WorldWideScience

Sample records for self describing data

  1. The self-describing data sets file protocol and Toolkit

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Borland, M.; Emery, L.

    1995-01-01

    The Self-Describing Data Sets (SDDS) file protocol continues to be used extensively in commissioning the Advanced Photon Source (APS) accelerator complex. SDDS protocol has proved useful primarily due to the existence of the SDDS Toolkit, a growing set of about 60 generic commandline programs that read and/or write SDDS files. The SDDS Toolkit is also used extensively for simulation postprocessing, giving physicists a single environment for experiment and simulation. With the Toolkit, new SDDS data is displayed and subjected to complex processing without developing new programs. Data from EPICS, lab instruments, simulation, and other sources are easily integrated. Because the SDDS tools are commandline-based, data processing scripts are readily written using the user's preferred shell language. Since users work within a UNIX shell rather than an application-specific shell or GUI, they may add SDDS-compliant programs and scripts to their personal toolkits without restriction or complication. The SDDS Toolkit has been run under UNIX on SUN OS4, HP-UX, and LINUX. Application of SDDS to accelerator operation is being pursued using Tcl/Tk to provide a GUI

  2. A self-describing file protocol for simulation integration and shared postprocessors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Borland, M.

    1995-01-01

    A typical accelerator physics code uses a combination of text output, unformatted output, and special-purpose graphics to present results to the user. Most users must learn multiple graphics and postprocessing systems; many resort to manual extraction of data from text output, creation of customized postprocessing programs, and even modification of the simulation code. This situation slows research, results in duplication of effort, hampers unforeseen use of simulation output, and makes program upgrades potentially traumatic. This paper discusses the design and use of a self-describing file protocol that addresses these problems. An extensive toolkit of generic post-processing programs, including sophisticated graphics, is available. This system has been used for most of the data collection for Advanced Photon Source (APS) commissioning , and is incorporated into a number of simulation codes

  3. Chapter 35: Describing Data and Data Collections in the VO

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kent, B. R.; Hanisch, R. J.; Williams, R. D.

    The list of numbers: 19.22, 17.23, 18.11, 16.98, and 15.11, is of little intrinsic interest without information about the context in which they appear. For instance, are these daily closing stock prices for your favorite investment, or are they hourly photometric measurements of an increasingly bright quasar? The information needed to define this context is called metadata. Metadata are data about data. Astronomers are familiar with metadata through the headers of FITS files and the names and units associated with columns in a table or database. In the VO, metadata describe the contents of tables, images, and spectra, as well as aggregate collections of data (archives, surveys) and computational services. Moreover, VO metadata are constructed according to rules that avoid ambiguity and make it clear whether, in the example above, the stock prices are in dollars or euros, or the photometry is Johnson V or Sloan g. Organization of data is important in any scientific discipline. Equally crucial are the descriptions of that data: the organization publishing the data, its creator or the person making it available, what instruments were used, units assigned to measurement, calibration status, and data quality assessment. The Virtual Observatory metadata scheme not only applies to datasets, but to resources as well, including data archive facilities, searchable web forms, and online analysis and display tools. Since the scientific output flowing from large datasets depends greatly on how well the data are described, it is important for users to understand the basics of the metadata scheme in order to locate the data that they want and use it correctly. Metadata are the key to data discovery and data and service interoperability in the Virtual Observatory.

  4. Microprocessor system to recover data from a self-scanning photodiode array

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Koppel, L.N.; Gadd, T.J.

    1975-01-01

    A microprocessor system developed at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory has expedited the recovery of data describing the low energy x-ray spectra radiated by laser-fusion targets. An Intel microprocessor controls the digitization and scanning of the data stream of an x-ray-sensitive self-scanning photodiode array incorporated in a crystal diffraction spectrometer

  5. Time-series modeling of long-term weight self-monitoring data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Helander, Elina; Pavel, Misha; Jimison, Holly; Korhonen, Ilkka

    2015-08-01

    Long-term self-monitoring of weight is beneficial for weight maintenance, especially after weight loss. Connected weight scales accumulate time series information over long term and hence enable time series analysis of the data. The analysis can reveal individual patterns, provide more sensitive detection of significant weight trends, and enable more accurate and timely prediction of weight outcomes. However, long term self-weighing data has several challenges which complicate the analysis. Especially, irregular sampling, missing data, and existence of periodic (e.g. diurnal and weekly) patterns are common. In this study, we apply time series modeling approach on daily weight time series from two individuals and describe information that can be extracted from this kind of data. We study the properties of weight time series data, missing data and its link to individuals behavior, periodic patterns and weight series segmentation. Being able to understand behavior through weight data and give relevant feedback is desired to lead to positive intervention on health behaviors.

  6. Challenges in Evaluating Relationships Between Quantitative Data (Carbon Dioxide) and Qualitative Data (Self-Reported Visual Changes)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mendez, C. M.; Foy, M.; Mason, S.; Wear, M. L.; Meyers, V.; Law, J.; Alexander, D.; Van Baalen, M.

    2014-01-01

    Understanding the nuances in clinical data is critical in developing a successful data analysis plan. Carbon dioxide (CO2) data are collected on board the International Space Station (ISS) in a continuous stream. Clinical data on ISS are primarily collected via conversations between individual crewmembers and NASA Flight Surgeons during weekly Private Medical Conferences (PMC). Law, et.al, 20141 demonstrated a statistically significant association between weekly average CO2 levels on ISS and self-reported headaches over the reporting period from March 14, 2001 to May 31, 2012. The purpose of this analysis is to describe the evaluation of a possible association between visual changes and CO2 levels on ISS and to discuss challenges in developing an appropriate analysis plan. METHODS & PRELIMINARY RESULTS: A first analysis was conducted following the same study design as the published work on CO2 and self-reported headaches1; substituting self-reported changes in visual acuity in place of self-reported headaches. The analysis demonstrated no statistically significant association between visual impairment characterized by vision symptoms self-reported during PMCs and ISS average CO2 levels over ISS missions. Closer review of the PMC records showed that vision outcomes are not well-documented in terms of clinical severity, timing of onset, or timing of resolution, perhaps due to the incipient nature of vision changes. Vision has been monitored in ISS crewmembers, pre- and post-flight, using standard optometry evaluations. In-flight visual assessments were limited early in the ISS program, primarily consisting of self-perceived changes reported by crewmembers. Recently, on-orbit capabilities have greatly improved. Vision data ranges from self-reported post-flight changes in visual acuity, pre- to postflight changes identified during fundoscopic examination, and in-flight progression measured by advanced on-orbit clinical imaging capabilities at predetermined testing

  7. Joint inversion of hydraulic head and self-potential data associated with harmonic pumping tests

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soueid Ahmed, A.; Jardani, A.; Revil, A.; Dupont, J. P.

    2016-09-01

    Harmonic pumping tests consist in stimulating an aquifer by the means of hydraulic stimulations at some discrete frequencies. The inverse problem consisting in retrieving the hydraulic properties is inherently ill posed and is usually underdetermined when considering the number of well head data available in field conditions. To better constrain this inverse problem, we add self-potential data recorded at the ground surface to the head data. The self-potential method is a passive geophysical method. Its signals are generated by the groundwater flow through an electrokinetic coupling. We showed using a 3-D saturated unconfined synthetic aquifer that the self-potential method significantly improves the results of the harmonic hydraulic tomography. The hydroelectric forward problem is obtained by solving first the Richards equation, describing the groundwater flow, and then using the result in an electrical Poisson equation describing the self-potential problem. The joint inversion problem is solved using a reduction model based on the principal component geostatistical approach. In this method, the large prior covariance matrix is truncated and replaced by its low-rank approximation, allowing thus for notable computational time and storage savings. Three test cases are studied, to assess the validity of our approach. In the first test, we show that when the number of harmonic stimulations is low, combining the harmonic hydraulic and self-potential data does not improve the inversion results. In the second test where enough harmonic stimulations are performed, a significant improvement of the hydraulic parameters is observed. In the last synthetic test, we show that the electrical conductivity field required to invert the self-potential data can be determined with enough accuracy using an electrical resistivity tomography survey using the same electrodes configuration as used for the self-potential investigation.

  8. The Role of Difficulty in Identifying and Describing Feelings in Non-Suicidal Self-Injury Behavior (NSSI): Associations With Perceived Attachment Quality, Stressful Life Events, and Suicidal Ideation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cerutti, Rita; Zuffianò, Antonio; Spensieri, Valentina

    2018-01-01

    Objective: Core alexithymic features, such as the difficulty in identifying and describing feelings, are associated with poor attachment styles and emotional trauma, which influence the capacity to regulate affect. Additionally, emotional regulation has been found to be the most commonly identified function associated with non-suicidal self-injury behavior (NSSI) in adolescents as they attempt to modulate strong emotions. However, few studies have examined the link between difficulty in identifying and describing feelings (core components of alexithymia), NSSI behaviors, quality of attachment, life stressors and suicidal ideation in healthy early adolescents. Consequently, this study aims to investigate these constructs and the relationship among them in a large non-clinical sample of adolescents. Methods: Seven hundred and nine middle school students (50.4% males), aged 10-15 years ( M = 12.6; SD = 1.06) were involved in this study. In order to investigate the variables considered in the study, the following measures were administered: the Deliberate Self-Harm Inventory exploring non-suicidal self-injurious behaviors; the Alexithymia Questionnaire for Children examining difficulty in identifying and describing feelings; the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment assessing the quality of parental and peer attachment; the Life Stressor Checklist-Revised outlining stressful/traumatic events and the Children's Depression Inventory evaluating suicidal ideation. Results: We found significantly positive relationships among difficulty in identifying and describing feelings, NSSI behaviors, stressful events, and suicidal ideation. Data indicated a significant negative association of difficulty in identifying and describing feelings with quality of attachment to parents and peers. Further findings highlighted that difficulty in identifying and describing feelings significantly mediated the effect of quality of attachment (parent and peer) on NSSI and suicidal ideation

  9. Identifying and describing patients' learning experiences towards self-management of bipolar disorders: a phenomenological study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Van den Heuvel, S C G H; Goossens, P J J; Terlouw, C; Van Achterberg, T; Schoonhoven, L

    2015-12-01

    Existing evidence suggest that patient education in promoting self-management strategies of bipolar disorder (BD) is effective. However, results across the full range of service users with BD vary. Learning experiences of service users look to be a crucial factor to take into account when designing, delivering, and evaluating effective interventions that promote self-management in chronic illness. What learning activities service users actually undertake themselves when self-managing BD that might explain varying success rates, and guide future self-management educational programmes has not been examined. Unlike previous studies that suggest that outcomes in self-management depend on individual learning activities, the current study found that learning to self-manage BD takes place in a social network that functions as a learning environment in which it is saved for service users to make mistakes and to learn from these mistakes. Especially, coping with the dormant fear of a recurrent episode and acknowledging the limitations of an individual approach are important factors that facilitate this learning process. Practitioners who provide patient education in order to promote self-management of BD should tailor future interventions that facilitate learning by reflecting on the own experiences of service users. Community psychiatric nurses should keep an open discussion with service users and caregivers, facilitate the use of a network, and re-label problems into learning situations where both play an active role in building mutual trust, thereby enhancing self-management of BD. Existing evidence suggest that self-management education of bipolar disorder (BD) is effective. However, why outcomes differ across the full range of service users has not been examined. This study describes learning experiences of service users in self-managing BD that provide a possible explanation for this varying effectiveness. We have conducted a phenomenological study via face

  10. Person-generated Data in Self-quantification. A Health Informatics Research Program.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gray, Kathleen; Martin-Sanchez, Fernando J; Lopez-Campos, Guillermo H; Almalki, Manal; Merolli, Mark

    2017-01-09

    The availability of internet-connected mobile, wearable and ambient consumer technologies, direct-to-consumer e-services and peer-to-peer social media sites far outstrips evidence about the efficiency, effectiveness and efficacy of using them in healthcare applications. The aim of this paper is to describe one approach to build a program of health informatics research, so as to generate rich and robust evidence about health data and information processing in self-quantification and associated healthcare and health outcomes. The paper summarises relevant health informatics research approaches in the literature and presents an example of developing a program of research in the Health and Biomedical Informatics Centre (HaBIC) at the University of Melbourne. The paper describes this program in terms of research infrastructure, conceptual models, research design, research reporting and knowledge sharing. The paper identifies key outcomes from integrative and multiple-angle approaches to investigating the management of information and data generated by use of this Centre's collection of wearable, mobiles and other devices in health self-monitoring experiments. These research results offer lessons for consumers, developers, clinical practitioners and biomedical and health informatics researchers. Health informatics is increasingly called upon to make sense of emerging self-quantification and other digital health phenomena that are well beyond the conventions of healthcare in which the field of informatics originated and consolidated. To make a substantial contribution to optimise the aims, processes and outcomes of health self-quantification needs further work at scale in multi-centre collaborations for this Centre and for health informatics researchers generally.

  11. The Open Geospatial Consortium PUCK Standard: Building Sensor Networks with Self-Describing Instruments

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Reilly, T. C.; Broering, A.; del Rio, J.; Headley, K. L.; Toma, D.; Bermudez, L. E.; Edgington, D.; Fredericks, J.; Manuel, A.

    2012-12-01

    Sensor technology is rapidly advancing, enabling smaller and cheaper instruments to monitor Earth's environment. It is expected that many more kinds and quantities of networked environmental sensors will be deployed in coming years. Knowledge of each instrument's command protocol is required to operate and acquire data from the network. Making sense of these data streams to create an integrated picture of environmental conditions requires that each instrument's data and metadata be accurately processed and that "suspect" data be flagged. Use of standards to operate an instrument and retrieve and describe its data generally simplifies instrument software development, integration, operation and data processing. The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) PUCK protocol enables instruments that describe themselves in a standard way. OGC PUCK defines a small "data sheet" that describes key instrument characteristics, and a standard protocol to retrieve the data sheet from the device itself. Data sheet fields include a universal serial number that is unique across all PUCK-compliant instruments. Other fields identify the instrument manufacturer and model. In addition to the data sheet, the instrument may also provide a "PUCK payload" which can contain additional descriptive information (e.g. a SensorML document or IEEE 1451 TEDS), as well as actual instrument "driver" code. Computers on the sensor network can use PUCK protocol to retrieve this information from installed instruments and utilize it appropriately, e.g. to automatically identify, configure and operate the instruments, and acquire and process their data. The protocol is defined for instruments with an RS232 or Ethernet interface. OGC members recently voted to adopt PUCK as a component of the OGC's Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) standards. The protocol is also supported by a consortium of hydrographic instrument manufacturers and has been implemented by several of them (https://sites.google.com/site/soscsite/). Thus far

  12. Can the "standard" unitarized Regge models describe the TOTEM data?

    CERN Document Server

    Alkin, A; Martynov, E

    2013-01-01

    The standard Regge poles are considered as inputs for two unitarization methods: eikonal and U-matrix. It is shown that only models with three input pomerons and two input odderons can describe the high energy data on $pp$ and $\\bar pp$ elastic scattering including the new data from Tevatron and LHC. However, it seems that the both considered models require a further modification (e.g. nonlinear reggeon trajectories and/or nonexponential vertex functions) for a more satisfactory description of the data at 19.0 GeV$\\leq \\sqrt{s}\\leq$ 7 TeV and 0.01 $\\leq |t|\\leq $14.2 GeV$^{2}$.

  13. A self-defining hierarchical data system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bailey, J.

    1992-01-01

    The Self-Defining Data System (SDS) is a system which allows the creation of self-defining hierarchical data structures in a form which allows the data to be moved between different machine architectures. Because the structures are self-defining they can be used for communication between independent modules in a distributed system. Unlike disk-based hierarchical data systems such as Starlink's HDS, SDS works entirely in memory and is very fast. Data structures are created and manipulated as internal dynamic structures in memory managed by SDS itself. A structure may then be exported into a caller supplied memory buffer in a defined external format. This structure can be written as a file or sent as a message to another machine. It remains static in structure until it is reimported into SDS. SDS is written in portable C and has been run on a number of different machine architectures. Structures are portable between machines with SDS looking after conversion of byte order, floating point format, and alignment. A Fortran callable version is also available for some machines.

  14. Held to ransom: Parents of self-harming adults describe their lived experience of professional care and caregivers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Britt-Marie Lindgren

    2010-09-01

    Full Text Available The aim of the study was to discover and describe lived experiences of professional care and caregivers among parents of adults who self-harm. Narrative interviews were conducted with six parents of daughters with self-harming behaviours and analysed using a phenomenological hermeneutic approach. The meanings of the parents’ narratives of their lived experiences of professional care and caregivers were interpreted as their being involved in ‘limit situations’ comparable to hostage dramas. Several meaningful themes contributed to this interpretation: being trapped in a situation with no escape; being in the prisoner's dock; groping in the dark; and finding glimmers of hope. Parents of daughters who were in care because of self-harming often felt obliged to pay an emotional ransom, which included feelings of being accused, being ‘broken’, being confused, and feeling lost. Moments of peace occurred as welcome breaks offering a short time of rest for the parents. Situations that were understood by the parents and solved in a peaceful way were experienced as a respite and inspired parents with hope for their daughters’ recovery.

  15. Held to ransom: Parents of self-harming adults describe their lived experience of professional care and caregivers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lindgren, Britt-Marie; Aström, Sture; Graneheim, Ulla Hällgren

    2010-09-24

    The aim of the study was to discover and describe lived experiences of professional care and caregivers among parents of adults who self-harm. Narrative interviews were conducted with six parents of daughters with self-harming behaviours and analysed using a phenomenological hermeneutic approach. The meanings of the parents' narratives of their lived experiences of professional care and caregivers were interpreted as their being involved in 'limit situations' comparable to hostage dramas. Several meaningful themes contributed to this interpretation: being trapped in a situation with no escape; being in the prisoner's dock; groping in the dark; and finding glimmers of hope. Parents of daughters who were in care because of self-harming often felt obliged to pay an emotional ransom, which included feelings of being accused, being 'broken', being confused, and feeling lost. Moments of peace occurred as welcome breaks offering a short time of rest for the parents. Situations that were understood by the parents and solved in a peaceful way were experienced as a respite and inspired parents with hope for their daughters' recovery.

  16. Feedback data sources that inform physician self-assessment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lockyer, Jocelyn; Armson, Heather; Chesluk, Benjamin; Dornan, Timothy; Holmboe, Eric; Loney, Elaine; Mann, Karen; Sargeant, Joan

    2011-01-01

    Self-assessment is a process of interpreting data about one's performance and comparing it to explicit or implicit standards. To examine the external data sources physicians used to monitor themselves. Focus groups were conducted with physicians who participated in three practice improvement activities: a multisource feedback program; a program providing patient and chart audit data; and practice-based learning groups. We used grounded theory strategies to understand the external sources that stimulated self-assessment and how they worked. Data from seven focus groups (49 physicians) were analyzed. Physicians used information from structured programs, other educational activities, professional colleagues, and patients. Data were of varying quality, often from non-formal sources with implicit (not explicit) standards. Mandatory programs elicited variable responses, whereas data and activities the physicians selected themselves were more likely to be accepted. Physicians used the information to create a reference point against which they could weigh their performance using it variably depending on their personal interpretation of its accuracy, application, and utility. Physicians use and interpret data and standards of varying quality to inform self-assessment. Physicians may benefit from regular and routine feedback and guidance on how to seek out data for self-assessment.

  17. A Population-Level Data Analytics Portal for Self-Administered Lifestyle and Mental Health Screening.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Xindi; Warren, Jim; Corter, Arden; Goodyear-Smith, Felicity

    2016-01-01

    This paper describes development of a prototype data analytics portal for analysis of accumulated screening results from eCHAT (electronic Case-finding and Help Assessment Tool). eCHAT allows individuals to conduct a self-administered lifestyle and mental health screening assessment, with usage to date chiefly in the context of primary care waiting rooms. The intention is for wide roll-out to primary care clinics, including secondary school based clinics, resulting in the accumulation of population-level data. Data from a field trial of eCHAT with sexual health questions tailored to youth were used to support design of a data analytics portal for population-level data. The design process included user personas and scenarios, screen prototyping and a simulator for generating large-scale data sets. The prototype demonstrates the promise of wide-scale self-administered screening data to support a range of users including practice managers, clinical directors and health policy analysts.

  18. An analyst's self-analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Calder, K T

    1980-01-01

    I have told you why I selected the topic of self-analysis, and I have described my method for it: of recording primary data such as dreams, daydreams, memories, and symptoms and of recording associations to this primary data, followed by an attempt at analyzing this written material. I have described a dream, a memory and a daydream which is also a symptom, each of which primary data I found useful in understanding myself. Finally, I reached some conclusions regarding the uses of self-analysis, including self-analysis as a research tool.

  19. Reinforcement Learning Based Data Self-Destruction Scheme for Secured Data Management

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Young Ki Kim

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available As technologies and services that leverage cloud computing have evolved, the number of businesses and individuals who use them are increasing rapidly. In the course of using cloud services, as users store and use data that include personal information, research on privacy protection models to protect sensitive information in the cloud environment is becoming more important. As a solution to this problem, a self-destructing scheme has been proposed that prevents the decryption of encrypted user data after a certain period of time using a Distributed Hash Table (DHT network. However, the existing self-destructing scheme does not mention how to set the number of key shares and the threshold value considering the environment of the dynamic DHT network. This paper proposes a method to set the parameters to generate the key shares needed for the self-destructing scheme considering the availability and security of data. The proposed method defines state, action, and reward of the reinforcement learning model based on the similarity of the graph, and applies the self-destructing scheme process by updating the parameter based on the reinforcement learning model. Through the proposed technique, key sharing parameters can be set in consideration of data availability and security in dynamic DHT network environments.

  20. Personal discovery in diabetes self-management: Discovering cause and effect using self-monitoring data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mamykina, Lena; Heitkemper, Elizabeth M; Smaldone, Arlene M; Kukafka, Rita; Cole-Lewis, Heather J; Davidson, Patricia G; Mynatt, Elizabeth D; Cassells, Andrea; Tobin, Jonathan N; Hripcsak, George

    2017-12-01

    To outline new design directions for informatics solutions that facilitate personal discovery with self-monitoring data. We investigate this question in the context of chronic disease self-management with the focus on type 2 diabetes. We conducted an observational qualitative study of discovery with personal data among adults attending a diabetes self-management education (DSME) program that utilized a discovery-based curriculum. The study included observations of class sessions, and interviews and focus groups with the educator and attendees of the program (n = 14). The main discovery in diabetes self-management evolved around discovering patterns of association between characteristics of individuals' activities and changes in their blood glucose levels that the participants referred to as "cause and effect". This discovery empowered individuals to actively engage in self-management and provided a desired flexibility in selection of personalized self-management strategies. We show that discovery of cause and effect involves four essential phases: (1) feature selection, (2) hypothesis generation, (3) feature evaluation, and (4) goal specification. Further, we identify opportunities to support discovery at each stage with informatics and data visualization solutions by providing assistance with: (1) active manipulation of collected data (e.g., grouping, filtering and side-by-side inspection), (2) hypotheses formulation (e.g., using natural language statements or constructing visual queries), (3) inference evaluation (e.g., through aggregation and visual comparison, and statistical analysis of associations), and (4) translation of discoveries into actionable goals (e.g., tailored selection from computable knowledge sources of effective diabetes self-management behaviors). The study suggests that discovery of cause and effect in diabetes can be a powerful approach to helping individuals to improve their self-management strategies, and that self-monitoring data can

  1. The use of self-quantification systems for personal health information: big data management activities and prospects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Almalki, Manal; Gray, Kathleen; Sanchez, Fernando Martin

    2015-01-01

    Self-quantification is seen as an emerging paradigm for health care self-management. Self-quantification systems (SQS) can be used for tracking, monitoring, and quantifying health aspects including mental, emotional, physical, and social aspects in order to gain self-knowledge. However, there has been a lack of a systematic approach for conceptualising and mapping the essential activities that are undertaken by individuals who are using SQS in order to improve health outcomes. In this paper, we propose a new model of personal health information self-quantification systems (PHI-SQS). PHI-SQS model describes two types of activities that individuals go through during their journey of health self-managed practice, which are 'self-quantification' and 'self-activation'. In this paper, we aimed to examine thoroughly the first type of activity in PHI-SQS which is 'self-quantification'. Our objectives were to review the data management processes currently supported in a representative set of self-quantification tools and ancillary applications, and provide a systematic approach for conceptualising and mapping these processes with the individuals' activities. We reviewed and compared eleven self-quantification tools and applications (Zeo Sleep Manager, Fitbit, Actipressure, MoodPanda, iBGStar, Sensaris Senspod, 23andMe, uBiome, Digifit, BodyTrack, and Wikilife), that collect three key health data types (Environmental exposure, Physiological patterns, Genetic traits). We investigated the interaction taking place at different data flow stages between the individual user and the self-quantification technology used. We found that these eleven self-quantification tools and applications represent two major tool types (primary and secondary self-quantification systems). In each type, the individuals experience different processes and activities which are substantially influenced by the technologies' data management capabilities. Self-quantification in personal health maintenance

  2. The general theory of the Quasi-reproducible experiments: How to describe the measured data of complex systems?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nigmatullin, Raoul R.; Maione, Guido; Lino, Paolo; Saponaro, Fabrizio; Zhang, Wei

    2017-01-01

    In this paper, we suggest a general theory that enables to describe experiments associated with reproducible or quasi-reproducible data reflecting the dynamical and self-similar properties of a wide class of complex systems. Under complex system we understand a system when the model based on microscopic principles and suppositions about the nature of the matter is absent. This microscopic model is usually determined as ;the best fit" model. The behavior of the complex system relatively to a control variable (time, frequency, wavelength, etc.) can be described in terms of the so-called intermediate model (IM). One can prove that the fitting parameters of the IM are associated with the amplitude-frequency response of the segment of the Prony series. The segment of the Prony series including the set of the decomposition coefficients and the set of the exponential functions (with k = 1,2,…,K) is limited by the final mode K. The exponential functions of this decomposition depend on time and are found by the original algorithm described in the paper. This approach serves as a logical continuation of the results obtained earlier in paper [Nigmatullin RR, W. Zhang and Striccoli D. General theory of experiment containing reproducible data: The reduction to an ideal experiment. Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simul, 27, (2015), pp 175-192] for reproducible experiments and includes the previous results as a partial case. In this paper, we consider a more complex case when the available data can create short samplings or exhibit some instability during the process of measurements. We give some justified evidences and conditions proving the validity of this theory for the description of a wide class of complex systems in terms of the reduced set of the fitting parameters belonging to the segment of the Prony series. The elimination of uncontrollable factors expressed in the form of the apparatus function is discussed. To illustrate how to apply the theory and take advantage of its

  3. Big Data and : Walter Lippmann and the fallacy of data privacy self-management

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jonathan A Obar

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available In 1927, Walter Lippmann published The Phantom Public , denouncing the ‘mystical fallacy of democracy.’ Decrying romantic democratic models that privilege self-governance, he writes: “I have not happened to meet anybody, from a President of the United States to a professor of political science, who came anywhere near to embodying the accepted ideal of the sovereign and omnicompetent citizen.” Almost 90 years later, Lippmann’s pragmatism is as relevant as ever, and should be applied in new contexts where similar self-governance concerns persist. This paper does just that, repurposing Lippmann’s argument in the context of the ongoing debate over the role of the digital citizen in Big Data management. It is argued that proposals by the Federal Trade Commission, the White House and the US Congress, championing failed notice and choice privacy policy, perpetuate a self-governance fallacy comparable to Lippmann’s, referred to here as the fallacy of data privacy self-management . Even if the digital citizen had the faculties and the system for data privacy self-management, the digital citizen has little time for data governance. We desire the freedom to pursue the ends of digital production, without being inhibited by the means. We want privacy, and safety, but cannot complete all that is required for its protection. If it is true that the fallacy of democracy is similar to the fallacy of data privacy self-management, then perhaps the pragmatic solution is representative data management : a combination of non/for-profit digital dossier management via infomediaries that can ensure the protection of personal data, while freeing individuals from what Lippmann referred to as an ‘unattainable ideal.’

  4. Enabling Self-Monitoring Data Exchange in Participatory Medicine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lopez-Campos, Guillermo; Ofoghi, Bahadorreza; Martin-Sanchez, Fernando

    2015-01-01

    The development of new methods, devices and apps for self-monitoring have enabled the extension of the application of these approaches for consumer health and research purposes. The increase in the number and variety of devices has generated a complex scenario where reporting guidelines and data exchange formats will be needed to ensure the quality of the information and the reproducibility of results of the experiments. Based on the Minimal Information for Self Monitoring Experiments (MISME) reporting guideline we have developed an XML format (MISME-ML) to facilitate data exchange for self monitoring experiments. We have also developed a sample instance to illustrate the concept and a Java MISME-ML validation tool. The implementation and adoption of these tools should contribute to the consolidation of a set of methods that ensure the reproducibility of self monitoring experiments for research purposes.

  5. Issues Concerning Self-Report Data and Population-Based Data Sets Involving People with Intellectual Disabilities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Emerson, Eric; Felce, David; Stancliffe, Roger J.

    2013-01-01

    This article examines two methodological issues regarding ways of obtaining and analyzing outcome data for people with intellectual disabilities: (a) self-report and proxy-report data and (b) analysis of population-based data sets. Some people with intellectual disabilities have difficulties with self-reporting due to problems of understanding and…

  6. Application of self-organizing competition artificial neural network to logging data explanation of sandstone-hosted uranium deposits

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Xu Jianguo; Xu Xianli; Wang Weiguo

    2008-01-01

    The article describes the model construction of self-organizing competition artificial neural network, its principle and automatic recognition process of borehole lithology in detail, and then proves the efficiency of the neural network model for automatically recognizing the borehole lithology with some cases. The self-organizing competition artificial neural network has the ability of self- organization, self-adjustment and high permitting errors. Compared with the BP algorithm, it takes less calculation quantity and more rapidly converges. Furthermore, it can automatically confirm the category without the known sample information. Trial results based on contrasting the identification results of the borehole lithology with geological documentations, indicate that self-organizing artificial neural network can be well applied to automatically performing the category of borehole lithology, during the logging data explanation of sandstone-hosted uranium deposits. (authors)

  7. A non-linear regression analysis program for describing electrophysiological data with multiple functions using Microsoft Excel.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, Angus M

    2006-04-01

    The objective of this present study was to demonstrate a method for fitting complex electrophysiological data with multiple functions using the SOLVER add-in of the ubiquitous spreadsheet Microsoft Excel. SOLVER minimizes the difference between the sum of the squares of the data to be fit and the function(s) describing the data using an iterative generalized reduced gradient method. While it is a straightforward procedure to fit data with linear functions, and we have previously demonstrated a method of non-linear regression analysis of experimental data based upon a single function, it is more complex to fit data with multiple functions, usually requiring specialized expensive computer software. In this paper we describe an easily understood program for fitting experimentally acquired data, in this case the stimulus-evoked compound action potential from the mouse optic nerve, with multiple Gaussian functions. The program is flexible and can be applied to describe data with a wide variety of user-input functions.

  8. HepML, an XML-based format for describing simulated data in high energy physics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Belov, S.; Dudko, L.; Kekelidze, D.; Sherstnev, A.

    2010-10-01

    energy physics is divided into several stages. Various programs exist for these stages. In this article we are interested in interfacing different Monte Carlo event generators via data files, in particular, Matrix Element (ME) generators and Showering and Hadronization (SH) generators. There is a widely accepted format for data files for such interfaces - Les Houches Event Format (LHEF). Although information kept in an LHEF file is enough for proper working of SH generators, it is insufficient for understanding how events in the LHEF file have been prepared and which physical model has been applied. In this paper we propose an extension of the format for keeping additional information available in generators. We propose to add a new information block, marked up with XML tags, to the LHEF file. This block describes events in the file in more detail. In particular, it stores information about a physical model, kinematical cuts, generator, etc. This helps to make LHEF files self-documented. Certainly, HepML can be applied in more general context, not in LHEF files only. Solution method: In order to overcome drawbacks of the original LHEF accord we propose to add a new information block of HepML tags. HepML is an XML-based markup language. We designed several XML Schemas for all tags in the language. Any HepML document should follow rules of the Schemas. The language is equipped with a library for operation with HepML tags and documents. This C++ library, called libhepml, consists of classes for HepML objects, which represent a HepML document in computer memory, parsing classes, serializating classes, and some auxiliary classes. Restrictions: The software is adapted for solving problems, described in the article. There are no additional restrictions. Running time: Tests have been done on a computer with Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Solo, 1.4 GHz. Parsing of a HepML file: 6 ms (size of the HepML files is 12.5 Kb) Writing of a HepML block to file: 14 ms (file size 12.5 Kb) Merging of

  9. Transparencies used in describing the International Data Centre (IDC) products and Global Communications Infrastructure (GCI)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bratt, S.

    1999-01-01

    The mission of the International Data Centre (IDC) of the CTBT is to support the verification possibilities of State Parties by providing objective products and services necessary for effective global monitoring. This presentation describes the IDC progressive commissioning plan, facilities of IDC ready to release, international monitoring system network, IDC products and services for State signatories, product dissemination services. It contains the description of daily information on acoustic events concerned wit Pakistani nuclear test, seismic in Africa, seismic and hydro acoustic data, infrasound data, gamma spectra concerned with explosions and seismic events. The need of establishing national or regional data centers is emphasised and the training courses planned are described

  10. Recommendations of Common Data Elements to Advance the Science of Self-Management of Chronic Conditions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moore, Shirley M; Schiffman, Rachel; Waldrop-Valverde, Drenna; Redeker, Nancy S; McCloskey, Donna Jo; Kim, Miyong T; Heitkemper, Margaret M; Guthrie, Barbara J; Dorsey, Susan G; Docherty, Sharron L; Barton, Debra; Bailey, Donald E; Austin, Joan K; Grady, Patricia

    2016-09-01

    Common data elements (CDEs) are increasingly being used by researchers to promote data sharing across studies. The purposes of this article are to (a) describe the theoretical, conceptual, and definition issues in the development of a set of CDEs for research addressing self-management of chronic conditions; (b) propose an initial set of CDEs and their measures to advance the science of self-management; and (c) recommend implications for future research and dissemination. Between July 2014 and December 2015 the directors of the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR)-funded P20 and P30 centers of excellence and NINR staff met in a series of telephone calls and a face-to-face NINR-sponsored meeting to select a set of recommended CDEs to be used in self-management research. A list of potential CDEs was developed from examination of common constructs in current self-management frameworks, as well as identification of variables frequently used in studies conducted in the centers of excellence. The recommended CDEs include measures of three self-management processes: activation, self-regulation, and self-efficacy for managing chronic conditions, and one measure of a self-management outcome, global health. The self-management of chronic conditions, which encompasses a considerable number of processes, behaviors, and outcomes across a broad range of chronic conditions, presents several challenges in the identification of a parsimonious set of CDEs. This initial list of recommended CDEs for use in self-management research is provisional in that it is expected that over time it will be refined. Comment and recommended revisions are sought from the research and practice communities. The use of CDEs can facilitate generalizability of research findings across diverse population and interventions. © 2016 Sigma Theta Tau International.

  11. QS Spiral: Visualizing Periodic Quantified Self Data

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Larsen, Jakob Eg; Cuttone, Andrea; Jørgensen, Sune Lehmann

    2013-01-01

    In this paper we propose an interactive visualization technique QS Spiral that aims to capture the periodic properties of quantified self data and let the user explore those recurring patterns. The approach is based on time-series data visualized as a spiral structure. The interactivity includes ...

  12. A self-description data framework for Tokamak control system design

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zhang, Ming; Zhang, Jing [State Key Laboratory of Advanced Electromagnetic Engineering and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074 (China); School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074 (China); Zheng, Wei, E-mail: zhengwei@hust.edu.cn [State Key Laboratory of Advanced Electromagnetic Engineering and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074 (China); School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074 (China); Hu, Feiran; Zhuang, Ge [State Key Laboratory of Advanced Electromagnetic Engineering and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074 (China); School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074 (China)

    2015-10-15

    Highlights: • The SDD framework can be applied to different Tokamak devices. • We explain how configuration settings of control systems are described in SDD models, namely components and connections. • Evolving SDD models are stored in a dynamic schema database. • The SDD editor supports plug-and-play SDD models. - Abstract: A Tokamak device consists of numerous control systems, which need to be integrated. CODAC (Control, Data Access and Communication) system requires the configuration settings of these control systems to carry out the integration smoothly. SDD (Self-description data) is designed to describe the static configuration of control systems. ITER CODAC group has released an SDD software package for control system designers to manage the static configuration, but it is specific for ITER plant control systems. Following the idea of ITER SDD, we developed a flexible and scalable SDD framework to develop SDD software for J-TEXT and other sophisticated devices. The SDD framework describes the configuration settings of various control systems, including physical and logical elements and their relation information, in SDD models which are classified into Components and Connections. The framework is composed of three layers: the MongoDB database, an open-source, dynamic schema, NoSQL (Not Only SQL) database; the SDD service, which maps SDD models to MongoDB and handles the transaction and business logic; the SDD applications, which can be used to create and maintain SDD information, and generate various kinds of output using the stored SDD information.

  13. A self-description data framework for Tokamak control system design

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang, Ming; Zhang, Jing; Zheng, Wei; Hu, Feiran; Zhuang, Ge

    2015-01-01

    Highlights: • The SDD framework can be applied to different Tokamak devices. • We explain how configuration settings of control systems are described in SDD models, namely components and connections. • Evolving SDD models are stored in a dynamic schema database. • The SDD editor supports plug-and-play SDD models. - Abstract: A Tokamak device consists of numerous control systems, which need to be integrated. CODAC (Control, Data Access and Communication) system requires the configuration settings of these control systems to carry out the integration smoothly. SDD (Self-description data) is designed to describe the static configuration of control systems. ITER CODAC group has released an SDD software package for control system designers to manage the static configuration, but it is specific for ITER plant control systems. Following the idea of ITER SDD, we developed a flexible and scalable SDD framework to develop SDD software for J-TEXT and other sophisticated devices. The SDD framework describes the configuration settings of various control systems, including physical and logical elements and their relation information, in SDD models which are classified into Components and Connections. The framework is composed of three layers: the MongoDB database, an open-source, dynamic schema, NoSQL (Not Only SQL) database; the SDD service, which maps SDD models to MongoDB and handles the transaction and business logic; the SDD applications, which can be used to create and maintain SDD information, and generate various kinds of output using the stored SDD information.

  14. Evaluating satellite imagery-based land use data for describing forestland development in western Washington

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jeffrey D. Kline; Alissa Moses; David L. Azuma; Andrew. Gray

    2009-01-01

    Forestry professionals are concerned about how forestlands are affected by residential and other development. To address those concerns, researchers must find appropriate data with which to describe and evaluate rates and patterns of forestland development and the impact of development on the management of remaining forestlands. We examine land use data gathered from...

  15. The brain imaging data structure, a format for organizing and describing outputs of neuroimaging experiments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gorgolewski, Krzysztof J; Auer, Tibor; Calhoun, Vince D; Craddock, R Cameron; Das, Samir; Duff, Eugene P; Flandin, Guillaume; Ghosh, Satrajit S; Glatard, Tristan; Halchenko, Yaroslav O; Handwerker, Daniel A; Hanke, Michael; Keator, David; Li, Xiangrui; Michael, Zachary; Maumet, Camille; Nichols, B Nolan; Nichols, Thomas E; Pellman, John; Poline, Jean-Baptiste; Rokem, Ariel; Schaefer, Gunnar; Sochat, Vanessa; Triplett, William; Turner, Jessica A; Varoquaux, Gaël; Poldrack, Russell A

    2016-06-21

    The development of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques has defined modern neuroimaging. Since its inception, tens of thousands of studies using techniques such as functional MRI and diffusion weighted imaging have allowed for the non-invasive study of the brain. Despite the fact that MRI is routinely used to obtain data for neuroscience research, there has been no widely adopted standard for organizing and describing the data collected in an imaging experiment. This renders sharing and reusing data (within or between labs) difficult if not impossible and unnecessarily complicates the application of automatic pipelines and quality assurance protocols. To solve this problem, we have developed the Brain Imaging Data Structure (BIDS), a standard for organizing and describing MRI datasets. The BIDS standard uses file formats compatible with existing software, unifies the majority of practices already common in the field, and captures the metadata necessary for most common data processing operations.

  16. MELLO: Medical lifelog ontology for data terms from self-tracking and lifelog devices.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Hye Hyeon; Lee, Soo Youn; Baik, Su Youn; Kim, Ju Han

    2015-12-01

    representing health-related lifelog data with rich contents including definitions, synonyms, and semantic relationships. MELLO fills the semantic gap between heterogeneous lifelog terms that are generated by diverse health self-tracking devices. The unified representation of lifelog terms facilitated by MELLO can help describe an individual's lifestyle and environmental factors, which can be included with user-generated data for clinical research and thereby enhance data integration and sharing. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.

  17. Leveraging Diverse Data Sources to Identify and Describe U.S. Health Care Delivery Systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cohen, Genna R; Jones, David J; Heeringa, Jessica; Barrett, Kirsten; Furukawa, Michael F; Miller, Dan; Mutti, Anne; Reschovsky, James D; Machta, Rachel; Shortell, Stephen M; Fraze, Taressa; Rich, Eugene

    2017-12-15

    Health care delivery systems are a growing presence in the U.S., yet research is hindered by the lack of universally agreed-upon criteria to denote formal systems. A clearer understanding of how to leverage real-world data sources to empirically identify systems is a necessary first step to such policy-relevant research. We draw from our experience in the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's Comparative Health System Performance (CHSP) initiative to assess available data sources to identify and describe systems, including system members (for example, hospitals and physicians) and relationships among the members (for example, hospital ownership of physician groups). We highlight five national data sources that either explicitly track system membership or detail system relationships: (1) American Hospital Association annual survey of hospitals; (2) Healthcare Relational Services Databases; (3) SK&A Healthcare Databases; (4) Provider Enrollment, Chain, and Ownership System; and (5) Internal Revenue Service 990 forms. Each data source has strengths and limitations for identifying and describing systems due to their varied content, linkages across data sources, and data collection methods. In addition, although no single national data source provides a complete picture of U.S. systems and their members, the CHSP initiative will create an early model of how such data can be combined to compensate for their individual limitations. Identifying systems in a way that can be repeated over time and linked to a host of other data sources will support analysis of how different types of organizations deliver health care and, ultimately, comparison of their performance.

  18. Self-esteem modulates the time course of self-positivity bias in explicit self-evaluation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Hua; Guan, Lili; Qi, Mingming; Yang, Juan

    2013-01-01

    Researchers have suggested that certain individuals may show a self-positivity bias, rating themselves as possessing more positive personality traits than others. Previous evidence has shown that people evaluate self-related information in such a way as to maintain or enhance self-esteem. However, whether self-esteem would modulate the time course of self-positivity bias in explicit self-evaluation has never been explored. In the present study, 21 participants completed the Rosenberg self-esteem scale and then completed a task where they were instructed to indicate to what extent positive/negative traits described themselves. Behavioral data showed that participants endorsed positive traits as higher in self-relevance compared to the negative traits. Further, participants' self-esteem levels were positively correlated with their self-positivity bias. Electrophysiological data revealed smaller N1 amplitude and larger late positive component (LPC) amplitude to stimuli consistent with the self-positivity bias (positive-high self-relevant stimuli) when compared to stimuli that were inconsistent with the self-positivity bias (positive-low self-relevant stimuli). Moreover, only in individuals with low self-esteem, the latency of P2 was more pronounced in processing stimuli that were consistent with the self-positivity bias (negative-low self-relevant stimuli) than to stimuli that were inconsistent with the self-positivity bias (positive-low self-relevant stimuli). Overall, the present study provides additional support for the view that low self-esteem as a personality variable would affect the early attentional processing.

  19. Self-acting and hydrodynamic shaft seals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ludwig, L. P.

    1973-01-01

    Self-acting and hydrodynamic seals are described. The analytical procedures are outlined for obtaining a seal force balance and the operating film thickness. Particular attention is given to primary ring response (seal vibration) to rotating seat face runout. This response analysis revealed three different vibration modes. Proposed applications of self-acting seals in gas turbine engines and in rocket vehicle turbopumps are described. Also experimental data on self-acting face seals operating under simulated gas turbine conditions are given; these data show the feasibility of operating the seal at conditions of 345 newtons per square centimeter (500 psi) and 152 meters per second (500 ft/sec) sliding speed.

  20. Validity and reliability of stillbirth data using linked self-reported and administrative datasets.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hure, Alexis J; Chojenta, Catherine L; Powers, Jennifer R; Byles, Julie E; Loxton, Deborah

    2015-01-01

    A high rate of stillbirth was previously observed in the Australian Longitudinal Study of Women's Health (ALSWH). Our primary objective was to test the validity and reliability of self-reported stillbirth data linked to state-based administrative datasets. Self-reported data, collected as part of the ALSWH cohort born in 1973-1978, were linked to three administrative datasets for women in New South Wales, Australia (n = 4374): the Midwives Data Collection; Admitted Patient Data Collection; and Perinatal Death Review Database. Linkages were obtained from the Centre for Health Record Linkage for the period 1996-2009. True cases of stillbirth were defined by being consistently recorded in two or more independent data sources. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, percent agreement, and kappa statistics were calculated for each dataset. Forty-nine women reported 53 stillbirths. No dataset was 100% accurate. The administrative datasets performed better than self-reported data, with high accuracy and agreement. Self-reported data showed high sensitivity (100%) but low specificity (30%), meaning women who had a stillbirth always reported it, but there was also over-reporting of stillbirths. About half of the misreported cases in the ALSWH were able to be removed by identifying inconsistencies in longitudinal data. Data linkage provides great opportunity to assess the validity and reliability of self-reported study data. Conversely, self-reported study data can help to resolve inconsistencies in administrative datasets. Quantifying the strengths and limitations of both self-reported and administrative data can improve epidemiological research, especially by guiding methods and interpretation of findings.

  1. The Quantified Self: Fundamental Disruption in Big Data Science and Biological Discovery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Swan, Melanie

    2013-06-01

    A key contemporary trend emerging in big data science is the quantified self (QS)-individuals engaged in the self-tracking of any kind of biological, physical, behavioral, or environmental information as n=1 individuals or in groups. There are opportunities for big data scientists to develop new models to support QS data collection, integration, and analysis, and also to lead in defining open-access database resources and privacy standards for how personal data is used. Next-generation QS applications could include tools for rendering QS data meaningful in behavior change, establishing baselines and variability in objective metrics, applying new kinds of pattern recognition techniques, and aggregating multiple self-tracking data streams from wearable electronics, biosensors, mobile phones, genomic data, and cloud-based services. The long-term vision of QS activity is that of a systemic monitoring approach where an individual's continuous personal information climate provides real-time performance optimization suggestions. There are some potential limitations related to QS activity-barriers to widespread adoption and a critique regarding scientific soundness-but these may be overcome. One interesting aspect of QS activity is that it is fundamentally a quantitative and qualitative phenomenon since it includes both the collection of objective metrics data and the subjective experience of the impact of these data. Some of this dynamic is being explored as the quantified self is becoming the qualified self in two new ways: by applying QS methods to the tracking of qualitative phenomena such as mood, and by understanding that QS data collection is just the first step in creating qualitative feedback loops for behavior change. In the long-term future, the quantified self may become additionally transformed into the extended exoself as data quantification and self-tracking enable the development of new sense capabilities that are not possible with ordinary senses. The

  2. Characteristics of Self-Harm Behaviour among Identified Self-Harming Youth in Care

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grenville, Jeffrey; Goodman, Deborah; Macpherson, Alison K.

    2012-01-01

    The objective of this study was to describe deliberate self-harming (DSH) characteristics in a child-welfare population identified as having threatened or completed self-harm. Secondary data from 621 serious occurrence reports (SOR) that documented 2004-2007 DSH incidents and DSH threats with 252 Canadian youth in care (Y-INC) of the Children's…

  3. Superintendents Describe Their Leadership Styles: Implications for Practice

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bird, James J.; Wang, Chuang

    2013-01-01

    Superintendents from eight southeastern United States school districts self-described their leadership styles across the choices of autocratic, laissez-faire, democratic, situational, servant, or transformational. When faced with this array of choices, the superintendents chose with arguable equitableness, indicating that successful leaders can…

  4. Non self-similar collapses described by the non-linear Schroedinger equation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Berge, L.; Pesme, D.

    1992-01-01

    We develop a rapid method in order to find the contraction rates of the radially symmetric collapsing solutions of the nonlinear Schroedinger equation defined for space dimensions exceeding a threshold value. We explicitly determine the asymptotic behaviour of these latter solutions by solving the non stationary linear problem relative to the nonlinear Schroedinger equation. We show that the self-similar states associated with the collapsing solutions are characterized by a spatial extent which is bounded from the top by a cut-off radius

  5. Exploring Online Students' Self-Regulated Learning with Self-Reported Surveys and Log Files: A Data Mining Approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cho, Moon-Heum; Yoo, Jin Soung

    2017-01-01

    Many researchers who are interested in studying students' online self-regulated learning (SRL) have heavily relied on self-reported surveys. Data mining is an alternative technique that can be used to discover students' SRL patterns from large data logs saved on a course management system. The purpose of this study was to identify students' online…

  6. Describing Data Format Exploits Using Bitstream Segment Graphs

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hartle, Michael; Schumann, Daniel; Botchak, Arsene; Tews, Erik; Mühlhäuser, Max

    2008-01-01

    Exploits based on data processing bugs are delivered through crafted data that seems to follow a data format, yet is altered in some way to trigger a specific bug during processing, eg. in order to execute contained malicious code. Decomposing crafted data according to the purported data format and

  7. Application of differential evolution algorithm on self-potential data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Xiangtao; Yin, Minghao

    2012-01-01

    Differential evolution (DE) is a population based evolutionary algorithm widely used for solving multidimensional global optimization problems over continuous spaces, and has been successfully used to solve several kinds of problems. In this paper, differential evolution is used for quantitative interpretation of self-potential data in geophysics. Six parameters are estimated including the electrical dipole moment, the depth of the source, the distance from the origin, the polarization angle and the regional coefficients. This study considers three kinds of data from Turkey: noise-free data, contaminated synthetic data, and Field example. The differential evolution and the corresponding model parameters are constructed as regards the number of the generations. Then, we show the vibration of the parameters at the vicinity of the low misfit area. Moreover, we show how the frequency distribution of each parameter is related to the number of the DE iteration. Experimental results show the DE can be used for solving the quantitative interpretation of self-potential data efficiently compared with previous methods.

  8. [Self-ligating edgewise brackets. An overview].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Katsaros, C; Dijkman, J F

    2003-01-01

    During the last years both the manufactures and the orthodontists seem to show an increased interest in self-ligating brackets. This paper aims to present the history of self-ligating systems, to describe the three mostly used bracketsystems and to review the relevant literature. It seems from the existing data that self-ligating brackets have certain advantages over conventionally ligated brackets. However, the data are still thin and a high need for well designed clinical trials exist.

  9. Self-shielding effect in unresolved resonance data in JENDL-4.0

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Konno, Chikara; Takakura, Kosuke; Ochiai, Kentaro; Sato, Satoshi; Kato, Yoshinari

    2012-01-01

    At International Conference on Nuclear Data for Science and Technology in 2007 we pointed out that most of unresolved resonance data in JENDL-3.3 have a problem related to self-shielding correction. Here with a simple calculation model we have investigated whether the latest JENDL, JENDL-4.0, was improved for the problem or not. The results suggest that unresolved resonance data in JENDL-4.0 have no problem, but it seems that self-shielding effects for the unresolved resonance data in JENDL-4.0 are too large. New benchmark experiments for unresolved resonance data are strongly recommended in order to verify unresolved resonance data. (author)

  10. Can You Trust Self-Report Data Provided by Homeless Mentally Ill Individuals?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Calsyn, Robert J.; And Others

    1993-01-01

    Reliability and validity of self-report data provided by 178 mentally ill homeless persons were generally favorable. Self-reports of service use also generally agreed with treatment staff estimates, providing further validity evidence. Researchers and administrators can be relatively confident in using such data. (SLD)

  11. New frontiers of quantified self 2

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rapp, Amon; Cena, Federica; Kay, Judy

    2016-01-01

    While the Quantified Self (QS) community is described in terms of "self-knowledge through numbers" people are increasingly demanding value and meaning. In this workshop we aim at refocusing the QS debate on the value of data for providing new services....

  12. Enabling the Usability of Earth Science Data Products and Services by Evaluating, Describing, and Improving Data Quality throughout the Data Lifecycle

    Science.gov (United States)

    Downs, R. R.; Peng, G.; Wei, Y.; Ramapriyan, H.; Moroni, D. F.

    2015-12-01

    Earth science data products and services are being used by representatives of various science and social science disciplines, by planning and decision-making professionals, by educators and learners ranging from primary through graduate and informal education, and by the general public. The diversity of users and uses of Earth science data is gratifying and offers new challenges for enabling the usability of these data by audiences with various purposes and levels of expertise. Users and other stakeholders need capabilities to efficiently find, explore, select, and determine the applicability and suitability of data products and services to meet their objectives and information needs. Similarly, they need to be able to understand the limitations of Earth science data, which can be complex, especially when considering combined or simultaneous use of multiple data products and services. Quality control efforts of stakeholders, throughout the data lifecycle, can contribute to the usability of Earth science data to meet the needs of diverse users. Such stakeholders include study design teams, data producers, data managers and curators, archives, systems professionals, data distributors, end-users, intermediaries, sponsoring organizations, hosting institutions, and others. Opportunities for engaging stakeholders to review, describe, and improve the quality of Earth science data products and services throughout the data lifecycle are identified and discussed. Insight is shared from the development of guidelines for implementing the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) Data Management Principles, the recommendations from the Earth Science Data System Working Group (ESDSWG) on Data Quality, and the efforts of the Information Quality Cluster of the Federation of Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP). Examples and outcomes from quality control efforts of data facilities, such as scientific data centers, that contribute to the usability of Earth science data also are offered.

  13. Inter-relationship between scaling exponents for describing self-similar river networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Soohyun; Paik, Kyungrock

    2015-04-01

    Natural river networks show well-known self-similar characteristics. Such characteristics are represented by various power-law relationships, e.g., between upstream length and drainage area (exponent h) (Hack, 1957), and in the exceedance probability distribution of upstream area (exponent ɛ) (Rodriguez-Iturbe et al., 1992). It is empirically revealed that these power-law exponents are within narrow ranges. Power-law is also found in the relationship between drainage density (the total stream length divided by the total basin area) and specified source area (the minimum drainage area to form a stream head) (exponent η) (Moussa and Bocquillon, 1996). Considering that above three scaling relationships all refer to fundamental measures of 'length' and 'area' of a given drainage basin, it is natural to hypothesize plausible inter-relationship between these three scaling exponents. Indeed, Rigon et al. (1996) demonstrated the relationship between ɛ and h. In this study, we expand this to a more general ɛ-η-h relationship. We approach ɛ-η relationship in an analytical manner while η-h relationship is demonstrated for six study basins in Korea. Detailed analysis and implications will be presented. References Hack, J. T. (1957). Studies of longitudinal river profiles in Virginia and Maryland. US, Geological Survey Professional Paper, 294. Moussa, R., & Bocquillon, C. (1996). Fractal analyses of tree-like channel networks from digital elevation model data. Journal of Hydrology, 187(1), 157-172. Rigon, R., Rodriguez-Iturbe, I., Maritan, A., Giacometti. A., Tarboton, D. G., & Rinaldo, A. (1996). On Hack's Law. Water Resources Research, 32(11), 3367-3374. Rodríguez-Iturbe, I., Ijjasz-Vasquez, E. J., Bras, R. L., & Tarboton, D. G. (1992). Power law distributions of discharge mass and energy in river basins. Water Resources Research, 28(4), 1089-1093.

  14. Self-rated health and age

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andersen, Frank Krarup; Christensen, Kaare; Frederiksen, Henrik

    2007-01-01

    AIMS: The aim of this study was to explore and describe self-rated health in middle-aged and elderly Danes using both a cross-sectional and a longitudinal design. Global and (age) comparative self-rated health are examined and compared. METHODS: This study is interview based and comprises data on...

  15. The brain imaging data structure, a format for organizing and describing outputs of neuroimaging experiments

    OpenAIRE

    Gorgolewski, Krzysztof J.; Auer, Tibor; Calhoun, Vince D.; Craddock, R. Cameron; Das, Samir; Duff, Eugene P.; Flandin, Guillaume; Ghosh, Satrajit S.; Glatard, Tristan; Halchenko, Yaroslav O.; Handwerker, Daniel A.; Hanke, Michael; Keator, David; Li, Xiangrui; Michael, Zachary

    2016-01-01

    International audience; The development of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques has defined modern neuroimaging. Since its inception, tens of thousands of studies using techniques such as functional MRI and diffusion weighted imaging have allowed for the non-invasive study of the brain. Despite the fact that MRI is routinely used to obtain data for neuroscience research, there has been no widely adopted standard for organizing and describing the data collected in an imaging experiment....

  16. Application of differential evolution algorithm on self-potential data.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiangtao Li

    Full Text Available Differential evolution (DE is a population based evolutionary algorithm widely used for solving multidimensional global optimization problems over continuous spaces, and has been successfully used to solve several kinds of problems. In this paper, differential evolution is used for quantitative interpretation of self-potential data in geophysics. Six parameters are estimated including the electrical dipole moment, the depth of the source, the distance from the origin, the polarization angle and the regional coefficients. This study considers three kinds of data from Turkey: noise-free data, contaminated synthetic data, and Field example. The differential evolution and the corresponding model parameters are constructed as regards the number of the generations. Then, we show the vibration of the parameters at the vicinity of the low misfit area. Moreover, we show how the frequency distribution of each parameter is related to the number of the DE iteration. Experimental results show the DE can be used for solving the quantitative interpretation of self-potential data efficiently compared with previous methods.

  17. A Thematic Analysis of Self-described Authentic Leadership Behaviors Among Experienced Nurse Executives.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alexander, Catherine; Lopez, Ruth Palan

    2018-01-01

    The aim of this study is to understand the behaviors experienced nurse executives use to create healthy work environments (HWEs). The constructs of authentic leadership formed the conceptual framework for the study. The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses recommends authentic leadership as the preferred style of leadership for creating and sustaining HWEs. Behaviors associated with authentic leadership in nursing are not well understood. A purposive sample of 17 experienced nurse executives were recruited from across the United States for this qualitative study. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the in-depth, semistructured interviews. Four constructs of authentic leaders were supported and suggest unique applications of each including self-awareness (a private and professional self), balanced processing (open hearted), transparency (limiting exposure), and moral leadership (nursing compass). Authentic leadership may provide a sound foundation to support nursing leadership practices; however, its application to the discipline requires additional investigation.

  18. Tandem mass spectrometry data quality assessment by self-convolution

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tham Wai

    2007-09-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Many algorithms have been developed for deciphering the tandem mass spectrometry (MS data sets. They can be essentially clustered into two classes. The first performs searches on theoretical mass spectrum database, while the second based itself on de novo sequencing from raw mass spectrometry data. It was noted that the quality of mass spectra affects significantly the protein identification processes in both instances. This prompted the authors to explore ways to measure the quality of MS data sets before subjecting them to the protein identification algorithms, thus allowing for more meaningful searches and increased confidence level of proteins identified. Results The proposed method measures the qualities of MS data sets based on the symmetric property of b- and y-ion peaks present in a MS spectrum. Self-convolution on MS data and its time-reversal copy was employed. Due to the symmetric nature of b-ions and y-ions peaks, the self-convolution result of a good spectrum would produce a highest mid point intensity peak. To reduce processing time, self-convolution was achieved using Fast Fourier Transform and its inverse transform, followed by the removal of the "DC" (Direct Current component and the normalisation of the data set. The quality score was defined as the ratio of the intensity at the mid point to the remaining peaks of the convolution result. The method was validated using both theoretical mass spectra, with various permutations, and several real MS data sets. The results were encouraging, revealing a high percentage of positive prediction rates for spectra with good quality scores. Conclusion We have demonstrated in this work a method for determining the quality of tandem MS data set. By pre-determining the quality of tandem MS data before subjecting them to protein identification algorithms, spurious protein predictions due to poor tandem MS data are avoided, giving scientists greater confidence in the

  19. Tandem mass spectrometry data quality assessment by self-convolution.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Choo, Keng Wah; Tham, Wai Mun

    2007-09-20

    Many algorithms have been developed for deciphering the tandem mass spectrometry (MS) data sets. They can be essentially clustered into two classes. The first performs searches on theoretical mass spectrum database, while the second based itself on de novo sequencing from raw mass spectrometry data. It was noted that the quality of mass spectra affects significantly the protein identification processes in both instances. This prompted the authors to explore ways to measure the quality of MS data sets before subjecting them to the protein identification algorithms, thus allowing for more meaningful searches and increased confidence level of proteins identified. The proposed method measures the qualities of MS data sets based on the symmetric property of b- and y-ion peaks present in a MS spectrum. Self-convolution on MS data and its time-reversal copy was employed. Due to the symmetric nature of b-ions and y-ions peaks, the self-convolution result of a good spectrum would produce a highest mid point intensity peak. To reduce processing time, self-convolution was achieved using Fast Fourier Transform and its inverse transform, followed by the removal of the "DC" (Direct Current) component and the normalisation of the data set. The quality score was defined as the ratio of the intensity at the mid point to the remaining peaks of the convolution result. The method was validated using both theoretical mass spectra, with various permutations, and several real MS data sets. The results were encouraging, revealing a high percentage of positive prediction rates for spectra with good quality scores. We have demonstrated in this work a method for determining the quality of tandem MS data set. By pre-determining the quality of tandem MS data before subjecting them to protein identification algorithms, spurious protein predictions due to poor tandem MS data are avoided, giving scientists greater confidence in the predicted results. We conclude that the algorithm performs well

  20. A standardised graphic method for describing data privacy frameworks in primary care research using a flexible zone model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuchinke, Wolfgang; Ohmann, Christian; Verheij, Robert A; van Veen, Evert-Ben; Arvanitis, Theodoros N; Taweel, Adel; Delaney, Brendan C

    2014-12-01

    To develop a model describing core concepts and principles of data flow, data privacy and confidentiality, in a simple and flexible way, using concise process descriptions and a diagrammatic notation applied to research workflow processes. The model should help to generate robust data privacy frameworks for research done with patient data. Based on an exploration of EU legal requirements for data protection and privacy, data access policies, and existing privacy frameworks of research projects, basic concepts and common processes were extracted, described and incorporated into a model with a formal graphical representation and a standardised notation. The Unified Modelling Language (UML) notation was enriched by workflow and own symbols to enable the representation of extended data flow requirements, data privacy and data security requirements, privacy enhancing techniques (PET) and to allow privacy threat analysis for research scenarios. Our model is built upon the concept of three privacy zones (Care Zone, Non-care Zone and Research Zone) containing databases, data transformation operators, such as data linkers and privacy filters. Using these model components, a risk gradient for moving data from a zone of high risk for patient identification to a zone of low risk can be described. The model was applied to the analysis of data flows in several general clinical research use cases and two research scenarios from the TRANSFoRm project (e.g., finding patients for clinical research and linkage of databases). The model was validated by representing research done with the NIVEL Primary Care Database in the Netherlands. The model allows analysis of data privacy and confidentiality issues for research with patient data in a structured way and provides a framework to specify a privacy compliant data flow, to communicate privacy requirements and to identify weak points for an adequate implementation of data privacy. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights

  1. Self-acting shaft seals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ludwig, L. P.

    1978-01-01

    Self-acting seals are described in detail. The mathematical models for obtaining a seal force balance and the equilibrium operating film thickness are outlined. Particular attention is given to primary ring response (seal vibration) to rotating seat face runout. This response analysis reveals three different vibration models with secondary seal friction being an important parameter. Leakage flow inlet pressure drop and affects of axisymmetric sealing face deformations are discussed. Experimental data on self-acting face seals operating under simulated gas turbine conditions are given. Also a spiral groove seal design operated to 244 m/sec (800 ft/sec) is described.

  2. Some Contributions of Self-Efficacy Research to Self-Concept Theory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gorrell, Jeffrey

    1990-01-01

    Self-efficacy theory and research contribute to self-concept theory primarily by supporting the enhancement model of belief change. This article describes current problems with self-concept theory, describes self-efficacy research, and suggests that self-efficacy theory and methodology present findings that strengthen the association between…

  3. Yeast for Mathematicians: A Ferment of Discovery and Model Competition to Describe Data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lewis, Matthew; Powell, James

    2017-02-01

    In addition to the memorization, algorithmic skills and vocabulary which are the default focus in many mathematics classrooms, professional mathematicians are expected to creatively apply known techniques, construct new mathematical approaches and communicate with and about mathematics. We propose that students can learn these professional, higher-level skills through Laboratory Experiences in Mathematical Biology which put students in the role of mathematics researcher creating mathematics to describe and understand biological data. Here we introduce a laboratory experience centered on yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) growing in a small capped flask with a jar to collect carbon dioxide created during yeast growth and respiration. The lab requires no specialized equipment and can easily be run in the context of a college math class. Students collect data and develop mathematical models to explain the data. To help place instructors in the role of mentor/collaborator (as opposed to jury/judge), we facilitate the lab using model competition judged via Bayesian Information Criterion. This article includes details about the class activity conducted, student examples and pedagogical strategies for success.

  4. Unscented Kalman filter assimilation of time-lapse self-potential data for monitoring solute transport

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cui, Yi-an; Liu, Lanbo; Zhu, Xiaoxiong

    2017-08-01

    Monitoring the extent and evolution of contaminant plumes in local and regional groundwater systems from existing landfills is critical in contamination control and remediation. The self-potential survey is an efficient and economical nondestructive geophysical technique that can be used to investigate underground contaminant plumes. Based on the unscented transform, we have built a Kalman filtering cycle to conduct time-lapse data assimilation for monitoring the transport of solute based on the solute transport experiment using a bench-scale physical model. The data assimilation was formed by modeling the evolution based on the random walk model and observation correcting based on the self-potential forward. Thus, monitoring self-potential data can be inverted by the data assimilation technique. As a result, we can reconstruct the dynamic process of the contaminant plume instead of using traditional frame-to-frame static inversion, which may cause inversion artifacts. The data assimilation inversion algorithm was evaluated through noise-added synthetic time-lapse self-potential data. The result of the numerical experiment shows validity, accuracy and tolerance to the noise of the dynamic inversion. To validate the proposed algorithm, we conducted a scaled-down sandbox self-potential observation experiment to generate time-lapse data that closely mimics the real-world contaminant monitoring setup. The results of physical experiments support the idea that the data assimilation method is a potentially useful approach for characterizing the transport of contamination plumes using the unscented Kalman filter (UKF) data assimilation technique applied to field time-lapse self-potential data.

  5. Obtaining Data on Hearing Experience Through Self-tracking

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Johansen, Benjamin; Petersen, Michael Kai; Larsen, Jakob Eg

    2016-01-01

    This position paper argues that self-tracking data can enrich a pre-fitting process of hearing aids. It is argued that hearing loss consist of three parts. Tonal sensitivity, signal to-noise-sensitivity, and cognitive capabilities which can be assessed by using smartphones. Combining this with co...

  6. Data describing the solution structure of the WW3* domain from human Nedd4-1

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vineet Panwalkar

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available The third WW domain (WW3* of human Nedd4-1 (Neuronal precursor cell expressed developmentally down-regulated gene 4-1 interacts with the poly-proline (PY motifs of the human epithelial Na+ channel (hENaC subunits at micromolar affinity. This data supplements the article (Panwalkar et al., 2015 [1]. We describe the NMR experiments used to solve the solution structure of the WW3* domain. We also present NOE network data for defining the rotameric state of side chains of peptide binding residues, and complement this data with χ1 dihedral angles derived from 3J couplings and molecular dynamics simulations data. Keywords: Chemical shift, Neuronal precursor cell expressed developmentally down-regulated gene 4-1, NMR, NOE distance restraints, WW domain

  7. Interpretation of self-potential data for dam seepage investigations

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Corwin, R.F.; Sheffer, M.R.; Salmon, G. [BC Hydro, Burnaby, BC (Canada)

    2007-04-15

    This book represents one of a series on the subject of geophysical methods and their use in assessing seepage and internal erosion in embankment dams. This manual facilitates the interpretation of self-potential (SP) data generated by subsurface fluid flow, with an emphasis on dam seepage studies. It is intended for users with a background in geophysics or engineering having a general familiarity with both the SP and direct-current (DC) resistivity methods and their applications. It includes an extensive reference list covering all aspects of available SP interpretation techniques, including qualitative, analytical and numerical methods. Particular emphasis is placed on the use of geometric source analytical modeling methods to evaluate SP anomalies. These methods provide a simple yet efficient means of estimating the location and depth of current sources of observed SP data, which may be linked to fluid flow in the subsurface. The manual is primarily oriented toward embankment dams and earthen structures such as levees and dikes. SP methods have been used to investigate seepage through pervious zones and cracks in concrete and concrete-faced structures. The manual describes the nature of SP fields generated by both uniform and non-uniform dam seepage flow, as well as non-seepage sources of SP variations. These methods enable the study of more complex systems and require a more comprehensive analysis of a given field site. refs., tabs., figs.

  8. An updated radiation protection program prospectus based on 20 years of data describing program drivers and activities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Emery, Robert J; Gutierrez, Janet M

    2014-08-01

    In 1992, the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHSCH) Radiation Safety Program began assembling data on a monthly basis that described various program drivers and associated activities. At the end of calendar year 2002, a decade of data had been collected, so the information was summarized into a novel program prospectus, displaying various program indicator parameters in a format similar to that used in a commercial enterprise prospectus provided to potential investors. The consistent formatting of the data afforded a succinct and easily digestible snapshot of program activities and trends. Feedback from various program stakeholders, even those unfamiliar with radiation safety matters, was overwhelmingly positive. By the end of 2012, a total of 20 years of data had been collected, so an updated and slightly modified prospectus was created. The summary document has helped to describe the drivers of the program, revealed some interesting trends, and has aided in maintaining program support even in challenging economic times. The data summary has also proved to be useful in making future projections regarding program needs.

  9. Biomarkers as Common Data Elements for Symptom and Self-Management Science.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Page, Gayle G; Corwin, Elizabeth J; Dorsey, Susan G; Redeker, Nancy S; McCloskey, Donna Jo; Austin, Joan K; Guthrie, Barbara J; Moore, Shirley M; Barton, Debra; Kim, Miyong T; Docherty, Sharron L; Waldrop-Valverde, Drenna; Bailey, Donald E; Schiffman, Rachel F; Starkweather, Angela; Ward, Teresa M; Bakken, Suzanne; Hickey, Kathleen T; Renn, Cynthia L; Grady, Patricia

    2018-05-01

    Biomarkers as common data elements (CDEs) are important for the characterization of biobehavioral symptoms given that once a biologic moderator or mediator is identified, biologically based strategies can be investigated for treatment efforts. Just as a symptom inventory reflects a symptom experience, a biomarker is an indicator of the symptom, though not the symptom per se. The purposes of this position paper are to (a) identify a "minimum set" of biomarkers for consideration as CDEs in symptom and self-management science, specifically biochemical biomarkers; (b) evaluate the benefits and limitations of such a limited array of biomarkers with implications for symptom science; (c) propose a strategy for the collection of the endorsed minimum set of biologic samples to be employed as CDEs for symptom science; and (d) conceptualize this minimum set of biomarkers consistent with National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) symptoms of fatigue, depression, cognition, pain, and sleep disturbance. From May 2016 through January 2017, a working group consisting of a subset of the Directors of the NINR Centers of Excellence funded by P20 or P30 mechanisms and NINR staff met bimonthly via telephone to develop this position paper suggesting the addition of biomarkers as CDEs. The full group of Directors reviewed drafts, provided critiques and suggestions, recommended the minimum set of biomarkers, and approved the completed document. Best practices for selecting, identifying, and using biological CDEs as well as challenges to the use of biological CDEs for symptom and self-management science are described. Current platforms for sample outcome sharing are presented. Finally, biological CDEs for symptom and self-management science are proposed along with implications for future research and use of CDEs in these areas. The recommended minimum set of biomarker CDEs include pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines, a hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis marker, cortisol, the

  10. A standardised graphic method for describing data privacy frameworks in primary care research using a flexible zone model.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kuchinke, W.; Ohmann, C.; Verheij, R.A.; Veen, E.B. van; Arvanitis, T.N.; Taweel, A.; Delaney, B.C.

    2014-01-01

    Purpose: To develop a model describing core concepts and principles of data flow, data privacy and confidentiality, in a simple and flexible way, using concise process descriptions and a diagrammatic notation applied to research workflow processes. The model should help to generate robust data

  11. DataUp: A tool to help researchers describe and share tabular data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Strasser, Carly; Kunze, John; Abrams, Stephen; Cruse, Patricia

    2014-01-01

    Scientific datasets have immeasurable value, but they lose their value over time without proper documentation, long-term storage, and easy discovery and access. Across disciplines as diverse as astronomy, demography, archeology, and ecology, large numbers of small heterogeneous datasets (i.e., the long tail of data) are especially at risk unless they are properly documented, saved, and shared. One unifying factor for many of these at-risk datasets is that they reside in spreadsheets. In response to this need, the California Digital Library (CDL) partnered with Microsoft Research Connections and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to create the DataUp data management tool for Microsoft Excel. Many researchers creating these small, heterogeneous datasets use Excel at some point in their data collection and analysis workflow, so we were interested in developing a data management tool that fits easily into those work flows and minimizes the learning curve for researchers. The DataUp project began in August 2011. We first formally assessed the needs of researchers by conducting surveys and interviews of our target research groups: earth, environmental, and ecological scientists. We found that, on average, researchers had very poor data management practices, were not aware of data centers or metadata standards, and did not understand the benefits of data management or sharing. Based on our survey results, we composed a list of desirable components and requirements and solicited feedback from the community to prioritize potential features of the DataUp tool. These requirements were then relayed to the software developers, and DataUp was successfully launched in October 2012.

  12. Black hole algorithm for determining model parameter in self-potential data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sungkono; Warnana, Dwa Desa

    2018-01-01

    Analysis of self-potential (SP) data is increasingly popular in geophysical method due to its relevance in many cases. However, the inversion of SP data is often highly nonlinear. Consequently, local search algorithms commonly based on gradient approaches have often failed to find the global optimum solution in nonlinear problems. Black hole algorithm (BHA) was proposed as a solution to such problems. As the name suggests, the algorithm was constructed based on the black hole phenomena. This paper investigates the application of BHA to solve inversions of field and synthetic self-potential (SP) data. The inversion results show that BHA accurately determines model parameters and model uncertainty. This indicates that BHA is highly potential as an innovative approach for SP data inversion.

  13. Women's self-perception and self-care practice: implications for health care delivery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mendias, E P; Clark, M C; Guevara, E B

    2001-01-01

    Mexican American women experience unique health care needs related to integration of Mexican and American cultures. To learn how to better promote self-care practices and service utilization in women of Mexican origin living in Texas, researchers used a qualitative approach to interview a convenience sample of 11 low-income women attending a health clinic. Researchers collected narrative data about the women's perceptions of health, wellness, and self-care. Using the matrix approach described by Miles and Huberman, we organized findings around women's roles, including participants' descriptions of themselves, their health and wellness awareness, self-care practices for health/illness and wellness/nonwellness, barriers to self-care, origin of self-care practices, and perceptions of life control. Implications for health planning and service delivery are presented.

  14. Data as a Strategic Resource: Self-determination, Governance, and the Data Challenge for Indigenous Nations in the United States

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stephanie Carroll Rainie

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available Data about Indigenous populations in the United States are inconsistent and irrelevant. Federal and state governments and researchers direct most collection, analysis, and use of data about U.S. Indigenous populations. Indigenous Peoples’ justified mistrust further complicates the collection and use of these data. Nonetheless, tribal leaders and communities depend on these data to inform decision making. Reliance on data that do not reflect tribal needs, priorities, and self-conceptions threatens tribal self-determination. Tribal data sovereignty through governance of data on Indigenous populations is long overdue. This article provides two case studies of the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and their demographic and socioeconomic data initiatives to create locally and culturally relevant data for decision making.

  15. Self-Monitoring Kidney Function Post Transplantation: Reliability of Patient-Reported Data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Lint, Céline; Wang, Wenxin; van Dijk, Sandra; Brinkman, Willem-Paul; Rövekamp, Ton Jm; Neerincx, Mark A; Rabelink, Ton J; van der Boog, Paul Jm

    2017-09-26

    The high frequency of outpatient visits after kidney transplantation is burdensome to both the recovering patient and health care capacity. Self-monitoring kidney function offers a promising strategy to reduce the number of these outpatient visits. The objective of this study was to investigate whether it is safe to rely on patients' self-measurements of creatinine and blood pressure, using data from a self-management randomized controlled trial. For self-monitoring creatinine, each participant received a StatSensor Xpress-i Creatinine Meter and related test material. For self-monitoring blood pressure, each participant received a Microlife WatchBP Home, an oscillometric device for blood pressure self-measurement on the upper arm. Both devices had a memory function and the option to download stored values to a computer. During the first year post transplantation, 54 patients registered their self-measured creatinine values in a Web-based Self-Management Support System (SMSS) which provided automatic feedback on the registered values (eg, seek contact with hospital). Values registered in the SMSS were compared with those logged automatically in the creatinine device to study reliability of registered data. Adherence to measurement frequency was determined by comparing the number of requested with the number of performed measurements. To study adherence to provided feedback, SMSS-logged feedback and information from the electronic hospital files were analyzed. Level of adherence was highest during months 2-4 post transplantation with over 90% (42/47) of patients performing at least 75% of the requested measurements. Overall, 87.00% (3448/3963) of all registered creatinine values were entered correctly, although values were often registered several days later. If (the number of) measured and registered values deviated, the mean of registered creatinine values was significantly lower than what was measured, suggesting active selection of lower creatinine values

  16. Modular design, application architecture, and usage of a self-service model for enterprise data delivery: The Duke Enterprise Data Unified Content Explorer (DEDUCE)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Horvath, Monica M.; Rusincovitch, Shelley A.; Brinson, Stephanie; Shang, Howard C.; Evans, Steve; Ferranti, Jeffrey M.

    2015-01-01

    Purpose Data generated in the care of patients are widely used to support clinical research and quality improvement, which has hastened the development of self-service query tools. User interface design for such tools, execution of query activity, and underlying application architecture have not been widely reported, and existing tools reflect a wide heterogeneity of methods and technical frameworks. We describe the design, application architecture, and use of a self-service model for enterprise data delivery within Duke Medicine. Methods Our query platform, the Duke Enterprise Data Unified Content Explorer (DEDUCE), supports enhanced data exploration, cohort identification, and data extraction from our enterprise data warehouse (EDW) using a series of modular environments that interact with a central keystone module, Cohort Manager (CM). A data-driven application architecture is implemented through three components: an application data dictionary, the concept of “smart dimensions”, and dynamically-generated user interfaces. Results DEDUCE CM allows flexible hierarchies of EDW queries within a grid-like workspace. A cohort “join” functionality allows switching between filters based on criteria occurring within or across patient encounters. To date, 674 users have been trained and activated in DEDUCE, and logon activity shows a steady increase, with variability between months. A comparison of filter conditions and export criteria shows that these activities have different patterns of usage across subject areas. Conclusions Organizations with sophisticated EDWs may find that users benefit from development of advanced query functionality, complimentary to the user interfaces and infrastructure used in other well-published models. Driven by its EDW context, the DEDUCE application architecture was also designed to be responsive to source data and to allow modification through alterations in metadata rather than programming, allowing an agile response to source

  17. Modular design, application architecture, and usage of a self-service model for enterprise data delivery: the Duke Enterprise Data Unified Content Explorer (DEDUCE).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Horvath, Monica M; Rusincovitch, Shelley A; Brinson, Stephanie; Shang, Howard C; Evans, Steve; Ferranti, Jeffrey M

    2014-12-01

    Data generated in the care of patients are widely used to support clinical research and quality improvement, which has hastened the development of self-service query tools. User interface design for such tools, execution of query activity, and underlying application architecture have not been widely reported, and existing tools reflect a wide heterogeneity of methods and technical frameworks. We describe the design, application architecture, and use of a self-service model for enterprise data delivery within Duke Medicine. Our query platform, the Duke Enterprise Data Unified Content Explorer (DEDUCE), supports enhanced data exploration, cohort identification, and data extraction from our enterprise data warehouse (EDW) using a series of modular environments that interact with a central keystone module, Cohort Manager (CM). A data-driven application architecture is implemented through three components: an application data dictionary, the concept of "smart dimensions", and dynamically-generated user interfaces. DEDUCE CM allows flexible hierarchies of EDW queries within a grid-like workspace. A cohort "join" functionality allows switching between filters based on criteria occurring within or across patient encounters. To date, 674 users have been trained and activated in DEDUCE, and logon activity shows a steady increase, with variability between months. A comparison of filter conditions and export criteria shows that these activities have different patterns of usage across subject areas. Organizations with sophisticated EDWs may find that users benefit from development of advanced query functionality, complimentary to the user interfaces and infrastructure used in other well-published models. Driven by its EDW context, the DEDUCE application architecture was also designed to be responsive to source data and to allow modification through alterations in metadata rather than programming, allowing an agile response to source system changes. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier

  18. Towards Self-Awareness Privacy Protection for Internet of Things Data Collection

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kok-Seng Wong

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The Internet of Things (IoT is now an emerging global Internet-based information architecture used to facilitate the exchange of goods and services. IoT-related applications are aiming to bring technology to people anytime and anywhere, with any device. However, the use of IoT raises a privacy concern because data will be collected automatically from the network devices and objects which are embedded with IoT technologies. In the current applications, data collector is a dominant player who enforces the secure protocol that cannot be verified by the data owners. In view of this, some of the respondents might refuse to contribute their personal data or submit inaccurate data. In this paper, we study a self-awareness data collection protocol to raise the confidence of the respondents when submitting their personal data to the data collector. Our self-awareness protocol requires each respondent to help others in preserving his privacy. The communication (respondents and data collector and collaboration (among respondents in our solution will be performed automatically.

  19. On the reliability of self-reported health: Evidence from Albanian data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nicolas Vaillant

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper investigates the reliability of self-assessed measures of health using panel data collected in Albania by the World Bank in 2002, 2003 and 2004 through the Living Standard Measurement Study project. As the survey includes questions on a self-assessed measure of health and on more objective health problems, both types of information are combined with a view to understanding how respondents change their answers to the self-reported measures over time. Estimates from random effects ordered Probit models show that differences in self-reported subjective health between individuals are much more marked than those over time, suggesting a strong state dependence in subjective health status. The empirical analysis also reveals respondent consistency, from both a subjective and an objective viewpoint. Self-reported health is much more influenced by permanent shocks than by more transitory illness or injury.

  20. Data for Korean college students׳ anxious and avoidant attachment, self-compassion, anxiety and depression

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ju Ri Joeng

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available The data presented in this article are from 473 Korean college students׳ responses to an online survey consisting of measures of anxious and avoidant attachment (the Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised Scale: ECR-R, self-compassion (Neff׳s Self-Compassion Scale: SCS, depression (the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale: CES-D and anxiety (the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory-the Trait Anxiety Scale: STAT-T. Each variable was measured by a Korean version of the instrument. Participants were recruited from three universities in South Korea: 288 were men and 185 were women; 199 were undergraduate and 273 were graduate students. The online program used to collect the data prompted for but did not require responses to items; 26 surveys were not completed, and data from these surveys were not included in the dataset. Major findings based on the data presented here are reported in the article “Insecure attachment and emotional distress: Fear of self-compassion and self-compassion as mediators” (Joeng et al., 2017 [1]. The data, an SPSS file, are included as supplementary material.

  1. [Comparison of self-reported anthropometric variables and real measurement data].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Díaz-García, J; González-Zapata, L I; Estrada-Restrepo, A

    2012-06-01

    The objectives of this study were to evaluate self-reporting of weight, height, and waist circumference, and to compare that perception with the real measurements in college students of the MESPYN cohort--Medellin, Salud Pública y Nutrición--from the University of Antioquia (UdeA), Colombia. A cross-sectional study was conducted starting with the first measurement of the MESPYN Cohort 2009-2010. The sample included volunteer students from different academic areas. Self-perception of weight, height, and waist circumference were recorded before the real measurements were performed. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) were calculated for all the variables, and an alpha of 0.05 was used. The concordance between real measurements and self-referred values was evaluated with the Bland and Altman method. 424 volunteer students were included. The average real weight (kg) in males was 67.4 +/- 10.4 and self-reported: 67.0 +/- 11.0; in females the real value was 55.7 +/- 10.1 and self-reported: 55.0 +/- 9.0. The average real height (m) in males was 1.73 +/- 6.1 and self-reported: 1.73 +/- 6.0; in females the real value was 1.60 +/- 5.9 and self-reported: 1.61 +/- 6.0. In males, the average real waist circumference (cm) was 76.6 +/- 8.0 and self-reported: 75.0 +/- 14.0; in females the real value was 69.9 +/- 8.0 and self-reported: 70.0 +/- 9.0. Weight ICC: 0.956, 95% CI (0.95; 0.97), (p < 0.01); height ICC: 0.953, 95%IC (0.91; 0.97), (p < 0.01), and waist circumference ICC: 0.593, 95% IC (0.55; 0.65), (p < 0.01). In conclusion, anthropometric nutritional evaluation of UdeA students can be performed with self-reported data for weight and height, but the evaluation of abdominal obesity requires direct measurement of waist circumference.

  2. High, low, and in between : Self-esteem development from middle childhood to young adulthood

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Chung, Joanne M.; Hutteman, Roos; van Aken, Marcel A.G.; Denissen, Jaap J.A.

    2017-01-01

    We describe self-esteem development in a German sample (N = 240, 48% female) followed longitudinally from middle childhood to young adulthood, using data spanning 20 years. Data from the Self-Perception Profile for Children (Harter, 1985) and the Self-Description Questionnaire III (Marsh & O'Neill,

  3. High, low, and in between : Self-esteem development from middle childhood to young adulthood

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Chung, J.M.H.; Hutteman, Roos; van Aken, Marcel A. G.; Denissen, J.J.A.

    2017-01-01

    We describe self-esteem development in a German sample (N = 240, 48% female) followed longitudinally from middle childhood to young adulthood, using data spanning 20 years. Data from the Self-Perception Profile for Children ( Harter, 1985) and the Self-Description Questionnaire III (Marsh & O’Neill,

  4. Policies and Background Literature for Self-Education on Research Data Management: An Annotated Bibliography

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goben, Abigail; Raszewski, Rebecca

    2015-01-01

    Librarians navigating research data management self-education have an increasing body of literature to choose from, which may become overwhelming. This annotated bibliography reviews: (1) U.S. federal policies; (2) articles; and (3) books to assist librarians who are self-educating on research data management or are seeking background reading…

  5. New data on the self-absorption of betas in cobalt-60 hot particles

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lantz, M.W.; Steward, J.B.

    1988-01-01

    The authors demonstrated that standard dose calculation methods for hot particles could seriously overestimate the beta dose rate component to skin. The reason-self-absorption within an activated satellite particle that has a finite thickness can lead to dramatic reductions in beta output, as compared to that predicted by calculation models that assume the particle has zero thickness. In this paper, the authors demonstrate the self-absorption effect with a particle model and confirmed it with measurements on two high-activity Co-60 particles found at the Palo Verde Nuclear Power Station. The authors then described a method for using an Eberline RO-2 ion chamber survey instrument to estimate the beta dose rate reduction related to self-absorption within a particle. This method relied on the comparison of the uncorrected beta/gamma ratio [(open window-closed window) divided-by closed window] for a particle expected of exhibiting self-absorption to the ratio obtained for a particle of zero thickness

  6. The self-description data configuration model

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Abadie, Lana, E-mail: lana.abadie@iter.org [ITER Organization, Route de vinon sur Verdon, 13115 St Paul Lez Durance (France); Di Maio, Franck; Klotz, Wolf-Dieter; Mahajan, Kirti; Stepanov, Denis; Utzel, Nadine; Wallander, Anders [ITER Organization, Route de vinon sur Verdon, 13115 St Paul Lez Durance (France)

    2012-12-15

    Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer We use the relational model to represent the configuration data for ITER. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer We explain the different modeled views namely physical, functional and control. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer We explain how this information is used to generate configuration files. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer We explain that this information is validated. - Abstract: ITER will consist of roughly 160 plant systems I and C delivered in kind which need to be integrated into the ITER control infrastructure. To make the integration of all these plant systems I and C, a smooth operation, the CODAC (Controls, Data Access and Communications) group release every year the core software environment which consists of many applications. In this paper we would like to describe what configuration data and how it is modeled in the version 2. The model is based on three views, the physical one which lists the components with their signals, the functional view which describes the control functions and variables required to implement them and the control view which links the two previous views. We use Hibernate as an ORM (Object Relational Mapping) framework with a PostgreSQL database and Spring as a framework to handle transactions.

  7. Using self-determination theory to describe the academic motivation of allied health professional-level college students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ballmann, Jodi M; Mueller, Jill J

    2008-01-01

    This study investigated the various reasons that allied health students believe they are currently attending college. The Academic Motivation Scale was administered to a convenience sample of 222 upperclassmen and graduate-level students (162 women, 46 men). The Academic Motivation Scale proposes various reasons for continued engagement in academic pursuits that may be characteristic of personal and current reasons for persistence in a subject's particular academic program. The results showed that students portrayed themselves as currently attending college for both intrinsically and extrinsically motivated reasons. The most frequently endorsed motivational styles were identified (autonomous) extrinsic motivation and externally regulated (nonautonomous) extrinsic motivation. This study showed that this sample of professional-level college students was not completely self-determined in their end-stage academic pursuits. One conclusion that may be drawn from this study is that allied health programs that provide students with an educational context that supports self-determination may encourage future allied health professionals to develop the ability to support the self-determination of their future clients.

  8. Might ART Adherence Estimates Be Improved by Combining Biomarker and Self-Report Data?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rhead, Rebecca; Masimirembwa, Collen; Cooke, Graham; Takaruza, Albert; Nyamukapa, Constance; Mutsimhi, Cosmas; Gregson, Simon

    2016-01-01

    As we endeavour to examine rates of viral suppression in PLHIV, reliable data on ART adherence are needed to distinguish between the respective contributions of poor adherence and treatment failure on high viral load. Self-reported data are susceptible to response bias and although biomarker data on drug presence and concentration can provide a superior, alternative method of measurement, complications due to drug-drug interactions and genetic variations can cause some inaccuracies. We investigate the feasibility of combining both biomarker and self-report data to produce a potentially more accurate measure of ART adherence. Data were taken from a large general-population survey in the Manicaland province, Zimbabwe, conducted in 2009-2011. HIV-infected adults who had initiated ART (N = 560) provided self-report data on adherence and dried blood spot samples that were analysed for traces of ART medication. A new three-category measure of ART adherence was constructed, based on biomarker data but using self-report data to adjust for cases with abnormally low and high drug concentrations due to possible drug-drug interactions and genetic factors, and was assessed for plausibility using survey data on socio-demographic correlates. 94.3% (528/560) and 92.7% (519/560) of the sample reported faithful adherence to their medication and had traces of ART medication, respectively. The combined measure estimated good evidence of ART adherence at 69% and excellent evidence of adherence at 53%. The regression analysis results showed plausible patterns of ART adherence by socio-demographic status with men and younger participants being more likely to adhere poorly to medication, and higher socio-economic status individuals and those living in more urban locations being more likely to adhere well. Biomarker and self-reported measures of adherence can be combined in a meaningful way to produce a potentially more accurate measure of ART adherence. Results indicate that ART adherence

  9. Might ART Adherence Estimates Be Improved by Combining Biomarker and Self-Report Data?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rebecca Rhead

    Full Text Available As we endeavour to examine rates of viral suppression in PLHIV, reliable data on ART adherence are needed to distinguish between the respective contributions of poor adherence and treatment failure on high viral load. Self-reported data are susceptible to response bias and although biomarker data on drug presence and concentration can provide a superior, alternative method of measurement, complications due to drug-drug interactions and genetic variations can cause some inaccuracies. We investigate the feasibility of combining both biomarker and self-report data to produce a potentially more accurate measure of ART adherence.Data were taken from a large general-population survey in the Manicaland province, Zimbabwe, conducted in 2009-2011. HIV-infected adults who had initiated ART (N = 560 provided self-report data on adherence and dried blood spot samples that were analysed for traces of ART medication. A new three-category measure of ART adherence was constructed, based on biomarker data but using self-report data to adjust for cases with abnormally low and high drug concentrations due to possible drug-drug interactions and genetic factors, and was assessed for plausibility using survey data on socio-demographic correlates.94.3% (528/560 and 92.7% (519/560 of the sample reported faithful adherence to their medication and had traces of ART medication, respectively. The combined measure estimated good evidence of ART adherence at 69% and excellent evidence of adherence at 53%. The regression analysis results showed plausible patterns of ART adherence by socio-demographic status with men and younger participants being more likely to adhere poorly to medication, and higher socio-economic status individuals and those living in more urban locations being more likely to adhere well.Biomarker and self-reported measures of adherence can be combined in a meaningful way to produce a potentially more accurate measure of ART adherence. Results indicate that

  10. Self-Concept and Self-Esteem: A Cross-Cultural Perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wood, Melinda

    1991-01-01

    Describes issues of self-concept and self-esteem that arise when people find themselves living in a cross-cultural environment. Discusses Western definition of self-concept and other self-concept models. Discusses self-esteem and integration and adjustment as it relates to bicultural persons. (ABL)

  11. Parental self-efficacy and its measurement - an evaluation of a parental self-efficacy measurement scale.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Purssell, Edward; While, Alison

    2013-05-01

    To field test a parental self-efficacy scale regarding its acceptability and feasibility and to describe parental self-efficacy in a convenience sample of parents with children aged 6 years old or less. Self-care within families is increasingly emphasised in health policy as a means of maximising healthcare resources. This study reports the field testing of a scale designed to measure parental self-efficacy. Cross-sectional survey of parents of children aged 6 years old or less. Subjects were recruited through a parenting internet website (n = 84) and local parenting and community organisations (n = 68) and asked to complete a questionnaire containing the scale. Data collection took place between January and August 2011. The scale, previously validated with an expert panel of professionals, gathered information about parental self-efficacy when administered either directly or through an on-line data collection portal, although there were more missing data when administered via the Internet. Although convenience and self-selecting samples precluded parameter estimation, areas of concern highlighted were difficulties differentiating children with serious illnesses and the use of the Personal Child Health Record. Use of the Internet was widespread, as was use of community pharmacists and nursery staff. Although the primary purpose was not to collect specific data, the data indicated the continuing concern of parents regarding serious illness and where additional investment may be required to meet parental needs and expectations. The previously validated scale can be used to collect information about parental self-efficacy either through a paper questionnaire or the Internet. Although there was slightly more missing data from the Internet version, the ease of its administration makes this an attractive option. Parents generally reported high levels of self-efficacy and satisfaction with services; however, the scale was able to identify areas where further investment

  12. How do older adult drivers self-regulate? Characteristics of self-regulation classes defined by latent class analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bergen, Gwen; West, Bethany A; Luo, Feijun; Bird, Donna C; Freund, Katherine; Fortinsky, Richard H; Staplin, Loren

    2017-06-01

    Motor-vehicle crashes were the second leading cause of injury death for adults aged 65-84years in 2014. Some older drivers choose to self-regulate their driving to maintain mobility while reducing driving risk, yet the process remains poorly understood. Data from 729 older adults (aged ≥60years) who joined an older adult ride service program between April 1, 2010 and November 8, 2013 were analyzed to define and describe classes of driving self-regulation. Latent class analysis was employed to characterize older adult driving self-regulation classes using driving frequency and avoidance of seven driving situations. Logistic regression was used to explore associations between characteristics affecting mobility and self-regulation class. Three classes were identified (low, medium, and high self-regulation). High self-regulating participants reported the highest proportion of always avoiding seven risky driving situations and the lowest driving frequency followed by medium and low self-regulators. Those who were female, aged 80years or older, visually impaired, assistive device users, and those with special health needs were more likely to be high self-regulating compared with low self-regulating. Avoidance of certain driving situations and weekly driving frequency are valid indicators for describing driving self-regulation classes in older adults. Understanding the unique characteristics and mobility limitations of each class can guide optimal transportation strategies for older adults. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  13. Efficient replication of over 180 genetic associations with self-reported medical data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tung, Joyce Y; Do, Chuong B; Hinds, David A; Kiefer, Amy K; Macpherson, J Michael; Chowdry, Arnab B; Francke, Uta; Naughton, Brian T; Mountain, Joanna L; Wojcicki, Anne; Eriksson, Nicholas

    2011-01-01

    While the cost and speed of generating genomic data have come down dramatically in recent years, the slow pace of collecting medical data for large cohorts continues to hamper genetic research. Here we evaluate a novel online framework for obtaining large amounts of medical information from a recontactable cohort by assessing our ability to replicate genetic associations using these data. Using web-based questionnaires, we gathered self-reported data on 50 medical phenotypes from a generally unselected cohort of over 20,000 genotyped individuals. Of a list of genetic associations curated by NHGRI, we successfully replicated about 75% of the associations that we expected to (based on the number of cases in our cohort and reported odds ratios, and excluding a set of associations with contradictory published evidence). Altogether we replicated over 180 previously reported associations, including many for type 2 diabetes, prostate cancer, cholesterol levels, and multiple sclerosis. We found significant variation across categories of conditions in the percentage of expected associations that we were able to replicate, which may reflect systematic inflation of the effects in some initial reports, or differences across diseases in the likelihood of misdiagnosis or misreport. We also demonstrated that we could improve replication success by taking advantage of our recontactable cohort, offering more in-depth questions to refine self-reported diagnoses. Our data suggest that online collection of self-reported data from a recontactable cohort may be a viable method for both broad and deep phenotyping in large populations.

  14. Student Use of Self-Data for Out-of-Class Graphing Activities Increases Student Engagement and Learning Outcomes†

    Science.gov (United States)

    DeBoy, Cynthia A.

    2017-01-01

    Two out-of-class graphing activities related to hormonal regulation of the reproductive cycle and stress responses are used to determine whether student use of self-data vs. provided data increases engagement, learning outcomes, and attitude changes. Comparisons of quizzes and surveys for students using self- vs. provided data suggest that while both activities increase learning outcomes, use of self-data compared with provided data has a greater impact on increasing learning outcomes, promotes recognition that hormones are relevant, and enhances confidence in graphing skills and graphing efficacy. PMID:29854057

  15. PRN 98-1: Self-Certification of Product Chemistry Data with Attachments

    Science.gov (United States)

    The Office of Pesticide Programs has established a self-certification program for certain product chemistry data of manufacturing-use products and end-use products produced by a non-integrated formulation system.

  16. Self-adaptive change detection in streaming data with non-stationary distribution

    KAUST Repository

    Zhang, Xiangliang

    2010-01-01

    Non-stationary distribution, in which the data distribution evolves over time, is a common issue in many application fields, e.g., intrusion detection and grid computing. Detecting the changes in massive streaming data with a non-stationary distribution helps to alarm the anomalies, to clean the noises, and to report the new patterns. In this paper, we employ a novel approach for detecting changes in streaming data with the purpose of improving the quality of modeling the data streams. Through observing the outliers, this approach of change detection uses a weighted standard deviation to monitor the evolution of the distribution of data streams. A cumulative statistical test, Page-Hinkley, is employed to collect the evidence of changes in distribution. The parameter used for reporting the changes is self-adaptively adjusted according to the distribution of data streams, rather than set by a fixed empirical value. The self-adaptability of the novel approach enhances the effectiveness of modeling data streams by timely catching the changes of distributions. We validated the approach on an online clustering framework with a benchmark KDDcup 1999 intrusion detection data set as well as with a real-world grid data set. The validation results demonstrate its better performance on achieving higher accuracy and lower percentage of outliers comparing to the other change detection approaches. © 2010 Springer-Verlag.

  17. Mining the Quantified Self: Personal Knowledge Discovery as a Challenge for Data Science.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fawcett, Tom

    2015-12-01

    The last several years have seen an explosion of interest in wearable computing, personal tracking devices, and the so-called quantified self (QS) movement. Quantified self involves ordinary people recording and analyzing numerous aspects of their lives to understand and improve themselves. This is now a mainstream phenomenon, attracting a great deal of attention, participation, and funding. As more people are attracted to the movement, companies are offering various new platforms (hardware and software) that allow ever more aspects of daily life to be tracked. Nearly every aspect of the QS ecosystem is advancing rapidly, except for analytic capabilities, which remain surprisingly primitive. With increasing numbers of qualified self participants collecting ever greater amounts and types of data, many people literally have more data than they know what to do with. This article reviews the opportunities and challenges posed by the QS movement. Data science provides well-tested techniques for knowledge discovery. But making these useful for the QS domain poses unique challenges that derive from the characteristics of the data collected as well as the specific types of actionable insights that people want from the data. Using a small sample of QS time series data containing information about personal health we provide a formulation of the QS problem that connects data to the decisions of interest to the user.

  18. Data Integration for Health and Stress Monitoring: Biological Metabolites, Wearables Data, and Self-Reporting

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dunn, Jocelyn T.

    Integrative and unobtrusive approaches to monitoring health and stress can assist in preventative medicine and disease management, and provide capabilities for complex work environments, such as military deployments and long-duration human space exploration missions. With many data streams that could potentially provide critical information about the health, behavior, and psychosocial states of individuals or small groups, the central question of this research is how to reliably measure health and stress states over time. This integrative approach to health and stress monitoring has implemented biological metabolite profiling, wearables data analysis, and survey assessment for comparing biological, behavioral, and psychological perspectives. Health monitoring technologies aim to provide objective data about health status. Providing objective information can help mitigate biases or blind spots in an individual's perception. Consider an individual who is unwilling to openly admit to psychosocial distress and unhealthy habits, or an individual who has habituated to long-term stressors and is unable to recognize a chronic state of high stress. Both honesty and self-awareness are required for accurate self-reporting. Digital health technologies, such as wearable devices, provide objective data for health monitoring. Compared to surveys, wearables are less influenced by participant openness, and compared to biological samples, wearables require less equipment and less labor for analysis. However, inherent to every data stream are limitations due to uncertainty and sensitivity. This research has been conducted in collaboration with Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (HI-SEAS), which is a Mars analog research site on the slopes on Mauna Loa volcano in Hawaii. During 8-month and 12-month HI-SEAS missions in the 2014-2016 timeframe, twelve individuals provided hair and urine samples for metabolite profiling, utilized consumer-grade wearables to monitor sleep and

  19. Efficient replication of over 180 genetic associations with self-reported medical data.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Joyce Y Tung

    Full Text Available While the cost and speed of generating genomic data have come down dramatically in recent years, the slow pace of collecting medical data for large cohorts continues to hamper genetic research. Here we evaluate a novel online framework for obtaining large amounts of medical information from a recontactable cohort by assessing our ability to replicate genetic associations using these data. Using web-based questionnaires, we gathered self-reported data on 50 medical phenotypes from a generally unselected cohort of over 20,000 genotyped individuals. Of a list of genetic associations curated by NHGRI, we successfully replicated about 75% of the associations that we expected to (based on the number of cases in our cohort and reported odds ratios, and excluding a set of associations with contradictory published evidence. Altogether we replicated over 180 previously reported associations, including many for type 2 diabetes, prostate cancer, cholesterol levels, and multiple sclerosis. We found significant variation across categories of conditions in the percentage of expected associations that we were able to replicate, which may reflect systematic inflation of the effects in some initial reports, or differences across diseases in the likelihood of misdiagnosis or misreport. We also demonstrated that we could improve replication success by taking advantage of our recontactable cohort, offering more in-depth questions to refine self-reported diagnoses. Our data suggest that online collection of self-reported data from a recontactable cohort may be a viable method for both broad and deep phenotyping in large populations.

  20. DaMoScope and its internet graphics for the visual control of adjusting mathematical models describing experimental data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Belousov, V. I.; Ezhela, V. V.; Kuyanov, Yu. V.; Tkachenko, N. P.

    2015-12-01

    The experience of using the dynamic atlas of the experimental data and mathematical models of their description in the problems of adjusting parametric models of observable values depending on kinematic variables is presented. The functional possibilities of an image of a large number of experimental data and the models describing them are shown by examples of data and models of observable values determined by the amplitudes of elastic scattering of hadrons. The Internet implementation of an interactive tool DaMoScope and its interface with the experimental data and codes of adjusted parametric models with the parameters of the best description of data are schematically shown. The DaMoScope codes are freely available.

  1. DaMoScope and its internet graphics for the visual control of adjusting mathematical models describing experimental data

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Belousov, V. I.; Ezhela, V. V.; Kuyanov, Yu. V., E-mail: Yu.Kuyanov@gmail.com; Tkachenko, N. P. [Institute for High Energy Physics, National Research Center Kurchatov Institute, COMPAS Group (Russian Federation)

    2015-12-15

    The experience of using the dynamic atlas of the experimental data and mathematical models of their description in the problems of adjusting parametric models of observable values depending on kinematic variables is presented. The functional possibilities of an image of a large number of experimental data and the models describing them are shown by examples of data and models of observable values determined by the amplitudes of elastic scattering of hadrons. The Internet implementation of an interactive tool DaMoScope and its interface with the experimental data and codes of adjusted parametric models with the parameters of the best description of data are schematically shown. The DaMoScope codes are freely available.

  2. DaMoScope and its internet graphics for the visual control of adjusting mathematical models describing experimental data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Belousov, V. I.; Ezhela, V. V.; Kuyanov, Yu. V.; Tkachenko, N. P.

    2015-01-01

    The experience of using the dynamic atlas of the experimental data and mathematical models of their description in the problems of adjusting parametric models of observable values depending on kinematic variables is presented. The functional possibilities of an image of a large number of experimental data and the models describing them are shown by examples of data and models of observable values determined by the amplitudes of elastic scattering of hadrons. The Internet implementation of an interactive tool DaMoScope and its interface with the experimental data and codes of adjusted parametric models with the parameters of the best description of data are schematically shown. The DaMoScope codes are freely available

  3. METHODOLOGICAL HURDLES IN CAPTURING CMC DATA: THE CASE OF THE MISSING SELF-REPAIR

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bryan Smith

    2008-02-01

    Full Text Available This paper reports on a study of the use of self-repair among learners of German in a task-based CMC environment. The purpose of the study was two-fold. The first goal sought to establish how potential interpretations of CMC data may be very different depending on the method of data collection and evaluation employed. The second goal was to explicitly examine the nature of CMC self-repair in the task-based foreign language CALL classroom. Paired participants (n=46 engaged in six jigsaw tasks over the course of one university semester via the chat function in Blackboard. Chat data were evaluated first by using only the chat log file and second by examining a video file of the screen capture of the entire interaction. Results show a fundamental difference in the interpretation of the chat interaction which varies as a function of the data collection and evaluation methods employed. The findings also suggest a possible difference in the nature of self-repair across face-to-face and SCMC environments. In view of the results, this paper calls for CALL researchers to abandon the reliance on printed chat log files when attempting to interpret SCMC interactional data.

  4. SUBGR: A Program to Generate Subgroup Data for the Subgroup Resonance Self-Shielding Calculation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kim, Kang Seog [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

    2016-06-06

    The Subgroup Data Generation (SUBGR) program generates subgroup data, including levels and weights from the resonance self-shielded cross section table as a function of background cross section. Depending on the nuclide and the energy range, these subgroup data can be generated by (a) narrow resonance approximation, (b) pointwise flux calculations for homogeneous media; and (c) pointwise flux calculations for heterogeneous lattice cells. The latter two options are performed by the AMPX module IRFFACTOR. These subgroup data are to be used in the Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors (CASL) neutronic simulator MPACT, for which the primary resonance self-shielding method is the subgroup method.

  5. Rehabilitation Risk Management: Enabling Data Analytics with Quantified Self and Smart Home Data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hamper, Andreas; Eigner, Isabella; Wickramasinghe, Nilmini; Bodendorf, Freimut

    2017-01-01

    A variety of acute and chronic diseases require rehabilitation at home after treatment. Outpatient rehabilitation is crucial for the quality of the medical outcome but is mainly performed without medical supervision. Non-Compliance can lead to severe health risks and readmission to the hospital. While the patient is closely monitored in the hospital, methods and technologies to identify risks at home have to be developed. We analyze state-of-the-art monitoring systems and technologies and show possibilities to transfer these technologies into rehabilitation monitoring. For this purpose, we analyze sensor technology from the field of Quantified Self and Smart Homes. The available sensor data from this consumer grade technology is summarized to give an overview of the possibilities for medical data analytics. Subsequently, we show a conceptual roadmap to transfer data analytics methods to sensor based rehabilitation risk management.

  6. Self-generation of dissipative solitons in magnonic quasicrystal active ring resonator

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Grishin, S. V.; Beginin, E. N.; Morozova, M. A.; Sharaevskii, Yu. P.; Nikitov, S. A.

    2014-01-01

    Self-generation of dissipative solitons in the magnonic quasicrystal (MQC) active ring resonator is studied theoretically and experimentally. The developed magnonic crystal has quasiperiodic Fibonacci type structure. Frequency selectivity of the MQC together with the parametric three-wave decay of magnetostatic surface spin wave (MSSW) leads to the dissipative soliton self-generation. The transfer matrix method is used to describe MQC transmission responses. Besides, the model of MQC active ring resonator is suggested. The model includes three coupled differential equations describing the parametric decay of MSSW and two differential equations of linear oscillators describing the frequency selectivity of MQC. Numerical simulation results of dissipative soliton self-generation are in a fair agreement with experimental data

  7. Self-generation of dissipative solitons in magnonic quasicrystal active ring resonator

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Grishin, S. V., E-mail: grishfam@sgu.ru; Beginin, E. N.; Morozova, M. A.; Sharaevskii, Yu. P. [Laboratory “Metamaterials,” Saratov State University, Saratov 410012 (Russian Federation); Nikitov, S. A. [Laboratory “Metamaterials,” Saratov State University, Saratov 410012 (Russian Federation); Kotel' nikov Institute of Radioengineering and Electronics, Russian Academy of Science, Moscow 125009 (Russian Federation)

    2014-02-07

    Self-generation of dissipative solitons in the magnonic quasicrystal (MQC) active ring resonator is studied theoretically and experimentally. The developed magnonic crystal has quasiperiodic Fibonacci type structure. Frequency selectivity of the MQC together with the parametric three-wave decay of magnetostatic surface spin wave (MSSW) leads to the dissipative soliton self-generation. The transfer matrix method is used to describe MQC transmission responses. Besides, the model of MQC active ring resonator is suggested. The model includes three coupled differential equations describing the parametric decay of MSSW and two differential equations of linear oscillators describing the frequency selectivity of MQC. Numerical simulation results of dissipative soliton self-generation are in a fair agreement with experimental data.

  8. Are self-report of disability pension and long-term sickness absence accurate? Comparisons of self-reported interview data with national register data in a Swedish twin cohort

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lichtenstein Paul

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Self-reported disability pension (DP and sickness absence are commonly used in epidemiological and other studies as a measure of exposure or even as an outcome. The aims were (1 to compare such self-reports with national register information in order to evaluate the validity of self-reported DP and sickness absence, and (2 to estimate the concordance of reporting behaviour in different twin zygosity groups, also by sex. Methods All Swedish twins born 1933-1958 who participated in the Screening Across the Lifespan Twin study (SALT 1998-2003, were included (31,122 individuals. The self-reported DP and long-term sickness absence (LTSA at the time of interview was compared to the corresponding register information retrieved from the National Social Insurance Agency by calculating the proportions of agreements, kappa, sensitivity, specificity, concordance rates, and chi-square test, to evaluate construct validity. Results The proportions of overall agreement were 96% and specificity 99% for both DP and LTSA, while the sensitivity was 70% for DP and 45% for LTSA. Kappa estimates were 0.76 for DP, and 0.58 for LTSA. The proportions of positive agreement were 64% for DP and 42% for LTSA. No difference in response style was found between zygosity groups among complete twin pairs for DP and LTSA. Results were similar for women and men and across age. Kappa estimates for DP differed somewhat depending on years of education, 0.68 (college/university vs. 0.77 (less than 13 years in school but not for LTSA. Conclusions Self-reported DP data may be very useful in studies when register information is not available, however, register data is preferred especially for LTSA. The same degree of twin similarity was found for truthful self-report of DP and LTSA in both monozygotic and dizygotic twin pairs. Thus, the response style was not influenced by genetic factors. One consequence of this would be that when estimating the relative importance of

  9. A Study of Wavelet Analysis and Data Extraction from Second-Order Self-Similar Time Series

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Leopoldo Estrada Vargas

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Statistical analysis and synthesis of self-similar discrete time signals are presented. The analysis equation is formally defined through a special family of basis functions of which the simplest case matches the Haar wavelet. The original discrete time series is synthesized without loss by a linear combination of the basis functions after some scaling, displacement, and phase shift. The decomposition is then used to synthesize a new second-order self-similar signal with a different Hurst index than the original. The components are also used to describe the behavior of the estimated mean and variance of self-similar discrete time series. It is shown that the sample mean, although it is unbiased, provides less information about the process mean as its Hurst index is higher. It is also demonstrated that the classical variance estimator is biased and that the widely accepted aggregated variance-based estimator of the Hurst index results biased not due to its nature (which is being unbiased and has minimal variance but to flaws in its implementation. Using the proposed decomposition, the correct estimation of the Variance Plot is described, as well as its close association with the popular Logscale Diagram.

  10. Teaching Early Readers to Self-Monitor and Self-Correct

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pratt, Sharon M.; Urbanowski, Melena

    2016-01-01

    Proficient readers self-monitor and self-correct to derive meaning from text. This article reviews research on how students learn to self-monitor and self-correct and describes a Reciprocal Teaching (RT) instructional routine that was successfully used with early readers to build their metacognitive processes. The RT routine included teacher…

  11. Autonomous Data Collection Using a Self-Organizing Map.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Faigl, Jan; Hollinger, Geoffrey A

    2018-05-01

    The self-organizing map (SOM) is an unsupervised learning technique providing a transformation of a high-dimensional input space into a lower dimensional output space. In this paper, we utilize the SOM for the traveling salesman problem (TSP) to develop a solution to autonomous data collection. Autonomous data collection requires gathering data from predeployed sensors by moving within a limited communication radius. We propose a new growing SOM that adapts the number of neurons during learning, which also allows our approach to apply in cases where some sensors can be ignored due to a lower priority. Based on a comparison with available combinatorial heuristic algorithms for relevant variants of the TSP, the proposed approach demonstrates improved results, while also being less computationally demanding. Moreover, the proposed learning procedure can be extended to cases where particular sensors have varying communication radii, and it can also be extended to multivehicle planning.

  12. Students’ Self-Monitoring on Mathematics Ability: Cube and Cuboid Problem Solving

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lusiana, N. T.; Lukito, A.; Khabibah, S.

    2018-01-01

    This study aims at describing students’ activity to understand the behaviors processes called self-monitoring in a cube and cuboid problem solving viewed from mathematics ability. The subjects were eight graders of junior high school who studied surface area and volume of cube and cuboid clussified into high, average and low mathematics abilities. Mathematics ability test to select the subjects the study. Data were collected through self-monitoring task and interviews. Data triangulation was used to verify the credibillity findings. Data analysis was done by data condensation, data display and conclusion drawing and verification. Results showed that students’ self-monitoring with high math ability is more fullfilled self-monitoring components. Students with average and low math abilities not fullfilled the component that covers verifying the results during solving the problem. It is expected that teachers must provide different learning treatments to improve students’ self-monitoring for better learning outcomes.

  13. Data as a Strategic Resource: Self-determination, Governance, and the Data Challenge for Indigenous Nations in the United States

    OpenAIRE

    Stephanie Carroll Rainie; Jennifer Lee Schultz; Eileen Briggs; Patricia Riggs; Nancy Lynn Palmanteer-Holder

    2017-01-01

    Data about Indigenous populations in the United States are inconsistent and irrelevant. Federal and state governments and researchers direct most collection, analysis, and use of data about U.S. Indigenous populations. Indigenous Peoples’ justified mistrust further complicates the collection and use of these data. Nonetheless, tribal leaders and communities depend on these data to inform decision making. Reliance on data that do not reflect tribal needs, priorities, and self-conceptions threa...

  14. Discretely Self-Similar Solutions to the Navier-Stokes Equations with Besov Space Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bradshaw, Zachary; Tsai, Tai-Peng

    2017-12-01

    We construct self-similar solutions to the three dimensional Navier-Stokes equations for divergence free, self-similar initial data that can be large in the critical Besov space {\\dot{B}_{p,∞}^{3/p-1}} where 3 1. These results extend those of uc(Bradshaw) and uc(Tsai) (Ann Henri Poincaré 2016. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00023-016-0519-0) which dealt with initial data in L 3 w since {L^3_w\\subsetneq \\dot{B}_{p,∞}^{3/p-1}} for p > 3. We also provide several concrete examples of vector fields in the relevant function spaces.

  15. Self-serving bias effects on job analysis ratings.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cucina, Jeffrey M; Martin, Nicholas R; Vasilopoulos, Nicholas L; Thibodeuax, Henry F

    2012-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to investigate whether worker-oriented job analysis importance ratings were influenced by subject matter experts' (SME) standing (as measured by self-rated performance) on a competency. This type of relationship (whereby SMEs indicate that the traits they have are important for successful job performance) is an example of the self-serving bias (which is widely described in the social cognition literature and rarely described in the industrial/organizational psychology literature). An archival dataset covering 57 clerical and technical occupations with 26,682 participants was used. Support was found for the relationship between self-rated performance and importance ratings. Significant relationships (typically in the .30s) were observed for all 31 competencies that were studied. Controls were taken to account for common method bias and differences in the competencies required for each of the 57 occupations. Past research has demonstrated the effects of the self-serving bias on personality-based job analysis ratings. This study was the first to extend these findings to traditional job analysis, which covers other competencies in addition to personality. In addition, this study is the first to use operational field data instead of laboratory data.

  16. The data set describing cognitive performance after varenicline administration in a 3-choice serial reaction time task in rats

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yu Ohmura

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available The data shows attentional function, impulsivity, motivation, motor function, and motor activity in rats treated with varenicline, a stop-smoking aid. The data also shows these parameters in rats treated with varenicline after acute/chronic nicotine administration. Our interpretation and discussion of these data were described in the article “Varenicline Provokes Impulsive Action by Stimulating α4β2 Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors in the Infralimbic Cortex in a Nicotine Exposure Status-Dependent Manner” (Ohmura et al., 2017 [1].

  17. KUALITAS DATA IMUNISASI RUTIN BERDASARKAN METODE DATA QUALITY SELF ASSESSMENT (DQS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ingan Tarigan

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available Reporting and Recording System on immunization in Indonesia have been faced with many difficulties. Data quality and accuracy are the main problem that can be found in Puskesmas, District Health Office and also in Provincial Health Office. Usually, Health information system is limited on data collecting activity but not following by analyzing it. Therefore, this current system can't support/provide valuable (immunization information as needed by the stakeholders. This research was conducted in 3 provinces in Indonesia. Selected study areas were Lampung province (Metro city and Lampung Selatan district; West Java Province (Bogor city and Garut district, East Nusa Tenggara Province (Kupang city and Belu district. The objectives of this study were to assess the quality of recording and reporting system of immunization based on the DQS method Study design was cross-sectional. Assessment was carried out with Data Quality Self-Assessment (DQS method, using qualitative design by conducting interview and observation. Data quality of Immunization program was divided into 5 groups: recording, reporting, demography/denominator, availability of form, and data utilization. The assessment on DQS method showed that not all immunization services was reported by heath providers; data processed manually; archiving system was not well managed; lack of provided forms for recording and reporting forms; data was not reported in time; set up the immunization target was not standardized among areas (for every administrative levels; monitoring was  not conducted optimum to evaluate the performance of immunization program; and capacity building on human resources was urgently needed to improve the quality of immunization program.  Keywords: Immunization, Quality, DQS Method

  18. The Mindful Self: A Mindfulness-Enlightened Self-view

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Qianguo Xiao

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available This paper analyzes studies of mindfulness and the self, with the aim of deepening our understanding of the potential benefits of mindfulness and meditation for mental health and well-being. Our review of empirical research reveals that positive changes in attitudes toward the self and others as a result of mindfulness-enabled practices can play an important role in modulating many mental and physical health problems. Accordingly, we introduce a new concept—the “mindful self”—and compare it with related psychological constructs to describe the positive changes in self-attitude associated with mindfulness meditation practices or interventions. The mindful self is conceptualized as a mindfulness-enlightened self-view and attitude developed by internalizing and integrating the essence of Buddhist psychology into one’s self-system. We further posit that the mindful self will be an important intermediary between mindfulness intervention and mental health problems, and an important moderator in promoting well-being. More generally, we suggest that the mindful self may also be an applicable concept with which to describe and predict the higher level of self-development of those who grow up in the culture of Buddhism or regularly engage in meditation over a long period of time.

  19. Q-Sort Definitions of Social Competence and Self-Esteem: Discriminant Validity of Related Constructs in Theory and Data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Waters, Everett; And Others

    1985-01-01

    Two studies illustrating a methodology for describing similarities and distinctions between related constructs are reported. In Study 1, psychologists described behavioral and personality characteristics of preschool children through definitions of social competence and self-esteem using Q-set items. In Study 2, the relation between conceptual…

  20. Is it Feasible to Use Students' Self-reported Step Data in a Local School Policy Process?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bonde, Ane Høstgaard; Bruselius-Jensen, Maria

    2017-01-01

    Objective: We examined students’ self-reported step data and discussed the feasibility of using these data in a local school policy process. Methods: For 5 days during school hours, 281 stu- dents from grades 5–7 participating in a health education program, measured their steps using a pedometer......: Student-collected data showed similar patterns as reported in the literature, and therefore, a feasible perspective could be to use students’ self-reported step data in a local school policy process....

  1. The pursuit of self-esteem: contingencies of self-worth and self-regulation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crocker, Jennifer; Brook, Amara T; Niiya, Yu; Villacorta, Mark

    2006-12-01

    Successful self-regulation is defined as the willingness to exert effort toward one's most important goals, while taking setbacks and failures as opportunities to learn, identify weaknesses and address them, and develop new strategies toward achieving those goals. Contingencies of self-worth can facilitate self-regulation because people are highly motivated to succeed and avoid failure in domains of contingency. However, because boosts in self-esteem are pleasurable and drops in self-esteem are painful, protection, maintenance, and enhancement of self-esteem can become the overriding goal. Several pitfalls for self-regulation can result, especially when tasks are difficult and failure is likely. In this article, we describe a program of research examining these self-regulation pitfalls associated with contingent self-worth and suggest that learning orientations, particularly the willingness to embrace failure for the learning it affords, foster successful self-regulation even in people with highly contingent self-esteem.

  2. Spectral Solutions of Self-adjoint Elliptic Problems with Immersed Interfaces

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Auchmuty, G.; Klouček, P.

    2011-01-01

    This paper describes a spectral representation of solutions of self-adjoint elliptic problems with immersed interfaces. The interface is assumed to be a simple non-self-intersecting closed curve that obeys some weak regularity conditions. The problem is decomposed into two problems, one with zero interface data and the other with zero exterior boundary data. The problem with zero interface data is solved by standard spectral methods. The problem with non-zero interface data is solved by introducing an interface space H Γ (Ω) and constructing an orthonormal basis of this space. This basis is constructed using a special class of orthogonal eigenfunctions analogously to the methods used for standard trace spaces by Auchmuty (SIAM J. Math. Anal. 38, 894–915, 2006). Analytical and numerical approximations of these eigenfunctions are described and some simulations are presented.

  3. MyDiabetesMyWay: An Evolving National Data Driven Diabetes Self-Management Platform.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wake, Deborah J; He, Jinzhang; Czesak, Anna Maria; Mughal, Fezan; Cunningham, Scott G

    2016-09-01

    MyDiabetesMyWay (MDMW) is an award-wining national electronic personal health record and self-management platform for diabetes patients in Scotland. This platform links multiple national institutional and patient-recorded data sources to provide a unique resource for patient care and self-management. This review considers the current evidence for online interventions in diabetes and discusses these in the context of current and ongoing developments for MDMW. Evaluation of MDMW through patient reported outcomes demonstrates a positive impact on self-management. User feedback has highlighted barriers to uptake and has guided platform evolution from an education resource website to an electronic personal health record now encompassing remote monitoring, communication tools and personalized education links. Challenges in delivering digital interventions for long-term conditions include integration of data between institutional and personal recorded sources to perform big data analytics and facilitating technology use in those with disabilities, low digital literacy, low socioeconomic status and in minority groups. The potential for technology supported health improvement is great, but awareness and adoption by health workers and patients remains a significant barrier. © 2016 Diabetes Technology Society.

  4. Assessing the validity and reliability of self-report data on contraception use in the MObile Technology for Improved Family Planning (MOTIF) randomised controlled trial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Chris; Edwards, Phil; Free, Caroline

    2018-03-15

    A variety of different approaches to measuring contraceptive use have been used or proposed, either to assess current use or adherence over time, using subjective or objective measures. This paper reports an overview of approaches to measuring adherence to the oral contraceptive, intra-uterine device, sub-dermal implant, and injectable and describes how we assessed contraception use in the MObile Technology for Improved Family Planning (MOTIF) trial in Cambodia. We summarise and discuss advantages and disadvantages of different subjective and objective approaches to measuring adherence to the oral contraceptive, intra-uterine device, sub-dermal implant, and injectable such as self-reports, clinic records, electronic monitoring devices, clinical examination and biomarkers. For the MOTIF trial, we did not consider it feasible to measure objective contraception use as many participants lived a long distance from the clinic and we were concerned whether it was appropriate to ask women to return to clinic for a physical examination simply to verify self-report information already provided. We aimed to assess the validity of the four-month data with 50 participants, calculating the sensitivity and specificity of self-reported data compared with objective measurement. For the 46 valid measurements obtained, the sensitivity and specificity was 100% for self-reported contraception use compared to objective measurement but this study had some limitations. To assess reliability of self-report data we compared calendar data collected on effective contraception use at months 1-4 post-abortion, collected separately at four and 12 months. Agreement ranged from 80 to 84% with a kappa statistic ranging from 0·59 to 0·67 indicating fair to good agreement. There is no perfect method of assessing contraception use and researchers designing future studies should give consideration of what to measure, for example current use or detailed patterns of use over time, and remain mindful

  5. How Random Noise and a Graphical Convention Subverted Behavioral Scientists' Explanations of Self-Assessment Data: Numeracy Underlies Better Alternatives

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Edward Nuhfer

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Despite nearly two decades of research, researchers have not resolved whether people generally perceive their skills accurately or inaccurately. In this paper, we trace this lack of resolution to numeracy, specifically to the frequently overlooked complications that arise from the noisy data produced by the paired measures that researchers employ to determine self-assessment accuracy. To illustrate the complications and ways to resolve them, we employ a large dataset (N = 1154 obtained from paired measures of documented reliability to study self-assessed proficiency in science literacy. We collected demographic information that allowed both criterion-referenced and normative-based analyses of self-assessment data. We used these analyses to propose a quantitatively based classification scale and show how its use informs the nature of self-assessment. Much of the current consensus about peoples' inability to self-assess accurately comes from interpreting normative data presented in the Kruger-Dunning type graphical format or closely related (y - x vs. (x graphical conventions. Our data show that peoples' self-assessments of competence, in general, reflect a genuine competence that they can demonstrate. That finding contradicts the current consensus about the nature of self-assessment. Our results further confirm that experts are more proficient in self-assessing their abilities than novices and that women, in general, self-assess more accurately than men. The validity of interpretations of data depends strongly upon how carefully the researchers consider the numeracy that underlies graphical presentations and conclusions. Our results indicate that carefully measured self-assessments provide valid, measurable and valuable information about proficiency.

  6. Describing an Environment for a Self-Sustaining Technology Transfer Service in a Small Research Budget University: A Case Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nieb, Sharon Lynn

    2014-01-01

    This single-site qualitative study sought to identify the characteristics that contribute to the self sustainability of technology transfer services at universities with small research budgets through a case study analysis of a small research budget university that has been operating a financially self-sustainable technology transfer service for…

  7. Effects of difference in self-esteem between spouses on depressive symptom: Result from a data nationally representative of South Korean.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Tae-Hoon; Kim, Tae Hyun; Kim, Woorim; Park, Eun-Cheol

    2016-12-30

    Although there are many studies on self-esteem, no study has analyzed the relationship between depressive symptom and difference in self-esteem between spouses. We aimed to determine how differences in self-esteem between spouses are associated with depressive symptoms. We used data collected from 2011 to 2013 by the Korean Welfare Panel Study. The initial 2011 baseline data included 3257 married couples over 25 years of age. We used linear mixed-effects models, accounting for the longitudinal nature of the data, to analyze the associations between the self-esteem of spouses and CESD-11 scores. About 20% of the respondents had different self-esteem with their intimate partners. Individuals with spouses having lower self-esteem than self significantly higher depression scores. Individuals with spouses having higher self-esteem than self had significantly lower depression scores regardless of sex. Our findings show how different self-esteem with their intimate partners could be associated with depressive symptoms and imply that one's self-esteem could affect the mental health of one's partner. Therefore, we should give more attention to self-esteem, which can affect families and society. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. Urologic self-management through intermittent self-catheterization among individuals with spina bifida: A journey to self-efficacy and autonomy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Castillo, Jonathan; Ostermaier, Kathryn K; Fremion, Ellen; Collier, Talia; Zhu, Huirong; Huang, Gene O; Tu, Duong; Castillo, Heidi

    2017-12-11

    To describe the age of independence in intermittent self-catheterization (ISC) in a diverse patient population and identify factors associated with ISC in individuals with spina bifida. Two hundred patients with myelomeningocele or lipomyelomeningocele, who were ⩾ 3 years of age and utilized catheterization for bladder management were included. Data regarding diagnosis, functional level of lesion, race, ethnicity, presence of shunt, method of catheterization, self-management skills, fine motor skills, and cognitive abilities were collected. Fifty-five percent of individuals were able to perform ISC with a mean age of 9.45 years (SD = 2.97) and 22.7% used a surgically created channel. Higher level of lesion and female gender were associated with a lower rate of ISC. Intellectual disability was present in 15% of the individuals able to perform ISC and in 40% of those not able to perform ISC (p= 0.0005). Existent self-efficacy regarding activities of daily living (i.e. dressing, bathing, skin care) were associated with ISC (pleading to self-management are warranted.

  9. Self-Esteem and Self-in-Relation Identity among Mexican American Adolescents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perez, Gabriela L.; Russell, Todd T.

    Traditional theories of development view separation and individuation as primary tasks of adolescents; the self-in-relation framework, however, argues that the autonomous and separate self-paradigm does not describe female development. Current research suggests that self-esteem arises from subscribing to separate self-definitions for males and…

  10. Indiana Women of Achievement: Using Self-Directedness, Self-Efficacy and Self-Determination to Explore Opportunities for Leadership

    Science.gov (United States)

    Glowacki-Dudka, Michelle; Murray, Jennifer; Gray, Judith I.; Johnson, Susan

    2016-01-01

    This article shares examples of how leadership opportunities, self-directedness, self-efficacy and self-determination developed in professional women who have been recognised as leaders. This study presents six women honoured as "Women of Achievement." Through narrative interviews, each woman described aspects of her life that guided…

  11. Routine hospital data - is it good enough for trials? An example using England's Hospital Episode Statistics in the SHIFT trial of Family Therapy vs. Treatment as Usual in adolescents following self-harm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wright-Hughes, Alexandra; Graham, Elizabeth; Cottrell, David; Farrin, Amanda

    2018-04-01

    Use of routine data sources within clinical research is increasing and is endorsed by the National Institute for Health Research to increase trial efficiencies; however there is limited evidence for its use in clinical trials, especially in relation to self-harm. One source of routine data, Hospital Episode Statistics, is collated and distributed by NHS Digital and contains details of admissions, outpatient, and Accident and Emergency attendances provided periodically by English National Health Service hospitals. We explored the reliability and accuracy of Hospital Episode Statistics, compared to data collected directly from hospital records, to assess whether it would provide complete, accurate, and reliable means of acquiring hospital attendances for self-harm - the primary outcome for the SHIFT (Self-Harm Intervention: Family Therapy) trial evaluating Family Therapy for adolescents following self-harm. Participant identifiers were linked to Hospital Episode Statistics Accident and Emergency, and Admissions data, and episodes combined to describe participants' complete hospital attendance. Attendance data were initially compared to data previously gathered by trial researchers from pre-identified hospitals. Final comparison was conducted of subsequent attendances collected through Hospital Episode Statistics and researcher follow-up. Consideration was given to linkage rates; number and proportion of attendances retrieved; reliability of Accident and Emergency, and Admissions data; percentage of self-harm episodes recorded and coded appropriately; and percentage of required data items retrieved. Participants were first linked to Hospital Episode Statistics with an acceptable match rate of 95%, identifying a total of 341 complete hospital attendances, compared to 139 reported by the researchers at the time. More than double the proportion of Hospital Episode Statistics Accident and Emergency episodes could not be classified in relation to self-harm (75%) compared

  12. On the Construction and Properties of Weak Solutions Describing Dynamic Cavitation

    KAUST Repository

    Miroshnikov, Alexey

    2014-08-21

    We consider the problem of dynamic cavity formation in isotropic compressible nonlinear elastic media. For the equations of radial elasticity we construct self-similar weak solutions that describe a cavity emanating from a state of uniform deformation. For dimensions d=2,3 we show that cavity formation is necessarily associated with a unique precursor shock. We also study the bifurcation diagram and do a detailed analysis of the singular asymptotics associated to cavity initiation as a function of the cavity speed of the self-similar profiles. We show that for stress free cavities the critical stretching associated with dynamically cavitating solutions coincides with the critical stretching in the bifurcation diagram of equilibrium elasticity. Our analysis treats both stress-free cavities and cavities with contents.

  13. A machine-learning approach for damage detection in aircraft structures using self-powered sensor data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salehi, Hadi; Das, Saptarshi; Chakrabartty, Shantanu; Biswas, Subir; Burgueño, Rigoberto

    2017-04-01

    This study proposes a novel strategy for damage identification in aircraft structures. The strategy was evaluated based on the simulation of the binary data generated from self-powered wireless sensors employing a pulse switching architecture. The energy-aware pulse switching communication protocol uses single pulses instead of multi-bit packets for information delivery resulting in discrete binary data. A system employing this energy-efficient technology requires dealing with time-delayed binary data due to the management of power budgets for sensing and communication. This paper presents an intelligent machine-learning framework based on combination of the low-rank matrix decomposition and pattern recognition (PR) methods. Further, data fusion is employed as part of the machine-learning framework to take into account the effect of data time delay on its interpretation. Simulated time-delayed binary data from self-powered sensors was used to determine damage indicator variables. Performance and accuracy of the damage detection strategy was examined and tested for the case of an aircraft horizontal stabilizer. Damage states were simulated on a finite element model by reducing stiffness in a region of the stabilizer's skin. The proposed strategy shows satisfactory performance to identify the presence and location of the damage, even with noisy and incomplete data. It is concluded that PR is a promising machine-learning algorithm for damage detection for time-delayed binary data from novel self-powered wireless sensors.

  14. The Potentials of Educational Data Mining for Researching Metacognition, Motivation and Self-Regulated Learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Winne, Philip H.; Baker, Ryan S. J. D.

    2013-01-01

    Our article introduces the "Journal of Educational Data Mining's" Special Issue on Educational Data Mining on Motivation, Metacognition, and Self-Regulated Learning. We outline general research challenges for data mining researchers who conduct investigations in these areas, the potential of EDM to advance research in this area, and…

  15. Estimates of Social Contact in a Middle School Based on Self-Report and Wireless Sensor Data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leecaster, Molly; Toth, Damon J A; Pettey, Warren B P; Rainey, Jeanette J; Gao, Hongjiang; Uzicanin, Amra; Samore, Matthew

    2016-01-01

    Estimates of contact among children, used for infectious disease transmission models and understanding social patterns, historically rely on self-report logs. Recently, wireless sensor technology has enabled objective measurement of proximal contact and comparison of data from the two methods. These are mostly small-scale studies, and knowledge gaps remain in understanding contact and mixing patterns and also in the advantages and disadvantages of data collection methods. We collected contact data from a middle school, with 7th and 8th grades, for one day using self-report contact logs and wireless sensors. The data were linked for students with unique initials, gender, and grade within the school. This paper presents the results of a comparison of two approaches to characterize school contact networks, wireless proximity sensors and self-report logs. Accounting for incomplete capture and lack of participation, we estimate that "sensor-detectable", proximal contacts longer than 20 seconds during lunch and class-time occurred at 2 fold higher frequency than "self-reportable" talk/touch contacts. Overall, 55% of estimated talk-touch contacts were also sensor-detectable whereas only 15% of estimated sensor-detectable contacts were also talk-touch. Contacts detected by sensors and also in self-report logs had longer mean duration than contacts detected only by sensors (6.3 vs 2.4 minutes). During both lunch and class-time, sensor-detectable contacts demonstrated substantially less gender and grade assortativity than talk-touch contacts. Hallway contacts, which were ascertainable only by proximity sensors, were characterized by extremely high degree and short duration. We conclude that the use of wireless sensors and self-report logs provide complementary insight on in-school mixing patterns and contact frequency.

  16. Singularity spectrum of self-organized criticality

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Canessa, E.

    1992-10-01

    I introduce a simple continuous probability theory based on the Ginzburg-Landau equation that provides for the first time a common analytical basis to relate and describe the main features of two seemingly different phenomena of condensed-matter physics, namely self-organized criticality and multifractality. Numerical support is given by a comparison with reported simulation data. Within the theory the origin of self-organized critical phenomena is analysed in terms of a nonlinear singularity spectrum different form the typical convex shape due to multifractal measures. (author). 29 refs, 5 figs

  17. Describing a nurse case manager intervention to empower low-income men with prostate cancer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maliski, Sally L; Clerkin, Barbara; Litwin, Mark S

    2004-01-01

    Describe and categorize nurse case manager (NCM) interventions for low-income, uninsured men with prostate cancer. Descriptive, retrospective record review. Statewide free prostate cancer treatment program in which each patient is assigned an NCM. 7 NCMs who developed interventions based on empowerment through increasing self-efficacy. NCM entries were extracted and coded from 10 electronic patient records, line by line, to reveal initial themes. Themes were grouped under categories. Investigators then reviewed and expanded these categories and their descriptions and postulated linkages. Linkages and relationships among categories were empirically verified with the original data. NCM entries from another 20 records were prepared in the same manner as the original records. Modifications were made until the categories contained all of the data and no new categories emerged. Categories were verified for content validity with the NCMs and reviewed for completeness and representation. NCM interventions. Categories of NCM interventions emerged as assessment, coordination, advocacy, facilitation, teaching, support, collaborative problem solving, and keeping track. Categories overlapped and supported each other. NCMs tailored interventions by combining categories for each patient. The skillful tailoring and execution of intervention strategies depended on the knowledge, experience, and skill that each NCM brought to the clinical situation. NCM categories were consistent with the tenets of the self-efficacy theory. The model, based on NCM interventions, provides a guide for the care of underserved men with prostate cancer. Components of the model need to be tested.

  18. The Developmental Association of Sexual Self-Concept with Sexual Behavior among Adolescent Women

    OpenAIRE

    Hensel, Devon J.; Fortenberry, J. Dennis; O’Sullivan, Lucia F.; Orr, Donald P.

    2010-01-01

    Developing a sexual self-concept is an important developmental task of adolescence; however, little empirical evidence describes this development, nor how these changes are related to development in sexual behavior. Using longitudinal cohort data from adolescent women, we invoked latent growth curve analysis to: (1) examine reciprocal development in sexual self-concept (sexual openness, sexual esteem and sexual anxiety) over a four year time frame; (2) describe the relationship of these traje...

  19. Academic Self-Concept: Modeling and Measuring for Science

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hardy, Graham

    2014-08-01

    In this study, the author developed a model to describe academic self-concept (ASC) in science and validated an instrument for its measurement. Unlike previous models of science ASC, which envisage science as a homogenous single global construct, this model took a multidimensional view by conceiving science self-concept as possessing distinctive facets including conceptual and procedural elements. In the first part of the study, data were collected from 1,483 students attending eight secondary schools in England, through the use of a newly devised Secondary Self-Concept Science Instrument, and structural equation modeling was employed to test and validate a model. In the second part of the study, the data were analysed within the new self-concept framework to examine learners' ASC profiles across the domains of science, with particular attention paid to age- and gender-related differences. The study found that the proposed science self-concept model exhibited robust measures of fit and construct validity, which were shown to be invariant across gender and age subgroups. The self-concept profiles were heterogeneous in nature with the component relating to self-concept in physics, being surprisingly positive in comparison to other aspects of science. This outcome is in stark contrast to data reported elsewhere and raises important issues about the nature of young learners' self-conceptions about science. The paper concludes with an analysis of the potential utility of the self-concept measurement instrument as a pedagogical device for science educators and learners of science.

  20. Self-assembly of self-assembled molecular triangles

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    While the solution state structure of 1 can be best described as a trinuclear complex, in the solidstate well-fashioned intermolecular - and CH- interactions are observed. Thus, in the solid-state further self-assembly of already self-assembled molecular triangle is witnessed. The triangular panels are arranged in a linear ...

  1. Bonderenko self-shielded cross sections and multiband parameters derived from the LLL Evaluated-Nuclear-Data Library (ENDL)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cullen, D.E.

    1978-01-01

    Bonderenko self-shielded cross sections and multiband parameters from the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory Evaluated-Nuclear-Data Library (ENDL) as of July 4, 1978 are presented. These data include total, elastic, capture, and fission cross sections in the TART 175 group structure. Multiband parameters are listed. Bonderenko self-shielded cross section and the multiband parameters are presented on microfiche

  2. Self-Adaptive MOEA Feature Selection for Classification of Bankruptcy Prediction Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gaspar-Cunha, A.; Recio, G.; Costa, L.; Estébanez, C.

    2014-01-01

    Bankruptcy prediction is a vast area of finance and accounting whose importance lies in the relevance for creditors and investors in evaluating the likelihood of getting into bankrupt. As companies become complex, they develop sophisticated schemes to hide their real situation. In turn, making an estimation of the credit risks associated with counterparts or predicting bankruptcy becomes harder. Evolutionary algorithms have shown to be an excellent tool to deal with complex problems in finances and economics where a large number of irrelevant features are involved. This paper provides a methodology for feature selection in classification of bankruptcy data sets using an evolutionary multiobjective approach that simultaneously minimise the number of features and maximise the classifier quality measure (e.g., accuracy). The proposed methodology makes use of self-adaptation by applying the feature selection algorithm while simultaneously optimising the parameters of the classifier used. The methodology was applied to four different sets of data. The obtained results showed the utility of using the self-adaptation of the classifier. PMID:24707201

  3. Data Mining and Visualization of Large Human Behavior Data Sets

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Cuttone, Andrea

    and credit card transactions – have provided us new sources for studying our behavior. In particular smartphones have emerged as new tools for collecting data about human activity, thanks to their sensing capabilities and their ubiquity. This thesis investigates the question of what we can learn about human...... behavior from this rich and pervasive mobile sensing data. In the first part, we describe a large-scale data collection deployment collecting high-resolution data for over 800 students at the Technical University of Denmark using smartphones, including location, social proximity, calls and SMS. We provide...... an overview of the technical infrastructure, the experimental design, and the privacy measures. The second part investigates the usage of this mobile sensing data for understanding personal behavior. We describe two large-scale user studies on the deployment of self-tracking apps, in order to understand...

  4. Anisotropic generalization of well-known solutions describing relativistic self-gravitating fluid systems. An algorithm

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Thirukkanesh, S. [Eastern University, Department of Mathematics, Chenkalady (Sri Lanka); Ragel, F.C. [Eastern University, Department of Physics, Chenkalady (Sri Lanka); Sharma, Ranjan; Das, Shyam [P.D. Women' s College, Department of Physics, Jalpaiguri (India)

    2018-01-15

    We present an algorithm to generalize a plethora of well-known solutions to Einstein field equations describing spherically symmetric relativistic fluid spheres by relaxing the pressure isotropy condition on the system. By suitably fixing the model parameters in our formulation, we generate closed-form solutions which may be treated as an anisotropic generalization of a large class of solutions describing isotropic fluid spheres. From the resultant solutions, a particular solution is taken up to show its physical acceptability. Making use of the current estimate of mass and radius of a known pulsar, the effects of anisotropic stress on the gross physical behaviour of a relativistic compact star is also highlighted. (orig.)

  5. Estimates of Social Contact in a Middle School Based on Self-Report and Wireless Sensor Data.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Molly Leecaster

    Full Text Available Estimates of contact among children, used for infectious disease transmission models and understanding social patterns, historically rely on self-report logs. Recently, wireless sensor technology has enabled objective measurement of proximal contact and comparison of data from the two methods. These are mostly small-scale studies, and knowledge gaps remain in understanding contact and mixing patterns and also in the advantages and disadvantages of data collection methods. We collected contact data from a middle school, with 7th and 8th grades, for one day using self-report contact logs and wireless sensors. The data were linked for students with unique initials, gender, and grade within the school. This paper presents the results of a comparison of two approaches to characterize school contact networks, wireless proximity sensors and self-report logs. Accounting for incomplete capture and lack of participation, we estimate that "sensor-detectable", proximal contacts longer than 20 seconds during lunch and class-time occurred at 2 fold higher frequency than "self-reportable" talk/touch contacts. Overall, 55% of estimated talk-touch contacts were also sensor-detectable whereas only 15% of estimated sensor-detectable contacts were also talk-touch. Contacts detected by sensors and also in self-report logs had longer mean duration than contacts detected only by sensors (6.3 vs 2.4 minutes. During both lunch and class-time, sensor-detectable contacts demonstrated substantially less gender and grade assortativity than talk-touch contacts. Hallway contacts, which were ascertainable only by proximity sensors, were characterized by extremely high degree and short duration. We conclude that the use of wireless sensors and self-report logs provide complementary insight on in-school mixing patterns and contact frequency.

  6. Self-esteem, general and sexual self-concepts in blind people

    OpenAIRE

    Salehi, Mehrdad; Azarbayejani, Abas; Shafiei, Katayoun; Ziaei, Tayebe; Shayegh, Bahar

    2015-01-01

    Background: People with visual disability have lower self-esteem and social skills than sighted people. This study was designed to describe self-esteem and general and sexual self-concepts in blind people. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study, conducted in the Isfahan University of Medical Sciences in 2013-2014. In this study, 138 visually impaired people participated from Isfahan Province Welfare Organization and were interviewed for measuring of self-esteem and self-conce...

  7. iSELF : an internet-tool for self-evaluation and learner feedback

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Theunissen, N.C.M.; Stubbé, H.E.

    2011-01-01

    This paper describes the development of the iSELF: an Internet-tool for Self-Evaluation and Learner Feedback to stimulate self-directed learning in ubiquitous learning environments. In ubiquitous learning, learners follow their own trails of interest, scaffolded by coaches, peers and tools for

  8. Activation and Self-Efficacy in a Randomized Trial of a Depression Self-Care Intervention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McCusker, Jane; Lambert, Sylvie D; Cole, Martin G; Ciampi, Antonio; Strumpf, Erin; Freeman, Ellen E; Belzile, Eric

    2016-12-01

    In a sample of primary care participants with chronic physical conditions and comorbid depressive symptoms: to describe the cross-sectional and longitudinal associations of activation and self-efficacy with demographic, physical and mental health status, health behaviors, depression self-care, health care utilization, and use of self-care tools; and to examine the effects of a depression self-care coaching intervention on these two outcomes. Design/Study Setting. A secondary analysis of activation and self-efficacy data collected as part of a randomized trial to compare the effects of a telephone-based coached depression self-care intervention with a noncoached intervention. Activation (Patient Activation Measure) was measured at baseline and 6 months. Depression self-care self-efficacy was assessed at baseline, at 3 months, and at 6 months. In multivariable cross-sectional analyses (n = 215), activation and/or self-efficacy were associated with language, birthplace, better physical and mental health, individual exercise, specialist visits, and antidepressant nonuse. In longitudinal analyses (n = 158), an increase in activation was associated with increased medication adherence; an increase in self-efficacy was associated with use of cognitive self-care strategies and increases in social and solitary activities. There were significant improvements from baseline to 6 months in activation and self-efficacy scores both among coached and noncoached groups. The self-care coaching intervention did not affect 6-month activation or self-efficacy but was associated with quicker improvement in self-efficacy. Overall, the results for activation and self-efficacy were similar, although self-efficacy correlated more consistently than activation with depression-specific behaviors and was responsive to a depression self-care coaching intervention. © 2016 Society for Public Health Education.

  9. Self-Described Differences Between Legs in Ballet Dancers: Do They Relate to Postural Stability and Ground Reaction Force Measures?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mertz, Laura; Docherty, Carrie

    2012-12-01

    Ballet technique classes are designed to train dancers symmetrically, but they may actually create a lateral bias. It is unknown whether dancers in general are functionally asymmetrical, or how an individual dancer's perceived imbalance between legs might manifest itself. The purpose of this study was to examine ballet dancers' lateral preference by analyzing their postural stability and ground reaction forces in fifth position when landing from dance-specific jumps. Thirty university ballet majors volunteered to participate in this study. The subjects wore their own ballet technique shoes and performed fundamental ballet jumps out of fifth position on a force plate. The force plate recorded center of pressure (COP) and ground reaction force (GRF) data. Each subject completed a laterality questionnaire that determined his or her preferred landing leg for ballet jumps, self-identified stronger leg, and self-identified leg with better balance. All statistical comparisons were made between the leg indicated on the laterality questionnaire and the other leg (i.e., if the dancer's response to a question was "left," the comparison was made with the left leg as the "preferred" leg and the right leg as the "non-preferred leg"). No significant differences were identified between the limbs in any of the analyses conducted (all statistical comparisons produced p values > 0.05). The results of this study indicate that a dancer's preferential use of one limb over the other has no bearing on GRFs or balance ability after landing jumps in ballet. Similarly, dancers' opinions of their leg characteristics (such as one leg being stronger than the other) seem not to correlate with the dancers' actual ability to absorb GRFs or to balance when landing from ballet jumps.

  10. Accuracy of self-reported survey data on assisted reproductive technology treatment parameters and reproductive history.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stern, Judy E; McLain, Alexander C; Buck Louis, Germaine M; Luke, Barbara; Yeung, Edwina H

    2016-08-01

    It is unknown whether data obtained from maternal self-report for assisted reproductive technology treatment parameters and reproductive history are accurate for use in research studies. We evaluated the accuracy of self-reported in assisted reproductive technology treatment and reproductive history from the Upstate KIDS study in comparison with clinical data reported to the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology Clinic Outcome Reporting System. Upstate KIDS maternal questionnaire data from deliveries between 2008 and 2010 were linked to data reported to Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology Clinic Outcome Reporting System. The 617 index deliveries were compared as to treatment type (frozen embryo transfer and donor egg or sperm) and use of intracytoplasmic sperm injection and assisted hatching. Use of injectable medications, self-report for assisted reproductive technology, or frozen embryo transfer prior to the index deliveries were also compared. We report agreement in which both sources had yes or both no and sensitivity of maternal report using Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology Clinic Outcome Reporting System as the gold standard. Significance was determined using χ(2) at P < 0.05. Universal agreement was not reached on any parameter but was best for treatment type of frozen embryo transfer (agreement, 96%; sensitivity, 93%) and use of donor eggs (agreement, 97%; sensitivity, 82%) or sperm (agreement, 98%; sensitivity, 82%). Use of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (agreement, 78%: sensitivity, 78%) and assisted hatching (agreement, 57%; sensitivity, 38%) agreed less well with self-reported use (P < .0001). In vitro fertilization (agreement, 82%) and frozen embryo transfer (agreement, 90%) prior to the index delivery were more consistently reported than was use of injectable medication (agreement, 76%) (P < .0001). Women accurately report in vitro fertilization treatment but are less accurate about procedures handled in the

  11. Self-assessment of Certified EFL Teachers in Central Sulawesi on Their Professional Competence

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anshari Syafar

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available The study intends to describe the level of certified EFL teachers’ self-assessment of their competence to teach English. A cross-sectional survey design and systematic random sampling strategy were applied to take 227 research respondents. Questionnaire and interview were used for collecting data whereas frequency, percentage and descriptive statistics were employed to analyze the data. Most respondents self-rated their abilities to teach English at ‘competent’ and ‘strongly competent’ levels. Yet, their self-rating of English teaching competence did not match up with the re-sults of teacher competence test done by the government. Accordingly, the self-assessment should be endorsed with teaching performance assessment to have more reliable data for validating EFL teachers’ self-grading abilities in English teaching practices.  Key Words: self-assessment, teacher certification program, teacher standard of competence, certified EFL teachers, english teaching practices

  12. Self-management behaviour and support among primary care COPD patients: cross-sectional analysis of data from the Birmingham Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Cohort.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khan, Ainee; Dickens, Andrew P; Adab, Peymane; Jordan, Rachel E

    2017-07-20

    Self-management support for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients is recommended by UK national guidelines, but extent of implementation is unknown. We aimed to describe self-management behaviour and support among COPD patients and explore behaviour associated with having a self-management plan. We undertook cross-sectional analysis of self-reported data from diagnosed COPD patients in the Birmingham COPD Cohort study. Questionnaire items relevant to self-management behaviour, knowledge of COPD, receipt of self-management plans and advice from healthcare professionals were examined. Multiple regression models were used to identify behaviour associated with having a self-management plan. One-thousand seventy-eight participants (676 males, 62.7%, mean age 69.8 (standard deviation 9.0) years) were included. The majority reported taking medications as instructed (940, 94.0%) and receiving annual influenza vaccinations (962, 89.2%). Only 400 (40.4%) participants had self-management plans, 538 (49.9%) reported never having received advice on diet/exercise and 110 (42.7%) current smokers had been offered practical help to stop smoking in the previous year. General knowledge about COPD was moderate (mean total Bristol COPD Knowledge Questionnaire score: 31.5 (standard deviation 10.7); max score 65), corresponding to 48.5% of questions answered correctly. Having a self-management plan was positively associated with self-reported adherence to medication (odds ratio 3.10, 95% confidence interval 1.43 to 6.72), attendance at a training course (odds ratio 2.72, 95% confidence interval 1.81 to 4.12), attendance at a support group (odds ratio 6.28, 95% confidence interval 2.96 to 13.35) and better disease knowledge (mean difference 4.87, 95% confidence interval 3.16 to 6.58). Primary care healthcare professionals should ensure more widespread implementation of individualised self-management plans for all patients and improve the lifestyle advice provided. CALL FOR

  13. Feasibility of self-directed learning in clerkships

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Tolsgaard, M G; Arendrup, H; Pedersen, P

    2013-01-01

    Self-directed learning has been well described in preclinical settings. However, studies report conflicting results when self-directed initiatives are implemented in clinical clerkships.......Self-directed learning has been well described in preclinical settings. However, studies report conflicting results when self-directed initiatives are implemented in clinical clerkships....

  14. Congenital self-healing reticulohistiocytosis - an important diagnostic challenge

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Marie Louise Slott; Bygum, Anette; Clemmensen, Ole

    2011-01-01

    Aim:  To present current and new knowledge on congenital self-healing reticulohistiocytosis, a benign variant of cutaneous Langerhans cell histiocytosis presenting with skin lesions in the neonatal period. Methods:  We describe and photo document two cases of this rare disease and review the lite......Aim:  To present current and new knowledge on congenital self-healing reticulohistiocytosis, a benign variant of cutaneous Langerhans cell histiocytosis presenting with skin lesions in the neonatal period. Methods:  We describe and photo document two cases of this rare disease and review...... the literature. Results:  Only few newborns have acute access to a neonatal dermatologist and we demonstrate how the spontaneous cutaneous involution may happen even prior to the first dermatological assessment. As no sole criterion can reliably distinguish the self-healing form from disseminated disease......, multidisciplinary assessment and follow up are essential. Conclusion:  Our data document how easily the diagnosis congenital self-healing reticulocytosis may be missed and emphasize the importance and value of instant clinical photographing at the neonatal unit and the use of teledermatology whenever congenital...

  15. Self-organization in irregular landscapes: Detecting autogenic interactions from field data using descriptive statistics and dynamical systems theory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Larsen, L.; Watts, D.; Khurana, A.; Anderson, J. L.; Xu, C.; Merritts, D. J.

    2015-12-01

    The classic signal of self-organization in nature is pattern formation. However, the interactions and feedbacks that organize depositional landscapes do not always result in regular or fractal patterns. How might we detect their existence and effects in these "irregular" landscapes? Emergent landscapes such as newly forming deltaic marshes or some restoration sites provide opportunities to study the autogenic processes that organize landscapes and their physical signatures. Here we describe a quest to understand autogenic vs. allogenic controls on landscape evolution in Big Spring Run, PA, a landscape undergoing restoration from bare-soil conditions to a target wet meadow landscape. The contemporary motivation for asking questions about autogenic vs. allogenic controls is to evaluate how important initial conditions or environmental controls may be for the attainment of management objectives. However, these questions can also inform interpretation of the sedimentary record by enabling researchers to separate signals that may have arisen through self-organization processes from those resulting from environmental perturbations. Over three years at Big Spring Run, we mapped the dynamic evolution of floodplain vegetation communities and distributions of abiotic variables and topography. We used principal component analysis and transition probability analysis to detect associative interactions between vegetation and geomorphic variables and convergent cross-mapping on lidar data to detect causal interactions between biomass and topography. Exploratory statistics revealed that plant communities with distinct morphologies exerted control on landscape evolution through stress divergence (i.e., channel initiation) and promoting the accumulation of fine sediment in channels. Together, these communities participated in a negative feedback that maintains low energy and multiple channels. Because of the spatially explicit nature of this feedback, causal interactions could not

  16. Procedure to describe clavicular motion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gutierrez Delgado, Guivey; De Beule, Matthieu; Ortega Cardentey, Dolgis R; Segers, Patrick; Iznaga Benítez, Arsenio M; Rodríguez Moliner, Tania; Verhegghe, Benedict; Palmans, Tanneke; Van Hoof, Tom; Van Tongel, Alexander

    2017-03-01

    For many years, researchers have attempted to describe shoulder motions by using different mathematical methods. The aim of this study was to describe a procedure to quantify clavicular motion. The procedure proposed for the kinematic analysis consists of 4 main processes: 3 transcortical pins in the clavicle, motion capture, obtaining 3-dimensional bone models, and data processing. Clavicular motion by abduction (30° to 150°) and flexion (55° to 165°) were characterized by an increment of retraction of 27° to 33°, elevation of 25° to 28°, and posterior rotation of 14° to 15°, respectively. In circumduction, clavicular movement described an ellipse, which was reflected by retraction and elevation. Kinematic analysis shows that the articular surfaces move by simultaneously rolling and sliding on the convex surface of the sternum for the 3 movements of abduction, flexion, and circumduction. The use of 3 body landmarks in the clavicle and the direct measurement of bone allowed description of the osteokinematic and arthrokinematic movement of the clavicle. Copyright © 2017 Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery Board of Trustees. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  17. Self-diffusion in single crystalline silicon nanowires

    Science.gov (United States)

    Südkamp, T.; Hamdana, G.; Descoins, M.; Mangelinck, D.; Wasisto, H. S.; Peiner, E.; Bracht, H.

    2018-04-01

    Self-diffusion experiments in single crystalline isotopically controlled silicon nanowires with diameters of 70 and 400 nm at 850 and 1000 °C are reported. The isotope structures were first epitaxially grown on top of silicon substrate wafers. Nanowires were subsequently fabricated using a nanosphere lithography process in combination with inductively coupled plasma dry reactive ion etching. Three-dimensional profiling of the nanosized structure before and after diffusion annealing was performed by means of atom probe tomography (APT). Self-diffusion profiles obtained from APT analyses are accurately described by Fick's law for self-diffusion. Data obtained for silicon self-diffusion in nanowires are equal to the results reported for bulk silicon crystals, i.e., finite size effects and high surface-to-volume ratios do not significantly affect silicon self-diffusion. This shows that the properties of native point defects determined from self-diffusion in bulk crystals also hold for nanosized silicon structures with diameters down to 70 nm.

  18. Self-Concept Structure and the Quality of Self-Knowledge

    Science.gov (United States)

    Showers, Carolin J.; Ditzfeld, Christopher P.; Zeigler-Hill, Virgil

    2014-01-01

    Objective Explores the hidden vulnerability of individuals with compartmentalized self-concept structures by linking research on self-organization to related models of self functioning. Method Across three studies, college students completed self-descriptive card sorts as a measure of self-concept structure and either the Contingencies of Self-Worth Scale; Likert ratings of perceived authenticity of self-aspects; or a response latency measure of self-esteem accessibility. In all, there were 382 participants (247 females; 77% White, 6% Hispanic, 5% Black, 5% Asian, 4% Native American, and 3% Other). Results Consistent with their unstable self-evaluations, compartmentalized individuals report greater contingencies of self-worth and describe their experience of multiple self-aspects as less authentic than do individuals with integrative self-organization. Compartmentalized individuals also make global self-evaluations more slowly than do integrative individuals. Conclusions Together with previous findings on self-clarity, these results suggest that compartmentalized individuals may experience difficulties in how they know the self, whereas individuals with integrative self-organization may display greater continuity and evaluative consistency across self-aspects, with easier access to evaluative self-knowledge. PMID:25180616

  19. Declarations and Differences: Describing Elementary African American and Hispanic Boys' Motivation to Read

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mason, Paula K.

    2014-01-01

    The purpose of this mixed methods study was to describe the motivation to read of elementary African American and Hispanic boys and explore the possible differences in reading motivation using the constructs of self-perceptions as a reader and value of reading. Educational research has repeatedly shown that students from disadvantaged minority…

  20. Self-monitoring of blood pressure in hypertension: A systematic review and individual patient data meta-analysis.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Katherine L Tucker

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available Self-monitoring of blood pressure (BP appears to reduce BP in hypertension but important questions remain regarding effective implementation and which groups may benefit most. This individual patient data (IPD meta-analysis was performed to better understand the effectiveness of BP self-monitoring to lower BP and control hypertension.Medline, Embase, and the Cochrane Library were searched for randomised trials comparing self-monitoring to no self-monitoring in hypertensive patients (June 2016. Two reviewers independently assessed articles for eligibility and the authors of eligible trials were approached requesting IPD. Of 2,846 articles in the initial search, 36 were eligible. IPD were provided from 25 trials, including 1 unpublished study. Data for the primary outcomes-change in mean clinic or ambulatory BP and proportion controlled below target at 12 months-were available from 15/19 possible studies (7,138/8,292 [86%] of randomised participants. Overall, self-monitoring was associated with reduced clinic systolic blood pressure (sBP compared to usual care at 12 months (-3.2 mmHg, [95% CI -4.9, -1.6 mmHg]. However, this effect was strongly influenced by the intensity of co-intervention ranging from no effect with self-monitoring alone (-1.0 mmHg [-3.3, 1.2], to a 6.1 mmHg (-9.0, -3.2 reduction when monitoring was combined with intensive support. Self-monitoring was most effective in those with fewer antihypertensive medications and higher baseline sBP up to 170 mmHg. No differences in efficacy were seen by sex or by most comorbidities. Ambulatory BP data at 12 months were available from 4 trials (1,478 patients, which assessed self-monitoring with little or no co-intervention. There was no association between self-monitoring and either lower clinic or ambulatory sBP in this group (clinic -0.2 mmHg [-2.2, 1.8]; ambulatory 1.1 mmHg [-0.3, 2.5]. Results for diastolic blood pressure (dBP were similar. The main limitation of this work was that

  1. Self-monitoring of blood pressure in hypertension: A systematic review and individual patient data meta-analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tucker, Katherine L; Sheppard, James P; Stevens, Richard; Bosworth, Hayden B; Bove, Alfred; Bray, Emma P; Earle, Kenneth; George, Johnson; Godwin, Marshall; Green, Beverly B; Hebert, Paul; Hobbs, F D Richard; Kantola, Ilkka; Kerry, Sally M; Leiva, Alfonso; Magid, David J; Mant, Jonathan; Margolis, Karen L; McKinstry, Brian; McLaughlin, Mary Ann; Omboni, Stefano; Ogedegbe, Olugbenga; Parati, Gianfranco; Qamar, Nashat; Tabaei, Bahman P; Varis, Juha; Verberk, Willem J; Wakefield, Bonnie J; McManus, Richard J

    2017-09-01

    Self-monitoring of blood pressure (BP) appears to reduce BP in hypertension but important questions remain regarding effective implementation and which groups may benefit most. This individual patient data (IPD) meta-analysis was performed to better understand the effectiveness of BP self-monitoring to lower BP and control hypertension. Medline, Embase, and the Cochrane Library were searched for randomised trials comparing self-monitoring to no self-monitoring in hypertensive patients (June 2016). Two reviewers independently assessed articles for eligibility and the authors of eligible trials were approached requesting IPD. Of 2,846 articles in the initial search, 36 were eligible. IPD were provided from 25 trials, including 1 unpublished study. Data for the primary outcomes-change in mean clinic or ambulatory BP and proportion controlled below target at 12 months-were available from 15/19 possible studies (7,138/8,292 [86%] of randomised participants). Overall, self-monitoring was associated with reduced clinic systolic blood pressure (sBP) compared to usual care at 12 months (-3.2 mmHg, [95% CI -4.9, -1.6 mmHg]). However, this effect was strongly influenced by the intensity of co-intervention ranging from no effect with self-monitoring alone (-1.0 mmHg [-3.3, 1.2]), to a 6.1 mmHg (-9.0, -3.2) reduction when monitoring was combined with intensive support. Self-monitoring was most effective in those with fewer antihypertensive medications and higher baseline sBP up to 170 mmHg. No differences in efficacy were seen by sex or by most comorbidities. Ambulatory BP data at 12 months were available from 4 trials (1,478 patients), which assessed self-monitoring with little or no co-intervention. There was no association between self-monitoring and either lower clinic or ambulatory sBP in this group (clinic -0.2 mmHg [-2.2, 1.8]; ambulatory 1.1 mmHg [-0.3, 2.5]). Results for diastolic blood pressure (dBP) were similar. The main limitation of this work was that significant

  2. Designing the Self: The Transformation of the Relational Self-Concept through Social Encounters in a Virtual Immersive Environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Knutzen, K. Brant; Kennedy, David M.

    2012-01-01

    This article describes the findings of a 3-month study on how social encounters mediated by an online Virtual Immersive Environment (VIE) impacted on the relational self-concept of adolescents. The study gathered data from two groups of students as they took an Introduction to Design and Programming class. Students in group 1 undertook course…

  3. Detection of the free migration of the self-interstitials in magnesium

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lauzier, J; Hillairet, J; Duclos, D; Vieux Champagne, A

    1986-05-01

    This paper describes the first experimental determination of the migration temperature of freely diffusing self-interstitials in magnesium. This observation was made possible by analysis of the elastic modulus and damping variations induced by the pinning of the dislocations by self-interstitials. A marked pinning stage is found between 9 K and 14 K, which is definite evidence for the long-range diffusion of the self-interstitial at these temperatures. Prior data are discussed and reinterpreted in the light of this finding.

  4. Understanding Negative Self-Evaluations in Borderline Personality Disorder-a Review of Self-Related Cognitions, Emotions, and Motives.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Winter, Dorina; Bohus, Martin; Lis, Stefanie

    2017-03-01

    Self-conscious emotions, such as guilt, shame, or self-disgust, as well as self-related motives, such as self-enhancement or self-verification, influence how people perceive, evaluate, memorize, and respond to self-related information. They not only influence peoples' concepts of themselves but may also affect their behavior in social environments. In the current review, we describe alterations of self-related processing in borderline personality disorder (BPD). We chose BPD as an example of a mental disorder of which impairments in self-functioning and identity constitute a major feature. Since terminology used in clinical research on self-referential processing is diverse and often confusing, we start with reviewing some of the main concepts in this area of research using a conceptual framework provided from social psychology. Most studies on self-referential processing in BPD focused on descriptions of self-esteem and revealed a negative self-concept, particularly expressed by explicitly reported low self-esteem. Moreover, self-esteem is unstable in BPD and likely reactive to self-relevant cues. BPD patients are prone to negative emotions with respect to themselves, such as self-disgust and shame. First data point to altered self-related motives, too. In conclusion, although explicit self-esteem is widely studied as a global and trait-like feature of BPD, there is a strong lack of studies that take the complexity of the construct self-esteem into account. Further studies on alterations in self-related processes are required to deepen our understanding of impairments of the self-concept in BPD and enable the improvement of psychosocial therapeutic approaches.

  5. Comparison of self-reported and register data on sickness absence among Norwegian patients participating in an occupational rehabilitation program

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Irene Øyeflaten

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Background: Sick leave and return to work are common outcome variables in studies where the aim is to measure the effect of targeted interventions for individuals that are on sick leave benefits or other allowances. Use of official register data is often restricted, and research on sick leave and return to work are often based on the participants self-reports. However, there is insufficient documentation that there is agreement between self-reports and register data on sick leave benefits and allowances.Aims: The aim of this study was to analyse the individuals' knowledge about states of sick leave benefits or allowances compared with register data from The Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV in Norway.Method: 153 individuals, sick-listed or on allowances, participated in a 4-week inpatient occupational rehabilitation program. 132 (86% answered a questionnaire on assessments of work, sick leave, and allowances three months after completed rehabilitation. Self-reported data were compared with register data from NAV according to four categories: working, sick-listed, on medical/vocational rehabilitation allowance or disability pension. Agreement between self-reported and register data was evaluated in cross-tabulations and reported with kappa values. Stratified analyses were done for gender, age, education, medical diagnosis and length of sick leave/allowances at baseline.Results: Good agreement was found for medical/vocational rehabilitation allowance (kappa=.70 and disability pension (kappa=.65. Moderate agreement was found for working (kappa=.49 and fair agreement for sick-listed (kappa=.36. Stratified analyses showed significant better kappa values for individuals that had been sick-listed less than 12 months before entering the rehabilitation program.Conclusions: Agreements from good to fair were found between self-reported and official register data on sick leave. However, official register data is preferred in research because this will

  6. Self-reported delinquency in a probation service in Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lylla Cysne Frota D'Abreu

    2012-02-01

    Full Text Available International research shows that self-reported delinquency is a successful strategy to improve data collection on the identification of the so-called "dark figure", ie, offenses that are not reported to the justice system. This technique, however, is still little used in Brazil. Through documentary research from data archive, this study described the socio-demographic variables and the severity of unofficial delinquency of a sample of 211 adolescents who attended a probation service in Brazil. The results showed that adolescents in conflict with the law have delinquent engagement with higher polymorphism and intensity than the official data are able to identify. Self-reported delinquency can improve data collection, provide more reliable rates and guide more assertive intervention actions in these services.

  7. Using Self-Description to Handle Change in Systems

    CERN Document Server

    Estrella, Florida; Le Goff, Jean-Marie; McClatchey, Richard; Murray, Steven

    2002-01-01

    In the web age systems must be flexible, reconfigurable and adaptable in addition to being quick to develop. As a consequence, designing systems to cater for change is becoming not only desirable but required by industry. Allowing systems to be self-describing or description-driven is one way to enable these characteristics. To address the issue of evolvability in designing self-describing systems, this paper proposes a pattern-based, object-oriented, description-driven architecture. The proposed architecture embodies four pillars - first, the adoption of a multi-layered meta-modeling architecture and reflective meta-level architecture, second, the identification of four data modeling relationships that must be made explicit such that they can be examined and modified dynamically, third, the identification of five design patterns which have emerged from practice and have proved essential in providing reusable building blocks for data management, and fourth, the encoding of the structural properties of the fiv...

  8. Non-contact adhesion to self-affine surfaces: A theoretical model

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Makeev, Maxim A., E-mail: makeev@umich.edu

    2013-11-22

    Strength of adhesion between materials is known to be strongly influenced by interface irregularities. In this work, I devise a perturbative approach to describe the effect of self-affine roughness on non-contact adhesive interactions. The hierarchy of the obtained analytical solutions is the following. First, analytical formulae are deduced to describe roughness corrections to the van der Waals interaction energies between a hemi-space adherend, bounded by a self-affine surface, and a point-like adherent. Second, the problem of two hemi-spaces, one of which has a planar surface, and the other is bounded by a self-affine surface, is solved analytically. In the latter case, a numerical analysis is performed to delineate the behavior of the roughness corrections as a function of the parameters, characterizing self-affine fractal surface roughness. The problem of two hemi-spaces, both bounded by self-affine fractal surfaces, is also addressed in this work. The model's predictions are compared with previously reported theoretical results and available experimental data.

  9. APPLICATION OF A SELF-SIMILAR PRESSURE PROFILE TO SUNYAEV-ZEL'DOVICH EFFECT DATA FROM GALAXY CLUSTERS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mroczkowski, Tony; Miller, Amber; Bonamente, Max; Carlstrom, John E.; Culverhouse, Thomas L.; Greer, Christopher; Hennessy, Ryan; Leitch, Erik M.; Loh, Michael; Marrone, Daniel P.; Pryke, Clem; Sharp, Matthew; Hawkins, David; Lamb, James W.; Woody, David; Joy, Marshall; Maughan, Ben; Muchovej, Stephen; Nagai, Daisuke

    2009-01-01

    We investigate the utility of a new, self-similar pressure profile for fitting Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect observations of galaxy clusters. Current SZ imaging instruments-such as the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Array (SZA)-are capable of probing clusters over a large range in a physical scale. A model is therefore required that can accurately describe a cluster's pressure profile over a broad range of radii from the core of the cluster out to a significant fraction of the virial radius. In the analysis presented here, we fit a radial pressure profile derived from simulations and detailed X-ray analysis of relaxed clusters to SZA observations of three clusters with exceptionally high-quality X-ray data: A1835, A1914, and CL J1226.9+3332. From the joint analysis of the SZ and X-ray data, we derive physical properties such as gas mass, total mass, gas fraction and the intrinsic, integrated Compton y-parameter. We find that parameters derived from the joint fit to the SZ and X-ray data agree well with a detailed, independent X-ray-only analysis of the same clusters. In particular, we find that, when combined with X-ray imaging data, this new pressure profile yields an independent electron radial temperature profile that is in good agreement with spectroscopic X-ray measurements.

  10. Optimizing the data acquisition rate for a remotely controllable structural monitoring system with parallel operation and self-adaptive sampling

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sheng, Wenjuan; Guo, Aihuang; Liu, Yang; Azmi, Asrul Izam; Peng, Gang-Ding

    2011-01-01

    We present a novel technique that optimizes the real-time remote monitoring and control of dispersed civil infrastructures. The monitoring system is based on fiber Bragg gating (FBG) sensors, and transfers data via Ethernet. This technique combines parallel operation and self-adaptive sampling to increase the data acquisition rate in remote controllable structural monitoring systems. The compact parallel operation mode is highly efficient at achieving the highest possible data acquisition rate for the FBG sensor based local data acquisition system. Self-adaptive sampling is introduced to continuously coordinate local acquisition and remote control for data acquisition rate optimization. Key issues which impact the operation of the whole system, such as the real-time data acquisition rate, data processing capability, and buffer usage, are investigated. The results show that, by introducing parallel operation and self-adaptive sampling, the data acquisition rate can be increased by several times without affecting the system operating performance on both local data acquisition and remote process control

  11. Automatic analysis of ultrasonic data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Horteur, P.; Colin, J.; Benoist, P.; Bonis, M.; Paradis, L.

    1986-10-01

    This paper describes an automatic and self-contained data processing system, transportable on site, able to perform images such as ''A. Scan'', ''B. Scan'', ... to present very quickly the results of the control. It can be used in the case of pressure vessel inspection [fr

  12. A non-self-adjoint quadratic eigenvalue problem describing a fluid-solid interaction Part II : analysis of convergence

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bourne, D.P.; Elman, H.; Osborn, J.E.

    2009-01-01

    This paper is the second part of a two-part paper treating a non-self-adjoint quadratic eigenvalue problem for the linear stability of solutions to the Taylor-Couette problem for flow of a viscous liquid in a deformable cylinder, with the cylinder modelled as a membrane. The first part formulated

  13. Sexual Self-Descriptions and Gender Stereotypes in College Students

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mercedes Fernández Liporace

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available The paper presents partial results from a study carried out to analyze the way young college students self-describe their sexual behavior in relation with sex. Data show significant differences in certain adjectives, linked with traditional roles assigned to women and men in sexual relationships; an additional comparison with results about gender sterotypes reported by Williams & Best (1994 is made. A survey on sociodemographic data and a list of 70 adjectives that describe sexual behaviors were administered to a sample of 248 college students from Buenos Aires city and its suburban area.

  14. STUDENTS’ SELF ESTEEM IN SPEAKING ABILITY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elvira Rosyida MR

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available One of principle of communicative competence is the students know how to uselanguage according to the setting and the participants. Actually, to be able to speaktarget language, the students ar not only expected to have a great ability in grammar,vocabulary, or writing, but how brave they express their idea and use target languageto others. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate students’ self esteem to theirspeaking ability This study was carried out at Hadist major at the fourth semester ofIAIN Raden Intan Lampung. The researcher used questionnaire, test, and interview.The data collected were analyzed quantitatively, and described to know clearly theprocess which was occurred during the research. The results indicate that students’self esteem influence their speaking ability.Key Words: speaking, self esteem, communicative competence

  15. Dietary self-monitoring in patients with obstructive sleep apnea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hood, Megan M; Nackers, Lisa M; Kleinman, Brighid; Corsica, Joyce; Katterman, Shawn N

    2014-01-01

    Self-monitoring of food intake is a cornerstone of behavioral weight loss interventions, but its use has not been evaluated in the treatment of obese patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). This pilot study described patterns of adherence to dietary self-monitoring in obese patients with OSA and determined associations between self-monitoring and weight loss, psychosocial functioning, and adherence to continuous positive airway pressure treatment. Participants completed a 6-week behavioral weight loss intervention focused on dietary self-monitoring. Approximately one-third of participants were adherent to self-monitoring throughout the course of the intervention and experienced more weight loss than those who did not self-monitor regularly. More frequent dietary self-monitoring also appeared to be associated with adherence to other health behaviors. These preliminary data suggest that use of dietary self-monitoring may be beneficial for promoting weight loss and adherence to other important health behaviors in OSA patients.

  16. The wandering self : Tracking distracting self-generated thought in a cognitively demanding context

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Huijser, Stefan; van Vugt, Marieke K; Taatgen, Niels A

    We investigated how self-referential processing (SRP) affected self-generated thought in a complex working memory task (CWM) to test the predictions of a computational cognitive model. This model described self-generated thought as resulting from competition between task- and distracting processes,

  17. African American mothers' self-described discipline strategies with young children in 1992 and 2012.

    Science.gov (United States)

    LeCuyer, Elizabeth A; Christensen, Julie J; Kreher, Donna; Kearney, Margaret H; Kitzman, Harriet J

    2015-01-01

    In this qualitative descriptive study, 30 young, unmarried, low-income African American mothers in Memphis, TN, were interviewed in 2011-2012 about their discipline strategies with their 12- to 19-month-old children. Using content analyses, their strategies were described and compared with those from a similar sample in 1992. Findings suggest both continuity and change during that 20-year period. More mothers in 2011-2012 described the use of distraction and time out, suggesting a wider variety of strategies than were used in 1992. These findings may help clinicians to better understand disciplinary methods in young low-income African American mothers such as these in Memphis. Approaching mothers in a respectful and culturally sensitive manner will help them focus on effective, developmentally appropriate strategies consistent with their own parenting goals. Copyright © 2015 National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  18. The SMART personalised self-management system for congestive heart failure: results of a realist evaluation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bartlett, Yvonne K; Haywood, Annette; Bentley, Claire L; Parker, Jack; Hawley, Mark S; Mountain, Gail A; Mawson, Susan

    2014-11-25

    Technology has the potential to provide support for self-management to people with congestive heart failure (CHF). This paper describes the results of a realist evaluation of the SMART Personalised Self-Management System (PSMS) for CHF. The PSMS was used, at home, by seven people with CHF. Data describing system usage and usability as well as questionnaire and interview data were evaluated in terms of the context, mechanism and outcome hypotheses (CMOs) integral to realist evaluation. The CHF PSMS improved heart failure related knowledge in those with low levels of knowledge at baseline, through providing information and quizzes. Furthermore, participants perceived the self-regulatory aspects of the CHF PSMS as being useful in encouraging daily walking. The CMOs were revised to describe the context of use, and how this influences both the mechanisms and the outcomes. Participants with CHF engaged with the PSMS despite some technological problems. Some positive effects on knowledge were observed as well as the potential to assist with changing physical activity behaviour. Knowledge of CHF and physical activity behaviour change are important self-management targets for CHF, and this study provides evidence to direct the further development of a technology to support these targets.

  19. 42 CFR 137.205 - Will this voluntary uniform data set reporting activity be required of all Self-Governance Tribes...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... resources, hardware, software, and technical assistance to the Self-Governance Tribes to facilitate data... 42 Public Health 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Will this voluntary uniform data set reporting activity be required of all Self-Governance Tribes entering into a compact with the IHS under Title V? 137...

  20. How do people with intellectual disability describe the experience of falling in love?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jenni Mattila

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available The phenomenon of falling in love among people with intellectual disability has not received much attention in research. In this study, seven Finnish young adults (5 women and 2 men with mild intellectual disability (ID were asked about their experiences of falling in love. They were interviewed with a qualitative themed interview method. The data were analyzed with content analysis by searching the participants‘ descriptions of partner selection, the event of falling in love, and how falling in love has changed their lives. The study showed that that young adults with ID were familiar with and able to describe falling in love concretely and in a very positive manner. Love was seen as an important part of well-being. The findings suggest that people who live or work with young adults with ID should be prepared to support them in various phases of love in a way that enhances their cognitive love skills and self-determination in intimate relationships.

  1. The Future Concrete: Self-Compacting Concrete

    OpenAIRE

    Iureş, Liana; Bob, Corneliu

    2010-01-01

    The paper presents the characteristics of the self-compacting concretes, their advantages and disadvantages when they are used in buildings. Due to its properties and composition, the self-compacting concrete is described here as being one of the future friendly enviromental material for buildings. Tests concerning to obtaining a self-compacting concrete, together with the specific fresh concrete properties tests, are described.

  2. Cancer Screening Among Patients Who Self-Identify as Muslim: Combining Self-Reported Data with Medical Records in a Family Practice Setting.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lofters, A K; Slater, M; Vahabi, M

    2018-02-01

    Cancer screening is a core component of family medicine but screening inequalities are well documented in Canada for foreign-born persons. Although people of Muslim faith and culture are the fastest growing immigrant population in Canada, there is little information in the literature about their cancer screening practices. Determining screening gaps could inform practice-based quality improvement initiatives. We conducted a retrospective chart review combining patient-level medical record data with self-reported religious affiliation to examine the relationship between religion and cancer screening in a large multi-site urban family practice. Religious affiliation was classified as Muslim, other affiliation, or atheist/no religious affiliation. 5311 patients were included in the study sample. Muslim patients were significantly less likely to prefer English for spoken communication than the other two groups, less likely to be Canadian-born, more likely to have a female family physician, and were over-represented in the lowest income quintile. Muslim women were most likely to be up-to-date on breast cancer screening (85.2 vs. 77.5 % for those with other religions vs. 69.5 % for those with no religious affiliation). There were no significant differences in cancer screening by physician sex. In this pilot study conducted within a primary care practice, we used self-reported data on religious affiliation to examine possible inequities in cancer screening and observed intriguing variations in screening by self-identified religious affiliation. Future efforts to collect and use similar patient-level data should incorporate non-official languages and intensively outreach to patients with less health system contact. Regardless, the family medicine context may be the ideal setting to collect and act on patient-level sociodemographic data such as religious affiliation.

  3. Factors Related to Self-Esteem among African American Youths: A Secondary Analysis of the High/Scope Perry Preschool Data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luster, Tom; McAdoo, Harriette Pipes

    1995-01-01

    Used Perry Preschool data on 121 African American adolescents to explore correlates of self-esteem. Higher self-esteem scores were expected for youths who had experienced success in areas important to them and who perceived that significant others regarded them highly. Data supported the hypothesis that the effects of teens' accomplishments and…

  4. Describing chaotic attractors: Regular and perpetual points

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dudkowski, Dawid; Prasad, Awadhesh; Kapitaniak, Tomasz

    2018-03-01

    We study the concepts of regular and perpetual points for describing the behavior of chaotic attractors in dynamical systems. The idea of these points, which have been recently introduced to theoretical investigations, is thoroughly discussed and extended into new types of models. We analyze the correlation between regular and perpetual points, as well as their relation with phase space, showing the potential usefulness of both types of points in the qualitative description of co-existing states. The ability of perpetual points in finding attractors is indicated, along with its potential cause. The location of chaotic trajectories and sets of considered points is investigated and the study on the stability of systems is shown. The statistical analysis of the observing desired states is performed. We focus on various types of dynamical systems, i.e., chaotic flows with self-excited and hidden attractors, forced mechanical models, and semiconductor superlattices, exhibiting the universality of appearance of the observed patterns and relations.

  5. Generating and Describing Affective Eye Behaviors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mao, Xia; Li, Zheng

    The manner of a person's eye movement conveys much about nonverbal information and emotional intent beyond speech. This paper describes work on expressing emotion through eye behaviors in virtual agents based on the parameters selected from the AU-Coded facial expression database and real-time eye movement data (pupil size, blink rate and saccade). A rule-based approach to generate primary (joyful, sad, angry, afraid, disgusted and surprise) and intermediate emotions (emotions that can be represented as the mixture of two primary emotions) utilized the MPEG4 FAPs (facial animation parameters) is introduced. Meanwhile, based on our research, a scripting tool, named EEMML (Emotional Eye Movement Markup Language) that enables authors to describe and generate emotional eye movement of virtual agents, is proposed.

  6. Self-esteem of pregnant substance abusers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Higgins, P G; Clough, D H; Wallerstedt, C

    1995-01-01

    To explore patterns and levels of self-esteem of pregnant substance abusers. A descriptive prospective study to describe the self-esteem of pregnant substance abusers. Subjects (N = 31) were abusing and dependent on three or more legal and/or illegal substances. Subjects were asked one open-ended question regarding their self-esteem, then the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Inventory (RSI) was administered. Subjects gave 46 responses to the open-ended question. Overall, they used a single word to describe self-esteem. The most frequent response on the RSI was "low" for self-esteem, 23 subjects used positive terms, 20 used negative terms, and 3 reported a neutral term. The RSI confirmed the aspects of low self-esteem. Problems with low self-esteem were evident. Intervention strategies need to be developed to increase self-esteem in pregnant substance abusers.

  7. Compressing Aviation Data in XML Format

    Science.gov (United States)

    Patel, Hemil; Lau, Derek; Kulkarni, Deepak

    2003-01-01

    Design, operations and maintenance activities in aviation involve analysis of variety of aviation data. This data is typically in disparate formats making it difficult to use with different software packages. Use of a self-describing and extensible standard called XML provides a solution to this interoperability problem. XML provides a standardized language for describing the contents of an information stream, performing the same kind of definitional role for Web content as a database schema performs for relational databases. XML data can be easily customized for display using Extensible Style Sheets (XSL). While self-describing nature of XML makes it easy to reuse, it also increases the size of data significantly. Therefore, transfemng a dataset in XML form can decrease throughput and increase data transfer time significantly. It also increases storage requirements significantly. A natural solution to the problem is to compress the data using suitable algorithm and transfer it in the compressed form. We found that XML-specific compressors such as Xmill and XMLPPM generally outperform traditional compressors. However, optimal use of Xmill requires of discovery of optimal options to use while running Xmill. This, in turn, depends on the nature of data used. Manual disc0ver.y of optimal setting can require an engineer to experiment for weeks. We have devised an XML compression advisory tool that can analyze sample data files and recommend what compression tool would work the best for this data and what are the optimal settings to be used with a XML compression tool.

  8. Prediction of cardiorespiratory fitness from self-reported data in elderly

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Geraldo A Maranhao Neto

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF is associated with several health outcomes. Some non-exercise equations are available for CRF estimation. However, little is known about the validation of these equations among elderly. The aim of this study was to exam the validity of non-exercise equations with self-reported information in elderly. Participants (n= 93 aged 60 to 91 years measured CRF using maximal cardiopulmonary exercise test. Five non-exercise equations were selected. Data included in the equations (age, sex, weight, height, body mass index, physical activity and smoking were self-reported. Coefficient of determination (R2 of linear regressions with laboratory-measured VO2 peak ranged from 0.04 to 0.64. The Bland-Altman plots showed higher agreement between achieved and predicted CRF obtained by Jackson and colleagues, and Wier and colleagues equations. On the other hand, the other equations showed lower agreement and overestimation. Our findings provide evidences that two non-exercise equations, previously developed, could be used on the prediction of CRF among elderly.

  9. Microtubule dynamics. II. Kinetics of self-assembly

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Flyvbjerg, H.; Jobs, E.

    1997-01-01

    Inverse scattering theory describes the conditions necessary and sufficient to determine an unknown potential from known scattering data. No similar theory exists for when and how one may deduce the kinetics of an unknown chemical reaction from quantitative information about its final state and i...... to analyze the self-assembly of microtubules from tubulin are general, and many other reactions and processes may be studied as inverse problems with these methods when enough experimental data are available....

  10. The Future Concrete: Self-Compacting Concrete

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Liana Iureş

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper presents the characteristics of the self-compacting concretes, their advantages and disadvantages when they are used in buildings. Due to its properties and composition, the self-compacting concrete is described here as being one of the future friendly enviromental material for buildings. Tests concerning to obtaining a self-compacting concrete, together with the specific fresh concrete properties tests, are described.

  11. Self-adapted thermocouple-diagnostic complex

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Alekseev, S.V.; Grankovskij, K.Eh.; Olejnikov, P.P.; Prijmak, S.V.; Shikalov, V.F.

    2003-01-01

    A self-adapted thermocouple-diagnostic complex (STDC) for obtaining the reliable data on the coolant temperature in the reactors of NPP is described. The STDC in based on the thermal pulse monitoring of a thermocouple in the measuring channel of a reactor. Measurement method and STDC composition are substantiated. It is shown that introduction of the developed STDC ensures realization of precise and reliable temperature monitoring in the reactors of all types [ru

  12. SELF-EFFICACY OF FORMALLY AND NON-FORMALLY TRAINED PUBLIC SECTOR TEACHERS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Muhammad Nadeem ANWAR

    2009-07-01

    Full Text Available The main objective of the study was to compare the formally and non-formally trained in-service public sector teachers’ Self-efficacy. Five hypotheses were developed describing no difference in the self-efficacy of formally and non-formally trained teachers to influence decision making, influence school resources, instructional self-efficacy, disciplinary self-efficacy and create positive school climate. Teacher Efficacy Instrument (TSES developed by Bandura (2001 consisting of thirty 9-point items was used in the study. 342 formally trained and 255 non-formally trained respondents’ questionnaires were received out of 1500 mailed. The analysis of data revealed that the formally trained public sector teachers are high in their self-efficacy on all the five categories: to influence decision making, to influence school resources, instructional self-efficacy, disciplinary self-efficacy and self-efficacy to create positive school climate.

  13. The Self-esteem Stability Scale (SESS) for Cross-Sectional Direct Assessment of Self-esteem Stability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Altmann, Tobias; Roth, Marcus

    2018-01-01

    Self-esteem stability describes fluctuations in the level of self-esteem experienced by individuals over a brief period of time. In recent decades, self-esteem stability has repeatedly been shown to be an important variable affecting psychological functioning. However, measures of self-esteem stability are few and lacking in validity. In this paper, we present the Self-Esteem Stability Scale (SESS), a unidimensional and very brief scale to directly assess self-esteem stability. In four studies (total N = 826), we describe the development of the SESS and present evidence for its validity with respect to individual outcomes (life satisfaction, neuroticism, and vulnerable narcissism) and dyadic outcomes (relationship satisfaction in self- and partner ratings) through direct comparisons with existing measures. The new SESS proved to be a stronger predictor than the existing scales and had incremental validity over and above self-esteem level. The results also showed that all cross-sectional measures of self-esteem stability were only moderately associated with variability in self-esteem levels assessed longitudinally with multiple administrations of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. We discuss this validity issue, arguing that direct and indirect assessment approaches measure relevant, yet different aspects of self-esteem stability.

  14. The Self-esteem Stability Scale (SESS) for Cross-Sectional Direct Assessment of Self-esteem Stability

    Science.gov (United States)

    Altmann, Tobias; Roth, Marcus

    2018-01-01

    Self-esteem stability describes fluctuations in the level of self-esteem experienced by individuals over a brief period of time. In recent decades, self-esteem stability has repeatedly been shown to be an important variable affecting psychological functioning. However, measures of self-esteem stability are few and lacking in validity. In this paper, we present the Self-Esteem Stability Scale (SESS), a unidimensional and very brief scale to directly assess self-esteem stability. In four studies (total N = 826), we describe the development of the SESS and present evidence for its validity with respect to individual outcomes (life satisfaction, neuroticism, and vulnerable narcissism) and dyadic outcomes (relationship satisfaction in self- and partner ratings) through direct comparisons with existing measures. The new SESS proved to be a stronger predictor than the existing scales and had incremental validity over and above self-esteem level. The results also showed that all cross-sectional measures of self-esteem stability were only moderately associated with variability in self-esteem levels assessed longitudinally with multiple administrations of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. We discuss this validity issue, arguing that direct and indirect assessment approaches measure relevant, yet different aspects of self-esteem stability. PMID:29487551

  15. Biomimetics in materials science self-healing, self-lubricating, and self-cleaning materials

    CERN Document Server

    Nosonovsky, Michael

    2012-01-01

    Biomimetics in Materials Science provides a comprehensive theoretical and practical review of biomimetic materials with self-healing, self-lubricating and self-cleaning properties. These three topics are closely related and constitute rapidly developing areas of study. The field of self-healing materials requires a new conceptual understanding of this biomimetic technology, which is in contrast to traditional  engineering processes such as wear and fatigue.  Biomimetics in Materials Science is the first monograph to be devoted to these materials. A new theoretical framework for these processes is presented based on the concept of multi-scale structure of entropy and non-equilibrium thermodynamics, together with a detailed review of the available technology. The latter includes experimental, modeling, and simulation results obtained on self-healing/lubricating/cleaning materials since their emergence in the past decade. Describes smart, biomimetic materials in the context of nanotechnology, biotechnology, an...

  16. Development and Validation of Chemistry Self-Efficacy Scale for College Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Uzuntiryaki, Esen; Çapa Aydın, Yeşim

    2009-08-01

    This study described the process of developing and validating the College Chemistry Self-Efficacy Scale (CCSS) that can be used to assess college students’ beliefs in their ability to perform essential tasks in chemistry. In the first phase, data collected from 363 college students provided evidence for the validity and reliability of the new scale. Three dimensions emerged: self-efficacy for cognitive skills, self-efficacy for psychomotor skills, and self-efficacy for everyday applications. In the second phase, data collected from an independent sample of 353 college students confirmed the factorial structure of the 21-item CCSS. The Cronbach alpha coefficients ranged from 0.82 to 0.92. In addition, each dimension of the CCSS had moderate and significant correlations with student chemistry achievement and differentiated between major and non-major students. Followed by the additional validation studies, the CCSS will serve as a valuable tool for both instructors and researchers in science education to assess college students’ chemistry self-efficacy beliefs.

  17. Uncertainty Analysis with Considering Resonance Self-shielding Effect

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Han, Tae Young [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

    2016-10-15

    If infinitely diluted multi-group cross sections were used for the sensitivity, the covariance data from the evaluated nuclear data library (ENDL) was directly applied. However, in case of using a self-shielded multi-group cross section, the covariance data should be corrected considering self-shielding effect. Usually, implicit uncertainty can be defined as the uncertainty change by the resonance self-shielding effect as described above. MUSAD ( Modules of Uncertainty and Sensitivity Analysis for DeCART ) has been developed for a multiplication factor and cross section uncertainty based on the generalized perturbation theory and it, however, can only quantify the explicit uncertainty by the self-shielded multi-group cross sections without considering the implicit effect. Thus, this paper addresses the implementation of the implicit uncertainty analysis module into the code and the numerical results for the verification are provided. The implicit uncertainty analysis module has been implemented into MUSAD based on infinitely-diluted cross section-based consistent method. The verification calculation was performed on MHTGR 350 Ex.I-1a and the differences with McCARD result decrease from 40% to 1% in CZP case and 3% in HFP case. From this study, it is expected that MUSAD code can reasonably produce the complete uncertainty on VHTR or LWR where the resonance self-shielding effect should be significantly considered.

  18. Uncertainty Analysis with Considering Resonance Self-shielding Effect

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Han, Tae Young

    2016-01-01

    If infinitely diluted multi-group cross sections were used for the sensitivity, the covariance data from the evaluated nuclear data library (ENDL) was directly applied. However, in case of using a self-shielded multi-group cross section, the covariance data should be corrected considering self-shielding effect. Usually, implicit uncertainty can be defined as the uncertainty change by the resonance self-shielding effect as described above. MUSAD ( Modules of Uncertainty and Sensitivity Analysis for DeCART ) has been developed for a multiplication factor and cross section uncertainty based on the generalized perturbation theory and it, however, can only quantify the explicit uncertainty by the self-shielded multi-group cross sections without considering the implicit effect. Thus, this paper addresses the implementation of the implicit uncertainty analysis module into the code and the numerical results for the verification are provided. The implicit uncertainty analysis module has been implemented into MUSAD based on infinitely-diluted cross section-based consistent method. The verification calculation was performed on MHTGR 350 Ex.I-1a and the differences with McCARD result decrease from 40% to 1% in CZP case and 3% in HFP case. From this study, it is expected that MUSAD code can reasonably produce the complete uncertainty on VHTR or LWR where the resonance self-shielding effect should be significantly considered

  19. iSELF: The development of an Internet-Tool for self-evaluation and learner feedback

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Theunissen, N.; Stubbé, H.

    2014-01-01

    This paper describes the theoretical basis and development of the iSELF: an Internet-tool for Self-Evaluation and Learner Feedback to stimulate self-directed learning in ubiquitous learning environments. In ubiquitous learning, learners follow their own trails of interest, scaffolded by coaches,

  20. Compiling the functional data-parallel language SaC for Microgrids of Self-Adaptive Virtual Processors

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Grelck, C.; Herhut, S.; Jesshope, C.; Joslin, C.; Lankamp, M.; Scholz, S.-B.; Shafarenko, A.

    2009-01-01

    We present preliminary results from compiling the high-level, functional and data-parallel programming language SaC into a novel multi-core design: Microgrids of Self-Adaptive Virtual Processors (SVPs). The side-effect free nature of SaC in conjunction with its data-parallel foundation make it an

  1. Distributed Fast Self-Organized Maps for Massive Spectrophotometric Data Analysis †.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dafonte, Carlos; Garabato, Daniel; Álvarez, Marco A; Manteiga, Minia

    2018-05-03

    Analyzing huge amounts of data becomes essential in the era of Big Data, where databases are populated with hundreds of Gigabytes that must be processed to extract knowledge. Hence, classical algorithms must be adapted towards distributed computing methodologies that leverage the underlying computational power of these platforms. Here, a parallel, scalable, and optimized design for self-organized maps (SOM) is proposed in order to analyze massive data gathered by the spectrophotometric sensor of the European Space Agency (ESA) Gaia spacecraft, although it could be extrapolated to other domains. The performance comparison between the sequential implementation and the distributed ones based on Apache Hadoop and Apache Spark is an important part of the work, as well as the detailed analysis of the proposed optimizations. Finally, a domain-specific visualization tool to explore astronomical SOMs is presented.

  2. Kemampuan Pemecahan Masalah pada Materi Trigonometri Dikaji dari Self Concept Siswa Kelas XI IPA

    OpenAIRE

    Sartika, Ita; Jamiah, Yulis; Bistari

    2014-01-01

    The research aims to describe the problem-solving ability on the materials about trigonometry of students' self concept in SMA Kemala Bhayangkari 1 Kubu Raya eleven grade. The method is used descriptive method with case study of research. The sample of research was 9 students. The sample determination is done by taking 3 students who have high self concept, 3 students who have average self concept, and 3 students who have low self concept. The results of data analysis showed tha the problem-s...

  3. Self-Compassion in Relation to Self-Esteem, Self-Efficacy and Demographical Aspects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luciana Karine de Souza

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract This study investigated relationships between self-compassion, self-efficacy, and self-esteem, as well as age and sex differences and other sociodemographic variables in relation to self-compassion. Four-hundred and thirty-two Brazilian adults (50% women from nearly all country states participated in the study filling out a sociodemographic survey and three scales: self-compassion, self-efficacy, and self-esteem. Comparisons of means between self-compassion and pairs of groups designed by sociodemographic data showed higher self-compassion in men, people aged from 31 to 66 years-old, not under psychiatric medication, without a job, and with children. Results also showed that self-compassion is highly correlated with self-esteem and self-efficacy. We highlight that results are sample dependent and further studies on self-compassion need to be conducted in Brazil.

  4. Self-regulation in securities markets

    OpenAIRE

    Carson, John

    2011-01-01

    This paper canvasses the trends in self-regulation and the role of self-regulation in securities markets in different parts of the world. The paper also describes the conditions in which self-regulation might be an effective element of securities markets regulation, particularly in emerging markets. Use of self-regulation and self-regulatory organizations is often recommended in emerging m...

  5. Personality Symptoms and Self-Esteem as Correlates of Psychopathology in Child Psychiatric Patients: Evaluating Multiple Informant Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    De Pauw, Sarah S. W.; Mervielde, Ivan; De Clercq, Barbara J.; De Fruyt, Filip; Tremmery, Sabine; Deboutte, Dirk

    2009-01-01

    Research on adulthood posits personality and self-esteem as important predictors of psychopathology. In childhood, however, the study of these relationships is complicated by the lack of consensus on how to combine data from multiple informants of child behavior. This study evaluates the relationships among personality symptoms, self-esteem and…

  6. Describing temporal variation in reticuloruminal pH using continuous monitoring data

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Denwood, M. J.; Kleen, J. L.; Jensen, D. B.

    2018-01-01

    Reticuloruminal pH has been linked to subclinical disease in dairy cattle, leading to considerable interest in identifying pH observations below a given threshold. The relatively recent availability of continuously monitored data from pH boluses gives new opportunities for characterizing the normal...... patterns of pH over time and distinguishing these from abnormal patterns using more sensitive and specific methods than simple thresholds. We fitted a series of statistical models to continuously monitored data from 93 animals on 13 farms to characterize normal variation within and between animals. We used...... a subset of the data to relate deviations from the normal pattern to the productivity of 24 dairy cows from a single herd. Our findings show substantial variation in pH characteristics between animals, although animals within the same farm tended to show more consistent patterns. There was strong evidence...

  7. Who is Self-Actualized?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roweton, William E.

    1981-01-01

    In an attempt to clarify Maslow's concept of self-actualization as it relates to human motivation, a class of educational psychology students wrote essays describing a self-actualized person and then attempted to decide whether public schools contribute to the production of self-actualized persons. Two-thirds of the students decided that schools…

  8. Self-Organization in Embedded Real-Time Systems

    CERN Document Server

    Brinkschulte, Uwe; Rettberg, Achim

    2013-01-01

    This book describes the emerging field of self-organizing, multicore, distributed and real-time embedded systems.  Self-organization of both hardware and software can be a key technique to handle the growing complexity of modern computing systems. Distributed systems running hundreds of tasks on dozens of processors, each equipped with multiple cores, requires self-organization principles to ensure efficient and reliable operation. This book addresses various, so-called Self-X features such as self-configuration, self-optimization, self-adaptation, self-healing and self-protection. Presents open components for embedded real-time adaptive and self-organizing applications; Describes innovative techniques in: scheduling, memory management, quality of service, communications supporting organic real-time applications; Covers multi-/many-core embedded systems supporting real-time adaptive systems and power-aware, adaptive hardware and software systems; Includes case studies of open embedded real-time self-organizi...

  9. Theoretical foundations of functional data analysis, with an introduction to linear operators

    CERN Document Server

    Hsing, Tailen

    2015-01-01

    Theoretical Foundations of Functional Data Analysis, with an Introduction to Linear Operators provides a uniquely broad compendium of the key mathematical concepts and results that are relevant for the theoretical development of functional data analysis (FDA).The self-contained treatment of selected topics of functional analysis and operator theory includes reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces, singular value decomposition of compact operators on Hilbert spaces and perturbation theory for both self-adjoint and non self-adjoint operators. The probabilistic foundation for FDA is described from the

  10. Psychotropic medication in the French child and adolescent population: prevalence estimation from health insurance data and national self-report survey data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Legleye Stéphane

    2009-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The aim of this work is to estimate the French frequencies of dispensed psychotropic prescriptions in children and adolescents. Prevalence estimations of dispensed prescriptions are compared to the frequencies of use of psychotropic reported by 17 year-old adolescents. Methods Prescription data is derived from national health insurance databases. Frequencies of dispensed prescriptions are extrapolated to estimate a range for the 2004 national rates. Self-report data is derived from the 2003 and 2005 ESCAPAD study, an epidemiological study based on a questionnaire focused on health and drug consumption. Results The prevalence estimation shows that the prevalence of prescription of a psychotropic medication to young persons between 3 and 18 years is about 2.2%. In 2005, the self-report study (ESCAPAD shows that 14.9% of 17 year-old adolescents took medication for "nerves" or "to sleep" during the previous 12 months. The same study in 2003 also shows that 62.3% of adolescents aged 17 and 18 reporting psychotropic use, took the medication for anxiety and 56.8% to sleep. Only 49.7% of these medications are suggested by a doctor. Conclusion This study underlines a similar range of prevalence of psychotropic prescriptions in France to that observed in other European countries. Nevertheless, the proportion of antipsychotics and benzodiazepines seems to be higher, whereas the proportion of methylphenidate is lower. Secondly, a disparity between the prevalence of dispensed prescriptions and the self-report of actual use of psychotropics has been highlighted by the ESCAPAD study which shows that these treatments are widely used as "self-medication".

  11. Self-Efficacy in Social Work: Development and Initial Validation of the Self-Efficacy Scale for Social Workers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Monica Pedrazza

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available Self-efficacy beliefs do not reflect a generic sense of competence, but are instead context-specific. Therefore, self-efficacy should be assessed by using an ad hoc scale measuring individual behaviors that allows social workers to exercise influence over events that affect their work life. The present study describes the development and initial validation of the self-efficacy scale for social workers (SESSW. Items were generated through the Critical Incident Technique. Sixteen social workers with at least 10 years of service participated in two focus groups; they were asked to recall critical incidents in their work and to indicate the most effective behaviors to manage the incidents. Content analysis of the focus group transcripts provided 13 key self-efficacy beliefs. The 13-item scale was validated with a sample of 805 social workers. Data were analyzed using a split-sample technique. Exploratory factor analysis on the first split sample (n = 402 revealed three dimensions of self-efficacy, corresponding to emotion regulation, support request, and procedural self-efficacy. The three-factor structure of the scale was further confirmed with confirmatory factor analysis on the second split sample (n = 403. Our results show that SESSW is an adequate instrument for assessment of self-efficacy beliefs in social work.

  12. The Self-Organized Archive: SPASE, PDS and Archive Cooperatives

    Science.gov (United States)

    King, T. A.; Hughes, J. S.; Roberts, D. A.; Walker, R. J.; Joy, S. P.

    2005-05-01

    Information systems with high quality metadata enable uses and services which often go beyond the original purpose. There are two types of metadata: annotations which are items that comment on or describe the content of a resource and identification attributes which describe the external properties of the resource itself. For example, annotations may indicate which columns are present in a table of data, whereas an identification attribute would indicate source of the table, such as the observatory, instrument, organization, and data type. When the identification attributes are collected and used as the basis of a search engine, a user can constrain on an attribute, the archive can then self-organize around the constraint, presenting the user with a particular view of the archive. In an archive cooperative where each participating data system or archive may have its own metadata standards, providing a multi-system search engine requires that individual archive metadata be mapped to a broad based standard. To explore how cooperative archives can form a larger self-organized archive we will show how the Space Physics Archive Search and Extract (SPASE) data model will allow different systems to create a cooperative and will use Planetary Data System (PDS) plus existing space physics activities as a demonstration.

  13. A Comparative Case Study of Self-Actualization in Eleanor Roosevelt and Antoine de Saint-Exupery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tyska, Cynthia Ann

    Eleanor Roosevelt and Antoine de Saint-Exupery are described as strongly developed self-actualizing people. They were selected as subjects of this study because they are generally believed to possess self-actualizing characteristics and because their positions as public figures made it more likely that data on them would be accessible.…

  14. Second-order differential-delay equation to describe a hybrid bistable device

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vallee, R.; Dubois, P.; Cote, M.; Delisle, C.

    1987-08-01

    The problem of a dynamical system with delayed feedback, a hybrid bistable device, characterized by n response times and described by an nth-order differential-delay equation (DDE) is discussed. Starting from a linear-stability analysis of the DDE, the effects of the second-order differential terms on the position of the first bifurcation and on the frequency of the resulting self-oscillation are shown. The effects of the third-order differential terms on the first bifurcation are also considered. Experimental results are shown to support the linear analysis.

  15. Exploring the Effect of Media, Salinity and Clay on the Thermoelectric Coupling Coefficient in Self-Potential Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meyer, C. D.; Revil, A.

    2014-12-01

    Self-potential is a non-invasive, passive geophysical technique with applications ranging from imaging oil and gas reservoirs to identifying preferential flow paths in earthen embankments. Several cross-coupled flow phenomena contribute to self-potential data, and there is a need to further quantify these various sources to enable better resolution and quantification of self-potential models. Very little research has been done to constrain thermoelectric source mechanisms that contribute to self-potential signals. A laboratory experiment has been designed to investigate the thermoelectric coupling coefficient (CTE) that relates the voltage change per degree centigrade (V/°C) in porous media. This study focuses on a sand tank experiment using a saturated silica sand. To isolate the temperature gradient dependence of self-potential measurements, no hydraulic gradient is applied to the tank, eliminating the streaming potential component of source current. Self-potential and temperature data are recorded while reservoirs of hot and cold water are established on opposite ends of the tank in order to generate thermoelectric source currents. Various thermal gradients ranging from 0 °C to 80 °C over 20 cm are examined for various salinities (10-3M- 1M NaCl), sand grain sizes and clay content to investigate influences on CTE. A short-duration contact of non-polarizing (Pb/PbCl) electrodes is implemented to minimize temperature drift of electrodes during the experiment. Surface self-potential and temperature measurements are made in 30 minute intervals. Initial measurements have revealed non-linear effects, including a decreased CTE as temperature gradient bounds approach 0 °C.

  16. Dynamic data-driven integrated flare model based on self-organized criticality

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dimitropoulou, M.; Isliker, H.; Vlahos, L.; Georgoulis, M. K.

    2013-05-01

    Context. We interpret solar flares as events originating in active regions that have reached the self-organized critical state. We describe them with a dynamic integrated flare model whose initial conditions and driving mechanism are derived from observations. Aims: We investigate whether well-known scaling laws observed in the distribution functions of characteristic flare parameters are reproduced after the self-organized critical state has been reached. Methods: To investigate whether the distribution functions of total energy, peak energy, and event duration follow the expected scaling laws, we first applied the previously reported static cellular automaton model to a time series of seven solar vector magnetograms of the NOAA active region 8210 recorded by the Imaging Vector Magnetograph on May 1 1998 between 18:59 UT and 23:16 UT until the self-organized critical state was reached. We then evolved the magnetic field between these processed snapshots through spline interpolation, mimicking a natural driver in our dynamic model. We identified magnetic discontinuities that exceeded a threshold in the Laplacian of the magnetic field after each interpolation step. These discontinuities were relaxed in local diffusion events, implemented in the form of cellular automaton evolution rules. Subsequent interpolation and relaxation steps covered all transitions until the end of the processed magnetograms' sequence. We additionally advanced each magnetic configuration that has reached the self-organized critical state (SOC configuration) by the static model until 50 more flares were triggered, applied the dynamic model again to the new sequence, and repeated the same process sufficiently often to generate adequate statistics. Physical requirements, such as the divergence-free condition for the magnetic field, were approximately imposed. Results: We obtain robust power laws in the distribution functions of the modeled flaring events with scaling indices that agree well

  17. The Self-esteem Stability Scale (SESS for Cross-Sectional Direct Assessment of Self-esteem Stability

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tobias Altmann

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Self-esteem stability describes fluctuations in the level of self-esteem experienced by individuals over a brief period of time. In recent decades, self-esteem stability has repeatedly been shown to be an important variable affecting psychological functioning. However, measures of self-esteem stability are few and lacking in validity. In this paper, we present the Self-Esteem Stability Scale (SESS, a unidimensional and very brief scale to directly assess self-esteem stability. In four studies (total N = 826, we describe the development of the SESS and present evidence for its validity with respect to individual outcomes (life satisfaction, neuroticism, and vulnerable narcissism and dyadic outcomes (relationship satisfaction in self- and partner ratings through direct comparisons with existing measures. The new SESS proved to be a stronger predictor than the existing scales and had incremental validity over and above self-esteem level. The results also showed that all cross-sectional measures of self-esteem stability were only moderately associated with variability in self-esteem levels assessed longitudinally with multiple administrations of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. We discuss this validity issue, arguing that direct and indirect assessment approaches measure relevant, yet different aspects of self-esteem stability.

  18. Older Adults’ Attitudes to Self-Management of Health and Wellness through Smart Home Data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Julie Doyle

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available Smart homes have significant potential to enhance the lives of older adults, extending the period of healthy ageing, through monitoring wellbeing, detecting decline and applying interventions to prevent or slow down this decline. In this paper we present results from interviews with 7 older adults who have been living in smart homes for over 4 years. Our aims were to 1 examine attitudes to living with sensors and AAL technology over time; 2 gather opinions on the usefulness of this data for supporting self-management of health and wellbeing and 3 evaluate the effectiveness of various visualization techniques for presenting sensor-based health and wellness data. Our findings show that older adults are interested in receiving feedback from sensor technology to support them self-managing their wellbeing. Potential beneficial information includes time spent inside and outside the home, walking time, sleep, activity, blood pressure and weight. This information needs to be enhanced by education and goal-setting and by representing data using visualisations that are simple and intuitive.

  19. Preparation of self-supporting thin metal target films

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang Xiuying; Ge Suxian; Yin Jianhua; Yin Xu; Jin Genming

    1989-01-01

    The preparation method and equipment for thin metal self-supporting target without oil contamination are described. The influence of target films contaminated by oil vapor on accuracy of nuclear-physics experimental data are also discussed. The analytical results on carbon content in the prepared films of three elements show that the equipment is very effective for eliminating contamination

  20. Distributed Fast Self-Organized Maps for Massive Spectrophotometric Data Analysis †

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carlos Dafonte

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available Analyzing huge amounts of data becomes essential in the era of Big Data, where databases are populated with hundreds of Gigabytes that must be processed to extract knowledge. Hence, classical algorithms must be adapted towards distributed computing methodologies that leverage the underlying computational power of these platforms. Here, a parallel, scalable, and optimized design for self-organized maps (SOM is proposed in order to analyze massive data gathered by the spectrophotometric sensor of the European Space Agency (ESA Gaia spacecraft, although it could be extrapolated to other domains. The performance comparison between the sequential implementation and the distributed ones based on Apache Hadoop and Apache Spark is an important part of the work, as well as the detailed analysis of the proposed optimizations. Finally, a domain-specific visualization tool to explore astronomical SOMs is presented.

  1. Integrating environmental and self-report data to refine cannabis prevalence estimates in a major urban area of Switzerland.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Been, Frederic; Schneider, Christian; Zobel, Frank; Delémont, Olivier; Esseiva, Pierre

    2016-10-01

    Cannabis consumption is a topical subject because of discussions about reviewing current regulations. In this context, having a more comprehensive approach to assess and monitor prevalence and consumption is highly relevant. The objective of this work was to refine current estimates about prevalence of cannabis use by combining self-report data and results derived from wastewater analysis. Self-report data was retrieved from surveys conducted in Switzerland and Europe. Wastewater samples were collected at the wastewater treatment plant of Lausanne, western Switzerland, over a 15 months period. The occurrence of 11-nor-9-carboxy-delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC-COOH), a specific metabolite of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), was monitored. Bayesian hierarchical models were used to estimate consumption, prevalence and number of cannabis users in the investigated area. According to survey data, 12-months prevalence in western Switzerland was estimated to 6.2% of the population aged 15 or older, with an estimated daily cannabis consumption of 8.1gday(-1)·1000inhab(-1) (at 11.2% purity). The integrative model comprising self-report and wastewater data substantially reduced the uncertainty in the estimates and suggested a last-year prevalence of 9.4%, with a daily cannabis consumption of 14.0gday(-1)·1000inhab(-1). Although in the same order of magnitude, consumption and prevalence estimates obtained with the integrative model were 78% and 52% higher compared to self-report figures, respectively. Interestingly, these figures are similar to discrepancies observed when comparing self-reported alcohol consumption and sales or tax data. The suggested integrative model allowed to account for known sources of uncertainty and provided refined estimates of cannabis prevalence in a major urban area of Switzerland. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  2. The neural evidence of the reflected appraisal process as a main path for learning about one's self-knowledge of personality.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Xiaofan; Chen, Yu; Zhao, Yufang; Yang, Juan

    2015-09-01

    Self-knowledge has been defined as the accurate self-perceptions about how one typically thinks, feels, and behaves, and awareness of how those patterns are interpreted by others. Previous research has noted that the introspection and the reflected appraisal processes are two main avenues for learning about the self and that self-knowledge might be fully realized through the use of reflected appraisal from close others. However, due to the methodological difficulty in linking people's ratings on a trait to their behaviors, accuracy research using a behavioral criterion is quite limited. The current work examined the main source of learning about one's self-knowledge by investigating the time course of attention deployment both in the process of introspection and that of reflected appraisal. Twenty-five college students were first asked to rate their impressions of their classmates as well as a familiar other using personality-trait adjectives. Their electrophysiological data were then collected using the event-related potential (ERP) technology while they judged to which extent (1) an adjective can describe the self, (2) an adjective can describe a familiar other, (3) they agree with an adjective that their classmates believe can describe the self, and (4) they agree with an adjective that their classmates believe can describe a familiar other. Our electrophysiological data showed that classmates' positive evaluation of one's own trait elicited larger P2 than the positive self-evaluation of one's own trait. Further, classmates' negative evaluation of one's own trait elicited larger late positive component (LPC) than the negative self-evaluation of one's own trait. Results suggest that people allocate more attention to the process of reflected appraisal compared to the process of introspection, which further suggests that the reflected appraisal process might be the main source in learning about one's self-knowledge of personality. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B

  3. Pharmacobezoars described and demystified.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Simpson, Serge-Emile

    2011-02-01

    A bezoar is a concretion of foreign material that forms and persists in the gastrointestinal tract. Bezoars are classified by their material origins. Phytobezoars contain plant material, trichobezoars contain hair, lactobezoars contain milk proteins, and pharmacobezoars contain pharmaceutical products. Tablets, suspensions, and even insoluble drug delivery vehicles can, on rare occasions, and sometimes under specific circumstances, form pharmacobezoars. The goal of this review is to catalog and examine all of the available reports in the English language medical literature that convincingly describe the formation and management of pharmacobezoars. Articles included in this review were identified by performing searches using the terms "bezoar," "pharmacobezoar," and "concretion" in the following databases: OVID MEDLINE, PubMed, and JSTOR. The complete MEDLINE and JSTOR holdings were included in the search without date ranges. The results were limited to English language publications. Articles that described nonmedication bezoars were not included in the review. Articles describing phytobezoars, food bezoars, fecal impactions, illicit drug packet ingestions, enteral feeding material bezoars, and hygroscopic diet aid bezoars were excluded. The bibliographic references within the articles already accumulated were then examined in order to gather additional pharmacobezoar cases. The cases are grouped by pharmaceutical agent that formed the bezoar, and groupings are arranged in alphabetical order. Discussions and conclusions specific to each pharmaceutical agent are included in that agent's subheading. Patterns and themes that emerged in the review of the assembled case reports are reviewed and presented in a more concise format. Pharmacobezoars form under a wide variety of circumstances and in a wide variety of patients. They are difficult to diagnose reliably. Rules for suspecting, diagnosing, and properly managing a pharmacobezoar are highly dependent on the

  4. iSELF: The Development of an Internet-Tool for Self-Evaluation and Learner Feedback

    Science.gov (United States)

    Theunissen, Nicolet; Stubbé, Hester

    2014-01-01

    This paper describes the theoretical basis and development of the iSELF: an Internet-tool for Self-Evaluation and Learner Feedback to stimulate self-directed learning in ubiquitous learning environments. In ubiquitous learning, learners follow their own trails of interest, scaffolded by coaches, peers and tools for thinking and learning.…

  5. [Self-employed and small business owners diagnosed with cancer: effect on entrepreneurial survival].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ha-Vinh, Philippe; Régnard, Pierre; Huiart, Laetitia; Sauze, Laurent; Eisinger, François

    2015-01-01

    When self-employed andsmall business owners are diagnosed with cancer what is the effect on their small-firm survival duration? Data Sources: secondary data for 3,587 subjects, 18-65 years, working when diagnosed with cancer in 1995-2009 and a comparison group of 27,688 subjects matched for gender, age and occupation. Study design: a comprehensive population-based longitudinal study. A Cox model described time to failures of small businesses and terminations ofself-employment. Data Collection Methods: extraction from the statutory mandatory self-employed social security scheme database. Findings were that age, cancer prognosis and very intense physical workload occupation were independent predictors of enterprise failure for cancer-exposed subjects. Compared with unexposed subjects, their global hazard ratio was 1.59 (95% CI = 1.50 - 1.70). However, the difference atfiveyears after cancer diagnosis became non-significant: hazard ratio 1.11 (95% CI = 0.95 - 1.30). These findings demonstrate that beyond 5 years of maintenance of activity, the economic cost of cancer supported by very small businesses and self-employed is not important. However, support is required to pass through these first 5 years. The authors describe the various possible aids that could be implemented.

  6. A simple data acquisition system based on arduino platform for non-self-sustained gas discharge plasma diagnostics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Misiruk, I.O.; Garkusha, I.E.; Timoshenko, O.I.; Taran, V.S.

    2016-01-01

    A simple data acquisition system based on Arduino Nano platform is developed. Bluetooth wireless protocol is used for data transmission. Android OS application for data visualization and recording is developed. The system was success-fully applied for acquiring data of Langmuir probe measurements in the non-self-sustained discharge with a hollow anode.

  7. The Self-esteem Stability Scale (SESS) for Cross-Sectional Direct Assessment of Self-esteem Stability

    OpenAIRE

    Tobias Altmann; Marcus Roth

    2018-01-01

    Self-esteem stability describes fluctuations in the level of self-esteem experienced by individuals over a brief period of time. In recent decades, self-esteem stability has repeatedly been shown to be an important variable affecting psychological functioning. However, measures of self-esteem stability are few and lacking in validity. In this paper, we present the Self-Esteem Stability Scale (SESS), a unidimensional and very brief scale to directly assess self-esteem stability. In four studie...

  8. Self-monitoring of blood glucose experiences of adults with type 2 diabetes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dlugasch, Lucie B; Ugarriza, Doris N

    2014-06-01

    The purpose of this study was to analyze the experiences of self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) usage of adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) who are not using insulin. Nineteen adults were asked to describe their experiences with self-monitoring. Data were analyzed using the grounded theory method. The theory of "SMBG as a Cue in T2DM Self-Care" emerged from the data and is composed of four categories: (a) Engaging, (b) Checking, (c) Responding, and (d) Establishing a Pattern. Engaging marks the beginning. Frequent monitoring characterizes this stage. Checking involves evaluating and validating the blood glucose level. The most common item evaluated or validated was the effect of foods. Responding involves taking action or experiencing emotion. Actions taken centered on dietary changes. Emotions felt were dependent on the level and ranged from blame to happiness. Participants established a pattern and used SMBG regularly or sporadically. Frequency was based on obtaining "normal" patterns, the absence of symptoms, provider disinterest, and fingertip pain. Participants described many benefits and struggles when incorporating SMBG into their self-care. Information from this study could be used to develop effective guidelines for the use of SMBG in T2DM. ©2013 The Author(s) ©2013 American Association of Nurse Practitioners.

  9. The role of pre-school children motor behavior in developing their self-concept

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Perić Dušan

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The assessment of motor behavior and general intellectual abilities were performed on a sample of 42 pre-school children (22 boys and 20 girls aged 6 (±3 months; moreover, the self-concept of those children was analysed. For the assessment of their motor behavior six movement tasks were chosen and the Mary Gutrich scale was applied for the analysis of the results. The children's intellectual abilities were assessed by the means of Raven's colored progressive matrices so as to enable the groups to homogenise, as well as to eliminate potential parasite factors when drawing conclusions. The self-concept analysis was performed using the pshychological interview during the course of which the children described their impression of their own abilities with regard to the past, present and future. The data related to the self-concept were complemented with the analysis of the children's drawings. The statistical analysis of the data gathered showed that motor behavior plays a significant role in developing one's self-concept, which is especially true of boys. Even though there is no significant statistical difference between boys and girls with respect to the quality of their motor behavior, there are significant differences between them pertaining to the vocabulary they use when describing their own selves, i.e. their self-concept, especially with respect to the present and future. Boys seem to use more extensive motor-related vocabulary when describing themselves, especially those with greater motor skills. Both boys and girls show a tendency to describe themselves as incapable in the past. When describing their present moment capabilities, girls tend to use vocabulary related to play and independence, whereas they mostly use vocabulary related to professions and sex roles when referring to the future. These findings indicate that social factors are of immense importance from a very early age, especially among girls. Moreover, the results show that

  10. Data for a pre-performance test of self-developed electronic tongue sensors

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Laura Isabell Immohr

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available This article presents data, which can be applied for a pre-performance test of self-developed electronic tongue sensors. Contained data is related to the research article “Impact of Sodium Lauryl Sulfate in oral liquids on E-Tongue Measurements” (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpharm.2016.10.045; (L.I. Immohr, R. Turner, M. Pein-Hackelbusch, 2016 [1]. Sensor responses were obtained from 10 subsequent measurements and four different concentrations of quinine hydrochloride by electronic tongue (TS-5000Z, Insent Inc., Atsugi-Shi, Japan measurements. Based on the data for the pre-performance testing, which were calculated based on the fluctuation range of the sensor responses around the median, stability criteria and required preconditions cycles were defined.

  11. Determination of the self-adjoint matrix Schrödinger operators without the bound state data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Xiao-Chuan; Yang, Chuan-Fu

    2018-06-01

    (i) For the matrix Schrödinger operator on the half line, it is shown that the scattering data, which consists of the scattering matrix and the bound state data, uniquely determines the potential and the boundary condition. It is also shown that only the scattering matrix uniquely determines the self-adjoint potential and the boundary condition if either the potential exponentially decreases fast enough or the potential is known a priori on (), where a is an any fixed positive number. (ii) For the matrix Schrödinger operator on the full line, it is shown that the left (or right) reflection coefficient uniquely determine the self-adjoint potential if either the potential exponentially decreases fast enough or the potential is known a priori on (or ()), where b is an any fixed number.

  12. Aggression and self-esteem

    OpenAIRE

    Fleischmann, Otakar

    2008-01-01

    In the research we focus on problems of self-esteem and aggress. The aim was to discover and describe if by university students an important relation between self-esteem and aggress exists, if there are some differences in self-esteem and aggress between women and men and individuals with pedagogical and non-pedagogical professional polarization. The self-esteem was followed on different levels- general, low, medium and high level as well as aggress levels. Besides general aggress we followed...

  13. Networking: Addressing Urban Students' Self-Esteem.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tobias, Randolf; Turner, Thomas M.

    1997-01-01

    Describes Network in the Schools (NIS), a project to enhance teens' academic achievement and self-esteem, which uses small group classroom discussions regarding self-affirmation, social concerns, self-improvement, and reflection, and meetings for group sharing and self-expression. Presents findings that the program results in enhanced parent…

  14. A Graphical, Self-Organizing Approach to Classifying Electronic Meeting Output.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Orwig, Richard E.; Chen, Hsinchun; Nunamaker, Jay F., Jr.

    1997-01-01

    Describes research using an artificial intelligence approach in the application of a Kohonen Self-Organizing Map (SOM) to the problem of classification of electronic brainstorming output and an evaluation of the results. The graphical representation of textual data produced by the Kohonen SOM suggests many opportunities for improving information…

  15. Describing temporal variation in reticuloruminal pH using continuous monitoring data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Denwood, M J; Kleen, J L; Jensen, D B; Jonsson, N N

    2018-01-01

    Reticuloruminal pH has been linked to subclinical disease in dairy cattle, leading to considerable interest in identifying pH observations below a given threshold. The relatively recent availability of continuously monitored data from pH boluses gives new opportunities for characterizing the normal patterns of pH over time and distinguishing these from abnormal patterns using more sensitive and specific methods than simple thresholds. We fitted a series of statistical models to continuously monitored data from 93 animals on 13 farms to characterize normal variation within and between animals. We used a subset of the data to relate deviations from the normal pattern to the productivity of 24 dairy cows from a single herd. Our findings show substantial variation in pH characteristics between animals, although animals within the same farm tended to show more consistent patterns. There was strong evidence for a predictable diurnal variation in all animals, and up to 70% of the observed variation in pH could be explained using a simple statistical model. For the 24 animals with available production information, there was also a strong association between productivity (as measured by both milk yield and dry matter intake) and deviations from the expected diurnal pattern of pH 2 d before the productivity observation. In contrast, there was no association between productivity and the occurrence of observations below a threshold pH. We conclude that statistical models can be used to account for a substantial proportion of the observed variability in pH and that future work with continuously monitored pH data should focus on deviations from a predictable pattern rather than the frequency of observations below an arbitrary pH threshold. Copyright © 2018 American Dairy Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  16. Gamification for data gathering in emergency response exercises

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Meesters, Kenny; Ruhe, Aaron; Soetanto, Marvin; Munkvold, R.; Kolås, L.

    2015-01-01

    Our paper describes how gamification can be implemented in an emergency response exercise. In particular, we focus on the potential of gamification to support self-evaluation processes through the automated gathering of data about the participants' performance. Disaster-exercises are typically

  17. Resonance Self-Shielding Methodologies in SCALE 6

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Williams, Mark L.

    2011-01-01

    SCALE 6 includes several problem-independent multigroup (MG) libraries that were processed from the evaluated nuclear data file ENDF/B using a generic flux spectrum. The library data must be self-shielded and corrected for problem-specific spectral effects for use in MG neutron transport calculations. SCALE 6 computes problem-dependent MG cross sections through a combination of the conventional Bondarenko shielding-factor method and a deterministic continuous-energy (CE) calculation of the fine-structure spectra in the resolved resonance and thermal energy ranges. The CE calculation can be performed using an infinite medium approximation, a simplified two-region method for lattices, or a one-dimensional discrete ordinates transport calculation with pointwise (PW) cross-section data. This paper describes the SCALE-resonance self-shielding methodologies, including the deterministic calculation of the CE flux spectra using PW nuclear data and the method for using CE spectra to produce problem-specific MG cross sections for various configurations (including doubly heterogeneous lattices). It also presents results of verification and validation studies.

  18. Self-diffusion in electrolyte solutions a critical examination of data compiled from the literature

    CERN Document Server

    Mills, R

    1989-01-01

    This compilation - the first of its kind - fills a real gap in the field of electrolyte data. Virtually all self-diffusion data in electrolyte solutions as reported in the literature have been examined and the book contains over 400 tables covering diffusion in binary and ternary aqueous solutions, in mixed solvents, and of non-electrolytes in various solvents.An important feature of the compilation is that all data have been critically examined and their accuracy assessed. Other features are an introductory chapter in which the methods of measurement are reviewed; appendices containing tables

  19. Proactive and defensive self-regulation in learning

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Darko Lončarić

    2008-12-01

    Full Text Available Although self-regulation research is fragmented over several interdisciplinary areas and theories, the concept of self-regulation could represent a cohesive force for integrating different areas of psychology, such as clinical, educational, or organisational psychology. This paper focuses on self-regulation within the educational framework and elaborates the concept of self-regulated learning. Current advances in self-regulated learning research indicated that concepts, such as cognition and motivation, need to be integrated into a coherent self-regulation model. Two models that integrate cognitive and motivational constructs are described in this paper, namely the motivational and cognitive self-regulation components described by Pintrich and colleagues (e.g., Garcia & Pintrich 1994, and a six component model of self-regulated learning provided by Boekaerts (1997. These models were used to formulate new and parsimonious organisational constructs that classify self-regulation components into proactive and defensive self-regulation patterns. At the end, the applicative value of the models and the need for further research, regarding the question of specific self-regulation failures (the depressive self-regulation pattern, are being discussed.

  20. Self-injurious behaviour in autistic children: a neuro-developmental theory of social and environmental isolation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Devine, Darragh P

    2014-03-01

    Self-injurious behaviour is not one of the three core symptoms that define autism. However, children on the autism spectrum appear to be particularly vulnerable. Afflicted children typically slap their faces, punch or bang their heads, and bite or pinch themselves. These behaviours can be extremely destructive, and they interfere with normal social and educational activities. However, the neurobiological mechanisms that confer vulnerability in children with autism have not been adequately described. This review explores behavioural and neurobiological characteristics of children with autism that may be relevant for an increased understanding of their vulnerability for self-injurious behaviour. Behavioural characteristics that are co-morbid for self-injurious behaviour in children with autism are examined. In addition, the contributions of social and environmental deprivation in self-injurious institutionalized orphans, isolated rhesus macaques, and additional animal models are reviewed. There is extensive evidence that social and environmental deprivation promotes self-injurious behaviour in both humans (including children with autism) and animal models. Moreover, there are multiple lines of convergent neuroanatomical, neurophysiological, and neurochemical data that draw parallels between self-injurious children with autism and environmentally deprived humans and animals. A hypothesis is presented that describes how the core symptoms of autism make these children particularly vulnerable for self-injurious behaviour. Relevant neurodevelopmental pathology is described in cortical, limbic, and basal ganglia brain regions, and additional research is suggested.

  1. Seismic facies analysis from pre-stack data using self-organizing maps

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kourki, Meysam; Ali Riahi, Mohammad

    2014-01-01

    In facies analysis, seismic data are clustered in different groups. Each group represents subsurface points with similar physical properties. Different groups can be related to differences in lithology, physical properties of rocks and fluid changes in the rocks. The supervised and unsupervised data clustering are known as two types of clustering architecture. In supervised clustering, the number of clusters is predefined, while in unsupervised clustering, a collection of patterns partitions into groups without predefined clusters. In this study, the pre-stack data clustering is used for seismic facies analysis. In this way, a horizon was selected from pre-stack data, followed by sorting of data using offset. A trace associated with each CDP is constructed, for which the first and second samples are related to the first and second offsets, respectively. The created trace is called consolidated trace which is characteristic of subsurface points. These consolidated traces are clustered by using self-organizing maps (SOM). In proposed pre-stack seismic data clustering, points with similar physical properties are placed in one cluster. Seismic data associated with hydrocarbon reservoirs have very different characteristics that are easily recognized. The efficiency of the proposed method was tested on both synthetic and real seismic data. The results showed that the algorithm improves the data classification and the points of different properties are noticeable in final maps. (paper)

  2. Towards a fully self-consistent inversion combining historical and paleomagnetic data for geomagnetic field reconstructions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arneitz, P.; Leonhardt, R.; Fabian, K.; Egli, R.

    2017-12-01

    Historical and paleomagnetic data are the two main sources of information about the long-term geomagnetic field evolution. Historical observations extend to the late Middle Ages, and prior to the 19th century, they consisted mainly of pure declination measurements from navigation and orientation logs. Field reconstructions going back further in time rely solely on magnetization acquired by rocks, sediments, and archaeological artefacts. The combined dataset is characterized by a strongly inhomogeneous spatio-temporal distribution and highly variable data reliability and quality. Therefore, an adequate weighting of the data that correctly accounts for data density, type, and realistic error estimates represents the major challenge for an inversion approach. Until now, there has not been a fully self-consistent geomagnetic model that correctly recovers the variation of the geomagnetic dipole together with the higher-order spherical harmonics. Here we present a new geomagnetic field model for the last 4 kyrs based on historical, archeomagnetic and volcanic records. The iterative Bayesian inversion approach targets the implementation of reliable error treatment, which allows different record types to be combined in a fully self-consistent way. Modelling results will be presented along with a thorough analysis of model limitations, validity and sensitivity.

  3. Collecting Sensitive Self-Report Data with Laptop Computers: Impact on the Response Tendencies of Adolescents in a Home Interview.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Supple, Andrew J.; Aquilino, William S.; Wright, Debra L.

    1999-01-01

    Explored effects of computerized, self-administered data collection techniques in research on adolescents' self-reported substance use and psychological well-being. Adolescents completing sensitive questions on only laptop computers reported higher levels of substance use and indicated higher levels of depression and irritability; they perceived…

  4. Electricity Self-Generation Costs for Industrial Companies in Cameroon

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Diboma Benjamin Salomon

    2010-07-01

    Full Text Available Industrial production in developing countries (DC is frequently perturbed by electric energy supply difficulties. To overcome this problem, generators are used in self-generation of energy, but this leads to an increase of electricity-related expenses. This article assesses the impact of electricity self-generation on Cameroonian industrial companies. The model described in this article is based on data collected through a survey of a representative sample of industrial companies and from numerous previous thematic and statistical studies. The results of our analyses show that expenses related to electricity in industrial companies in Cameroon have increased five times due to electricity rationing and untimely power cuts. The article also suggests some solutions to improve the electricity self-generation capacity of industrial companies.

  5. Workplace Accidents and Self-Organized Criticality

    OpenAIRE

    Mauro, John C.; Diehl, Brett; Marcellin, Richard F.; Vaughn, Daniel J.

    2018-01-01

    The occurrence of workplace accidents is described within the context of self-organized criticality, a theory from statistical physics that governs a wide range of phenomena across physics, biology, geosciences, economics, and the social sciences. Workplace accident data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reveal a power-law relationship between the number of accidents and their severity as measured by the number of days lost from work. This power-law scaling is indicative of workplace a...

  6. Specific storage and hydraulic conductivity tomography through the joint inversion of hydraulic heads and self-potential data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ahmed, A. Soueid; Jardani, A.; Revil, A.; Dupont, J. P.

    2016-03-01

    Transient hydraulic tomography is used to image the heterogeneous hydraulic conductivity and specific storage fields of shallow aquifers using time series of hydraulic head data. Such ill-posed and non-unique inverse problem can be regularized using some spatial geostatistical characteristic of the two fields. In addition to hydraulic heads changes, the flow of water, during pumping tests, generates an electrical field of electrokinetic nature. These electrical field fluctuations can be passively recorded at the ground surface using a network of non-polarizing electrodes connected to a high impedance (> 10 MOhm) and sensitive (0.1 mV) voltmeter, a method known in geophysics as the self-potential method. We perform a joint inversion of the self-potential and hydraulic head data to image the hydraulic conductivity and specific storage fields. We work on a 3D synthetic confined aquifer and we use the adjoint state method to compute the sensitivities of the hydraulic parameters to the hydraulic head and self-potential data in both steady-state and transient conditions. The inverse problem is solved using the geostatistical quasi-linear algorithm framework of Kitanidis. When the number of piezometers is small, the record of the transient self-potential signals provides useful information to characterize the hydraulic conductivity and specific storage fields. These results show that the self-potential method reveals the heterogeneities of some areas of the aquifer, which could not been captured by the tomography based on the hydraulic heads alone. In our analysis, the improvement on the hydraulic conductivity and specific storage estimations were based on perfect knowledge of electrical resistivity field. This implies that electrical resistivity will need to be jointly inverted with the hydraulic parameters in future studies and the impact of its uncertainty assessed with respect to the final tomograms of the hydraulic parameters.

  7. In their own words: describing Canadian physician leadership.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Snell, Anita J; Dickson, Graham; Wirtzfeld, Debrah; Van Aerde, John

    2016-07-04

    Purpose This is the first study to compile statistical data to describe the functions and responsibilities of physicians in formal and informal leadership roles in the Canadian health system. This mixed-methods research study offers baseline data relative to this purpose, and also describes physician leaders' views on fundamental aspects of their leadership responsibility. Design/methodology/approach A survey with both quantitative and qualitative fields yielded 689 valid responses from physician leaders. Data from the survey were utilized in the development of a semi-structured interview guide; 15 physician leaders were interviewed. Findings A profile of Canadian physician leadership has been compiled, including demographics; an outline of roles, responsibilities, time commitments and related compensation; and personal factors that support, engage and deter physicians when considering taking on leadership roles. The role of health-care organizations in encouraging and supporting physician leadership is explicated. Practical implications The baseline data on Canadian physician leaders create the opportunity to determine potential steps for improving the state of physician leadership in Canada; and health-care organizations are provided with a wealth of information on how to encourage and support physician leaders. Using the data as a benchmark, comparisons can also be made with physician leadership as practiced in other nations. Originality/value There are no other research studies available that provide the depth and breadth of detail on Canadian physician leadership, and the embedded recommendations to health-care organizations are informed by this in-depth knowledge.

  8. The Big-Fish-Little-Pond Effect on Academic Self-Concept.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marsh, Herbert W.

    Marsh and Parker (1984) described the big-fish-little-pond effect (BFLPE) whereby equally able students have lower academic self-concepts in high-ability schools than in low-ability schools. The present investigation, a reanalysis of the Youth in Transition data, supported the generality of the earlier findings and demonstrated new theoretical…

  9. Self-assembling, dynamic alphaPNAs

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Peter E

    2009-01-01

    In the recent report published in Science, Ghadiri and coworkers describe dynamic tPNAs, alphaPNA derivatives with a nucleobase attached via a thioester bond that are a step forward toward self-repairing and replicating molecules.......In the recent report published in Science, Ghadiri and coworkers describe dynamic tPNAs, alphaPNA derivatives with a nucleobase attached via a thioester bond that are a step forward toward self-repairing and replicating molecules....

  10. Self-erecting shapes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reading, Matthew W.

    2017-07-04

    Technologies for making self-erecting structures are described herein. An exemplary self-erecting structure comprises a plurality of shape-memory members that connect two or more hub components. When forces are applied to the self-erecting structure, the shape-memory members can deform, and when the forces are removed the shape-memory members can return to their original pre-deformation shape, allowing the self-erecting structure to return to its own original shape under its own power. A shape of the self-erecting structure depends on a spatial orientation of the hub components, and a relative orientation of the shape-memory members, which in turn depends on an orientation of joining of the shape-memory members with the hub components.

  11. Using open-ended data to enrich survey results on the meanings of self-rated health: a study among women in underprivileged communities in Beirut, Lebanon.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salem, Mylene Tewtel; Abdulrahim, Sawsan; Zurayk, Huda

    2009-12-01

    This study extends the debate on self-rated health by using different sources of data in the same study to explore the meanings of self-rated health among women who live in socio-economically disadvantaged communities in Beirut, Lebanon. Using data from the Urban Health Study, a cross-sectional household survey of 1,869 women between 15 and 59 years of age, multiple logistic regression models were developed to assess factors associated with self-rated health. Also, open-ended data was used to analyze women's explanations of their self-rated health ratings. Self-rated health was found to be a complex concept, associated not only with physical health but also with a combination of social, psychological, and behavioral factors. This open-ended analysis revealed new meanings of self-rated health that are often not included in self-rated health epidemiologic research, such as women's experiences with pain and fatigue, as well as exposure to financial stressors and the legacy of wars. We argue that triangulating survey and open-ended data provides a better understanding of the context-specific social and cultural meanings of self-rated health.

  12. Self-reported gingival conditions and self-care in the oral health of Danish women during pregnancy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Christensen, L.B.; Jeppe-Jensen, Dorte; Petersen, P.E.

    2003-01-01

    AND METHODS: The study group comprised 1935 pregnant women living in two areas of Denmark consecutively recruited from August 1998 to March 1999. The survey data were based on telephone interviews. Questions in the interview concerned general health, lifestyles, socioeconomic conditions, gingival conditions......OBJECTIVES: The purpose of the present study was to describe the self-assessment of gingival health conditions in pregnant women, their oral hygiene behaviour and dental visiting habits, and to analyse self-care practices of pregnant women in relation to perceived gingival problems. MATERIAL......, oral hygiene and utilisation of dental health services. RESULTS: One-third of the study population perceived signs of gingival inflammation; 5% of the pregnant women assessed their gingiva as poor, while 95% reported good or "normal" gingival condition. Ninety six per cent brushed their teeth at least...

  13. The effect of altering self-descriptive behavior on self-concept and classroom behavior.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lane, J; Muller, D

    1977-09-01

    This research examined the impact of operant reinforcement of positive self-descriptive behavior on the self-concepts and classroom behavior of 60 fifth-grade students. Three groups of 10 male and 10 female low self-concept students wrote a series of eight essays describing their school performance. The first group (P) received written reinforcement for positive self-descriptions of their school performance. The second group (G) received an equal number of reinforcements for general statements. The third group (C) received no reinforcement for written statements. Three areas of self-concept were measured with the Primary Self-Concept Inventory: personal-self, social-self, and intellectual-self. A frequency count was also made of nine classroom behaviors thought to be influenced by self-concept. The P group displayed increases in the frequency of positive self-descriptive statement and in intellectual self-concept but no changes in personal self-concept, social self-concept, or the nine classroom behaviors. The G and C groups showed no change in self-description, self-concept, or the nine classroom behaviors.

  14. Describing the association between socioeconomic inequalities and cancer survival: methodological guidelines and illustration with population-based data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Belot A

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available Aurélien Belot,1-3 Laurent Remontet,3,4 Bernard Rachet,1 Olivier Dejardin,5,6 Hadrien Charvat,7 Simona Bara,8 Anne-Valérie Guizard,5,9 Laurent Roche,3,4 Guy Launoy,5,6 Nadine Bossard3,4 1Cancer Survival Group, Department of Non-Communicable Disease Epidemiology, Faculty of Epidemiology and Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom; 2Non-Communicable Diseases and Trauma Direction, The French Public Health Agency, Saint-Maurice, France; 3Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Hospices Civils de Lyon, Lyon, France; 4UMR 5558, Biometry and Evolutionary Biology Laboratory, Biostatistics Health Group, CNRS, University Lyon 1, Lyon, France; 5National Institute of Health and Medical Research U1086 ANTICIPE, Caen, France; 6Calvados Digestive Cancer Registry, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire, Caen, France; 7Prevention Division, Center for Public Health Sciences, National Cancer Center, Tokyo, Japan; 8Manche General Cancer Registry, Centre Hospitalier Public du Cotentin, Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, France; 9Calvados General Cancer Registry, Centre François Baclesse, Caen, France Background: Describing the relationship between socioeconomic inequalities and cancer survival is important but methodologically challenging. We propose guidelines for addressing these challenges and illustrate their implementation on French population-based data. Methods: We analyzed 17 cancers. Socioeconomic deprivation was measured by an ecological measure, the European Deprivation Index (EDI. The Excess Mortality Hazard (EMH, ie, the mortality hazard among cancer patients after accounting for other causes of death, was modeled using a flexible parametric model, allowing for nonlinear and/or time-dependent association between the EDI and the EMH. The model included a cluster-specific random effect to deal with the hierarchical structure of the data. Results: We reported the conventional age-standardized net survival (ASNS

  15. Self-SALP/self-assessment at Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plant

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pieringer, P.; Slider, J.E.

    1992-01-01

    In recent years, utilities have undertaken various forms of self-assessment. These methods have as their goal early detection of weaknesses in plan performance to permit timely corrective action. Ideally, self-assessment methods identify problems at a lower threshold than do outside agencies, such as the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO). One of the more popular methods of self-assessment has been the self-SALP (systematic assessment of licensee performance). This method emulates the procedures of the NRC's SALP to render a subjective, overall assessment of performance. The experience of Baltimore Gas and Electric Company (BG and E) in applying self-SALP methods at its Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plant (CCNPP) provides insights useful to other utilities considering use of self-SALP methods. The factors leading to BG and E's decision to use a different approach may help others evaluate their self-assessment choices. This paper summarizes BG and E's experience with self-SALP methods and describes the methods that will be used to evaluate performance in the future

  16. Predictors of treatment dropout in self-guided web-based interventions for depression: an 'individual patient data' meta-analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karyotaki, E; Kleiboer, A; Smit, F; Turner, D T; Pastor, A M; Andersson, G; Berger, T; Botella, C; Breton, J M; Carlbring, P; Christensen, H; de Graaf, E; Griffiths, K; Donker, T; Farrer, L; Huibers, M J H; Lenndin, J; Mackinnon, A; Meyer, B; Moritz, S; Riper, H; Spek, V; Vernmark, K; Cuijpers, P

    2015-10-01

    It is well known that web-based interventions can be effective treatments for depression. However, dropout rates in web-based interventions are typically high, especially in self-guided web-based interventions. Rigorous empirical evidence regarding factors influencing dropout in self-guided web-based interventions is lacking due to small study sample sizes. In this paper we examined predictors of dropout in an individual patient data meta-analysis to gain a better understanding of who may benefit from these interventions. A comprehensive literature search for all randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of psychotherapy for adults with depression from 2006 to January 2013 was conducted. Next, we approached authors to collect the primary data of the selected studies. Predictors of dropout, such as socio-demographic, clinical, and intervention characteristics were examined. Data from 2705 participants across ten RCTs of self-guided web-based interventions for depression were analysed. The multivariate analysis indicated that male gender [relative risk (RR) 1.08], lower educational level (primary education, RR 1.26) and co-morbid anxiety symptoms (RR 1.18) significantly increased the risk of dropping out, while for every additional 4 years of age, the risk of dropping out significantly decreased (RR 0.94). Dropout can be predicted by several variables and is not randomly distributed. This knowledge may inform tailoring of online self-help interventions to prevent dropout in identified groups at risk.

  17. Usage of self-organizing neural networks in evaluation of consumer behaviour

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jana Weinlichová

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available This article deals with evaluation of consumer data by Artificial Intelligence methods. In methodical part there are described learning algorithms for Kohonen maps on the principle of supervised learning, unsupervised learning and semi-supervised learning. The principles of supervised learning and unsupervised learning are compared. On base of binding conditions of these principles there is pointed out an advantage of semi-supervised learning. Three algorithms are described for the semi-supervised learning: label propagation, self-training and co-training. Especially usage of co-training in Kohonen map learning seems to be promising point of other research. In concrete application of Kohonen neural network on consumer’s expense the unsupervised learning method has been chosen – the self-organization. So the features of data are evaluated by clustering method called Kohonen maps. These input data represents consumer expenses of households in countries of European union and are characterised by 12-dimension vector according to commodity classification. The data are evaluated in several years, so we can see their distribution, similarity or dissimilarity and also their evolution. In the article we discus other usage of this method for this type of data and also comparison of our results with results reached by hierarchical cluster analysis.

  18. KNOWBOT: a self-organizing interface for nuclear data bases

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Heger, A.S.; Koen, B.V.

    1988-01-01

    This paper describes the development of a practical intelligent associate, KNOWBOT, designed to act as a surrogate for engineers and scientists in accessing nuclear power industry data bases. The nuclear power industry has developed several safety and reliability data bases to facilitate the exchange of significant safety-related data for enhancement of its performance. The nuclear plant reliability data system and the licensee event reports are instances of such data bases. The creation of these data bases has, nevertheless, been paradoxical. They have provided rapid access to the needed data. Yet they have, at the same time, created their own impediments. Two of these problems that are addressed by the design of KNOWBOT are the interface and dimensionality. The interface problem falls in the broader category of man/machine interaction, which deals with the problems involved with this symbiosis. Dimensionality deals with the rapidly increasing sizes of the data bases and their ability to process queries in a timely fashion. Numerous programs have been developed to address the interface problem, but most have proven inadequate in real-time applications. The dimensionality problem has been approached through the development of faster processors and query optimizers. As these data bases continue to expand, the present solutions are reaching their performance limits, and a new approach such as that offered by KNOWBOT is needed

  19. SELF-REALIZATION IS INSEPARABLE FROM SELF-ACTUALIZATION OF A PERSONALITY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Irina Ivanovna Vitkovskaya

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available The article considers the issues of a personality’s self-realization and self-actualization under current educational standards required in the time of impetuous development in informative technologies. The practical aspect of the article describes self-realization and self-actualization of a person as their social and useful activity, interdiscipline approach, it is characterised by interdependence of an individual and their social environment apart with the self-realization of a personality in educational process. Evidently, being a substantial ca-tegory of vital «self-assertion», it should be thought over in categories of self-actualization and self-realization. So, self-realization is considered to be a social process which continues all conscientious life. In pedagogics of our country, labour and professional activity were the spheres of self-actualization therefore, it should be taken into account external factors for self-realization and self-actualization of a person. If socio-pedagogic conditions presuppose having good teachers, what conditions should be created in an individual’s micro-groups and in particular, in the family and kind of values shoud an individual get through the process of socialization. Thus, technological project of self-realization of a personality has to assume that there is the strive for self-perfection and interrelation of ways of self-realization, self-education, and adaptation. The correlation of these ways in a specific educational field is the purpose of the article.

  20. Self-esteem, general and sexual self-concepts in blind people.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salehi, Mehrdad; Azarbayejani, Abas; Shafiei, Katayoun; Ziaei, Tayebe; Shayegh, Bahar

    2015-10-01

    People with visual disability have lower self-esteem and social skills than sighted people. This study was designed to describe self-esteem and general and sexual self-concepts in blind people. This was a cross-sectional study, conducted in the Isfahan University of Medical Sciences in 2013-2014. In this study, 138 visually impaired people participated from Isfahan Province Welfare Organization and were interviewed for measuring of self-esteem and self-concept using Eysenck self-esteem and Rogers' self-concept questionnaires. The correlation between above two variables was measured using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software by Pearson correlation test. Mean [± standard deviation (SD)] age of patients was 30.9 ± 8 years. The mean (±SD) of general self-concept score was 11 ± 5.83. The mean (±SD) of self-esteem score was 16.62 ± 2.85. Pearson correlation results showed a significant positive correlation between self-esteem and general self-concept (r = 0.19, P = 0.025). The mean of sexual self-concept scores in five subscales (sexual anxiety, sexual self-efficacy, sexual self-esteem, sexual fear, and sexual depression) were correspondingly 11 ± 4.41, 19.53 ± 4.53, 12.96 ± 4.19, 13.48 ± 1.76, and 5.38 ± 2.36. Self-esteem and self-concept had significant positive correlation with sexual anxiety (r = 0.49; P Self-esteem and self-concept had significant correlation with sexual anxiety and sexual fear; and negative correlation with sexual self-efficacy and sexual-esteem.

  1. Knee complaints vary with age and gender in the adult population. Population-based reference data for the Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS)

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Paradowski, Przemyslaw T; Bergman, Stefan; Sundén-Lundius, Anne

    2006-01-01

    Self-reported knee complaints may vary with age and gender. Reference data from the adult population would help to better interpret the outcome of interventions due to knee complaints. The objectives of the present study were to describe the variation of self-reported knee pain, function and qual......Self-reported knee complaints may vary with age and gender. Reference data from the adult population would help to better interpret the outcome of interventions due to knee complaints. The objectives of the present study were to describe the variation of self-reported knee pain, function...... and quality of life with age and gender in the adult population and to establish population-based reference data for the Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS)....

  2. Introduction of self-control of enterprise information system through accounting documentation process of

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    K.О. Volskа

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The research is devoted to determining the possibility of implementing self-control of an enterprise information system, describing the criteria for building an information system in an enterprise that will be self-organized and capable of self-analysis. The article considers the concept of self-control, its main criteria as well as the possibility of implementing the self-control in the information system of the enterprise. The current study provides the definition of intelligent information systems and how to use expert knowledge in them. The article presents the place of the self-control (in terms of its organization at the enterprise in the economic activity of the enterprise and its correlation with internal control; as a result, it is suggested to consider the self-control of the information system as the unit included in the methods of internal control. The paper carries out the comparison of the response to the error in the information system under the usual control (from the subject of the control to the person and the self-control, that made it possible to determine the latter as the method of preventing errors, that is, real-time control during the data entry in the information system of the enterprise. It is proposed to divide the control mechanisms in the information system into informational (protection of the information system from a technical point of view and special (accounting, legal, technological, etc.. The special control mechanisms of the information system should initially be formed by the experts of the relevant profile and who should present them in the form of algorithms for preventing any possible errors that will allow IT-professionals to describe them at the software level and implement one of the criteria for self-control of the information system, namely, a self-examination. The article proposes to implement the self-control at the input of the information system, when entering the data of the primary documents

  3. [Self-stigma, self-esteem and self-efficacy of mentally ill].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pasmatzi, E; Koulierakis, G; Giaglis, G

    2016-01-01

    The way that the social stigma of mental illness is related with the self-stigma, which in turn affects self-esteem and self-efficacy of mental patients was investigated. A sample of 66 patients in the Adult Psychiatric Clinic of the Thessaloniki General Hospital "G. Papanikolaou" was participated in this descriptive association study, with cross-sectional comparisons. The sample comprised of patients who were hospitalized or visited the Clinic as out-patients during the period that the study was undertaken. A tool for measuring the basic demographic, social and clinical characteristics of the participants was designed and used. Additionally, the Self-Stigma of Mental Illness Scale, SSMIS, Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale, RSE and the General Self-Efficacy Sherer Scale, GSESH were used for measuring self-stigma, self-esteem and self-efficacy respectively. Results showed that self-esteem and self-efficacy were highly associated with each another. Self-esteem and self-efficacy co varied. Greater self-stigma was associated with lower self-esteem and selfefficacy confirming the power of this relationship which is connected with patients' psychological empowerment and acts as mediator between patients' self-categorization as "mentally ill" and their self-esteem and self-efficacy. Additionally, a mild negative association between self-esteem, self-efficacy and age was found while higher educational level was associated with greater selfefficacy. Greater self-stigma along with lower educational level were the most significant predictors of both self-esteem and self-efficacy of mental patients, as shown by regression analysis. Some of our results, such as the percentage of low self-esteem (30.3%), were different from previous relevant data (9.1-24%), probably due to differences in sample's cultural characteristics and composition, research tools used, and the degree of mentally ill patients' reaction to social stigma perception. Despite its methodological limitations, the

  4. Developing a Curriculum to Enhance Self-Concept.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Helm, Estelle Bailey

    1980-01-01

    Good self-esteem and self-concept have a bearing on a child's performance in school. The article describes ways to recognize poor self-image in a child and suggests strategies for building self-concept. Activities listed include positive marking of papers, bibliotherapy, improvisational drama, and values clarification. (DS)

  5. [Self-assessment of BMI data : verification of the practicability of a correction formula on a sample of 11- to 13-year-old girls].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wick, K; Hölling, H; Schlack, R; Bormann, B; Brix, C; Sowa, M; Strauss, B; Berger, U

    2011-06-01

    The decision to measure or to ask about data concerning height and weight in order to calculate body mass index (BMI) has an influence on the economy and validity of the measurements. Although self-reported information is less expensive, this information may possibly have a bias on the determined prevalences of different weight groups. Using representative data from the KiGGS study with a comparison of directly measured and self-reported BMI data, Kurth and Ellert (2010) developed two correction formulas for prevalences resulting from self-reported information. The aim of the study was to examine the practicability of the proposed correction formulas on our own data concerning self-reported BMI data of 11- to 13-year-old girls (n=1,271) and to assess the plausibility of the corrected measurements. As a result, the prevalences of our own data changed in the expected direction both for underweight and for overweight. Both formulas were found to be practicable, the consideration of the subjective weight status (formula 2) resulted in a greater change in prevalences compared to the first correction formula.

  6. The quantified self a sociology of self-tracking

    CERN Document Server

    Lupton, Deborah

    2016-01-01

    With the advent of digital devices and software, self-tracking practices have gained new adherents and have spread into a wide array of social domains. The Quantified Self movement has emerged to promote 'self knowledge through numbers'. In this ground-breaking book, Deborah Lupton critically analyses the social, cultural and political dimensions of contemporary self-tracking and identifies the concepts of selfhood, human embodiment and the value of data that underpin them.

  7. Self-expandable metal stents for malignant colonic obstruction: data from a retrospective regional SIED-AIGO study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Di Mitri, Roberto; Mocciaro, Filippo; Traina, Mario; Montalbano, Luigi Maria; Familiari, Luigi; D'Amore, Fabio; Raimondo, Dario; Virgilio, Clara; Tarantino, Ilaria; Barresi, Luca; Giunta, Marco; Borina, Eleonora; Borruto, Antonino; Marino, Antonino

    2014-03-01

    Self-expandable metal stents are a non-surgical option for the treatment of symptomatic malignant colorectal obstruction as palliative treatment or as a bridge to surgery. To report data from a regional study on self-expandable metal stent (SEMS) placement for malignant colorectal obstruction. Two hundred and four patients (male 54.9%, mean age of 69.5 ± 14.2) were retrospectively evaluated and data on technical and clinical success, and complications, were analyzed. Technical and clinical success rates were 99% and 94.6% respectively, with 36.7% treated on an emergency basis and 63.3% electively. Palliative treatment was administered to 70.1%, and as a bridge to surgery for 29.9%. Complications were 17 neoplastic ingrowths, 10 stent migrations, and 4 perforations. Palliative treatment was associated with a higher risk of stent ingrowth (p=0.003), and chemotherapy with a lower risk of stent ingrowth (p=0.009). This regional study, although it has certain limitations, confirms the positive role of self-expandable metal stents in the treatment of symptomatic malignant colorectal obstruction, and that chemotherapy decreases the risk of ingrowth. Copyright © 2013 Editrice Gastroenterologica Italiana S.r.l. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. PECULIARITIES OF SELF-ESTEEM AND SELF-ATTITUDE IN ADOLESCENCE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M A Rushina

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available The paper presents the results of the research devoted to the study of gender characteristics of self- esteem and self-attitude in adolescence. Namely, the work considers the theoretical framework of the study and some empirical results of self-assessment and self- attitude. Adolescence was not chosen by chance. It is at this time that there happens a qualitative transformation of consciousness, when the former, children’s and adolescents’ self-image changes and becomes more mature, objective. The analysis of the literature showed that the problem of identifying the level of self-esteem and self-attitude still remains topical and one of the most studied, especially because the work was focused on gender differences. When there were questions about the study of self-comprehension of the person, the task of reconstruction of the ontogenesis of the conscious self was solved through observing the children and through the analysis of graphic images and texts. Since the 1930s the interest in the study of consciousness has increased dramatically and still has not subsided. As a rule, the subject of such studies are the structure and components of self-consciousness, i.e. how the individual perceives and describes him/herself, what properties of the body and the personality he/she realizes more clearly; mental processes and operations with the help of which the individual realizes, evaluates and defines him/ herself and his/her behavior; the psychological functions of self-consciousness, i.e. how adequate the self-image and personal self-assessment are, what role they play in the self-regulation of behavior.

  9. Visual data mining with self-organizing maps for ''self-monitoring'' data analysis

    OpenAIRE

    Oliver Gasch, Elia; Vallés Pérez, Iván; Baños Rivera, Rosa María; Cebolla i Martí, Ausiàs Josep; Botella Arbona, Cristina; Soria Olivas, Emilio

    2016-01-01

    Data collected in psychological studies are mainly characterized by containing a large number of variables (multidimensional data sets). Analyzing multidimensional data can be a difficult task, especially if only classical approaches are used (hypothesis tests, analyses of variance, linear models, etc.). Regarding multidimensional models, visual techniques play an important role because they can show the relationships among variables in a data set. Parallel coordinates and Chernoff faces are ...

  10. Tensions in informed self-assessment: how the desire for feedback and reticence to collect and use it can conflict.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mann, K.; Vleuten, C.P.M. van der; Eva, K.; Armson, H.; Chesluk, B.; Dornan, T.; Holmboe, E.; Lockyer, J.; Loney, E.; Sargeant, J.

    2011-01-01

    PURPOSE: Informed self-assessment describes the set of processes through which individuals use external and internal data to generate an appraisal of their own abilities. The purpose of this project was to explore the tensions described by learners and professionals when informing their

  11. From self-organization to self-assembly: a new materialism?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vincent, Bernadette Bensaude

    2016-09-01

    While self-organization has been an integral part of academic discussions about the distinctive features of living organisms, at least since Immanuel Kant's Critique of Judgement, the term 'self-assembly' has only been used for a few decades as it became a hot research topic with the emergence of nanotechnology. Could it be considered as an attempt at reducing vital organization to a sort of assembly line of molecules? Considering the context of research on self-assembly I argue that the shift of attention from self-organization to self-assembly does not really challenge the boundary between chemistry and biology. Self-assembly was first and foremost investigated in an engineering context as a strategy for manufacturing without human intervention and did not raise new perspectives on the emergence of vital organization itself. However self-assembly implies metaphysical assumptions that this paper tries to disentangle. It first describes the emergence of self-assembly as a research field in the context of materials science and nanotechnology. The second section outlines the metaphysical implications and will emphasize a sharp contrast between the ontology underlying two practices of self-assembly developed under the umbrella of synthetic biology. And unexpectedly, we shall see that chemists are less on the reductionist side than most synthetic biologists. Finally, the third section ventures some reflections on the kind of design involved in self-assembly practices.

  12. Exploring views on satisfaction with life in young children with chronic illness: an innovative approach to the collection of self-report data from children under 11

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Christie, D.; Romano, G.; Barnes, J.; Madge, N.; Nicholas, D.B.; Koot, H.M.; Armstrong, D.F.; Shevlin, M.; Kantaris, X.; Khatun, H.; Sutcliffe, A.G.

    2012-01-01

    The objective of this study was to explore young children's views on the impact of chronic illness on their life in order to inform future development of a patient-based self-report health outcome measure. We describe an approach to facilitating self-report views from young children with chronic

  13. Redox potential distribution of an organic-rich contaminated site obtained by the inversion of self-potential data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abbas, M.; Jardani, A.; Soueid Ahmed, A.; Revil, A.; Brigaud, L.; Bégassat, Ph.; Dupont, J. P.

    2017-11-01

    Mapping the redox potential of shallow aquifers impacted by hydrocarbon contaminant plumes is important for the characterization and remediation of such contaminated sites. The redox potential of groundwater is indicative of the biodegradation of hydrocarbons and is important in delineating the shapes of contaminant plumes. The self-potential method was used to reconstruct the redox potential of groundwater associated with an organic-rich contaminant plume in northern France. The self-potential technique is a passive technique consisting in recording the electrical potential distribution at the surface of the Earth. A self-potential map is essentially the sum of two contributions, one associated with groundwater flow referred to as the electrokinetic component, and one associated with redox potential anomalies referred to as the electroredox component (thermoelectric and diffusion potentials are generally negligible). A groundwater flow model was first used to remove the electrokinetic component from the observed self-potential data. Then, a residual self-potential map was obtained. The source current density generating the residual self-potential signals is assumed to be associated with the position of the water table, an interface characterized by a change in both the electrical conductivity and the redox potential. The source current density was obtained through an inverse problem by minimizing a cost function including a data misfit contribution and a regularizer. This inversion algorithm allows the determination of the vertical and horizontal components of the source current density taking into account the electrical conductivity distribution of the saturated and non-saturated zones obtained independently by electrical resistivity tomography. The redox potential distribution was finally determined from the inverted residual source current density. A redox map was successfully built and the estimated redox potential values correlated well with in

  14. Using Self-Description to Handle Change in Systems, CMS-CR-2002-010

    CERN Document Server

    Estrella, F; Le Goff, J M; McClatchey, R; Murray, S

    2002-01-01

    In the web age systems must be flexible, reconfigurable and adaptable in addition to being quick to develop. As a consequence, designing systems to cater for change is becoming not only desirable but required by industry. Allowing systems to be self-describing or description-driven is one way to enable these characteristics. To address the issue of evolvability in designing self-describing systems, this paper proposes a pattern-based, object-oriented, description-driven architecture. The proposed architecture embodies four pillars - first, the adoption of a multi-layered meta-modeling architecture and reflective meta-level architecture, second, the identification of four data modeling relationships that must be made explicit such that they can be examined and modified dynamically, third, the identification of five design patterns which have emerged from practice and have proved essential in providing reusable building blocks for data management, and fourth, the encoding of the structural properties of the fiv...

  15. Analysis of a human phenomenon: self-concept.

    Science.gov (United States)

    LeMone, P

    1991-01-01

    This analysis of self-concept includes an examination of definitions, historical perspectives, theoretical basis, and closely related terms. Antecedents, consequences, defining attributes, and a definition were formulated based on the analysis. The purpose of the analysis was to provide support for the use of the label "self-concept" as a broad category that encompasses the self-esteem, identity, and body-image nursing diagnoses within Taxonomy I. This classification could allow the use of a broad diagnostic label to better describe conditions that necessitate nursing care. It may also further explain the relationships between and among those diagnoses that describe human responses to disturbance of any component of the self-concept.

  16. Predictors of unprotected sex among female sex workers in Madagascar: comparing semen biomarkers and self-reported data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gallo, Maria F; Steiner, Markus J; Hobbs, Marcia M; Weaver, Mark A; Hoke, Theresa Hatzell; Van Damme, Kathleen; Jamieson, Denise J; Macaluso, Maurizio

    2010-12-01

    Research on the determinants of condom use and condom non-use generally has relied on self-reported data with questionable validity. We identified predictors of recent, unprotected sex among 331 female sex workers in Madagascar using two outcome measures: self-reports of unprotected sex within the past 48 h and detection of prostate-specific antigen (PSA), a biological marker of recent semen exposure. Multivariable logistic regression revealed that self-reported unprotected sex was associated with three factors: younger age, having a sipa (emotional partner) in the prior seven days, and no current use of hormonal contraception. The sole factor related to having PSA detected was prevalent chlamydial infection (adjusted odds ratio, 4.5; 95% confidence interval, 2.0-10.1). Differences in predictors identified suggest that determinants of unprotected sex, based on self-reported behaviors, might not correlate well with risk of semen exposure. Caution must be taken when interpreting self-reported sexual behavior measures or when adjusting for them in analyses evaluating interventions for the prevention of HIV/STIs.

  17. A global assessment of the gender gap in self-reported health with survey data from 59 countries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boerma, Ties; Hosseinpoor, Ahmad Reza; Verdes, Emese; Chatterji, Somnath

    2016-07-30

    While surveys in high-income countries show that women generally have poorer self-reported health than men, much less is known about gender differences in other regions of the world. Such data can be used to examine the determinants of sex differences. We analysed data on respondents 18 years and over from the World Health Surveys 2002-04 in 59 countries, which included multiple measures of self-reported health, eight domains of functioning and presumptive diagnoses of chronic conditions. The age-standardized female excess fraction was computed for all indicators and analysed for five regional groups of countries. Multivariate regression models were used to examine the association between country gaps in self-reported health between the sexes with societal and other background characteristics. Women reported significantly poorer health than men on all self-reported health indicators. The excess fraction was 15 % for the health score based on the eight domains, 28 % for "poor" or "very poor" self-rated health on the single question, and 26 % for "severe" or "extreme" on a single question on limitations. The excess female reporting of poorer health occurred at all ages, but was smaller at ages 60 and over. The female excess was observed in all regions, and was smallest in the European high-income countries. Women more frequently reported problems in specific health domains, with the excess fraction ranging from 25 % for vision to 35 % for mobility, pain and sleep, and with considerable variation between regions. Angina, arthritis and depression had female excess fractions of 33, 32 and 42 % respectively. Higher female prevalence of the presumptive diagnoses was observed in all regional country groups. The main factors affecting the size of the gender gap in self-reported health were the female-male gaps in the prevalence of chronic conditions, especially arthritis and depression and gender characteristics of the society. Large female-male differences in self

  18. Building Self-Esteem in the Early Years

    OpenAIRE

    Setiawan, Jenny Lukito

    2005-01-01

    This article looks at the practical ways of building self-esteem in the early years. It describes the concepts of self-esteem and characteristics of children with high self-esteem and those with low self-esteem. The practical ways of building self-esteem are discussed under the five essential components of self-esteem pointed out by Reasoner and Dusa (1991), which include sense of security, identity, belonging, purpose, and personal competence.Key words: self-esteem, sense of security, sense ...

  19. Self-harm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Skegg, Keren

    The term self-harm is commonly used to describe a wide range of behaviours and intentions including attempted hanging, impulsive self-poisoning, and superficial cutting in response to intolerable tension. As with suicide, rates of self-harm vary greatly between countries. 5-9% of adolescents in western countries report having self-harmed within the previous year. Risk factors include socioeconomic disadvantage, and psychiatric illness--particularly depression, substance abuse, and anxiety disorders. Cultural aspects of some societies may protect against suicide and self-harm and explain some of the international variation in rates of these events. Risk of repetition of self-harm and of later suicide is high. More than 5% of people who have been seen at a hospital after self-harm will have committed suicide within 9 years. Assessment after self-harm includes careful consideration of the patient's intent and beliefs about the lethality of the method used. Strong suicidal intent, high lethality, precautions against being discovered, and psychiatric illness are indicators of high suicide risk. Management after self-harm includes forming a trusting relationship with the patient, jointly identifying problems, ensuring support is available in a crisis, and treating psychiatric illness vigorously. Family and friends may also provide support. Large-scale studies of treatments for specific subgroups of people who self-harm might help to identify more effective treatments than are currently available. Although risk factors for self-harm are well established, aspects that protect people from engaging in self-harm need to be further explored.

  20. Age variations in personal agency and self-esteem: the context of physical disability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schieman, S; Campbell, J E

    2001-05-01

    This study examines how age patterns in health control, self-efficacy, and self-esteem are influenced by age-correlated social status, health, personality, and social integration variables. Ordinary least squares regression documents age patterns in data from a 1985 community sample of 1,549 physically disabled and nondisabled individuals from southwestern Ontario, Canada. Older respondents report lower health control, self-efficacy, and self-esteem. Less education, more physical impairment, poorer global health, less empathy, and less introspectiveness explain about 43% of age's negative association with health control and more than half of its negative association with self-esteem. In addition, age is associated more negatively with self-efficacy among the disabled. Social status variables conceal the strength of the age-by-disability interaction coefficient, while health accounts for almost an equal amount. The findings describe how age-correlated personal and social factors contribute to, or statistically conceal, older adults' sense of health control, self-efficacy, and self-esteem.

  1. Activation and Self-Efficacy in a Randomized Trial of a Depression Self-Care Intervention

    Science.gov (United States)

    McCusker, Jane; Lambert, Sylvie D.; Cole, Martin G.; Ciampi, Antonio; Strumpf, Erin; Freeman, Ellen E.; Belzile, Eric

    2016-01-01

    Objectives: In a sample of primary care participants with chronic physical conditions and comorbid depressive symptoms: to describe the cross-sectional and longitudinal associations of activation and self-efficacy with demographic, physical and mental health status, health behaviors, depression self-care, health care utilization, and use of…

  2. Self-Cultivation: Culturally Sensitive Psychotherapies in Confucian Societies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hwang, Kwang-Kuo; Chang, Jeffrey

    2009-01-01

    This article describes self-cultivation practices originating from the cultural traditions of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. It delineates the therapeutic implications of the three states of self pursued by these three traditions: namely, the "relational self", the "authentic self", and the "nonself". Several…

  3. Reframing Pedagogy While Teaching about Teaching Online: A Collaborative Self-Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fletcher, Tim; Bullock, Shawn M.

    2015-01-01

    The purpose of this paper is to use collaborative self-study to analyze and describe our experiences of teaching about teaching in a digital, online environment. Data were gathered from reflective journal entries, emails and monthly Skype calls. Our findings indicate that the perceived disembodiment of teaching and learning online affected how we…

  4. KETERKAITAN SELF EFFICACY DAN SELF ESTEEM TERHADAP PRESTASI BELAJAR MAHASISWA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sofwan Adiputra

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract This study aims to measure the relationship between self-efficacy and self-esteem on student achievement. The research was conducted using quantitative descriptive analysis by the method of field research, which is conducted by survey to respondents. To analyze the data using correlational analysis techniques and multiple regression analysis techniques. The conclusion from this study showed that the relationship of self-efficacy and self-esteem on learning achievement. Keywords: Self Efficacy, Self Esteem, Achievement

  5. A self contained Linux based data acquisition system for 2D detectors with delay line readout

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Beltran, D.; Toledo, J.; Klora, A.C.; Ramos-Lerate, I.; Martinez, J.C.

    2007-01-01

    This article describes a fast and self-contained data acquisition system for 2D gas-filled detectors with delay line readout. It allows the realization of time resolved experiments in the millisecond scale. The acquisition system comprises of an industrial PC running Linux, a commercial time-to-digital converter and an in-house developed histogramming PCI card. The PC provides a mass storage for images and a graphical user interface for system monitoring and control. The histogramming card builds images with a maximum count rate of 5 MHz limited by the time-to-digital converter. Histograms are transferred to the PC at 85 MB/s. This card also includes a time frame generator, a calibration channel unit and eight digital outputs for experiment control. The control software was developed for easy integration into a beamline, including scans. The system is fully operational at the Spanish beamline BM16 at the ESRF in France, the neutron beamlines Adam and Eva at the ILL in France, the Max Plank Institute in Stuttgart in Germany, the University of Copenhagen in Denmark and at the future ALBA synchrotron in Spain. Some representative collected images from synchrotron and neutron beamlines are presented

  6. 20 CFR 416.1181 - What is a plan to achieve self-support (PASS)?

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... earnings level reached. (c) If your employment goal is self-employment, you must include a business plan that defines the business, provides a marketing strategy, details financial data, outlines the operational procedures, and describes the management plan. (d) Your progress will be reviewed at least...

  7. The Cheetah data management system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kunz, P.F.; Word, G.B.

    1992-09-01

    Cheetah is a data management system based on the C programming language, with support for other languages. Its main goal is to transfer data between memory and I/O steams in a general way. The streams are either associated with disk files or are network data stems. Cheetah provides optional convenience functions to assist in the management of C structures. Cheetah steams are self-describing so that general purpose applications can fully understand an incoming steam. This information can be used to display the data in an incoming steam to the user of an interactive general application, complete with variable names and optional comments

  8. Describing Geospatial Assets in the Web of Data: A Metadata Management Scenario

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cristiano Fugazza

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Metadata management is an essential enabling factor for geospatial assets because discovery, retrieval, and actual usage of the latter are tightly bound to the quality of these descriptions. Unfortunately, the multi-faceted landscape of metadata formats, requirements, and conventions makes it difficult to identify editing tools that can be easily tailored to the specificities of a given project, workgroup, and Community of Practice. Our solution is a template-driven metadata editing tool that can be customised to any XML-based schema. Its output is constituted by standards-compliant metadata records that also have a semantics-aware counterpart eliciting novel exploitation techniques. Moreover, external data sources can easily be plugged in to provide autocompletion functionalities on the basis of the data structures made available on the Web of Data. Beside presenting the essentials on customisation of the editor by means of two use cases, we extend the methodology to the whole life cycle of geospatial metadata. We demonstrate the novel capabilities enabled by RDF-based metadata representation with respect to traditional metadata management in the geospatial domain.

  9. Evolutionary Sound Synthesis Controlled by Gestural Data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jose Fornari

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available This article focuses on the interdisciplinary research involving Computer Music and Generative Visual Art. We describe the implementation of two interactive artistic systems based on principles of Gestural Data (WILSON, 2002 retrieval and self-organization (MORONI, 2003, to control an Evolutionary Sound Synthesis method (ESSynth. The first implementation uses, as gestural data, image mapping of handmade drawings. The second one uses gestural data from dynamic body movements of dance. The resulting computer output is generated by an interactive system implemented in Pure Data (PD. This system uses principles of Evolutionary Computation (EC, which yields the generation of a synthetic adaptive population of sound objects. Considering that music could be seen as “organized sound” the contribution of our study is to develop a system that aims to generate "self-organized sound" – a method that uses evolutionary computation to bridge between gesture, sound and music.

  10. Instability of self-esteem, self-confidence, self-liking, self-control, self-competence and perfectionism: associations with oral health status and oral health-related behaviours.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dumitrescu, A L; Zetu, L; Teslaru, S

    2012-02-01

    Our aim was to explore whether instability of self-esteem, self-confidence, self-liking, self-control, self-competence and perfectionism each has an independent contribution to the self-rated oral health and oral health-related behaviours. A cross-sectional study design was used. Data were collected between November 2008 and May 2009. The sample consisted of 205 Romanian adults (mean age: 29.84 years; 65.2% women; 40% married) who were a random population drawn consecutively from the registry file of two private dental practices in the Iasi area. The questionnaire included information about demographic, psychological, self-reported oral health and oral health-related behaviour items. The comparison of participants who never flossed their teeth with those who flossed everyday showed statistically significant lower levels of self-confidence (P self-liking (P = 0.001), self-competence (P self-control (P self-competence were scored in persons who used weekly mouthrinses comparing with never users (P = 0.012). Also patients who visited the dentist mainly when treatment is needed or when pain presented lower levels of self-competence and self-control comparing with those who visited the dentist mainly for check-up or for tooth cleaning and scaling (P self-competence and perfectionism variables. Our study showed that instability of self-esteem, self-confidence, self-competence, self-liking, self-control and perfectionism was associated not only with self-rated dental health but also with oral health behaviours. Understanding the psychological factors associated with oral hygiene can further the development and improvement in therapeutic strategies to be used in oral health-improving programs, as well as of programs aimed at prevention and education. © 2011 John Wiley & Sons A/S.

  11. A modified exponential behavioral economic demand model to better describe consumption data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koffarnus, Mikhail N; Franck, Christopher T; Stein, Jeffrey S; Bickel, Warren K

    2015-12-01

    Behavioral economic demand analyses that quantify the relationship between the consumption of a commodity and its price have proven useful in studying the reinforcing efficacy of many commodities, including drugs of abuse. An exponential equation proposed by Hursh and Silberberg (2008) has proven useful in quantifying the dissociable components of demand intensity and demand elasticity, but is limited as an analysis technique by the inability to correctly analyze consumption values of zero. We examined an exponentiated version of this equation that retains all the beneficial features of the original Hursh and Silberberg equation, but can accommodate consumption values of zero and improves its fit to the data. In Experiment 1, we compared the modified equation with the unmodified equation under different treatments of zero values in cigarette consumption data collected online from 272 participants. We found that the unmodified equation produces different results depending on how zeros are treated, while the exponentiated version incorporates zeros into the analysis, accounts for more variance, and is better able to estimate actual unconstrained consumption as reported by participants. In Experiment 2, we simulated 1,000 datasets with demand parameters known a priori and compared the equation fits. Results indicated that the exponentiated equation was better able to replicate the true values from which the test data were simulated. We conclude that an exponentiated version of the Hursh and Silberberg equation provides better fits to the data, is able to fit all consumption values including zero, and more accurately produces true parameter values. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

  12. Self-monitoring Lifestyle Behavior in Overweight and Obese Pregnant Women: Qualitative Findings.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shieh, Carol; Draucker, Claire Burke

    Excessive maternal gestational weight gain increases pregnancy and infant complications. Self-monitoring has been shown to be an effective strategy in weight management. Literature, however, is limited in describing pregnant women's engagement in self-monitoring. This qualitative study explored the experiences of overweight and obese pregnant women who self-monitored their eating, walking, and weight as participants in an intervention for excessive gestational weight gain prevention. Thirteen overweight and obese pregnant women participated in semistructured interviews. Reflexive iteration data analysis was conducted. Five themes were identified: making self-monitoring a habit, strategies for self-monitoring, barriers to self-monitoring, benefits of self-monitoring, and drawbacks of self-monitoring. The women viewed self-monitoring as a "habit" that could foster a sense of self-control and mindfulness. Visual or tracing aids were used to maintain the self-monitoring habit. Forgetting, defective tracking aids, complexities of food monitoring, and life events could impede self-monitoring. Being unable to keep up with self-monitoring or to achieve goals created stress. Self-monitoring is a promising approach to weight management for overweight and obese pregnant women. However, healthcare providers should be aware that, although women may identify several benefits to self-monitoring, for some women, consistently trying to track their behaviors is stressful.

  13. Examination of the equivalence of self-report survey-based paper-and-pencil and internet data collection methods.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weigold, Arne; Weigold, Ingrid K; Russell, Elizabeth J

    2013-03-01

    Self-report survey-based data collection is increasingly carried out using the Internet, as opposed to the traditional paper-and-pencil method. However, previous research on the equivalence of these methods has yielded inconsistent findings. This may be due to methodological and statistical issues present in much of the literature, such as nonequivalent samples in different conditions due to recruitment, participant self-selection to conditions, and data collection procedures, as well as incomplete or inappropriate statistical procedures for examining equivalence. We conducted 2 studies examining the equivalence of paper-and-pencil and Internet data collection that accounted for these issues. In both studies, we used measures of personality, social desirability, and computer self-efficacy, and, in Study 2, we used personal growth initiative to assess quantitative equivalence (i.e., mean equivalence), qualitative equivalence (i.e., internal consistency and intercorrelations), and auxiliary equivalence (i.e., response rates, missing data, completion time, and comfort completing questionnaires using paper-and-pencil and the Internet). Study 1 investigated the effects of completing surveys via paper-and-pencil or the Internet in both traditional (i.e., lab) and natural (i.e., take-home) settings. Results indicated equivalence across conditions, except for auxiliary equivalence aspects of missing data and completion time. Study 2 examined mailed paper-and-pencil and Internet surveys without contact between experimenter and participants. Results indicated equivalence between conditions, except for auxiliary equivalence aspects of response rate for providing an address and completion time. Overall, the findings show that paper-and-pencil and Internet data collection methods are generally equivalent, particularly for quantitative and qualitative equivalence, with nonequivalence only for some aspects of auxiliary equivalence. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all

  14. Development of an Instrument for Measuring Self-Efficacy in Cell Biology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reeve, Suzanne; Kitchen, Elizabeth; Sudweeks, Richard R.; Bell, John D.; Bradshaw, William S.

    2011-01-01

    This article describes the development of a ten-item scale to assess biology majors' self-efficacy towards the critical thinking and data analysis skills taught in an upper-division cell biology course. The original seven-item scale was expanded to include three additional items based on the results of item analysis. Evidence of reliability and…

  15. Development and Validation of Chemistry Self-Efficacy Scale for College Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Uzuntiryaki, Esen; Aydin, Yesim Capa

    2009-01-01

    This study described the process of developing and validating the College Chemistry Self-Efficacy Scale (CCSS) that can be used to assess college students' beliefs in their ability to perform essential tasks in chemistry. In the first phase, data collected from 363 college students provided evidence for the validity and reliability of the new…

  16. Function Self-Efficacy Scale-FSES: Development, Evaluation, and Contribution to Well-Being.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tovel, Hava; Carmel, Sara

    2016-08-01

    This article describes the development and validation of the Function Self-Efficacy Scale (FSES) for assessing the degree of confidence in self-functioning while facing decline in health and function (DHF). The FSES was evaluated in two studies of older Israelis, aged 75+ years. Data were collected by structured home interviews. Exploratory factor analyses conducted in both studies clearly revealed two underlying factors: emotion self-efficacy and action self-efficacy. Confirmatory factor analyses resulted in acceptable model fit criteria. The shortened final 13-item FSES had good internal consistency and satisfactory criterion and convergent validity. Multiple regression analyses, conducted to predict subjective well-being in each of the studies, showed that function self-efficacy had a positive and significant contribution to the explanation of well-being, while controlling for general self-efficacy, self-rated health, and sociodemographic variables. We propose that appropriate interventions can strengthen function self-efficacy, thus improving the well-being of elderly persons and their ability to cope with DHF. © The Author(s) 2015.

  17. Problematic Internet use, well-being, self-esteem and self-control: Data from a high-school survey in China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mei, Songli; Yau, Yvonne H C; Chai, Jingxin; Guo, Jinhua; Potenza, Marc N

    2016-10-01

    Given the prevalence of Internet use among youth, there is concern that a subset of Internet-using youth may exhibit problematic or addictive patterns of Internet use. The present study examines the association between problematic Internet use (PIU), demographic variables, and health-related measures among Chinese adolescents. Survey data from 1552 adolescents (male=653, mean age=15.43years) from Jilin Province, China, were collected. According to the Young Diagnostic Questionnaire for Internet Addiction (YDQ), 77.8% (n=1207), 16.8% (n=260), and 5.5% (n=85) showed adaptive, maladaptive, and problematic Internet use, respectively. Multinomial logistic regression analysis revealed that gender and family income per month differed between youth showing problematic and adaptive patterns of Internet use. Well-being, self-esteem, and self-control were related to severity of problematic Internet use, with greater severity typically associated with poorer measures in each domain. The findings that severity of problematic Internet use is associated with specific socio-demographic features and temperamental and well-being measures suggest that specific groups of youth may be particularly vulnerable to developing problematic Internet use. Early prevention/intervention programs targeting at-risk groups may help improve public health. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. A gender study investigating physics self-efficacy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sawtelle, Vashti

    The underrepresentation of women in physics has been well documented and a source of concern for both policy makers and educators. My dissertation focuses on understanding the role self-efficacy plays in retaining students, particularly women, in introductory physics. I use an explanatory mixed methods approach to first investigate quantitatively the influence of self-efficacy in predicting success and then to qualitatively explore the development of self-efficacy. In the initial quantitative studies, I explore the utility of self-efficacy in predicting the success of introductory physics students, both women and men. Results indicate that self-efficacy is a significant predictor of success for all students. I then disaggregate the data to examine how self-efficacy develops differently for women and men in the introductory physics course. Results show women rely on different sources of self-efficacy than do men, and that a particular instructional environment, Modeling Instruction, has a positive impact on these sources of self-efficacy. In the qualitative phase of the project, this dissertation focuses on the development of self-efficacy. Using the qualitative tool of microanalysis, I introduce a methodology for understanding how self-efficacy develops moment-by-moment using the lens of self-efficacy opportunities. I then use the characterizations of self-efficacy opportunities to focus on a particular course environment and to identify and describe a mechanism by which Modeling Instruction impacts student self-efficacy. Results indicate that the emphasizing the development and deployment of models affords opportunities to impact self-efficacy. The findings of this dissertation indicate that introducing key elements into the classroom, such as cooperative group work, model development and deployment, and interaction with the instructor, create a mechanism by which instructors can impact the self-efficacy of their students. Results from this study indicate that

  19. Describing temporal variation in reticuloruminal pH using continuous monitoring data

    OpenAIRE

    Denwood, M.J.; Kleen, J.L.; Jensen, D.B.; Jonsson, N.N.

    2018-01-01

    Reticuloruminal pH has been linked to subclinical disease in dairy cattle, leading to considerable interest in identifying pH observations below a given threshold. The relatively recent availability of continuously monitored data from pH boluses gives new opportunities for characterizing the normal patterns of pH over time and distinguishing these from abnormal patterns using more sensitive and specific methods than simple thresholds. We fitted a series of statistical models to continuously m...

  20. Data describing the effect of DRD4 promoter polymorphisms on promoter activity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shoin Tei

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available This data article tested whether polymorphisms within the dopamine D4 receptor (DRD4 gene promoter can lead to differences in the promoter activity. The variants, a 120-bp variable number tandem repeat (VNTR, −906 T/C, −809 G/A, −616G/C, and −521C/T, were introduced into the DRD4 promoter and the promoter activity was measured in a neural cell line using the luciferase assay. However, no differences were detected among the haplotypes investigated, and the in vitro data obtained from our protocol could not support the involvement of DRD4 promoter polymorphisms in heritable human traits.

  1. Correlation of Self Concept and Students’ Motivation at University of Cokroaminoto Palopo

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ahmad Adiwijaya

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available Self – concept and motivation are two important terms in educational world. Self concept is a one of dominant factor influences the students motivation in learning Englsih as foreign or second language. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to describe: the correlation between self concept and students’ motivation at English students of Cokroaminoto Palopo University. The research used correlational design. The population was the sixth semester of English Departement of Cokroaminoto Palopo University. The sample of this research was selected by using random sampling. The collection of the data was done by using questionnaire. The result of the research shows that there is a significant correlation between self concept and students motivation in learning English at English Departement of Cokroaminoto Palopo University. It can be concluded that the correlation between self concept and students’ motivation is significant. The significant was smaller than 0.05 . it indicates that if self concept of students increases, therefore students motivation also increases.

  2. Issues with data and analyses: Errors, underlying themes, and potential solutions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, Andrew W; Kaiser, Kathryn A; Allison, David B

    2018-03-13

    Some aspects of science, taken at the broadest level, are universal in empirical research. These include collecting, analyzing, and reporting data. In each of these aspects, errors can and do occur. In this work, we first discuss the importance of focusing on statistical and data errors to continually improve the practice of science. We then describe underlying themes of the types of errors and postulate contributing factors. To do so, we describe a case series of relatively severe data and statistical errors coupled with surveys of some types of errors to better characterize the magnitude, frequency, and trends. Having examined these errors, we then discuss the consequences of specific errors or classes of errors. Finally, given the extracted themes, we discuss methodological, cultural, and system-level approaches to reducing the frequency of commonly observed errors. These approaches will plausibly contribute to the self-critical, self-correcting, ever-evolving practice of science, and ultimately to furthering knowledge.

  3. Self-* and Adaptive Mechanisms for Large Scale Distributed Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fragopoulou, P.; Mastroianni, C.; Montero, R.; Andrjezak, A.; Kondo, D.

    Large-scale distributed computing systems and infrastructure, such as Grids, P2P systems and desktop Grid platforms, are decentralized, pervasive, and composed of a large number of autonomous entities. The complexity of these systems is such that human administration is nearly impossible and centralized or hierarchical control is highly inefficient. These systems need to run on highly dynamic environments, where content, network topologies and workloads are continuously changing. Moreover, they are characterized by the high degree of volatility of their components and the need to provide efficient service management and to handle efficiently large amounts of data. This paper describes some of the areas for which adaptation emerges as a key feature, namely, the management of computational Grids, the self-management of desktop Grid platforms and the monitoring and healing of complex applications. It also elaborates on the use of bio-inspired algorithms to achieve self-management. Related future trends and challenges are described.

  4. Self-employed immigrants: an analysis of recent data

    OpenAIRE

    Maude Toussaint-Comeau

    2005-01-01

    This article identifies the factors that influence the self- employment decision for U.S. immigrants, including human capital, years in the U.S., geographic concentration, and labor market characteristics.

  5. Design of self-growing, self-sensing, and self-repairing materials for engineering applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dry, Carolyn M.

    2001-04-01

    Like natural biological building systems these materials are inexpensive, and self-form through interaction of the materials. They sense and self-repair, respond to changes in the environment. The volume and scale, cost and end use are all considered from the start. The purpose of the particular system we will describe is an engineered bridge. The materials form as bone does from the innate attributes of the material without much labor. They sense the environment, respond to it, and repair any damage. This composite bridge is designed from a self-forming polymer and concrete system. Internal release of chemicals, their properties and location account for responsiveness to change and for repair. The choice of matrix additives also allow for the responsiveness. Bridge frames were fabricated for dynamic testing. The results showed that self repair and response to loads could be accomplished by careful placement of chemicals for later release and by use of chemicals which could alter such attributes as stiffness, flexure and permanent deformation. Internal viewing sensors could determine the state of the frames after testing.

  6. The Pleasures and Pains of Self-Employment: A Panel Data Analysis of Satisfaction with Life, Work, and Leisure

    OpenAIRE

    van der Zwan, Peter; Hessels, Jolanda; Rietveld, Cornelius A.

    2015-01-01

    We investigate how a transition from paid employment to self-employment in the labor market influences life satisfaction. Furthermore, we consider the dynamics of work and leisure satisfaction because the balance between work and leisure is an important element of life satisfaction. Fixed-effects regressions using German Socio-Economic Panel data (1984-2012) reveal that switching to self-employment benefits life and work satisfaction. The effects on life satisfaction are weak and temporary, b...

  7. An analysis of the masking of speech by competing speech using self-report data (L)

    OpenAIRE

    Agus, Trevor R.; Akeroyd, Michael A.; Noble, William; Bhullar, Navjot

    2009-01-01

    Many of the items in the “Speech, Spatial, and Qualities of Hearing” scale questionnaire [S. Gatehouse and W. Noble, Int. J. Audiol.43, 85–99 (2004)] are concerned with speech understanding in a variety of backgrounds, both speech and nonspeech. To study if this self-report data reflected informational masking, previously collected data on 414 people were analyzed. The lowest scores (greatest difficulties) were found for the two items in which there were two speech targets, with successively ...

  8. Compass: A hybrid method for clinical and biobank data mining

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Krysiak-Baltyn, Konrad; Petersen, Thomas Nordahl; Audouze, Karine Marie Laure

    2014-01-01

    We describe a new method for identification of confident associations within large clinical data sets. The method is a hybrid of two existing methods; Self-Organizing Maps and Association Mining. We utilize Self-Organizing Maps as the initial step to reduce the search space, and then apply...... Association Mining in order to find association rules. We demonstrate that this procedure has a number of advantages compared to traditional Association Mining; it allows for handling numerical variables without a priori binning and is able to generate variable groups which act as “hotspots” for statistically...... significant associations. We showcase the method on infertility-related data from Danish military conscripts. The clinical data we analyzed contained both categorical type questionnaire data and continuous variables generated from biological measurements, including missing values. From this data set, we...

  9. Investigating the "self" in deliberate self-harm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adams, Joanna; Rodham, Karen; Gavin, Jeff

    2005-12-01

    In this study, the authors explored how a group of young people aged 16 to 26 years (who identified themselves as having engaged in deliberate self-harm) made sense of the self by conducting two online focus groups and four e-mail interviews. They analyzed data using interpretive phenomenological analysis. The concept of validation was the primary means of making sense of the self and concerned the desire to be considered legitimate and of worth. This desire was clearly evident across three realms of conflict: (a) the intrinsic or extrinsic self, which marked the distinction between objective fact and subjective opinion; (b) the accepted or denied self; and (c) the notion of normality. It is possible that having one's denied self validated online might lead to an exacerbation of an individual's self-harming behavior. Further work is needed to explore the effects of online discussion forums on such taboo forms of behavior.

  10. Self-injection threshold in self-guided laser wakefield accelerators

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S. P. D. Mangles

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available A laser pulse traveling through a plasma can excite large amplitude plasma waves that can be used to accelerate relativistic electron beams in a very short distance—a technique called laser wakefield acceleration. Many wakefield acceleration experiments rely on the process of wave breaking, or self-injection, to inject electrons into the wave, while other injection techniques rely on operation without self-injection. We present an experimental study into the parameters, including the pulse energy, focal spot quality, and pulse power, that determine whether or not a wakefield accelerator will self-inject. By taking into account the processes of self-focusing and pulse compression we are able to extend a previously described theoretical model, where the minimum bubble size k_{p}r_{b} required for trapping is not constant but varies slowly with density and find excellent agreement with this model.

  11. Connected Car: Quantified Self becomes Quantified Car

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Melanie Swan

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available The automotive industry could be facing a situation of profound change and opportunity in the coming decades. There are a number of influencing factors such as increasing urban and aging populations, self-driving cars, 3D parts printing, energy innovation, and new models of transportation service delivery (Zipcar, Uber. The connected car means that vehicles are now part of the connected world, continuously Internet-connected, generating and transmitting data, which on the one hand can be helpfully integrated into applications, like real-time traffic alerts broadcast to smartwatches, but also raises security and privacy concerns. This paper explores the automotive connected world, and describes five killer QS (Quantified Self-auto sensor applications that link quantified-self sensors (sensors that measure the personal biometrics of individuals like heart rate and automotive sensors (sensors that measure driver and passenger biometrics or quantitative automotive performance metrics like speed and braking activity. The applications are fatigue detection, real-time assistance for parking and accidents, anger management and stress reduction, keyless authentication and digital identity verification, and DIY diagnostics. These kinds of applications help to demonstrate the benefit of connected world data streams in the automotive industry and beyond where, more fundamentally for human progress, the automation of both physical and now cognitive tasks is underway.

  12. A global assessment of the gender gap in self-reported health with survey data from 59 countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ties Boerma

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background While surveys in high-income countries show that women generally have poorer self-reported health than men, much less is known about gender differences in other regions of the world. Such data can be used to examine the determinants of sex differences. Methods We analysed data on respondents 18 years and over from the World Health Surveys 2002–04 in 59 countries, which included multiple measures of self-reported health, eight domains of functioning and presumptive diagnoses of chronic conditions. The age-standardized female excess fraction was computed for all indicators and analysed for five regional groups of countries. Multivariate regression models were used to examine the association between country gaps in self-reported health between the sexes with societal and other background characteristics. Results Women reported significantly poorer health than men on all self-reported health indicators. The excess fraction was 15 % for the health score based on the eight domains, 28 % for “poor” or “very poor” self-rated health on the single question, and 26 % for “severe” or “extreme” on a single question on limitations. The excess female reporting of poorer health occurred at all ages, but was smaller at ages 60 and over. The female excess was observed in all regions, and was smallest in the European high-income countries. Women more frequently reported problems in specific health domains, with the excess fraction ranging from 25 % for vision to 35 % for mobility, pain and sleep, and with considerable variation between regions. Angina, arthritis and depression had female excess fractions of 33, 32 and 42 % respectively. Higher female prevalence of the presumptive diagnoses was observed in all regional country groups. The main factors affecting the size of the gender gap in self-reported health were the female-male gaps in the prevalence of chronic conditions, especially arthritis and depression and

  13. Health visitors and breastfeeding support: influence of knowledge and self-efficacy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kronborg, Hanne; Væth, Michael; Olsen, Jørn

    2008-01-01

    BACKGROUND: Little is known about what influences health visitors' breastfeeding support. The objective was to describe health visitors' breastfeeding experiences, beliefs, knowledge and self-efficacy in breastfeeding guidance and determine the impact of a training course on these factors, and how...... to learn the mechanisms of breastfeeding. Data were collected through self-administered questionnaires before the intervention and after the follow-up period. One hundred and six (97%) health visitors and 1302 (82%) mothers responded. RESULTS: At baseline no substantial differences were seen between...... the two groups on years since education, own breastfeeding experiences, beliefs or self-efficacy in breastfeeding guidance except that health visitors in the intervention group, who had completed the course, demonstrated significantly higher scores on knowledge questions (P

  14. Describing the Corneal Shape after Wavefront-Optimized Photorefractive Keratectomy

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    de Jong, Tim; Wijdh, Robert H. J.; Koopmans, Steven A.; Jansonius, Nomdo M.

    2014-01-01

    PURPOSE: To develop a procedure for describing wavefront-optimized photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) corneas and to characterize PRK-induced changes in shape. METHODS: We analyzed preoperative and postoperative corneal elevation data of 41 eyes of 41 patients (mean [±SD] age, 38 [±11] years) who

  15. Coopersmith Self-Esteem: Two Different Hypothesized Factor Models--Both Acceptable for the Same Data Structure.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hofmann, Rich; Sherman, Larry

    Using data from 135 sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-graders between 11 and 15 years old attending a middle school in a suburban Southwest Ohio school district, two hypothesized models of the factor structures for the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory were tested. One model represents the original Coopersmith factor structure, and the other model is…

  16. Nonchaoticity of Ordinary Differential Equations Describing Autonomous Transcriptional Regulatory Circuits

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li Pengfei; Hu Gang; Chen Runsheng

    2008-01-01

    Gene transcriptional regulation (TR) processes are often described by coupled nonlinear ordinary differential equations (ODEs). When the dimension of TR circuits is high (e.g. n ≥ 3) the motions of the corresponding ODEs may, very probably, show self-sustained oscillations and chaos. On the other hand, chaoticity may be harmful for the normal biological functions of TR processes. In this letter we numerically study the dynamics of 3-gene TR ODEs in great detail, and investigate many 4-, 5-, and 10-gene TR systems by randomly choosing figures and parameters in the conventionally accepted ranges. And we find that oscillations are very seldom and no chaotic motion is observed, even if the dimension of systems is sufficiently high (n ≥ 3). It is argued that the observation of nonchaoticity of these ODEs agrees with normal functions of actual TR processes

  17. The Developmental Association of Sexual Self-Concept with Sexual Behavior among Adolescent Women

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hensel, Devon J.; Fortenberry, J. Dennis; O'Sullivan, Lucia F.; Orr, Donald P.

    2011-01-01

    Developing a sexual self-concept is an important developmental task of adolescence; however, little empirical evidence describes this development, nor how these changes are related to development in sexual behavior. Using longitudinal cohort data from adolescent women, we invoked latent growth curve analysis to: (1) examine reciprocal development…

  18. Factors associated with integrating self-management support into primary care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crespo, Richard; Shrewsberry, Molly

    2007-06-01

    The purpose of this article is to expand the understanding of self-management support by describing factors that contribute to implementing a comprehensive self-management program in primary care. Four rural health centers in medically underserved areas participated in a study to document the implementation of a self-management program. This program consisted of a social marketing plan and decision-making tools to guide patients in making self-management behavior changes. The stages of change constructs of the transtheoretical model were used to design the social marketing plan. Key informant interviews were conducted at 6-month and 9-month intervals to document the implementation process. A standardized set of questions was used in the interviews. The data from the interviews were analyzed using content analysis techniques. One of the principle findings is that self-management support requires putting a system in place, not just adding a new component to primary care. The health centers that fully implemented the self-management program made an organizational commitment to keep self-management on the agenda in management meetings, clinical staff set the example by adopting self-management behaviors, and patient self-management support was implemented in multiple patient care venues. Primary care centers with limited financial resources are able to integrate self-management support into their system of chronic illness care.

  19. Self-attenuation factors in gamma-ray spectrometry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Korun, M.

    1999-01-01

    The relation between the self-attenuation factors and the distribution function describing the number of photons detected in the full-energy peaks, as a function of their path length in the sample is presented. The relations between the self-attenuation factor and the moments of the distribution function, the average path length and the variance are also presented. The use of these relations is illustrated by applying them to self-attenuation factors describing attenuation in cylindrical samples. The results of the calculations are compared with the measured average path lengths and discussed in terms of the properties of the distribution function. (author)

  20. Talent Development, Work Habits, and Career Exploration of Chinese Middle-School Adolescents: Development of the Career and Talent Development Self-Efficacy Scale

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yuen, Mantak; Gysbers, Norman C.; Chan, Raymond M. C.; Lau, Patrick S. Y.; Shea, Peter M. K.

    2010-01-01

    This article describes the development of an instrument--the "Career and Talent Development Self-Efficacy Scale (CTD-SES)"--for assessing students' self-efficacy in applying life skills essential for personal talent development, acquisition of positive work habits, and career exploration. In Study 1, data were obtained from a large…

  1. Keterkaitan Self Efficacy Dan Self Esteem Terhadap Prestasi Belajar Mahasiswa

    OpenAIRE

    Adiputra, Sofwan

    2015-01-01

    This study aims to measure the relationship between self-efficacy and self-esteem on student achievement. The research was conducted using quantitative descriptive analysis by the method of field research, which is conducted by survey to respondents. To analyze the data using correlational analysis techniques and multiple regression analysis techniques. The conclusion from this study showed that the relationship of self-efficacy and self-esteem on learning achievement.

  2. Factors influencing exacerbation-related self-management in patients with COPD: a qualitative study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Korpershoek, Yjg; Vervoort, Scjm; Nijssen, Lit; Trappenburg, Jca; Schuurmans, M J

    2016-01-01

    In patients with COPD, self-management skills are important to reduce the impact of exacerbations. However, both detection and adequate response to exacerbations appear to be difficult for some patients. Little is known about the underlying process of exacerbation-related self-management. Therefore, the objective of this study was to identify and explain the underlying process of exacerbation-related self-management behavior. A qualitative study using semi-structured in-depth interviews was performed according to the grounded theory approach, following a cyclic process in which data collection and data analysis alternated. Fifteen patients (male n=8; age range 59-88 years) with mild to very severe COPD were recruited from primary and secondary care settings in the Netherlands, in 2015. Several patterns in exacerbation-related self-management behavior were identified, and a conceptual model describing factors influencing exacerbation-related self-management was developed. Acceptance, knowledge, experiences with exacerbations, perceived severity of symptoms and social support were important factors influencing exacerbation-related self-management. Specific factors influencing recognition of exacerbations were heterogeneity of exacerbations and habituation to symptoms. Feelings of fear, perceived influence on exacerbation course, patient beliefs, ambivalence toward treatment, trust in health care providers and self-empowerment were identified as specific factors influencing self-management actions. This study provided insight into factors influencing exacerbation-related self-management behavior in COPD patients. The conceptual model can be used as a framework for health care professionals providing self-management support. In the development of future self-management interventions, factors influencing the process of exacerbation-related self-management should be taken into account.

  3. A systematic review of the effectiveness of stroke self-management programs for improving function and participation outcomes: self-management programs for stroke survivors

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Warner, G.; Packer, T.L.; Villeneuve, M.; Audulv, A.; Versnel, J.

    2015-01-01

    PURPOSE: A systematic review of stroke self-management programs was conducted to: (i) identify how many and what self-management support strategies were included in stroke self-management interventions and (ii) describe whether self-management programs effectively improved outcomes, focusing

  4. A high-speed data acquisition system to measure low-level current from self-powered flux detectors in CANDU nuclear reactors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lawrence, C.B.; Hall, D.S.

    1982-05-01

    Self-powered flux detectors are used in CANDU nuclear power reactors to determine the spatial neutron flux distribution in the reactor core for use by both the reactor control and safety systems. To establish the dynamic response of different types of flux detectors, the Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories have an ongoing experimental irradiation program in the NRU research reactor for which a data acquistion system has been developed. The system described in this paper is used to measure the currents from the detectors both at a slow, regular logging interval, and at a rapid, adaptive rate following a reactor shutdown. Currents that range from 100 pA to 1 mA full scale can be measured from up to 38 detectors and stored at sampling rates of up to 20 samples per second. The dynamic characteristics of the detectors can be computed from the stored records. The data acquisition system comprises a DEC LSI-11/23 microcomputer, dual cartridge disks, floppy disks, a hard copy and a video display terminal. The RT-11 operating system is used and all application programs are written in FORTRAN

  5. A study of a science-based peer reading assignment and its effects on first grade student understanding and use of describing words in science

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pearson, Meghan Jeanne

    The first grade curriculum for science in Colorado requires students be able to use describing words to depict and compare objects and people; however, first graders struggle with using specific enough language to create strong descriptions. With science education research encouraging teachers to use alternative teaching methods to approach these challenging topics, it is important to provide teachers with resources appropriate to their students. One such alternative learning method is a reading partner. Reading partners have been shown to increase vocabulary, boost school performance, and improve self-esteem in children. This study analyzed the effectiveness of using a science-based peer reading assignment about describing words on increasing a first grader's understanding of the topic. The book required the class to work together to help the characters describe different images and characters in the book with the intent that students were engaged during the reading. In pre-interview and post-interview, students described pictures, and their responses were analyzed for quality of the describing words provided and the number of strong (specific and not opinion) describing words provided. In the post-interview, students had an overall increase in the number of strong describing words provided. The quantitative data was analyzed by comparing strong describing words used pre-reading and post-reading, and the effect size was very large. The results indicate reading the book explaining describing words that asked for student participation did increase students understanding and use of describing words.

  6. Self-help conferences for people who stutter: a qualitative investigation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trichon, Mitchell; Tetnowski, John

    2011-12-01

    Self-help activities for people who stutter (PWS) have been gaining in popularity; however, there is a scarcity of evidence to support their utility in stuttering management. The purpose of this investigation was to understand the lived experience of individuals who attended a self-help conference(s) for PWS from the perspective of a PWS to learn its potential utility in stuttering management. The investigator used Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to systematically collect authentic data of this social phenomenon. Twelve participants were recruited from a self-help conference and the self-help community of PWS. Semi-structured interviews were conducted 4-18 months after each participant's last conference. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed. Themes were explained in investigator narratives and illustrated through participants' quotes. Interpreted themes of the experience of having attended a self-help conference(s) for PWS included: socializing opportunities with other PWS, affiliation, redefining oneself and post-conference disclosures. A conclusion of the study was that the experience of having attended a self-help conference(s) for PWS helped to minimize negative impact that stuttering can have on daily functioning. It appears that self-help conferences were perceived as a safer or "stutter-friendly" environment and promoted social interaction, relationship building, and community building through planned and unplanned activities. Another conclusion was that the experience of having attended self-help conferences for PWS helped participants to communicate more easily. Reported increases in social activity and an "openness" about stuttering, suggest self-help conferences' utility in stuttering management. These findings are supported by other studies about successful stuttering management and self-help activities for PWS. They have helped attendees who stutter to communicate more easily and suggest a reduction in the negative impact that

  7. Hope, self-efficacy, spiritual well-being and job satisfaction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duggleby, Wendy; Cooper, Dan; Penz, Kelly

    2009-11-01

    Hope, self-efficacy, spiritual well-being and job satisfaction. This paper is a report of a study of the relations of spiritual well-being, global job satisfaction, and general self-efficacy to hope in Continuing Care Assistants. Healthcare providers have described their hope as an important part of their work and a form of work motivation. Hope may be an important factor in preventing burnout and improving job satisfaction. A concurrent triangulation mixed method design was used. Sixty-four Continuing Care Assistants (personal care aides) who registered for a 'Living with Hope' Conference completed a demographic form, Herth Hope Index, Global Job Satisfaction Questionnaire, Spiritual Well-Being Scale, General Self-Efficacy Scale, and a hope questionnaire. Data were collected in 2007. The response rate was 58%. Using linear regression, 29.9% of the variance in Herth Hope Index score was accounted for by scores from the General Self-Efficacy Scale and Spiritual Well-Being Scale. General Self-efficacy scores (positive relationship) and Spiritual Well-Being scores (negative relationship) accounted for a significant part of the variance. Qualitative data supported all findings, with the exception of the negative relationship between hope and spiritual well-being; participants wrote that faith, relationships, helping others and positive thinking helped them to have hope. They also wrote that hope had a positive influence on their job satisfaction and performance. Hope is an important concept in the work life of Continuing Care Assistants. Supportive relationships, adequate resources, encouragement by others, and improving perceptions of self-efficacy (ability to achieve goals in their workplace) may foster their hope.

  8. Automatic lithofacies segmentation from well-logs data. A comparative study between the Self-Organizing Map (SOM) and Walsh transform

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aliouane, Leila; Ouadfeul, Sid-Ali; Rabhi, Abdessalem; Rouina, Fouzi; Benaissa, Zahia; Boudella, Amar

    2013-04-01

    The main goal of this work is to realize a comparison between two lithofacies segmentation techniques of reservoir interval. The first one is based on the Kohonen's Self-Organizing Map neural network machine. The second technique is based on the Walsh transform decomposition. Application to real well-logs data of two boreholes located in the Algerian Sahara shows that the Self-organizing map is able to provide more lithological details that the obtained lithofacies model given by the Walsh decomposition. Keywords: Comparison, Lithofacies, SOM, Walsh References: 1)Aliouane, L., Ouadfeul, S., Boudella, A., 2011, Fractal analysis based on the continuous wavelet transform and lithofacies classification from well-logs data using the self-organizing map neural network, Arabian Journal of geosciences, doi: 10.1007/s12517-011-0459-4 2) Aliouane, L., Ouadfeul, S., Djarfour, N., Boudella, A., 2012, Petrophysical Parameters Estimation from Well-Logs Data Using Multilayer Perceptron and Radial Basis Function Neural Networks, Lecture Notes in Computer Science Volume 7667, 2012, pp 730-736, doi : 10.1007/978-3-642-34500-5_86 3)Ouadfeul, S. and Aliouane., L., 2011, Multifractal analysis revisited by the continuous wavelet transform applied in lithofacies segmentation from well-logs data, International journal of applied physics and mathematics, Vol01 N01. 4) Ouadfeul, S., Aliouane, L., 2012, Lithofacies Classification Using the Multilayer Perceptron and the Self-organizing Neural Networks, Lecture Notes in Computer Science Volume 7667, 2012, pp 737-744, doi : 10.1007/978-3-642-34500-5_87 5) Weisstein, Eric W. "Fast Walsh Transform." From MathWorld--A Wolfram Web Resource. http://mathworld.wolfram.com/FastWalshTransform.html

  9. Self-Concept Is a Concept Worth Considering

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shields, Nora

    2009-01-01

    There is a growing recognition of the importance of self-concept in the pediatric rehabilitation research literature. There also is confusion and inconsistency in the definitions of and the terminology used to describe self-concept. What is agreed is that self-concept is multidimensional, comprising a child's perception of their personal…

  10. 42 CFR 137.211 - How does a Self-Governance Tribe learn whether self-governance activities have resulted in...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 42 Public Health 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false How does a Self-Governance Tribe learn whether self-governance activities have resulted in savings as described in § 137.210. 137.211 Section 137.211 Public... OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES TRIBAL SELF-GOVERNANCE Operational Provisions Savings § 137.211 How does...

  11. Configurations of self-identity formations of adults who stutter

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Harsha Kathard

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available The aims of this paper are twofold: Firstly, to describe the configuration of self-identity formations evident across and within research stories of adults living with stuttering; and secondly, to discuss the clinical implications of these findings. The study on which this paper is based used life history narratives to describe the types, processes and configurations of self-identity formations of adults who stuttered since childhood. Through open-ended, in-depth interviews 7 participants shared their experiences of living with stuttering. The interviews were analysed at a first level using narrative analysis and at a second level to further describe the types, processes and configurations of self-identity formations evident in the stories. The findings on configurations of self-identity formations were that the two types of self-identity formations Able and DisOther were present in singular and dual configurations. The dual self-identity formations occurred in co-existing, competing and coalescing relationships within particular time periods in their stories. The clinical implications of the findings are discussed.

  12. Data describing lack of effects of 17α-ethinyl estradiol on mammary gland morphology in female mice exposed during pregnancy and lactation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    LaPlante, Charlotte D; Vandenberg, Laura N

    2017-10-01

    Ethinyl estradiol (EE) is a synthetic estrogen used in pharmaceutical contraceptives. In many studies evaluating estrogenic endocrine disruptors, EE is used as a positive control for estrogenicity. However, the effects of EE often differ from the effects of other xenoestrogens, suggesting that these other compounds might act via distinct mechanisms. Reported here are data describing the effect of low doses of EE during pregnancy and lactation on the morphology of the lactating mammary gland in CD-1 mice. The data suggest that these low doses have few if any discernable effects on mammary gland morphology. Alterations to cell proliferation and the expression of estrogen receptor (ER)α were also not observed. These companion data were collected from the same females analyzed for effects of EE on maternal behavior and brain recently published in Reproductive Toxicology (Catanese & Vandenberg, 2017).

  13. Data describing lack of effects of 17α-ethinyl estradiol on mammary gland morphology in female mice exposed during pregnancy and lactation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Charlotte D. LaPlante

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available Ethinyl estradiol (EE is a synthetic estrogen used in pharmaceutical contraceptives. In many studies evaluating estrogenic endocrine disruptors, EE is used as a positive control for estrogenicity. However, the effects of EE often differ from the effects of other xenoestrogens, suggesting that these other compounds might act via distinct mechanisms. Reported here are data describing the effect of low doses of EE during pregnancy and lactation on the morphology of the lactating mammary gland in CD-1 mice. The data suggest that these low doses have few if any discernable effects on mammary gland morphology. Alterations to cell proliferation and the expression of estrogen receptor (ERα were also not observed. These companion data were collected from the same females analyzed for effects of EE on maternal behavior and brain recently published in Reproductive Toxicology (Catanese & Vandenberg, 2017.

  14. Testing statistical self-similarity in the topology of river networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Troutman, Brent M.; Mantilla, Ricardo; Gupta, Vijay K.

    2010-01-01

    Recent work has demonstrated that the topological properties of real river networks deviate significantly from predictions of Shreve's random model. At the same time the property of mean self-similarity postulated by Tokunaga's model is well supported by data. Recently, a new class of network model called random self-similar networks (RSN) that combines self-similarity and randomness has been introduced to replicate important topological features observed in real river networks. We investigate if the hypothesis of statistical self-similarity in the RSN model is supported by data on a set of 30 basins located across the continental United States that encompass a wide range of hydroclimatic variability. We demonstrate that the generators of the RSN model obey a geometric distribution, and self-similarity holds in a statistical sense in 26 of these 30 basins. The parameters describing the distribution of interior and exterior generators are tested to be statistically different and the difference is shown to produce the well-known Hack's law. The inter-basin variability of RSN parameters is found to be statistically significant. We also test generator dependence on two climatic indices, mean annual precipitation and radiative index of dryness. Some indication of climatic influence on the generators is detected, but this influence is not statistically significant with the sample size available. Finally, two key applications of the RSN model to hydrology and geomorphology are briefly discussed.

  15. Department of Transportation vs self-reported data on motor vehicle collisions and driving convictions for stroke survivors: do they agree?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Finestone, Hillel M; Guo, Meiqi; O'Hara, Paddi; Greene-Finestone, Linda; Marshall, Shawn C; Hunt, Lynn; Jessup, Anita; Biggs, Jennifer

    2011-08-01

    Research on stroke survivors' driving safety has typically used either self-reports or government records, but the extent to which the 2 may differ is not known. We compared government records and self-reports of motor vehicle collisions and driving convictions in a sample of stroke survivors. The 56 participants were originally recruited for a prospective study on driving and community re-integration post-stroke; the study population consisted of moderately impaired stroke survivors without severe communication disorders who had been referred for a driving assessment. The driving records of the 56 participants for the 5 years before study entry and the 1-year study period were acquired with written consent from the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (MTO), Canada. Self-reports of collisions and convictions were acquired via a semistructured interview and then compared with the MTO records. Forty-three participants completed the study. For 7 (13.5%) the MTO records did not match the self-reports regarding collision involvement, and for 9 (17.3%) the MTO records did not match self-reports regarding driving convictions. The kappa coefficient for the correlation between MTO records and self-reports was 0.52 for collisions and 0.47 for convictions (both in the moderate range of agreement). When both sources of data were consulted, up to 56 percent more accidents and up to 46 percent more convictions were identified in the study population in the 5 years before study entry compared to when either source was used alone. In our population of stroke survivors, self-reports of motor vehicle collisions and driving convictions differed from government records. In future studies, the use of both government and self-reported data would ensure a more accurate picture of driving safety post-stroke.

  16. Data-Driven Assistance Functions for Industrial Automation Systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Windmann, Stefan; Niggemann, Oliver

    2015-01-01

    The increasing amount of data in industrial automation systems overburdens the user in process control and diagnosis tasks. One possibility to cope with these challenges consists of using smart assistance systems that automatically monitor and optimize processes. This article deals with aspects of data-driven assistance systems such as assistance functions, process models and data acquisition. The paper describes novel approaches for self-diagnosis and self-optimization, and shows how these assistance functions can be integrated in different industrial environments. The considered assistance functions are based on process models that are automatically learned from process data. Fault detection and isolation is based on the comparison of observations of the real system with predictions obtained by application of the process models. The process models are further employed for energy efficiency optimization of industrial processes. Experimental results are presented for fault detection and energy efficiency optimization of a drive system. (paper)

  17. Self-esteem and optimism in rural youth: gender differences.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Puskar, Kathryn R; Bernardo, Lisa Marie; Ren, Dianxu; Haley, Tammy M; Tark, Kirsti Hetager; Switala, Joann; Siemon, Linda

    2010-01-01

    To identify and describe gender-related differences in the self-esteem and optimism levels of rural adolescents. Self-esteem and optimism have been broadly examined and are associated with health-practices, social interaction, attachment, resiliency, and personal identity. Information describing the relationship of self-esteem and optimism as it relates to gender is limited. Using a cross-sectional survey design, students (N = 193) from three high-schools in rural Pennsylvania, USA completed the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and the Optimism Scale-Life Orientation Test-Revised as part of a National Institute of Health, National Institute of Nursing Research funded study. Both instruments' mean scores were in the range of average for this population, with females scoring lower than males in both self-esteem (p self-esteem and optimism. Attention to self-esteem and optimism in female youth is recommended.

  18. Hydrodynamic parameters estimation from self-potential data in a controlled full scale site

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chidichimo, Francesco; De Biase, Michele; Rizzo, Enzo; Masi, Salvatore; Straface, Salvatore

    2015-03-01

    A multi-physical approach developed for the hydrodynamic characterization of porous media using hydrogeophysical information is presented. Several pumping tests were performed in the Hydrogeosite Laboratory, a controlled full-scale site designed and constructed at the CNR-IMAA (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche - Istituto di Metodologia per l'Analisi Ambientale), in Marsico Nuovo (Basilicata Region, Southern Italy), in order to obtain an intermediate stage between laboratory experiments and field survey. The facility consists of a pool, used to study water infiltration processes, to simulate the space and time dynamics of subsurface contamination phenomena, to improve and to find new relationship between geophysical and hydrogeological parameters, to test and to calibrate new geophysical techniques and instruments. Therefore, the Hydrogeosite Laboratory has the advantage of carrying out controlled experiments, like in a flow cell or sandbox, but at field comparable scale. The data collected during the experiments have been used to estimate the saturated hydraulic conductivity ks [ms-1] using a coupled inversion model working in transient conditions, made up of the modified Richards equation describing the water flow in a variably saturated porous medium and the Poisson equation providing the self-potential ϕ [V], which naturally occurs at points of the soil surface owing to the presence of an electric field produced by the motion of underground electrolytic fluids through porous systems. The result obtained by this multi-physical numerical approach, which removes all the approximations adopted in previous works, makes a useful instrument for real heterogeneous aquifer characterization and for predictive analysis of its behavior.

  19. 42 CFR 137.203 - May a Self-Governance Tribe participate in a voluntary national uniform data collection effort...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ...-Governance Tribe participate in a voluntary national uniform data collection effort with the IHS? Yes, in... 42 Public Health 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false May a Self-Governance Tribe participate in a voluntary national uniform data collection effort with the IHS? 137.203 Section 137.203 Public Health PUBLIC...

  20. Alternative approach to nuclear data representation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pruet, J.; Brown, D.; Beck, B.; McNabb, D.P.

    2006-01-01

    This paper considers an approach for representing nuclear data that is qualitatively different from the approach currently adopted by the nuclear science community. Specifically, we examine a representation in which complicated data is described through collections of distinct and self-contained simple data structures. This structure-based representation is compared with the ENDF and ENDL formats, which can be roughly characterized as dictionary-based representations. A pilot data representation for replacing the format currently used at LLNL is presented. Examples are given as is a discussion of promises and shortcomings associated with moving from traditional dictionary-based formats to a structure-rich or class-like representation

  1. Topological data analysis for scientific visualization

    CERN Document Server

    Tierny, Julien

    2017-01-01

    Combining theoretical and practical aspects of topology, this book delivers a comprehensive and self-contained introduction to topological methods for the analysis and visualization of scientific data. Theoretical concepts are presented in a thorough but intuitive manner, with many high-quality color illustrations. Key algorithms for the computation and simplification of topological data representations are described in details, and their application is carefully illustrated in a chapter dedicated to concrete use cases. With its fine balance between theory and practice, "Topological Data Analysis for Scientific Visualization" constitutes an appealing introduction to the increasingly important topic of topological data analysis, for lecturers, students and researchers.

  2. [Assessment of self-esteem in pregnant women using Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maçola, Ligia; do Vale, Ianê Nogueira; Carmona, Elenice Valentim

    2010-09-01

    The objective of this descriptive, cross-sectional study was to evaluate the self-esteem of 127 pregnant women seen in a prenatal care program conducted in a public school hospital. Data collection was performed using the Rosenberg's Self-esteem Scale; unsatisfactory self-esteem was related to socio-demographic and health variables of the pregnant woman, and to the presence or absence of support systems. Descriptive and univariate statistical analysis were used to assess possible associations. Pregnant women who had low scores for self-esteem were 60% of all subjects. As for the sociodemographic data, women with fewer years of education presented higher frequency of lower self-esteem scores, which disagrees with other studies. Pregnant women who report having an unplanned pregnancy presented higher prevalence of low self-esteem than those who reported having planned their pregnancy. The lack of support from the partner to look after the baby was also associated to the pregnant women's low self-esteem. Other associations between variables were not statistically significant.

  3. The freight landscape : using secondary data sources to describe metropolitan freight flows.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2015-12-01

    Metropolitan areas around the world are seeking to better manage freight flows and reduce negative impacts on local populations. A major challenge to better urban freight management is the lack of data; little is known about freight movements at the ...

  4. Self-quenching streamer discharge in a wire chamber

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Alekseev, G.D.; Kruglov, V.V.; Khazins, D.M.

    1982-01-01

    A summary is given of the investigation of a new mode of operation of a wire chamber involving a self-quenching streamer discharge. The history of the question is briefly discussed. The main characteristics of the self-quenching mode and the influence of the composition and pressure of the gas mixture and the geometrical parameters of the chamber on the characteristics are described. The mechanism of a self-quenching streamer discharge is analyzed. Detectors working in this mode are described, and the prospects for its future use are discussed

  5. Inflammation, Self-Regulation, and Health: An Immunologic Model of Self-Regulatory Failure.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shields, Grant S; Moons, Wesley G; Slavich, George M

    2017-07-01

    Self-regulation is a fundamental human process that refers to multiple complex methods by which individuals pursue goals in the face of distractions. Whereas superior self-regulation predicts better academic achievement, relationship quality, financial and career success, and lifespan health, poor self-regulation increases a person's risk for negative outcomes in each of these domains and can ultimately presage early mortality. Given its centrality to understanding the human condition, a large body of research has examined cognitive, emotional, and behavioral aspects of self-regulation. In contrast, relatively little attention has been paid to specific biologic processes that may underlie self-regulation. We address this latter issue in the present review by examining the growing body of research showing that components of the immune system involved in inflammation can alter neural, cognitive, and motivational processes that lead to impaired self-regulation and poor health. Based on these findings, we propose an integrated, multilevel model that describes how inflammation may cause widespread biobehavioral alterations that promote self-regulatory failure. This immunologic model of self-regulatory failure has implications for understanding how biological and behavioral factors interact to influence self-regulation. The model also suggests new ways of reducing disease risk and enhancing human potential by targeting inflammatory processes that affect self-regulation.

  6. Nonsuicidal self-injury in an ethnically diverse college sample.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuentzel, Jeffrey G; Arble, Eamonn; Boutros, Nashaat; Chugani, Diane; Barnett, Douglas

    2012-07-01

    Self-report data pertaining to Nonsuicidal Self-Injury (NSSI; e.g., cutting) were collected from 5,691 undergraduates at a Midwestern urban university. Consistent with the small literature on NSSI among college students, 12.8% of the sample indicated having engaged in NSSI at least once (3.4% in the past year). Women and younger students were at slightly higher risk. Important ethnic differences were found, as Caucasians and individuals self-identifying as Multiracial were at especially high risk for a history of NSSI, whereas Arab Americans and African Americans had particularly low rates. Further, links between NSSI and religion were found, such that participants with stronger self-reported religious convictions had the lowest rates of NSSI. Those who self-described as Atheist, Agnostic, or Nonbeliever were several times more likely to have engaged in NSSI (31.3%), while Muslims (7.4%) and Baptists (6.3%) had relatively low rates. Multivariate analyses revealed that ethnic differences in NSSI could not be accounted for by religious differences. Processes that may explain the associations between NSSI and ethnic affiliation and religion are discussed. © 2012 American Orthopsychiatric Association.

  7. Effects of a Self-Instruction Communication Skills Training on Skills, Self-Efficacy, Motivation, and Transfer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hommes, Mark A.; Van der Molen, Henk T.

    2012-01-01

    This article describes a study on the effects of a self-instruction training programme in communication skills for psychology students at the Open University of the Netherlands in comparison to a fully supervised training. We expected both training programmes to increase students' knowledge and skills, as well as their self-efficacy and motivation…

  8. Educational needs for improving self-care in heart failure patients with diabetes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cha, EunSeok; Clark, Patricia C; Reilly, Carolyn Miller; Higgins, Melinda; Lobb, Maureen; Smith, Andrew L; Dunbar, Sandra B

    2012-01-01

    To explore the need for self-monitoring and self-care education in heart failure patients with diabetes (HF- DM patients) by describing cognitive and affective factors to provide guidance in developing effective self-management education. A cross-sectional correlation design was employed using baseline patient data from a study testing a 12-week patient and family dyad intervention to improve dietary and medication-taking self-management behaviors in HF patients. Data from 116 participants recruited from metropolitan Atlanta area were used. Demographic and comorbidities, physical function, psychological distress, relationship with health care provider, self-efficacy (medication taking and low sodium diet), and behavioral outcomes (medications, dietary habits) were assessed. Descriptive statistics and a series of chi-square tests, t tests, or Mann-Whitney tests were performed to compare HF patients with and without DM. HF-DM patients were older and heavier, had more comorbidities, and took more daily medications than HF patients. High self-efficacy on medication and low-sodium diet was reported in both groups with no significant difference. Although HF-DM patients took more daily medications than HF, both groups exhibited high HF medication-taking behaviors. The HF-DM patients consumed significantly lower total sugar than HF patients but clinically higher levels of sodium. Diabetes educators need to be aware of potential conflicts of treatment regimens to manage 2 chronic diseases. Special and integrated diabetes self-management education programs that incorporate principles of HF self-management should be developed to improve self-management behavior in HF-DM patients.

  9. Self-efficacy in rheumatoid arthritis: translation and test of validity, reliability and sensitivity of the Danish version of the Rheumatoid Arthritis Self-Efficacy Questionnaire (RASE)

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Primdahl, J; Wagner, L; Hørslev-Petersen, Kim

    2010-01-01

    To describe the translation and test of the Danish version of the original British 'Rheumatoid Arthritis Self-Efficacy Questionnaire' (RASE).......To describe the translation and test of the Danish version of the original British 'Rheumatoid Arthritis Self-Efficacy Questionnaire' (RASE)....

  10. arXiv Describing dynamical fluctuations and genuine correlations by Weibull regularity

    CERN Document Server

    Nayak, Ranjit K.; Sarkisyan-Grinbaum, Edward K.; Tasevsky, Marek

    The Weibull parametrization of the multiplicity distribution is used to describe the multidimensional local fluctuations and genuine multiparticle correlations measured by OPAL in the large statistics $e^{+}e^{-} \\to Z^{0} \\to hadrons$ sample. The data are found to be well reproduced by the Weibull model up to higher orders. The Weibull predictions are compared to the predictions by the two other models, namely by the negative binomial and modified negative binomial distributions which mostly failed to fit the data. The Weibull regularity, which is found to reproduce the multiplicity distributions along with the genuine correlations, looks to be the optimal model to describe the multiparticle production process.

  11. An analysis of the masking of speech by competing speech using self-report data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Agus, Trevor R; Akeroyd, Michael A; Noble, William; Bhullar, Navjot

    2009-01-01

    Many of the items in the "Speech, Spatial, and Qualities of Hearing" scale questionnaire [S. Gatehouse and W. Noble, Int. J. Audiol. 43, 85-99 (2004)] are concerned with speech understanding in a variety of backgrounds, both speech and nonspeech. To study if this self-report data reflected informational masking, previously collected data on 414 people were analyzed. The lowest scores (greatest difficulties) were found for the two items in which there were two speech targets, with successively higher scores for competing speech (six items), energetic masking (one item), and no masking (three items). The results suggest significant masking by competing speech in everyday listening situations.

  12. Relationships Between Self-Efficacy, Self-Esteem and Procrastination in Undergraduate Psychology Students

    OpenAIRE

    Hajloo, Nader

    2014-01-01

    Objective: The present study aimed to review the relationships between procrastination and two self-factors self-efficacy and self-esteem. Methods: Participants were 140 undergraduates Psychology students enrolled in Mohagheg Ardabili University, Ardabil, Iran. Instruments used for collecting the required data were the student-version of the General Procrastination Scale (GP-S), General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSE) and Rosenberg?s Self-Esteem Scale (SES). Results: Using causal modeling, two mode...

  13. MOTIVATION INTERNALIZATION AND SIMPLEX STRUCTURE IN SELF-DETERMINATION THEORY.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ünlü, Ali; Dettweiler, Ulrich

    2015-12-01

    Self-determination theory, as proposed by Deci and Ryan, postulated different types of motivation regulation. As to the introjected and identified regulation of extrinsic motivation, their internalizations were described as "somewhat external" and "somewhat internal" and remained undetermined in the theory. This paper introduces a constrained regression analysis that allows these vaguely expressed motivations to be estimated in an "optimal" manner, in any given empirical context. The approach was even generalized and applied for simplex structure analysis in self-determination theory. The technique was exemplified with an empirical study comparing science teaching in a classical school class versus an expeditionary outdoor program. Based on a sample of 84 German pupils (43 girls, 41 boys, 10 to 12 years old), data were collected using the German version of the Academic Self-Regulation Questionnaire. The science-teaching format was seen to not influence the pupils' internalization of identified regulation. The internalization of introjected regulation differed and shifted more toward the external pole in the outdoor teaching format. The quantification approach supported the simplex structure of self-determination theory, whereas correlations may disconfirm the simplex structure.

  14. Advanced Data Mining of Leukemia Cells Micro-Arrays

    OpenAIRE

    Richard S. Segall; Ryan M. Pierce

    2009-01-01

    This paper provides continuation and extensions of previous research by Segall and Pierce (2009a) that discussed data mining for micro-array databases of Leukemia cells for primarily self-organized maps (SOM). As Segall and Pierce (2009a) and Segall and Pierce (2009b) the results of applying data mining are shown and discussed for the data categories of microarray databases of HL60, Jurkat, NB4 and U937 Leukemia cells that are also described in this article. First, a background section is pro...

  15. Medical student self-efficacy, knowledge and communication in adolescent medicine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Woods, Jennifer L; Pasold, Tracie L; Boateng, Beatrice A; Hense, Devon J

    2014-08-20

    To evaluate student self-efficacy, knowledge and communication with teen issues and learning activities. Data were collected during the 8-week pediatric rotation for third-year medical students at a local children's hospital. Students completed a self-efficacy instrument at the beginning and end of the rotation; knowledge and communication skills were evaluated during standardized patient cases as part of the objective structured clinical examination. Self-efficacy, knowledge and communication frequencies were described with descriptive statistics; differences between groups were also evaluated utilizing two-sample t-tests. Self-efficacy levels of both groups increased by the end of the pediatric rotation, but students in the two-lecture group displayed significantly higher self-efficacy in confidentiality with adolescents (t(35)=-2.543, p=0.02); interviewing adolescents, assessing risk, sexually transmitted infection risk and prevention counseling, contraception counseling were higher with marginal significance. No significant differences were found between groups for communication; assessing sexually transmitted infection risk was marginally significant for knowledge application during the clinical exam. Medical student self-efficacy appears to change over time with effects from different learning methods; this higher self-efficacy may increase future comfort and willingness to work with this high-risk, high-needs group throughout a medical career.

  16. Misalignment Effects of the Self-Tracking Laser Doppler Vibrometer

    OpenAIRE

    Zima, Jr., Andrew David

    2001-01-01

    There are many limitations to the current methods used to measure vibration on rotating structures. These limitations include physical flow blockages, relating the measurement spot to the structure rotation, data processing issues, and having to physically alter the engine. This work further describes aspects of a self-tracking laser vibrometry system that can be used to measure the vibrations of rotating structures. This method, if setup correctly, has the capability to overcome many of t...

  17. Random Number Simulations Reveal How Random Noise Affects the Measurements and Graphical Portrayals of Self-Assessed Competency

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Edward Nuhfer

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Self-assessment measures of competency are blends of an authentic self-assessment signal that researchers seek to measure and random disorder or "noise" that accompanies that signal. In this study, we use random number simulations to explore how random noise affects critical aspects of self-assessment investigations: reliability, correlation, critical sample size, and the graphical representations of self-assessment data. We show that graphical conventions common in the self-assessment literature introduce artifacts that invite misinterpretation. Troublesome conventions include: (y minus x vs. (x scatterplots; (y minus x vs. (x column graphs aggregated as quantiles; line charts that display data aggregated as quantiles; and some histograms. Graphical conventions that generate minimal artifacts include scatterplots with a best-fit line that depict (y vs. (x measures (self-assessed competence vs. measured competence plotted by individual participant scores, and (y vs. (x scatterplots of collective average measures of all participants plotted item-by-item. This last graphic convention attenuates noise and improves the definition of the signal. To provide relevant comparisons across varied graphical conventions, we use a single dataset derived from paired measures of 1154 participants' self-assessed competence and demonstrated competence in science literacy. Our results show that different numerical approaches employed in investigating and describing self-assessment accuracy are not equally valid. By modeling this dataset with random numbers, we show how recognizing the varied expressions of randomness in self-assessment data can improve the validity of numeracy-based descriptions of self-assessment.

  18. Can Unrestricted Density-Functional Theory Describe Open Shell Singlet Biradicals?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dieter Cremer

    2002-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract: Unrestricted density functional theory (UDFT can be used for the description of open-shell singlet (OSS biradicals provided a number of precautions are considered. Biradicals that require a two-determinantal wave function (e.g. OSS state of carbenes cannot be described by UDFT for principal reasons. However, if the overlap between the open-shell orbitals is small (the single electrons are located at different atomic centers errors become small and, then, the principal failure of UDFT in these cases is not apparent and may even be disguised by the fact that UDFT has the advantage of describing spin polarization better than any restricted open shell DFT method. In the case of OSS biradicals with two- or multiconfigurational character (but a onedeterminantal form of the leading configuration, reasonable results can be obtained by broken-symmetry (BS-UDFT, however in each case this has to be checked. In no case is it reasonable to lower the symmetry of a molecule to get a suitable UDFT description. Hybrid functionals such as B3LYP perform better than pure DFT functionals in BS-UDFT calculations because the former reduce the self-interaction error of DFT exchange functionals, which mimics unspecified static electron correlation effects, so that the inclusion of specific static electron correlation effects via the form of the wavefunction becomes more effective.

  19. Integration of the Reconfigurable Self-Healing eDNA Architecture in an Embedded System

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Boesen, Michael Reibel; Keymeulen, Didier; Madsen, Jan

    2011-01-01

    In this work we describe the first real world case study for the self-healing eDNA (electronic DNA) architecture by implementing the control and data processing of a Fourier Transform Spectrometer (FTS) on an eDNA prototype. For this purpose the eDNA prototype has been ported from a Xilinx Virtex 5...

  20. On-Chip AC self-test controller

    Science.gov (United States)

    Flanagan, John D [Rhinebeck, NY; Herring, Jay R [Poughkeepsie, NY; Lo, Tin-Chee [Fishkill, NY

    2009-09-29

    A system for performing AC self-test on an integrated circuit that includes a system clock for normal operation is provided. The system includes the system clock, self-test circuitry, a first and second test register to capture and launch test data in response to a sequence of data pulses, and a logic circuit to be tested. The self-test circuitry includes an AC self-test controller and a clock splitter. The clock splitter generates the sequence of data pulses including a long data capture pulse followed by an at speed data launch pulse and an at speed data capture pulse followed by a long data launch pulse. The at speed data launch pulse and the at speed data capture pulse are generated for a common cycle of the system clock.

  1. Characterisation of amorphous silicon alloys by RBS/ERD with self consistent data analysis using simulated annealing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Barradas, N.P.; Wendler, E.; Jeynes, C.; Summers, S.; Reehal, H.S.; Summers, S.

    1999-01-01

    Full text: Hydrogenated amorphous silicon films are deposited by CVD onto insulating (silica) substrates for the fabrication of solar cells. 1.5MeV 4 He ERD/RBS is applied to the films, and a self consistent depth profile of Si and H using the simulated annealing (SA) algorithm was obtained for each sample. The analytical procedure is described in detail, and the confidence limits of the profiles are obtained using the Markov Chain Monte Carlo method which is a natural extension of the SA algorithm. We show how the results are of great benefit to the growers

  2. Using monitoring data to map amphibian breeding hotspots and describe wetland vulnerability in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ray, Andrew M.; Legg, Kristin; Sepulveda, Adam; Hossack, Blake R.; Patla, Debra

    2015-01-01

    Amphibians have been selected as a “vital sign” by several National Park Service (NPS) Inventory and Monitoring (I&M) networks. An eight-year amphibian monitoring data set provided opportunities to examine spatial and temporal patterns in amphibian breeding richness and wetland desiccation across Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. Amphibian breeding richness was variable across both parks and only four of 31 permanent monitoring catchments contained all four widely distributed species. Annual breeding richness was also variable through time and fluctuated by as much as 75% in some years and catchments. Wetland desiccation was also documented across the region, but alone did not explain variations in amphibian richness. High annual variability across the region emphasizes the need for multiple years of monitoring to accurately describe amphibian richness and wetland desiccation dynamics.

  3. Presentation of Three Types of The Scale of Self-Perception for Preschool Children (LSPO

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zlatka Cugmas

    2001-12-01

    Full Text Available The author describes the established methods of measuring child's self-perception. She points out that in creating the instruments for measuring self-perception of younger children, it is necessary to take into account some of their developmental psychological characteristics, such as short attention-span, inconsistency in their answers, tendency to give socially acceptable answers, etc. The author presents the Scale of Self-Perception for Preschool Children (slov.: LSPO which she developed on the basis of her own findings and on the basis of the experience of other authors developing psychological instruments of this type. The scale was tested in a research which involved 214 children attending kindergarten. They were 4 to 5 years old. The article describes the sub-scales of LSPO and their psychometric characteristics and presents descriptive data of the children's self-estimates, their motivation for solving the scale and their understanding of the items, as well as the correspondence between the self-evaluation of the children and the evaluation of the children's self-perception conveyed by the mothers and teachers. The results are presented separately with respect to the three types of LSPO implementation (verbally, with puppets and with drawings. It was established that the psychometric characteristics of the scale are adequate, however, in further research the implementation with drawings or puppets is recommended.

  4. A new algorithm for gravity or self-potential data interpretation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Essa, Khalid S

    2011-01-01

    An inversion algorithm is developed to estimate the depth and the associated model parameters of the anomalous body from the gravity or self-potential (SP) whole measured data. The problem of the depth (z) estimation from the observed data has been transformed into a nonlinear equation of the form F(z) = 0. This equation is then solved for z by minimizing an objective functional in the least-squares sense. Using the estimated depth, the polarization angle and the dipole moment or the depth and the amplitude coefficient are computed from the measured SP or gravity data, respectively. The method is based on determining the root mean square (RMS) of the depths estimated from using all s-values for each shape factor. The minimum RMS is used as a criterion for estimating the correct shape and depth of the buried structure. When the correct shape factor is used, the RMS of the depths is always less than the RMS computed using wrong shape factors. The proposed approach is applicable to a class of geometrically simple anomalous bodies, such as the semi-infinite vertical cylinder, the dike, the horizontal cylinder and the sphere, and it is tested and verified on synthetic examples with and without noise. This technique is also successfully applied to four real datasets for mineral exploration, and it is found that the estimated depths and the associated model parameters are in good agreement with the actual values

  5. Self-Assessment in the Evaluation Process.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koehler, Michael

    1990-01-01

    Describes a four-step process to involve teachers in self-evaluation that results in performance ownership. When supervisors incorporate teacher self-assessments into classroom observation reports, teachers are more willing to engage in follow-up professional growth activities and perceive supervisors as helpers in the process. (MLH)

  6. A multi-process model of self-regulation: influences of mindfulness, integrative self-knowledge and self-control in Iran.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ghorbani, Nima; Watson, P J; Farhadi, Mehran; Chen, Zhuo

    2014-04-01

    Self-regulation presumably rests upon multiple processes that include an awareness of ongoing self-experience, enduring self-knowledge and self-control. The present investigation tested this multi-process model using the Five-Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) and the Integrative Self-Knowledge and Brief Self-Control Scales. Using a sample of 1162 Iranian university students, we confirmed the five-factor structure of the FFMQ in Iran and documented its factorial invariance across males and females. Self-regulatory variables correlated negatively with Perceived Stress, Depression, and Anxiety and positively with Self-Esteem and Satisfaction with Life. Partial mediation effects confirmed that self-regulatory measures ameliorated the disturbing effects of Perceived Stress. Integrative Self-Knowledge and Self-Control interacted to partially mediate the association of Perceived Stress with lower levels of Satisfaction with Life. Integrative Self-Knowledge, alone or in interaction with Self-Control, was the only self-regulation variable to display the expected mediation of Perceived Stress associations with all other measures. Self-Control failed to be implicated in self-regulation only in the mediation of Anxiety. These data confirmed the need to further examine this multi-process model of self-regulation. © 2014 International Union of Psychological Science.

  7. Reliability and validity of the International Spinal Cord Injury Basic Pain Data Set items as self-report measures

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, M P; Widerström-Noga, E; Richards, J S

    2010-01-01

    To evaluate the psychometric properties of a subset of International Spinal Cord Injury Basic Pain Data Set (ISCIBPDS) items that could be used as self-report measures in surveys, longitudinal studies and clinical trials....

  8. The third space: The use of self-study to examine the culture of a science classroom

    Science.gov (United States)

    Magee, Dashia M.

    Science educators are in the position to create bridges between their students and the world of science (Aikenhead, 1996, 1999). This connection has often been described as the third space (Bhabha, 1994; Moje, Collazo, Carrillo, & Marx, 2001; Wallace, 2004), which is represented as a combination or a meeting of the students' world and the world of science. In this study, I examined my role in creating the third space through the use of self-study. Self-study is a form of research, educators use to understand their practice (Austin & Senese, 2004; Loughran, 2004; Northfield & Loughran, 1996). It is a means of describing, analyzing, and interpreting a teacher's actions within his or her classroom (Tidwell, 2002). The focal point of this self-study is to understand my actions found within my past and present teaching experiences and the underlying beliefs that are expressed through those actions. In this self-study, I collected data from my life history, classroom observations, and member check interview. My life history described my influences that shaped my philosophy of teaching and learning, while the classroom observations provided a means of understanding my interactions with the science curriculum and my English Language Learner (ELL) students. And finally, a member check focus group interview occurred to confirm the results occurring in the classroom observations. Once the data were collected, I used grounded theory methods to analyze my results and answer the research questions. This self-study became the means of exploring my philosophy of teaching and learning and my teaching practices as they occurred in an ELL science classroom. I examined my own practice through a comparison between my past experiences and my current teaching situation and through this exploration, I identified my actions and the beliefs associated with those actions as they informed my teaching practices.

  9. An Architectural Framework for Describing Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    2004-09-01

    The significant difference between FMS, DP and PA is at the physical layer, which allows all three versions of Profibus to be employed in one SCADA...instrumentation devices, DP devices where speed is important, and PA devices where safety and reliability is required. At the data link layer, Profibus ...12 e. Profibus

  10. URR-PACK: Calculating Self-Shielding in the Unresolved Resonance Energy Range

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cullen, Dermott E.; Trkov, Andrej

    2016-07-01

    This report describes HOW to calculate self-shielding in the unresolved resonance region (URR), in terms of the computer codes we provide to allow a user to do these calculations himself. Here we only describe HOW to calculate; a longer companion report describes in detail WHY it is necessary to include URR self-shielding.

  11. Self-organizing sensing and actuation for automatic control

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheng, George Shu-Xing

    2017-07-04

    A Self-Organizing Process Control Architecture is introduced with a Sensing Layer, Control Layer, Actuation Layer, Process Layer, as well as Self-Organizing Sensors (SOS) and Self-Organizing Actuators (SOA). A Self-Organizing Sensor for a process variable with one or multiple input variables is disclosed. An artificial neural network (ANN) based dynamic modeling mechanism as part of the Self-Organizing Sensor is described. As a case example, a Self-Organizing Soft-Sensor for CFB Boiler Bed Height is presented. Also provided is a method to develop a Self-Organizing Sensor.

  12. Self-Report Measures of Family Competence.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Green, Robert G.

    1987-01-01

    Describes and compares two self-report measures of family competence: the Family Awareness Scales (FAS) (Green and Kolevzon, late 1970s) and the Self-Report Family Inventory (SFI) (Beavers, 1983). Discusses reliability and validity. Their focus on the "insider" (family member) is different from the traditional examination of family…

  13. Is self-guided internet-based cognitive behavioural therapy (iCBT) harmful? An individual participant data meta-analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karyotaki, Eirini; Kemmeren, Lise; Riper, Heleen; Twisk, Jos; Hoogendoorn, Adriaan; Kleiboer, Annet; Mira, Adriana; Mackinnon, Andrew; Meyer, Björn; Botella, Cristina; Littlewood, Elizabeth; Andersson, Gerhard; Christensen, Helen; Klein, Jan P; Schröder, Johanna; Bretón-López, Juana; Scheider, Justine; Griffiths, Kathy; Farrer, Louise; Huibers, Marcus J H; Phillips, Rachel; Gilbody, Simon; Moritz, Steffen; Berger, Thomas; Pop, Victor; Spek, Viola; Cuijpers, Pim

    2018-03-15

    Little is known about potential harmful effects as a consequence of self-guided internet-based cognitive behaviour therapy (iCBT), such as symptom deterioration rates. Thus, safety concerns remain and hamper the implementation of self-guided iCBT into clinical practice. We aimed to conduct an individual participant data (IPD) meta-analysis to determine the prevalence of clinically significant deterioration (symptom worsening) in adults with depressive symptoms who received self-guided iCBT compared with control conditions. Several socio-demographic, clinical and study-level variables were tested as potential moderators of deterioration. Randomised controlled trials that reported results of self-guided iCBT compared with control conditions in adults with symptoms of depression were selected. Mixed effects models with participants nested within studies were used to examine possible clinically significant deterioration rates. Thirteen out of 16 eligible trials were included in the present IPD meta-analysis. Of the 3805 participants analysed, 7.2% showed clinically significant deterioration (5.8% and 9.1% of participants in the intervention and control groups, respectively). Participants in self-guided iCBT were less likely to deteriorate (OR 0.62, p guided iCBT has a lower rate of negative outcomes on symptoms than control conditions and could be a first step treatment approach for adult depression as well as an alternative to watchful waiting in general practice.

  14. Self-diffusion in Zr-Cr and Zr-Fe alloys

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Patil, R.V.; Tiwari, G.P.; Sharma, B.D.

    1981-01-01

    Self-diffusion studies in a series of zirconium-rich alloys containing 2.05, 3.49, 4.08 and 7.86 at %Cr and 0.98, 1.35, 1.64, 3.54 and 6.37 at.%Fe have been carried out in the temperature range 1173-1518 K, using standard serial-sectioning technique. The temperature dependence of self-diffusion coefficients in all these alloys could be described by Arrhenius expressions of the type D = D 0 exp (- Q/RT). The data have been analysed on the basis of current concepts of alloy diffusion. An analysis based on the vacancy mechanism leads to negative values of the correlation factors. The possibility of interstitial-vacancy pair and ω-phase embryos being rate-controlling mechanisms is also discussed. (author)

  15. THE DIALOGICAL SELF IN PSYCHOANALYSIS.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Muller, Felipe

    2016-10-01

    This paper describes the shift that appears to be taking place in contemporary psychoanalysis, as reflected among intersubjective approaches, from a monological conception of the self to a dialogical one. The monological self emphasizes the separation between mind, body, and external world, focusing on the representational and descriptive/referential function of language. In contrast, the dialogical self emphasizes practices, the permeable nature of relationships between subjects, and the constitutive function of language. This paper attempts to explain the growing emphasis on the dialogical self, understood from a theoretical, metatheoretical, and technical point of view, using contemporary intersubjective approaches to illustrate this shift. © 2016 The Psychoanalytic Quarterly, Inc.

  16. Behavior Self-Control and the Contract Problem.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Worthington, Everett L.

    1979-01-01

    Describes study to determine the success of university students' behavioral self-control projects. Results indicate that the teaching of self-control principles is easily integrated into personal adjustment classes and can have lasting effects on students' coping skills. (KC)

  17. Self-organized critical pinball machine

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Flyvbjerg, H.

    2004-01-01

    The nature of self-organized criticality (SOC) is pin-pointed with a simple mechanical model: a pinball machine. Its phase space is fully parameterized by two integer variables, one describing the state of an on-going game, the other describing the state of the machine. This is the simplest...

  18. Processing of self versus non-self in Alzheimer’s disease

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rebecca Louise Bond

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Despite considerable evidence for abnormalities of self-awareness in Alzheimer’s disease (AD, the cognitive mechanisms of altered self-processing in AD have not been fully defined. Here we addressed this issue in a detailed analysis of self/non-self-processing in three patients with AD. We designed a novel neuropsychological battery comprising tests of tactile body schema coding, attribution of tactile events to self versus external agents, and memory for self- versus non-self-generated vocal information, administered in conjunction with a daily life measure of self/non-self-processing (the Interpersonal Reactivity Index. Three male AD patients (aged 54 to 68 years; one with a pathogenic mutation in the Presenilin 1 gene, one with a pathogenic mutation in the Amyloid Precursor Protein gene, and one with a CSF protein profile supporting underlying AD pathology were studied in relation to a group of eight healthy older male individuals (aged 58 to 74 years. Compared to healthy controls, all patients had relatively intact tactile body schema processing. In contrast, all patients showed impaired memory for words previously presented using the patient’s own voice whereas memory for words presented in other voices was less consistently affected. Two patients showed increased levels of emotional contagion and reduced perspective taking on the Interpersonal Reactivity Index. Our findings suggest that AD may be associated with deficient self /non-self differentiation over time despite a relatively intact body image: this profile of altered self-processing contrasts with the deficit of tactile body schema previously described in frontotemporal dementia associated with C9orf72 mutations. We present these findings as a preliminary rationale to direct future systematic study in larger patient cohorts.

  19. Teaching Assistant Professional Development in Biology: Designed for and Driven by Multidimensional Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Long, Tammy M.; Ebert-May, Diane

    2014-01-01

    Graduate teaching assistants (TAs) are increasingly responsible for instruction in undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses. Various professional development (PD) programs have been developed and implemented to prepare TAs for this role, but data about effectiveness are lacking and are derived almost exclusively from self-reported surveys. In this study, we describe the design of a reformed PD (RPD) model and apply Kirkpatrick's Evaluation Framework to evaluate multiple outcomes of TA PD before, during, and after implementing RPD. This framework allows evaluation that includes both direct measures and self-reported data. In RPD, TAs created and aligned learning objectives and assessments and incorporated more learner-centered instructional practices in their teaching. However, these data are inconsistent with TAs’ self-reported perceptions about RPD and suggest that single measures are insufficient to evaluate TA PD programs. PMID:26086654

  20. Self: an adaptive pressure arising from self-organization, chaotic dynamics, and neural Darwinism.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bruzzo, Angela Alessia; Vimal, Ram Lakhan Pandey

    2007-12-01

    In this article, we establish a model to delineate the emergence of "self" in the brain making recourse to the theory of chaos. Self is considered as the subjective experience of a subject. As essential ingredients of subjective experiences, our model includes wakefulness, re-entry, attention, memory, and proto-experiences. The stability as stated by chaos theory can potentially describe the non-linear function of "self" as sensitive to initial conditions and can characterize it as underlying order from apparently random signals. Self-similarity is discussed as a latent menace of a pathological confusion between "self" and "others". Our test hypothesis is that (1) consciousness might have emerged and evolved from a primordial potential or proto-experience in matter, such as the physical attractions and repulsions experienced by electrons, and (2) "self" arises from chaotic dynamics, self-organization and selective mechanisms during ontogenesis, while emerging post-ontogenically as an adaptive pressure driven by both volume and synaptic-neural transmission and influencing the functional connectivity of neural nets (structure).

  1. Short forms of the Texas Social Behavior Inventory /TSBI/, an objective measure of self-esteem

    Science.gov (United States)

    Helmreich, R.; Stapp, J.

    1974-01-01

    Two short (16 item) forms of the Helmreich, Stapp, and Ervin (1974) Texas Social Behavior Inventory, a validated, objective measure of self-esteem or social competence are presented. Normative data and other statistics are described for males and females. Correlations between each short form and long (32-item) scale were .97. Factor analysis and part-whole correlations verified the similarity of the two forms. The utility of the scale in research is described.

  2. Improving Self-Care of Patients with Chronic Disease using Online Personal Health Record

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Amol Wagholikar

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available Background Effective management of chronic diseases such as prostate cancer is important. Research suggests a tendency to use self-care treatment options such as over-the-counter (OTC complementary medications among prostate cancer patients. The current trend in patient-driven recording of health data in an online Personal Health Record (PHR presents an opportunity to develop new data-driven approaches for improving prostate cancer patient care. However, the ability of current online solutions to share patients’ data for better decision support is limited. An informatics approach may improve online sharing of self-care interventions among these patients. It can also provide better evidence to support decisions made during their self-managed care.Aims To identify requirements for an online system and describe a new case-based reasoning (CBR method for improving self-care of advanced prostate cancer patients in an online PHR environment. Method A non-identifying online survey was conducted to understand self-care patterns among prostate cancer patients and to identify requirements for an online information system. The pilot study was carried out between August 2010 and December 2010. A case-base of 52 patients was developed. Results The data analysis showed self-care patterns among the prostate cancer patients. Selenium (55% was the common complementary supplement used by the patients. Paracetamol (about 45% was the commonly used OTC by the patients. Conclusion The results of this study specified requirements for an online case-based reasoning information system. The outcomes of this study are being incorporated in design of the proposed Artificial Intelligence (AI driven patient journey browser system. A basic version of the proposed system is currently being considered for implementation.

  3. Technical Analysis of Scores on the "Self-Efficacy Self-Report Scale"

    Science.gov (United States)

    Erford, Bradley T.; Schein, Hallie; Duncan, Kelly

    2011-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to provide preliminary analysis of reliability and validity of scores on the "Self-Efficacy Self-Report Scale", which was designed to assess general self-efficacy in students aged 10 to 17 years. Confirmatory factor analysis on cross-validated samples was conducted revealing a marginal fit of the data to the…

  4. Type 2 Diabetes Self-management Among Spanish-Speaking Hispanic Immigrants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith-Miller, Cheryl A; Berry, Diane C; DeWalt, Darren; Miller, Cass T

    2016-12-01

    This article describes the quantitative findings of a mixed-methods study that examined the relationship among knowledge, self-efficacy, health promoting behaviors, and type 2 diabetes self-management among recent Spanish-speaking, limited English proficient immigrants to the US. This population is at risk for both a higher incidence of disease and increased barriers to successful disease management compared to the general US population. Distinguishing aspects of this study compared to the available literature are the comprehensive nature of the data collected, the theoretical component, and the analysis and modeling approach. Social cognitive theory provides the framework for the study design and analysis. An innovative community-based recruiting strategy was used, a broad range of physiological measures related to health were observed, and instruments related to knowledge, self-efficacy, and healthy lifestyle behaviors were administered orally in Spanish to 30 participants. A broad range of statistical analysis methods was applied to the data, including a set of three structural equation models. The study results are consistent with the importance of education, health knowledge, and healthy lifestyle practices for type 2 diabetes self-management. With the usual cautions associated with applying structural equation modeling to modest sample sizes, multiple elements of the posited theoretical model were consistent with the data collected. The results of the investigation of this under-studied population indicate that, on average, participants were not effectively managing their disease. The results suggest that clinical interventions focused on improving knowledge, nutrition, and physical activity, reducing stress, and leveraging the importance of interpersonal relations could be effective intervention strategies to improve self-management among this population.

  5. Agreement between self-reported data on medicine use and prescription records vary according to method of analysis and therapeutic group

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Merete Willemoes; Søndergaard, Birthe; Kjøller, Mette

    2008-01-01

    OBJECTIVE: This study compared national self-reported data on medicine use and national prescription records at the individual level. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: Data from the nationally representative Danish health survey conducted in 2000 (n=16,688) were linked at the individual level to national...... prescription records covering 1999-2000. Kappa statistics and 95% confidence intervals were calculated. RESULTS: Applying the legend time method to medicine groups used mainly on a chronic basis revealed good to very good agreement between the two data sources, whereas medicines used as needed showed fair...... to moderate agreement. When a fixed-time window was applied for analysis, agreement was unchanged for medicines used mainly on a chronic basis, whereas agreement increased somewhat compared to the legend time method when analyzing medicines used as needed. CONCLUSION: Agreement between national self...

  6. Internet-based self-management in asthma

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Meer, Victor van der

    2010-01-01

    This thesis describes the role of internet-based support in the delivery of an asthma self management program. First, the compliance and reliability of home lung function monitoring, one of the key features of asthma self-management, was studied and appeared to be high over a 4-week period. Second,

  7. Validation of self-reported erythema

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Petersen, B; Thieden, E; Lerche, C M

    2013-01-01

    Most epidemiological data of sunburn related to skin cancer have come from self-reporting in diaries and questionnaires. We thought it important to validate the reliability of such data.......Most epidemiological data of sunburn related to skin cancer have come from self-reporting in diaries and questionnaires. We thought it important to validate the reliability of such data....

  8. Using Data to Individualize a Multicomponent, Technology-Based Self-Monitoring Intervention

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bruhn, Allison Leigh; Vogelgesang, Kari; Fernando, Josephine; Lugo, Wilbeth

    2016-01-01

    Technology in schools is abundant as is the call for evidence-based interventions for students who need additional support to be successful. One promising use of technology is for self-monitoring interventions aimed at improving classroom behavior. In this study, two middle school students with disabilities used a multicomponent, self-monitoring…

  9. Relationships between self-efficacy, self-esteem and procrastination in undergraduate psychology students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hajloo, Nader

    2014-01-01

    The present study aimed to review the relationships between procrastination and two self-factors self-efficacy and self-esteem. Participants were 140 undergraduates Psychology students enrolled in Mohagheg Ardabili University, Ardabil, Iran. Instruments used for collecting the required data were the student-version of the General Procrastination Scale (GP-S), General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSE) and Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale (SES). Using causal modeling, two models were compared; a model with self-esteem as a mediator versus a model with procrastination as a mediator. The self-esteem mediator model accounted for 21% of the variance in procrastination. The significance of the mediation effect was found by bootstrapping method. The relationship of procrastination with self-esteem and self-efficacy was revealed among undergraduate psychology students.

  10. Activity Theory as a Theoretical Framework for Health Self-Quantification: A Systematic Review of Empirical Studies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Almalki, Manal; Gray, Kathleen; Martin-Sanchez, Fernando

    2016-05-27

    Self-quantification (SQ) is a way of working in which, by using tracking tools, people aim to collect, manage, and reflect on personal health data to gain a better understanding of their own body, health behavior, and interaction with the world around them. However, health SQ lacks a formal framework for describing the self-quantifiers' activities and their contextual components or constructs to pursue these health related goals. Establishing such framework is important because it is the first step to operationalize health SQ fully. This may in turn help to achieve the aims of health professionals and researchers who seek to make or study changes in the self-quantifiers' health systematically. The aim of this study was to review studies on health SQ in order to answer the following questions: What are the general features of the work and the particular activities that self-quantifiers perform to achieve their health objectives? What constructs of health SQ have been identified in the scientific literature? How have these studies described such constructs? How would it be possible to model these constructs theoretically to characterize the work of health SQ? A systematic review of peer-reviewed literature was conducted. A total of 26 empirical studies were included. The content of these studies was thematically analyzed using Activity Theory as an organizing framework. The literature provided varying descriptions of health SQ as data-driven and objective-oriented work mediated by SQ tools. From the literature, we identified two types of SQ work: work on data (ie, data management activities) and work with data (ie, health management activities). Using Activity Theory, these activities could be characterized into 6 constructs: users, tracking tools, health objectives, division of work, community or group setting, and SQ plan and rules. We could not find a reference to any single study that accounted for all these activities and constructs of health SQ activity. A

  11. The Integrative Self: How Self-Reference Integrates Perception and Memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sui, Jie; Humphreys, Glyn W

    2015-12-01

    We propose a new account of how self-reference affects information processing. We report evidence that self-reference affects the binding of memory to source, the integration of parts into perceptual wholes, and the ability to switch from a prior association to new associations. Self-reference also influences the integration of different stages of processing, linking attention to decision making, and affects the coupling between brain regions mediating self-representation and attention to the environment. Taken together, the data suggest that self-reference acts as a form of 'integrative glue' which can either enhance or disrupt performance, depending on the task context. We discuss the implications for understanding the self, and future directions for research. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Workplace culture in psychiatric nursing described by nurses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kurjenluoma, K; Rantanen, A; McCormack, B; Slater, P; Hahtela, N; Suominen, T

    2017-12-01

    This study looks to describe the workplace culture from the viewpoints of stress, job satisfaction and practice environment. Data were collected from nurses (n = 109) using a web-based survey, The Person-Centred Nursing Index, from two purposefully selected hospital districts in Finland. Data were statistically analysed. Nurses described their workplace culture in slightly positive terms. Nurses only occasionally experienced stress (mean = 2.56, SD = 0.55) and were fairly satisfied with their job (mean = 4.75, SD = 0.66) and their practice environment (mean = 4.42, SD = 0.81). Demographic variables such as the nurses' age, length of time in nursing, time at their present hospital, working shifts and their use of patient restriction were more frequently associated with their perceived workplace culture. Older nurses and those with a longer work history in the nursing profession tended to be more satisfied with their workplace culture in psychiatric nursing. Young and/or newly graduated nurses felt more negatively on their workplace culture; this issue should be recognised and addressed with appropriate support and mentoring. Nurses who used restrictive measures were more often less satisfied with their workplace culture. Continuous efforts are needed to reduce the use of coercive measures, which challenge also the managers to support nursing practice to be more person-centred. © 2017 Nordic College of Caring Science.

  13. Non-Suicidal Self-Injury and Indirect Self-Harm among Danish High School Students

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Møhl, Bo; la Cour, Peter; Skandsen, Annika

    2014-01-01

    Background: Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) and indirect self-harm are prevalent among adolescents, but it is rare to see them described as related topics. Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate whether there is a correlation between the frequencies of NSSI and indirect self-harm...... (e.g., eating problems, alcohol and drug use) and how this may be influenced by gender. Method: Questionnaires about NSSI (e.g., cutting, burning, scratching, hitting oneself) and indirect self-harm were distri­buted to high school students in theCopenhagen area (N = 5650; response rate 53%; females...... 60.8%). Results: A total of 21.5% of the survey respondents had engaged in NSSI (lifetime prevalence), and 16.2% had practiced NSSI within the previous year. Gender differences in NSSI methods were identified. A total of 53.9% of the students had engaged in one or more types of indirect self-harm...

  14. Conceptualizing and measuring illness self-concept: a comparison with self-esteem and optimism in predicting fibromyalgia adjustment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morea, Jessica M; Friend, Ronald; Bennett, Robert M

    2008-12-01

    Illness self-concept (ISC), or the extent to which individuals are consumed by their illness, was theoretically described and evaluated with the Illness Self-Concept Scale (ISCS), a new 23-item scale, to predict adjustment in fibromyalgia. To establish convergent and discriminant validity, illness self-concept was compared to self-esteem and optimism in predicting health status, illness intrusiveness, depression, and life satisfaction. The ISCS demonstrated good reliability (alpha = .94; test-retest r = .80) and was a strong predictor of outcomes, even after controlling for optimism or self-esteem. The ISCS predicted unique variance in health-related outcomes; optimism and self-esteem did not, providing construct validation. Illness self-concept may play a significant role in coping with fibromyalgia and may prove useful in the evaluation of other chronic illnesses. (c) 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  15. Self-Care Among Older Adults With Heart Failure

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sumayya Attaallah MSN, RN

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Background: It is estimated that 5.7 million Americans are living with heart failure (HF today. Despite the fact that HF is one of the most common reasons people aged 65 years and older are admitted into the hospital, few studies describe the self-care in this older adult population. Purpose: The purpose of the study was to review the current literature on self-care in this population to better understand the influence of selected factors on self-care and health outcomes. Methods: A literature search was completed and resulted in including 28 studies. Results: Multiple factors have been reported as barriers to self-care including depression and presence of peripheral arterial disease. Factors having a positive effect on self-care are male gender, number of cardiologist referrals, and self-efficacy. There were few studies that described the association between cognitive functioning and self-care. There is a lack of strong evidence to support the association between self-care and health outcomes such as readmission rate, but recent studies suggest that a 30-day readmission is not a valid predictor of health outcomes. Implications: The assessment of the psychological factors and health care resource utilization patterns that may influence self-care is recommended. More research that addresses the role of cognitive factors in influencing self-care is needed.

  16. Critical properties of a ferroelectric superlattice described by a transverse spin-1/2 Ising model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tabyaoui, A; Saber, M; Baerner, K; Ainane, A

    2007-01-01

    The phase transition properties of a ferroelectric superlattice with two alternating layers A and B described by a transverse spin-1/2 Ising model have been investigated using the effective field theory within a probability distribution technique that accounts for the self spin correlation functions. The Curie temperature T c , polarization and susceptibility have been obtained. The effects of the transverse field and the ferroelectric and antiferroelectric interfacial coupling strength between two ferroelectric materials are discussed. They relate to the physical properties of antiferroelectric/ferroelectric superlattices

  17. Processing device with self-scrubbing logic

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wojahn, Christopher K.

    2016-03-01

    An apparatus includes a processing unit including a configuration memory and self-scrubber logic coupled to read the configuration memory to detect compromised data stored in the configuration memory. The apparatus also includes a watchdog unit external to the processing unit and coupled to the self-scrubber logic to detect a failure in the self-scrubber logic. The watchdog unit is coupled to the processing unit to selectively reset the processing unit in response to detecting the failure in the self-scrubber logic. The apparatus also includes an external memory external to the processing unit and coupled to send configuration data to the configuration memory in response to a data feed signal outputted by the self-scrubber logic.

  18. Low-income Euro-American mothers' perceptions of health and self-care practices.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mendias, Elnora P; Clark, Michele C; Guevara, Edilma B; Svrcek, Claire Y

    2011-01-01

    Health promotion activities may decrease preventable diseases and health system overuse. This study examined how low-income Euro-American mothers described their health/wellness, self-care practices (SCP), and SCP benefits, barriers, and interpersonal influences (norms, modeling, and social support) affecting their SCP. This descriptive qualitative study used a convenience sample of 10 low-income, English-speaking mothers, 25-43 years old, seeking women's/children's health services at a large urban Texas health clinic. Data were collected via face-to-face interviews, using a standardized semistructured interview guide; data were analyzed using Miles and Huberman's qualitative research methods. All participants primarily described themselves positively and as mothers and workers. Most viewed health and wellness as distinct but typically included physical and emotional well-being. Mothers valued health and SCP for personal and family reasons. All identified SCP benefits. Most identified SCP barriers. Women viewed themselves as vital to family function and well-being, learned SCP primarily from parents during childhood, and described limited support for SCP. The results provide a better understanding of participants' self-care decision making and are useful in designing appropriate clinical health promotions. Reducing health inequities in low-income women requires further study of the underlying causes and development of effective policies and measures to address them. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  19. Self-Awareness, Self-Regulation, and Self-Transcendence (S-ART: A Framework for Understanding the Neurobiological Mechanisms of Mindfulness

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David R. Vago

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available Mindfulness - as a state, trait, process, type of meditation, and intervention has proven to be beneficial across a diverse group of psychological disorders as well as for general stress reduction. Yet, there remains a lack of clarity in the operationalization of this construct, and underlying mechanisms. Here, we provide an integrative theoretical framework and systems-based neurobiological model that explains the mechanisms by which mindfulness reduces biases related to self-processing and creates a sustainable healthy mind. Mindfulness is described through systematic mental training that develops meta-awareness (self-awareness, an ability to effectively modulate one’s behavior (self-regulation, and the development of a positive relationship between self and other that transcends self-focused needs and increases prosocial characteristics (self-transcendence. This framework of self-awareness, regulation, and transcendence (S-ART illustrates a method for becoming aware of the conditions that cause (and remove distortions or biases. The development of S-ART through meditation is proposed to modulate self-specifying and narrative self-networks through an integrative fronto-parietal control network. Relevant perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and behavioral neuropsychological processes are highlighted, including intention and motivation, attention regulation, emotion regulation, extinction and reconsolidation, prosociality, non-attachment and decentering. The S-ART framework and neurobiological model is based on our growing understanding of the mechanisms for neurocognition, empirical literature, and through dismantling the specific meditation practices thought to cultivate mindfulness. The proposed framework will inform future research in the contemplative sciences and target specific areas for development in the treatment of psychological disorders.

  20. Self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-transcendence (S-ART): a framework for understanding the neurobiological mechanisms of mindfulness.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vago, David R; Silbersweig, David A

    2012-01-01

    Mindfulness-as a state, trait, process, type of meditation, and intervention has proven to be beneficial across a diverse group of psychological disorders as well as for general stress reduction. Yet, there remains a lack of clarity in the operationalization of this construct, and underlying mechanisms. Here, we provide an integrative theoretical framework and systems-based neurobiological model that explains the mechanisms by which mindfulness reduces biases related to self-processing and creates a sustainable healthy mind. Mindfulness is described through systematic mental training that develops meta-awareness (self-awareness), an ability to effectively modulate one's behavior (self-regulation), and a positive relationship between self and other that transcends self-focused needs and increases prosocial characteristics (self-transcendence). This framework of self-awareness, -regulation, and -transcendence (S-ART) illustrates a method for becoming aware of the conditions that cause (and remove) distortions or biases. The development of S-ART through meditation is proposed to modulate self-specifying and narrative self-networks through an integrative fronto-parietal control network. Relevant perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and behavioral neuropsychological processes are highlighted as supporting mechanisms for S-ART, including intention and motivation, attention regulation, emotion regulation, extinction and reconsolidation, prosociality, non-attachment, and decentering. The S-ART framework and neurobiological model is based on our growing understanding of the mechanisms for neurocognition, empirical literature, and through dismantling the specific meditation practices thought to cultivate mindfulness. The proposed framework will inform future research in the contemplative sciences and target specific areas for development in the treatment of psychological disorders.

  1. Self-regulation following prostatectomy : Phase-specific self-efficacy beliefs in implementing pelvic-floor exercise

    OpenAIRE

    Burkert, Silke; Knoll, Nina; Scholz, Urte; Roigas, Jan; Gralla, Oliver

    2012-01-01

    Beliefs in one's ability to perform a task or behaviour successfully are described as self-efficacy beliefs (Bandura, 1977). Since individuals have to deal with differing demands during a behaviour-change process, they form phase-specific self-efficacy beliefs directed at these respective challenges. The present study, based on the Health Action Process Approach (Schwarzer, 2001), examines the theoretical differentiation, relative importance, and differential effects of four phase-specific se...

  2. Association between sporting event attendance and self-rated health: an analysis of multiyear cross-sectional national data in Japan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Inoue, Yuhei; Sato, Mikihiro; Nakazawa, Makoto

    2018-01-01

    This study examined the extent to which sporting event attendance is associated with self-rated health. Drawing from an economic model of health production and psychological research on the health benefits of psychosocial resources, sporting event attendance was hypothesized to have a positive relationship with self-rated health. A two-level multilevel ordered logistic regression was used to analyze multiyear cross-sectional data collected from national surveys in Japan. The results demonstrate that, controlling for the effects of personal and environmental characteristics, sporting event attendance positively correlates with self-rated health over a 12-year period. Specifically, when compared to individuals who did not attend any sporting event during the past year, those who attended a sporting event were 33% more likely to indicate a higher level of self-rated health. These findings provide evidence for a positive association between sport spectatorship and the perception of general health and contribute to the literature examining the relationship between sport spectatorship and health outcomes.

  3. Intervention Programmes for Developing Positive Self-Concepts in Hospitalized Children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lizasoain, Olga; Polaino, Aquilino

    1993-01-01

    Describes a program implemented in Navarra, Spain, to prepare children for hospitalization and to provide psychopedagogical follow-up to develop positive self-concepts. Describes the effects of the program on 40 hospitalized children between the ages of 8 and 12, reporting a more positive self-concept among the children who received the…

  4. Self-excited current oscillations in a resonant tunneling diode described by a model based on the Caldeira–Leggett Hamiltonian

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sakurai, Atsunori; Tanimura, Yoshitaka

    2014-01-01

    The quantum dissipative dynamics of a tunneling process through double barrier structures is investigated on the basis of non-perturbative and non-Markovian treatment. We employ a Caldeira–Leggett Hamiltonian with an effective potential calculated self-consistently, accounting for the electron distribution. With this Hamiltonian, we use the reduced hierarchy equations of motion in the Wigner space representation to study non-Markovian and non-perturbative thermal effects at finite temperature in a rigorous manner. We study current variation in time and the current–voltage (I–V ) relation of the resonant tunneling diode for several widths of the contact region, which consists of doped GaAs. Hysteresis and both single and double plateau-like behavior are observed in the negative differential resistance (NDR) region. While all of the current oscillations decay in time in the NDR region in the case of a strong system–bath coupling, there exist self-excited high-frequency current oscillations in some parts of the plateau in the NDR region in the case of weak coupling. We find that the effective potential in the oscillating case possesses a basin-like form on the emitter side (emitter basin) and that the current oscillation results from tunneling between the emitter basin and the quantum well in the barriers. We find two distinct types of current oscillations, with large and small oscillation amplitudes, respectively. These two types of oscillation appear differently in the Wigner space, with one exhibiting tornado-like motion and the other exhibiting a two piston engine-like motion. (paper)

  5. Cognitive and emotional reactions to daily events: the effects of self-esteem and self-complexity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Campbell, J D; Chew, B; Scratchley, L S

    1991-09-01

    In this article we examine the effects of self-esteem and self-complexity on cognitive appraisals of daily events and emotional lability. Subjects (n = 67) participated in a 2-week diary study; each day they made five mood ratings, described the most positive and negative events of the day, and rated these two events on six appraisal measures. Neither self-esteem nor self-complexity was related to an extremity measure of mood variability. Both traits were negatively related to measures assessing the frequency of mood change, although the effect of self-complexity dissipated when self-esteem was taken into account. Self-esteem (but not self-complexity) was also related to event appraisals: Subjects with low self-esteem rated their daily events as less positive and as having more impact on their moods. Subjects with high self-esteem made more internal, stable, global attributions for positive events than for negative events, whereas subjects low in self-esteem made similar attributions for both types of events and viewed their negative events as being more personally important than did subjects high in self-esteem. Despite these self-esteem differences in subjects' views of their daily events, naive judges (n = 63) who read the event descriptions and role-played their appraisals of them generally did not distinguish between the events that had been experienced by low self-esteem versus high self-esteem diary subjects.

  6. Slippery self-lubricating polymer surfaces

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aizenberg, Joanna; Aizenberg, Michael; Cui, Jiaxi; Dunn, Stuart; Hatton, Benjamin; Howell, Caitlin; Kim, Philseok; Wong, Tak Sing; Yao, Xi

    2018-05-08

    The present disclosure describes a strategy to create self-healing, slippery self-lubricating polymers. Lubricating liquids with affinities to polymers can be utilized to get absorbed within the polymer and form a lubricant layer (of the lubricating liquid) on the polymer. The lubricant layer can repel a wide range of materials, including simple and complex fluids (water, hydrocarbons, crude oil and bodily fluids), restore liquid-repellency after physical damage, and resist ice, microorganisms and insects adhesion. Some exemplary applications where self-lubricating polymers will be useful include energy-efficient, friction-reduction fluid handling and transportation, medical devices, anti-icing, optical sensing, and as self-cleaning, and anti-fouling materials operating in extreme environments.

  7. MODERN METHODOLOGICAL TOOLS FOR STUDENTS’ LANGUAGE SKILLS SELF-ASSESSMENT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. N. Astanina

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Introduction. Nowadays, the problem of standardization of foreign language training at the higher school is becoming currently topical. With regard to the processes of globalization, the international educational projects and students exchange programs gain greater international recognition. Such international programmes involve foreign language knowledge graded as not only high certified academic levels but also as basic language skills. The lack of foreign language competence becomes the obstacle for successful training, depriving a future graduate of a part of chances to become the competitive and popular expert in the chosen profession. The success of a foreign language course completion among students depends on many factors; the most important factor is motivation which can affect self-assessment of training results. The aim of the study is to describe possibilities of the CanDos tools implementation for the organization of students self-consciousness and self-assessment of own achievements in order to influence the motivation for mastering a foreign language.Methodology and research methods. The research is based on competencybased approach. The methods involve comparative analysis, synthesis, and generalization.Results and scientific novelty. The questionnaire developed for the experiment helped to collect the data concerning the effectiveness of the CanDos software implementation for self-assessment of students’ foreign language skills. The corresponding self-assessment helps students to carry out a self-reflection of own knowledge and abilities, and to find “weak points” in language proficiency which need additional practice and improvement. By regularly using CanDos software as self-assessment tools, students learn to identify the correspondence of their language competence to the external requirements and standards of education. Orientation to training results will help future experts to create self-motivation that positively

  8. Evaluation of body image and self-esteem in patients with external fixation devices: a Turkish perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Büyükyilmaz, Funda; Sendir, Merdiye; Salmond, Susan

    2009-01-01

    This descriptive study aimed to describe the body image and self-esteem of patients with external fixation devices. Fifty patients with external fixation devices who came for follow-up to the Ilizarov Outpatient Clinic of a university hospital in Turkey were included in this study. Data were collected by using a Demographic Questionnaire Form, Multidimensional Body-Self Relations Questionnaire (MBSRQ), and Coppersmith Self-Esteem Inventory. The perceived body image (197.58 +/- 25.14) and self-esteem (65.28 +/- 17.97) of the patients with external fixation devices were in the moderate range. There was no significant correlation between body image and self-esteem. Self-esteem was correlated with one's perception of whether external fixation impacted one's appearance and whether one wanted to avoid being seen by certain individuals because of the appearance of the external fixator. The study highlighted that body image disturbance and threats to self-esteem are not universal with the use of external fixation and need to be assessed individually.

  9. Ciphering the self?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Lasse Meinert

    When a person tracks her mood with a smartphone app, is s/he then gathering data about a mental process, engaging in self-cultivation, or managing her conduct with technologies of self-government? This presentation will discuss how self-monitoring afford persons different ways of relating to and ...... of variability, identity, and continuity that haunts both psychology, and discourses about subjectivity in the social and human sciences....

  10. An Ultra Low Noise Self-Starting Pulse Generator

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lasri, J.; Bilenca, A.; Dahan, D.

    2002-01-01

    We describe a self-starting optical pulse source generating 10 GHz, 15 ps pulses with an average jitter of 43 fs and a o.15% amplitude noise over a frequency range of 500 Hz - 1 MHz.......We describe a self-starting optical pulse source generating 10 GHz, 15 ps pulses with an average jitter of 43 fs and a o.15% amplitude noise over a frequency range of 500 Hz - 1 MHz....

  11. Management self assessment plan

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Debban, B.L.

    1998-01-30

    Duke Engineering and Services Hanford Inc., Spent Nuclear Fuel Project is responsible for the operation of fuel storage facilities. The SNF project mission includes the safe removal, processing and transportation of Spent Nuclear Fuel from 100 K Area fuel storage basins to a new Storage facility in the Hanford 200 East Area. Its mission is the modification of the 100 K area fuel storage facilities and the construction of two new facilities: the 100 K Area Cold Vacuum Drying Facility, and the 200 East Area Canister Storage Building. The management self assessment plan described in this document is scheduled to begin in April of 1999 and be complete in May of 1999. The management self assessment plan describes line management preparations for declaring that line management is ready to commence operations.

  12. Management self assessment plan

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Debban, B.L.

    1998-01-01

    Duke Engineering and Services Hanford Inc., Spent Nuclear Fuel Project is responsible for the operation of fuel storage facilities. The SNF project mission includes the safe removal, processing and transportation of Spent Nuclear Fuel from 100 K Area fuel storage basins to a new Storage facility in the Hanford 200 East Area. Its mission is the modification of the 100 K area fuel storage facilities and the construction of two new facilities: the 100 K Area Cold Vacuum Drying Facility, and the 200 East Area Canister Storage Building. The management self assessment plan described in this document is scheduled to begin in April of 1999 and be complete in May of 1999. The management self assessment plan describes line management preparations for declaring that line management is ready to commence operations

  13. Heart Failure Self-care Within the Context of Patient and Informal Caregiver Dyadic Engagement: A Mixed Methods Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buck, Harleah G; Hupcey, Judith; Wang, Hsiao-Lan; Fradley, Michael; Donovan, Kristine A; Watach, Alexa

    2018-03-29

    Recent heart failure (HF) patient and informal caregiver (eg, dyadic) studies have either examined self-care from a qualitative or quantitative perspective. To date, the 2 types of data have not been integrated. The aim of this study was to understand HF self-care within the context of dyadic engagement. This was a cross-sectional, mixed methods (quantitative/qualitative) study. Heart failure self-care was measured with the Self-care of Heart Failure Index (v.6) dichotomized to adequate (≥70) or inadequate (Creswell and Plano Clark's methods. Of the 27 dyads, HF participants were 56% men, with a mean age of 77 years. Caregivers were 74% women, with a mean age of 66 years, representing spouses (n = 14) and adult children (n = 7). Quantitatively, few dyads scored as adequate (≥70) in self-care; the qualitative data described the impact of adequacy on the dyads' behavior. Dyads who scored higher, individually or both, on self-care self-efficacy and self-care management were less likely to change from their life course pattern. Either the patient or dyad continued to handle all self-care as they always had, rather than trying new strategies or reaching out for help as the patient's condition deteriorated. Our data suggest links that should be explored between dyadic adequacy and response to patients' symptoms. Future studies should assess dyadic adequacy longitudinally and examine its relationship to event-free survival and health services cost.

  14. Changing Europe, changing self-construals

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Antalikova, Radka

    Self-construal refers to the culturally shaped view on self, and in particular the degree of inclusion of other people in one’s self-definition (Markus & Kitayama, 1991) whether in form of close relationships or important group memberships. The degree of including these social variables distingui......Self-construal refers to the culturally shaped view on self, and in particular the degree of inclusion of other people in one’s self-definition (Markus & Kitayama, 1991) whether in form of close relationships or important group memberships. The degree of including these social variables...... country, college students and their parents, to fill out a shortened version of Twenty Statements Test (Kuhn & McPartland, 1959). This self-description questionnaire detects prevailing views on self (private, public, or collective), as described above. Both Danish generations have lived in a more or less...... similar socio-cultural discourse. The older generation in Slovakia has lived in two very different political regimes, and Slovak adolescents have direct experience with only the post-communist version. Thus, we employed these four samples (two generations by two countries) to test for a greater...

  15. A self-affine multi-fractal wave turbulence discrimination method using data from single point fast response sensors in a nocturnal atmospheric boundary layer

    OpenAIRE

    Kamada, Ray; Decaria, Alex Joseph

    1992-01-01

    We present DA, a self-affine, multi-fractal which may become the first routine wave/turbulence discriminant for time series data. Using nocturnal atmospheric data, we show the advantages of D A over self-similar fractals and standard turbulence measures such as FFTs, Richardson number, Brunt-Vaisala frequency, buoyancy length scale, variances, turbulent kinetic energy, and phase averaging. DA also shows promise in resolving "wave-break" events. Since it uses local basis functions, DA may be...

  16. Secondary School Teachers' Courses of Action in Relation to Experience and Sense of Self-Efficacy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Korevaar, Gerda

    This study describes and assesses the influence of experience and self-confidence on teachers' reactions to problematic situations. Participants in the study were 303 expert and 136 student teachers. Data were obtained by using the questionnaires, "Situations" and "Sense of Efficacy." As expected, student teachers and expert teachers with a high…

  17. PENGGUNAAN JAMU BUATAN SENDIRI DI INDONESIA (ANALISIS DATA RISET KESEHATAN DASAR TAHUN 2010

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sudibyo Supardi

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available Background: A study to analyze data of Basic Health Research 2010 (Riskesdas 2010 was done to describe the profile of household using self-made herbal medicines and to identify the characteristics of household members that related to use of self-made herbal medicines. Methods: The sampel was individuals aged fifteen years old or more and who use self-made herbal medicine i.e. 177,927 people from selected household in 33 Indonesian provinces. Data was collected by interviewing the respondent that use structured questionnaire, including age, sex, marital status, education, job, household monthly expenditure, residence, province and self-made herbal medicines usage. The data were analyzed by proportion and Chi square test and multiple logistic regression method. Results: Results of data analysis shows that nearly ten percents of household that ever used herbal medicines are those using self-made herbal medicines. A greater proportion of them used either Kaemferia sp. and or Zingiber sp. as raw material in liquid formulation and got the benefit of using it as well as living in North Maluku, Bali and East Nusa Tenggara. About seventeen percents of household members who ever used herbal medicines are those using self-made herbal medicines. Conclusion: Factors related to self-made herbal medicines are married/divorce (OR= 1.76; CI = 1.63-1.90, urban residence (OR= 1.45; CI = 1.38-1.53, female (OR= 1.43; CI = 1.363-1.50 dan higher economic group (OR= 1.34; CI = 1.27-1.40.   Keywords: self-made herbal medicines, traditional medicine, household

  18. Self-management and transitions in women with advanced breast cancer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schulman-Green, Dena; Bradley, Elizabeth H; Knobf, M Tish; Prigerson, Holly; DiGiovanna, Michael P; McCorkle, Ruth

    2011-10-01

    Self-management involves behaviors that individuals perform to handle health conditions. Self-management may be particularly challenging during transitions-shifts from one life phase or status to another, for example, from cure- to noncure-oriented care-because they can be disruptive and stressful. Little is known about individuals' experiences with self-management, especially during transitions. Our purpose was to describe experiences of self-management in the context of transitions among women with advanced breast cancer. We interviewed a purposive sample of 15 women with metastatic breast cancer about their self-management preferences, practices, and experiences, including how they managed transitions. Interviews were recorded and transcribed. The qualitative method of interpretive description was used to code and analyze the data. Participants' mean age was 52 years (range 37-91 years); most were White (80%), married (80%), and college educated (60%). Self-management practices related to womens' health and to communication with loved ones and providers. Participants expressed a range of preferences for participation in self-management. Self-management included developing skills, becoming empowered, and creating supportive networks. Barriers to self-management included symptom distress, difficulty obtaining information, and lack of knowledge about the cancer trajectory. Women identified transitions as shifts in physical, emotional, and social well-being, as when their cancer progressed and there was a need to change therapy. Transitions often prompted changes in how actively women self-managed and were experienced as positive, negative, and neutral. Self-management preferences can vary. Providers should explore and revisit patients' preferences and ability to self-manage over time, particularly during transitions. Copyright © 2011 U.S. Cancer Pain Relief Committee. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  19. FALDO: a semantic standard for describing the location of nucleotide and protein feature annotation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bolleman, Jerven T; Mungall, Christopher J; Strozzi, Francesco; Baran, Joachim; Dumontier, Michel; Bonnal, Raoul J P; Buels, Robert; Hoehndorf, Robert; Fujisawa, Takatomo; Katayama, Toshiaki; Cock, Peter J A

    2016-06-13

    Nucleotide and protein sequence feature annotations are essential to understand biology on the genomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic level. Using Semantic Web technologies to query biological annotations, there was no standard that described this potentially complex location information as subject-predicate-object triples. We have developed an ontology, the Feature Annotation Location Description Ontology (FALDO), to describe the positions of annotated features on linear and circular sequences. FALDO can be used to describe nucleotide features in sequence records, protein annotations, and glycan binding sites, among other features in coordinate systems of the aforementioned "omics" areas. Using the same data format to represent sequence positions that are independent of file formats allows us to integrate sequence data from multiple sources and data types. The genome browser JBrowse is used to demonstrate accessing multiple SPARQL endpoints to display genomic feature annotations, as well as protein annotations from UniProt mapped to genomic locations. Our ontology allows users to uniformly describe - and potentially merge - sequence annotations from multiple sources. Data sources using FALDO can prospectively be retrieved using federalised SPARQL queries against public SPARQL endpoints and/or local private triple stores.

  20. Psychological Aspects in the System of Self-Management Education for Children with Diabetes Mellitus (Literature Review and Own Data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    O.V. Bolshova

    2013-05-01

    Full Text Available This paper analyzes the scientific data concerning self-managing education and psychological support as part of treatment and prevention of complications in children and adolescents with diabetes. There is a direct correlation between the compensation of diabetes, level of education of patients about their illness, psychological condition analysis and adequate self-control. We assessed the effectiveness of self-management training in combination with psychological help in children and adolescents with diabetes type 1. The study found that in the main group (87 patients HbA1c rate after 3 and 6 months decreased to 9.12 ± 0.86 % and 8.75 ± 1.10 % compared to 9.51 ± 0.85 % before diabetes self-managing education. We noted positive dynamics of glycemic control, respectively, in 19.5 and 36.8 % of patients (compared with 10.3 % at the beginning of training. In I group (37 children and adolescents who had psychological help HbA1c rate after 3 and 6 months decreased to 8.84 and 8.21 %, respectively (9.23 % before diabetes self-managing education.

  1. Validating a self-report measure of HIV viral suppression: an analysis of linked questionnaire and clinical data from the Canadian HIV Women's Sexual and Reproductive Health Cohort Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carter, Allison; de Pokomandy, Alexandra; Loutfy, Mona; Ding, Erin; Sereda, Paul; Webster, Kath; Nicholson, Valerie; Beaver, Kerrigan; Hogg, Robert S; Kaida, Angela

    2017-03-24

    We assessed the validity of a self-report measure of undetectable viral load (VL) among women with HIV in British Columbia (BC), Canada. Questionnaire data from the Canadian HIV Women's Sexual and Reproductive Health Cohort Study was linked with population-based clinical data from the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS. Self-reported undetectable VL was assessed by the question: "What was your most recent VL, undetectable (i.e. linked to clinical data. Those unlinked (n = 1), missing self-report VL (n = 18), or missing self-report and laboratory VL (n = 1) were excluded. Among the remaining 336: median age was 44 (IQR 37-51); 96% identified as cis-gender; 84% identified as heterosexual; and 45% identified as Indigenous, 40% White, 8% African, Caribbean, or Black, and 8% other/multiple ethnicities. Overall, 85% self-reported having an undetectable VL while 82% had clinical data indicating viral suppression. The PPV was 93.7 (95% CI 90.2-96.2) indicating that 94% of women who self-reported being undetectable truly were. The NPV was 80.4 (95% CI 66.9-90.2). LR+ was 3.2 (2.1-4.6) and LR- was 0.05 (0.03-0.10). Our self-report measure assessing undetectable VL strongly predicted true viral suppression among Canadian women with HIV. This measure can be used in research settings without laboratory data in regions with high rates of VL testing and suppression.

  2. Objectively measured residential environment and self-reported health: a multilevel analysis of UK census data.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Frank Dunstan

    Full Text Available Little is known about the association between health and the quality of the residential environment. What is known is often based on subjective assessments of the environment rather than on measurements by independent observers. The aim of this study, therefore, was to determine the association between self-reported general health and an objectively assessed measure of the residential environment. We studied over 30,000 residents aged 18 or over living in 777 neighbourhoods in south Wales. Built environment quality was measured by independent observers using a validated tool, the Residential Environment Assessment Tool (REAT, at unit postcode level. UK Census data on each resident, which included responses to a question which assessed self-reported general health, was linked to the REAT score. The Census data also contained detailed information on socio-economic and demographic characteristics of all respondents and was also linked to the Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation. After adjusting for both the individual characteristics and area deprivation, respondents in the areas of poorest neighbourhood quality were more likely to report poor health compared to those living in areas of highest quality (OR 1.36, 95% confidence interval 1.22-1.49. The particular neighbourhood characteristics associated with poor health were physical incivilities and measures of how well the residents maintained their properties. Measures of green space were not associated with self-reported health. This is the first full population study to examine such associations and the results demonstrate the importance for health of the quality of the neighbourhood area in which people live and particularly the way in which residents behave towards their own and their neighbours' property. A better understanding of causal pathways that allows the development of interventions to improve neighbourhood quality would offer significant potential health gains.

  3. The development, factor structure and psychometric properties of driving self-regulation scales for older adults: Has self-regulation evolved in the last 15 years?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wong, Ides Y; Smith, Simon S; Sullivan, Karen A

    2015-07-01

    The term driving self-regulation is typically used to describe the practice of drivers who avoid driving in situations that they regard as unsafe because of perceived physical impairment. Older adults report using this strategy to improve safety while retaining mobility. Self-regulation is typically assessed using the driving avoidance items from the driving habits questionnaire (DHQ) and the driver mobility questionnaire (DMQ-A). However, the psychometric properties of these measures are not well understood. Using data from 277 older drivers, exploratory factor analysis was used to test the homogeneity of three driving self-regulation scales: the DHQ, DMQ-A, and an extended DMQ-A. Good internal consistency for each of the scales was identified (all αs≥.9). A one factor solution was identified for two of the measures (DHQ, DMQ-A) and a two factor solution accounting for over 70% of the score variance was identified for the third measure. The two factors assessed situations that may be avoided while driving because of the "external" (e.g., weather-related) or "internal" (e.g., passenger-related) driving environments, respectively. The findings suggest that the interpretation of an overall summated scale score, or single-item interpretations, may not be appropriate. Instead, driving self-regulation may be a multifaceted construct comprised of distinct dimensions that have not been identified previously but can be reliably measured. These data have implications for our understanding of driving self-regulation by older adults and the way in which this behavior is measured. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  4. "They have said that I was slightly depressed but there are circumstances that bring that on": How Middle-Aged and Older African American Men Describe Perceived Stress and Depression.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cornish, Emily K; Bergner, Erin M; Griffith, Derek M

    2017-01-01

    Few studies have focused on how men perceive stress and depression, and even fewer have examined how men of a specific racial or ethnic group describe their experiences of these conditions. African American men tend to define health in ways that are inclusive of their physical health, health behaviors, and mental health, but research has largely failed to explore how men put their health and mental health in social contexts. The objective of this article is to explore how middle-aged and older African American men who self-identify as having depression: 1) differentiate stress from depression; and 2) describe depression. Using data from semi-structured, individual interviews conducted between March and April 2014, we used a phenomenological approach to examine how men describe, experience, and perceive stress and depression. Nashville, Tennessee. 18 African American men aged 35-76 years who self-reported a previous or current diagnosis of depression. Men talked about the experiences of stress and how many of them viewed chronic stress as expected and depression as a normal part of life. They used phrases like being "slightly depressed" or "I take a light antidepressant" to describe how they feel and what they are doing to feel better. Within these narratives, men had difficulty distinguishing between stress and depression and they primarily explained that depression was the result of external stressors and strains. Men may have difficulty distinguishing between stress and depression and they may frame the causes of depression in ways that decrease their perceived culpability for its causes and limit their perceived control over the causes of depression.

  5. Social determinants of self-perceived discrimination in Spain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gil-González, D; Vives-Cases, C; Borrell, C; Agudelo-Suárez, A A; Álvarez-Dardet, C

    2013-03-01

    To analyse the association between self-perceived discrimination and social determinants (social class, gender, country of origin) in Spain, and further to describe contextual factors which contribute to self-perceived discrimination. Cross-sectional design using data from the Spanish National Health Survey (2006). The dependent variable was self-perceived discrimination, and independent and stratifying variables were sociodemographic characteristics (e.g. sex, social class, country of origin, educational level). Logistic regression was used. The prevalence of self-perceived discrimination was 4.2% for men and 6.3% for women. The likelihood of self-perceived discrimination was higher in people who originated from low-income countries: men, odds ratio (OR) 5.59 [95% confidence interval (CI) 4.55-6.87]; women, OR 4.06 (95% CI 3.42-4.83). Women were more likely to report self-perceived discrimination by their partner at home than men [OR 8.35 (95% CI 4.70-14.84)]. The likelihood of self-perceived discrimination when seeking work was higher among people who originated from low-income countries than their Spanish counterparts: men, OR 13.65 (95% CI 9.62-19.35); women, OR 10.64 (95% CI 8.31-13.62). In comparison with Spaniards, male white-collar workers who originated from low-income countries [OR 11.93 (95% CI 8.26-17.23)] and female blue-collar workers who originated from low-income countries (OR 1.6 (95% CI 1.08-2.39)] reported higher levels of self-perceived discrimination. Self-perceived discrimination is distributed unevenly in Spain and interacts with social inequalities. This particularly affects women and immigrants. Copyright © 2012 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  6. Design and Implementation of a Smart LED Lighting System Using a Self Adaptive Weighted Data Fusion Algorithm

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wen-Tsai Sung

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available This work aims to develop a smart LED lighting system, which is remotely controlled by Android apps via handheld devices, e.g., smartphones, tablets, and so forth. The status of energy use is reflected by readings displayed on a handheld device, and it is treated as a criterion in the lighting mode design of a system. A multimeter, a wireless light dimmer, an IR learning remote module, etc. are connected to a server by means of RS 232/485 and a human computer interface on a touch screen. The wireless data communication is designed to operate in compliance with the ZigBee standard, and signal processing on sensed data is made through a self adaptive weighted data fusion algorithm. A low variation in data fusion together with a high stability is experimentally demonstrated in this work. The wireless light dimmer as well as the IR learning remote module can be instructed directly by command given on the human computer interface, and the reading on a multimeter can be displayed thereon via the server. This proposed smart LED lighting system can be remotely controlled and self learning mode can be enabled by a single handheld device via WiFi transmission. Hence, this proposal is validated as an approach to power monitoring for home appliances, and is demonstrated as a digital home network in consideration of energy efficiency.

  7. Design and Implementation of a Smart LED Lighting System Using a Self Adaptive Weighted Data Fusion Algorithm

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sung, Wen-Tsai; Lin, Jia-Syun

    2013-01-01

    This work aims to develop a smart LED lighting system, which is remotely controlled by Android apps via handheld devices, e.g., smartphones, tablets, and so forth. The status of energy use is reflected by readings displayed on a handheld device, and it is treated as a criterion in the lighting mode design of a system. A multimeter, a wireless light dimmer, an IR learning remote module, etc. are connected to a server by means of RS 232/485 and a human computer interface on a touch screen. The wireless data communication is designed to operate in compliance with the ZigBee standard, and signal processing on sensed data is made through a self adaptive weighted data fusion algorithm. A low variation in data fusion together with a high stability is experimentally demonstrated in this work. The wireless light dimmer as well as the IR learning remote module can be instructed directly by command given on the human computer interface, and the reading on a multimeter can be displayed thereon via the server. This proposed smart LED lighting system can be remotely controlled and self learning mode can be enabled by a single handheld device via WiFi transmission. Hence, this proposal is validated as an approach to power monitoring for home appliances, and is demonstrated as a digital home network in consideration of energy efficiency.

  8. Daily collection of self-reporting sleep disturbance data via a smartphone app in breast cancer patients receiving chemotherapy: a feasibility study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Min, Yul Ha; Lee, Jong Won; Shin, Yong-Wook; Jo, Min-Woo; Sohn, Guiyun; Lee, Jae-Ho; Lee, Guna; Jung, Kyung Hae; Sung, Joohon; Ko, Beom Seok; Yu, Jong-Han; Kim, Hee Jeong; Son, Byung Ho; Ahn, Sei Hyun

    2014-05-23

    Improvements in mobile telecommunication technologies have enabled clinicians to collect patient-reported outcome (PRO) data more frequently, but there is as yet limited evidence regarding the frequency with which PRO data can be collected via smartphone applications (apps) in breast cancer patients receiving chemotherapy. The primary objective of this study was to determine the feasibility of an app for sleep disturbance-related data collection from breast cancer patients receiving chemotherapy. A secondary objective was to identify the variables associated with better compliance in order to identify the optimal subgroups to include in future studies of smartphone-based interventions. Between March 2013 and July 2013, patients who planned to receive neoadjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer at Asan Medical Center who had access to a smartphone app were enrolled just before the start of their chemotherapy and asked to self-report their sleep patterns, anxiety severity, and mood status via a smartphone app on a daily basis during the 90-day study period. Push notifications were sent to participants daily at 9 am and 7 pm. Data regarding the patients' demographics, interval from enrollment to first self-report, baseline Beck's Depression Inventory (BDI) score, and health-related quality of life score (as assessed using the EuroQol Five Dimensional [EQ5D-3L] questionnaire) were collected to ascertain the factors associated with compliance with the self-reporting process. A total of 30 participants (mean age 45 years, SD 6; range 35-65 years) were analyzed in this study. In total, 2700 daily push notifications were sent to these 30 participants over the 90-day study period via their smartphones, resulting in the collection of 1215 self-reporting sleep-disturbance data items (overall compliance rate=45.0%, 1215/2700). The median value of individual patient-level reporting rates was 41.1% (range 6.7-95.6%). The longitudinal day-level compliance curve fell to 50.0% at

  9. Self-Esteem and Self-Motivational Needs of Disabled and Non-Disabled: A Comparative Analysis

    OpenAIRE

    Bunmi Omolayo

    2009-01-01

    The study was designed to compare the self-esteem and self motivational needs of disabled and non-disabled. One hundred and eightysix disabled and non-disabled selected from the South-Western States of Nigeria participated in the study. Two instruments namely Index of Self Esteem (ISE) and Manifest Need Questionnaire (MNQ) were used to generate data for the study while collected data was analyzed with t-test for independent groups and regressions analysis. Testing four hypotheses, result show...

  10. Multidimensional Physical Self-Concept of Athletes with Physical Disabilities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shapiro, Deborah R.; Martin, Jeffrey J.

    2010-01-01

    The purposes of this investigation were first to predict reported PA (physical activity) behavior and self-esteem using a multidimensional physical self-concept model and second to describe perceptions of multidimensional physical self-concept (e.g., strength, endurance, sport competence) among athletes with physical disabilities. Athletes (N =…

  11. Two heuristic approaches to describe periodicities in genomic microarrays

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jörg Aßmus

    2009-09-01

    Full Text Available In the first part we discuss the filtering of panels of time series based on singular value decomposition. The discussion is based on an approach where this filtering is used to normalize microarray data. We point out effects on the periodicity and phases for time series panels. In the second part we investigate time dependent periodic panels with different phases. We align the time series in the panel and discuss the periodogram of the aligned time series with the purpose of describing the periodic structure of the panel. The method is quite powerful assuming known phases in the model, but it deteriorates rapidly for noisy data.  

  12. Data describing the flow-mediated vasodilation responses and blood pressure in young adult humans after a single dose of oral edible emu oil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tadayoshi Miyashita

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available The data provided herein include flow-mediated vasodilation responses, represented by changes in arterial diameter, and blood pressure in young adults after a single oral dose of edible emu oil or placebo (cross-over design. Ten healthy men and 10 healthy women participated. Increased blood flow in the antebrachial region was induced by inflating a pressure cuff and subsequently releasing the pressure by deflating the cuff. After the release, the arterial diameter was continuously monitored for 110 sec using ultrasonic diagnostic equipment. The changes in the arterial diameter from 20 to 110 sec post-cuff deflation are described in line graphs and tables. In addition, systolic and diastolic blood pressure data are provided in a table.

  13. Are self-stigma, quality of life, and clinical data interrelated in schizophrenia spectrum patients? A cross-sectional outpatient study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Holubova M

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Michaela Holubova, Jan Prasko, Klara Latalova, Marie Ociskova, Aleš Grambal, Dana Kamaradova, Kristyna Vrbova, Radovan Hruby Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Palacky University Olomouc, University Hospital Olomouc, Olomouc, Czech Republic Background: Current research attention has been moving toward the needs of patients and their consequences for the quality of life (QoL. Self-stigma is a maladaptive psychosocial phenomenon disturbing the QoL in a substantial number of psychiatric patients. In our study, we examined the relationship between demographic data, the severity of symptoms, self-stigma, and QoL in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorder.Methods: Probands who met International Classification of Diseases-10 criteria for schizophrenia spectrum disorder (schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, or delusional disorder were recruited in the study. We studied the correlations between the QoL measured by the QoL Satisfaction and Enjoyment Questionnaire, self-stigma assessed by the Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness, and severity of the disorder measured by the objective and subjective Clinical Global Impression severity scales in this cross-sectional study.Results: A total of 109 psychotic patients and 91 healthy controls participated in the study. Compared with the control group, there was a lower QoL and a higher score of self-stigmatization in psychotic patients. We found the correlation between an overall rating of self-stigmatization, duration of disorder, and QoL. The level of self-stigmatization correlated positively with total symptom severity score and negatively with the QoL. Multiple regression analysis revealed that the overall rating of objective symptom severity and the score of self-stigma were significantly associated with the QoL.Conclusion: Our study suggests a negative impact of self-stigma level on the QoL in patients suffering from schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Keywords: quality

  14. An Explanatory Model of Self-Service on the Internet

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oliver, Dave; Livermore, Celia Romm; Farag, Neveen Awad

    This chapter describes research that identifies and classifies the dimensions of self-service activity enabled through the Internet. Self-service is effected by organizations providing ways and means whereby customers perform tasks related to the procurement of goods and services. We describe how an instrument used to measure Internet-based self-service was developed, validated and applied. The results from applying the instrument to a large number of Web sites, covering a range of industries, countries and cultures, are analyzed and discussed. The study presents a model in which type of industry, level of technological development, income and cultural factors are proposed as explanatory variables for Web-based self-service. We conclude with an assessment of this program of research’s achievements so far.

  15. Recruitment into diabetes prevention programs: what is the impact of errors in self-reported measures of obesity?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hernan, Andrea; Philpot, Benjamin; Janus, Edward D; Dunbar, James A

    2012-07-08

    Error in self-reported measures of obesity has been frequently described, but the effect of self-reported error on recruitment into diabetes prevention programs is not well established. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of using self-reported obesity data from the Finnish diabetes risk score (FINDRISC) on recruitment into the Greater Green Triangle Diabetes Prevention Project (GGT DPP). The GGT DPP was a structured group-based lifestyle modification program delivered in primary health care settings in South-Eastern Australia. Between 2004-05, 850 FINDRISC forms were collected during recruitment for the GGT DPP. Eligible individuals, at moderate to high risk of developing diabetes, were invited to undertake baseline tests, including anthropometric measurements performed by specially trained nurses. In addition to errors in calculating total risk scores, accuracy of self-reported data (height, weight, waist circumference (WC) and Body Mass Index (BMI)) from FINDRISCs was compared with baseline data, with impact on participation eligibility presented. Overall, calculation errors impacted on eligibility in 18 cases (2.1%). Of n = 279 GGT DPP participants with measured data, errors (total score calculation, BMI or WC) in self-report were found in n = 90 (32.3%). These errors were equally likely to result in under- or over-reported risk. Under-reporting was more common in those reporting lower risk scores (Spearman-rho = -0.226, p-value recruit participants at moderate to high risk of diabetes, accurately categorising levels of overweight and obesity using self-report data. The results could be generalisable to other diabetes prevention programs using screening tools which include self-reported levels of obesity.

  16. On Describing Human White Matter Anatomy: The White Matter Query Language

    OpenAIRE

    Wassermann, Demian; Makris, Nikos; Rathi, Yogesh; Shenton, Martha; Kikinis, Ron; Kubicki, Marek; Westin, Carl-Fredrik

    2013-01-01

    The main contribution of this work is the careful syntactical definition of major white matter tracts in the human brain based on a neuroanatomist’s expert knowledge. We present a technique to formally describe white matter tracts and to automatically extract them from diffusion MRI data. The framework is based on a novel query language with a near-to-English textual syntax. This query language allows us to construct a dictionary of anatomical definitions describing white matter tracts. The d...

  17. Self-organized Learning Environments

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Dalsgaard, Christian; Mathiasen, Helle

    2007-01-01

    system actively. The two groups used the system in their own way to support their specific activities and ways of working. The paper concludes that self-organized learning environments can strengthen the development of students’ academic as well as social qualifications. Further, the paper identifies......The purpose of the paper is to discuss the potentials of using a conference system in support of a project based university course. We use the concept of a self-organized learning environment to describe the shape of the course. In the paper we argue that educational technology, such as conference...... systems, has a potential to support students’ development of self-organized learning environments and facilitate self-governed activities in higher education. The paper is based on an empirical study of two project groups’ use of a conference system. The study showed that the students used the conference...

  18. Walkable self-overlapping virtual reality maze and map visualization demo

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Serubugo, Sule; Skantarova, Denisa; Evers, Nicolaj

    2017-01-01

    This paper describes our demonstration of a walkable self-overlapping maze and its corresponding map to facilitate asymmetric collaboration for room-scale virtual reality setups in public places.......This paper describes our demonstration of a walkable self-overlapping maze and its corresponding map to facilitate asymmetric collaboration for room-scale virtual reality setups in public places....

  19. Integration of the Reconfigurable Self-Healing eDNA Architecture in an Embedded System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boesen, Michael Reibel; Keymeulen, Didier; Madsen, Jan; Lu, Thomas; Chao, Tien-Hsin

    2011-01-01

    In this work we describe the first real world case study for the self-healing eDNA (electronic DNA) architecture by implementing the control and data processing of a Fourier Transform Spectrometer (FTS) on an eDNA prototype. For this purpose the eDNA prototype has been ported from a Xilinx Virtex 5 FPGA to an embedded system consisting of a PowerPC and a Xilinx Virtex 5 FPGA. The FTS instrument features a novel liquid crystal waveguide, which consequently eliminates all moving parts from the instrument. The addition of the eDNA architecture to do the control and data processing has resulted in a highly fault-tolerant FTS instrument. The case study has shown that the early stage prototype of the autonomous self-healing eDNA architecture is expensive in terms of execution time.

  20. Self organising maps for visualising and modelling.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brereton, Richard G

    2012-05-02

    The paper describes the motivation of SOMs (Self Organising Maps) and how they are generally more accessible due to the wider available modern, more powerful, cost-effective computers. Their advantages compared to Principal Components Analysis and Partial Least Squares are discussed. These allow application to non-linear data, are not so dependent on least squares solutions, normality of errors and less influenced by outliers. In addition there are a wide variety of intuitive methods for visualisation that allow full use of the map space. Modern problems in analytical chemistry include applications to cultural heritage studies, environmental, metabolomic and biological problems result in complex datasets. Methods for visualising maps are described including best matching units, hit histograms, unified distance matrices and component planes. Supervised SOMs for classification including multifactor data and variable selection are discussed as is their use in Quality Control. The paper is illustrated using four case studies, namely the Near Infrared of food, the thermal analysis of polymers, metabolomic analysis of saliva using NMR, and on-line HPLC for pharmaceutical process monitoring.

  1. Self organising maps for visualising and modelling

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-01-01

    The paper describes the motivation of SOMs (Self Organising Maps) and how they are generally more accessible due to the wider available modern, more powerful, cost-effective computers. Their advantages compared to Principal Components Analysis and Partial Least Squares are discussed. These allow application to non-linear data, are not so dependent on least squares solutions, normality of errors and less influenced by outliers. In addition there are a wide variety of intuitive methods for visualisation that allow full use of the map space. Modern problems in analytical chemistry include applications to cultural heritage studies, environmental, metabolomic and biological problems result in complex datasets. Methods for visualising maps are described including best matching units, hit histograms, unified distance matrices and component planes. Supervised SOMs for classification including multifactor data and variable selection are discussed as is their use in Quality Control. The paper is illustrated using four case studies, namely the Near Infrared of food, the thermal analysis of polymers, metabolomic analysis of saliva using NMR, and on-line HPLC for pharmaceutical process monitoring. PMID:22594434

  2. Start-to-end simulation of self-amplified spontaneous emission free electron lasers from the gun through the undulator

    CERN Document Server

    Borland, M M; Emma, P; Lewellen, J W; Bharadwaj, V K; Fawley, W M; Krejcik, P; Limborg, C; Milton, S V; Nuhn, H D; Soliday, R; Woodley, M

    2002-01-01

    It is widely appreciated that the performance of self-amplified spontaneous emission free-electron lasers (FELs) depends critically on the properties of the drive beam. In view of this, a multi-laboratory collaboration has explored methods and software tools for integrated simulation of the photoinjector, linear accelerator, bunch compressor, and FEL. Rather than create a single code to handle such a system, our goal has been a robust, generic solution wherein pre-existing simulation codes are used sequentially. We have standardized on the use of Argonne National Laboratory's Self-Describing Data Sets file protocol for transfer of data among codes. The simulation codes used are PARMELA, elegant, and GENESIS. We describe the software methodology and its advantages, then provide examples involving Argonne's Low-Energy Undulator Test Line and Stanford Linear Accelerator Center's Linac Coherent Light Source. We also indicate possible future direction of this work.

  3. Emotions experienced at event recall and the self: Implications for the regulation of self-esteem, self-continuity and meaningfulness.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ritchie, Timothy D; Sedikides, Constantine; Skowronski, John J

    2016-01-01

    The intensity of positive affect elicited by recall of positive events exceeds the intensity of negative affect elicited by recall of negative events (fading affect bias, or FAB). The research described in the present article examined the relation between the FAB and three regulatory goals of the self: esteem, continuity and meaningfulness. The extent to which an event contributed to esteem (Study 1), continuity (Study 2) or meaningfulness (Study 3) was related to positive affect at event recall provoked by positive memories and to negative affect at event recall provoked by negative memories. The relation between affect experienced at recall and the three regulatory goals was bidirectional. The results showcase how individuals use recall for self-regulatory purposes and how they implement self-regulatory goals for positive affect.

  4. Developmental Consequences of Early Parenting Experiences: Self-Recognition and Self-Regulation in Three Cultural Communities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keller, Heidi; Yovsi, Relindis; Borke, Joern; Krtner, Joscha; Jensen, Henning; Papaligoura, Zaira

    2004-01-01

    This study relates parenting of 3-month-old children to children's self-recognition and self-regulation at 18 to 20 months. As hypothesized, observational data revealed differences in the sociocultural orientations of the 3 cultural samples' parenting styles and in toddlers' development of self-recognition and self-regulation. Children of…

  5. Self-piercing riveting properties, processes and applications

    CERN Document Server

    Chrysanthou, A

    2014-01-01

    Due to its speed, low energy requirements, and the fact that it does not require a pre-drilled hole, the technique of self-piercing riveting (SPR) has been increasingly adopted by many industries as a high-speed mechanical fastening technique for the joining of sheet material components. Self-piercing riveting comprehensively reviews the process, equipment, and corrosion behaviour of self-piercing riveting, and also describes the process of evaluation and modelling of strength of self-piercing riveted joints, quality control methods and non-destructive testing.Part one provides an exte

  6. The relationship between self-esteem and sexual self-concept in people with physical-motor disabilities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salehi, Mehrdad; Kharaz Tavakol, Hooman; Shabani, Maede; Ziaei, Tayebe

    2015-01-01

    Self-esteem is the value that the individuals give themselves, and sexual self-concept is also a part of individuality or sexual-self. Impairment or disability exists not only in the physical body of disabled people but also in their attitudes. Negative attitudes affect the mental health of disabled people, causing them to have lower self-esteem. This study aimed to examine the relationship between self-esteem and sexual self-concept in people with physical-motor disabilities. This cross-sectional study was conducted on 200 random samples with physical-motor disabilities covered by Isfahan Welfare Organization in 2013. Data collection instruments were the Persian Eysenck self-esteem questionnaire, and five domains (sexual anxiety, sexual self-efficacy, sexual self-esteem, sexual fear and sexual depression) of the Persian multidimensional sexual self-concept questionnaire. Because of incomplete filling of the questionnaires, the data of 183 people were analyzed by the SPSS 16.0 software. Data were analyzed using the t-test, Man-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests and Spearman correlation coefficient. The mean age was 36.88 ± 8.94 years for women and 37.80 ± 10.13 for men. The mean scores of self-esteem among women and men were 15.80 ± 3.08 and 16.2 ± 2.90, respectively and there was no statistically significance difference. Comparison of the mean scores of sexual anxiety, sexual self-efficacy, sexual self-esteem, sexual fear and sexual depression among men and women showed that women scored higher than men in all domains. This difference was statistically significant in other domains except the sexual self-esteem (14.92 ± 3.61 vs. 13.56 ± 4.52) (P self-esteem, there was a statistical difference between other domains of people's sexual self-concept and degree of disability (P self-esteem and sexual self-efficacy with their self-esteem. This correlation was positive in sexual anxiety and negative in two other domains. Lack of difference in self-esteem of disabled

  7. GeoDataspaces: Simplifying Data Management Tasks with Globus

    Science.gov (United States)

    Malik, T.; Chard, K.; Tchoua, R. B.; Foster, I.

    2014-12-01

    Data and its management are central to modern scientific enterprise. Typically, geoscientists rely on observations and model output data from several disparate sources (file systems, RDBMS, spreadsheets, remote data sources). Integrated data management solutions that provide intuitive semantics and uniform interfaces, irrespective of the kind of data source are, however, lacking. Consequently, geoscientists are left to conduct low-level and time-consuming data management tasks, individually, and repeatedly for discovering each data source, often resulting in errors in handling. In this talk we will describe how the EarthCube GeoDataspace project is improving this situation for seismologists, hydrologists, and space scientists by simplifying some of the existing data management tasks that arise when developing computational models. We will demonstrate a GeoDataspace, bootstrapped with "geounits", which are self-contained metadata packages that provide complete description of all data elements associated with a model run, including input/output and parameter files, model executable and any associated libraries. Geounits link raw and derived data as well as associating provenance information describing how data was derived. We will discuss challenges in establishing geounits and describe machine learning and human annotation approaches that can be used for extracting and associating ad hoc and unstructured scientific metadata hidden in binary formats with data resources and models. We will show how geounits can improve search and discoverability of data associated with model runs. To support this model, we will describe efforts related towards creating a scalable metadata catalog that helps to maintain, search and discover geounits within the Globus network of accessible endpoints. This talk will focus on the issue of creating comprehensive personal inventories of data assets for computational geoscientists, and describe a publishing mechanism, which can be used to

  8. The Self-Esteem Test for Adolescents

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Joaquín Caso Niebla

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available The present study intended to explore construct validity of the Self-esteem Test for Adolescents and update psychometric properties found in previous studies. 1581 Mexican students (850 women and 731 men of a public high school in Mexico City responded to the scale. The sample was split randomly in half. EFA was applied using one sample´s data, and CFA to the other sample´s data. The model, assumed to underlie responses to the Self-esteem Test for Adolescents, satisfactorily fit the data, confirming a structure of 4 factors: self-cognitions, competence cognitions, family relations and rage. Results of the present study corroborate previous data concerning content, criterion-related and construct validity of the Self-esteem Test for Adolescents.

  9. Anomalies of Imagination and Disordered Self in Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rasmussen, Andreas Christian Rosén; Parnas, Josef

    2015-01-01

    Vivid mental imagery occurs frequently in schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSDs). Overlapping phenomena, such as obsessions or ruminations, are also frequent in other psychiatric disorders, raising significant diagnostic challenges. Unfortunately, contemporary operational psychopathology lacks...... the epistemological and phenomenological framework to address such questions. Using the resources of phenomenology and philosophy of mind, we articulate the structure of imagination and describe its distinctive modifications in the SSDs. Drawing on pilot data with patients' self-descriptions, we present the notion...

  10. Describing the self through the photographic medium: the autobiographic fictions of John M. Coetzee, Roland Barthes and Edward Said

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sandra Lila Maya Rota

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available The present study investigates the different approaches to autobiography of three writers – John M. Coetzee, Edward Said and Roland Barthes – who are divided by background and historical circumstances but share the terrain of postcolonial and postmodern theory. In particular, the focus is on the use they make of photographs – real or evoked – that accompany their personal accounts. Using photography as a counterpoint and a parallel to autobiography, they all try and come to terms with issues of subjectivity, representation and authenticity. As a result, their life-long convictions will be challenged by the power of memory, leaving way to a renewed sense of self.

  11. L2 Motivation, Anxiety and Self-Efficacy: The Interrelationship of Individual Variables in the Secondary School Context

    Science.gov (United States)

    Piniel, Katalin; Csizér, Kata

    2013-01-01

    Our study describes the relationship of second language learning motivation, self-efficacy, and anxiety; that is, how motivation, cognition, and affect might interact during the process of second language learning. Questionnaire data were collected from 236 Hungarian students studying at various secondary schools. Structural equation modeling was…

  12. Zoology by Self-Instruction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roach, Keith; Hammond, Roger

    1976-01-01

    A historical account is given of how a conventional university first-year undergraduate course in zoology has been replaced by a self-instructional one. Advantages and problems are weighed, and successful student achievement and interest are described. (LBH)

  13. Informal care and the self-management partnership: implications for Australian health policy and practice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Essue, Beverley M; Jowsey, Tanisha; Jeon, Yun-Hee; Mirzaei, Masoud; Pearce-Brown, Carmen L; Aspin, Clive; Usherwood, Tim P

    2010-11-01

    The Serious and Continuing Illness Policy and Practice Study (SCIPPS) aims to improve the care and support for patients with chronic illness and their family carers. Here we describe the carers' contribution to the self-management partnership and discuss the policy and practice implications that are relevant to improving the support available for informal care in Australia. A secondary analysis of SCIPPS data. Fourteen carers of patients between 45 and 85 years with chronic heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and diabetes were conveniently sampled from western Sydney and the Australian Capital Territory. Semi-structured interviews were conducted. Data were analysed using qualitative content analysis. Key roles that carers perform in the self-management partnership included: home helper; lifestyle coach; advocate; technical care manager; and health information interpreter. Two negative consequences of juggling these roles included: self-neglect and conflict. Rigid eligibility criteria limit carers' access to essential support programs which underestimates and undervalues their contributions to the self-management partnership. Support services should focus on the development of practical skills to perform the caregiving roles. In addition, health professionals require support to work more effectively with carers to minimise the conflict that can overshadow the care and self-management partnership.

  14. The Investigation of Youth Religiosity, with the Emphasis on Self Referential Religiosity (Using Grounded Theory

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Arash Hassan pour

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Religiosity has been pluralized and diversified at present era. This study, accepted this presupposition that religiosity as a varied, diverse and instable issue is out of duality of being religiousness or not. By accepting this presupposition we study and interpret one type of religiosity among youth in Isfahan. To achieve the given purpose, by review the previous studies, in interpretive approach, qualitative method framework, Grounded Theory tradition, interview and Simmel theory about religiosity, data is collected. Based on the findings of the study, and with criteria of “self-recognition” we discovered and identified Self referential religiosity. Also, the results of the qualitative data reveal that religiosity of Youth change to: individual, non-compulsory, private, dispositional, and selective, based on self- Intellection, non-accepting heteronomy of religious institution and tend to contingency, hedonistic Phenomena. Finally In this study we also tried to offer, describe and illustrate paradigmatic model of qualitative data in frame of casual, contextual, consequential circumstances about advent and influence this type of religiosity.

  15. Cherokee self-reliance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lowe, John

    2002-10-01

    This qualitative study was conducted using ethnography to identify how (a) self-reliance is conceptualized by the Cherokee; (b) the adult male Cherokee perceives, achieves, and demonstrates self-reliance; and (c) nurses can incorporate the Cherokee concept of self-reliance into health care of the Cherokee. The goal of self-reliance was included in the following mission statement of the 1976 Cherokee Nation constitution: "The mission of the government of the Cherokee Nation is to promote and sustain the self-reliance of its members" (Resolution No. 28-85, 1976). The conceptualization and perspective of self-reliance by the Cherokee must be understood to assist effectively in the development and promotion of self-reliance in the Cherokee, especially the male Cherokee. The cultural domain of self-reliance that emerged from the data is a composite of three categories that include being responsible, being disciplined, and being confident. Cutting across all three categories are the two themes of being true to onself and being connected.

  16. Team Self-Assessment: Problem Solving for Small Workgroups.

    Science.gov (United States)

    LoBue, Robert

    2002-01-01

    Describes team self-assessment, a task force approach involving frontline workers/supervisors in solving problems or improving performance. Provides examples and discusses its theoretical bases: control self-assessment, Belbin's team roles research, and the team climate inventory. (Contains 23 references.) (SK)

  17. Predicting heavy episodic drinking using an extended temporal self-regulation theory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Black, Nicola; Mullan, Barbara; Sharpe, Louise

    2017-10-01

    Alcohol consumption contributes significantly to the global burden from disease and injury, and specific patterns of heavy episodic drinking contribute uniquely to this burden. Temporal self-regulation theory and the dual-process model describe similar theoretical constructs that might predict heavy episodic drinking. The aims of this study were to test the utility of temporal self-regulation theory in predicting heavy episodic drinking, and examine whether the theoretical relationships suggested by the dual-process model significantly extend temporal self-regulation theory. This was a predictive study with 149 Australian adults. Measures were questionnaires (self-report habit index, cues to action scale, purpose-made intention questionnaire, timeline follow-back questionnaire) and executive function tasks (Stroop, Tower of London, operation span). Participants completed measures of theoretical constructs at baseline and reported their alcohol consumption two weeks later. Data were analysed using hierarchical multiple linear regression. Temporal self-regulation theory significantly predicted heavy episodic drinking (R 2 =48.0-54.8%, ptheory and the extended temporal self-regulation theory provide good prediction of heavy episodic drinking. Intention, behavioural prepotency, planning ability and inhibitory control may be good targets for interventions designed to decrease heavy episodic drinking. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. Tentative purely geometrical Machian framework for describing gravity and inertia

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Goldoni, R [Pisa Univ. (Italy). Ist. di Matematica

    1979-03-03

    The purely geometrical Machian approach to gravitation presented in this letter improves an already published one. In any non vacuum cosmos the gravitational equations in gravitational units are identical to Einstein's equations, while the equations describing the gravitational field in local atomic units are integrodifferential equations in agreement with the available experimental data.

  19. Methods for Specifying Scientific Data Standards and Modeling Relationships with Applications to Neuroscience

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rübel, Oliver; Dougherty, Max; Prabhat; Denes, Peter; Conant, David; Chang, Edward F.; Bouchard, Kristofer

    2016-01-01

    Neuroscience continues to experience a tremendous growth in data; in terms of the volume and variety of data, the velocity at which data is acquired, and in turn the veracity of data. These challenges are a serious impediment to sharing of data, analyses, and tools within and across labs. Here, we introduce BRAINformat, a novel data standardization framework for the design and management of scientific data formats. The BRAINformat library defines application-independent design concepts and modules that together create a general framework for standardization of scientific data. We describe the formal specification of scientific data standards, which facilitates sharing and verification of data and formats. We introduce the concept of Managed Objects, enabling semantic components of data formats to be specified as self-contained units, supporting modular and reusable design of data format components and file storage. We also introduce the novel concept of Relationship Attributes for modeling and use of semantic relationships between data objects. Based on these concepts we demonstrate the application of our framework to design and implement a standard format for electrophysiology data and show how data standardization and relationship-modeling facilitate data analysis and sharing. The format uses HDF5, enabling portable, scalable, and self-describing data storage and integration with modern high-performance computing for data-driven discovery. The BRAINformat library is open source, easy-to-use, and provides detailed user and developer documentation and is freely available at: https://bitbucket.org/oruebel/brainformat. PMID:27867355

  20. Self-Healing Structural Materials for Damage Tolerant Aerospace Vehicles

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The proposed  effort describes how to develop novel lightweight, self-healing systems where self-repair is induced by the forces imparted by the damage event itself....

  1. The Role of Motivational Strategies in Self-Regulated Learning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garcia, Teresa

    1995-01-01

    A discussion of motivational techniques for promoting self-regulated learning in college students focuses on two methods students use to anticipate and negotiate the affective consequences of success and failure. The strategies, defensive pessimism and self-handicapping, are described and a study of their impact on self-regulated learning of 127…

  2. For better and for worse : The relationship between union dissolution and self-assessed health in European Panel Data

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Monden, C.W.S.; Uunk, W.J.G.

    2013-01-01

    We investigate the association between union dissolution and self-assessed health in European panel data. Previous studies suggest that this association might be negative, yet it is unclear to what extent this reflects causation (an effect of union dissolution of health) and/or selection (an effect

  3. Validation of internet-based self-reported anthropometric, demographic data and participant identity in the Food4Me study

    Science.gov (United States)

    BACKGROUND In e-health intervention studies, there are concerns about the reliability of internet-based, self-reported (SR) data and about the potential for identity fraud. This study introduced and tested a novel procedure for assessing the validity of internet-based, SR identity and validated anth...

  4. ASSOCIATION BETWEEN SELF-CARE BEHAVIORS AND SELF-ESTEEM OF RURAL ELDERLIES; NECESSITY OF HEALTH PROMOTION

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bagheri-Nesami, Masoumeh; Goudarzian, Amir Hossein; Mirani, Hesam; Jouybari, Sina Sabourian; Nasiri, Davoud

    2016-01-01

    Introduction: Changes in the modern medical science caused significant reduction of mortality and every day increase of the elderly in the world. According to prevalence of physical and mental problems in elderly, it is necessary to take some actions. Self care in one of the best way to improve elderly health and life satisfaction that seems have a relation to self-esteem. Methods: This descriptive and analytical study was performed on 180 elderly in rural areas of the Sari city. Elderly selected by multi-stage randomize sampling method. Data were gathered by using standard questionnaires of self-care and Rosenberg self-esteem. Data were analyzed by Spearman and Pearson’s correlation using SPSS software (V16). Findings: The mean±SD of the ages of the elderly were 66.85±7.661. The score of self-care varies between 99 to 155 and most of them (66.7%) had good level of self-care. Also, most of elderly (52.2%) had high level of self-esteem. Also there was a significant relationship, between self-care and self-esteem (Pself-care and self-esteem of elderly, by the planning for improving the self care of elderly, can increase their health and significantly reduce from physical and mental complications. PMID:27047266

  5. ASSOCIATION BETWEEN SELF-CARE BEHAVIORS AND SELF-ESTEEM OF RURAL ELDERLIES; NECESSITY OF HEALTH PROMOTION.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bagheri-Nesami, Masoumeh; Goudarzian, Amir Hossein; Mirani, Hesam; Jouybari, Sina Sabourian; Nasiri, Davoud

    2016-02-01

    Changes in the modern medical science caused significant reduction of mortality and every day increase of the elderly in the world. According to prevalence of physical and mental problems in elderly, it is necessary to take some actions. Self care in one of the best way to improve elderly health and life satisfaction that seems have a relation to self-esteem. This descriptive and analytical study was performed on 180 elderly in rural areas of the Sari city. Elderly selected by multi-stage randomize sampling method. Data were gathered by using standard questionnaires of self-care and Rosenberg self-esteem. Data were analyzed by Spearman and Pearson's correlation using SPSS software (V16). The mean±SD of the ages of the elderly were 66.85±7.661. The score of self-care varies between 99 to 155 and most of them (66.7%) had good level of self-care. Also, most of elderly (52.2%) had high level of self-esteem. Also there was a significant relationship, between self-care and self-esteem (Pself-care and self-esteem of elderly, by the planning for improving the self care of elderly, can increase their health and significantly reduce from physical and mental complications.

  6. Peculiarities of college students' self - esteem

    OpenAIRE

    Goštautas, Antanas; Grigaitė, Bronislava; Klasavičienė, Rima

    2004-01-01

    Self-esteem of college students of Lithuania was examined inadequately. Three researches were made and data of 228 students' answers were analyzed, 170 females and 58 males. It was found out that reduced self-esteem dominates among the female as well as male students. Having made the factorial analysis of the data, five main factors of self-esteem of males and females were found out. The legalized and not legalized drugs are used among males irrespectively of self-esteem. Females with low sel...

  7. The Relationship between Health Literacy, Self-Efficacy, and Self-Care Behaviors in Diabetic Patients

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mojgan Masoompour

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available Background: Neglecting self-care behaviors is considered an important factor contributing to mortality among diabetic patients. According to Bandura’s Social-Cognitive Theory, there is a close relationship between individual performance and self-efficacy. Moreover, access to health-related information or health literacy can affect health status. Aim: To investigate the relationship between health literacy, self-efficacy, and self-care behaviors in diabetic patients. Method: This descriptive correlational study was conducted on 400 patients with diabetes referred to a diabetes clinic during 2015. The participants were selected through convenience sampling. The data collection tools included Short Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults, Diabetes Management Self-Efficacy Scale, and the Summary of Diabetes Self-Care Activities. To analyze the data, Pearson’s correlation coefficient, independent t-test, and one-way analysis of variance were run in SPSS, version 19. Results: The mean age of the participants was 55.1±10.1 years and 74.75% of them were male. The mean scores of self-care behaviors, health literacy, and self-efficacy were 61.94±14.35, 63.6±20.7, and 146.3±22.9, respectively. Moreover, the results of Pearson’s correlation coefficient showed a significant direct correlation between health literacy and self-efficacy (P=0.03, r=0.1, as well as health literacy and self-care behaviors (P=0.04, r=0.1. Furthermore, self-efficacy had a significant direct correlation with self-care behaviors (P

  8. Self-correcting Multigrid Solver

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lewandowski, Jerome L.V.

    2004-01-01

    A new multigrid algorithm based on the method of self-correction for the solution of elliptic problems is described. The method exploits information contained in the residual to dynamically modify the source term (right-hand side) of the elliptic problem. It is shown that the self-correcting solver is more efficient at damping the short wavelength modes of the algebraic error than its standard equivalent. When used in conjunction with a multigrid method, the resulting solver displays an improved convergence rate with no additional computational work

  9. Novel understanding of self-reactive T cells

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andersen, Mads Hald

    2016-01-01

    In a recent issue of Immunity, Mark Davis and colleagues describe that thymic selection does not eliminate but prunes self-reactive T cell clones. Self-reactive T cells are a natural part of the T-cell repertoire and may be important in the fight against pathogens in addition to being important...

  10. Cascade and intermittency model for turbulent compressible self-gravitating matter and self-binding phase-space density fluctuations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Biglari, H.; Diamond, P.H.

    1988-01-01

    A simple physical model which describes the dynamics of turbulence and the spectrum of density fluctuations in compressible, self-gravitating matter and self-binding, phase-space density fluctuations is presented. The two systems are analogous to each other in that each tends to self-organize into hierarchical structures via the mechanism of Jeans collapse. The model, the essential physical ingredient of which is a cascade constrained by the physical requirement of quasivirialization, is shown to exhibit interesting geometric properties such as intrinsic intermittency and anisotropy

  11. Depressive symptoms, self-esteem, HIV symptom management self-efficacy and self-compassion in people living with HIV.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eller, L S; Rivero-Mendez, M; Voss, J; Chen, W-T; Chaiphibalsarisdi, P; Iipinge, S; Johnson, M O; Portillo, C J; Corless, I B; Sullivan, K; Tyer-Viola, L; Kemppainen, J; Rose, C Dawson; Sefcik, E; Nokes, K; Phillips, J C; Kirksey, K; Nicholas, P K; Wantland, D; Holzemer, W L; Webel, A R; Brion, J M

    2014-01-01

    The aims of this study were to examine differences in self-schemas between persons living with HIV/AIDS with and without depressive symptoms, and the degree to which these self-schemas predict depressive symptoms in this population. Self-schemas are beliefs about oneself and include self-esteem, HIV symptom management self-efficacy, and self-compassion. Beck's cognitive theory of depression guided the analysis of data from a sample of 1766 PLHIV from the USA and Puerto Rico. Sixty-five percent of the sample reported depressive symptoms. These symptoms were significantly (p ≤ 0.05), negatively correlated with age (r = -0.154), education (r = -0.106), work status (r = -0.132), income adequacy (r = -0.204, self-esteem (r = -0.617), HIV symptom self-efficacy (r = - 0.408), and self-kindness (r = - 0.284); they were significantly, positively correlated with gender (female/transgender) (r = 0.061), white or Hispanic race/ethnicity (r = 0.047) and self-judgment (r = 0.600). Fifty-one percent of the variance (F = 177.530 (df = 1524); p education, work status, income adequacy, self-esteem, HIV symptom self-efficacy, and self-judgment. The strongest predictor of depressive symptoms was self-judgment. Results lend support to Beck's theory that those with negative self-schemas are more vulnerable to depression and suggest that clinicians should evaluate PLHIV for negative self-schemas. Tailored interventions for the treatment of depressive symptoms in PLHIV should be tested and future studies should evaluate whether alterations in negative self-schemas are the mechanism of action of these interventions and establish causality in the treatment of depressive symptoms in PLHIV.

  12. About the composition of self-relevance: Conjunctions not features are bound to the self.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schäfer, Sarah; Frings, Christian; Wentura, Dirk

    2016-06-01

    Sui and colleagues (Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 38, 1105-1117, 2012) introduced a matching paradigm to investigate prioritized processing of instructed self-relevance. They arbitrarily assigned simple geometric shapes to the participant and two other persons. Subsequently, the task was to judge whether label-shape pairings matched or not. The authors found a remarkable self-prioritization effect, that is, for matching self-related trials verification was very fast and accurate in comparison to the non-matching conditions. We analyzed whether single features or feature conjunctions are tagged to the self. In particular, we assigned colored shapes to the labels and included partial-matching trials (i.e., trials in which only one feature matched the label, whereas the other feature did not match the label). If single features are tagged to the self, partial matches would result in interference, whereas they should elicit the same data pattern as non-matching trials if only feature conjunctions are tagged to the self. Our data suggest the latter; only feature conjunctions are tagged to the self and are processed in a prioritized manner. This result emphasizes the functionality of self-relevance as a selection mechanism.

  13. Children's self-esteem based on their sex

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Antonio Serrano Muñoz

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available The following study proposes describing the levels of self-esteem in children and analyzing whether there are differences based on their sex. The sample consists of 1,757 children aged from 3 to 7. For self-esteem assessment, the EDINA questionnaire was administrated, which shows an appropriate reliability rate (0.803. The self-esteem of girls and boys studied is high. Statistical analyzes showed: a significantly higher scores on self-esteem of girls; b a decrease on self-esteem associated to age of children; c significant differences depending on the socioeconomic status; and d higher level of self-esteem in children when they have a woman as advisor of class group. In future researches, we suggest the need to study in depth the evolution of sex differences in relation to self-esteem.

  14. Body dissatisfaction, trait anxiety and self-esteem in young men

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Czeglédi Edit

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Background and purpose: Body image dissatisfaction has recently been described as 'normative' for both men and women. Despite intense theoretical interest in a multidimensional concept of male body image, comprehensive models have rarely been assessed empirically. The aim of this study was therefore to examine the relationship between body image and self-esteem among men in a multivariate model. Methods: Participants of this cross-sectional questionnaire study were 239 male university students (mean age: 20.3 years, SD=2.78 years, range: 18-39 years. Measures: self-reported anthropometric data, weightlifting activity, importance of appearance, perceived weight status, satisfaction with body height, Body Shape Questionnaire - Short form, Muscle Appearance Satisfaction Scale, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. Results: Structural equation modeling showed that after controlling for age, BMI, weightlifting activity, the importance of appearance, and trait anxiety, only muscle dissatisfaction predicted lower self-esteem (β=-0.11, p=0.033. Neither height dissatisfaction nor weight dissatisfaction showed significant association with selfesteem. Muscle dissatisfaction partially mediated the relationship between trait anxiety and self-esteem (β=-0.04, p=0.049, R2=0.05. The model explained 50.4% of the variance in selfesteem. Conclusions: The results emphasize that trait anxiety might be a background variable in the relationship between males' body dissatisfaction and self-esteem, which should be considered in future studies and in the course of therapy.

  15. Physical activity, self-efficacy and self-esteem in breast cancer survivors: a panel model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Awick, Elizabeth A; Phillips, Siobhan M; Lloyd, Gillian R; McAuley, Edward

    2017-10-01

    Physical activity (PA) has been consistently associated with improved self-esteem in breast cancer survivors. However, this relationship is poorly understood. The purpose of this study was to examine whether changes in PA and self-efficacy influenced changes in self-esteem in breast cancer survivors across 6 months. Increases in PA were hypothesized to result in increases in self-efficacy, which were hypothesized to influence increases in physical self-worth (PSW) and global self-esteem. Breast cancer survivors (n = 370; M age  = 56.04) wore accelerometers to measure PA and completed measures of self-efficacy (e.g., exercise and barriers self-efficacy), PSW, and global self-esteem at baseline and 6 months. The hypothesized model provided a good fit to the data (χ 2  = 67.56, df = 26, p self-efficacy. In turn, more efficacious women reported significantly higher PSW (β = 0.26, 0.16). Finally, higher PSW was significantly associated with greater global self-esteem (β = 0.47). Relationships were similar among changes in model constructs over 6 months. After controlling for covariates, the hypothesized model provided an excellent fit to the data (χ 2  = 59.93, df = 33, p = 0.003; comparative fit index = 0.99; standardized root mean residual = 0.03). Our findings provide support for the role played by PA and self-efficacy in positive self-esteem, a key component of well-being. Highlighting successful PA mastery experiences is likely to enhance self-efficacy and improve self-esteem in this population. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  16. Gait Recognition Using Image Self-Similarity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chiraz BenAbdelkader

    2004-04-01

    Full Text Available Gait is one of the few biometrics that can be measured at a distance, and is hence useful for passive surveillance as well as biometric applications. Gait recognition research is still at its infancy, however, and we have yet to solve the fundamental issue of finding gait features which at once have sufficient discrimination power and can be extracted robustly and accurately from low-resolution video. This paper describes a novel gait recognition technique based on the image self-similarity of a walking person. We contend that the similarity plot encodes a projection of gait dynamics. It is also correspondence-free, robust to segmentation noise, and works well with low-resolution video. The method is tested on multiple data sets of varying sizes and degrees of difficulty. Performance is best for fronto-parallel viewpoints, whereby a recognition rate of 98% is achieved for a data set of 6 people, and 70% for a data set of 54 people.

  17. Self powered neutron detectors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gopalan, C.S.; Ramachandra Rao, M.N.; Ingale, A.D.

    1976-01-01

    Two types of self powered neutron detectors used for in-core flux measurements are described. The characteristics of the various detectors, with emitters Rh, V, Co, Py are presented. Details about the fabrication of these detectors are given. (A.K.)

  18. A rapid technique for estimating the depth and width of a two-dimensional plate from self-potential data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mehanee, Salah; Smith, Paul D; Essa, Khalid S

    2011-01-01

    Rapid techniques for self-potential (SP) data interpretation are of prime importance in engineering and exploration geophysics. Parameters (e.g. depth, width) estimation of the ore bodies has also been of paramount concern in mineral prospecting. In many cases, it is useful to assume that the SP anomaly is due to an ore body of simple geometric shape and to use the data to determine its parameters. In light of this, we describe a rapid approach to determine the depth and horizontal width of a two-dimensional plate from the SP anomaly. The rationale behind the scheme proposed in this paper is that, unlike the two- (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) SP rigorous source current inversions, it does not demand a priori information about the subsurface resistivity distribution nor high computational resources. We apply the second-order moving average operator on the SP anomaly to remove the unwanted (regional) effect, represented by up to a third-order polynomial, using filters of successive window lengths. By defining a function F at a fixed window length (s) in terms of the filtered anomaly computed at two points symmetrically distributed about the origin point of the causative body, the depth (z) corresponding to each half-width (w) is estimated by solving a nonlinear equation in the form ξ(s, w, z) = 0. The estimated depths are then plotted against their corresponding half-widths on a graph representing a continuous curve for this window length. This procedure is then repeated for each available window length. The depth and half-width solution of the buried structure is read at the common intersection of these various curves. The improvement of this method over the published first-order moving average technique for SP data is demonstrated on a synthetic data set. It is then verified on noisy synthetic data, complicated structures and successfully applied to three field examples for mineral exploration and we have found that the estimated depth is in good agreement with

  19. Archigregarines of the English Channel revisited: New molecular data on Selenidium species including early described and new species and the uncertainties of phylogenetic relationships.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sonja Rueckert

    Full Text Available Gregarines represent an important transition step from free-living predatory (colpodellids s.l. and/or photosynthetic (Chromera and Vitrella apicomplexan lineages to the most important pathogens, obligate intracellular parasites of humans and domestic animals such as coccidians and haemosporidians (Plasmodium, Toxoplasma, Eimeria, Babesia, etc.. While dozens of genomes of other apicomplexan groups are available, gregarines are barely entering the molecular age. Among the gregarines, archigregarines possess a unique mixture of ancestral (myzocytosis and derived (lack of apicoplast, presence of subpellicular microtubules features.In this study we revisited five of the early-described species of the genus Selenidium including the type species Selenidium pendula, with special focus on surface ultrastructure and molecular data. We were also able to describe three new species within this genus. All species were characterized at morphological (light and scanning electron microscopy data and molecular (SSU rDNA sequence data levels. Gregarine specimens were isolated from polychaete hosts collected from the English Channel near the Station Biologique de Roscoff, France: Selenidium pendula from Scolelepis squamata, S. hollandei and S. sabellariae from Sabellaria alveolata, S. sabellae from Sabella pavonina, Selenidium fallax from Cirriformia tentaculata, S. spiralis sp. n. and S. antevariabilis sp. n. from Amphitritides gracilis, and S. opheliae sp. n. from Ophelia roscoffensis. Molecular phylogenetic analyses of these data showed archigregarines clustering into five separate clades and support previous doubts about their monophyly.Our phylogenies using the extended gregarine sampling show that the archigregarines are indeed not monophyletic with one strongly supported clade of Selenidium sequences around the type species S. pendula. We suggest the revision of the whole archigregarine taxonomy with only the species within this clade remaining in the genus

  20. Concordance Between Self-Reported Childhood Maltreatment Versus Case Record Reviews for Child Welfare?Affiliated Adolescents: Prevalence Rates and Associations With Outcomes

    OpenAIRE

    Negriff, Sonya; Schneiderman, Janet U.; Trickett, Penelope K.

    2016-01-01

    The present study used data from an ongoing longitudinal study of the effects of maltreatment on adolescent development to (1) describe rates of maltreatment experiences obtained from retrospective self-report versus case record review for adolescents with child welfare?documented maltreatment histories, (2) examine self-reported versus child welfare?identified maltreatment in relation to mental health and risk behavior outcomes by maltreatment type, and (3) examine the association between th...

  1. Influence of Self Esteem, Self Efficacy and Interest in Schooling on ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Using a correlational design, this study investigated the influence of interest in schooling, academic self efficacy and self esteem on reading comprehension among 300 selected students in Oyo State. Four standardized and valid scales were used to retrieved data from participants. Three research hypotheses were raised ...

  2. 4-D imaging of seepage in earthen embankments with time-lapse inversion of self-potential data constrained by acoustic emissions localization

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rittgers, J. B.; Revil, A.; Planes, T.; Mooney, M. A.; Koelewijn, A. R.

    2015-02-01

    New methods are required to combine the information contained in the passive electrical and seismic signals to detect, localize and monitor hydromechanical disturbances in porous media. We propose a field experiment showing how passive seismic and electrical data can be combined together to detect a preferential flow path associated with internal erosion in a Earth dam. Continuous passive seismic and electrical (self-potential) monitoring data were recorded during a 7-d full-scale levee (earthen embankment) failure test, conducted in Booneschans, Netherlands in 2012. Spatially coherent acoustic emissions events and the development of a self-potential anomaly, associated with induced concentrated seepage and internal erosion phenomena, were identified and imaged near the downstream toe of the embankment, in an area that subsequently developed a series of concentrated water flows and sand boils, and where liquefaction of the embankment toe eventually developed. We present a new 4-D grid-search algorithm for acoustic emissions localization in both time and space, and the application of the localization results to add spatially varying constraints to time-lapse 3-D modelling of self-potential data in the terms of source current localization. Seismic signal localization results are utilized to build a set of time-invariant yet spatially varying model weights used for the inversion of the self-potential data. Results from the combination of these two passive techniques show results that are more consistent in terms of focused ground water flow with respect to visual observation on the embankment. This approach to geophysical monitoring of earthen embankments provides an improved approach for early detection and imaging of the development of embankment defects associated with concentrated seepage and internal erosion phenomena. The same approach can be used to detect various types of hydromechanical disturbances at larger scales.

  3. Immune Regulation by Self-Recognition

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andersen, Mads Hald

    2015-01-01

    Circulating T cells that specifically target normal self-proteins expressed by regulatory immune cells were first described in patients with cancer, but can also be detected in healthy individuals. The adaptive immune system is distinguished for its ability to differentiate between self......-antigens and foreign antigens. Thus, it was remarkable to discover T cells that apparently lacked tolerance to important self-proteins, eg, IDO, PD-L1, and FoxP3, expressed in regulatory immune cells. The ability of self-reactive T cells to react to and eliminate regulatory immune cells can influence general immune...... reactions. This suggests that they may be involved in immune homeostasis. It is here proposed that these T cells should be termed antiregulatory T cells (anti-Tregs). The role of anti-Tregs in immune-regulatory networks may be diverse. For example, pro-inflammatory self-reactive T cells that react...

  4. Parameterization of LSB in Self-Recovery Speech Watermarking Framework in Big Data Mining

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shuo Li

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The privacy is a major concern in big data mining approach. In this paper, we propose a novel self-recovery speech watermarking framework with consideration of trustable communication in big data mining. In the framework, the watermark is the compressed version of the original speech. The watermark is embedded into the least significant bit (LSB layers. At the receiver end, the watermark is used to detect the tampered area and recover the tampered speech. To fit the complexity of the scenes in big data infrastructures, the LSB is treated as a parameter. This work discusses the relationship between LSB and other parameters in terms of explicit mathematical formulations. Once the LSB layer has been chosen, the best choices of other parameters are then deduced using the exclusive method. Additionally, we observed that six LSB layers are the limit for watermark embedding when the total bit layers equaled sixteen. Experimental results indicated that when the LSB layers changed from six to three, the imperceptibility of watermark increased, while the quality of the recovered signal decreased accordingly. This result was a trade-off and different LSB layers should be chosen according to different application conditions in big data infrastructures.

  5. Illness perception, treatment beliefs, self-esteem, and self-efficacy as correlates of self-management in multiple sclerosis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilski, M; Tasiemski, T

    2016-05-01

    Self-management of a disease is considered one of the most important factors affecting the treatment outcome. The research on the correlates of self-management in multiple sclerosis (MS) is limited. The aim of this study was to determine if personal factors, such as illness perception, treatment beliefs, self-esteem and self-efficacy, are correlates of self-management in MS. This cross-sectional study included 210 patients with MS who completed Multiple Sclerosis Self-Management Scale - Revised, Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire, Treatment Beliefs Scale, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale. The patients were recruited from a MS rehabilitation clinic. Demographic data and illness-related problems of the study participants were collected with a self-report survey. Correlation and regression analyses were performed to determine associations between variables. Four factors: age at the time of the study (β = 0.14, P = 0.032), timeline (β = 0.16, P = 0.018), treatment control (β = 0.17, P = 0.022), and general self-efficacy (β = 0.19, P = 0.014) turned out to be the significant correlates of self-management in MS. The model including these variables explained 25% of variance in self-management in MS. Personal factors, such as general self-efficacy, perception of treatment control and realistic MS timeline perspective, are more salient correlates of self-management in MS than the objective clinical variables, such as the severity, type, and duration of MS. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  6. A Qualitative Exploration of Self-Kindness and “Treating Oneself” in Contexts of Eating, Weight Regulation and Other Health Behaviors: Implications for Mindfulness-Based Eating Programs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Helen Egan

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available Background: Caring for oneself through mindfulness and compassion to improve or enhance health behaviors, and specifically eating behaviors has come to the forefront of scientific inquiry. The experiences and challenges for people in decision making around food within the context of self-kindness for body and mind care have not been previously explored.Aims: This study explored the experiences of eating behaviors in a community sample and examined the understanding of self-kindness and its relationship to eating behaviors and wellbeing of body and mind.Methods: A phenomenological theoretical position was taken; data were collected using individual semi-structured interviews. The sample was twenty-five members of the wider community in the West Midlands in England. The data were analyzed using Braun and Clarke’s (2006 procedural steps for thematic analysis.Results: Two overarching themes were inductively formulated: ‘Thinking about eating’ and ‘Caring for body and mind’. Five themes were constructed: (a Treat food is exceptional eating, (b The proof of the pudding is in the planning, (c Dieting is a dirty word, which are subsumed under Thinking about eating, and (d Self-kindness is a disavowed abstract noun, and (e Self-kindness: A rose by any other name; under Caring for body and mind. Participants described a number of ways of treating themselves both with food and with other activities and pleasure in eating was discussed in terms of social aspects of eating rather than food. Two clear contradictions within narratives around eating and health behaviors were shown. Participants largely eschewed the concept of dieting, but described engaging in highly regulated and restrained eating. There was a lack of connection with the notion of self-kindness; although positive eating and exercise health behaviors were undertaken, they were described as necessary self-regulation, not construed as acts of self-kindness.Conclusion: The results

  7. Patterns in clinical students' self-regulated learning behavior: a Q-methodology study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berkhout, Joris J; Teunissen, Pim W; Helmich, Esther; van Exel, Job; van der Vleuten, Cees P M; Jaarsma, Debbie A D C

    2017-03-01

    Students feel insufficiently supported in clinical environments to engage in active learning and achieve a high level of self-regulation. As a result clinical learning is highly demanding for students. Because of large differences between students, supervisors may not know how to support them in their learning process. We explored patterns in undergraduate students' self-regulated learning behavior in the clinical environment, to improve tailored supervision, using Q-methodology. Q-methodology uses features of both qualitative and quantitative methods for the systematic investigation of subjective issues by having participants sort statements along a continuum to represent their opinion. We enrolled 74 students between December 2014 and April 2015 and had them characterize their learning behavior by sorting 52 statements about self-regulated learning behavior and explaining their response. The statements used for the sorting were extracted from a previous study. The data was analyzed using by-person factor analysis to identify clusters of individuals with similar sorts of the statements. The resulting factors and qualitative data were used to interpret and describe the patterns that emerged. Five resulting patterns were identified in students' self-regulated learning behavior in the clinical environment, which we labelled: Engaged, Critically opportunistic, Uncertain, Restrained and Effortful. The five patterns varied mostly regarding goals, metacognition, communication, effort, and dependence on external regulation for learning. These discrete patterns in students' self-regulated learning behavior in the clinical environment are part of a complex interaction between student and learning context. The results suggest that developing self-regulated learning behavior might best be supported regarding individual students' needs.

  8. Rasch measurement of self-regulated learning in an information and communication technology (ICT)-rich environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Njiru, Joseph N; Waugh, Russell F

    2007-01-01

    This report describes how a linear scale of self-regulated learning in an ICT-rich environment was created by analysing student data using the Rasch measurement model. A person convenience sample of (N = 409) university students in Western Australia was used. The stem-item sample was initially 41, answered in two perspectives ("I aim for this" and "I actually do this"), and reduced to 16 that fitted the measurement model to form a unidimensional scale. Items for motivation (extrinsic rewards, intrinsic rewards, and social rewards), academic goals (fear of performing poorly) (but not standards), self-learning beliefs (ability and interest), task management (strategies and time management) (but not cooperative learning), Volition (action control (but not environmental control), and self-evaluation (cognitive self-evaluation and metacognition) fitted the measurement model. The proportion of observed variance considered true was 0.90. A new instrument is proposed to handle the conceptually valid but non-fitting items. Characteristics of high self-regulated learners are measured.

  9. Fluid drag reduction and efficient self-cleaning with rice leaf and butterfly wing bioinspired surfaces

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bixler, Gregory D.; Bhushan, Bharat

    2013-08-01

    Researchers are continually inspired by living nature to solve complex challenges. For example, unique surface characteristics of rice leaves and butterfly wings combine the shark skin (anisotropic flow leading to low drag) and lotus leaf (superhydrophobic and self-cleaning) effects, producing the so-called rice and butterfly wing effect. In this paper, we present an overview of rice leaf and butterfly wing fluid drag and self-cleaning studies. In addition, we examine two other promising aquatic surfaces in nature known for such properties, including fish scales and shark skin. Morphology, drag, self-cleaning, contact angle, and contact angle hysteresis data are presented to understand the role of wettability, viscosity, and velocity. Liquid repellent coatings are utilized to recreate or combine various effects. Discussion is provided along with conceptual models describing the role of surface structures related to low drag, self-cleaning, and antifouling properties. Modeling provides design guidance when developing novel low drag and self-cleaning surfaces for applications in the medical, marine, and industrial fields.

  10. Case Study: Severe Self-Injurious Behavior in Comorbid Tourette's Disorder and OCD

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hood, Korey K.; Baptista-Neto, Lourival; Beasley, Pamela J.; Lobis, Robert; Pravdova, Iva

    2004-01-01

    This case report describes the successful treatment of severe self-injurious behavior in a 16-year-old adolescent with Tourette's disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Treatment is described from initial presentation to the emergency department for severe self-inflicted oral lacerations through discharge from the inpatient psychiatric…

  11. When does self-esteem relate to deviant behavior? The role of contingencies of self-worth.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ferris, D Lance; Brown, Douglas J; Lian, Huiwen; Keeping, Lisa M

    2009-09-01

    Researchers have assumed that low self-esteem predicts deviance, but empirical results have been mixed. This article draws upon recent theoretical developments regarding contingencies of self-worth to clarify the self-esteem/deviance relation. It was predicted that self-esteem level would relate to deviance only when self-esteem was not contingent on workplace performance. In this manner, contingent self-esteem is a boundary condition for self-consistency/behavioral plasticity theory predictions. Using multisource data collected from 123 employees over 6 months, the authors examined the interaction between level (high/low) and type (contingent/noncontingent) of self-esteem in predicting workplace deviance. Results support the hypothesized moderating effects of contingent self-esteem; implications for self-esteem theories are discussed.

  12. Self-entrustment: how trainees' self-regulated learning supports participation in the workplace.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sagasser, Margaretha H; Kramer, Anneke W M; Fluit, Cornelia R M G; van Weel, Chris; van der Vleuten, Cees P M

    2017-10-01

    Clinical workplaces offer postgraduate trainees a wealth of opportunities to learn from experience. To promote deliberate and meaningful learning self-regulated learning skills are foundational. We explored trainees' learning activities related to patient encounters to better understand what aspects of self-regulated learning contribute to trainees' development, and to explore supervisor's role herein. We conducted a qualitative non-participant observational study in seven general practices. During two days we observed trainee's patient encounters, daily debriefing sessions and educational meetings between trainee and supervisor and interviewed them separately afterwards. Data collection and analysis were iterative and inspired by a phenomenological approach. To organise data we used networks, time-ordered matrices and codebooks. Self-regulated learning supported trainees to increasingly perform independently. They engaged in self-regulated learning before, during and after encounters. Trainees' activities depended on the type of medical problem presented and on patient, trainee and supervisor characteristics. Trainees used their sense of confidence to decide if they could manage the encounter alone or if they should consult their supervisor. They deliberately used feedback on their performance and engaged in reflection. Supervisors appeared vital in trainees' learning by reassuring trainees, discussing experience, knowledge and professional issues, identifying possible unawareness of incompetence, assessing performance and securing patient safety. Self-confidence, reflection and feedback, and support from the supervisor are important aspects of self-regulated learning in practice. The results reflect how self-regulated learning and self-entrustment promote trainees' increased participation in the workplace. Securing organized moments of interaction with supervisors is beneficial to trainees' self-regulated learning.

  13. [Self-reflection, interpersonal behavior and psychoanalytic ethics].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bürgy, M

    1997-05-01

    In the middle ages, ethical practice included a metaphysical theory of value. In comparison with that, self-reflection and interpersonality should be described as principles of more individual ethics and proceeding from philosophy to psychoanalysis in modern times. Drawing a borderline between human philosophy and metaphysies, Kant defined his so-called categorial imperative as a basic phenomenon of human reciprocity. Ethical relationship to another person, however, requires realization of one's own self, i.e. self-reflection. Hegel's subsequent association of intersubjectivity and selfreflection supplied the basis for Sarte's constitution of consciousness: Existence as existing for the good of the fellow-being. Self-reflection, basing on the sight of one's own self by the other person, leads to Sartre's concept of existential psychoanalysis and to his understanding of ethics. His concept illustrates the decline of significance of philosophy for the analysis of human relationship. Habermas describes self-reflection and interpersonality as fundamental principles of the psychoanalytic therapy and its ethical demands. With the historical concept of the super-ego, Freud established therapeutical one-sidedness and abstinence from ethics; however, as therapeutical interrelationship continued to intensity, ethics of depth psychology also began to develop. This ethical demand was not expressly formulated within the context of psychoanalysis, with the exception of jung and his epigones. Nevertheless, psychoanalytic interaction implies the development of self-reflection, which definitely represents a step forward in the sense of "ethical enlightenment" represented by Kant.

  14. Deformation of a geo-medium with considering for internal self-balancing stresses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lavrikov, S. V.; Revuzhenko, A. F.

    2016-11-01

    Based on the general concept of rock as a medium with inner sources and sinks of energy, the authors consider an approach to mathematical modeling of a geo-medium with account for internal self-balancing stresses. The description of stresses and strains at the level of microstructural elements and macrovolume of the medium uses methods of non-Archimedean analysis. The model allows describing the accumulation of elastic energy in the form of internal self-balancing stresses. A finite element algorithm and a software program for solving plane boundary-value problems have been developed. The calculated data on rock specimen compression are given. It is shown that the behavior of plastic deformation zones depends on the pre-assigned initial microstresses.

  15. The Relationship Between Self-Esteem and Sexual Self-Concept in People With Physical-Motor Disabilities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salehi, Mehrdad; Kharaz Tavakol, Hooman; Shabani, Maede; Ziaei, Tayebe

    2015-01-01

    Background: Self-esteem is the value that the individuals give themselves, and sexual self-concept is also a part of individuality or sexual-self. Impairment or disability exists not only in the physical body of disabled people but also in their attitudes. Negative attitudes affect the mental health of disabled people, causing them to have lower self-esteem. Objectives: This study aimed to examine the relationship between self-esteem and sexual self-concept in people with physical-motor disabilities. Patients and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 200 random samples with physical-motor disabilities covered by Isfahan Welfare Organization in 2013. Data collection instruments were the Persian Eysenck self-esteem questionnaire, and five domains (sexual anxiety, sexual self-efficacy, sexual self-esteem, sexual fear and sexual depression) of the Persian multidimensional sexual self-concept questionnaire. Because of incomplete filling of the questionnaires, the data of 183 people were analyzed by the SPSS 16.0 software. Data were analyzed using the t-test, Man-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests and Spearman correlation coefficient. Results: The mean age was 36.88 ± 8.94 years for women and 37.80 ± 10.13 for men. The mean scores of self-esteem among women and men were 15.80 ± 3.08 and 16.2 ± 2.90, respectively and there was no statistically significance difference. Comparison of the mean scores of sexual anxiety, sexual self-efficacy, sexual self-esteem, sexual fear and sexual depression among men and women showed that women scored higher than men in all domains. This difference was statistically significant in other domains except the sexual self-esteem (14.92 ± 3.61 vs. 13.56 ± 4.52) (P self-esteem, there was a statistical difference between other domains of people’s sexual self-concept and degree of disability (P self-esteem and sexual self-efficacy with their self-esteem. This correlation was positive in sexual anxiety and negative in two other

  16. Self Stigma Among People with Bipolar-I Disorder in Iran

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gita Sadighi

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available Objectives: Psychiatric stigma refers to systemic and internalized stereotypical negative attitudes against individual with mental illness. This article describes the level of self stigma, stereotype endorsement and perceived discrimination experienced by patients with Bipolar-I disorder in Tehran. Methods: Data were collected from a total of 126 patients with Bipolar-I disorder who responded to acute phase treatment using the Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness scale. The ISMI scale has five subscales: Alienation, Stereotype Endorsement, Perceived Discrimination, Social Withdrawal and Stigma Resistance. Results: In this study 26.7% of participants reported moderate to high levels of self stigma, 57.49% moderate to high levels of stigma resistance and 18.3% moderate to high levels of Perceived discrimination. Discussion: The results suggest that, self stigma appears in over one fifth of individuals with Bipolar-I disorder in Iran. The symptoms of Bipolar-I disorder has profound impacts on the quality of life of affected patients. Psychosocial functioning and self-esteem is impaired in people with Bipolar-I disorder. Interventions are required to reduce the negative effects of internalized stigma in this group.

  17. Self-assembly of cyclodextrins

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Fülöp, Z.; Kurkov, S.V.; Nielsen, T.T.

    2012-01-01

    The design of functional cyclodextrin (CD) nanoparticles is a developing area in the field of nanomedicine. CDs can not only help in the formation of drug carriers but also increase the local concentration of drugs at the site of action. CD monomers form aggregates by self-assembly, a tendency...... that increases upon formation of inclusion complexes with lipophilic drugs. However, the stability of such aggregates is not sufficient for parenteral administration. In this review CD polymers and CD containing nanoparticles are categorized, with focus on self-assembled CD nanoparticles. It is described how...

  18. Describing the organization of dominance relationships by dominance-directed tree method.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Izar, Patrícia; Ferreira, Renata G; Sato, Takechi

    2006-02-01

    Methods to describe dominance hierarchies are a key tool in primatology studies. Most current methods are appropriate for analyzing linear and near-linear hierarchies; however, more complex structures are common in primate groups. We propose a method termed "dominance-directed tree." This method is based on graph theory and set theory to analyze dominance relationships in social groups. The method constructs a transitive matrix by imposing transitivity to the dominance matrix and produces a graphical representation of the dominance relationships, which allows an easy visualization of the hierarchical position of the individuals, or subsets of individuals. The method is also able to detect partial and complete hierarchies, and to describe situations in which hierarchical and nonhierarchical principles operate. To illustrate the method, we apply a dominance tree analysis to artificial data and empirical data from a group of Cebus apella. Copyright 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

  19. Features of self-esteem in patients with various speech disorders

    OpenAIRE

    Anastasia E. Vishneva

    2016-01-01

    The paper presents the results of the self-assessment study in patients with aphasia and dysarthria after stroke or traumatic brain injury. All the patients were neurorehabilitation course. Self-esteem is considered as important parameter in the study of the psychological status of patients. This article describes the differences in the quantitative and qualitative parameters of self-esteem in patients with various speech defect (motor aphasia, temporal aphasia, dysarthria). The actual self-e...

  20. Self-handicapping status, claimed self-handicaps and reduced practice effort following success and failure feedback.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thompson, T; Richardson, A

    2001-03-01

    Self-handicapping involves the strategic establishment of an impediment or obstacle to success prior to a performance situation which thereby provides a convenient excuse for poor performance. The study sought to establish that relative to low trait self-handicappers, high trait self-handicappers exposed to failure in an intellectually evaluative situation will (a) pre-emptively claim more handicaps, and (b) behaviourally self-handicap through reduced practice effort, and (c) report greater anxiety and negative affect relative to low trait self-handicappers. Participants were 72 undergraduate students, divided equally between high and low self-handicapping groups. This study utilised a 2 (self-handicapping status: high, low) x 3 (performance feedback: fail, low task importance; fail, high task importance; success) between-subjects factorial design to investigate claimed and behavioural self-handicapping through reduced practice effort. This was done by manipulating performance outcome and perceived task importance. Relative to low trait self-handicappers, high trait high self-handicappers claimed more handicaps and engaged in greater behavioural self-handicapping following failure when working on tasks that were described as potentially diagnostic of low ability. While low self-handicappers internalised their success more than their failure in the high task importance condition, high self-handicappers were undifferentiated in their attributions across performance conditions. Greater anxiety and greater negative affect were also characteristic of high self-handicappers. The study highlights the self-protective benefit of self-handicapping in sparing the individual from conclusions of low ability, and the failure of high self-handicappers to fully internalise their success. These elements and the role of uncertain estimates of ability are discussed in considering implications for intervention.