A semi-empirical model for the formation and depletion of the high burnup structure in UO{sub 2}

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pizzocri, D. [European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Directorate for Nuclear Safety and Security, PO Box 2340, 76125, Karlsruhe (Germany); Politecnico di Milano, Department of Energy, Nuclear Engineering Division, Via La Masa 34, 20156, Milan (Italy); Cappia, F. [European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Directorate for Nuclear Safety and Security, PO Box 2340, 76125, Karlsruhe (Germany); Technische Universität München, Boltzmannstraße 15, 85747, Garching bei München (Germany); Luzzi, L., E-mail: lelio.luzzi@polimi.it [Politecnico di Milano, Department of Energy, Nuclear Engineering Division, Via La Masa 34, 20156, Milan (Italy); Pastore, G. [Idaho National Laboratory, Fuel Modeling and Simulation Department, 2525 Fremont Avenue, 83415, Idaho Falls (United States); Rondinella, V.V.; Van Uffelen, P. [European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Directorate for Nuclear Safety and Security, PO Box 2340, 76125, Karlsruhe (Germany)

2017-04-15

In the rim zone of UO{sub 2} nuclear fuel pellets, the combination of high burnup and low temperature drives a microstructural change, leading to the formation of the high burnup structure (HBS). In this work, we propose a semi-empirical model to describe the formation of the HBS, which embraces the polygonisation/recrystallization process and the depletion of intra-granular fission gas, describing them as inherently related. For this purpose, we performed grain-size measurements on samples at radial positions in which the restructuring was incomplete. Based on these new experimental data, we infer an exponential reduction of the average grain size with local effective burnup, paired with a simultaneous depletion of intra-granular fission gas driven by diffusion. The comparison with currently used models indicates the applicability of the herein developed model within integral fuel performance codes. - Highlights: •Development of a new model for the formation and depletion of the high burnup structure. •New average grain-size measurements to support model development. •Formation threshold of the high burnup structure based on the concept of effective burnup. •Coupled description of grain recrystallization/polygonisation and depletion of intra-granular fission gas. •Model suitable for application in fuel performance codes.

Chronic kidney disease in Nicaragua: a qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews with physicians and pharmacists.

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Ramirez-Rubio, Oriana; Brooks, Daniel R; Amador, Juan Jose; Kaufman, James S; Weiner, Daniel E; Scammell, Madeleine Kangsen

2013-04-16

Northwestern Nicaragua has a high prevalence of chronic kidney disease (CKD) of unknown cause among young adult men. In addition, frequent occurrence of urinary tract infections (UTI) among men and a dysuria syndrome described by sugarcane workers as "chistata" are both reported. This study examines health professionals´ perceptions regarding etiology of these conditions and their treatment approaches, including use of potentially nephrotoxic medications. Nineteen in-person semi-structured interviews were conducted in November 2010 among ten physicians and nine pharmacists practicing in the region. Health professionals perceived CKD as a serious and increasing problem in the region, primarily affecting young men working as manual laborers. All interviewees regarded occupational and environmental exposure to sun and heat, and dehydration as critical factors associated with the occurrence of CKD. These factors were also considered to play a role in the occurrence of chistata in the region. Health professionals indicated that reluctance among workers to hydrate might be influenced by perceptions of water contamination. Symptoms often were treated with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), diuretics and antibiotics. Physicians acknowledged that the diagnosis of UTI usually was not based on microbial culture and opined that the use of potentially nephrotoxic medications may be contributing to CKD. Interviews provided evidence suggesting that medications such as diuretics, antibiotics and NSAIDs are widely used and sold over the counter for symptoms that may be related to dehydration and volume depletion. These factors, alone or in combination, may be possible contributors to kidney damage. Acute kidney damage coupled with volume depletion and exposures including medications and infectious agents should be further evaluated as causal factors for CKD in this region.

Can We Get Faculty Interviewers on the Same Page? An Examination of a Structured Interview Course for Surgeons.

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Gardner, Aimee K; D'Onofrio, Brenna C; Dunkin, Brian J

Guidance on how to train faculty to conduct structured interviews and implement them into current screening processes is lacking. The goal of this study is to describe a structured interview training program designed specifically for surgeons and examine its effectiveness. Faculty involved in advanced surgical fellowship interviews completed a 20-item knowledge assessment and video-based applicant interview ratings before taking a half-day course on conducting structured interviews. The course consisted of evidence-based strategies and methods for conducting structured interviews, asking questions, and rating applicants in a highly interactive format. After the course, faculty again completed the knowledge assessment and provided ratings for 3 video-based applicant interviews. All faculty members (N = 5) responsible for selecting fellows in minimally invasive and bariatric surgery completed the training. Faculty had an average of 15.8 ± 9.12 years in practice. Average performance on the precourse knowledge assessment was 35% ± 6.12% and the group was unable to achieve acceptable agreement for applicant interview scores for any of the competencies assessed. After the course, faculty demonstrated significant improvements (p interview ratings within 2 points of each other. Implementation of a half-day course designed to teach principles and skills around structured interviewing and assessment demonstrated significant improvements in both interviewing knowledge and interrater agreement. These findings support the time and resources required to develop and implement a structured interview training program for surgeons for the postgraduate admissions process. Copyright © 2018 Association of Program Directors in Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Patients' Perspectives on the Prevention and Treatment of Peritonitis in Peritoneal Dialysis: A Semi-Structured Interview Study.

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Campbell, Denise J; Craig, Jonathan C; Mudge, David W; Brown, Fiona G; Wong, Germaine; Tong, Allison

♦ BACKGROUND: Peritoneal dialysis (PD) is recommended for adults with residual kidney function and without significant comorbidities. However, peritonitis is a serious and common complication that is associated with hospitalization, pain, catheter loss, and death. This study aims to describe the beliefs, needs, and experiences of PD patients about peritonitis, to inform the training, support, and care of these patients. ♦ METHODS: Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with 29 patients from 3 renal units in Australia who had previous or current experience of PD. The interviews were conducted between November 2014 and November 2015. Transcripts were analyzed thematically. ♦ RESULTS: We identified 4 themes: constant vigilance for prevention (conscious of vulnerability, sharing responsibility with family, demanding attention to detail, ambiguity of detecting infection, ineradicable inhabitation, jeopardizing PD success); invading harm (life-threatening, wreaking internal damage, debilitating pain, losing control and dignity); incapacitating lifestyle interference (financial strain, isolation and separation, exacerbating burden on family); and exasperation with hospitalization (dread of hospital admission, exposure to infection, gruelling follow-up schedule, exposure to harm). ♦ CONCLUSIONS: Patients perceived that peritonitis could threaten their health, treatment modality, and lifestyle, which motivated vigilance and attention to hygiene. They felt a loss of control due to debilitating symptoms including pain and having to be hospitalized, and they were uncertain about how to monitor for signs of peritonitis. Providing patients with education about the causes and signs of peritonitis and addressing their concerns about lifestyle impact, financial impact, hospitalization, and peritonitis-related anxieties may improve treatment satisfaction and outcomes for patients requiring PD. Copyright © 2016 International Society for Peritoneal Dialysis.

Development and reliability of a structured interview guide for the Montgomery Asberg Depression Rating Scale (SIGMA).

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Williams, Janet B W; Kobak, Kenneth A

2008-01-01

The Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) is often used in clinical trials to select patients and to assess treatment efficacy. The scale was originally published without suggested questions for clinicians to use in gathering the information necessary to rate the items. Structured and semi-structured interview guides have been found to improve reliability with other scales. To describe the development and test-retest reliability of a structured interview guide for the MADRS (SIGMA). A total of 162 test-retest interviews were conducted by 81 rater pairs. Each patient was interviewed twice, once by each rater conducting an independent interview. The intraclass correlation for total score between raters using the SIGMA was r=0.93, Preliability. Use of the SIGMA can result in high reliability of MADRS scores in evaluating patients with depression.

The Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Childhood Diagnoses (Kid-SCID): first psychometric evaluation in a Dutch sample of clinically referred youths

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Roelofs, J.; Muris, P.; Braet, C.; Arntz, A.; Beelen, I.

2015-01-01

The Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Childhood Disorders (Kid-SCID) is a semi-structured interview for the classification of psychiatric disorders in children and adolescents. This study presents a first evaluation of the psychometric properties of the Kid-SCID in a Dutch sample of children

Relaxation Mechanisms, Structure and Properties of Semi-Coherent Interfaces

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Shuai Shao

2015-10-01

Full Text Available In this work, using the Cu–Ni (111 semi-coherent interface as a model system, we combine atomistic simulations and defect theory to reveal the relaxation mechanisms, structure, and properties of semi-coherent interfaces. By calculating the generalized stacking fault energy (GSFE profile of the interface, two stable structures and a high-energy structure are located. During the relaxation, the regions that possess the stable structures expand and develop into coherent regions; the regions with high-energy structure shrink into the intersection of misfit dislocations (nodes. This process reduces the interface excess potential energy but increases the core energy of the misfit dislocations and nodes. The core width is dependent on the GSFE of the interface. The high-energy structure relaxes by relative rotation and dilatation between the crystals. The relative rotation is responsible for the spiral pattern at nodes. The relative dilatation is responsible for the creation of free volume at nodes, which facilitates the nodes’ structural transformation. Several node structures have been observed and analyzed. The various structures have significant impact on the plastic deformation in terms of lattice dislocation nucleation, as well as the point defect formation energies.

Healthcare professionals experience with motivational interviewing in their encounter with obese pregnant women

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lindhardt, Christina L; Rubak, Sune Leisgaard Mørck; Hansen, Helle Puggård

2014-01-01

healthcare professionals. Sample(size?): Eleven healthcare professionals. Methods: A qualitative descriptive method was applied to semi-structured interviews. The healthcare professional’s experiences were recorded during individual semi-structured qualitative interviews, transcribed verbatim and analysed......Aim: To explore how healthcare professionals experience motivational interviewing as a useful? technique when working with pregnant women with obesity. Design: A qualitative, descriptive study based on interviews with eleven healthcare professionals. Setting: Face to face interviews with obstetric...

Acceptance of a structured diagnostic interview in children, parents, and interviewers.

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Neuschwander, Murielle; In-Albon, Tina; Meyer, Andrea H; Schneider, Silvia

2017-09-01

The objective of this study was to investigate the satisfaction and acceptance of a structured diagnostic interview in clinical practice and in a research setting. Using the Structured Diagnostic Interview for Mental Disorders in Children and Adolescents (Kinder-DIPS), 28 certified interviewers conducted 202 interviews (115 with parents, 87 with children). After each interview, children, parents, and interviewers completed a questionnaire assessing the overall satisfaction (0 = not at all satisfied to 100 = totally satisfied) and acceptance (0 = completely disagree to 3 = completely agree) with the interview. Satisfaction ratings were highly positive, all means >82. The mean of the overall acceptance for children was 2.43 (standard deviation [SD] = 0.41), 2.54 (SD = 0.33) of the parents, 2.30 (SD = 0.43) of the children's interviewers, and 2.46 (SD = 0.32) of the parents' interviewers. Using separate univariate regression models, significant predictors for higher satisfaction and acceptance with the interview are higher children's Global Assessment of Functioning, fewer number of children's diagnoses, shorter duration of the interview, a research setting, female sex of the interviewer, and older age of the interviewer. Results indicate that structured diagnostic interviews are highly accepted by children, parents, and interviewers. Importantly, this is true for different treatment settings. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Interviews in qualitative research.

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Peters, Kath; Halcomb, Elizabeth

2015-03-01

Interviews are a common method of data collection in nursing research. They are frequently used alone in a qualitative study or combined with other data collection methods in mixed or multi-method research. Semi-structured interviews, where the researcher has some predefined questions or topics but then probes further as the participant responds, can produce powerful data that provide insights into the participants' experiences, perceptions or opinions.

The use of semi-structured interviews for collection of qualitative and quantitative data in hydrological studies

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O'Keeffe, Jimmy; Buytaert, Wouter; Mijic, Ana; Brozovic, Nicholas

2015-04-01

To build an accurate, robust understanding of the environment, it is important to not only collect information describing its physical characteristics, but also the drivers which influence it. As environmental change, from increasing CO2 levels to decreasing water levels, is often heavily influenced by human activity, gathering information on anthropogenic as well as environmental variables is extremely important. This can mean collecting qualitative, as well as quantitative information. In reality studies are often bound by financial and time constraints, limiting the depth and detail of the research. It is up to the researcher to determine what the best methodology to answer the research questions is likely to be. Here we present a methodology of collecting qualitative and quantitative information in tandem for hydrological studies through the use of semi-structured interviews. This is applied to a case study in two districts of Uttar Pradesh, North India, one of the most intensely irrigated areas of the world. Here, decreasing water levels exacerbated by unchecked water abstraction, an expanding population and government subsidies, have put the long term resilience of the farming population in doubt. Through random selection of study locations, combined with convenience sampling of the participants therein, we show how the data collected can provide valuable insight into the drivers which have led to the current water scenario. We also show how reliable quantitative information can, using the same methodology, be effectively and efficiently extracted for modelling purposes, which along with developing an understanding of the characteristics of the environment is vital in coming up with realistic and sustainable solutions for water resource management in the future.

Cosmological Structure Formation: From Dawn till Dusk

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Heneka, Caroline Samantha

Cosmology has entered an era where a plethora data is available on structure formation to constrain astrophysics and underlying cosmology. This thesis strives to both investigate new observables and modeling of the Epoch of Reionization, as well as to constrain dark energy phenomenology with mass......Cosmology has entered an era where a plethora data is available on structure formation to constrain astrophysics and underlying cosmology. This thesis strives to both investigate new observables and modeling of the Epoch of Reionization, as well as to constrain dark energy phenomenology...... with massive galaxy clusters, traveling from the dawn of structure formation, when the first galaxies appear, to its dusk, when a representative part of the mass in the Universe is settled in massive structures. This hunt for accurate constraints on cosmology is complemented with the demonstration of novel...... Bayesian statistical tools and kinematical constraints on dark energy. Starting at the dawn of structure formation, we study emission line fluctuations, employing semi-numerical simulations of cosmological volumes of their line emission, in order to cross-correlate fluctuations in brightness. This cross...

Interview techniques for UX practitioners a user-centered design method

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Wilson, Chauncey

2014-01-01

Much of the work of user-centered design practitioners involves some type of interviewing. While interviewing is an important skill, many colleagues have little or no formal training in interviewing methods and often learn on the job with limited feedback on the quality of their interviews. This book teaches readers about the three basic interview methods: structured interviews, semi-structured interviews, and unstructured interviews. The author discusses the various strengths, weaknesses, issues with each type of interview, and includes best practices and procedures for conducing effective

A Narrative Inquiry of Identity Formation of EFL University Teachers

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Cheng, Xiangli

2016-01-01

Drawing on narrative inquiry, the present study aims to investigate the trajectory of identity formation of EFL university teachers. Two types of data are collected. One type comes from life histories of Hyland (2014), Nunan (2011) and Widdowson (2009), and the other type comes from semi-structured interviews with three excellent university…

Friends and Family Interview : Measurement invariance across Belgium and Romania

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Stievenart, M.; Casonato, M.; Muntean, A.; Van de Schoot, R.

2012-01-01

The Friends and Family Interview (FFI; Steele & Steele, 2005 Steele, H. and Steele, M. 2005. The construct of coherence as an indicator of attachment security in middle childhood: The Friends and Family Interview, New York, NY: Guilford Press. ), a semi-structured interview assessing attachment

The development of a semi-structured home interview (CHIF) to directly assess function in cognitively impaired elderly people in two cultures

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Hendrie, H. C.; Lane, K. A.; Ogunniyi, A.; Baiyewu, O.; Gureje, O.; Evans, R.; Smith-Gamble, V.; Pettaway, M.; Unverzagt, F. W.; Gao, S.; Hall, K. S.

2010-01-01

Background Assessing function is a crucial element in the diagnosis of dementia. This information is usually obtained from key informants. However, reliable informants are not always available. Methods A 10-item semi-structured home interview (the CHIF, or Clinician Home-based Interview to assess Function) to assess function primarily by measuring instrumental activities of daily living directly was developed and tested for inter-rater reliability and validity as part of the Indianapolis–Ibadan dementia project. The primary validity measurements were correlations between scores on the CHIF and independently gathered scores on the Blessed Dementia Scale (from informants) and the Mini-mental State Examination (MMSE). Sensitivities and specificities of scores on the CHIF and receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curves were constructed with dementia as the dependent variable. Results Inter-rater reliability for the CHIF was high (Pearson’s correlation coefficient 0.99 in Indianapolis and 0.87 in Ibadan). Internal consistency, in both samples, was good (Cronbach’s α 0.95 in Indianapolis and 0.83 in Ibadan). Scores on the CHIF correlated well with the Blessed Dementia scores at both sites (−0.71, p < 0.0001 for Indianapolis and −0.56, p < 0.0001 for Ibadan) and with the MMSE (0.75, p < 0.0001 for Indianapolis and 0.44, p < 0.0001 for Ibadan). For all items at both sites, the subjects without dementia performed significantly better than those with dementia. The area under the ROC curve for dementia diagnosis was 0.965 for Indianapolis and 0.925 for Ibadan. Conclusion The CHIF is a useful instrument to assess function directly in elderly participants in international studies, particularly in the absence of reliable informants. PMID:16640794

The Rating of Direct and Semi-Direct Oral Proficiency Interviews: Comparing Performance at Lower Proficiency Levels.

Science.gov (United States)

Kenyon, Dorry M.; Tschirner, Erwin

2000-01-01

Reports on a study comparing student performances and test reliabilities for the German Speaking Test, a semi-direct tape-mediated oral proficiency test (GST) developed by the Center for Applied Linguistics, and the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages Oral Proficiency Interviews. (Author/VWL)

An Interview with Marcia Tate: Formative Assessment and Brain Based Learning

OpenAIRE

Shaughnessy, Michael

2016-01-01

In this interview, Dr. Marcia Tate discusses her work and focuses on critical issues in brain based learning, and the need for both formative and summative assessment. Tangential issues such as grade retention, and response to intervention are also discussed. It is hope that this interview will assist teachers in the instructional and learning process and aid in both formative and summative assessment.  

A Qualitative Research Regarding the Online Advertising Formats Used by Romanian Companies

OpenAIRE

Acatrinei Carmen

2015-01-01

The present paper offers an in-depth view about the online advertising formats that are used by Romanian companies or digital advertising agencies. The qualitative research based on semi-structured detailed interviews with 12 professionals, took place in Bucharest, in February-March 2015. From the online advertising formats defined by IAB, the Romanian representatives mentioned to promote their organizations or to develop campaigns for their clients by using: search, display, social media, vi...

Use of Skype in interviews: the impact of the medium in a study of mental health nurses.

Science.gov (United States)

Oates, Jennifer

2015-03-01

To discuss the use of Skype as a medium for undertaking semi-structured interviews. Internet-based research is becoming increasingly popular, as communication using the internet takes a bigger role in our working and personal lives. Technology such as Skype allows research encounters with people across geographical divides. The semi-structured interview is a social encounter with a set of norms and expectations for both parties ( Doody and Noonan 2012 ). Proceedings must take account of the social context of both semi-structured interviews per se, and that of internet mediated communication. The findings of the qualitative phase of a mixed-methods study are compared with other reports comparing the use of Skype with face-to-face and telephone interviews. This paper is a methodological discussion of the use of Skype as an online research methodology. Choosing Skype as a means of interviewing may affect the characteristics of participants and decisions about consent. Rapport, sensitivity and collaboration may be addressed differently in Skype interviews compared with face-to-face interviews. Skype offers researchers the opportunity to reach a geographical spread of participants more safely, cheaply and quickly than face-to-face meetings. Rapport, sensitivity and degrees of collaboration can be achieved using this medium. The use of Skype as a medium for semi-structured interview research is better understood. This paper contributes to the growing body of literature on the use of the internet as a medium for research by nurses.

Fourier imaging of non-linear structure formation

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Brandbyge, Jacob; Hannestad, Steen, E-mail: jacobb@phys.au.dk, E-mail: sth@phys.au.dk [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Aarhus, Ny Munkegade 120, DK-8000 Aarhus C (Denmark)

2017-04-01

We perform a Fourier space decomposition of the dynamics of non-linear cosmological structure formation in ΛCDM models. From N -body simulations involving only cold dark matter we calculate 3-dimensional non-linear density, velocity divergence and vorticity Fourier realizations, and use these to calculate the fully non-linear mode coupling integrals in the corresponding fluid equations. Our approach allows for a reconstruction of the amount of mode coupling between any two wavenumbers as a function of redshift. With our Fourier decomposition method we identify the transfer of power from larger to smaller scales, the stable clustering regime, the scale where vorticity becomes important, and the suppression of the non-linear divergence power spectrum as compared to linear theory. Our results can be used to improve and calibrate semi-analytical structure formation models.

Fourier imaging of non-linear structure formation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brandbyge, Jacob; Hannestad, Steen

2017-01-01

We perform a Fourier space decomposition of the dynamics of non-linear cosmological structure formation in ΛCDM models. From N -body simulations involving only cold dark matter we calculate 3-dimensional non-linear density, velocity divergence and vorticity Fourier realizations, and use these to calculate the fully non-linear mode coupling integrals in the corresponding fluid equations. Our approach allows for a reconstruction of the amount of mode coupling between any two wavenumbers as a function of redshift. With our Fourier decomposition method we identify the transfer of power from larger to smaller scales, the stable clustering regime, the scale where vorticity becomes important, and the suppression of the non-linear divergence power spectrum as compared to linear theory. Our results can be used to improve and calibrate semi-analytical structure formation models.

The Role of Physical Education and Other Formative Experiences of Three Generations of Female Football Fans

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Pope, Stacey; Kirk, David

2014-01-01

The experiences of female sports fans have been largely marginalised in academic research to date and little research has examined the formative sporting experiences of female spectators. This article draws on 51 semi-structured interviews with three generations of female fans of one (men's) professional football club (Leicester City), to consider…

HPV vaccine decision making in pediatric primary care: a semi-structured interview study

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Feemster Kristen A

2011-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Despite national recommendations, as of 2009 human papillomavirus (HPV vaccination rates were low with Methods Between March and June, 2010, we conducted qualitative interviews with 20 adolescent-mother-clinician triads (60 individual interviews directly after a preventive visit with the initial HPV vaccine due. Interviews followed a guide based on published HPV literature, involved 9 practices, and continued until saturation of the primary themes was achieved. Purposive sampling balanced adolescent ages and practice type (urban resident teaching versus non-teaching. Using a modified grounded theory approach, we analyzed data with NVivo8 software both within and across triads to generate primary themes. Results The study population was comprised of 20 mothers (12 Black, 9 Conclusions Programs to improve HPV vaccine delivery in primary care should focus on promoting effective parent-clinician communication. Research is needed to evaluate strategies to help clinicians engage reluctant parents and passive teens in discussion and measure the impact of distinct clinician decision making approaches on HPV vaccine delivery.

Analysis of qualitative interviews with online language teachers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Levinsen, Karin; Meyer, Bente

At the kick-off meeting in Vienna October 2005 it was agreed that partners would conduct a limited number of interviews to make an initial survey of issues that would be relevant for the production of the manual & guide. It was therefore the objective of the interviews to produce knowledge about...... technological skills specifically required for live online language teaching define need for qualification of the live online language teacher The Danish team conducted 4 semi-structured interviews with teachers. The interviews were made on the basis of an interview guide discussed by all partners in December...

[Suffering at work among medical students: qualitative study using semi-structured interviews].

Science.gov (United States)

Le Provost, A-S; Loddé, B; Pietri, J; De Parscau, L; Pougnet, L; Dewitte, J-D; Pougnet, R

2018-01-01

Suffering at work among health professionals is a hot topic. Medical students, doctors of tomorrow, are far from being spared. Prevalence of anxiety and mood disorders range from 20.3 to 69 % for the former and from 12 to 30 % for the latter. The purpose of this article is to determine these factors by qualitative research, according to medical students' points of view. It is a qualitative study using semistructured interviews. The analysis is done according to the Grounded Theory. 12 medical students are interviewed. They expressed difficulties at work and positive factors. Three major themes are identified in selective coding: occupational factors, " study " factors and individual factors. All themes are both a source of well-being and ill-being according to the situations specified in the results. Studying medicine includes positive and negative aspects. Abandonment issues, lack of recognition and insufficient coaching emerge from our study. Screening of suffering at work should be systematic for medical students.

Prolongation Structure of Semi-discrete Nonlinear Evolution Equations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bai Yongqiang; Wu Ke; Zhao Weizhong; Guo Hanying

2007-01-01

Based on noncommutative differential calculus, we present a theory of prolongation structure for semi-discrete nonlinear evolution equations. As an illustrative example, a semi-discrete model of the nonlinear Schroedinger equation is discussed in terms of this theory and the corresponding Lax pairs are also given.

Dutch surgeons' views on the volume-outcome mechanism in surgery: A qualitative interview study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mesman, R.; Faber, M.J.; Westert, G.P.; Berden, H.

2017-01-01

Objective: To contribute to a better understanding of volume-outcome relationships in surgery by exploring Dutch surgeons' views on the underlying mechanism. Design: A qualitative study based on face-to-face semi structured interviews and an inductive content analysis approach. Setting: Interviews

The Structured Interview & Scoring Tool-Massachusetts Alzheimer's Disease Research Center (SIST-M): development, reliability, and cross-sectional validation of a brief structured clinical dementia rating interview.

Science.gov (United States)

Okereke, Olivia I; Copeland, Maura; Hyman, Bradley T; Wanggaard, Taylor; Albert, Marilyn S; Blacker, Deborah

2011-03-01

The Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) and CDR Sum-of-Boxes can be used to grade mild but clinically important cognitive symptoms of Alzheimer disease. However, sensitive clinical interview formats are lengthy. To develop a brief instrument for obtaining CDR scores and to assess its reliability and cross-sectional validity. Using legacy data from expanded interviews conducted among 347 community-dwelling older adults in a longitudinal study, we identified 60 questions (from a possible 131) about cognitive functioning in daily life using clinical judgment, inter-item correlations, and principal components analysis. Items were selected in 1 cohort (n=147), and a computer algorithm for generating CDR scores was developed in this same cohort and re-run in a replication cohort (n=200) to evaluate how well the 60 items retained information from the original 131 items. Short interviews based on the 60 items were then administered to 50 consecutively recruited older individuals, with no symptoms or mild cognitive symptoms, at an Alzheimer's Disease Research Center. Clinical Dementia Rating scores based on short interviews were compared with those from independent long interviews. In the replication cohort, agreement between short and long CDR interviews ranged from κ=0.65 to 0.79, with κ=0.76 for Memory, κ=0.77 for global CDR, and intraclass correlation coefficient for CDR Sum-of-Boxes=0.89. In the cross-sectional validation, short interview scores were slightly lower than those from long interviews, but good agreement was observed for global CDR and Memory (κ≥0.70) as well as for CDR Sum-of-Boxes (intraclass correlation coefficient=0.73). The Structured Interview & Scoring Tool-Massachusetts Alzheimer's Disease Research Center is a brief, reliable, and sensitive instrument for obtaining CDR scores in persons with symptoms along the spectrum of mild cognitive change.

Eyewitness performance in cognitive and structured interviews.

Science.gov (United States)

Memon, A; Wark, L; Holley, A; Bull, R; Koehnken, G

1997-09-01

This paper addresses two methodological and theoretical questions relating to the Cognitive Interview (CI), which previous research has found to increase witness recall in interviews. (1) What are the effects of the CI mnemonic techniques when communication techniques are held constant? (2) How do trained interviewers compare with untrained interviewers? In this study, witnesses (college students) viewed a short film clip of a shooting and were questioned by interviewers (research assistants) trained in conducting the CI or a Structured Interview (SI)--similar to the CI except for the "cognitive" components--or by untrained interviewers (UI). The CI and SI groups recalled significantly more correct information compared to the UI group. However they also reported more errors and confabulated details. Theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed in terms of precisely identifying the CI facilitatory effects and consequent good practice in the forensic setting.

Reshould I Take More MIS Courses? Implications from Interviews with Business Recruiters

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He, Jun; Guo, Yi Maggie

2015-01-01

It is important for MIS educators to have a good understanding of what IT knowledge and skills are required in business. In this study, 103 open job positions in the Midwestern United States were investigated via semi-structured interviews with hiring companies. The interviews with key business recruiters suggest that IT knowledge and skills are…

Orthopaedic Sports Medicine Fellowship Interviews: Structure and Organization of the Interview Day.

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Haislup, Brett D; Kraeutler, Matthew J; Baweja, Rishi; McCarty, Eric C; Mulcahey, Mary K

2017-12-01

Over the past few decades, there has been a trend toward an increasing subspecialization in orthopaedic surgery, with orthopaedic sports medicine being one of the most competitive subspecialties. Information regarding the application and interview process for sports medicine fellowships is currently lacking. To survey orthopaedic sports medicine fellowship program directors (PDs) to better define the structure of the sports medicine fellowship interview and to highlight important factors that PDs consider in selecting fellows. Cross-sectional study. A complete list of accredited programs was obtained from the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine (AOSSM) website. An anonymous survey was distributed to fellowship PDs of all Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)-accredited orthopaedic sports medicine fellowships in the United States. The survey included 12 questions about the fellowship interview and selection process. Of the 95 orthopaedic sports medicine fellowship PDs surveyed, 38 (40%) responded. Of these, 16 (42.1%) indicated that they interview between 21 and 30 applicants per year. Eleven of the 38 fellowship programs (28.9%) have only 1 fellow per year at their respective program. Most programs (27/37, 73%) reported that between 0 and 5 faculty members interview applicants, and 29 of the 38 programs (76.3%) arrange for applicants to have ≥4 interviews during their interview day. Large group interviews are conducted at 36 of 38 (94.7%) sports medicine fellowship programs, and most programs (24/38, 63.2%) hold individual interviews that last between 5 and 15 minutes. The most important applicant criterion taken into account by PDs was the quality of the interview, with an average score of 8.68 of 10. The most significant factor taken into account by PDs when deciding how to rank applicants was the quality of the interview. Many orthopaedic sports medicine fellowship programs interview between 21 and 30 applicants per year

Metacognition Assessment Interview: Instrument description and factor structure

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Giovanni Pellecchia

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Objective: Metacognition is a multi-component psychological construct, characterised by the ability to identify and describe one’s own mental states and those of others. Evidence has been found for an association between deficits in metacognitive abilities and poor social functioning, low quality of life, psychopathology, and symptoms in Personality Disorders (PDs. However, to date, there are few psychometrically validated instruments available for assessing the different components of metacognition. A semi-structured interview, the Metacognition Assessment Interview (MAI, has been developed to evaluate different domains of metacognition. In the present study, we investigated the psychometric properties of the MAI in an outpatient clinical sample. Method: The MAI was administered to a clinical population of 306 outpatients attending a private clinical centre. Exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and correlation with instruments assessing alexithymia and interpersonal problems were carried out to examine the dimensionality and validity of the MAI. Result: Explorative and confirmatory factor analyses revealed a good fit for both a two-factor model and a four-factor model of metacognition. The two-factor model yielded two main dimensions, which we named: Self domain, defined as self-reflection, and Other domain, defined as critical distancing from one’s own mental state and that of others. The four-factor solution is composed of four sub-domains: monitoring, integration, differentiation and decentration. Moreover, the MAI showed good convergent validity, with significant correlations with both alexithymia and interpersonal problems. Conclusions: These results confirm that the MAI is a reliable instrument for measuring metacognition and its different sub-domains. In particular, the MAI represents a useful and flexible instrument for the assessment of metacognition impairments in different psychopathologies and it can provide

Modified personal interviews: resurrecting reliable personal interviews for admissions?

Science.gov (United States)

Hanson, Mark D; Kulasegaram, Kulamakan Mahan; Woods, Nicole N; Fechtig, Lindsey; Anderson, Geoff

2012-10-01

Traditional admissions personal interviews provide flexible faculty-student interactions but are plagued by low inter-interview reliability. Axelson and Kreiter (2009) retrospectively showed that multiple independent sampling (MIS) may improve reliability of personal interviews; thus, the authors incorporated MIS into the admissions process for medical students applying to the University of Toronto's Leadership Education and Development Program (LEAD). They examined the reliability and resource demands of this modified personal interview (MPI) format. In 2010-2011, LEAD candidates submitted written applications, which were used to screen for participation in the MPI process. Selected candidates completed four brief (10-12 minutes) independent MPIs each with a different interviewer. The authors blueprinted MPI questions to (i.e., aligned them with) leadership attributes, and interviewers assessed candidates' eligibility on a five-point Likert-type scale. The authors analyzed inter-interview reliability using the generalizability theory. Sixteen candidates submitted applications; 10 proceeded to the MPI stage. Reliability of the written application components was 0.75. The MPI process had overall inter-interview reliability of 0.79. Correlation between the written application and MPI scores was 0.49. A decision study showed acceptable reliability of 0.74 with only three MPIs scored using one global rating. Furthermore, a traditional admissions interview format would take 66% more time than the MPI format. The MPI format, used during the LEAD admissions process, achieved high reliability with minimal faculty resources. The MPI format's reliability and effective resource use were possible through MIS and employment of expert interviewers. MPIs may be useful for other admissions tasks.

Massive quiescent galaxies at z > 3 in the Millennium simulation populated by a semi-analytic galaxy formation model

Science.gov (United States)

Rong, Yu; Jing, Yingjie; Gao, Liang; Guo, Qi; Wang, Jie; Sun, Shuangpeng; Wang, Lin; Pan, Jun

2017-10-01

We take advantage of the statistical power of the large-volume dark-matter-only Millennium simulation (MS), combined with a sophisticated semi-analytic galaxy formation model, to explore whether the recently reported z = 3.7 quiescent galaxy ZF-COSMOS-20115 (ZF) can be accommodated in current galaxy formation models. In our model, a population of quiescent galaxies with stellar masses and star formation rates comparable to those of ZF naturally emerges at redshifts z 3.5 massive QGs are rare (about 2 per cent of the galaxies with the similar stellar masses), the existing AGN feedback model implemented in the semi-analytic galaxy formation model can successfully explain the formation of the high-redshift QGs as it does on their lower redshift counterparts.

Applicability of special quasi-random structure models in thermodynamic calculations using semi-empirical Debye–Grüneisen theory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Jiwoong

2015-01-01

In theoretical calculations, expressing the random distribution of atoms in a certain crystal structure is still challenging. The special quasi-random structure (SQS) model is effective for depicting such random distributions. The SQS model has not been applied to semi-empirical thermodynamic calculations; however, Debye–Grüneisen theory (DGT), a semi-empirical method, was used here for that purpose. The model reliability was obtained by comparing supercell models of various sizes. The results for chemical bonds, pair correlation, and elastic properties demonstrated the reliability of the SQS models. Thermodynamic calculations using density functional perturbation theory (DFPT) and DGT assessed the applicability of the SQS models. DGT and DFPT led to similar variations of the mixing and formation energies. This study provides guidelines for theoretical assessments to obtain the reliable SQS models and to calculate the thermodynamic properties of numerous materials with a random atomic distribution. - Highlights: • Various material properties are used to examine reliability of special quasi-random structures. • SQS models are applied to thermodynamic calculations by semi-empirical methods. • Basic calculation guidelines for materials with random atomic distribution are given.

Universal Scaling Relations in Scale-Free Structure Formation

Science.gov (United States)

Guszejnov, Dávid; Hopkins, Philip F.; Grudić, Michael Y.

2018-04-01

A large number of astronomical phenomena exhibit remarkably similar scaling relations. The most well-known of these is the mass distribution dN/dM∝M-2 which (to first order) describes stars, protostellar cores, clumps, giant molecular clouds, star clusters and even dark matter halos. In this paper we propose that this ubiquity is not a coincidence and that it is the generic result of scale-free structure formation where the different scales are uncorrelated. We show that all such systems produce a mass function proportional to M-2 and a column density distribution with a power law tail of dA/d lnΣ∝Σ-1. In the case where structure formation is controlled by gravity the two-point correlation becomes ξ2D∝R-1. Furthermore, structures formed by such processes (e.g. young star clusters, DM halos) tend to a ρ∝R-3 density profile. We compare these predictions with observations, analytical fragmentation cascade models, semi-analytical models of gravito-turbulent fragmentation and detailed "full physics" hydrodynamical simulations. We find that these power-laws are good first order descriptions in all cases.

Healthcare professionals experience with motivational interviewing in their encounter with obese pregnant women.

Science.gov (United States)

Lindhardt, Christina Louise; Rubak, Sune; Mogensen, Ole; Hansen, Helle Ploug; Goldstein, Henri; Lamont, Ronald F; Joergensen, Jan Stener

2015-07-01

to explore and describe how healthcare professionals in the Southern Region of Denmark experienced motivational interviewing as a communication method when working with pregnant women with obesity. a qualitative, descriptive study based on face-to-face interviews with 11 obstetric healthcare professionals working in a perinatal setting. a thematic descriptive method was applied to semi-structured interviews. The healthcare professional's experiences were recorded verbatim during individual semi-structured qualitative interviews, transcribed, and analysed using a descriptive analysis methodology. motivational interviewing was found to be a useful method when communicating with obese pregnant women. The method made the healthcare professionals more aware of their own communication style both when encountering pregnant women and in their interaction with colleagues. However, most of the healthcare professionals emphasised that time was crucial and they had to be dedicated to the motivational interviewing method. The healthcare professionals further stated that it enabled them to become more professional in their daily work and made some of them feel less 'burned out', 'powerless' and 'stressed' as they felt they had a communication method in handling difficult workloads. healthcare professionals experienced motivational interviewing to be a useful method when working perinatally. The motivational interviewing method permitted heightened awareness of the healthcare professionals communication method with the patients and increased their ability to handle a difficult workload. Overall, lack of time restricted the use of the motivational interviewing method on a daily basis. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

EURISLAM workpackage 6: integrated report on interviews with Muslim leaders

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Heelsum, A.; Koomen, M.

2011-01-01

Objectives In addition to our target Muslim populations, we aim also to gather information on their community leaders, as well as the policy makers whose policies confront them. We aim through a series of semi-structured interviews to gain information on the position of a variety of community

The denial of cancer interview: development and first assessment of psychometric properties in lung cancer patients

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vos, Martina S.; Putter, Hein; Leurs, Amber; Rooijmans, Harry G. M.; de Haes, Hanneke C. J. M.; van Houwelingen, Hans C.

2007-01-01

Based on Weissman and Hackett's comprehensive definition of denial, a semi-structured interview was developed to measure denial in cancer patients. The denial in cancer interview (DCI) covers both the patients' recount of their illness experience and the expert's impression of the level of denial in

The psychiatric interview

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Frederiksen, Julie Elisabeth Nordgaard; Sass, Louis A; Parnas, Josef

2012-01-01

interview. We address the ontological status of pathological experience, the notions of symptom, sign, prototype and Gestalt, and the necessary second-person processes which are involved in converting the patient's experience (originally lived in the first-person perspective) into an "objective" (third......There is a glaring gap in the psychiatric literature concerning the nature of psychiatric symptoms and signs, and a corresponding lack of epistemological discussion of psycho-diagnostic interviewing. Contemporary clinical neuroscience heavily relies on the use of fully structured interviews...... person), actionable format, used for classification, treatment, and research. Our central thesis is that psychiatry targets the phenomena of consciousness, which, unlike somatic symptoms and signs, cannot be grasped on the analogy with material thing-like objects. We claim that in order to perform...

Structures that Include a Semi-Outdoor Space

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Papachristou, C.; Foteinaki, Kyriaki; Kazanci, Ongun Berk

2016-01-01

The thermal environment of buildings with a second "skin" and semi-outdoor space is examined in the present study. A literature review was conducted on similar structures and only a few studies were found focusing on the thermal environment. Two different building case studies were chosen with di...

Semi Active Control of Civil Structures, Analytical and Numerical Studies

Science.gov (United States)

Kerboua, M.; Benguediab, M.; Megnounif, A.; Benrahou, K. H.; Kaoulala, F.

Structural control for civil structures was born out of a need to provide safer and more efficient designs with the reality of limited resources. The purpose of structural control is to absorb and to reflect the energy introduced by dynamic loads such as winds, waves, earthquakes, and traffic. Today, the protection of civil structures from severe dynamic loading is typically achieved by allowing the structures to be damaged. Semi-active control devices, also called "smart" control devices, assume the positive aspects of both the passive and active control devices. A semi-active control strategy is similar to the active control strategy. Only here, the control actuator does not directly apply force to the structure, but instead it is used to control the properties of a passive energy device, a controllable passive damper. Semi-active control strategies can be used in many of the same civil applications as passive and active control. One method of operating smart cable dampers is in a purely passive capacity, supplying the dampers with constant optimal voltage. The advantages to this strategy are the relative simplicity of implementing the control strategy as compared to a smart or active control strategy and that the dampers are more easily optimally tuned in- place, eliminating the need to have passive dampers with unique optimal damping coefficients. This research investigated semi-active control of civil structures for natural hazard mitigation. The research has two components, the seismic protection of buildings and the mitigation of wind-induced vibration in structures. An ideal semi-active motion equation of a composite beam that consists of a cantilever beam bonded with a PZT patch using Hamilton's principle and Galerkin's method was treated. A series R-L and a parallel R-L shunt circuits are coupled into the motion equation respectively by means of the constitutive relation of piezoelectric material and Kirchhoff's law to control the beam vibration. A

The Views of Pre-Service Teachers Who Take Special Teaching Course within the Context of Pedagogical Formation Certificate Program about Micro-Teaching Method and a Physics Lesson Plan

Science.gov (United States)

Gurbuz, Fatih

2015-01-01

The purpose of this study is to determine the views of the pre-service teachers who received training on pedagogical formation certificate program about micro-teaching method. The study was carried out with a case study method. Semi-structured interviews were used in the study as a data collection tool to gather pre-service teachers' views about…

In the Information Age, do dementia caregivers get the information they need? Semi-structured interviews to determine informal caregivers' education needs, barriers, and preferences.

Science.gov (United States)

Peterson, Kendra; Hahn, Howard; Lee, Amber J; Madison, Catherine A; Atri, Alireza

2016-09-23

Most patients with dementia or cognitive impairment receive care from family members, often untrained for this challenging role. Caregivers may not access publicly available caregiving information, and caregiver education programs are not widely implemented clinically. Prior large surveys yielded broad quantitative understanding of caregiver information needs, but do not illuminate the in-depth, rich, and nuanced caregiver perspectives that can be gleaned using qualitative methodology. We aimed to understand perspectives about information sources, barriers and preferences, through semi-structured interviews with 27 caregivers. Content analysis identified important themes. We interviewed 19 women, 8 men; mean age 58.5 years; most adult children (15) or spouses (8) of the care recipient. Dementia symptoms often developed insidiously, with delayed disease acknowledgement and caregiver self-identification. While memory loss was common, behavioral symptoms were most troublesome, often initially unrecognized as disease indicators. Emerging themes: 1.) Barriers to seeking information often result from knowledge gaps, rather than reluctance to assume the caregiver role; 2.) Most caregivers currently receive insufficient information. Caregivers are open to many information sources, settings, and technologies, including referrals to other healthcare professionals, print material, and community and internet resources, but expect the primary care provider (PCP) to recommend, endorse, and guide them to specific sources. These findings replicated and expanded on results from previous quantitative surveys and, importantly, revealed a previously unrecognized essential factor: despite receiving insufficient information, caregivers place critical value on their relationship with care recipient PCPs to receive recommendations, guidance and endorsement to sources of caregiving information. Implications include: 1.) Greater public education is needed to help caregivers identify and

The formation of dissipative structures in polymers as a model of synergy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Khanchich Oleg A.

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Synergetic is an interdisciplinary area and describes the emergence of various kinds of structures, using the representation of the natural sciences. In this paper we studied the conditions for the appearance of thermodynamically stable amorphous-crystalline supramolecular structures on the basis of practical importance for the production of heat-resistant high-strength polymer fibers semi-rigid systems. It is found that in the process of structure formation in the coagulation of the polymer from solutions having supramolecular structures area a definite geometric shape and dimensions. Pattern formation in such systems can simulate the processes studied synergy. This is occurring in the process of self-organization of dissipative structures, transitions from one structure to another. This most discussed matter of self-organization on the “optical” scale level, are observed spherulites have a “correct” form and certain geometric dimensions comparable to the wavelength of visible light. Previously, this polymer does not crystallize at all considered. It is shown that for the study of supramolecular structures are the most convenient and informative experimental approaches are polarization-optical methods, which are directly “tuned” to the optical anisotropy of the structure and morphology. The great advantage of these methods is also possible to study the kinetics of structure formation processes without interfering the system under study.

Structure and properties of semi-interpenetrating network hydrogel based on starch.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Baodong; Ma, Dongzhuo; Wang, Jian; Zhang, Shuang

2015-11-20

Starch-g-P(acrylic acid-co-acrylamide)/PVA semi-interpenetrating network (semi-IPN) hydrogels were prepared by aqueous solution polymerization method. Starch grafting copolymerization reaction, semi-IPN structure and crystal morphology were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The PVA in the form of partial crystallization distributing in the gel matrix uniformly were observed by Field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM). The space network structure, finer microstructure and pore size in the interior of hydrogel were presented by biomicroscope. The results demonstrated that absorption ratio of water and salt generated different degree changes with the effect of PVA. In addition, the mechanical strength of hydrogel was improved. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Comparative reliability of structured versus unstructured interviews in the admission process of a residency program.

Science.gov (United States)

Blouin, Danielle; Day, Andrew G; Pavlov, Andrey

2011-12-01

Although never directly compared, structured interviews are reported as being more reliable than unstructured interviews. This study compared the reliability of both types of interview when applied to a common pool of applicants for positions in an emergency medicine residency program. In 2008, one structured interview was added to the two unstructured interviews traditionally used in our resident selection process. A formal job analysis using the critical incident technique guided the development of the structured interview tool. This tool consisted of 7 scenarios assessing 4 of the domains deemed essential for success as a resident in this program. The traditional interview tool assessed 5 general criteria. In addition to these criteria, the unstructured panel members were asked to rate each candidate on the same 4 essential domains rated by the structured panel members. All 3 panels interviewed all candidates. Main outcomes were the overall, interitem, and interrater reliabilities, the correlations between interview panels, and the dimensionality of each interview tool. Thirty candidates were interviewed. The overall reliability reached 0.43 for the structured interview, and 0.81 and 0.71 for the unstructured interviews. Analyses of the variance components showed a high interrater, low interitem reliability for the structured interview, and a high interrater, high interitem reliability for the unstructured interviews. The summary measures from the 2 unstructured interviews were significantly correlated, but neither was correlated with the structured interview. Only the structured interview was multidimensional. A structured interview did not yield a higher overall reliability than both unstructured interviews. The lower reliability is explained by a lower interitem reliability, which in turn is due to the multidimensionality of the interview tool. Both unstructured panels consistently rated a single dimension, even when prompted to assess the 4 specific domains

Compatibility of the Relationship of Early Recollections and Life Style with Parent Schemas Obtained through Adlerian Interviews

Science.gov (United States)

Canel, Azize Nilgün

2016-01-01

In this study, the Adlerian Interview Form has been used as a semi-structured, in-depth interview method to identify the experiences of six participants regarding Adler's concepts of early recollections and life style. Subsequent to transcribing the obtained information, recollections to be included in the analysis were subjected to the criterion…

Phase II Practice-based Evidence in Nutrition (PEN) evaluation: interviews with key informants.

Science.gov (United States)

Bowden, Fran Martin; Lordly, Daphne; Thirsk, Jayne; Corby, Lynda

2012-01-01

Dietitians of Canada has collaborated with experts in knowledge translation and transfer, technology, and dietetic practice to develop and implement an innovative online decision-support system called Practice-based Evidence in Nutrition (PEN). A study was conducted to evaluate the perceived facilitators and barriers that enable dietitians to use or prevent them from using PEN. As part of the overall evaluation framework of PEN, a qualitative descriptive research design was used to address the research purpose. Individual, semi-structured telephone interviews with 17 key informants were completed, and the interview transcripts underwent qualitative content analysis. Respondents identified several facilitators of and barriers to PEN use. Facilitators included specificity to dietetics, rigorous/expert review, easy accessibility, current content, credible/secure material, well-organized/easy-to-use material, material that is valuable to practice, and good value for money. Barriers included perceived high cost, fee structuring/cost to students, certain organizational aspects, and a perceived lack of training for pathway contributors. This formative evaluation has indicated areas in which PEN could be improved and strategies to make PEN the standard for dietetic education and practice. Ensuring that PEN is meeting users' knowledge needs is of the utmost importance if dietitians are to remain on the cutting edge of scientific inquiry.

A semi-supervised learning approach for RNA secondary structure prediction.

Science.gov (United States)

Yonemoto, Haruka; Asai, Kiyoshi; Hamada, Michiaki

2015-08-01

RNA secondary structure prediction is a key technology in RNA bioinformatics. Most algorithms for RNA secondary structure prediction use probabilistic models, in which the model parameters are trained with reliable RNA secondary structures. Because of the difficulty of determining RNA secondary structures by experimental procedures, such as NMR or X-ray crystal structural analyses, there are still many RNA sequences that could be useful for training whose secondary structures have not been experimentally determined. In this paper, we introduce a novel semi-supervised learning approach for training parameters in a probabilistic model of RNA secondary structures in which we employ not only RNA sequences with annotated secondary structures but also ones with unknown secondary structures. Our model is based on a hybrid of generative (stochastic context-free grammars) and discriminative models (conditional random fields) that has been successfully applied to natural language processing. Computational experiments indicate that the accuracy of secondary structure prediction is improved by incorporating RNA sequences with unknown secondary structures into training. To our knowledge, this is the first study of a semi-supervised learning approach for RNA secondary structure prediction. This technique will be useful when the number of reliable structures is limited. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Access to opportunities for bilingualism for individuals with developmental disabilities: Key informant interviews

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Scherba de Valenzuela, J.; Kay-Raining Bird, E.; Parkington, K.; Mirenda, P.; Cain, K.; MacLeod, A.A.N.; Segers, P.C.J.

2016-01-01

The purpose of this article is to describe the results of a thematic analysis of 79 semi-structured interviews collected at six research sites in four countries in relation to the inclusion and exclusion of students with developmental disabilities (DD) in and from special education and bilingual

The impact of the hospitalization process on the caregiver of a chronic critical patient hospitalized in a Semi-Intensive Care Unit

OpenAIRE

Neves, Letícia; Gondim, Andressa Alencar; Soares, Sara Costa Martins Rodrigues; Coelho, Denis Pontes; Pinheiro, Joana Angélica Marques

2018-01-01

Abstract Objective: To understand the impact of the hospitalization process on the family companion of critical patients admitted to a Semi-Intensive Care Unit (SICU). Method: Exploratory research with a qualitative approach, conducted in the months of April to July of 2016 through a semi-structured interview applied to relatives who were accompanying patients hospitalized in an SICU of a high complexity care hospital in Fortaleza. The interviews were submitted to content analysis. Results...

How do healthcare consumers process and evaluate comparative healthcare information? A qualitive study using cognitive interviews

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Damman, O.C.; Hendriks, M.; Rademakers, J.; Delnoij, D.M.J.; Groenewegen, P.P.

2009-01-01

Background: To date, online public healthcare reports have not been effectively used by consumers. Therefore, we qualitatively examined how healthcare consumers process and evaluate comparative healthcare information on the Internet. Methods: Using semi-structured cognitive interviews, interviewees

How do healthcare consumers process and evaluate comparative healthcare information? A qualitative study using cognitive interviews.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Damman, O.C.; Hendriks, M.; Rademakers, J.; Delnoij, D.; Groenewegen, P.

2009-01-01

Background: To date, online public healthcare reports have not been effectively used by consumers. Therefore, we qualitatively examined how healthcare consumers process and evaluate comparative healthcare information on the Internet. Methods: Using semi-structured cognitive interviews, interviewees

The 15-minute family interview: a family health strategy tool

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mariana Cristina Lobato dos Santos Ribeiro Silva

2013-06-01

Full Text Available The 15-minute family interview is a condensed form of the Calgary Family Assessment and Intervention Models (CFAM and CFIM that aims to contribute to the establishment of a therapeutic relationship between nurses and family and to implement interventions to promote health and suffering relief, even during brief interactions. This study investigated the experience of nurses from the Family Health Strategy (FHS who used the 15-minute interview on postpartum home. The qualitative research was conducted in three stages: participants' training program, utilization of the 15-minute family interview by participants, and interviews with nurses. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews with eight nurses. The thematic analysis revealed two main themes: dealing with the challenge of a new practice and evaluating the assignment. This work shows that this tool can be used to deepen relationships between nurses and families in the Family Health Strategy.

Reliability of a structured interview for admission to an emergency medicine residency program.

Science.gov (United States)

Blouin, Danielle

2010-10-01

Interviews are most important in resident selection. Structured interviews are more reliable than unstructured ones. We sought to measure the interrater reliability of a newly designed structured interview during the selection process to an Emergency Medicine residency program. The critical incident technique was used to extract the desired dimensions of performance. The interview tool consisted of 7 clinical scenarios and 1 global rating. Three trained interviewers marked each candidate on all scenarios without discussing candidates' responses. Interitem consistency and estimates of variance were computed. Twenty-eight candidates were interviewed. The generalizability coefficient was 0.67. Removing the central tendency ratings increased the coefficient to 0.74. Coefficients of interitem consistency ranged from 0.64 to 0.74. The structured interview tool provided good although suboptimal interrater reliability. Increasing the number of scenarios improves reliability as does applying differential weights to the rating scale anchors. The latter would also facilitate the identification of those candidates with extreme ratings.

An automatic granular structure generation and finite element analysis of heterogeneous semi-solid materials

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sharifi, Hamid; Larouche, Daniel

2015-01-01

The quality of cast metal products depends on the capacity of the semi-solid metal to sustain the stresses generated during the casting. Predicting the evolution of these stresses with accuracy in the solidification interval should be highly helpful to avoid the formation of defects like hot tearing. This task is however very difficult because of the heterogeneous nature of the material. In this paper, we propose to evaluate the mechanical behaviour of a metal during solidification using a mesh generation technique of the heterogeneous semi-solid material for a finite element analysis at the microscopic level. This task is done on a two-dimensional (2D) domain in which the granular structure of the solid phase is generated surrounded by an intergranular and interdendritc liquid phase. Some basic solid grains are first constructed and projected in the 2D domain with random orientations and scale factors. Depending on their orientation, the basic grains are combined to produce larger grains or separated by a liquid film. Different basic grain shapes can produce different granular structures of the mushy zone. As a result, using this automatic grain generation procedure, we can investigate the effect of grain shapes and sizes on the thermo-mechanical behaviour of the semi-solid material. The granular models are automatically converted to the finite element meshes. The solid grains and the liquid phase are meshed properly using quadrilateral elements. This method has been used to simulate the microstructure of a binary aluminium–copper alloy (Al–5.8 wt% Cu) when the fraction solid is 0.92. Using the finite element method and the Mie–Grüneisen equation of state for the liquid phase, the transient mechanical behaviour of the mushy zone under tensile loading has been investigated. The stress distribution and the bridges, which are formed during the tensile loading, have been detected. (paper)

Selection bias in follow-up interviews with individuals attending the emergency department for occupational injuries

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Oesterlund, Anna H; Lander, Flemming; Rytter, Søren

2017-01-01

: Workers aged 18-70 years who contacted the two emergency departments for an acute occupational injury in 2013 were eligible and given a short questionnaire. Following written consent, a semi-structured interview concerning health and transient risk factors was conducted by telephone. The two departments...

Shrub mound formation and stability on semi-arid slopes in the Northern Negev Desert of Israel: A field and simulation study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Buis, E.; Temme, A.J.A.M.; Veldkamp, A.; Boeken, B.; Jongmans, A.G.; Breemen, van N.; Schoorl, J.M.

2010-01-01

In semi-arid areas vegetation is scarce and often dominated by individual shrubs on raised mounds. The processes of formation of these mounds are diverse and still debated. Often, shrub mound formation is directly related to the formation of vegetation patterns, thereby assuming that shrub mound

Virtual Team and Trust Relationship: Focus Group Interviews in Multimedia Super Corridor Status Companies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Norizah Aripin

2011-12-01

Full Text Available This paper aims to discuss the trust relationship in virtual teams in Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC status companies. The study used qualitative method that is phenomenology approach through focus group interviews. In-depth interview were also used with semi-structured and openended questions. The interviews involved six staffs at different position in virtual team (two team leaders, and four team members. The interviews were recorded, transcribed and analyzed according to the thematic analysis. Results showed that dimensions on virtual team trust relationship including interpersonal communication, personality, team members size, face-to-face meeting needs, safety information when discussing face-to-face in public places, and difficulty to recall interaction via video conferencing with other team members.

Literature classification for semi-automated updating of biological knowledgebases

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Olsen, Lars Rønn; Kudahl, Ulrich Johan; Winther, Ole

2013-01-01

abstracts yielded classification accuracy of 0.95, thus showing significant value in support of data extraction from the literature. Conclusion: We here propose a conceptual framework for semi-automated extraction of epitope data embedded in scientific literature using principles from text mining...... types of biological data, such as sequence data, are extensively stored in biological databases, functional annotations, such as immunological epitopes, are found primarily in semi-structured formats or free text embedded in primary scientific literature. Results: We defined and applied a machine...

Dynamic characteristics of Semi-active Hydraulic Engine Mount Based on Fluid-Structure Interaction FEA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tian Jiande

2015-01-01

Full Text Available A kind of semi-active hydraulic engine mount is studied in this paper. After careful analysis of its structure and working principle, the FEA simulation of it was divided into two cases. One is the solenoid valve is open, so the air chamber connects to the atmosphere, and Fluid-Structure Interaction was used. Another is the solenoid valve is closed, and the air chamber has pressure, so Fluid-Structure-Gas Interaction was used. The test of this semi-active hydraulic engine mount was carried out to compare with the simulation results, and verify the accuracy of the model. Then the dynamic characteristics-dynamic stiffness and damping angle were analysed by simulation and test. This paper provides theoretical support for the development and optimization of the semi-active hydraulic engine mount.

Motivational interviewing: experiences of primary care nurses trained in the method.

Science.gov (United States)

Östlund, Ann-Sofi; Wadensten, Barbro; Kristofferzon, Marja-Leena; Häggström, Elisabeth

2015-03-01

Motivational interviewing is a person-centered counseling style used to promote behavioral change regarding a wide variety of lifestyle problems. Use of motivational interview is growing worldwide and among many different healthcare professions, including primary care nursing. The study aim was to describe motivational interview trained nurses' experiences of motivational interviewing in primary care settings. The study had a qualitative descriptive design. It was carried out in Swedish primary care settings in two county council districts, with 20 primary care nurses trained in motivational interviewing. Half of them used the method in their work, half did not. Qualitative semi-structured interviews were used. Data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The nurses experienced that openness to the approach and an encouraging working climate are required to overcome internal resistance and to increase use of motivational interviewing. They also experienced mutual benefit: motivational interviewing elicits and develops abilities in both nurses and patients. For the nurses using it, motivational interviewing is perceived to facilitate work with patients in need of lifestyle change. Lack of training/education, support, interest and appropriate work tasks/patients are reasons for not using motivational interviewing.

Factor Structure of the Eating Disorder Examination Interview in Patients With Binge-eating Disorder

Science.gov (United States)

Grilo, Carlos M.; Crosby, Ross D.; Peterson, Carol B.; Masheb, Robin M.; White, Marney A.; Crow, Scott J.; Wonderlich, Stephen A.; Mitchell, James E.

2013-01-01

Despite the widespread use of the Eating Disorder Examination (EDE) as a primary assessment instrument in studies of eating and weight disorders, little is known about the psychometric aspects of this interview measure. The primary purpose of this study was to evaluate the factor structure of the EDE interview in a large series of patients with binge-eating disorder (BED). Participants were 688 treatment-seeking patients with BED who were reliably administered the EDE interview by trained research clinicians at three research centers. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) performed on EDE interview data from a random split-half of the study group suggested a brief 7-item 3-factor structure. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) performed on the second randomly selected half of the study group supported this brief 3-factor structure of the EDE interview. The three factors were interpreted as Dietary Restraint, Shape/Weight Overvaluation, and Body Dissatisfaction. In this series of patients with BED, factor analysis of the EDE interview did not replicate the original subscales but revealed an alternative factor structure. Future research must further evaluate the psychometric properties, including the factor structure, of the EDE interview in this and other eating-disordered groups. The implications of these factor analytic findings for understanding and assessing the specific psychopathology of patients with BED are discussed. PMID:19798064

Evaluation of the Criterion and Convergent Validity of the Diagnostic Interview for Social and Communication Disorders in Young and Low-Functioning Children

Science.gov (United States)

Maljaars, Jarymke; Noens, Ilse; Scholte, Evert; van Berckelaer-Onnes, Ina

2012-01-01

The Diagnostic Interview for Social and Communication Disorders (DISCO; Wing, 2006) is a standardized, semi-structured and interviewer-based schedule for diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The objective of this study was to evaluate the criterion and convergent validity of the DISCO-11 ICD-10 algorithm in young and low-functioning…

Preparedness of emergency departments in northwest England for managing chemical incidents: a structured interview survey

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Walter Darren

2007-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background A number of significant chemical incidents occur in the UK each year and may require Emergency Departments (EDs to receive and manage contaminated casualties. Previously UK EDs have been found to be under-prepared for this, but since October 2005 acute hospital Trusts have had a statutory responsibility to maintain decontamination capacity. We aimed to evaluate the level of preparedness of Emergency Departments in North West England for managing chemical incidents. Methods A face-to-face semi-structured interview was carried out with the Nurse Manager or a nominated deputy in all 18 Emergency Departments in the Region. Results 16/18 departments had a written chemical incident plan but only 7 had the plan available at interview. All had a designated decontamination area but only 11 felt that they were adequately equipped. 12/18 had a current training programme for chemical incident management and 3 had no staff trained in decontamination. 13/18 could contain contaminated water from casualty decontamination and 6 could provide shelter for casualties before decontamination. Conclusion We have identified major inconsistencies in the preparedness of North West Emergency Departments for managing chemical incidents. Nationally recognized standards on incident planning, facilities, equipment and procedures need to be agreed and implemented with adequate resources. Issues of environmental safety and patient dignity and comfort should also be addressed.

Deep Impact: How a Job-Embedded Formative Assessment Professional Development Model Affected Teacher Practice

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Thomas A. Stewart

2014-02-01

Full Text Available This study supports the work of Black and Wiliam (1998, who demonstrated that when teachers effectively utilize formative assessment strategies, student learning increases significantly. However, the researchers also found a “poverty of practice” among teachers, in that few fully understood how to implement classroom formative assessment. This qualitative case study examined a series of voluntary workshops offered at one middle school designed to address this poverty of practice. Data were gathered via semi-structured interviews. These research questions framed the study: (1 What role did a professional learning community structure play in shaping workshop participants’ perceived effectiveness of a voluntary formative assessment initiative? (2 How did this initiative affect workshop participants’ perceptions of their knowledge of formative assessment and differentiation strategies? (3 How did it affect workshop participants’ perceptions of their abilities to teach others about formative assessment and differentiated instruction? (4 How did it affect school-wide use of classroom-level strategies? Results indicated that teacher workshop participants experienced a growth in their capacity to use and teach others various formative assessment strategies, and even non-participating teachers reported greater use of formative assessment in their own instruction. Workshop participants and non-participating teachers perceived little growth in the area of differentiation of instruction, which contradicted some administrator perceptions.

Barriers to participation in a hospital-based falls assessment clinic programme: an interview study with older people

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Evron, Lotte

2009-01-01

Aims: To gain new knowledge about barriers to participation in hospital-based falls assessment. Methods: Semi-structured interviews with 20 older people referred to falls assessment at a hospital-based clinic were conducted. A convenience sample of 10 refusers and 10 accepters was collected. Those...

Semi-decentralized Strategies in Structural Vibration Control

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

F. Palacios-Quiñonero

2011-04-01

Full Text Available In this work, the main ideas involved in the design of overlapping and multi-overlapping controllers via the Inclusion Principle are discussed and illustrated in the context of the Structural Vibration Control of tall buildings under seismic excitation. A detailed theoretical background on the Inclusion Principle and the design of overlapping controllers is provided. Overlapping and multi-overlapping LQR controllers are designed for a simplified five-story building model. Numerical simulations are conducted to asses the performance of the proposed semi-decentralized controllers with positive results.

Start Time and Duration Distribution Estimation in Semi-Structured Processes

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wombacher, Andreas; Iacob, Maria Eugenia

Semi-structured processes are business workflows, where the execution of the workflow is not completely controlled by a workflow engine, i.e., an implementation of a formal workflow model. Examples are workflows where actors potentially have interaction with customers reporting the result of the

Start time and duration distribution estimation in semi-structured processes

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wombacher, Andreas; Iacob, Maria Eugenia

Semi-structured processes are business workflows, where the execution of the workflow is not completely controlled by a workflow engine, i.e., an implementation of a formal workflow model. Examples are workflows where actors potentially have interaction with customers reporting the result of the

Thinking ahead of the surgeon. An interview study to identify scrub nurses' non-technical skills.

Science.gov (United States)

Mitchell, Lucy; Flin, Rhona; Yule, Steven; Mitchell, Janet; Coutts, Kathy; Youngson, George

2011-07-01

Efforts to reduce adverse event rates in healthcare have revealed the importance of identifying the essential non-technical (cognitive and social) skills for safe and effective performance. Previous research on non-technical skills for operating theatre staff has concentrated on doctors rather than nursing professionals. The aim of the study was to identify the critical non-technical skills that are essential for safe and effective performance as an operating theatre scrub nurse. Experienced scrub nurses (n = 25) and consultant surgeons (n = 9) from four Scottish hospitals were interviewed using a semi-structured format. The protocols were designed to identify the main social and cognitive skills required by scrub nurses. Interviews were digitally recorded, transcribed verbatim and independently coded to extract behaviours in order to produce a list of the main non-technical skills for safe and effective scrub nurse performance. The non-technical skills of situation awareness, communication, teamwork, task management and coping with stress were identified as key to successful scrub nurse task performance. Component sets of behaviours for each of these categories were also noted. The interviews with subject matter experts from scrub nursing and surgery produced preliminary evidence that situation awareness, communication, teamwork and coping with stress are the principal non-technical skills required for effective performance as a scrub nurse. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Sipping Coffee with a Serial Killer: On Conducting Life History Interviews with a Criminal Genius

Science.gov (United States)

Oleson, J. C.

2004-01-01

As part of my Ph.D. research on criminal genius, I conducted 44 semi-structured interviews. One of the 44 subjects, in particular, stood out. This noteworthy individual claimed that he had killed 15 people. His story was particularly interesting because--unlike most social research involving serial killers--he claimed that he had never been…

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR INTERVIEWERS CONDUCTING SOCIOLOGICAL SURVEYS: THE USE OF THE PSYCHOTYPES THEORY AND ANALYSIS OF RESPONDENTS’ NONVERBAL REACTIONS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ж В Пузанова

2018-12-01

Full Text Available The quality of sociological data is the problem that cannot lose relevance in the works of methodologists and practicing sociologists for decades. Procedures and techniques for the improvement of the quality of information for all type of survey methods are developing. The purpose of the article is to inform the interviewers conducting semi-structured or unstructured interviews of the recommendations developed on the basis of the theory of psychotypes (by V.V. Ponomarenko. This technology will allow to improve the quality of sociological data. Identification of the psychotype of the respondent and his emotional reactions to different sensitive topics during the interview are the basis of this technology. Emotional reactions can be traced by nonverbal cues (facial expressions, gestures and poses and interpreted by the technology of the analysis of nonverbal reactions developed and approved earlier. During the multi-stage experiment, the reactions significant in the course of interview were traced and analyzed - irritation, surprise, sadness, contempt, joy, fear, disgust, stress/discomfort, doubt/indecision, manifestations of mental processes. At the first phase, representatives of ‘ideal types’ of each psychotype were selected by an abridged psychological test and external diagnostics based on sensitive topics. As a result, the recommendations for a semi-structured interview were formulated. To use this technique, it is necessary to test an interviewee before the interview by the abridged psychological technique (in case there are doubts after the visual diagnostics. According to the psychotype the interviewer pays attention to the sensitive topics of the in-terview, and during the interview can reformulate the open-ended questions to reduce the sensitivity of significant topics for each respondent.

Technical study on semi-object emulation of structural statics problem

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mo Jun; Shi Pingan; Liu Xingfu; Liu Zhiyong; Fu Chunyu

2002-01-01

Structural strength analysis depends mainly on finite element method and experiments. For complex structural system, a rather large error can be caused by some uncertain factors, such as load distributions, boundary conditions and constitutive relations in numerical analysis. At the same time, owing to the limitation of measuring and testing techniques, the strength and stiffness of key components can not be estimated by using the limited test data. To simulate stresses accurately under complex static environment, improve man-machine interactive system, and make the best use of fore- and post-processing function in graphic data processing, the authors combine numerical analysis with experimental technique and have developed the semi-object emulation technique to analyze the nonlinear problem of structure statics. The modern optical measuring techniques and image processing techniques are firstly used for the method to acquire displacement data of the vessel surface, and the data are used for the boundary condition to determine the geometrical size of disfigurement in the wall of vessel and the stress level. The experimental verification of a given test model show that these adverse problem can be solved by using semi-object emulation technology

Semi-empirical calculations on the structure of the uronium ion

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Harkema, Sybolt

1972-01-01

Semi-empirical calculations (CNDO/2) on the structure of the uronium ion are presented. Assuming a planar ion with fixed bond lengths, the bond angles involving the heavy atoms can be calculated with fair accuracy. Changes in bond length and angles, which occur upon protonation of the urea molecule,

Decentralized stabilization of semi-active vibrating structures

Science.gov (United States)

Pisarski, Dominik

2018-02-01

A novel method of decentralized structural vibration control is presented. The control is assumed to be realized by a semi-active device. The objective is to stabilize a vibrating system with the optimal rates of decrease of the energy. The controller relies on an easily implemented decentralized switched state-feedback control law. It uses a set of communication channels to exchange the state information between the neighboring subcontrollers. The performance of the designed method is validated by means of numerical experiments performed for a double cantilever system equipped with a set of elastomers with controlled viscoelastic properties. In terms of the assumed objectives, the proposed control strategy significantly outperforms the passive damping cases and is competitive with a standard centralized control. The presented methodology can be applied to a class of bilinear control systems concerned with smart structural elements.

Genome re-sequencing of semi-wild soybean reveals a complex Soja population structure and deep introgression.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jie Qiu

Full Text Available Semi-wild soybean is a unique type of soybean that retains both wild and domesticated characteristics, which provides an important intermediate type for understanding the evolution of the subgenus Soja population in the Glycine genus. In this study, a semi-wild soybean line (Maliaodou and a wild line (Lanxi 1 collected from the lower Yangtze regions were deeply sequenced while nine other semi-wild lines were sequenced to a 3-fold genome coverage. Sequence analysis revealed that (1 no independent phylogenetic branch covering all 10 semi-wild lines was observed in the Soja phylogenetic tree; (2 besides two distinct subpopulations of wild and cultivated soybean in the Soja population structure, all semi-wild lines were mixed with some wild lines into a subpopulation rather than an independent one or an intermediate transition type of soybean domestication; (3 high heterozygous rates (0.19-0.49 were observed in several semi-wild lines; and (4 over 100 putative selective regions were identified by selective sweep analysis, including those related to the development of seed size. Our results suggested a hybridization origin for the semi-wild soybean, which makes a complex Soja population structure.

A qualitative examination of wheelchair configuration for optimal mobility performance in wheelchair sports : a pilot study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mason, Barry S.; Porcellato, Lorna; van der Woude, Lucas H. V.; Goosey-Tolfrey, Victoria L.

Objective: To examine wheelchair athletes' perceptions of wheelchair configuration in relation to aspects of mobility performance. Methods: Nine elite wheelchair athletes from wheelchair basketball, wheelchair rugby and wheelchair tennis were interviewed using a semi-structured format. Interview

Guidelines for Improving Employer Effectiveness in Interviewing Disabled Applicants.

Science.gov (United States)

Cole, Joyce Couch; Bragman, Ruth

1985-01-01

This article presents a five-step, structured format to be used in preparing employers for conducting interviews with disabled applicants. Described in this article is a straightforward, convenient tool that can also be used by rehabilitation personnel when providing awareness training and employer education. (Author)

A new structured interview for children with autism spectrum disorder based on the DSM-IV.

Science.gov (United States)

Hansakunachai, Tippawan; Roongpraiwan, Rawiwan; Sombuntham, Tasnawat; Limprasert, Pornprot; Ruangdaraganon, Nichara

2014-08-01

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a common neurodevelopmental disorder in children. The clinical spectrum of ASD includes autism, childhood disintegrative disorder Asperger syndrome and pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS). Although the DSM-IVcriteria are well acceptedforASD diagnosis, there are some known limitations for clinicians. The most important issue is lack'ofspecific age-appropriate items in each domain. Thus, the DSM-IVneeds some modifications in order to be appropriate for clinical use. To develop a structured interview for children based on the DSM-IVdiagnostic criteria ofautism and PDD-NOS. MATERIAL ANDMETHOD: From June 2006 to December 2008, 140 Thai children, 121 boys and 19 girls, already diagnosed with ASD, were recruited through the child development clinics of Ramathibodi and Thammasat University Hospitals in Thailand. A 26-item structured interview was developed with scoring according to the DSM-IVdiagnostic criteria for autism andPDD- NOS. To test the accuracy of the structured interview and its reliability, 32 children with ASD were selected and interviewed by four clinicians using the new instrument. One clinician interviewed the parents or caregivers, while three others independently took notes and observed the play behavior of the children. All items from the structured interview as scored by each clinician were compared using inter-rater agreement statistics (Kappa). All of the original 140 patients were then clinically diagnosed again using the structured interview and the results were compared with the initial diagnoses. Ofthe 140patients originally diagnosed with ASD, 110 and 30patients were finally diagnosed with the new interview as having autism and PDD-NOS, respectively. The initial diagnoses from 15 cases (10.7%) were changed according to the structured interview Inter-rater reliability among the four clinicians showed a good level ofagreement (Kappa = 0.897) with statistical significance (pautism and

Conceptual bases of Christian, faith-based substance abuse rehabilitation programs: qualitative analysis of staff interviews.

Science.gov (United States)

McCoy, Lisa K; Hermos, John A; Bokhour, Barbara G; Frayne, Susan M

2004-09-01

Faith-based substance abuse rehabilitation programs provide residential treatment for many substance abusers. To determine key governing concepts of such programs, we conducted semi-structured interviews with sample of eleven clinical and administrative staff referred to us by program directors at six, Evangelical Christian, faith-based, residential rehabilitation programs representing two large, nationwide networks. Qualitative analysis using grounded theory methods examined how spirituality is incorporated into treatment and elicited key theories of addiction and recovery. Although containing comprehensive secular components, the core activities are strongly rooted in a Christian belief system that informs their understanding of addiction and recovery and drives the treatment format. These governing conceptions, that addiction stems from attempts to fill a spiritual void through substance use and recovery through salvation and a long-term relationship with God, provide an explicit, theory-driven model upon which they base their core treatment activities. Knowledge of these core concepts and practices should be helpful to clinicians in considering referrals to faith-based recovery programs.

CALIBRATION OF SEMI-ANALYTIC MODELS OF GALAXY FORMATION USING PARTICLE SWARM OPTIMIZATION

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ruiz, Andrés N.; Domínguez, Mariano J.; Yaryura, Yamila; Lambas, Diego García; Cora, Sofía A.; Martínez, Cristian A. Vega-; Gargiulo, Ignacio D.; Padilla, Nelson D.; Tecce, Tomás E.; Orsi, Álvaro; Arancibia, Alejandra M. Muñoz

2015-01-01

We present a fast and accurate method to select an optimal set of parameters in semi-analytic models of galaxy formation and evolution (SAMs). Our approach compares the results of a model against a set of observables applying a stochastic technique called Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), a self-learning algorithm for localizing regions of maximum likelihood in multidimensional spaces that outperforms traditional sampling methods in terms of computational cost. We apply the PSO technique to the SAG semi-analytic model combined with merger trees extracted from a standard Lambda Cold Dark Matter N-body simulation. The calibration is performed using a combination of observed galaxy properties as constraints, including the local stellar mass function and the black hole to bulge mass relation. We test the ability of the PSO algorithm to find the best set of free parameters of the model by comparing the results with those obtained using a MCMC exploration. Both methods find the same maximum likelihood region, however, the PSO method requires one order of magnitude fewer evaluations. This new approach allows a fast estimation of the best-fitting parameter set in multidimensional spaces, providing a practical tool to test the consequences of including other astrophysical processes in SAMs

CALIBRATION OF SEMI-ANALYTIC MODELS OF GALAXY FORMATION USING PARTICLE SWARM OPTIMIZATION

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ruiz, Andrés N.; Domínguez, Mariano J.; Yaryura, Yamila; Lambas, Diego García [Instituto de Astronomía Teórica y Experimental, CONICET-UNC, Laprida 854, X5000BGR, Córdoba (Argentina); Cora, Sofía A.; Martínez, Cristian A. Vega-; Gargiulo, Ignacio D. [Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Rivadavia 1917, C1033AAJ Buenos Aires (Argentina); Padilla, Nelson D.; Tecce, Tomás E.; Orsi, Álvaro; Arancibia, Alejandra M. Muñoz, E-mail: andresnicolas@oac.uncor.edu [Instituto de Astrofísica, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Av. Vicuña Mackenna 4860, Santiago (Chile)

2015-03-10

We present a fast and accurate method to select an optimal set of parameters in semi-analytic models of galaxy formation and evolution (SAMs). Our approach compares the results of a model against a set of observables applying a stochastic technique called Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), a self-learning algorithm for localizing regions of maximum likelihood in multidimensional spaces that outperforms traditional sampling methods in terms of computational cost. We apply the PSO technique to the SAG semi-analytic model combined with merger trees extracted from a standard Lambda Cold Dark Matter N-body simulation. The calibration is performed using a combination of observed galaxy properties as constraints, including the local stellar mass function and the black hole to bulge mass relation. We test the ability of the PSO algorithm to find the best set of free parameters of the model by comparing the results with those obtained using a MCMC exploration. Both methods find the same maximum likelihood region, however, the PSO method requires one order of magnitude fewer evaluations. This new approach allows a fast estimation of the best-fitting parameter set in multidimensional spaces, providing a practical tool to test the consequences of including other astrophysical processes in SAMs.

Barriers and motivational factors towards physical activity in COPD - an interview based pilot study

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Østergaard, Elisabeth Bomholt; Sritharan, Sophia Sajitha; Thomsen, Pernille Maja

2018-01-01

Title Barriers and motivational factors towards physical activity in COPD - an interview based pilot study Authors Elisabeth Bomholt Østergaard, Sophia Sajitha Sritharan, Pernille Maja Thomsen, Anne Dal Kristiansen, Anders Løkke Background: Surprisingly few people in Denmark with Chronic...... Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) engage in physical activity even though it is evident that pulmonary rehabilitation has positive effects on activity level, dyspnea, anxiety, fatigue and quality of life. Aims: To explore why people with COPD do not engage in physical activity and their motivational...... factors for being physically active. Methods: Fieldwork among five people with COPD in Jutland, Denmark 2013-2016 using qualitative semi-structured interviews. Supplementary short semistructured interviews with three general practitioners, and participation in a closed Facebook-group for people with COPD...

The SQL++ Query Language: Configurable, Unifying and Semi-structured

OpenAIRE

Ong, Kian Win; Papakonstantinou, Yannis; Vernoux, Romain

2014-01-01

NoSQL databases support semi-structured data, typically modeled as JSON. They also provide limited (but expanding) query languages. Their idiomatic, non-SQL language constructs, the many variations, and the lack of formal semantics inhibit deep understanding of the query languages, and also impede progress towards clean, powerful, declarative query languages. This paper specifies the syntax and semantics of SQL++, which is applicable to both JSON native stores and SQL databases. The SQL++ sem...

What affects authors' and editors' use of reporting guidelines? Findings from an online survey and qualitative interviews.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thomas Fuller

Full Text Available To identify and understand, through data from multiple sources, some of the factors that affect authors' and editors' decisions to use reporting guidelines in the publication of health research.Mixed methods study comprising an online survey and semi-structured interviews with a sample of authors (online survey: n = 56; response rate = 32%; semi-structured interviews: n = 5 and journal editors (online survey: n = 43; response rate = 27%; semi-structured interviews: n = 6 involved in publishing health and medical research. Participants were recruited from an earlier study examining the effectiveness of the TREND reporting guideline.Four types of factors interacted to affect authors' and editors' likelihood of reporting guideline use; individual (e.g., having multiple reasons for use of reporting guidelines; the professional culture in which people work; environmental (e.g., policies of journals; and, practical (e.g., having time to use reporting guidelines. Having multiple reasons for using reporting guidelines was a particularly salient factor in facilitating reporting guidelines use for both groups of participants.Improving the completeness and consistency of reporting of research studies is critical to the integrity and synthesis of health research. The use of reporting guidelines offers one potentially efficient and effective means for achieving this, but decisions to use (or not use reporting guidelines take many factors into account. These findings could be used to inform future studies that might, for example, test the factors that we have identified within a wider theoretical framework for understanding changes in professional practices. The use of reporting guidelines by senior professionals appears to shape the expectations of what constitutes best practice and can be assimilated into the culture of a field or discipline. Without evidence of effectiveness of reporting guidelines, and sustained, multifaceted efforts to improve reporting

Barriers to participation in a hospital-based falls assessment clinic programme: an interview study with older people

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Evron, L.; Schultz-Larsen, K.; Fristrup, T.

2009-01-01

Aims: To gain new knowledge about barriers to participation in hospital-based falls assessment. Methods: Semi-structured interviews with 20 older people referred to falls assessment at a hospital-based clinic were conducted. A convenience sample of 10 refusers and 10 accepters was collected. Thos...... the findings of this study to a public health message, we have to consider moving the focus of falls prevention strategies from disease control to the domain of health promotion in order to engage older adults in preventive healthcare Udgivelsesdato: 2009/9......Aims: To gain new knowledge about barriers to participation in hospital-based falls assessment. Methods: Semi-structured interviews with 20 older people referred to falls assessment at a hospital-based clinic were conducted. A convenience sample of 10 refusers and 10 accepters was collected. Those...... system taking over their life. Conclusions: This study indicates that older at-risk patients acknowledge their falls problem, but refuse to participate in hospital-based assessment programmes because they expect to lose their authority and to be caught up in the healthcare system. In order to transform...

Barriers to participation in a hospital-based falls assessment clinic programme: an interview study with older people

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Evron, Lotte; Schultz-Larsen, Kirsten; Fristrup, Tine

2009-01-01

Aims: To gain new knowledge about barriers to participation in hospital-based falls assessment. Methods: Semi-structured interviews with 20 older people referred to falls assessment at a hospital-based clinic were conducted. A convenience sample of 10 refusers and 10 accepters was collected. Thos...... the findings of this study to a public health message, we have to consider moving the focus of falls prevention strategies from disease control to the domain of health promotion in order to engage older adults in preventive healthcare.......Aims: To gain new knowledge about barriers to participation in hospital-based falls assessment. Methods: Semi-structured interviews with 20 older people referred to falls assessment at a hospital-based clinic were conducted. A convenience sample of 10 refusers and 10 accepters was collected. Those...... system taking over their life. Conclusions: This study indicates that older at-risk patients acknowledge their falls problem, but refuse to participate in hospital-based assessment programmes because they expect to lose their authority and to be caught up in the healthcare system. In order to transform...

Visual mining of semi-structured data

CERN Multimedia

CERN. Geneva; Posada, Jorge; Quartulli, Marco

2013-01-01

Background Vicomtech is visiting CERN to expose their activities and explore possible lines of collaboration. As part of the programme they will be offering a presentation, staged in three parts: Presentation of Vicomtech – Seán Gaines Descriptions of technologies and specialities – Dr. Jorge Posada Details on projects related to the development of visually-based algorithms for intelligent storage, processing, visualization and interaction with Big Data, for massive sources of information. – Dr. Marco Quartulli. The full programme to the visit is here Abstract Mining semi-structured data is fundamental for archive monitoring, understanding and exploitation. Typical analysis systems are based on a three-tiered architecture, in which efficient databases feed highly parallelised application servers that in turn feed client user interfaces. Yet the sharing of analysis, content identification and semantic level summarization tasks among the two bot...

Significant others, situations and infant feeding behaviour change processes: a serial qualitative interview study.

Science.gov (United States)

McInnes, Rhona J; Hoddinott, Pat; Britten, Jane; Darwent, Kirsty; Craig, Leone C A

2013-05-16

Exclusive breastfeeding until six months followed by the introduction of solids and continued breastfeeding is recommended by the World Health Organisation. The dominant approach to achieving this has been to educate and support women to start and continue breastfeeding rather than understanding behaviour change processes from a broader perspective. Serial qualitative interviews examined the influences of significant others on women's feeding behaviour. Thirty-six women and 37 nominated significant others participated in 220 interviews, conducted approximately four weekly from late pregnancy to six months after birth. Responses to summative structured questions at the end of each interview asking about significant influences on feeding decisions were compared and contrasted with formative semi-structured data within and between cases. Analysis focused on pivotal points where behaviour changed from exclusive breastfeeding to introducing formula, stopping breastfeeding or introducing solids. This enabled us to identify processes that decelerate or accelerate behaviour change and understand resolution processes afterwards. The dominant goal motivating behaviour change was family wellbeing, rather than exclusive breastfeeding. Rather than one type of significant other emerging as the key influence, there was a complex interplay between the self-baby dyad, significant others, situations and personal or vicarious feeding history. Following behaviour change women turned to those most likely to confirm or resolve their decisions and maintain their confidence as mothers. Applying ecological models of behaviour would enable health service organisation, practice, policy and research to focus on enhancing family efficacy and wellbeing, improving family-centred communication and increasing opportunities for health professionals to be a constructive influence around pivotal points when feeding behaviour changes. A paradigm shift is recommended away from the dominant approach of

Selling oneself: construct and criterion-related validity of impression management in structured interviews

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kleinmann, M.; Klehe, U.-C.

2010-01-01

Interviewee impression management has been a long-standing concern in the interview literature. Yet recent insights into the impact of impression management on interviewee performance in structured interviews suggest that interviewee impression management may be more than just a source of bias and a

Learning motivational interviewing in a real-life setting: a randomised controlled trial in the Swedish Prison Service.

Science.gov (United States)

Forsberg, Lars; Ernst, Denise; Farbring, Carl Åke

2011-07-01

Motivational interviewing (MI) is a client-centred, directive counselling style for helping people to explore and resolve ambivalence about behaviour change and shown to decrease drug and alcohol use. A five-session semi-structured MI intervention [Beteende, Samtal, Förändring (BSF; Behaviour, Counselling, Change)] was implemented in Swedish prisons. To examine whether, in a real-life implementation of semi-structured MI, staff receiving ongoing MI training, based on audio-recorded feedback in peer groups (BSF+), possess greater MI skill compared with staff receiving workshop-only MI training (BSF), and staff conducting usual prison planning interviews (UPI). Prisoners were randomised to one of the three interventions. The fi rst sessions between staff and prisoner with complete data were assessed with the Motivational Interviewing Treatment Integrity Code 3.0. Content analysis of 45 staff: prisoner sessions revealed that counsellors in the BSF+ group were significantly more competent in MI than those in the UPI group, but there was no difference in MI competency between the BSF and UPI groups. Overall, staff were rated as not having achieved beginning proficiency. Our findings suggest that staff delivering motivational interviewing programmes for substance-misusing prisoners in Sweden are not being given sufficient training for the task. Previous literature has suggested that staff need more than a basic 3- to 5-day workshop training, but our findings suggest that they may need longer-term continuing supervision and support than previously recognised.

The Perceptions of Commoditisation and Internationalisation of Higher Education in Australia: An Interview Study of Chinese International Students and Their Lecturers

Science.gov (United States)

McCrohon, Mark; Nyland, Berenice

2018-01-01

This paper examined domestic educator and Chinese international student (CIS) perspectives on their experience of the commoditisation of international higher education in Australia. Data consisted of semi-structured interviews with academic and student participants. A Trans-disciplinary Framework derived from grounded theory and the Auditable…

Nutritional rehabilitation after ICU - does it happen: a qualitative interview and observational study.

Science.gov (United States)

Merriweather, Judith; Smith, Pam; Walsh, Timothy

2014-03-01

To compare and contrast current nutritional rehabilitation practices against recommendations from National Institute for Health and Excellence guideline Rehabilitation after critical illness (NICE) (2009, http://www.nice.org.uk/cg83). Recovery from critical illness has gained increasing prominence over the last decade but there is remarkably little research relating to nutritional rehabilitation. The study is a qualitative study based on patient interviews and observations of ward practice. Seventeen patients were recruited into the study at discharge from the intensive care unit (ICU) of a large teaching hospital in central Scotland in 2011. Semi-structured interviews were conducted on transfer to the ward and weekly thereafter. Fourteen of these patients were followed up at three months post-ICU discharge, and a semi-structured interview was carried out. Observations of ward practice were carried out twice weekly for the duration of the ward stay. Current nutritional practice for post-intensive care patients did not reflect the recommendations from the NICE guideline. A number of organisational issues were identified as influencing nutritional care. These issues were categorised as ward culture, service-centred delivery of care and disjointed discharge planning. Their influence on nutritional care was compounded by the complex problems associated with critical illness. The NICE guideline provides few nutrition-specific recommendations for rehabilitation; however, current practice does not reflect the nutritional recommendations that are detailed in the rehabilitation care pathway. Nutritional care of post-ICU patients is problematic and strategies to overcome these issues need to be addressed in order to improve nutritional intake. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Galaxy modelling. II. Multi-wavelength faint counts from a semi-analytic model of galaxy formation

Science.gov (United States)

Devriendt, J. E. G.; Guiderdoni, B.

2000-11-01

This paper predicts self-consistent faint galaxy counts from the UV to the submm wavelength range. The stardust spectral energy distributions described in Devriendt et al. \\citeparyear{DGS99} (Paper I) are embedded within the explicit cosmological framework of a simple semi-analytic model of galaxy formation and evolution. We begin with a description of the non-dissipative and dissipative collapses of primordial perturbations, and plug in standard recipes for star formation, stellar evolution and feedback. We also model the absorption of starlight by dust and its re-processing in the IR and submm. We then build a class of models which capture the luminosity budget of the universe through faint galaxy counts and redshift distributions in the whole wavelength range spanned by our spectra. In contrast with a rather stable behaviour in the optical and even in the far-IR, the submm counts are dramatically sensitive to variations in the cosmological parameters and changes in the star formation history. Faint submm counts are more easily accommodated within an open universe with a low value of Omega_0 , or a flat universe with a non-zero cosmological constant. We confirm the suggestion of Guiderdoni et al. \\citeparyear{GHBM98} that matching the current multi-wavelength data requires a population of heavily-extinguished, massive galaxies with large star formation rates ( ~ 500 M_sun yr-1) at intermediate and high redshift (z >= 1.5). Such a population of objects probably is the consequence of an increase of interaction and merging activity at high redshift, but a realistic quantitative description can only be obtained through more detailed modelling of such processes. This study illustrates the implementation of multi-wavelength spectra into a semi-analytic model. In spite of its simplicity, it already provides fair fits of the current data of faint counts, and a physically motivated way of interpolating and extrapolating these data to other wavelengths and fainter flux

A Look at Advanced Learners' Use of Mobile Devices for English Language Study: Insights from Interview Data

Science.gov (United States)

Kruk, Mariusz

2017-01-01

The paper discusses the results of a study which explored advanced learners of English engagement with their mobile devices to develop learning experiences that meet their needs and goals as foreign language learners. The data were collected from 20 students by means of a semi-structured interview. The gathered data were subjected to qualitative…

Semi-Automated Discovery of Application Session Structure

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kannan, J.; Jung, J.; Paxson, V.; Koksal, C.

2006-09-07

While the problem of analyzing network traffic at the granularity of individual connections has seen considerable previous work and tool development, understanding traffic at a higher level---the structure of user-initiated sessions comprised of groups of related connections---remains much less explored. Some types of session structure, such as the coupling between an FTP control connection and the data connections it spawns, have prespecified forms, though the specifications do not guarantee how the forms appear in practice. Other types of sessions, such as a user reading email with a browser, only manifest empirically. Still other sessions might exist without us even knowing of their presence, such as a botnet zombie receiving instructions from its master and proceeding in turn to carry them out. We present algorithms rooted in the statistics of Poisson processes that can mine a large corpus of network connection logs to extract the apparent structure of application sessions embedded in the connections. Our methods are semi-automated in that we aim to present an analyst with high-quality information (expressed as regular expressions) reflecting different possible abstractions of an application's session structure. We develop and test our methods using traces from a large Internet site, finding diversity in the number of applications that manifest, their different session structures, and the presence of abnormal behavior. Our work has applications to traffic characterization and monitoring, source models for synthesizing network traffic, and anomaly detection.

Structure, function and management of semi-natural habitats for conservation biological control

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Holland, John M.; Bianchi, Felix J.J.A.; Entling, Martin H.; Moonen, Anna Camilla; Smith, Barbara M.; Jeanneret, Philippe

2016-01-01

Different semi-natural habitats occur on farmland, and it is the vegetation's traits and structure that subsequently determine their ability to support natural enemies and their associated contribution to conservation biocontrol. New habitats can be created and existing ones improved with

Semi-active control for vibration mitigation of structural systems incorporating uncertainties

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Miah, Mohammad S; Chatzi, Eleni N; Weber, Felix

2015-01-01

This study introduces a novel semi-active control scheme, where the linear-quadratic regulator (LQR) is combined with an unscented Kalman filter (UKF) observer, for the real-time mitigation of structural vibration. Due to a number of factors, such as environmental effects and ageing processes, the controlled system may be characterized by uncertainties. The UKF, which comprises a nonlinear observer, is employed herein for devising an adaptive semi-active control scheme capable of tackling such a challenge. This is achieved through the real-time realization of joint state and parameter estimation during the structural control process via the proposed LQR-UKF approach. The behavior of the introduced scheme is exemplified through two numerical applications. The efficacy of the devised methodology is firstly compared against the standard LQR-KF approach in a linear benchmark application where the system model is assumed known a priori, and secondly, the method is validated on a joint state and parameter estimation problem where the system model is assumed uncertain, formulated as nonlinear, and updated in real-time. (paper)

How do healthcare consumers process and evaluate comparative healthcare information? A qualitative study using cognitive interviews.

OpenAIRE

Damman, O.C.; Hendriks, M.; Rademakers, J.; Delnoij, D.; Groenewegen, P.

2009-01-01

Abstract Background To date, online public healthcare reports have not been effectively used by consumers. Therefore, we qualitatively examined how healthcare consumers process and evaluate comparative healthcare information on the Internet. Methods Using semi-structured cognitive interviews, interviewees (n = 20) were asked to think aloud and answer questions, as they were prompted with three Dutch web pages providing comparative healthcare information. Results We identified twelve themes fr...

HIRING TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERS IN EDUCATION: LESSONS LEARNED FROM STRUCTURED EMPLOYMENT INTERVIEWS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Denver Jade Fowler

2016-09-01

Full Text Available In the educational setting, hiring transformational leaders is essential to a schools’ success or failure. In this study, we examine Confucianism and country influence on structured employment interviews from both Western (United States and Eastern cultures (Taiwan. Eastern cultures have certain values not prevalent in Western cultures that may reduce the use of transformational leadership questions in job interviews. Eastern cultures have higher levels of uncertainty avoidance, collectivism, and power distance. We examined questions asked in actual job interviews in Taiwan and the United States (N = 178. Additionally, we examined the three dimensions of interview structure including evaluation standardization, question sophistication, and questioning consistency. We found that the number of questions about transformational leadership were less common in Taiwan, with its lower selection ratios, and when question sophistication and consistency were higher. In the United States, we found that the number of questions about transformational leadership increased with selection ratio, question sophistication, and question consistency, but not in Taiwan. The results of this study have important implications to all workplace settings around the globe where it may be argued that it is advantageous to hire transformational leaders to improve any organization. However, the results of this study may have particular importance to the educational setting, in both China and the United States, and globally, where the need to attract and hire transformational leaders can be vital to a schools’ success (or failure.

A Qualitative Research Regarding the Online Advertising Formats Used by Romanian Companies

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Acatrinei Carmen

2015-08-01

Full Text Available The present paper offers an in-depth view about the online advertising formats that are used by Romanian companies or digital advertising agencies. The qualitative research based on semi-structured detailed interviews with 12 professionals, took place in Bucharest, in February-March 2015. From the online advertising formats defined by IAB, the Romanian representatives mentioned to promote their organizations or to develop campaigns for their clients by using: search, display, social media, video advertising, affiliate marketing and sponsorship advertising format (advertorials and content sponsorship. The specialists argued about the most relevant and efficient online advertising format that they use. From their personal experience, the professionals were asked to mention which are the elements / attributes that have a significant impact on: search, display, video, social media and mobile advertising campaigns. All the respondents mentioned that their companies use remarketing campaigns. The budget of an online advertising campaign is settled differently among the formats used. The purpose of the paper is to analyze the views of professionals regarding the Romanian online advertising market and this study precedes a quantitative research among Romanian consumers exposed to online advertising campaigns in order to make a comparison between the results obtained in both studies and propose a model of online advertising campaign as close to consumers‟ wants.

Hierarchically structured self-supported latex films for flexible and semi-transparent electronics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Määttänen, Anni; Ihalainen, Petri; Törngren, Björn; Rosqvist, Emil; Pesonen, Markus; Peltonen, Jouko

2016-01-01

Graphical abstract: - Highlights: • Transparent self-supported latex films were fabricated by a peel-off process. • Various template substrates were used for creating e.g. hierarchically structured latex films. • Ultra-thin and semi-transparent conductive gold electrodes were evaporated on the latex films.Electrochemical experiments were carried out to verify the applicability of the electrodes. - Abstract: Different length scale alterations in topography, surface texture, and symmetry are known to evoke diverse cell behavior, including adhesion, orientation, motility, cytoskeletal condensation, and modulation of intracellular signaling pathways. In this work, self-supported latex films with well-defined isotropic/anisotropic surface features and hierarchical morphologies were fabricated by a peel-off process from different template surfaces. In addition, the latex films were used as substrates for evaporated ultrathin gold films with nominal thicknesses of 10 and 20 nm. Optical properties and topography of the samples were characterized using UV–vis spectroscopy and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) measurements, respectively. The latex films showed high-level transmittance of visible light, enabling the fabrication of semi-transparent gold electrodes. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurements were carried out for a number of days to investigate the long-term stability of the electrodes. The effect of 1-octadecanethiol (ODT) and HS(CH_2)_1_1OH (MuOH) thiolation and protein (human serum albumin, HSA) adsorption on the impedance and capacitance was studied. In addition, cyclic voltammetry (CV) measurements were carried out to determine active medicinal components, i.e., caffeic acid with interesting biological activities and poorly water-soluble anti-inflammatory drug, piroxicam. The results show that the fabrication procedure presented in this study enables the formation of platforms with hierarchical morphologies for multimodal (optical and

Hierarchically structured self-supported latex films for flexible and semi-transparent electronics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Määttänen, Anni, E-mail: anni.maattanen@abo.fi [Laboratory of Physical Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Center for Functional Materials, Åbo Akademi University, Porthaninkatu 3, 20500, Turku (Finland); Ihalainen, Petri, E-mail: petri.ihalainen@abo.fi [Laboratory of Physical Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Center for Functional Materials, Åbo Akademi University, Porthaninkatu 3, 20500, Turku (Finland); Törngren, Björn, E-mail: bjorn.torngren@abo.fi [Laboratory of Physical Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Center for Functional Materials, Åbo Akademi University, Porthaninkatu 3, 20500, Turku (Finland); Rosqvist, Emil, E-mail: emil.rosqvist@abo.fi [Laboratory of Physical Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Center for Functional Materials, Åbo Akademi University, Porthaninkatu 3, 20500, Turku (Finland); Pesonen, Markus, E-mail: markus.pesonen@abo.fi [Physics, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Center for Functional Materials, Åbo Akademi University, Porthaninkatu 3, 20500, Turku (Finland); Peltonen, Jouko, E-mail: jouko.peltonen@abo.fi [Laboratory of Physical Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Center for Functional Materials, Åbo Akademi University, Porthaninkatu 3, 20500, Turku (Finland)

2016-02-28

Graphical abstract: - Highlights: • Transparent self-supported latex films were fabricated by a peel-off process. • Various template substrates were used for creating e.g. hierarchically structured latex films. • Ultra-thin and semi-transparent conductive gold electrodes were evaporated on the latex films.Electrochemical experiments were carried out to verify the applicability of the electrodes. - Abstract: Different length scale alterations in topography, surface texture, and symmetry are known to evoke diverse cell behavior, including adhesion, orientation, motility, cytoskeletal condensation, and modulation of intracellular signaling pathways. In this work, self-supported latex films with well-defined isotropic/anisotropic surface features and hierarchical morphologies were fabricated by a peel-off process from different template surfaces. In addition, the latex films were used as substrates for evaporated ultrathin gold films with nominal thicknesses of 10 and 20 nm. Optical properties and topography of the samples were characterized using UV–vis spectroscopy and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) measurements, respectively. The latex films showed high-level transmittance of visible light, enabling the fabrication of semi-transparent gold electrodes. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurements were carried out for a number of days to investigate the long-term stability of the electrodes. The effect of 1-octadecanethiol (ODT) and HS(CH{sub 2}){sub 11}OH (MuOH) thiolation and protein (human serum albumin, HSA) adsorption on the impedance and capacitance was studied. In addition, cyclic voltammetry (CV) measurements were carried out to determine active medicinal components, i.e., caffeic acid with interesting biological activities and poorly water-soluble anti-inflammatory drug, piroxicam. The results show that the fabrication procedure presented in this study enables the formation of platforms with hierarchical morphologies for multimodal

Hamiltonian structure of isospectral deformation equation and semi-classical approximation to factorized S-matrices

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chudnovsky, D.V.; Chudnovsky, G.V.

1980-01-01

We consider semi-classical approximation to factorized S-matrices. We show that this new class of matrices, called s-matrices, defines Hamiltonian structures for isospectral deformation equations. Concrete examples of factorized s-matrices are constructed and they are used to define Hamiltonian structure for general two-dimensional isospectral deformation systems. (orig.)

The use of impression management tactics in structured interviews: a function of question type?

Science.gov (United States)

Ellis, Aleksander P J; West, Bradley J; Ryan, Ann Marie; DeShon, Richard P

2002-12-01

This study investigated impression management tactic use during structured interviews containing both experience-based and situational questions. Specifically, the authors examined whether applicants' use of impression management tactics depended on question type. Results from 119 structured interviews indicated that almost all of the applicants used some form of impression management. Significantly more assertive than defensive impression management tactics were used, and among assertive tactics, applicants tended to use self-promotion rather than ingratiation. However, different question types prompted the use of different impression management tactics. Ingratiation tactics were used significantly more when applicants answered situational questions, whereas self-promotion tactics were used significantly more when applicants answered experience-based questions. Furthermore, the use of self-promotion and ingratiation tactics was positively related to interviewer evaluations.

Structured-Light Based 3d Laser Scanning of Semi-Submerged Structures

Science.gov (United States)

van der Lucht, J.; Bleier, M.; Leutert, F.; Schilling, K.; Nüchter, A.

2018-05-01

In this work we look at 3D acquisition of semi-submerged structures with a triangulation based underwater laser scanning system. The motivation is that we want to simultaneously capture data above and below water to create a consistent model without any gaps. The employed structured light scanner consist of a machine vision camera and a green line laser. In order to reconstruct precise surface models of the object it is necessary to model and correct for the refraction of the laser line and camera rays at the water-air boundary. We derive a geometric model for the refraction at the air-water interface and propose a method for correcting the scans. Furthermore, we show how the water surface is directly estimated from sensor data. The approach is verified using scans captured with an industrial manipulator to achieve reproducible scanner trajectories with different incident angles. We show that the proposed method is effective for refractive correction and that it can be applied directly to the raw sensor data without requiring any external markers or targets.

STRUCTURED-LIGHT BASED 3D LASER SCANNING OF SEMI-SUBMERGED STRUCTURES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. van der Lucht

2018-05-01

Full Text Available In this work we look at 3D acquisition of semi-submerged structures with a triangulation based underwater laser scanning system. The motivation is that we want to simultaneously capture data above and below water to create a consistent model without any gaps. The employed structured light scanner consist of a machine vision camera and a green line laser. In order to reconstruct precise surface models of the object it is necessary to model and correct for the refraction of the laser line and camera rays at the water-air boundary. We derive a geometric model for the refraction at the air-water interface and propose a method for correcting the scans. Furthermore, we show how the water surface is directly estimated from sensor data. The approach is verified using scans captured with an industrial manipulator to achieve reproducible scanner trajectories with different incident angles. We show that the proposed method is effective for refractive correction and that it can be applied directly to the raw sensor data without requiring any external markers or targets.

[French version of structured interviews for the Glasgow Outcome Scale: guidelines and first studies of validation].

Science.gov (United States)

Fayol, P; Carrière, H; Habonimana, D; Preux, P-M; Dumond, J-J

2004-05-01

The Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS) is the most widely used outcome measure after traumatic brain injury. The GOS's reliability is improved by a structured interview. The two aims of this paper were to present a French version of the structured interview for the five-point Glasgow Outcome Scale and the extended eight-point GOS (GOSE) and to study their validity. The French version was developed using back-translation. Concurrent validity was studied by comparison with GOS/GOSE without structured interview. Inter-rater reliability was studied by comparison between assignments made by untrained head injury observers and trained head injury observers. Strength of agreement between ratings was assessed using the Kappa statistic. The French version and the guidelines for their use are given in the Appendix. Ratings were made for 25 brain injured patients and 25 relatives. Concurrent validity was good and inter-rater reliability was excellent. Using the structured interview for the GOS will give a more reliable assessment of the outcome of brain injured patients by French-speaking rehabilitation teams and a more precise assessment with the extended GOS.

Structure constrained semi-nonnegative matrix factorization for EEG-based motor imagery classification.

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Na; Li, Tengfei; Pan, Jinjin; Ren, Xiaodong; Feng, Zuren; Miao, Hongyu

2015-05-01

Electroencephalogram (EEG) provides a non-invasive approach to measure the electrical activities of brain neurons and has long been employed for the development of brain-computer interface (BCI). For this purpose, various patterns/features of EEG data need to be extracted and associated with specific events like cue-paced motor imagery. However, this is a challenging task since EEG data are usually non-stationary time series with a low signal-to-noise ratio. In this study, we propose a novel method, called structure constrained semi-nonnegative matrix factorization (SCS-NMF), to extract the key patterns of EEG data in time domain by imposing the mean envelopes of event-related potentials (ERPs) as constraints on the semi-NMF procedure. The proposed method is applicable to general EEG time series, and the extracted temporal features by SCS-NMF can also be combined with other features in frequency domain to improve the performance of motor imagery classification. Real data experiments have been performed using the SCS-NMF approach for motor imagery classification, and the results clearly suggest the superiority of the proposed method. Comparison experiments have also been conducted. The compared methods include ICA, PCA, Semi-NMF, Wavelets, EMD and CSP, which further verified the effectivity of SCS-NMF. The SCS-NMF method could obtain better or competitive performance over the state of the art methods, which provides a novel solution for brain pattern analysis from the perspective of structure constraint. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Dynamics of traditional knowledge of medicinal plants in a rural community in the Brazilian semi-arid region

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Flávia dos Santos Silva

2011-06-01

Full Text Available Human beings have accumulated rich experience with natural resources over time, but such knowledge can be strongly influenced by several factors, such as age, sex and occupation. This study focuses on the influence of these factors on knowledge of medicinal plants in a rural community in northeastern Brazil. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 102 people, with the number of plants and uses cited studied for quantitative analysis. Through this research, it was possible to show that the social variables studied (age, sex and informants occupation have contributed to the formation of different patterns of knowledge regarding medicinal resources. The results indicate that awareness of this dynamic is necessary for the proper implementation of projects where the goal is the sustainable use of natural resources (because it indicates the different levels of knowledge within a community, for studies intended to discover new drugs (because it indicates the peculiarities of certain groups, and for biodiversity conservation strategies.

Minnesota Impulse Disorders Interview (MIDI): Validation of a structured diagnostic clinical interview for impulse control disorders in an enriched community sample.

Science.gov (United States)

Chamberlain, Samuel R; Grant, Jon E

2018-05-08

Disorders of impulsivity are common, functionally impairing, and highly relevant across different clinical and research settings. Few structured clinical interviews for the identification and diagnosis of impulse control disorders exist, and none have been validated in a community sample in terms of psychometric properties. The Minnesota Impulse control disorders Interview (MIDI v2.0) was administered to an enriched sample of 293 non-treatment seeking adults aged 18-35 years, recruited using media advertisements in two large US cities. In addition to the MIDI, participants undertook extended clinical interview for other mental disorders, the Barratt impulsiveness questionnaire, and the Padua obsessive-compulsive inventory. The psychometric properties of the MIDI were characterized. In logistic regression, the MIDI showed good concurrent validity against the reference measures (versus gambling disorder interview, p  0.05). Test re-test reliability was excellent (0.95). The MIDI has good psychometric properties and thus may be a valuable interview tool for clinical and research studies involving impulse control disorders. Further research is needed to better understanding the optimal diagnostic classification and neurobiology of these neglected disorders. Crown Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Den danske udgave af Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-5 Personality Disorders (SCID-5-PD)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kongerslev, Mickey T; Bach, Bo; Olsen, Cecilie Westergaard

2017-01-01

The chapter outlines the rationale for using structured clinical interviews to diagnose personality disorder, provides an overview of the changes from SCID-II to SCID-5-PD, and describes the translation procedures used for the Danish version......The chapter outlines the rationale for using structured clinical interviews to diagnose personality disorder, provides an overview of the changes from SCID-II to SCID-5-PD, and describes the translation procedures used for the Danish version...

Modeling Change of Topographic Spatial Structures with DEM Resolution Using Semi-Variogram Analysis and Filter Bank

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chunmei Wang

2016-06-01

Full Text Available In this paper, the way topographic spatial information changes with resolution was investigated using semi-variograms and an Independent Structures Model (ISM to identify the mechanisms involved in changes of topographic parameters as resolution becomes coarser or finer. A typical Loess Hilly area in the Loess Plateau of China was taken as the study area. DEMs with resolutions of 2.5 m and 25 m were derived from topographic maps with map scales of 1:10,000 using ANUDEM software. The ISM, in which the semi-variogram was modeled as the sum of component semi-variograms, was used to model the measured semi-variogram of the elevation surface. Components were modeled using an analytic ISM model and corresponding landscape components identified using Kriging and filter bank analyses. The change in the spatial components as resolution became coarser was investigated by modeling upscaling as a low pass linear filter and applying a general result to obtain an analytic model for the scaling process in terms of semi-variance. This investigation demonstrated how topographic structures could be effectively characterised over varying scales using the ISM model for the semi-variogram. The loss of information in the short range components with resolution is a major driver for the observed change in derived topographic parameters such as slope. This paper has helped to quantify how information is distributed among scale components and how it is lost in natural terrain surfaces as resolution becomes coarser. It is a basis for further applications in the field of geomorphometry.

NETMARK: A Schema-less Extension for Relational Databases for Managing Semi-structured Data Dynamically

Science.gov (United States)

Maluf, David A.; Tran, Peter B.

2003-01-01

Object-Relational database management system is an integrated hybrid cooperative approach to combine the best practices of both the relational model utilizing SQL queries and the object-oriented, semantic paradigm for supporting complex data creation. In this paper, a highly scalable, information on demand database framework, called NETMARK, is introduced. NETMARK takes advantages of the Oracle 8i object-relational database using physical addresses data types for very efficient keyword search of records spanning across both context and content. NETMARK was originally developed in early 2000 as a research and development prototype to solve the vast amounts of unstructured and semi-structured documents existing within NASA enterprises. Today, NETMARK is a flexible, high-throughput open database framework for managing, storing, and searching unstructured or semi-structured arbitrary hierarchal models, such as XML and HTML.

Guide to conducting tinnitus retraining therapy initial and follow-up interviews.

Science.gov (United States)

Henry, James A; Jastreboff, Margaret M; Jastreboff, Pawel J; Schechter, Martin A; Fausti, Stephen A

2003-01-01

Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (TRT) is a structured method of tinnitus treatment that has been performed since 1990. The TRT Initial Interview form was developed to guide clinicians in obtaining essential information from patients that would specify treatment needs. The TRT Follow-up Interview form is similar to the initial interview form and is designed to evaluate outcomes of treatment. The clinician administers these forms verbally. The forms have been used in a highly abbreviated format with the potential for inconsistent interview administration between examiners. This project was to expand the forms to provide specific wording for each question. The expanded forms are presented in this article, and the intent of each question is explained. Standardized administration of these interview forms will facilitate greater uniformity in the initial evaluation and outcomes analyses of patients treated with TRT.

ARCADO - Adding random case analysis to direct observation in workplace-based formative assessment of general practice registrars.

Science.gov (United States)

Ingham, Gerard; Fry, Jennifer; Morgan, Simon; Ward, Bernadette

2015-12-10

Workplace-based formative assessments using consultation observation are currently conducted during the Australian general practice training program. Assessment reliability is improved by using multiple assessment methods. The aim of this study was to explore experiences of general practice medical educator assessors and registrars (trainees) when adding random case analysis to direct observation (ARCADO) during formative workplace-based assessments. A sample of general practice medical educators and matched registrars were recruited. Following the ARCADO workplace assessment, semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted. The data was analysed thematically. Ten registrars and eight medical educators participated. Four major themes emerged - formative versus summative assessment; strengths (acceptability, flexibility, time efficiency, complementarity and authenticity); weaknesses (reduced observation and integrity risks); and contextual factors (variation in assessment content, assessment timing, registrar-medical educator relationship, medical educator's approach and registrar ability). ARCADO is a well-accepted workplace-based formative assessment perceived by registrars and assessors to be valid and flexible. The use of ARCADO enabled complementary insights that would not have been achieved with direct observation alone. Whilst there are some contextual factors to be considered in its implementation, ARCADO appears to have utility as formative assessment and, subject to further evaluation, high-stakes assessment.

Interviewing to develop Patient-Reported Outcome (PRO) measures for clinical research: eliciting patients’ experience

Science.gov (United States)

2014-01-01

Patient-reported outcome (PRO) measures must provide evidence that their development followed a rigorous process for ensuring their content validity. To this end, the collection of data is performed through qualitative interviews that allow for the elicitation of in-depth spontaneous reports of the patients’ experiences with their condition and/or its treatment. This paper provides a review of qualitative research applied to PRO measure development. A clear definition of what is a qualitative research interview is given as well as information about the form and content of qualitative interviews required for developing PRO measures. Particular attention is paid to the description of interviewing approaches (e.g., semi-structured and in-depth interviews, individual vs. focus group interviews). Information about how to get prepared for a qualitative interview is provided with the description of how to develop discussion guides for exploratory or cognitive interviews. Interviewing patients to obtain knowledge regarding their illness experience requires interpersonal and communication skills to facilitate patients’ expression. Those skills are described in details, as well as the skills needed to facilitate focus groups and to interview children, adolescents and the elderly. Special attention is also given to quality assurance and interview training. The paper ends on ethical considerations since interviewing for the development of PROs is performed in a context of illness and vulnerability. Therefore, it is all the more important that, in addition to soliciting informed consent, respectful interactions be ensured throughout the interview process. PMID:24499454

Communicating patient-reported outcome scores using graphic formats: results from a mixed-methods evaluation.

Science.gov (United States)

Brundage, Michael D; Smith, Katherine C; Little, Emily A; Bantug, Elissa T; Snyder, Claire F

2015-10-01

Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) promote patient-centered care by using PRO research results ("group-level data") to inform decision making and by monitoring individual patient's PROs ("individual-level data") to inform care. We investigated the interpretability of current PRO data presentation formats. This cross-sectional mixed-methods study randomized purposively sampled cancer patients and clinicians to evaluate six group-data or four individual-data formats. A self-directed exercise assessed participants' interpretation accuracy and ratings of ease-of-understanding and usefulness (0 = least to 10 = most) of each format. Semi-structured qualitative interviews explored helpful and confusing format attributes. We reached thematic saturation with 50 patients (44 % < college graduate) and 20 clinicians. For group-level data, patients rated simple line graphs highest for ease-of-understanding and usefulness (median 8.0; 33 % selected for easiest to understand/most useful) and clinicians rated simple line graphs highest for ease-of-understanding and usefulness (median 9.0, 8.5) but most often selected line graphs with confidence limits or norms (30 % for each format for easiest to understand/most useful). Qualitative results support that clinicians value confidence intervals, norms, and p values, but patients find them confusing. For individual-level data, both patients and clinicians rated line graphs highest for ease-of-understanding (median 8.0 patients, 8.5 clinicians) and usefulness (median 8.0, 9.0) and selected them as easiest to understand (50, 70 %) and most useful (62, 80 %). The qualitative interviews supported highlighting scores requiring clinical attention and providing reference values. This study has identified preferences and opportunities for improving on current formats for PRO presentation and will inform development of best practices for PRO presentation. Both patients and clinicians prefer line graphs across group-level data and individual

Interpersonal Identity Formation in Conversations with Close Friends about Dating Relationships

Science.gov (United States)

Morgan, Elizabeth M.; Korobov, Neill

2012-01-01

The present study explores how close same-sex friendship groups participate in the co-construction of identities in the interpersonal domain during young adulthood. Participants included 24 same-sex college student friendship triads (12 male and 12 female; 72 total participants) who took part in semi-structured group interviews that elicited…

Why are adolescents addicted to online gaming? An interview study in Taiwan.

Science.gov (United States)

Wan, Chin-Sheng; Chiou, Wen-Bin

2006-12-01

The purpose of this study was twofold: to investigate the conscious and unconscious psychological motivations of online game addicts, and to further discuss the relationship between surface and source motivations. Ten Taiwanese adolescents with online game addiction were selected for in-depth interviews. Through sentence completion test and semi-structured interviews, data were collected and analyzed from the following four realms: (1) surface motivations, (2) source motivations, (3) self-conception, and (4) interpersonal relationships in real life. After content analysis, five categories with distinct themes were formed: (1) addicts' psychological needs and motivations; (2) online games as the everyday focus of the addicts; (3) the interplay of real self and virtual self; (4) online games as the compensatory or extensive satisfaction for addicts' needs; and (5) addicts' self-reflections. The implications of the present study are discussed.

Elements of programming interviews the insider's guide

CERN Document Server

Aziz, Adnan; Prakash, Amit

2015-01-01

This is a larger-format version of Elements of Programming Interviews. The language is C++. Specifically, the font size is larger, and the page size is 7"x10" (the regular format uses 6"x9"). The content is identical. Have you ever... Wanted to work at an exciting futuristic company? Struggled with an interview problem that could have been solved in 15 minutes? Wished you could study real-world computing problems? If so, you need to read Elements of Programming Interviews (EPI). EPI is your comprehensive guide to interviewing for software development roles. The core of EPI is a collection of over 250 problems with detailed solutions. The problems are representative of interview questions asked at leading software companies. The problems are illustrated with 200 figures, 300 tested programs, and 150 additional variants. The book begins with a summary of the nontechnical aspects of interviewing, such as strategies for a great interview, common mistakes, perspectives from the other side of the table,...

Reliability of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-5 Sleep Disorders Module.

Science.gov (United States)

Taylor, Daniel J; Wilkerson, Allison K; Pruiksma, Kristi E; Williams, Jacob M; Ruggero, Camilo J; Hale, Willie; Mintz, Jim; Organek, Katherine Marczyk; Nicholson, Karin L; Litz, Brett T; Young-McCaughan, Stacey; Dondanville, Katherine A; Borah, Elisa V; Brundige, Antoinette; Peterson, Alan L

2018-03-15

To develop and demonstrate interrater reliability for a Structured Clinical Interview for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) Sleep Disorders (SCISD). The SCISD was designed to be a brief, reliable, and valid interview assessment of adult sleep disorders as defined by the DSM-5. A sample of 106 postdeployment active-duty military members seeking cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia in a randomized clinical trial were assessed with the SCISD prior to treatment to determine eligibility. Audio recordings of these interviews were double-scored for interrater reliability. The interview is 8 pages long, includes 20 to 51 questions, and takes 10 to 20 minutes to administer. Of the nine major disorders included in the SCISD, six had prevalence rates high enough (ie, n ≥ 5) to include in analyses. Cohen kappa coefficient (κ) was used to assess interrater reliability for insomnia, hypersomnolence, obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea (OSAH), circadian rhythm sleep-wake, nightmare, and restless legs syndrome disorders. There was excellent interrater reliability for insomnia (1.0) and restless legs syndrome (0.83); very good reliability for nightmare disorder (0.78) and OSAH (0.73); and good reliability for hypersomnolence (0.50) and circadian rhythm sleep-wake disorders (0.50). The SCISD is a brief, structured clinical interview that is easy for clinicians to learn and use. The SCISD showed moderate to excellent interrater reliability for six of the major sleep disorders in the DSM-5 among active duty military seeking cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia in a randomized clinical trial. Replication and extension studies are needed. Registry: ClinicalTrials.gov; Title: Comparing Internet and In-Person Brief Cognitive Behavioral Therapy of Insomnia; Identifier: NCT01549899; URL: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01549899. © 2018 American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

An interview-based study of non-attendance at screening for cardiovascular diseases and diabetes in older women

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dahl, Marie; Lindholt, Jes; Søgaard, Rikke

2018-01-01

and mortality. Whether non-attendees need targeted information to participate in screening is unknown. Thus, it is important to explore the reasons for non-attendance, particularly as non-attendees' perspectives have not been fully explored. DESIGN: AN INTERVIEW STUDY: METHODS: The data were obtained through...... semi-structured interviews with 10 women sampled from a population who declined to participate in a women's screening program for CVD and DM. Additionally, reflective notes on the interview context were documented. The data were collected in 2013. Kvale and Brinkmann's method for data analysis......, whether non-attendance is determined by an informed decision is questionable. Negative experiences with the healthcare system led to hesitation toward screening in general. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: This study is relevant to healthcare workers as well as decision makers from a screening...

Evidence-informed health policy 3 - interviews with the directors of organizations that support the use of research evidence.

Science.gov (United States)

Lavis, John N; Oxman, Andrew D; Moynihan, Ray; Paulsen, Elizabeth J

2008-12-17

Only a small number of previous efforts to describe the experiences of organizations that produce clinical practice guidelines (CPGs), undertake health technology assessments (HTAs), or directly support the use of research evidence in developing health policy (i.e., government support units, or GSUs) have relied on interviews and then only with HTA agencies. Interviews offer the potential for capturing experiences in great depth, particularly the experiences of organizations that may be under-represented in surveys. We purposively sampled organizations from among those who completed a questionnaire in the first phase of our three-phase study, developed and piloted a semi-structured interview guide, and conducted the interviews by telephone, audio-taped them, and took notes simultaneously. Binary or categorical responses to more structured questions were counted when possible. Themes were identified from among responses to semi-structured questions using a constant comparative method of analysis. Illustrative quotations were identified to supplement the narrative description of the themes. We interviewed the director (or his or her nominee) in 25 organizations, of which 12 were GSUs. Using rigorous methods that are systematic and transparent (sometimes shortened to 'being evidence-based') was the most commonly cited strength among all organizations. GSUs more consistently described their close links with policymakers as a strength, whereas organizations producing CPGs, HTAs, or both had conflicting viewpoints about such close links. With few exceptions, all types of organizations tended to focus largely on weaknesses in implementation, rather than strengths. The advice offered to those trying to establish similar organizations include: 1) collaborate with other organizations; 2) establish strong links with policymakers and stakeholders; 3) be independent and manage conflicts of interest; 4) build capacity; 5) use good methods and be transparent; 6) start small and

The Eating Disorder Assessment for DSM-5 (EDA-5): Development and Validation of a Structured Interview for Feeding and Eating Disorders

Science.gov (United States)

Sysko, Robyn; Glasofer, Deborah R.; Hildebrandt, Tom; Klimek, Patrycja; Mitchell, James E.; Berg, Kelly C.; Peterson, Carol B.; Wonderlich, Stephen A.; Walsh, B. Timothy

2016-01-01

Objective Existing measures for DSM-IV eating disorder diagnoses have notable limitations, and there are important differences between DSM-IV and DSM-5 feeding and eating disorders. This study developed and validated a new semi-structured interview, the Eating Disorders Assessment for DSM-5 (EDA-5). Method Two studies evaluated the utility of the EDA-5. Study 1 compared the diagnostic validity of the EDA-5 to the Eating Disorder Examination (EDE) and evaluated the test-retest reliability of the new measure. Study 2 compared the diagnostic validity of an EDA-5 electronic application (“app”) to clinician interview and self-report assessments. Results In Study 1, the kappa for EDE and EDA-5 eating disorder diagnoses was 0.74 across all diagnoses (n= 64), with a range of κ=0.65 for Other Specified Feeding or Eating Disorder (OSFED)/Unspecified Feeding or Eating Disorder (USFED) to κ=0.90 for Binge Eating Disorder (BED). The EDA-5 test-retest kappa coefficient was 0.87 across diagnoses. For Study 2, clinical interview versus “app” conditions revealed a kappa of 0.83 for all eating disorder diagnoses (n=71). Across individual diagnostic categories, kappas ranged from 0.56 for OSFED/USFED to 0.94 for BN. Discussion High rates of agreement were found between diagnoses by EDA-5 and the EDE, and EDA-5 and clinical interviews. As this study supports the validity of the EDA-5 to generate DSM-5 eating disorders and the reliability of these diagnoses, the EDA-5 may be an option for the assessment of Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, and BED. Additional research is needed to evaluate the utility of the EDA-5 in assessing DSM-5 feeding disorders. PMID:25639562

Aikido Politics in Interview Interaction.

Science.gov (United States)

Chew, Phyllis Ghim Lian

1995-01-01

Analyzes how less powerful subjects in an unequal encounter, an admission interview in an educational institution, were able to counter the power directed at them by the more powerful subject through "aikido" strategies. In the context of the interview, harmonizing with the ideological discursive formation of the institution in question…

Comparing Anesthesiology Residency Training Structure and Requirements in Seven Different Countries on Three Continents

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Yamamoto, Satoshi; Tanaka, Pedro; Madsen, Matias V

2017-01-01

, and Switzerland as a way to better understand efforts to train anesthesiologists in different countries. Two physicians trained in each of the seven countries (convenience sample) were interviewed using a semi-structured approach. The interview was facilitated by use of a predetermined questionnaire that included...

Reflections on having children in the future—interviews with highly educated women and men without children

OpenAIRE

Eriksson, Carola; Larsson, Margareta; Tydén, Tanja

2012-01-01

Background There is a trend to delay birth of the first child until the age at which female reproductive capacity has started to decrease. The aim of the present study was to explore how highly educated women and men reflected on future parenthood. Methods Twenty-two women and 18 men, who had started their professional career, were subjected to individual qualitative semi-structured interviews with qualitative content analysis guiding the analysis. Results All informants, except for three wom...

Informed consent: using a structured interview changes patients' attitudes towards informed consent.

Science.gov (United States)

Dawes, P J; O'Keefe, L; Adcock, S

1993-09-01

Patients want to know more about their condition and its proposed treatment. Gaining patients' confidence before treatment reduces the changes of their seeking legal redress for an unexpected outcome. As part of a prospective study of informed consent for surgery we have assessed the attitudes of patients towards informed consent when different types of consent interview are used. We found that most patients are happy to do as their doctor advises but think the informal consent interview is important because it gives them information; they also want to know about most, but not all, complications of the procedure. One quarter worried about the anaesthetic, about one eighth worried about 'not waking up' and similar proportions worried about complications and other things such as pain and nausea. Most patients think that the consent form is a legal document. In addition patients who had an informal interview felt obliged to sign the consent form and thought it had medicolegal implications. In contrast those who had a structured interview felt less obliged to sign the consent form and more involved in the decision to operate.

Understanding delayed access to antenatal care: a qualitative interview study

Science.gov (United States)

2014-01-01

Background Delayed access to antenatal care ('late booking’) has been linked to increased maternal and fetal mortality and morbidity. The aim of this qualitative study was to understand why some women are late to access antenatal care. Methods 27 women presenting after 19 completed weeks gestation for their first hospital booking appointment were interviewed, using a semi-structured format, in community and maternity hospital settings in South Yorkshire, United Kingdom. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and entered onto NVivo 8 software. An interdisciplinary, iterative, thematic analysis was undertaken. Results The late booking women were diverse in terms of: age (15–37 years); parity (0–4); socioeconomic status; educational attainment and ethnicity. Three key themes relating to late booking were identified from our data: 1) 'not knowing’: realisation (absence of classic symptoms, misinterpretation); belief (age, subfertility, using contraception, lay hindrance); 2) 'knowing’: avoidance (ambivalence, fear, self-care); postponement (fear, location, not valuing care, self-care); and 3) 'delayed’ (professional and system failures, knowledge/empowerment issues). Conclusions Whilst vulnerable groups are strongly represented in this study, women do not always fit a socio-cultural stereotype of a 'late booker’. We report a new taxonomy of more complex reasons for late antenatal booking than the prevalent concepts of denial, concealment and disadvantage. Explanatory sub-themes are also discussed, which relate to psychological, empowerment and socio-cultural factors. These include poor reproductive health knowledge and delayed recognition of pregnancy, the influence of a pregnancy 'mindset’ and previous pregnancy experience, and the perceived value of antenatal care. The study also highlights deficiencies in early pregnancy diagnosis and service organisation. These issues should be considered by practitioners and service commissioners in order to promote

Semi-Commercial and Traditional Hunting of Baar Tribe in Riung, Flores, East Nusa Tenggara

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kayat Kayat

2017-01-01

Hunting is one of the aspects that influence number of wild animals. The article aims at describing semi-comercial and traditional hunting concept of Baar Tribe in East Nusa Tenggara as an alternative for wild animal conservation.  The data collection methods are guided interview, in-depth interview and participant observation. The findings show that in the semi-comercial and traditional hunting concept of Baar Tribe in East Nusa Tenggara, traditional wisdom is represented by hunting techniques and equipments. It is likely that rapid semi-commercial hunting conducted by certain members of Baar tribe causes sharp decline in the population of wild animals. On the other hand, annual traditional hunting which strictly follows traditional code of conduct can maintain Timor deer population in Timor. Keywords: hunting, population, semi-commercial, traditional, Timor deer

Technical study on semi-object emulation of structural statics problem

CERN Document Server

MoJun; LiuXingFu; LiuZhiYong; Shi Pin Gan

2002-01-01

Structural strength analysis depends mainly on finite element method and experiments. For complex structural system, a rather large error can be caused by some uncertain factors, such as load distributions, boundary conditions and constitutive relations in numerical analysis. At the same time, owing to the limitation of measuring and testing techniques, the strength and stiffness of key components can not be estimated by using the limited test data. To simulate stresses accurately under complex static environment, improve man-machine interactive system, and make the best use of fore- and post-processing function in graphic data processing, the combine numerical analysis with experimental technique and have developed the semi-object emulation technique to analyze the nonlinear problem of structure statics. The modern optical measuring techniques and image processing techniques are firstly used for the method to acquire displacement data of the vessel surface, and the data are used for the boundary condition to...

Information Management of a Structured Admissions Interview Process in a Medical College with an Apple II System

Science.gov (United States)

O'Reilly, Robert; Fedorko, Steve; Nicholson, Nigel

1983-01-01

This paper describes a structured interview process for medical school admissions supported by an Apple II computer system which provides feedback to interviewers and the College admissions committee. Presented are the rationale for the system, the preliminary results of analysis of some of the interview data, and a brief description of the computer program and output. The present data show that the structured interview yields very high interrater reliability coefficients, is acceptable to the medical school faculty, and results in quantitative data useful in the admission process. The system continues in development at this time, a second year of data will be shortly available, and further refinements are being made to the computer program to enhance its utilization and exportability.

Quality characteristics, structural changes, and storage stability of semi-dried noodles induced by moderate dehydration: understanding the quality changes in semi-dried noodles.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Man; Zhu, Ke-Xue; Sun, Qing-Jie; Amza, Tidjani; Guo, Xiao-Na; Zhou, Hui-Ming

2016-03-01

Based on the critical water content (for noodle deterioration) concluded previously, high-temperature-short-time (HTST; 105-135°C) and medium-temperature-long-time (MTLT; 45-75°C) dehydrations were introduced in this study to produce semi-dried noodles. The effects of HTST and MTLT on the quality parameters of semi-dried noodles, as well as noodle structure, storage stability, and changes in starch and protein components were thoroughly investigated. Differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) and birefringent analysis presented few starch gelatinization (approximately 30%) in HTST dehydrated noodles. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images showed more compact noodle surface, with uniform pores in the cross section, probably due to enhanced protein-starch combination after HTST dehydration. Meanwhile, HTST induced protein polymerizations in semi-dried noodles, mainly by -SH-S-S interchange, and resulted in significantly (PHTST noodles showed higher microbial and color stability. Shelf-life of dehydrated samples at 120°C was extended to 5days from 1day of the control. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

What do IPAQ questions mean to older adults? Lessons from cognitive interviews

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hill Robert L

2010-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Most questionnaires used for physical activity (PA surveillance have been developed for adults aged ≤65 years. Given the health benefits of PA for older adults and the aging of the population, it is important to include adults aged 65+ years in PA surveillance. However, few studies have examined how well older adults understand PA surveillance questionnaires. This study aimed to document older adults' understanding of questions from the International PA Questionnaire (IPAQ, which is used worldwide for PA surveillance. Methods Participants were 41 community-dwelling adults aged 65-89 years. They each completed IPAQ in a face-to-face semi-structured interview, using the "think-aloud" method, in which they expressed their thoughts out loud as they answered IPAQ questions. Interviews were transcribed and coded according to a three-stage model: understanding the intent of the question; performing the primary task (conducting the mental operations required to formulate a response; and response formatting (mapping the response into pre-specified response options. Results Most difficulties occurred during the understanding and performing the primary task stages. Errors included recalling PA in an "average" week, not in the previous 7 days; including PA lasting Conclusions These findings indicate a need for caution in administering IPAQ to adults aged ≥65 years. Most errors resulted in over-reporting, although errors resulting in under-reporting were also noted. Given the nature of the errors made by participants, it is possible that similar errors occur when IPAQ is used in younger populations and that the errors identified could be minimized with small modifications to IPAQ.

Determination of Methane and Carbon Dioxide Formation Rate Constants for Semi-Continuously Fed Anaerobic Digesters

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jan Moestedt

2015-01-01

Full Text Available To optimize commercial-scale biogas production, it is important to evaluate the performance of each microbial step in the anaerobic process. Hydrolysis and methanogenesis are usually the rate-limiting steps during digestion of organic waste and by-products. By measuring biogas production and methane concentrations on-line in a semi-continuously fed reactor, gas kinetics can be evaluated. In this study, the rate constants of the fermentative hydrolysis step (kc and the methanogenesis step (km were determined and evaluated in a continuously stirred tank laboratory-scale reactor treating food and slaughterhouse waste and glycerin. A process additive containing Fe2+, Co2+ and Ni2+ was supplied until day 89, after which Ni2+ was omitted. The omission resulted in a rapid decline in the methanogenesis rate constant (km to 70% of the level observed when Ni2+ was present, while kc remained unaffected. This suggests that Ni2+ mainly affects the methanogenic rather than the hydrolytic microorganisms in the system. However, no effect was initially observed when using conventional process monitoring parameters such as biogas yield and volatile fatty acid concentration. Hence, formation rate constants can reveal additional information on process performance and km can be used as a complement to conventional process monitoring tools for semi-continuously fed anaerobic digesters.

'Oral health is not my department'. Perceptions of elderly patients' oral health by general medical practitioners in primary health care centres: a qualitative interview study.

Science.gov (United States)

Andersson, Kerstin; Furhoff, Anna-Karin; Nordenram, Gunilla; Wårdh, Inger

2007-03-01

The purpose of this study was to explore general medical practitioners' (GPs) perceptions of the oral health of their elderly patients. The design was a qualitative study based on individual in-depth interviews with GPs. The criterion for inclusion in the study was that the GP was a specialist in family medicine working in a primary health care centre (PHCC:s) in the county of Stockholm. The participants took part in the study after informed consent. Eleven GPs were interviewed. The interview started with semi-structured questions about the respondents' clinical presentation of their elderly patients', e.g. medication, medical treatment and socioeconomic status. The interview concluded with questions about the respondents' experiences of and perceptions of the oral health of their patients. This process started with the first interview and proceeded with successive interviews until no new relevant information was forthcoming. The initial semi-structured part of the interview guide was analysed for content with special reference to descriptive answers. The final open questions were analysed by a method inspired by grounded theory (GT) and comprised three stages: open coding, axial coding and selective coding. In the GT influenced analysis process, three categories, health perspective, working conditions and cultural differences, each in turn containing subcategories, were identified and labelled. The most significant category, cultural differences, was identified as the core category, explaining the central meaning of the respondents' perceptions of the oral health of their elderly patients. The GPs in this study showed little or no awareness of the oral health of their elderly patients. The interviews disclosed several contributing factors. Barriers to closer integration of oral and general health in the elderly were identified. There existed a cultural gap between the disciplines of dentistry and medicine, which does not enhance and may be detrimental to the

Communication: Recovering the flat-plane condition in electronic structure theory at semi-local DFT cost

Science.gov (United States)

Bajaj, Akash; Janet, Jon Paul; Kulik, Heather J.

2017-11-01

The flat-plane condition is the union of two exact constraints in electronic structure theory: (i) energetic piecewise linearity with fractional electron removal or addition and (ii) invariant energetics with change in electron spin in a half filled orbital. Semi-local density functional theory (DFT) fails to recover the flat plane, exhibiting convex fractional charge errors (FCE) and concave fractional spin errors (FSE) that are related to delocalization and static correlation errors. We previously showed that DFT+U eliminates FCE but now demonstrate that, like other widely employed corrections (i.e., Hartree-Fock exchange), it worsens FSE. To find an alternative strategy, we examine the shape of semi-local DFT deviations from the exact flat plane and we find this shape to be remarkably consistent across ions and molecules. We introduce the judiciously modified DFT (jmDFT) approach, wherein corrections are constructed from few-parameter, low-order functional forms that fit the shape of semi-local DFT errors. We select one such physically intuitive form and incorporate it self-consistently to correct semi-local DFT. We demonstrate on model systems that jmDFT represents the first easy-to-implement, no-overhead approach to recovering the flat plane from semi-local DFT.

On the importance of cotranscriptional RNA structure formation

Science.gov (United States)

Lai, Daniel; Proctor, Jeff R.; Meyer, Irmtraud M.

2013-01-01

The expression of genes, both coding and noncoding, can be significantly influenced by RNA structural features of their corresponding transcripts. There is by now mounting experimental and some theoretical evidence that structure formation in vivo starts during transcription and that this cotranscriptional folding determines the functional RNA structural features that are being formed. Several decades of research in bioinformatics have resulted in a wide range of computational methods for predicting RNA secondary structures. Almost all state-of-the-art methods in terms of prediction accuracy, however, completely ignore the process of structure formation and focus exclusively on the final RNA structure. This review hopes to bridge this gap. We summarize the existing evidence for cotranscriptional folding and then review the different, currently used strategies for RNA secondary-structure prediction. Finally, we propose a range of ideas on how state-of-the-art methods could be potentially improved by explicitly capturing the process of cotranscriptional structure formation. PMID:24131802

Using Black Hole Mergers to Explore Structure Formation

Science.gov (United States)

Alicea-Munoz, E.; Miller, M. Coleman

2009-01-01

Observations of gravitational waves from massive black hole mergers will open a new window into the era of structure formation in the early universe. Past efforts have concentrated on calculating merger rates using different physical assumptions, resulting in merger rate estimates that span a wide range (0.1 - 10(exp 4) mergers/year). We develop a semi-analytical, phenomenological model of massive black hole mergers that includes plausible combinations of several physical parameters, which we then turn around to determine how well observations with the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) will be able to enhance our understanding of the universe during the critical z approximately equal to 5-30 epoch. Our approach involves generating synthetic LISA observable data (total BH masses, BH mass ratios, redshifts, merger rates), which are then analyzed using a Markov Chain Monte Carlo method, thus finding constraints for the physical parameters of the mergers. We find that our method works well at estimating merger parameters and that the number of merger events is a key discriminant among models, therefore making our method robust against observational uncertainties. Our approach can also be extended to more physically-driven models and more general problems in cosmology. This work is supported in part by the Cooperative Education Program at NASA/GSFC.

Structured interview approach to the development of plant maintenance unavailabilities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fragola, J.R.; Jacobs, M.

1986-01-01

In a nuclear generating facility, the overall plant economics and safety suffer when a component is not available when needed. Maintenance unavailabilities provide a mechanism to predict the probability that a specific component is not available to function on demand due to maintenance. The development of these maintenance unavailabilities required a visit to an operational pressurized water reactor (PWR) nuclear facility to conduct an interview process with the plant operators who provided their insights into availability histories of the components of interest. A structured approach was developed for the extraction of downtime information from the plant operators, which was essential to ensure that the data gathered were relevant to the study and, most important, consistent within a specific component type. This process provided traceability so that it could be understood where the data originated from some years hence. In addition, it had to be reproducible providing the same steps were followed by another interviewer where the results would be consistent

Cathodoluminescence studies of chevron features in semi-polar (11 2 ¯ 2 ) InGaN/GaN multiple quantum well structures

Science.gov (United States)

Brasser, C.; Bruckbauer, J.; Gong, Y.; Jiu, L.; Bai, J.; Warzecha, M.; Edwards, P. R.; Wang, T.; Martin, R. W.

2018-05-01

Epitaxial overgrowth of semi-polar III-nitride layers and devices often leads to arrowhead-shaped surface features, referred to as chevrons. We report on a study into the optical, structural, and electrical properties of these features occurring in two very different semi-polar structures, a blue-emitting multiple quantum well structure, and an amber-emitting light-emitting diode. Cathodoluminescence (CL) hyperspectral imaging has highlighted shifts in their emission energy, occurring in the region of the chevron. These variations are due to different semi-polar planes introduced in the chevron arms resulting in a lack of uniformity in the InN incorporation across samples, and the disruption of the structure which could cause a narrowing of the quantum wells (QWs) in this region. Atomic force microscopy has revealed that chevrons can penetrate over 150 nm into the sample and quench light emission from the active layers. The dominance of non-radiative recombination in the chevron region was exposed by simultaneous measurement of CL and the electron beam-induced current. Overall, these results provide an overview of the nature and impact of chevrons on the luminescence of semi-polar devices.

Veterans Like Me: Formative evaluation of a patient decision aid design.

Science.gov (United States)

Gibson, Bryan; Butler, Jorie; Doyon, Katherine; Ellington, Lee; Bray, Bruce E; Zeng, Qing

2017-07-01

Patient decision aids are tools intended to facilitate shared decision-making. Currently development of a patient decision aid is resource intensive: it requires a decision-specific review of the scientific literature by experts to ascertain the potential outcomes under different treatments. The goal of this project was to conduct a formative evaluation of a generalizable, scalable decision aid component we call Veterans Like Me (VLme). VLme mines EHR data to present the outcomes of individuals "like you" on different treatments to the user. These outcome are presented through a combination of an icon array and simulated narratives. Twenty-six patients participated in semi-structured interviews intended to elicit feedback on the tool's functional and interface design. The interview focused on the filters users desired with which to make cases similar to them, the kinds of outcomes they wanted presented, and their envisioned use of the tool. The interview also elicited participants information needs and salient factors related to the therapeutic decision. The interview transcripts were analyzed using an iteratively refined coding schema and content analysis. . Participants generally expressed enthusiasm for the tool's design and functionality. Our analysis identified desired filters for users to view patients like themselves, outcome types that should be included in future iterations of the tool (e.g. patient reported outcomes), and information needs that need to be addressed for patients to effectively participate in shared decision making. Implications for the integration of our findings into the design of patient decision aids are discussed. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Monetary Channels in Brazil through the Lens of a Semi-Structural Model

OpenAIRE

André Minella; Nelson F. Souza-Sobrinho

2009-01-01

We develop and estimate a medium-size, semi-structural model for Brazil's economy during the inflation targeting period. The model captures key features of the economy, and allows us to investigate the transmission mechanisms of monetary policy. We decompose the monetary channels into household interest rate, firm interest rate, and exchange rate channels. We find that the household interest rate channel plays the most important role in explaining output dynamics after a monetary policy shock...

Star Cluster Structure from Hierarchical Star Formation

Science.gov (United States)

Grudic, Michael; Hopkins, Philip; Murray, Norman; Lamberts, Astrid; Guszejnov, David; Schmitz, Denise; Boylan-Kolchin, Michael

2018-01-01

Young massive star clusters (YMCs) spanning 104-108 M⊙ in mass generally have similar radial surface density profiles, with an outer power-law index typically between -2 and -3. This similarity suggests that they are shaped by scale-free physics at formation. Recent multi-physics MHD simulations of YMC formation have also produced populations of YMCs with this type of surface density profile, allowing us to narrow down the physics necessary to form a YMC with properties as observed. We show that the shallow density profiles of YMCs are a natural result of phase-space mixing that occurs as they assemble from the clumpy, hierarchically-clustered configuration imprinted by the star formation process. We develop physical intuition for this process via analytic arguments and collisionless N-body experiments, elucidating the connection between star formation physics and star cluster structure. This has implications for the early-time structure and evolution of proto-globular clusters, and prospects for simulating their formation in the FIRE cosmological zoom-in simulations.

The role of primary care in adult weight management: qualitative interviews with key stakeholders in weight management services

OpenAIRE

Blane, David N.; Macdonald, Sara; Morrison, David; O’Donnell, Catherine A.

2017-01-01

Background Primary care has a key role to play in the prevention and management of obesity, but there remain barriers to engagement in weight management by primary care practitioners. The aim of this study was to explore the views of key stakeholders in adult weight management services on the role of primary care in adult weight management. Methods Qualitative study involving semi-structured interviews with nine senior dietitians involved in NHS weight management from seven Scottish health bo...

A semi-spring and semi-edge combined contact model in CDEM and its application to analysis of Jiweishan landslide

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chun Feng

2014-02-01

Full Text Available Continuum-based discrete element method (CDEM is an explicit numerical method used for simulation of progressive failure of geological body. To improve the efficiency of contact detection and simplify the calculation steps for contact forces, semi-spring and semi-edge are introduced in calculation. Semi-spring is derived from block vertex, and formed by indenting the block vertex into each face (24 semi-springs for a hexahedral element. The formation process of semi-edge is the same as that of semi-spring (24 semi-edges for a hexahedral element. Based on the semi-springs and semi-edges, a new type of combined contact model is presented. According to this model, six contact types could be reduced to two, i.e. the semi-spring target face contact and semi-edge target edge contact. By the combined model, the contact force could be calculated directly (the information of contact type is not necessary, and the failure judgment could be executed in a straightforward way (each semi-spring and semi-edge own their characteristic areas. The algorithm has been successfully programmed in C++ program. Some simple numerical cases are presented to show the validity and accuracy of this model. Finally, the failure mode, sliding distance and critical friction angle of Jiweishan landslide are studied with the combined model.

FORMATION REGULARITIES OF PHASE COMPOSITION, STRUCTURE AND PROPERTIES DURING MECHANICAL ALLOYING OF BINARY ALUMINUM COMPOSITES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

F. G. Lovshenko

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The paper presents investigation results pertaining to  ascertainment of formation regularities of phase composition and structure during mechanical alloying of binary aluminium composites/substances. The invetigations have been executed while applying a wide range of methods, devices and equipment used in modern material science. The obtained data complement each other. It has been established that presence of oxide and hydro-oxide films on aluminium powder  and introduction of surface-active substance in the composite have significant effect on mechanically and thermally activated phase transformations and properties of semi-finished products.  Higher fatty acids have been used as a surface active substance.The mechanism of mechanically activated solid solution formation has been identified. Its essence is  a formation of  specific quasi-solutions at the initial stage of processing. Mechanical and chemical interaction between components during formation of other phases has taken place along with dissolution  in aluminium while processing powder composites. Granule basis is formed according to the dynamic recrystallization mechanism and possess submicrocrystal structural type with the granule dimension basis less than 100 nm and the grains are divided in block size of not more than 20 nm with oxide inclusions of 10–20 nm size.All the compounds  with the addition of  surface-active substances including aluminium powder without alloying elements obtained by processing in mechanic reactor are disperse hardened. In some cases disperse hardening is accompanied by dispersive and solid solution hardnening process. Complex hardening predetermines a high temperature of recrystallization in mechanically alloyed compounds,  its value exceeds 400 °C.

Structural analyses of very large semi-submersibles in waves; Choogata hansensuishiki futai no harochu kozo oto kaiseki

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Iijima, K.; Yoshida, K.; Suzuki, H. [The University of Tokyo, Tokyo (Japan)

1997-08-01

An analysis method in which the technique of a vehicle obtained when a three-dimensional singular point distribution method and Kagemoto`s mutual interaction theory are combined was expanded for the fluid area was proposed as the structural analysis of very large semi-submersibles in waves. A partial structure method is used for the structure. In a fluid area, the number of unknown quantities appearing in a final expression could be largely reduced by introducing the new concept of a group body. In this process, both hydro-elasticity and hydrodynamic mutual interaction are considered. As a result, floating bodies that could not be previously calculated can be modeled as a three-dimensional frame structure and the response analysis in waves can be carried out without damaging the accuracy. The calculation result is used as the input data required for analyzing the structural fatigue locally during structural design of very large semi-submersibles in the 3,000 (m) class. This study can present a series of procedures between the response analysis of very large floating bodies in waves and the structural design. 11 refs., 14 figs., 1 tab.

Determining the Frequency of Dry Lake Bed Formation in Semi-Arid Mongolia From Satellite Data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yuta Demura

2017-12-01

Full Text Available In the Mongolian Plateau, the desert steppe, mountains, and dry lake bed surfaces may affect the process of dust storm emissions. Among these three surface types, dry lake beds are considered to contribute a substantial amount of global dust emissions and to be responsible for “hot spots” of dust outbreaks. The land cover types in the study area were broadly divided into three types, namely desert steppe, mountains, and dry lake beds, by a classification based on Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI calculated from MODIS Terra satellite images, and Digital Elevation Model (DEM. This dry lake beds extracting method using remote sensing offers a new technique for identifying dust hot spots and potential untapped groundwater in the dry lands of the Gobi region. In the study area, frequencies of dry lake bed formation were calculated during the period of 2001 to 2014. The potential dry lake area corresponded well with the length of the river network based on hydrogeological characterization (R2 = 0.77, p < 0.001. We suggest that the threshold between dry lake bed areas and the formation of ephemeral lakes in semi-arid regions is eight days of total precipitation.

Trained student pharmacists’ telephonic collection of patient medication information: Evaluation of a structured interview tool

Science.gov (United States)

Margolis, Amanda R.; Martin, Beth A.; Mott, David A.

2016-01-01

Objective To determine the feasibility and fidelity of student pharmacists collecting patient medication list information using a structured interview tool and the accuracy of documenting the information. The medication lists were used by a community pharmacist to provide a targeted medication therapy management (MTM) intervention. Design Descriptive analysis of patient medication lists collected via telephone interviews. Participants 10 trained student pharmacists collected the medication lists. Intervention Trained student pharmacists conducted audio-recorded telephone interviews with 80 English-speaking community dwelling older adults using a structured interview tool to collect and document medication lists. Main outcome measures Feasibility was measured using the number of completed interviews, the time student pharmacists took to collect the information, and pharmacist feedback. Fidelity to the interview tool was measured by assessing student pharmacists’ adherence to asking all scripted questions and probes. Accuracy was measured by comparing the audio recorded interviews to the medication list information documented in an electronic medical record. Results On average it took student pharmacists 26.7 minutes to collect the medication lists. The community pharmacist said the medication lists were complete and that having the medication lists saved time and allowed him to focus on assessment, recommendations, and education during the targeted MTM session. Fidelity was high with an overall proportion of asked scripted probes of 83.75% (95%CI: 80.62–86.88%). Accuracy was also high for both prescription (95.1%, 95%CI: 94.3–95.8%) and non-prescription (90.5%, 95%CI: 89.4–91.4%) medications. Conclusion Trained student pharmacists were able to use an interview tool to collect and document medication lists with a high degree of fidelity and accuracy. This study suggests that student pharmacists or trained technicians may be able to collect patient medication

Trained student pharmacists' telephonic collection of patient medication information: Evaluation of a structured interview tool.

Science.gov (United States)

Margolis, Amanda R; Martin, Beth A; Mott, David A

2016-01-01

To determine the feasibility and fidelity of student pharmacists collecting patient medication list information using a structured interview tool and the accuracy of documenting the information. The medication lists were used by a community pharmacist to provide a targeted medication therapy management (MTM) intervention. Descriptive analysis of patient medication lists collected with telephone interviews. Ten trained student pharmacists collected the medication lists. Trained student pharmacists conducted audio-recorded telephone interviews with 80 English-speaking, community-dwelling older adults using a structured interview tool to collect and document medication lists. Feasibility was measured using the number of completed interviews, the time student pharmacists took to collect the information, and pharmacist feedback. Fidelity to the interview tool was measured by assessing student pharmacists' adherence to asking all scripted questions and probes. Accuracy was measured by comparing the audio-recorded interviews to the medication list information documented in an electronic medical record. On average, it took student pharmacists 26.7 minutes to collect the medication lists. The community pharmacist said the medication lists were complete and that having the medication lists saved time and allowed him to focus on assessment, recommendations, and education during the targeted MTM session. Fidelity was high, with an overall proportion of asked scripted probes of 83.75% (95% confidence interval [CI], 80.62-86.88%). Accuracy was also high for both prescription (95.1%; 95% CI, 94.3-95.8%) and nonprescription (90.5%; 95% CI, 89.4-91.4%) medications. Trained student pharmacists were able to use an interview tool to collect and document medication lists with a high degree of fidelity and accuracy. This study suggests that student pharmacists or trained technicians may be able to collect patient medication lists to facilitate MTM sessions in the community pharmacy

Formation of structures in the very early universe

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bertolami Neto, O.; Marques, G.C.; Ventura, I.

1984-01-01

An alternative picture of cosmological phase transition is sketched and its implications to the formation of structures in the very early Universe is studied. It is shown that the condensation of walls at high temperatures leads to fluctuations which are in accordance to all necessary conditions to the formation of structures in the Universe. Furthermore the number of aglutination centers is roughly equal to the numbers of great structures observed in the Universe today. (Author) [pt

Attitudes towards family formation in cohabiting and single childless women in their mid- to late thirties

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Petersen, Kathrine Birch; Lykke-Sylvest, Randi; Andersen, Anders Nyboe

2016-01-01

This study aimed to explore attitudes towards family formation in single or cohabiting childless women of advanced age. The design comprised semi-structured qualitative interviews of 20 women aged 34–39 years attending the Fertility Assessment and Counselling Clinic, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen....... A sample of 10 single women and 10 cohabiting women was chosen with equal distribution of postgraduate education length. Data were analysed using content analysis following the method of Graneheim and Lundman and consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research (COREQ). The general attitude towards...... and showed an increasing awareness of solo motherhood as a possible solution to advanced age, the wish of a child and single status compared to earlier studies. Our study contributes to knowledge and understanding of personal considerations related to childbearing in nullipara women in their mid- to late 30s...

Structure and decomposition of the silver formate Ag(HCO2)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Puzan, Anna N.; Baumer, Vyacheslav N.; Mateychenko, Pavel V.

2017-01-01

Crystal structure of the silver formate Ag(HCO 2 ) has been determined (orthorhombic, sp.gr. Pccn, a=7.1199(5), b=10.3737(4), c=6.4701(3)Å, V=477.88(4) Å 3 , Z=8). The structure contains isolated formate ions and the pairs Ag 2 2+ which form the layers in (001) planes (the shortest Ag–Ag distances is 2.919 in the pair and 3.421 and 3.716 Å between the nearest Ag atoms of adjacent pairs). Silver formate is unstable compound which decompose spontaneously vs time. Decomposition was studied using Rietveld analysis of the powder diffraction patterns. It was concluded that the diffusion of Ag atoms leads to the formation of plate-like metal particles as nuclei in the (100) planes which settle parallel to (001) planes of the silver formate matrix. - Highlights: • Silver formate Ag(HCO 2 ) was synthesized and characterized. • Layered packing of Ag-Ag pairs in the structure was found. • Decomposition of Ag(HCO 2 ) and formation of metal phase were studied. • Rietveld-refined micro-structural characteristics during decomposition reveal the space relationship between the matrix structure and forming Ag phase REPLACE with: Space relationship between the matrix structure and forming Ag phase.

The Mathematics Teacher Formation and the Teaching for Research and Study Course

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ana Rosa Corica

2013-08-01

Full Text Available The study of didactic devices with the characteristics of RSC in the teachers' mathematics formation at an Argentine university has led to the future teachers elaboration of their own ideas about of the management of the mentioned device at the Argentine high school. In this paper, results of a semi-structured interview to future teachers are shown. The teachers were attending the last year of the teaching training college at an Argentine university. Our intention was to know the receipt that the future teachers have in the management of an education under the characteristics of RSC to manage the above device in their educational practices. One of the difficulties that the future teachers signal is to select the problematic question that allows to stimulate and to provoke the whole process of study. The choice of the mentioned question is assigned to the same teachers. This constitutes a limitation as for the comprehension and later management of an education for RSC.

Self-regulating star formation and disk structure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dopita, M.A.

1987-01-01

Star formation processes determine the disk structure of galaxies. Stars heavier than about 1 solar mass determine the chemical evolution of the system and are produced at a rate which maintains (by the momentum input of the stars) the phase structure, pressure, and vertical velocity dispersion of the gas. Low mass stars are produced quiescently within molecular clouds, and their associated T-Tauri winds maintain the support of molecular clouds and regulate the star formation rate. Inefficient cooling suppresses this mode of star formation at low metallicity. Applied to the solar neighborhood, such a model can account for age/metallicity relationships, the increase in the O/Fe ratio at low metallicity, the paucity of metal-poor G and K dwarf stars, the missing mass in the disk and, possibly, the existence of a metal-poor thick disk. For other galaxies, it accounts for constant w-velocity dispersion of the gas, the relationship between gas content and specific rates of star formation, the surface brightness/metallicity relationship and for the shallow radial gradients in both star formation rates and HI content. 71 references

Structure formation control of foam concrete

Science.gov (United States)

Steshenko, Aleksei; Kudyakov, Aleksander; Konusheva, Viktoriya; Syrkin, Oleg

2017-01-01

The process of predetermined foam concrete structure formation is considered to be a crucial issue from the point of process control and it is currently understudied thus defining the need for additional research. One of the effective ways of structure formation control in naturally hardening foam concrete is reinforcement with dispersed fibers or introduction of plasticizers. The paper aims at studying the patterns of influence of microreinforcing and plasticizing additives on the structure and performance properties of foam concrete. Preparation of foam concrete mix has been conducted using one-step technology. The structure of modified foam concrete has been studied by means of electron microscopy. The cellular structure of foam concrete samples with the additives is homogeneous; the pores are uniformly distributed over the total volume. It has been revealed that introduction of the Neolas 5.2 plasticizer and microreinforcing fibers in the foam concrete mixture in the amount of 0.4 - 0.1 % by weight of cement leads to reduction of the average pore diameter in the range of 45.3 to 30.2 microns and the standard deviation of the pore average diameter from 23.6 to 9.2 in comparison with the sample without additive. Introduction of modifying additives has stimulated formation of a large number of closed pores. Thus porosity of conditionally closed pores has increased from 16.06 % to 34.48 %, which has lead to increase of frost resistance brand of foam concrete from F15 to F50 and to reduction of its water absorption by weight by 20 %.

Controlling Non-Equilibrium Structure Formation on the Nanoscale.

Science.gov (United States)

Buchmann, Benedikt; Hecht, Fabian Manfred; Pernpeintner, Carla; Lohmueller, Theobald; Bausch, Andreas R

2017-12-06

Controlling the structure formation of gold nanoparticle aggregates is a promising approach towards novel applications in many fields, ranging from (bio)sensing to (bio)imaging to medical diagnostics and therapeutics. To steer structure formation, the DNA-DNA interactions of DNA strands that are coated on the surface of the particles have become a valuable tool to achieve precise control over the interparticle potentials. In equilibrium approaches, this technique is commonly used to study particle crystallization and ligand binding. However, regulating the structural growth processes from the nano- to the micro- and mesoscale remains elusive. Here, we show that the non-equilibrium structure formation of gold nanoparticles can be stirred in a binary heterocoagulation process to generate nanoparticle clusters of different sizes. The gold nanoparticles are coated with sticky single stranded DNA and mixed at different stoichiometries and sizes. This not only allows for structural control but also yields access to the optical properties of the nanoparticle suspensions. As a result, we were able to reliably control the kinetic structure formation process to produce cluster sizes between tens of nanometers up to micrometers. Consequently, the intricate optical properties of the gold nanoparticles could be utilized to control the maximum of the nanoparticle suspension extinction spectra between 525 nm and 600 nm. © 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Dyadic Interviews as a Tool for Qualitative Evaluation

Science.gov (United States)

Morgan, David L.; Eliot, Susan; Lowe, Robert A.; Gorman, Paul

2016-01-01

Although evaluation researchers frequently make use of focus groups and individual interviews as sources of qualitative data, there has been far less attention to dyadic interviews that create a conversation between two research participants. This article describes dyadic interviews as a format that shares many of the advantages of focus groups,…

Orogenic structural inheritance and rifted passive margin formation

Science.gov (United States)

Salazar Mora, Claudio A.; Huismans, Ritske S.

2016-04-01

Structural inheritance is related to mechanical weaknesses in the lithosphere due to previous tectonic events, e.g. rifting, subduction and collision. The North and South Atlantic rifted passive margins that formed during the breakup of Western Gondwana, are parallel to the older Caledonide and the Brasiliano-Pan-African orogenic belts. In the South Atlantic, 'old' mantle lithospheric fabric resulting from crystallographic preferred orientation of olivine is suggested to play a role during rifted margin formation (Tommasi and Vauchez, 2001). Magnetometric and gravimetric mapping of onshore structures in the Camamu and Almada basins suggest that extensional faults are controlled by two different directions of inherited older Brasiliano structures in the upper lithosphere (Ferreira et al., 2009). In the South Atlantic Campos Basin, 3D seismic data indicate that inherited basement structures provide a first order control on basin structure (Fetter, 2009). Here we investigate the role of structural inheritance on the formation of rifted passive margins with high-resolution 2D thermo-mechanical numerical experiments. The numerical domain is 1200 km long and 600 km deep and represents the lithosphere and the sublithospheric mantle. Model experiments were carried out by creating self-consistent orogenic inheritance where a first phase of orogen formation is followed by extension. We focus in particular on the role of varying amount of orogenic shortening, crustal rheology, contrasting styles of orogen formation on rifted margin style, and the time delay between orogeny and subsequent rifted passive formation. Model results are compared to contrasting structural styles of rifted passive margin formation as observed in the South Atlantic. Ferreira, T.S., Caixeta, J.M., Lima, F.D., 2009. Basement control in Camamu and Almada rift basins. Boletim de Geociências da Petrobrás 17, 69-88. Fetter, M., 2009. The role of basement tectonic reactivation on the structural evolution

The health preoccupation diagnostic interview: inter-rater reliability of a structured interview for diagnostic assessment of DSM-5 somatic symptom disorder and illness anxiety disorder.

Science.gov (United States)

Axelsson, Erland; Andersson, Erik; Ljótsson, Brjánn; Wallhed Finn, Daniel; Hedman, Erik

2016-06-01

Somatic symptom disorder (SSD) and illness anxiety disorder (IAD) are two new diagnoses introduced in the DSM-5. There is a need for reliable instruments to facilitate the assessment of these disorders. We therefore developed a structured diagnostic interview, the Health Preoccupation Diagnostic Interview (HPDI), which we hypothesized would reliably differentiate between SSD, IAD, and no diagnosis. Persons with clinically significant health anxiety (n = 52) and healthy controls (n = 52) were interviewed using the HPDI. Diagnoses were then compared with those made by an independent assessor, who listened to audio recordings of the interviews. Ratings generally indicated moderate to almost perfect inter-rater agreement, as illustrated by an overall Cohen's κ of .85. Disagreements primarily concerned (a) the severity of somatic symptoms, (b) the differential diagnosis of panic disorder, and (c) SSD specifiers. We conclude that the HPDI can be used to reliably diagnose DSM-5 SSD and IAD.

Use of the Interview in Resident Candidate Selection: A Review of the Literature.

Science.gov (United States)

Stephenson-Famy, Alyssa; Houmard, Brenda S; Oberoi, Sidharth; Manyak, Anton; Chiang, Seine; Kim, Sara

2015-12-01

Although the resident candidate interview is costly and time-consuming for both applicants and programs, it is considered critically important for resident selection. Noncognitive attributes, including communication skills and professionalism, can be assessed by the personal interview. We conducted a review of the literature on the residency interview to identify the interview characteristics used for resident selection and to ascertain to what extent the interview yields information that predicts future performance. We searched PubMed and Scopus using the following search terms: residency, internship, interview, selection, and performance. We extracted information on characteristics of the interview process, including type of interview format, measures taken to minimize bias by interviewers, and testing of other clinical/surgical skills. We identified 104 studies that pertained to the resident selection interview, with highly varied interview formats and assessment tools. A positive correlation was demonstrated between a medical school academic record and the interview, especially for unblinded interview formats. A total of 34 studies attempted to correlate interview score with performance in residency, with mixed results. We also identified a number of studies that included personality testing, clinical skills testing, or surgical skills testing. Our review identified a wide variety of approaches to the selection interview and a range of factors that have been studied to assess its effectiveness. More research needs to be done not only to address and ascertain appropriate interview formats that predict positive performance in residency, but also to determine interview factors that can predict both residents' "success" and program attrition.

Dental Hygienists' Experiences with Motivational Interviewing: A Qualitative Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Curry-Chiu, Margaret E; Catley, Delwyn; Voelker, Marsha A; Bray, Kimberly Krust

2015-08-01

The effectiveness of Motivational Interviewing (MI) to change health behaviors is well documented. Previous studies support use of MI to change oral health behaviors in the areas of early childhood caries and periodontal diseases, but research is limited due to the sparse number of oral health care providers with training in MI. The University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) formally integrated MI training into its dental hygiene curriculum five years ago. Summative program evaluation of UMKC's MI training shows that it effectively equips graduates with MI skills. The aim of this qualitative study was to use semi-structured interviews with nine program alumni to provide insight into the experiences of MI-trained dental hygienists in clinical practice. All interviews were captured with a digital voice recorder, were transcribed, and were resubmitted to the interviewees for checking. Five themes emerged from the data analysis: salience, best practices, barriers, facilitators, and lessons learned. These dental hygienists strongly valued and embraced the spirit of MI. They reported feeling strongly that it should be part of all dental hygiene curricula, and they upheld MI as a best practice. The participants approved of their MI instruction as a whole but felt it was difficult and sometimes not viable in practice. They reported that MI training had improved their communication skills and increased treatment acceptance. Time, difficulty, and managing patient resistance were the most often cited barriers, while a supportive climate and creating a routine were the most often cited facilitators.

Comparative ecobalancing accounting of semi-central house heat supply from wood residues; Vergleichende Oekobilanzierung der semi-zentralen Hauswaermebereitstellung aus Holzreststoffen

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Biemann, Kirsten

2015-07-01

impact. Heat demanders and network structure vary for the different settlement types. This impacts the heat losses and the amount of energy generated from wood in the network. Combined heat and power plants promise higher fuel utilization. They decrease costs and environmental impacts. The heat losses in the network vary greatly between 23 percent for small single-family houses and 4 percent for big multi-family buildings. Therefore networks with bigger heat demanders have lower environmental burdens. From an economic point of view the conversion from a gas heater to the connection of a multi- family building to a semi- centralized heating network using wood residues as fuel is worthwhile. However for a single-family building this is often not the case. A comparison between the semi- centralized heat supply from wood residues and the commonly used heat supply from gas heaters shows a large potential to decrease greenhouse gas emissions, ozone depletion and fossil resource usage when using the first variant. However, it increases particulate matter formation, photochemical oxidant formation, eutrophication, and acidification. Only the usage of a wood gasification and a combined heat and power plant decreases particulate matter formation slightly. Similar results were obtained for a centralized heating network using wood residues as fuel. Using wood heaters in the buildings further decreases greenhouse gas emissions, ozone depletion and fossil resources, but results in an increased particulate matter formation. This particulate matter formation is over 1.000 percent bigger than for gas heaters.

What do midwives need to know about approaches of women towards labour pain management? A qualitative interview study into expectations of management of labour pain for pregnant women receiving midwife-led care in the Netherlands

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Klomp, T.; Manniën, J.; de Jonge, J.; Hutton, E.K.; Lagro-Janssen, A.L.M.

2014-01-01

Objective: to investigate factors important to women receiving midwife-led care with regard to their expectations for management of labour pain. Design: semi-structured ante partum interviews and analyses using constant comparison method. Participants: fifteen pregnant women between 36 and 40 weeks

What do midwives need to know about approaches of women towards labour pain management? A qualitative interview study into expectations of management of labour pain for pregnant women receiving midwife-led care in the Netherlands

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Klomp, T.; Mannien, J.; Jonge, A. de; Hutton, E.K.; Lagro-Janssen, A.L.M.

2014-01-01

OBJECTIVE: to investigate factors important to women receiving midwife-led care with regard to their expectations for management of labour pain. DESIGN: semi-structured ante partum interviews and analyses using constant comparison method. PARTICIPANTS: fifteen pregnant women between 36 and 40 weeks

Validation of a 2-D semi-coupled numerical model for fluid-structure-seabed interaction

Science.gov (United States)

Ye, Jianhong; Jeng, Dongsheng; Wang, Ren; Zhu, Changqi

2013-10-01

A 2-D semi-coupled model PORO-WSSI 2D (also be referred as FSSI-CAS 2D) for the Fluid-Structure-Seabed Interaction (FSSI) has been developed by employing RANS equations for wave motion in fluid domain, VARANS equations for porous flow in porous structures; and taking the dynamic Biot's equations (known as "u - p" approximation) for soil as the governing equations. The finite difference two-step projection method and the forward time difference method are adopted to solve the RANS, VARANS equations; and the finite element method is adopted to solve the "u - p" approximation. A data exchange port is developed to couple the RANS, VARANS equations and the dynamic Biot's equations together. The analytical solution proposed by Hsu and Jeng (1994) and some experiments conducted in wave flume or geotechnical centrifuge in which various waves involved are used to validate the developed semi-coupled numerical model. The sandy bed involved in these experiments is poro-elastic or poro-elastoplastic. The inclusion of the interaction between fluid, marine structures and poro-elastoplastic seabed foundation is a special point and highlight in this paper, which is essentially different with other previous coupled models The excellent agreement between the numerical results and the experiment data indicates that the developed coupled model is highly reliablefor the FSSI problem.

Measurement and evaluation of the summer microclimate in the semi-enclosed space under a membrane structure

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

He, Jiang; Hoyano, Akira [Department of Environmental Science and Technology, Interdisciplinary Graduate School, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 4259-G5-2 Nagatsuta-cho, Midori-ku, Yokohama 226-8502 (Japan)

2010-01-15

This study aims to clarify the summer microclimate in membrane structure buildings with semi-outdoor spaces and develop a computational simulation tool for designing a comfortable urban environment using membrane structures. Field measurements were conducted in a membrane structure building with a semi-outdoor space during a summer period. The present paper describes analysis results of measurement data for vertical distributions of air temperature and velocity under the membrane structure on clear sunny days. The following subjects were also discussed: (1) the effect of solar transmission on the warming of air temperature by the floor under the membrane structure; (2) the temperature reduction effect of ventilation by wind; (3) evaluation of thermal comfort in the living space under the membrane structure in terms of a thermal comfort index (new standard effective temperature: SET*). In order to demonstrate the capability to improve the thermal environment in the test membrane structure building, an evaporative cooling pavement was assumed to be applied to the ground under the membrane structure. The microclimatic modifying effect of this passive cooling strategy was evaluated using a numerical simulation method of coupling computational fluid dynamics (CFD) with a 3D-CAD-based thermal simulation tool developed by the authors' research group. Simulation results show that the proposed simulation method is capable of quantifying spatial distributions of surface temperature, air temperature, air velocity and moisture in the living space under the membrane structure. The thermal comfort index (SET*) can also be estimated using these simulated results. (author)

Interpersonal Relationships: Exploring Race and Relationship Decisions among African American College Men

Science.gov (United States)

McGowan, Brian L.

2016-01-01

This study explores how race influenced African American men's interpersonal relationships with other men at a predominantly White institution. The use of both semi-structured and photo-elicitation interview formats provided participants an opportunity to reflect on their precollege experiences, identity, and relationships. Two categories emerged…

Being a quantitative interviewer: qualitatively exploring interviewers' experiences in a longitudinal cohort study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Derrett Sarah

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Many studies of health outcomes rely on data collected by interviewers administering highly-structured (quantitative questionnaires to participants. Little appears to be known about the experiences of such interviewers. This paper explores interviewer experiences of working on a longitudinal study in New Zealand (the Prospective Outcomes of injury Study - POIS. Interviewers administer highly-structured questionnaires to participants, usually by telephone, and enter data into a secure computer program. The research team had expectations of interviewers including: consistent questionnaire administration, timeliness, proportions of potential participants recruited and an empathetic communication style. This paper presents results of a focus group to qualitatively explore with the team of interviewers their experiences, problems encountered, strategies, support systems used and training. Methods A focus group with interviewers involved in the POIS interviews was held; it was audio-recorded and transcribed. The analytical method was thematic, with output intended to be descriptive and interpretive. Results Nine interviewers participated in the focus group (average time in interviewer role was 31 months. Key themes were: 1 the positive aspects of the quantitative interviewer role (i.e. relationships and resilience, insights gained, and participants' feedback, 2 difficulties interviewers encountered and solutions identified (i.e. stories lost or incomplete, forgotten appointments, telling the stories, acknowledging distress, stories reflected and debriefing and support, and 3 meeting POIS researcher expectations (i.e. performance standards, time-keeping, dealing exclusively with the participant and maintaining privacy. Conclusions Interviewers demonstrated great skill in the way they negotiated research team expectations whilst managing the relationships with participants. Interviewers found it helpful to have a research protocol in

Parental views on childhood vaccination against viral gastroenteritis-a qualitative interview study.

Science.gov (United States)

Lugg, Fiona V; Butler, Christopher C; Evans, Meirion R; Wood, Fiona; Francis, Nick A

2015-08-01

Gastroenteritis (GE) causes significant morbidity, especially in young children. A vaccine against rotavirus, a common cause of viral GE (vGE), was added to the childhood immunization schedule in the UK in July 2013 and further related vaccines are under development. To explore parents' beliefs about vGE and their attitudes towards vaccinating. Qualitative interview study with parents of children who had recently experienced an episode of GE. Twenty-eight semi-structured interviews were conducted over the phone with parents. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed and analysed using standard thematic approaches. Parents varied in their perception of the threat posed by GE, and parents who did not perceive GE as serious were less enthusiastic about vaccines. Other parents were supportive of vaccines in general and considered benefits to their child, their family and the wider community. Many parents said that they lacked knowledge about efficacy and effectiveness of GE vaccines but their underlying belief about the seriousness of illness motivated their attitudes. Acceptability of GE vaccines to parents could be improved by providing more information on both the burden of illness and the impact of rotavirus vaccine in other comparable countries. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Flexible Structure Control Scheme of a UAVs Formation to Improve the Formation Stability During Maneuvers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kownacki Cezary

2017-09-01

Full Text Available One of the issues related to formation flights, which requires to be still discussed, is the stability of formation flight in turns, where the aerodynamic conditions can be substantially different for outer vehicles due to varying bank angles. Therefore, this paper proposes a decentralized control algorithm based on a leader as the reference point for followers, i.e. other UAVs and two flocking behaviors responsible for local position control, i.e. cohesion and repulsion. But opposite to other research in this area, the structure of the formation becomes flexible (structure is being reshaped and bent according to actual turn radius of the leader. During turns the structure is bent basing on concentred circles with different radiuses corresponding to relative locations of vehicles in the structure. Simultaneously, UAVs' air-speeds must be modified according to the length of turn radius to achieve the stability of the structure. The effectiveness of the algorithm is verified by the results of simulated flights of five UAVs.

Structuring knowledge on Romanian communism: the case of the oral history interview

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Diana PAINCA

2017-11-01

Full Text Available The present paper offers a comprehensive analysis of the way in which the oral history interview can organize knowledge about communism in Romania. The data are retrieved from the book Memorialul Durerii: Întuneric şi lumină (2013 compiled by author Iulia Hossu Longin from dozens of oral history interviews with survivors of communism. As the examination demonstrates, the first element commanding attention is memory. Hence, oral history shifts the focus from memory as object to memory as subject, or as a source of investigation per se. Secondly, the analysis reveals how the extensive use of lists structures knowledge about Romanian communism in an intelligible and insightful way. These lists not only provide a window on the communist experience but they also bring the individual -fighting against the regime - into the foreground.

The experience of sleep in chronic fatigue syndrome: A qualitative interview study with patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Gotts, Zoe M; Newton, Julia L; Ellis, Jason G; Deary, Vincent

2016-02-01

Sleep disturbances are common in chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), and one of the key symptom complaints, yet it has been neglected by previous qualitative research. The aim was to explore the specific role of sleep in patients' experience of their illness. A qualitative semi-structured interview format facilitated a detailed and open exploration of sleep, and the extent to which its management and problems were linked to the lived experience of CFS. Eleven semi-structured interviews were conducted with individuals with CFS. Data were transcribed verbatim and analysed thematically, to explore and describe patients' experience of their sleep, and its impact on their condition. Sleep emerged as a key aspect of the illness experience, and its management and effect on daytime functioning was a central pre-occupation for all 11 participants; all of them saw sleep as playing a critical role in their illness through either maintaining or exacerbating existing symptoms. Exploration of individual experiences presented three overarching themes: (1) sleep pattern variability over illness course and from day to day; (2) effect of sleep on daytime functioning; and (3) attempts at coping and sleep management. Each patient with CFS has a unique experience of sleep. Despite the differing narratives regarding the role of sleep in CFS, all participants held the belief that sleep is a vital process for health and well-being which has had a direct bearing on the course and progression of their CFS. Also, every participant regarded their sleep as in some way 'broken' and in need of management/repair. Patients' insights demonstrate sleep-specific influences on their CFS, and the impact of disturbed sleep should be a consideration for clinical and research work. What is already known on this subject? Sleep disturbances are common in CFS, and one of the key symptom complaints, yet it has been neglected by previous qualitative research. Ontology of CFS is a matter of dispute, with models

Using block pulse functions for seismic vibration semi-active control of structures with MR dampers

Science.gov (United States)

Rahimi Gendeshmin, Saeed; Davarnia, Daniel

2018-03-01

This article applied the idea of block pulse functions in the semi-active control of structures. The BP functions give effective tools to approximate complex problems. The applied control algorithm has a major effect on the performance of the controlled system and the requirements of the control devices. In control problems, it is important to devise an accurate analytical technique with less computational cost. It is proved that the BP functions are fundamental tools in approximation problems which have been applied in disparate areas in last decades. This study focuses on the employment of BP functions in control algorithm concerning reduction the computational cost. Magneto-rheological (MR) dampers are one of the well-known semi-active tools that can be used to control the response of civil Structures during earthquake. For validation purposes, numerical simulations of a 5-story shear building frame with MR dampers are presented. The results of suggested method were compared with results obtained by controlling the frame by the optimal control method based on linear quadratic regulator theory. It can be seen from simulation results that the suggested method can be helpful in reducing seismic structural responses. Besides, this method has acceptable accuracy and is in agreement with optimal control method with less computational costs.

Bifurcation of learning and structure formation in neuronal maps

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Marschler, Christian; Faust-Ellsässer, Carmen; Starke, Jens

2014-01-01

to map formation in the laminar nucleus of the barn owl's auditory system. Using equation-free methods, we perform a bifurcation analysis of spatio-temporal structure formation in the associated synaptic-weight matrix. This enables us to analyze learning as a bifurcation process and follow the unstable...... states as well. A simple time translation of the learning window function shifts the bifurcation point of structure formation and goes along with traveling waves in the map, without changing the animal's sound localization performance....

Canine hippocampal formation composited into three-dimensional structure using MPRAGE.

Science.gov (United States)

Jung, Mi-Ae; Nahm, Sang-Soep; Lee, Min-Su; Lee, In-Hye; Lee, Ah-Ra; Jang, Dong-Pyo; Kim, Young-Bo; Cho, Zang-Hee; Eom, Ki-Dong

2010-07-01

This study was performed to anatomically illustrate the living canine hippocampal formation in three-dimensions (3D), and to evaluate its relationship to surrounding brain structures. Three normal beagle dogs were scanned on a MR scanner with inversion recovery segmented 3D gradient echo sequence (known as MP-RAGE: Magnetization Prepared Rapid Gradient Echo). The MRI data was manually segmented and reconstructed into a 3D model using the 3D slicer software tool. From the 3D model, the spatial relationships between hippocampal formation and surrounding structures were evaluated. With the increased spatial resolution and contrast of the MPRAGE, the canine hippocampal formation was easily depicted. The reconstructed 3D image allows easy understanding of the hippocampal contour and demonstrates the structural relationship of the hippocampal formation to surrounding structures in vivo.

Lessons from Early Medicaid Expansions Under Health Reform: Interviews with Medicaid Officials

Science.gov (United States)

Sommers, Benjamin D; Arntson, Emily; Kenney, Genevieve M; Epstein, Arnold M

2013-01-01

Background The Affordable Care Act (ACA) dramatically expands Medicaid in 2014 in participating states. Meanwhile, six states have already expanded Medicaid since 2010 to some or all of the low-income adults targeted under health reform. We undertook an in-depth exploration of these six “early-expander” states—California, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Washington—through interviews with high-ranking Medicaid officials. Methods We conducted semi-structured interviews with 11 high-ranking Medicaid officials in six states and analyzed the interviews using qualitative methods. Interviews explored enrollment outreach, stakeholder involvement, impact on beneficiaries, utilization and costs, implementation challenges, and potential lessons for 2014. Two investigators independently analyzed interview transcripts and iteratively refined the codebook until reaching consensus. Results We identified several themes. First, these expansions built upon pre-existing state-funded insurance programs for the poor. Second, predictions about costs and enrollment were challenging, indicating the uncertainty in projections for 2014. Other themes included greater than anticipated need for behavioral health services in the expansion population, administrative challenges of expansions, and persistent barriers to enrollment and access after expanding eligibility—though officials overall felt the expansions increased access for beneficiaries. Finally, political context—support or opposition from stakeholders and voters—plays a critical role in shaping the success of Medicaid expansions. Conclusions Early Medicaid expansions under the ACA offer important lessons to federal and state policymakers as the 2014 expansions approach. While the context of each state’s expansion is unique, key shared experiences were significant implementation challenges and opportunities for expanding access to needed services. PMID:24834369

Kinematics, dynamics and structural analyses of a semi-passive mechanical arm; Analise cinematica, dinamica e estrutural de um manipulador semi-passivo

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ferreira, Claudio Violante [PETROBRAS S.A., Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil); Romano, Vitor Ferreira [Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), RJ (Brazil). Escola Politecnica

2008-07-01

This work presents the dynamics and kinematics modeling, and the structural analysis (including modal analysis) of a gantry type Semi-Passive mechanical Arm (SPA). The kinematics analysis of the SPA is referred in the Joints Space Coordinates. The Denavit-Hartenberg (D-H) parameterization method is used in the manipulator kinematics model. The dynamics analysis is also referred in the Joints Space, and done by means of Lagrange Equations. To develop the dynamic equations it were considered the joints friction and the external loads related to marine currents and the AUV/SPA interaction. The dynamics analysis it was done in two SPA configurations: all joints with activated brakes (locked) and all joints with not activated brakes. A commercial FEM program, ANSYS{sup R} 5.5.1, was used to calculate the structural deformations and tensions, and these results were used to define the final structure configuration. This program has a Static Analysis Package which permits to determine the displacements, stresses, strains and forces in structures caused by external loads. In order to evaluate the SPA structural stiffness it was done the modal analysis and the determination of five SPA vibration modes and natural frequencies. (author)

Structure and decomposition of the silver formate Ag(HCO{sub 2})

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Puzan, Anna N., E-mail: anna_puzan@mail.ru; Baumer, Vyacheslav N.; Mateychenko, Pavel V.

2017-02-15

Crystal structure of the silver formate Ag(HCO{sub 2}) has been determined (orthorhombic, sp.gr. Pccn, a=7.1199(5), b=10.3737(4), c=6.4701(3)Å, V=477.88(4) Å{sup 3}, Z=8). The structure contains isolated formate ions and the pairs Ag{sub 2}{sup 2+} which form the layers in (001) planes (the shortest Ag–Ag distances is 2.919 in the pair and 3.421 and 3.716 Å between the nearest Ag atoms of adjacent pairs). Silver formate is unstable compound which decompose spontaneously vs time. Decomposition was studied using Rietveld analysis of the powder diffraction patterns. It was concluded that the diffusion of Ag atoms leads to the formation of plate-like metal particles as nuclei in the (100) planes which settle parallel to (001) planes of the silver formate matrix. - Highlights: • Silver formate Ag(HCO{sub 2}) was synthesized and characterized. • Layered packing of Ag-Ag pairs in the structure was found. • Decomposition of Ag(HCO{sub 2}) and formation of metal phase were studied. • Rietveld-refined micro-structural characteristics during decomposition reveal the space relationship between the matrix structure and forming Ag phase REPLACE with: Space relationship between the matrix structure and forming Ag phase.

Latest HERMES results on transverse spin effects in hadron structure and formation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pappalardo, L.L.

2008-01-01

Transverse target single-spin asymmetries in semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering allow to study the so-called Collins and Sivers mechanisms. The first one connects the poorly known fundamental transversity distribution function, describing the transverse spin-polarization of quarks in a transversely polarized proton, to the Collins fragmentation function, describing spin-orbit correlations in the hadron formation process. The second one is sensitive to the Sivers function, which correlates the intrinsic transverse momentum of quarks with the proton's spin orientation and is related to the orbital angular momentum of quarks. Preliminary results on azimuthal single target-spin asymmetries in semi-inclusive electro-production of pions and kaons at the HERMES experiment are presented. The full data set collected with a transversely polarized hydrogen target was analyzed providing the HERMES most precise results on the Collins and Sivers azimuthal moments. (orig.)

Structures of mobilization and resistance: Confronting the oil and gas industries in Russia

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pierk, Simone; Tysyachnyouk, M.

2016-01-01

Drawing on recent developments in the problematic relationship between the oil industry and local communities in the Republic of Komi, we develop a case study of environmental grassroots mobilization in northwest Russia. Using a qualitative methodology comprising semi-structured interviews and

Mechanism and conditions of the chessboard structure formation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ni, Yong; Khachaturyan, Armen G.

2008-01-01

The observations of the pseudo-periodical chessboard (CB) microstructure in metal and ceramic solid solutions indicate that this is a general phenomenon. We propose a theory and three-dimensional (3-D) computational modeling explaining the origin of the CB microstructure in the cubic → tetragonal decomposition. The 3-D modeling demonstrates that the formation of two-phase CB structures is contingent on the formation of a compositionally stabilized precursor state with the tweed structure that is spontaneously formed at the initial stage of the transformation. The modeling has shown that this tweed structure is a distribution of spatially correlated tetragonal nanodomains whose spatial arrangement has the CB topological features. This precursor tweed structure serves as a template for the precipitation of the equilibrium cubic phase. The CB-like tweed template channels the microstructure evolution towards the two-phase CB structure whose complex and detailed 3-D geometry is in excellent agreement with electron microscopic observations. The thermodynamic analysis and obtained evolution sequences allow us to formulate the necessary thermodynamic, structural and kinetic conditions for the CB structure formation. Reasons for its relative stability are discussed. It is also shown that the coherency between the cubic and tetragonal phases comprising the CB structure produces the stress-induced tetragonality of the cubic phase, orthorhombicity of the tetragonal phase, and rotations of cubic phase rods. These effects should diminish and disappear upon lifting of coherency

Towards Typology of Stakeholders: A Case of Lithuanian Higher Education

Science.gov (United States)

Švaikauskiene, Simona; Mikulskiene, Birute

2017-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to explore internal management, advocacy and partnerships of interest groups with the aim of representing their interests in public policy formation with a view to developing a stakeholder typology. This qualitative study involves eight in-depth, semi-structured interviews with representatives from stakeholder…

Formation control of unicycle robots using virtual structure approach

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sadowska, A.D.; Huijberts, H.J.C.; Kostic, D.; Wouw, van de N.; Nijmeijer, H.

2011-01-01

This paper addresses the problem of formation control of groups of unicycle robots with possibly time-varying formation shapes. To solve the problem, we propose two simple distributed formation control algorithms based on the virtual structure approach. We prove exponential convergence of error

Coding interview questions concepts, problems, interview questions

CERN Document Server

Karumanchi, Narasimha

2016-01-01

Peeling Data Structures and Algorithms: * Programming puzzles for interviews * Campus Preparation * Degree/Masters Course Preparation * Instructor’s * GATE Preparation * Big job hunters: Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Yahoo, Flip Kart, Adobe, IBM Labs, Citrix, Mentor Graphics, NetApp, Oracle, Webaroo, De-Shaw, Success Factors, Face book, McAfee and many more * Reference Manual for working people

Enhanced manifold regularization for semi-supervised classification.

Science.gov (United States)

Gan, Haitao; Luo, Zhizeng; Fan, Yingle; Sang, Nong

2016-06-01

Manifold regularization (MR) has become one of the most widely used approaches in the semi-supervised learning field. It has shown superiority by exploiting the local manifold structure of both labeled and unlabeled data. The manifold structure is modeled by constructing a Laplacian graph and then incorporated in learning through a smoothness regularization term. Hence the labels of labeled and unlabeled data vary smoothly along the geodesics on the manifold. However, MR has ignored the discriminative ability of the labeled and unlabeled data. To address the problem, we propose an enhanced MR framework for semi-supervised classification in which the local discriminative information of the labeled and unlabeled data is explicitly exploited. To make full use of labeled data, we firstly employ a semi-supervised clustering method to discover the underlying data space structure of the whole dataset. Then we construct a local discrimination graph to model the discriminative information of labeled and unlabeled data according to the discovered intrinsic structure. Therefore, the data points that may be from different clusters, though similar on the manifold, are enforced far away from each other. Finally, the discrimination graph is incorporated into the MR framework. In particular, we utilize semi-supervised fuzzy c-means and Laplacian regularized Kernel minimum squared error for semi-supervised clustering and classification, respectively. Experimental results on several benchmark datasets and face recognition demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed method.

Are acid volatile sulfides (AVS) important trace metals sinks in semi-arid mangroves?

Science.gov (United States)

Queiroz, Hermano Melo; Nóbrega, Gabriel Nuto; Otero, Xose L; Ferreira, Tiago Osório

2018-01-01

Acid-volatile sulfides (AVS) formation and its role on trace metals bioavailability were studied in semi-arid mangroves. The semi-arid climatic conditions at the studied sites, marked by low rainfall and high evapotranspiration rates, clearly limited the AVS formation (AVS contents varied from 0.10 to 2.34μmolg -1 ) by favoring oxic conditions (Eh>+350mV). The AVS contents were strongly correlated with reactive iron and organic carbon (r=0.84; r=0.83 respectively), evidencing their dominant role for AVS formation under semi-arid conditions. On the other hand, the recorded ΣSEM/AVS values remained >1 evidencing a little control of AVS over the bioavailability of trace metals and, thus, its minor role as a sink for toxic metals. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Healthcare Providers' Formative Experiences with Race and Black Male Patients in Urban Hospital Environments.

Science.gov (United States)

Plaisime, Marie V; Malebranche, David J; Davis, Andrea L; Taylor, Jennifer A

2017-12-01

We explored health providers' formative personal and professional experiences with race and Black men as a way to assess their potential influence on interactions with Black male patients. Utilizing convenience sampling with snowballing techniques, we identified healthcare providers in two urban university hospitals. We compared Black and White providers' experiences based on race and level of training. We used the Gardener's Tale to conceptualize how racism may lead to racial health disparities. A semi-structured interview guide was used to conduct in-person interviews (n = 16). Using the grounded theory approach, we conducted three types of coding to examine data patterns. We found two themes reflective of personally mediated racism: (1) perception of Black males accompanied by two subthemes (a) biased care and (b) fear and discomfort and (2) cognitive dissonance. While this latter theme is more reflective of Jones's internalized racism level, we present its results because its novelty is compelling. Perception of Black males and cognitive dissonance appear to influence providers' approaches with Black male patients. This study suggests the need to develop initiatives and curricula in health professional schools that address provider racial bias. Understanding the dynamics operating in the patient-provider encounter enhances the ability to address and reduce health disparities.

Decreasing the damage in smart structures using integrated online DDA/ISMP and semi-active control

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Karami, K; Amini, F

2012-01-01

Integrated structural health monitoring (SHM) and vibration control has been considered recently by researchers. Up to now, all of the research in the field of integrated SHM and vibration control has been conducted using control devices and control algorithms to enhance system identification and damage detection. In this study, online SHM is used to improve the performance of structural vibration control, unlike previous research. Also, a proposed algorithm including integrated online SHM and a semi-active control strategy is used to reduce both damage and seismic response of the main structure due to strong seismic disturbance. In the proposed algorithm the nonlinear behavior of the building structure is simulated during the excitation. Then, using the measured data and the damage detection algorithm based on identified system Markov parameters (DDA/ISMP), a method proposed by the authors, damage corresponding to axial and bending stiffness of all structural elements is identified. In this study, a 20 t MR damper is employed as a control device to mitigate both damage and dynamic response of the building structure. Also, the interaction between SHM and a semi-active control strategy is assessed. To illustrate the efficiency of the proposed algorithm, a two bay two story steel braced frame structure is used. By defining the damage index and damage rate index, the input current of the MR damper is generated using a fuzzy logic controller. The obtained results show that the possibility of smart building creation is provided using the proposed algorithm. In comparison to the widely used strategy of only vibration control, it is shown that the proposed algorithm is more effective. Furthermore, in the proposed algorithm, the total consumed current intensity and generated control forces are considerably less than for the strategy of only vibration control. (paper)

Decreasing the damage in smart structures using integrated online DDA/ISMP and semi-active control

Science.gov (United States)

Karami, K.; Amini, F.

2012-10-01

Integrated structural health monitoring (SHM) and vibration control has been considered recently by researchers. Up to now, all of the research in the field of integrated SHM and vibration control has been conducted using control devices and control algorithms to enhance system identification and damage detection. In this study, online SHM is used to improve the performance of structural vibration control, unlike previous research. Also, a proposed algorithm including integrated online SHM and a semi-active control strategy is used to reduce both damage and seismic response of the main structure due to strong seismic disturbance. In the proposed algorithm the nonlinear behavior of the building structure is simulated during the excitation. Then, using the measured data and the damage detection algorithm based on identified system Markov parameters (DDA/ISMP), a method proposed by the authors, damage corresponding to axial and bending stiffness of all structural elements is identified. In this study, a 20 t MR damper is employed as a control device to mitigate both damage and dynamic response of the building structure. Also, the interaction between SHM and a semi-active control strategy is assessed. To illustrate the efficiency of the proposed algorithm, a two bay two story steel braced frame structure is used. By defining the damage index and damage rate index, the input current of the MR damper is generated using a fuzzy logic controller. The obtained results show that the possibility of smart building creation is provided using the proposed algorithm. In comparison to the widely used strategy of only vibration control, it is shown that the proposed algorithm is more effective. Furthermore, in the proposed algorithm, the total consumed current intensity and generated control forces are considerably less than for the strategy of only vibration control.

International health electives: thematic results of student and professional interviews.

Science.gov (United States)

Petrosoniak, Andrew; McCarthy, Anne; Varpio, Lara

2010-07-01

The purpose of this study was to explore the complexities (including harms and benefits) of international health electives (IHEs) involving medical trainees. This exploration contributes to the ongoing debate about the goals and implications of IHEs for medical trainees. This qualitative study used anonymous, one-to-one, semi-structured interviews. All participants had previous international health experiences. Between September 2007 and March 2008, we interviewed a convenience sample of health care professionals (n=10) and medical trainees (n=10). Using a modified grounded theory methodology, we carried out cycles of data analysis in conjunction with data collection in an iterative and constant comparison process. The study's thematic structure was finalised when theme saturation was achieved. Participants described IHEs in both negative and positive terms. IHEs were described as unsustained short-term contributions that lacked clear educational objectives and failed to address local community needs. Ethical dilemmas were described as IHE challenges. Participants reflected that many IHEs included aspects of medical tourism and the majority of participants described the IHE in negative terms. However, a few participants acknowledged the benefits of the IHE. Specifically, it was seen as an introduction to a career in global health and as a potential foundation for more sustainable projects with positive host community impacts. Finally, despite similar understandings among participants, self-awareness of medical tourism was low. International health electives may include potential harms and benefits for both the trainee and the host community. Educational institutions should encourage and support structured IHEs for trainee participation. We recommend that faculties of medicine and global health educators establish pre-departure training courses for trainees and that IHE opportunities have sufficient structures in place to mitigate the negative effects of medical

Experiences of Playscan: Interviews with users of a responsible gambling tool

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David Forsström

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Online gambling, encompassing a wide variety of activities and around-the-clock access, can be a potential risk factor for gamblers who tend to gamble excessively. Yet, the advent of online gambling has enabled responsible gambling (RG features that may help individuals to limit their gambling behaviour. One of these features is RG tools that track gamblers' behaviour, performs risk assessments and provides advice to gamblers. This study investigated users' views and experiences of the RG tool Playscan from a qualitative perspective using a semi-structured interview. The tool performs a risk assessment on a three-step scale (low, medium and high risk. Users from every risk category were included. Twenty interviews were carried out and analysed using thematic analysis. Two main themes with associated sub-themes were identified: “Usage of Playscan and the gambling site” and “Experiences of Playscan”. Important experiences in the sub-themes were lack of feedback from the tool and confusion when signing up to use Playscan. These experiences counteracted positive attitudes that should have promoted usage of the tool. Providing more feedback directly to users is a suggested solution to increase usage of the RG tool.

How GPs implement clinical guidelines in everyday clinical practice--a qualitative interview study.

Science.gov (United States)

Le, Jette V; Hansen, Helle P; Riisgaard, Helle; Lykkegaard, Jesper; Nexøe, Jørgen; Bro, Flemming; Søndergaard, Jens

2015-12-01

Clinical guidelines are considered to be essential for improving quality and safety of health care. However, interventions to promote implementation of guidelines have demonstrated only partial effectiveness and the reasons for this apparent failure are not yet fully understood. To investigate how GPs implement clinical guidelines in everyday clinical practice and how implementation approaches differ between practices. Individual semi-structured open-ended interviews with seven GPs who were purposefully sampled with regard to gender, age and practice form. Interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim and then analysed using systematic text condensation. Analysis of the interviews revealed three different approaches to the implementation of guidelines in clinical practice. In some practices the GPs prioritized time and resources on collective implementation activities and organized their everyday practice to support these activities. In other practices GPs discussed guidelines collectively but left the application up to the individual GP whilst others again saw no need for discussion or collective activities depending entirely on the individual GP's decision on whether and how to manage implementation. Approaches to implementation of clinical guidelines vary substantially between practices. Supporting activities should take this into account. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Using formative research to develop the healthy eating component of the CHANGE! school-based curriculum intervention

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Boddy Lynne M

2012-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Childhood obesity is a significant public health concern. Many intervention studies have attempted to combat childhood obesity, often in the absence of formative or preparatory work. This study describes the healthy eating component of the formative phase of the Children’s Health Activity and Nutrition: Get Educated! (CHANGE! project. The aim of the present study was to gather qualitative focus group and interview data regarding healthy eating particularly in relation to enabling and influencing factors, barriers and knowledge in children and adults (parents and teachers from schools within the CHANGE! programme to provide population-specific evidence to inform the subsequent intervention design. Methods Semi-structured focus group interviews were conducted with children, parents and teachers across 11 primary schools in the Wigan borough of North West England. Sixty children (N = 24 boys, 33 parents (N = 4 male and 10 teachers (N = 4 male participated in the study. Interview questions were structured around the PRECEDE phases of the PRECEDE-PROCEED model. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using the pen-profiling technique. Results The pen-profiles revealed that children’s knowledge of healthy eating was generally good, specifically many children were aware that fruit and vegetable consumption was ‘healthy’ (N = 46. Adults’ knowledge was also good, including restricting fatty foods, promoting fruit and vegetable intake, and maintaining a balanced diet. The important role parents play in children’s eating behaviours and food intake was evident. The emerging themes relating to barriers to healthy eating showed that external drivers such as advertising, the preferred sensory experience of “unhealthy” foods, and food being used as a reward may play a role in preventing healthy eating. Conclusions Data suggest that; knowledge related to diet composition was not a barrier per se to

Attitudes towards family formation in cohabiting and single childless women in their mid- to late thirties.

Science.gov (United States)

Birch Petersen, Kathrine; Sylvest, Randi; Nyboe Andersen, Anders; Pinborg, Anja; Westring Hvidman, Helene; Schmidt, Lone

2016-04-01

This study aimed to explore attitudes towards family formation in single or cohabiting childless women of advanced age. The design comprised semi-structured qualitative interviews of 20 women aged 34-39 years attending the Fertility Assessment and Counselling Clinic, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen. A sample of 10 single women and 10 cohabiting women was chosen with equal distribution of postgraduate education length. Data were analysed using content analysis following the method of Graneheim and Lundman and consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research (COREQ). The general attitude towards family formation was characterized by a fear of the consequences of choosing motherhood on one hand, and a 'ticking biological clock' and a wish to establish a nuclear family on the other. The women idealized the perception of perfect mothering in terms of uncompromising expectations of child rearing and showed an increasing awareness of solo motherhood as a possible solution to advanced age, the wish of a child and single status compared to earlier studies. Our study contributes to knowledge and understanding of personal considerations related to childbearing in nullipara women in their mid- to late 30s and may be useful in a fertility assessment and counselling setting.

Facilitators in Ambivalence

Science.gov (United States)

Karlsson, Mikael R.; Erlandson, Peter

2018-01-01

This is part of a larger ethnographical study concerning how school development in a local educational context sets cultural and social life in motion. The main data "in this article" consists of semi-structural interviews with teachers (facilitators) who have the responsibility of carrying out a project about formative assessment in…

Online health information search and evaluation: observations and semi-structured interviews with college students and maternal health experts.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Hyojin; Park, Sun-Young; Bozeman, Ingrid

2011-09-01

While the Internet is a popular source of health information, health seekers' inadequate skills to locate and discern quality information pose a potential threat to their healthcare decision-making. We aimed to examine health information search and appraisal behaviours among young, heavy users of the Internet. In study 1, we observed and interviewed 11 college students about their search strategies and evaluation of websites. In study 2, three health experts evaluated two websites selected as the best information sources in study 1. Familiarity with health websites and confidence in search strategies were major factors affecting search and evaluation behaviours. Website quality was mostly judged by aesthetics and peripheral cues of source credibility and message credibility. In contrast to users' favourable website evaluation, the experts judged the websites to be inappropriate and untrustworthy. Our results highlight a critical need to provide young health seekers with resources and training that are specifically geared toward health information search and appraisal. The role of health seekers' knowledge and involvement with the health issue in search effort and success warrants future research. © 2011 The authors. Health Information and Libraries Journal © 2011 Health Libraries Group.

Co-interviewing across gender and culture: expanding qualitative research methods in Melanesia.

Science.gov (United States)

Redman-MacLaren, Michelle L; Api, Unia K; Darius, Matupit; Tommbe, Rachael; Mafile'o, Tracie A; MacLaren, David J

2014-09-06

The social and cultural positions of both researchers and research participants influence qualitative methods and study findings. In Papua New Guinea (PNG), as in other contexts, gender is a key organising characteristic and needs to be central to the design and conduct of research. The colonial history between researcher and participant is also critical to understanding potential power differences. This is particularly relevant to public health research, much of which has emerged from a positivist paradigm. This paper describes our critical reflection of flexible researcher responses enacted during qualitative research in PNG. Led by a senior male HIV researcher from PNG, a male from a PNG university and a female from an Australian university conducted qualitative interviews about faith-based responses to HIV in PNG. The two researchers planned to conduct one-on-one interviews matching gender of participants and interviewer. However, while conducting the study, four participants explicitly requested to be interviewed by both researchers. This experience led us to critically consider socially and culturally situated ways of understanding semi-structured interviewing for public health research in Melanesia. New understandings about public health research include: (i) a challenge to the convention that the researcher holds more power than the research participant, (ii) the importance of audience in Melanesia, (iii) cultural safety can be provided when two people co-interview and (iv) the effect an esteemed leader heading the research may have on people's willingness to participate. Researchers who occupy insider-outsider roles in PNG may provide participants new possibilities to communicate key ideas. Our recent experience has taught us public health research methods that are gender sensitive and culturally situated are pivotal to successful research in Melanesia. Qualitative research requires adaptability and reflexivity. Public health research methods must continue

Students' Understanding of Cloud and Rainbow Formation and Teachers' Awareness of Students' Performance

Science.gov (United States)

Malleus, Elina; Kikas, Eve; Kruus, Sigrid

2016-01-01

This study describes primary school students' knowledge about rainfall, clouds and rainbow formation together with teachers' predictions about students' performance. In our study, primary school students' (N = 177) knowledge about rainfall and rainbow formation was examined using structured interviews with open-ended questions. Primary school…

Exploration of the impacts of distributed-site Research Experiences for Undergraduates using pre-/post- student interviews

Science.gov (United States)

Colella, H.; Hubenthal, M.; Brudzinski, M. R.

2013-12-01

The benefits for student participants of undergraduate research opportunities have been well documented. However, advancements in information and communications technologies (ICT) and cultural shifts around online education and virtual peer-to-peer interaction have lead to new models in which to structure such experiences. Currently, these ICT-enabled Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) programs connect geographically distributed interns in supportive e-learning communities while maintaining a traditional local mentoring arrangement. To document and explore the effects of distributed REU Sites in more depth, six interns from such a program, the Incorporated Research Institution for Seismology (IRIS) REU, were selected at random and asked to be interviewed about the REU experience. The primary targets of the interviews are to understand the mentor/mentee relationships, feeling of support and development and value of near-peer and far-peer relationships throughout their internship in a distributed REU program, and whether they receive the training necessary to gain confidence as a researcher. We also examine the various communication technologies as well as best practices and strategies that can increase intern connectedness. Pre-internship interviews were conducted in-person at the start of the centralized internship orientation week, while post-internship interviews were virtual (e.g. video chat with Skype or Google Hangout). These semi-structured interviews have full audio recordings and subsequent transcriptions. An additional, virtual follow-up interview will be conducted next spring after the interns have an opportunity to attend and present their research at a national conference (e.g., AGU). Interview material will be analyzed through a process of coding, sorting, local integration, and inclusive integration. Results will also be triangulated with pre- and post- survey data both from participants and other survey data from previous years of the IRIS

Types of tectonic structures, sedimentary volcanogenetic formations of a mantle, favourable processes for exogenetic and polygenetic uranium deposits formation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Danchev, V.I.; Komarnitskij, G.M.; Levin, V.N.; Shumlyanskij, V.A.

1985-01-01

Factors, affecting mineralization processes are considered. Characteristic features of uranium-bearing provinces are as follows: the presence of crust of continental type; deep-seated tectonic structures-rises and saggings, roofs, gneiss domes, rift zones and transform fractures; specialization for uranium of sedimentary and magmatic formations; the presence of manifestation regions of deep thermal and gaseous flow, etc. In uranium-bearing provinces territories favourable for the manifestation of different types of uranium mineralization: metamorphogenetic, polygenetic and exogenetic ones, are singled out. Different epochs of uranium ore formation are established. In sedimentary masses tectonic regime and climate are of special importance, and for epigenetic deposits, formed with an aid of underground waters-hydrogeological conditions. In the limits of the main structural elements of the Earth crust and geotectonic structures of higher orders the following types of sedimentary and volcanic formations can be singled out: 1-formations with exogenous uranium mineralization; 2-formations, accumulated in the epochs of epigenous ore formation; 3-formations fav ourable for epigenous uranium deposit formation; 4-formations unfavourable for the formation and localization of uranium mineralization

DEMONSTRATION OF THE STRATEGY FORMATION PROCESS: A CASE STUDY IN A INNOVATIVE ORGANIZATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniel Teodoro Gomes

2012-05-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a study of strategy formation process with the following starting question: "How the strategy is shaped in an innovative company and how the factors manifesting in the process?". The research builds on a case study of a company considered innovative leader in its industry and a pioneer in providing various services in the area of mobile phone in Brazil. Data collection was through interviews semi-structured with directors and managers involved in strategy formation, supplemented by documents and direct observation. Data analysis is based on the techniques of discourse analysis, from the persuasion strategies suggested by Linhares and Faria (1993. The company's strategy studied can be defined as an entrepreneurial vision, focused on growth supported by a process of diversification of product lines from a new direction composed of three elements: (i componentization; (ii segmentation by products chain and; (iii external to finance leverage in order to resumption of innovative projects. It was concluded that the company's strategy focused on these three factors, supported by a deliberate vision of the future, conditions its historical trajectory type standard cultural, its core values, which acts as a motivator and guide for members of the organization decisions and actions.

Using formative research to develop CHANGE!: a curriculum-based physical activity promoting intervention

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Knowles Zoe R

2011-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Low childhood physical activity levels are currently one of the most pressing public health concerns. Numerous school-based physical activity interventions have been conducted with varied success. Identifying effective child-based physical activity interventions are warranted. The purpose of this formative study was to elicit subjective views of children, their parents, and teachers about physical activity to inform the design of the CHANGE! (Children's Health, Activity, and Nutrition: Get Educated! intervention programme. Methods Semi-structured mixed-gender interviews (group and individual were conducted in 11 primary schools, stratified by socioeconomic status, with 60 children aged 9-10 years (24 boys, 36 girls, 33 parents (4 male, 29 female and 10 teachers (4 male, 6 female. Questions for interviews were structured around the PRECEDE stage of the PRECEDE-PROCEDE model and addressed knowledge, attitudes and beliefs towards physical activity, as well as views on barriers to participation. All data were transcribed verbatim. Pen profiles were constructed from the transcripts in a deductive manner using the Youth Physical Activity Promotion Model framework. The profiles represented analysis outcomes via a diagram of key emergent themes. Results Analyses revealed an understanding of the relationship between physical activity and health, although some children had limited understanding of what constitutes physical activity. Views elicited by children and parents were generally consistent. Fun, enjoyment and social support were important predictors of physical activity participation, though several barriers such as lack of parental support were identified across all group interviews. The perception of family invested time was positively linked to physical activity engagement. Conclusions Families have a powerful and important role in promoting health-enhancing behaviours. Involvement of parents and the whole family is a

The impossible interview with the man of the hidden biological structures. Interview by Paolo Mazzarello.

Science.gov (United States)

Golgi, Camillo

2006-12-01

This paper presents an "impossible interview" to Professor Camillo Golgi, placed in time in December 1906. The Italian Professor Golgi from Pavia has been awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine ex aequo with the Spanish anatomist Santiago Ramón y Cajal. Both scientists have obtained the award for their work on the anatomy of the nervous system. However, they have opposite views on the mechanisms underlying nervous functions. Golgi believes that the axons stained by his "black reaction" form a continuous anatomical or functional network along which nervous impulses propagate. Ramón y Cajal is the paladin of the neuron theory, a hypothesis questioned by Golgi in his Nobel lecture of Tuesday, December 11. After the ceremony, an independent journalist has interviewed Professor Golgi in the Grand Hotel in Stockholm. Excerpts about his education, his main scientific discoveries, and his personal life are here given (reconstructing the "impossible interview" on the basis of Golgi's original writings).

Experiences of care planning in England: interviews with patients with long term conditions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Newbould Jenny

2012-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The prevalence and impact of long term conditions continues to rise. Care planning for people with long term conditions has been a policy priority in England for chronic disease management. However, it is not clear how care planning is currently understood, translated and implemented in primary care. This study explores experience of care planning in patients with long term conditions in three areas in England. Methods We conducted semi-structured interviews with 23 predominantly elderly patients with multiple long term conditions. The interviews were designed to explore variations in and emergent experiences of care planning. Qualitative analysis of interview transcripts involved reflexively coding and re-coding data into categories and themes. Results No participants reported experiencing explicit care planning discussions or receiving written documentation setting out a negotiated care plan and they were unfamiliar with the term ‘care planning’. However, most described some components of care planning which occurred over a number of contacts with health care professionals which we term”reactive” care planning. Here, key elements of care planning including goal setting and action planning were rare. Additionally, poor continuity and coordination of care, lack of time in consultations, and patient concerns about what was legitimate to discuss with the doctor were described. Conclusions Amongst this population, elements of care planning were present in their accounts, but a structured, comprehensive process and consequent written record (as outlined in English Department of Health policy was not evident. Further research needs to explore the advantages and disadvantages of different approaches to care planning for different patient groups.

Structures formation through self-organized accretion on cosmic strings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Murdzek, R.

2009-01-01

In this paper, we shall show that the formation of structures through accretion by a cosmic string is driven by a natural feed-back mechanism: a part of the energy radiated by accretions creates a pressure on the accretion disk itself. This phenomenon leads to a nonlinear evolution of the accretion process. Thus, the formation of structures results as a consequence of a self-organized growth of the accreting central object.

Propagating star formation and irregular structure in spiral galaxies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mueller, M.W.; Arnett, W.D.

1976-01-01

A simple model is proposed which describes the irregular optical appearance often seen in late-type spiral galaxies. If high-mass stars produce spherical shock waves which induce star formation, new high-mass stars will be born which, in turn, produce new shock waves. When this process operates in a differentially rotating disk, our numerical model shows that large-scale spiral-shaped regions of star formation are built up. The structure is seen to be most sensitive to a parameter which governs how often a region of the interstellar medium can undergo star formation. For a proper choice of this parameter, large-scale features disappear before differential rotation winds them up. New spiral features continuously form, so some spiral structure is seen indefinitely. The structure is not the classical two-armed symmetric spiral pattern which the density-wave theory attempts to explain, but it is asymmetric and disorderly.The mechanism of propagating star formation used in our model is consistent with observations which connect young OB associations with expanding shells of gas. We discuss the possible interaction of this mechanism with density waves

Initiation of soil formation in weathered sulfidic Cu-Pb-Zn tailings under subtropical and semi-arid climatic conditions.

Science.gov (United States)

You, Fang; Dalal, Ram; Huang, Longbin

2018-08-01

Field evidence has been scarce about soil (or technosol) formation and direct phytostabilization of base metal mine tailings under field conditions. The present study evaluated key attributes of soil formation in weathered and neutral Cu-Pb-Zn tailings subject to organic amendment (WC: woodchips) and colonization of pioneer native plant species (mixed native woody and grass plant species) in a 2.5-year field trial under subtropical and semi-arid climatic conditions. Key soil indicators of engineered soil formation process were characterized, including organic carbon fractions, aggregation, microbial community and key enzymatic activities. The majority (64-87%) of the OC was stabilized in microaggregate or organo-mineral complexes in the amended tailings. The levels of OC and water soluble OC were elevated by 2-3 folds across the treatments, with the highest level in the treatment of WC and plant colonization (WC+P). Specifically, the WC+P treatment increased the proportion of water stable macroaggregates. Plants further contributed to the N rich organic matter in the tailings, favouring organo-mineral interactions and organic stabilization. Besides, the plants played a major role in boosting microbial biomass and activities in the treated tailings. WC and plants enhanced the contents of organic carbon (OC) associated with aggregates (e.g., physically protected OC), formation of water-stable aggregates (e.g., micro and macroaggregates), chemical buffering capacity (e.g., cation exchange capacity). Microbial community and enzymatic activities were also stimulated in the amended tailings. The present results showed that the formation of functional technosol was initiated in the eco-engineered and weathered Cu-Pb-Zn tailings under field conditions for direct phytostabilization. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Using Audience Response Technology to provide formative feedback on pharmacology performance for non-medical prescribing students--a preliminary evaluation.

Science.gov (United States)

Mostyn, Alison; Meade, Oonagh; Lymn, Joanne S

2012-11-13

The use of anonymous audience response technology (ART) to actively engage students in classroom learning has been evaluated positively across multiple settings. To date, however, there has been no empirical evaluation of the use of individualised ART handsets and formative feedback of ART scores. The present study investigates student perceptions of such a system and the relationship between formative feedback results and exam performance. Four successive cohorts of Non-Medical Prescribing students (n=107) had access to the individualised ART system and three of these groups (n=72) completed a questionnaire about their perceptions of using ART. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with a purposive sample of seven students who achieved a range of scores on the formative feedback. Using data from all four cohorts of students, the relationship between mean ART scores and summative pharmacology exam score was examined using a non-parametric correlation. Questionnaire and interview data suggested that the use of ART enhanced the classroom environment, motivated students and promoted learning. Questionnaire data demonstrated that students found the formative feedback helpful for identifying their learning needs (95.6%), guiding their independent study (86.8%), and as a revision tool (88.3%). Interviewees particularly valued the objectivity of the individualised feedback which helped them to self-manage their learning. Interviewees' initial anxiety about revealing their level of pharmacology knowledge to the lecturer and to themselves reduced over time as students focused on the learning benefits associated with the feedback.A significant positive correlation was found between students' formative feedback scores and their summative pharmacology exam scores (Spearman's rho = 0.71, N=107, p<.01). Despite initial anxiety about the use of individualised ART units, students rated the helpfulness of the individualised handsets and personalised formative feedback highly

Using Audience Response Technology to provide formative feedback on pharmacology performance for non-medical prescribing students - a preliminary evaluation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mostyn Alison

2012-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The use of anonymous audience response technology (ART to actively engage students in classroom learning has been evaluated positively across multiple settings. To date, however, there has been no empirical evaluation of the use of individualised ART handsets and formative feedback of ART scores. The present study investigates student perceptions of such a system and the relationship between formative feedback results and exam performance. Methods Four successive cohorts of Non-Medical Prescribing students (n=107 had access to the individualised ART system and three of these groups (n=72 completed a questionnaire about their perceptions of using ART. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with a purposive sample of seven students who achieved a range of scores on the formative feedback. Using data from all four cohorts of students, the relationship between mean ART scores and summative pharmacology exam score was examined using a non-parametric correlation. Results Questionnaire and interview data suggested that the use of ART enhanced the classroom environment, motivated students and promoted learning. Questionnaire data demonstrated that students found the formative feedback helpful for identifying their learning needs (95.6%, guiding their independent study (86.8%, and as a revision tool (88.3%. Interviewees particularly valued the objectivity of the individualised feedback which helped them to self-manage their learning. Interviewees’ initial anxiety about revealing their level of pharmacology knowledge to the lecturer and to themselves reduced over time as students focused on the learning benefits associated with the feedback. A significant positive correlation was found between students’ formative feedback scores and their summative pharmacology exam scores (Spearman’s rho = 0.71, N=107, p Conclusions Despite initial anxiety about the use of individualised ART units, students rated the helpfulness of the

Using Audience Response Technology to provide formative feedback on pharmacology performance for non-medical prescribing students - a preliminary evaluation

Science.gov (United States)

2012-01-01

Background The use of anonymous audience response technology (ART) to actively engage students in classroom learning has been evaluated positively across multiple settings. To date, however, there has been no empirical evaluation of the use of individualised ART handsets and formative feedback of ART scores. The present study investigates student perceptions of such a system and the relationship between formative feedback results and exam performance. Methods Four successive cohorts of Non-Medical Prescribing students (n=107) had access to the individualised ART system and three of these groups (n=72) completed a questionnaire about their perceptions of using ART. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with a purposive sample of seven students who achieved a range of scores on the formative feedback. Using data from all four cohorts of students, the relationship between mean ART scores and summative pharmacology exam score was examined using a non-parametric correlation. Results Questionnaire and interview data suggested that the use of ART enhanced the classroom environment, motivated students and promoted learning. Questionnaire data demonstrated that students found the formative feedback helpful for identifying their learning needs (95.6%), guiding their independent study (86.8%), and as a revision tool (88.3%). Interviewees particularly valued the objectivity of the individualised feedback which helped them to self-manage their learning. Interviewees’ initial anxiety about revealing their level of pharmacology knowledge to the lecturer and to themselves reduced over time as students focused on the learning benefits associated with the feedback. A significant positive correlation was found between students’ formative feedback scores and their summative pharmacology exam scores (Spearman’s rho = 0.71, N=107, pstudents rated the helpfulness of the individualised handsets and personalised formative feedback highly. The significant correlation between ART

Simulating the formation of cosmic structure.

Science.gov (United States)

Frenk, C S

2002-06-15

A timely combination of new theoretical ideas and observational discoveries has brought about significant advances in our understanding of cosmic evolution. Computer simulations have played a key role in these developments by providing the means to interpret astronomical data in the context of physical and cosmological theory. In the current paradigm, our Universe has a flat geometry, is undergoing accelerated expansion and is gravitationally dominated by elementary particles that make up cold dark matter. Within this framework, it is possible to simulate in a computer the emergence of galaxies and other structures from small quantum fluctuations imprinted during an epoch of inflationary expansion shortly after the Big Bang. The simulations must take into account the evolution of the dark matter as well as the gaseous processes involved in the formation of stars and other visible components. Although many unresolved questions remain, a coherent picture for the formation of cosmic structure is now beginning to emerge.

Cross-Domain Semi-Supervised Learning Using Feature Formulation.

Science.gov (United States)

Xingquan Zhu

2011-12-01

Semi-Supervised Learning (SSL) traditionally makes use of unlabeled samples by including them into the training set through an automated labeling process. Such a primitive Semi-Supervised Learning (pSSL) approach suffers from a number of disadvantages including false labeling and incapable of utilizing out-of-domain samples. In this paper, we propose a formative Semi-Supervised Learning (fSSL) framework which explores hidden features between labeled and unlabeled samples to achieve semi-supervised learning. fSSL regards that both labeled and unlabeled samples are generated from some hidden concepts with labeling information partially observable for some samples. The key of the fSSL is to recover the hidden concepts, and take them as new features to link labeled and unlabeled samples for semi-supervised learning. Because unlabeled samples are only used to generate new features, but not to be explicitly included in the training set like pSSL does, fSSL overcomes the inherent disadvantages of the traditional pSSL methods, especially for samples not within the same domain as the labeled instances. Experimental results and comparisons demonstrate that fSSL significantly outperforms pSSL-based methods for both within-domain and cross-domain semi-supervised learning.

Assessment of genuine and simulated dissociative identity disorder on the structured interview of reported symptoms.

Science.gov (United States)

Brand, Bethany L; McNary, Scot W; Loewenstein, Richard J; Kolos, Amie C; Barr, Stefanie R

2006-01-01

Little is known about how to detect malingered dissociative identity disorder (DID). This study presents preliminary data from an ongoing study about the performance of DID patients on the Structured Interview of Reported Symptoms (SIRS, Rogers, Bagby, & Dickens, 1992), considered to be a "gold standard" structured interview in forensic psychology to detect feigning of psychological symptoms. Test responses from 20 dissociative identity disorder (DID) patients are compared to those of 43 well informed and motivated DID simulators. Both the simulators and DID patients endorsed such a high number of symptoms that their average overall scores would typically be interpreted as indicative of feigning. The simulators' mean scores were significantly higher than those of the DID patients on only four out of 13 scales. These results provide preliminary evidence that well informed and motivated simulators are able to fairly successfully simulate DID patients and avoid detection on the SIRS. Furthermore, many DID patients may be at risk for being inaccurately labeled as feigning on the SIRS.

Developing a short version of the Toronto Structured Interview for Alexithymia using item response theory.

Science.gov (United States)

Sekely, Angela; Taylor, Graeme J; Bagby, R Michael

2018-03-17

The Toronto Structured Interview for Alexithymia (TSIA) was developed to provide a structured interview method for assessing alexithymia. One drawback of this instrument is the amount of time it takes to administer and score. The current study used item response theory (IRT) methods to analyze data from a large heterogeneous multi-language sample (N = 842) to investigate whether a subset of items could be selected to create a short version of the instrument. Samejima's (1969) graded response model was used to fit the item responses. Items providing maximum information were retained in the short model, resulting in the elimination of 12-items from the original 24-items. Despite the 50% reduction in the number of items, 65.22% of the information was retained. Further studies are needed to validate the short version. A short version of the TSIA is potentially of practical value to clinicians and researchers with time constraints. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Formation of disorientations in dislocation structures during plastic deformation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pantleon, W.

2002-01-01

Disorientations developing during plastic deformation in dislocation structures are investigated. Based on expected mechanisms for the formation of different types of dislocation boundaries (statistical trapping of dislocations or differently activated slip systems) the formation of the disorient...

Does where you stand depend on who you behave? Networking behavior as an alternative explanation for gender differences in network structure

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gremmen, I.; Akkerman, A.; Benschop, Y.

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study is to gain insight into the relations between gender, networking behavior and network structure, in order to investigate the relevance of gender for organizational networks. Semi-structured interviews with 39 white, Dutch, women and men account managers were analyzed both

Kinetically guided colloidal structure formation

OpenAIRE

Hecht, Fabian M.; Bausch, Andreas R.

2016-01-01

The well-studied self-organization of colloidal particles is predicted to result in a variety of fascinating applications. Yet, whereas self-assembly techniques are extensively explored, designing and producing mesoscale-sized objects remains a major challenge, as equilibration times and thus structure formation timescales become prohibitively long. Asymmetric mesoscopic objects, without prior introduction of asymmetric particles with all its complications, are out of reach––due to the underl...

Perceptions of Empowerment Within and Across Partnerships in Community-Based Participatory Research: A Dyadic Interview Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Paradiso de Sayu, Rebecca; Chanmugam, Amy

2016-01-01

Although the concept of empowerment is a key principle of community-based participatory research (CBPR), little is known about how academic and community partners perceive empowerment during a CBPR process. CBPR partners' perceptions of the process were explored using semi-structured interviews with both partners in 10 CBPR partnerships that had completed projects addressing social determinants of health. Dyadic interview analysis was employed to understand dynamics within and across partnerships. Five partnerships showed no differences in perceptions of empowerment. Four had minor discrepancies. Only one partnership varied considerably between partners, where the community partner perceived less empowerment regarding determining the study topic and overall control, influence, and respect throughout the process. This article discusses implications of findings for CBPR. Evaluating partners' perceived empowerment throughout a CBPR project might reveal areas to adjust, as not all projects with quantifiably successful outcomes involve processes that are successful in terms of empowerment. © The Author(s) 2015.

Factors associated with Taiwanese lesbians' breast health-care behavior and intentions: Qualitative interview findings.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Ya-Ching; Griffiths, Jane; Grande, Gunn

2017-09-01

This article presents the qualitative findings of a mixed-methods study that explored factors influencing lesbians' breast health-care behavior and intentions. A total of 37 semi-structured face-to-face interviews were conducted among women who self-identified as lesbians or women who partnered with the same gender who were aged 20 years or above in four areas of Taiwan (North, Central, South, and East Taiwan) between August 2012 and October 2012. Interviews were audio recorded with participants' consent. The interviews were analyzed using constant comparative analysis with Nvivo audio-coding support. Four themes were identified to be strongly associated with the lesbians' breast health-care behavior and their intentions, namely, gender identity, gender role expression, partners' support, and concerns about health-care providers' reactions. Important barriers to the women's breast health-care behavior and intentions were masculine identity ("T-identity" in Taiwan), masculine appearance, concerns about health-care providers' lack of knowledge of multiple gender diversity, and their attitudes toward lesbians. Conversely, their partners' support was a factor facilitating the women's breast health-care behavior and intentions, particularly for the T-identity lesbians. These findings suggest the significance of and need for culturally competent care and are important for improving Taiwanese lesbians' breast health.

Circulating Microparticles Alter Formation, Structure, and Properties of Fibrin Clots.

Science.gov (United States)

Zubairova, Laily D; Nabiullina, Roza M; Nagaswami, Chandrasekaran; Zuev, Yuriy F; Mustafin, Ilshat G; Litvinov, Rustem I; Weisel, John W

2015-12-04

Despite the importance of circulating microparticles in haemostasis and thrombosis, there is limited evidence for potential causative effects of naturally produced cell-derived microparticles on fibrin clot formation and its properties. We studied the significance of blood microparticles for fibrin formation, structure, and susceptibility to fibrinolysis by removing them from platelet-free plasma using filtration. Clots made in platelet-free and microparticle-depleted plasma samples from the same healthy donors were analyzed in parallel. Microparticles accelerate fibrin polymerisation and support formation of more compact clots that resist internal and external fibrinolysis. These variations correlate with faster thrombin generation, suggesting thrombin-mediated kinetic effects of microparticles on fibrin formation, structure, and properties. In addition, clots formed in the presence of microparticles, unlike clots from the microparticle-depleted plasma, contain 0.1-0.5-μm size granular and CD61-positive material on fibres, suggesting that platelet-derived microparticles attach to fibrin. Therefore, the blood of healthy individuals contains functional microparticles at the levels that have a procoagulant potential. They affect the structure and stability of fibrin clots indirectly through acceleration of thrombin generation and through direct physical incorporation into the fibrin network. Both mechanisms underlie a potential role of microparticles in haemostasis and thrombosis as modulators of fibrin formation, structure, and resistance to fibrinolysis.

Concept formation: a supportive process for early career nurses.

Science.gov (United States)

Thornley, Tracey; West, Sandra

2010-09-01

Individuals come to understand abstract constructs such as that of the 'expert' through the formation of concepts. Time and repeated opportunity for observation to support the generalisation and abstraction of the developing concept are essential if the concept is to form successfully. Development of an effective concept of the 'expert nurse' is critical for early career nurses who are attempting to integrate theory, values and beliefs as they develop their clinical practice. This study explores the use of a concept development framework in a grounded theory study of the 'expert nurse'. Qualitative. Using grounded theory methods for data collection and analysis, semi-structured interviews were conducted with registered nurses. The participants were asked to describe their concept of the 'expert nurse' and to discuss their experience of developing this. Participants reported forming their concept of the 'expert nurse', after multiple opportunities to engage with nurses identified as 'expert'. This identification did not necessarily relate to the designated position of the 'expert nurse' or assigned mentors. When the early career nurse does not successfully form a concept of the 'expert nurse', difficulties in personal and professional development including skill/knowledge development may arise. To underpin development of their clinical practice effectively, early career nurses need to be provided with opportunities that facilitate the purposive formation of their own concept of the 'expert nurse'. Formation of this concept is not well supported by the common practice of assigning mentors. Early career nurses must be provided with the time and the opportunity to individually develop and refine their concept of the 'expert nurse'. To achieve this, strategies including providing opportunities to engage with expert nurses and discussion of the process of concept formation and its place in underpinning personal judgments may be of assistance. © 2010 Blackwell Publishing

Structural control of void formation in dual phase steels

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Azuma, Masafumi

The objective of this study is to explore the void formation mechanisms and to clarify the influence of the hardness and structural parameters (volume fraction, size and morphology) of martensite particles on the void formation and mechanical properties in dual phase steels composed of ferrite...... and (iii) strain localization. The critical strain for void formation depends on hardness of the martensite, but is independent of the volume fraction, shape, size and distribution of the martensite. The strain partitioning between the martensite and ferrite depends on the volume fraction and hardness...... of the martensite accelerates the void formation in the martensite by enlarging the size of voids both in the martensite and ferrite. It is suggested that controlling the hardness and structural parameters associated with the martensite particles such as morphology, size and volume fraction are the essential...

Adaptive coordination in surgical teams: an interview study.

Science.gov (United States)

Bogdanovic, Jasmina; Perry, Juliana; Guggenheim, Merlin; Manser, Tanja

2015-04-01

Effective teamwork has been recognised as a major contributor to safe patient care in surgery. Previous research has highlighted the importance of adaptive coordination for effective performance in acute care settings. Expanding this line of research this study explores the coordination behaviours and adaptive coordination strategies employed by surgical teams and identifies relevant situational characteristics influencing those coordination processes. We conducted a qualitative content analysis of semi-structured interviews with 33 surgical team members (nurses and physicians) from different specialties and hospitals. We identified coordination behaviours (i.e. task management, information management, teaching and leadership) and adaptive coordination strategies triggered by varying requirements due to non-routine events, intraoperative complications and differing level of experience among operating room staff. Interviewees highlighted the importance of effectively managing challenging moments and the supporting effect of positive climate on teamwork. This study complements previous research on the non-technical skills underpinning safe performance in surgical teams. It highlights the central role of coordination and points out the ways in which situational variability requires the team to behave adaptively.

Knowledge and Attitudes of Cervical Cancer Screening Among Caribbean Women: A Qualitative Interview Study From Barbados.

Science.gov (United States)

Christian, Trudy; Guell, Cornelia

2015-01-01

The purpose of this study was to explore Barbadian women's attitudes toward and knowledge of routine cervical cancer screening (Pap tests). We conducted semi-structured individual interviews with fourteen female patients between the ages of 20 and 60 years who attended a selected public clinic in Barbados in May and June 2013. Interviews were audio-recorded with participants' consent. The interviews were then transcribed verbatim and, using thematic content analysis, indexed and coded inductively for emerging similar themes. We identified four themes: (1) women had poor knowledge of the purpose of Pap tests. The most frequently occurring misconception was that the test was for the detection of sexually transmitted infections. (2) The women displayed limited cervical cancer awareness. (3) Health professionals were identified by the women as the main driving force behind women taking up screening. (4) The screening procedure was perceived as painful, but women's overriding attitude was that screening was necessary. These findings suggest that Barbadian women would benefit from focused health education efforts surrounding cervical cancer screening to eradicate the misconception that the purpose of the Pap test is the detection of sexually transmitted diseases.

Soil Bacterial and Fungal Community Structure Across a Range of Unimproved and Semi-Improved Upland Grasslands

OpenAIRE

Kennedy, Nabla; Edwards, Suzanne; Clipson, Nicholas

2005-01-01

Changes in soil microbial community structure due to improvement are often attributed to concurrent shifts in floristic community composition. The bacterial and fungal communities of unimproved and semi-improved (as determined by floristic classification) grassland soils were studied at five upland sites on similar geological substrata using both broad-scale (microbial activity and fungal biomass) and molecular [terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (TRFLP)...

How Do Women Entrepreneurs Define Success? A Qualitative Study of Differences Among Women Entrepreneurs in Ethiopia

OpenAIRE

Atsede Tesfaye Hailemariam; Brigitte Kroon

2014-01-01

This paper describes how women entrepreneurs in Ethiopia define success in their own terms. Semi structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 24 women entrepreneurs from various sectors in Addis Ababa. The interview formats allowed the women to tell their life history and define success in their own terms. A common stereotype is that women entrepreneurs in Ethiopia operate businesses out of necessity and therefore women measure success in terms of financial rewards than personal rewards...

Communications tools in research projects to support Semi and Non Structured Information

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Astrid Jaime

2005-06-01

Full Text Available Innovation and thus the production of knowledge becomes a factor of competitiveness. In this context quality management could be complemented by knowledge management to aim the improvement of knowledge production by research activities process. To this end, after describing knowledge and informa-tion typologies in engineering activities, a knowledge man-agement system is proposed. The goal is to support: (1 Semi-Structured Information (e.g. reports, etc. thanks to the BASIC-Lab tool functions, which are based on attributing points of view and annotations to documents and document zones, and (2 Non-Structured Information (such as mail, dialogues, etc., thanks to MICA-Graph approach which intends to support ex-change of technical messages that concerns common resolution of research problems within project teams and to capitalise relevant knowledge. For the both approaches, prototype tools have been developed and evaluated, primarily to feed back with manufacturing knowledge in the EADS industrial envi-ronment.

Are Leadership and Management Essential for Good Research? An Interview Study of Genetic Researchers

Science.gov (United States)

Antes, Alison L.; Mart, Adelina; DuBois, James M.

2016-01-01

Principal investigators are responsible for a myriad of leadership and management activities in their work. The practices they employ to navigate these responsibilities ultimately influence the quality and integrity of research. However, leadership and management roles in research have received scant empirical examination. Semi-structured interviews with 32 National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded genetic researchers revealed that they considered leadership and management essential for effective research, but their scientific training inadequately prepared them. We also report management practices that the researchers described employing in their labs, as well as their perceptions of a proposed intervention to enhance laboratory leadership. These findings suggest best practices for the research community, future directions for scientific training, and implications for research on leadership and management in science. PMID:27646401

Are Leadership and Management Essential for Good Research? An Interview Study of Genetic Researchers.

Science.gov (United States)

Antes, Alison L; Mart, Adelina; DuBois, James M

2016-12-01

Principal investigators are responsible for a myriad of leadership and management activities in their work. The practices they use to navigate these responsibilities ultimately influence the quality and integrity of research. However, leadership and management roles in research have received scant empirical examination. Semi-structured interviews with 32 National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded genetic researchers revealed that they considered leadership and management essential for effective research, but their scientific training inadequately prepared them. We also report management practices that the researchers described using in their labs, as well as their perceptions of a proposed intervention to enhance laboratory leadership. These findings suggest best practices for the research community, future directions for scientific training, and implications for research on leadership and management in science.

Biofilm formation in long-term central venous catheters in children with cancer

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Handrup, Mette Møller; Fuursted, Kurt; Funch, Peter

2012-01-01

Taurolidine has demonstrated inhibition of biofilm formation in vitro. The aim of this study was to compare the effect of catheter locking with taurolidine vs heparin in biofilm formation in central venous catheters. Forty-eight children with cancer were randomized to catheter locking by heparin (n...... = 22) or taurolidine (n = 26), respectively. After removal, catheters were examined by standardized scanning electron microscopy to assess quantitative biofilm formation. Biofilm was present if morphologically typical structures and bacterial cells were identified. Quantitative and semi...... in the intraluminal biofilm formation and the rate of bacterial colonization detected by scanning electron microscopy in the two groups....

Robotics as science (re)form: Exploring power, learning and gender(ed) identity formation in a "community of practice"

Science.gov (United States)

Hurner, Sheryl Marie

"Robotics as Science (re)Form" utilizes qualitative research methods to examine the career trajectories and gender identity formation of female youth participating as members of an all-girl, academic team within the male-dominated environment of the FIRST Robotics competition. Following the constant comparative approach (Glaser & Strauss, 1967), my project relies upon triangulating ethnographic data drawn from extensive field notes, semi-structured interviews, and digital and video imagery compiled over two years of participant observation. Drawing upon the sociolinguistic "community of practice" (CoP) framework (Eckert & McConnell-Ginet, 1992; Lave & Wenger, 1991; Wenger, 1998), this study maps the range of gendered "identities" available to girls involved in non-traditional academic and occupational pursuits within a local context, and reveals the nature, structure and impact of power operating within this CoP, a significantly underdeveloped construct within the language and gender literature. These research findings (1) contribute to refining theories of situated or problem based learning with a focus on female youth (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Wenger, 1998); (2) reveal affordances and barriers within the local program design that enable (and preclude) women and minority youth entering the engineering pipeline; and (3) enrich our understanding of intragroup language and gendered "practices" to counter largely essentializing generalizations based upon quantitative analysis. Keywords: Robotics, gender, identity formation, science, STEM, communities of practice

A Swedish interview study: parents' assessment of risks in home births.

Science.gov (United States)

Lindgren, Helena; Hildingsson, Ingegerd; Rådestad, Ingela

2006-03-01

to describe home-birth risk assessment by parents. interviews using a semi-structured interview guide. Data were analysed using a phenomenological approach. independent midwifery practices in Sweden. five couples who had had planned home births. the parents had a fundamental trust that the birth would take place without complications, and they experienced meaningfulness in the event itself. Risks were considered to be part of a complex phenomenon that was not limited to births at home. This attitude seems to be part of a lifestyle that has a bearing on how risks experienced during the birth were handled. Five categories were identified as counterbalancing the risk of possible complications: (1) trust in the woman's ability to give birth; (2) trust in intuition; (3) confidence in the midwife; (4) confidence in the relationship; and (5) physical and intellectual preparation. although the parents were conscious of the risk of complications during childbirth, a fundamental trust in the woman's independent ability to give birth was central to the decision to choose a home birth. Importance was attached to the expected positive effects of having the birth at home. knowledge of parents' assessment can promote an increased understanding of how parents-to-be experience the risks associated with home birth.

Crystal structures of complexes of NAD+-dependent formate dehydrogenase from methylotrophic bacterium Pseudomonas sp. 101 with formate

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Filippova, E. V.; Polyakov, K. M.; Tikhonova, T. V.; Stekhanova, T. N.; Boiko, K. M.; Sadykhov, I. G.; Tishkov, V. I.; Popov, V. O.; Labru, N.

2006-01-01

Formate dehydrogenase (FDH) from the methylotrophic bacterium Pseudomonas sp. 101 catalyzes oxidation of formate to NI 2 with the coupled reduction of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD + ). The three-dimensional structures of the apo form (the free enzyme) and the holo form (the ternary FDH-NAD + -azide complex) of FDH have been established earlier. In the present study, the structures of FDH complexes with formate are solved at 2.19 and 2.28 A resolution by the molecular replacement method and refined to the R factors of 22.3 and 20.5%, respectively. Both crystal structures contain four protein molecules per asymmetric unit. These molecules form two dimers identical to the dimer of the apo form of FDH. Two possible formatebinding sites are found in the active site of the FDH structure. In the complexes the sulfur atom of residue Cys354 exists in the oxidized state

Development of semi-active hydraulic damper as active interaction ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Semi-auto controller; displacement semi-active hydraulic damper; ... 2000), and Magnetorheological Damper (Dyke et al 1998) were widely discussed or used. ... driving force provided by electrical motor causes the subordinate structure to ...

Semi-Automated Air-Coupled Impact-Echo Method for Large-Scale Parkade Structure

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tyler Epp

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Structural Health Monitoring (SHM has moved to data-dense systems, utilizing numerous sensor types to monitor infrastructure, such as bridges and dams, more regularly. One of the issues faced in this endeavour is the scale of the inspected structures and the time it takes to carry out testing. Installing automated systems that can provide measurements in a timely manner is one way of overcoming these obstacles. This study proposes an Artificial Neural Network (ANN application that determines intact and damaged locations from a small training sample of impact-echo data, using air-coupled microphones from a reinforced concrete beam in lab conditions and data collected from a field experiment in a parking garage. The impact-echo testing in the field is carried out in a semi-autonomous manner to expedite the front end of the in situ damage detection testing. The use of an ANN removes the need for a user-defined cutoff value for the classification of intact and damaged locations when a least-square distance approach is used. It is postulated that this may contribute significantly to testing time reduction when monitoring large-scale civil Reinforced Concrete (RC structures.

FORMATION OF ORGANIZATIONAL AND ECONOMIC INTEGRATED STRUCTURES IN THE ALUMINUM INDUSTRY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. B. Kazbekova

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The paper reveals the theoretical foundations of economic efficiency of production and integrated structures formation. Their advantages are demonstrated by the example of the formation of vertically integrated structures in the aluminium industry in the framework created by smelting aluminium cluster inKazakhstan. Also examines the valuable experience gained in the organization of such structures in theRussian Federationin recent years

A formative evaluation of the implementation of a medication safety data collection tool in English healthcare settings: A qualitative interview study using normalisation process theory.

Science.gov (United States)

Rostami, Paryaneh; Ashcroft, Darren M; Tully, Mary P

2018-01-01

Reducing medication-related harm is a global priority; however, impetus for improvement is impeded as routine medication safety data are seldom available. Therefore, the Medication Safety Thermometer was developed within England's National Health Service. This study aimed to explore the implementation of the tool into routine practice from users' perspectives. Fifteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with purposely sampled National Health Service staff from primary and secondary care settings. Interview data were analysed using an initial thematic analysis, and subsequent analysis using Normalisation Process Theory. Secondary care staff understood that the Medication Safety Thermometer's purpose was to measure medication safety and improvement. However, other uses were reported, such as pinpointing poor practice. Confusion about its purpose existed in primary care, despite further training, suggesting unsuitability of the tool. Decreased engagement was displayed by staff less involved with medication use, who displayed less ownership. Nonetheless, these advocates often lacked support from management and frontline levels, leading to an overall lack of engagement. Many participants reported efforts to drive scale-up of the use of the tool, for example, by securing funding, despite uncertainty around how to use data. Successful improvement was often at ward-level and went unrecognised within the wider organisation. There was mixed feedback regarding the value of the tool, often due to a perceived lack of "capacity". However, participants demonstrated interest in learning how to use their data and unexpected applications of data were reported. Routine medication safety data collection is complex, but achievable and facilitates improvements. However, collected data must be analysed, understood and used for further work to achieve improvement, which often does not happen. The national roll-out of the tool has accelerated shared learning; however, a number of

A formative evaluation of the implementation of a medication safety data collection tool in English healthcare settings: A qualitative interview study using normalisation process theory.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Paryaneh Rostami

Full Text Available Reducing medication-related harm is a global priority; however, impetus for improvement is impeded as routine medication safety data are seldom available. Therefore, the Medication Safety Thermometer was developed within England's National Health Service. This study aimed to explore the implementation of the tool into routine practice from users' perspectives.Fifteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with purposely sampled National Health Service staff from primary and secondary care settings. Interview data were analysed using an initial thematic analysis, and subsequent analysis using Normalisation Process Theory.Secondary care staff understood that the Medication Safety Thermometer's purpose was to measure medication safety and improvement. However, other uses were reported, such as pinpointing poor practice. Confusion about its purpose existed in primary care, despite further training, suggesting unsuitability of the tool. Decreased engagement was displayed by staff less involved with medication use, who displayed less ownership. Nonetheless, these advocates often lacked support from management and frontline levels, leading to an overall lack of engagement. Many participants reported efforts to drive scale-up of the use of the tool, for example, by securing funding, despite uncertainty around how to use data. Successful improvement was often at ward-level and went unrecognised within the wider organisation. There was mixed feedback regarding the value of the tool, often due to a perceived lack of "capacity". However, participants demonstrated interest in learning how to use their data and unexpected applications of data were reported.Routine medication safety data collection is complex, but achievable and facilitates improvements. However, collected data must be analysed, understood and used for further work to achieve improvement, which often does not happen. The national roll-out of the tool has accelerated shared learning; however

Hydrodynamical simulations and semi-analytic models of galaxy formation: two sides of the same coin

Science.gov (United States)

Neistein, Eyal; Khochfar, Sadegh; Dalla Vecchia, Claudio; Schaye, Joop

2012-04-01

In this work we develop a new method to turn a state-of-the-art hydrodynamical cosmological simulation of galaxy formation (HYD) into a simple semi-analytic model (SAM). This is achieved by summarizing the efficiencies of accretion, cooling, star formation and feedback given by the HYD, as functions of the halo mass and redshift. The SAM then uses these functions to evolve galaxies within merger trees that are extracted from the same HYD. Surprisingly, by turning the HYD into a SAM, we conserve the mass of individual galaxies, with deviations at the level of 0.1 dex, on an object-by-object basis, with no significant systematics. This is true for all redshifts, and for the mass of stars and gas components, although the agreement reaches 0.2 dex for satellite galaxies at low redshift. We show that the same level of accuracy is obtained even in case the SAM uses only one phase of gas within each galaxy. Moreover, we demonstrate that the formation history of one massive galaxy provides sufficient information for the SAM to reproduce the population of galaxies within the entire cosmological box. The reasons for the small scatter between the HYD and SAM galaxies are as follows. (i) The efficiencies are matched as functions of the halo mass and redshift, meaning that the evolution within merger trees agrees on average. (ii) For a given galaxy, efficiencies fluctuate around the mean value on time-scales of 0.2-2 Gyr. (iii) The various mass components of galaxies are obtained by integrating the efficiencies over time, averaging out these fluctuations. We compare the efficiencies found here to standard SAM recipes and find that they often deviate significantly. For example, here the HYD shows smooth accretion that is less effective for low-mass haloes, and is always composed of hot or dilute gas; cooling is less effective at high redshift, and star formation changes only mildly with cosmic time. The method developed here can be applied in general to any HYD, and can thus

Structural evaluation of a compact, semi-closed W-shaped divertor system for JT-60U

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Onozuka, M.; Morimoto, M.; Inoue, M.; Umakoshi, T.; Shimizu, K. [Mitsubishi Heavy Ind., Ltd., Yokohama (Japan). Adv. Reactor and Nucl. Fuel Cycle Eng. Dept.; Sakurai, S.; Hosogane, N.; Masaki, K. [Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute, Naka-machi, Naka-gun, Ibaraki-pref. 311-0193 (Japan)

1999-03-01

A compact, semi-closed W-shaped divertor system has been designed, fabricated and installed in the JT-60U to replace the open divertor system. The new system consists of inclined divertors, a dome and baffles. To meet the structural requirements, a segmented structure with an electrically insulated flexible gas seal was applied. Using FEM codes, the system`s structural integrity was confirmed for the plasma disruptions by electromagnetic and structural analyses, which take into account the effect of halo currents. Substantial reduction of induced electromagnetic forces is attained in the divertor system due to the electrical insulation used for the gas seal structure. In addition, because of its segmented structure, the induced electromagnetic forces on each component unit are found to be limited. The maximum stress intensities and their ranges are obtained within allowable values. Thermal stress arising from the temperature difference between the divertor system and the vacuum vessel during the baking operation is also satisfactory. Furthermore, thermal and thermal stress analyses showed that the plasma facing components have sufficient structural integrity. (orig.) 18 refs.

Structural evaluation of a compact, semi-closed W-shaped divertor system for JT-60U

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Onozuka, M.; Morimoto, M.; Inoue, M.; Umakoshi, T.; Shimizu, K.

1999-01-01

A compact, semi-closed W-shaped divertor system has been designed, fabricated and installed in the JT-60U to replace the open divertor system. The new system consists of inclined divertors, a dome and baffles. To meet the structural requirements, a segmented structure with an electrically insulated flexible gas seal was applied. Using FEM codes, the system's structural integrity was confirmed for the plasma disruptions by electromagnetic and structural analyses, which take into account the effect of halo currents. Substantial reduction of induced electromagnetic forces is attained in the divertor system due to the electrical insulation used for the gas seal structure. In addition, because of its segmented structure, the induced electromagnetic forces on each component unit are found to be limited. The maximum stress intensities and their ranges are obtained within allowable values. Thermal stress arising from the temperature difference between the divertor system and the vacuum vessel during the baking operation is also satisfactory. Furthermore, thermal and thermal stress analyses showed that the plasma facing components have sufficient structural integrity. (orig.)

Construction and Tests of the Mechanical Structure for a Semi-Digital Hadronic Calorimeter Prototype within the CALICE Collaboration

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Berenguer, J.

2014-01-01

The assembly of a mechanical structure used for a semi-digital hadronic calorimeter prototype, conceived and developed by the SDHCAL group within the CALICE collaboration, is presented in this note. CALICE is an international R and D collaboration dedicated to the development of calorimeters for future linear collider experiments. The design, assembly and quality control of this mechanical structure were entirely carried out at CIEMAT. This document contains a description of the prototype and its detectors, focusing on the design and assembly of the mechanical structure, which acts as well as the calorimeter absorber.. (Author)

Polycaprolactone diacrylate crosslinked biodegradable semi-interpenetrating networks of polyacrylamide and gelatin for controlled drug delivery

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jaiswal, Maneesh; Koul, Veena; Dinda, Amit K; Gupta, Asheesh

2010-01-01

A biodegradable semi-interpenetrating hydrogel network (semi-IPN) of polyacrylamide and gelatin was prepared using polycaprolactone diacrylate (mol. wt ∼ 640) as a crosslinker. The drug-polymer interaction and IPN formation were investigated by attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA). Scanning electron micrographs of lyophilized matrices revealed porous internal structure with varying pore sizes under equilibrium hydrated conditions, depending upon formulation composition. pH-dependent swelling and degradation was enhanced with increasing gelatin content and decreasing crosslinker concentration (Cs). Compression modulus (CM) (at 20% strain) increased significantly from 23 ± 1.4 to 75 ± 2.7 kPa (p 0 C). Fitting of drug release data in the Korsmeyer-Peppas model suggested sustained release behavior up to 10 days with a combination of diffusion and erosion mechanism (0.5 t /M ∞ ≤ 0.6). The newly developed porous, biodegradable and elastic semi-IPNs may serve as an ideal matrix for controlled drug release and wound healing applications. The possibilities can be explored for pharmaceutical and tissue engineering applications.

Work Values, Cognitive Strategies, and Applicant Reactions in a Structured Pre-Employment Interview for Ethical Integrity.

Science.gov (United States)

Pawlowski, Donna R.; Hollwitz, John

2000-01-01

Notes that companies emphasize ethical behavior, and schools and professional groups devote many resources to applied ethics training. Describes initial construct validation of a structured ethical integrity pre-employment interview. Reviews evidence relating to cognitive and impression management strategies used when college students encounter an…

An interview study of how clinical teachers develop skills to attend to different level learners.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, H Carrie; Fogh, Shannon; Kobashi, Brent; Teherani, Arianne; Ten Cate, Olle; O'Sullivan, Patricia

2016-06-01

One clinical teaching challenge is the engagement of learners at different levels. Faculty development offerings mostly address general strategies applicable to all learners. This study examined how clinical faculty members develop the skills to work with different level learners. We conducted semi-structured interviews with medical school faculty members identified as excellent clinical teachers teaching multiple levels of learners. They discussed how they developed their approach to teaching different level learners and how their teaching evolved over time. We performed thematic analysis of the interview transcripts using open and axial coding. We interviewed 19 faculty members and identified three themes related to development of teaching practices: teacher agency and work-based learning of teaching strategies, developmental trajectory of clinical teachers, and interplay between clinical confidence and teaching skills. Faculty members were proactive in using on-the-job experiences to develop their teaching practices. Their teaching practices followed a developmental trajectory towards learner centeredness, and this evolution was associated with the development of clinical skills and confidence. Learning skills to teach multi-level learners requires workplace learning. Faculty development should include workplace learning opportunities and use a developmental approach that accounts for the trajectory of teaching as well as clinical skills attainment.

The structure and formation of natural categories

Science.gov (United States)

Fisher, Douglas; Langley, Pat

1990-01-01

Categorization and concept formation are critical activities of intelligence. These processes and the conceptual structures that support them raise important issues at the interface of cognitive psychology and artificial intelligence. The work presumes that advances in these and other areas are best facilitated by research methodologies that reward interdisciplinary interaction. In particular, a computational model is described of concept formation and categorization that exploits a rational analysis of basic level effects by Gluck and Corter. Their work provides a clean prescription of human category preferences that is adapted to the task of concept learning. Also, their analysis was extended to account for typicality and fan effects, and speculate on how the concept formation strategies might be extended to other facets of intelligence, such as problem solving.

Crystal structure of LT GaAs layers before and after annealing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Litiental-Weber, Z.

1992-01-01

In this paper the structural quality of GaAs layers grown at low temperatures by solid-source and gas-source MBE at different growth conditions is described. Dependence on the growth temperature and concentration of As [expressed at As/Ga beam equivalent pressure (BEP)] used for the growth is discussed. A higher growth temperature is required top obtain the same monocrystalling layer thickness with increased BEP. The annealing of these layers is associated with the formation of As precipitates. Semicoherent precipitates with lowest formation energies are formed in the monocrystalline parts of the layers grown with the lowest BEP. Precipitates with higher formation energies are formed when higher BEP is applied; they are also formed in the vicinity of structural defects. Formation of As precipitates releases strain in the layers. Arsenic precipitates are not formed in annealed ternary (InAlAs) layers despite their semi-insulating properties. The role of As precipitates in semi-insulating properties and the short lifetime of minority carriers in these layers is discussed

Experiences and attitudes about physical activity and exercise in patients with chronic pain: a qualitative interview study.

Science.gov (United States)

Karlsson, Linn; Gerdle, Björn; Takala, Esa-Pekka; Andersson, Gerhard; Larsson, Britt

2018-01-01

The purpose of this study was to describe how patients with chronic pain experience physical activity and exercise (PA&E). This qualitative interview study included 16 women and two men suffering from chronic pain and referred to a multimodal pain rehabilitation program. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and qualitative content analysis was used to analyze the interviews. One main theme emerged: "To overcome obstacles and to seize opportunities to be physically active despite chronic pain." This main theme was abstracted from five themes: "Valuing a life with physical activity," "Physical activity and exercise - before and after pain," "A struggle - difficulties and challenges," "The enabling of physical activity," and "In need of continuous and active support." Although these participants valued PA&E, they seldom achieved desirable levels, and performance of PA&E was undermined by difficulties and failure. The discrepancy between the intention to perform physical activity and the physical activity accomplished could be related to motivation, self-efficacy, and action control. The participants desired high-quality interaction with healthcare providers. The findings can be applied to chronic pain rehabilitation that uses PA&E as treatment.

Importance of intrinsic properties of dense caseinate dispersions for structure formation.

Science.gov (United States)

Manski, Julita M; van Riemsdijk, Lieke E; van der Goot, Atze J; Boom, Remko M

2007-11-01

Rheological measurements of dense calcium caseinate and sodium caseinate dispersions (> or =15%) provided insight into the factors determining shear-induced structure formation in caseinates. Calcium caseinate at a sufficiently high concentration (30%) was shown to form highly anisotropic structures during shearing and concurrent enzymatic cross-linking. In contrast, sodium caseinate formed isotropic structures using similar processing conditions. The main difference between the two types of caseinates is the counterion present, and as a consequence, the size of structural elements and their interactions. The rheological behavior of calcium caseinate and sodium caseinate reflected these differences, yielding non-monotonic and shear thinning flow behavior for calcium caseinate whereas sodium caseinate behaved only slightly shear thinning. It appears that the intrinsic properties of the dense caseinate dispersions, which are reflected in their rheological behavior, affect the structure formation that was found after applying shear. Therefore, rheological measurements are useful to obtain an indication of the structure formation potential of caseinate dispersions.

Pragmatic, consensus-based minimum standards and structured interview to guide the selection and development of cancer support group leaders: a protocol paper.

Science.gov (United States)

Pomery, Amanda; Schofield, Penelope; Xhilaga, Miranda; Gough, Karla

2017-06-30

Across the globe, peer support groups have emerged as a community-led approach to accessing support and connecting with others with cancer experiences. Little is known about qualities required to lead a peer support group or how to determine suitability for the role. Organisations providing assistance to cancer support groups and their leaders are currently operating independently, without a standard national framework or published guidelines. This protocol describes the methods that will be used to generate pragmatic consensus-based minimum standards and an accessible structured interview with user manual to guide the selection and development of cancer support group leaders. We will: (A) identify and collate peer-reviewed literature that describes qualities of support group leaders through a systematic review; (B) content analyse eligible documents for information relevant to requisite knowledge, skills and attributes of group leaders generally and specifically to cancer support groups; (C) use an online reactive Delphi method with an interdisciplinary panel of experts to produce a clear, suitable, relevant and appropriate structured interview comprising a set of agreed questions with behaviourally anchored rating scales; (D) produce a user manual to facilitate standard delivery of the structured interview; (E) pilot the structured interview to improve clinical utility; and (F) field test the structured interview to develop a rational scoring model and provide a summary of existing group leader qualities. The study is approved by the Department Human Ethics Advisory Group of The University of Melbourne. The study is based on voluntary participation and informed written consent, with participants able to withdraw at any time. The results will be disseminated at research conferences and peer review journals. Presentations and free access to the developed structured interview and user manual will be available to cancer agencies. © Article author(s) (or their

Delegation: a solution to the workload problem? Observations and interviews with community pharmacists in England.

Science.gov (United States)

Lea, Victoria M; Corlett, Sarah A; Rodgers, Ruth M

2016-05-01

This study aims to describe how pharmacists utilise and perceive delegation in the community setting. Non-participant observations and semi-structured interviews with a convenience sample of community pharmacists working in Kent between July and October 2011. Content analysis was undertaken to determine key themes and the point of theme saturation informed sample size. Findings from observations were also compared against those from interviews. Observations and interviews were undertaken with 11 pharmacists. Observations showed that delegation occurred in four different forms: assumed, active, partial and reverse. It was also employed to varying extents within the different pharmacies. Interviews revealed mixed views on delegation. Some pharmacists presented positive attitudes towards delegation while others were concerned about maintaining accountability for delegated tasks, particularly in terms of accuracy checking of dispensed medication. Other pharmacists noted the ability to delegate was not a skill they found inherently easy. Comparison of observation and interview data highlighted discrepancies between tasks pharmacists perceived they delegated and what they actually delegated. Effective delegation can potentially promote better management of workload to provide pharmacists with additional time to spend on cognitive pharmaceutical services. To do this, pharmacists' reluctance to delegate must be addressed. Lack of insight into own practice might be helped by self-reflection and feedback from staff. Also, a greater understanding of legal accountability in the context of delegation needs to be achieved. Finally, delegation is not just dependent on pharmacists, but also on support staff; ensuring staff are empowered and equipped to take on delegated roles is essential. © 2015 Royal Pharmaceutical Society.

Integrative gene network construction to analyze cancer recurrence using semi-supervised learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Park, Chihyun; Ahn, Jaegyoon; Kim, Hyunjin; Park, Sanghyun

2014-01-01

The prognosis of cancer recurrence is an important research area in bioinformatics and is challenging due to the small sample sizes compared to the vast number of genes. There have been several attempts to predict cancer recurrence. Most studies employed a supervised approach, which uses only a few labeled samples. Semi-supervised learning can be a great alternative to solve this problem. There have been few attempts based on manifold assumptions to reveal the detailed roles of identified cancer genes in recurrence. In order to predict cancer recurrence, we proposed a novel semi-supervised learning algorithm based on a graph regularization approach. We transformed the gene expression data into a graph structure for semi-supervised learning and integrated protein interaction data with the gene expression data to select functionally-related gene pairs. Then, we predicted the recurrence of cancer by applying a regularization approach to the constructed graph containing both labeled and unlabeled nodes. The average improvement rate of accuracy for three different cancer datasets was 24.9% compared to existing supervised and semi-supervised methods. We performed functional enrichment on the gene networks used for learning. We identified that those gene networks are significantly associated with cancer-recurrence-related biological functions. Our algorithm was developed with standard C++ and is available in Linux and MS Windows formats in the STL library. The executable program is freely available at: http://embio.yonsei.ac.kr/~Park/ssl.php.

Integrative gene network construction to analyze cancer recurrence using semi-supervised learning.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chihyun Park

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: The prognosis of cancer recurrence is an important research area in bioinformatics and is challenging due to the small sample sizes compared to the vast number of genes. There have been several attempts to predict cancer recurrence. Most studies employed a supervised approach, which uses only a few labeled samples. Semi-supervised learning can be a great alternative to solve this problem. There have been few attempts based on manifold assumptions to reveal the detailed roles of identified cancer genes in recurrence. RESULTS: In order to predict cancer recurrence, we proposed a novel semi-supervised learning algorithm based on a graph regularization approach. We transformed the gene expression data into a graph structure for semi-supervised learning and integrated protein interaction data with the gene expression data to select functionally-related gene pairs. Then, we predicted the recurrence of cancer by applying a regularization approach to the constructed graph containing both labeled and unlabeled nodes. CONCLUSIONS: The average improvement rate of accuracy for three different cancer datasets was 24.9% compared to existing supervised and semi-supervised methods. We performed functional enrichment on the gene networks used for learning. We identified that those gene networks are significantly associated with cancer-recurrence-related biological functions. Our algorithm was developed with standard C++ and is available in Linux and MS Windows formats in the STL library. The executable program is freely available at: http://embio.yonsei.ac.kr/~Park/ssl.php.

[Sport injuries in full contact and semi-contact karate].

Science.gov (United States)

Greier, K; Riechelmann, H; Ziemska, J

2014-03-01

Karate enjoys great popularity both in professional and recreational sports and can be classified into full, half and low contact styles. The aim of this study was the analysis of sports injuries in Kyokushinkai (full contact) and traditional Karate (semi-contact). In a retrospective study design, 215 active amateur karateka (114 full contact, 101 semi-contact) were interviewed by means of a standardised questionnaire regarding typical sport injuries during the last 36 months. Injuries were categorised into severity grade I (not requiring medical treatment), grade II (single medical treatment), grade III (several outpatient medical treatments) and grade IV (requiring hospitalisation). In total, 217 injuries were reported in detail. 125 injuries (58%) occurred in full contact and 92 (42%) in semi-contact karate. The time related injury rate of full contact karateka was 1.9/1000 h compared to 1.3/1000 h of semi-contact karateka (p injuries were musculoskeletal contusions (33% full contact, 20% semi-contact), followed by articular sprains with 19% and 16%. The lower extremity was affected twice as often in full contact (40%) as in semi-contact (20%) karate. Training injuries were reported by 80% of the full contact and 77% of the semi-contact karateka. Most injuries, both in training and competition, occurred in kumite. 75% of the reported injuries of full contact and 70% of semi-contact karateka were classified as low grade (I or II). The high rate of injuries during training and kumite (sparring) points to specific prevention goals. The emphasis should be put on proprioceptive training and consistent warm-up. In the actual competition the referees play a vital role regarding prevention. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Why patients may not exercise their choice when referred for hospital care. An exploratory study based on interviews with patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Victoor, Aafke; Delnoij, Diana; Friele, Roland; Rademakers, Jany

2016-06-01

Various north-western European health-care systems encourage patients to make an active choice of health-care provider. This study explores, qualitatively, patients' hospital selection processes and provides insight into the reasons why patients do or do not make active choices. Semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with 142 patients in two departments of three Dutch hospitals. Interviews were recorded, transcribed and analysed in accordance with the grounded theory approach. Three levels of choice activation were identified - passive, semi-active and active. The majority of the patients, however, visited the default hospital without having used quality information or considered alternatives. Various factors relating to patient, provider and health-care system characteristics were identified that influenced patients' level of choice activation. On the whole, the patients interviewed could be classified into five types with regard to how they chose, or 'ended up at' a hospital. These types varied from patients who did not have a choice to patients who made an active choice. A large variation exists in the way patients choose a hospital. However, most patients tend to visit the default without being concerned about choice. Generally, they do not see any reason to choose another hospital. In addition, barriers exist to making choices. The idea of a patient who actively makes a choice originates from neoclassical microeconomic theory. However, policy makers may try in vain to bring principles originating from this theory into health care. Even so, patients do value the opportunity of attending 'their' own hospital. © 2014 The Authors Health Expectations Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Synthesis and Characterization of pH and Thermo Dual-Responsive Hydrogels with a Semi-IPN Structure Based on N-Isopropylacrylamide and Itaconamic Acid.

Science.gov (United States)

Rwei, Syang-Peng; Tuan, Huynh Nguyen Anh; Chiang, Whe-Yi; Way, Tun-Fun

2018-04-28

A series of semi-interpenetrating polymer network (semi-IPN) hydrogels were synthesized and investigated in this study. Linear copolymer poly( N -isopropylacrylamide-co-itaconamic acid) p(NIPAM-co-IAM), which is formed by copolymerization of N -isopropylacrylamide (NIPAM) and itaconamic acid (IAM, 4-amino-2-ethylene-4-oxobutanoic acid), was introduced into a solution of NIPAM to form a series of pH and thermo dual-responsive p(NIPAM-co-IAM)/pNIPAM semi-IPN hydrogels by free radical polymerization. The structural, morphological, chemical, and physical properties of the linear copolymer and semi-IPN hydrogels were investigated. The semi-IPN hydrogel showed high thermal stability according to thermal gravimetric analyzer (TGA). Scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) images showed that the pore size was in the range of 119~297 µm and could be controlled by the addition ratio of the linear copolymer in the semi-IPN structure. The addition of linear copolymer increased the fracture strain from 57.5 ± 2.9% to 91.1 ± 4.9% depending on the added amount, while the compressive modulus decreased as the addition increased. Moreover, the pH and thermo dual-responsive properties were investigated using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and monitoring the swelling behavior of the hydrogels. In deionized (DI) water, the equilibrium swelling ratio of the hydrogels decreased as the temperature increased from 20 °C to 50 °C, while it varied in various pH buffer solutions. In addition, the swelling and deswelling rates of the hydrogels also significantly increased. The results indicate that the novel pH-thermo dual-responsive semi-IPN hydrogels were synthesized successfully and may be a potential material for biomedical, drug delivery, or absorption application.

petrography and mineral chemistry of the pelitic and semi-pelitic ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Mgina

SEMI-PELITIC GNEISSES OF THE MERELANI TANZANITE MINING. AREA ... and thin sections were prepared with ... Six samples were chosen for chemical ... were also determined by X-ray fluorescence ..... metamorphosed iron formation.

THE INFLUENCE OF GLUTEN - FREE FLOURS ON THE QUALITY INDICATORS OF BISCUIT SEMI - FINISHED PRODUCTS

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К. G. IORGACHOVA

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The article is devoted to the research of applicability of gluten-free flours from cereal crops and from by-products of cereal crop processing - ground crumbs sifted out in a process of flake production from rice, corn and millet during the production of biscuit semi-finished products. Taking into account that viscosity is an important technological characteristic of foam-like biscuit dough, as it determines foam strength and dispersed medium stability, the influence of gluten-free flours on the structural and rheological properties of biscuit dough was studied. It is determined that the substitution of wheat flour for cereal flours leads to viscosity reduction of the dough as a consequence of absence of gluten-forming proteins in them. A comparative analysis of changes in viscous properties of biscuit dough based on flour from flakes crumb while warming it up to 60°C with dough based on cereal flours and dough based on wheat flour was held. It is shown that the presence of partially gelatinized starch granules in flour from flake crumb, as a result of technological peculiarities of their extraction, promotes greater demonstration of thickening properties already at the initial stage of baking than in cereal flours. This leads to an increase of dough viscosity and formation of desired rheological characteristics, which provide the porous structure of finished products. To provide the high quality of gluten-free biscuit semi-finished products, the recipe composition of gluten-free biscuit semi-finished product, based on flour mixture from millet flakes crumb, corn and rice flour, was optimized by using the method of mathematical design of experiments.  The porosity indicator was chosen as the criteria for the evaluation of influence of proportion of gluten-free flours on the quality of biscuit semi-finished products. The response surfaces of dependency of biscuit porosity from mass ratio of recipe components in the composite mixture were

Managing employees’ talk about problems in work in performance appraisal interviews

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Scheuer, Jann

2014-01-01

Performance appraisal interviews are carried out on the basis of known-in-advance written materials such as preparation forms and interview guides. This article demonstrates how participants manage interviews by following a question–answer–response format fit to address interview guide entries one...... norms emanating from literature on management communication. Results obtained in interviews are put down in writing along the way and subsequently summarized in documents to be signed by both participants, that is, employee and supervisor. The article demonstrates how participants use positive...

Mechanism of structural type formation of rare earth polychalcogenides

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kuz'micheva, G.M.; Eliseev, A.A.; Khalina, S.Yu.

1981-01-01

It proved to be possible to obtain the structural motives not only of all the known polychalcogenides of rare earth elements but to forecast compounds not yet existing on the basis of two initial structural motives. All the structural motives can be divided into superstructures and polytypes as to the mechanism of their formation [ru

Electronic structure and formation energy of a vacancy in aluminum

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chakraborty, B.; Siegel, R.W.

1981-11-01

The electronic structure of a vacancy in Al was calculated self-consistently using norm-conserving ionic pseudopotentials obtained from ab initio atomic calculations. A 27-atom-site supercell containing 1 vacancy and 26 atoms was used to simulate the environment of the vacancy. A vacancy formation energy of 1.5 eV was also calculated (cf. the experimental value of 0.66 eV). The effects of the supercell and the nature of the ionic potential on the resulting electronic structure and formation energy are discussed. Results for the electronic structure of a divacancy are also presented. 3 figures

“En tu casa o en la mía’: the interview as infotainment

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Marián Alonso González

2016-11-01

Full Text Available The fight for viewers has led to a spectacular range of television content on offer where boundaries of genres have disappeared giving rise to new formats of hybrid television programmes. This has given a new lease of life to interviews as a genre of infotainment. The present article analyses the programme ‘En tu casa o en la mía’, a new type of interview of famous personalities which combines information and entertainment with elements that are very similar to the info-show. We shall embark on a study of this media product, its narrative, treatment, structure and the technique used so as to describe the elements that make it an example of gender hybridization in today’s television programmes.

Formation of cellular structure in beryllium at plastic working

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Papirov, I.I.; Nikolaenko, A.A.; Shokurov, V.S.; Pikalov, A.I.

2013-01-01

Conditions of cellular structure formation are investigated at various kinds of deformation and heat treatment of beryllium ingots. It is shown that the cellular structure plays the important role in formation of complex of physical mechanical properties of beryllium. Influence of impurity, various conditions of deformation (temperature, squeezing degree) and heat treatments on substructure, texture and mechanical properties of metal is investigated. Optimum conditions of rolling and heat treatments of beryllium are defined. The way of sign-variable cyclic deformation of beryllium ingots is offered for reception quasi-isotropic fine-grained metal. Physical-mechanical properties of ultra fine-grained metal are studied

Usability of geographic information -- factors identified from qualitative analysis of task-focused user interviews.

Science.gov (United States)

Harding, Jenny

2013-11-01

Understanding user needs for geographic information and the factors which influence the usability of such information in diverse user contexts is an essential part of user centred development of information products. There is relatively little existing research focused on the design and usability of information products in general. This paper presents a research approach based on semi structured interviews with people working with geographic information on a day to day basis, to establish a reference base of qualitative data on user needs for geographic information with respect to context of use. From this reference data nine key categories of geographic information usability are identified and discussed in the context of limited existing research concerned with geographic information usability. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.

Dark-ages Reionization and Galaxy Formation Simulation - XIV. Gas accretion, cooling, and star formation in dwarf galaxies at high redshift

Science.gov (United States)

Qin, Yuxiang; Duffy, Alan R.; Mutch, Simon J.; Poole, Gregory B.; Geil, Paul M.; Mesinger, Andrei; Wyithe, J. Stuart B.

2018-06-01

We study dwarf galaxy formation at high redshift (z ≥ 5) using a suite of high-resolution, cosmological hydrodynamic simulations and a semi-analytic model (SAM). We focus on gas accretion, cooling, and star formation in this work by isolating the relevant process from reionization and supernova feedback, which will be further discussed in a companion paper. We apply the SAM to halo merger trees constructed from a collisionless N-body simulation sharing identical initial conditions to the hydrodynamic suite, and calibrate the free parameters against the stellar mass function predicted by the hydrodynamic simulations at z = 5. By making comparisons of the star formation history and gas components calculated by the two modelling techniques, we find that semi-analytic prescriptions that are commonly adopted in the literature of low-redshift galaxy formation do not accurately represent dwarf galaxy properties in the hydrodynamic simulation at earlier times. We propose three modifications to SAMs that will provide more accurate high-redshift simulations. These include (1) the halo mass and baryon fraction which are overestimated by collisionless N-body simulations; (2) the star formation efficiency which follows a different cosmic evolutionary path from the hydrodynamic simulation; and (3) the cooling rate which is not well defined for dwarf galaxies at high redshift. Accurate semi-analytic modelling of dwarf galaxy formation informed by detailed hydrodynamical modelling will facilitate reliable semi-analytic predictions over the large volumes needed for the study of reionization.

Dark-ages Reionization and Galaxy Formation Simulation - XIV. Gas accretion, cooling and star formation in dwarf galaxies at high redshift

Science.gov (United States)

Qin, Yuxiang; Duffy, Alan R.; Mutch, Simon J.; Poole, Gregory B.; Geil, Paul M.; Mesinger, Andrei; Wyithe, J. Stuart B.

2018-03-01

We study dwarf galaxy formation at high redshift (z ≥ 5) using a suite of high-resolution, cosmological hydrodynamic simulations and a semi-analytic model (SAM). We focus on gas accretion, cooling and star formation in this work by isolating the relevant process from reionization and supernova feedback, which will be further discussed in a companion paper. We apply the SAM to halo merger trees constructed from a collisionless N-body simulation sharing identical initial conditions to the hydrodynamic suite, and calibrate the free parameters against the stellar mass function predicted by the hydrodynamic simulations at z = 5. By making comparisons of the star formation history and gas components calculated by the two modelling techniques, we find that semi-analytic prescriptions that are commonly adopted in the literature of low-redshift galaxy formation do not accurately represent dwarf galaxy properties in the hydrodynamic simulation at earlier times. We propose 3 modifications to SAMs that will provide more accurate high-redshift simulations. These include 1) the halo mass and baryon fraction which are overestimated by collisionless N-body simulations; 2) the star formation efficiency which follows a different cosmic evolutionary path from the hydrodynamic simulation; and 3) the cooling rate which is not well defined for dwarf galaxies at high redshift. Accurate semi-analytic modelling of dwarf galaxy formation informed by detailed hydrodynamical modelling will facilitate reliable semi-analytic predictions over the large volumes needed for the study of reionization.

The experiences of frequent users of crisis helplines: A qualitative interview study.

Science.gov (United States)

Middleton, Aves; Gunn, Jane; Bassilios, Bridget; Pirkis, Jane

2016-11-01

To understand why some users call crisis helplines frequently. Nineteen semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with callers to Lifeline Australia who reported calling 20 times or more in the past month and provided informed consent. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Inductive thematic analysis was used to generate common themes. Approval was granted by The University of Melbourne Human Research Ethics Committee. Three overarching themes emerged from the data and included reasons for calling, service response and calling behaviours. Respondents called seeking someone to talk to, help with their mental health issues and assistance with negative life events. When they called, they found short-term benefits in the unrestricted support offered by the helpline. Over time they called about similar issues and described reactive, support-seeking and dependent calling behaviours. Frequent users of crisis helplines call about ongoing issues. They have developed distinctive calling behaviours which appear to occur through an interaction between their reasons for calling and the response they receive from the helpline. The ongoing nature of the issues prompting frequent users to call suggests that a service model that includes a continuity of care component may be more efficient in meeting their needs. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Evaluating the Gold Standard: A Review and Meta-Analysis of the Structured Interview of Reported Symptoms

Science.gov (United States)

Green, Debbie; Rosenfeld, Barry

2011-01-01

The Structured Interview of Reported Symptoms (SIRS; Rogers, Bagby, & Dickens, 1992) is often touted as the gold standard of measures of feigning. This label likely arises in part out of the impressive accuracy rates reported in the extensive validation research that preceded its publication. However, since its publication, researchers not only…

Impact of AlN seeding layer growth rate in MOVPE growth of semi-polar gallium nitride structures on high index silicon

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ravash, Roghaiyeh; Blaesing, Juergen; Hempel, Thomas; Noltemeyer, Martin; Dadgar, Armin; Christen, Juergen; Krost, Alois [Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, FNW/IEP/AHE, Postfach 4120, 39016 Magdeburg (Germany)

2011-03-15

We present metal organic vapor phase epitaxy growth of semi-polar GaN structures on high index silicon surfaces. The crystallographic structure of GaN grown on Si(112), (115), and (117) substrates is investigated by X-ray analysis and scanning electron microscopy. X-ray diffraction was performed in Bragg Brentano geometry as well as pole figure measurements. The results demonstrate that the orientation of GaN crystallites on Si is significantly dependent on thickness of the AlN seeding layer and TMAl-flow rate. We observe that the crystallographic structures of GaN by applying thin AlN seeding layers grown with high TMAl-flow rate depend on Si surface direction while they are independent for thicker layers. By applying such seeding layer we obtain single crystalline semi-polar GaN on Si(112), while GaN structures grown with the same growth parameters on Si(117) show four components of GaN(0002). (Copyright copyright 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Existence problem of proton semi-bubble structure in the 2{sub 1}{sup +} state of {sup 34}Si

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wu, Feng [China Institute of Atomic Energy, Beijing (China); Sichuan University, Key Laboratory of Radiation Physics and Technology of Ministry of Education, School of Physics Science and Technology, Chengdu (China); Bai, C.L. [Sichuan University, Key Laboratory of Radiation Physics and Technology of Ministry of Education, School of Physics Science and Technology, Chengdu (China); Yao, J.M. [University of North Carolina, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Chapel Hill, NC (United States); Southwest University, School of Physical Science and Technology, Chongqing (China); Zhang, H.Q.; Zhang, X.Z. [China Institute of Atomic Energy, Beijing (China)

2017-09-15

The fully self-consistent Hartree-Fock (HF) plus random phase approximation (RPA) based on Skyrme-type interaction is used to study the existence problem of proton semi-bubble structure in the 2{sub 1}{sup +} state of {sup 34}Si. The experimental excitation energy and the transition strength of the 2{sub 1}{sup +} state in {sup 34}Si can be reproduced quite well. The tensor effect is also studied. It is shown that the tensor interaction has a notable impact on the excitation energy of the 2{sub 1}{sup +} state and a small effect on the B(E2) value. Besides, its effect on the density distributions in the ground and 2{sub 1}{sup +} state of {sup 34}Si is negligible. Our present results with T36 and T44 show that the 2{sub 1}{sup +} state of {sup 34}Si is mainly caused by proton transition from π1d{sub 5/2} orbit to π2s{sub 1/2} orbit, and the existence of a proton semi-bubble structure in this state is very unlikely. (orig.)

Exploring Formative Assessment Using Cultural Historical Activity Theory

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Mandy Asghar

2013-02-01

Full Text Available Formative assessment is a pedagogic practice that has been the subject of much research and debate, as to how it can be used most effectively to deliver enhanced student learning in the higher education setting. Often described as a complex concept it embraces activities that range from facilitating students understanding of assessment standards, to providing formative feedback on their work; from very informal opportunities of engaging in conversations, to the very formal process of submitting drafts of work. This study aims to show how cultural historical activity theory can be used as a qualitative analysis framework to explore the complexities of formative assessment as it is used in higher education. The original data for the research was collected in 2008 by semi structured interviews and analysed using a hermeneutic phenomenological approach. For this present paper three selected transcripts were re-examined, using a case study approach that sought to understand and compare the perceptions of five academic staff, from three distinct subject areas taught within a UK university. It is proposed that using activity theory can provide insight into the complexity of such experiences, about what teachers do and why, and the influence of the community in which they are situated. Individually the cases from each subject area were analysed using activity theory exploring how the mediating artefacts of formative assessment were used; the often implicit rules that governed their use and the roles of teachers and students within the local subject community. The analysis also considered the influence each aspect of the unit of activity had on the other in understanding formative assessment practice. Subsequently the three subject cases were compared and contrasted. The findings illuminate a variety of practices, including how students and staff engage together in formative assessment activities and for some, how dialogue is used as one of the key tools

Secondary organic aerosol formation from semi- and intermediate-volatility organic compounds and glyoxal: Relevance of O/C as a tracer for aqueous multiphase chemistry

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Waxman, Eleanor M.; Dzepina, Katja; Ervens, Barbara; Lee-Taylor, Julia; Aumont, Bernard; Jimenez, Jose L.; Madronich, Sasha; Volkamer, Rainer

2013-03-01

The role of aqueous multiphase chemistry in the formation of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) remains difficult to quantify. We investigate it here by testing the rapid formation of moderate oxygen-to-carbon (O/C) SOA during a case study in Mexico City. A novel laboratory-based glyoxal-SOA mechanism is applied to the field data, and explains why less gas-phase glyoxal mass is observed than predicted. Furthermore, we compare an explicit gas-phase chemical mechanism for SOA formation from semi- and intermediate-volatility organic compounds (S/IVOCs) with empirical parameterizations of S/IVOC aging. The mechanism representing our current understanding of chemical kinetics of S/IVOC oxidation combined with traditional SOA sources and mixing of background SOA underestimates the observed O/C by a factor of two at noon. Inclusion of glyoxal-SOA with O/C of 1.5 brings O/C predictions within measurement uncertainty, suggesting that field observations can be reconciled on reasonable time scales using laboratory-based empirical relationships for aqueous chemistry.

STRUCTURE FORMATION PRINCIPLES OF INTERFERENCE BEAM SPLITTERS

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L. A. Gubanova

2012-01-01

Full Text Available The methodology of interference beam splitters construction, formed by symmetric cells of dielectric layers is considered. The methodology of short-wave and long-wave interference beam splitters formation is given. The impact analysis of symmetric cells number and their structure on output parameters is considered.

Structural formation of aluminide phases on titanium alloy during annealing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mamaeva, A.A.; Romankov, S.E.; Sagdoldina, Zh.

2006-01-01

Full text: The aluminum layer on the surface of titanium alloy has been formed by thermal deposition. The structural formation of aluminide phases on the surface has been studied. The sequence of structural transformations at the Ti/Al interface is limited by the reaction temperature and time. The sequence of aluminide phase formation is occurred in compliance with Ti-Al equilibrium phase diagram. At the initial stages at the Ti/Al interface the Al3Ti alloy starts forming as a result of interdiffusion, and gradually the whole aluminum films is spent on the formation of this layer. The Al3Ti layer decomposes with the increase of temperature (>600C). At 800C the two-phase (Ti3Al+TiAl) layer is formed on the titanium surface. The TiAl compound is unstable and later on with the increase of the exposure time at 800C gradually transforms into the Ti3Al. The chain of these successive transformations leads to the formation of the continuous homogeneous layer consisting of the Ti3Al compound on the surface. At temperatures exceeding the allotropic transformation temperature (>900C) the Ti3Al compound starts decomposing. All structural changes taking place at the Ti/Al interface are accompanied by considerable changes in micro hardness. The structure of initial substrate influences on kinetics of phase transformation and microstructure development. (author)

Roles and responsibilities of pharmacists with respect to natural health products: key informant interviews.

Science.gov (United States)

Olatunde, Shade; Boon, Heather; Hirschkorn, Kristine; Welsh, Sandy; Bajcar, Jana

2010-03-01

Although many pharmacies sell natural health products (NHPs), there is no clear definition as to the roles and responsibilities (if any) of pharmacists with respect to these products. The purpose of this study was to explore pharmacy and stakeholder leaders' perceptions of pharmacists' professional NHP roles and responsibilities. Semi-structured key informant interviews were conducted with pharmacy leaders (n=17) and stakeholder (n=18) leaders representing consumers, complementary and alternative medicine practitioners, conventional health care practitioners, and industry across Canada. All participants believed a main NHP responsibility for pharmacists was in safety monitoring, although a one challenge identified in the interviews was pharmacists' general lack of NHP knowledge; however, stakeholder leaders did not expect pharmacists to be experts, but should have a basic level of knowledge about NHPs. Participants described pharmacists' professional roles and responsibilities for NHPs as similar to those for over-the-counter drugs; more awareness of existing NHP-related pharmacy policies is needed, and pharmacy owners/managers should provide additional training to ensure front-line pharmacists have appropriate knowledge of NHPs sold in the pharmacy. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Formation of Marijuana Risk Perception in a Population of Substance Abusing Patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Wilkinson, Samuel T; van Schalkwyk, Gerrit I; Davidson, Larry; D'Souza, Deepak C

2016-03-01

Risk perception has been shown to be protective with regard to marijuana use. Notably, the risk perception of marijuana in individuals with substance abuse problems varies significantly from that of the general public. Understanding how risk perception is formed in substance users could explain these differences and help predict the consequences of policy changes. Using this framework, we explored risk perception and its formation in a sample of substance abusing veterans. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with veterans who were receiving treatment for substance abuse. Interviews were recorded digitally, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using inductive thematic analysis. A prominent perspective among the 31 participants was that marijuana is significantly different from other drugs because it is safe, not addictive, not associated with physical withdrawal, and has less overt behavioral effects than other substances. Many of these participants drew upon their own innocuous experiences with the drug in developing this perspective, more so than information from any other source. A contrasting narrative emphasized marijuana's capacity to cause negative social consequences, act as a gateway to the use of other, more harmful substances, and cause paranoia or worsen psychosis. In conclusion, individual experience with marijuana featured more prominently in informing risk perception than any other source of information. Our results and previous literature suggest that the significant disconnect between the individual experiences of substance users and the current clinical and legal policy towards marijuana may weaken the legitimacy of public policy or the authority of the medical community.

Incremental Ontology-Based Extraction and Alignment in Semi-structured Documents

Science.gov (United States)

Thiam, Mouhamadou; Bennacer, Nacéra; Pernelle, Nathalie; Lô, Moussa

SHIRIis an ontology-based system for integration of semi-structured documents related to a specific domain. The system’s purpose is to allow users to access to relevant parts of documents as answers to their queries. SHIRI uses RDF/OWL for representation of resources and SPARQL for their querying. It relies on an automatic, unsupervised and ontology-driven approach for extraction, alignment and semantic annotation of tagged elements of documents. In this paper, we focus on the Extract-Align algorithm which exploits a set of named entity and term patterns to extract term candidates to be aligned with the ontology. It proceeds in an incremental manner in order to populate the ontology with terms describing instances of the domain and to reduce the access to extern resources such as Web. We experiment it on a HTML corpus related to call for papers in computer science and the results that we obtain are very promising. These results show how the incremental behaviour of Extract-Align algorithm enriches the ontology and the number of terms (or named entities) aligned directly with the ontology increases.

The helpfulness of category labels in semi-supervised learning depends on category structure.

Science.gov (United States)

Vong, Wai Keen; Navarro, Daniel J; Perfors, Amy

2016-02-01

The study of semi-supervised category learning has generally focused on how additional unlabeled information with given labeled information might benefit category learning. The literature is also somewhat contradictory, sometimes appearing to show a benefit to unlabeled information and sometimes not. In this paper, we frame the problem differently, focusing on when labels might be helpful to a learner who has access to lots of unlabeled information. Using an unconstrained free-sorting categorization experiment, we show that labels are useful to participants only when the category structure is ambiguous and that people's responses are driven by the specific set of labels they see. We present an extension of Anderson's Rational Model of Categorization that captures this effect.

Vesicles and vesicle gels - structure and dynamics of formation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gradzielski, M

2003-01-01

Vesicles constitute an interesting morphology formed by self-aggregating amphiphilic molecules. They exhibit a rich structural variety and are of interest both from a fundamental point of view (for studying closed bilayer systems) and from a practical point of view (whenever one is interested in the encapsulation of active molecules). In many circumstances vesicular structures have to be formed by external forces, but of great interest are amphiphilic systems, where they form spontaneously. Here the question arises of whether this means that they are also thermodynamically stable structures, which at least in some systems appears to be the case. If such vesicles are well defined in size, it is possible to pack them densely and thereby form vesicle gels that possess highly elastic properties even for relatively low volume fractions of amphiphile. Conditions for the formation and the microstructure of such vesicle gels have been studied in some detail for the case of unilamellar vesicles. Another important and topical issue is the dynamics of vesicle formation/breakdown, as the understanding of the transition process will open the way to a deeper understanding of their stability and also allow controlling of the structures formed, by means of their formation processes. Significant progress in the study of the transformation processes has been achieved, in particular by means of time-resolved scattering experiments. (topical review)

Semi-empirical long-term cycle life model coupled with an electrolyte depletion function for large-format graphite/LiFePO4 lithium-ion batteries

Science.gov (United States)

Park, Joonam; Appiah, Williams Agyei; Byun, Seoungwoo; Jin, Dahee; Ryou, Myung-Hyun; Lee, Yong Min

2017-10-01

To overcome the limitation of simple empirical cycle life models based on only equivalent circuits, we attempt to couple a conventional empirical capacity loss model with Newman's porous composite electrode model, which contains both electrochemical reaction kinetics and material/charge balances. In addition, an electrolyte depletion function is newly introduced to simulate a sudden capacity drop at the end of cycling, which is frequently observed in real lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). When simulated electrochemical properties are compared with experimental data obtained with 20 Ah-level graphite/LiFePO4 LIB cells, our semi-empirical model is sufficiently accurate to predict a voltage profile having a low standard deviation of 0.0035 V, even at 5C. Additionally, our model can provide broad cycle life color maps under different c-rate and depth-of-discharge operating conditions. Thus, this semi-empirical model with an electrolyte depletion function will be a promising platform to predict long-term cycle lives of large-format LIB cells under various operating conditions.

Semi-structured data extraction and modelling: the WIA Project

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Alessandro Mosca

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Over the last decades, the amount of data of all kinds available electronically has increased dramatically. Data are accessible through a range of interfaces including Web browsers, database query languages, application-specific interfaces, built on top of a number of different data exchange formats. All these data span from un-structured to highly structured data. Very often, some of them have structure even if the structure is implicit, and not as rigid or regular as that found in standard database systems. Spreadsheet documents are prototypical in this respect. Spreadsheets are the lightweight technology able to supply companies with easy to build business management and business intelligence applications, and business people largely adopt spreadsheets as smart vehicles for data files generation and sharing. Actually, the more spreadsheets grow in complexity (e.g., their use in product development plans and quoting, the more their arrangement, maintenance, and analysis appear as a knowledge-driven activity. The algorithmic approach to the problem of automatic data structure extraction from spreadsheet documents (i.e., grid-structured and free topological-related data emerges from the WIA project: Worksheets Intelligent Analyser. The WIA-algorithm shows how to provide a description of spreadsheet contents in terms of higher level of abstractions or conceptualisations. In particular, the WIA-algorithm target is about the extraction of i the calculus work-flow implemented in the spreadsheets formulas and ii the logical role played by the data which take part into the calculus. The aim of the resulting conceptualisations is to provide spreadsheets with abstract representations useful for further model refinements and optimizations through evolutionary algorithms computations.

Structural modification of silicon during the formation process of porous silicon

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martin-Palma, R.J.; Pascual, L.; Landa-Canovas, A.R.; Herrero, P.; Martinez-Duart, J.M.

2005-01-01

Direct examination of porous silicon (PS) by the use of high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) allowed us to perform a deep insight into the formation mechanisms of this material. In particular, the structure of the PS/Si interface and that of the silicon nanocrystals that compose porous silicon were analyzed in detail. Furthermore, image processing was used to study in detail the structure of PS. The mechanism of PS formation and lattice matching between the PS layer and the Si substrate is analyzed and discussed. Finally, a formation mechanism for PS based on the experimental observations is proposed

Exploration of Habitability Factors Influencing Short Duration Spaceflight: Structured Postflight Interviews of Shuttle Crewmembers

Science.gov (United States)

Locke, James; Leveton, Lauren; Keeton, Kathryn; Whitmire, Alexandra

2009-01-01

Astronauts report significant difficulties with sleep during Space missions. Psychological, physiological, and habitability factors are all thought to play a role in spaceflight insomnia. Crewmembers gain experience with the spaceflight sleep environment as their missions progress, but this knowledge is not formally collected and communicated to subsequent crews. This lack of information transfer prevents crews from optimizing their capability to sleep during mission, which leads to fatigue and its potentially deleterious effects. The goal of this project is astronauts with recent spaceflight experience to gather their knowledge of and insights into sleep in Space. Structured interviews consisting of standardized closed and open-ended questionnaires are administered to astronauts who have flown on the Space Shuttle since the Columbia disaster. It is hoped that review and analysis of the pooled responses to the interview questions will lead to greater understanding of the sleep environment during short duration spaceflight, with attention placed on problem aspects and their potential solutions.

Validity and reliability of the Structured Clinical Interview for Depersonalization–Derealization Spectrum (SCI-DER

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Marco Mula

2008-08-01

Full Text Available Marco Mula, Stefano Pini, Simona Calugi, Matteo Preve, Matteo Masini, Ilaria Giovannini, Ciro Conversano, Paola Rucci, Giovanni B CassanoDepartment of Psychiatry, Neurobiology, Pharmacology and Biotechnologies, University of Pisa, ItalyAbstract: This study evaluates the validity and reliability of a new instrument developed to assess symptoms of depersonalization: the Structured Clinical Interview for the Depersonalization-Derealization Spectrum (SCI-DER. The instrument is based on a spectrum model that emphasizes soft-signs, sub-threshold syndromes as well as clinical and subsyndromal manifestations. Items of the interview include, in addition to DSM-IV criteria for depersonalization, a number of features derived from clinical experience and from a review of phenomenological descriptions. Study participants included 258 consecutive patients with mood and anxiety disorders, 16.7% bipolar I disorder, 18.6% bipolar II disorder, 32.9% major depression, 22.1% panic disorder, 4.7% obsessive compulsive disorder, and 1.5% generalized anxiety disorder; 2.7% patients were also diagnosed with depersonalization disorder. A comparison group of 42 unselected controls was enrolled at the same site. The SCI-DER showed excellent reliability and good concurrent validity with the Dissociative Experiences Scale. It significantly discriminated subjects with any diagnosis of mood and anxiety disorders from controls and subjects with depersonalization disorder from controls. The hypothesized structure of the instrument was confirmed empirically.Keywords: depersonalization, derealization, mood disorders, anxiety disorders

Impact of model structure on flow simulation and hydrological realism: from a lumped to a semi-distributed approach

Science.gov (United States)

Garavaglia, Federico; Le Lay, Matthieu; Gottardi, Fréderic; Garçon, Rémy; Gailhard, Joël; Paquet, Emmanuel; Mathevet, Thibault

2017-08-01

Model intercomparison experiments are widely used to investigate and improve hydrological model performance. However, a study based only on runoff simulation is not sufficient to discriminate between different model structures. Hence, there is a need to improve hydrological models for specific streamflow signatures (e.g., low and high flow) and multi-variable predictions (e.g., soil moisture, snow and groundwater). This study assesses the impact of model structure on flow simulation and hydrological realism using three versions of a hydrological model called MORDOR: the historical lumped structure and a revisited formulation available in both lumped and semi-distributed structures. In particular, the main goal of this paper is to investigate the relative impact of model equations and spatial discretization on flow simulation, snowpack representation and evapotranspiration estimation. Comparison of the models is based on an extensive dataset composed of 50 catchments located in French mountainous regions. The evaluation framework is founded on a multi-criterion split-sample strategy. All models were calibrated using an automatic optimization method based on an efficient genetic algorithm. The evaluation framework is enriched by the assessment of snow and evapotranspiration modeling against in situ and satellite data. The results showed that the new model formulations perform significantly better than the initial one in terms of the various streamflow signatures, snow and evapotranspiration predictions. The semi-distributed approach provides better calibration-validation performance for the snow cover area, snow water equivalent and runoff simulation, especially for nival catchments.

Formation of Oligovesicular Vesicles by Micromanipulation

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Yukihisa Okumura

2011-09-01

Full Text Available Cell-sized lipid bilayer membrane vesicles (giant vesicles, GVs or semi-vesicles were formed from egg yolk phosphatidylcholine on a platinum electrode under applied electric voltage by electroformation. Micromanipulation of the semi-vesicle by first pressing its membrane with a glass microneedle and then withdrawing the needle left a GV in the interior of the vesicle. During the process, an aqueous solution of Ficoll that filled the needle was introduced into the newly formed inner vesicle and remained encapsulated. Approximately 50% of attempted micromanipulation resulted in the formation of an inner daughter vesicle, “microvesiculation”. By repeating the microvesiculation process, multiple inner GVs could be formed in a single parent semi-vesicle. A semi-vesicle with inner GVs could be detached from the electrode by scraping with a microneedle, yielding an oligovesicular vesicle (OVV with desired inner aqueous contents. Microvesiculation of a GV held on the tip of a glass micropipette was also possible, and this also produced an OVV. Breaking the membrane of the parent semi-vesicle by micromanipulation with a glass needle after microvesiculation, released the inner GVs. This protocol may be used for controlled formation of GVs with desired contents.

Spontaneous Self-Formation of 3D Plasmonic Optical Structures.

Science.gov (United States)

Choi, Inhee; Shin, Yonghee; Song, Jihwan; Hong, SoonGweon; Park, Younggeun; Kim, Dongchoul; Kang, Taewook; Lee, Luke P

2016-08-23

Self-formation of colloidal oil droplets in water or water droplets in oil not only has been regarded as fascinating fundamental science but also has been utilized in an enormous number of applications in everyday life. However, the creation of three-dimensional (3D) architectures by a liquid droplet and an immiscible liquid interface has been less investigated than other applications. Here, we report interfacial energy-driven spontaneous self-formation of a 3D plasmonic optical structure at room temperature without an external force. Based on the densities and interfacial energies of two liquids, we simulated the spontaneous formation of a plasmonic optical structure when a water droplet containing metal ions meets an immiscible liquid polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) interface. At the interface, the metal ions in the droplet are automatically reduced to form an interfacial plasmonic layer as the liquid PDMS cures. The self-formation of both an optical cavity and integrated plasmonic nanostructure significantly enhances the fluorescence by a magnitude of 1000. Our findings will have a huge impact on the development of various photonic and plasmonic materials as well as metamaterials and devices.

Salt-modulated structure formation in a dense calcium caseinate system

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Grabowska, K.J.; Goot, van der A.J.; Boom, R.M.

2012-01-01

A 30 wt% calcium caseinate dispersion can be transformed in an anisotropic and fibrous structure by applying well-defined flow and enzymatic gelation. The formation of an anisotropic structure is thought to be due to the micellar structure of the caseinate and the mild adhesion between the micelles

Experiences with tele-health follow-up in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: a qualitative interview study

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Raunsbæk Knudsen, Line; Thurah, Annette De; Lomborg, Kirsten

2017-01-01

the patients' different needs, wishes and abilities to take part in tele-health follow-up. Our findings reveal a need for more insight into how tele-health follow-up could be integrated in routine clinical practice, paying special attention to how reluctant patients may be supported.......: Adopting a strategy of interpretive description, we conducted individual, semi-structured interviews with 15 RA patients participating in a tele-health follow-up. Participants were selected purposively and consecutive from both genders and with various ages, disease durations and disease severity....... The analysis was inductive with a constant comparative approach. First, we identified the main themes conveying the participants' experiences. Then, we constructed patient typologies to explain different perspectives on the tele-health follow-up. RESULTS: Five themes covered the participants' experiences: 'A...

SemiBoost: boosting for semi-supervised learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Mallapragada, Pavan Kumar; Jin, Rong; Jain, Anil K; Liu, Yi

2009-11-01

Semi-supervised learning has attracted a significant amount of attention in pattern recognition and machine learning. Most previous studies have focused on designing special algorithms to effectively exploit the unlabeled data in conjunction with labeled data. Our goal is to improve the classification accuracy of any given supervised learning algorithm by using the available unlabeled examples. We call this as the Semi-supervised improvement problem, to distinguish the proposed approach from the existing approaches. We design a metasemi-supervised learning algorithm that wraps around the underlying supervised algorithm and improves its performance using unlabeled data. This problem is particularly important when we need to train a supervised learning algorithm with a limited number of labeled examples and a multitude of unlabeled examples. We present a boosting framework for semi-supervised learning, termed as SemiBoost. The key advantages of the proposed semi-supervised learning approach are: 1) performance improvement of any supervised learning algorithm with a multitude of unlabeled data, 2) efficient computation by the iterative boosting algorithm, and 3) exploiting both manifold and cluster assumption in training classification models. An empirical study on 16 different data sets and text categorization demonstrates that the proposed framework improves the performance of several commonly used supervised learning algorithms, given a large number of unlabeled examples. We also show that the performance of the proposed algorithm, SemiBoost, is comparable to the state-of-the-art semi-supervised learning algorithms.

Situating mental health work in place: Qualitative findings from interviews with Veterans in Southeastern Louisiana and Northern California.

Science.gov (United States)

Abraham, Traci H; Koenig, Christopher J; Zamora, Kara; Hill, Coleen; Uddo, Madeline; Kelly, Adam P; Hamilton, Michelle F; Curran, Geoffrey M; Pyne, Jeffrey M; Seal, Karen H

2017-09-01

Most chronic illness management occurs outside clinics and hospitals, in the everyday lives of individuals. We use data from semi-structured interviews with 37 veterans from Southeastern Louisiana and Northern California to illustrate how "health work" for mental health concerns are shaped by place. Using health work as an orienting concept for analysis, we discerned variation between the two study sites in how Veterans used interacting with the natural environment, cultivating time alone, and religious practice to manage their mental health and well-being. Through these findings, we advocate for a situated notion of health work that is mindful of how health-related behaviors are shaped by place and the attributes that constitute place. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Questioning Transcription: The Case for the Systematic and Reflexive Interviewing and Reporting (SRIR Method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nicholas Loubere

2017-05-01

Full Text Available The recording and verbatim transcription of interviews is often considered to be one of the more tedious but necessary aspects of the in-depth qualitative research process. While transcription is undoubtedly a necessary methodological tool for researchers focusing specifically on discourse and language, it has also been widely adopted by researchers across the social sciences, and is sometimes advocated as a means of inherently improving the rigour of qualitative research. Based on recent experience from fieldwork in rural China, where I had initially expected to utilise the verbatim transcription method, in this article I critically assess the role of transcription in the design, implementation, and outcome of cross-cultural multilingual qualitative research. I argue that, in certain cases, verbatim transcription can limit the kind of information that may be considered valuable as data, and delay the processes of data reduction and analysis, thus separating the researcher from the fieldwork event. In response to these critiques, I propose an alternative approach to collecting, categorising, coding, and analysing qualitative data: the systematic and reflexive interviewing and reporting (SRIR method. The SRIR method utilises semi-structured and unstructured interviews conducted by two or more researchers. After completing an interview, researchers engage in reflexive dialogue, and jointly write interview and analysis reports. In this way, the SRIR method begins the process of coding and analysis in situ, thus facilitating critical engagement with emergent themes during fieldwork rather than afterwards. The method is, therefore, ideally suited to research projects that are designed to be open ended and flexible, in order to follow up on new information and potentially even change focus. URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs1702152

Comparative ecobalancing accounting of semi-central house heat supply from wood residues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Biemann, Kirsten

2015-01-01

impact. Heat demanders and network structure vary for the different settlement types. This impacts the heat losses and the amount of energy generated from wood in the network. Combined heat and power plants promise higher fuel utilization. They decrease costs and environmental impacts. The heat losses in the network vary greatly between 23 percent for small single-family houses and 4 percent for big multi-family buildings. Therefore networks with bigger heat demanders have lower environmental burdens. From an economic point of view the conversion from a gas heater to the connection of a multi- family building to a semi- centralized heating network using wood residues as fuel is worthwhile. However for a single-family building this is often not the case. A comparison between the semi- centralized heat supply from wood residues and the commonly used heat supply from gas heaters shows a large potential to decrease greenhouse gas emissions, ozone depletion and fossil resource usage when using the first variant. However, it increases particulate matter formation, photochemical oxidant formation, eutrophication, and acidification. Only the usage of a wood gasification and a combined heat and power plant decreases particulate matter formation slightly. Similar results were obtained for a centralized heating network using wood residues as fuel. Using wood heaters in the buildings further decreases greenhouse gas emissions, ozone depletion and fossil resources, but results in an increased particulate matter formation. This particulate matter formation is over 1.000 percent bigger than for gas heaters.

The conception of administrators regarding the formation of a healthcare consortium in Pernambuco, Brazil: a case study.

Science.gov (United States)

e Silva, Keila S Brito; Bezerra, Adriana Falangola B

2011-01-01

The formation of healthcare consortia is a management strategy adopted by a number of cities in Brazil in order to minimize the difficulties the population has in access to services of greater technological complexity. As administrators are the main governmental actors in the promotion of this strategy, the aim of the present study was to identify the motives, expectations and difficulties faced by the mayors, and secretaries of health that make up a healthcare consortium undergoing a formation process in the rural, coastal zone of the state of Pernambuco. A descriptive, qualitative, case study was conducted. Data collection was carried out through semi-structured interviews held with mayors and secretaries of health of the municipalities participating in the consortium. Data were analyzed by means of content analysis, using the NVivo 2.0 software program. The administrators cited difficulty in access to specialized services and the high cost of transporting patients to distant locations for treatment as motives for the formation of the consortium. With the implantation of this healthcare strategy, the expectations are a reduction in costs regarding patient transportation, an increase in access to services of greater complexity, and negotiations with other spheres of government. The main difficulties faced are political-partisan conflicts and excessive bureaucracy. Although there were no considerable divergences in the administrators' perceptions, it was evident that those who initiated the formation of the consortium offered a deeper, more detailed discourse, thereby demonstrating greater involvement when compared to those who offered continuity to the process. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Thermodynamics and kinetics of RNA tertiary structure formation in the junctionless hairpin ribozyme.

Science.gov (United States)

White, Neil A; Hoogstraten, Charles G

2017-09-01

The hairpin ribozyme consists of two RNA internal loops that interact to form the catalytically active structure. This docking transition is a rare example of intermolecular formation of RNA tertiary structure without coupling to helix annealing. We have used temperature-dependent surface plasmon resonance (SPR) to characterize the thermodynamics and kinetics of RNA tertiary structure formation for the junctionless form of the ribozyme, in which loops A and B reside on separate molecules. We find docking to be strongly enthalpy-driven and to be accompanied by substantial activation barriers for association and dissociation, consistent with the structural reorganization of both internal loops upon complex formation. Comparisons with the parallel analysis of a ribozyme variant carrying a 2'-O-methyl modification at the self-cleavage site and with published data in other systems reveal a surprising diversity of thermodynamic signatures, emphasizing the delicate balance of contributions to the free energy of formation of RNA tertiary structure. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Comparing the Effectiveness of Blended, Semi-Flipped, and Flipped Formats in an Engineering Numerical Methods Course

Science.gov (United States)

Clark, Renee M.; Kaw, Autar; Besterfield-Sacre, Mary

2016-01-01

Blended, flipped, and semi-flipped instructional approaches were used in various sections of a numerical methods course for undergraduate mechanical engineers. During the spring of 2014, a blended approach was used; in the summer of 2014, a combination of blended and flipped instruction was used to deliver a semi-flipped course; and in the fall of…

Structure Formation of Ultrathin PEO Films at Solid Interfaces—Complex Pattern Formation by Dewetting and Crystallization

Science.gov (United States)

Braun, Hans-Georg; Meyer, Evelyn

2013-01-01

The direct contact of ultrathin polymer films with a solid substrate may result in thin film rupture caused by dewetting. With crystallisable polymers such as polyethyleneoxide (PEO), molecular self-assembly into partial ordered lamella structures is studied as an additional source of pattern formation. Morphological features in ultrathin PEO films (thickness dewetting patterns and diffusion limited growth pattern of ordered lamella growing within the dewetting areas. Besides structure formation of hydrophilic PEO molecules, n-alkylterminated (hydrophobic) PEO oligomers are investigated with respect to self-organization in ultrathin films. Morphological features characteristic for pure PEO are not changed by the presence of the n-alkylgroups. PMID:23385233

Quantum chemical and thermodynamic calculations of fulvic and humic copper complexes in reactions of malachite and azurite formation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fomin, Vitaliy N.; Gogol, Daniil B.; Rozhkovoy, Ivan E.; Ponomarev, Dmitriy L.

2017-01-01

This article provides a thermodynamic evaluation of the reactions of humic and fulvic acids in the process of malachite and azurite mineralogenesis. Semi-empirical methods AM/1, MNDO, PM3, PM5, PM6 and PM7 were used to compute the heat of formation, enthalpy and entropy for thermodynamic calculations of the reactions performed on the basis of Hess's law. It is shown that methods PM6 and PM7 in the MOPAC software package provide good compliance with experimental and calculated heats of formation for copper complexes and alkaline earth metal complexes with organic acids. It is found that the malachite and azurite formation processes involving humus complexing substances are thermodynamically possible. - Highlights: • Copper and alkali-earth metal complexes with humic and fulvic acids are considered. • Quantum chemical calculation of thermodynamics for the structures was performed. • Semi-empirical methods PM6 and PM7 provide best correlation for the properties. • Parameters of basic copper carbonate formation reactions were obtained by Hess's law. • Processes of malachite and azurite formation from humus complexes are possible.

Semi-Dirac points in phononic crystals

KAUST Repository

Zhang, Xiujuan

2014-01-01

A semi-Dirac cone refers to a peculiar type of dispersion relation that is linear along the symmetry line but quadratic in the perpendicular direction. It was originally discovered in electron systems, in which the associated quasi-particles are massless along one direction, like those in graphene, but effective-mass-like along the other. It was reported that a semi-Dirac point is associated with the topological phase transition between a semi-metallic phase and a band insulator. Very recently, the classical analogy of a semi-Dirac cone has been reported in an electromagnetic system. Here, we demonstrate that, by accidental degeneracy, two-dimensional phononic crystals consisting of square arrays of elliptical cylinders embedded in water are also able to produce the particular dispersion relation of a semi-Dirac cone in the center of the Brillouin zone. A perturbation method is used to evaluate the linear slope and to affirm that the dispersion relation is a semi-Dirac type. If the scatterers are made of rubber, in which the acoustic wave velocity is lower than that in water, the semi-Dirac dispersion can be characterized by an effective medium theory. The effective medium parameters link the semi-Dirac point to a topological transition in the iso-frequency surface of the phononic crystal, in which an open hyperbola is changed into a closed ellipse. This topological transition results in drastic change in wave manipulation. On the other hand, the theory also reveals that the phononic crystal is a double-zero-index material along the x-direction and photonic-band-edge material along the perpendicular direction (y-direction). If the scatterers are made of steel, in which the acoustic wave velocity is higher than that in water, the effective medium description fails, even though the semi-Dirac dispersion relation looks similar to that in the previous case. Therefore different wave transport behavior is expected. The semi-Dirac points in phononic crystals described in

Management of patients with sore throats in relation to guidelines: an interview study in Sweden.

Science.gov (United States)

Hedin, Katarina; Strandberg, Eva Lena; Gröndal, Hedvig; Brorsson, Annika; Thulesius, Hans; André, Malin

2014-12-01

To explore how a group of Swedish general practitioners (GPs) manage patients with a sore throat in relation to current guidelines as expressed in interviews. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyse semi-structured interviews. Swedish primary care. A strategic sample of 25 GPs. Perceived management of sore throat patients. It was found that nine of the interviewed GPs were adherent to current guidelines for sore throat and 16 were non-adherent. The two groups differed in terms of guideline knowledge, which was shared within the team for adherent GPs while idiosyncratic knowledge dominated for the non-adherent GPs. Adherent GPs had no or low concerns for bacterial infections and differential diagnosis whilst non-adherent GPs believed that in patients with a sore throat any bacterial infection should be identified and treated with antibiotics. Patient history and examination was mainly targeted by adherent GPs whilst for non-adherent GPs it was often redundant. Non-adherent GPs reported problems getting patients to abstain from antibiotics, whilst no such problems were reported in adherent GPs. This interview study of sore throat management in a strategically sampled group of Swedish GPs showed that while two-thirds were non-adherent and had a liberal attitude to antibiotics one-third were guideline adherent with a restricted view on antibiotics. Non-adherent GPs revealed significant knowledge gaps. Adherent GPs had discussed guidelines within the primary care team while non-adherent GPs had not. Guideline implementation thus seemed to be promoted by knowledge shared in team discussions.

Understanding women's experiences with medical abortion: In-depth interviews with women in two Indian clinics.

Science.gov (United States)

Ganatra, B; Kalyanwala, S; Elul, B; Coyaji, K; Tewari, S

2010-01-01

We explored women's perspectives on using medical abortion, including their reasons for selecting the method, their experiences with it and their thoughts regarding demedicalisation of part or all of the process. Sixty-three women from two urban clinics in India were interviewed within four weeks of abortion completion using a semi-structured in-depth interview guide. While women appreciated the non-invasiveness of medical abortion, other factors influencing method selection were family support and distance from the facility. The degree of medicalisation that women wanted or felt was necessary also depended on the way expectations were set by their providers. Confirmation of abortion completion was a source of anxiety for many women and led to unnecessary interventions in a few cases. Ultimately, experiences depended more on women's expectations about the method, and on the level of emotional and logistic support they received rather than on inherent characteristics of the method. These findings emphasise the circumstances under which women make reproductive choices and underscore the need to tailor service delivery to meet women's needs. Women-centred counselling and care that takes into consideration individual circumstances are needed.

Students' perspectives on promoting healthful food choices from campus vending machines: a qualitative interview study.

Science.gov (United States)

Ali, Habiba I; Jarrar, Amjad H; Abo-El-Enen, Mostafa; Al Shamsi, Mariam; Al Ashqar, Huda

2015-05-28

Increasing the healthfulness of campus food environments is an important step in promoting healthful food choices among college students. This study explored university students' suggestions on promoting healthful food choices from campus vending machines. It also examined factors influencing students' food choices from vending machines. Peer-led semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with 43 undergraduate students (33 females and 10 males) recruited from students enrolled in an introductory nutrition course in a large national university in the United Arab Emirates. Interviews were audiotaped, transcribed, and coded to generate themes using N-Vivo software. Accessibility, peer influence, and busy schedules were the main factors influencing students' food choices from campus vending machines. Participants expressed the need to improve the nutritional quality of the food items sold in the campus vending machines. Recommendations for students' nutrition educational activities included placing nutrition tips on or beside the vending machines and using active learning methods, such as competitions on nutrition knowledge. The results of this study have useful applications in improving the campus food environment and nutrition education opportunities at the university to assist students in making healthful food choices.

Preparation and Properties of a Novel Semi-IPN Slow-Release Fertilizer with the Function of Water Retention.

Science.gov (United States)

Xiang, Yang; Ru, Xudong; Shi, Jinguo; Song, Jiang; Zhao, Haidong; Liu, Yaqing; Guo, Dongdong; Lu, Xin

2017-12-20

A new semi-interpenetrating polymer network (semi-IPN) slow-release fertilizer (SISRF) with water absorbency, based on the kaolin-g-poly(acrylic acid-co-acrylic amide) (kaolin-g-P(AA-co-AM)) network and linear urea-formaldehyde oligomers (UF), was prepared by solution polymerization. Nutrients phosphorus and potassium were supplied by adding dipotassium hydrogen phosphate during the preparation process. The structure and properties of SISRF were characterized by various characterization methods. SISRF showed excellent water absorbency of 68 g g -1 in tap water. The slow-release behavior of nutrients and water-retention capacity of SISRF were also measured. Meanwhile, the swelling kinetics was well described by a pseudo-second-order kinetics model. Results suggested the formation of SISRF with simultaneously good slow-release and water-retention capacity, which was expected to apply in modern agriculture and horticulture.

Feasibility of a computer-assisted social network motivational interviewing intervention for substance use and HIV risk behaviors for housing first residents.

Science.gov (United States)

Osilla, Karen Chan; Kennedy, David P; Hunter, Sarah B; Maksabedian, Ervant

2016-09-07

Social networks play positive and negative roles in the lives of homeless people influencing their alcohol and/or other drug (AOD) and HIV risk behaviors. We developed a four-session computer-assisted social network motivational interviewing intervention for homeless adults transitioning into housing. We examined the acceptability of the intervention among staff and residents at an organization that provides permanent supportive housing through iterative rounds of beta testing. Staff were 3 men and 3 women who were residential support staff (i.e., case managers and administrators). Residents were 8 men (7 African American, 1 Hispanic) and 3 women (2 African American, 1 Hispanic) who had histories of AOD and HIV risk behaviors. We conducted a focus group with staff who gave input on how to improve the delivery of the intervention to enhance understanding and receptivity among new residents. We conducted semi-structured qualitative interviews and collected self-report satisfaction data from residents. Three themes emerged over the course of the resident interviews. Residents reported that the intervention was helpful in discussing their social network, that seeing the visualizations was more impactful than just talking about their network, and that the intervention prompted thoughts about changing their AOD use and HIV risk networks. This study is the first of its kind that has developed, with input from Housing First staff and residents, a motivational interviewing intervention that targets both the structure and composition of one's social network. These results suggest that providing visual network feedback with a guided motivational interviewing discussion is a promising approach to supporting network change. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT02140359.

Semi-analytical model for hollow-core anti-resonant fibers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wei eDing

2015-03-01

Full Text Available We detailedly describe a recently-developed semi-analytical method to quantitatively calculate light transmission properties of hollow-core anti-resonant fibers (HC-ARFs. Formation of equiphase interface at fiber’s outermost boundary and outward light emission ruled by Helmholtz equation in fiber’s transverse plane constitute the basis of this method. Our semi-analytical calculation results agree well with those of precise simulations and clarify the light leakage dependences on azimuthal angle, geometrical shape and polarization. Using this method, we show investigations on HC-ARFs having various core shapes (e.g. polygon, hypocycloid with single- and multi-layered core-surrounds. The polarization properties of ARFs are also studied. Our semi-analytical method provides clear physical insights into the light guidance in ARF and can play as a fast and useful design aid for better ARFs.

Magneto Rheological Semi-Active Damper with External By-pass Circuit in Modular Structure

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexandru Boltoşi

2010-10-01

Full Text Available In order to perform experimentally studies, in the paper it is presented a simple method which was elaborated to realize reliable, at low cost and reproducible semi-active dampers with magnetorheological fluids, having external magnetic circuit. The main components are common constitutive elements of industrial hydraulic and pneumatic drivers, having the supplementary advantages being manufactured in a large scale of overall dimensions and demanding minimal modifications. As accumulator, a similar type of hydraulic or pneumatic cylinder was used. The work of the whole damper can be optimized by modifying the nitrogen pressure and interior volume of accumulator. Another important advantage of this conception is the possibility to realize a modular structure composed by the damper, accumulator and magnetic field generator, interconnected by flexible elements.

Mechanical Response Analysis of Long-life Asphalt Pavement Structure of Yunluo High-speed on the Semi-rigid Base

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Feng; Wu, Chuanhai; Xu, Xinquan; Li, Hao; Wang, Zhixiang

2018-01-01

In order to grasp the rule of the strain change of the semi-rigid asphalt pavement structure under the FWD load and provide a reliable theoretical and practical basis for the design of the pavement structure, based on the test section of Guangdong Yunluo expressway, taking FWD as the loading tool, by using the finite element analysis software ANSYS, the internal variation rules of each pavement structural layer were obtained. Based on the results of the theoretical analysis, the measured strain sensor was set up in the corresponding layer of the pavement structure, and the strain test plan was determined. Based on the analysis of the strain data obtained from several structural layers and field monitoring, the rationality of the type pavement structure and the strain test scheme were verified, so as to provide useful help for the design and the maintenance of the pavement structure.

Formation of nanoscale tungsten oxide structures and colouration ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

The X-ray diffraction, together with transmission electron microscopic studies have revealed formation of regular polyhedral nanocrystalline ..... For molecular structure and orientation determination, the ... self-similarity within a complicated system. ..... Hummel R I 1997 Handbook of optical properties: Optics of small particles ...

The stories we tell: qualitative research interviews, talking technologies and the 'normalisation' of life with HIV.

Science.gov (United States)

Mazanderani, Fadhila; Paparini, Sara

2015-04-01

Since the earliest days of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, talking about the virus has been a key way affected communities have challenged the fear and discrimination directed against them and pressed for urgent medical and political attention. Today, HIV/AIDS is one of the most prolifically and intimately documented of all health conditions, with entrenched infrastructures, practices and technologies--what Vinh-Kim Nguyen has dubbed 'confessional technologies'--aimed at encouraging those affected to share their experiences. Among these technologies, we argue, is the semi-structured interview: the principal methodology used in qualitative social science research focused on patient experiences. Taking the performative nature of the research interview as a talking technology seriously has epistemological implications not merely for how we interpret interview data, but also for how we understand the role of research interviews in the enactment of 'life with HIV'. This paper focuses on one crucial aspect of this enactment: the contemporary 'normalisation' of HIV as 'just another' chronic condition--a process taking place at the level of individual subjectivities, social identities, clinical practices and global health policy, and of which social science research is a vital part. Through an analysis of 76 interviews conducted in London (2009-10), we examine tensions in the experiential narratives of individuals living with HIV in which life with the virus is framed as 'normal', yet where this 'normality' is beset with contradictions and ambiguities. Rather than viewing these as a reflection of resistances to or failures of the enactment of HIV as 'normal', we argue that, insofar as these contradictions are generated by the research interview as a distinct 'talking technology', they emerge as crucial to the normative (re)production of what counts as 'living with HIV' (in the UK) and are an inherent part of the broader performative 'normalisation' of the virus. Copyright © 2015

Toward structural assessment of semi-arid African savannahs and woodlands: The potential of multitemporal polarimetric RADARSAT-2 fine beam images

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Mathieu, R

2013-11-01

Full Text Available variables but for all three seasons. The C-band SAR data thus provided encouraging results in open, semi-arid savannahs and hint at larger area structural assessments than is possible with LiDAR sensors alone. The combined use of C-band and L-band (ALOS...

Privacy as Part of the App Decision-Making Process

Science.gov (United States)

2013-02-06

information the app may collect: Personal information, contacts, location, calendars, credit card/financial, diet/nutrition, health /medical, and...permissions by: • Including types of information being collected that fall out- side of the scope of the current permission model ( health information...choice of Target, Starbucks , or Barnes & Noble gift cards. Exercise and Interview focus The lab study followed a semi-structured format, outlined here

Using PWE/FE method to calculate the band structures of the semi-infinite beam-like PCs: Periodic in z-direction and finite in x–y plane

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Qian, Denghui, E-mail: qdhsd318@163.com; Shi, Zhiyu, E-mail: zyshi@nuaa.edu.cn

2017-05-03

This paper couples the plane wave expansion (PWE) and finite element (FE) methods to calculate the band structures of the semi-infinite beam-like phononic crystals (PCs) with the infinite periodicity in z-direction and finiteness in x–y plane. Explicit matrix formulations are developed for the calculation of band structures. In order to illustrate the applicability and accuracy of the proposed coupled plane wave expansion and finite element (PWE/FE) method to beam-like PCs, several examples are displayed. At first, PWE/FE method is applied to calculate the band structures of the Pb/rubber beam-like PCs with circular and rectangular cross sections, respectively. Then, it is used to calculate the band structures of steel/epoxy and steel/aluminum beam-like PCs with the same geometric parameters. Last, the band structure of the three-component beam-like PC is also calculated by the proposed method. Moreover, all the results calculated by PWE/FE method are compared with those calculated by finite element (FE) method, and the corresponding results are in good agreement. - Highlights: • The concept of the semi-infinite beam-like phononic crystals (PCs) is proposed. • The PWE/FE method is proposed and formulized to calculate the band structures of the semi-infinite beam-like PCs. • The strong applicability and high accuracy of PWE/FE method are verified.

Building large collections of Chinese and English medical terms from semi-structured and encyclopedia websites.

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Yan; Wang, Yining; Sun, Jian-Tao; Zhang, Jianwen; Tsujii, Junichi; Chang, Eric

2013-01-01

To build large collections of medical terms from semi-structured information sources (e.g. tables, lists, etc.) and encyclopedia sites on the web. The terms are classified into the three semantic categories, Medical Problems, Medications, and Medical Tests, which were used in i2b2 challenge tasks. We developed two systems, one for Chinese and another for English terms. The two systems share the same methodology and use the same software with minimum language dependent parts. We produced large collections of terms by exploiting billions of semi-structured information sources and encyclopedia sites on the Web. The standard performance metric of recall (R) is extended to three different types of Recall to take the surface variability of terms into consideration. They are Surface Recall (R(S)), Object Recall (R(O)), and Surface Head recall (R(H)). We use two test sets for Chinese. For English, we use a collection of terms in the 2010 i2b2 text. Two collections of terms, one for English and the other for Chinese, have been created. The terms in these collections are classified as either of Medical Problems, Medications, or Medical Tests in the i2b2 challenge tasks. The English collection contains 49,249 (Problems), 89,591 (Medications) and 25,107 (Tests) terms, while the Chinese one contains 66,780 (Problems), 101,025 (Medications), and 15,032 (Tests) terms. The proposed method of constructing a large collection of medical terms is both efficient and effective, and, most of all, independent of language. The collections will be made publicly available.

Creating advantages through franchising in healthcare: a qualitative, multiple embedded case study on the role of the business format.

Science.gov (United States)

Nijmeijer, Karlijn J; Huijsman, Robbert; Fabbricotti, Isabelle N

2014-11-02

Business format franchising is an organizational form that originates from the business sector. It is increasingly used in healthcare, being a promising organizational form for improving the competitiveness and efficiency of organizations, the quality of care, and the professional work environment. However, evidence is lacking concerning how these healthcare franchises should be designed to actually deliver the promised benefits. This study explores how the design of the central element in franchising, the business format (i.e., brand name, support systems, specification of the products and services), helps or hinders the achievement of positive results. A qualitative comparative embedded case study was conducted. The cases focused on three Dutch healthcare franchises providing mental healthcare, hospital care and care for the intellectually disabled. The data were collected through document analyses, observations, and 96 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with franchisors and unit actors (franchisees, unit managers, professionals). The interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. A conceptual model based on a systematic review of studies in other industries was used as an initial method for coding the data. New inductive codes were used to enrich and extend the analysis. The data were subjected to within-case and cross-case comparative thematic analyses. Different business format designs have different effects on results, as perceived by franchisors and unit actors. The analysis revealed how this variation in perceived effects can be explained by different dynamics with regard to system-wide adaptation, local adaptation, professionals' resistance to change, ease of knowledge sharing, bureaucracy, overhead, uniform brand presentation, accelerating effects and reliable performance levels. The analysis resulted in a new typology of four types of business formats, showing how combinations of business format elements facilitate or hinder the achievement of

Interviewee Perceptions of Employment Screening Interviews: Relationships among Perceptions of Communication Satisfaction, Interviewer Credibility and Trust, Interviewing Experience, and Interview Outcomes.

Science.gov (United States)

Jablin, Fredric M.; And Others

A study examined employment screening interviews to determine the relationships between an interviewee's perceptions of interview communication satisfaction, interviewer credibility and trust, previous interviewing experiences, and a number of interview outcomes, including expectation of a second interview. Data were collected from 69 students…

Structure Formation of Ultrathin PEO Films at Solid Interfaces—Complex Pattern Formation by Dewetting and Crystallization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hans-Georg Braun

2013-02-01

Full Text Available The direct contact of ultrathin polymer films with a solid substrate may result in thin film rupture caused by dewetting. With crystallisable polymers such as polyethyleneoxide (PEO, molecular self-assembly into partial ordered lamella structures is studied as an additional source of pattern formation. Morphological features in ultrathin PEO films (thickness < 10 nm result from an interplay between dewetting patterns and diffusion limited growth pattern of ordered lamella growing within the dewetting areas. Besides structure formation of hydrophilic PEO molecules, n-alkylterminated (hydrophobic PEO oligomers are investigated with respect to self-organization in ultrathin films. Morphological features characteristic for pure PEO are not changed by the presence of the n-alkylgroups.

Formation of coherent structures in a class of realistic 3D unsteady flows

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Speetjens, M.F.M.; Clercx, H.J.H.; Klapp, J.; Medina, A.; Cros, A.; Vargas, C.

2013-01-01

The formation of coherent structures in three-dimensional (3D) unsteady laminar flows in a cylindrical cavity is reviewed. The discussion concentrates on two main topics: the role of symmetries and fluid inertia in the formation of coherent structures and the ramifications for the Lagrangian

Robust Semi-Supervised Manifold Learning Algorithm for Classification

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Mingxia Chen

2018-01-01

Full Text Available In the recent years, manifold learning methods have been widely used in data classification to tackle the curse of dimensionality problem, since they can discover the potential intrinsic low-dimensional structures of the high-dimensional data. Given partially labeled data, the semi-supervised manifold learning algorithms are proposed to predict the labels of the unlabeled points, taking into account label information. However, these semi-supervised manifold learning algorithms are not robust against noisy points, especially when the labeled data contain noise. In this paper, we propose a framework for robust semi-supervised manifold learning (RSSML to address this problem. The noisy levels of the labeled points are firstly predicted, and then a regularization term is constructed to reduce the impact of labeled points containing noise. A new robust semi-supervised optimization model is proposed by adding the regularization term to the traditional semi-supervised optimization model. Numerical experiments are given to show the improvement and efficiency of RSSML on noisy data sets.

“Let’s Take a Look Together”: Walking Interviews in Domestic Spaces as a Means to Examine ICT Experiences of Women 60+

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Barbara Ratzenböck

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Although mobile methods are becoming more common within the social sciences (e.g. Ricketts Hein et al., 2008 and Wiederhold, 2015, p. 607, they mostly take place outdoors. This paper examines the potential of walking interviews conducted in small domestic spaces to explore the ICT experiences of women aged 60+ and to discuss the challenges and advantages of this method. This case study of indoor walking interview material is a part of a larger research project on the ICT experiences of women 60+ in the Austrian province of Styria. The advantages and challenges of conducting walking interviews in the homes of interviewees are identified and explored. As this case study demonstrates, walking interviews in homes give the researcher a glimpse into the private areas of everyday life, let the interviewees lead the researcher through the space, allow the participants to conduct the conversation, and thus invite a reflection on the power dynamics inherent in the interview situation. This method also compares the statements provided by participants in semi-structured interviews with the information gathered through an encounter with media and ICTs in the home. These comparisons yield a variety of insights on prior statements through the addition of emphases, “contradictions,” or minimizing the importance of previous interview statements. Moreover, interactions with the objects in the home that are encountered during the walking interview also provide important “prompts” to stimulate a detailed and multifaceted discussion of everyday life experiences with ICTs and other media.

Orientational structure formation of silk fibroin with anisotropic properties in solutions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kholmuminov, A.A.

2008-06-01

Key words:silk fibroin, dissolution, solution's model systems, gelation, orientational crystallization, optical polarization, longitudinal stream, α - β transition, structure formation, phase transformations, relaxation, anisotropy of swelling and desorption, thermo- and biodegradation. Subjects of the inquiry: silk fibroin is the main subject of investigation. Fibroin's solutions were obtained on the base of water and organic solvents, containing salts. Comparative investigations were carried out by using biosolution - secretion of silkworm, solutions of silk sericin, cotton cellulose, methylcellulose, polystyrene and (co) polycrylonitrile. Aim of the inquiry: the elucidation of the regularities of silk fibroin anisotropic structures formation in the direct generation of orientational ordering in solutions taking into account of influences of its the molecular structures, configuration information, α - β conformational transformations, and development jointly using polarization-optical and hydrodynamic methods to control of structure formation. And also definition of possibility fields for use biopolymers anisotropic structure formation principles. Method of inquiry: birefringence, dispersion optical rotation, circular dichroism, polarization- ultramicroscope, ultracentrifuge, viscosimetry, potentiometry, differential thermal analysis, chromatography, x-ray analysis, spectroscopy. The results achieved and their novelty: the physical regularity amorphous-crystalline fibroin dissolutions in salt-containing solvents based on chains melting, distribution and redistribution were recognized; fibroin statistical parameters, molecular-mass and conformational characteristics were established; It was shown that fibroin molecules turned into fully uncoiled and oriented state with the breakdown decay of α-spiral chain sections by I type phase transition mechanism, but in oriented state with α-spiral conservation by II type transition; the presence of longitudinal field

Sequencing learning experiences to engage different level learners in the workplace: An interview study with excellent clinical teachers.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, H Carrie; O'Sullivan, Patricia; Teherani, Arianne; Fogh, Shannon; Kobashi, Brent; ten Cate, Olle

2015-01-01

Learning in the clinical workplace can appear to rely on opportunistic teaching. The cognitive apprenticeship model describes assigning tasks based on learner rather than just workplace needs. This study aimed to determine how excellent clinical teachers select clinical learning experiences to support the workplace participation and development of different level learners. Using a constructivist grounded theory approach, we conducted semi-structured interviews with medical school faculty identified as excellent clinical teachers teaching multiple levels of learners. We explored their approach to teach different level learners and their perceived role in promoting learner development. We performed thematic analysis of the interview transcripts using open and axial coding. We interviewed 19 clinical teachers and identified three themes related to their teaching approach: sequencing of learning experiences, selection of learning activities and teacher responsibilities. All teachers used sequencing as a teaching strategy by varying content, complexity and expectations by learner level. The teachers initially selected learning activities based on learner level and adjusted for individual competencies over time. They identified teacher responsibilities for learner education and patient safety, and used sequencing to promote both. Excellent clinical teachers described strategies for matching available learning opportunities to learners' developmental levels to safely engage learners and improve learning in the clinical workplace.

Structure-Activity Relationship Study of Sesquiterpene Lactones and Their Semi-Synthetic Amino Derivatives as Potential Antitrypanosomal Products

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Stefanie Zimmermann

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Sesquiterpene lactones (STLs are natural products that have potent antitrypanosomal activity in vitro and, in the case of cynaropicrin, also reduce parasitemia in the murine model of trypanosomiasis. To explore their structure-antitrypanosomal activity relationships, a set of 34 natural and semi-synthetic STLs and amino-STLs was tested in vitro against T. b. rhodesiense (which causes East African sleeping sickness and mammalian cancer cells (rat bone myoblast L6 cells. It was found that the α-methylene-γ-lactone moiety is necessary for both antitrypanosomal effects and cytotoxicity. Antitrypanosomal selectivity is facilitated by 2-(hydroxymethylacrylate or 3,4-dihydroxy-2-methylenebutylate side chains, and by the presence of cyclopentenone rings. Semi-synthetic STL amines with morpholino and dimethylamino groups showed improved in vitro activity over the native STLs. The dimethylamino derivative of cynaropicrin was prepared and tested orally in the T. b. rhodesiense acute mouse model, where it showed reduced toxicity over cynaropicrin, but also lost antitrypanosomal activity.

Control of polymer network topology in semi-batch systems

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Rui; Olsen, Bradley; Johnson, Jeremiah

Polymer networks invariably possess topological defects: loops of different orders. Since small loops (primary loops and secondary loops) both lower the modulus of network and lead to stress concentration that causes material failure at low deformation, it is desirable to greatly reduce the loop fraction. We have shown that achieving loop fraction close to zero is extremely difficult in the batch process due to the slow decay of loop fraction with the polymer concentration and chain length. Here, we develop a modified kinetic graph theory that can model network formation reactions in semi-batch systems. We demonstrate that the loop fraction is not sensitive to the feeding policy if the reaction volume maintains constant during the network formation. However, if we initially put concentrated solution of small junction molecules in the reactor and continuously adding polymer solutions, the fractions of both primary loop and higher-order loops will be significantly reduced. There is a limiting value (nonzero) of loop fraction that can be achieved in the semi-batch system in condition of extremely slow feeding rate. This minimum loop fraction only depends on a single dimensionless variable, the product of concentration and with single chain pervaded volume, and defines an operating zone in which the loop fraction of polymer networks can be controlled through adjusting the feeding rate of the semi-batch process.

Design and calibration of a semi-active control logic to mitigate structural vibrations in wind turbines

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Caterino, Nicola; Georgakis, Christos T.; Spizzuoco, Mariacristina

2016-01-01

The design of a semi-active (SA) control system addressed to mitigate wind induced structural demand to high wind turbine towers is discussed herein. Actually, the remarkable growth in height of wind turbines in the last decades, for a higher production of electricity, makes this issue pressing....../20 scale model of a real, one hundred meters tall wind turbine has been assumed as case study for shaking table tests. A special control algorithm has been purposely designed to drive MR dampers. Starting from the results of preliminary laboratory tests, a finite element model of such structure has been...... calibrated so as to develop several numerical simulations addressed to calibrate the controller, i.e., to achieve as much as possible different, even conflicting, structural goals. The results are definitely encouraging, since the best configuration of the controller leaded to about 80% of reduction of base...

A Priori User Acceptance and the Perceived Driving Pleasure in Semi-autonomous and Autonomous Vehicles

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bjørner, Thomas

The aim of this minor pilot study is, from a sociological user perspective, to explore a priori user acceptance and the perceived driving pleasure in semi- autonomous and autonomous vehicles. The methods used were 13 in-depth interviews while having participants watch video examples within four...... different scenarios. After each scenario, two different numerical rating scales were used. There was a tendency toward positive attitudes regarding semi- autonomous driving systems, especially the use of a parking assistant and while driving in city traffic congestion. However, there were also major...

Using Fourier and Taylor series expansion in semi-analytical deformation analysis of thick-walled isotropic and wound composite structures

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jiran L.

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Thick-walled tubes made from isotropic and anisotropic materials are subjected to an internal pressure while the semi-analytical method is employed to investigate their elastic deformations. The contribution and novelty of this method is that it works universally for different loads, different boundary conditions, and different geometry of analyzed structures. Moreover, even when composite material is considered, the method requires no simplistic assumptions. The method uses a curvilinear tensor calculus and it works with the analytical expression of the total potential energy while the unknown displacement functions are approximated by using appropriate series expansion. Fourier and Taylor series expansion are involved into analysis in which they are tested and compared. The main potential of the proposed method is in analyses of wound composite structures when a simple description of the geometry is made in a curvilinear coordinate system while material properties are described in their inherent Cartesian coordinate system. Validations of the introduced semi-analytical method are performed by comparing results with those obtained from three-dimensional finite element analysis (FEA. Calculations with Fourier series expansion show noticeable disagreement with results from the finite element model because Fourier series expansion is not able to capture the course of radial deformation. Therefore, it can be used only for rough estimations of a shape after deformation. On the other hand, the semi-analytical method with Fourier Taylor series expansion works very well for both types of material. Its predictions of deformations are reliable and widely exploitable.

High frequency permeameter with semi-rigid pick-up coil

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shin, Sung-Yong; Shin, Kwang-Ho . E-mail : khshin@star.ks.ac.kr; Kim, Jong-sung; Kim, Young-Hak; Lim, Sang-Ho; Sa-gong, Geon

2006-01-01

In this study, we propose the application of semi-rigid cable loop as a single turn shielded loop pick-up coil for the high frequency permeameter. Since the semi-rigid cable pick-up coil has simple structure, it is very easy to make the pick-up coil with bending and conventional soldering. The permeability of cobalt base amorphous ribbon was investigated using the developed permeameter for demonstrating its performance. The permeability of the amorphous ribbon was driven from the S-parameters measured using a network analyzer and permameter having the semi-rigid pick-up coil

Is counselling necessary? Making the decision to have an abortion. A qualitative interview study.

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, Sally

2013-02-01

To explore young women's decision-making about having an abortion, in particular, how they reached the decision and with whom they discussed it. Qualitative study comprising semi-structured one-to-one interviews with 24 women aged between 16 and 20 who were waiting for, or had recently had, a surgical abortion. Interviews were recorded with the consent of the interviewees, fully transcribed, and analysed using a grounded theory approach. All but one of the women had been offered counselling; one could not remember. Only two had accepted the offer of counselling, most feeling that it was unnecessary. The majority of these young women had decided that they wanted an abortion before accessing health services to request one. They had discussed their decision with someone close to them and did not feel the need to have further discussions with counsellors. Most young women have already made the decision to have an abortion before they approach their GP or a family planning clinic to request one. At present, counselling is voluntary in the UK. Requiring women to undergo couanselling would delay the process and for most women would be an unnecessary burden, whilst also diverting resources from those women who require counselling.

Chinese inpatients' subjective experiences of the helping process as viewed through examination of a nurses' focused, structured therapy group.

Science.gov (United States)

Hsiao, Fei-Hsiu; Lin, Shu-Mei; Liao, Hsiao-Yuan; Lai, Mei-Chih

2004-10-01

This study examined Chinese inpatients' views on what aspects of a nurses' focused, structured therapy group worked to help their psychological and interpersonal problems and what traditional Chinese cultural values influenced their viewpoints. Nine Chinese inpatients with mental illness participated in the four-session nurses' focused, structured therapy group. After they completed the last session of therapy, they were invited to participate in a structured interview and a semi-structured interview regarding their perceptions of the change mechanisms in nurses' focused, structured group therapy. The semi-structured interviews were recorded and transcribed to be further analysed according to the principal of content analysis. The results indicate that (i) all patients believed that a nurses' focused, structured group psychotherapy enhanced their interpersonal learning and improved the quality of their lives, (ii) traditional Chinese cultural values--those emphasizing the importance of maintaining harmonious interpersonal relationships--influenced the Chinese inpatients' expression of negative emotions in the group and their motivation on interpersonal learning. In conclusion, we found that transcultural modification for applying Western group psychotherapy in Chinese culture was needed. The modification included establishing a 'pseudo-kin' or 'own people' relationship among group members and the therapists, organizing warm-up exercises and structured activities, applying projective methods and focusing on the issues of interpersonal relationships and interpersonal problems. The small sample size of the present study raises questions regarding how representative the views of the sample are with respect to the majority of Chinese inpatients. Nevertheless, this preliminary study revealed a cultural aspect in nursing training that requires significant consideration in order to work effectively with Chinese patients. Copyright 2004 Blackwell Publishing Ltd

Parents' experiences and the effect on the family two years after their child was admitted to a PICU-An interview study.

Science.gov (United States)

Terp, Karina; Sjöström-Strand, Annica

2017-12-01

For parents, having a child admitted to a paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) is a very stressful experience filled with anxiety. Parents are often scared and traumatised. This stress can lead to PTSD. The aim was to describe parents' experiences and the effect on the family two years after their child was admitted to a paediatric intensive care unit. Ten parents were interviewed according to a semi-structured interview guide. An inductive approach was applied for the study and qualitative content analysis was used to analyse the data. The parents carried vivid memories and they were still strongly affected by the experience of having their child admitted to a paediatric intensive care unit. They could clearly recall the environment, feelings that affected them and how they felt powerless. The relationship between the parents had been strengthened. Parents, siblings and the ill child could all show symptoms of anxiety, stress and sleeping disorders. The parents valued life differently. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Crystal structure representations for machine learning models of formation energies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Faber, Felix [Department of Chemistry, Institute of Physical Chemistry and National Center for Computational Design and Discovery of Novel Materials, University of Basel Switzerland; Lindmaa, Alexander [Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology, Linköping University, SE-581 83 Linköping Sweden; von Lilienfeld, O. Anatole [Department of Chemistry, Institute of Physical Chemistry and National Center for Computational Design and Discovery of Novel Materials, University of Basel Switzerland; Argonne Leadership Computing Facility, Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 S. Cass Avenue Lemont Illinois 60439; Armiento, Rickard [Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology, Linköping University, SE-581 83 Linköping Sweden

2015-04-20

We introduce and evaluate a set of feature vector representations of crystal structures for machine learning (ML) models of formation energies of solids. ML models of atomization energies of organic molecules have been successful using a Coulomb matrix representation of the molecule. We consider three ways to generalize such representations to periodic systems: (i) a matrix where each element is related to the Ewald sum of the electrostatic interaction between two different atoms in the unit cell repeated over the lattice; (ii) an extended Coulomb-like matrix that takes into account a number of neighboring unit cells; and (iii) an ansatz that mimics the periodicity and the basic features of the elements in the Ewald sum matrix using a sine function of the crystal coordinates of the atoms. The representations are compared for a Laplacian kernel with Manhattan norm, trained to reproduce formation energies using a dataset of 3938 crystal structures obtained from the Materials Project. For training sets consisting of 3000 crystals, the generalization error in predicting formation energies of new structures corresponds to (i) 0.49, (ii) 0.64, and (iii) 0.37eV/atom for the respective representations.

Women's experiences of daily life after anterior cervical decompression and fusion surgery: A qualitative interview study.

Science.gov (United States)

Hermansen, Anna; Peolsson, Anneli; Kammerlind, Ann-Sofi; Hjelm, Katarina

2016-04-01

To explore and describe women's experiences of daily life after anterior cervical decompression and fusion surgery. Qualitative explorative design. Fourteen women aged 39-62 years (median 52 years) were included 1.5-3 years after anterior cervical decompression and fusion for cervical disc disease. Individual semi-structured interviews were analysed by qualitative content analysis with an inductive approach. The women described their experiences of daily life in 5 different ways: being recovered to various extents; impact of remaining symptoms on thoughts and feelings; making daily life work; receiving support from social and occupational networks; and physical and behavioural changes due to interventions and encounters with healthcare professionals. This interview study provides insight into women's daily life after anterior cervical decompression and fusion. Whilst the subjects improved after surgery, they also experienced remaining symptoms and limitations in daily life. A variety of mostly active coping strategies were used to manage daily life. Social support from family, friends, occupational networks and healthcare professionals positively influenced daily life. These findings provide knowledge about aspects of daily life that should be considered in individualized postoperative care and rehabilitation in an attempt to provide better outcomes in women after anterior cervical decompression and fusion.

Making Sense of Abstract Algebra: Exploring Secondary Teachers' Understandings of Inverse Functions in Relation to Its Group Structure

Science.gov (United States)

Wasserman, Nicholas H.

2017-01-01

This article draws on semi-structured, task-based interviews to explore secondary teachers' (N = 7) understandings of inverse functions in relation to abstract algebra. In particular, a concept map task is used to understand the degree to which participants, having recently taken an abstract algebra course, situated inverse functions within its…

Validation of a structured interview for telephone assessment of the modified Rankin Scale in Brazilian stroke patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Baggio, Jussara A O; Santos-Pontelli, Taiza E G; Cougo-Pinto, Pedro T; Camilo, Millene; Silva, Nathalia F; Antunes, Paula; Machado, Laura; Leite, João P; Pontes-Neto, Octavio M

2014-01-01

The modified Rankin Scale (mRS) is a commonly used scale to assess the functional outcome after stroke. Several studies on mRS showed good reliability, feasibility, and interrater agreement of this scale using a face-to-face assessment. However, telephone assessment is a more time-efficient way to obtain an mRS grade than a face-to-face interview. The aim of this study was to validate the telephone assessment of mRS among the Portuguese using a structured interview in a sample of Brazilian stroke patients. We evaluated 50 stroke outpatients twice. The first interview was face-to-face and the second was made by telephone and the time between the two assessments ranged between 7 and 14 days. Four certified raters evaluated the patients using a structured interview based on a questionnaire previously published in the literature. Raters were blinded for the Rankin score given by the other rater. For both assessments, the rater could also interview a caregiver if necessary. The patients' mean age was 62.8 ± 14.7, mean number of years of study 5.2 ± 3.4, 52% were males, 55.2% of patients needed a caregiver's help to answer the questions. The majority of caregivers were female (85%), mean age 49.1 ± 15, and mean number of years of study 8.3 ± 3.4. Perfect agreement between the telephone and face-to-face assessments was obtained for 27 (54%) patients, corresponding to an unweighted Kappa of 0.44 (95% CI 0.27-0.61) and a weighted Kappa of 0.89. The median of telephone assessment mRS was 3.5 (interquartile range = 2-4) and of face-to-face assessment was 4 (interquartile range = 2-5). There was no difference between the two assessments (Wilcoxon test, p = 0.35). Despite the low education level of our sample, the telephone assessment of functional impairment of stroke patients using a translated and culturally adapted Brazilian Portuguese version of the mRS showed good validity and reliability. Therefore, the telephone assessment of mRS can be used in clinical practice and

CHARACTERISTICS OF STRUCTURE FORMATION IN COOKED SAUSAGE PRODUCTS USING SONOCHEMICAL TECHNOLOGIES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. M. Yevtushenko

2016-01-01

Full Text Available This paper studies the features of formation of sausage product structure in the process of cooking. It is shown that the viscosity of sausage meat varies in a complex manner and has three characteristic areas. The characteristic parameters that determine the formation of the structure of sausages for each area were found. It is established that the use of the cavitation brine gives the finished product a gentle consistence, elasticity and distinct taste that makes it more preferable for the consumer.

Photoionization-regulated star formation and the structure of molecular clouds

Science.gov (United States)

Mckee, Christopher F.

1989-01-01

A model for the rate of low-mass star formation in Galactic molecular clouds and for the influence of this star formation on the structure and evolution of the clouds is presented. The rate of energy injection by newly formed stars is estimated, and the effect of this energy injection on the size of the cloud is determined. It is shown that the observed rate of star formation appears adequate to support the observed clouds against gravitational collapse. The rate of photoionization-regulated star formation is estimated and it is shown to be in agreement with estimates of the observed rate of star formation if the observed molecular cloud parameters are used. The mean cloud extinction and the Galactic star formation rate per unit mass of molecular gas are predicted theoretically from the condition that photionization-regulated star formation be in equilibrium. A simple model for the evolution of isolated molecular clouds is developed.

Structured interview versus self-report test vantages for the assessment of personality pathology in cocaine dependence.

Science.gov (United States)

Marlowe, D B; Husband, S D; Bonieskie, L M; Kirby, K C; Platt, J J

1997-01-01

The study compared structured interview (SCID-II) and self-report test (MCMI-II) vantages for the detection and characterization of personality pathology among 144 urban, poor, cocaine-addicted individuals seeking outpatient treatment. Diagnostic agreement was inadequate for most disorders, and the instruments at best shared only modest common variance. Positive predictive power was poor for all MCMI-II scales, though negative predictive power was good to excellent. This lends support for the use of the MCMI-II as a screening measure to rule out Axis II disorders; however, confirmation of positive diagnoses will require follow-up interview assessment. Future development of self-report personality inventories for substance abusers should focus on controlling for the acute dysphoric effects of drug use and related dysfunction, expanding attention to Cluster B content domains, and incorporating more objective criteria for assessing paranoia and "odd/eccentric" traits.

STAR FORMATION LAWS AND THRESHOLDS FROM INTERSTELLAR MEDIUM STRUCTURE AND TURBULENCE

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Renaud, Florent; Kraljic, Katarina; Bournaud, Frédéric

2012-01-01

We present an analytical model of the relation between the surface density of gas and star formation rate in galaxies and clouds, as a function of the presence of supersonic turbulence and the associated structure of the interstellar medium (ISM). The model predicts a power-law relation of index 3/2, flattened under the effects of stellar feedback at high densities or in very turbulent media, and a break at low surface densities when ISM turbulence becomes too weak to induce strong compression. This model explains the diversity of star formation laws and thresholds observed in nearby spirals and their resolved regions, the Small Magellanic Cloud, high-redshift disks and starbursting mergers, as well as Galactic molecular clouds. While other models have proposed interstellar dust content and molecule formation to be key ingredients to the observed variations of the star formation efficiency, we demonstrate instead that these variations can be explained by ISM turbulence and structure in various types of galaxies.

Past-behavioural versus situational questions in a postgraduate admissions multiple mini-interview: a reliability and acceptability comparison.

Science.gov (United States)

Yoshimura, Hiroshi; Kitazono, Hidetaka; Fujitani, Shigeki; Machi, Junji; Saiki, Takuya; Suzuki, Yasuyuki; Ponnamperuma, Gominda

2015-04-14

The Multiple Mini-Interview (MMI) mostly uses 'Situational' Questions (SQs) as an interview format within a station, rather than 'Past-Behavioural' Questions (PBQs), which are most frequently adopted in traditional single-station personal interviews (SSPIs) for non-medical and medical selection. This study investigated reliability and acceptability of the postgraduate admissions MMI with PBQ and SQ interview formats within MMI stations. Twenty-six Japanese medical graduates, first completed the two-year national obligatory initial postgraduate clinical training programme and then applied to three specialty training programmes - internal medicine, general surgery, and emergency medicine - in a Japanese teaching hospital, where they underwent the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)-competency-based MMI. This MMI contained five stations, with two examiners per station. In each station, a PBQ, and then an SQ were asked consecutively. PBQ and SQ interview formats were not separated into two different stations, or the order of questioning of PBQs and SQs in individual stations was not changed due to lack of space and experienced examiners. Reliability was analysed for the scores of these two MMI question types. Candidates and examiners were surveyed on this experience. The PBQ and SQ formats had generalisability coefficients of 0.822 and 0.821, respectively. With one examiner per station, seven stations could produce a reliability of more than 0.80 in both PBQ and SQ formats. More than 60% of both candidates and examiners felt positive about the overall candidates' ability. All participants liked the fairness of this MMI when compared with the previously experienced SSPI. SQs were perceived more favourable by candidates; in contrast, PBQs were perceived more relevant by examiners. Both PBQs and SQs are equally reliable and acceptable as station interview formats in the postgraduate admissions MMI. However, the use of the two formats within the

Semi-analytical quasi-normal mode theory for the local density of states in coupled photonic crystal cavity-waveguide structures

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

de Lasson, Jakob Rosenkrantz; Kristensen, Philip Trøst; Mørk, Jesper

2015-01-01

We present and validate a semi-analytical quasi-normal mode (QNM) theory for the local density of states (LDOS) in coupled photonic crystal (PhC) cavity-waveguide structures. By means of an expansion of the Green's function on one or a few QNMs, a closed-form expression for the LDOS is obtained, ......-trivial spectrum with a peak and a dip is found, which is reproduced only when including both the two relevant QNMs in the theory. In both cases, we find relative errors below 1% in the bandwidth of interest.......We present and validate a semi-analytical quasi-normal mode (QNM) theory for the local density of states (LDOS) in coupled photonic crystal (PhC) cavity-waveguide structures. By means of an expansion of the Green's function on one or a few QNMs, a closed-form expression for the LDOS is obtained......, and for two types of two-dimensional PhCs, with one and two cavities side-coupled to an extended waveguide, the theory is validated against numerically exact computations. For the single cavity, a slightly asymmetric spectrum is found, which the QNM theory reproduces, and for two cavities a non...

Trajetória docente em educação física: percursos formativos e profissionais Teacher's trajectory in physical education: formative and professional routes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexandra Folle

2010-12-01

was used three sources of information: a semi-structured interviews with the PE teachers; b semi-structured interviews with three workmates; c documental analysis. The technique of content analysis was used for information analysis. The results revealed that the teachers, by the same time they had different positive experiences during their initial training, they had very similar negative experiences, emphasizing the distance between University's experiences and the reality of public schools. As a strategy to continue in the formative course, teachers made post-graduation courses, for expertise and professional improvement. The start in the career made possible feelings of survive and discovery, emphasizing the contrast to the reality. During professional journey, they received activities of reliance at schools they worked. The hard disinvestment predominates in the professional journey of only one teacher, but the other demonstrated to wait for retirement in a soft way. Concerning expectations related to the retirement, they intend to develop different professional activities, but not returning to teaching activities.

A formative evaluation of a nurse practitioner-led interprofessional geriatric outpatient clinic.

Science.gov (United States)

Hansen, Kevin T; McDonald, Cheryl; O'Hara, Sue; Post, Leslie; Silcox, Susan; Gutmanis, Iris A

2017-07-01

The number of older adults with multiple complex comorbidities and frailty is expected to increase dramatically in the coming decades, which will necessitate a concomitant increase in the need for skilled clinicians who are able to manage complex geriatric needs. Many physicians, however, lack the required formal training, often leading to long wait-lists for specialist clinics. Yet, clinics led by non-physician professionals specialising in geriatric care could decrease these delays. This article describes the development and evaluation of a nurse practitioner-led interprofessional geriatric outpatient clinic (Inter-D Clinic). A combination of semi-structured clinician interviews, post-clinic follow-up phone calls, satisfaction surveys, and information from the hospital workload management system served as data sources for this formative programme evaluation. Between January 2013 and December 2014, 293 patients were seen in the clinic with the majority being referred for either memory issues (49%) or functional decline (35%). The clinic assessment frequently uncovered other issues, which led to guidance around falls prevention, improved nutrition, medication management, and referrals to available community supports. Both patients and referring physicians were very satisfied with this model of care, which is likely transferable to other locations provided the needed clinical expertise and community support services are available.

Plasma turbulence. Structure formation, selection rule, dynamic response and dynamics transport

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ito, Sanae I.

2010-01-01

The five-year project of Grant-in-Aid for Specially Promoted Research entitled general research on the structure formation and selection rule in plasma turbulence had brought many outcomes. Based on these outcomes, the Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (S) program entitled general research on dynamic response and dynamic transport in plasma turbulence has started. In the present paper, the state-of-the-art of the research activities on the structure formation, selection rule and dynamics in plasma turbulence are reviewed with reference to outcomes of these projects. (author)

Item-Level Psychometrics of the Glasgow Outcome Scale: Extended Structured Interviews.

Science.gov (United States)

Hong, Ickpyo; Li, Chih-Ying; Velozo, Craig A

2016-04-01

The Glasgow Outcome Scale-Extended (GOSE) structured interview captures critical components of activities and participation, including home, shopping, work, leisure, and family/friend relationships. Eighty-nine community dwelling adults with mild-moderate traumatic brain injury (TBI) were recruited (average = 2.7 year post injury). Nine items of the 19 items were used for the psychometrics analysis purpose. Factor analysis and item-level psychometrics were investigated using the Rasch partial-credit model. Although the principal components analysis of residuals suggests that a single measurement factor dominates the measure, the instrument did not meet the factor analysis criteria. Five items met the rating scale criteria. Eight items fit the Rasch model. The instrument demonstrated low person reliability (0.63), low person strata (2.07), and a slight ceiling effect. The GOSE demonstrated limitations in precisely measuring activities/participation for individuals after TBI. Future studies should examine the impact of the low precision of the GOSE on effect size. © The Author(s) 2016.

Compact stellar object: the formation and structure

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Duarte, S.B. [Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Fisicas (CBPF/MCT), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil)

2012-07-01

Full text: The formation of compact objects is viewed at the final stages of stellar evolution. The supernova explosion events are then focalized to explain the formation of pulsars, hybrid neutron star and the limit case of the latter, the quark stars. We discuss the stability and structure of these objects in connection with the properties of the hadron and quark-gluon plasma equation of state. The hadron-quark phase transition in deep interior of these objects is discussed taking into account the implications on the density distribution of matter along the radial direction. The role of neutrinos confinement in the ultradense stellar medium in the early stages of pulsar formation is another interesting aspect to be mentioned in this presentation. Recent results for maximum mass of compact stellar objects for different forms of equations of state will be shown, presenting some theoretical predictions for maximum mass of neutron stars allowed by different equations of state assigned to dense stellar medium. Although a density greater than few times the nuclear equilibrium density appears in deep interior of the core, at the crust the density decreases by several orders of magnitude where a variety of hadronic states appears, the 'pasta'-states of hadrons. More externally, a lattice of nuclei can be formed permeated not only by electrons but also by a large amount of free neutrons and protons. These are possible structure of neutron star crust to have the density and pressures with null values at the neutron star surface. The ultimate goal of this talk is to give a short view of the compact star area for students and those who are introducing in this subject. (author)

Strategic Planning Process and Organizational Structure: Impacts, Confluence and Similarities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dyogo Felype Neis

2017-01-01

Full Text Available This article aims to analyze the relationship between the strategic planning process and organizational structure in the reality of a complex organization: the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Santa Catarina (MPSC. The research is set by the single case study research strategy and data were collected through the following instruments: bibliographical research, documentary research, semi-structured interviews and systematic observation. The conclusion indicates that the phases of the strategic planning process influence and are influenced by the elements of the organizational structure and highlights the confluences, the impacts and similarities between the stages of formulation and implementation of the strategic process with the various constituent elements of the organizational structure.

Axisymmetric Tornado Simulations with a Semi-Slip Boundary

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Brian H. Fiedler

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The structure of natural tornadoes and simulated analogs are sensitive to the lower boundary condition for friction. Three-dimensional numerical simulations of storms require a choice for turbulence parameterizations and resolution of wind near the lower boundary. This article explores some of the consequences of choices of a surface drag coefficient on the structure of a mature simulated tornado, using a conventional axisymmetric model. The surface drag parameterization is explored over the range of the semi-slip condition, including the extremes of no-slip and free-slip. A moderate semi-slip condition allows for an extreme pressure deficit, but without the unrealistic vortex breakdown of the no-slip condition.

In-situ observation of structure formation in polymer processing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Murase, Hiroki

2009-01-01

In-situ X-ray scattering in polymer processing is a crucial method to elucidate the mechanism of structure formation in the process. Fiber spinning is one such process primarily imposing extensional deformation on polymeric melt at the spin-line during rapid cooling. In-situ small-angle X-ray scattering using synchrotron radiation on the spinning process allows direct observation of the transient structure developing in the process. (author)

Attachment representation in institutionalized children: a preliminary study using the child attachment interview.

Science.gov (United States)

Zaccagnino, Maria; Cussino, Martina; Preziosa, Alessandra; Veglia, Fabio; Carassa, Antonella

2015-01-01

The experience of being removed from one's home and the transition to a residential care system pose enormous challenges for a child. Substantial evidence has been found regarding severe developmental effects due to early exposition to extreme psychosocial and affective deprivation. The research on Bowlby's theoretical proposals has highlighted the link between insecure, disorganized and atypical attachment patterns and children both living in foster care facilities and adopted out of those institutions. The goal of this pilot study is to investigate the attachment representation in an Italian sample of children in middle childhood (9-13 years old) who have been removed from their homes. Two compared groups of children participated in this study. The first group was composed of 24 Italian children who had been removed from their homes. The second group, considered as the control group, was composed of 35 Italian children who had never been in foster care placement. The quality of children's attachment to their primary caregivers was assessed by the Child Attachment Interview, an innovative semi-structured interview that seeks to bridge the measurement gap identified in middle childhood The children in foster care placement show a higher percentage of insecure and disorganized attachment representations and lower scores on the Child Reflective Functioning Scale. The clinical implications and enhancements to effective intervention for foster children's caretaking are discussed. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Importance of intrinsic properties of dense caseinate dispersions for structure formation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Manski, J.M.; Riemsdijk, van L.E.; Goot, van der A.J.; Boom, R.M.

2007-01-01

Rheological measurements of dense calcium caseinate and sodium caseinate dispersions (15%) provided insight into the factors determining shear-induced structure formation in caseinates. Calcium caseinate at a sufficiently high concentration (30%) was shown to form highly anisotropic structures

Frequency formats, probability formats, or problem structure? A test of the nested-sets hypothesis in an extensional reasoning task

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

William P. Neace

2008-02-01

Full Text Available Five experiments addressed a controversy in the probability judgment literature that centers on the efficacy of framing probabilities as frequencies. The natural frequency view predicts that frequency formats attenuate errors, while the nested-sets view predicts that highlighting the set-subset structure of the problem reduces error, regardless of problem format. This study tested these predictions using a conjunction task. Previous studies reporting that frequency formats reduced conjunction errors confounded reference class with problem format. After controlling this confound, the present study's findings show that conjunction errors can be reduced using either a probability or a frequency format, that frequency effects depend upon the presence of a reference class, and that frequency formats do not promote better statistical reasoning than probability formats.

Perspectives of policy and political decision makers on access to formal dementia care: expert interviews in eight European countries.

Science.gov (United States)

Broda, Anja; Bieber, Anja; Meyer, Gabriele; Hopper, Louise; Joyce, Rachael; Irving, Kate; Zanetti, Orazio; Portolani, Elisa; Kerpershoek, Liselot; Verhey, Frans; Vugt, Marjolein de; Wolfs, Claire; Eriksen, Siren; Røsvik, Janne; Marques, Maria J; Gonçalves-Pereira, Manuel; Sjölund, Britt-Marie; Woods, Bob; Jelley, Hannah; Orrell, Martin; Stephan, Astrid

2017-08-03

As part of the ActifCare (ACcess to Timely Formal Care) project, we conducted expert interviews in eight European countries with policy and political decision makers, or representatives of relevant institutions, to determine their perspectives on access to formal care for people with dementia and their carers. Each ActifCare country (Germany, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, United Kingdom) conducted semi-structured interviews with 4-7 experts (total N = 38). The interview guide addressed the topics "Complexity and Continuity of Care", "Formal Services", and "Public Awareness". Country-specific analysis of interview transcripts used an inductive qualitative content analysis. Cross-national synthesis focused on similarities in themes across the ActifCare countries. The analysis revealed ten common themes and two additional sub-themes across countries. Among others, the experts highlighted the need for a coordinating role and the necessity of information to address issues of complexity and continuity of care, demanded person-centred, tailored, and multidisciplinary formal services, and referred to education, mass media and campaigns as means to raise public awareness. Policy and political decision makers appear well acquainted with current discussions among both researchers and practitioners of possible approaches to improve access to dementia care. Experts described pragmatic, realistic strategies to influence dementia care. Suggested innovations concerned how to achieve improved dementia care, rather than transforming the nature of the services provided. Knowledge gained in these expert interviews may be useful to national decision makers when they consider reshaping the organisation of dementia care, and may thus help to develop best-practice strategies and recommendations.

Importance of crystallinity of anchoring block of semi-solid amphiphilic triblock copolymers in stabilization of silicone nanoemulsions.

Science.gov (United States)

Le Kim, Trang Huyen; Jun, Hwiseok; Nam, Yoon Sung

2017-10-01

Polymer emulsifiers solidified at the interface between oil and water can provide exceptional dispersion stability to emulsions due to the formation of unique semi-solid interphase. Our recent works showed that the structural stability of paraffin-in-water emulsions highly depends on the oil wettability of hydrophobic block of methoxy poly(ethylene glycol)-block-poly(ε-caprolactone) (mPEG-b-PCL). Here we investigate the effects of the crystallinity of hydrophobic block of triblock copolymer-based emulsifiers, PCLL-b-PEG-b-PCLL, on the colloidal properties of silicone oil-in-water nanoemulsions. The increased ratio of l-lactide to ε-caprolactone decreases the crystallinity of the hydrophobic block, which in turn reduces the droplet size of silicone oil nanoemulsions due to the increased chain mobility at the interface. All of the prepared nanoemulsions are very stable for a month at 37°C. However, the exposure to repeated freeze-thaw cycles quickly destabilizes the nanoemulsions prepared using the polymer with the reduced crystallinity. This work demonstrates that the anchoring chain crystallization in the semi-solid interphase is critically important for the structural robustness of nanoemulsions under harsh physical stresses. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Structure, function and management of semi-natural habitats for conservation biological control: a review of European studies.

Science.gov (United States)

Holland, John M; Bianchi, Felix Jja; Entling, Martin H; Moonen, Anna-Camilla; Smith, Barbara M; Jeanneret, Philippe

2016-09-01

Different semi-natural habitats occur on farmland, and it is the vegetation's traits and structure that subsequently determine their ability to support natural enemies and their associated contribution to conservation biocontrol. New habitats can be created and existing ones improved with agri-environment scheme funding in all EU member states. Understanding the contribution of each habitat type can aid the development of conservation control strategies. Here we review the extent to which the predominant habitat types in Europe support natural enemies, whether this results in enhanced natural enemy densities in the adjacent crop and whether this leads to reduced pest densities. Considerable variation exists in the available information for the different habitat types and trophic levels. Natural enemies within each habitat were the most studied, with less information on whether they were enhanced in adjacent fields, while their impact on pests was rarely investigated. Most information was available for woody and herbaceous linear habitats, yet not for woodland which can be the most common semi-natural habitat in many regions. While the management and design of habitats offer potential to stimulate conservation biocontrol, we also identified knowledge gaps. A better understanding of the relationship between resource availability and arthropod communities across habitat types, the spatiotemporal distribution of resources in the landscape and interactions with other factors that play a role in pest regulation could contribute to an informed management of semi-natural habitats for biocontrol. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry.

The Family Socialization Interview-Revised (FSI-R): a Comprehensive Assessment of Parental Disciplinary Behaviors.

Science.gov (United States)

O'Dor, Sarah L; Grasso, Damion J; Forbes, Danielle; Bates, John E; McCarthy, Kimberly J; Wakschlag, Lauren S; Briggs-Gowan, Margaret J

2017-04-01

Elucidating the complex mechanisms by which harsh parenting increases risk of child psychopathology is key to targeted prevention. This requires nuanced methods that capture the varied perceptions and experiences of diverse families. The Family Socialization Interview-Revised (FSI-R), adapted from an interview developed by Dodge et al. (Child Development, 65, 649-665, 1994), is a comprehensive, semi-structured interview for characterizing methods of parental discipline used with young children. The FSI-R coding system systematically rates parenting style, usual discipline techniques, and most intense physical and psychological discipline based on rater judgment across two eras: (1) birth to the previous year, and (2) the previous year to present. The current study examined the psychometric properties of the FSI-R in a diverse, high-risk community sample of 386 mothers and their children, ages 3 to 6 years. Interrater reliability was good to excellent for codes capturing physically and psychologically harsh parenting, and restrictive/punitive parenting styles. Findings supported the FSI-R's convergent and incremental validity. Importantly, the FSI-R demonstrated incremental utility, explaining unique variance in children's externalizing and internalizing symptoms beyond that explained by traditional surveys and observed parenting. The FSI-R appeared particularly promising for capturing risk associated with young children's depressive symptoms, as these were generally not significantly associated with other measures of harsh parenting. Overall, findings support the added value of the FSI-R within a multi-method assessment of disciplinary practices across early child development. Future implications for prevention are discussed.

Modulated structure formation in demixing paraffin blends

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gilbert, E.P.

2002-01-01

Small angle scattering (SANS and SAXS) and differential scanning calorimetry have been measured from C 28 :C 36 normal paraffin mixtures of varying composition quenched from the melt. Satellite peaks are observed in the SAXS whose offset in Q, relative to Bragg diffraction peaks associated with the average structure, are composition dependent. The offset is close to the position of the most intense peak observed in SANS. Scattering from the quenched structures is consistent with a correlated displacement and substitutional disorder model yielding modulations that are incommensurate with the average lattice. DSC shows an additional endotherm in the mixtures that is not present in the pure components and is associated with this superstructure formation. (orig.)

Spatiotemporal Fusion of Remote Sensing Images with Structural Sparsity and Semi-Coupled Dictionary Learning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jingbo Wei

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Fusion of remote sensing images with different spatial and temporal resolutions is highly needed by diverse earth observation applications. A small number of spatiotemporal fusion methods using sparse representation appear to be more promising than traditional linear mixture methods in reflecting abruptly changing terrestrial content. However, one of the main difficulties is that the results of sparse representation have reduced expressional accuracy; this is due in part to insufficient prior knowledge. For remote sensing images, the cluster and joint structural sparsity of the sparse coefficients could be employed as a priori knowledge. In this paper, a new optimization model is constructed with the semi-coupled dictionary learning and structural sparsity to predict the unknown high-resolution image from known images. Specifically, the intra-block correlation and cluster-structured sparsity are considered for single-channel reconstruction, and the inter-band similarity of joint-structured sparsity is considered for multichannel reconstruction, and both are implemented with block sparse Bayesian learning. The detailed optimization steps are given iteratively. In the experimental procedure, the red, green, and near-infrared bands of Landsat-7 and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS satellites are put to fusion with root mean square errors to check the prediction accuracy. It can be concluded from the experiment that the proposed methods can produce higher quality than state-of-the-art methods.

Situational awareness for unmanned ground vehicles in semi-structured environments

Science.gov (United States)

Goodsell, Thomas G.; Snorrason, Magnus; Stevens, Mark R.

2002-07-01

Situational Awareness (SA) is a critical component of effective autonomous vehicles, reducing operator workload and allowing an operator to command multiple vehicles or simultaneously perform other tasks. Our Scene Estimation & Situational Awareness Mapping Engine (SESAME) provides SA for mobile robots in semi-structured scenes, such as parking lots and city streets. SESAME autonomously builds volumetric models for scene analysis. For example, a SES-AME equipped robot can build a low-resolution 3-D model of a row of cars, then approach a specific car and build a high-resolution model from a few stereo snapshots. The model can be used onboard to determine the type of car and locate its license plate, or the model can be segmented out and sent back to an operator who can view it from different viewpoints. As new views of the scene are obtained, the model is updated and changes are tracked (such as cars arriving or departing). Since the robot's position must be accurately known, SESAME also has automated techniques for deter-mining the position and orientation of the camera (and hence, robot) with respect to existing maps. This paper presents an overview of the SESAME architecture and algorithms, including our model generation algorithm.

Protein secondary structure prediction for a single-sequence using hidden semi-Markov models

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Borodovsky Mark

2006-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The accuracy of protein secondary structure prediction has been improving steadily towards the 88% estimated theoretical limit. There are two types of prediction algorithms: Single-sequence prediction algorithms imply that information about other (homologous proteins is not available, while algorithms of the second type imply that information about homologous proteins is available, and use it intensively. The single-sequence algorithms could make an important contribution to studies of proteins with no detected homologs, however the accuracy of protein secondary structure prediction from a single-sequence is not as high as when the additional evolutionary information is present. Results In this paper, we further refine and extend the hidden semi-Markov model (HSMM initially considered in the BSPSS algorithm. We introduce an improved residue dependency model by considering the patterns of statistically significant amino acid correlation at structural segment borders. We also derive models that specialize on different sections of the dependency structure and incorporate them into HSMM. In addition, we implement an iterative training method to refine estimates of HSMM parameters. The three-state-per-residue accuracy and other accuracy measures of the new method, IPSSP, are shown to be comparable or better than ones for BSPSS as well as for PSIPRED, tested under the single-sequence condition. Conclusions We have shown that new dependency models and training methods bring further improvements to single-sequence protein secondary structure prediction. The results are obtained under cross-validation conditions using a dataset with no pair of sequences having significant sequence similarity. As new sequences are added to the database it is possible to augment the dependency structure and obtain even higher accuracy. Current and future advances should contribute to the improvement of function prediction for orphan proteins inscrutable

Evaluation of an interview process for admission into a school of pharmacy.

Science.gov (United States)

Kelsch, Michael P; Friesner, Daniel L

2012-03-12

To evaluate the doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) admissions interview process at North Dakota State University (NDSU). Faculty pairs interviewed candidates using a standardized grading rubric to evaluate qualitative parameters or attributes such as ethics, relevant life and work experience, emotional maturity, commitment to patient care, leadership, and understanding of the pharmacy profession. Total interview scores, individual attribute domain scores, and the consistency and reliability of the interviewers were assessed. The total mean interview score for the candidate pool was 17.4 of 25 points. Mean scores for individual domains ranged from 2.3 to 3.0 on a Likert-scale of 0-4. Nine of the 11 faculty pairs showed no mean differences from their interview partner in total interview scores given. Evaluations by 8 of the 11 faculty pairs produced high interrater reliability. The current interview process is generally consistent and reliable; however, future improvements such as additional interviewer training and adoption of a multiple mini-interview format could be made.

Two-year follow-up study of a group-based diabetes medical nutrition therapy and motivational interviewing intervention among African American women

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Miller ST

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Stephania T Miller,1 Sylvie A Akohoue2 1Department of Surgery, 2Department of Family and Community Medicine, Meharry Medical College, Nashville, TN, USA Objectives: To assess the 2-year efficacy of a combined medical nutrition therapy and motivational interviewing (MI pilot study intervention and factors that influenced long-term dietary self-care.Research design and methods: Pilot study participants, African American women with type 2 diabetes, completed a 2-year follow-up study visit, including clinical assessments and completion of a dietary self-care questionnaire and a semi-structured interview. Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were used to evaluate differences between baseline and 2-year follow-up clinical and dietary self-care outcomes. Hierarchical coding was used to analyze semi-structured interviews and categorize facilitator and barrier themes into subthemes. Subthemes were quantified based on the number of subtheme-related comments. Results: Among the 12 participants (mean age 57.1±5.7 years, improvements were observed for HbA1c (baseline: 10.25%; interquartile range [IQR]: 8.10, 11.72 and follow-up: 8.8%; IQR: 7.48,10.22, systolic blood pressure (baseline: 142 mm Hg; IQR: 134.25, 157.25 and follow-up: 127 mm Hg; IQR: 113.5, 143.25, frequency of eating high-fat foods (baseline: 3.5 days; IQR: 2.75, 4.25 and follow-up: 3 days; IQR: 2.5, 4.5, and of spacing carbohydrates throughout the day (baseline: 3 days; IQR: 3.0, 4.0 and follow-up: 4 days; IQR: 1.5, 4.5. There was a statistically significant decrease (p=0.04 in the frequency of fruit and vegetable intake (baseline: 4 days; IQR: 3.75, 7.0 and follow-up: 3.5 days; IQR: 2.75, 4.0. Dietary self-care barriers and facilitators included internal (eg, motivation and external factors (eg, social support. Motivation (70 comments and lack of motivation (67 comments were the most pervasive facilitator and barrier subthemes, respectively. Conclusion: Overall, diabetes-related clinical and dietary

Physical phenomena stipulating nucleus formation, growth and structure films

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Aleksandrov, L N [AN SSSR, Novosibirsk. Inst. Fiziki Poluprovodnikov

1975-03-01

This review is concerned with the physical phenomena responsible for the nucleation, growth and structure of films. Emphasis is placed on the study of films of solid-metal systems, semiconductors (In, As, Cd, Se, CdS), and dielectrics. The following problems are discussed in the paper: general regularities of the thermodynamics and kinetics of film formation, methods of obtaining a solid film, the process of film formation, the rate of growth of individual grains. The critical film thickness and its measurement are also considered. The results of investigating the process of formation of mono- and polycrystalline films are discussed. It is concluded, on the basis of studies into the relaxation processes accompanying the growth of films, that an insight into these processes will permits improving film properties.

How relevant are assembled equilibrium samples in understanding structure formation during lipid digestion?

Science.gov (United States)

Phan, Stephanie; Salentinig, Stefan; Hawley, Adrian; Boyd, Ben J

2015-10-01

Lipid-based formulations are gaining interest for use as drug delivery systems for poorly water-soluble drug compounds. During digestion, the lipolysis products self-assemble with endogenous surfactants in the gastrointestinal tract to form colloidal structures, enabling enhanced drug solubilisation. Although earlier studies in the literature focus on assembled equilibrium systems, little is known about structure formation under dynamic lipolysis conditions. The purpose of this study was to investigate the likely colloidal structure formation in the small intestine after the ingestion of lipids, under equilibrium and dynamic conditions. The structural aspects were studied using small angle X-ray scattering and dynamic light scattering, and were found to depend on lipid composition, lipid chain length, prandial state and emulsification. Incorporation of phospholipids and lipolysis products into bile salt micelles resulted in swelling of the structure. At insufficient bile salt concentrations, a co-existing lamellar phase was observed, due to a reduction in the solubilisation capacity for lipolysis products. Emulsification accelerated the rate of lipolysis and structure formation. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

75 FR 76736 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; Comment Request

Science.gov (United States)

2010-12-09

... training. This survey's target audience is all patients identified as LEP. The purpose of this survey is to... implementing the training module. This semi-structured interview's target audience consists of up to two master... semi-structured interview's target audience consists of up to 6 persons who may include master-trainers...

76 FR 10902 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; Comment Request

Science.gov (United States)

2011-02-28

... training. This survey's target audience is all patients identified as LEP. The purpose of this survey is to... implementing the training module. This semi-structured interview's target audience consists of up to two master... semi-structured interview's target audience consists of up to 6 persons who may include master-trainers...

Semi-active friction damper for buildings subject to seismic excitation

Science.gov (United States)

Mantilla, Juan S.; Solarte, Alexander; Gomez, Daniel; Marulanda, Johannio; Thomson, Peter

2016-04-01

Structural control systems are considered an effective alternative for reducing vibrations in civil structures and are classified according to their energy supply requirement: passive, semi-active, active and hybrid. Commonly used structural control systems in buildings are passive friction dampers, which add energy dissipation through damping mechanisms induced by sliding friction between their surfaces. Semi-Active Variable Friction Dampers (SAVFD) allow the optimum efficiency range of friction dampers to be enhanced by controlling the clamping force in real time. This paper describes the development and performance evaluation of a low-cost SAVFD for the reduction of vibrations of structures subject to earthquakes. The SAVFD and a benchmark structural control test structure were experimentally characterized and analytical models were developed and updated based on the dynamic characterization. Decentralized control algorithms were implemented and tested on a shaking table. Relative displacements and accelerations of the structure controlled with the SAVFD were 80% less than those of the uncontrolled structure

Interviewer-Respondent Interactions in Conversational and Standardized Interviewing

Science.gov (United States)

Mittereder, Felicitas; Durow, Jen; West, Brady T.; Kreuter, Frauke; Conrad, Frederick G.

2018-01-01

Standardized interviewing (SI) and conversational interviewing are two approaches to collect survey data that differ in how interviewers address respondent confusion. This article examines interviewer-respondent interactions that occur during these two techniques, focusing on requests for and provisions of clarification. The data derive from an…

Electroactive semi-interpenetrating polymer networks architecture with tunable IR reflectivity

Science.gov (United States)

Chevrot, C.; Teyssié, D.; Verge, P.; Goujon, L.; Tran-Van, F.; Vidal, F.; Aubert, P. H.; Peralta, S.; Sauques, L.

2011-04-01

A promising alternative of multi-layered devices showing electrochromic properties results from the design of a self-supported semi-interpenetrating polymer network (semi-IPN) including an electronic conductive polymer (ECP) formed within. The formation of the ECP in the network has already been described by oxidative polymerization using iron trichloride as an oxidant and leading to conducting semi-IPN with mixed electronic and ionic conductivities as well as convenient mechanical properties. This presentation relates to the elaboration of such semi-IPN using polyethyleneoxide (PEO) network or a PEO/NBR (Nitrile Butadiene Rubber) IPN in which a linear poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) is formed symmetrically and selectively as very thin layers very next to the two main faces of the film matrix. PEO/PEDOT semi-IPNs lead to interesting optical reflective properties in the IR between 0.8 and 25 μm. Reflectance contrasts up to 35 % is observed when, after swelling in an ionic liquid, a low voltage is applied between the two main faces of the film. However the low flexibility and brittleness of the film and a slow degradation in air at temperature up from 60°C prompted to replace the PEO matrix by a flexible PEO/NBR IPN one. Indeed, the combination of NBR and PEO in an IPN leads to materials possessing flexible properties, good ionic conductivity at 25°C as well as a better resistance to thermal ageing. Finally, NBR/PEO/PEDOT semi-IPNs allow observing comparable reflectance contrast in the IR range than those shown by PEO/PEDOT semi-IPNs.

A dorsolateral prefrontal cortex semi-automatic segmenter

Science.gov (United States)

Al-Hakim, Ramsey; Fallon, James; Nain, Delphine; Melonakos, John; Tannenbaum, Allen

2006-03-01

Structural, functional, and clinical studies in schizophrenia have, for several decades, consistently implicated dysfunction of the prefrontal cortex in the etiology of the disease. Functional and structural imaging studies, combined with clinical, psychometric, and genetic analyses in schizophrenia have confirmed the key roles played by the prefrontal cortex and closely linked "prefrontal system" structures such as the striatum, amygdala, mediodorsal thalamus, substantia nigra-ventral tegmental area, and anterior cingulate cortices. The nodal structure of the prefrontal system circuit is the dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), or Brodmann area 46, which also appears to be the most commonly studied and cited brain area with respect to schizophrenia. 1, 2, 3, 4 In 1986, Weinberger et. al. tied cerebral blood flow in the DLPFC to schizophrenia.1 In 2001, Perlstein et. al. demonstrated that DLPFC activation is essential for working memory tasks commonly deficient in schizophrenia. 2 More recently, groups have linked morphological changes due to gene deletion and increased DLPFC glutamate concentration to schizophrenia. 3, 4 Despite the experimental and clinical focus on the DLPFC in structural and functional imaging, the variability of the location of this area, differences in opinion on exactly what constitutes DLPFC, and inherent difficulties in segmenting this highly convoluted cortical region have contributed to a lack of widely used standards for manual or semi-automated segmentation programs. Given these implications, we developed a semi-automatic tool to segment the DLPFC from brain MRI scans in a reproducible way to conduct further morphological and statistical studies. The segmenter is based on expert neuroanatomist rules (Fallon-Kindermann rules), inspired by cytoarchitectonic data and reconstructions presented by Rajkowska and Goldman-Rakic. 5 It is semi-automated to provide essential user interactivity. We present our results and provide details on

Wild and semi-wild leafy vegetables used by the Maale and Ari ethnic communities in southern Ethiopia

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kidane, Berhane; Maesen, van der L.J.G.; Asfaw, Zemede; Sosef, M.S.M.; Andel, van Tinde

2015-01-01

We studied wild and semi-wild leafy vegetables used by the Maale and Ari ethnic communities in southern Ethiopia. Quantitative and qualitative ethnobotanical methods, including individual and focus group (n = 18) discussions, field observations, and individual interviews (n = 144), were used in

Experiences of intervertebral motion palpation in osteopathic practice - A qualitative interview study among Swedish osteopaths.

Science.gov (United States)

Sposato, Niklas S; Bjerså, Kristofer

2017-01-01

Assessment in manual therapy includes quantitative and qualitative procedures, and intervertebral motion palpation (IMP) is one of the core assessment methods in osteopathic practice. The aim of this study was to explore osteopathic practitioners' experiences of clinical decision-making and IMP as a diagnostic tool for planning and evaluation of osteopathic interventions. The study was conducted with semi-structured interviews that included eight informants. Content analysis was used as the analytical procedure. In total, three categories emerged from the analysis: strategic decision-making, diagnostic usability of IMP, and treatment applicability of IMP. The study indicated that IMP was considered relevant and was given particular importance in cases where IMP findings confirmed clinical information attained from other stages in the diagnostic process as a whole. However, IMP findings were experienced as less important if they were not correlated to other findings. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Inert-Gas Condensed Co-W Nanoclusters: Formation, Structure and Magnetic Properties

Science.gov (United States)

Golkar-Fard, Farhad Reza

Rare-earth permanent magnets are used extensively in numerous technical applications, e.g. wind turbines, audio speakers, and hybrid/electric vehicles. The demand and production of rare-earth permanent magnets in the world has in the past decades increased significantly. However, the decrease in export of rare-earth elements from China in recent time has led to a renewed interest in developing rare-earth free permanent magnets. Elements such as Fe and Co have potential, due to their high magnetization, to be used as hosts in rare-earth free permanent magnets but a major challenge is to increase their magnetocrystalline anisotropy constant, K1, which largely drives the coercivity. Theoretical calculations indicate that dissolving the 5d transition metal W in Fe or Co increases the magnetocrystalline anisotropy. The challenge, though, is in creating a solid solution in hcp Co or bcc Fe, which under equilibrium conditions have negligible solubility. In this dissertation, the formation, structure, and magnetic properties of sub-10 nm Co-W clusters with W content ranging from 4 to 24 atomic percent were studied. Co-W alloy clusters with extended solubility of W in hcp Co were produced by inert gas condensation. The different processing conditions such as the cooling scheme and sputtering power were found to control the structural state of the as-deposited Co-W clusters. For clusters formed in the water-cooled formation chamber, the mean size and the fraction crystalline clusters increased with increasing power, while the fraction of crystalline clusters formed in the liquid nitrogen-cooled formation chamber was not as affected by the sputtering power. For the low W content clusters, the structural characterization revealed clusters predominantly single crystalline hcp Co(W) structure, a significant extension of W solubility when compared to the equilibrium solubility, but fcc Co(W) and Co3W structures were observed in very small and large clusters, respectively. At high

A semi-automatic method for extracting thin line structures in images as rooted tree network

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Brazzini, Jacopo [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Dillard, Scott [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Soille, Pierre [EC - JRC

2010-01-01

This paper addresses the problem of semi-automatic extraction of line networks in digital images - e.g., road or hydrographic networks in satellite images, blood vessels in medical images, robust. For that purpose, we improve a generic method derived from morphological and hydrological concepts and consisting in minimum cost path estimation and flow simulation. While this approach fully exploits the local contrast and shape of the network, as well as its arborescent nature, we further incorporate local directional information about the structures in the image. Namely, an appropriate anisotropic metric is designed by using both the characteristic features of the target network and the eigen-decomposition of the gradient structure tensor of the image. Following, the geodesic propagation from a given seed with this metric is combined with hydrological operators for overland flow simulation to extract the line network. The algorithm is demonstrated for the extraction of blood vessels in a retina image and of a river network in a satellite image.

Structure formation cosmic rays: Identifying observational constraints

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Prodanović T.

2005-01-01

Full Text Available Shocks that arise from baryonic in-fall and merger events during the structure formation are believed to be a source of cosmic rays. These "structure formation cosmic rays" (SFCRs would essentially be primordial in composition, namely, mostly made of protons and alpha particles. However, very little is known about this population of cosmic rays. One way to test the level of its presence is to look at the products of hadronic reactions between SFCRs and the ISM. A perfect probe of these reactions would be Li. The rare isotope Li is produced only by cosmic rays, dominantly in αα → 6Li fusion reactions with the ISM helium. Consequently, this nuclide provides a unique diagnostic of the history of cosmic rays. Exactly because of this unique property is Li affected most by the presence of an additional cosmic ray population. In turn, this could have profound consequences for the Big-Bang nucleosynthesis: cosmic rays created during cosmic structure formation would lead to pre-Galactic Li production, which would act as a "contaminant" to the primordial 7Li content of metalpoor halo stars. Given the already existing problem of establishing the concordance between Li observed in halo stars and primordial 7Li as predicted by the WMAP, it is crucial to set limits to the level of this "contamination". However, the history of SFCRs is not very well known. Thus we propose a few model-independent ways of testing the SFCR species and their history, as well as the existing lithium problem: 1 we establish the connection between gamma-ray and Li production, which enables us to place constraints on the SFCR-made lithium by using the observed Extragalactic Gamma-Ray Background (EGRB; 2 we propose a new site for testing the primordial and SFCR-made lithium, namely, low-metalicity High-Velocity Clouds (HVCs, which retain the pre-Galactic composition without any significant depletion. Although using one method alone may not give us strong constraints, using them in

Living with Autistic Spectrum Disorder: Parental Experiences of Raising a Child with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

Science.gov (United States)

Glazzard, Jonathan; Overall, Katy

2012-01-01

The focus of the study was to explore parental experiences of raising a child with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD). A mixed-method approach consisting of questionnaires and semi-structured interviews was used in order to elicit parental perspectives of raising a child with ASD. Two semi-structured interviews were conducted with parents of…

Structure Formation Mechanisms during Solid Ti with Molten Al Interaction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gurevich, L; Pronichev, D; Trunov, M

2016-01-01

The study discuses advantages and disadvantages of previously proposed mechanisms of the formation of structure between solid Ti and molten Al and presents a new mechanism based on the reviewed and experimental data. The previously proposed mechanisms were classified into three groups: mechanisms of precipitation, mechanisms of destruction and mechanisms of chemical interaction between intermetallics and melt. The reviewed mechanisms did not explain the formation of heterogeneous interlayer with globular aluminide particles and thin layers of pure Al, while the present study reveals variation in the solid Ti/molten Al reaction kinetics during various phases of laminated metal-intermetallic composite formation. The proposed mechanism considers formed during composite fabrication thin oxide interlayers between Ti and Al evolution and its impact on the intermetallic compound formation and explains the initial slow rate of intermetallic interlayer formation and its subsequent acceleration when the oxide foils are ruptured. (paper)

Experimental demonstration of a semi-brittle origin for crustal strain transients

Science.gov (United States)

Reber, J. E.; Lavier, L. L.; Hayman, N. W.

2015-12-01

Tectonic motions that give rise to destructive earthquakes and enigmatic transient slip events are commonly explained by friction laws that describe slip on fault surfaces and gouge-filled zones. Friction laws with the added effects of pore fluid pressure, shear heating, and chemical reactions as currently applied do not take into account that over a wide range of pressure and temperature conditions rocks deform following a complex mixed brittle-ductile rheology. In semi-brittle materials, such as polymineralic rocks, elasto-plastic and visco-elastic defamation can be observed simultaneously in different phases of the material. Field observations of such semi-brittle rocks at the mesoscale have shown that for a given range of composition, temperature, and pressure, the formation of fluid-filled brittle fractures and veins can precede and accompany the development of localized ductile flow. We propose that the coexistence of brittle and viscous behavior controls some of the physical characteristics of strain transients and slow slip events. Here we present results from shear experiments on semi-brittle rock analogues investigating the effect of yield stress on fracture propagation and connection, and how this can lead to reoccurring strain transients. During the experiments we monitor the evolution of fractures and flow as well as the force development in the system. We show that the nature of localized slip and flow in semi-brittle materials depends on the initiation and formation of mode I and II fractures and does not involve frictional behavior, supporting an alternative mechanism for the development of tectonic strain transients.

Narrative interviewing.

Science.gov (United States)

Anderson, Claire; Kirkpatrick, Susan

2016-06-01

Introduction Narrative interviews place the people being interviewed at the heart of a research study. They are a means of collecting people's own stories about their experiences of health and illness. Narrative interviews can help researchers to better understand people's experiences and behaviours. Narratives may come closer to representing the context and integrity of people's lives than more quantitative means of research. Methodology Researchers using narrative interview techniques do not set out with a fixed agenda, rather they tend to let the interviewee control the direction, content and pace of the interview. The paper describes the interview process and the suggested approach to analysis of narrative interviews, We draw on the example from a study that used series of narrative interviews about people's experiences of taking antidepressants. Limitations Some people may find it particularly challenging to tell their story to a researcher in this way rather than be asked a series of questions like in a television or radio interview. Narrative research like all qualitative research does not set out to be generalisable and may only involve a small set of interviews.

Assessment of personality disorders in anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. A comparison of self-report and structured interview methods.

Science.gov (United States)

Kennedy, S H; Katz, R; Rockert, W; Mendlowitz, S; Ralevski, E; Clewes, J

1995-06-01

Interest in assessing Personality Disorders (PDs) in association with anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN) has been accompanied by the development of several structured interview and self-report measures. In an attempt to see how the self-report Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI-II) compared with the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R (SCID-II) in the assessment of PDs, we gave both instruments to 43 inpatients with a diagnosis of AN or BN. Correlation coefficient values for both categorical and dimensional comparisons were generally less than .4. Although comparable rates of positive PDs occurred for each of the three clusters (A: 30.2% vs. 34.9%, B: 25.6% vs. 18.6%, and C: 62.8% vs. 81.4% for SCID-II vs. MCMI-II), agreement for individual diagnosis and individual subjects was poor. In conclusion, the MCMI-II did not prove to be a reliable instrument for assessing axis II PDs in patients with AN and BN when compared with the SCID-II.

Tailorable Burning Behavior of Ti14 Alloy by Controlling Semi-Solid Forging Temperature.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Yongnan; Yang, Wenqing; Zhan, Haifei; Zhang, Fengying; Huo, Yazhou; Zhao, Yongqing; Song, Xuding; Gu, Yuantong

2016-08-16

Semi-solid processing (SSP) is a popular near-net-shape forming technology for metals, while its application is still limited in titanium alloy mainly due to its low formability. Recent works showed that SSP could effectively enhance the formability and mechanical properties of titanium alloys. The processing parameters such as temperature and forging rate/ratio, are directly correlated with the microstructure, which endow the alloy with different chemical and physical properties. Specifically, as a key structural material for the advanced aero-engine, the burn resistant performance is a crucial requirement for the burn resistant titanium alloy. Thus, this work aims to assess the burning behavior of Ti14, a kind of burn resistant alloy, as forged at different semi-solid forging temperatures. The burning characteristics of the alloy are analyzed by a series of burning tests with different burning durations, velocities, and microstructures of burned sample. The results showed that the burning process is highly dependent on the forging temperature, due to the fact that higher temperatures would result in more Ti₂Cu precipitate within grain and along grain boundaries. Such a microstructure hinders the transport of oxygen in the stable burning stage through the formation of a kind of oxygen isolation Cu-enriched layer under the burn product zone. This work suggests that the burning resistance of the alloy can be effectively tuned by controlling the temperature during the semi-solid forging process.

Formation of cross-cutting structures with different porosity on thick silicon wafers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vera A. Yuzova

2017-06-01

The second type pass-through structures include a macroporous silicon layer with a thickness of 250 μm which interlock in the depth of the silicon wafer to form a cavity with a size of 4–8 μm. For the formation of the second type structures we only used the first one of the abovementioned stages, the etching time being longer, i.e. 210 min. All the etching procedures were carried out in a cooling chamber at 5 °C. The developed technology will provided for easier and more reliable formation of the monolithic structures of membrane-electrode assembly micro fuel cells.

The formation of a core-periphery structure in heterogeneous financial networks

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Leij, M.; in 't Veld, D.; Hommes, C.

2016-01-01

Recent empirical evidence suggests that financial networks exhibit a core-periphery network structure. This paper aims at giving an explanation for the emergence of such a structure using network formation theory. We propose a simple model of the overnight interbank lending market, in which banks

Quark correlation functions in deep-inelastic semi-inclusive processes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Levelt, J.; Mulders, P.J.

1994-01-01

We investigate one-particle semi-inclusive processes in lepton-hadron scattering. In unpolarized scattering order Q -1 corrections appear only when transverse momenta are detected. We consider the twist-two and -three matrix elements and calculate the semi-inclusive structure functions in terms of quark correlation functions. We find that at the twist-three level not only the standard quark distribution and fragmentation function contribute, but also two new transverse ''profile functions.'' We discuss the gauge invariance of the hadronic tensor at the twist-three level. The results of our approach are used to calculate expressions for some cross sections for semi-inclusive processes

Interview als Text vs. Interview als Interaktion

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Arnulf Deppermann

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Das Interview ist nach wie vor das beliebteste sozialwissenschaftliche Verfahren des Datengewinns. Ökonomie der Erhebung, Vergleichbarkeit und die Möglichkeit, Einsicht in Praxisbereiche und historisch-biografische Dimensionen zu erhalten, die der direkten Beobachtung kaum zugänglich sind, machen seine Attraktivität aus. Zugleich mehren sich Kritiken, die seine Leistungsfähigkeit problematisieren, indem sie auf die begrenzte Reichweite der Explikationsfähigkeiten der Befragten, die Reaktivität der Erhebung oder die Differenz zwischen Handeln und dem Bericht über Handeln verweisen. Im Beitrag wird zwischen Ansätzen, die das Interview als Text, und solchen, die es als Interaktion verstehen, unterschieden. Nach dem Text-Verständnis werden Interviews unter inhaltlichen Gesichtspunkten analysiert und als Zugang zu einer vorgängigen sozialen oder psychischen Wirklichkeit angesehen. Das Interaktions-Verständnis versteht Interviews dagegen als situierte Praxis, in welcher im Hier und Jetzt von InterviewerInnen und Befragten gemeinsam soziale Sinnstrukturen hergestellt werden. Anhand ubiquitärer Phänomene der Interviewinteraktion – Fragen, Antworten und die Selbstpositionierung von InterviewerInnen und Befragten – werden Praktiken des interaktiv-performativen Handelns im Interview dargestellt. Ihre Relevanz für die Interviewkonstitution und ihre Erkenntnispotenziale für die Interviewauswertung werden aufgezeigt. Es wird dafür plädiert, die interaktive Konstitutionsweise von Interviews empirisch zu erforschen und methodisch konsequent zu berücksichtigen. URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs1303131

Modulated structure formation in demixing paraffin blends

CERN Document Server

Gilbert, E P

2002-01-01

Small angle scattering (SANS and SAXS) and differential scanning calorimetry have been measured from C sub 2 sub 8 :C sub 3 sub 6 normal paraffin mixtures of varying composition quenched from the melt. Satellite peaks are observed in the SAXS whose offset in Q, relative to Bragg diffraction peaks associated with the average structure, are composition dependent. The offset is close to the position of the most intense peak observed in SANS. Scattering from the quenched structures is consistent with a correlated displacement and substitutional disorder model yielding modulations that are incommensurate with the average lattice. DSC shows an additional endotherm in the mixtures that is not present in the pure components and is associated with this superstructure formation. (orig.)

EGCG Inhibited Lipofuscin Formation Based on Intercepting Amyloidogenic β-Sheet-Rich Structure Conversion.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shuxian Cai

Full Text Available Lipofuscin (LF is formed during lipid peroxidation and sugar glycosylation by carbonyl-amino crosslinks with biomacrolecules, and accumulates slowly within postmitotic cells. The environmental pollution, modern dietary culture and lifestyle changes have been found to be the major sources of reactive carbonyl compounds in vivo. Irreversible carbonyl-amino crosslinks induced by carbonyl stress are essentially toxiferous for aging-related functional losses in modern society. Results show that (--epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG, the main polyphenol in green tea, can neutralize the carbonyl-amino cross-linking reaction and inhibit LF formation, but the underlying mechanism is unknown.We explored the mechanism of the neutralization process from protein, cell, and animal levels using spectrofluorometry, infrared spectroscopy, conformation antibodies, and electron microscopy. LF demonstrated an amyloidogenic β-sheet-rich with antiparallel structure, which accelerated the carbonyl-amino crosslinks formation and disrupted proteolysis in both PC12 cells and D-galactose (D-gal-induced brain aging mice models. Additionally, EGCG effectively inhibited the formation of the amyloidogenic β-sheet-rich structure of LF, and prevented its conversion into toxic and on-pathway aggregation intermediates, thereby cutting off the carbonyl-amino crosslinks.Our study indicated that the amyloidogenic β-sheet structure of LF may be the core driving force for carbonyl-amino crosslinks further formation, which mediates the formation of amyloid fibrils from native state of biomacrolecules. That EGCG exhibits anti-amyloidogenic β-sheet-rich structure properties to prevent the LF formation represents a novel strategy to impede the development of degenerative processes caused by ageing or stress-induced premature senescence in modern environments.

Semi-active Control of Magneto-Rheological Dampers with Negative Stiffness

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bhowmik, Subrata

2009-01-01

performance by introduction of apparent negative damper stiffness. The design of the control strategy aims at maximizing the damping ratio of the critical mode of the structure. Explicit solutions for the complex valued natural frequency of the damped structure and the associated damping ratio are obtained...... sufficiently accurate. This is done by letting the desired force be the input to an inverse Bingham model, which provides the corresponding desired voltage level of the MR damper. Numerical simulations are conducted to demonstrate the performance of the proposed semi-active control strategy with apparent......Effective damping of large and flexible structures by semi-active dampers relies greatly on the control strategy applied, which should combine the robustness of passive devices and the increased damping performance often available from active control. For structural control the Magneto...

Fragmentation and nucleon structure in semi-inclusive deep-inelastic scattering at the HERMES experiment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jossten, Sylvester Johannes

2013-10-15

Multiplicities for the semi-inclusive production of each charge state of {pi}{sup {+-}} and K{sup {+-}} mesons in deep-inelastic scattering are presented as a function of the kinematic quantities x, Q{sup 2}, z and P{sub h} {sub perpendicular} {sub to}. The multiplicities were extracted from data collected by the HERMES experiment at the HERA storage ring using 27.6 GeV electron and positron beams on a hydrogen or deuterium gas target. These results for identified hadrons constitute the most precise measurement to date, and will significantly enhance our understanding of the proton structure, as well as the fragmentation process in deep-inelastic scattering. Furthermore, the 3D binning at an unprecedented level of precision provides a handle to help disentangle the transverse momentum structure of both. The high level of precision coupled with an intermediate energy regime requires a careful study of the complex interaction between the experimental systematics, theoretical uncertainties, and the applicability of the factorization theorem within the standard framework of leading-twist collinear QCD. This is illustrated by the extraction of the valence quark ratio d{sub {nu}}/u{sub {nu}} at leading-order in {alpha}{sub s}. These results show a strong z-dependence below z {approx} 0.30, which could be interpreted as evidence for factorization breaking. This evidence weakens somewhat when isospin invariance of the fragmentation functions is assumed to be broken. Additionally, the multiplicities for the semi-inclusive production of {pi}{sup 0} mesons in deep-inelastic scattering are presented as a function of z. These multiplicities were extracted from the same data sample as used for the charged meson results. The neutral pion multiplicity is the same as the average charged pion multiplicity, up to z {approx} 0.70. This is consistent with isospin invariance below z {approx} 0.70. The results at high values of z show strong signs of isospin symmetry breaking.

On the angular momentum in star formation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Horedt, G.P.

1978-01-01

The author discusses the rotation of interstellar clouds which are in a stage immediately before star formation. Cloud collisions seem to be the principal cause of the observed rotation of interstellar clouds. The rotational motion of the clouds is strongly influenced by turbulence. Theories dealing with the resolution of the angular momentum problem in star formation are classified into five major groups. The old idea that the angular momentum of an interstellar cloud passes during star formation into the angular momentum of double star systems and/or circumstellar clouds, is developed. It is suggested that a rotating gas cloud contracts into a ring-like structure which fragments into self-gravitating subcondensations. By collisions and gas accretion these subcondensations accrete into binary systems surrounded by circumstellar clouds. Using some rough approximations the authors find analytical expressions for the semi-major axis of the binary system and for the density of the circumstellar clouds as a function of the initial density and of the initial angular velocity of an interstellar cloud. The obtained values are well within the observational limits. (Auth.)

Timeline interviews

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Adriansen, Hanne Kirstine

2012-01-01

The aim of this paper is to explain and discuss timeline interviews as a method for doing life history research. It is a ‘how to’ article explaining the strengths and weaknesses of using a timeline when conducting qualitative interviews. The method allows the interviewee to participate...... for life story research, it can also be used for ther types of studies where interviews are made....... in the reporting of the interview which may give raise to ownership and sharing of the analytical power in the interview situation. Exactly for this reason, it may not be the most appropriate method for interviewing elites or for conducting insider interviews where positionality can be at play. The use...

Fixed geometric formation structure in formation control problem for group of robots with dynamically changing number of robots in the group

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

N. S. Morozova

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The article considers a problem of the decentralization-based approach to formation control of a group of agents, which simulate mobile autonomous robots. The agents use only local information limited by the covering range of their sensors. The agents have to build and maintain the formation, which fits to the defined target geometric formation structure with desired accuracy during the movement to the target point. At any point in time the number of agents in the group can change unexpectedly (for example, as a result of the agent failure or if a new agent joins the group.The aim of the article is to provide the base control rule, which solves the formation control problem, and to develop its modifications, which provide the correct behavior in case the agent number in the group is not equal to the size of the target geometric formation structure. The proposed base control rule, developed by the author, uses the method of involving virtual leaders. The coordinates of the virtual leaders and also the priority to follow the specific leader are calculated by each agent itself according to specific rules.The following results are presented in the article: the base control rule for solving the formation control problem, its modifications for the cases when the number of agents is greater/less than the size of the target geometric formation structure and also the computer modeling results proving the efficiency of the modified control rules. The specific feature of the control rule, developed by the author, is that each agent itself calculates the virtual leaders and each agent performs dynamic choice of the place within the formation (there is no predefined one-to-one relation between agents and places within the geometric formation structure. The results, provided in this article, can be used in robotics for developing control algorithms for the tasks, which require preserving specific relational positions among the agents while moving. One of the

Glycation induces formation of amyloid cross-beta structure in albumin.

Science.gov (United States)

Bouma, Barend; Kroon-Batenburg, Loes M J; Wu, Ya-Ping; Brünjes, Bettina; Posthuma, George; Kranenburg, Onno; de Groot, Philip G; Voest, Emile E; Gebbink, Martijn F B G

2003-10-24

Amyloid fibrils are components of proteinaceous plaques that are associated with conformational diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, and familial amyloidosis. Amyloid polypeptides share a specific quarternary structure element known as cross-beta structure. Commonly, fibrillar aggregates are modified by advanced glycation end products (AGE). In addition, AGE formation itself induces protein aggregation. Both amyloid proteins and protein-AGE adducts bind multiligand receptors, such as receptor for AGE, CD36, and scavenger receptors A and B type I, and the serine protease tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA). Based on these observations, we hypothesized that glycation induces refolding of globular proteins, accompanied by formation of cross-beta structure. Using transmission electron microscopy, we demonstrate here that glycated albumin condensates into fibrous or amorphous aggregates. These aggregates bind to amyloid-specific dyes Congo red and thioflavin T and to tPA. In contrast to globular albumin, glycated albumin contains amino acid residues in beta-sheet conformation, as measured with circular dichroism spectropolarimetry. Moreover, it displays cross-beta structure, as determined with x-ray fiber diffraction. We conclude that glycation induces refolding of initially globular albumin into amyloid fibrils comprising cross-beta structure. This would explain how glycated ligands and amyloid ligands can bind to the same multiligand "cross-beta structure" receptors and to tPA.

Growth of semi-insulating InP through nuclear doping

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aliyev, M.I; Rashidova, Sh.Sh; Huseynli, M.A.

2012-01-01

Full text : Semi-insulating semiconductors are widely used in so-called dielectronics. Dielectric devices have quick response, good frequency characteristics, a low noise level, low sensitivity to temperature changes, etc. One of the most promising semiconductor materials is InP. At present annealing and doping are commonly used techniques to grow semi-insulating InP. The aim of this work was to grow semi-insulating InP through nuclear doping (by irradiation with gamma-quanta). InP single crystals were obtained by Czochralski method. Specimens were irradiated with doses of 10kGr at room temperature. Electrical conductivity and Hall effect were measured before and after irradiation in the temperature range 77 to 320K. After irradiation reduction in electrical conductivity was observed. This fact can be associated with formation of M-centers in positively threefold charged states of vacancy and antisite defects. Under irradiation first Ini interstitial atoms and phosphorus vacancies form. Further, the Ini atoms occupy the phosphorus vacancies. As a result there appear InP antiste defects, which along with indium vacancies form V I nI n p + In p + + complexes of the acceptor type. These complexes turn out to be traps for charge carriers and electrical conductivity of irradiated InP are sharply reduced to semi-insulating specimens

Changing organizational structure and organizational memory in primary care practices: a qualitative interview study.

Science.gov (United States)

Alyahya, Mohammad

2012-02-01

Organizational structure is built through dynamic processes which blend historical force and management decisions, as a part of a broader process of constructing organizational memory (OM). OM is considered to be one of the main competences leading to the organization's success. This study focuses on the impact of the Quality and Outcome Framework (QOF), which is a Pay-for-Performance scheme, on general practitioner (GP) practices in the UK. The study is based on semistructured interviews with four GP practices in the north of England involving 39 informants. The findings show that the way practices assigned different functions into specialized units, divisions or departments shows the degree of specialization in their organizational structures. More specialized unit arrangements, such as an IT division, particular chronic disease clinics or competence-based job distributions enhanced procedural memory development through enabling regular use of knowledge in specific context, which led to competence building. In turn, such competence at particular functions or jobs made it possible for the practices to achieve their goals more efficiently. This study concludes that organizational structure contributed strongly to the enhancement of OM, which in turn led to better organizational competence.

Design of Concept of Sustainable Marketing Communication Strategy for a Ideal Industrial Enterprise and Practical Applications of this Concept

Science.gov (United States)

Šujaková, Monika; Golejová, Simona; Sakál, Peter

2017-09-01

In the contribution the authors deal with the design and use of a sustainable marketing communication strategy of an ideal industrial enterprise in the Slovak Republic. The concept of an ideal enterprise is designed to increase the enterprise's sustainable competitiveness through the formation of a corporate image. In the framework of the research, the practical application of the draft concept was realized through a semi-structured interview in the form of propositional logic.

Structured behavioral interview as a legal guarantee for ensuring equal employment opportunities for women: A meta-analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pamela Alonso

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Equal employment opportunities for women are a legal requirement in many legal environments, including the United States (US and European Union (EU legislations. In this context, indirect discrimination in the access to jobs is an illegal practice. For this reason, personnel selection procedures must be fair for protected-by-law groups. Specifically, gender discrimination is the focus of research on employment interviews. This article presents a meta-analysis of gender differences in the scores in structured behavioral interviews (SBI. A database was created consisting of studies conducted with real candidates and employees. Psychometric meta-analysis methods were applied. The results showed that the SBI is fair for women and men and does not show evidence of adverse impact and indirect discrimination. Implications for the practice of personnel selection are discussed and future research is suggested.

Semi-supervised sparse coding

KAUST Repository

Wang, Jim Jing-Yan; Gao, Xin

2014-01-01

Sparse coding approximates the data sample as a sparse linear combination of some basic codewords and uses the sparse codes as new presentations. In this paper, we investigate learning discriminative sparse codes by sparse coding in a semi-supervised manner, where only a few training samples are labeled. By using the manifold structure spanned by the data set of both labeled and unlabeled samples and the constraints provided by the labels of the labeled samples, we learn the variable class labels for all the samples. Furthermore, to improve the discriminative ability of the learned sparse codes, we assume that the class labels could be predicted from the sparse codes directly using a linear classifier. By solving the codebook, sparse codes, class labels and classifier parameters simultaneously in a unified objective function, we develop a semi-supervised sparse coding algorithm. Experiments on two real-world pattern recognition problems demonstrate the advantage of the proposed methods over supervised sparse coding methods on partially labeled data sets.

Semi-supervised sparse coding

KAUST Repository

Wang, Jim Jing-Yan

2014-07-06

Sparse coding approximates the data sample as a sparse linear combination of some basic codewords and uses the sparse codes as new presentations. In this paper, we investigate learning discriminative sparse codes by sparse coding in a semi-supervised manner, where only a few training samples are labeled. By using the manifold structure spanned by the data set of both labeled and unlabeled samples and the constraints provided by the labels of the labeled samples, we learn the variable class labels for all the samples. Furthermore, to improve the discriminative ability of the learned sparse codes, we assume that the class labels could be predicted from the sparse codes directly using a linear classifier. By solving the codebook, sparse codes, class labels and classifier parameters simultaneously in a unified objective function, we develop a semi-supervised sparse coding algorithm. Experiments on two real-world pattern recognition problems demonstrate the advantage of the proposed methods over supervised sparse coding methods on partially labeled data sets.

The casting and mechanism of formation of semi-permeable polymer membranes in a microgravity environment

Science.gov (United States)

Vera, I.

The National Electric Company of Venezuela, C.A.D.A.F.E., is sponsoring the development of this experiment which represents Venezuela's first scientific experiment in space. The apparatus for the automatic casting of polymer thin films will be contained in NASA's payload No. G-559 of the Get Away Special program for a future orbital space flight in the U.S. Space Shuttle. Semi-permeable polymer membranes have important applications in a variety of fields, such as medecine, energy, and pharmaceuticals, and in general fluid separation processes such as reverse osmosis, ultra-filtration, and electro-dialysis. The casting of semi-permeable membranes in space will help to identify the roles of convection in determining the strucutre of these membranes.

Contact to the out-of-hours service among Danish parents of small children - a qualitative interview study

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lass, Marie; Tatari, Camilla Rahr; Merrild, Camilla Hoffmann

2018-01-01

OBJECTIVE: In Denmark, parents with small children have the highest contact frequency to out-of-hours (OOH) service, but reasons for OOH care use are sparsely investigated. The aim was to explore parental contact pattern to OOH services and to explore parents' experiences with managing their chil......OBJECTIVE: In Denmark, parents with small children have the highest contact frequency to out-of-hours (OOH) service, but reasons for OOH care use are sparsely investigated. The aim was to explore parental contact pattern to OOH services and to explore parents' experiences with managing...... their children's acute health problems. DESIGN: A qualitative study was undertaken drawing on a phenomenological approach. We used semi-structured interviews, followed by an inductive content analysis. Nine parents with children below four years of age were recruited from a child day care centre in Aarhus...

Epidemiology and population structure of Staphylococcus aureus in various population groups from a rural and semi urban area in Gabon, Central Africa

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ateba Ngoa, Ulysse; Schaumburg, Frieder; Adegnika, Ayola Akim; Kösters, Katrin; Möller, Tina; Fernandes, Jose Francisco; Alabi, Abraham; Issifou, Saadou; Becker, Karsten; Grobusch, Martin Peter; Kremsner, Peter Gottfried; Lell, Bertrand

2012-01-01

Little data is available on the epidemiology of Staphylococcus aureus in Africa. In the present study we aim at characterizing the population structure of S. aureus in healthy subjects from a rural and a semi-urban area in Lambarene, Gabon as well as in hospital staff and inpatients. In total, 500

Fibronectin alters the rate of formation and structure of the fibrin matrix.

Science.gov (United States)

Ramanathan, Anand; Karuri, Nancy

2014-01-10

Plasma fibronectin is a vital component of the fibrin clot; however its role on clot structure is not clearly understood. The goal of this study was to examine the influence of fibronectin on the kinetics of formation, structural characteristics and composition of reconstituted fibrin clots or fibrin matrices. Fibrin matrices were formed by adding thrombin to 1, 2 or 4 mg/ml fibrinogen supplemented with 0-0.4 mg/ml fibronectin. The rate of fibrin matrix formation was then monitored by measuring light absorbance properties at different time points. Confocal microscopy of fluorescein conjugated fibrinogen was used to visualize the structural characteristics of fibrin matrices. The amount of fibronectin in fibrin matrices was determined through electrophoresis and immunoblotting of solubilized matrices. Fibronectin concentration positively correlated with the initial rate of fibrin matrix formation and with steady state light absorbance values of fibrin matrices. An increase in fibronectin concentration resulted in thinner and denser fibers in the fibrin matrices. Electrophoresis and immunoblotting showed that fibronectin was covalently and non-covalently bound to fibrin matrices and in the form of high molecular weight multimers. The formation of fibronectin multimers was attributed to cross-linking of fibronectin by trace amounts Factor XIIIa. These findings are novel because they link results from light absorbance studies to microcopy analyses and demonstrate an influence of fibronectin on fibrin matrix structural characteristics. This data is important in developing therapies that destabilize fibrin clots. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Evaluation of the NCPDP Structured and Codified Sig Format for e-prescriptions.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Hangsheng; Burkhart, Q; Bell, Douglas S

2011-01-01

To evaluate the ability of the structure and code sets specified in the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs Structured and Codified Sig Format to represent ambulatory electronic prescriptions. We parsed the Sig strings from a sample of 20,161 de-identified ambulatory e-prescriptions into variables representing the fields of the Structured and Codified Sig Format. A stratified random sample of these representations was then reviewed by a group of experts. For codified Sig fields, we attempted to map the actual words used by prescribers to the equivalent terms in the designated terminology. Proportion of prescriptions that the Format could fully represent; proportion of terms used that could be mapped to the designated terminology. The fields defined in the Format could fully represent 95% of Sigs (95% CI 93% to 97%), but ambiguities were identified, particularly in representing multiple-step instructions. The terms used by prescribers could be codified for only 60% of dose delivery methods, 84% of dose forms, 82% of vehicles, 95% of routes, 70% of sites, 33% of administration timings, and 93% of indications. The findings are based on a retrospective sample of ambulatory prescriptions derived mostly from primary care physicians. The fields defined in the Format could represent most of the patient instructions in a large prescription sample, but prior to its mandatory adoption, further work is needed to ensure that potential ambiguities are addressed and that a complete set of terms is available for the codified fields.

Screening young adult cancer survivors for distress with the Distress Thermometer: Comparisons with a structured clinical diagnostic interview.

Science.gov (United States)

Recklitis, Christopher J; Blackmon, Jaime E; Chang, Grace

2016-01-15

The validity of the Distress Thermometer (DT) as a screen for psychological distress in young adult cancer survivors was assessed by comparing it with the results of a psychiatric diagnostic interview, the Structured Clinical Interview for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition (DSM-IV) (SCID), to evaluate the accuracy of the DT and identify optimal cutoff scores for this population. A total of 247 survivors aged 18 to 40 years completed the DT and SCID. Based on the SCID, participants were classified as having: 1) ≥ 1 SCID diagnoses; 2) significant symptoms, but no SCID diagnosis; or 3) no significant SCID symptoms. Receiver operating characteristic analyses determined the sensitivity and specificity of all possible DT cutoff scores for detecting survivors with a SCID diagnosis, and subsequently for survivors with significant SCID symptoms or a SCID diagnosis. The recommended DT cutoff score of ≥5 failed to identify 31.81% of survivors with a SCID diagnosis (sensitivity of 68.18% and specificity of 78.33%), and 32.81% of survivors with either significant SCID symptoms or a SCID diagnosis. No alternative DT cutoff score met the criteria for acceptable sensitivity (≥85%) and specificity (≥75%). The DT does not reliably identify young adult cancer survivors with psychiatric problems identified by a "gold standard" structured psychiatric interview. Therefore, the DT should not be used as a stand-alone psychological screen in this population. Cancer 2016;122:296-303. © 2015 American Cancer Society. © 2015 American Cancer Society.

Graphitic structure formation in ion implanted polyetheretherketone

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tavenner, E., E-mail: tazman1492@gmail.com [Creative Polymers Pty. Ltd., 41 Wilkinson Street, Toowoomba, Queensland 4350 (Australia); Chemical Committee, Surface Chemical Analysis, Standards (Australia); Wood, B. [Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Queensland 4072 (Australia); Chemical Committee, Surface Chemical Analysis, Standards (Australia); Curry, M.; Jankovic, A.; Patel, R. [Center for Applied Science and Engineering, Missouri State University, 524 North Boonville Avenue, Springfield, MO 65806 (United States)

2013-10-15

Ion implantation is a technique that is used to change the electrical, optical, hardness and biocompatibility of a wide range of inorganic materials. This technique also imparts similar changes to organic or polymer based materials. With polymers, ion implantation can produce a carbon enriched volume. Knowledge as to the nature of this enrichment and its relative concentration is necessary to produce accurate models of the physical properties of the modified material. One technique that can achieve this is X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. In this study the formation of graphite like structures in the near surface of polyetheretherketone by ion implantation has been elucidated from detailed analysis of the C 1s and valence band peak structures generated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Further evidence is given by both Rutherford backscatter spectroscopy and elastic recoil detection.

Velocity & displacement-dependent damper: A novel passive shock absorber inspired by the semi-active control

Science.gov (United States)

Nie, Shida; Zhuang, Ye; Wang, Yong; Guo, Konghui

2018-01-01

The performance of velocity & displacement-dependent damper (VDD), inspired by the semi-active control, is analyzed. The main differences among passive, displacement-dependent and semi-active dampers are compared on their damping properties. Valve assemblies of VDD are modelled to get an insight into its working principle. The mechanical structure composed by four valve assemblies helps to enable VDD to approach the performance by those semi-active control dampers. The valve structure parameters are determined by the suggested two-step process. Hydraulic model of the damper is built with AMEsim. Simulation result of F-V curves, which is similar to those of semi-active control damper, demonstrates that VDD could achieve the similar performance of semi-active control damper. The performance of a quarter vehicle model employing VDD is analyzed and compared with semi-active suspension. Simulation results show that VDD could perform as good as a semi-active control damper. In addition, no add-on hardware or energy consumption is needed for VDD to achieve the remarkable performance.

Developing a spinal cord injury research strategy using a structured process of evidence review and stakeholder dialogue. Part II: Background to a research strategy.

Science.gov (United States)

Bragge, P; Piccenna, L; Middleton, J; Williams, S; Creasey, G; Dunlop, S; Brown, D; Gruen, R

2015-10-01

Literature review/semi-structured interviews. To develop a spinal cord injury (SCI) research strategy for Australia and New Zealand. Australia. The National Trauma Research Institute Forum approach of structured evidence review and stakeholder consultation was employed. This involved gathering from published literature and stakeholder consultation the information necessary to properly consider the challenge, and synthesising this into a briefing document. A research strategy 'roadmap' was developed to define the major steps and key planning questions to consider; next, evidence from published SCI research strategy initiatives was synthesised with information from four one-on-one semi-structured interviews with key SCI research stakeholders to create a research strategy framework, articulating six key themes and associated activities for consideration. These resources, combined with a review of SCI prioritisation literature, were used to generate a list of draft principles for discussion in a structured stakeholder dialogue meeting. The research strategy roadmap and framework informed discussion at a structured stakeholder dialogue meeting of 23 participants representing key SCI research constituencies, results of which are published in a companion paper. These resources could also be of value in other research strategy or planning exercises. This project was funded by the Victorian Transport Accident Commission and the Australian and New Zealand Spinal Cord Injury Network.

Formation of hydrogen bonds precedes the rate-limiting formation of persistent structure in the folding of ACBP

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Teilum, K; Kragelund, B B; Knudsen, J

2000-01-01

A burst phase in the early folding of the four-helix two-state folder protein acyl-coenzyme A binding protein (ACBP) has been detected using quenched-flow in combination with site-specific NMR-detected hydrogen exchange. Several of the burst phase structures coincide with a structure consisting...... of eight conserved hydrophobic residues at the interface between the two N and C-terminal helices. Previous mutation studies have shown that the formation of this structure is rate limiting for the final folding of ACBP. The burst phase structures observed in ACBP are different from the previously reported...

Barriers to medication adherence for the secondary prevention of stroke: a qualitative interview study in primary care.

Science.gov (United States)

Jamison, James; Graffy, Jonathan; Mullis, Ricky; Mant, Jonathan; Sutton, Stephen

2016-08-01

Medications are highly effective at reducing risk of recurrent stroke, but success is influenced by adherence to treatment. Among survivors of stroke and transient ischaemic attack (TIA), adherence to medication is known to be suboptimal. To identify and report barriers to medication adherence for the secondary prevention of stroke/TIA. A qualitative interview study was conducted within general practice surgeries in the East of England, UK. Patients were approached by letter and invited to take part in a qualitative research study. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with survivors of stroke, caregivers, and GPs to explore their perspectives and views around secondary prevention and perceived barriers to medication adherence. Key themes were identified using a grounded theory approach. Verbatim quotes describing the themes are presented here. In total, 28 survivors of stroke, including 14 accompanying caregivers and five GPs, were interviewed. Two key themes were identified. Patient level barriers included ability to self-care, the importance people attach to a stroke event, and knowledge of stroke and medication. Medication level barriers included beliefs about medication and beliefs about how pills work, medication routines, changing medications, and regimen complexity and burden of treatment. Patients who have had a stroke are faced with multiple barriers to taking secondary prevention medications in UK general practice. This research suggests that a collaborative approach between caregivers, survivors, and healthcare professionals is needed to address these barriers and facilitate medication-taking behaviour. © British Journal of General Practice 2016.

Formation and structure of V-Zr amorphous alloy thin films

KAUST Repository

King, Daniel J M; Middleburgh, Simon C.; Liu, A. C Y; Tahini, Hassan Ali; Lumpkin, Gregory R.; Cortie, Michael B.

2015-01-01

. Atomic-scale modelling was used to investigate the enthalpies of formation of the various competing structures. The calculations confirmed that an amorphous solid solution would be significantly more stable than a random body-centred solid solution

General principles for the formation of dust self-organizing structures. Dust collective attraction and plasma crystal formation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tsytovich, V.N.

2005-01-01

It is demonstrated that a homogeneous dusty plasma is universally unstable to form structures. The effect of collective grain attraction is a basic phenomenon for the proposed new paradigm (general principles) for the plasma crystal formation

Semi-Markov processes

CERN Document Server

Grabski

2014-01-01

Semi-Markov Processes: Applications in System Reliability and Maintenance is a modern view of discrete state space and continuous time semi-Markov processes and their applications in reliability and maintenance. The book explains how to construct semi-Markov models and discusses the different reliability parameters and characteristics that can be obtained from those models. The book is a useful resource for mathematicians, engineering practitioners, and PhD and MSc students who want to understand the basic concepts and results of semi-Markov process theory. Clearly defines the properties and

Pavement structure mechanics response of flexible on semi-flexible overlay that based on the old cement concrete pavement damage

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jiang Ruinan

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The old cement pavement damage status directly affect the design of the paving renovation. Based on the state of the old road investigation, combined with the research data at home and abroad, use the control index that average deflection, deflection value and CBR value to determine the reasonable time to overlay. Draw up the typical pavement structure according to the principle of combination of old cement pavement overlay structure design, and calculated that the tensile stress and shear stress in asphalt layer ,semi-flexible layer and the tensile in the old cement pavement adopting BISA3.0 statics finite element analysis model when modulus in the old road was diminishing. Use the computed result to analyses the influence of old road damage condition the influence of pavement structure.

Theoretical and experimental investigation of position-controlled semi-active friction damper for seismic structures

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Lyan-Ywan; Lin, Tzu-Kang; Jheng, Rong-Jie; Wu, Hsin-Hsien

2018-01-01

A semi-active friction damper (SAFD) can be employed for the seismic protection of structural systems. The effectiveness of an SAFD in absorbing seismic energy is usually superior to that of its passive counterpart, since its slip force can be altered in real time according to structural response and excitation. Most existing SAFDs are controlled by adjusting the clamping force applied on the friction interface. Thus, the implementation of SAFDs in practice requires precision control of the clamping force, which is usually substantially larger than the slip force. This may increase the implementation complexity and cost of SAFDs. To avoid this problem, this study proposes a novel position-controlled SAFD, named the leverage-type controllable friction damper (LCFD). The LCFD system combines a traditional passive friction damper and a leverage mechanism with a movable central pivot. By simply controlling the pivot position, the damping force generated by the LCFD system can be adjusted in real time. In order to verify the feasibility of the proposed SAFD, a prototype LCFD was tested by using a shaking table. The test results demonstrate that the equivalent friction force and hysteresis loop of the LCFD can be regulated by controlling the pivot position. By considering 16 ground motions with two different intensities, the adaptive feature of the LCFD for seismic structural control is further demonstrated numerically.

Interviews within experimental frameworks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Reinhard, CarrieLynn D.

2010-01-01

, an amount of control was required over the nature of those experiences.  With these requirements, a hybrid study was designed by deconstructing the conceptualization of "the experiment" and utilizing both quantitative and qualitative methods.  The resulting study involved the following: a within......-subjects experimental design served as the framework for the study, while in-depth qualitative interviews were employed alongside surveys and audio and video recording as the data collection methods.  Data collection occurred while participants were engaging with the media products, via talk aloud protocols......, and afterwards when they were asked to recall and compare these situations in open-ended questionnaires and interviews structured using Dervin's Sense-Making Methodology.  Having completed the study using this mixed method(ology) approach, I discuss the effectiveness of this approach, and where the approach...

[Initial contact in clinical interview with patients suffering from chronic insomnia].

Science.gov (United States)

Gaillard, J M

1994-01-01

One of the most controversial issue concerning chronic insomnia is its association with psychopathology. Many patients tend to present their sleep disturbances as isolated, whereas others admit that they have difficulties in other sectors of their life too. If psychopathology exists in chronic insomnia, it should manifest itself in the form of defensive mechanisms which can be clinically observed. In order to have information concerning this problem, the initial interview of patients with chronic insomnia has been analysed in every details, in order to detect behavioural features and characteristics of verbal expression, indicating that defense mechanisms are working. A group of 100 patients from the specialized consultation for sleep disorders has been studied They were referred by their physicians. The patients with a somatic disease or a psychiatric condition corresponding to a diagnostic on axis I of DSM III-R were not included. The patients with a form of insomnia corresponding to psychophysiological insomnia, idiopathic insomnia or sleep state misperception of the international classification were included in this sample. For all patients except 2 of them, the initial interview was audiovisually recorded. This interview aimed at establishing the clinical features of the disturbance, the psychiatric and somatic condition as well as the history of the trouble and the treatment taken at the time or attempted in the past. After an initial open query: "what seems to be the problem?", a semi-structured interview was conducted to obtain information about nocturnal sleep, daytime condition, dream and parasomnia, the history of the disturbance and the treatment. Anxiety and depression, as well as other psychiatric conditions were systematically investigated. Under these conditions, the patients showed from the very beginning of the interview, noticeable characteristics in their behaviour and verbal expression. Therefore, it is essentially the first 10 minutes of the

Parent-Child Diagnostic Agreement on Anxiety Symptoms with a Structured Diagnostic Interview for Mental Disorders in Children.

Science.gov (United States)

Popp, Lukka; Neuschwander, Murielle; Mannstadt, Sandra; In-Albon, Tina; Schneider, Silvia

2017-01-01

Objective: In clinical structured diagnostic interviews, diagnoses based on parent and child reports have low to moderate agreement. The aims of the present study are (1) to examine diagnostic agreement on anxiety disorders between parents and children on the levels of current and lifetime diagnostic category and diagnoses focusing in particular on diagnostic criteria and (2) to identify parent- and child-related predictors for diagnostic agreement. Method: The sample consisted of 166 parent-child dyads interviewed with the Structured Diagnostic Interview for Mental Disorders in Children (Kinder-DIPS, Schneider et al., 2009). The children (51.8% girls) were between the ages of 7 and 18 years ( M = 10.94; SD = 2.22). Results: Overall, parent-child agreement on the diagnostic category of anxiety disorder ( k = 0.21; k = 0.22) and the specific anxiety diagnoses (base rate > 10%) of social phobia, specific phobia and separation anxiety disorder ( k = 0.24-0.52; k = 0.19-0.43) and corresponding diagnostic criteria ( k = 0.22-0.67; k = 0.24-0.41) were low to moderate with the highest agreement on separation anxiety disorder ( k > 0.43). Lower maternal depression, and higher social support reported by mother and father were associated with higher parent-child agreement. Maternal depression was indicated as the strongest predictor. Parental sense of competence, parental anxiety, the amount of parent-child interaction and the child's age and gender had no predictive value. Conclusions: Parent-child agreement can be expected to be higher on the level of anxiety criteria compared to specific anxiety diagnoses and diagnostic anxiety category. Psychological strains in the family-especially maternal depression and low social support-lower the parent-child agreement on anxiety symptoms. Child- and relation-related variables (age, gender, amount of time parent(s) and children interact) play no role in the prediction of low parent-child agreement.

Understandings of depression: an interview study of Yoruba, Bangladeshi and White British people.