO). In this paper, CFA model will be applied to the nominal data, which obtain from the presence absence matrix. While doing processing, analysis CFA for nominal data analysis was based on Tetrachoric matrix. Meanwhile, EFA model will be applied on a title from sector technology dominant. Title will be pre-processing first using text mining analysis.

Planning Today for Tomorrow’s Research: Analysis of Factors Influencing Participation in a Pediatric Cancer Research Biorepository

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Rania M. Labib

2018-01-01

Full Text Available BackgroundBiobanks have become a powerful tool that fosters biomedical research. The success of biobanks depends upon people’s perception and willingness to donate their samples for research. This is the first biorepository in Egypt, hence, little is known about the beliefs and attitudes of parents toward participation.AimTo investigate the level of willingness of Egyptians to donate samples of their children and themselves for research and the different factors influencing participation.Materials and methodsA structured questionnaire was designed covering multiple items expected to affect the enrollment decision. This was conducted in-person, and data collected included demographic data, socioeconomic, and educational level. In addition, in the case of refusal, participants were asked about reasons behind their decision.ResultsOnly about 3.1% of patients have not been enrolled in the project, and 0.3% have withdrawn. Three demographic factors were found having disparate trends in the decision-making process to participate or not: father’s education (p = 0.0001, mother’s education (p = 0.0001, and father’s age (p = 0.034.ConclusionEgyptian parents were willing to donate their samples as well as their children’s samples in our research biorepository. The idea of participation was presented in an interview during which the consent form was explained in a comprehensive transparent way allowing participants the right to refuse or withdraw at any time. Still, different communication approaches are needed with older, more highly educated parents to encourage them to participate.

Two Expectation-Maximization Algorithms for Boolean Factor Analysis

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Frolov, A. A.; Húsek, Dušan; Polyakov, P.Y.

2014-01-01

Roč. 130, 23 April (2014), s. 83-97 ISSN 0925-2312 R&D Projects: GA ČR GAP202/10/0262 Grant - others:GA MŠk(CZ) ED1.1.00/02.0070; GA MŠk(CZ) EE.2.3.20.0073 Program:ED Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10300504 Keywords : Boolean Factor analysis * Binary Matrix factorization * Neural networks * Binary data model * Dimension reduction * Bars problem Subject RIV: IN - Informatics, Computer Science Impact factor: 2.083, year: 2014

Research on disaster prevention by human factor

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Bok Youn; Kang, Chang Hee; Kang, Sun Duck; Jo, Young Do [Korea Institute of Geology Mining and Materials, Taejon (Korea)

1998-12-01

Mining, by its very nature, requires workers and technology to function in an unpredictable environment that can not easily be engineered to accommodate human factors. Miners' physical and cognitive capabilities are sometimes stretched to the point that 'human error' in performance result. Mine safety researchers estimate that 50-85% of all mining injuries are due, in large part, to human error. Further research suggests that the primary causes of these errors in performance lie outside the individual and can be minimized by improvements in equipment design, work environments, work procedures and training. The human factors research is providing the science needed to determine which aspects of the mining environment can be made more worker-friendly and how miners can work more safely in environments that can not be improved. Underground mines have long been recognized as an innately hazardous and physically demanding work environment. Recently, mining is becoming a more complicated process as more sophisticated technologies are introduced. The more complicated or difficult the tasks to be performed, the more critical it is to have a systematic understanding of the humans, the technology, the environments, and how they interact. Human factors is a key component in solving most of today's mine safety and health problems. Human factors research primarily centered around solving problems in the following four areas: 1) How mining methods and equipment affect safety, 2) Evaluating the fit between miner's physical capabilities and the demands of their job, 3) Improving miner's ability to perceive and react to hazards, 4) Understanding how organizational and managerial variables influence safety. Human factor research was begun during the World war II. National Coal Board (British Coal) of Great Britain commenced ergonomics in 1969, and Bureau of Mine of United States started human factor researches in same year. Japan has very short history

Factor Analysis in Assessing the Research Methodology Quality of Systematic Reviews

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrada Elena URDA-CÎMPEAN

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Many high quality systematic reviews available from medical journals, data bases and other electronic sources differ in quality and provide different answers to the same question. The literature recommended the use of a checklist type approach, which exceeds many of the problems associated with measurements. Aim: This study proposes to identify in a checklist type approach the most commonly used factors (from a methodological point of view in assessing the quality of systematic reviews, and then mirror the actual stage of medical writing. We want to analyze the factors’ occurrence and / or their development in the text and in the abstract of systematic reviews published in 2011. Methods: The present study randomly selected only free full text systematic reviews published in 2011, systematic reviews found in Pubmed and in Cochrane Database. The most commonly used factors were identified in PRISMA statement and quality measurement tools. Results: The evaluated systematic reviews mentioned or developed several of the factors studied. Only 78% of the papers surveyed have used the correct IMRAD format and 59% of them have mentioned the sample size used. The correspondence between the content of the paper and its abstract is summarized in the proportion of 54.63% and 51.85% for the two sets of factors, and it can lead to scarce appreciation of the article provided that only abstracts are read. Conclusions: Researchers do not properly take into consideration scientific articles and assessment tools used for quality evaluation. They should place more value over methodological factors which help assess systematic review quality, while journals form the only party who can enforce quality standards in medical writing.

Empirical research on the influencing factors of the occupational stress for construction workers

Science.gov (United States)

LV, Xing; WU, Xiang; CI, Huipeng; LIU, Qing; YAO, Yongzheng

2017-04-01

Employee’s occupational stress and safety performance are highly related, which has been generally recognized by the researchers. We did this research to understand the status of the stress for construction workers, and explore the influence factors of pressure source with characteristics of construction industry. Based on the results of previous studies, we designed questionnaire to collect the influence factors on occupational stressors. The study selected workers from certain construction units at the grass-roots level as sample source. According to the results of the questionnaire, we redesigned the interview outline, and did the semi-structured interviews on workers randomly selected. Finally, we developed a scale which combined the characteristics of construction projects in China. Using SPSS software for factor analysis, reliability analysis, and descriptive statistical analysis, the results show that there are six factors affecting the workers’ occupational stress, including The Work Itself, Family-Work, Career Development, Organization Style, Interpersonal Relationship and Role Management Style. The work itself is the main sources of occupational stress. The results can be used by the construction company to provide guidance for workers to control and manage occupational stress.

Moving beyond 'not enough time': factors influencing paediatric clinicians' participation in research.

Science.gov (United States)

Paget, Simon P; Caldwell, Patrina H Y; Murphy, Joyce; Lilischkis, Kimberley J; Morrow, Angie M

2017-03-01

Increasing the amount of clinical research that occurs in healthcare settings has been identified as an important mechanism to improve healthcare outcomes. While clinicians are key persons in achieving this aim, research participation amongst clinicians is generally limited. To identify the factors (barriers and facilitators) influencing clinician research participation and determine how professional culture impacts on these factors. Forty clinicians working at a tertiary children's hospital participated in six discipline-specific focus groups. Thematic analysis was performed using an inductive process based in grounded theory. Four major themes (cultural factors, personal factors, resources and solutions) and 16 subthemes were identified. Participants described how the current health system discourages clinician research. They reported that their research participation requires personal sacrifice of their own time; income or career progression. Research participation was seen to compete with other priorities in clinicians' workload and is disadvantaged because of the primacy of clinical work and the lack of immediate tangible benefit from research projects. Solutions suggested by our participants included better alignment of clinical and research goals, improved availability of research mentors and collaborative opportunities. Nurses and allied health professionals reported a changing professional culture that values research. Only doctors identified research participation to be important for career progression. For clinician research participation to flourish, significant changes in healthcare structure and priorities will be required that result in research becoming more embedded in healthcare delivery. Initiatives to improve collaboration between clinicians and universities may also support these aims. © 2016 Royal Australasian College of Physicians.

[Research on climatic factors of ecology suitability regionalization of atractylodis].

Science.gov (United States)

Tan, Zhe-tian; Wang, Hao; Zhu, Shou-dong; Yan, Yu-ping; Guo, Lan-ping; Zheng, Yu-guang

2015-11-01

Through study on the correlation between atractylodis lactones ingredient content and climatic factors, we research regionalization from climatic of five main producing provinces of the country, in order to provide a scientific basis for atractylodis' conscious cultivation. By sampling from 40 origins which from five main producing provinces of the country, we use SPSS to analysis variation of atractylodis lactones ingredient content in different conditions of climatic factors and the effect of each factors. Then according to the relationship between atractylodis lactones ingredient content and climatic factors, we use ArcGIS to conduct ecological suitability regionalization based on climatic factors. The most suitable climatic condition for cultivation of atractylodis: the wettest month precipitation 220-230 mm, the warmest average temperature 25 degrees C, the average temperature of driest season 10 degrees C.

Solar Market Research and Analysis | Solar Research | NREL

Science.gov (United States)

Analysis Solar Market Research and Analysis Through rigorous data collection, analysis, and stakeholder engagement, NREL's Solar Market Research and Analysis efforts further solar technologies' role in solar panels. Key areas for NREL's solar market research and analysis portfolio include the following

Bayes factor design analysis: Planning for compelling evidence.

Science.gov (United States)

Schönbrodt, Felix D; Wagenmakers, Eric-Jan

2018-02-01

A sizeable literature exists on the use of frequentist power analysis in the null-hypothesis significance testing (NHST) paradigm to facilitate the design of informative experiments. In contrast, there is almost no literature that discusses the design of experiments when Bayes factors (BFs) are used as a measure of evidence. Here we explore Bayes Factor Design Analysis (BFDA) as a useful tool to design studies for maximum efficiency and informativeness. We elaborate on three possible BF designs, (a) a fixed-n design, (b) an open-ended Sequential Bayes Factor (SBF) design, where researchers can test after each participant and can stop data collection whenever there is strong evidence for either [Formula: see text] or [Formula: see text], and (c) a modified SBF design that defines a maximal sample size where data collection is stopped regardless of the current state of evidence. We demonstrate how the properties of each design (i.e., expected strength of evidence, expected sample size, expected probability of misleading evidence, expected probability of weak evidence) can be evaluated using Monte Carlo simulations and equip researchers with the necessary information to compute their own Bayesian design analyses.

Parallel factor analysis PARAFAC of process affected water

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ewanchuk, A.M.; Ulrich, A.C.; Sego, D. [Alberta Univ., Edmonton, AB (Canada). Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering; Alostaz, M. [Thurber Engineering Ltd., Calgary, AB (Canada)

2010-07-01

A parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC) of oil sands process-affected water was presented. Naphthenic acids (NA) are traditionally described as monobasic carboxylic acids. Research has indicated that oil sands NA do not fit classical definitions of NA. Oil sands organic acids have toxic and corrosive properties. When analyzed by fluorescence technology, oil sands process-affected water displays a characteristic peak at 290 nm excitation and approximately 346 nm emission. In this study, a parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC) was used to decompose process-affected water multi-way data into components representing analytes, chemical compounds, and groups of compounds. Water samples from various oil sands operations were analyzed in order to obtain EEMs. The EEMs were then arranged into a large matrix in decreasing process-affected water content for PARAFAC. Data were divided into 5 components. A comparison with commercially prepared NA samples suggested that oil sands NA is fundamentally different. Further research is needed to determine what each of the 5 components represent. tabs., figs.

An SPSSR -Menu for Ordinal Factor Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mario Basto

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Exploratory factor analysis is a widely used statistical technique in the social sciences. It attempts to identify underlying factors that explain the pattern of correlations within a set of observed variables. A statistical software package is needed to perform the calculations. However, there are some limitations with popular statistical software packages, like SPSS. The R programming language is a free software package for statistical and graphical computing. It offers many packages written by contributors from all over the world and programming resources that allow it to overcome the dialog limitations of SPSS. This paper offers an SPSS dialog written in theR programming language with the help of some packages, so that researchers with little or no knowledge in programming, or those who are accustomed to making their calculations based on statistical dialogs, have more options when applying factor analysis to their data and hence can adopt a better approach when dealing with ordinal, Likert-type data.

Determining the Number of Factors in P-Technique Factor Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Lo, Lawrence L.; Molenaar, Peter C. M.; Rovine, Michael

2017-01-01

Determining the number of factors is a critical first step in exploratory factor analysis. Although various criteria and methods for determining the number of factors have been evaluated in the usual between-subjects R-technique factor analysis, there is still question of how these methods perform in within-subjects P-technique factor analysis. A…

Research organizational factors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Coffman, F.D. Jr.

1990-01-01

Organizational processes at nuclear power plants should be sufficient to prevent accidents and to protect public health and safety upon the occurrence of an accident. The role of regulatory research is to confirm that agency assessments of organization processes are on a firm technical basis and provide for improvements in the NRC [Nuclear Regulatory Commission] programs. A firm technical basis is achieved by reducing uncertainties associated with methods and measures used to assess organization processes. The general objective for regulatory research is to confirm that the agency has a coherent understanding of the organizational processes that are individually necessary and are collectively sufficient for safe operations, methods are available to reliably characterize organizational processes, and measures exist to monitor changes in the key organizational processes. The first specific objective was to develop a method to translate organizational processes into PRAs. The discussion provides feedback and insights from experience with the past and the ongoing organizational factors research. That experience suggests a set of ingredients that appear proper for performing regulatory research on organizational processes. By keeping focused upon these proper ingredients, the research will contribute to the regulatory assessments of utility management through the use of improved methods and measures in investigations, inspections, diagnostics, performance indicators, and PRA insights

Analysis on factors affecting consumers decision on purchasing simple-type houses

Science.gov (United States)

Rumintang, A.; Sholichin, I.

2018-01-01

In line with the increase of the population and the need of comfortable houses, as affected by modernization era, the house demand is getting higher. Hence, conducting a research on consumers need and want in buying a house should be seriously attempted to succeed marketing activity. Using an analysis consumers’ behavior, the researcher will know few affecting factors related to consumers’ satisfaction in buying a house. Among other, the factors in question include: house price, house condition, facilities, location and accessability. The sample of this research was drawn from the residents of Graha Asri Housing, Taman Bulang Permai, and Sukodono Permai. Based on the analysis and discussion, some conclusions are made as follow: the factors and variables affecting the consumers’ decision on each choice of house is different and also the same variables on three sources of data include housing atmosphere, cleaning service, ease of access to shopping center, health clinics or hospitals, tourism spot, schools, and the bus station.

Development Instruments Through Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA in Appropriate Intensity Assessment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ari Saptono

2017-06-01

Full Text Available The research aims to develop the valid and reliable measurement instruments of entrepreneurship intention in vocational secondary school students. Multi stage random sampling was used as the technique to determine sample (300 respondents. The research method used research and development with confirmatory factor analysis (CFA. Result of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA at the second order with robust maximum likelihood method shows that valid and reliable instrument with the acquisition value of loading factor is more than 0.5 (> 0,5 and a significance value of t is more than 1,96 (> 1,96. Reliability test results shows that the value of the combined construct reliability (CR of 0.97and a variance value extract (VE to 0.52 is greater than the limit of acceptance CR ≥ 0.70 and VE ≥ 0.50. The conclusion of the measurement instruments of entrepreneurship intention with three dimensions and 31 items met the standards of validity and reliability in accordance with the instrument development process.

Modeling and Analysis of Multidiscipline Research Teams at NASA Langley Research Center: A Systems Thinking Approach

Science.gov (United States)

Waszak, Martin R.; Barthelemy, Jean-Francois; Jones, Kenneth M.; Silcox, Richard J.; Silva, Walter A.; Nowaczyk, Ronald H.

1998-01-01

Multidisciplinary analysis and design is inherently a team activity due to the variety of required expertise and knowledge. As a team activity, multidisciplinary research cannot escape the issues that affect all teams. The level of technical diversity required to perform multidisciplinary analysis and design makes the teaming aspects even more important. A study was conducted at the NASA Langley Research Center to develop a model of multidiscipline teams that can be used to help understand their dynamics and identify key factors that influence their effectiveness. The study sought to apply the elements of systems thinking to better understand the factors, both generic and Langley-specific, that influence the effectiveness of multidiscipline teams. The model of multidiscipline research teams developed during this study has been valuable in identifying means to enhance team effectiveness, recognize and avoid problem behaviors, and provide guidance for forming and coordinating multidiscipline teams.

Investigating Research Streams of Conjoint Analysis: A Bibliometric Study

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Thorsten Teichert

2010-05-01

Full Text Available Conjoint analysis (CA is one of the most important methods for preference elicitation. In this paper we investigate the intellectual structure within the conjoint analytical research community. Analyses based on single papers provide a method-based overview of streams of conjoint research. By using novel bibliometric techniques in this field we complement findings of existing reviews. We use co-citation and factor analysis of the most cited articles in SSCI to identify the most important articles and research streams. Seven research streams are revealed which are visualized by means of multidimensional scaling. Tables and graphics reveal the disciplinary affiliations of contributors to CA, the special structure within the classes as well as links between them.

EMPLOYMENT LEVEL ANALYSIS FROM THE DETERMINANT FACTORS PERSPECTIVE

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Elena Diana ŞERB

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Neglecting the human factor as part of the labor market causes losses for society as any activity that is initiated within it, has as a starting point, and also as a finishing point, the human intervention. The starting point of the article is represented by the projections made by the European    Commission in the Population Ageing Report in 2015 underlying assumptions and projections, and also by the projections of the United Nations report in 2015, and this resulted in many conclusions including the one that for the first time in Romania the average aging in 2015 exceeds the values measured by EU till present day, and this is reflected in the employment level (active aging population. The hypothesis behind the article is that the evolution of the population and migrants has repercussions on employment. Structured in three parts: knowledge status, the analysis of employment indicators and information about the intensity and direction of the link between a number of factors and employment level, this article aims to establish the determinant factors of employment through a research focused on the analysis of secondary sources, and also using the regression model. The most important lesson learned as a result of this research is that the labor market works with a variety of factors with a higher or lower influence, and in turn the labor market influences other factors.

Applying causal mediation analysis to personality disorder research.

Science.gov (United States)

Walters, Glenn D

2018-01-01

This article is designed to address fundamental issues in the application of causal mediation analysis to research on personality disorders. Causal mediation analysis is used to identify mechanisms of effect by testing variables as putative links between the independent and dependent variables. As such, it would appear to have relevance to personality disorder research. It is argued that proper implementation of causal mediation analysis requires that investigators take several factors into account. These factors are discussed under 5 headings: variable selection, model specification, significance evaluation, effect size estimation, and sensitivity testing. First, care must be taken when selecting the independent, dependent, mediator, and control variables for a mediation analysis. Some variables make better mediators than others and all variables should be based on reasonably reliable indicators. Second, the mediation model needs to be properly specified. This requires that the data for the analysis be prospectively or historically ordered and possess proper causal direction. Third, it is imperative that the significance of the identified pathways be established, preferably with a nonparametric bootstrap resampling approach. Fourth, effect size estimates should be computed or competing pathways compared. Finally, investigators employing the mediation method are advised to perform a sensitivity analysis. Additional topics covered in this article include parallel and serial multiple mediation designs, moderation, and the relationship between mediation and moderation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Research and development on the human factors technologies for nuclear power plants in Korea

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sim, B.S.; Lee, J.W.; Cheon, S.W.

1996-01-01

This paper introduces our research project on the development of human factors technologies for nuclear power plants in Korea. The project is divided into two sub-projects. The first sub-project is the development of human factors experimental evaluation techniques, which aims to develop the techniques for experimental design, experimental measurement and data collection/analysis, and to construct an integrated test facility (ITF) suitable for the experimental evaluation of man-machine interfaces (MMIs) at an advanced control room. The second is the development of human behavior analysis techniques, which has two research areas: one is the development of a task simulation analyzer and the other is human error case studies for nuclear power plants. (author)

An easy guide to factor analysis

CERN Document Server

Kline, Paul

2014-01-01

Factor analysis is a statistical technique widely used in psychology and the social sciences. With the advent of powerful computers, factor analysis and other multivariate methods are now available to many more people. An Easy Guide to Factor Analysis presents and explains factor analysis as clearly and simply as possible. The author, Paul Kline, carefully defines all statistical terms and demonstrates step-by-step how to work out a simple example of principal components analysis and rotation. He further explains other methods of factor analysis, including confirmatory and path analysis, a

Investigating product development strategy in beverage industry using factor analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Naser Azad

2013-03-01

Full Text Available Selecting a product development strategy that is associated with the company's current service or product innovation, based on customers’ needs and changing environment, plays an important role in increasing demand, increasing market share, increasing sales and profits. Therefore, it is important to extract effective variables associated with product development to improve performance measurement of firms. This paper investigates important factors influencing product development strategies using factor analysis. The proposed model of this paper investigates 36 factors and, using factor analysis, we extract six most influential factors including information sharing, intelligence information, exposure strategy, differentiation, research and development strategy and market survey. The first strategy, partnership, includes five sub-factor including product development partnership, partnership with foreign firms, customers’ perception from competitors’ products, Customer involvement in product development, inter-agency coordination, customer-oriented approach to innovation and transmission of product development change where inter-agency coordination has been considered the most important factor. Internal strengths are the most influential factors impacting the second strategy, intelligence information. The third factor, introducing strategy, introducing strategy, includes four sub criteria and consumer buying behavior is the most influencing factor. Differentiation is the next important factor with five components where knowledge and expertise in product innovation is the most important one. Research and development strategy with four sub-criteria where reducing product development cycle plays the most influential factor and finally, market survey strategy is the last important factor with three factors and finding new market plays the most important role.

Determinants of job stress in chemical process industry: A factor analysis approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Menon, Balagopal G; Praveensal, C J; Madhu, G

2015-01-01

Job stress is one of the active research domains in industrial safety research. The job stress can result in accidents and health related issues in workers in chemical process industries. Hence it is important to measure the level of job stress in workers so as to mitigate the same to avoid the worker's safety related problems in the industries. The objective of this study is to determine the job stress factors in the chemical process industry in Kerala state, India. This study also aims to propose a comprehensive model and an instrument framework for measuring job stress levels in the chemical process industries in Kerala, India. The data is collected through a questionnaire survey conducted in chemical process industries in Kerala. The collected data out of 1197 surveys is subjected to principal component and confirmatory factor analysis to develop the job stress factor structure. The factor analysis revealed 8 factors that influence the job stress in process industries. It is also found that the job stress in employees is most influenced by role ambiguity and the least by work environment. The study has developed an instrument framework towards measuring job stress utilizing exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modeling.

Aligning experimental design with bioinformatics analysis to meet discovery research objectives.

Science.gov (United States)

Kane, Michael D

2002-01-01

The utility of genomic technology and bioinformatic analytical support to provide new and needed insight into the molecular basis of disease, development, and diversity continues to grow as more research model systems and populations are investigated. Yet deriving results that meet a specific set of research objectives requires aligning or coordinating the design of the experiment, the laboratory techniques, and the data analysis. The following paragraphs describe several important interdependent factors that need to be considered to generate high quality data from the microarray platform. These factors include aligning oligonucleotide probe design with the sample labeling strategy if oligonucleotide probes are employed, recognizing that compromises are inherent in different sample procurement methods, normalizing 2-color microarray raw data, and distinguishing the difference between gene clustering and sample clustering. These factors do not represent an exhaustive list of technical variables in microarray-based research, but this list highlights those variables that span both experimental execution and data analysis. Copyright 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Analysis of Learning Environment Factors Based on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

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Košir Katja

2013-09-01

Full Text Available This paper provides a new analysis of some learning environment factors from the point of view of one of the most established motivational models, i.e. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. For a teacher, this model can represent a meaningful tool for the analysis of the potential factors of pupils’ inadequate school adjustment. Some psychological constructs that can be conceptualized as learning environment factors are presented at specific levels of needs. As regards the level of physiological needs, this paper provides an overview of research studies on ergonomic factors of learning environment. As for safety needs, the paper outlines the concepts of classroom management and peer-to-peer violence, and presents some main research findings in both fields. The analysis regarding the level of love and belonging includes aspects of positive classroom climate and the concept of pupils’ social acceptance. Contemporary findings about the development of pupil’s academic self-concept are presented within the self-esteem and achievements needs. Flow is considered to be one of key factors that help teacher satisfy the self-actualization needs and stimulate pupils’ personal development. On the basis of this analysis, some implications and recommendations are given to help teachers efficiently encourage an integrated approach to pupil development.

Meta-Analysis of Comparing Personal and Environmental Factors Effective in Addiction Relapse (Iran, 2004 -2012

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s Safari

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Objective: This As a meta-analysis, this study aimed to integrate different studies and investigate the impact of individual and environmental factors on the reappearance of addiction in quitted people. Method: This study is a meta-analysis which uses Hunter and Schmidt approach. For this purpose, 28 out of 42 studies enjoying acceptable methodologies were selected, upon which the meta-analysis was conducted. A meta-analysis checklist was the research instrument. Using summary of the study results, the researcher manually calculated effect size and interpreted it based on the meta-analysis approach and Cohen’s table. Findings: Results revealed that the effect size of environmental factors on addiction relapse was 0.64 while it was obtained 0.41 for individual factors on addiction relapse. Conclusion: According to Cohen’s table, the effect sizes are evaluated as moderate and high for individual factors and environmental factors on addiction relapse, respectively.

Trends in nursing research in France: a cross-sectional analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Dupin, C M; Chami, K; Petit dit Dariel, O; Debout, C; Rothan-Tondeur, M

2013-06-01

To examine the engagement of French registered nurses with the Ministry of Health's initiative to spur scientific inquiry in the community. French nursing research has suffered from a lack of dedicated funding. Positive signs of change have recently appeared, with the launch of the first national public funding programme dedicated to nursing research. This initiative, begun in 2010, was launched by the French Ministry of Health. Through this initiative, 149 registered nurses, serving as principal investigators, and their teams submitted research proposals between 2010 and 2011. The administrative guidelines of the funding programme are clearly oriented towards producing quantitative and exogenous nursing research. A cross-sectional analysis of 149 nursing research projects submitted during the first and second years of a French national funding programme for hospital-based nursing research was conducted. Research proposals were included in the analysis whether they received funding or not. Data collection took place in 2011. The categories used in the analysis were the following: (1) the socio-demographic data on the registered nurse principal investigators, (2) the research teams and (3) the research proposals (methodologies, bibliography, focus of the research, output, the status of the research proposals). This study highlights the presence of methodological homogeneity among the research proposals submitted for funding. Clear tendencies were towards interventional and quantitative studies and those with an exogenous factor research objective. Between 2010 and 2011, 25 projects were funded out of 149 submitted. They were mostly quantitative and/or focused on the exogenous factors in patient care. The socio-political context of a funding programme designed to encourage nursing research has had an implicit influence on the type of research to which French nurses have committed themselves to and the scientific positions with which these nurse researchers align

Scale-Free Nonparametric Factor Analysis: A User-Friendly Introduction with Concrete Heuristic Examples.

Science.gov (United States)

Mittag, Kathleen Cage

Most researchers using factor analysis extract factors from a matrix of Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients. A method is presented for extracting factors in a non-parametric way, by extracting factors from a matrix of Spearman rho (rank correlation) coefficients. It is possible to factor analyze a matrix of association such that…

Factors associated with willingness to participate in biospecimen research among Chinese Americans.

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, Wanzhen; Ma, Grace X; Tan, Yin; Fang, Carolyn; Weaver, JoEllen; Jin, Ming; Lai, Philip

2014-04-01

A paucity of information exists on the recruitment of Asian Americans for biospecimen research. Although studies show that Chinese Americans are at high risk for hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, little is known about their willingness to participate in HBV-related biospecimen research and how knowledge, attitudes, and cultural factors impact their willingness to participate. The study was guided by Community-Based Participatory Research principles. Data were derived from an assessment study on HBV-related biospecimen research participation among Chinese Americans in the Philadelphia region. The assessment was conducted with 415 Chinese Americans recruited from eight Chinese community-based organizations. Cultural beliefs, knowledge, and attitudes toward biospecimen research were examined for associations with their willingness to participate in biospecimen banking research. Overall, 192 (46.3%) of 415 participants who completed the assessment indicated they were willing to participate if they were invited to donate blood to be frozen and stored for future HBV biospecimen studies. Cultural variables significant in bivariate analysis included collectivism, knowledge about biospecimen research, and Yin-Yang beliefs. Fatalism and individualism were not associated with participation willingness. In multivariate analysis, age, health care attitudes, and trust were significantly associated with willingness to participate in biospecimen banking research. Asian American communities have little knowledge of biospecimen banking and will benefit from educational campaigns that emphasize collective benefits and attitudes towards and trust in the health care system. Understanding cultural factors is important for improving Chinese Americans' knowledge, awareness, and intentions of participation in biospecimen research. Similar efforts need to be undertaken to develop culturally appropriate educational intervention programs to increase participation in biospecimen research

Factors Associated with Willingness to Participate in Biospecimen Research Among Chinese Americans

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, Wanzhen; Tan, Yin; Fang, Carolyn; Weaver, JoEllen; Jin, Ming; Lai, Philip

2014-01-01

A paucity of information exists on the recruitment of Asian Americans for biospecimen research. Although studies show that Chinese Americans are at high risk for hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, little is known about their willingness to participate in HBV-related biospecimen research and how knowledge, attitudes, and cultural factors impact their willingness to participate. The study was guided by Community-Based Participatory Research principles. Data were derived from an assessment study on HBV-related biospecimen research participation among Chinese Americans in the Philadelphia region. The assessment was conducted with 415 Chinese Americans recruited from eight Chinese community-based organizations. Cultural beliefs, knowledge, and attitudes toward biospecimen research were examined for associations with their willingness to participate in biospecimen banking research. Overall, 192 (46.3%) of 415 participants who completed the assessment indicated they were willing to participate if they were invited to donate blood to be frozen and stored for future HBV biospecimen studies. Cultural variables significant in bivariate analysis included collectivism, knowledge about biospecimen research, and Yin-Yang beliefs. Fatalism and individualism were not associated with participation willingness. In multivariate analysis, age, health care attitudes, and trust were significantly associated with willingness to participate in biospecimen banking research. Asian American communities have little knowledge of biospecimen banking and will benefit from educational campaigns that emphasize collective benefits and attitudes towards and trust in the health care system. Understanding cultural factors is important for improving Chinese Americans' knowledge, awareness, and intentions of participation in biospecimen research. Similar efforts need to be undertaken to develop culturally appropriate educational intervention programs to increase participation in biospecimen research

Solar Market Research and Analysis Projects | Solar Research | NREL

Science.gov (United States)

Market Research and Analysis Projects Solar Market Research and Analysis Projects Solar market research and analysis efforts at NREL seek to further solar technologies' role in supporting a more . Midscale Commercial Market Solar Analysis NREL experts are providing analysis to expand the midscale solar

Factor analysis

CERN Document Server

Gorsuch, Richard L

2013-01-01

Comprehensive and comprehensible, this classic covers the basic and advanced topics essential for using factor analysis as a scientific tool in psychology, education, sociology, and related areas. Emphasizing the usefulness of the techniques, it presents sufficient mathematical background for understanding and sufficient discussion of applications for effective use. This includes not only theory but also the empirical evaluations of the importance of mathematical distinctions for applied scientific analysis.

Solar Market Research and Analysis Publications | Solar Research | NREL

Science.gov (United States)

Market Research and Analysis Publications Solar Market Research and Analysis Publications NREL researchers and analysts publish a variety of documents related to solar market research and analysis achieving the SETO 2030 residential PV cost target of $0.05 /kWh by identifying and quantifying cost

Comparing statistical and machine learning classifiers: alternatives for predictive modeling in human factors research.

Science.gov (United States)

Carnahan, Brian; Meyer, Gérard; Kuntz, Lois-Ann

2003-01-01

Multivariate classification models play an increasingly important role in human factors research. In the past, these models have been based primarily on discriminant analysis and logistic regression. Models developed from machine learning research offer the human factors professional a viable alternative to these traditional statistical classification methods. To illustrate this point, two machine learning approaches--genetic programming and decision tree induction--were used to construct classification models designed to predict whether or not a student truck driver would pass his or her commercial driver license (CDL) examination. The models were developed and validated using the curriculum scores and CDL exam performances of 37 student truck drivers who had completed a 320-hr driver training course. Results indicated that the machine learning classification models were superior to discriminant analysis and logistic regression in terms of predictive accuracy. Actual or potential applications of this research include the creation of models that more accurately predict human performance outcomes.

Human Factors Regulatory Research Program Plan, FY 1989--FY 1992

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Coffman, F.; Persensky, J.; Ryan, T.; Ramey-Smith, A.; Goodman, C.; Serig, D.; Trager, E; Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC; Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC; Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC

1989-10-01

This report describes the currently ongoing (FY 1989) and planned (FY 1989-1992) Human Factors Regulatory Research Program in the NRC Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research (RES). Examples of the influence of human factors on nuclear safety are presented, and the role of personnel is discussed. Current regulatory issues associated with human factors in the nuclear system and the purpose of the research plan are provided. The report describes the research process applied to the human factors research issues and the program activities: Personnel Performance Measurement, Personnel Subsystem, Human-System Interface. Organization and Management, and Reliability Assessment. The research being conducted within each activity is summarized along with the objectives, background information, and expected regulatory products. Budget and personnel forecasts are provided along with a summary of contractors performing some of the ongoing research. Appendices contain a chronology of human factors research at NRC, a description of the research approach, an update on human factors programs and initiatives in RES and other NRC offices, and the integration among these programs. 46 refs., 5 tabs

Exploratory Bi-factor Analysis: The Oblique Case

OpenAIRE

Jennrich, Robert L.; Bentler, Peter M.

2011-01-01

Bi-factor analysis is a form of confirmatory factor analysis originally introduced by Holzinger and Swineford (1937). The bi-factor model has a general factor, a number of group factors, and an explicit bi-factor structure. Jennrich and Bentler (2011) introduced an exploratory form of bi-factor analysis that does not require one to provide an explicit bi-factor structure a priori. They use exploratory factor analysis and a bi-factor rotation criterion designed to produce a rotated loading mat...

Relations between organizational commitment and demographic factors: a research in banking sector

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nizamettin Dogar

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Aim of this research is to answer if organizational commitment changes according to demografic factors. Inputs gained from 200 person sample group from banking sector. According to the analysis it is found that affective and continuance commitment increases with age and job experience, and all componenets of commitment increase according to time in the last job. With the results derived from analysis, research’s support to organizational theory is discussed and some advices put forward.

Research & development and growth: A Bayesian model averaging analysis

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Horváth, Roman

2011-01-01

Roč. 28, č. 6 (2011), s. 2669-2673 ISSN 0264-9993. [Society for Non-linear Dynamics and Econometrics Annual Conferencen. Washington DC, 16.03.2011-18.03.2011] R&D Projects: GA ČR GA402/09/0965 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10750506 Keywords : Research and development * Growth * Bayesian model averaging Subject RIV: AH - Economic s Impact factor: 0.701, year: 2011 http://library.utia.cas.cz/separaty/2011/E/horvath-research & development and growth a bayesian model averaging analysis.pdf

Key factors in children's competence to consent to clinical research.

Science.gov (United States)

Hein, Irma M; Troost, Pieter W; Lindeboom, Robert; Benninga, Marc A; Zwaan, C Michel; van Goudoever, Johannes B; Lindauer, Ramón J L

2015-10-24

Although law is established on a strong presumption that persons younger than a certain age are not competent to consent, statutory age limits for asking children's consent to clinical research differ widely internationally. From a clinical perspective, competence is assumed to involve many factors including the developmental stage, the influence of parents and peers, and life experience. We examined potential determining factors for children's competence to consent to clinical research and to what extent they explain the variation in competence judgments. From January 1, 2012 through January 1, 2014, pediatric patients aged 6 to 18 years, eligible for clinical research studies were enrolled prospectively at various in- and outpatient pediatric departments. Children's competence to consent was assessed by MacArthur Competence Assessment Tool for Clinical Research. Potential determining child variables included age, gender, intelligence, disease experience, ethnicity and socio-economic status (SES). We used logistic regression analysis and change in explained variance in competence judgments to quantify the contribution of a child variable to the total explained variance. Contextual factors included risk and complexity of the decision to participate, parental competence judgment and the child's or parents decision to participate. Out of 209 eligible patients, 161 were included (mean age, 10.6 years, 47.2 % male). Age, SES, intelligence, ethnicity, complexity, parental competence judgment and trial participation were univariately associated with competence (P competence judgments was 71.5 %. Only age and intelligence significantly and independently explained the variance in competence judgments, explaining 56.6 % and 12.7 % of the total variance respectively. SES, male gender, disease experience and ethnicity each explained less than 1 % of the variance in competence judgments. Contextual factors together explained an extra 2.8 % (P > 0.05). Age is the factor that

Factors affecting construction performance: exploratory factor analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Soewin, E.; Chinda, T.

2018-04-01

The present work attempts to develop a multidimensional performance evaluation framework for a construction company by considering all relevant measures of performance. Based on the previous studies, this study hypothesizes nine key factors, with a total of 57 associated items. The hypothesized factors, with their associated items, are then used to develop questionnaire survey to gather data. The exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was applied to the collected data which gave rise 10 factors with 57 items affecting construction performance. The findings further reveal that the items constituting ten key performance factors (KPIs) namely; 1) Time, 2) Cost, 3) Quality, 4) Safety & Health, 5) Internal Stakeholder, 6) External Stakeholder, 7) Client Satisfaction, 8) Financial Performance, 9) Environment, and 10) Information, Technology & Innovation. The analysis helps to develop multi-dimensional performance evaluation framework for an effective measurement of the construction performance. The 10 key performance factors can be broadly categorized into economic aspect, social aspect, environmental aspect, and technology aspects. It is important to understand a multi-dimension performance evaluation framework by including all key factors affecting the construction performance of a company, so that the management level can effectively plan to implement an effective performance development plan to match with the mission and vision of the company.

A Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the Academic Motivation Scale with Black College Students

Science.gov (United States)

Cokley, Kevin

2015-01-01

The factor structure of the Academic Motivation Scale (AMS) was examined with a sample of 578 Black college students. A confirmatory factor analysis of the AMS was conducted. Results indicated that the hypothesized seven-factor model did not fit the data. Implications for future research with the AMS are discussed.

A factor analysis to detect factors influencing building national brand

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Naser Azad

Full Text Available Developing a national brand is one of the most important issues for development of a brand. In this study, we present factor analysis to detect the most important factors in building a national brand. The proposed study uses factor analysis to extract the most influencing factors and the sample size has been chosen from two major auto makers in Iran called Iran Khodro and Saipa. The questionnaire was designed in Likert scale and distributed among 235 experts. Cronbach alpha is calculated as 84%, which is well above the minimum desirable limit of 0.70. The implementation of factor analysis provides six factors including “cultural image of customers”, “exciting characteristics”, “competitive pricing strategies”, “perception image” and “previous perceptions”.

NAS Human Factors Safety Research Laboratory

Data.gov (United States)

Federal Laboratory Consortium — This laboratory conducts an integrated program of research on the relationship of factors concerning individuals, work groups, and organizations as employees perform...

Data analysis strategies for reducing the influence of the bias in cross-cultural research.

Science.gov (United States)

Sindik, Josko

2012-03-01

In cross-cultural research, researchers have to adjust the constructs and associated measurement instruments that have been developed in one culture and then imported for use in another culture. Importing concepts from other cultures is often simply reduced to language adjustment of the content in the items of the measurement instruments that define a certain (psychological) construct. In the context of cross-cultural research, test bias can be defined as a generic term for all nuisance factors that threaten the validity of cross-cultural comparisons. Bias can be an indicator that instrument scores based on the same items measure different traits and characteristics across different cultural groups. To reduce construct, method and item bias,the researcher can consider these strategies: (1) simply comparing average results in certain measuring instruments; (2) comparing only the reliability of certain dimensions of the measurement instruments, applied to the "target" and "source" samples of participants, i.e. from different cultures; (3) comparing the "framed" factor structure (fixed number of factors) of the measurement instruments, applied to the samples from the "target" and "source" cultures, using explorative factor analysis strategy on separate samples; (4) comparing the complete constructs ("unframed" factor analysis, i.e. unlimited number of factors) in relation to their best psychometric properties and the possibility of interpreting (best suited to certain cultures, applying explorative strategy of factor analysis); or (5) checking the similarity of the constructs in the samples from different cultures (using structural equation modeling approach). Each approach has its advantages and disadvantages. The advantages and lacks of each approach are discussed.

Factors that Affect Poverty Areas in North Sumatera Using Discriminant Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Nasution, D. H.; Bangun, P.; Sitepu, H. R.

2018-04-01

In Indonesia, especially North Sumatera, the problem of poverty is one of the fundamental problems that become the focus of government both central and local government. Although the poverty rate decreased but the fact is there are many people who are poor. Poverty happens covers several aspects such as education, health, demographics, and also structural and cultural. This research will discuss about several factors such as population density, Unemployment Rate, GDP per capita ADHK, ADHB GDP per capita, economic growth and life expectancy that affect poverty in Indonesia. To determine the factors that most influence and differentiate the level of poverty of the Regency/City North Sumatra used discriminant analysis method. Discriminant analysis is one multivariate analysis technique are used to classify the data into a group based on the dependent variable and independent variable. Using discriminant analysis, it is evident that the factor affecting poverty is Unemployment Rate.

Analysis of Entrepreneurship barriers in Moravia-Silesian Region by VRIO and Factor analysis application

OpenAIRE

Šebestová, Jarmila

2007-01-01

The small and medium sized entrepreneurship is often considered to be as a phenomenon of our times. Why many authors dedicated their work on this field? The main reason is that SME make influence on society life and contribute to economic development of the region, where they establish their business. The same situation is in Moravia-Silesian region, where the fac-tor analysis being applied. VRIO and Porter's analysis were used to interpret clearly research findings.

Analysis of radiation and chemical factors which define the ecological situation of environment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Trofimenko, A.P.

1996-01-01

A new method of large information set statistical analysis is proposed. It permits to define the main directions of work in a given field in the world or in a particular country, to find the most important investigated problems and to evaluate the role each of them quantitatively, as well as to study the dynamics of work development in time, the methods of research used, the centres in which this research is mostly developed, authors of publications etc. Statistical analysis may be supplemented with subject analysis of selected publications. Main factors which influence on different environment components and on public health are presented as an example of this method use, and the role of radiation and chemical factors is evaluated. 18 refs., 6 tab

Factor analysis of multivariate data

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Fernandes, A.A.; Mahadevan, R.

A brief introduction to factor analysis is presented. A FORTRAN program, which can perform the Q-mode and R-mode factor analysis and the singular value decomposition of a given data matrix is presented in Appendix B. This computer program, uses...

Recurrent Neural Network Based Boolean Factor Analysis and its Application to Word Clustering

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Frolov, A. A.; Húsek, Dušan; Polyakov, P.Y.

2009-01-01

Roč. 20, č. 7 (2009), s. 1073-1086 ISSN 1045-9227 R&D Projects: GA MŠk(CZ) 1M0567 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10300504 Keywords : recurrent neural network * Hopfield-like neural network * associative memory * unsupervised learning * neural network architecture * neural network application * statistics * Boolean factor analysis * concepts search * information retrieval Subject RIV: BB - Applied Statistics, Operational Research Impact factor: 2.889, year: 2009

Effects of measurement errors on psychometric measurements in ergonomics studies: Implications for correlations, ANOVA, linear regression, factor analysis, and linear discriminant analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Yan; Salvendy, Gavriel

2009-05-01

This paper aims to demonstrate the effects of measurement errors on psychometric measurements in ergonomics studies. A variety of sources can cause random measurement errors in ergonomics studies and these errors can distort virtually every statistic computed and lead investigators to erroneous conclusions. The effects of measurement errors on five most widely used statistical analysis tools have been discussed and illustrated: correlation; ANOVA; linear regression; factor analysis; linear discriminant analysis. It has been shown that measurement errors can greatly attenuate correlations between variables, reduce statistical power of ANOVA, distort (overestimate, underestimate or even change the sign of) regression coefficients, underrate the explanation contributions of the most important factors in factor analysis and depreciate the significance of discriminant function and discrimination abilities of individual variables in discrimination analysis. The discussions will be restricted to subjective scales and survey methods and their reliability estimates. Other methods applied in ergonomics research, such as physical and electrophysiological measurements and chemical and biomedical analysis methods, also have issues of measurement errors, but they are beyond the scope of this paper. As there has been increasing interest in the development and testing of theories in ergonomics research, it has become very important for ergonomics researchers to understand the effects of measurement errors on their experiment results, which the authors believe is very critical to research progress in theory development and cumulative knowledge in the ergonomics field.

SWOT analysis in Sina Trauma and Surgery Research Center.

Science.gov (United States)

Salamati, Payman; ashraf Eghbali, Ali; Zarghampour, Manijeh

2014-01-01

The present study was conducted with the aim of identifying and evaluating the internal and external factors, affecting the Sina Trauma and Surgery Research Center, affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences and propose some of related strategies to senior managers. We used a combined quantitative and qualitative methodology. Our study population consisted of personnel (18 individuals) at Sina Trauma and Surgery Research Center. Data-collection tools were the group discussions and the questionnaires. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics and SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats) analysis. 18 individuals participated in sessions, consisting of 8 women (44.4%) and 10 men (55.6%). The final scores were 2.45 for internal factors (strength-weakness) and 2.17 for external factors (opportunities-threats). In this study, we proposed 36 strategies (10 weakness-threat strategies, 10 weakness-opportunity strategies, 7 strength-threat strategies, and 9 strength-opportunity strategies). The current status of Sina Trauma and Surgery Research Center is threatened weak. We recommend the center to implement the proposed strategies.

Factor analysis and scintigraphy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Di Paola, R.; Penel, C.; Bazin, J.P.; Berche, C.

1976-01-01

The goal of factor analysis is usually to achieve reduction of a large set of data, extracting essential features without previous hypothesis. Due to the development of computerized systems, the use of largest sampling, the possibility of sequential data acquisition and the increase of dynamic studies, the problem of data compression can be encountered now in routine. Thus, results obtained for compression of scintigraphic images were first presented. Then possibilities given by factor analysis for scan processing were discussed. At last, use of this analysis for multidimensional studies and specially dynamic studies were considered for compression and processing [fr

A Bibliometric Analysis of Digestive Health Research in Canada

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Désirée Tuitt

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Measurement of the impact and influence of medical/scientific journals, and of individual researchers has become more widely practiced in recent decades. This is driven, in part, by the increased availability of data regarding citations of research articles, and by increased competition for research funding. Digestive disease research has been identified as a particularly strong discipline in Canada. The authors collected quantitative data on the impact and influence of Canadian digestive health research. The present study involved an analysis of the research impact (Hirsch factor and research influence (Influence factor of 106 digestive health researchers in Canada. Rankings of the top 25 researchers on the basis of the two metrics were dominated by the larger research groups at the University of Toronto (Toronto, Ontario, McMaster University (Hamilton, Ontario, and the Universities of Calgary (Calgary, Alberta and Alberta (Edmonton, Alberta, but with representation by other research groups at the Universities of Manitoba (Winnipeg, Manitoba, Western Ontario (London, Ontario and McGill University (Montreal, Quebec. Female and male researchers had similar scores for the two metrics, as did basic scientists versus clinical investigators. Strategic recruitment, particularly of established investigators, can have a major impact on the ranking of research groups. Comparing these metrics over different time frames can provide insights into the vulnerabilities and strengths of research groups.

Factor analysis of processes of corporate culture formation at industrial enterprises of Ukraine

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Illiashenko Sergii

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Authors have analyzed and synthesized the features of formation and development of the corporate culture at industrial enterprises of Ukraine and on this basis developed recommendations for application in the management of strategic development. During the research authors used the following general scientific methods: at research of patterns of interaction national culture, corporate culture and the culture of the individual authors used logical generalization method; for determining factors influencing corporate culture formation with the level of occurrence authors used factor analysis; for trend analysis of the corporate culture development at appropriate levels authors used comparative method. Results of the analysis showed that macro- and microfactors are external and mezofaktors (adaptability of business and corporate governance, corporate ethics, corporate social responsibility and personnel policies, corporate finance are internal for an enterprise. Authors have identified areas for each of the factors, itemized obstacles to the establishment and development of corporate culture at Ukrainian industrial enterprises and proposed recommendations for these processes management.

Application of factor analysis in psychological diagnostics (sample: study of students’ social safety

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pavel Aleksandrovich Kislyakov

2015-10-01

Our recommendations for the use of factor analysis, with necessary restrictions and clear reasons of a possible ambiguity of solutions, will be useful to everyone interested in mastering an adequate mathematical tool for solving problems pertaining to the humanities, in particular, those of practical psychology. As a practical example is presented the research of the psychological factors which provide students’ social safety. With the help of the factor analysis relevant personal and professional qualities of a teacher were revealed which are the subjective factors of students’ social safety, namely: social anticipation, socio-psychological stress resistance, social tolerance, professional orientation, responsibility, communication skills.

Seismic analysis response factors and design margins of piping systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shieh, L.C.; Tsai, N.C.; Yang, M.S.; Wong, W.L.

1985-01-01

The objective of the simplified methods project of the Seismic Safety Margins Research Program is to develop a simplified seismic risk methodology for general use. The goal is to reduce seismic PRA costs to roughly 60 man-months over a 6 to 8 month period, without compromising the quality of the product. To achieve the goal, it is necessary to simplify the calculational procedure of the seismic response. The response factor approach serves this purpose. The response factor relates the median level response to the design data. Through a literature survey, we identified the various seismic analysis methods adopted in the U.S. nuclear industry for the piping system. A series of seismic response calculations was performed. The response factors and their variabilities for each method of analysis were computed. A sensitivity study of the effect of piping damping, in-structure response spectra envelop method, and analysis method was conducted. In addition, design margins, which relate the best-estimate response to the design data, are also presented

A Quantitative Analysis of the Extrinsic and Intrinsic Turnover Factors of Relational Database Support Professionals

Science.gov (United States)

Takusi, Gabriel Samuto

2010-01-01

This quantitative analysis explored the intrinsic and extrinsic turnover factors of relational database support specialists. Two hundred and nine relational database support specialists were surveyed for this research. The research was conducted based on Hackman and Oldham's (1980) Job Diagnostic Survey. Regression analysis and a univariate ANOVA…

[A factor analysis method for contingency table data with unlimited multiple choice questions].

Science.gov (United States)

Toyoda, Hideki; Haiden, Reina; Kubo, Saori; Ikehara, Kazuya; Isobe, Yurie

2016-02-01

The purpose of this study is to propose a method of factor analysis for analyzing contingency tables developed from the data of unlimited multiple-choice questions. This method assumes that the element of each cell of the contingency table has a binominal distribution and a factor analysis model is applied to the logit of the selection probability. Scree plot and WAIC are used to decide the number of factors, and the standardized residual, the standardized difference between the sample, and the proportion ratio, is used to select items. The proposed method was applied to real product impression research data on advertised chips and energy drinks. Since the results of the analysis showed that this method could be used in conjunction with conventional factor analysis model, and extracted factors were fully interpretable, and suggests the usefulness of the proposed method in the study of psychology using unlimited multiple-choice questions.

Communication Research. Bibliometric analysis of the most-cited ISI-indexed Journals

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ana Almansa-Martínez

2012-01-01

Full Text Available This article examines some of the most common methodological problems in the evaluation of academic journals in the field of communication, based on the content analysis of the ten journals with the highest impact factors in the Social Sciences Citation Index. The analysis focuses on establishing the academic and research origins and links of the authors of the articles published by these scientific publications, as well as the most predominant subject matters, genres and methodologies among the articles of these publications. This research aims to achieve two objectives: On the one hand, to analyse the role of the evaluation of communication journals in the assessment of research, which will allow us to show the difficulties of applying the bibliometric methods used by Thomson Scientific to determine the impact of journals and, on the other hand, to establish a development framework for those Spanish communication journals that meet some of the requirements of the Social Sciences Citation Index but are not yet indexed in it, either because their impact factor is still low or because of their lack of international dissemination. This research has been financed by the University of Malaga’s Research Institute for Public Relations.

Research into human factors affecting the railway system; Studien zu menschlichen Einflussfaktoren im Eisenbahnsystem

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hammerl, Malte; Feldmann, Frederike; Rumke, Axel; Pelz, Markus [DLR e.V., Braunschweig (Germany). Inst. fuer Verkehrssystemtechnik

2010-07-01

The Institute for Transportation Systems (ITS) at the German Aerospace Center DLR in Braunschweig has for many years been conducting research into current and future topics relating to railway transportation. Supplementing the in-house technical infrastructure including e.g. RailSiTe {sup registered} (Rail Simulation and Testing) and RailDriVE {sup registered} (Rail Driving Validation Environment), a new test environment for Rail Human Factors Research has been established to investigate such factors as they affect locomotive drivers. The aim is to analyse current issues and new concepts regarding human-machine interaction and test them under conditions that are as true-to-life as possible without exposure to real-life safety-critical situations. The test environment allows for investigation across the spectrum, starting with workplace analysis and going on from potential modifications to existing user interfaces through to the analysis of prototype assistance systems. (orig.)

Model endophenotype for bipolar disorder: Qualitative Analysis, etiological factors, and research areas

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Naraiana de Oliveira Tavares

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The aim of this study is to present an updated view of the writings on the endophenotype model for bipolar disorder using analytical methodologies. A review and analysis of networks was performed through descriptors and keywords that characterize the composition of the endophenotype model as a model of health. Information was collected from between 1992 and 2014, and the main thematic areas covered in the articles were identified. We discuss the results and question their cohesion, emphasizing the need to strengthen and identify the points of connection between etiological factors and characteristics that make up the model of endophenotypes for bipolar disorder.

Human factors review for Severe Accident Sequence Analysis (SASA)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Krois, P.A.; Haas, P.M.; Manning, J.J.; Bovell, C.R.

1984-01-01

The paper will discuss work being conducted during this human factors review including: (1) support of the Severe Accident Sequence Analysis (SASA) Program based on an assessment of operator actions, and (2) development of a descriptive model of operator severe accident management. Research by SASA analysts on the Browns Ferry Unit One (BF1) anticipated transient without scram (ATWS) was supported through a concurrent assessment of operator performance to demonstrate contributions to SASA analyses from human factors data and methods. A descriptive model was developed called the Function Oriented Accident Management (FOAM) model, which serves as a structure for bridging human factors, operations, and engineering expertise and which is useful for identifying needs/deficiencies in the area of accident management. The assessment of human factors issues related to ATWS required extensive coordination with SASA analysts. The analysis was consolidated primarily to six operator actions identified in the Emergency Procedure Guidelines (EPGs) as being the most critical to the accident sequence. These actions were assessed through simulator exercises, qualitative reviews, and quantitative human reliability analyses. The FOAM descriptive model assumes as a starting point that multiple operator/system failures exceed the scope of procedures and necessitates a knowledge-based emergency response by the operators. The FOAM model provides a functionally-oriented structure for assembling human factors, operations, and engineering data and expertise into operator guidance for unconventional emergency responses to mitigate severe accident progression and avoid/minimize core degradation. Operators must also respond to potential radiological release beyond plant protective barriers. Research needs in accident management and potential uses of the FOAM model are described. 11 references, 1 figure

Exploratory factor analysis and reliability analysis with missing data: A simple method for SPSS users

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bruce Weaver

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Missing data is a frequent problem for researchers conducting exploratory factor analysis (EFA or reliability analysis. The SPSS FACTOR procedure allows users to select listwise deletion, pairwise deletion or mean substitution as a method for dealing with missing data. The shortcomings of these methods are well-known. Graham (2009 argues that a much better way to deal with missing data in this context is to use a matrix of expectation maximization (EM covariances(or correlations as input for the analysis. SPSS users who have the Missing Values Analysis add-on module can obtain vectors ofEM means and standard deviations plus EM correlation and covariance matrices via the MVA procedure. But unfortunately, MVA has no /MATRIX subcommand, and therefore cannot write the EM correlations directly to a matrix dataset of the type needed as input to the FACTOR and RELIABILITY procedures. We describe two macros that (in conjunction with an intervening MVA command carry out the data management steps needed to create two matrix datasets, one containing EM correlations and the other EM covariances. Either of those matrix datasets can then be used asinput to the FACTOR procedure, and the EM correlations can also be used as input to RELIABILITY. We provide an example that illustrates the use of the two macros to generate the matrix datasets and how to use those datasets as input to the FACTOR and RELIABILITY procedures. We hope that this simple method for handling missing data will prove useful to both students andresearchers who are conducting EFA or reliability analysis.

In-depth analysis of the causal factors of incidents reported in the Greek petrochemical industry

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Konstandinidou, Myrto [Institute of Nuclear Technology-Radiation Protection, National Center for Scientific Research ' Demokritos' , Aghia Paraskevi 15310 (Greece); Nivolianitou, Zoe, E-mail: zoe@ipta.demokritos.gr [Institute of Nuclear Technology-Radiation Protection, National Center for Scientific Research ' Demokritos' , Aghia Paraskevi 15310 (Greece); Kefalogianni, Eirini; Caroni, Chrys [School of Applied Mathematical and Physical Sciences, National Technical University of Athens, 9 Iroon Polytexneiou Str., Zografou Campus, 157 80 Athens (Greece)

2011-11-15

This paper presents a statistical analysis of all reported incidents in the Greek petrochemical industry from 1997 to 2003. A comprehensive database has been developed to include industrial accidents (fires, explosions and substance releases), occupational accidents, incidents without significant consequences and near misses. The study concentrates on identifying and analyzing the causal factors related to different consequences of incidents, in particular, injury, absence from work and material damage. Methods of analysis include logistic regression with one of these consequences as dependent variable. The causal factors that are considered cover four major categories related to organizational issues, equipment malfunctions, human errors (of commission or omission) and external causes. Further analyses aim to confirm the value of recording near misses by comparing their causal factors with those of more serious incidents. The statistical analysis highlights the connection between the human factor and the underlying causes of accidents or incidents. - Highlights: > The research work is original, based on field data collected directly from the petrochemical industry. > It deals with the in-depth statistical analysis of accident data on human-organizational causes. > It researches underlying causes of accidents and the parameters affecting them. > The causal factors that are considered cover four big taxonomies. > Near misses are worth recording for comparing their causal factors with more serious incidents.

Availability analysis of the nuclear instrumentation of a research reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vianna Filho, Alfredo Marques

2016-01-01

The maintenance of systems and equipment is a central question related to Production Engineering. Although systems are not fully reliable, it is often necessary to minimize the failure occurrence likelihood. The failures occurrences can have disastrous consequences during a plane flight or operation of a nuclear power plant. The elaboration of a maintenance plan has as objective the prevention and recovery from system failures, increasing reliability and reducing the cost of unplanned shutdowns. It is also important to consider the issues related to organizations safety, especially those dealing with dangerous technologies. The objective of this thesis is to propose a method for maintenance analysis of a nuclear research reactor, using a socio-technical approach, and focused on existing conditions in Brazil. The research reactor studied belongs to the federal government and it is located in the city of Rio de Janeiro. The specific objective of this thesis is to develop the availability analysis of one of the principal systems of the research reactor, the nuclear instrumentation system. In this analysis, were taken into account not only the technical aspects of the modules related to nuclear instrumentation system, but also the human and organizational factors that could affect the availability of the nuclear instrumentation system. The results showed the influence of these factors on the availability of the nuclear instrumentation system. (author)

Statistical Analysis of Research Data | Center for Cancer Research

Science.gov (United States)

Recent advances in cancer biology have resulted in the need for increased statistical analysis of research data. The Statistical Analysis of Research Data (SARD) course will be held on April 5-6, 2018 from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. at the National Institutes of Health's Natcher Conference Center, Balcony C on the Bethesda Campus. SARD is designed to provide an overview on the general principles of statistical analysis of research data.  The first day will feature univariate data analysis, including descriptive statistics, probability distributions, one- and two-sample inferential statistics.

Quantitative Analysis on the Influence Factors of the Sustainable Water Resource Management Performance in Irrigation Areas: An Empirical Research from China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hulin Pan

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Performance evaluation and influence factors analysis are vital to the sustainable water resources management (SWRM in irrigation areas. Based on the objectives and the implementation framework of modern integrated water resources management (IWRM, this research systematically developed an index system of the performances and their influence factors ones of the SWRM in irrigation areas. Using the method of multivariate regression combined with correlation analysis, this study estimated quantitatively the effect of multiple factors on the water resources management performances of irrigation areas in the Ganzhou District of Zhangye, Gansu, China. The results are presented below. The overall performance is mainly affected by management enabling environment and management institution with the regression coefficients of 0.0117 and 0.0235, respectively. The performance of ecological sustainability is mainly influenced by local economic development level and enable environment with the regression coefficients of 0.08642 and −0.0118, respectively. The performance of water use equity is mainly influenced by information publicity, administrators’ education level and ordinary water users’ participation level with the correlation coefficients of 0.637, 0.553 and 0.433, respectively. The performance of water use economic efficiency is mainly influenced by the management institutions and instruments with the regression coefficients of −0.07844 and 0.01808, respectively. In order to improve the overall performance of SWRM in irrigation areas, it is necessary to strengthen the public participation, improve the manager’ ability and provide sufficient financial support on management organization.

Review of the research and application of KERMA factor and DPA cross section

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1991-03-01

The data for recoil atom spectra, KERMA factor and displacement cross sections from neutron-induced reactions are calling increasing interest for applications to the study of radiation damage, calculation of heat generation in reactor, neutron therapy and biological research. PKA spectra sub-working group was recently established in Japanese Nuclear Data Committee as a part of developing JENDL Special Purpose Data Files. Current status of the data and various features of application of the KERMA-related problems were reviewed and discussed at the first meeting of the sub-working group. Present report is a compilation of the items presented at the meeting, covering a brief review of the existing research and the data, method of calculation, the KERMA factor data in neutron therapy, the deduction of KERMA factor of C-12 from neutron reaction measurement and analysis, the data base for radiation damage, the damage simulation calculation, and the method of storaging the evaluated data in ENDF/B-VI format. (author)

The Oswestry Disability Index, confirmatory factor analysis in a sample of 35,263 verifies a one-factor structure but practicality issues remain.

Science.gov (United States)

Gabel, Charles Philip; Cuesta-Vargas, Antonio; Qian, Meihua; Vengust, Rok; Berlemann, Ulrich; Aghayev, Emin; Melloh, Markus

2017-08-01

To analyze the factor structure of the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) in a large symptomatic low back pain (LBP) population using exploratory (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Analysis of pooled baseline ODI LBP patient data from the international Spine Tango registry of EUROSPINE, the Spine Society of Europe. The sample, with n = 35,263 (55.2% female; age 15-99, median 59 years), included 76.1% of patients with a degenerative disease, and 23.9% of the patients with various other spinal conditions. The initial EFA provided a hypothetical construct for consideration. Subsequent CFA was considered in three scenarios: the full sample and separate genders. Models were compared empirically for best fit. The EFA indicated a one-factor solution accounting for 54% of the total variance. The CFA analysis based on the full sample confirmed this one-factor structure. Sub-group analyses by gender achieved good model fit for configural and partial metric invariance, but not scalar invariance. A possible two-construct model solution as outlined by previous researchers: dynamic-activities (personal care, lifting, walking, sex and social) and static-activities (pain, sleep, standing, travelling and sitting) was not preferred. The ODI demonstrated a one-factor structure in a large LBP sample. A potential two-factor model was considered, but not found appropriate for constructs of dynamic and static activity. The use of the single summary score for the ODI is psychometrically supported. However, practicality limitations were reported for use in the clinical and research settings. Researchers are encouraged to consider a shift towards newer, more sensitive and robustly developed instruments.

Exploratory Bi-Factor Analysis: The Oblique Case

Science.gov (United States)

Jennrich, Robert I.; Bentler, Peter M.

2012-01-01

Bi-factor analysis is a form of confirmatory factor analysis originally introduced by Holzinger and Swineford ("Psychometrika" 47:41-54, 1937). The bi-factor model has a general factor, a number of group factors, and an explicit bi-factor structure. Jennrich and Bentler ("Psychometrika" 76:537-549, 2011) introduced an exploratory form of bi-factor…

Summary of process research analysis efforts

Science.gov (United States)

Burger, D. R.

1985-01-01

A summary of solar-cell process research analysis efforts was presented. Process design and cell design are interactive efforts where technology from integrated circuit processes and other processes are blended. The primary factors that control cell efficiency are: (1) the bulk parameters of the available sheet material, (2) the retention and enhancement of these bulk parameters, and (3) the cell design and the cost to produce versus the finished cells performance. The process sequences need to be tailored to be compatible with the sheet form, the cell shape form, and the processing equipment. New process options that require further evaluation and utilization are lasers, robotics, thermal pulse techniques, and new materials. There are numerous process control techniques that can be adapted and used that will improve product uniformity and reduced costs. Two factors that can lead to longer life modules are the use of solar cell diffusion barriers and improved encapsulation.

An Evaluation on Factors Influencing Decision making for Malaysia Disaster Management: The Confirmatory Factor Analysis Approach

Science.gov (United States)

Zubir, S. N. A.; Thiruchelvam, S.; Mustapha, K. N. M.; Che Muda, Z.; Ghazali, A.; Hakimie, H.

2017-12-01

For the past few years, natural disaster has been the subject of debate in disaster management especially in flood disaster. Each year, natural disaster results in significant loss of life, destruction of homes and public infrastructure, and economic hardship. Hence, an effective and efficient flood disaster management would assure non-futile efforts for life saving. The aim of this article is to examine the relationship between approach, decision maker, influence factor, result, and ethic to decision making for flood disaster management in Malaysia. The key elements of decision making in the disaster management were studied based on the literature. Questionnaire surveys were administered among lead agencies at East Coast of Malaysia in the state of Kelantan and Pahang. A total of 307 valid responses had been obtained for further analysis. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) were carried out to analyse the measurement model involved in the study. The CFA for second-order reflective and first-order reflective measurement model indicates that approach, decision maker, influence factor, result, and ethic have a significant and direct effect on decision making during disaster. The results from this study showed that decision- making during disaster is an important element for disaster management to necessitate a successful collaborative decision making. The measurement model is accepted to proceed with further analysis known as Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and can be assessed for the future research.

Factors affecting postgraduate dental students' performance in a biostatistics and research design course.

Science.gov (United States)

El Tantawi, Maha M A

2009-05-01

Comprehension of biostatistics and principles of research design is important for literature evaluation and evidence-based practice in dentistry as well as for researchers wishing to have their publications accepted by international journals. This study investigated the contribution of several factors to postgraduate dental student performance in a biostatistics and research design course. All of the subjects in this study were dental school graduates currently enrolled in postgraduate programs leading to master's or doctoral degrees. The seven factors selected for study were 1) learning style preferences assessed by the VARK questionnaire, 2) past academic performance at the bachelor's degree level, 3) age, 4) gender, 5) current postgraduate program (master's or Ph.D.), 6) lecture attendance, and 7) performance on a quiz conducted early in the course. Response rate was 64 percent. Using bivariate analysis, a statistically significant relationship was observed between final exam score and the following factors: bachelor's degree grade; having single or multiple learning preferences; having visual, aural, read-write, or kinesthetic learning style preference; percent of lectures attended; and quiz score (P<0.0001, 0.01, 0.02, 0.006, 0.04, 0.03, 0.03, and <0.0001 respectively). In regression analysis, significant predictors of final exam score were bachelor's degree grade, having aural learning preference, and quiz score. The findings suggest that dental educators should direct their attention to students who have difficulties at the beginning of the course and should match the learning preferences of as many students as possible by presenting information in different ways rather than focusing on a single method of delivering the course.

Logistic Regression and Path Analysis Method to Analyze Factors influencing Students’ Achievement

Science.gov (United States)

Noeryanti, N.; Suryowati, K.; Setyawan, Y.; Aulia, R. R.

2018-04-01

Students' academic achievement cannot be separated from the influence of two factors namely internal and external factors. The first factors of the student (internal factors) consist of intelligence (X1), health (X2), interest (X3), and motivation of students (X4). The external factors consist of family environment (X5), school environment (X6), and society environment (X7). The objects of this research are eighth grade students of the school year 2016/2017 at SMPN 1 Jiwan Madiun sampled by using simple random sampling. Primary data are obtained by distributing questionnaires. The method used in this study is binary logistic regression analysis that aims to identify internal and external factors that affect student’s achievement and how the trends of them. Path Analysis was used to determine the factors that influence directly, indirectly or totally on student’s achievement. Based on the results of binary logistic regression, variables that affect student’s achievement are interest and motivation. And based on the results obtained by path analysis, factors that have a direct impact on student’s achievement are students’ interest (59%) and students’ motivation (27%). While the factors that have indirect influences on students’ achievement, are family environment (97%) and school environment (37).

Understanding factors associated with the translation of cardiovascular research: a multinational case study approach

Science.gov (United States)

2014-01-01

Background Funders of health research increasingly seek to understand how best to allocate resources in order to achieve maximum value from their funding. We built an international consortium and developed a multinational case study approach to assess benefits arising from health research. We used that to facilitate analysis of factors in the production of research that might be associated with translating research findings into wider impacts, and the complexities involved. Methods We built on the Payback Framework and expanded its application through conducting co-ordinated case studies on the payback from cardiovascular and stroke research in Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom. We selected a stratified random sample of projects from leading medical research funders. We devised a series of innovative steps to: minimize the effect of researcher bias; rate the level of impacts identified in the case studies; and interrogate case study narratives to identify factors that correlated with achieving high or low levels of impact. Results Twenty-nine detailed case studies produced many and diverse impacts. Over the 15 to 20 years examined, basic biomedical research has a greater impact than clinical research in terms of academic impacts such as knowledge production and research capacity building. Clinical research has greater levels of wider impact on health policies, practice, and generating health gains. There was no correlation between knowledge production and wider impacts. We identified various factors associated with high impact. Interaction between researchers and practitioners and the public is associated with achieving high academic impact and translation into wider impacts, as is basic research conducted with a clinical focus. Strategic thinking by clinical researchers, in terms of thinking through pathways by which research could potentially be translated into practice, is associated with high wider impact. Finally, we identified the complexity of

Overview of NRC's human factors regulatory research program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Coffman, F.D. Jr.

1989-01-01

The human factors research program is divided into distinct and interrelated program activities: (1) Personnel Performance measurement, (2) Personnel Subsystem, (3) Human-System Interface, (4) Organization and Management, and (5) a group of Reliability Assessment activities. The purpose of the Personnel Performance Measurement activity is to improve the Agency's understanding of the factors influencing personnel performance and the effects on the safety of nuclear operations and maintenance by developing improvements to methods for collecting and managing personnel performance data. Personnel Subsystem research will broaden the understanding of such factors as staffing, qualifications, and training that influence human performance in the nuclear system and will develop the technical basis for regulatory guidance to reduce any adverse impact of these influences on nuclear safety. Research in the Human-System Interface activity will provide the technical basis for ensuring that the interface between the system and the human user supports safe operations and maintenance. Organization and Management research will result in the development of tools for evaluating organization and management issues within the nuclear industry. And finally, the Reliability Assessment group of activities includes multidisciplinary research that will integrate human and hardware considerations for evaluating reliability and risk in NRC licensing, inspection, and regulatory decisions

Analysis of factors that influencing the interest of Bali State Polytechnic’s students in entrepreneurship

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Ayuni, N. W. D.; Sari, I. G. A. M. K. K.

2018-01-01

The high rate of unemployment results the economic growth to be hampered. To solve this situation, the government try to change the students’ mindset from becoming a job seeker to become a job creator or entrepreneur. One real action that usually been held in Bali State Polytechnic is Student Entrepreneurial Program. The purpose of this research is to identify and analyze the factors that influence the interest of Bali State Polytechnic’s Students in entrepreneurship, especially in the Entrepreneurial Student Program. Method used in this research is Factor Analysis including Bartlett Test, Kaiser-Mayer Olkin (KMO), Measure of Sampling Adequacy (MSA), factor extraction using Principal Component Analysis (PCA), factor selection using eigen value and scree plot, and factor rotation using orthogonal rotation varimax. Result shows that there are four factors that influencing the interest of Bali State Polytechnic’s Students in Entrepreneurship which are Contextual Factor (including Entrepreneurship Training, Academic Support, Perceived Confidence, and Economic Challenge), Self Efficacy Factor (including Leadership, Mental Maturity, Relation with Entrepreneur, and Authority), Subjective Norm Factor (including Support of Important Relative, Support of Friends, and Family Role), and Attitude Factor (including Self Realization).

[Analysis of researchers' implication in a research-intervention in the Stork Network: a tool for institutional analysis].

Science.gov (United States)

Fortuna, Cinira Magali; Mesquita, Luana Pinho de; Matumoto, Silvia; Monceau, Gilles

2016-09-19

This qualitative study is based on institutional analysis as the methodological theoretical reference with the objective of analyzing researchers' implication during a research-intervention and the interferences caused by this analysis. The study involved researchers from courses in medicine, nursing, and dentistry at two universities and workers from a Regional Health Department in follow-up on the implementation of the Stork Network in São Paulo State, Brazil. The researchers worked together in the intervention and in analysis workshops, supported by an external institutional analysis. Two institutions stood out in the analysis: the research, established mainly with characteristics of neutrality, and management, with Taylorist characteristics. Differences between researchers and difficulties in identifying actions proper to network management and research were some of the interferences that were identified. The study concludes that implication analysis is a powerful tool for such studies.

Exploring factors that influence work analysis data: A meta-analysis of design choices, purposes, and organizational context.

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DuVernet, Amy M; Dierdorff, Erich C; Wilson, Mark A

2015-09-01

Work analysis is fundamental to designing effective human resource systems. The current investigation extends previous research by identifying the differential effects of common design decisions, purposes, and organizational contexts on the data generated by work analyses. The effects of 19 distinct factors that span choices of descriptor, collection method, rating scale, and data source, as well as project purpose and organizational features, are explored. Meta-analytic results cumulated from 205 articles indicate that many of these variables hold significant consequences for work analysis data. Factors pertaining to descriptor choice, collection method, rating scale, and the purpose for conducting the work analysis each showed strong associations with work analysis data. The source of the work analysis information and organizational context in which it was conducted displayed fewer relationships. Findings can be used to inform choices work analysts make about methodology and postcollection evaluations of work analysis information. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Climate Variability, Social and Environmental Factors, and Ross River Virus Transmission: Research Development and Future Research Needs

Science.gov (United States)

Tong, Shilu; Dale, Pat; Nicholls, Neville; Mackenzie, John S.; Wolff, Rodney; McMichael, Anthony J.

2008-01-01

Background Arbovirus diseases have emerged as a global public health concern. However, the impact of climatic, social, and environmental variability on the transmission of arbovirus diseases remains to be determined. Objective Our goal for this study was to provide an overview of research development and future research directions about the interrelationship between climate variability, social and environmental factors, and the transmission of Ross River virus (RRV), the most common and widespread arbovirus disease in Australia. Methods We conducted a systematic literature search on climatic, social, and environmental factors and RRV disease. Potentially relevant studies were identified from a series of electronic searches. Results The body of evidence revealed that the transmission cycles of RRV disease appear to be sensitive to climate and tidal variability. Rainfall, temperature, and high tides were among major determinants of the transmission of RRV disease at the macro level. However, the nature and magnitude of the interrelationship between climate variability, mosquito density, and the transmission of RRV disease varied with geographic area and socioenvironmental condition. Projected anthropogenic global climatic change may result in an increase in RRV infections, and the key determinants of RRV transmission we have identified here may be useful in the development of an early warning system. Conclusions The analysis indicates that there is a complex relationship between climate variability, social and environmental factors, and RRV transmission. Different strategies may be needed for the control and prevention of RRV disease at different levels. These research findings could be used as an additional tool to support decision making in disease control/surveillance and risk management. PMID:19079707

In-depth analysis of the causal factors of incidents reported in the Greek petrochemical industry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Konstandinidou, Myrto; Nivolianitou, Zoe; Kefalogianni, Eirini; Caroni, Chrys

2011-01-01

This paper presents a statistical analysis of all reported incidents in the Greek petrochemical industry from 1997 to 2003. A comprehensive database has been developed to include industrial accidents (fires, explosions and substance releases), occupational accidents, incidents without significant consequences and near misses. The study concentrates on identifying and analyzing the causal factors related to different consequences of incidents, in particular, injury, absence from work and material damage. Methods of analysis include logistic regression with one of these consequences as dependent variable. The causal factors that are considered cover four major categories related to organizational issues, equipment malfunctions, human errors (of commission or omission) and external causes. Further analyses aim to confirm the value of recording near misses by comparing their causal factors with those of more serious incidents. The statistical analysis highlights the connection between the human factor and the underlying causes of accidents or incidents. - Highlights: → The research work is original, based on field data collected directly from the petrochemical industry. → It deals with the in-depth statistical analysis of accident data on human-organizational causes. → It researches underlying causes of accidents and the parameters affecting them. → The causal factors that are considered cover four big taxonomies. → Near misses are worth recording for comparing their causal factors with more serious incidents.

Critical factors for EIA implementation: literature review and research options.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Jie; Kørnøv, Lone; Christensen, Per

2013-01-15

After decades of development, the gap between expectations of Environment Impact Assessments (EIA) and their practical performance remains significant. Research has been done to identify the critical factors for an effective implementation of EIA. However, this research, to a large extent, has not been cumulated and analysed comprehensively according to the stages of the EIA process. This paper contributes to the critical review of the literature on EIA implementation and effectiveness by cumulating mainly empirical findings in an implementation theoretical perspective. It focuses on the links between different critical factors and how they relate to different stages in the EIA and thus influence the decision making process. After reviewing 33 refereed journal articles published between 1999 and 2011, we identified 203 notions of critical factors. Of these, 102 related to different stages defined in our comprehensive EIA implementation model, and 101 were identified as general factors related to the whole EIA system. The number of notions of stage factors and general factors is thus about equal. An overlap between stage factors and general factors was found, which demonstrates that critical factors function differently in different cases. The function of the critical factors is complex and it is difficult to determine contingencies and causations. In the sources we examined, there is evidently an imbalance between in-depth empirical research and general knowledge, and the paper offers some suggestions for future research. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Analysis of Factors Affecting Inflation in Indonesia: an Islamic Perspective

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elis Ratna Wulan

2015-04-01

Full Text Available This study aims to determine the factors affecting inflation. The research is descriptive quantitative in nature. The data used are reported exchange rates, interest rates, money supply and inflation during 2008-2012. The research data was analyzed using multiple linear regression analysis. The results showed in the year 2008-2012 the condition of each variable are (1 the rate of inflation has a negative trend, (2 the interest rate has a negative trend, (3 the money supply has a positive trend, (4 the value of exchange rate has a positive trend. The test results by using multiple linear regression analysis result that variable interest rates, the money supply and the exchange rate of the rupiah significant effect on the rate of inflation.

Socio-Cultural Factors Influencing Consent For Research In Nigeria ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Socio-Cultural Factors Influencing Consent For Research In Nigeria: Lessons ... for Health Research Ethics in enforcing researchers' compliance with ethical standards in ... Genuine respect for human dignity requires deeper understanding of ...

Analysis of factors affecting employee satisfaction: A case study from Pakistan.

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Rukh, Lala; Choudhary, Muhammad Abbas; Abbasi, Saddam Akber

2015-01-01

Employee job satisfaction has been a research focal point throughout the world. It is a key factor when measuring the performance of an organization and individuals. A leading engineering goods manufacturing enterprise in Pakistan, has been used in this case study. In Pakistan, very limited research has been done with respect to factors affecting job satisfaction. Some research has been done in medical institutions, banks, universities and the information technology sector but large public sector organizations in Pakistan have not been studied. A theoretical foundation for researching factors affecting job satisfaction in large organizations is outlined. The objective of this research is to analyze various demographic, financial and non-financial factors affecting the satisfaction level of employees and to study the effects across different employee groups. This study is based on quantitative data analysis. The employees of the organization under study have been divided into 10 homogeneous groups based on their departments. Information on job related factors (affecting the satisfaction level) have been collected from subsamples of each group using a self-administered questionnaire. An overall sample of 250 (out of total 1100) employees has been selected. Before conducting the survey, reliability of the questionnaire was measured using Cronbach's alpha. The normality of data was also examined using the Kolmogorov Smirnov test. Hypotheses devised to address the research questions were tested by using non-parametric Spearman correlation and Kruskal-Wallis tests. The response rate was 73.2%. Research findings indicated the significant factors that affect the satisfaction level of employees. Median group differences existed between responses based on age, work experience, salary and designation (i.e. job position/rank) of employees. Job satisfaction was also positively and significantly associated with job related factors such as pay, promotion, relation with employees

Design, Analysis, and Interpretation of Screening Studies for Human Factors Engineering Research. Revision.

Science.gov (United States)

1978-06-01

Ill-C 1 B1 .ANO SPACES "EPREIEN’r ZERO PERCENTj -ALL FACTORS PFE4 A T14jU61 F’ INCLuSIvj SPACES WITH4 ZEROES RHW*(tNT SOME PERCENT WLLjEp Tj EIMA2 THIS...4 so). l : b1 04 at m 0 aa 004 11 4 12 u t3 0. Ub 14 NSI33. ;. .* ** . U Z, L f0 Il 4NU A4. 1,41Jw 0 uMA WMA UN444<. H 43~IW a a. 1 A l13 93 .*L...Education Research Information Center Monash University Processing & Reference Facility Clayton, Victoria 3168 4833 Rugby Ave., Suite 303 Australia

Liquidity indicator for the Croatian economy – Factor analysis approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mirjana Čižmešija

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Croatian business surveys (BS are conducted in the manufacturing industry, retail trade and construction sector. In all of these sectors, manager´s assessments of liquidity are measured. The aim of the paper was to form a new composite liquidity indicator by including business survey liquidity measures from all three covered economic sectors in the Croatian economy mentioned above. In calculating the leading indicator, a factor analysis approach was used. However, this kind of indicator does not exist in a Croatia or in any other European economy. Furthermore, the issue of Croatian companies´ illiquidity is highly neglected in the literature. The empirical analysis consists of two parts. In the first part the new liquidity indicator was formed using factor analysis. One factor (representing the new liquidity indicator; LI was extracted out of the three liquidity variables in three economic sectors. This factor represents the new liquidity indicator. In the second part, econometric models were applied in order to investigate the forecasting properties of the new business survey liquidity indicator, when predicting the direction of changes in Croatian industrial production. The quarterly data used in the research covered the period from January 2000 to April 2013. Based on econometric analysis, it can be concluded that the LI is a leading indicator of Croatia’s industrial production with better forecasting properties then the standard liquidity indicators (formed in a manufacturing industry.

Analysis on the hot spot and trend of the foreign assembly building research

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Bi, Xiaoqing; Luo, Yanbing

2017-03-01

First of all, the paper analyzes the research on the front of the assembly building in the past 15 years. This article mainly adopts the method of CO word analysis, construct the co word matrix, correlation matrix, and then into a dissimilarity matrix, and on this basis, using factor analysis, cluster analysis and multi scale analysis method to study the structure of prefabricated construction field display. Finally, the results of the analysis are discussed, and summarized the current research focus of foreign prefabricated construction mainly concentrated in 7 aspects: embankment construction, wood construction, bridge construction, crane layout, PCM wall and glass system, based on neural network test, energy saving and recycling, and forecast the future trend of development study.

Research design and statistical analysis

CERN Document Server

Myers, Jerome L; Lorch Jr, Robert F

2013-01-01

Research Design and Statistical Analysis provides comprehensive coverage of the design principles and statistical concepts necessary to make sense of real data.  The book's goal is to provide a strong conceptual foundation to enable readers to generalize concepts to new research situations.  Emphasis is placed on the underlying logic and assumptions of the analysis and what it tells the researcher, the limitations of the analysis, and the consequences of violating assumptions.  Sampling, design efficiency, and statistical models are emphasized throughout. As per APA recommendations

Citation analysis in research evaluation

CERN Document Server

Moed, Henk F

2005-01-01

This book is written for members of the scholarly research community, and for persons involved in research evaluation and research policy. More specifically, it is directed towards the following four main groups of readers: - All scientists and scholars who have been or will be subjected to a quantitative assessment of research performance using citation analysis. - Research policy makers and managers who wish to become conversant with the basic features of citation analysis, and about its potentialities and limitations. - Members of peer review committees and other evaluators, who consider th

Confirmatory factor analysis of posttraumatic stress symptoms in sexually harassed women.

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Palmieri, Patrick A; Fitzgerald, Louise F

2005-12-01

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) factor analytic research to date has not provided a clear consensus on the structure of posttraumatic stress symptoms. Seven hypothesized factor structures were evaluated using confirmatory factor analysis of the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist, a paper-and-pencil measure of posttraumatic stress symptom severity, in a sample of 1,218 women who experienced a broad range of workplace sexual harassment. The model specifying correlated re-experiencing, effortful avoidance, emotional numbing, and hyperarousal factors provided the best fit to the data. Virtually no support was obtained for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition (DSM-IV; American Psychiatric Association, 1994) three-factor model of re-experiencing, avoidance, and hyperarousal factors. Different patterns of correlations with external variables were found for the avoidance and emotional numbing factors, providing further validation of the supported model.

Applied research and development of neutron activation analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chung, Yong Sam; Moon, Jong Hwa; Kim, Sun Ha; Bak, Sung Ryel; Park, Yong Chul; Kim, Young Ki; Chung, Hwan Sung; Park, Kwang Won; Kang, Sang Hun

2000-05-01

This report is written for results of research and development as follows : improvement of neutron irradiation facilities, counting system and development of automation system and capsules for NAA in HANARO ; improvement of analytical procedures and establishment of analytical quality control and assurance system; applied research and development of environment, industry and human health and its standardization. For identification and standardization of analytical method, environmental biological samples and polymer are analyzed and uncertainity of measurement are estimated. Also data intercomparison and proficency test were performed. Using airborne particulate matter chosen as a environmental indicators, trace elemental concentrations of sample collected at urban and rural site are determined and then the calculation of statistics and the factor analysis are carried out for investigation of emission source. International cooperation research project was carried out for utilization of nuclear techniques.

Applied research and development of neutron activation analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chung, Yong Sam; Moon, Jong Hwa; Kim, Sun Ha; Bak, Sung Ryel; Park, Yong Chul; Kim, Young Ki; Chung, Hwan Sung; Park, Kwang Won; Kang, Sang Hun

2000-05-01

This report is written for results of research and development as follows : improvement of neutron irradiation facilities, counting system and development of automation system and capsules for NAA in HANARO ; improvement of analytical procedures and establishment of analytical quality control and assurance system; applied research and development of environment, industry and human health and its standardization. For identification and standardization of analytical method, environmental biological samples and polymer are analyzed and uncertainity of measurement are estimated. Also data intercomparison and proficency test were performed. Using airborne particulate matter chosen as a environmental indicators, trace elemental concentrations of sample collected at urban and rural site are determined and then the calculation of statistics and the factor analysis are carried out for investigation of emission source. International cooperation research project was carried out for utilization of nuclear techniques

A factor analysis of Functional Independence and Functional Assessment Measure scores among focal and diffuse brain injury patients: The importance of bi-factor models.

Science.gov (United States)

Gunn, Sarah; Burgess, Gerald H; Maltby, John

2018-04-28

To explore the factor structure of the UK Functional Independence Measure and Functional Assessment Measure (FIM+FAM) among focal and diffuse acquired brain injury patients. Criterion standard. An NHS acute acquired brain injury inpatient rehabilitation hospital. Referred sample of 447 adults (835 cases after exclusions) admitted for inpatient treatment following an acquired brain injury significant enough to justify intensive inpatient neurorehabilitation. Not applicable. Functional Independence Measure and Functional Assessment Measure. Exploratory Factor Analysis suggested a two-factor structure to FIM+FAM scores, among both focal-proximate and diffuse-proximate acquired brain injury aetiologies. Confirmatory Factor Analysis suggested a three-factor bi-factor structure presented the best fit of the FIM+FAM score data across both aetiologies. However, across both analyses, a convergence was found towards a general factor, demonstrated by high correlations between factors in the Exploratory Factor Analysis, and by a general factor explaining the majority of the variance in scores on Confirmatory Factor Analysis. Our findings suggested that although factors describing specific functional domains can be derived from FIM+FAM item scores, there is a convergence towards a single factor describing overall functioning. This single factor informs the specific group factors (e.g. motor, psychosocial and communication function) following brain injury. Further research into the comparative value of the general and group factors as evaluative/prognostic measures is indicated. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Citation analysis may severely underestimate the impact of clinical research as compared to basic research.

Science.gov (United States)

van Eck, Nees Jan; Waltman, Ludo; van Raan, Anthony F J; Klautz, Robert J M; Peul, Wilco C

2013-01-01

Citation analysis has become an important tool for research performance assessment in the medical sciences. However, different areas of medical research may have considerably different citation practices, even within the same medical field. Because of this, it is unclear to what extent citation-based bibliometric indicators allow for valid comparisons between research units active in different areas of medical research. A visualization methodology is introduced that reveals differences in citation practices between medical research areas. The methodology extracts terms from the titles and abstracts of a large collection of publications and uses these terms to visualize the structure of a medical field and to indicate how research areas within this field differ from each other in their average citation impact. Visualizations are provided for 32 medical fields, defined based on journal subject categories in the Web of Science database. The analysis focuses on three fields: Cardiac & cardiovascular systems, Clinical neurology, and Surgery. In each of these fields, there turn out to be large differences in citation practices between research areas. Low-impact research areas tend to focus on clinical intervention research, while high-impact research areas are often more oriented on basic and diagnostic research. Popular bibliometric indicators, such as the h-index and the impact factor, do not correct for differences in citation practices between medical fields. These indicators therefore cannot be used to make accurate between-field comparisons. More sophisticated bibliometric indicators do correct for field differences but still fail to take into account within-field heterogeneity in citation practices. As a consequence, the citation impact of clinical intervention research may be substantially underestimated in comparison with basic and diagnostic research.

The Infinitesimal Jackknife with Exploratory Factor Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Guangjian; Preacher, Kristopher J.; Jennrich, Robert I.

2012-01-01

The infinitesimal jackknife, a nonparametric method for estimating standard errors, has been used to obtain standard error estimates in covariance structure analysis. In this article, we adapt it for obtaining standard errors for rotated factor loadings and factor correlations in exploratory factor analysis with sample correlation matrices. Both…

Librarians' Perspectives on the Factors Influencing Research Data Management Programs

Science.gov (United States)

Faniel, Ixchel M.; Connaway, Lynn Silipigni

2018-01-01

This qualitative research study examines librarians' research data management (RDM) experiences, specifically the factors that influence their ability to support researchers' needs. Findings from interviews with 36 academic library professionals in the United States identify 5 factors of influence: (1) technical resources; (2) human resources; (3)…

Multivariate Analysis and Machine Learning in Cerebral Palsy Research.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Jing

2017-01-01

Cerebral palsy (CP), a common pediatric movement disorder, causes the most severe physical disability in children. Early diagnosis in high-risk infants is critical for early intervention and possible early recovery. In recent years, multivariate analytic and machine learning (ML) approaches have been increasingly used in CP research. This paper aims to identify such multivariate studies and provide an overview of this relatively young field. Studies reviewed in this paper have demonstrated that multivariate analytic methods are useful in identification of risk factors, detection of CP, movement assessment for CP prediction, and outcome assessment, and ML approaches have made it possible to automatically identify movement impairments in high-risk infants. In addition, outcome predictors for surgical treatments have been identified by multivariate outcome studies. To make the multivariate and ML approaches useful in clinical settings, further research with large samples is needed to verify and improve these multivariate methods in risk factor identification, CP detection, movement assessment, and outcome evaluation or prediction. As multivariate analysis, ML and data processing technologies advance in the era of Big Data of this century, it is expected that multivariate analysis and ML will play a bigger role in improving the diagnosis and treatment of CP to reduce mortality and morbidity rates, and enhance patient care for children with CP.

Left ventricular wall motion abnormalities evaluated by factor analysis as compared with Fourier analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hirota, Kazuyoshi; Ikuno, Yoshiyasu; Nishikimi, Toshio

1986-01-01

Factor analysis was applied to multigated cardiac pool scintigraphy to evaluate its ability to detect left ventricular wall motion abnormalities in 35 patients with old myocardial infarction (MI), and in 12 control cases with normal left ventriculography. All cases were also evaluated by conventional Fourier analysis. In most cases with normal left ventriculography, the ventricular and atrial factors were extracted by factor analysis. In cases with MI, the third factor was obtained in the left ventricle corresponding to wall motion abnormality. Each case was scored according to the coincidence of findings of ventriculography and those of factor analysis or Fourier analysis. Scores were recorded for three items; the existence, location, and degree of asynergy. In cases of MI, the detection rate of asynergy was 94 % by factor analysis, 83 % by Fourier analysis, and the agreement in respect to location was 71 % and 66 %, respectively. Factor analysis had higher scores than Fourier analysis, but this was not significant. The interobserver error of factor analysis was less than that of Fourier analysis. Factor analysis can display locations and dynamic motion curves of asynergy, and it is regarded as a useful method for detecting and evaluating left ventricular wall motion abnormalities. (author)

A 25-year analysis of the American College of Gastroenterology research grant program: factors associated with publication and advancement in academics.

Science.gov (United States)

Crockett, Seth D; Dellon, Evan S; Bright, Stephanie D; Shaheen, Nicholas J

2009-05-01

The American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) has awarded research grants for 25 years. We assessed the characteristics of grant recipients, their current academic status, and the likelihood of publication resulting from the grant. Demographic data, the year and amount of award, title of project, and recipient's institution were extracted from ACG databases. Using ACG reports and medical literature search engines, we assessed publication based on grant-funded research, as well as career publication record. We also determined the current position of awardees. A similar analysis was performed for recipients of junior investigator awards. A total of 396 clinical research awards totaling $5,374,497 ($6,867,937 in 2008 dollars) were awarded to 341 recipients in the 25 years between 1983 and 2008. The most commonly funded areas of research were endoscopy (22% of awards) and motility/functional disorders (21%). At least one peer-reviewed publication based on grant-funded research occurred with 255 of the 368 awards (69%) for 1983-2006 [corrected]. Higher award value was associated with subsequent publication. Of the 313 awardees over the same period, 195 (62%) are currently in academic positions [corrected]. Factors associated with staying in academics included higher award value (P academics. Overall, the mean cost in grant dollars per published paper based on the research was $14,875. The majority of ACG grant recipients published the results of their research and remained in academics. Higher amount of award, holding an advanced degree, and publication were associated with careers in academics. The ACG research grant award program is an important engine of investigation, publication, and academic career development in the field of gastroenterology.

Confirmatory factors analysis of science teacher leadership in the Thailand world-class standard schools

Science.gov (United States)

Thawinkarn, Dawruwan

2018-01-01

This research aims to analyze factors of science teacher leadership in the Thailand World-Class Standard Schools. The research instrument was a five scale rating questionnaire with reliability 0.986. The sample group included 500 science teachers from World-Class Standard Schools who had been selected by using the stratified random sampling technique. Factor analysis of science teacher leadership in the Thailand World-Class Standard Schools was conducted by using M plus for Windows. The results are as follows: The results of confirmatory factor analysis on science teacher leadership in the Thailand World-Class Standard Schools revealed that the model significantly correlated with the empirical data. The consistency index value was x2 = 105.655, df = 88, P-Value = 0.086, TLI = 0.997, CFI = 0.999, RMSEA = 0.022, and SRMR = 0.019. The value of factor loading of science teacher leadership was positive, with statistical significance at the level of 0.01. The value of six factors was between 0.880-0.996. The highest factor loading was the professional learning community, followed by child-centered instruction, participation in development, the role model in teaching, transformational leaders, and self-development with factor loading at 0.996, 0.928, 0.911, 0.907, 0.901, and 0.871, respectively. The reliability of each factor was 99.1%, 86.0%, 83.0%, 82.2%, 81.0%, and 75.8%, respectively.

Lithuanian Population Aging Factors Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Agnė Garlauskaitė

2015-05-01

Full Text Available The aim of this article is to identify the factors that determine aging of Lithuania’s population and to assess the influence of these factors. The article shows Lithuanian population aging factors analysis, which consists of two main parts: the first describes the aging of the population and its characteristics in theoretical terms. Second part is dedicated to the assessment of trends that influence the aging population and demographic factors and also to analyse the determinants of the aging of the population of Lithuania. After analysis it is concluded in the article that the decline in the birth rate and increase in the number of emigrants compared to immigrants have the greatest impact on aging of the population, so in order to show the aging of the population, a lot of attention should be paid to management of these demographic processes.

Factors Affecting Women's Autonomous Decision Making In Research Participation Amongst Yoruba Women Of Western Nigeria.

Science.gov (United States)

Princewill, Chitu Womehoma; Jegede, Ayodele S; Nordström, Karin; Lanre-Abass, Bolatito; Elger, Bernice Simone

2017-04-01

Research is a global enterprise requiring participation of both genders for generalizable knowledge; advancement of science and evidence based medical treatment. Participation of women in research is necessary to reduce the current bias that most empirical evidence is obtained from studies with men to inform health care and related policy interventions. Various factors are assumed to limit autonomy amongst the Yoruba women of western Nigeria. This paper seeks to explore the experience and understanding of autonomy by the Yoruba women in relation to research participation. Focus is on factors that affect women's autonomous decision making in research participation. An exploratory qualitative approach comprising four focus group discussions, 42 in-depth interviews and 14 key informant interviews was used. The study permits a significant amount of triangulation, as opinions of husbands and religious leaders are also explored. Interviews and discussions were audiotaped and transcribed verbatim. Content analysis was employed for data analysis. Findings show that concepts of autonomy varied amongst the Yoruba women. Patriarchy, religion and culture are conceived to have negative impact on the autonomy of women in respect to research participation. Among the important findings are: 1) male dominance is strongly emphasized by religious leaders who should teach equality, 2) while men feel that by making decisions for women, they are protecting them, the women on the other hand see this protection as a way of limiting their autonomy. We recommend further studies to develop culturally appropriate and workable recruitment methods to increase women's participation in research. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Confirmatory Factor Analysis of IT-based Competency Questionnaire in Information Science & Knowledge Studies, Based on Job Market Analysis

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Rahim Shahbazi

2016-03-01

Full Text Available The main purpose of the present research is to evaluate the validity of an IT-based competency questionnaire in Information Science & Knowledge Studies. The Survey method has been used in the present research. A data collection tool has been a researcher-made questionnaire. Statistic samples, which are 315 people, have been chosen purposefully from among Iranian faculty members, Ph.D. students, and information center employees. The findings showed that by eliminating 17 items from the whole questionnaire and Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the rest and rotating findings using the Varimax method, 8 Factors were revealed. The resulting components and also the items which had a high load factor with these components were considerably consistent with the classifications in the questionnaire and partly consistent with the findings of other researchers. 76 competency indicators (knowledge, skills, and attitudes were validated and grouped under 8 main categories: 1. “Computer Basics” 2. “Database Operating, Collection Development of Digital Resources, & Digital Library Management” 3. “Basics of Computer Networking” 4. “Basics of Programming & Database Designing” 5. “Web Designing & Web Content Analysis” 6. “Library Software & Computerized Organizing” 7. Archive of Digital Resources and 8. Attitudes.

Leveraging Health Care Simulation Technology for Human Factors Research: Closing the Gap Between Lab and Bedside.

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Deutsch, Ellen S; Dong, Yue; Halamek, Louis P; Rosen, Michael A; Taekman, Jeffrey M; Rice, John

2016-11-01

We describe health care simulation, designed primarily for training, and provide examples of how human factors experts can collaborate with health care professionals and simulationists-experts in the design and implementation of simulation-to use contemporary simulation to improve health care delivery. The need-and the opportunity-to apply human factors expertise in efforts to achieve improved health outcomes has never been greater. Health care is a complex adaptive system, and simulation is an effective and flexible tool that can be used by human factors experts to better understand and improve individual, team, and system performance within health care. Expert opinion is presented, based on a panel delivered during the 2014 Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Health Care Symposium. Diverse simulators, physically or virtually representing humans or human organs, and simulation applications in education, research, and systems analysis that may be of use to human factors experts are presented. Examples of simulation designed to improve individual, team, and system performance are provided, as are applications in computational modeling, research, and lifelong learning. The adoption or adaptation of current and future training and assessment simulation technologies and facilities provides opportunities for human factors research and engineering, with benefits for health care safety, quality, resilience, and efficiency. Human factors experts, health care providers, and simulationists can use contemporary simulation equipment and techniques to study and improve health care delivery. © 2016, Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.

Exploratory Factor Analysis With Small Samples and Missing Data.

Science.gov (United States)

McNeish, Daniel

2017-01-01

Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) is an extremely popular method for determining the underlying factor structure for a set of variables. Due to its exploratory nature, EFA is notorious for being conducted with small sample sizes, and recent reviews of psychological research have reported that between 40% and 60% of applied studies have 200 or fewer observations. Recent methodological studies have addressed small size requirements for EFA models; however, these models have only considered complete data, which are the exception rather than the rule in psychology. Furthermore, the extant literature on missing data techniques with small samples is scant, and nearly all existing studies focus on topics that are not of primary interest to EFA models. Therefore, this article presents a simulation to assess the performance of various missing data techniques for EFA models with both small samples and missing data. Results show that deletion methods do not extract the proper number of factors and estimate the factor loadings with severe bias, even when data are missing completely at random. Predictive mean matching is the best method overall when considering extracting the correct number of factors and estimating factor loadings without bias, although 2-stage estimation was a close second.

Analysis Of Factors Causing Delays On Harun Nafsi - Hm Rifadin Street In Samarinda East Kalimantan Maintenance Project

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Fadli

2017-12-01

Full Text Available This study aims to identify analyze and describe the factors that affect the project maintenance delay on Harun Nafsi - HM. Rifadin Street in Samarinda East Kalimantan. This research uses qualitative research method by utilizing questionnaires. The 30 participating respondents consist of 14 project implementers and 16 field implementers. The data are analyzed by descriptive statistical technique factor analysis and linear regression analysis. The results show that the factors influencing the delay of maintenance project of Harun Nafis - HM Rifadin Street include 1 time factor and workmanship factor 2 human resources and natural factors 3 geographical conditions late approval plans change and labor strikes and 4 non-optimal working levels and changes in the scope of the project during the work are still ongoing. Based on multiple linear regression analysis coefficient of determination value of 0.824 is obtained. It means that the four factors studied affect 82.4 of project delays and the rest of 27.6 is influenced by other variables out of this study. The results of this study also indicate that the dominant factor for road maintenance project delays is the fourth factor of the factors mentioned. The effort that the contractor needs to undertake is not to expand the employment contract if the project is underway or the contractor does not have the capability to complete another project.

Analysis of Increased Information Technology Outsourcing Factors

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Brcar Franc

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The study explores the field of IT outsourcing. The narrow field of research is to build a model of IT outsourcing based on influential factors. The purpose of this research is to determine the influential factors on IT outsourcing expansion. A survey was conducted with 141 large-sized Slovenian companies. Data were statistically analyzed using binary logistic regression. The final model contains five factors: (1 management’s support; (2 knowledge on IT outsourcing; (3 improvement of efficiency and effectiveness; (4 quality improvement of IT services; and (5 innovation improvement of IT. Managers immediately can use the results of this research in their decision-making. Increased performance of each individual organization is to the benefit of the entire society. The examination of IT outsourcing with the methods used is the first such research in Slovenia.

Qualitative analysis of factors that increase and reduce involvement in gambling

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Egidijus

2015-12-01

Full Text Available During the rapid development of gambling business, the number of pathological gamblers is increasing as well. The problem of pathological gambling is just as important as alcoholism or drug addiction. However, there is a lack of information and research of this topicin Lithuania. The aim of work: to investigate and analyse the factors that increase or reduce involvement in gambling. Research questions: 1 What factors increase involvement in gambling? 2 What factors reduce involvement in gambling? Critical case sampling was used for selection of the participants. Subjects were required to a have experience of involvement in gambling for at least one year; b have experience of negative impact of gambling on quality of life; c have at least 6 months of gambling abstinence. Five individuals participated in the research; all of them were males who live in Vilnius. Age of the participants varied from 19 to 45. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data. Interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. The matic analysis of the data led to the identification of four major the matic categories: psychological factors; social relations; material well being; quality of life. There search results show that negatyve childhood experience, gambling friends, escaping from various troubles, disputes in family and high financial needs can increase involvement in gambling. Factors that reduce involvement in gambling are: feeling support of social environment, proper evaluation of financial position, awareness of one‘s own addiction to gambling and desire to change life.

Worry About Caregiving Performance: A Confirmatory Factor Analysis

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Ruijie Li

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Recent studies on the Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI support the existence of a unique factor, worry about caregiving performance (WaP, beyond role and personal strain. Our current study aims to confirm the existence of WaP within the multidimensionality of ZBI and to determine if predictors of WaP differ from the role and personal strain. We performed confirmatory factor analysis (CFA on 466 caregiver-patient dyads to compare between one-factor (total score, two-factor (role/personal strain, three-factor (role/personal strain and WaP, and four-factor models (role strain split into two factors. We conducted linear regression analyses to explore the relationships between different ZBI factors with socio-demographic and disease characteristics, and investigated the stage-dependent differences between WaP with role and personal strain by dyadic relationship. The four-factor structure that incorporated WaP and split role strain into two factors yielded the best fit. Linear regression analyses reveal that different variables significantly predict WaP (adult child caregiver and Neuropsychiatric Inventory Questionnaire (NPI-Q severity from role/personal strain (adult child caregiver, instrumental activities of daily living, and NPI-Q distress. Unlike other factors, WaP was significantly endorsed in early cognitive impairment. Among spouses, WaP remained low across Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR stages until a sharp rise in CDR 3; adult child and sibling caregivers experience a gradual rise throughout the stages. Our results affirm the existence of WaP as a unique factor. Future research should explore the potential of WaP as a possible intervention target to improve self-efficacy in the milder stages of burden.

Research in Shape Analysis

CERN Document Server

Leonard, Kathryn; Tari, Sibel; Hubert, Evelyne; Morin, Geraldine; El-Zehiry, Noha; Chambers, Erin

2018-01-01

Based on the second Women in Shape (WiSH) workshop held in Sirince, Turkey in June 2016, these proceedings offer the latest research on shape modeling and analysis and their applications. The 10 peer-reviewed articles in this volume cover a broad range of topics, including shape representation, shape complexity, and characterization in solving image-processing problems. While the first six chapters establish understanding in the theoretical topics, the remaining chapters discuss important applications such as image segmentation, registration, image deblurring, and shape patterns in digital fabrication. The authors in this volume are members of the WiSH network and their colleagues, and most were involved in the research groups formed at the workshop. This volume sheds light on a variety of shape analysis methods and their applications, and researchers and graduate students will find it to be an invaluable resource for further research in the area.

Financial consumer protection and customer satisfaction. A relationship study by using factor analysis and discriminant analysis

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Marimuthu SELVAKUMAR

2015-11-01

Full Text Available This paper tries to make an attempt to study the relationship between the financial consumer protection and customer satisfaction by using factor analysis and discriminant analysis. The main objectives of the study are to analyze the financial consumer protection in commercial banks, to examine the customer satisfaction of commercial banks and to identify the factors of financial consumer protection lead customer satisfaction. There are many research work carried out on financial consumer protection in financial literacy, but the identification of factors which lead the financial consumer protection and the relationship between financial consumer protection and the customer satisfaction is very important, Particularly for banks to improve its quality and increase the customer satisfaction. Therefore this study is carried out with the aim of identifying the factors of financial consumer protection and its influence on customer satisfaction. This study is both descriptive and analytical in nature. It covers both primary and secondary data. The primary data has been collected from the customers of commercial banks using pre-tested interview schedule and the secondary data has been collected from standard books, journals, magazines, websites and so on.

Confirmatory Factor Analysis of a Questionnaire Measure of Managerial Stigma Towards Employee Depression.

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Martin, Angela J; Giallo, Rebecca

2016-12-01

Managers' attitudes play a key role in how organizations respond to employees with depression. We examine the measurement properties of a questionnaire designed to assess managerial stigma towards employees with depression. Using data from a sample of 469 Australian managers representing a wide range of industries and work settings, we conducted a confirmatory factor analysis to assess three proposed subscales representing affective, cognitive and behavioural forms of stigma. Results were equivocal indicating acceptable fit for two-factor (affective and cognitive + behavioural), three-factor (affective, cognitive and behavioural) and higher order models. Failure to demonstrate the discriminant validity of the cognitive and behavioural dimensions, even though they are theoretically distinct, suggests that further work on the scale is warranted. These results provide an extension to the psychometric profile of this measure (exploratory factor analysis; Martin, ). Development of strategies to operationalize this construct will benefit occupational health research and practice, particularly in interventions that aim to reduce the stigma of mental health issues in the workplace or where managers' attitudes are a key mechanism in intervention efficacy. We encourage future research on this measure pertaining in particular to further enhancing all aspects of its construct validity. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Long-term research plan for human factors affecting safeguards at nuclear power plants. Volume 1. Summary and users' guide. Vol. 1

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

O'Brien, J.N.; Fainberg, A.

1984-04-01

This report presents a long-term research plan for addressing human factors which can adversely affect safeguards at nuclear power plants. It was developed in order to prioritize and propose research for NRC in regulating power plant safeguards. Research efforts addressing human factors in safeguards were developed and prioritized according to the importance of human factors areas. Research was also grouped to take advantage of common research approaches and data sources where appropriate. Four main program elements emerged from the analysis, namely (1) Training and Performance Evaluation, (2) Organizational Factors, (3) Man-Machine Interface, and (4) Trustworthiness and Reliability. Within each program element, projects are proposed with results and information flowing between program elements where useful. An overall research plan was developed for a 4-year period and it would lead ultimately to regulatory activities including rulemaking, regulatory guides, and technical bases for regulatory action. The entire plan is summarized in Volume 1 of this report

Factor analysis methods and validity evidence: A systematic review of instrument development across the continuum of medical education

Science.gov (United States)

Wetzel, Angela Payne

Previous systematic reviews indicate a lack of reporting of reliability and validity evidence in subsets of the medical education literature. Psychology and general education reviews of factor analysis also indicate gaps between current and best practices; yet, a comprehensive review of exploratory factor analysis in instrument development across the continuum of medical education had not been previously identified. Therefore, the purpose for this study was critical review of instrument development articles employing exploratory factor or principal component analysis published in medical education (2006--2010) to describe and assess the reporting of methods and validity evidence based on the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing and factor analysis best practices. Data extraction of 64 articles measuring a variety of constructs that have been published throughout the peer-reviewed medical education literature indicate significant errors in the translation of exploratory factor analysis best practices to current practice. Further, techniques for establishing validity evidence tend to derive from a limited scope of methods including reliability statistics to support internal structure and support for test content. Instruments reviewed for this study lacked supporting evidence based on relationships with other variables and response process, and evidence based on consequences of testing was not evident. Findings suggest a need for further professional development within the medical education researcher community related to (1) appropriate factor analysis methodology and reporting and (2) the importance of pursuing multiple sources of reliability and validity evidence to construct a well-supported argument for the inferences made from the instrument. Medical education researchers and educators should be cautious in adopting instruments from the literature and carefully review available evidence. Finally, editors and reviewers are encouraged to recognize

Multivariate Analysis and Machine Learning in Cerebral Palsy Research

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Jing Zhang

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Cerebral palsy (CP, a common pediatric movement disorder, causes the most severe physical disability in children. Early diagnosis in high-risk infants is critical for early intervention and possible early recovery. In recent years, multivariate analytic and machine learning (ML approaches have been increasingly used in CP research. This paper aims to identify such multivariate studies and provide an overview of this relatively young field. Studies reviewed in this paper have demonstrated that multivariate analytic methods are useful in identification of risk factors, detection of CP, movement assessment for CP prediction, and outcome assessment, and ML approaches have made it possible to automatically identify movement impairments in high-risk infants. In addition, outcome predictors for surgical treatments have been identified by multivariate outcome studies. To make the multivariate and ML approaches useful in clinical settings, further research with large samples is needed to verify and improve these multivariate methods in risk factor identification, CP detection, movement assessment, and outcome evaluation or prediction. As multivariate analysis, ML and data processing technologies advance in the era of Big Data of this century, it is expected that multivariate analysis and ML will play a bigger role in improving the diagnosis and treatment of CP to reduce mortality and morbidity rates, and enhance patient care for children with CP.

Intangible factors leading to success in research: strategy, innovation and leadership.

Science.gov (United States)

Hecker, Louise; Birla, Ravi K

2008-03-01

At the heart of research is the scientific process, which includes identifying a knowledge gap, execution of experiments, and finally, presentation of scientific data. Identifying a systematic way to undertake research is important; however, equally important are intangible factors, including strategy, innovation and leadership, in determining the outcome of any research project. These intangible factors, although often unspoken, are the essence of success in research. Strategy determines the direction of research and the ability to respond to acute changes in the field to ensure a competitive advantage. Innovation involves generating novel ideas, and at the heart of innovation is the ability to create a positive work environment. Leadership is the ability to exercise influence so as to create change; empowerment and the ability to create leaders at every level are central to effective leadership. Collectively, defining and implementing aspects of these intangible factors will strengthen any research endeavor.

The Research Portfolio: Educating Teacher Researchers in Data Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Bates, Alisa J.; Bryant, Jill D.

2013-01-01

This paper describes research on a course assignment, the research portfolio, designed for a two-course teacher research experience in a Masters of Arts in Teaching program. The focus of the assignment is the process of data collection and analysis that is critical to the success of teacher research. We sought a way to help our teacher candidates…

Who shares? Who doesn't? Factors associated with openly archiving raw research data.

Science.gov (United States)

Piwowar, Heather A

2011-01-01

Many initiatives encourage investigators to share their raw datasets in hopes of increasing research efficiency and quality. Despite these investments of time and money, we do not have a firm grasp of who openly shares raw research data, who doesn't, and which initiatives are correlated with high rates of data sharing. In this analysis I use bibliometric methods to identify patterns in the frequency with which investigators openly archive their raw gene expression microarray datasets after study publication. Automated methods identified 11,603 articles published between 2000 and 2009 that describe the creation of gene expression microarray data. Associated datasets in best-practice repositories were found for 25% of these articles, increasing from less than 5% in 2001 to 30%-35% in 2007-2009. Accounting for sensitivity of the automated methods, approximately 45% of recent gene expression studies made their data publicly available. First-order factor analysis on 124 diverse bibliometric attributes of the data creation articles revealed 15 factors describing authorship, funding, institution, publication, and domain environments. In multivariate regression, authors were most likely to share data if they had prior experience sharing or reusing data, if their study was published in an open access journal or a journal with a relatively strong data sharing policy, or if the study was funded by a large number of NIH grants. Authors of studies on cancer and human subjects were least likely to make their datasets available. These results suggest research data sharing levels are still low and increasing only slowly, and data is least available in areas where it could make the biggest impact. Let's learn from those with high rates of sharing to embrace the full potential of our research output.

Who shares? Who doesn't? Factors associated with openly archiving raw research data.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Heather A Piwowar

Full Text Available Many initiatives encourage investigators to share their raw datasets in hopes of increasing research efficiency and quality. Despite these investments of time and money, we do not have a firm grasp of who openly shares raw research data, who doesn't, and which initiatives are correlated with high rates of data sharing. In this analysis I use bibliometric methods to identify patterns in the frequency with which investigators openly archive their raw gene expression microarray datasets after study publication. Automated methods identified 11,603 articles published between 2000 and 2009 that describe the creation of gene expression microarray data. Associated datasets in best-practice repositories were found for 25% of these articles, increasing from less than 5% in 2001 to 30%-35% in 2007-2009. Accounting for sensitivity of the automated methods, approximately 45% of recent gene expression studies made their data publicly available. First-order factor analysis on 124 diverse bibliometric attributes of the data creation articles revealed 15 factors describing authorship, funding, institution, publication, and domain environments. In multivariate regression, authors were most likely to share data if they had prior experience sharing or reusing data, if their study was published in an open access journal or a journal with a relatively strong data sharing policy, or if the study was funded by a large number of NIH grants. Authors of studies on cancer and human subjects were least likely to make their datasets available. These results suggest research data sharing levels are still low and increasing only slowly, and data is least available in areas where it could make the biggest impact. Let's learn from those with high rates of sharing to embrace the full potential of our research output.

Multiple factor analysis by example using R

CERN Document Server

Pagès, Jérôme

2014-01-01

Multiple factor analysis (MFA) enables users to analyze tables of individuals and variables in which the variables are structured into quantitative, qualitative, or mixed groups. Written by the co-developer of this methodology, Multiple Factor Analysis by Example Using R brings together the theoretical and methodological aspects of MFA. It also includes examples of applications and details of how to implement MFA using an R package (FactoMineR).The first two chapters cover the basic factorial analysis methods of principal component analysis (PCA) and multiple correspondence analysis (MCA). The

Medical student researchers in Colombia and associated factors with publication: a cross-sectional study.

Science.gov (United States)

Bonilla-Escobar, Francisco Javier; Bonilla-Velez, Juliana; Tobón-García, Daniel; Ángel-Isaza, Ana María

2017-12-15

Gaps between evidence-based research and clinical-public health practice have been evident for decades. One of the aims of medical student research is to close this gap. Accordingly, evaluating individual and environmental factors that influence participation of medical students in research are needed to understand and identify potential targets for action. This study aims to identify characteristics of medical student researchers in Colombia and the associated factors with scientific publications. A cross-sectional study of Colombian medical students involved in research using a validated, self-administered, online survey. The survey was distributed through the Colombian Association of Medical Students' Associations (ASCEMCOL). Data sets were analyzed using descriptive and summary statistics. Bivariate analysis and a multiple logistic regression model were conducted to identify predictors of scientific publications. A total of 133 responses were analyzed from students at 12 Colombian cities and 20 higher-education institutions. Although 94% of responders had at least one research proposal, only 57% had completed a project, and 17% had published their findings. Barriers for undertaking research included time restrictions and a lack of mentorship. Motivational factors included opportunity to publish findings and good mentorship. Students planning to do a specialization (OR = 3.25; 95% Confidence interval [CI] = 1.27-8.30), innovators (OR = 3.52; 95%CI = 1.30-9.52) and committed (OR = 3.39; 95%CI = 1.02-11.29), those who had previously published their findings (OR 9.13 IC95% 2.57-32.48), and were further in their medical education (OR 2.26 IC95% 1.01-5.07), were more likely to publish scientific papers. Our findings describe medical students understanding of the process of conducting research in Colombia. Although there appears to be motivation to participate in research, very few students achieve publication. Barriers such as time constraints

FACTORS AFFECTING WOMEN’S AUTONOMOUS DECISION MAKING IN RESEARCH PARTICIPATION AMONGST YORUBA WOMEN OF WESTERN NIGERIA

Science.gov (United States)

PRINCEWILL, CHITU WOMEHOMA; JEGEDE, AYODELE S.; NORDSTRöM, KARIN; LANRE-ABASS, BOLATITO; ELGER, BERNICE SIMONE

2016-01-01

Research is a global enterprise requiring participation of both genders for generalizable knowledge; advancement of science and evidence based medical treatment. Participation of women in research is necessary to reduce the current bias that most empirical evidence is obtained from studies with men to inform health care and related policy interventions. Various factors are assumed to limit autonomy amongst the Yoruba women of western Nigeria. This paper seeks to explore the experience and understanding of autonomy by the Yoruba women in relation to research participation. Focus is on factors that affect women’s autonomous decision making in research participation. An exploratory qualitative approach comprising four focus group discussions, 42 in-depth interviews and 14 key informant interviews was used. The study permits a significant amount of triangulation, as opinions of husbands and religious leaders are also explored. Interviews and discussions were audiotaped and transcribed verbatim. Content analysis was employed for data analysis. Findings show that concepts of autonomy varied amongst the Yoruba women. Patriarchy, religion and culture are conceived to have negative impact on the autonomy of women in respect to research participation. Among the important findings are: 1) male dominance is strongly emphasized by religious leaders who should teach equality, 2) while men feel that by making decisions for women, they are protecting them, the women on the other hand see this protection as a way of limiting their autonomy. We recommend further studies to develop culturally appropriate and workable recruitment methods to increase women’s participation in research. PMID:26871880

Analysis of mineral phases in coal utilizing factor analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roscoe, B.A.; Hopke, P.K.

1982-01-01

The mineral phase inclusions of coal are discussed. The contribution of these to a coal sample are determined utilizing several techniques. Neutron activation analysis in conjunction with coal washability studies have produced some information on the general trends of elemental variation in the mineral phases. These results have been enhanced by the use of various statistical techniques. The target transformation factor analysis is specifically discussed and shown to be able to produce elemental profiles of the mineral phases in coal. A data set consisting of physically fractionated coal samples was generated. These samples were analyzed by neutron activation analysis and then their elemental concentrations examined using TTFA. Information concerning the mineral phases in coal can thus be acquired from factor analysis even with limited data. Additional data may permit the resolution of additional mineral phases as well as refinement of theose already identified

Analysis on Risk Factors of Nosocomial Infection in Orthopedic Patients and Research on Nursing Strategies

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Guo Zhitao

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Orthopedic patients mostly comprise traumatic patients and elderly or sick individuals. More patients with emergency surgery suffer from open wounds and serious pollution, and operation time is relatively long. Thus, orthopedic patients with surgical incision infection account for a large proportion of incidence of hospital infection. Orthopedic patients are also bedridden for long periods, and they receive poor bone tissue blood supply. In surgical incision infections, mild cases suffer from delayed wound healing, whereas severe cases can form osteomyelitis. This study reviews progress of research on risk factors of nosocomial infection among orthopedic patients in recent years.

Evaluation of research topic evolution in psychiatry using co-word analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Ying; Jin, Xing; Xue, Yunzhen

2017-06-01

With the rapid increase in the incidence of mental disorders and mental issues, psychiatry has become one of the fastest growing clinical medical disciplines. Development priorities and research foci in this field have evolved over different periods.All the articles in 10 psychiatric journals with the highest impact factors were selected from the Science Citation Index (SCI) in Web of Science from 2001 to 2015. The information visualization software Sci was used to conduct co-word and clustering analyses on these articles. The articles were divided into 3 periods: 2001 to 2005, 2006 to 2010, and 2011 to 2015. Each bibliographic record contained a title, author names, abstract, keywords, references, and other information.During the 3 periods between 2001 and 2015, child and adolescent psychiatry, major depression, schizophrenia, and prefrontal cortex were constant research foci. The brain and meta-analysis gradually became new research foci, although research on symptoms slowly decreased. Molecular genetics was also an area of interest.Using scientometrics technology to visualize research foci can provide us with new ideas and research methods. Co-word analysis for the preliminary exploration of research foci and developmental trends in psychiatry is helpful in finding developmental rules, choices of topics, and innovative research. Our study had some limitations. In the future, we should expand our research scope and use a variety of research methods to enrich our results.

Where's the emotion? How sport psychology can inform research on emotion in human factors.

Science.gov (United States)

Eccles, David W; Ward, Paul; Woodman, Tim; Janelle, Christopher M; Le Scanff, Christine; Ehrlinger, Joyce; Castanier, Carole; Coombes, Stephen A

2011-04-01

The aim of this study was to demonstrate how research on emotion in sport psychology might inform the field of human factors. Human factors historically has paid little attention to the role of emotion within the research on human-system relations. The theories, methods, and practices related to research on emotion within sport psychology might be informative for human factors because fundamentally, sport psychology and human factors are applied fields concerned with enhancing performance in complex, real-world domains. Reviews of three areas of theory and research on emotion in sport psychology are presented, and the relevancy of each area for human factors is proposed: (a) emotional preparation and regulation for performance, (b) an emotional trait explanation for risk taking in sport, and (c) the link between emotion and motor behavior. Finally, there are suggestions for how to continue cross-talk between human factors and sport psychology about research on emotion and related topics in the future. The relevance of theory and research on emotion in sport psychology for human factors is demonstrated. The human factors field and, in particular, research on human-system relations may benefit from a consideration of theory and research on emotion in sport psychology. Theories, methods, and practices from sport psychology might be applied usefully to human factors.

Marketing Research of Construction Sites based on ABC-XYZ Analysis and Relational Data

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Konikov Aleksandr

2017-01-01

Full Text Available ABC-XYZ analysis is well known in marketing. It allows identifying sites that yield maximum profits when sold, sites that enjoy stable demand, or sites have both qualities specified above. However, the methods are quite abstract and are not designed to study specific factors that impact the results of ABC-XYZ analysis. Meanwhile, for some applications, particularly for marketing research of construction sites, it is critical not only to identify high-profit and stable sites but also to find out what combination of technical parameters, factors related to their location, transport accessibility, etc. are typical of them. This work suggests an approach to address the issue.

Efficiency limit factor analysis for the Francis-99 hydraulic turbine

Science.gov (United States)

Zeng, Y.; Zhang, L. X.; Guo, J. P.; Guo, Y. K.; Pan, Q. L.; Qian, J.

2017-01-01

The energy loss in hydraulic turbine is the most direct factor that affects the efficiency of the hydraulic turbine. Based on the analysis theory of inner energy loss of hydraulic turbine, combining the measurement data of the Francis-99, this paper calculates characteristic parameters of inner energy loss of the hydraulic turbine, and establishes the calculation model of the hydraulic turbine power. Taken the start-up test conditions given by Francis-99 as case, characteristics of the inner energy of the hydraulic turbine in transient and transformation law are researched. Further, analyzing mechanical friction in hydraulic turbine, we think that main ingredients of mechanical friction loss is the rotation friction loss between rotating runner and water body, and defined as the inner mechanical friction loss. The calculation method of the inner mechanical friction loss is given roughly. Our purpose is that explore and research the method and way increasing transformation efficiency of water flow by means of analysis energy losses in hydraulic turbine.

Micro factors bringing the pharmaceutical industry to a seismic shaking a qualitative research.

Science.gov (United States)

Dierks, Raphaela Marie Louisa; Bruyère, Olivier; Reginster, Jean-Yves

2017-06-01

Due to changing macro and micro factors, expiring patents and falling net income, pharmaceutical companies need to rethink their vertical business model. The trend shows cross-sectorial partnerships and consolidation to remain and compete on the market. Areas covered: Quantitative research interviewing a target group of 25 key executives from small, mid and large global pharmaceutical companies rounded with qualitative literature research completing the analysis. Expert commentary: Uncertainty in the industry due to changing external factors i.e. pricing pressures, regulations or an economic slowdown, slowing down innovations and new drug outcomes. Pharmaceutical companies understand the existing hurdles, and are critically optimistic implementing new business models. Also, various stakeholders are included in the value chain due to their growing importance. During the next years, the industry will be restructured from volume towards value, and only pharmaceutical companies' clairaudient and reciprocate to the changes with an out-off the box thinking will be able to resist on the market. Small biotech companies should focus on research, and big pharmaceutical companies entering at development focusing on the process until the distribution. This execution business recommendation would enable the best know-how at the right point, mitigating the risk and enhancing the patient outcomes.

PRINCIPAL COMPONENT ANALYSIS OF FACTORS DETERMINING PHOSPHATE ROCK DISSOLUTION ON ACID SOILS

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Yusdar Hilman

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Many of the agricultural soils in Indonesia are acidic and low in both total and available phosphorus which severely limits their potential for crops production. These problems can be corrected by application of chemical fertilizers. However, these fertilizers are expensive, and cheaper alternatives such as phosphate rock (PR have been considered. Several soil factors may influence the dissolution of PR in soils, including both chemical and physical properties. The study aimed to identify PR dissolution factors and evaluate their relative magnitude. The experiment was conducted in Soil Chemical Laboratory, Universiti Putra Malaysia and Indonesian Center for Agricultural Land Resources Research and Development from January to April 2002. The principal component analysis (PCA was used to characterize acid soils in an incubation system into a number of factors that may affect PR dissolution. Three major factors selected were soil texture, soil acidity, and fertilization. Using the scores of individual factors as independent variables, stepwise regression analysis was performed to derive a PR dissolution function. The factors influencing PR dissolution in order of importance were soil texture, soil acidity, then fertilization. Soil texture factors including clay content and organic C, and soil acidity factor such as P retention capacity interacted positively with P dissolution and promoted PR dissolution effectively. Soil texture factors, such as sand and silt content, soil acidity factors such as pH, and exchangeable Ca decreased PR dissolution.

Intellectual Leadership of Researchers in Higher Education: Relationship Between the Demographic Factors and Roles (Lithuanian Context

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Žydžiūnaitė Vilma

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The intellectual leadership of educators or teachers represents a topic of a great interest for educational research and practice. Variety of variables or factors have been examined to find the most complete explanations for teachers’, professors’ and educators’ roles, for example, institutional, financial, gender, organizational, spiritual, and intellectual. No literature was found on the relationship between the demographic variables and researchers’ roles in higher education regarding intellectual leadership. But a lot of studies are focused on the relationship between demographic and other factors in education: job satisfaction, organizational justice, religion, gender, culture, personal and professional roles, stress, mental health, and mobility. The research issue in this study is related to researchers’/scientists’ work in higher education schools and is focused on intellectual leadership, which consists of different roles. It is worth to think about researchers as intellectual leaders and to discover how they recognize or identify their roles in higher education. In this study, findings answer the following research question: “What are the relationships between researchers’ roles and their gender, work experience, dissertation defence date, and research field?” The object of the research study is the researchers’ roles in higher education. The aim of the study was to reveal the relationship between demographic factors and researchers’ roles in higher education. Data were collected by performing a questioning survey and using a validated questionnaire with 116 statements in total. The sample consisted of 304 researchers working in higher education institutions. For data analysis, Cronbach’s alpha, Mean and ANOVA calculations were used. The research findings reported that the female-researchers’ evaluations were higher in all cases regarding their roles in higher education schools. The results of the study

A meta-analysis of factors affecting trust in human-robot interaction.

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Hancock, Peter A; Billings, Deborah R; Schaefer, Kristin E; Chen, Jessie Y C; de Visser, Ewart J; Parasuraman, Raja

2011-10-01

We evaluate and quantify the effects of human, robot, and environmental factors on perceived trust in human-robot interaction (HRI). To date, reviews of trust in HRI have been qualitative or descriptive. Our quantitative review provides a fundamental empirical foundation to advance both theory and practice. Meta-analytic methods were applied to the available literature on trust and HRI. A total of 29 empirical studies were collected, of which 10 met the selection criteria for correlational analysis and 11 for experimental analysis. These studies provided 69 correlational and 47 experimental effect sizes. The overall correlational effect size for trust was r = +0.26,with an experimental effect size of d = +0.71. The effects of human, robot, and environmental characteristics were examined with an especial evaluation of the robot dimensions of performance and attribute-based factors. The robot performance and attributes were the largest contributors to the development of trust in HRI. Environmental factors played only a moderate role. Factors related to the robot itself, specifically, its performance, had the greatest current association with trust, and environmental factors were moderately associated. There was little evidence for effects of human-related factors. The findings provide quantitative estimates of human, robot, and environmental factors influencing HRI trust. Specifically, the current summary provides effect size estimates that are useful in establishing design and training guidelines with reference to robot-related factors of HRI trust. Furthermore, results indicate that improper trust calibration may be mitigated by the manipulation of robot design. However, many future research needs are identified.

Research Performance of Higher Education Institutions: A Review on the Measurements and Affecting Factors of Research Performance

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Oya TAMTEKİN AYDIN

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Recently, the increasing competition in higher education has attracted attention by many researchers. They have emphasized that the aim of the growing competition between universities is to increase the number of students, the research performance and get research support, find qualified faculty members, and receive financial contributions. This paper aims to draw attention to “research performance” which is a significant part of the competition among the universities. In connection with this goal, the study tries to outline the results of an extensive literature review in the field of higher education research performance. Firstly, literature regarding research performance, its definition as a concept, and its indicators are discussed. Then, the factors influencing research performance are presented in a comprehensive manner. At the end of the study, a conceptual framework that will be useful for all university staff is provided. Understanding the concept of research performance and the factors affecting research performance can help relevant authorities improve their current positions.

Systematic analysis of research underfunding in maternal and perinatal health.

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Fisk, N M; Atun, R

2009-02-01

Little published evidence supports the widely held contention that research in pregnancy is underfunded compared with other disease areas. To assess absolute and relative government and charitable funding for maternal and perinatal research in the UK and internationally. SEARCH STRATEGY, SELECTION CRITERIA, DATA COLLECTION, AND ANALYSIS: Major research funding bodies and alliances were identified from an Internet search and discussions with opinion leaders/senior investigators. Websites and annual reports were reviewed for details of strategy, research spend, grants awarded, and allocation to maternal and/or perinatal disease using generic and disease-specific search terms. Within the imprecision in the data sets, global philanthropy concentrated on service provision rather than research. Although research expenditure has been deemed as appropriate for 'reproductive health' disease burden in the UK, there are no data on the equity of maternal/perinatal research spend against disease burden, which globally may justify a manyfold increase. This systematic review of research expenditure and priorities from national and international funding bodies suggests relative underinvestment in maternal/perinatal health. Contributing factors include the low political priority given to women's health, the challenging nature of clinical research in pregnancy, and research capacity dearth as a consequence of chronic underinvestment.

EMPIRICAL RESEARCH AND CONGREGATIONAL ANALYSIS ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

empirical research has made to the process of congregational analysis. 1 Part of this ... contextual congegrational analysis – meeting social and divine desires”) at the IAPT .... methodology of a congregational analysis should be regarded as a process. ... essential to create space for a qualitative and quantitative approach.

FAA airborne data link human factors research plan

Science.gov (United States)

1993-07-01

This report contains a five-year plan to perform research of human factors issues and topics : related to Data Link implementations in general aviation and transport category aircraft. : Elements such as resource allocation and management and coordin...

Power Analysis Software for Educational Researchers

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Peng, Chao-Ying Joanne; Long, Haiying; Abaci, Serdar

2012-01-01

Given the importance of statistical power analysis in quantitative research and the repeated emphasis on it by American Educational Research Association/American Psychological Association journals, the authors examined the reporting practice of power analysis by the quantitative studies published in 12 education/psychology journals between 2005…

This research is to study the factors which influence the business success of small business ‘processed rotan’. The data employed in the study are primary data within the period of July to August 2013, 30 research observations through census method. Method of analysis used in the study is multiple linear regressions. The results of analysis showed that the factors of labor, innovation and promotion have positive and significant influence on the business success of small business ‘processed rotan’ simultaneously. The analysis also showed that partially labor has positive and significant influence on the business success, yet innovation and promotion have insignificant and positive influence on the business success.

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Nasution, Inggrita Gusti Sari; Muchtar, Yasmin Chairunnisa

2013-01-01

This research is to study the factors which influence the business success of small business ‘processed rotan’. The data employed in the study are primary data within the period of July to August 2013, 30 research observations through census method. Method of analysis used in the study is multiple linear regressions. The results of analysis showed that the factors of labor, innovation and promotion have positive and significant influence on the business success of small busine...

Analysis of investment factors which are influencing the growth of the Republic of Serbia

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Milojević Ivan

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The subject of this research is empirical analysis of the factors which have influence on economic growth, whereas the main aim is to suggest adequate ways to overcome problems. We have analyzed the influence of budget deficit, personal consumption, inflation, real exchange rate, foreign trade balance and foreign direct investments (FDI on economic growth. Furthermore, we measured the influence factors on the presence and movement of the budget deficit. Research paper uses the data obtained from the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia, World Bank and the IMF for the time period 2001-2011 and has been applied regression analysis method. Research results indicate that the real exchange rate, personal consumption and foreign trade balance are statistically significant for anticipating economic growth developments. Contrary to our expectations, the empirical analysis showed that FDI have a negative influence on the economic growth. The coefficient 'public debt' is statistically significant and has a positive influence on the increase of budget deficit, whereas the increase of SDI and trade openness triggers a decrease in budget deficit. This research starts from the hypothesis that financing deficit limits economic growth and the inflow of FDI can't provide long-term economic growth. In the coming period Serbia needs to take advantage of the available resources and managing public finances, obeying laws and regulations and continuing with reforms are fundamental for achieving a stable business environment.

Development of the Italian version of the revised Scoliosis Research Society-22 Patient Questionnaire, SRS-22r-I: cross-cultural adaptation, factor analysis, reliability, and validity.

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Monticone, Marco; Baiardi, Paola; Calabrò, David; Calabrò, Fabio; Foti, Calogero

2010-11-15

Evaluation of the psychometric properties of a translated and culturally adapted questionnaire. Translating, culturally adapting, and validating the Italian version of the revised Scoliosis Research Society-22 Patient Questionnaire (SRS-22r-I) in order to allow its use with Italian-speaking patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS). Increasing attention is being given to health-related quality of life measures as a means of adding information about the evaluation of AIS. A translated form of the revised SRS-22 has never been validated in Italian patients with AIS. The development of the SRS-22 questionnaire involved its translation and back-translation, a final review by an Expert Committee, and testing of the prefinal version to establish its correspondence to the original English version. Psychometric testing included factor analysis, reliability by internal consistency (Cronbach alpha) and test-retest repeatability (Intraclass Coefficient Correlation), and concurrent validity (Pearson correlation) by comparing the SRS-22r-I domains with the Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) subscales. It took 4 months to develop a shared version of the SRS-22r-I, which proved to be satisfactorily acceptable when administered to 223 subjects with AIS. Factor analysis indicated a 4-factor solution (54% of the explained variance), and the questionnaire had an acceptable level of internal consistency (α = 0.77) and a high level of test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.957). In terms of concurrent validity, the correlations with the related Short-Form-36 subscales were moderate to good in the case of the Pain and Mental Health domains, and moderate in the case of the Function and Self-Image domains. The Italian translation of the SRS-22r has a good factorial structure and psychometric properties, and replicates the results of existing English versions of the questionnaire. Its use for research purposes can therefore be recommended.

Students' motivation to study dentistry in Malaysia: an analysis using confirmatory factor analysis.

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Musa, Muhd Firdaus Che; Bernabé, Eduardo; Gallagher, Jennifer E

2015-06-12

Malaysia has experienced a significant expansion of dental schools over the past decade. Research into students' motivation may inform recruitment and retention of the future dental workforce. The objectives of this study were to explore students' motivation to study dentistry and whether that motivation varied by students' and school characteristics. All 530 final-year students in 11 dental schools (6 public and 5 private) in Malaysia were invited to participate at the end of 2013. The self-administered questionnaire, developed at King's College London, collected information on students' motivation to study dentistry and demographic background. Responses on students' motivation were collected using five-point ordinal scales. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to evaluate the underlying structure of students' motivation to study dentistry. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used to compare factor scores for overall motivation and sub-domains by students' and school characteristics. Three hundred and fifty-six final-year students in eight schools (all public and two private) participated in the survey, representing an 83% response rate for these schools and 67% of all final-year students nationally. The majority of participants were 24 years old (47%), female (70%), Malay (56%) and from middle-income families (41%) and public schools (78%). CFA supported a model with five first-order factors (professional job, healthcare and people, academic, careers advising and family and friends) which were linked to a single second-order factor representing overall students' motivation. Academic factors and healthcare and people had the highest standardized factor loadings (0.90 and 0.71, respectively), suggesting they were the main motivation to study dentistry. MANOVA showed that students from private schools had higher scores for healthcare and people than those in public schools whereas Malay students had lower scores for family and friends than those

Experimental Research in Operation Management in Engine Room by using Language Sentiment/Opinion Analysis

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Dimitris Papachristos

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The paper argues for the necessity of a combination MMR methods (questionnaire, interview and sentiment/opinion techniques to personal satisfaction analysis at the maritime and training education and proposes a generic, but practical research approach for this purpose. The proposed approach concerns the personal satisfaction evaluation of Engine Room simulator systems and combines the speech recording (sentiment/opinion analysis for measuring emotional user responses with usability testing (SUS tool. The experimental procedure presented here is a primary effort to research the emotion analysis (satisfaction of the users-students in Engine Room Simulators. Finally, the ultimate goal of this research is to find and test the critical factors that influence the educational practice and user’s satisfaction of Engine Room Simulator Systems and the ability to conduct full-time system control by the marine crew.

Replica Analysis for Portfolio Optimization with Single-Factor Model

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Shinzato, Takashi

2017-06-01

In this paper, we use replica analysis to investigate the influence of correlation among the return rates of assets on the solution of the portfolio optimization problem. We consider the behavior of an optimal solution for the case where the return rate is described with a single-factor model and compare the findings obtained from our proposed methods with correlated return rates with those obtained with independent return rates. We then analytically assess the increase in the investment risk when correlation is included. Furthermore, we also compare our approach with analytical procedures for minimizing the investment risk from operations research.

Statictical Analysis Of The Conditioning Factors Of Urban Electric Consumption

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Segura D'Rouville, Juan Joel; Suárez Carreño, Franyelit María

2017-01-01

This research work presents the analysis of the most important factors that condition the urban residential electricity consumption. This study shows the quantitative parameters conditioning the electricity consumption. This sector of analysis has been chosen because there is disaggregated information of which are the main social and technological factors that determine its behavior, growth, with the objective of elaborating policies in the management of the electric consumption. The electrical demand considered as the sum of the powers of all the equipment that are used in each of the instants of a full day, is related to the electrical consumption, which is not but the value of the power demanded by a determined consumer Multiplied by the time in which said demand is maintained. In this report we propose the design of a probabilistic model of prediction of electricity consumption, taking into account mainly influential social and technological factors. The statistical process of this database is done through the Stat Graphics software version 4.1, for its extensive didactic in the accomplishment of calculations and associated methods. Finally, the correlation of the variables was performed to classify the determinants in a specific way and thus to determine the consumption of the dwellings. (author)

Enhanced/Synthetic Vision Systems - Human factors research and implications for future systems

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Foyle, David C.; Ahumada, Albert J.; Larimer, James; Sweet, Barbara T.

1992-01-01

This paper reviews recent human factors research studies conducted in the Aerospace Human Factors Research Division at NASA Ames Research Center related to the development and usage of Enhanced or Synthetic Vision Systems. Research discussed includes studies of field of view (FOV), representational differences of infrared (IR) imagery, head-up display (HUD) symbology, HUD advanced concept designs, sensor fusion, and sensor/database fusion and evaluation. Implications for the design and usage of Enhanced or Synthetic Vision Systems are discussed.

System factors influencing utilisation of Research4Life databases by ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This is a comprehensive investigation of the influence of system factors on utilisation of Research4Life databases. It is part of a doctoral dissertation. Research4Life databases are new innovative technologies being investigated in a new context – utilisation by NARIs scientists for research. The study adopted the descriptive ...

Application of classification algorithms for analysis of road safety risk factor dependencies.

Science.gov (United States)

Kwon, Oh Hoon; Rhee, Wonjong; Yoon, Yoonjin

2015-02-01

Transportation continues to be an integral part of modern life, and the importance of road traffic safety cannot be overstated. Consequently, recent road traffic safety studies have focused on analysis of risk factors that impact fatality and injury level (severity) of traffic accidents. While some of the risk factors, such as drug use and drinking, are widely known to affect severity, an accurate modeling of their influences is still an open research topic. Furthermore, there are innumerable risk factors that are waiting to be discovered or analyzed. A promising approach is to investigate historical traffic accident data that have been collected in the past decades. This study inspects traffic accident reports that have been accumulated by the California Highway Patrol (CHP) since 1973 for which each accident report contains around 100 data fields. Among them, we investigate 25 fields between 2004 and 2010 that are most relevant to car accidents. Using two classification methods, the Naive Bayes classifier and the decision tree classifier, the relative importance of the data fields, i.e., risk factors, is revealed with respect to the resulting severity level. Performances of the classifiers are compared to each other and a binary logistic regression model is used as the basis for the comparisons. Some of the high-ranking risk factors are found to be strongly dependent on each other, and their incremental gains on estimating or modeling severity level are evaluated quantitatively. The analysis shows that only a handful of the risk factors in the data dominate the severity level and that dependency among the top risk factors is an imperative trait to consider for an accurate analysis. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Student Research Projects Inhibiting Factors from the Students Perspective

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Laila Nikrooz

2012-09-01

Full Text Available Background & Objective: Identifying the research barriers and assess the ability of students to use the university services and facilities is crucial to promote research activities. Present study was carried out to determine the inhibiting factors influencing the student's research projects from the view point of Yasuj University of Medical Sciences students in 2008. Materials & Methods: In this cross sectional study 96 students of Yasuj Medical University were selected by stratified random sampling. The data were collected by validate & reliable questionnaire, containing demographic information, inhibiting factors related to students (personal and organization. The data were analyzed by SPSS software. Results: The mean scores against the personal barriers and the organizational barriers questions were 43.23±12.96 and 62.58±12.08 respectively. There was a significant difference between personal and organizational barriers (P<0.001 and personal barriers were more important. According to the results, the student's inadequate skills & knowledge of research methodology and lack of awareness of research topics were the most prevalent personal barriers. The most prevalent organizational barriers were unavailability of research consulters, inadequate research skills of consulter, insufficient facilities & equipment and lack of motivating staff & faculties. Other variables such as gender, subject of study and research experience are mentioned in the full text. Conclusion: This study showed that the personal barriers were more important than organizational barriers which interfere with the student's research projects. This can be corrected and controlled by teachers, faculty members, university officials and students, themselves.

An overview-probabilistic safety analysis for research reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu Jinlin; Peng Changhong

2015-01-01

For long-term application, Probabilistic Safety Analysis (PSA) has proved to be a valuable tool for improving the safety and reliability of power reactors. In China, 'Nuclear safety and radioactive pollution prevention 'Twelfth Five Year Plan' and the 2020 vision' raises clearly that: to develop probabilistic safety analysis and aging evaluation for research reactors. Comparing with the power reactors, it reveals some specific features in research reactors: lower operating power, lower coolant temperature and pressure, etc. However, the core configurations may be changed very often and human actions play an important safety role in research reactors due to its specific experimental requirement. As a result, there is a necessary to conduct the PSA analysis of research reactors. This paper discusses the special characteristics related to the structure and operation and the methods to develop the PSA of research reactors, including initiating event analysis, event tree analysis, fault tree analysis, dependent failure analysis, human reliability analysis and quantification as well as the experimental and external event evaluation through the investigation of various research reactors and their PSAs home and abroad, to provide the current situation and features of research reactors PSAs. (author)

Logistic regression analysis of risk factors for postoperative recurrence of spinal tumors and analysis of prognostic factors.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Shanyong; Yang, Lili; Peng, Chuangang; Wu, Minfei

2018-02-01

The aim of the present study was to investigate the risk factors for postoperative recurrence of spinal tumors by logistic regression analysis and analysis of prognostic factors. In total, 77 male and 48 female patients with spinal tumor were selected in our hospital from January, 2010 to December, 2015 and divided into the benign (n=76) and malignant groups (n=49). All the patients underwent microsurgical resection of spinal tumors and were reviewed regularly 3 months after operation. The McCormick grading system was used to evaluate the postoperative spinal cord function. Data were subjected to statistical analysis. Of the 125 cases, 63 cases showed improvement after operation, 50 cases were stable, and deterioration was found in 12 cases. The improvement rate of patients with cervical spine tumor, which reached 56.3%, was the highest. Fifty-two cases of sensory disturbance, 34 cases of pain, 30 cases of inability to exercise, 26 cases of ataxia, and 12 cases of sphincter disorders were found after operation. Seventy-two cases (57.6%) underwent total resection, 18 cases (14.4%) received subtotal resection, 23 cases (18.4%) received partial resection, and 12 cases (9.6%) were only treated with biopsy/decompression. Postoperative recurrence was found in 57 cases (45.6%). The mean recurrence time of patients in the malignant group was 27.49±6.09 months, and the mean recurrence time of patients in the benign group was 40.62±4.34. The results were significantly different (Pregression analysis of total resection-related factors showed that total resection should be the preferred treatment for patients with benign tumors, thoracic and lumbosacral tumors, and lower McCormick grade, as well as patients without syringomyelia and intramedullary tumors. Logistic regression analysis of recurrence-related factors revealed that the recurrence rate was relatively higher in patients with malignant, cervical, thoracic and lumbosacral, intramedullary tumors, and higher Mc

Applied statistical designs for the researcher

CERN Document Server

Paulson, Daryl S

2003-01-01

Research and Statistics Basic Review of Parametric Statistics Exploratory Data Analysis Two Sample Tests Completely Randomized One-Factor Analysis of Variance One and Two Restrictions on Randomization Completely Randomized Two-Factor Factorial Designs Two-Factor Factorial Completely Randomized Blocked Designs Useful Small Scale Pilot Designs Nested Statistical Designs Linear Regression Nonparametric Statistics Introduction to Research Synthesis and "Meta-Analysis" and Conclusory Remarks References Index.

Development of steady thermal-hydraulic analysis code for China advanced research reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tian Wenxi; Qiu Suizheng; Guo Yun; Su Guanghui; Jia Dounan; Liu Tiancai; Zhang Jianwei

2006-01-01

A multi-channel model steady-state thermal-hydraulic analysis code was developed for China Advanced Research Reactor (CARR). By simulating the whole reactor core, the detailed flow distribution in the core was obtained. The result shows that the structure size plays the most important role in flow distribution and the influence of core power could be neglected under single-phase flow. The temperature field of fuel element under unsymmetrical cooling condition was also obtained, which is necessary for the further study such as stress analysis etc. of the fuel element. At the same time, considering the hot channel effect including engineering factor and nuclear factor, calculation of hot channel was carried out and it is proved that all thermal-hydraulic parameters accord with the Safety Regulation of CARR. (authors)

Factors That Affect Suicidal Attempt Risk Among Korean Elderly Adults: A Path Analysis

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Junsoo Ro

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Objectives: Among the Korean elderly (those 65 years of age and older, the suicide rate is 80.3/100 000 people, which is ten times higher than the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development average. Because South Korea is rapidly becoming an aging population, this high elderly suicidal rate will only get worse. Although the size of the elderly suicide problem is quite large, previous research in South Korea has surveyed restricted areas and not the entire country. Even though the factors that affect elderly suicide are complicated, there has been little research into these influencing factors. Thus, this research uses the national survey data (Community Health Survey that was obtained in 2009. Additionally, we analyze factors affecting elderly suicidal ideation and attempts as well as the paths of these effects. Methods: Community Health Survey data obtained by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2009 was used for this study. We additionally examined the factors that affect suicide with chi-squared tests, t-tests, Pearson’s correlation test, and path analysis. Results: Depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation are the only factors that directly affect suicidal attempts. Demographic, behavioral, and physical activity factors have indirect effects on suicidal attempts. Conclusions: Depression has the strongest influence on suicidal ideation and attempts. Demographic, behavioral, and physical activity factors affect suicidal attempts mostly through depressive symptoms. In addition, there is a path that suggests that demographic, behavioral, and physical activity factors affect suicidal attempts not through depression symptoms but only through suicidal ideation. This means that the elderly who do not have depression symptoms attempt suicide according to their own situations and characteristics.

Paucity of qualitative research in general medical and health services and policy research journals: analysis of publication rates.

Science.gov (United States)

Gagliardi, Anna R; Dobrow, Mark J

2011-10-12

Qualitative research has the potential to inform and improve health care decisions but a study based on one year of publications suggests that it is not published in prominent health care journals. A more detailed, longitudinal analysis of its availability is needed. The purpose of this study was to identify, count and compare the number of qualitative and non-qualitative research studies published in high impact health care journals, and explore trends in these data over the last decade. A bibliometric approach was used to identify and quantify qualitative articles published in 20 top general medical and health services and policy research journals from 1999 to 2008. Eligible journals were selected based on performance in four different ranking systems reported in the 2008 ISI Journal Citation Reports. Qualitative and non-qualitative research published in these journals were identified by searching MEDLINE, and validated by hand-searching tables of contents for four journals. The total number of qualitative research articles published during 1999 to 2008 in ten general medical journals ranged from 0 to 41, and in ten health services and policy research journals from 0 to 39. Over this period the percentage of empirical research articles that were qualitative ranged from 0% to 0.6% for the general medical journals, and 0% to 6.4% for the health services and policy research journals. This analysis suggests that qualitative research it is rarely published in high impact general medical and health services and policy research journals. The factors that contribute to this persistent marginalization need to be better understood.

Physics Metacognition Inventory Part II: Confirmatory factor analysis and Rasch analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Taasoobshirazi, Gita; Bailey, MarLynn; Farley, John

2015-11-01

The Physics Metacognition Inventory was developed to measure physics students' metacognition for problem solving. In one of our earlier studies, an exploratory factor analysis provided evidence of preliminary construct validity, revealing six components of students' metacognition when solving physics problems including knowledge of cognition, planning, monitoring, evaluation, debugging, and information management. The college students' scores on the inventory were found to be reliable and related to students' physics motivation and physics grade. However, the results of the exploratory factor analysis indicated that the questionnaire could be revised to improve its construct validity. The goal of this study was to revise the questionnaire and establish its construct validity through a confirmatory factor analysis. In addition, a Rasch analysis was applied to the data to better understand the psychometric properties of the inventory and to further evaluate the construct validity. Results indicated that the final, revised inventory is a valid, reliable, and efficient tool for assessing student metacognition for physics problem solving.

Trend Analysis of Human Resources Development Representing the Base for Researchers in Selected Economies

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Lelek Tomas

2014-03-01

Full Text Available This paper discusses the issue of precondition for the number of researchers as an important input factor for research and development (hereinafter ‘R&D’. R&D is one of the main sources for new knowledge creation through human capital. It can be seen as one of the most important sources of competitiveness. There was an analysis carried out on higher education graduates, who can be considered a base of a group of researchers, and the number of inhabitants. A method such as regression analysis for empirical data variables dependence was used. An assessment of quantitative indicators related to the number of inhabitants and the number of higher education graduates was performed by regression analysis. An analysis on higher education graduates and the number of inhabitants was conducted with the same method. These variables were examined for the European Union, the USA and the Czech Republic in the first decade of the 21st century. Based on the analysis values of all variables, a comparison of the countries was carried out.

Ranking of integration factors within supply chains of forward and backward types - recommendations from researches

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Bernd Hentschel

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Background: Integration trends are one of main determinants of the development of modern logistics. After the period of interest focused mainly on supply chains realizing one-way flows only, at present there is a time for supply chains characterized by two-way flows, realizing at the same time both forward and backward flows. The possibility of various configurations of such chains requires identification of integration factors and determination of their influence on the results of the whole supply chain. Experiences of the science as well as the practice of supply chains show the urgent need of learning of reasons of the integration within supply chains of the two-way type.  Material and methods: The researches on modeling and simulation of integration processes within supply chains of forward and backward type were carried out in the environment of iGrafx Process 2013 for Six Sigma. The empirical material obtained in these researches was put to the statistical analysis by the used of Minitab 17. The identification of the significance of differences was made with the help of analysis of variance ANOVA. Additionally the analysis of differences in form of absolute averages was made.  The following measures are main ones for the evaluation of the integration of a supply chain of forward and backward types: cashflow, profitability, service level.  Results: 8 192 simulation experiments were made for 6 integration factors: accessibility of recycled materials, production planning, stock management, integration of transport, unification of packing materials and optimization of the material flow. Based on the analysis of the significance and values of differences, the results of the influence of each integration factor on global results of supply chains of forward and backward type were obtained. They were used to prepare the ranking of integration factors. The main factors, forming the integration shape of two-way supply chains were: stock

Fundamental Economic Factors That Affect Housing Prices: Comparative Analysis between Kosovo and Slovenia

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Visar Hoxha

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this study is to provide strategic implications for real estate appraisers and real estate managers to know the economic determinants of housing price dynamics in Kosovo. The fundamental economic determinants of housing prices, adopted from previous studies, are Gross Domestic Product growth, demographics, real interest rates, and construction costs. The research methodology used is quantitative factor analysis. The main question addressed is, whether the conventional fundamental determinants of housing prices, such as Gross Domestic Product per capita, real interest rates, demographic factors, and construction costs have driven the observed housing prices in Kosovo. By sampling the determinants of housing prices in Kosovo, the study shows their effects on housing price dynamics. The study shows that housing prices in Kosovo are significantly determined by the underlying conventional fundamentals. This is the first research that tries to determine whether the fundamental economic factors influence the housing prices in Kosovo.

Cancer risk factors in Korean news media: a content analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Kye, Su Yeon; Kwon, Jeong Hyun; Kim, Yong-Chan; Shim, Minsun; Kim, Jee Hyun; Cho, Hyunsoon; Jung, Kyu Won; Park, Keeho

2015-01-01

Little is known about the news coverage of cancer risk factors in Korea. This study aimed to examine how the news media encompasses a wide array of content regarding cancer risk factors and related cancer sites, and investigate whether news coverage of cancer risk factors is congruent with the actual prevalence of the disease. A content analysis was conducted on 1,138 news stories covered during a 5-year period between 2008 and 2012. The news stories were selected from nationally representative media in Korea. Information was collected about cancer risk factors and cancer sites. Of various cancer risk factors, occupational and environmental exposures appeared most frequently in the news. Breast cancer was mentioned the most in relation to cancer sites. Breast, cervical, prostate, and skin cancer were overrepresented in the media in comparison to incidence and mortality cases, whereas lung, thyroid, liver, and stomach cancer were underrepresented. To our knowledge, this research is the first investigation dealing with news coverage about cancer risk factors in Korea. The study findings show occupational and environmental exposures are emphasized more than personal lifestyle factors; further, more prevalent cancers in developed countries have greater media coverage, not reflecting the realities of the disease. The findings may help health journalists and other health storytellers to develop effective ways to communicate cancer risk factors.

Translational research: a concept analysis.

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Wendler, M Cecilia; Kirkbride, Geri; Wade, Kristen; Ferrell, Lynne

2013-01-01

BACKGROUND/CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK: Little is known about which approaches facilitate adoption and sustainment of evidence-based practice change in the highly complex care environments that constitute clinical practice today. The purpose of this article was to complete a concept analysis of translational research using a modified Walker and Avant approach. DESIGN/DATA COLLECTION: Using a rigorous and thorough review of the recent health care literature generated by a deep electronic search from 2004-2011, 85 appropriate documents were retrieved. Close reading of the articles by three coresearchers yielded an analysis of the emerging concept of translational research. Using the iterative process described by Walker and Avant, a tentative definition of the concept of translational research, along with antecedents and consequences were identified. Implications for health care professionals in education, practice, and research are offered. Further research is needed to determine the adequacy of the definition, to identify empirical referents, and to guide theory development. The study resulted in a theoretical definition of the concept of translational research, along with identification of antecedents and consequences and a description of an ideal or model case to illustrate the definition. Implications for practice and education include the importance of focusing on translational research approaches that may reduce the research-practice gap in health care, thereby improving patient care delivery. Research is needed to determine the usefulness of the definition in health care clinical practice.

Research and analyze of physical health using multiple regression analysis

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T. S. Kyi

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This paper represents the research which is trying to create a mathematical model of the "healthy people" using the method of regression analysis. The factors are the physical parameters of the person (such as heart rate, lung capacity, blood pressure, breath holding, weight height coefficient, flexibility of the spine, muscles of the shoulder belt, abdominal muscles, squatting, etc.., and the response variable is an indicator of physical working capacity. After performing multiple regression analysis, obtained useful multiple regression models that can predict the physical performance of boys the aged of fourteen to seventeen years. This paper represents the development of regression model for the sixteen year old boys and analyzed results.

Assessment of children with suspected auditory processing disorder: a factor analysis study.

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Ahmmed, Ansar U; Ahmmed, Afsara A; Bath, Julie R; Ferguson, Melanie A; Plack, Christopher J; Moore, David R

2014-01-01

To identify the factors that may underlie the deficits in children with listening difficulties, despite normal pure-tone audiograms. These children may have auditory processing disorder (APD), but there is no universally agreed consensus as to what constitutes APD. The authors therefore refer to these children as children with suspected APD (susAPD) and aim to clarify the role of attention, cognition, memory, sensorimotor processing speed, speech, and nonspeech auditory processing in susAPD. It was expected that a factor analysis would show how nonauditory and supramodal factors relate to auditory behavioral measures in such children with susAPD. This would facilitate greater understanding of the nature of listening difficulties, thus further helping with characterizing APD and designing multimodal test batteries to diagnose APD. Factor analysis of outcomes from 110 children (68 male, 42 female; aged 6 to 11 years) with susAPD on a widely used clinical test battery (SCAN-C) and a research test battery (MRC Institute of Hearing Research Multi-center Auditory Processing "IMAP"), that have age-based normative data. The IMAP included backward masking, simultaneous masking, frequency discrimination, nonverbal intelligence, working memory, reading, alerting attention and motor reaction times to auditory and visual stimuli. SCAN-C included monaural low-redundancy speech (auditory closure and speech in noise) and dichotic listening tests (competing words and competing sentences) that assess divided auditory attention and hence executive attention. Three factors were extracted: "general auditory processing," "working memory and executive attention," and "processing speed and alerting attention." Frequency discrimination, backward masking, simultaneous masking, and monaural low-redundancy speech tests represented the "general auditory processing" factor. Dichotic listening and the IMAP cognitive tests (apart from nonverbal intelligence) were represented in the "working

People, organizational, and leadership factors impacting informatics support for clinical and translational research

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Payne Philip RO

2013-02-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background In recent years, there have been numerous initiatives undertaken to describe critical information needs related to the collection, management, analysis, and dissemination of data in support of biomedical research (J Investig Med 54:327-333, 2006; (J Am Med Inform Assoc 16:316–327, 2009; (Physiol Genomics 39:131-140, 2009; (J Am Med Inform Assoc 18:354–357, 2011. A common theme spanning such reports has been the importance of understanding and optimizing people, organizational, and leadership factors in order to achieve the promise of efficient and timely research (J Am Med Inform Assoc 15:283–289, 2008. With the emergence of clinical and translational science (CTS as a national priority in the United States, and the corresponding growth in the scale and scope of CTS research programs, the acuity of such information needs continues to increase (JAMA 289:1278–1287, 2003; (N Engl J Med 353:1621–1623, 2005; (Sci Transl Med 3:90, 2011. At the same time, systematic evaluations of optimal people, organizational, and leadership factors that influence the provision of data, information, and knowledge management technologies and methods are notably lacking. Methods In response to the preceding gap in knowledge, we have conducted both: 1 a structured survey of domain experts at Academic Health Centers (AHCs; and 2 a subsequent thematic analysis of public-domain documentation provided by those same organizations. The results of these approaches were then used to identify critical factors that may influence access to informatics expertise and resources relevant to the CTS domain. Results A total of 31 domain experts, spanning the Biomedical Informatics (BMI, Computer Science (CS, Information Science (IS, and Information Technology (IT disciplines participated in a structured surveyprocess. At a high level, respondents identified notable differences in theaccess to BMI, CS, and IT expertise and services depending on the

Spatial econometric analysis of factors influencing regional energy efficiency in China.

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Song, Malin; Chen, Yu; An, Qingxian

2018-05-01

Increased environmental pollution and energy consumption caused by the country's rapid development has raised considerable public concern, and has become the focus of the government and public. This study employs the super-efficiency slack-based model-data envelopment analysis (SBM-DEA) to measure the total factor energy efficiency of 30 provinces in China. The estimation model for the spatial interaction intensity of regional total factor energy efficiency is based on Wilson's maximum entropy model. The model is used to analyze the factors that affect the potential value of total factor energy efficiency using spatial dynamic panel data for 30 provinces during 2000-2014. The study found that there are differences and spatial correlations of energy efficiency among provinces and regions in China. The energy efficiency in the eastern, central, and western regions fluctuated significantly, and was mainly because of significant energy efficiency impacts on influences of industrial structure, energy intensity, and technological progress. This research is of great significance to China's energy efficiency and regional coordinated development.

Analysis of stress intensity factors for a new mechanical corrosion specimen

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rassineux, B.; Crouzet, D.; Le Hong, S.

1996-03-01

Electricite de France is conducting a research program to determine corrosion cracking rates in the steam generators Alloy 600 tubes of the primary system. The objective is to correlate the cracking rates with the specimen stress intensity factor K I . One of the samples selected for the purpose of this study is the longitudinal notched specimen TEL (TEL: ''Tubulaire a Entailles Longitudinales''). This paper presents the analysis of the stress intensity factor and its experimental validation. The stress intensity factor has been evaluated for different loads using 3D finite element calculations with the Hellen-Parks and G(θ) methods. Both crack initiation and propagation are considered. As an assessment of the method, the numerical simulations are in good agreement with the fatigue crack growth rates measured experimentally for TEL and compact tension (CT) specimens. (authors). 8 refs., 6 figs., 2 tabs

Human performance analysis in the frame of probabilistic safety assessment of research reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Farcasiu, Mita; Nitoi, Mirela; Apostol, Minodora; Turcu, I.; Florescu, Gh.

2005-01-01

Full text: The analysis of operating experience has identified the importance of human performance in reliability and safety of research reactors. In Probabilistic Safety Assessment (PSA) of nuclear facilities, human performance analysis (HPA) is used in order to estimate human error contribution to the failure of system components or functions. HPA is a qualitative and quantitative analysis of human actions identified for error-likely situations or accident-prone situations. Qualitative analysis is used to identify all man-machine interfaces that can lead to an accident, types of human interactions which may mitigate or exacerbate the accident, types of human errors and performance shaping factors. Quantitative analysis is used to develop estimates of human error probability as effects of human performance in reliability and safety. The goal of this paper is to accomplish a HPA in the PSA frame for research reactors. Human error probabilities estimated as results of human actions analysis could be included in system event tree and/or system fault tree. The achieved sensitivity analyses determine human performance sensibility at systematically variations both for dependencies level between human actions and for operator stress level. The necessary information was obtained from operating experience of research reactor TRIGA from INR Pitesti. The required data were obtained from generic data bases. (authors)

Qualitative environmental health research: an analysis of the literature, 1991-2008.

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Scammell, Madeleine Kangsen

2011-10-01

Qualitative research uses nonnumeric data to understand people's opinions, motives, understanding, and beliefs about events or phenomena. In this analysis, I report the use of qualitative methods and data in the study of the relationship between environmental exposures and human health. A primary search for peer-reviewed journal articles dated from 1991 through 2008 included the following three terms: qualitative, environ*, and health. Searches resulted in 3,155 records. Data were extracted and findings of articles analyzed to determine where and by whom qualitative environmental health research is conducted and published, the types of methods and analyses used in qualitative studies of environmental health, and the types of information qualitative data contribute to environmental health. The results highlight a diversity of disciplines and techniques among researchers who used qualitative methods to study environmental health. Nearly all of the studies identified increased scientific understanding of lay perceptions of environmental health exposures. This analysis demonstrates the potential of qualitative data to improve understanding of complex exposure pathways, including the influence of social factors on environmental health, and health outcomes.

Independent Risk Factors Contributing to Acute Kidney Injury According to Updated Valve Academic Research Consortium-2 Criteria After Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation: A Meta-analysis and Meta-regression of 13 Studies.

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Wang, Jiayang; Yu, Wenyuan; Zhou, Ye; Yang, Yong; Li, Chenglong; Liu, Nan; Hou, Xiaotong; Wang, Longfei

2017-06-01

This study aimed to examine the risk factors for transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI)-associated acute kidney injury (AKI) according to the AKI definition from the Valve Academic Research Consortium-2 (VARC-2). A meta-analysis. A total of 661 patients with post-TAVI AKI according to the VARC-2 definition and 2,012 controls were included in the meta-analysis. Patients undergoing TAVI were included in this meta-analysis. Multiple electronic databases were searched using predefined criteria. The diagnosis of AKI was based on the VARC-2 classification. The authors found that preoperative New York Heart Association class IV (odds ratio [OR], 7.77; 95% confidence interval [CI], 3.81-15.85), previous chronic renal disease (CKD) (OR, 2.81; 95% CI, 1.96-4.03), and requirement for transfusion (OR, 2.03; 95% CI, 1.59-2.59) were associated significantly with an increased risk for post-TAVI AKI. Furthermore, previous peripheral vascular disease (PVD), hypertension, atrial fibrillation, congestive heart failure, diabetes mellitus, and stroke were also risk factors for TAVI-associated AKI. Additionally, transfemoral access significantly correlated with a reduced risk for post-TAVI AKI (OR, 0.43; 95% CI, 0.33-0.57). The potential confounders, including Society of Thoracic Surgeons Score, the logistic European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation, aortic valve area, mean pressure gradient, left ventricular ejection fraction, age, body mass index, contrast volume, and valve type, had no impact on the association between the risk factors and post-TAVI AKI. Subgroup analysis of the eligible studies presenting multivariate logistic regression analysis on the independent risk factors for post-TAVI AKI revealed that previous CKD, previous PVD, and transapical access were independent risk factors for TAVI-associated AKI. The current meta-analysis suggested that previous CKD, previous PVD, and transapical access may be independent risk factors for TAVI-associated AKI

Medical Student Research: An Integrated Mixed-Methods Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

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Mohamed Amgad

Full Text Available Despite the rapidly declining number of physician-investigators, there is no consistent structure within medical education so far for involving medical students in research.To conduct an integrated mixed-methods systematic review and meta-analysis of published studies about medical students' participation in research, and to evaluate the evidence in order to guide policy decision-making regarding this issue.We followed the PRISMA statement guidelines during the preparation of this review and meta-analysis. We searched various databases as well as the bibliographies of the included studies between March 2012 and September 2013. We identified all relevant quantitative and qualitative studies assessing the effect of medical student participation in research, without restrictions regarding study design or publication date. Prespecified outcome-specific quality criteria were used to judge the admission of each quantitative outcome into the meta-analysis. Initial screening of titles and abstracts resulted in the retrieval of 256 articles for full-text assessment. Eventually, 79 articles were included in our study, including eight qualitative studies. An integrated approach was used to combine quantitative and qualitative studies into a single synthesis. Once all included studies were identified, a data-driven thematic analysis was performed.Medical student participation in research is associated with improved short- and long- term scientific productivity, more informed career choices and improved knowledge about-, interest in- and attitudes towards research. Financial worries, gender, having a higher degree (MSc or PhD before matriculation and perceived competitiveness of the residency of choice are among the factors that affect the engagement of medical students in research and/or their scientific productivity. Intercalated BSc degrees, mandatory graduation theses and curricular research components may help in standardizing research education during

Classification analysis of organization factors related to system safety

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu Huizhen; Zhang Li; Zhang Yuling; Guan Shihua

2009-01-01

This paper analyzes the different types of organization factors which influence the system safety. The organization factor can be divided into the interior organization factor and exterior organization factor. The latter includes the factors of political, economical, technical, law, social culture and geographical, and the relationships among different interest groups. The former includes organization culture, communication, decision, training, process, supervision and management and organization structure. This paper focuses on the description of the organization factors. The classification analysis of the organization factors is the early work of quantitative analysis. (authors)

Smart Extraction and Analysis System for Clinical Research.

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Afzal, Muhammad; Hussain, Maqbool; Khan, Wajahat Ali; Ali, Taqdir; Jamshed, Arif; Lee, Sungyoung

2017-05-01

With the increasing use of electronic health records (EHRs), there is a growing need to expand the utilization of EHR data to support clinical research. The key challenge in achieving this goal is the unavailability of smart systems and methods to overcome the issue of data preparation, structuring, and sharing for smooth clinical research. We developed a robust analysis system called the smart extraction and analysis system (SEAS) that consists of two subsystems: (1) the information extraction system (IES), for extracting information from clinical documents, and (2) the survival analysis system (SAS), for a descriptive and predictive analysis to compile the survival statistics and predict the future chance of survivability. The IES subsystem is based on a novel permutation-based pattern recognition method that extracts information from unstructured clinical documents. Similarly, the SAS subsystem is based on a classification and regression tree (CART)-based prediction model for survival analysis. SEAS is evaluated and validated on a real-world case study of head and neck cancer. The overall information extraction accuracy of the system for semistructured text is recorded at 99%, while that for unstructured text is 97%. Furthermore, the automated, unstructured information extraction has reduced the average time spent on manual data entry by 75%, without compromising the accuracy of the system. Moreover, around 88% of patients are found in a terminal or dead state for the highest clinical stage of disease (level IV). Similarly, there is an ∼36% probability of a patient being alive if at least one of the lifestyle risk factors was positive. We presented our work on the development of SEAS to replace costly and time-consuming manual methods with smart automatic extraction of information and survival prediction methods. SEAS has reduced the time and energy of human resources spent unnecessarily on manual tasks.

Potential human factors research relating to modern technology in nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ketchel, J.; Fink, R.; Hanes, L.; Williges, R.; Williges, B.

1994-01-01

This paper discusses proposed human factors research to address advanced human-machine interface technology in nuclear power plants. It relates to a current EPRI project to identify a prioritized list of specific research issues that could be assessed to improve control room and other user interface areas. The project seeks to bridge the gap between the functional requirements of advanced design initiatives and the human factors research needed to support them. It seeks to identify potential benefits to be expected, as well as potential problems that might be introduced by advanced technology. It provides an organized approach to identifying human factors research needs, information already available, and measures of performance and effectiveness that might be used to assess the value of potential improvements. Those parts of the proposed plan that are subsequently approved by EPRI management and by the utility advisory committee will provide a basis for recommending research priorities

An overview of animal science research 1945-2011 through science mapping analysis.

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Rodriguez-Ledesma, A; Cobo, M J; Lopez-Pujalte, C; Herrera-Viedma, E

2015-12-01

The conceptual structure of the field of Animal Science (AS) research is examined by means of a longitudinal science mapping analysis. The whole of the AS research field is analysed, revealing its conceptual evolution. To this end, an automatic approach to detecting and visualizing hidden themes or topics and their evolution across a consecutive span of years was applied to AS publications of the JCR category 'Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science' during the period 1945-2011. This automatic approach was based on a coword analysis and combines performance analysis and science mapping. To observe the conceptual evolution of AS, six consecutive periods were defined: 1945-1969, 1970-1979, 1980-1989, 1990-1999, 2000-2005 and 2006-2011. Research in AS was identified as having focused on ten main thematic areas: ANIMAL-FEEDING, SMALL-RUMINANTS, ANIMAL-REPRODUCTION, DAIRY-PRODUCTION, MEAT-QUALITY, SWINE-PRODUCTION, GENETICS-AND-ANIMAL-BREEDING, POULTRY, ANIMAL-WELFARE and GROWTH-FACTORS-AND-FATTY-ACIDS. The results show how genomic studies gain in weight and integrate with other thematic areas. The whole of AS research has become oriented towards an overall framework in which animal welfare, sustainable management and human health play a major role. All this would affect the future structure and management of livestock farming. © 2014 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

Time Series Factor Analysis with an Application to Measuring Money

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gilbert, Paul D.; Meijer, Erik

2005-01-01

Time series factor analysis (TSFA) and its associated statistical theory is developed. Unlike dynamic factor analysis (DFA), TSFA obviates the need for explicitly modeling the process dynamics of the underlying phenomena. It also differs from standard factor analysis (FA) in important respects: the

What Factors Influence Where Researchers Deposit their Data? A Survey of Researchers Submitting to Data Repositories

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Shea Swauger

2015-02-01

Full Text Available In order to better understand the factors that most influence where researchers deposit their data when they have a choice, we collected survey data from researchers who deposited phylogenetic data in either the TreeBASE or Dryad data repositories. Respondents were asked to rank the relative importance of eight possible factors. We found that factors differed in importance for both TreeBASE and Dryad, and that the rankings differed subtly but significantly between TreeBASE and Dryad users. On average, TreeBASE users ranked the domain specialization of the repository highest, while Dryad users ranked as equal highest their trust in the persistence of the repository and the ease of its data submission process. Interestingly, respondents (particularly Dryad users were strongly divided as to whether being directed to choose a particular repository by a journal policy or funding agency was among the most or least important factors. Some users reported depositing their data in multiple repositories and archiving their data voluntarily.

A comparison study on detection of key geochemical variables and factors through three different types of factor analysis

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Hoseinzade, Zohre; Mokhtari, Ahmad Reza

2017-10-01

Large numbers of variables have been measured to explain different phenomena. Factor analysis has widely been used in order to reduce the dimension of datasets. Additionally, the technique has been employed to highlight underlying factors hidden in a complex system. As geochemical studies benefit from multivariate assays, application of this method is widespread in geochemistry. However, the conventional protocols in implementing factor analysis have some drawbacks in spite of their advantages. In the present study, a geochemical dataset including 804 soil samples collected from a mining area in central Iran in order to search for MVT type Pb-Zn deposits was considered to outline geochemical analysis through various fractal methods. Routine factor analysis, sequential factor analysis, and staged factor analysis were applied to the dataset after opening the data with (additive logratio) alr-transformation to extract mineralization factor in the dataset. A comparison between these methods indicated that sequential factor analysis has more clearly revealed MVT paragenesis elements in surface samples with nearly 50% variation in F1. In addition, staged factor analysis has given acceptable results while it is easy to practice. It could detect mineralization related elements while larger factor loadings are given to these elements resulting in better pronunciation of mineralization.

Eastern minds in western cockpits: meta-analysis of human factors in mishaps from three nations.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Wen-Chin; Harris, Don; Chen, Aurora

2007-04-01

Aviation accident rates vary in different regions; Asia and Africa have higher rates than Europe and America. There has been a great deal of discussion about the role of culture in aviation mishaps; however, culture is rarely mentioned as a contributory factor in accidents. It is hypothesized that different cultures will show different patterns in the underlying causal factors in aircraft accidents. Using a meta-analysis of previously published results, this research examined statistical differences in the 18 categories of the Human Factors Analysis and Classification System (HFACS) across accidents in the Republic of China (Taiwan), India, and the United States. Seven HFACS categories exhibited significant differences between these three regions. These were mostly concerned with contributory factors at the higher organizational levels. The differences were related to organizational processes, organizational climate, resource management, inadequate supervision, physical/mental limitations, adverse mental states, and decision errors. Overall, the evidence from this research supports the observation that national cultures have an impact on aviation safety and adds further explanatory power with regards to why this should be so. The majority of the cultural issues identified seem to be associated with the style of management of the organizations rather than the operation of the aircraft per se.

Understanding the role of organizational factors in shaping the research careers of women academics in higher education

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Georgeta Ion

2014-07-01

Full Text Available This paper represents an attempt to make a theoretical contribution to its knowledge base through an analysis of the group factors which contribute to the success of women academics engaged in research within the area of social sciences. The data were obtained through a series of in-depth interviews carried out at public universities in Catalonia, with women academics –all of whom were the heads of research groups recognized by the Generalitat [Regional Government] of Catalonia. The findings indicate that research groups provide a supportive and effective environment for female researchers enabling them to develop their academic careers, as measured by such key performance indicators as the number of publications and successful applications for research funding.

The economic scientific research, a production neo-factor

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elena Ciucur

2007-12-01

Full Text Available The scientific research represents a modern production neo-factor that implies two groups of coordinates: preparation and scientific research. The scientific research represents a complex of elements that confer a new orientation of high performance and is materialized in resources and new availabilities brought in active shape by the contribution of the creators and by the attraction in a specific way in the economic circuit. It is the creator of new ideas, lifting the performance and understanding to the highest international standards of competitive economic efficiency. In the present, the role of the scientific research stands before some new challenges generated by the stage of society. It.s propose a unitary, coherent scientific research and educational system, created in corresponding proportions, based on the type, level and utility of the system, by the state, the economic-social environment and the citizen himself.

Factors affecting research productivity of production and operations management groups: An empirical study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

2006-01-01

Full Text Available This paper identifies factors that promote research productivity of production and operations management (POM groups of researchers in US business schools. In this study, research productivity of a POM group is defined as the number of articles published per POM professor in a specific period of time. The paper also examines factors that affect research quality, as measured by the number of articles published per POM professor in journals, which have been recognized in the POM literature as an elite set. The results show that three factors increase both the research productivity and the quality of the articles published by professors of a POM group. These factors are (a the presence of a POM research center, (b funding received from external sources for research purposes, and (c better library facilities. Doctoral students do assist in improving research quality and productivity, but they are not the driving force. These results have important implications for establishing policy guidelines for business schools. For example, real-world problems are funded by external sources and have a higher probability of publication. Furthermore, schools could place more emphasis on external funding, as most engineering schools do, since groups receiving external funding are more productive in terms of research.

Using the Boxplot analysis in marketing research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Constantin Cristinel

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Taking into account the needs of decision makers inside the companies, marketing research is meant to provide the best information that really can to help the adoption of thebest decisions. In this respect a lot of methods of data analysis can be used but the researcher has to choose those results that minimize the errors. This paper proposes an instrumental research regarding the using of Boxplot analysis to identify certain outliers that can alter the information. In order to attain the objective of this research, we exemplified the Boxplot analysis on data related to the GDP recorded in 2014 by Romanian counties.

[Cluster analysis in biomedical researches].

Science.gov (United States)

Akopov, A S; Moskovtsev, A A; Dolenko, S A; Savina, G D

2013-01-01

Cluster analysis is one of the most popular methods for the analysis of multi-parameter data. The cluster analysis reveals the internal structure of the data, group the separate observations on the degree of their similarity. The review provides a definition of the basic concepts of cluster analysis, and discusses the most popular clustering algorithms: k-means, hierarchical algorithms, Kohonen networks algorithms. Examples are the use of these algorithms in biomedical research.

Discourse Analysis in Ethnographic Research.

Science.gov (United States)

Poole, Deborah

1990-01-01

Reviews the contribution of ethnographic research to discourse analysis, focusing on discourse practices as a reflection of cultural context; educational applications and the discontinuity issue; literacy as a focus of discourse-oriented ethnographic research; and implications for applied linguistics. A 9-citation annotated and a 50-citation…

A Retrospective Analysis of Factors Affecting Early Stoma Complications.

Science.gov (United States)

Koc, Umit; Karaman, Kerem; Gomceli, Ismail; Dalgic, Tahsin; Ozer, Ilter; Ulas, Murat; Ercan, Metin; Bostanci, Erdal; Akoglu, Musa

2017-01-01

Despite advances in surgical techniques and products for stoma care, stoma-related complications are still common. A retrospective analysis was performed of the medical records of 462 consecutive patients (295 [63.9%] female, 167 [36.1 %] male, mean age 55.5 ± 15.1 years, mean body mass index [BMI] 25.1 ± 5.2) who had undergone stoma creation at the Gastroenterological Surgery Clinic of Turkiye Yuksek İhtisas Teaching and Research Hospital between January 2008 and December 2012 to examine the incidence of early (ie, within 30 days after surgery) stoma complications and identify potential risk factors. Variables abstracted included gender, age, and BMI; existence of malignant disease; comorbidities (diabetes mellitus, hypertension, coronary artery disease, chronic respiratory disease); use of neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy; permanent or temporary stoma; type of stoma (loop/end stoma); stoma localization; and the use of preoperative marking of the stoma site. Data were entered and analyzed using statistical software. Descriptive statistics, chi-squared, and Mann-Whitney U tests were used to describe and analyze all variables, and logistic regression analysis was used to determine independent risk factors for stoma complications. Ostomy-related complications developed in 131 patients (28.4%) Of these, superficial mucocutaneous separation was the most frequent complication (90 patients, 19.5%), followed by stoma retraction (15 patients, 3.2%). In univariate analysis, malignant disease (P = .025), creation of a colostomy (P = .002), and left lower quadrant stoma location (P toma complication. Only stoma location was an independent risk factor for the development of a stoma complication (P = .044). The rate of stoma complications was not significantly different between patients who underwent nonemergent surgery (30% in patients preoperatively sited versus 28.4% not sited) and patients who underwent emergency surgery (27.1%). Early stoma complication rates were higher

Structural equation modeling analysis of factors influencing architects' trust in project design teams

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

DING Zhi-kun; NG Fung-fai; WANG Jia-yuan

2009-01-01

This paper describes a structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis of factors influencing architects' trust in project design teams. We undertook a survey of architects, during which we distributed 193 questionnaires in 29 A-level architectural We used Amos 6.0 for SEM to identify significant personal construct based factors affecting interpersonal trust. The results show that only social interaction between architects significantly affects their interpersonal trust. The explained variance of trust is not very high in the model. Therefore, future research should add more factors into the current model. The practical implication is that team managers should promote the social interactions between team members such that the interpersonal trust level between team members can be improved.

Factors influencing health professions students' use of computers for data analysis at three Ugandan public medical schools: a cross-sectional survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Munabi, Ian G; Buwembo, William; Bajunirwe, Francis; Kitara, David Lagoro; Joseph, Ruberwa; Peter, Kawungezi; Obua, Celestino; Quinn, John; Mwaka, Erisa S

2015-02-25

Effective utilization of computers and their applications in medical education and research is of paramount importance to students. The objective of this study was to determine the association between owning a computer and use of computers for research data analysis and the other factors influencing health professions students' computer use for data analysis. We conducted a cross sectional study among undergraduate health professions students at three public universities in Uganda using a self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire was composed of questions on participant demographics, students' participation in research, computer ownership, and use of computers for data analysis. Descriptive and inferential statistics (uni-variable and multi- level logistic regression analysis) were used to analyse data. The level of significance was set at 0.05. Six hundred (600) of 668 questionnaires were completed and returned (response rate 89.8%). A majority of respondents were male (68.8%) and 75.3% reported owning computers. Overall, 63.7% of respondents reported that they had ever done computer based data analysis. The following factors were significant predictors of having ever done computer based data analysis: ownership of a computer (adj. OR 1.80, p = 0.02), recently completed course in statistics (Adj. OR 1.48, p =0.04), and participation in research (Adj. OR 2.64, p <0.01). Owning a computer, participation in research and undertaking courses in research methods influence undergraduate students' use of computers for research data analysis. Students are increasingly participating in research, and thus need to have competencies for the successful conduct of research. Medical training institutions should encourage both curricular and extra-curricular efforts to enhance research capacity in line with the modern theories of adult learning.

Using BMDP and SPSS for a Q factor analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Tanner, B A; Koning, S M

1980-12-01

While Euclidean distances and Q factor analysis may sometimes be preferred to correlation coefficients and cluster analysis for developing a typology, commercially available software does not always facilitate their use. Commands are provided for using BMDP and SPSS in a Q factor analysis with Euclidean distances.

Status of human factors research program in Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kabetani, Tetsuji

1989-01-01

The Human Factors Research Center was established within CRIEPI on July 1, 1987 as its research efforts to reduce human error during operation and maintenance at Japanese nuclear power plants. The Research Program has seven subjects, composed of the original subjects that include the human behavior monitoring method, and the subjects requested by the Federation of Electric Power Companies that include the establishment of techniques of analysing and evaluating information on human error. Some results of the activity are applied in nuclear power plants. We plan to obtain good results to apply to plants, and to improve the results already obtained. (author)

Applied regression analysis a research tool

CERN Document Server

Pantula, Sastry; Dickey, David

1998-01-01

Least squares estimation, when used appropriately, is a powerful research tool. A deeper understanding of the regression concepts is essential for achieving optimal benefits from a least squares analysis. This book builds on the fundamentals of statistical methods and provides appropriate concepts that will allow a scientist to use least squares as an effective research tool. Applied Regression Analysis is aimed at the scientist who wishes to gain a working knowledge of regression analysis. The basic purpose of this book is to develop an understanding of least squares and related statistical methods without becoming excessively mathematical. It is the outgrowth of more than 30 years of consulting experience with scientists and many years of teaching an applied regression course to graduate students. Applied Regression Analysis serves as an excellent text for a service course on regression for non-statisticians and as a reference for researchers. It also provides a bridge between a two-semester introduction to...

Paucity of qualitative research in general medical and health services and policy research journals: analysis of publication rates

Science.gov (United States)

2011-01-01

Background Qualitative research has the potential to inform and improve health care decisions but a study based on one year of publications suggests that it is not published in prominent health care journals. A more detailed, longitudinal analysis of its availability is needed. The purpose of this study was to identify, count and compare the number of qualitative and non-qualitative research studies published in high impact health care journals, and explore trends in these data over the last decade. Methods A bibliometric approach was used to identify and quantify qualitative articles published in 20 top general medical and health services and policy research journals from 1999 to 2008. Eligible journals were selected based on performance in four different ranking systems reported in the 2008 ISI Journal Citation Reports. Qualitative and non-qualitative research published in these journals were identified by searching MEDLINE, and validated by hand-searching tables of contents for four journals. Results The total number of qualitative research articles published during 1999 to 2008 in ten general medical journals ranged from 0 to 41, and in ten health services and policy research journals from 0 to 39. Over this period the percentage of empirical research articles that were qualitative ranged from 0% to 0.6% for the general medical journals, and 0% to 6.4% for the health services and policy research journals. Conclusions This analysis suggests that qualitative research it is rarely published in high impact general medical and health services and policy research journals. The factors that contribute to this persistent marginalization need to be better understood. PMID:21992238

Video micro analysis in music therapy research

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Holck, Ulla; Oldfield, Amelia; Plahl, Christine

2004-01-01

Three music therapy researchers from three different countries who have recently completed their PhD theses will each briefly discuss the role of video analysis in their investigations. All three of these research projects have involved music therapy work with children, some of whom were on the a...... and qualitative approaches to data collection. In addition, participants will be encouraged to reflect on what types of knowledge can be gained from video analyses and to explore the general relevance of video analysis in music therapy research.......Three music therapy researchers from three different countries who have recently completed their PhD theses will each briefly discuss the role of video analysis in their investigations. All three of these research projects have involved music therapy work with children, some of whom were...

Impact factor evolution of nursing research journals: 2009 to 2014.

Science.gov (United States)

Cáceres, Macarena C; Guerrero-Martín, Jorge; González-Morales, Borja; Pérez-Civantos, Demetrio V; Carreto-Lemus, Maria A; Durán-Gómez, Noelia

The use of bibliometric indicators (impact factor [IF], impact index, h-index, etc.) is now believed to be a fundamental measure of the quality of scientific research output. In this context, the presence of scientific nursing journals in international databases and the factors influencing their impact ratings is being widely analyzed. The aim of this study was to analyze the presence of scientific nursing journals in international databases and track the changes in their IF. A secondary analysis was carried out on data for the years 2009 to 2014 held in the JCR database (subject category: nursing). Additionally, the presence of scientific nursing journals in Medline, CINAHL, Scopus, and SJR was analyzed. During the period studied, the number of journals indexed in the JCR under the nursing subject category increased from 70 in 2009 (mean IF: 0.99, standard deviation: 0.53) to 115 in 2014 (mean IF: 1.04, standard deviation: 0.42), of which only 70 were listed for the full six years. Although mean IF showed an upward trend throughout this time, no statistically significant differences were found in the variations to this figure. Although IF and other bibliometric indicators have their limitations, it is nonetheless true that bibliometry is now the most widely used tool for evaluating scientific output in all disciplines, including nursing, highlighting the importance of being familiar with how they are calculated and their significance when deciding the journal or journals in which to publish the results of our research. That said, it is also necessary to consider other possible alternative ways of assessing the quality and impact of scientific contributions. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Entrepreneurial Behaviour of Researchers in a Basic Research Center the example of CERN

CERN Document Server

Sessano, Deborah

2007-01-01

The study aims to identify whether researchers' entrepreneurial behaviour changed after the introduction of a formal technology transfer policy (TTP) within CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, a centre for fundamental research in particle physics. The chosen unit of analysis is the individual researcher with limited duration contract. An analysis of the background literature on entrepreneurial behaviour and factors affecting it was performed and parameters for analysis identified. A total of 103 responses to a specifically developed questionnaire were obtained and statistical analysis carried out to assess presence or absence of entrepreneurial behaviour and the factors affecting it. The theoretical framework was developed taking into account recognition by peers, network, character, prior knowledge, field of research and incentives and researchers and engineers were assessed for positive and negative correlations. One can conclude, in general, that the personnel shows a good degree of entre...

Decision making model design for antivirus software selection using Factor Analysis and Analytical Hierarchy Process

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nurhayati Ai

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Virus spread increase significantly through the internet in 2017. One of the protection method is using antivirus software. The wide variety of antivirus software in the market tends to creating confusion among consumer. Selecting the right antivirus according to their needs has become difficult. This is the reason we conduct our research. We formulate a decision making model for antivirus software consumer. The model is constructed by using factor analysis and AHP method. First we spread questionnaires to consumer, then from those questionnaires we identified 16 variables that needs to be considered on selecting antivirus software. This 16 variables then divided into 5 factors by using factor analysis method in SPSS software. These five factors are security, performance, internal, time and capacity. To rank those factors we spread questionnaires to 6 IT expert then the data is analyzed using AHP method. The result is that performance factors gained the highest rank from all of the other factors. Thus, consumer can select antivirus software by judging the variables in the performance factors. Those variables are software loading speed, user friendly, no excessive memory use, thorough scanning, and scanning virus fast and accurately.

Radionuclide analysis and scaling factors verification for LLRW of Taipower Reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

King, J.-Y.; Liu, K.-T.; Chen, S.-C.; Chang, T.-M.; Pung, T.-C.; Men, L.-C.; Wang, S.-J.

2004-01-01

The Atomic Energy Council of the Republic of China (CAEC) final disposal policy for Low Level Radwaste (LLRW) will be carried on in 1996. Institute of Nuclear Energy Research has the contract to develop the Radionuclide analysis method and to establish the scaling factors for LLRW of Taipower reactors. The radionuclides analyzed including: Co-60, Cs-137, Ce-144, γ-nuclides; H-3, C-14, Fe-55, Ni-59, Ni-63, Sr-90, Nb-94, Tc-99, I-129, Pu-238, Pu-239/240, Pu-241, Am-241, Cm-242, Cm-244 α, β and low energy γ nuclides. 120 samples taken from 21 waste streams were analyzed and the database was collected within 2 years. The scaling factors for different kind of waste streams were computed with weighted log-mean average method. In 1993, the scaling factors for each waste stream has been verified through actual station samples. (author)

Market research on factors influencing women's preferences in investment decision making

OpenAIRE

Sharma, Abhishek.; Douglas, Tony.; Jaworski, Piotr.

2017-01-01

This study aims to gain knowledge on the factors that influence the investment decision making of women in Singapore. The research explores the fact that investment decision is being affected by the demographic, psychographic factors of the individuals. The individuals may be equal in all aspects but their investment decision varies with their own perception towards various investment plans. The research was conducted among 200 respondents through a survey so as to get an empirical findings o...

Analysis of the Factors Affecting Resistance to Changes in Management Accounting Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rodrigo Angonese

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Despite changes in the environment and management accounting practices, studies indicate that management accounting systems do not change or change at a much slower rate than expected. The stability of the management accounting systems used by companies may relate to resistance to changing these systems. This study analyzes the factors that contribute to resistance to implementing an integrated management system from the perspective of institutional theory, grounded in the old institutional economics. Methodologically, this study provides a qualitative assessment of the problem and a descriptive analysis of the resistance factors through a case-study approach. The data were collected using semi-structured interviews and analyzed through content analysis. Two companies were selected for this study due to their differing characteristics. The following seven factors were analyzed for resistance to implementing integrated management systems: institutional power, ontological insecurity, trust, inertia, lack of knowledge, acceptance of routines and decoupling. However, there was no evidence to characterize hierarchical power. The research findings indicate that changing management accounting systems, through the implementation of an integrated management system, faces internal resistance in these organizations. Each factor varies in intensity but is permanently present in these companies, such as ontological insecurity, trust, inertia, lack of knowledge, acceptance of routines and decoupling. These factors are awakened when the change process begins and, if they gather enough force, can stop the change.

Factor analysis improves the selection of prescribing indicators

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rasmussen, Hanne Marie Skyggedal; Søndergaard, Jens; Sokolowski, Ineta

2006-01-01

OBJECTIVE: To test a method for improving the selection of indicators of general practitioners' prescribing. METHODS: We conducted a prescription database study including all 180 general practices in the County of Funen, Denmark, approximately 472,000 inhabitants. Principal factor analysis was us...... appropriate and inappropriate prescribing, as revealed by the correlation of the indicators in the first factor. CONCLUSION: Correlation and factor analysis is a feasible method that assists the selection of indicators and gives better insight into prescribing patterns....

The Self-Report Family Inventory: An Exploratory Factor Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Goodrich, Kristopher M.; Selig, James P.; Trahan, Don P., Jr.

2012-01-01

Researchers explored the factor structure of the Self-Report Family Inventory with a sample of heterosexual parents who have a son or daughter who self-identifies as lesbian, gay, or bisexual. Results suggest that a two-factor solution is appropriate. Research and clinical implications are offered. (Contains 1 figure and 2 tables.)

Human factors analysis of incident/accident report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kuroda, Isao

1992-01-01

Human factors analysis of accident/incident has different kinds of difficulties in not only technical, but also psychosocial background. This report introduces some experiments of 'Variation diagram method' which is able to extend to operational and managemental factors. (author)

Factors influencing parents' decision to donate their healthy infant's DNA for minimal-risk genetic research.

Science.gov (United States)

Hatfield, Linda A; Pearce, Margaret M

2014-11-01

To examine factors that influence a parent's decision to donate their healthy infant's DNA for minimal-risk genetic research. Grounded theory, using semi-structured interviews conducted with 35 postpartum mother or mother-father dyads in an urban teaching hospital. Data were collected from July 2011 to January 2012. Audiorecorded semistructured interviews were conducted in private rooms with mothers or mother-father dyads 24 to 48 hr after the birth of their healthy, full-term infant. Data-driven content analysis using selected principles of grounded theory was performed. Parents' willingness to donate their healthy infant's DNA for minimal-risk pediatric genetic research emerged as a process involving three interacting components: the parents, the scientist, and the comfort of the child embedded within the context of benefit to the child. The purpose of the study and parents' perception of their commitment of time and resources determined their willingness to participate. The scientist's ability to communicate trust in the research process influenced parents' decisions. Physical discomfort of the child shaped parents' decision to donate DNA. Parental perception of a direct benefit to their child affected their willingness to discuss genetic research and its outcomes. Significant gaps and misunderstandings in parental knowledge of pediatric genetic research may affect parental willingness to donate their healthy child's DNA. Nurses knowledgeable about the decision-making process parents utilize to donate their healthy infant's DNA for minimal-risk genetic research and the factors influencing that decision are well positioned to educate parents about the role of genetics in health and illness and reassure potential research participants of the value and safeguards in pediatric genetic research. © 2014 Sigma Theta Tau International.

Nominal Performance Biosphere Dose Conversion Factor Analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

M.A. Wasiolek

2005-01-01

This analysis report is one of the technical reports containing documentation of the Environmental Radiation Model for Yucca Mountain, Nevada (ERMYN), a biosphere model supporting the Total System Performance Assessment (TSPA) for the license application (LA) for the Yucca Mountain repository. This analysis report describes the development of biosphere dose conversion factors (BDCFs) for the groundwater exposure scenario, and the development of conversion factors for assessing compliance with the groundwater protection standards. A graphical representation of the documentation hierarchy for the ERMYN is presented in Figure 1-1. This figure shows the interrelationships among the products (i.e., analysis and model reports) developed for biosphere modeling and provides an understanding of how this analysis report contributes to biosphere modeling. This report is one of two reports that develop BDCFs, which are input parameters for the TSPA-LA model. The ''Biosphere Model Report'' (BSC 2004 [DIRS 169460]) describes in detail the ERMYN conceptual model and mathematical model. The input parameter reports, shown to the right of the ''Biosphere Model Report'' in Figure 1-1, contain detailed description of the model input parameters, their development, and the relationship between the parameters and specific features events and processes (FEPs). This report describes biosphere model calculations and their output, the BDCFs, for the groundwater exposure scenario. This analysis receives direct input from the outputs of the ''Biosphere Model Report'' (BSC 2004 [DIRS 169460]) and the five analyses that develop parameter values for the biosphere model (BSC 2005 [DIRS 172827]; BSC 2004 [DIRS 169672]; BSC 2004 [DIRS 169673]; BSC 2004 [DIRS 169458]; BSC 2004 [DIRS 169459]). The results of this report are further analyzed in the ''Biosphere Dose Conversion Factor Importance and Sensitivity Analysis'' (Figure 1-1). The objectives of this analysis are to develop BDCFs for the

The Utility of Template Analysis in Qualitative Psychology Research.

Science.gov (United States)

Brooks, Joanna; McCluskey, Serena; Turley, Emma; King, Nigel

2015-04-03

Thematic analysis is widely used in qualitative psychology research, and in this article, we present a particular style of thematic analysis known as Template Analysis. We outline the technique and consider its epistemological position, then describe three case studies of research projects which employed Template Analysis to illustrate the diverse ways it can be used. Our first case study illustrates how the technique was employed in data analysis undertaken by a team of researchers in a large-scale qualitative research project. Our second example demonstrates how a qualitative study that set out to build on mainstream theory made use of the a priori themes (themes determined in advance of coding) permitted in Template Analysis. Our final case study shows how Template Analysis can be used from an interpretative phenomenological stance. We highlight the distinctive features of this style of thematic analysis, discuss the kind of research where it may be particularly appropriate, and consider possible limitations of the technique. We conclude that Template Analysis is a flexible form of thematic analysis with real utility in qualitative psychology research.

Factors influencing crime rates: an econometric analysis approach

Science.gov (United States)

Bothos, John M. A.; Thomopoulos, Stelios C. A.

2016-05-01

The scope of the present study is to research the dynamics that determine the commission of crimes in the US society. Our study is part of a model we are developing to understand urban crime dynamics and to enhance citizens' "perception of security" in large urban environments. The main targets of our research are to highlight dependence of crime rates on certain social and economic factors and basic elements of state anticrime policies. In conducting our research, we use as guides previous relevant studies on crime dependence, that have been performed with similar quantitative analyses in mind, regarding the dependence of crime on certain social and economic factors using statistics and econometric modelling. Our first approach consists of conceptual state space dynamic cross-sectional econometric models that incorporate a feedback loop that describes crime as a feedback process. In order to define dynamically the model variables, we use statistical analysis on crime records and on records about social and economic conditions and policing characteristics (like police force and policing results - crime arrests), to determine their influence as independent variables on crime, as the dependent variable of our model. The econometric models we apply in this first approach are an exponential log linear model and a logit model. In a second approach, we try to study the evolvement of violent crime through time in the US, independently as an autonomous social phenomenon, using autoregressive and moving average time-series econometric models. Our findings show that there are certain social and economic characteristics that affect the formation of crime rates in the US, either positively or negatively. Furthermore, the results of our time-series econometric modelling show that violent crime, viewed solely and independently as a social phenomenon, correlates with previous years crime rates and depends on the social and economic environment's conditions during previous years.

Analysis of technological, institutional and socioeconomic factors ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Analysis of technological, institutional and socioeconomic factors that influences poor reading culture among secondary school students in Nigeria. ... Proliferation and availability of smart phones, chatting culture and social media were identified as technological factors influencing poor reading culture among secondary ...

Implementation of critical success factors in construction research ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Construction research and development (R&D) process has a number of issues that affect its success. These issues imply that Critical Success Factors (CSFs) of construction R&D process are not properly addressed. Not knowing CSFs could lead to not implementing them and not paying proper attention for them. The study ...

Factors affecting research productivity of production and operations management groups: An empirical study

OpenAIRE

George C. Hadjinicola; Andreas C. Soteriou

2006-01-01

This paper identifies factors that promote research productivity of production and operations management (POM) groups of researchers in US business schools. In this study, research productivity of a POM group is defined as the number of articles published per POM professor in a specific period of time. The paper also examines factors that affect research quality, as measured by the number of articles published per POM professor in journals, which have been recognized in the POM literature as ...

Concurrent analysis: towards generalisable qualitative research.

Science.gov (United States)

Snowden, Austyn; Martin, Colin R

2011-10-01

This study develops an original method of qualitative analysis coherent with its interpretivist principles. The objective is to increase the likelihood of achieving generalisability and so improve the chance of the findings being translated into practice. Good qualitative research depends on coherent analysis of different types of data. The limitations of existing methodologies are first discussed to justify the need for a novel approach. To illustrate this approach, primary evidence is presented using the new methodology. The primary evidence consists of a constructivist grounded theory of how mental health nurses with prescribing authority integrate prescribing into practice. This theory is built concurrently from interviews, reflective accounts and case study data from the literature. Concurrent analysis. Ten research articles and 13 semi-structured interviews were sampled purposively and then theoretically and analysed concurrently using constructivist grounded theory. A theory of the process of becoming competent in mental health nurse prescribing was generated through this process. This theory was validated by 32 practising mental health nurse prescribers as an accurate representation of their experience. The methodology generated a coherent and generalisable theory. It is therefore claimed that concurrent analysis engenders consistent and iterative treatment of different sources of qualitative data in a manageable manner. This process supports facilitation of the highest standard of qualitative research. Concurrent analysis removes the artificial delineation of relevant literature from other forms of constructed data. This gives researchers clear direction to treat qualitative data consistently raising the chances of generalisability of the findings. Raising the generalisability of qualitative research will increase its chances of informing clinical practice. © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

A factor analysis to find critical success factors in retail brand

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Naser Azad

2013-03-01

Full Text Available The present exploratory study aims to find critical components of retail brand among some retail stores. The study seeks to build a brand name in retail level and looks to find important factors affecting it. Customer behavior is largely influenced when the first retail customer experience is formed. These factors have direct impacts on customer experience and satisfaction in retail industry. The proposed study performs an empirical investigation on two well-known retain stores located in city of Tehran, Iran. Using a sample of 265 people from regular customers, the study uses factor analysis and extracts four main factors including related brand, product benefits, customer welfare strategy and corporate profits using the existing 31 factors in the literature.

Origin and Elimination of Two Global Spurious Attractors in Hopfield-Like Neural Network Performing Boolean Factor Analysis

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Frolov, A. A.; Húsek, Dušan; Muraviev, I. P.; Polyakov, P.Y.

2010-01-01

Roč. 73, č. 7-9 (2010), s. 1394-1404 ISSN 0925-2312 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA205/09/1079; GA MŠk(CZ) 1M0567 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10300504 Keywords : Boolean factor analysis * Hopfield neural Network * unsupervised learning * dimension reduction * data mining Subject RIV: IN - Informatics, Computer Science Impact factor: 1.429, year: 2010

Characterization of solid polymer dispersions of active pharmaceutical ingredients by 19F MAS NMR and factor analysis

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Urbanová, Martina; Brus, Jiří; Šeděnková, Ivana; Policianová, Olivia; Kobera, Libor

2013-01-01

Roč. 100, 1 January (2013), s. 59-66 ISSN 1386-1425 R&D Projects: GA ČR GPP106/11/P426; GA MŠk 2B08021 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z40500505 Institutional support: RVO:61389013 Keywords : solid-state NMR * factor analysis * 19F MAS NMR Subject RIV: FR - Pharmacology ; Medidal Chemistry Impact factor: 2.129, year: 2013

Analysis of personal data-sharing consent factors, with focus on loyalty programs in the Czech Republic

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tomas Formanek

2018-05-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this study is to provide structured, topical and representative analysis of personal data sharing preferences in the Czech Republic. Within the context of personal data sharing and protection, we focus on profiling individuals who voluntarily share their personal data with good-faith corporate entities. Loyalty program operators serve as a common and representative model of commercially driven collection and processing of personal data. We address different types of personal data and factors affecting individual data-sharing consent. Our original research is based on primary surveyed data (806 respondents surveyed during 2017. Multiple quantitative methods such as hierarchical clustering and logistic regression are employed in the analysis. Also, an important part of our research is based on evaluation of structured in-depth interviews, focused on personal data sharing and protection topics. We find pronounced socio-demographic differences in individual propensity to share one’s personal data with commercial data processors. Main findings and contrasting factors are pointed out and discussed within the paper. Our analysis reflects the needs of academic and corporate researches to whom it provides actionable and stratified results, especially in context of the new EU legislation: the GDPR directive on personal data protection.

Considerations of Human Factors in the Design and Operation of Research Reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shokr, A.M.

2015-01-01

The feedback from the severe accidents occurred at nuclear power plants showed that safety of nuclear installations does not depend only on technical matters but also on human performance. Human errors can initiate an event or can make , by intervention, the event consequences worse. Human factors are of a particular importance for research reactors since the status of these facilities change frequently and the operators have an easy access to the reactor core and to the associated experimental facilities. This paper discusses the experience with human factors and their impact on the safety of research reactors and application of technical and administrative provisions to address these factors in the design and operation phases of research reactors for continuous improvements in safety and performance of these facilities

Gesture analysis for physics education researchers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rachel E. Scherr

2008-01-01

Full Text Available Systematic observations of student gestures can not only fill in gaps in students’ verbal expressions, but can also offer valuable information about student ideas, including their source, their novelty to the speaker, and their construction in real time. This paper provides a review of the research in gesture analysis that is most relevant to physics education researchers and illustrates gesture analysis for the purpose of better understanding student thinking about physics.

Publication trends in aeolian research: An analysis of the Bibliography of Aeolian Research

Science.gov (United States)

Stout, John E.; Warren, Andrew; Gill, Thomas E.

2009-04-01

An analysis of the Bibliography of Aeolian Research has provided information regarding publication trends in aeolian research. Results suggest that there has been a significant increase in the number of publications per year since the first aeolian-research publication appeared in 1646. Rates of publication have increased from only three publications in the 17th Century to nearly three publications per day in the 21st Century. The temporal distribution of publications follows a complex pattern that is influenced by many factors. In the 17th and 18th Centuries, publications appear as isolated clusters indicating limited interest in aeolian research and limited opportunities for individuals to contribute to scientific literature. With time, many new scientific societies are formed and many new scientific journals are established, opening new opportunities for scientists to contribute to scientific discourse. Landmark publications open up new research areas and define new directions for aeolian research. General advances in science and technology provide new techniques for sampling blowing sand and dust. In addition, clear signs exist that publication rates respond to major environmental and climatic events, especially large-scale disasters that focus attention on wind erosion and blowing dust. The Sirocco dust events of 1901-1903, the North American Dust Bowl of the1930s, and the recent sand and dust storm problems in China have all led to significant increases in the number of publications in aeolian research. Rates of publication are negatively influenced by major political and social upheavals, especially global conflicts such as World Wars I and II. Sudden shifts in government structure and support can also influence publication rates. A good example is the increased publication rates in China following the end of the Cultural Revolution, a trend that continues today.

Hybrid PV/diesel solar power system design using multi-level factor analysis optimization

Science.gov (United States)

Drake, Joshua P.

Solar power systems represent a large area of interest across a spectrum of organizations at a global level. It was determined that a clear understanding of current state of the art software and design methods, as well as optimization methods, could be used to improve the design methodology. Solar power design literature was researched for an in depth understanding of solar power system design methods and algorithms. Multiple software packages for the design and optimization of solar power systems were analyzed for a critical understanding of their design workflow. In addition, several methods of optimization were studied, including brute force, Pareto analysis, Monte Carlo, linear and nonlinear programming, and multi-way factor analysis. Factor analysis was selected as the most efficient optimization method for engineering design as it applied to solar power system design. The solar power design algorithms, software work flow analysis, and factor analysis optimization were combined to develop a solar power system design optimization software package called FireDrake. This software was used for the design of multiple solar power systems in conjunction with an energy audit case study performed in seven Tibetan refugee camps located in Mainpat, India. A report of solar system designs for the camps, as well as a proposed schedule for future installations was generated. It was determined that there were several improvements that could be made to the state of the art in modern solar power system design, though the complexity of current applications is significant.

Conceptualizing age-friendly community characteristics in a sample of urban elders: an exploratory factor analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Richard J; Lehning, Amanda J; Dunkle, Ruth E

2013-01-01

Accurate conceptualization and measurement of age-friendly community characteristics would help to reduce barriers to documenting the effects on elders of interventions to create such communities. This article contributes to the measurement of age-friendly communities through an exploratory factor analysis of items reflecting an existing US Environmental Protection Agency policy framework. From a sample of urban elders (n = 1,376), we identified 6 factors associated with demographic and health characteristics: access to business and leisure, social interaction, access to health care, neighborhood problems, social support, and community engagement. Future research should explore the effects of these factors across contexts and populations.

The influence of race and ethnicity on becoming a human subject: Factors associated with participation in research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mary A. Garza, PhD

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Inroduction: The purpose of this study was to explore factors associated with willingness of African Americans and Latinos to participate in biomedical and public health research and to delineate factors that influence the decision to become a human subject. Methods: We present results from a 2010 random digit-dial telephone survey of 2,455 African American (N = 1191 and Latino (N = 1264 adults. We used standard measures to assess knowledge of research, terminology, informed consent procedures, previous participation in research, health care experiences, social support, risk perception, religiousness, and trust. Results: Over 60% of both African Americans and Latinos reported they believed people in medical research are pressured into participating. Over 50% said that it was not at all important to have someone of the same race/ethnicity ask them to participate. In a sub-sample of 322 African Americans and 190 Latinos who had previously been asked to participate in a research study, 63% of African Americans and 65% of Latinos consented to participate in a study. Finally, both African Americans (57% and Latinos (68% reported willingness to participate in future research. Overall, the multivariate analysis explained 29% of the variability in willingness to participate in future research. Conclusions: Results suggest that African Americans and Latinos have no automatic predisposition to decline participation in research studies. These results can inform culturally tailored interventions for ethical recruitment of minorities into research and clinical trials.

Factor analysis for exercise stress radionuclide ventriculography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hirota, Kazuyoshi; Yasuda, Mitsutaka; Oku, Hisao; Ikuno, Yoshiyasu; Takeuchi, Kazuhide; Takeda, Tadanao; Ochi, Hironobu

1987-01-01

Using factor analysis, a new image processing in exercise stress radionuclide ventriculography, changes in factors associated with exercise were evaluated in 14 patients with angina pectoris or old myocardial infarction. The patients were imaged in the left anterior oblique projection, and three factor images were presented on a color coded scale. Abnormal factors (AF) were observed in 6 patients before exercise, 13 during exercise, and 4 after exercise. In 7 patients, the occurrence of AF was associated with exercise. Five of them became free from AF after exercise. Three patients showing AF before exercise had aggravation of AF during exercise. Overall, the occurrence or aggravation of AF was associated with exercise in ten (71 %) of the patients. The other three patients, however, had disappearance of AF during exercise. In the last patient, none of the AF was observed throughout the study. In view of a high incidence of AF associated with exercise, the factor analysis may have the potential in evaluating cardiac reverse from the viewpoint of left ventricular wall motion abnormality. (Namekawa, K.)

Bridging the clinician/researcher gap with systemic research: the case for process research, dyadic, and sequential analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Oka, Megan; Whiting, Jason

2013-01-01

In Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT), as in many clinical disciplines, concern surfaces about the clinician/researcher gap. This gap includes a lack of accessible, practical research for clinicians. MFT clinical research often borrows from the medical tradition of randomized control trials, which typically use linear methods, or follow procedures distanced from "real-world" therapy. We review traditional research methods and their use in MFT and propose increased use of methods that are more systemic in nature and more applicable to MFTs: process research, dyadic data analysis, and sequential analysis. We will review current research employing these methods, as well as suggestions and directions for further research. © 2013 American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy.

A thematic analysis of factors influencing recruitment to maternal and perinatal trials

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Middleton Philippa F

2008-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Recruitment of eligible participants remains one of the biggest challenges to successful completion of randomised controlled trials (RCTs. Only one third of trials recruit on time, often requiring a lengthy extension to the recruitment period. We identified factors influencing recruitment success and potentially effective recruitment strategies. Methods We searched MEDLINE and EMBASE from 1966 to December Week 2, 2006, the Cochrane Library Methodology Register in December 2006, and hand searched reference lists for studies of any design which focused on recruitment to maternal/perinatal trials, or if no studies of maternal or perinatal research could be identified, other areas of healthcare. Studies of nurses' and midwives' attitudes to research were included as none specifically about trials were located. We synthesised the data narratively, using a basic thematic analysis, with themes derived from the literature and after discussion between the authors. Results Around half of the included papers (29/53 were specific to maternal and perinatal healthcare. Only one study was identified which focused on factors for maternal and perinatal clinicians and only seven studies considered recruitment strategies specific to perinatal research. Themes included: participant assessment of risk; recruitment process; participant understanding of research; patient characteristics; clinician attitudes to research and trials; protocol issues; and institutional or organisational issues. While no reliable evidence base for strategies to enhance recruitment was identified in any of the review studies, four maternal/perinatal primary studies suggest that specialised recruitment staff, mass mailings, physician referrals and strategies targeting minority women may increase recruitment. However these findings may only be applicable to the particular trials and settings studied. Conclusion Although factors reported by both participants and clinicians

Nominal Performance Biosphere Dose Conversion Factor Analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

M.A. Wasiolek

2003-07-25

This analysis report is one of the technical reports containing documentation of the Environmental Radiation Model for Yucca Mountain, Nevada (ERMYN), a biosphere model supporting the Total System Performance Assessment (TSPA) for the license application (LA) for the Yucca Mountain repository. This analysis report describes the development of biosphere dose conversion factors (BDCFs) for the groundwater exposure scenario, and the development of conversion factors for assessing compliance with the groundwater protection standard. A graphical representation of the documentation hierarchy for the ERMYN is presented in Figure 1-1. This figure shows the interrelationships among the products (i.e., analysis and model reports) developed for biosphere modeling and provides an understanding of how this analysis report contributes to biosphere modeling. This report is one of two reports that develop biosphere BDCFs, which are input parameters for the TSPA model. The ''Biosphere Model Report'' (BSC 2003 [DIRS 164186]) describes in detail the ERMYN conceptual model and mathematical model. The input parameter reports (BSC 2003 [DIRS 160964]; BSC 2003 [DIRS 160965]; BSC 2003 [DIRS 160976]; BSC 2003 [DIRS 161239]; BSC 2003 [DIRS 161241]) contain detailed description of the model input parameters. This report describes biosphere model calculations and their output, the BDCFs, for the groundwater exposure scenario. The objectives of this analysis are to develop BDCFs and conversion factors for the TSPA. The BDCFs will be used in performance assessment for calculating annual doses for a given concentration of radionuclides in groundwater. The conversion factors will be used for calculating gross alpha particle activity in groundwater and the annual dose from beta- and photon-emitting radionuclides.

Hand function evaluation: a factor analysis study.

Science.gov (United States)

Jarus, T; Poremba, R

1993-05-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate hand function evaluations. Factor analysis with varimax rotation was used to assess the fundamental characteristics of the items included in the Jebsen Hand Function Test and the Smith Hand Function Evaluation. The study sample consisted of 144 subjects without disabilities and 22 subjects with Colles fracture. Results suggest a four factor solution: Factor I--pinch movement; Factor II--grasp; Factor III--target accuracy; and Factor IV--activities of daily living. These categories differentiated the subjects without Colles fracture from the subjects with Colles fracture. A hand function evaluation consisting of these four factors would be useful. Such an evaluation that can be used for current clinical purposes is provided.

Salivary SPECT and factor analysis in Sjoegren's syndrome

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nakamura, T.; Oshiumi, Y.; Yonetsu, K.; Muranaka, T.; Sakai, K.; Kanda, S.; National Fukuoka Central Hospital

1991-01-01

Salivary SPECT and factor analysis in Sjoegren's syndrome were performed in 17 patients and 6 volunteers as controls. The ability of SPECT to detect small differences in the level of uptake can be used to separate glands from background even when uptake is reduced as in the patients with Sjoegren's syndrome. In control and probable Sjoegren's syndrome groups the uptake ratio of the submandibular gland to parotid gland on salivary SPECT (S/P ratio) was less than 1.0. However, in the definite Sjoergren's syndrome group, the ratio was more than 1.0. Moreover, the ratio in all patients with sialectasia, which is characteristic of Sjoegren's syndrome, was more than 1.0. Salivary factor analysis of normal parotid glands showed slowly increasing patterns of uptake and normal submandibular glands had rapidly increasing patterns of uptake. However, in the definite Sjoegren's syndrome group, the factor analysis patterns were altered, with slowly increasing patterns dominating both in the parotid and submandibular glands. These results suggest that the S/P ratio in salivary SPECT and salivary factor analysis provide additional radiologic criteria in diagnosing Sjoegren's syndrome. (orig.)

Disability Evaluation Systems Analysis and Research Annual Report 2015

Science.gov (United States)

2016-03-21

Army and Air Force had higher percentages of reserve component disability evaluations, likely due to the inclusion of National Guard service members...Annual Report 2015 Disability Evaluation Systems Analysis and Research Prepared by Accession Medical Standards Analysis and Research Activity...Preventive Medicine Branch Walter Reed Army Institute of Research Silver Spring, Maryland Disability Evaluation Systems Analysis and Research

Disability Evaluation System Analysis and Research Annual Report 2015

Science.gov (United States)

2016-03-11

Inclusion of laboratory and diagnostic information on the medical condition or injury that precipitated the disability evaluation in each service’s...Annual Report 2015 Disability Evaluation Systems Analysis and Research Prepared by Accession Medical Standards Analysis and Research Activity...Preventive Medicine Branch Walter Reed Army Institute of Research Silver Spring, Maryland Disability Evaluation Systems Analysis and Research

Factor analysis shows association between family activity environment and children's health behaviour.

Science.gov (United States)

Hendrie, Gilly A; Coveney, John; Cox, David N

2011-12-01

To characterise the family activity environment in a questionnaire format, assess the questionnaire's reliability and describe its predictive ability by examining the relationships between the family activity environment and children's health behaviours - physical activity, screen time and fruit and vegetable intake. This paper describes the creation of a tool, based on previously validated scales, adapted from the food domain. Data are from 106 children and their parents (Adelaide, South Australia). Factor analysis was used to characterise factors within the family activity environment. Pearson-Product Moment correlations between the family environment and child outcomes, controlling for demographic variation, were examined. Three factors described the family activity environment - parental activity involvement, opportunity for role modelling and parental support for physical activity - and explained 37.6% of the variance. Controlling for demographic factors, the scale was significantly correlated with children's health behaviour - physical activity (r=0.27), screen time (r=-0.24) and fruit and vegetable intake (r=0.34). The family activity environment questionnaire shows high internal consistency and moderate predictive ability. This study has built on previous research by taking a more comprehensive approach to measuring the family activity environment. This research suggests the family activity environment should be considered in family-based health promotion interventions. © 2011 The Authors. ANZJPH © 2011 Public Health Association of Australia.

A critical analysis of the influence of start-up factors in small businesses and entrepreneurial ventures in SA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. J. Van Vuuren

2007-12-01

Full Text Available Purpose: This paper focuses on a critical analysis of the influence of start-up factors in small businesses and entrepreneurial ventures in Gauteng, a province in South Africa. Problem investigated: Owing to the low economic growth, high unemployment, and an unsatisfactory level of poverty in South Africa, entrepreneurship becomes a critical solution for the starting and developing of small businesses. Although the South African Government are constantly improving in eliminating barriers to potential start-ups, South Africa's TEA is not up to standard if it wants to sustain economic growth rates that will create wealth for everybody. Various factors influence and play a role in the establishment and operation of small businesses and entrepreneurial ventures. Design/methodology/approach: An ex-post facto, formal research design was used as respondents were requested to indicate on a four-point scale how important they deemed 37 items in a structured personal interview. A sample of 312 elements was included in the research. The data was analysed through a factor analysis and analysis of variance. Findings: Four factors were identified that influence the start-up of small businesses and entrepreneurial ventures. They are: personal management and involvement; role models; effective time management; and support from partners and advisors. It is very clear that there is a definite difference in the needs and factors influencing: women and male entrepreneurs; the age of entrepreneurs and the stage of the business in its life cycle.Value of research: By analysing the factors that influence start-up, it can make potential entrepreneurs aware of theimportance of considering these factors in the start-up and growth of their businesses. Conclusion: The findings of this research are in line with similar international research (Mazzarol et al., 1999 and Deakins & Freel, 2003 on various aspects influencing the start-up of businesses. Although a lot of support

A confirmatory factor analysis of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale for Students in a Chinese sample.

Science.gov (United States)

Meng, Lina; Jin, Yi

2017-02-01

Educational institutions play an important role in encouraging students' engagement with course work. Educators are finding instruments to measure students' engagement in order to develop strategies to improve it. Little is known about the factor structure of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale for Students among Chinese nursing students. The aim of this research was to examine the factor structure of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale for Students via confirmatory factor analysis. The study used a cross-sectional design. A sample of 480 students from a nursing school in one Chinese university completed the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale for Students. Factor analysis was used to analyze the resulting data. The overall results of internal consistency reliability and confirmatory factor analysis provided evidence supporting the reliability and three-factor structure of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale for Students. The total internal consistency reliability coefficients were 0.91. Model comparison tests indicated that an oblique factors model that permitted correlations between pairs of error terms fitted the data better than other first-order models. In addition, due to the three strongly intercorrelated factors, a second-order model was found to fit the data well, providing support for the factorial structure of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale for Students. The findings of confirmatory factor analysis provided evidence supporting the reliability and three-factor structure of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale for Students when evaluated with a Chinese nursing student sample in this study. Thus, it is appropriate to use The Utrecht Work Engagement Scale for Students in for assessing the engagement among Chinese nursing students. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Factors influencing the effectiveness of research ethics committees.

Science.gov (United States)

Schuppli, C A; Fraser, D

2007-05-01

Research ethics committees - animal ethics committees (AECs) for animal-based research and institutional research boards (IRBs) for human subjects - have a key role in research governance, but there has been little study of the factors influencing their effectiveness. The objectives of this study were to examine how the effectiveness of a research ethics committee is influenced by committee composition and dynamics, recruitment of members, workload, participation level and member turnover. As a model, 28 members of AECs at four universities in western Canada were interviewed. Committees were selected to represent variation in the number and type of protocols reviewed, and participants were selected to include different types of committee members. We found that a bias towards institutional or scientific interests may result from (1) a preponderance of institutional and scientist members, (2) an intimidating atmosphere for community members and other minority members, (3) recruitment of community members who are affiliated with the institution and (4) members joining for reasons other than to fulfil the committee mandate. Thoroughness of protocol review may be influenced by heavy workloads, type of review process and lack of full committee participation. These results, together with results from the literature on research ethics committees, suggested potential ways to improve the effectiveness of research ethics committees.

The Relationship of Bureaucratic Structure to School Climate: An Exploratory Factor Analysis of Construct Validity

Science.gov (United States)

Lennon, Patricia A.

2010-01-01

This researcher examined the relationship of bureaucratic structure to school climate by means of an exploratory factor analysis of a measure of bureaucracy developed by Hoy and Sweetland (2000) and the four dimensional measure of climate developed by Hoy, Smith, and Sweetland (2002). Since there had been no other empirical studies whose authors…

A retrospective content analysis of studies on factors constraining the implementation of health sector reform in Ghana.

Science.gov (United States)

Sakyi, E Kojo

2008-01-01

Ghana has undertaken many public service management reforms in the past two decades. But the implementation of the reforms has been constrained by many factors. This paper undertakes a retrospective study of research works on the challenges to the implementation of reforms in the public health sector. It points out that most of the studies identified: (1) centralised, weak and fragmented management system; (2) poor implementation strategy; (3) lack of motivation; (4) weak institutional framework; (5) lack of financial and human resources and (6) staff attitude and behaviour as the major causes of ineffective reform implementation. The analysis further revealed that quite a number of crucial factors obstructing reform implementation which are particularly internal to the health system have either not been thoroughly studied or overlooked. The analysis identified lack of leadership; weak communication and consultation; lack of stakeholder participation, corruption and unethical professional behaviour as some of the missing variables in the literature. The study, therefore, indicated that there are gaps in the literature that needed to be filled through rigorous reform evaluation based on empirical research particularly at district, sub-district and community levels. It further suggested that future research should be concerned with the effects of both systems and structures and behavioural factors on reform implementation.

Nominal Performance Biosphere Dose Conversion Factor Analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

M.A. Wasiolek

2005-04-28

This analysis report is one of the technical reports containing documentation of the Environmental Radiation Model for Yucca Mountain, Nevada (ERMYN), a biosphere model supporting the Total System Performance Assessment (TSPA) for the license application (LA) for the Yucca Mountain repository. This analysis report describes the development of biosphere dose conversion factors (BDCFs) for the groundwater exposure scenario, and the development of conversion factors for assessing compliance with the groundwater protection standards. A graphical representation of the documentation hierarchy for the ERMYN is presented in Figure 1-1. This figure shows the interrelationships among the products (i.e., analysis and model reports) developed for biosphere modeling and provides an understanding of how this analysis report contributes to biosphere modeling. This report is one of two reports that develop BDCFs, which are input parameters for the TSPA-LA model. The ''Biosphere Model Report'' (BSC 2004 [DIRS 169460]) describes in detail the ERMYN conceptual model and mathematical model. The input parameter reports, shown to the right of the ''Biosphere Model Report'' in Figure 1-1, contain detailed description of the model input parameters, their development, and the relationship between the parameters and specific features events and processes (FEPs). This report describes biosphere model calculations and their output, the BDCFs, for the groundwater exposure scenario. This analysis receives direct input from the outputs of the ''Biosphere Model Report'' (BSC 2004 [DIRS 169460]) and the five analyses that develop parameter values for the biosphere model (BSC 2005 [DIRS 172827]; BSC 2004 [DIRS 169672]; BSC 2004 [DIRS 169673]; BSC 2004 [DIRS 169458]; BSC 2004 [DIRS 169459]). The results of this report are further analyzed in the ''Biosphere Dose Conversion Factor Importance and Sensitivity Analysis

Original Research Factors associated with hospital arrival time after ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Original Research. Factors associated with hospital arrival time after the onset of stroke symptoms: A cross-sectional study at two teaching hospitals in Harare, Zimbabwe .... hypertension causing small vessel disease which outweigh the causes of ..... Stroke Mechanism in Atherosclerotic Middle Cerebral Artery Disease:.

Calculating the Unit Cost Factors for Decommissioning Cost Estimation of the Nuclear Research Reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jeong, Kwan Seong; Lee, Dong Gyu; Jung, Chong Hun; Lee, Kune Woo

2006-01-01

The estimated decommissioning cost of nuclear research reactor is calculated by applying a unit cost factor-based engineering cost calculation method on which classification of decommissioning works fitted with the features and specifications of decommissioning objects and establishment of composition factors are based. Decommissioning cost of nuclear research reactor is composed of labor cost, equipment and materials cost. Labor cost of decommissioning costs in decommissioning works are calculated on the basis of working time consumed in decommissioning objects. In this paper, the unit cost factors and work difficulty factors which are needed to calculate the labor cost in estimating decommissioning cost of nuclear research reactor are derived and figured out.

Factor Analysis for Clustered Observations.

Science.gov (United States)

Longford, N. T.; Muthen, B. O.

1992-01-01

A two-level model for factor analysis is defined, and formulas for a scoring algorithm for this model are derived. A simple noniterative method based on decomposition of total sums of the squares and cross-products is discussed and illustrated with simulated data and data from the Second International Mathematics Study. (SLD)

The Utility of Template Analysis in Qualitative Psychology Research

OpenAIRE

Brooks, Joanna; McCluskey, Serena; Turley, Emma L.; King, Nigel

2015-01-01

Thematic analysis is widely used in qualitative psychology research, and in this article, we present a particular style of thematic analysis known as Template Analysis. We outline the technique and consider its epistemological position, then describe three case studies of research projects which employed Template Analysis to illustrate the diverse ways it can be used. Our first case study illustrates how the technique was employed in data analysis undertaken by a team of researchers in a larg...

Are Eating Disorders and Related Symptoms Risk Factors for Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors? A Meta-analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, April R; Velkoff, Elizabeth A; Ribeiro, Jessica D; Franklin, Joseph

2018-02-14

This meta-analysis addressed whether eating disorders (EDs) are risk factors (i.e., longitudinal predictors) for suicidal thoughts and behaviors. We identified 2,611 longitudinal studies published through August 1, 2017. Inclusion required studies include at least one longitudinal analysis predicting suicide ideation, attempt, or death using an ED diagnosis and/or symptom. Fourteen studies (42 prediction cases) met criteria. Results indicated that clinically diagnosed EDs and disordered eating symptoms were significant but weak predictors of suicide attempts but not death. Effects remained weak when moderators were considered. By reviewing the methodological limitations of previous research, these results highlight avenues for future research. © 2018 The American Association of Suicidology.

Analysis and optimization of the TWINKLE factoring device

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lenstra, A.K.; Shamir, A.; Preneel, B.

2000-01-01

We describe an enhanced version of the TWINKLE factoring device and analyse to what extent it can be expected to speed up the sieving step of the Quadratic Sieve and Number Field Sieve factoring al- gorithms. The bottom line of our analysis is that the TWINKLE-assisted factorization of 768-bit

Nominal Performance Biosphere Dose Conversion Factor Analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

M. Wasiolek

2004-09-08

This analysis report is one of the technical reports containing documentation of the Environmental Radiation Model for Yucca Mountain, Nevada (ERMYN), a biosphere model supporting the Total System Performance Assessment (TSPA) for the license application (LA) for the Yucca Mountain repository. This analysis report describes the development of biosphere dose conversion factors (BDCFs) for the groundwater exposure scenario, and the development of conversion factors for assessing compliance with the groundwater protection standard. A graphical representation of the documentation hierarchy for the ERMYN is presented in Figure 1-1. This figure shows the interrelationships among the products (i.e., analysis and model reports) developed for biosphere modeling and provides an understanding of how this analysis report contributes to biosphere modeling. This report is one of two reports that develop biosphere BDCFs, which are input parameters for the TSPA-LA model. The ''Biosphere Model Report'' (BSC 2004 [DIRS 169460]) describes in detail the ERMYN conceptual model and mathematical model. The input parameter reports, shown to the right of the ''Biosphere Model Report'' in Figure 1-1, contain detailed description of the model input parameters, their development, and the relationship between the parameters and specific features events and processes (FEPs). This report describes biosphere model calculations and their output, the BDCFs, for the groundwater exposure scenario. The objectives of this analysis are to develop BDCFs for the groundwater exposure scenario for the three climate states considered in the TSPA-LA as well as conversion factors for evaluating compliance with the groundwater protection standard. The BDCFs will be used in performance assessment for calculating all-pathway annual doses for a given concentration of radionuclides in groundwater. The conversion factors will be used for calculating gross alpha particle

Nominal Performance Biosphere Dose Conversion Factor Analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

M. Wasiolek

2004-01-01

This analysis report is one of the technical reports containing documentation of the Environmental Radiation Model for Yucca Mountain, Nevada (ERMYN), a biosphere model supporting the Total System Performance Assessment (TSPA) for the license application (LA) for the Yucca Mountain repository. This analysis report describes the development of biosphere dose conversion factors (BDCFs) for the groundwater exposure scenario, and the development of conversion factors for assessing compliance with the groundwater protection standard. A graphical representation of the documentation hierarchy for the ERMYN is presented in Figure 1-1. This figure shows the interrelationships among the products (i.e., analysis and model reports) developed for biosphere modeling and provides an understanding of how this analysis report contributes to biosphere modeling. This report is one of two reports that develop biosphere BDCFs, which are input parameters for the TSPA-LA model. The ''Biosphere Model Report'' (BSC 2004 [DIRS 169460]) describes in detail the ERMYN conceptual model and mathematical model. The input parameter reports, shown to the right of the ''Biosphere Model Report'' in Figure 1-1, contain detailed description of the model input parameters, their development, and the relationship between the parameters and specific features events and processes (FEPs). This report describes biosphere model calculations and their output, the BDCFs, for the groundwater exposure scenario. The objectives of this analysis are to develop BDCFs for the groundwater exposure scenario for the three climate states considered in the TSPA-LA as well as conversion factors for evaluating compliance with the groundwater protection standard. The BDCFs will be used in performance assessment for calculating all-pathway annual doses for a given concentration of radionuclides in groundwater. The conversion factors will be used for calculating gross alpha particle activity in groundwater and the annual dose

OASIS 2: online application for survival analysis 2 with features for the analysis of maximal lifespan and healthspan in aging research.

Science.gov (United States)

Han, Seong Kyu; Lee, Dongyeop; Lee, Heetak; Kim, Donghyo; Son, Heehwa G; Yang, Jae-Seong; Lee, Seung-Jae V; Kim, Sanguk

2016-08-30

Online application for survival analysis (OASIS) has served as a popular and convenient platform for the statistical analysis of various survival data, particularly in the field of aging research. With the recent advances in the fields of aging research that deal with complex survival data, we noticed a need for updates to the current version of OASIS. Here, we report OASIS 2 (http://sbi.postech.ac.kr/oasis2), which provides extended statistical tools for survival data and an enhanced user interface. In particular, OASIS 2 enables the statistical comparison of maximal lifespans, which is potentially useful for determining key factors that limit the lifespan of a population. Furthermore, OASIS 2 provides statistical and graphical tools that compare values in different conditions and times. That feature is useful for comparing age-associated changes in physiological activities, which can be used as indicators of "healthspan." We believe that OASIS 2 will serve as a standard platform for survival analysis with advanced and user-friendly statistical tools for experimental biologists in the field of aging research.

Analysis of factors that inhibiting implementation of Information Security Management System (ISMS) based on ISO 27001

Science.gov (United States)

Tatiara, R.; Fajar, A. N.; Siregar, B.; Gunawan, W.

2018-03-01

The purpose of this research is to determine multi factors that inhibiting the implementation of the ISMS based on ISO 2700. It is also to propose a follow-up recommendation on the factors that inhibit the implementation of the ISMS. Data collection is derived from questionnaires to 182 respondents from users in data center operation (DCO) at bca, Indonesian telecommunication international (telin), and data centre division at Indonesian Ministry of Health. We analysing data collection with multiple linear regression analysis and paired t-test. The results are multiple factors which inhibiting the implementation of the ISMS from the three organizations which has implement and operate the ISMS, ISMS documentation management, and continual improvement. From this research, we concluded that the processes of implementation in ISMS is the necessity of the role of all parties in succeeding the implementation of the ISMS continuously.

A cross-country analysis of total factor productivity using micro-level data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Murat Şeker

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Total factor productivity (TFP is a crucial measure of efficiency and thus an important tool for policymakers. However, research on comparison of TFP performances using micro-level data across developing countries has been limited due to the unavailability of homogenous data sources. This study aims to fill this crucial gap by using a data set which has been collected through a large body of surveys conducted across 69 developing countries following the same methodology. The homogenous nature of the data and the diverse set of questions included in the surveys provide unique opportunity to compare average productivity performances of firms across a large set of characteristics and business environment factors. The analysis performed here provides the groundwork for testing various stylized facts about TFP and its related factors such as exporting, innovation, access to finance, foreign ownership, and regulations across developing countries.

Transforming Rubrics Using Factor Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Baryla, Ed; Shelley, Gary; Trainor, William

2012-01-01

Student learning and program effectiveness is often assessed using rubrics. While much time and effort may go into their creation, it is equally important to assess how effective and efficient the rubrics actually are in terms of measuring competencies over a number of criteria. This study demonstrates the use of common factor analysis to identify…

Neutronics analysis of Nigerian Research Reactor-1

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Azande, T.S.; Balogun, G.I.

2010-01-01

Feasibility studies for the conversion of the Nigerian Research Reactor-1 (NIRR-1) have been performed using WIMS and CITATION codes (Azande et al, 2009 and Balogun, 2003) at the Centre for Energy Research and Training (CERT), Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria Kaduna State. In this work, the neutronics analysis of NIRR-1 core concerning mass loading of U-235 in the core, shut down margin (SDM), safety reactivity factor (SRF), control rod worth, and control rod critical depth of insertion were investigated at low enrichment. Two fuel types (UAl 4 and UO 2 ) were considered and the uranium densities required for the conversion of NIRR-1 core to low enrichment were computed to be 1201g/cc with 20% enrichment, 1144 g/cc with 19.75% enrichment, 1274 g/cc with 15% enrichment, 1448 g/cc with 10% enrichment for UAl 4 fuel type and 1141g/cc with 20% enrichment, 1144 g/cc with 19.75% enrichment, 1216 g/cc with 15% enrichment, and 1389 g/cc with 10% enrichment for UO 2 fuel type. Signi ficantly, higher uranium densities are required to convert NIRR-1 from HEU to LEU - indicating a drastic review of the NIRR-1 core.

Research reactor job analysis - A project description

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yoder, John; Bessler, Nancy J.

1988-01-01

Addressing the need of the improved training in nuclear industry, nuclear utilities established training program guidelines based on Performance-Based Training (PBT) concepts. The comparison of commercial nuclear power facilities with research and test reactors owned by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), made in an independent review of personnel selection, training, and qualification requirements for DOE-owned reactors pointed out that the complexity of the most critical tasks in research reactors is less than that in power reactors. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) started a project by commissioning Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU) to conduct a job analysis survey of representative research reactor facilities. The output of the project consists of two publications: Volume 1 - Research Reactor Job Analysis: Overview, which contains an Introduction, Project Description, Project Methodology,, and. An Overview of Performance-Based Training (PBT); and Volume 2 - Research Reactor Job Analysis: Implementation, which contains Guidelines for Application of Preliminary Task Lists and Preliminary Task Lists for Reactor Operators and Supervisory Reactor Operators

Factors Influencing the Research Participation of Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Science.gov (United States)

Haas, Kaaren; Costley, Debra; Falkmer, Marita; Richdale, Amanda; Sofronoff, Kate; Falkmer, Torbjörn

2016-01-01

Recruiting adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) into research poses particular difficulties; longitudinal studies face additional challenges. This paper reports on a mixed methods study to identify factors influencing the participation in longitudinal autism research of adults with ASD, including those with an intellectual disability, and…

Mixture simultaneous factor analysis for capturing differences in latent variables between higher level units of multilevel data

NARCIS (Netherlands)

De Roover, K.; Vermunt, J.K.; Timmerman, Marieke E.; Ceulemans, Eva

2017-01-01

Given multivariate data, many research questions pertain to the covariance structure: whether and how the variables (for example, personality measures) covary. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) is often used to look for latent variables that may explain the covariances among variables; for example,

Introduction of Human Factors Engineering Program Plan of a Research Reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jang, Tong Il; Lee, Hyun Chul

2011-01-01

KAERI (Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute) has a contract with Jordan to export a research and training reactor. KAERI is performing the project as an SD (System Design) and the design work has been performing by 8 design teams which include an Instrumentation and Control (I and C). A design of the MCR (Main Control Room) and the SCR (Supplementary Control Room) is being developed by the HFE design team which is a part of the I and C team. For the control room design considering the human factors principles, the HFE design team developed an HFEPP (Human Factors Engineering Program Plan) which should be established to meet regulatory requirements. In this study, the HFEPP for the JRTR (Jordan Research and Training Reactor) is introduced and the details are described

A Factor Analysis of the BSRI and the PAQ.

Science.gov (United States)

Edwards, Teresa A.; And Others

Factor analysis of the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) and the Personality Attributes Questionnaire (PAQ) was undertaken to study the independence of the masculine and feminine scales within each instrument. Both instruments were administered to undergraduate education majors. Analysis of primary first and second order factors of the BSRI indicated…

Identification of noise in linear data sets by factor analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roscoe, B.A.; Hopke, Ph.K.

1982-01-01

A technique which has the ability to identify bad data points, after the data has been generated, is classical factor analysis. The ability of classical factor analysis to identify two different types of data errors make it ideally suited for scanning large data sets. Since the results yielded by factor analysis indicate correlations between parameters, one must know something about the nature of the data set and the analytical techniques used to obtain it to confidentially isolate errors. (author)

Pediatric nurses' perception of factors associated with caring self-efficacy: A qualitative content analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Alavi, Azam; Bahrami, Masoud; Zargham-Boroujeni, Ali; Yousefy, Alireza

2015-01-01

Nurses, who are considered to form the largest group of professional healthcare providers, face the challenge of maintaining, promoting, and providing quality nursing care and to prepare themselves to function confidently and to care effectively. Among the factors affecting nursing performance, self-efficacy has been expected to have the greatest influence. However, the concept of caring self-efficacy was not considered and no research has been done in this field in Iran. This study was conducted to explore and identify the factors described by pediatric nurses as related to caring self-efficacy. This is a qualitative study conducted through content analysis in 2013 in Iran. Twenty-four participants were selected through purposive sampling method from pediatric nurses and educators. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews. Data were analyzed using conventional content analysis method. The analysis of the interviews in this study led to the development of four main themes: (1) Professional knowledge of children caring, (2) experience, (3) caring motivation, and (4) efficient educational system as the factors influencing caring self-efficacy perception of pediatric nurses. This article presents the factors associated with the perception of caring self-efficacy in pediatric nurses' perspective. This finding can be used by nursing administrators and instructors, especially in the area of pediatric caring, to enhance nursing professional practice and the quality of pediatric caring.

Development of a steady thermal-hydraulic analysis code for the China Advanced Research Reactor

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

TIAN Wenxi; QIU Suizheng; GUO Yun; SU Guanghui; JIA Dounan; LIU Tiancai; ZHANG Jianwei

2007-01-01

A multi-channel model steady-state thermalhydraulic analysis code was developed for the China Advanced Research Reactor (CARR). By simulating the whole reactor core, the detailed mass flow distribution in the core was obtained. The result shows that structure size plays the most important role in mass flow distribution, and the influence of core power could be neglected under singlephase flow. The temperature field of the fuel element under unsymmetrical cooling condition was also obtained, which is necessary for further study such as stress analysis, etc. Of the fuel element. At the same time, considering the hot channel effect including engineering factor and nuclear factor, calculation of the mean and hot channel was carried out and it is proved that all thermal-hydraulic parameters satisfy the "Safety design regulation of CARR".

"Factor Analysis Using ""R"""

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A. Alexander Beaujean

2013-02-01

Full Text Available R (R Development Core Team, 2011 is a very powerful tool to analyze data, that is gaining in popularity due to its costs (its free and flexibility (its open-source. This article gives a general introduction to using R (i.e., loading the program, using functions, importing data. Then, using data from Canivez, Konold, Collins, and Wilson (2009, this article walks the user through how to use the program to conduct factor analysis, from both an exploratory and confirmatory approach.

Confirmatory Factor Analysis in the study of the Structure and Stability of Assessment Instruments: An example with the Self-Esteem Questionnaire (CA-14

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Juan Herrero

2010-12-01

Full Text Available This research presents a study of the factor structure and temporal stability of the Self-Esteem Questionnaire (CA-14 using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA techniques. The paper pretends to offer a potential guide to researchers, paying special attention to data requirements, estimation methods suggested in the literature, recommended fit indices and other circumstances that need to be taken into account when estimating CFA models. Also, various methodological strategies are shown during the implementation of CFA models: correlated errors, use of parameter constraints, multigroup analysis, etc.

Editorial: The researcher and the research in criminal sciences in contemporaneity

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Caíque Ribeiro Galícia

2017-10-01

Full Text Available This editorial presents a general analysis of the contemporary reality of the researcher and research in criminal sciences in Brazil. The researcher's profile is sought as an important component to understand the choices of criminal science research guidelines, with a focus on overcoming the false claim of impartiality of the subject-researcher. In this panorama, an analysis of legal research in Brazil is made, highlighting the most important role in the better understanding of legal science, but also as a factor of social, cultural, political and economic development.

Implementing Research in Professional Higher Education: Factors That Influence Lecturers' Perceptions

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Griffioen, Didi M. E.; de Jong, Uulkje

2015-01-01

Higher professional education in Europe has changed from teaching-only institutes to hybrids of teaching and research. The purpose of this study was to examine factors that influence the judgements of lecturers about new organisational goals and perceptions of their new research-related competencies. Lecturers' judgements of new organisational…

A Confirmatory Factor Analysis Model of Servant Leader of School Director Under the Office of the Vocational Education Commission in Thailand

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Boonchan Sisan

2017-11-01

Full Text Available This research aims to develop and examine the Goodness-of-Fit Index of Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA in servant leader of school director under the Office of the Vocational Education Commission (OVEC. The result is based on the empirical data. The sample group consisted of 247 school directors under the OVEC. The samples were taken using Multi - Stage Sampling randomized technique. Research instrument was questionnaire which had 0.80 - 1.00 for item objective congruence, discriminative power with 0.46 - .80 , and reliability of .95. The data analysed by Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA. The study shows the servant leader of school director under the OVEC consists of six factors: Appreciating of Others, Developing Others, Developing Community, moral Expressions, Supporting Leadership, and Using Leadership Together. The results of examination of the Goodness-of-Fit Index of Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA found the model fit indexes based on the empirical data were =280.89; df=252; P-value=0.10204; Relative =1.11; RMSEA=0.022; NFI=0.98; RMR=0.016; SRMR=0.041; GFI=0.92; AGFI=0.89; NIF=0.98; IFI=1.00; CFI=1.00; CN=252.56. The factor loadings of six factors were from 0.73 – 0.94 and factor loadings of indicators were from -0.39 – 0.57.

Multivariate analysis of structure and contribution per shares made by potential risk factors at malignant neoplasms in trachea, bronchial tubes and lung

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G.T. Aydinov

2017-03-01

Full Text Available The article gives the results of multivariate analysis of structure and contribution per shares made by potential risk factors at malignant neoplasms in trachea, bronchial tubes and lung. The authors used specialized databases comprising personified records on oncologic diseases in Taganrog, Rostov region, over 1986-2015 (30,684 registered cases of malignant neoplasms, including 3,480 cases of trachea cancer, bronchial tubes cancer, and lung cancer. When carrying out analytical research we applied both multivariate statistical techniques (factor analysis and hierarchical cluster correlation analysis and conventional techniques of epidemiologic analysis including etiologic fraction calculation (EF, as well as an original technique of assessing actual (epidemiologic risk. Average long-term morbidity with trachea, bronchial tubes and lung cancer over 2011-2015 amounts to 46.64 o / oooo . Over the last 15 years a stable decreasing trend has formed, annual average growth being – 1.22 %. This localization holds the 3rd rank place in oncologic morbidity structure, its specific weight being 10.02 %. We determined etiological fraction (EF for smoking as a priority risk factor causing trachea, bronchial tubes and lung cancer; this fraction amounts to 76.19 % for people aged 40 and older, and to 81.99 % for those aged 60 and older. Application of multivariate statistical techniques (factor analysis and cluster correlation analysis in this research enabled us to make factor structure more simple; namely, to highlight, interpret, give a quantitative estimate of self-descriptiveness and rank four group (latent potential risk factors causing lung cancer.

Driving factors behind carbon dioxide emissions in China: A modified production-theoretical decomposition analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, Qunwei; Chiu, Yung-Ho; Chiu, Ching-Ren

2015-01-01

Research on the driving factors behind carbon dioxide emission changes in China can inform better carbon emission reduction policies and help develop a low-carbon economy. As one of important methods, production-theoretical decomposition analysis (PDA) has been widely used to understand these driving factors. To avoid the infeasibility issue in solving the linear programming, this study proposed a modified PDA approach to decompose carbon dioxide emission changes into seven drivers. Using 2005–2010 data, the study found that economic development was the largest factor of increasing carbon dioxide emissions. The second factor was energy structure (reflecting potential carbon), and the third factor was low energy efficiency. Technological advances, energy intensity reductions, and carbon dioxide emission efficiency improvements were the negative driving factors reducing carbon dioxide emission growth rates. Carbon dioxide emissions and driving factors varied significantly across east, central and west China. - Highlights: • A modified PDA used to decompose carbon dioxide emission changes into seven drivers. • Two models were proposed to ameliorate the infeasible occasions. • Economic development was the largest factor of increasing CO_2 emissions in China.

Using Framework Analysis in nursing research: a worked example.

Science.gov (United States)

Ward, Deborah J; Furber, Christine; Tierney, Stephanie; Swallow, Veronica

2013-11-01

To demonstrate Framework Analysis using a worked example and to illustrate how criticisms of qualitative data analysis including issues of clarity and transparency can be addressed. Critics of the analysis of qualitative data sometimes cite lack of clarity and transparency about analytical procedures; this can deter nurse researchers from undertaking qualitative studies. Framework Analysis is flexible, systematic, and rigorous, offering clarity, transparency, an audit trail, an option for theme-based and case-based analysis and for readily retrievable data. This paper offers further explanation of the process undertaken which is illustrated with a worked example. Data were collected from 31 nursing students in 2009 using semi-structured interviews. The data collected are not reported directly here but used as a worked example for the five steps of Framework Analysis. Suggestions are provided to guide researchers through essential steps in undertaking Framework Analysis. The benefits and limitations of Framework Analysis are discussed. Nurses increasingly use qualitative research methods and need to use an analysis approach that offers transparency and rigour which Framework Analysis can provide. Nurse researchers may find the detailed critique of Framework Analysis presented in this paper a useful resource when designing and conducting qualitative studies. Qualitative data analysis presents challenges in relation to the volume and complexity of data obtained and the need to present an 'audit trail' for those using the research findings. Framework Analysis is an appropriate, rigorous and systematic method for undertaking qualitative analysis. © 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

MULTI-FACTOR ANALYSIS FOR SELECTING LUNAR EXPLORATION SOFT LANDING AREA AND THE BEST CRUISE ROUTE

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N. Mou

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Selecting the right soft landing area and planning a reasonable cruise route are the basic tasks of lunar exploration. In this paper, the Von Karman crater in the Antarctic Aitken basin on the back of the moon is used as the study area, and multi-factor analysis is used to evaluate the landing area and cruise route of lunar exploration. The evaluation system mainly includes the factors such as the density of craters, the impact area of craters, the formation of the whole area and the formation of some areas, such as the vertical structure, rock properties and the content of (FeO + TiO2, which can reflect the significance of scientific exploration factor. And the evaluation of scientific exploration is carried out on the basis of safety and feasibility. On the basis of multi-factor superposition analysis, three landing zones A, B and C are selected, and the appropriate cruising route is analyzed through scientific research factors. This study provides a scientific basis for the lunar probe landing and cruise route planning, and it provides technical support for the subsequent lunar exploration.

Multi-Factor Analysis for Selecting Lunar Exploration Soft Landing Area and the best Cruise Route

Science.gov (United States)

Mou, N.; Li, J.; Meng, Z.; Zhang, L.; Liu, W.

2018-04-01

Selecting the right soft landing area and planning a reasonable cruise route are the basic tasks of lunar exploration. In this paper, the Von Karman crater in the Antarctic Aitken basin on the back of the moon is used as the study area, and multi-factor analysis is used to evaluate the landing area and cruise route of lunar exploration. The evaluation system mainly includes the factors such as the density of craters, the impact area of craters, the formation of the whole area and the formation of some areas, such as the vertical structure, rock properties and the content of (FeO + TiO2), which can reflect the significance of scientific exploration factor. And the evaluation of scientific exploration is carried out on the basis of safety and feasibility. On the basis of multi-factor superposition analysis, three landing zones A, B and C are selected, and the appropriate cruising route is analyzed through scientific research factors. This study provides a scientific basis for the lunar probe landing and cruise route planning, and it provides technical support for the subsequent lunar exploration.

An Exploratory Factor Analysis of the Sexual Orientation Counselor Competency Scale: Examining the Variable of Experience

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Ali, Shainna; Lambie, Glenn; Bloom, Zachary D.

2017-01-01

The Sexual Orientation Counselor Competency Scale (SOCCS), developed by Bidell in 2005, measures counselors' levels of skills, awareness, and knowledge in assisting lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) clients. In an effort to gain an increased understanding of the construct validity of the SOCCS, researchers performed an exploratory factor analysis on…

Why People Choose to Teach in Urban Schools: The Case for a Push-Pull Factor Analysis

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Knell, Paul F.; Castro, Antonio J.

2014-01-01

This qualitative research study traces the motivations for teaching of 13 teacher candidates enrolled in an urban-based alternative certification program. After using a push-pull factor analysis, the data suggest that most participants left their previous careers due to financial shortcomings or work instability. As a result, these participants…

The Recoverability of P-Technique Factor Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Molenaar, Peter C. M.; Nesselroade, John R.

2009-01-01

It seems that just when we are about to lay P-technique factor analysis finally to rest as obsolete because of newer, more sophisticated multivariate time-series models using latent variables--dynamic factor models--it rears its head to inform us that an obituary may be premature. We present the results of some simulations demonstrating that even…

Human factor analysis and preventive countermeasures in nuclear power plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li Ye

2010-01-01

Based on the human error analysis theory and the characteristics of maintenance in a nuclear power plant, human factors of maintenance in NPP are divided into three different areas: human, technology, and organization. Which is defined as individual factors, including psychological factors, physiological characteristics, health status, level of knowledge and interpersonal skills; The technical factors including technology, equipment, tools, working order, etc.; The organizational factors including management, information exchange, education, working environment, team building and leadership management,etc The analysis found that organizational factors can directly or indirectly affect the behavior of staff and technical factors, is the most basic human error factor. Based on this nuclear power plant to reduce human error and measures the response. (authors)

Individual participant data meta-analysis of prognostic factor studies: state of the art?

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Abo-Zaid Ghada

2012-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Prognostic factors are associated with the risk of a subsequent outcome in people with a given disease or health condition. Meta-analysis using individual participant data (IPD, where the raw data are synthesised from multiple studies, has been championed as the gold-standard for synthesising prognostic factor studies. We assessed the feasibility and conduct of this approach. Methods A systematic review to identify published IPD meta-analyses of prognostic factors studies, followed by detailed assessment of a random sample of 20 articles published from 2006. Six of these 20 articles were from the IMPACT (International Mission for Prognosis and Analysis of Clinical Trials in traumatic brain injury collaboration, for which additional information was also used from simultaneously published companion papers. Results Forty-eight published IPD meta-analyses of prognostic factors were identified up to March 2009. Only three were published before 2000 but thereafter a median of four articles exist per year, with traumatic brain injury the most active research field. Availability of IPD offered many advantages, such as checking modelling assumptions; analysing variables on their continuous scale with the possibility of assessing for non-linear relationships; and obtaining results adjusted for other variables. However, researchers also faced many challenges, such as large cost and time required to obtain and clean IPD; unavailable IPD for some studies; different sets of prognostic factors in each study; and variability in study methods of measurement. The IMPACT initiative is a leading example, and had generally strong design, methodological and statistical standards. Elsewhere, standards are not always as high and improvements in the conduct of IPD meta-analyses of prognostic factor studies are often needed; in particular, continuous variables are often categorised without reason; publication bias and availability bias are rarely

Spinal appearance questionnaire: factor analysis, scoring, reliability, and validity testing.

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Carreon, Leah Y; Sanders, James O; Polly, David W; Sucato, Daniel J; Parent, Stefan; Roy-Beaudry, Marjolaine; Hopkins, Jeffrey; McClung, Anna; Bratcher, Kelly R; Diamond, Beverly E

2011-08-15

Cross sectional. This study presents the factor analysis of the Spinal Appearance Questionnaire (SAQ) and its psychometric properties. Although the SAQ has been administered to a large sample of patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) treated surgically, its psychometric properties have not been fully evaluated. This study presents the factor analysis and scoring of the SAQ and evaluates its psychometric properties. The SAQ and the Scoliosis Research Society-22 (SRS-22) were administered to AIS patients who were being observed, braced or scheduled for surgery. Standard demographic data and radiographic measures including Lenke type and curve magnitude were also collected. Of the 1802 patients, 83% were female; with a mean age of 14.8 years and mean initial Cobb angle of 55.8° (range, 0°-123°). From the 32 items of the SAQ, 15 loaded on two factors with consistent and significant correlations across all Lenke types. There is an Appearance (items 1-10) and an Expectations factor (items 12-15). Responses are summed giving a range of 5 to 50 for the Appearance domain and 5 to 20 for the Expectations domain. The Cronbach's α was 0.88 for both domains and Total score with a test-retest reliability of 0.81 for Appearance and 0.91 for Expectations. Correlations with major curve magnitude were higher for the SAQ Appearance and SAQ Total scores compared to correlations between the SRS Appearance and SRS Total scores. The SAQ and SRS-22 Scores were statistically significantly different in patients who were scheduled for surgery compared to those who were observed or braced. The SAQ is a valid measure of self-image in patients with AIS with greater correlation to curve magnitude than SRS Appearance and Total score. It also discriminates between patients who require surgery from those who do not.

Validation of an e-Learning 3.0 Critical Success Factors Framework: A Qualitative Research

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Paula Miranda

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Aim/Purpose: As e-Learning 3.0 evolves from a theoretical construct into an actual solution for online learning, it becomes crucial to accompany this progress by scrutinising the elements that are at the origin of its success. Background: This paper outlines a framework of e-Learning 3.0’s critical success factors and its empirical validation. Methodology: The framework is the result of an extensive literature review and its empirical substantiation derives from semi-structured interviews with e-Learning experts. Contribution: The viewpoints of the experts enable the confirmation and the refinement of the original framework and serve as a foundation for the prospective implementation of e-Learning 3.0. Findings: The analysis of the interviews demonstrates that e-Learning 3.0 remains in its early stages with a reticent dissemination. Nonetheless, the interviewees invoked factors related to technology, content and stakeholders as being critical for the success of this new phase of e-Learning. Recommendations for Practitioners: Practitioners can use the framework as a guide for promoting and implementing effective e-Learning 3.0 initiatives. Recommendation for Researchers: As a new phenomenon with uncharted potential, e-Learning 3.0 should be placed at the centre of educational research. Impact on Society: The understanding of what drives the success of e-Learning 3.0 is fundamental for its implementation and for the progress of online education in this new stage of its evolution. Future Research: Future research ventures can include the design of quantitative and self-administered data collection instruments that can provide further insight into the elements of the framework.

Psychological factors affecting public acceptance of nuclear energy. Comparative analysis focusing on regional characteristics and degree of knowledge

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kimura, Hiroshi; Suzuki, Atsuyuki; Furuta, Kazuo

2003-01-01

The purpose of this research is to clarify how psychological factors' impact on public acceptance of nuclear energy varies with where they live and their degree of knowledge. For this purpose, we carried out questionnaire survey about nuclear energy at three urban areas and two nuclear power plant siting areas. After collecting data, we applied factor analysis to the data, and found four factors which construct cognitive structure of nuclear energy. Using multiple regression analysis, we evaluated the impact of the four factors on two issues: the decision for or against nuclear policy and the reaction to nuclear power plant siting, and compared changes of the impact by where respondents live and their degree of knowledge. Consequently, we found that the impact of all four factors on the two issues varies with where respondents live. We also found that the impact of respondents' degree of knowledge to four factors varies with where they live. (author)

Multiple Linear Regression Analysis of Factors Affecting Real Property Price Index From Case Study Research In Istanbul/Turkey

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Denli, H. H.; Koc, Z.

2015-12-01

Estimation of real properties depending on standards is difficult to apply in time and location. Regression analysis construct mathematical models which describe or explain relationships that may exist between variables. The problem of identifying price differences of properties to obtain a price index can be converted into a regression problem, and standard techniques of regression analysis can be used to estimate the index. Considering regression analysis for real estate valuation, which are presented in real marketing process with its current characteristics and quantifiers, the method will help us to find the effective factors or variables in the formation of the value. In this study, prices of housing for sale in Zeytinburnu, a district in Istanbul, are associated with its characteristics to find a price index, based on information received from a real estate web page. The associated variables used for the analysis are age, size in m2, number of floors having the house, floor number of the estate and number of rooms. The price of the estate represents the dependent variable, whereas the rest are independent variables. Prices from 60 real estates have been used for the analysis. Same price valued locations have been found and plotted on the map and equivalence curves have been drawn identifying the same valued zones as lines.

Confirmatory factor analysis and invariance testing between Blacks and Whites of the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control scale.

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LaNoue, Marianna; Harvey, Abby; Mautner, Dawn; Ku, Bon; Scott, Kevin

2015-07-01

The factor structure of the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control scale remains in question. Additionally, research on health belief differences between Black and White respondents suggests that the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control scale may not be invariant. We reviewed the literature regarding the latent variable structure of the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control scale, used confirmatory factor analysis to confirm the three-factor structure of the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control, and analyzed between-group differences in the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control structure and means across Black and White respondents. Our results indicate differences in means and structure, indicating more research is needed to inform decisions regarding whether and how to deploy the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control appropriately.

A mixed methods study of the factors that influence whether intervention research has policy and practice impacts: perceptions of Australian researchers.

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Newson, Robyn; King, Lesley; Rychetnik, Lucie; Bauman, Adrian E; Redman, Sally; Milat, Andrew J; Schroeder, Jacqueline; Cohen, Gillian; Chapman, Simon

2015-07-21

To investigate researchers' perceptions about the factors that influenced the policy and practice impacts (or lack of impact) of one of their own funded intervention research studies. Mixed method, cross-sectional study. Intervention research conducted in Australia and funded by Australia's National Health and Medical Research Council between 2003 and 2007. The chief investigators from 50 funded intervention research studies were interviewed to determine if their study had achieved policy and practice impacts, how and why these impacts had (or had not) occurred and the approach to dissemination they had employed. We found that statistically significant intervention effects and publication of results influenced whether there were policy and practice impacts, along with factors related to the nature of the intervention itself, the researchers' experience and connections, their dissemination and translation efforts, and the postresearch context. This study indicates that sophisticated approaches to intervention development, dissemination actions and translational efforts are actually widespread among experienced researches, and can achieve policy and practice impacts. However, it was the links between the intervention results, further dissemination actions by researchers and a variety of postresearch contextual factors that ultimately determined whether a study had policy and practice impacts. Given the complicated interplay between the various factors, there appears to be no simple formula for determining which intervention studies should be funded in order to achieve optimal policy and practice impacts. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

From bibliometric analysis to research policy: the use of SIGAPS in Lille University Hospital.

Science.gov (United States)

Devos, Patrick; Lefranc, Helene; Dufresne, Eric; Beuscart, Regis

2006-01-01

In French hospitals, the progressive setting up of the new rating systems has obliged the university hospitals to justify a certain amount of activities such as research, training or moreover recourse, which are specific missions of the university hospitals. In order to justify research activities, the Lille University Hospital has developed for now three years SIGAPS, a full-web bibliometric software which census and analyse, the scientific publications referenced in the Medline database. After data downloading, each article is classified on a 6 levels "quality scale derived from the impact factors. The system then performs, for a researcher or a team, a report allowing a quantitative and qualitative analysis. Started in Lille in November 2004, the inventory and analysis of data is now ending. For the period 2001-2004, 2814 articles have been published in 700 different journals. The total number of articles increased from 688 in 2001 to 757 in 2004. The mean impact factor was equal to 2.26 and 15.5 % of articles were classified as A, 20.9% as B. Those results confirm the high level of research of the University Hospital of Lille, in agreement with two other national studies which ranks our establishment at the 6th position for medical research activities among the French University Hospitals. Currently a similar evaluation has now began in the 9 other university hospital which have subscribed to the SIGAPS project. We works currently on new indicators as patents, thesis or conferences, or access to other databases as Sciencedirect or Scopus via the RIS format. The next step in the project is the implementation of a meta-base which will federate the information provided by each SIGAPS system. This meta-base will then allow us to perform comparisons between different hospitals, determine the national "sites of excellence" and create some clinical and research networks.

Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Differential Relationships of the Two Subdomains of Negative Symptoms in Chronically Ill Psychotic Patients

Science.gov (United States)

Stiekema, Annemarie P. M.; Liemburg, Edith J.; van der Meer, Lisette; Castelein, Stynke; Stewart, Roy; van Weeghel, Jaap; Aleman, André; Bruggeman, Richard

2016-01-01

Research suggests a two factor structure for negative symptoms in patients with psychotic disorders: social amotivation (SA) and expressive deficits (ED). Applying this two-factor structure in clinical settings may provide valuable information with regard to outcomes and to target treatments. We aimed to investigate 1) whether the factor structure is also supported in chronically ill patients with a psychotic disorder and 2) what the relationship is between these factors and functioning (overall functioning and living situation), depressive symptoms and quality of life. 1157 Patients with a psychotic disorder and a duration of illness of 5 years or more were included in the analysis (data selected from the Pharmacotherapy Monitoring Outcome Survey; PHAMOUS). A confirmatory factor analysis was performed using items of the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale that were previously identified to reflect negative symptoms (N1-4, N6, G5, G7, G13, G16). Subsequently, regression analysis was performed on outcomes. The results confirmed the distinction between SA (N2, N4, G16) and ED (N1, N3, N6, G5, G7, G13) in chronically ill patients. Both factors were related to worse overall functioning as measured with the Health of the Nation Outcome Scales, ED was uniquely associated with residential living status. Higher scores for SA were associated with more depressive symptoms and worse quality of life. Thus, SA is most strongly related to level of social-emotional functioning, while ED are more related to living situation and thereby are indicative of level of everyday functioning. This subdivision may be useful for research purposes and be a valuable additional tool in clinical practice and treatment development. PMID:26895203

Factors affecting the number and type of student research products for chemistry and physics students at primarily undergraduate institutions: A case study.

Science.gov (United States)

Mellis, Birgit; Soto, Patricia; Bruce, Chrystal D; Lacueva, Graciela; Wilson, Anne M; Jayasekare, Rasitha

2018-01-01

For undergraduate students, involvement in authentic research represents scholarship that is consistent with disciplinary quality standards and provides an integrative learning experience. In conjunction with performing research, the communication of the results via presentations or publications is a measure of the level of scientific engagement. The empirical study presented here uses generalized linear mixed models with hierarchical bootstrapping to examine the factors that impact the means of dissemination of undergraduate research results. Focusing on the research experiences in physics and chemistry of undergraduates at four Primarily Undergraduate Institutions (PUIs) from 2004-2013, statistical analysis indicates that the gender of the student does not impact the number and type of research products. However, in chemistry, the rank of the faculty advisor and the venue of the presentation do impact the number of research products by undergraduate student, whereas in physics, gender match between student and advisor has an effect on the number of undergraduate research products. This study provides a baseline for future studies of discipline-based bibliometrics and factors that affect the number of research products of undergraduate students.

Factors affecting the number and type of student research products for chemistry and physics students at primarily undergraduate institutions: A case study

Science.gov (United States)

Soto, Patricia; Bruce, Chrystal D.; Lacueva, Graciela; Wilson, Anne M.; Jayasekare, Rasitha

2018-01-01

For undergraduate students, involvement in authentic research represents scholarship that is consistent with disciplinary quality standards and provides an integrative learning experience. In conjunction with performing research, the communication of the results via presentations or publications is a measure of the level of scientific engagement. The empirical study presented here uses generalized linear mixed models with hierarchical bootstrapping to examine the factors that impact the means of dissemination of undergraduate research results. Focusing on the research experiences in physics and chemistry of undergraduates at four Primarily Undergraduate Institutions (PUIs) from 2004–2013, statistical analysis indicates that the gender of the student does not impact the number and type of research products. However, in chemistry, the rank of the faculty advisor and the venue of the presentation do impact the number of research products by undergraduate student, whereas in physics, gender match between student and advisor has an effect on the number of undergraduate research products. This study provides a baseline for future studies of discipline-based bibliometrics and factors that affect the number of research products of undergraduate students. PMID:29698502

Integrating human factors into process hazard analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kariuki, S.G.; Loewe, K.

2007-01-01

A comprehensive process hazard analysis (PHA) needs to address human factors. This paper describes an approach that systematically identifies human error in process design and the human factors that influence its production and propagation. It is deductive in nature and therefore considers human error as a top event. The combinations of different factors that may lead to this top event are analysed. It is qualitative in nature and is used in combination with other PHA methods. The method has an advantage because it does not look at the operator error as the sole contributor to the human failure within a system but a combination of all underlying factors

Confirmatory Factor Analysis Alternative: Free, Accessible CBID Software.

Science.gov (United States)

Bott, Marjorie; Karanevich, Alex G; Garrard, Lili; Price, Larry R; Mudaranthakam, Dinesh Pal; Gajewski, Byron

2018-02-01

New software that performs Classical and Bayesian Instrument Development (CBID) is reported that seamlessly integrates expert (content validity) and participant data (construct validity) to produce entire reliability estimates with smaller sample requirements. The free CBID software can be accessed through a website and used by clinical investigators in new instrument development. Demonstrations are presented of the three approaches using the CBID software: (a) traditional confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), (b) Bayesian CFA using flat uninformative prior, and (c) Bayesian CFA using content expert data (informative prior). Outcomes of usability testing demonstrate the need to make the user-friendly, free CBID software available to interdisciplinary researchers. CBID has the potential to be a new and expeditious method for instrument development, adding to our current measurement toolbox. This allows for the development of new instruments for measuring determinants of health in smaller diverse populations or populations of rare diseases.

Model Fit and Item Factor Analysis: Overfactoring, Underfactoring, and a Program to Guide Interpretation.

Science.gov (United States)

Clark, D Angus; Bowles, Ryan P

2018-04-23

In exploratory item factor analysis (IFA), researchers may use model fit statistics and commonly invoked fit thresholds to help determine the dimensionality of an assessment. However, these indices and thresholds may mislead as they were developed in a confirmatory framework for models with continuous, not categorical, indicators. The present study used Monte Carlo simulation methods to investigate the ability of popular model fit statistics (chi-square, root mean square error of approximation, the comparative fit index, and the Tucker-Lewis index) and their standard cutoff values to detect the optimal number of latent dimensions underlying sets of dichotomous items. Models were fit to data generated from three-factor population structures that varied in factor loading magnitude, factor intercorrelation magnitude, number of indicators, and whether cross loadings or minor factors were included. The effectiveness of the thresholds varied across fit statistics, and was conditional on many features of the underlying model. Together, results suggest that conventional fit thresholds offer questionable utility in the context of IFA.

Applications of factor analysis to electron and ion beam surface techniques

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Solomon, J.S.

1987-01-01

Factor analysis, a mathematical technique for extracting chemical information from matrices of data, is used to enhance Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), core level electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS), ion scattering spectroscopy (ISS), and secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) in studies of interfaces, thin films, and surfaces. Several examples of factor analysis enhancement of chemical bonding variations in thin films and at interfaces studied with AES and SIMS are presented. Factor analysis is also shown to be of great benefit in quantifying electron and ion beam doses required to induce surface damage. Finally, examples are presented of the use of factor analysis to reconstruct elemental profiles when peaks of interest overlap each other during the course of depth profile analysis. (author)

Reliability and risk analysis methods research plan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1984-10-01

This document presents a plan for reliability and risk analysis methods research to be performed mainly by the Reactor Risk Branch (RRB), Division of Risk Analysis and Operations (DRAO), Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research. It includes those activities of other DRAO branches which are very closely related to those of the RRB. Related or interfacing programs of other divisions, offices and organizations are merely indicated. The primary use of this document is envisioned as an NRC working document, covering about a 3-year period, to foster better coordination in reliability and risk analysis methods development between the offices of Nuclear Regulatory Research and Nuclear Reactor Regulation. It will also serve as an information source for contractors and others to more clearly understand the objectives, needs, programmatic activities and interfaces together with the overall logical structure of the program

Analysis and research status of severe core damage accidents

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1984-03-01

The Severe Core Damage Research and Analysis Task Force was established in Nuclear Safety Research Center, Tokai Research Establishment, JAERI, in May, 1982 to make a quantitative analysis on the issues related with the severe core damage accident and also to survey the present status of the research and provide the required research subjects on the severe core damage accident. This report summarizes the results of the works performed by the Task Force during last one and half years. The main subjects investigated are as follows; (1) Discussion on the purposes and necessities of severe core damage accident research, (2) proposal of phenomenological research subjects required in Japan, (3) analysis of severe core damage accidents and identification of risk dominant accident sequences, (4) investigation of significant physical phenomena in severe core damage accidents, and (5) survey of the research status. (author)

Recent technology products from Space Human Factors research

Science.gov (United States)

Jenkins, James P.

1991-01-01

The goals of the NASA Space Human Factors program and the research carried out concerning human factors are discussed with emphasis given to the development of human performance models, data, and tools. The major products from this program are described, which include the Laser Anthropometric Mapping System; a model of the human body for evaluating the kinematics and dynamics of human motion and strength in microgravity environment; an operational experience data base for verifying and validating the data repository of manned space flights; the Operational Experience Database Taxonomy; and a human-computer interaction laboratory whose products are the display softaware and requirements and the guideline documents and standards for applications on human-computer interaction. Special attention is given to the 'Convoltron', a prototype version of a signal processor for synthesizing the head-related transfer functions.

[Interrelationships between soil fauna and soil environmental factors in China: research advance].

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Yi; Wei, Wei; Yang, Xing-zhong; Chen, Li-ding; Yang, Lei

2010-09-01

Soil fauna has close relations with various environmental factors in soil ecosystem. To explore the interrelationships between soil fauna and soil environmental factors is of vital importance to deep understand the dynamics of soil ecosystem and to assess the functioning of the ecosystem. The environmental factors affecting soil fauna can be classified as soil properties and soil external environment. The former contains soil basic physical and chemical properties, soil moisture, and soil pollution. The latter includes vegetation, land use type, landform, and climate, etc. From these aspects, this paper summarized the published literatures in China on the interrelationships between soil fauna and soil environmental factors. It was considered that several problems were existed in related studies, e.g., fewer researches were made in integrating soil fauna's bio-indicator function, research methods were needed to be improved, and the studies on the multi-environmental factors and their large scale spatial-temporal variability were in deficiency. Corresponding suggestions were proposed, i.e., more work should be done according to the practical needs, advanced experiences from abroad should be referenced, and comprehensive studies on multi-environmental factors and long-term monitoring should be conducted on large scale areas.

Research development, current hotspots, and future directions of water research based on MODIS images: a critical review with a bibliometric analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Yibo; Zhang, Yunlin; Shi, Kun; Yao, Xiaolong

2017-06-01

Water is essential for life as it provides drinking water and food for humans and animals. Additionally, the water environment provides habitats for numerous species and plays an important role in hydrological, nutrient, and carbon cycles. Among the existing natural resources on Earth's surface, water is the most extensive as it covers more than 70% of the Earth. To gather a comprehensive understanding of the focus of past, present, and future directions of remote sensing water research, we provide an alternative perspective on water research using moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) imagery by conducting a comparative quantitative and qualitative analysis of research development, current hotspots, and future directions using a bibliometric analysis. Our study suggests that there has been a rapid growth in the scientific outputs of water research using MODIS imagery over the past 15 years compared to other popular satellites around the world. The analysis indicated that Remote Sensing of Environment was the most active journal, and "remote sensing," "imaging science photographic technology," "environmental sciences ecology," "meteorology atmospheric sciences," and "geology" are the top 5 most popular subject categories. The Chinese Academy of Sciences was the most productive institution with a total of 477 papers, and Hu CM (Chinese) was the most productive author with 76 papers. A keyword analysis indicated that "vegetation index," "evapotranspiration," and "phytoplankton" were the most active research topics throughout the study period. In addition, it is predicted that more attention will be paid to research on climate change and phenology in the future. Based on the keyword analysis and in consideration of current environmental problems, more studies should focus on the following three aspects: (1) develop methods suitable for data assimilation to fully explain climate or phenological phenomena at continental or global scales rather than at

Land Tenure, Gender, and Globalization : Research and Analysis ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

Land Tenure, Gender, and Globalization : Research and Analysis from Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Couverture du livre Land Tenure, Gender, and Globalization : Research and Analysis from Africa. Directeur(s) : Dzodzi Tsikata et Pamela Golah. Maison(s) d'édition : Zubaan, CRDI. 29 août 2009. ISBN : 9788189884727.

Main Consequences of IFRS Adoption: Analysis of Existing Literature and Suggestions for Further Research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Isabel Maria Estima Costa Lourenço

2015-08-01

Full Text Available This study characterizes the results of scientific research on the effect of adopting the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS that have been published in the most prestigious scientific journals in the field of accounting at the international level and it identifies avenues for further research. Based on the analysis of a set of 67 articles published by the accounting journals that make up the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI, published between 2000 and 2013, it is concluded that, as a general rule, IFRS adoption has a positive effect on information quality, the capital market, analysts' ability to predict, comparability, and information use. Nevertheless, this effect depends on some factors, such as country's characteristics (namely, the enforcement level and companies' characteristics. Sharing rules is not, by itself, enough to create a common business language, and management incentives and institutional factors play a major role in framing the characteristics of financial reporting. Finally, some gaps are identified in the literature and avenues for further research are introduced.

An Analysis of Impact Factors for Positioning Performance in WLAN Fingerprinting Systems Using Ishikawa Diagrams and a Simulation Platform

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Keqiang Liu

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Many factors influence the positioning performance in WLAN RSSI fingerprinting systems, and summary of these factors is an important but challenging job. Moreover, impact analysis on nonalgorithm factors is significant to system application and quality control but little research has been conducted. This paper analyzes and summarizes the potential impact factors by using an Ishikawa diagram considering radio signal transmitting, propagating, receiving, and processing. A simulation platform was developed to facilitate the analysis experiment, and the paper classifies the potential factors into controllable, uncontrollable, nuisance, and held-constant factors considering simulation feasibility. It takes five nonalgorithm controllable factors including APs density, APs distribution, radio signal propagating attenuation factor, radio signal propagating noise, and RPs density into consideration and adopted the OFAT analysis method in experiment. The positioning result was achieved by using the deterministic and probabilistic algorithms, and the error was presented by RMSE and CDF. The results indicate that the high APs density, signal propagating attenuation factor, and RPs density, with the low signal propagating noise level, are favorable to better performance, while APs distribution has no particular impact pattern on the positioning error. Overall, this paper has made great potential contribution to the quality control of WLAN fingerprinting solutions.

What is hypomania? Tetrachoric factor analysis and kernel estimation of DSM-IV hypomanic symptoms.

Science.gov (United States)

Benazzi, Franco

2009-11-01

The DSM-IV definition of hypomania, which relies on clinical consensus and historical tradition, includes several "nonspecific" symptoms. The aim of this study was to identify the core symptoms of DSM-IV hypomania. In an outpatient private practice, 266 bipolar II disorder (BP-II) and 138 major depressive disorder (MDD) remitted patients were interviewed by a bipolar-trained psychiatrist, for different study goals. Patients were questioned, using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV, about the most common symptoms and duration of recent threshold and subthreshold hypomanic episodes. Data were recorded between 2002 and 2006. Four different samples, assessed with the same methodology, were pooled for the present analyses. Tetrachoric factor analysis was used to identify core hypomanic symptoms. Distribution of symptoms by kernel estimation was inspected for bimodality. Validity of core hypomania was tested by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. The distribution of subthreshold and threshold hypomanic episodes did not show bimodality. Tetrachoric factor analysis found 2 uncorrelated factors: factor 1 included the "classic" symptoms elevated mood, inflated self-esteem, decreased need for sleep, talkativeness, and increase in goal-directed activity (overactivity); factor 2 included the "nonspecific" symptoms irritable mood, racing/crowded thoughts, and distractibility. Factor 1 discriminatory accuracy for distinguishing BP-II versus MDD was high (ROC area = 0.94). The distribution of the 5-symptom episodes of factor 1 showed clear-cut bimodality. Similar results were found for episodes limited to 3 behavioral symptoms of factor 1 (decreased need for sleep, talkativeness, and overactivity) and 4 behavioral symptoms of factor 1 (adding elevated mood), with high discriminatory accuracy. A core, categorical DSM-IV hypomania was found that included 3 to 5 symptoms, ie, behavioral symptoms and elevated mood. Behavioral symptoms (overactivity domain

To Nap, Perchance to DREAM: A Factor Analysis of College Students' Self-Reported Reasons for Napping.

Science.gov (United States)

Duggan, Katherine A; McDevitt, Elizabeth A; Whitehurst, Lauren N; Mednick, Sara C

2018-01-01

Although napping has received attention because of its associations with health and use as a method to understand the function of sleep, to our knowledge no study has systematically and statistically assessed reasons for napping. Using factor analysis, we determined the underlying structure of reasons for napping in diverse undergraduates (N = 430, 59% female) and examined their relationships with self-reported sleep, psychological health, and physical health. The five reasons for napping can be summarized using the acronym DREAM (Dysregulative, Restorative, Emotional, Appetitive, and Mindful). Only Emotional reasons for napping were uniformly related to lower well-being. The use of factor analysis raises possibilities for future research, including examining the stability, structure, and psychological and physical health processes related to napping throughout the lifespan.

To nap, perchance to DREAM: A factor analysis of college students’ self-reported reasons for napping

Science.gov (United States)

Duggan, Katherine A.; McDevitt, Elizabeth A.; Whitehurst, Lauren N.; Mednick, Sara C.

2017-01-01

Although napping has received attention because of its associations with health and use as a method to understand the function of sleep, to our knowledge no study has systematically and statistically assessed reasons for napping. Using factor analysis, we determined the underlying structure of reasons for napping in diverse undergraduates (N=430, 59% female) and examined their relationships with self-reported sleep, psychological, and physical health. The 5 reasons for napping can be summarized using the acronym DREAM (Dysregulative, Restorative, Emotional, Appetitive, and Mindful). Only Emotional reasons for napping were uniformly related to lower well-being. The use of factor analysis raises possibilities for future research, including examining the stability, structure, and psychological and physical health processes related to napping throughout the lifespan. PMID:27347727

Understanding the Process and Success Factors to Increase Synergies between Research and Teaching

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Deborah Ballou

2016-12-01

Full Text Available While the synergies between research for knowledge discovery and teaching are widely accepted, the evidence is mostly implicit, verbal and poorly documented, and many times contradictive. In an effort to better understand the interaction between these important activities, the main objective of this study is to collect knowledge illustrating their synergies through specific cases. A complementary objective is to identify the important factors, which professionals should implement or avoid for increasing the likelihood that these synergies will be derived. To collect the necessary information personal interviews have been used to address the research question. The same set of questions was sent to several professionals known to have extensive experience in the areas of academic research and teaching. The respondents were asked to: 1. briefly describe the knowledge area in which the synergies occurred; 2. For the specified knowledge area, to please describe in summary form but specifically how they derived the synergy between research and teaching; and 3. Based on their personal experience, to please identify the important factors to increase the likelihood that academic research will produce benefits for teaching, and vice versa. The results strongly corroborate the importance of academic research for effective teaching. Based on the results, a set of recommendations are made to faculty members and school administrators to further promote academic research as an important factor for more effective teaching.

A Meta-Analysis of Factors Influencing the Development of Trust in Automation: Implications for Understanding Autonomy in Future Systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Schaefer, Kristin E; Chen, Jessie Y C; Szalma, James L; Hancock, P A

2016-05-01

We used meta-analysis to assess research concerning human trust in automation to understand the foundation upon which future autonomous systems can be built. Trust is increasingly important in the growing need for synergistic human-machine teaming. Thus, we expand on our previous meta-analytic foundation in the field of human-robot interaction to include all of automation interaction. We used meta-analysis to assess trust in automation. Thirty studies provided 164 pairwise effect sizes, and 16 studies provided 63 correlational effect sizes. The overall effect size of all factors on trust development was ḡ = +0.48, and the correlational effect was [Formula: see text]  = +0.34, each of which represented medium effects. Moderator effects were observed for the human-related (ḡ  = +0.49; [Formula: see text] = +0.16) and automation-related (ḡ = +0.53; [Formula: see text] = +0.41) factors. Moderator effects specific to environmental factors proved insufficient in number to calculate at this time. Findings provide a quantitative representation of factors influencing the development of trust in automation as well as identify additional areas of needed empirical research. This work has important implications to the enhancement of current and future human-automation interaction, especially in high-risk or extreme performance environments. © 2016, Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.

Disruptive Event Biosphere Dose Conversion Factor Analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

M. A. Wasiolek

2003-07-21

This analysis report, ''Disruptive Event Biosphere Dose Conversion Factor Analysis'', is one of the technical reports containing documentation of the ERMYN (Environmental Radiation Model for Yucca Mountain Nevada) biosphere model for the geologic repository at Yucca Mountain, its input parameters, and the application of the model to perform the dose assessment for the repository. The biosphere model is one of a series of process models supporting the Total System Performance Assessment (TSPA) for the Yucca Mountain repository. A graphical representation of the documentation hierarchy for the ERMYN is presented in Figure 1-1. This figure shows the interrelationships among the products (i.e., analysis and model reports) developed for biosphere modeling and provides an understanding of how this analysis report contributes to biosphere modeling. This report is one of the two reports that develop biosphere dose conversion factors (BDCFs), which are input parameters for the TSPA model. The ''Biosphere Model Report'' (BSC 2003 [DIRS 164186]) describes in detail the conceptual model as well as the mathematical model and lists its input parameters. Model input parameters are developed and described in detail in five analysis report (BSC 2003 [DIRS 160964], BSC 2003 [DIRS 160965], BSC 2003 [DIRS 160976], BSC 2003 [DIRS 161239], and BSC 2003 [DIRS 161241]). The objective of this analysis was to develop the BDCFs for the volcanic ash exposure scenario and the dose factors (DFs) for calculating inhalation doses during volcanic eruption (eruption phase of the volcanic event). The volcanic ash exposure scenario is hereafter referred to as the volcanic ash scenario. For the volcanic ash scenario, the mode of radionuclide release into the biosphere is a volcanic eruption through the repository with the resulting entrainment of contaminated waste in the tephra and the subsequent atmospheric transport and dispersion of contaminated material in

Disruptive Event Biosphere Dose Conversion Factor Analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

M. A. Wasiolek

2003-01-01

This analysis report, ''Disruptive Event Biosphere Dose Conversion Factor Analysis'', is one of the technical reports containing documentation of the ERMYN (Environmental Radiation Model for Yucca Mountain Nevada) biosphere model for the geologic repository at Yucca Mountain, its input parameters, and the application of the model to perform the dose assessment for the repository. The biosphere model is one of a series of process models supporting the Total System Performance Assessment (TSPA) for the Yucca Mountain repository. A graphical representation of the documentation hierarchy for the ERMYN is presented in Figure 1-1. This figure shows the interrelationships among the products (i.e., analysis and model reports) developed for biosphere modeling and provides an understanding of how this analysis report contributes to biosphere modeling. This report is one of the two reports that develop biosphere dose conversion factors (BDCFs), which are input parameters for the TSPA model. The ''Biosphere Model Report'' (BSC 2003 [DIRS 164186]) describes in detail the conceptual model as well as the mathematical model and lists its input parameters. Model input parameters are developed and described in detail in five analysis report (BSC 2003 [DIRS 160964], BSC 2003 [DIRS 160965], BSC 2003 [DIRS 160976], BSC 2003 [DIRS 161239], and BSC 2003 [DIRS 161241]). The objective of this analysis was to develop the BDCFs for the volcanic ash exposure scenario and the dose factors (DFs) for calculating inhalation doses during volcanic eruption (eruption phase of the volcanic event). The volcanic ash exposure scenario is hereafter referred to as the volcanic ash scenario. For the volcanic ash scenario, the mode of radionuclide release into the biosphere is a volcanic eruption through the repository with the resulting entrainment of contaminated waste in the tephra and the subsequent atmospheric transport and dispersion of contaminated material in the biosphere. The biosphere process

Exploring factors related to the translation of collaborative research learning experiences into clinical practice: Opportunities and tensions.

Science.gov (United States)

Fletcher, Simon; Whiting, Cheryl; Boaz, Annette; Reeves, Scott

2017-07-01

Providing training opportunities to develop research skills for clinical staff has been prioritised in response to the need for improving the evidence base underpinning the delivery of care. By exploring the experiences of a number of former participants of a multidisciplinary postgraduate research course, this article explores the factors that have enabled and impeded staff to translate their learnt research skills into clinical practice. Adopting an exploratory case study approach, 16 interviews with 5 cohorts of Masters by Research in Clinical Practice (MResCP) graduates were undertaken. The interviews explored graduates' course experiences and their subsequent attempts to undertake clinical research. Analysis of the data indicated that although participants valued their interactions with colleagues from different professions and felt they gained useful research skills/knowledge, upon returning to clinical practice, they encountered a number of barriers which restricted their ability to apply their research expertise. Professional isolation, issues of hierarchy, and a lack of organisational support were key to limiting their ability to undertake clinical research. Further work is needed to explore in more depth how (i) these barriers can be overcome and (ii) how taught collaborative research skills can be more effectively translated into practice.

A replication of a factor analysis of motivations for trapping

Science.gov (United States)

Schroeder, Susan; Fulton, David C.

2015-01-01

Using a 2013 sample of Minnesota trappers, we employed confirmatory factor analysis to replicate an exploratory factor analysis of trapping motivations conducted by Daigle, Muth, Zwick, and Glass (1998).  We employed the same 25 items used by Daigle et al. and tested the same five-factor structure using a recent sample of Minnesota trappers. We also compared motivations in our sample to those reported by Daigle et el.

Mediation Analysis in Psychosomatic Medicine Research

OpenAIRE

Lockhart, Ginger; MacKinnon, David P.; Ohlrich, Vanessa

2010-01-01

This article presents an overview of statistical mediation analysis and its application to psychosomatic medicine research. The article begins with a description of the major approaches to mediation analysis and an evaluation of the strengths and limits of each. Emphasis is placed on longitudinal mediation models, and an application using latent growth modeling is presented. The article concludes with a description of recent developments in mediation analysis and suggestions for the use of me...

A human factor analysis of a radiotherapy accident

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thellier, S.

2009-01-01

Since September 2005, I.R.S.N. studies activities of radiotherapy treatment from the angle of the human and organizational factors to improve the reliability of treatment in radiotherapy. Experienced in nuclear industry incidents analysis, I.R.S.N. analysed and diffused in March 2008, for the first time in France, the detailed study of a radiotherapy accident from the angle of the human and organizational factors. The method used for analysis is based on interviews and documents kept by the hospital. This analysis aimed at identifying the causes of the difference recorded between the dose prescribed by the radiotherapist and the dose effectively received by the patient. Neither verbal nor written communication (intra-service meetings and protocols of treatment) allowed information to be transmitted correctly in order to permit radiographers to adjust the irradiation zones correctly. This analysis highlighted the fact that during the preparation and the carrying out of the treatment, various factors led planned controls to not be performed. Finally, this analysis highlighted the fact that unsolved areas persist in the report over this accident. This is due to a lack of traceability of a certain number of key actions. The article concluded that there must be improvement in three areas: cooperation between the practitioners, control of the actions and traceability of the actions. (author)

Innovative research reactor core designed. Estimation and analysis of gamma heating distribution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Setiyanto

2014-01-01

The Gamma heating value is an important factor needed for safety analysis of each experiments that will be realized on research reactor core. Gamma heat is internal heat source occurs in each irradiation facilities or any material irradiated in reactor core. This value should be determined correctly because of the safety related problems. The gamma heating value is in general depend on. reactor core characteristics, different one and other, and then each new reactor design should be completed by gamma heating data. The Innovative Research Reactor is one of the new reactor design that should be completed with any safety data, including the gamma heating value. For this reasons, calculation and analysis of gamma heating in the hole of reactor core and irradiation facilities in reflector had been done by using of modified and validated Gamset computer code. The result shown that gamma heating value of 11.75 W/g is the highest value at the center of reactor core, higher than gamma heating value of RSG-GAS. However, placement of all irradiation facilities in reflector show that safety characteristics for irradiation facilities of innovative research reactor more better than RSG-GAS reactor. Regarding the results obtained, and based on placement of irradiation facilities in reflector, can be concluded that innovative research reactor more safe for any irradiation used. (author)

Warranty claim analysis considering human factors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wu Shaomin

2011-01-01

Warranty claims are not always due to product failures. They can also be caused by two types of human factors. On the one hand, consumers might claim warranty due to misuse and/or failures caused by various human factors. Such claims might account for more than 10% of all reported claims. On the other hand, consumers might not be bothered to claim warranty for failed items that are still under warranty, or they may claim warranty after they have experienced several intermittent failures. These two types of human factors can affect warranty claim costs. However, research in this area has received rather little attention. In this paper, we propose three models to estimate the expected warranty cost when the two types of human factors are included. We consider two types of failures: intermittent and fatal failures, which might result in different claim patterns. Consumers might report claims after a fatal failure has occurred, and upon intermittent failures they might report claims after a number of failures have occurred. Numerical examples are given to validate the results derived.

HISTORICAL-PEDAGOGICAL ANALYSIS OF THE PROBLEM OF DEVELOPING RESEARCH SKILLS IN STUDENTS, AS A FACTOR IN EFFECTIVE LEARNING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marianna Albertovna Gorodilova

2016-02-01

Full Text Available A special form of the process of cognition this study, i.e. targeted and systematic study that uses the tools of science, and which results in the formation of knowledge about the studied objects. In a broad sense, research is the search for new knowledge. On the other hand (in the narrow sense research is a scientific method of studying something. Cognitive abilities of students based on the ability to «explore».The aim of our study is the problem of formation and development of research skills among students. These skills characterize many kinds of activities corresponding to different levels of professionalism. The development of research skills determines the success of the training. Methodical skill of the teacher is manifested, not only in dealing with certain tasks of teaching, but rather in how these tasks are solved. Without knowledge of historical and pedagogical heritage is impossible to solve the problem of development of research skills in the students.The article conducts historical and pedagogical analysis of literary sources on the problem of developing research skills in students. Considered certain periods in the formation process of formation and development of research abilities of students during their education. This idea existed not in isolation, but in the General system of other Sciences, especially mathematics and philosophy and relevant is not a single century. Changing pedagogical approaches to the implementation of this idea, as changing the conditions of teaching and the individual characteristics of students. But to form and develop in students the ability to think independently, implement research – one of methods of successful training.

Using exploratory factor analysis of FFQ data to identify dietary patterns among Yup'ik people.

Science.gov (United States)

Ryman, Tove K; Austin, Melissa A; Hopkins, Scarlett; Philip, Jacques; O'Brien, Diane; Thummel, Kenneth; Boyer, Bert B

2014-03-01

An FFQ developed by the Center for Alaska Native Health Research for studies in Yup'ik people includes market foods and subsistence foods such as moose, seal, waterfowl and salmon that may be related to disease risk. Because the FFQ contains >100 food items, we sought to characterize dietary patterns more simply for use in ongoing pharmacogenomics studies. Exploratory factor analysis was used to derive a small number of 'factors' that explain a substantial amount of the variation in the Yup'ik diet. We estimated factor scores and measured associations with demographic characteristics and biomarkers. South-west Alaska, USA. Yup'ik people (n 358) aged ≥18 years. We identified three factors that each accounted for ≥10 % of the common variance: the first characterized by 'processed foods' (e.g. salty snacks, sweetened cereals); the second by 'fruits and vegetables' (e.g. fresh citrus, potato salad); and the third by 'subsistence foods' (seal or walrus soup, non-oily fish). Participants from coastal communities had higher values for the 'subsistence' factor, whereas participants from inland communities had higher values for the 'fruits and vegetables' factor. A biomarker of marine intake, δ 15N, was correlated with the 'subsistence' factor, whereas a biomarker of corn- and sugarcane-based market food intake, δ 13C, was correlated with 'processed foods'. The exploratory factor analysis identified three factors that appeared to reflect dietary patterns among Yup'ik based on associations with participant characteristics and biomarkers. These factors will be useful for chronic disease studies in this population.

Factor Analysis of the Brazilian Version of UPPS Impulsive Behavior Scale

Science.gov (United States)

Sediyama, Cristina Y. N.; Moura, Ricardo; Garcia, Marina S.; da Silva, Antonio G.; Soraggi, Carolina; Neves, Fernando S.; Albuquerque, Maicon R.; Whiteside, Setephen P.; Malloy-Diniz, Leandro F.

2017-01-01

Objective: To examine the internal consistency and factor structure of the Brazilian adaptation of the UPPS Impulsive Behavior Scale. Methods: UPPS is a self-report scale composed by 40 items assessing four factors of impulsivity: (a) urgency, (b) lack of premeditation; (c) lack of perseverance; (d) sensation seeking. In the present study 384 participants (278 women and 106 men), who were recruited from schools, universities, leisure centers and workplaces fulfilled the UPPS scale. An exploratory factor analysis was performed by using Varimax factor rotation and Kaiser Normalization, and we also conducted two confirmatory analyses to test the independency of the UPPS components found in previous analysis. Results: Results showed a decrease in mean UPPS total scores with age and this analysis showed that the youngest participants (below 30 years) scored significantly higher than the other groups over 30 years. No difference in gender was found. Cronbach’s alpha, results indicated satisfactory values for all subscales, with similar high values for the subscales and confirmatory factor analysis indexes also indicated a poor model fit. The results of two exploratory factor analysis were satisfactory. Conclusion: Our results showed that the Portuguese version has the same four-factor structure of the original and previous translations of the UPPS. PMID:28484414

Factor Analysis of the Brazilian Version of UPPS Impulsive Behavior Scale

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Leandro F. Malloy-Diniz

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Objective: To examine the internal consistency and factor structure of the Brazilian adaptation of the UPPS Impulsive Behavior Scale.Methods: UPPS is a self-report scale composed by 40 items assessing four factors of impulsivity: (a urgency, (b lack of premeditation; (c lack of perseverance; (d sensation seeking. In the present study 384 participants (278 women and 106 men, who were recruited from schools, universities, leisure centers and workplaces fulfilled the UPPS scale. An exploratory factor analysis was performed by using Varimax factor rotation and Kaiser Normalization, and we also conducted two confirmatory analyses to test the independency of the UPPS components found in previous analysis.Results: Results showed a decrease in mean UPPS total scores with age and this analysis showed that the youngest participants (below 30 years scored significantly higher than the other groups over 30 years. No difference in gender was found. Cronbach’s alpha, results indicated satisfactory values for all subscales, with similar high values for the subscales and confirmatory factor analysis indexes also indicated a poor model fit. The results of two exploratory factor analysis were satisfactory.Conclusion: Our results showed that the Portuguese version has the same four-factor structure of the original and previous translations of the UPPS.

Factor Analysis of the Brazilian Version of UPPS Impulsive Behavior Scale.

Science.gov (United States)

Sediyama, Cristina Y N; Moura, Ricardo; Garcia, Marina S; da Silva, Antonio G; Soraggi, Carolina; Neves, Fernando S; Albuquerque, Maicon R; Whiteside, Setephen P; Malloy-Diniz, Leandro F

2017-01-01

Objective: To examine the internal consistency and factor structure of the Brazilian adaptation of the UPPS Impulsive Behavior Scale. Methods: UPPS is a self-report scale composed by 40 items assessing four factors of impulsivity: (a) urgency, (b) lack of premeditation; (c) lack of perseverance; (d) sensation seeking. In the present study 384 participants (278 women and 106 men), who were recruited from schools, universities, leisure centers and workplaces fulfilled the UPPS scale. An exploratory factor analysis was performed by using Varimax factor rotation and Kaiser Normalization, and we also conducted two confirmatory analyses to test the independency of the UPPS components found in previous analysis. Results: Results showed a decrease in mean UPPS total scores with age and this analysis showed that the youngest participants (below 30 years) scored significantly higher than the other groups over 30 years. No difference in gender was found. Cronbach's alpha, results indicated satisfactory values for all subscales, with similar high values for the subscales and confirmatory factor analysis indexes also indicated a poor model fit. The results of two exploratory factor analysis were satisfactory. Conclusion: Our results showed that the Portuguese version has the same four-factor structure of the original and previous translations of the UPPS.

Data Analysis in Experimental Biomedical Research

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Markovich, Dmitriy

This thesis covers two non-related topics in experimental biomedical research: data analysis in thrombin generation experiments (collaboration with Novo Nordisk A/S), and analysis of images and physiological signals in the context of neurovascular signalling and blood flow regulation in the brain...... to critically assess and compare obtained results. We reverse engineered the data analysis performed by CAT, a de facto standard assay in the field. This revealed a number of possibilities to improve its methods of data analysis. We found that experimental calibration data is described well with textbook...

Contextual Factors for Establishing Nursing Regulation in Iran: A Qualitative Content Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Nejatian, Ahmad; Joulaei, Hassan

2018-04-01

Professional regulation is one of the strategies of the governments which protect the public's right. Nursing practice is not an exception; hence, it is regulated to protect the public against nursing services' adverse effects. Although modern nursing in Iran started from 100 years ago, documents show that there was no regulation mechanism for nursing in Iran till 2016. Hence, this study was conducted to illuminate the contextual factors affecting the nursing regulation process in Iran. To explore the contextual elements of late establishment of nursing registration as an important part of nursing regulation, we applied directed qualitative content analysis. For this purpose, all the historical events and related materials including articles published in scientific journals, gray literature, statements, news articles, and interviews in the period of 2006-2016 were reviewed and analyzed by expert panel and categorized in predetermined groups. Pooled analysis data showed four contributing elements that affected the emerging nursing regulation in Iran. These elements include 1) cultural determinants, 2) structural determinants, 3) situational determinants, and 4) international or exogenous determinants. Nursing regulation is an important health policy issue in Iran which needs to be facilitated by contextual factors. These factors are complicated and country-specific. Political willingness should be accompanied by nursing association willingness to establish and improve nursing regulation. Other researches are recommended to explore actors and process and content of nursing regulation policy in Iran.

Factors affecting the HIV/AIDS epidemic: An ecological analysis of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Factors affecting the HIV/AIDS epidemic: An ecological analysis of global data. ... Backward multiple linear regression analysis identified the proportion of Muslims, physicians density, and adolescent fertility rate are as the three most prominent factors linked with the national HIV epidemic. Conclusions: The findings support ...

Analysis of Economic Factors Affecting Stock Market

OpenAIRE

Xie, Linyin

2010-01-01

This dissertation concentrates on analysis of economic factors affecting Chinese stock market through examining relationship between stock market index and economic factors. Six economic variables are examined: industrial production, money supply 1, money supply 2, exchange rate, long-term government bond yield and real estate total value. Stock market comprises fixed interest stocks and equities shares. In this dissertation, stock market is restricted to equity market. The stock price in thi...

Comparative Analysis of the Factors Necessitating Commercial Banks and Manufacturing Firms’ Involvement in Corporate Social Responsibility in Nigeria

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abiola Idowu

2016-11-01

Full Text Available This research investigates the factors necessitating commercial banks and manufacturing firms’ involvement in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR in Nigeria comparatively. The research took place in Lagos State in South-west geo-political zone in Nigeria. The survey research design was used in this research. Moreover, the purposive sampling was used in selecting five commercial banks and five manufacturing firms. Primary data were gathered with the aid of questionnaire from 216 respondents out of 250 selected respondents from bank and 205 respondents out of 250 selected respondents from manufacturing firms. Fifty copies of the questionnaires were distributed to each company. All respondents selected were involved in CSR activities of their companies. Factors necessitating companies’ involvement in CSR were examined with Analysis of Variance. The research reveals that t-test value is -0.39 and p-value is 0.8, which shows that there is no significant difference between factors necessitating of the commercial banks and manufacturing firms’ involvement in CSR. The research recommends that corporate organizations should give attention to CSR initiatives as these lead to improvement of customers loyalty, improvement of the positive image of the organization, improved relationship with local communities,   and enhances shareholders values as well as improved relations with public authorities amongst others.

Deterministic factor analysis: methods of integro-differentiation of non-integral order

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Valentina V. Tarasova

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Objective to summarize the methods of deterministic factor economic analysis namely the differential calculus and the integral method. nbsp Methods mathematical methods for integrodifferentiation of nonintegral order the theory of derivatives and integrals of fractional nonintegral order. Results the basic concepts are formulated and the new methods are developed that take into account the memory and nonlocality effects in the quantitative description of the influence of individual factors on the change in the effective economic indicator. Two methods are proposed for integrodifferentiation of nonintegral order for the deterministic factor analysis of economic processes with memory and nonlocality. It is shown that the method of integrodifferentiation of nonintegral order can give more accurate results compared with standard methods method of differentiation using the first order derivatives and the integral method using the integration of the first order for a wide class of functions describing effective economic indicators. Scientific novelty the new methods of deterministic factor analysis are proposed the method of differential calculus of nonintegral order and the integral method of nonintegral order. Practical significance the basic concepts and formulas of the article can be used in scientific and analytical activity for factor analysis of economic processes. The proposed method for integrodifferentiation of nonintegral order extends the capabilities of the determined factorial economic analysis. The new quantitative method of deterministic factor analysis may become the beginning of quantitative studies of economic agents behavior with memory hereditarity and spatial nonlocality. The proposed methods of deterministic factor analysis can be used in the study of economic processes which follow the exponential law in which the indicators endogenous variables are power functions of the factors exogenous variables including the processes

[Analysis of influencing factors of snow hyperspectral polarized reflections].

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Zhong-Qiu; Zhao, Yun-Sheng; Yan, Guo-Qian; Ning, Yan-Ling; Zhong, Gui-Xin

2010-02-01

Due to the need of snow monitoring and the impact of the global change on the snow, on the basis of the traditional research on snow, starting from the perspective of multi-angle polarized reflectance, we analyzed the influencing factors of snow from the incidence zenith angles, the detection zenith angles, the detection azimuth angles, polarized angles, the density of snow, the degree of pollution, and the background of the undersurface. It was found that these factors affected the spectral reflectance values of the snow, and the effect of some factors on the polarization hyperspectral reflectance observation is more evident than in the vertical observation. Among these influencing factors, the pollution of snow leads to an obvious change in the snow reflectance spectrum curve, while other factors have little effect on the shape of the snow reflectance spectrum curve and mainly impact the reflection ratio of the snow. Snow reflectance polarization information has not only important theoretical significance, but also wide application prospect, and provides new ideas and methods for the quantitative research on snow using the remote sensing technology.

Modification and analysis of engineering hot spot factor of HFETR

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hu Yuechun; Deng Caiyu; Li Haitao; Xu Taozhong; Mo Zhengyu

2014-01-01

This paper presents the modification and analysis of engineering hot spot factors of HFETR. The new factors are applied in the fuel temperature analysis and the estimated value of the safety allowable operating power of HFETR. The result shows the maximum cladding temperature of the fuel is lower when the new factor are in utilization, and the safety allowable operating power of HFETR if higher, thus providing the economical efficiency of HFETR. (authors)

Ranking insurance firms using AHP and Factor Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohammad Khodaei Valahzaghard

2013-03-01

Full Text Available Insurance industry includes a significant part of economy and it is important to learn more about the capabilities of different firms, which are active in this industry. In this paper, we present an empirical study to rank the insurance firms using analytical hierarchy process as well as factor analysis. The study considers four criteria including capital adequacy, quality of earning, quality of cash flow and quality of firms’ assets. The results of the implementation of factor analysis (FA have been verified using Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO=0.573 and Bartlett's Chi-Square (443.267 P-value=0.000 tests. According to the results FA, the first important factor, capital adequacy, represents 21.557% of total variance, the second factor, quality of income, represents 20.958% of total variance. In addition, the third factor, quality of cash flow, represents 19.417% of total variance and the last factor, quality of assets, represents 18.641% of total variance. The study has also used analytical hierarchy process (AHP to rank insurance firms. The results of our survey indicate that capital adequacy (0.559 is accounted as the most important factor followed by quality of income (0.235, quality of cash flow (0.144 and quality of assets (0.061. The results of AHP are consistent with the results of FA, which somewhat validates the overall study.

Exploring health information technology education: an analysis of the research.

Science.gov (United States)

Virgona, Thomas

2012-01-01

This article is an analysis of the Health Information Technology Education published research. The purpose of this study was to examine selected literature using variables such as journal frequency, keyword analysis, universities associated with the research and geographic diversity. The analysis presented in this paper has identified intellectually significant studies that have contributed to the development and accumulation of intellectual wealth of Health Information Technology. The keyword analysis suggests that Health Information Technology research has evolved from establishing concepts and domains of health information systems, technology and management to contemporary issues such as education, outsourcing, web services and security. The research findings have implications for educators, researchers, journal.

Fuel burnup analysis for the Moroccan TRIGA research reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

El Bakkari, B.; El Bardouni, T.; Nacir, B.; El Younoussi, C.; Boulaich, Y.; Boukhal, H.; Zoubair, M.

2013-01-01

Highlights: ► A fuel burnup analysis of the 2 MW TRIGA MARK II Moroccan research reactor was established. ► Burnup calculations were done by means of the in-house developed burnup code BUCAL1. ► BUCAL1 uses the MCNP tallies directly in the calculation of the isotopic inventories. ► The reactor life time was found to be 3360 MW h considering full power operating conditions. ► Power factors and fluxes of the in-core irradiation positions are strongly affected by burnup. -- Abstract: The fundamental advantage and main reason to use Monte Carlo methods for burnup calculations is the possibility to generate extremely accurate burnup dependent one group cross-sections and neutron fluxes for arbitrary core and fuel geometries. Yet, a set of values determined for a material at a given position and time remains accurate only in a local region, in which neutron spectrum and flux vary weakly — and only for a limited period of time, during which changes of the local isotopic composition are minor. This paper presents the approach of fuel burnup evaluation used at the Moroccan TRIGA MARK II research reactor. The approach is essentially based upon the utilization of BUCAL1, an in-house developed burnup code. BUCAL1 is a FORTRAN computer code designed to aid in analysis, prediction, and optimization of fuel burnup performance in nuclear reactors. The code was developed to incorporate the neutron absorption reaction tally information generated directly by MCNP5 code in the calculation of fissioned or neutron-transmuted isotopes for multi-fueled regions. The fuel cycle length and changes in several core parameters such as: core excess reactivity, control rods position, fluxes at the irradiation positions, axial and radial power factors and other parameters are estimated. Besides, this study gives valuable insight into the behavior of the reactor and will ensure better utilization and operation of the reactor during its life-time and it will allow the establishment of

A Bibliometric Analysis of Climate Engineering Research

Science.gov (United States)

Belter, C. W.; Seidel, D. J.

2013-12-01

The past five years have seen a dramatic increase in the number of media and scientific publications on the topic of climate engineering, or geoengineering, and some scientists are increasingly calling for more research on climate engineering as a possible supplement to climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies. In this context, understanding the current state of climate engineering research can help inform policy discussions and guide future research directions. Bibliometric analysis - the quantitative analysis of publications - is particularly applicable to fields with large bodies of literature that are difficult to summarize by traditional review methods. The multidisciplinary nature of the published literature on climate engineering makes it an ideal candidate for bibliometric analysis. Publications on climate engineering are found to be relatively recent (more than half of all articles during 1988-2011 were published since 2008), include a higher than average percentage of non-research articles (30% compared with 8-15% in related scientific disciplines), and be predominately produced by countries located in the Northern Hemisphere and speaking English. The majority of this literature focuses on land-based methods of carbon sequestration, ocean iron fertilization, and solar radiation management and is produced with little collaboration among research groups. This study provides a summary of existing publications on climate engineering, a perspective on the scientific underpinnings of the global dialogue on climate engineering, and a baseline for quantitatively monitoring the development of climate engineering research in the future.

Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Differential Relationships of the Two Subdomains of Negative Symptoms in Chronically Ill Psychotic Patients.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Annemarie P M Stiekema

Full Text Available Research suggests a two factor structure for negative symptoms in patients with psychotic disorders: social amotivation (SA and expressive deficits (ED. Applying this two-factor structure in clinical settings may provide valuable information with regard to outcomes and to target treatments. We aimed to investigate 1 whether the factor structure is also supported in chronically ill patients with a psychotic disorder and 2 what the relationship is between these factors and functioning (overall functioning and living situation, depressive symptoms and quality of life. 1157 Patients with a psychotic disorder and a duration of illness of 5 years or more were included in the analysis (data selected from the Pharmacotherapy Monitoring Outcome Survey; PHAMOUS. A confirmatory factor analysis was performed using items of the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale that were previously identified to reflect negative symptoms (N1-4, N6, G5, G7, G13, G16. Subsequently, regression analysis was performed on outcomes. The results confirmed the distinction between SA (N2, N4, G16 and ED (N1, N3, N6, G5, G7, G13 in chronically ill patients. Both factors were related to worse overall functioning as measured with the Health of the Nation Outcome Scales, ED was uniquely associated with residential living status. Higher scores for SA were associated with more depressive symptoms and worse quality of life. Thus, SA is most strongly related to level of social-emotional functioning, while ED are more related to living situation and thereby are indicative of level of everyday functioning. This subdivision may be useful for research purposes and be a valuable additional tool in clinical practice and treatment development.

Application of factor analysis to the explosive detection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Park, Yong Joon; Song, Byung Chul; Im, Hee Jung; Kim, Won Ho; Cho, Jung Hwan

2005-01-01

The detection of explosive devices hidden in airline baggage is significant problem, particularly in view of the development of modern plastic explosives which can formed into various innocent-appearing shapes and which are sufficiently powerful that small quantities can destroy an aircraft in flight. Besides, the biggest difficulty occurs from long detection time required for the explosive detection system based on thermal neutron interrogation, which involves exposing baggage to slow neutrons having energy in the order of 0.025 eV. The elemental compositions of explosives can be determined by the Neutron Induced Prompt gamma Spectroscopy (NIPS) which has been installed in Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute as a tool for the detection of explosives in passenger baggage. In this work, the factor analysis has been applied to the NIPS system to increase the signal-to-noise ratio of the prompt gamma spectrum for the detection of explosive hidden in a passenger's baggage, especially for the noisy prompt gamma spectrum obtained with short measurement time

RIPOSTE: a framework for improving the design and analysis of laboratory-based research.

Science.gov (United States)

Masca, Nicholas Gd; Hensor, Elizabeth Ma; Cornelius, Victoria R; Buffa, Francesca M; Marriott, Helen M; Eales, James M; Messenger, Michael P; Anderson, Amy E; Boot, Chris; Bunce, Catey; Goldin, Robert D; Harris, Jessica; Hinchliffe, Rod F; Junaid, Hiba; Kingston, Shaun; Martin-Ruiz, Carmen; Nelson, Christopher P; Peacock, Janet; Seed, Paul T; Shinkins, Bethany; Staples, Karl J; Toombs, Jamie; Wright, Adam Ka; Teare, M Dawn

2015-05-07

Lack of reproducibility is an ongoing problem in some areas of the biomedical sciences. Poor experimental design and a failure to engage with experienced statisticians at key stages in the design and analysis of experiments are two factors that contribute to this problem. The RIPOSTE (Reducing IrreProducibility in labOratory STudiEs) framework has been developed to support early and regular discussions between scientists and statisticians in order to improve the design, conduct and analysis of laboratory studies and, therefore, to reduce irreproducibility. This framework is intended for use during the early stages of a research project, when specific questions or hypotheses are proposed. The essential points within the framework are explained and illustrated using three examples (a medical equipment test, a macrophage study and a gene expression study). Sound study design minimises the possibility of bias being introduced into experiments and leads to higher quality research with more reproducible results.

RIPOSTE: a framework for improving the design and analysis of laboratory-based research

Science.gov (United States)

Masca, Nicholas GD; Hensor, Elizabeth MA; Cornelius, Victoria R; Buffa, Francesca M; Marriott, Helen M; Eales, James M; Messenger, Michael P; Anderson, Amy E; Boot, Chris; Bunce, Catey; Goldin, Robert D; Harris, Jessica; Hinchliffe, Rod F; Junaid, Hiba; Kingston, Shaun; Martin-Ruiz, Carmen; Nelson, Christopher P; Peacock, Janet; Seed, Paul T; Shinkins, Bethany; Staples, Karl J; Toombs, Jamie; Wright, Adam KA; Teare, M Dawn

2015-01-01

Lack of reproducibility is an ongoing problem in some areas of the biomedical sciences. Poor experimental design and a failure to engage with experienced statisticians at key stages in the design and analysis of experiments are two factors that contribute to this problem. The RIPOSTE (Reducing IrreProducibility in labOratory STudiEs) framework has been developed to support early and regular discussions between scientists and statisticians in order to improve the design, conduct and analysis of laboratory studies and, therefore, to reduce irreproducibility. This framework is intended for use during the early stages of a research project, when specific questions or hypotheses are proposed. The essential points within the framework are explained and illustrated using three examples (a medical equipment test, a macrophage study and a gene expression study). Sound study design minimises the possibility of bias being introduced into experiments and leads to higher quality research with more reproducible results. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.05519.001 PMID:25951517

Auto-correlation of journal impact factor for consensus research reporting statements: a cohort study.

Science.gov (United States)

Shanahan, Daniel R

2016-01-01

Background. The Journal Citation Reports journal impact factors (JIFs) are widely used to rank and evaluate journals, standing as a proxy for the relative importance of a journal within its field. However, numerous criticisms have been made of use of a JIF to evaluate importance. This problem is exacerbated when the use of JIFs is extended to evaluate not only the journals, but the papers therein. The purpose of this study was therefore to investigate the relationship between the number of citations and journal IF for identical articles published simultaneously in multiple journals. Methods. Eligible articles were consensus research reporting statements listed on the EQUATOR Network website that were published simultaneously in three or more journals. The correlation between the citation count for each article and the median journal JIF over the published period, and between the citation count and number of article accesses was calculated for each reporting statement. Results. Nine research reporting statements were included in this analysis, representing 85 articles published across 58 journals in biomedicine. The number of citations was strongly correlated to the JIF for six of the nine reporting guidelines, with moderate correlation shown for the remaining three guidelines (median r = 0.66, 95% CI [0.45-0.90]). There was also a strong positive correlation between the number of citations and the number of article accesses (median r = 0.71, 95% CI [0.5-0.8]), although the number of data points for this analysis were limited. When adjusted for the individual reporting guidelines, each logarithm unit of JIF predicted a median increase of 0.8 logarithm units of citation counts (95% CI [-0.4-5.2]), and each logarithm unit of article accesses predicted a median increase of 0.1 logarithm units of citation counts (95% CI [-0.9-1.4]). This model explained 26% of the variance in citations (median adjusted r (2) = 0.26, range 0.18-1.0). Conclusion. The impact factor of the