Validity of Two WPPSI Short Forms in Outpatient Clinic Settings.

Science.gov (United States)

Haynes, Jack P.; Atkinson, David

1983-01-01

Investigated the validity of subtest short forms for the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence in an outpatient population of 116 children. Data showed that the short forms underestimated actual level of intelligence and supported use of a short form only as a brief screening device. (LLL)

48 CFR 1852.223-72 - Safety and Health (Short Form).

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 6 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 true Safety and Health (Short... and Clauses 1852.223-72 Safety and Health (Short Form). As prescribed in 1823.7001(e), insert the following clause: Safety and Health (Short Form) (APR 2002) (a) Safety is the freedom from those conditions...

Drinking motives and links to alcohol use in 13 European countries

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kuntsche, Emmanuel; Gabhainn, Saoirse Nic; Roberts, Chris

2014-01-01

ABSTRACT. Objective: The purpose of this study was to test the structure and endorsement of drinking motives and their links to alcohol use among 11- to 19-year-olds from 13 European countries. Method: Confirmatory factor analysis, latent growth curves, and multiple regression models were conducted......, based on a sample of 33,813 alcohol-using students from Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Scotland, Slovakia, Switzerland, and Wales who completed the Drinking Motives Questionnaire Revised Short Form (DMQ-R SF). Results: The findings confirmed...... European countries. The results confirmed that, across countries, social motives were strongly positively related to drinking frequency, enhancement motives were strongly positively related to frequency of drunkenness, and conformity motives were negatively related to both alcohol outcomes. Against our...

Development and validation of an item response theory-based Social Responsiveness Scale short form.

Science.gov (United States)

Sturm, Alexandra; Kuhfeld, Megan; Kasari, Connie; McCracken, James T

2017-09-01

Research and practice in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) rely on quantitative measures, such as the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS), for characterization and diagnosis. Like many ASD diagnostic measures, SRS scores are influenced by factors unrelated to ASD core features. This study further interrogates the psychometric properties of the SRS using item response theory (IRT), and demonstrates a strategy to create a psychometrically sound short form by applying IRT results. Social Responsiveness Scale analyses were conducted on a large sample (N = 21,426) of youth from four ASD databases. Items were subjected to item factor analyses and evaluation of item bias by gender, age, expressive language level, behavior problems, and nonverbal IQ. Item selection based on item psychometric properties, DIF analyses, and substantive validity produced a reduced item SRS short form that was unidimensional in structure, highly reliable (α = .96), and free of gender, age, expressive language, behavior problems, and nonverbal IQ influence. The short form also showed strong relationships with established measures of autism symptom severity (ADOS, ADI-R, Vineland). Degree of association between all measures varied as a function of expressive language. Results identified specific SRS items that are more vulnerable to non-ASD-related traits. The resultant 16-item SRS short form may possess superior psychometric properties compared to the original scale and emerge as a more precise measure of ASD core symptom severity, facilitating research and practice. Future research using IRT is needed to further refine existing measures of autism symptomatology. © 2017 Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health.

Modular Short Form Videos for Library Instruction

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cindy Craig

2017-10-01

Full Text Available In Brief Expensive software isn’t necessary to create effective tutorials. Quick, unedited tutorials created on social media, such as on Instagram or Snapchat, may be more effective. These short form videos (SFVs combine the advantages of animated GIFs with the advantages of screencasts: modularity, repetition of steps, and animated visuals supported by pertinent audio. SFVs are cheap (or free and easy to make with materials libraries already possess, such as Internet access, computers, and smartphones. They are easily replaceable if the subject changes. The short form forces librarians to get right to the point. Finally, SFVs are easily disseminated on social media and have the potential to go viral.

Short-lived radiopharmaceutical development at E.R. Squibb and Sons, Inc

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Loberg, M.D.

1985-01-01

This paper describes the present status and future plans of E.R. Squibb and Sons, Inc. as they relate to the development of short-lived radiopharmaceuticals. The advantages of short-lived radiopharmaceuticals are summarized as are the problems inherent in their manufacture, quality control, and distribution. The nuclear generator is advocated as the best means of distributing short-lived radiopharmaceuticals. The E.R. Squibb and Sons work with the 82 Sr → 82 Rb generator is summarized

A Short Proof of Euler's Inequality R ≥ 2r Theorem. Let ∆ ABC be an ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

IAS Admin

A Short Proof of Euler's Inequality R ≥ 2r. Theorem. Let ∆ ABC be an arbitrary triangle with circumradius R and inradius r. Then R ≥ 2r with equality holding if and only if ∆ABC is equilateral. This was first published by Euler in 1765. Since then several proofs have followed, some geometric and some algebraic. We will use ...

Development and Validation of a Short-Form Safety Net Medical Home Scale.

Science.gov (United States)

Nocon, Robert S; Gunter, Kathryn E; Gao, Yue; Lee, Sang Mee; Chin, Marshall H

2017-12-01

To develop a short-form Safety Net Medical Home Scale (SNMHS) for assessing patient-centered medical home (PCMH) capability in safety net clinics. National surveys of federally qualified health centers (FQHCs). Interviews with FQHC directors. We constructed three short-form SNMHS versions and examined correlations with full SNMHS and related primary care assessments. We tested usability with FQHC directors and reviewed scale development with an advisory group. Federally qualified health center surveys were administered in 2009 and 2013, by mail and online. Usability testing was conducted through telephone interviews with FQHC directors in 2013. Six-, 12-, and 18-question short-form SNMHS versions had Pearson correlations with full scale of 0.84, 0.92, and 0.96, respectively. All versions showed a level of convergent validity with other primary care assessment scales comparable to the full SNMHS. User testers found short forms to be low-burden, though missing some PCMH concepts. Advisory group members expressed caution over missing concepts and appropriate use of short-form self-assessments. Short-form versions of SNMHS showed strong correlations with full scale and may be useful for brief assessment of safety net PCMH capability. Each short-form SNMHS version may be appropriate for different research, quality improvement, and assessment purposes. © Health Research and Educational Trust.

Short forms of the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale and the Social Phobia Scale.

Science.gov (United States)

Fergus, Thomas A; Valentiner, David P; McGrath, Patrick B; Gier-Lonsway, Stephanie L; Kim, Hyun-Soo

2012-01-01

Mattick and Clarke's (1998) Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS) and Social Phobia Scale (SPS) are commonly used self-report measures that assess 2 dimensions of social anxiety. Given the need for short, readable measures, this research proposes short forms of both scales. Item-level analyses of readability characteristics of the SIAS and SPS items led to the selection of 6 items from each scale for use in the short forms. The SIAS and SPS short forms had reading levels at approximately the 6th and 5th grade level, respectively. Results using nonclinical (Study 1: N = 469) and clinical (Study 2: N = 145) samples identified these short forms as being factorially sound, possessing adequate internal consistency, and having strong convergence with their full-length counterparts. Moreover, these short forms showed convergence with other measures of social anxiety, showed divergence from measures assessing related constructs, and predicted concurrent interpersonal functioning. Recommendations for the use of these short forms are discussed.

The short form of the fear survey schedule for children-revised (FSSC-R-SF): an efficient, reliable, and valid scale for measuring fear in children and adolescents.

Science.gov (United States)

Muris, Peter; Ollendick, Thomas H; Roelofs, Jeffrey; Austin, Kristin

2014-12-01

The present study examined the psychometric properties of the Short Form of the Fear Survey Schedule for Children-Revised (FSSC-R-SF) in non-clinical and clinically referred children and adolescents from the Netherlands and the United States. Exploratory as well as confirmatory factor analyses of the FSSC-R-SF yielded support for the hypothesized five-factor structure representing fears in the domains of (1) failure and criticism, (2) the unknown, (3) animals, (4) danger and death, and (5) medical affairs. The FSSC-R-SF showed satisfactory reliability and was capable of assessing gender and age differences in youths' fears and fearfulness that have been documented in previous research. Further, the convergent validity of the scale was good as shown by substantial and meaningful correlations with the full-length FSSC-R and alternative childhood anxiety measures. Finally, support was found for the discriminant validity of the scale. That is, clinically referred children and adolescents exhibited higher scores on the FSSC-R-SF total scale and most subscales as compared to their non-clinical counterparts. Moreover, within the clinical sample, children and adolescents with a major anxiety disorder generally displayed higher FSSC-R-SF scores than youths without such a diagnosis. Altogether, these findings indicate that the FSSC-R-SF is a brief, reliable, and valid scale for assessing fear sensitivities in children and adolescents. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The patient safety climate in healthcare organizations (PSCHO) survey: Short-form development.

Science.gov (United States)

Benzer, Justin K; Meterko, Mark; Singer, Sara J

2017-08-01

Measures of safety climate are increasingly used to guide safety improvement initiatives. However, cost and respondent burden may limit the use of safety climate surveys. The purpose of this study was to develop a 15- to 20-item safety climate survey based on the Patient Safety Climate in Healthcare Organizations survey, a well-validated 38-item measure of safety climate. The Patient Safety Climate in Healthcare Organizations was administered to all senior managers, all physicians, and a 10% random sample of all other hospital personnel in 69 private sector hospitals and 30 Veterans Health Administration hospitals. Both samples were randomly divided into a derivation sample to identify a short-form subset and a confirmation sample to assess the psychometric properties of the proposed short form. The short form consists of 15 items represented 3 overarching domains in the long-form scale-organization, work unit, and interpersonal. The proposed short form efficiently captures 3 important sources of variance in safety climate: organizational, work-unit, and interpersonal. The short-form development process was a practical method that can be applied to other safety climate surveys. This safety climate short form may increase response rates in studies that involve busy clinicians or repeated measures. Published 2017. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

Compromise between Short- and Long-Term Financial Sustainability: A Hybrid Model for Supporting R&D Decisions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kao-Yi Shen

2017-03-01

Full Text Available The debate of “short-termism” has gained increasing interests from various fields, ranging from management to economics; it mainly concerns the decisions or actions taken by businesses that might yield short-term returns at the cost of long-term value or sustainability. Previous studies have highlighted this dilemma faced by managers, mainly from the pressure of capital markets or short-sighted shareholders who crave for immediate financial outcomes; intelligent decision aids that can compromise between the short- and long-term financial sustainability, based on a company’s policy, are highly needed. Therefore, the aim of this study is to develop a multiple-rule-based hybrid decision model to support management teams on prioritizing new R&D projects, considering the financial prospects in dual timeframes (i.e., short- and long-term for sustainability. Furthermore, in the presence of business uncertainty and the limited knowledge of managers on new projects, the intuitionistic fuzzy technique is incorporated. A case of selecting new R&D projects for an IC design company is illustrated using the proposed approach, and the financial data from a group of public-listed IC stocks from Taiwan are inducted to form the decision model. The findings not only support the IC design company to select new projects but also provide business insights to facilitate the understandings of this controversial issue in managerial practice.

The School Short-Form Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory: Revised and Improved

Science.gov (United States)

Hills, Peter R.; Francis, Leslie J.; Jennings, Penelope

2011-01-01

The school short form of the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory is a widely used measure of children's global self-esteem. Unlike the full-length scale, however, it has been generally understood that the short form does not allow differentiation between the major individual sources of self-esteem. The present study has examined the internal…

76 FR 37194 - Proposed Collection; Comment Request for Form 1099-R.

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2011-06-24

... 1099-R. AGENCY: Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Treasury. ACTION: Notice and request for comments... Form 1099-R, Distributions From Pensions, Annuities, Retirement or Profit-Sharing Plans, IRAs..., Insurance Contracts, etc. OMB Number: 1545-0119. Form Number: 1099-R. Abstract: Form 1099-R is used to...

Development and Psychometric Validation of the EDE-QS, a 12 Item Short Form of the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nicole Gideon

Full Text Available The aim of this study was to develop and validate a short form of the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q for routine, including session by session, outcome assessment.The current, 28-item version (6.0 of the EDE-Q was completed by 489 individuals aged 18-72 with various eating disorders recruited from three UK specialist eating disorder services. Rasch analysis was carried out on factors identified by means of principal component analysis, which in combination with expert ratings informed the development of an EDE-Q short form. The shortened questionnaire's reliability, validity and sensitivity was assessed based on online data collected from students of a UK university and volunteers with a history of eating disorders recruited from a national eating disorders charity aged 18-74 (N = 559.A 12-item short form, the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire Short (EDE-QS was derived. The new measure showed high internal consistency (Cronbach's α = .913 and temporal stability (ICC = .93; p < .001. It was highly correlated with the original EDE-Q (r = .91 for people without ED; r = .82 for people with ED and other measures of eating disorder and comorbid psychopathology. It was sufficiently sensitive to distinguish between people with and without eating disorders.The EDE-QS is a brief, reliable and valid measure of eating disorder symptom severity that performs similarly to the EDE-Q and that lends itself for the use of sessional outcome monitoring in treatment and research.

Ex-vivo absorption study of lysine R-lipoate salt, a new pharmaceutical form of R-ALA.

Science.gov (United States)

Amenta, Francesco; Buccioni, Michela; Ben, Diego Dal; Lambertucci, Catia; Navia, Aleix Martí; Ngouadjeu Ngnintedem, Michael A; Ricciutelli, Massimo; Spinaci, Andrea; Volpini, Rosaria; Marucci, Gabriella

2018-06-15

Alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) oral supplements were used in many pathologies associated with increased oxidative stress. Although only R-ALA is considered the biologically active form, R,S-ALA is used in therapeutic applications even showing poor water solubility. The aim of this work was to study the absorption and transport mechanism across the intestinal barrier of new R-ALA stable and water soluble form, consisting in the lysine R-ALA salt, in presence and absence of specific inhibitors of Na + /multivitamin (SMVT) and monocarboxylic acids (MCT). The absorption of a new ALA form was investigated at rat everted sacs in comparison with R-ALA, S-ALA, and R,S-ALA. Results showed that duodenum is the best portion of intestine for ALA forms absorption. The absorption percentage of R-ALA, S-ALA, R,S-ALA, and lysine R-ALA salt was 66%, 43%, 55%, and 70%, respectively. The modest effect of the SMVT inhibitor biotin demonstrated that this transporter system is not principally involved in the absorption of lysine R-lipoate salt across the rat intestinal barrier. On the contrary, the MCT inhibitor octanoic acid significantly reduced the transport of this salt, whit an absorption decrease of R-ALA and lysine R-lipoate salt of 28% and 24%, respectively. Since the highest concentration of these inhibitors did not completely inhibit the absorption of lysine R-lipoate salt, other transport mechanisms probably operate for its intracellular delivery. The new form of ALA, lysine R-lipoate salt, was the most absorbed respect to the other ALA forms demonstrating that this compound is more suitable for oral administration. This new salt could represent a promising candidate for ALA oral supplementation. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Comparing Levels of Mastery Motivation in Children with Cerebral Palsy (CP) and Typically Developing Children.

Science.gov (United States)

Salavati, Mahyar; Vameghi, Roshanak; Hosseini, Seyed Ali; Saeedi, Ahmad; Gharib, Masoud

2018-02-01

The present study aimed to compare motivation in school-age children with CP and typically developing children. 229 parents of children with cerebral palsy and 212 parents of typically developing children participated in the present cross sectional study and completed demographic and DMQ18 forms. The rest of information was measured by an occupational therapist. Average age was equal to 127.12±24.56 months for children with cerebral palsy (CP) and 128.08±15.90 for typically developing children. Independent t-test used to compare two groups; and Pearson correlation coefficient by SPSS software applied to study correlation with other factors. There were differences between DMQ subscales of CP and typically developing groups in terms of all subscales ( P Manual ability classification system (r=-0.782, P<0.001) and cognitive impairment (r=-0.161, P<0.05). Children with CP had lower mastery motivation than typically developing children. Rehabilitation efforts should take to enhance motivation, so that children felt empowered to do tasks or practices.

Validation of the Short Form of the Academic Procrastination Scale.

Science.gov (United States)

Yockey, Ronald D

2016-02-01

The factor structure, internal consistency reliability, and convergent validity of the five-item Academic Procrastination Scale-Short Form was investigated on an ethnically diverse sample of college students. The results provided support for the Academic Procrastination Scale-Short Form as a unidimensional measure of academic procrastination, which possessed good internal consistency reliability in this sample of 282 students. The scale also demonstrated good convergent validity, with moderate to large correlations with both the Procrastination Assessment Scale-Students and the Tuckman Procrastination Scale. Implications of the results are discussed and recommendations for future work provided.

48 CFR 52.246-9 - Inspection of Research and Development (Short Form).

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... Clauses 52.246-9 Inspection of Research and Development (Short Form). As prescribed in 46.309, insert the following clause: Inspection of Research and Development (Short Form) (APR 1984) The Government has the... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 2 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Inspection of Research and...

78 FR 69938 - Proposed Collection; Comment Request for Form 8453-R

Science.gov (United States)

2013-11-21

... 8453-R AGENCY: Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Treasury. ACTION: Notice and request for comments... Form 8453-R, Declaration and Signature for Electronic Filing of Forms 8947 and 8963. DATES: Written... copies of the form and instructions should be directed to R. Joseph Durbala, (202) 622-3634, at Internal...

Dyadic Short Forms of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-IV.

Science.gov (United States)

Denney, David A; Ringe, Wendy K; Lacritz, Laura H

2015-08-01

Full Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Fourth Edition (WAIS-IV) administration can be time-consuming and may not be necessary when intelligence quotient estimates will suffice. Estimated Full Scale Intelligence Quotient (FSIQ) and General Ability Index (GAI) scores were derived from nine dyadic short forms using individual regression equations based on data from a clinical sample (n = 113) that was then cross validated in a separate clinical sample (n = 50). Derived scores accounted for 70%-83% of the variance in FSIQ and 77%-88% of the variance in GAI. Predicted FSIQs were strongly associated with actual FSIQ (rs = .73-.88), as were predicted and actual GAIs (rs = .80-.93). Each of the nine dyadic short forms of the WAIS-IV was a good predictor of FSIQ and GAI in the validation sample. These data support the validity of WAIS-IV short forms when time is limited or lengthier batteries cannot be tolerated by patients. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Accuracy of Short Forms of the Dutch Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence: Third Edition.

Science.gov (United States)

Hurks, Petra; Hendriksen, Jos; Dek, Joelle; Kooij, Andress

2016-04-01

This article investigated the accuracy of six short forms of the Dutch Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence-Third edition (WPPSI-III-NL) in estimating intelligent quotient (IQ) scores in healthy children aged 4 to 7 years (N = 1,037). Overall, accuracy for each short form was studied, comparing IQ equivalences based on the short forms with the original WPPSI-III-NL Full Scale IQ (FSIQ) scores. Next, our sample was divided into three groups: children performing below average, average, or above average, based on the WPPSI-III-NL FSIQ estimates of the original long form, to study the accuracy of WPPSI-III-NL short forms at the tails of the FSIQ distribution. While studying the entire sample, all IQ estimates of the WPPSI-III-NL short forms correlated highly with the FSIQ estimates of the original long form (all rs ≥ .83). Correlations decreased significantly while studying only the tails of the IQ distribution (rs varied between .55 and .83). Furthermore, IQ estimates of the short forms deviated significantly from the FSIQ score of the original long form, when the IQ estimates were based on short forms containing only two subtests. In contrast, unlike the short forms that contained two to four subtests, the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence short form (containing the subtests Vocabulary, Similarities, Block Design, and Matrix Reasoning) and the General Ability Index short form (containing the subtests Vocabulary, Similarities, Comprehension, Block Design, Matrix Reasoning, and Picture Concepts) produced less variations when compared with the original FSIQ score. © The Author(s) 2015.

How Do Earth-Sized, Short-Period Planets Form?

Science.gov (United States)

Kohler, Susanna

2017-08-01

Matching theory to observation often requires creative detective work. In a new study, scientists have used a clever test to reveal clues about the birth of speedy, Earth-sized planets.Former Hot Jupiters?Artists impression of a hot Jupiter with an evaporating atmosphere. [NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech]Among the many different types of exoplanets weve observed, one unusual category is that of ultra-short-period planets. These roughly Earth-sized planets speed around their host stars at incredible rates, with periods of less than a day.How do planets in this odd category form? One popular theory is that they were previously hot Jupiters, especially massive gas giants orbiting very close to their host stars. The close orbit caused the planets atmospheres to be stripped away, leaving behind only their dense cores.In a new study, a team of astronomers led by Joshua Winn (Princeton University) has found a clever way to test this theory.Planetary radius vs. orbital period for the authors three statistical samples (colored markers) and the broader sample of stars in the California Kepler Survey. [Winn et al. 2017]Testing MetallicitiesStars hosting hot Jupiters have an interesting quirk: they typically have metallicities that are significantly higher than an average planet-hosting star. It is speculated that this is because planets are born from the same materials as their host stars, and hot Jupiters require the presence of more metals to be able to form.Regardless of the cause of this trend, if ultra-short-period planets are in fact the solid cores of former hot Jupiters, then the two categories of planets should have hosts with the same metallicity distributions. The ultra-short-period-planet hosts should therefore also be weighted to higher metallicities than average planet-hosting stars.To test this, the authors make spectroscopic measurements and gather data for a sample of stellar hosts split into three categories:64 ultra-short-period planets (orbital period shorter than a

Development and Validation of A Short Form of the Attitude Toward Poverty Scale

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sung Hyun Yun

2010-10-01

Full Text Available This study outlines the development and validation of a short form of the 37-item Attitude toward Poverty (ATP scale. Employing a cross-sectional survey design, the authors sampled 319 undergraduate students at a mid-sized university located in central Canada. The short form evinced high levels of internal consistency ranging from .87 to .89. Evidence for the validity was established through correlational analyses and independent samples t-tests. The findings suggest the short form is a feasible alternative to the original ATP scale for researchers and academics seeking to assess the poverty-related attitudes of university students.

How may short-duration GRBs form? A review of progenitor theories.

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Szécsi, Dorottya

2017-01-01

Roč. 47, č. 2 (2017), s. 108-115 ISSN 1335-1842. [INTEGRAL/BART Workshop /14./. Karlovy Vary, 03.04.2017-07.04.2017] R&D Projects: GA ČR GA13-10589S Institutional support: RVO:67985815 Keywords : short GRB progenitor * TWUIN stars * chemically homogeneous evolution Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics OBOR OECD: Astronomy (including astrophysics,space science) Impact factor: 0.336, year: 2016

78 FR 63564 - Proposed Collection; Comment Request for Form 8038-R

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2013-10-24

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78 FR 21500 - Proposed Collection; Comment Request for Form 8275 and 8275-R

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2013-04-10

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75 FR 61244 - Proposed Collection; Comment Request for Form 8038-R

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2010-10-04

... 8038-R AGENCY: Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Treasury. ACTION: Notice and request for comments... Form 8038-R, Request for Recovery of Overpayments Under Arbitrage Rebate Provisions. DATES: Written... information or copies of the form and instructions should be directed to R. Joseph Durbala at Internal Revenue...

Psychometric properties of the Social Problem Solving Inventory-Revised Short-Form in a South African population.

Science.gov (United States)

Sorsdahl, Katherine; Stein, Dan J; Myers, Bronwyn

2017-04-01

The Social Problem Solving Inventory-Revised Short-Form (SPSI-R:SF) has been used in several countries to identify problem-solving deficits among clinical and general populations in order to guide cognitive-behavioural interventions. Yet, very few studies have evaluated its psychometric properties. Three language versions of the questionnaire were administered to a general population sample comprising 1000 participants (771 English-, 178 Afrikaans- and 101 Xhosa-speakers). Of these participants, 210 were randomly selected to establish test-retest reliability (70 in each language). Principal component analysis was performed to examine the applicability of the factor structure of the original questionnaire to the South African data. Supplementary psychometric analyses were performed, including internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Collectively, results provide initial evidence of the reliability and validity of the SPSI-R:SF for the assessment of problem solving deficits in South Africa. Further studies that explore how the Afrikaans language version of the SPSI-R:SF can be improved and that establish the predictive validity of scores on the SPSI-R:SF are needed. © 2015 International Union of Psychological Science.

Psychometric testing of the properties of the spiritual health scale short form.

Science.gov (United States)

Hsiao, Ya-Chu; Chiang, Yi-Chien; Lee, Hsiang-Chun; Han, Chin-Yen

2013-11-01

To further examine the psychometric properties of the spiritual health scale short form, including its reliability and validity. Spirituality is one of the main factors associated with good health outcomes. A reliable and valid instrument to measure spirituality is essential to identify the spiritual needs of an individual and to evaluate the effect of spiritual care. A cross-sectional study design was used. The study was conducted in six nursing schools in northern, central and southern Taiwan. The inclusion criterion for participants was nursing students with clinical practice experience. Initially, 1141 participants were recruited for the study, but 67 were absent and 48 did not complete the questionnaires. A total of 1026 participants were finally recruited, indicating a response rate of 89·9%. The psychometric testing of the spiritual health scale short form included construct validity with confirmatory factor analysis, known-group validity and internal consistency reliability. The results of the confirmatory factor analysis supported the five-factor model as an acceptable model fit. In the known-group validity, the results indicated that people who are in the category of primary religious affiliation have better spiritual health than people in the category of secondary religious affiliation and atheism. The result also indicated that the 24-item spiritual health scale short form achieved an acceptable internal consistency coefficient. The findings suggest that the spiritual health scale short form is a valid and reliable instrument for the appraisal of individual spiritual health. The spiritual health scale short form could provide useful information to guide clinical practice in assessing and managing people's spiritual health in Taiwan. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Developing a short form of the simple Rathus assertiveness schedule using a sample of adults with sickle cell disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Jenerette, Coretta; Dixon, Jane

2010-10-01

Ethnic and cultural norms influence an individual's assertiveness. In health care, assertiveness may play an important role in health outcomes, especially for predominantly minority populations, such as adults with sickle cell disease. Therefore, it is important to develop measures to accurately assess assertiveness. It is also important to reduce response burden of lengthy instruments while retaining instrument reliability and validity. The purpose of this article is to describe development of a shorter version of the Simple Rathus Assertiveness Schedule (SRAS). Data from a cross-sectional descriptive study of adults with sickle cell disease were used to construct a short form of the SRAS, guided by stepwise regression analysis. The 19-item Simple Rathus Assertiveness Scale-Short Form (SRAS-SF) had acceptable reliability (α = .81) and construct validity and was highly correlated with the SRAS (r = .98, p = .01). The SRAS-SF reduces response burden, while maintaining reliability and validity.

Validation of a 16-Item Short Form of the Czech Version of the Experiences in Close Relationships Revised Questionnaire in a Representative Sample

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Kaščáková, N.; Husárová, D.; Hašto, J.; Kolarčik, P.; Poláčková Šolcová, Iva; Madarasová Gecková, A.; Tavel, P.

2016-01-01

Roč. 119, č. 3 (2016), s. 804-825 ISSN 0033-2941 Institutional support: RVO:68081740 Keywords : Short form of the ECR-R * Experiences in Close Relationships Revised Questionnaire * validation * attachment anxiety * attachment avoidance * attachment styles * representative sample Subject RIV: AN - Psychology Impact factor: 0.629, year: 2016

Comparison of WAIS-III Short Forms for Measuring Index and Full-Scale Scores

Science.gov (United States)

Girard, Todd A.; Axelrod, Bradley N.; Wilkins, Leanne K.

2010-01-01

This investigation assessed the ability of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Third Edition (WAIS-III) short forms to estimate both index and IQ scores in a large, mixed clinical sample (N = 809). More specifically, a commonly used modification of Ward's seven-subtest short form (SF7-A), a recently proposed index-based SF7-C and eight-subtest…

Developing Item Response Theory-Based Short Forms to Measure the Social Impact of Burn Injuries.

Science.gov (United States)

Marino, Molly E; Dore, Emily C; Ni, Pengsheng; Ryan, Colleen M; Schneider, Jeffrey C; Acton, Amy; Jette, Alan M; Kazis, Lewis E

2018-03-01

To develop self-reported short forms for the Life Impact Burn Recovery Evaluation (LIBRE) Profile. Short forms based on the item parameters of discrimination and average difficulty. A support network for burn survivors, peer support networks, social media, and mailings. Burn survivors (N=601) older than 18 years. Not applicable. The LIBRE Profile. Ten-item short forms were developed to cover the 6 LIBRE Profile scales: Relationships with Family & Friends, Social Interactions, Social Activities, Work & Employment, Romantic Relationships, and Sexual Relationships. Ceiling effects were ≤15% for all scales; floor effects were item bank, computerized adaptive test, and short forms are all scored along the same metric, and therefore scores are comparable regardless of the mode of administration. Copyright © 2017 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Psychometric properties of the Bulgarian translation of noise sensitivity scale short form (NSS-SF): implementation in the field of noise control.

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Dzhambov, Angel M; Dimitrova, Donka D

2014-01-01

The Noise Sensitivity Scale Short Form (NSS-SF), developed in English as a more practical form of the classical Weinstein NSS, has not to date been validated in other cultures, and its validity and reliability have not yet been confirmed. This study aimed to validate NSS-SF in Bulgarian and to demonstrate its applicability. The study comprised test-retest (n = 115) and a field-testing (n = 71) of the newly validated scale. Its construct validity was examined with confirmatory factor analysis, and very good model-fit was observed. Temporal stability was assessed in a test-retest (r = 0.990), convergent validity was examined with single-item susceptibility to the noise scale (r = 0.906) and discriminant validity was confirmed with single-item noise annoyance scale (r = 0.718). The lowest observed McDonald's omega across the studies was 0.923. The cross-cultural validation of NSS-SF was successful but it proved to be somewhat problematic with respect to its annoyance-based items.

Closed Form Solution of Synchronous Machine Short Circuit Transients

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Gibson H.M. Sianipar

2010-05-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the closed form solution of the synchronous machine transients undergoing short circuit. That analytic formulation has been derived based on linearity and balanced conditions of the fault. Even though restrictive, the proposed method will serve somehow or other as a new resource for EMTP productivity. Indisputably superior, the closed-form formulation has some features inimitable by discretization such as continuity, accuracy and absolute numerical stability. Moreover, it enables us to calculate states at one specific instant independent of previous states or a snapshot, which any discretization methods cannot do.

Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-fourth edition (WISC-IV) short-form validity: a comparison study in pediatric epilepsy.

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Hrabok, Marianne; Brooks, Brian L; Fay-McClymont, Taryn B; Sherman, Elisabeth M S

2014-01-01

The purpose of this article was to investigate the accuracy of the WISC-IV short forms in estimating Full Scale Intelligence Quotient (FSIQ) and General Ability Index (GAI) in pediatric epilepsy. One hundred and four children with epilepsy completed the WISC-IV as part of a neuropsychological assessment at a tertiary-level children's hospital. The clinical accuracy of eight short forms was assessed in two ways: (a) accuracy within +/- 5 index points of FSIQ and (b) the clinical classification rate according to Wechsler conventions. The sample was further subdivided into low FSIQ (≤ 80) and high FSIQ (> 80). All short forms were significantly correlated with FSIQ. Seven-subtest (Crawford et al. [2010] FSIQ) and 5-subtest (BdSiCdVcLn) short forms yielded the highest clinical accuracy rates (77%-89%). Overall, a 2-subtest (VcMr) short form yielded the lowest clinical classification rates for FSIQ (35%-63%). The short form yielding the most accurate estimate of GAI was VcSiMrBd (73%-84%). Short forms show promise as useful estimates. The 7-subtest (Crawford et al., 2010) and 5-subtest (BdSiVcLnCd) short forms yielded the most accurate estimates of FSIQ. VcSiMrBd yielded the most accurate estimate of GAI. Clinical recommendations are provided for use of short forms in pediatric epilepsy.

Cross-cultural examination of the five-factor model of drinking motives in Spanish and Canadian undergraduates.

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Mezquita, Laura; Stewart, Sherry H; Kuntsche, Emmanuel; Grant, Valerie V

2016-06-14

This study aims to test the cross-cultural suitability of Modified Drinking Motives Questionnaire-Revised (M DMQ-R) (Grant, Stewart, O'Connor, Blackwell, & Conrod, 2007). The sample included 571 Spanish and 571 Canadian undergraduates between the ages of 18 and 22 (65.8% women). The confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated factorial invariance between samples. The regression analysis showed that social, enhancement and low conformity motives were related to drinking frequency and drinking quantity in the total sample. No moderation effect of country on predicting alcohol consumption was found. The results suggest that M DMQ-R is a suitable instrument for comparing drinking motives across Spanish and Canadian undergraduates, and that motives-focused prevention and treatment programmes developed in one country could be generalised to another.

Development of a Short Form of the Boston Naming Test for Individuals with Aphasia

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del Toro, Christina M.; Bislick, Lauren P.; Comer, Matthew; Velozo, Craig; Romero, Sergio; Rothi, Leslie J. Gonzalez; Kendall, Diane L.

2011-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to develop a short form of the Boston Naming Test (BNT; Kaplan, Goodglass, & Weintraub, 2001) for individuals with aphasia and compare it with 2 existing short forms originally analyzed with responses from people with dementia and neurologically healthy adults. Method: Development of the new BNT-Aphasia Short…

Development and Cross-Validation of the Short Form of the Cultural Competence Scale for Nurses

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Duckhee Chae, PhD, RN

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Purpose: To develop and validate the short form of the Korean adaptation of the Cultural Competence Scale for Nurses. Methods: To shorten the 33-item Cultural Competence Scale for Nurses, an expert panel (N = 6 evaluated its content validity. The revised items were pilot tested using a sample of nine nurses, and clarity was assessed through cognitive interviews with respondents. The original instrument was shortened and validated through item analysis, exploratory factor analysis, convergent validity, and reliability using data from 277 hospital nurses. The 14-item final version was cross-validated through confirmatory factor analysis, convergent validity, discriminant validity, known-group comparisons, and reliability using data from 365 nurses belonging to 19 hospitals. Results: A 4-factor, 14-item model demonstrated satisfactory fit with significant factor loadings. The convergent validity between the developed tool and transcultural self-efficacy was significant (r = .55, p < .001. The convergent validity evaluated using the Average Variance Extracted and discriminant validity were acceptable. Known-group comparisons revealed significant differences in the mean scores of the groups who spent more than one month abroad (p = .002 were able to communicate in a foreign language (p < .001 and had education to care for foreign patients (p = .039. Cronbach's α was .89, and the reliability of the subscales ranged from .74 to .91. Conclusion: The Cultural Competence Scale for Nurses-Short Form demonstrated good reliability and validity. It is a short and appropriate instrument for use in clinical and research settings to assess nurses' cultural competence. Keywords: cultural competence, psychometric properties, nurse

48 CFR 46.309 - Research and development contracts (short form).

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2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Research and development... REGULATION CONTRACT MANAGEMENT QUALITY ASSURANCE Contract Clauses 46.309 Research and development contracts... Development (Short Form), in solicitations and contracts for research and development when the clause...

Developing brief fatigue short forms calibrated to a common mathematical metric: is content-balancing important?

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Karon F Cook

2010-08-01

Full Text Available Karon F Cook1, Seung W Choi2, Kurt L Johnson1, Dagmar Amtmann11Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA; 2Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, USAAbstract: There are clinical and research settings in which concerns about respondent burden make the use of longer self-report measures impractical. Though computer adaptive testing provides an efficient strategy for measuring patient reported outcomes, the requirement of a computer interface makes it impractical for some settings. This study evaluated how well brief short forms, constructed from a longer measure of patient reported fatigue, reproduced scores on the full measure. When the items of an item bank are calibrated using an item response theory model, it is assumed that the items are fungible units. Theoretically, there should be no advantage to balancing the content coverage of the items. We compared short forms developed using a random item selection process to short forms developed with consideration of the items relation to subdomains of fatigue (ie, physical and cognitive fatigue. Scores on short forms developed using content balancing more successfully predicted full item bank scores than did scores on short forms developed by random selection of items.Keywords: psychometrics, outcomes, quality of life, measurement, fatigue

Short Forms of Wechsler Scales Assessing the Intellectually Gifted Children Using Simulation Data

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Alexandre Aubry

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Intellectual giftedness is usually defined in terms of having a very high Intellectual Quotient (IQ. The intellectual capacity is assessed by a standardized test such as the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC. However, the identification of intellectually gifted children (IGC often remains time-consuming. A short-form WISC can be used as a screening instrument. The practitioners and researchers in this field can then make a more in-depth evaluation of the IGC's cognitive and socioemotional characteristics if needed. The aim of our study is thus to determine the best short tests, in terms of their psychometric qualities, for the identification of IGC. The current study is composed of three-step analyses. Firstly, we created nine IQs short forms (IQSF with 2-subtests, and nine IQSF with 4-subtests from the WISC-IV (Wechsler, 2005. Secondly, we estimated psychometric parameters (i.e., reliability and validity from empirical and simulated dataset with WISC-IV. The difference in the estimation of psychometric qualities of each IQSF from the simulated data is very close to those derived from empirical data. We thus selected the three best IQSF based on these psychometrics parameters estimated from simulated datasets. For each selected short form of the WISC-IV, we estimated the screening quality in our sample of IGC. Thirdly, we created IQSF with 2- and 4-subtests from the WISC-V (Wechsler, 2016 with simulated dataset. We then highlighted the three best short forms of WISC-V based on the estimated psychometric parameters. The results are interpreted in terms of validity, reliability and screening quality of IGC. In spite of the important changes in the WISC-V, our findings show that the 2-subtest form, Similitaries + Matrix Reasoning, and 4-subtest form, Similitaries + Vocabulary + Matrix Reasoning + Block Design, are the most efficient to identify the IGC at the two recent versions of Wechsler scales. Finally, we discuss the advantages

[Development of a Japanese version of a short form of the Profile of Emotional Competence].

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Nozaki, Yuki; Koyasu, Masuo

2015-06-01

Emotional competence refers to individual differences in the ability to appropriately identity, understand, express, regulate, and utilize one's own emotions and those of others. This study developed a Japanese version of a short form of the Profile of Emotional Competence, a measure that allows the comprehensive assessment of intra- and interpersonal emotional competence with shorter items, and investigated its reliability and validity. In Study 1, we selected items for a short version and compared it with the full scale in terms of scores, internal consistency, and validity. In Study 2, we examined the short form's test-retest reliability. Results supported the original two-factor model and the measure had adequate reliability and validity. We discuss the construct validity and practical applicability of the short form of the Profile of Emotional Competence.

48 CFR 52.249-1 - Termination for Convenience of the Government (Fixed-Price) (Short Form).

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... Convenience of the Government (Fixed-Price) (Short Form). 52.249-1 Section 52.249-1 Federal Acquisition... CONTRACT CLAUSES Text of Provisions and Clauses 52.249-1 Termination for Convenience of the Government... Convenience of the Government (Fixed-Price) (Short Form) (APR 1984) The Contracting Officer, by written notice...

Validity and reliability of short forms of parental-caregiver perception and family impact scale in a Telugu speaking population of India.

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Kumar, Santhosh; Kroon, Jeroen; Lalloo, Ratilal; Johnson, Newell W

2016-03-01

Parental-Caregiver Perception Questionnaire (P-CPQ) and Family Impact Scale (FIS) are commonly used measures to evaluate the parent's perception of the impact of children's oral health on quality of life and family respectively. Recently, shorter forms of P-CPQ and FIS have been developed. No study has sought to validate these short forms in other languages and cultures. This study aimed to evaluate the validity and reliability of FIS, 8 and 16-item P-CPQ in a Telugu speaking population of India. For this cross-sectional study, a multi-stage random sampling technique was used to recruit 11-13 year-old schoolchildren of Medak district, Telangana, India and their parents (n = 1342). Parents were approached with questionnaires through their children who underwent clinical examinations for dental caries, fluorosis and malocclusion. The translated versions underwent pilot testing (n = 40), test-retest reliability was also assessed (n = 161). The overall summary scale and subscales of the short forms of P-CPQ and FIS failed to discriminate between the categories of dental caries severity. Also, malocclusion status was not related to the domain or overall scores of both the short forms of P-CPQ. There were significant differences in subscale and overall scores of 16 and 8-item P-CPQ and FIS between the fluorosis categories. Both 16 and 8-item P-CPQ summary scales were significantly related to parent's global rating of oral health (16-item, r = 0.30, p internal consistency and reliability on repeated administrations.

Short forms of the Texas Social Behavior Inventory /TSBI/, an objective measure of self-esteem

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Helmreich, R.; Stapp, J.

1974-01-01

Two short (16 item) forms of the Helmreich, Stapp, and Ervin (1974) Texas Social Behavior Inventory, a validated, objective measure of self-esteem or social competence are presented. Normative data and other statistics are described for males and females. Correlations between each short form and long (32-item) scale were .97. Factor analysis and part-whole correlations verified the similarity of the two forms. The utility of the scale in research is described.

The Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS) and the Social Phobia Scale (SPS): a comparison of two short-form versions.

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Fergus, Thomas A; Valentiner, David P; Kim, Hyun-Soo; McGrath, Patrick B

2014-12-01

The widespread use of Mattick and Clarke's (1998) Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS) and Social Phobia Scale (SPS) led 2 independent groups of researchers to develop short forms of these measures (Fergus, Valentiner, McGrath, Gier-Lonsway, & Kim, 2012; Peters, Sunderland, Andrews, Rapee, & Mattick, 2012). This 3-part study examined the psychometric properties of Fergus et al.'s and Peters et al.'s short forms of the SIAS and SPS using an American nonclinical adolescent sample in Study 1 (N = 98), American patient sample with an anxiety disorder in Study 2 (N = 117), and both a South Korean college student sample (N = 341) and an American college student sample (N = 550) in Study 3. Scores on both sets of short forms evidenced adequate internal consistency, interitem correlations, and measurement invariance. Scores on Fergus et al.'s short forms, particularly their SIAS short form, tended to capture more unique variance in scores of criterion measures than did scores on Peters et al.'s short forms. Implications for the use of these 2 sets of short forms are discussed. (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

Development of a Short Form of the Five-Factor Narcissism Inventory: the FFNI-SF.

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Sherman, Emily D; Miller, Joshua D; Few, Lauren R; Campbell, W Keith; Widiger, Thomas A; Crego, Cristina; Lynam, Donald R

2015-09-01

The Five-Factor Narcissism Inventory (FFNI; Glover, Miller, Lynam, Crego, & Widiger, 2012) is a 148-item self-report inventory of 15 traits designed to assess the basic elements of narcissism from the perspective of a 5-factor model. The FFNI assesses both vulnerable (i.e., cynicism/distrust, need for admiration, reactive anger, and shame) and grandiose (i.e., acclaim seeking, arrogance, authoritativeness, entitlement, exhibitionism, exploitativeness, grandiose fantasies, indifference, lack of empathy, manipulativeness, and thrill seeking) variants of narcissism. The present study reports the development of a short-form version of the FFNI in 4 diverse samples (i.e., 2 undergraduate samples, a sample recruited from MTurk, and a clinical community sample) using item response theory. The validity of the resultant 60-item short form was compared against the validity of the full scale in the 4 samples at both the subscale level and the level of the grandiose and vulnerable composites. Results indicated that the 15 subscales remain relatively reliable, possess a factor structure identical to the structure of the long-form scales, and manifest correlational profiles highly similar to those of the long-form scales in relation to a variety of criterion measures, including basic personality dimensions, other measures of grandiose and vulnerable narcissism, and indicators of externalizing and internalizing psychopathology. Grandiose and vulnerable composites also behave almost identically across the short- and long-form versions. It is concluded that the FFNI-Short Form (FFNI-SF) offers a well-articulated assessment of the basic traits comprising grandiose and vulnerable narcissism, particularly when assessment time is limited. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved.

A short form of the neonatal intensive care unit family needs inventory

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Elisabete Alves

2016-02-01

Full Text Available ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE: The identification of parental needs in Neonatal Intensive Care Units is essential to design and implement family-centered care. This article aims to validate the Neonatal Intensive Care Units Family Needs Inventory for the Portuguese population, and to propose a Short Form. METHODS: A linguistic adaptation of the Neonatal Intensive Care Units Family Needs Inventory, a self-report scale with 56-items, was performed. The instrument was administered to 211 parents of infants hospitalized in all level III Neonatal Intensive Care Units in the North of Portugal, 15-22 days after admission (July of 2013-June of 2014. The number of items needed to achieve reliability close to 0.8 was calculated using by the Spearman-Brown formula. The global goodness of fit of the scale was evaluated using the comparative fit index. Construct validity was assessed through association of each dimension score with socio-demographic and obstetric characteristics. RESULTS: Exploratory factor analysis revealed two dimensions, one focused on parents' needs and another on the infant's needs. To compose the Short Form Inventory, items with ceiling effect were eliminated and 22 items were submitted to confirmatory analysis, which supported the existence of two dimensions (CFI = 0.925. The Short Form showed a high degree of reliability (alpha ≥ 0.76. Less educated and older parents more frequently attributed a significantly higher importance to parent-centered needs, while parents of multiples revealed a tendency to value infant-centered needs. CONCLUSIONS: The Short Form of the Neonatal Intensive Care Units Family Needs Inventory is a brief, simple, and valid instrument with a high degree of reliability. Further studies are needed to explore associations with practices of family-centered care.

The evolutive aspect of the short jat substituents following the sonant r - a comparison between the Serbian literary language and the dialect of Vuk’s ancestors

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Ostojić Vladimir B.

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The paper discusses the evolutive aspects of short “jat” following the sonant r usage during the formation of the modern Serbian literary language and its treatment in the Serbo-Croatistic and the Serbistic descriptive and normative literature. In addition to the basic issue of the distribution of the short “jat’s” substituent following the sonant r in dialects of Montenegro, particularly in the native dialect of Vuk Karadžić’s ancestors, the author also addresses the question related to the mechanisms that cause short “jat” following the sonant r in ijekavian dialects to be reduced sometimes to e, and sometimes to je. Substitution of short “jat” following the sonant r in Jezera-Šarani dialect had important evolution from the times of “classical Vukovian ijekavism”. In this dialect, forms with rje do not occur, except in the word starješina. Here, r and j remained in the same syllable, which set the stage for iotization and depalatalization. The analysis of the paper describes the situation in Jezera-Šarani dialect as well as the situation in other Montenegrian dialects of the older and newer Eastern-Herzegovian type. The author as well takes into consideration that our Pravopis has already disregarded the Vukovian tradition with omitting j that follows sonant r in the examples pogreška and greška. In order to eliminate the disunity, the author concludes that the status of the group re should not be questioned from the aspect of literary language standards.

Selenite and tellurite form mixed seleno- and tellurotrisulfides with CstR from Staphylococcus aureus

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Luebke, Justin L.; Arnold, Randy J.; Giedroc, David P.

2013-01-01

Staphylococcus aureus CstR (CsoR-like sulfur transferase repressor) is a member of the CsoR family of transition metal sensing metalloregulatory proteins. Unlike CsoR, CstR does not form a stable complex with transition metals but instead reacts with sulfite to form a mixture of di- and trisulfide species, CstR2(RS-SR′) and CstR2(RS-S-SR′)n, n = 1 or 2, respectively. Here, we investigate if CstR performs similar chemistry with related chalcogen oxyanions selenite and tellurite. In this work w...

Emotional Intelligence and Nurse Recruitment: Rasch and confirmatory factor analysis of the trait emotional intelligence questionnaire short form.

Science.gov (United States)

Snowden, Austyn; Watson, Roger; Stenhouse, Rosie; Hale, Claire

2015-12-01

To examine the construct validity of the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire Short form. Emotional intelligence involves the identification and regulation of our own emotions and the emotions of others. It is therefore a potentially useful construct in the investigation of recruitment and retention in nursing and many questionnaires have been constructed to measure it. Secondary analysis of existing dataset of responses to Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire Short form using concurrent application of Rasch analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. First year undergraduate nursing and computing students completed Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire-Short Form in September 2013. Responses were analysed by synthesising results of Rasch analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. Participants (N = 938) completed Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire Short form. Rasch analysis showed the majority of the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire-Short Form items made a unique contribution to the latent trait of emotional intelligence. Five items did not fit the model and differential item functioning (gender) accounted for this misfit. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed a four-factor structure consisting of: self-confidence, empathy, uncertainty and social connection. All five misfitting items from the Rasch analysis belonged to the 'social connection' factor. The concurrent use of Rasch and factor analysis allowed for novel interpretation of Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire Short form. Much of the response variation in Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire Short form can be accounted for by the social connection factor. Implications for practice are discussed. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Taming a Wandering Attention: Short-Form Mindfulness Training in Student Cohorts

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Alexandra B. Morrison

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Mindfulness training (MT is a form of mental training in which individuals engage in exercises to cultivate an attentive, present centered, and non-reactive mental mode. The present study examines the putative benefits of MT in University students for whom mind wandering can interfere with learning and academic success. We tested the hypothesis that short-form MT (7 hours over 7 weeks contextualized for the challenges and concerns of University students may reduce mind wandering and improve working memory. Performance on the sustained attention response task (SART and two working memory tasks (operation span, delayed-recognition with distracters was indexed in participants assigned to a waitlist control group or the MT course. Results demonstrated MT-related benefits in SART performance. Relative to the control group, MT participants had higher task accuracy and self-reported being more on-task after the 7-week training period. MT did not significantly benefit the operation span task or accuracy on the delayed-recognition task. Together these results suggest that while short-form MT did not bolster working memory task performance, it may help curb mind wandering and should, therefore, be further investigated for its use in academic contexts.

Validation of the Italian Tinnitus Questionnaire Short Form (TQ 12-I as a Brief Test for the Assessment of Tinnitus-Related Distress: Results of a Cross-Sectional Multicenter-Study

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Roland Moschen

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Objectives: The use of reliable and valid psychometric tools to assess subjectively experienced distress due to tinnitus is broadly recommended. The purpose of the study was the validation of the Italian version of Tinnitus Questionnaire 12 item short form (TQ 12-I as a brief test for the assessment of patient reported tinnitus-related distress.Design: Cross-sectional multicenter questionnaire study.Setting: Tinnitus Center, European Hospital (Rome, the Department of Otorhinolaryngology, “Guglielmo da Saliceto” Hospital (Piacenza, and the Department of Audiology and Phoniatry, “Mater Domini” University Hospital (Catanzaro.Participants: One hundred and forty-three outpatients with tinnitus treated at one of the participating medical centers.Main Outcome Measures: Tinnitus Questionnaire Short Form (TQ 12-I, compared to the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI, Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI, and Short Form (SF-36 Health Survey.Results: Our factor analysis revealed a two-factor solution (health anxiety, cognitive distress, accounting for 53.5% of the variance. Good internal consistency for the total score (α = 0.86 and both factors (α = 0.79–0.87 was found. Moderate correlations with the THI (r = 0.65, p < 0.001 indicated good convergent validity. Tinnitus distress was further correlated to increased psychological distress (r = 0.31, p < 0.001 and reduced emotional well-being (r = -0.34, p < 0.001.Conclusion: The study clearly showed that the TQ 12-I is a reliable and valid instrument to assess tinnitus-related distress which can be used in clinical practice as well as for research.

Cross-cultural adaptation of the US consumer form of the short Primary Care Assessment Tool (PCAT): the Korean consumer form of the short PCAT (KC PCAT) and the Korean standard form of the short PCAT (KS PCAT).

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Jeon, Ki-Yeob

2011-01-01

It is well known that countries with well-structured primary care have better health outcomes, better health equity and reduced healthcare costs. This study aimed to culturally modify and validate the US consumer form of the short Primary Care Assessment Tool (PCAT) in primary care in the Republic of Korea (hereafter referred to as Korea). The Korean consumer form of the short PCAT (KC PCAT) was cross-culturally modified from the original version using a standardised transcultural adaptation method. A pre-test version of the KC PCAT was formulated by replacement of four items and modification of a further four items from the 37 items of the original consumer form of the short PCAT at face value evaluation meetings. Pilot testing was done with a convenience sample of 15 responders at two different sites. Test-retest showed high reliability. To validate the KC PCAT, 606 clients participated in a survey carried out in Korea between February and May 2006. Internal consistency reliability, test-retest reliability and factor analysis were conducted in order to test validity. Psychometric testing was carried out on 37 items of the KC PCAT to make the KS PCAT which has 30 items and has seven principal domains: first contact utilisation, first contact accessibility, ongoing accountable care (ongoing care and coordinated rapport care), integrated care (patient-centred care with integration between primary and specialty care or between different specialties), comprehensive care, community-oriented care and culturally-oriented care. Component factors of the verified KS PCAT explained 58.28% of the total variance in the total item scores of primary care. The verified KS PCAT has been characterised by the seven classic domains of primary care with minor modifications. This may provide clues concerning differences in expectations for primary care in the Korean population as compared with that of the US. The KS PCAT is a reliable and valid tool for the evaluation of the quality of

Selenite and tellurite form mixed seleno- and tellurotrisulfides with CstR from Staphylococcus aureus.

Science.gov (United States)

Luebke, Justin L; Arnold, Randy J; Giedroc, David P

2013-04-01

Staphylococcus aureus CstR (CsoR-like sulfur transferase repressor) is a member of the CsoR family of transition metal sensing metalloregulatory proteins. Unlike CsoR, CstR does not form a stable complex with transition metals but instead reacts with sulfite to form a mixture of di- and trisulfide species, CstR2(RS-SR') and CstR2(RS-S-SR')n)n=1 or 2, respectively. Here, we investigate if CstR performs similar chemistry with related chalcogen oxyanions selenite and tellurite. In this work we show by high resolution tandem mass spectrometry that CstR is readily modified by selenite (SeO3(2-)) or tellurite (TeO3(2-)) to form a mixture of intersubunit disulfides and selenotrisulfides or tellurotrisulfides, respectively, between Cys31 and Cys60'. Analogous studies with S. aureus CsoR reveals no reaction with selenite and minimal reaction with tellurite. All cross-linked forms of CstR exhibit reduced DNA binding affinity. We show that Cys31 initiates the reaction with sulfite through the formation of S-sulfocysteine (RS-SO3(2-)) and Cys60 is required to fully derivatize CstR to CstR2(RS-SR') and CstR2(RS-S-SR'). The modification of Cys31 also drives an allosteric switch that negatively regulates DNA binding while derivatization of Cys60 alone has no effect on DNA binding. These results highlight the differences between CstRs and CsoRs in chemical reactivity and metal ion selectivity and establish Cys31 as the functionally important cysteine residue in CstRs.

A short form of the neonatal intensive care unit family needs inventory

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elisabete Alves

2016-01-01

Conclusions: The Short Form of the NICU Family Needs Inventory is a brief, simple, and valid instrument with a high degree of reliability. Further studies are needed to explore associations with practices of family‐centered care.

Genetic deletion of melanin-concentrating hormone neurons impairs hippocampal short-term synaptic plasticity and hippocampal-dependent forms of short-term memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Le Barillier, Léa; Léger, Lucienne; Luppi, Pierre-Hervé; Fort, Patrice; Malleret, Gaël; Salin, Paul-Antoine

2015-11-01

The cognitive role of melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH) neurons, a neuronal population located in the mammalian postero-lateral hypothalamus sending projections to all cortical areas, remains poorly understood. Mainly activated during paradoxical sleep (PS), MCH neurons have been implicated in sleep regulation. The genetic deletion of the only known MCH receptor in rodent leads to an impairment of hippocampal dependent forms of memory and to an alteration of hippocampal long-term synaptic plasticity. By using MCH/ataxin3 mice, a genetic model characterized by a selective deletion of MCH neurons in the adult, we investigated the role of MCH neurons in hippocampal synaptic plasticity and hippocampal-dependent forms of memory. MCH/ataxin3 mice exhibited a deficit in the early part of both long-term potentiation and depression in the CA1 area of the hippocampus. Post-tetanic potentiation (PTP) was diminished while synaptic depression induced by repetitive stimulation was enhanced suggesting an alteration of pre-synaptic forms of short-term plasticity in these mice. Behaviorally, MCH/ataxin3 mice spent more time and showed a higher level of hesitation as compared to their controls in performing a short-term memory T-maze task, displayed retardation in acquiring a reference memory task in a Morris water maze, and showed a habituation deficit in an open field task. Deletion of MCH neurons could thus alter spatial short-term memory by impairing short-term plasticity in the hippocampus. Altogether, these findings could provide a cellular mechanism by which PS may facilitate memory encoding. Via MCH neuron activation, PS could prepare the day's learning by increasing and modulating short-term synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Efectos que produce la resolución emitida por la superintendencia de compañías, valores y seguros en las empresas constructoras ubicadas en el DMQ. Sector El Batán en el año 2017, que están obligadas a contar con un informe anual de auditoría externa.

OpenAIRE

Celi Herrera, Evelyn Carolina

2018-01-01

The work presented below is intended to know the effects produced by the resolution issued by the Superintendence of Companies, Securities and Insurance in construction companies that exceed $500.000, 00 dollars in actives, located in the DMQ, Batán sector in the year 2017, which are obliged to have an annual external audit report. The external audit in Ecuador is briefly detailed, and what parameters an external auditor should follow at the time of the annual audit report. The dead...

Factor structure and item level psychometrics of the Social Problem Solving Inventory-Revised: Short Form in traumatic brain injury.

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Li, Chih-Ying; Waid-Ebbs, Julia; Velozo, Craig A; Heaton, Shelley C

2016-01-01

Social problem-solving deficits characterise individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI), and poor social problem solving interferes with daily functioning and productive lifestyles. Therefore, it is of vital importance to use the appropriate instrument to identify deficits in social problem solving for individuals with TBI. This study investigates factor structure and item-level psychometrics of the Social Problem Solving Inventory-Revised: Short Form (SPSI-R:S), for adults with moderate and severe TBI. Secondary analysis of 90 adults with moderate and severe TBI who completed the SPSI-R:S was performed. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA), principal components analysis (PCA) and Rasch analysis examined the factor structure and item-level psychometrics of the SPSI-R:S. The EFA showed three dominant factors, with positively worded items represented as the most definite factor. The other two factors are negative problem-solving orientation and skills; and negative problem-solving emotion. Rasch analyses confirmed the three factors are each unidimensional constructs. It was concluded that the total score interpretability of the SPSI-R:S may be challenging due to the multidimensional structure of the total measure. Instead, we propose using three separate SPSI-R:S subscores to measure social problem solving for the TBI population.

Factor Structure and Item Level Psychometrics of the Social Problem Solving Inventory Revised-Short Form in Traumatic Brain Injury

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Li, Chih-Ying; Waid-Ebbs, Julia; Velozo, Craig A.; Heaton, Shelley C.

2016-01-01

Primary Objective Social problem solving deficits characterize individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Poor social problem solving interferes with daily functioning and productive lifestyles. Therefore, it is of vital importance to use the appropriate instrument to identify deficits in social problem solving for individuals with TBI. This study investigates factor structure and item-level psychometrics of the Social Problem Solving Inventory-Revised Short Form (SPSI-R:S), for adults with moderate and severe TBI. Research Design Secondary analysis of 90 adults with moderate and severe TBI who completed the SPSI-R:S. Methods and Procedures An exploratory factor analysis (EFA), principal components analysis (PCA) and Rasch analysis examined the factor structure and item-level psychometrics of the SPSI-R:S. Main Outcomes and Results The EFA showed three dominant factors, with positively worded items represented as the most definite factor. The other two factors are negative problem solving orientation and skills; and negative problem solving emotion. Rasch analyses confirmed the three factors are each unidimensional constructs. Conclusions The total score interpretability of the SPSI-R:S may be challenging due to the multidimensional structure of the total measure. Instead, we propose using three separate SPSI-R:S subscores to measure social problem solving for the TBI population. PMID:26052731

Translation and cross-cultural adaptation of the Brazilian Portuguese version of the Driving Anger Scale (DAS: long form and short form

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Jessye Almeida Cantini

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Driving anger has attracted the attention of researchers in recent years because it may induce individuals to drive aggressively or adopt risk behaviors. The Driving Anger Scale (DAS was designed to evaluate the propensity of drivers to become angry or aggressive while driving. This study describes the cross-cultural adaptation of a Brazilian version of the short form and the long form of the DAS.Methods: Translation and adaptation were made in four steps: two translations and two back-translations carried out by independent evaluators; the development of a brief version by four bilingual experts in mental health and driving behaviors; a subsequent experimental application; and, finally, an investigation of operational equivalence.Results: Final Brazilian versions of the short form and of the long form of the DAS were made and are presented. Conclusions: This important instrument, which assesses driving anger and aggressive behaviors, is now available to evaluate the driving behaviors of the Brazilian population, which facilitates research in this field.

Internal consistency of a Spanish translation of the Francis Scale of Attitude Toward Christianity Short Form.

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Campo-Arias, Adalberto; Oviedo, Heidi Celina; Díaz, Carmen Elena; Cogollo, Zuleima

2006-12-01

This study evaluated the internal consistency of a Spanish version of the short form of the Francis Scale of Attitude Toward Christianity based on responses of 405 Colombian adolescent students ages 13 to 17 years. This translated short-form version of the scale had an internal consistency of .80. This estimate indicates suitable internal consistency reliability for research use in this population.

A comparison of computerized adaptive testing and fixed-length short forms for the Prosthetic Limb Users Survey of Mobility (PLUS-MTM).

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Amtmann, Dagmar; Bamer, Alyssa M; Kim, Jiseon; Bocell, Fraser; Chung, Hyewon; Park, Ryoungsun; Salem, Rana; Hafner, Brian J

2017-09-01

New health status instruments can be administered by computerized adaptive test or short forms. The Prosthetic Limb Users Survey of Mobility (PLUS-M TM ) is a self-report measure of mobility for prosthesis users with lower limb loss. This study used the PLUS-M to examine advantages and disadvantages of computerized adaptive test and short forms. To compare scores obtained from computerized adaptive test to scores obtained from fixed-length short forms (7-item and 12-item) in order to provide guidance to researchers and clinicians on how to select the best form of administration for different uses. Cross-sectional, observational study. Individuals with lower limb loss completed the PLUS-M by computerized adaptive test and short forms. Administration time, correlations between the scores, and standard errors were compared. Scores and standard errors from the computerized adaptive test, 7-item short form, and 12-item short form were highly correlated and all forms of administration were efficient. Computerized adaptive test required less time to administer than either paper or electronic short forms; however, time savings were minimal compared to the 7-item short form. Results indicate that the PLUS-M computerized adaptive test is most efficient, and differences in scores between administration methods are minimal. The main advantage of the computerized adaptive test was more reliable scores at higher levels of mobility compared to short forms. Clinical relevance Health-related item banks, like the Prosthetic Limb Users Survey of Mobility (PLUS-M TM ), can be administered by computerized adaptive testing (CAT) or as fixed-length short forms (SFs). Results of this study will help clinicians and researchers decide whether they should invest in a CAT administration system or whether SFs are more appropriate.

Novel form of miR-29b suppresses bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis.

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Yuko Yamada

Full Text Available MicroRNA 29b (miR-29b replacement therapy is effective for suppressing fibrosis in a mouse model. However, to develop clinical applications for miRNA mimics, the side effects of nucleic acid drugs have to be addressed. In this study, we focused on miRNA mimics in order to develop therapies for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. We developed a single-stranded RNA, termed "miR-29b Psh-match," that has a unique structure to avoid problems associated with the therapeutic uses of miRNAs. A comparison of miR-29b Psh-match and double-stranded one, termed "miR-29b mimic" indicated that the single-stranded form was significantly effective towards fibrosis according to both in vivo and in vitro experiments. This novel form of miR-29b may become the foundation for developing an effective therapeutic drug for pulmonary fibrosis.

Validation of a Short Form of an Indecision Test: The Vocational Assessment Test

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Picard, France; Frenette, Éric; Guay, Frédéric; Labrosse, Julie

2015-01-01

The purpose of this research was to validate the scores of a short form of a new instrument, "l'Épreuve de décision vocationnelle, forme scolaire" (EDV-9S; vocational assessment test), which measures six indecision-related problems (lack of self-knowledge, lack of readiness, lack of method in decision making, lack of information,…

Multilevel Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the Teacher My Class Inventory-Short Form

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Villares, Elizabeth; Mariani, Melissa; Sink, Christopher A.; Colvin, Kimberly

2016-01-01

Researchers analyzed data from elementary teachers (N = 233) to further establish the psychometric soundness of the Teacher My Class Inventory-Short Form. Supporting previous psychometric research, confirmatory factor analyses findings supported the factorial validity of the hypothesized five-factor solution. Internal reliability estimates were…

FIM-Minimum Data Set Motor Item Bank: Short Forms Development and Precision Comparison in Veterans.

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Li, Chih-Ying; Romero, Sergio; Simpson, Annie N; Bonilha, Heather S; Simpson, Kit N; Hong, Ickpyo; Velozo, Craig A

2018-03-01

To improve the practical use of the short forms (SFs) developed from the item bank, we compared the measurement precision of the 4- and 8-item SFs generated from a motor item bank composed of the FIM and the Minimum Data Set (MDS). The FIM-MDS motor item bank allowed scores generated from different instruments to be co-calibrated. The 4- and 8-item SFs were developed based on Rasch analysis procedures. This article compared person strata, ceiling/floor effects, and test SE plots for each administration form and examined 95% confidence interval error bands of anchored person measures with the corresponding SFs. We used 0.3 SE as a criterion to reflect a reliability level of .90. Veterans' inpatient rehabilitation facilities and community living centers. Veterans (N=2500) who had both FIM and the MDS data within 6 days during 2008 through 2010. Not applicable. Four- and 8-item SFs of FIM, MDS, and FIM-MDS motor item bank. Six SFs were generated with 4 and 8 items across a range of difficulty levels from the FIM-MDS motor item bank. The three 8-item SFs all had higher correlations with the item bank (r=.82-.95), higher person strata, and less test error than the corresponding 4-item SFs (r=.80-.90). The three 4-item SFs did not meet the criteria of SE bank composed of existing instruments across the continuum of care in veterans. We also found that the number of items, not test specificity, determines the precision of the instrument. Copyright © 2017 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. All rights reserved.

Auxological criteria for the diagnosis of GH-dependent short stature and prescription of rGH: problems and pitfalls

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Giulio Gilli

2007-12-01

Full Text Available Recombinant growth hormone (rGH administration is a cornerstone in the treatment of short stature secondary to GH deficit. Since its introduction in the 80s, the population of short patients with an indication to rGH therapy has clearly broadened, probably because of increased awareness by patients and physicians. Since rGH therapy is demanding for patients and expensive, the Italian National Health Service, like other third payers and regulatory authorities, regulates its prescription according to criteria listed in the Nota AIFA 39. This paper illustrates pitfalls and difficulties paediatricians may encounter when assessing short stature patients in order to decide upon the opportunity and possibility to initiate rGH therapy through the exposition of four emblematic, though hypothetical, clinical histories. In the discussion, the Authors highlight some of the most critical points in the formulation of the Nota 39, among which are the lack of clear reference values, neglecting of parental height targets and therapeutic responses, as well as some omissions in methodology specifications.

Clinical validation of three short forms of the Dutch Wechsler Memory Scale-Fourth Edition (WMS-IV-NL) in a mixed clinical sample.

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Bouman, Zita; Hendriks, Marc P H; Van Der Veld, William M; Aldenkamp, Albert P; Kessels, Roy P C

2016-06-01

The reliability and validity of three short forms of the Dutch version of the Wechsler Memory Scale-Fourth Edition (WMS-IV-NL) were evaluated in a mixed clinical sample of 235 patients. The short forms were based on the WMS-IV Flexible Approach, that is, a 3-subtest combination (Older Adult Battery for Adults) and two 2-subtest combinations (Logical Memory and Visual Reproduction and Logical Memory and Designs), which can be used to estimate the Immediate, Delayed, Auditory and Visual Memory Indices. All short forms showed good reliability coefficients. As expected, for adults (16-69 years old) the 3-subtest short form was consistently more accurate (predictive accuracy ranged from 73% to 100%) than both 2-subtest short forms (range = 61%-80%). Furthermore, for older adults (65-90 years old), the predictive accuracy of the 2-subtest short form ranged from 75% to 100%. These results suggest that caution is warranted when using the WMS-IV-NL Flexible Approach short forms to estimate all four indices. © The Author(s) 2015.

Psychometric evaluation and short form development of The Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding (BIDR-6

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Subotić Siniša

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The goals of this research were to evaluate the Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian (BCS translation of the BIDR-6 scale, develop its short form, and to present its initial convergent/discriminative validation. The sample included 827 participants. MIRT CFA analysis revealed that fourfactor model (containing 32/40 items fits the data best, with Self-Deceptive Enhancement (SDE and Impression Management (IM both splitting into the denial (SD-D and IM-D and enhancement (SD-E and IM-E factors. Fit and item properties were generally mediocre. SD-D and IM-E subscales were the strongest sources of misfit, thus SD-E and IM-D subscales were retained in the short form, which had good fit and replicated almost all main patterns of associations with other variables of interest (e.g., HEXACO personality traits typically reported for the full SDE and IM scales in other research. Thus, 17-item BIDR-6 short form, containing only SD-E and IM-D subscales, is recommended for use in the BCS speaking area.

The short story as a form of self-legitimation and self-reflexion (on the example of a Bosnian and Hercegovinian short story

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Larisa Softić-Gasal

2015-09-01

Full Text Available The short story, as a new literary genre of Bosnian and Herzegovinian literature of the transitional period, has found its way to enter the market of recipients. The role of the reader as a member of a specific cultural group is very important when trying to define the short story. The reader is one of the participants of a contextual network that makes all literary works “open”, thus offering enormous possibilities of detailed reading, rereading and reflection. Previous attempts to define the short story depict it as a modern, contemporary and intensive prose form and a response to the internal raptures of modern recipients. Engaging readers in the process of creating has been achieved by the well-known Brechtian waking up to reality which breaks, to some extent, both the narrative and theatrical illusions. By comparing the so called open forms of stories/dramas,a particular pattern of linguistic behaviour of characters is observed that reflects their difficulties to articulate their feelings, to express them and to reveal them to themselves and to others. Most of the compared short stories/dramas of open forms are characterized by impaired communication between characters. Their statements barely follow one another or, in turn, come with hesitation and have the characteristics of intellectual disability. Zlatko Topčić’s stories Garib and Hasanaginica present the social problem of accepting the allegorical morality/mentality of male society, while promoting the characters as carriers of both the burden of otherness and their own immanent perspective of resistance. Games of signifiers (God, ownership, state represent the power of the ideology of modern class society. Many short stories from the period of transition of Bosnian and Herzegovinian society are a valuable challenge to the reader’s sensibility to grasp the relativity of the perspective of all socially assumed standards of evaluation.

Efficacy and safety of dextromethorphan/quinidine at two dosage levels for diabetic neuropathic pain: a double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter study.

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Shaibani, Aziz I; Pope, Laura E; Thisted, Ronald; Hepner, Adrian

2012-02-01

To evaluate dextromethorphan coadministered with quinidine as treatment of diabetic peripheral neuropathic pain. In a 13-week, phase 3, randomized controlled trial, 379 adults with daily symmetric diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) leg pain for ≥3 months received double-blind placebo, dextromethorphan/quinidine (DMQ) 45/30 mg, or DMQ 30/30 mg, administered once daily for 7 days and twice daily thereafter. Efficacy measures included four pain rating scales applied daily using patient diaries, and another two applied at five clinic visits. On all six scales, DMQ 45/30 mg was significantly superior to placebo, including the primary efficacy analysis, which utilized mixed-effects modeling to test all scores on an 11-point numerical Pain Rating Scale (P < 0.0001). Sensitivity analyses gave consistent results. Efficacy vs placebo was also seen for diary ratings of present pain intensity, and pain interference with sleep and with activities (all P < 0.0001). Among clinic visit assessments, DMQ 45/30 mg demonstrated greater leg pain relief (P = 0.0002) and greater reduction of leg pain intensity (P = 0.0286) vs placebo. The efficacy of DMQ 30/30 mg was numerically less than for 45/30 mg but for most outcomes remained significantly greater vs placebo. Adverse events were mostly mild or moderate and of expected types. Discontinuation for adverse events in the DMQ groups was at least twice as common as placebo. Throughout a 13-week trial, DMQ was effective, with an acceptable safety profile, for treatment of DPN pain. Other fixed-dose combinations of DMQ should be studied to improve overall tolerability while maintaining significant efficacy. Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Cross-cultural examination of the five-factor model of drinking motives in Spanish and Canadian undergraduates

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Mezquita, L.; Stewart, S.H.; Kuntsche, E.N.; Grant, V.V.

2016-01-01

This study aims to test the cross-cultural suitability of Modified Drinking Motives Questionnaire-Revised (M DMQ-R) (Grant, Stewart, O'Connor, Blackwell, & Conrod, 2007). The sample included 571 Spanish and 571 Canadian undergraduates between the ages of 18 and 22 (65.8% women). The confirmatory

Use of Compounded Dextromethorphan-Quinidine Suspension for Pseudobulbar Affect in Hospice Patients.

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Wahler, Robert G; Reiman, Alfred T; Schrader, Joshua V

2017-03-01

Pseudobulbar affect (PBA) consists of unprovoked and uncontrollable episodes of laughing and/or crying. In end-of-life situations, PBA symptoms can be especially distressing to family and friends during an already heightened emotional time. Although a commercial product combining dextromethorphan and quinidine (DMQ) is FDA approved for use in PBA, many hospice patients are unable to swallow any solids or semisolids. An alternative formulation for these patients is needed. We present here two cases in which we used a compounded DMQ suspension successfully to treat PBA symptoms in the weeks before the patients' death. A retrospective chart review was completed on the two cases where the DMQ suspension was used. A description of the DMQ suspension formula is described. Both patients were under the care of a hospice program; one in home care and one in a skilled nursing facility. Episodes of PBA symptoms were summarized in a narrative of the patients' symptom relief. Both patients tolerated the administration of the DMQ suspension and there were noted improvements in PBA symptoms. DMQ suspension is an effective alternative for PBA symptoms in patients who cannot swallow oral solid medication.

32 CFR Appendix E to Part 623 - Surety Bond (DA Form 4881-3-R)

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2010-07-01

... 32 National Defense 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 true Surety Bond (DA Form 4881-3-R) E Appendix E to Part 623 National Defense Department of Defense (Continued) DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY SUPPLIES AND EQUIPMENT LOAN OF ARMY MATERIEL Pt. 623, App. E Appendix E to Part 623—Surety Bond (DA Form 4881-3-R...

Depressive symptoms in breast cancer: Beck Depression Inventory - Short Form

OpenAIRE

Cangussu, Renata de Oliveira; Soares, Thiago Barbabela de Castro; Barra, Alexandre de Almeida; Nicolato, Rodrigo

2010-01-01

Objetivos: Verificar a prevalência de sintomas depressivos em mulheres com câncer de mama e identificar os fatores de risco associados à sua ocorrência. Métodos: Foi realizado um estudo transversal, em que foram entrevistadas 71 mulheres com câncer de mama. Foram empregados dois instrumentos: um questionário para verificar os dados sociodemográficos e clínicos e o Inventário de Depressão de Beck – Short Form (BDI-SF), para avaliação dos sintomas depressivos. Para análise dos da...

An open-label multicenter study to assess the safety of dextromethorphan/quinidine in patients with pseudobulbar affect associated with a range of underlying neurological conditions.

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Pattee, Gary L; Wymer, James P; Lomen-Hoerth, Catherine; Appel, Stanley H; Formella, Andrea E; Pope, Laura E

2014-11-01

Pseudobulbar affect (PBA) is associated with neurological disorders or injury affecting the brain, and characterized by frequent, uncontrollable episodes of crying and/or laughing that are exaggerated or unrelated to the patient's emotional state. Clinical trials establishing dextromethorphan and quinidine (DM/Q) as PBA treatment were conducted in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or multiple sclerosis (MS). This trial evaluated DM/Q safety in patients with PBA secondary to any neurological condition affecting the brain. To evaluate the safety and tolerability of DM/Q during long-term administration to patients with PBA associated with multiple neurological conditions. Fifty-two-week open-label study of DM/Q 30/30 mg twice daily. Safety measures included adverse events (AEs), laboratory tests, electrocardiograms (ECGs), vital signs, and physical examinations. #NCT00056524. A total of 553 PBA patients with >30 different neurological conditions enrolled; 296 (53.5%) completed. The most frequently reported treatment-related AEs (TRAEs) were nausea (11.8%), dizziness (10.5%), headache (9.9%), somnolence (7.2%), fatigue (7.1%), diarrhea (6.5%), and dry mouth (5.1%). TRAEs were mostly mild/moderate, generally transient, and consistent with previous controlled trials. Serious AEs (SAEs) were reported in 126 patients (22.8%), including 47 deaths, mostly due to ALS progression and respiratory failure. No SAEs were deemed related to DM/Q treatment by investigators. ECG results suggested no clinically meaningful effect of DM/Q on myocardial repolarization. Differences in AEs across neurological disease groups appeared consistent with the known morbidity of the primary neurological conditions. Study interpretation is limited by the small size of some disease groups, the lack of a specific efficacy measure and the use of a DM/Q dose higher than the eventually approved dose. DM/Q was generally well tolerated over this 52 week trial in patients with PBA

[Validation of the French version of the Maternal Self-report Inventory (short form)].

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Denis, A; Séjourné, N; Callahan, S

2013-06-01

Self-esteem is defined as the opinion of one's self that one establishes and maintains during the lifetime. Self-esteem is considered to be based on general as well as specific elements that define the individual's identity. Whereas overall self-esteem evolves over the lifespan, specific elements change regularly and thus have an impact on these specific types of self-esteem. Maternity is a central defining element of a woman's life, and it is believed that a woman can develop a specific self-esteem based on her experience of motherhood. Many studies have shown how overall self-esteem is affected during the perinatal period, and the relationship between self-esteem and other variables, notably post-partum depression. The objective of this study was to translate, evaluate, and validate the short version of the Maternal Self-Esteem Inventory (MSI, Shea & Tronick in 1988) for use in French populations. The MSI short form is a 26-item questionnaire using a Likert response format in five points. The sample was composed of 251 French female participants (mean age 30; SD=4.52) who had given birth two days earlier. Participants completed the MSI and the Edinburgh Post-natal Depression Scale (EDPS). The results of a factorial analysis showed five factors which partially correspond to the original English version of the MSI short form. These five factors were negatively correlated to the EPDS. The five factors showed good to excellent internal consistency. The current study provides a translated and validated version of the MSI short form in French. It provides a specific indicator of self-esteem with regards to motherhood and the experience of maternity. The MSI can provide useful data that can help identify women at risk for negative feelings about themselves, which can lead later to manifestations of perinatal psychopathology (e.g, post-partum depression). Copyright © 2012 L’Encéphale, Paris. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Evaluation of the reinforcing and subjective effects of heroin in combination with dextromethorphan and quinidine

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Vosburg, Suzanne K.; Sullivan, Maria A.; Comer, Sandra D.

2015-01-01

Objective Studies have suggested that the N-methyl-d-aspartate antagonist dextromethorphan may be useful in the treatment of opioid dependence. Design This double-blinded, placebo-controlled inpatient study evaluated the effects of 0, 30, and 60 mg of dextromethorphan and quinidine (DMQ) on the reinforcing and subjective effects of heroin in recently detoxified heroin abusers. Participants Nine heroin-dependent participants were admitted and then detoxified from heroin over the course of several days. Interventions Participants were subsequently stabilized on 0, 30, or 60 mg of DMQ. Each dose of DMQ was administered for two consecutive weeks, and the effects of heroin (0, 12.5, and 50 mg) were studied under each DMQ maintenance dose condition. DMQ and heroin dose were administered in random order both within and between participants. Results Planned comparisons revealed statistically significant increases in progressive ratio breakpoint values and positive subjective ratings as a function of heroin dose. There were no consistent changes in any of the responses as a function of DMQ maintenance dose, other than a modest reduction in craving. Conclusions In summary, results from this study suggest that maintenance on dextromethorphan in combination with quinidine has a limited role in the treatment of opioid dependence. PMID:22320027

Development and Evaluation of the Boston University Osteoarthritis Functional Pain Short Form (BU-OA-FPS).

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Goode, Adam P; Ni, Pengshend; Jette, Alan; Fitzgerald, G Kelley

2018-04-19

Pragmatic studies have gained popularity, thus emphasizing the need for patient-reported outcomes (PRO) to be integrated into electronic health records. This study describes the development of a customized short form from the Boston University Osteoarthritis Functional Assessment PRO (BU-OA-PRO) for a specific pragmatic clinical trial. A Functional Pain Short Form was created from an existing item bank of deidentified data in the BU-OA-PRO. Item response theory (IRT) methods were used to select items. Reliability was measured with the Cronbach alpha, then with IRT simulation methods. To examine validity, ceiling and floor effects, correlations between the short-form scores and scores from the BU-OA-PRO and the Western Ontario McMasters University Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) Pain and Difficulty subscales, and the area under the curve (AUC) were calculated. A minimum detectable change at 90% confidence (MDC90) was calculated based on a calibration sample. The BU-OA PRO was reduced from 126 items to 10 items to create the BU-OA Functional Pain Short Form (BU-OA-FPS). The Cronbach alpha indicated high internal consistency (0.91), and reliability distribution estimates were 0.96 (uniform) and 0.92 (normal). Low ceiling effects (4.57%), and floor effects (0%) were found. Moderate-to-high correlations between the BU-OA PRO and BU-OA-FPS were found with WOMAC Pain (BU-OA-FPS = 0.67; BU-OA-PRO = 0.64) and Difficulty (BU-OA-FPS = 0.73; BU-OA-PRO = 0.69) subscales. The correlation between the BU-OA-PRO and BU-OA-FPS was 0.94. The AUC ranged from 0.80 to 0.88. The MDC90 was approximately 6 standardized points. The BU-OA-FPS provides reliable and valid measurement of functional pain. Pragmatic studies may consider the BU-OA-FPS for use in electronic health records to capture outcomes.

Stylistic Analysis of the Short Story ‘The Last Word’ by Dr. A. R. Tabassum

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Abdul Bari Khan

2015-06-01

Full Text Available In this article stylistic analysis of short story ‘The Last Word’ by Dr. A. R. Tabassum is performed.  The formative elements of the story, such as point of view, characters and allegorical element, are discussed in detail so as to give a better insight of the story. The story is analyzed stylistically in terms of figures of speech where grammatical, lexical and phonological schemes are considered, following the checklist of linguistic and stylistic categories proposed by Leech and Short. Features of repetition, parallelism, alliteration, consonance, assonance and rhyme are focused on. Finally, the findings and conclusion is given to sum up the discussion. Keywords: stylistics, analysis, short story, last word, allegory, Tabassum

Evaluating Short-Form Versions of the CES-D for Measuring Depressive Symptoms among Immigrants from Mexico

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Grzywacz, Joseph G.; Hovey, Joseph D.; Seligman, Laura D.; Arcury, Thomas A.; Quandt, Sara A.

2006-01-01

This article examines the feasibility of using a short-form version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D) in community mental health research with Mexican immigrants. Several features of three published short versions of the CES-D were examined using data combined from seven diverse Mexican immigrant samples from across…

Noise-tolerant instantaneous heart rate and R-peak detection using short-term autocorrelation for wearable healthcare systems.

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Fujii, Takahide; Nakano, Masanao; Yamashita, Ken; Konishi, Toshihiro; Izumi, Shintaro; Kawaguchi, Hiroshi; Yoshimoto, Masahiko

2013-01-01

This paper describes a robust method of Instantaneous Heart Rate (IHR) and R-peak detection from noisy electrocardiogram (ECG) signals. Generally, the IHR is calculated from the R-wave interval. Then, the R-waves are extracted from the ECG using a threshold. However, in wearable bio-signal monitoring systems, noise increases the incidence of misdetection and false detection of R-peaks. To prevent incorrect detection, we introduce a short-term autocorrelation (STAC) technique and a small-window autocorrelation (SWAC) technique, which leverages the similarity of QRS complex waveforms. Simulation results show that the proposed method improves the noise tolerance of R-peak detection.

Psychometric properties of Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) original and short forms in an African American community sample.

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Merz, Erin L; Malcarne, Vanessa L; Roesch, Scott C; Ko, Celine M; Emerson, Marc; Roma, Vincenzo G; Sadler, Georgia Robins

2013-12-01

The Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) has been widely used as a self-report measure of affect in community and clinical contexts. However, evaluations of the psychometric properties of PANAS scores have been limited in diverse ethnic groups. Several short forms of the PANAS have also been proposed, but very little is known about the psychometric properties of these versions. The present study investigated the psychometric properties, including the factor structure of the original PANAS and two short forms in an African American community sample (N=239). Descriptive, internal consistency reliability, factorial validity, and measurement invariance analyses were conducted. All PANAS subscales from the original and short forms had adequate internal consistency. For the original PANAS, the model specifying three correlated factors (Positive Affect, Afraid, Upset) with correlated uniquenesses from redundant items provided the best fit to the data. However, the two-factor model (Positive Affect, Negative Affect) with correlated uniquenesses was also supported. For both short forms, the two-factor model with correlated uniquenesses fit the data best. Factors from all forms were generally invariant across age and gender, although there was some minor invariance at the item level. Participants were from a limited geographic area and one ethnic group. Indicators of anxiety, depression, and cultural characteristics were not measured. The factor structure was replicated, suggesting no immediate concerns regarding the valid interpretation of PANAS scores. The results support the reliability and validity of the PANAS and its short forms for use among African Americans. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Form factors in quantum integrable models with GL(3)-invariant R-matrix

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Pakuliak, S., E-mail: pakuliak@theor.jinr.ru [Laboratory of Theoretical Physics, JINR, 141980 Dubna, Moscow Reg. (Russian Federation); Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, 141700 Dolgoprudny, Moscow Reg. (Russian Federation); Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Physics, 117259 Moscow (Russian Federation); Ragoucy, E., E-mail: eric.ragoucy@lapth.cnrs.fr [Laboratoire de Physique Théorique LAPTH, CNRS and Université de Savoie, BP 110, 74941 Annecy-le-Vieux Cedex (France); Slavnov, N.A., E-mail: nslavnov@mi.ras.ru [Steklov Mathematical Institute, Moscow (Russian Federation)

2014-04-15

We study integrable models solvable by the nested algebraic Bethe ansatz and possessing GL(3)-invariant R-matrix. We obtain determinant representations for form factors of off-diagonal entries of the monodromy matrix. These representations can be used for the calculation of form factors and correlation functions of the XXX SU(3)-invariant Heisenberg chain.

Stylistic Analysis of the Short Story "The Last Word" by Dr. A. R. Tabassum

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Bari Khan, Abdul; Ahmad, Madiha; Ahmad, Sofia; Ijaz, Nida

2015-01-01

In this article stylistic analysis of short story "The Last Word" by Dr. A. R. Tabassum is performed. The formative elements of the story, such as point of view, characters and allegorical element, are discussed in detail so as to give a better insight of the story. The story is analyzed stylistically in terms of figures of speech where…

Psychometric properties of the French version of the short form of the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory among adolescents and young adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Potard, Catherine; Amoura, Camille; Kubiszewski, Violaine; Le Samedy, Mathieu; Moltrecht, Brigitte; Courtois, Robert

2015-06-01

We examined the psychometric qualities of the Short Form of the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory (SF-CSEI) in a large sample of French adolescents and young adults. A 25-item French version was administered to 1,362 participants (561 aged below 16 years and 801 aged 16-25 years). Participants also completed other scales to measure construct validity (e.g., Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and General Health Questionnaire). Factorial analysis yielded evidence for a structure with three first-order factors for the SF-CSEI: personal, social, and family-derived self-esteem. The internal consistency of the questionnaire's different dimensions was satisfactory (Cronbach's α = .68-.77). Pearson's correlation coefficients showed that the SF-CSEI had moderate to high correlations with convergent measures (r = .19-.73) and constructs related to self-esteem (r = -.23-.65). Psychiatric patients (n = 67) scored significantly lower than a control group. Test-retest reliability was good for some of the factors, especially at 5 weeks and 1 year (r = .29-.79). The French version of the SF-CSEI appears to be a useful instrument, with a cross-culturally stable factorial structure. © The Author(s) 2015.

Level of motivation in mastering challenging tasks in children with cerebral palsy.

Science.gov (United States)

Majnemer, Annette; Shevell, Michael; Law, Mary; Poulin, Chantal; Rosenbaum, Peter

2010-12-01

the aim of this study was to describe and identify factors associated with motivation in children with cerebral palsy (CP). children with CP were recruited for this cross-sectional study. Children were assessed using the Leiter Intelligence Test, the Gross Motor Function Measure, and the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale. Parents completed the Dimensions of Mastery Questionnaire (DMQ) and questionnaires on demographics, child behaviour, and family functioning. the parents of 74 children (46 males, 28 females; mean age 9y 2mo, SD 2y 1mo, range 5y 10mo-12y 11mo) completed the DMQ. Just over half of the children (39/74) were classified at Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) level I, with 13 classified at GMFCS level II, one at level III, six at level IV, and 14 at level V; one child was not classified. The most common diagnoses were spastic hemiplegia and quadriplegia (23 each), followed by diplegia (14). The highest motivation scores were obtained for the dimensions of mastery pleasure and social persistence and the lowest for persistence with motor or cognitive tasks. Age and sex were not predictive of scores on the DMQ. Higher IQ (r=0.41), better motor ability (r=0.43), and fewer limitations in self-care, communication, and socialization (r=0.44-0.53) were positively associated with motivation total score. A negative impact of the child's disability on the family was associated with lower motivation (r=-0.44). Positive social behaviours were positively correlated with motivation (r=0.38-0.66), whereas hyperactivity and peer problems were negatively associated. high motivation was associated with fewer activity limitations and behavioural problems and reduced family burden. Low motivation may adversely influence a child's functional potential and the effectiveness of interventions. Strategies focusing on the child, peers, adults, or activities are proposed to enhance the children's motivation to engage in more challenging activities.

Jeux de rôles pour enfants : une nouvelle forme de fiction ludique

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Sébastien Kapp

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Comment ethnographier la place de la création fictionnelle chez l’enfant ? Nous proposons ici une étude de cas d’une pratique à la croisée du jeu de rôle enfantin spontané et du jeu de rôle grandeur nature pour adulte. Menée sous la forme d’un stage estival, cette activité nous permet de comprendre comment adultes et enfants peuvent ponctuellement participer ensemble à l’écriture d’un récit qui prendra la forme d’un jeu en actes et en paroles. Une des caractéristiques principales de cette forme hybride est que l’enfant est placé dans une position d’auteur, d’acteur et de spectateur. Mais contrairement à ses propres jeux, il est en permanence sous la surveillance et la conduite d’adultes qui supervisent le développement du récit et la conformité des actions par rapport aux règles. Le jeune joueur est donc dans une posture originale : il produit une partie du contenu narratif du jeu dont il n’est pas l’acteur unique (en créant par exemple son personnage. Lui aussi veut raconter une histoire, mettre en place un scénario, créer des règles et faire jouer les adultes, comme dans son jeu enfantin. Mais les règles changent, il n’est plus omnipotent et doit jouer dans des cadres de simulation qu’il contribue à définir.

Accuracy of WISC-III and WAIS-IV short forms in patients with neurological disorders

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van Ool, Jans S.; Hurks, Petra P.M.; Snoeijen-Schouwenaars, Francesca M.; Tan, In Y.; Schelhaas, Helenius J.; Klinkenberg, Sylvia; Aldenkamp, Albert P.; Hendriksen, Jos G.M.

2018-01-01

The assessment of intellectual abilities is intensive, time-consuming, and might be considered burdensome for patients. We examined psychometric qualities of short forms (SFs) of the Wechsler Intelligence Scales for Children (WISC-third edition) and for adults (WAIS-fourth edition), in children (n =

A Factor Analytic Study of the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory Adult Short Form.

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Haines, Janet; Wilson, George V.

1988-01-01

A factor analysis was conducted on the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory-Adult Short Form using 237 college students and 43 female office workers in Australia. Factors were found corresponding with three of the four subscales: general self, social self-peers, and home-parents (family). No factor related to the school-academic (work) subscale. (SLD)

32 CFR Appendix F to Part 623 - Power of Attorney (DA Form 4881-4-R)

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2010-07-01

... 32 National Defense 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 true Power of Attorney (DA Form 4881-4-R) F Appendix F to Part 623 National Defense Department of Defense (Continued) DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY SUPPLIES AND EQUIPMENT LOAN OF ARMY MATERIEL Pt. 623, App. F Appendix F to Part 623—Power of Attorney (DA Form 4881-4-R...

Short form of Demodex species mite in the dog: occurrence and measurements.

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Chesney, C J

1999-02-01

A form of Demodex species mite shorter in length than Demodex canis was found in six consecutive cases of canine demodicosis. The mean length of the parasite was 122.6 microns (SD 12.0 microns, 39 mites counted), significantly shorter than either male or female forms of D canis (P < 0.0001). The proportion of short to long mites in each case varied from 0.5 to 22 per 100. In young dogs, skin signs associated with the presence of mites were first noted after about seven months, while in the oldest subject the disease became apparent at 10 years of age. This form of mite has now been found in four countries over three continents, the findings suggesting that it is not uncommon and is acquired in puppyhood, although it may be carried unnoticed for many years.

The utility of the combination of dextromethorphan and quinidine in the treatment of bipolar II and bipolar NOS.

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Kelly, Tammas Frederick; Lieberman, Daniel Z

2014-01-01

Dextromethorphan is an over-the-counter antitussive agent that may be a rapidly acting treatment for bipolar depression. Like ketamine, it is an NMDA receptor antagonist. We conducted a retrospective chart review of depressed patients with treatment resistant bipolar II or bipolar NOS disorder who were treated with the combination of dextromethorphan 20 mg and quinidine 10 mg (DMQ). One pill of DMQ taken once or twice a day was added to participants׳ drug regimen. No changes were made to the pre-existing drug regimen during the course of treatment with DMQ. The primary outcome measure was the Clinical Global Impression-Improvement (CGI-I) score after 90 days of treatment. Seventy-seven participants met the inclusion criteria. All had been experiencing depressive symptoms for at least two years, and the mean number of failed medication trials was 21.2. The average CGI-I score at day 90 was 1.66 (1=slightly improved, 2=much improved). Some patients reported improvement within 1-2 days of starting DMQ. Nineteen patients discontinued treatment due to adverse effects, chiefly nausea. Because this was a retrospective chart review with no control group, conclusions about causation cannot be made. Nevertheless, the duration of depressive symptoms prior to starting DMQ makes spontaneous recovery less likely. DMQ, an NMDA antagonist, may be effective in the treatment of bipolar depression. Because its putative mechanism does not depend on the monoaminergic system, it may be appropriate for patients who have not responded to other medications. Unlike ketamine, DMQ does not require i.v. administration. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

German Translation and Validation of the Cognitive Style Questionnaire Short Form (CSQ-SF-D.

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Quentin J M Huys

Full Text Available The Cognitive Style Questionnaire is a valuable tool for the assessment of hopeless cognitive styles in depression research, with predictive power in longitudinal studies. However, it is very burdensome to administer. Even the short form is still long, and neither this nor the original version exist in validated German translations.The questionnaire was translated from English to German, back-translated and commented on by clinicians. The reliability, factor structure and external validity of an online form of the questionnaire were examined on 214 participants. External validity was measured on a subset of 90 subjects.The resulting CSQ-SF-D had good to excellent reliability, both across items and subscales, and similar external validity to the original English version. The internality subscale appeared less robust than other subscales. A detailed analysis of individual item performance suggests that stable results could be achieved with a very short form (CSQ-VSF-D including only 27 of the 72 items.The CSQ-SF-D is a validated and freely distributed translation of the CSQ-SF into German. This should make efficient assessment of cognitive style in German samples more accessible to researchers.

Validity and Reliability of International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form in Chinese Youth

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Wang, Chao; Chen, Peijie; Zhuang, Jie

2013-01-01

Purpose: The psychometric profiles of the widely used International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form (IPAQ-SF) in Chinese youth have not been reported. The purpose of this study was to examine the validity and reliability of the IPAQ-SF using a sample of Chinese youth. Method: One thousand and twenty-one youth (M[subscript age] = 14.26 ±…

Korean version of mini mental status examination for dementia screening and its' short form.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Tae Hui; Jhoo, Jin Hyeong; Park, Joon Hyuk; Kim, Jeong Lan; Ryu, Seung Ho; Moon, Seok Woo; Choo, Il Han; Lee, Dong Woo; Yoon, Jong Chul; Do, Yeon Ja; Lee, Seok Bum; Kim, Moon Doo; Kim, Ki Woong

2010-06-01

We developed a Korean version of Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE) optimized for screening dementia (MMSE-DS) and its' short form (SMMSE-DS). We constructed the MMSE-DS using the items of the two current Korean versions of MMSE and then construct the SMMSE-DS consisted of 13 items from the MMSE-DS based on the diagnostic accuracy of individual items for dementia. We investigated reliability and validity of MMSE-DS and SMMSE-DS on 1,555 subjects (1,222 nondemented controls, 333 dementia patients). We compared the diagnostic accuracy of the SMMSE-DS with that of the three full Korean versions of MMSE, and examined its' age- and education-specific optimal cutoff scores for dementia. The internal consistency obtained by Cronbach's coefficient alpha was 0.826. The inter-rater reliability and test-retest reliability were 0.968 (p<0.001) and 0.825 (p<0.001), respectively. It showed significant correlation with the Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) (r=-0.698, p<0.05) and the three full Korean versions of MMSE (r=0.839-0.938, p<0.001). The area under the receiver operator curve for dementia of the SMMSE-DS was larger than those of the three full Korean versions of MMSE (p<0.001). Age, education and gender explained 19.4% of the total variance of SMMSE-DS scores. The optimal cutoff scores for dementia of the SMMSE-DS were estimated differently by age and educational attainment of the subjects. The SMMSE-DS was found to be accurate, brief and portable instrument for screening dementia in Korean elders, and may be particularly useful for screening dementia in elderly populations with wide variation in educational levels.

Psychometrics properties of early trauma inventory self report - short form (ETISR-SR) for the Brazilian context.

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Osório, Flávia L; Salum, Giovanni Abrahão; Donadon, Mariana Fortunata; Forni-Dos-Santos, Larissa; Loureiro, Sonia Regina; Crippa, José Alexandre S

2013-01-01

This study aims to translate and validate Early Trauma Inventory Self Report -Short Form (ETISR-SF) to Brazilian Portuguese. 253 adult subjects answered the ETISR-SF, Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND), Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and Fast Alcohol Screening Test (FAST). The instrument showed good internal consistency (0.83). Correlations with the PHQ-9 and BAI were moderate (r=0.26-0.47) and showed the expected associations with psychiatric constructs. No associations were found for FTND and FAST. Confirmatory Factor Analysis revealed that a correlated four-factor model as well as a second order model subsuming four lower order components presented the best model fit. Test-retest reliability was also excellent (ICC=0.78-0.90). ETISR-SF is suitable for assessing traumatic experiences in a Brazilian community sample. Given the importance of trauma as a public health problem, tools such as ETISR-SF may help clinicians/ researchers to better evaluate and measure such events and further advance clinical care of trauma victims.

48 CFR 52.249-4 - Termination for Convenience of the Government (Services) (Short Form).

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2010-10-01

... Convenience of the Government (Services) (Short Form). 52.249-4 Section 52.249-4 Federal Acquisition... CONTRACT CLAUSES Text of Provisions and Clauses 52.249-4 Termination for Convenience of the Government... convenience of the Government, limit termination settlement charges to services rendered before the date of...

Comparing short forms of the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale and the Social Phobia Scale.

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Carleton, R Nicholas; Thibodeau, Michel A; Weeks, Justin W; Teale Sapach, Michelle J N; McEvoy, Peter M; Horswill, Samantha C; Heimberg, Richard G

2014-12-01

The Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS) and the Social Phobia Scale (SPS; Mattick & Clarke, 1998) are companion scales developed to measure anxiety in social interaction and performance situations, respectively. The measures have strong discriminant and convergent validity; however, their factor structures remain debated, and furthermore, the combined administration length (i.e., 39 items) can be prohibitive for some settings. There have been 4 attempts to assess the factor structures of the scales and reduce the item content: the 14-item Social Interaction Phobia Scale (SIPS; Carleton et al., 2009), the 12-item SIAS-6/SPS-6 (Peters, Sunderland, Andrews, Rapee, & Mattick, 2012), the 21-item abbreviated SIAS/SPS (ASIAS/ASPS; Kupper & Denollet, 2012), and the 12-item Readability SIAS and SPS (RSIAS/RSPS; Fergus, Valentiner, McGrath, Gier-Lonsway, & Kim, 2012). The current study compared the short forms on (a) factor structure, (b) ability to distinguish between clinical and non-clinical populations, (c) sensitivity to change following therapy, and (d) convergent validity with related measures. Participants included 3,607 undergraduate students (55% women) and 283 patients with social anxiety disorder (43% women). Results of confirmatory factor analyses, sensitivity analyses, and correlation analyses support the robust utility of items in the SIPS and the SPS-6 and SIAS-6 relative to the other short forms; furthermore, the SIPS and the SPS-6 and SIAS-6 were also supported by convergent validity analyses within the undergraduate sample. The RSIAS/RSPS and the ASIAS/ASPS were least supported, based on the current results and the principle of parsimony. Accordingly, researchers and clinicians should consider carefully which of the short forms will best suit their needs. (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

The role of the form factor and short-range correlation in the relativistic Hartree-Fock model for nuclear matter

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, J.; Toki, H.; Wen, W.; Shen, H.

2010-03-01

The role of the form factor and short-range correlation in nuclear matter is studied within the relativistic Hartree-Fock approximation. We take, first, the mean-field approximation for meson fields and obtain the fluctuation terms of mesons to be used for the Fock energies. We introduce form factors in the meson-nucleon coupling vertices to take into account the finite-size effect of the nucleon. We use further the unitary correlation operator method for the treatment of the short-range correlation. The form factors of the size ( Λ ˜ 1.0 -2.0GeV) of the nucleon-nucleon interaction cut down largely the contribution of the ρ -meson in the Fock term. The short-range correlation effect is not large but has a significant effect on the pion and ρ -meson energies in the relativistic Hartree-Fock approximation for nuclear matter.

The Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding Short Form (BIDR-16

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Claire M. Hart

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Self-report studies often call for assessment of socially desirable responding. Many researchers use the Marlowe–Crowne Scale for its brief versions; however, this scale is outdated, and contemporary models of social desirability emphasize its multi-dimensional nature. The 40-item Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding (BIDR incorporates Self-Deceptive Enhancement (honest but overly positive responding and Impression Management (bias toward pleasing others. However, its length limits its practicality. This article introduces the BIDR-16. In four studies, we shorten the BIDR from 40 items to 16 items, while retaining its two-factor structure, reliability, and validity. This short form will be invaluable to researchers wanting to assess social desirability when time is limited.

Internal consistency, reliability, and temporal stability of the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire short-form: Test-retest data over two weeks

OpenAIRE

MCGUCKIN, CONOR

2006-01-01

PUBLISHED The Oxford Happiness Questionnaire short-form is a recently developed eight-item measure of happiness. This study evaluated the internal consistency reliability and test-retest reliability of the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire short-form among 55 Northern Irish undergraduate university students who completed the measure on two occasions separated by two weeks. Internal consistency of the measure on both occasions was satisfactory at both Time 1 (alpha = .62) and Time 2 (alpha = ....

Development and validation of a short form of the self-efficacy measurement tool for Iranian patients with myocardial infarction

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Soleiman Zand

2017-09-01

Full Text Available To assess efficacy in patients with heart failure need to have a scientific tool based on psychometric features is evident. The researchers developed a scientific tool based on psychometric principles for assessing self-efficacy beliefs in patients with Myocardial Infarction (MI as the only tool of its kind; however, Due to the large number of questions in the questionnaire, respondents may not desire to complete it accuracy. The present study was conducted to develop and validate a short form of this tool. This study was conducted on a sample of 311 patients diagnosed with MI by a cardiologist and selected through convenience sampling. The 80-20 rule was used for evaluating the 60 items of the short-form MI Self-Efficacy Measurement Tool (SF-SEMT and for eliminating items without an adequate sensitivity and accuracy. The factor analysis revealed 5 factors that explained a total of 87.92% the variance; the kaiser-meyer-olkin index was calculated as 0.915 with a probable significance level of 0.001. A total of 22 items and 5 factors were extracted for this short-form tool. The reliability of the tool was confirmed with Cronbach’s alpha coefficients of 0.96 to 0.97 for the factors and 0.97 for the entire tool. The short-form MI self-efficacy measurement tool has better psychometric features than the original long form, as the former was found to have a better factor structure compared to the latter

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Third Edition short form for index and IQ scores in a psychiatric population.

Science.gov (United States)

Christensen, Bruce K; Girard, Todd A; Bagby, R Michael

2007-06-01

An eight-subtest short form (SF8) of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, Third Edition (WAIS-III), maintaining equal representation of each index factor, was developed for use with psychiatric populations. Data were collected from a mixed inpatient/outpatient sample (99 men and 101 women) referred for neuropsychological assessment. Psychometric analyses revealed an optimal SF8 comprising Vocabulary, Similarities, Arithmetic, Digit Span, Picture Completion, Matrix Reasoning, Digit Symbol Coding, and Symbol Search, scored by linear scaling. Expanding on previous short forms, the current SF8 maximizes the breadth of information and reduces administration time while maintaining the original WAIS-III factor structure. (c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved

Readdressing gender bias in the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory-short form.

Science.gov (United States)

Chapman, Paula L; Mullis, Ann K

2002-12-01

The short form of the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory (SEI) was evaluated for gender bias. The authors replicated a study by L. Francis and D. James (1998) and administered the SEI to 361 middle and high school students (146 boys, 2l5 girls). They found that gender bias existed in 6 of the 25 items on the SEI, with 5 of those items favoring boys. Because recent literature indicates that male and female adolescents experience problems in different areas of their lives, the authors suggest that researchers consider such differences when selecting items for a standardized measure.

Validity, Reliability, and Potential Bias of Short Forms of Students' Evaluation of Teaching: The Case of UAE University

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Dodeen, Hamzeh

2013-01-01

Students' opinions continue to be a significant factor in the evaluation of teaching in higher education institutions. The purpose of this study was to psychometrically assess short students evaluation of teaching (SET) forms using the UAE University form as a model. The study evaluated the form validity, reliability, the overall question, and…

The role of the form factor and short-range correlation in the relativistic Hartree-Fock model for nuclear matter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hu, J.; Toki, H.; Wen, W.; Shen, H.

2010-01-01

The role of the form factor and short-range correlation in nuclear matter is studied within the relativistic Hartree-Fock approximation. We take, first, the mean-field approximation for meson fields and obtain the fluctuation terms of mesons to be used for the Fock energies. We introduce form factors in the meson-nucleon coupling vertices to take into account the finite-size effect of the nucleon. We use further the unitary correlation operator method for the treatment of the short-range correlation. The form factors of the size (Λ∝1.0 -2.0 GeV) of the nucleon-nucleon interaction cut down largely the contribution of the ρ-meson in the Fock term. The short-range correlation effect is not large but has a significant effect on the pion and ρ-meson energies in the relativistic Hartree-Fock approximation for nuclear matter. (orig.)

Validation of the Spanish versions of the long (26 items) and short (12 items) forms of the Self-Compassion Scale (SCS).

Science.gov (United States)

Garcia-Campayo, Javier; Navarro-Gil, Mayte; Andrés, Eva; Montero-Marin, Jesús; López-Artal, Lorena; Demarzo, Marcelo Marcos Piva

2014-01-10

Self-compassion is a key psychological construct for assessing clinical outcomes in mindfulness-based interventions. The aim of this study was to validate the Spanish versions of the long (26 item) and short (12 item) forms of the Self-Compassion Scale (SCS). The translated Spanish versions of both subscales were administered to two independent samples: Sample 1 was comprised of university students (n = 268) who were recruited to validate the long form, and Sample 2 was comprised of Aragon Health Service workers (n = 271) who were recruited to validate the short form. In addition to SCS, the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS), the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory-Trait (STAI-T), the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the Perceived Stress Questionnaire (PSQ) were administered. Construct validity, internal consistency, test-retest reliability and convergent validity were tested. The Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) of the long and short forms of the SCS confirmed the original six-factor model in both scales, showing goodness of fit. Cronbach's α for the 26 item SCS was 0.87 (95% CI = 0.85-0.90) and ranged between 0.72 and 0.79 for the 6 subscales. Cronbach's α for the 12-item SCS was 0.85 (95% CI = 0.81-0.88) and ranged between 0.71 and 0.77 for the 6 subscales. The long (26-item) form of the SCS showed a test-retest coefficient of 0.92 (95% CI = 0.89-0.94). The Intraclass Correlation (ICC) for the 6 subscales ranged from 0.84 to 0.93. The short (12-item) form of the SCS showed a test-retest coefficient of 0.89 (95% CI: 0.87-0.93). The ICC for the 6 subscales ranged from 0.79 to 0.91. The long and short forms of the SCS exhibited a significant negative correlation with the BDI, the STAI and the PSQ, and a significant positive correlation with the MAAS. The correlation between the total score of the long and short SCS form was r = 0.92. The Spanish versions of the long (26-item) and short (12-item) forms of the SCS are valid and

Reliability and Validity Study of the Attitude towards Mathematics Instruments Short Form

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Güney HACIÖMEROĞLU

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Purpose of this study was to investigate the reliability and validity of the Turkish form of the Attitude Towards Mathematics Instrument Short Form developed by Lim and Chapman (2013. In this study, data gathered from 310 elementary students were utilized for Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis to determine the structure of factor loading. The factor loading among the sub-scales were different from original. Confirmatory Factor analysis revealed that the model was acceptable. There were three sub-scales, value, self-confidence, enjoyment and motivation. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for the overall instrument was calculated as .84, respectively. The adapted instrument includes three sub-scales: value (α=.91, self-confidence (α=.86, enjoyment and motivation (α=.82. Turkish adaptation of the questionnaire is valid and reliable and appropriate to use in Turkish culture.

Répercussions de la migration causée par les réformes agraires sur ...

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

De récentes réformes agraires ont entraîné un phénomène unique de migration entre régions rurales dans le district de Chimanimani, au Zimbabwe. Les chercheurs vérifieront l'hypothèse selon laquelle les migrants sont fortement attirés par les ressources forestières dans les régions où ils s'établissent et verront s'il est ...

Measurement invariance of the Mental Health Continuum-Short Form (MHC-SF) across three cultural groups

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Joshanloo, Mohsen; Wissing, Marie P.; Khumalo, Itumeleng P.; Lamers, S.M.A.

2013-01-01

This study investigated the factorial structure and invariance of the Mental Health Continuum-Short Form (MHC-SF) across cultural groups from three nations, namely, the Netherlands, South Africa, and Iran (N = 1120). The three-dimensional structure of mental well-being was supported in all the

Structural validity of a 16-item abridged version of the Cervantes Health-Related Quality of Life scale for menopause: the Cervantes Short-Form Scale.

Science.gov (United States)

Coronado, Pluvio J; Borrego, Rafael Sánchez; Palacios, Santiago; Ruiz, Miguel A; Rejas, Javier

2015-03-01

The Cervantes Scale is a specific health-related quality of life questionnaire that was originally developed in Spanish to be used in Spain for women through and beyond menopause. It contains 31 items and is time-consuming. The aim of this study was to produce an abridged version with the same dimensional structure and with similar psychometric properties. A representative sample of 516 postmenopausal women (mean [SD] age, 57 [4.31] y) seen in outpatient gynecology clinics and extracted from an observational cross-sectional study was used. Item analysis, internal consistency reliability, item-total and item-dimension correlations, and item correlation with the 12-item Medical Outcomes Study Short Form Health Survey Version 2.0 were studied. Dimensional and full-model confirmatory factor analyses were used to check structure stability. A threefold cross-validation method was used to obtain stable estimates by means of multigroup analysis. The scale was reduced to a 16-item version, the Cervantes Short-Form Scale, containing four main dimensions (Menopause and Health, Psychological, Sexuality, and Couple Relations), with the first dimension composed of three subdimensions (Vasomotor Symptoms, Health, and Aging). Goodness-of-fit statistics were better than those of the extended version (χ(2)/df = 2.493; adjusted goodness-of-fit index, 0.802; parsimony comparative fit index, 0.749; root mean standard error of approximation, 0.054). Internal consistency was good (Cronbach's α = 0.880). Correlations between the extended and the reduced dimensions were high and significant in all cases (P < 0.001; r values ranged from 0.90 for Sexuality to 0.969 for Vasomotor Symptoms). The Cervantes Scale can be reduced to a 16-item abridged version (Cervantes Short-Form Scale) that maintains the original dimensional structure and psychometric properties. At 51% of the original length, this version can be administered faster, making it especially suitable for routine medical practice.

Evaluating the safety and efficacy of dextromethorphan/quinidine in the treatment of pseudobulbar affect

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Schoedel KA

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Kerri A Schoedel,1 Sarah A Morrow,2 Edward M Sellers3,4 1Altreos Research Partners, Inc., Toronto, 2Western University, London, 3DL Global Partners, Inc., Toronto, 4University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Abstract: Pseudobulbar affect (PBA is a common manifestation of brain pathology associated with many neurological diseases, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, stroke, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, and traumatic brain injury. PBA is defined by involuntary and uncontrollable expressed emotion that is exaggerated and inappropriate, and also incongruent with the underlying emotional state. Dextromethorphan/quinidine (DM/Q is a combination product indicated for the treatment of PBA. The quinidine component of DM/Q inhibits the cytochrome P450 2D6-mediated metabolic conversion of dextromethorphan to its active metabolite dextrorphan, thereby increasing dextromethorphan systemic bioavailability and driving the pharmacology toward that of the parent drug and away from adverse effects of the dextrorphan metabolite. Three published efficacy and safety studies support the use of DM/Q in the treatment of PBA; significant effects were seen on the primary end point, the Center for Neurologic Study-Lability Scale, as well as secondary efficacy end points and quality of life. While concentration–effect relationships appear relatively weak for efficacy parameters, concentrations of DM/Q may have an impact on safety. Some special safety concerns exist with DM/Q, primarily because of the drug interaction and QT prolongation potential of the quinidine component. However, because concentrations of dextrorphan (which is responsible for many of the parent drug’s side effects and quinidine are lower than those observed in clinical practice with these drugs administered alone, some of the perceived safety issues may not be as relevant with this low dose combination product. However, since patients with PBA have a

77 FR 76959 - Energy Conservation Program: Request for Exclusion of 100 Watt R20 Short Incandescent Reflector...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-12-31

... subject to energy conservation standards, the manufacturers removed the product from the market... Conservation Program: Request for Exclusion of 100 Watt R20 Short Incandescent Reflector Lamp From Energy Conservation Standards AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Department of Energy. ACTION...

R for fledglings

Science.gov (United States)

Donovan, Therese; Brown, Michelle; Katz, Jonathan

2015-01-01

We’ve been asked to provide a short introduction to R and its utility in natural resource management. In this short introduction, we can guarantee one thing: you won’t learn R in a few days. That would be like learning to speak French in a few days. To actually learn R, you need to practice….Bode Miller didn’t win his Olympic medals without hours and hours of practice. However, in this short introduction, you can gain an appreciation for what R can do, be introduced to some key functions that you will likely use over and over again, and learn some strategies for creating scripts for automating your work. There are several excellent R books that provide much more information than this short introduction….. R has a steep learning curve, and our hope is to cover some basics to get you over the initial hump.

Validity of the MMPI-2-RF (Restructured Form) L-r and K-r Scales in Detecting Underreporting in Clinical and Nonclinical Samples

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Sellbom, Martin; Bagby, R. Michael

2008-01-01

In the current investigation, the authors examined the validity of the L-r and K-r scales on the recently developed Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2-Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF; Y. S. Ben-Porath & A. Tellegen, in press) in measuring underreported response bias. Three archival samples previously collected for examining MMPI-2…

Mastery motivation in adolescents with cerebral palsy.

Science.gov (United States)

Majnemer, Annette; Shikako-Thomas, Keiko; Lach, Lucy; Shevell, Michael; Law, Mary; Schmitz, Norbert

2013-10-01

The aim of this study is to describe motivation in adolescents with cerebral palsy (CP) and factors associated with motivation level. The Dimensions of Mastery Questionnaire (DMQ) measures motivation in mastering challenging tasks and expressive elements. It was completed by 153 parents and 112 adolescents with CP. Adolescents (GMFCS in n=146 - I:50, II:43, III:13, IV:15, V:25) were assessed using the Leiter IQ and Gross Motor Function Measure. Parents completed the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Motivation scores were highest for mastery pleasure and social persistence with adults and lowest for gross motor and object-oriented persistence. Socio-demographic factors were not strongly correlated with DMQ. Higher gross motor ability (r=0.24-0.52) and fewer activity limitations (r=0.30-0.64, pProsocial behaviors correlated with high motivation (r=0.39-0.53, pmotivation scores were higher than parents' scores. Adolescents with CP express high mastery pleasure, not related to abilities. High motivation was associated with fewer activity limitations and prosocial behaviors and aspects of family environment. Findings elucidate those at-risk for low motivation, which can influence treatment adherence and participation in challenging but meaningful activities. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Essai photographique sur une réforme avortée 

OpenAIRE

Zweig, David

2016-01-01

Au milieu des années 1970, avec la bénédiction de Mao, Deng Xiaoping lança des réformes qui s’attaquaient aux effets négatifs de la Révolution culturelle. Pour l’aider dans ses efforts, Mao plaça Deng au poste de deuxième dirigeant le plus important du régime, lui conférant une autorité majeure sur le Parti, le gouvernement et l’armée. Toutefois, en octobre 1975, Mao se retourna contre Deng et, en tout juste cinq mois, Deng se vit écarté du pouvoir par Mao et les radicaux. À l’époque étudiant...

Investigating Primary School Teachers' Perception about Democracy through Metaphor Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Nasirci, Hasan; Sadik, Fatma

2018-01-01

The aim of this study is to examine democracy perception of classroom teachers via metaphor analysis. Study group for research is formed of 253 classroom teachers. "Democracy Metaphors Questionnaire" (DMQ) has been used in collecting data. Content analysis has been used on analysis of qualitative data of research and descriptive…

The subscales and short forms of the dizziness handicap inventory: are they useful for comparison of the patient groups?

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Ardıç, Fazıl Necdet; Tümkaya, Funda; Akdağ, Beyza; Şenol, Hande

2017-10-01

Dizziness Handicap Inventory (DHI) is one of the most frequently used surveys for vertigo. The aim of the study was re-analyze the consistency of subscales and correlation between original and different short forms. The data of 2111 patients were analyzed. Original three subscales, screening form of DHI and short form of DHI were evaluated. The suitability of the data set for factor analysis and factor structure was analyzed with Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) coefficient, Bartlett's Sphericity Test, and Varimax method. Pearson correlation analysis was performed. Factor analysis showed that two factor solutions are more prominent in our data. The factors proposed in different studies are not in harmony with each other. There is high correlation between the original and screening and short forms of DHI. This study indicated that the factor structure of the scale was not consistent. It is not advised to use subscale scores for comparison especially in international level. Therefore, total score should be used rather than the scores of the subscales. Using DHI screening form instead of original 25 questions is more convenient, because it is highly correlated with the original one and has fewer questions. Implications for rehabilitation Factor structure of the DHI is not consistent enough for comparison of the international studies. Total score of DHI is reliable. Using the screening version of DHI is better, because it is highly correlated with the original form and has fewer questions (10 questions).

Psychometric Evaluation of the Hypogonadism Impact of Symptoms Questionnaire Short Form (HIS-Q-SF).

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Gelhorn, Heather L; Roberts, Laurie J; Khandelwal, Nikhil; Revicki, Dennis A; DeRogatis, Leonard R; Dobs, Adrian; Hepp, Zsolt; Miller, Michael G

2017-08-01

The Hypogonadism Impact of Symptoms Questionnaire Short Form (HIS-Q-SF) is a patient-reported outcome measurement designed to evaluate the symptoms of hypogonadism. The HIS-Q-SF is an abbreviated version including17 items from the original 28-item HIS-Q. To conduct item analyses and reduction, evaluate the psychometric properties of the HIS-Q-SF, and provide guidance on score interpretation. A 12-week observational longitudinal study of hypogonadal men was conducted as part of the original HIS-Q psychometric evaluation. Participants completed the original HIS-Q every 2 weeks. Blood samples were collected to evaluate testosterone levels. Participants completed the Aging Male's Symptoms Scale, the International Index of Erectile Function, the Short Form-12, and the PROMIS Sexual Activity, Satisfaction with Sex Life, Sleep Disturbance, and Applied Cognition Scales (baseline and weeks 6 and 12). Clinicians completed the Clinical Global Impression of Severity and Change scales and a clinical form. Item performance was evaluated using descriptive statistics and Rasch analyses. Reliability (internal consistency and test-retest), validity (concurrent and know groups), and responsiveness were assessed. One hundred seventy-seven men participated (mean age = 54.1 years, range = 23-83). Similar to the full HIS-Q, the final abbreviated HIS-Q-SF instrument includes five domains (sexual, energy, sleep, cognition, and mood) with two sexual subdomains (libido and sexual function). For key domains, test-retest reliability was very good, and construct validity was good for all domains. Known-groups validity was demonstrated for all domain scores, subdomain scores, and total score based on the Clinical Global Impression-Severity. All domains and subdomains were responsive to change based on patient-rated anchor questions. The HIS-Q-SF could be a useful tool in clinical practice, epidemiologic studies, and other academic research settings. Careful consideration was given to the

Adapting the short form of the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations into Chinese

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Li C

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Chun Li,1 Qing Liu,2 Ti Hu,3 Xiaoyan Jin1 1International School of Chinese Studies, Northeast Normal University, Changchun, 2Department of Nuclear Medicine and Medical PET Center, The Second Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 3School of Physical Education and Sports, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, People’s Republic of China Objectives: The Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS is a measurement tool for evaluating stress that has good psychometric properties. We investigated the applicability of a short-form version of the CISS in a large sample of Chinese university students. Methods: Nine hundred and seventy-two Chinese university students aged 18–30 years (mean =20.15, standard deviation =3.26 were chosen as subjects, of whom 101 were randomly selected to be retested after a 2-week interval. Results: The results of a confirmatory factor analysis revealed that the root mean square error of approximation of a four-factor model was 0.06, while the comparative fit index was 0.91, the incremental fit index was 0.93, the non-normed fit index was 0.91, and the root mean residual was 0.07. The Cronbach’s α coefficients for the task-oriented, emotion-oriented, distraction, and social diversion coping subscales were 0.81, 0.74, 0.7, and 0.66, respectively. The 2-week test–retest reliability was 0.78, 0.74, 0.7, and 0.65 for the task-oriented, emotion-oriented, distraction, and social diversion coping subscales, respectively. In the Chinese version of the CISS short form, task-oriented coping was positively correlated with positive affect and extraversion and negatively correlated with neuroticism; emotion-oriented coping was negatively correlated with extraversion and positively correlated with negative affect, anxiety, and neuroticism; distraction coping was positively correlated with neuroticism, extroversion, anxiety, positive affect, and negative affect and negatively

Psychometric assessment of the patient activation measure short form (PAM-13) in rural settings.

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Hung, Man; Carter, Marjorie; Hayden, Candace; Dzierzon, Rhonda; Morales, Jose; Snow, Laverne; Butler, Jorie; Bateman, Kim; Samore, Matthew

2013-04-01

The patient activation measure short form (PAM-13) assesses patients' self-reported health management skills, knowledge, confidence, and motivation. We used item response theory to evaluate the psychometric properties of the PAM-13 utilized in rural settings. A Rasch partial credit model analysis was conducted on the PAM-13 instrument using a sample of 812 rural patients recruited by providers and our research staff. Specially, we examined dimensionality, item fit, and quality of measures, category response curves, and item differential functioning. Convergent and divergent validities were also examined. The PAM-13 instrument has excellent convergent and divergent validities. It is fairly unidimensional, and all items fit the Rasch model well. It has relatively high person and item reliability indices. Majority of the items were free of item differential functioning. There were, however, some issues with ceiling effects. Additionally, there was a lack of responses for category one across all items. Patient activation measure short form (PAM-13) performs well in some areas, but not all. In general, more items need to be added to cover the upper end of the trait. The four response categories of PAM-13 should be collapsed into three.

Justice, réforme du secteur de la sécurité et meilleure gouvernance ...

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

GSJ) du CRDI, où je me concentre sur la région MOAN et sur des projets qui contribuent aux processus de réforme à la lumière des soulèvements sociopolitiques dans le monde arabe. Ma stratégie repose sur la justice ...

Trailers in between short video forms from digital games to movies and back

OpenAIRE

Gandolfi, Enrico; Semprebene, Roberto

2017-01-01

Promotional trailers represent a significant trend in most entertainment sectors. However, little efforts have been done in enlightening this expressive form when related to video games. This article aims to address such a lack by analyzing game/movie (inspired by digital games) trailers as a crossroad between digital entertainment and films. The main intent is to exploit a comparative lens to uncover leading traits of short videos according to the medium that that they are portraying. Theref...

Adaptation and Validation of the Foot Function Index-Revised Short Form into Polish

OpenAIRE

Rutkowski, Radosław; Gałczyńska-Rusin, Małgorzata; Gizińska, Małgorzata; Straburzyński-Lupa, Marcin; Zdanowska, Agata; Romanowski, Mateusz Wojciech; Romanowski, Wojciech; Budiman-Mak, Elly; Straburzyńska-Lupa, Anna

2017-01-01

Purpose The aim of the present study was to adapt the Foot Function Index-Revised Short Form (FFI-RS) questionnaire into Polish and verify its reliability and validity in a group of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Methods The study included 211 patients suffering from RA. The FFI-RS questionnaire underwent standard linguistic adaptation and its psychometric parameters were investigated. The enrolled participants had been recruited for seven months as a convenient sample from the rheu...

The Role of Short-Chain Conjugated Poly-(R-3-Hydroxybutyrate (cPHB in Protein Folding

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rosetta N. Reusch

2013-05-01

Full Text Available Poly-(R-3-hydroxybutyrate (PHB, a linear polymer of R-3-hydroxybutyrate (R-3HB, is a fundamental constituent of biological cells. Certain prokaryotes accumulate PHB of very high molecular weight (10,000 to >1,000,000 residues, which is segregated within granular deposits in the cytoplasm; however, all prokaryotes and all eukaryotes synthesize PHB of medium-chain length (~100–200 residues which resides within lipid bilayers or lipid vesicles, and PHB of short-chain length (<12 residues which is conjugated to proteins (cPHB, primarily proteins in membranes and organelles. The physical properties of cPHB indicate it plays important roles in the targeting and folding of cPHB-proteins. Here we review the occurrence, physical properties and molecular characteristics of cPHB, and discuss its influence on the folding and structure of outer membrane protein A (OmpA of Escherichia coli.

Evaluation of the Psychometric Properties of the Asian Adolescent Depression Scale and Construction of a Short Form: An Item Response Theory Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Lo, Barbara Chuen Yee; Zhao, Yue; Kwok, Alice Wai Yee; Chan, Wai; Chan, Calais Kin Yuen

2017-07-01

The present study applied item response theory to examine the psychometric properties of the Asian Adolescent Depression Scale and to construct a short form among 1,084 teenagers recruited from secondary schools in Hong Kong. Findings suggested that some items of the full form reflected higher levels of severity and were more discriminating than others, and the Asian Adolescent Depression Scale was useful in measuring a broad range of depressive severity in community youths. Differential item functioning emerged in several items where females reported higher depressive severity than males. In the short form construction, preliminary validation suggested that, relative to the 20-item full form, our derived short form offered significantly greater diagnostic performance and stronger discriminatory ability in differentiating depressed and nondepressed groups, and simultaneously maintained adequate measurement precision with a reduced response burden in assessing depression in the Asian adolescents. Cultural variance in depressive symptomatology and clinical implications are discussed.

Development and Examination of the Five-Factor Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory-Short Form.

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Griffin, Sarah A; Suzuki, Takakuni; Lynam, Donald R; Crego, Cristina; Widiger, Thomas A; Miller, Joshua D; Samuel, Douglas B

2018-01-01

The Five-Factor Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory (FFOCI) is an assessment of obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD) that is based on the conceptual framework of the five-factor model (FFM) of personality. The FFOCI has 12 subscales that assess those five-factor model facets relevant to the description of OCPD. Research has suggested that the FFOCI scores relate robustly to existing measures of OCPD and relevant scales from general personality inventories. Nonetheless, the FFOCI's length-120 items-may limit its clinical utility. This study derived a 48-item FFOCI-Short Form (FFOCI-SF) from the original measure using item response theory methods. The FFOCI-SF scales successfully recreated the nomological network of the original measure and improved discriminant validity relative to the long form. These results support the use of the FFOCI-SF as a briefer measure of the lower-order traits associated with OCPD.

Obstacles to condom use: the combination of other forms of birth control and short-term monogamy.

Science.gov (United States)

Critelli, J W; Suire, D M

1998-03-01

Two hundred thirty-seven college students involved in heterosexual relationships were surveyed to determine the effects of relationship type and use of forms of contraception other than condoms on condom use. Findings indicated that in the context of a short-term, monogamous relationship, the use of another form of birth control was associated with decreased condom use. In addition, 20% of the participants reported that they had wanted to use a condom for disease prevention on at least one occasion but had decided not to do so because they were using another form of contraception. Implications for preventive health are discussed.

78 FR 68331 - Energy Conservation Program: Request for Exclusion of 100 Watt R20 Short Incandescent Reflector...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-11-14

... attempt to replace the same lamp that was previously installed. It is not typical consumer behavior to... energy conservation standards for certain commercial and industrial equipment and various consumer... Characteristics in Substitutes 1. Improved R20 Short Lamp 2. 60 W PAR16 Lamp 3. LED Lamps 4. Consumer Use of...

Method of forming an oxide superconducting thin film having an R1A2C3 crystalline phase over an R2A1C1 crystalline phase

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lelental, M.; Romanofsky, H.J.

1992-01-01

This patent describes a process which comprises forming a mixed rare earth alkaline earth copper oxide layer on a substrate and converting the mixed rare earth alkaline earth copper oxide layer to an electrically conductive layer. It comprises crystalline R 1 A 2 C 3 oxide phase by heating in the presence of oxygen, wherein rare earth and R is in each instance chosen from among yttrium, lanthanum, samarium, europium, gadolinium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium, and lutetium and alkaline earth and A is in each instance chosen from among calcium, strontium and barium, characterized in that a crystalline R 2 A 1 C 1 oxide phase is first formed as a layer on the substrate and the crystalline R 1 A 2 C 3 oxide phase is formed over the crystalline R 2 A 1 C 1 oxide phase by coating a mixed rare earth alkaline earth copper oxide on the crystalline R 2 A 1 C 1 oxide phase and heating the mixed rare earth alkaline earth copper oxide to a temperature of at least 1000 degrees C

The Short Form of the Five-Factor Narcissism Inventory: Psychometric Equivalence of the Turkish Version

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Eksi, Füsun

2016-01-01

This study intends to examine the psychometric properties of the Turkish version of the short form of the Five-Factor Narcissism Inventory (FFNI-SF). The study group consists of a total of 526 university students (54% were female) whose ages range from 18 to 32. In the translational equivalence study made over a two-week interval, the FFNI-SF…

Evaluation of the Satisfaction with Appearance Scale and Its Short Form in Systemic Sclerosis: Analysis from the UCLA Scleroderma Quality of Life Study.

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Mills, Sarah D; Fox, Rina S; Merz, Erin L; Clements, Philip J; Kafaja, Suzanne; Malcarne, Vanessa L; Furst, Daniel E; Khanna, Dinesh

2015-09-01

Changes in appearance are common in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) and can significantly affect well-being. The Satisfaction with Appearance Scale (SWAP) measures body image dissatisfaction in persons with visible disfigurement; the Brief-Satisfaction with Appearance Scale (Brief-SWAP) is its short form. The present study evaluated the reliability and validity of SWAP and Brief-SWAP scores in SSc. A sample of 207 patients with SSc participating in the University of California, Los Angeles Scleroderma Quality of Life Study completed the SWAP. Brief-SWAP scores were derived from the SWAP. The structural validity of both measures was investigated using confirmatory factor analysis. Internal consistency reliability of total and subscale scores was assessed with Cronbach's alpha coefficients. Convergent and divergent validity was evaluated using the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale, the Health Assessment Questionnaire-Disability Index, and the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form-36 questionnaire. SWAP and Brief-SWAP total scores were highly correlated (r = 0.97). The 4-factor structure of the SWAP fit well descriptively; the 2-factor structure of the Brief-SWAP fit well descriptively and statistically. Internal consistencies for total and subscale scores were good, and results supported convergent and divergent validity. Both versions are suitable for use in patients with SSc. The Brief-SWAP is most efficient; the full SWAP yields additional subscales that may be informative in understanding body image issues in patients with SSc.

32 CFR Appendix D to Part 623 - Certificate for Signature by an Alternate (DA Form 4881-1-R)

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 32 National Defense 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 true Certificate for Signature by an Alternate (DA Form 4881-1-R) D Appendix D to Part 623 National Defense Department of Defense (Continued) DEPARTMENT...—Certificate for Signature by an Alternate (DA Form 4881-1-R) EC24OC91.019 EC24OC91.020 ...

Short forms of the Utrecht-Management of Identity Commitments Scale (U-MICS) with the domains of job, romantic relationship, and region.

Science.gov (United States)

Schubach, Elisabeth; Zimmermann, Julia; Noack, Peter; Neyer, Franz J

2017-01-01

The U-MICS is a self-report questionnaire designed to assess the identity dimensions from a domain-specific perspective. The present study reports on the development of a short-form version for the domains of job and romantic relationship in young adults from Germany and extends this scale to include the domain of region (n Sample1  = 95, 84% female, mean age 22.45 years; n Sample2  = 1,795, 71% female, mean age 24.53 years). We found the short form to possess adequate psychometric properties and to demonstrate a factor structure congruent to the long-form version. Regarding validity, the small correlations across domains within dimensions support a domain-specific approach to identity. The associations between the different identity domains with personality traits are similar, indicating a consistent pattern of convergent validity for all domains. We conclude that "region" provides a valuable complement to the established domains that can all be reliably assessed with the U-MICS-Short Form. Copyright © 2016 The Foundation for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Validation of a short form of the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index function subscale in hip and knee osteoarthritis.

Science.gov (United States)

Baron, Gabriel; Tubach, Florence; Ravaud, Philippe; Logeart, Isabelle; Dougados, Maxime

2007-05-15

A short version of the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) function scale has recently been developed to enhance the applicability of the scale in routine practice and clinical research for patients with hip and knee osteoarthritis. The goal of the present study was to validate this short form. We conducted a prospective 4-week cohort study of 1,036 outpatients. Performance on the WOMAC function long form (LF) and short form (SF) was compared. Agreement between responses on the 2 forms was examined according to a Bland-Altman plot. Responsiveness to change (by standardized response mean [SRM]), reproducibility (intraclass correlation coefficient [ICC]), and internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) were computed for both forms. Construct validity was assessed based on functional impairment as measured on a numerical rating scale. At baseline, 24% of patients who completed the WOMAC LF had missing data for at least 1 item as compared with only 6% of patients who completed the WOMAC SF. The mean WOMAC SF score was greater than the mean WOMAC LF score (mean +/- SD difference -4.3 +/- 4.8 on a 0-100 scale). SRMs were 0.61 and 0.73, ICCs were 0.76 and 0.68, and Cronbach's alphas were 0.93 and 0.85 for the WOMAC LF and SF, respectively. The 2 forms had comparable correlation with functional impairment. The WOMAC function short form has a low rate of missing data and is a responsive, reproducible, and valid measure. The mean SF score was 4 points higher than the mean LF score.

Form Quality in Rorschach Comprehensive System and R-PAS: Sample of Psychiatric Cases

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Latife Yazigi

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract The creation of the Rorschach Performance Assessment System (R-PAS requires research that allows its use in the Brazilian population. The Formal Quality (FQ category is essential both for clinic and research. The aim of this study was to compare form quality variables in Rorschach protocols from psychiatric patients and ratings coded in the Comprehensive System (CS and R-PAS. The sample comprised 206 Rorschach protocols from adult patients in psychiatric treatment, who were also assessed by SCID-I and SCID-II. Most protocols were administered in the CS and recoded according to the R-PAS. The kappa coefficient was calculated, and we compared the means of these variables in both systems. The kappa results varied from almost perfect to substantial consistency for all variables, however, the descriptive statistics confirmed that the R-PAS elicits more FQ Ordinary coding while the CS elicits more FQ minus coding.

Factor Structure and Psychometric Properties of the Young Schema Questionnaire (Short Form) in Chinese Undergraduate Students

Science.gov (United States)

Cui, Lixia; Lin, Wenwen; Oei, Tian P. S.

2011-01-01

This study investigated cross-cultural differences in the factor structure and psychometric properties of the Young Schema Questionnaire (short form; YSQ-SF). The participants were 712 Chinese undergraduate students. The total sample was randomly divided into two sub-samples. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was conducted on questionnaire results…

Short-term and long-term plasticity interaction in human primary motor cortex.

Science.gov (United States)

Iezzi, Ennio; Suppa, Antonio; Conte, Antonella; Li Voti, Pietro; Bologna, Matteo; Berardelli, Alfredo

2011-05-01

Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) over primary motor cortex (M1) elicits changes in motor evoked potential (MEP) size thought to reflect short- and long-term forms of synaptic plasticity, resembling short-term potentiation (STP) and long-term potentiation/depression (LTP/LTD) observed in animal experiments. We designed this study in healthy humans to investigate whether STP as elicited by 5-Hz rTMS interferes with LTP/LTD-like plasticity induced by intermittent and continuous theta-burst stimulation (iTBS and cTBS). The effects induced by 5-Hz rTMS and iTBS/cTBS were indexed as changes in MEP size. We separately evaluated changes induced by 5-Hz rTMS, iTBS and cTBS applied alone and those induced by iTBS and cTBS delivered after priming 5-Hz rTMS. Interactions between 5-Hz rTMS and iTBS/cTBS were investigated under several experimental conditions by delivering 5-Hz rTMS at suprathreshold and subthreshold intensity, allowing 1 and 5 min intervals to elapse between 5-Hz rTMS and TBS, and delivering one and ten 5-Hz rTMS trains. We also investigated whether 5-Hz rTMS induces changes in intracortical excitability tested with paired-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation. When given alone, 5-Hz rTMS induced short-lasting and iTBS/cTBS induced long-lasting changes in MEP amplitudes. When M1 was primed with 10 suprathreshold 5-Hz rTMS trains at 1 min before iTBS or cTBS, the iTBS/cTBS-induced after-effects disappeared. The 5-Hz rTMS left intracortical excitability unchanged. We suggest that STP elicited by suprathreshold 5-Hz rTMS abolishes iTBS/cTBS-induced LTP/LTD-like plasticity through non-homeostatic metaplasticity mechanisms. Our study provides new information on interactions between short-term and long-term rTMS-induced plasticity in human M1. © 2011 The Authors. European Journal of Neuroscience © 2011 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Formes spatiales d’expansion urbaine et le rôle des communautés non musulmanes à l’époque des Réformes.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexandra Yerolympos

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Le présent texte étudie les formes d’expansion urbaine dans les provinces européennes de l’Empire ottoman depuis la moitié du xixe siècle. Dans le cadre des réformes entreprises par l’Empire, l’octroi de droits civiques et politiques à tous les sujets ottomans, le “décollage économique” et la croissance démographique encouragent l’émergence de nouveaux comportements socio-économiques : grâce à la réforme du droit foncier et l’afflux d’investissements dans le secteur immobilier de la part des particuliers, des communautés ou des organismes publics, l’espace urbain est réaménagé et “modernisé”. L’expansion des villes préoccupait les officiers ottomans de bonne heure. La première réglementation moderne d’urbanisme mise en place entre 1848 et 1891 définit les règles selon lesquelles de nouveaux quartiers urbains peuvent être formés. D’après des études sur les villes côtières, ainsi que sur la plupart des villes de l’intérieur des provinces européennes de l’Empire, l’accroissement urbain s’accompagne d’une forte activité de groupes minoritaires pour leur installation résidentielle dans de nouveaux quartiers, très souvent encouragée par les autorités locales. L’installation prend des formes variées, parfois créant des quartiers non pas étanches mais à dominante chrétienne ou juive, parfois parfaitement mixtes. Les variantes rencontrées évoquent les particularités historiques et géographiques de chaque ville ; elles s’expliquent aussi par des stratégies des autorités locales et des besoins ou aspirations des groupes sociaux et ethniques qui les revendiquent. On étudiera l’extension planifiée de trois villes côtières et fortifiées : Volos et Kavala, petites villes dotées d’une importante fonction portuaire où la communauté grecque orthodoxe suscita la création de nouveaux quartiers ; Salonique (Thessalonique qui connut une expansion

The reliability and validity of a child and adolescent participation in decision-making questionnaire.

Science.gov (United States)

O'Hare, L; Santin, O; Winter, K; McGuinness, C

2016-09-01

There is a growing impetus across the research, policy and practice communities for children and young people to participate in decisions that affect their lives. Furthermore, there is a dearth of general instruments that measure children and young people's views on their participation in decision-making. This paper presents the reliability and validity of the Child and Adolescent Participation in Decision-Making Questionnaire (CAP-DMQ) and specifically looks at a population of looked-after children, where a lack of participation in decision-making is an acute issue. The participants were 151 looked after children and adolescents between 10-23 years of age who completed the 10 item CAP-DMQ. Of the participants 113 were in receipt of an advocacy service that had an aim of increasing participation in decision-making with the remaining participants not having received this service. The results showed that the CAP-DMQ had good reliability (Cronbach's alpha = 0.94) and showed promising uni-dimensional construct validity through an exploratory factor analysis. The items in the CAP-DMQ also demonstrated good content validity by overlapping with prominent models of child and adolescent participation (Lundy 2007) and decision-making (Halpern 2014). A regression analysis showed that age and gender were not significant predictors of CAP-DMQ scores but receipt of advocacy was a significant predictor of scores (effect size d = 0.88), thus showing appropriate discriminant criterion validity. Overall, the CAP-DMQ showed good reliability and validity. Therefore, the measure has excellent promise for theoretical investigation in the area of child and adolescent participation in decision-making and equally shows empirical promise for use as a measure in evaluating services, which have increasing the participation of children and adolescents in decision-making as an intended outcome. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Development of short-form measures to assess four types of elder mistreatment: Findings from an evidence-based study of APS elder abuse substantiation decisions.

Science.gov (United States)

Beach, Scott R; Liu, Pi-Ju; DeLiema, Marguerite; Iris, Madelyn; Howe, Melissa J K; Conrad, Kendon J

2017-01-01

Improving the standardization and efficiency of adult protective services (APS) investigations is a top priority in APS practice. Using data from the Elder Abuse Decision Support System (EADSS), we developed short-form measures of four types of elder abuse: financial, emotional/psychological, physical, and neglect. The EADSS data set contains 948 elder abuse cases (age 60+) with yes/no abuse substantiation decisions for each abuse type following a 30-day investigation. Item sensitivity/specificity analyses were conducted on long-form items with the substantiation decision for each abuse type as the criterion. Validity was further tested using receiver-operator characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, correlation with long forms and internal consistency. The four resulting short-form measures, containing 36 of the 82 original items, have validity similar to the original long forms. These short forms can be used to standardize and increase efficiency of APS investigations, and may also offer researchers new options for brief elder abuse assessments.

Iron nitride films formed in a r. f. glow discharge

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Li, J.L.; O' Keefe, T.J.; James, W.J. (Depts. of Chemistry and Metallurgical Engineering and Graduate Center for Materials Research, Univ. of Missouri-Rolla (United States))

1992-12-30

Fe[sub 2]N and Fe[sub 3]N films were deposited on an r.f. glow discharge by introducing Fe(CO)[sub 5] and NH[sub 3] into the reactor. The iron nitride films thus formed exhibited sheet conductivities in the range of 10[sup 2]-10[sup 3] ohm[sup -1] cm[sup -1]. They exhibited microhardness ranging from 578 to 659 kg mm[sup -2] on glass slides. The effects of the deposition temperature and the nature of the substrate material on the structure and composition of the films were investigated. An Fe[sub 4]N layer was formed on iron substrates at 400degC in the plasma nitriding process using NH[sub 3] as the gas source. The Fe[sub 4]N layer exhibited a microhardness of 230 kg mm[sup -2]. The effect of the temperature on the formation of the nitrided layer is discussed. (orig.).

Highly excited bound-state resonances of short-range inverse power-law potentials

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hod, Shahar [The Ruppin Academic Center, Emeq Hefer (Israel); The Hadassah Academic College, Jerusalem (Israel)

2017-11-15

We study analytically the radial Schroedinger equation with long-range attractive potentials whose asymptotic behaviors are dominated by inverse power-law tails of the form V(r) = -β{sub n}r{sup -n} with n > 2. In particular, assuming that the effective radial potential is characterized by a short-range infinitely repulsive core of radius R, we derive a compact analytical formula for the threshold energy E{sub l}{sup max} = E{sub l}{sup max}(n, β{sub n}, R), which characterizes the most weakly bound-state resonance (the most excited energy level) of the quantum system. (orig.)

Validation of the Short Form of the Career Development Inventory with an Iranian High School Sample

Science.gov (United States)

Sadeghi, Ahmad; Baghban, Iran; Bahrami, Fatemeh; Ahmadi, Ahmad; Creed, Peter

2011-01-01

A short 33-item form of the Career Development Inventory was validated on a sample of 310 Iranian high school students. Factor analysis indicated that attitude and cognitive subscale items loaded on their respective factors, and that internal reliability coefficients at all levels were satisfactory to good. Support for validity was demonstrated by…

A study of potential pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic interactions between dextromethorphan/quinidine and memantine in healthy volunteers.

Science.gov (United States)

Pope, Laura E; Schoedel, Kerri A; Bartlett, Cynthia; Sellers, Edward M

2012-08-01

Dextromethorphan/quinidine (DMQ) is the first agent indicated for the treatment of pseudobulbar affect. Dextromethorphan, the active ingredient, is a low-affinity, uncompetitive N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist. This study evaluated the potential for a drug-drug interaction (DDI) of DMQ with memantine, which is also an NMDA receptor antagonist. This open-label, randomized, parallel-group study enrolled healthy adults who were randomized into one of two treatment groups. Group 1 subjects were administered memantine at a starting dose of 5 mg once daily, which was titrated over a 3-week period to a dose of 10 mg twice daily (every 12 hours) and continued for another 11 days to attain steady state; DMQ 30 mg (dextromethorphan 30 mg/quinidine 30 mg) every 12 hours was then added for a further 8 days. Group 2 subjects received DMQ 30 mg every 12 hours for 8 days to attain steady state; memantine was then added, titrated on the same schedule as in group 1, and continued at 10 mg every 12 hours for an additional 11 days. Pharmacokinetic blood sampling was performed to assess the primary endpoints of the 90% confidence intervals (CIs) for the geometric mean ratios of the areas under the plasma concentration-time curves (AUCs) for memantine, dextromethorphan, dextrorphan - the dextromethorphan metabolite - and quinidine during concomitant therapy versus monotherapy. Safety/tolerability and pharmacodynamic variables were also assessed. A total of 52 subjects were randomized. In both group 1 (n = 23) and group 2 (n = 29), the 90% CIs for the ratios of the AUCs during concomitant therapy versus monotherapy were within the predefined range to indicate similarity (0.8-1.25) for memantine, dextromethorphan and dextrorphan, indicating no pharmacokinetic DDI. The 90% CI for the AUC ratio for quinidine was slightly above the predefined range; however, the mean AUC increased by only 25%. In both groups, incidence of adverse events was similar, and pharmacodynamic

Comparative Responsiveness of the PROMIS Pain Interference Short Forms, Brief Pain Inventory, PEG, and SF-36 Bodily Pain Subscale.

Science.gov (United States)

Kean, Jacob; Monahan, Patrick O; Kroenke, Kurt; Wu, Jingwei; Yu, Zhangsheng; Stump, Tim E; Krebs, Erin E

2016-04-01

To compare the sensitivity to change and the responsiveness to intervention of the PROMIS Pain Interference short forms, Brief Pain Inventory (BPI), 3-item PEG scale, and SF-36 Bodily Pain subscale in a sample of patients with persistent musculoskeletal pain of moderate severity. Standardized response means, standardized effect sizes, and receiver operating curve analyses were used to assess change between baseline and 3-month assessments in 250 participants who participated in a randomized clinical effectiveness trial of collaborative telecare management for moderate to severe and persistent musculoskeletal pain. The BPI, PEG, and SF-36 Bodily Pain measures were more sensitive to patient-reported global change than the PROMIS Pain Interference short forms, especially for the clinically improved group, for which the change detected by the PROMIS short forms was not statistically significant. The BPI was more responsive to the clinical intervention than the SF-36 Bodily Pain and PROMIS Pain Interference measures. Post hoc analyses exploring these findings did not suggest that differences in content or rating scale structure (number of response options or anchoring language) adequately explained the observed differences in the detection of change. In this clinical trial, the BPI and PEG measures were better able to detect change than the SF-36 Bodily Pain and PROMIS Pain Interference measures.

32 CFR Appendix C to Part 623 - Agreement for Loan of US Army Materiel (DA Form 4881-R)

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 32 National Defense 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 true Agreement for Loan of US Army Materiel (DA Form 4881-R) C Appendix C to Part 623 National Defense Department of Defense (Continued) DEPARTMENT OF THE... Loan of US Army Materiel (DA Form 4881-R) EC24OC91.013 EC24OC91.014 EC24OC91.015 EC24OC91.016 EC24OC91...

Linguistic Features of Persuasive Communication: The Case of DRTV Short Form Spots

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Smiljana Komar

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Direct response television commercials (DRTV exhibit a very specific style of speech and delivery whose main function is to boost the product’s value and sales. This paper presents the findings of the structural and the linguistic analyses of three English DRTV short form spots as seen on Highstreet TV. The emphasis is on the verbal strategies used by advertisers to get the consumers’ attention, develop their interest and desire to own the product and to convince them to purchase it. These strategies include different lexical, syntactic and prosodic features. The structural analysis focuses mainly on non-verbal strategies of broadcasting advertisements whose purpose is to inspire interest and credibility in potential consumers.

Macromammalian faunas, biochronology and palaeoecology of the early Pleistocene Main Quarry hominin-bearing deposits of the Drimolen Palaeocave System, South Africa.

Science.gov (United States)

Adams, Justin W; Rovinsky, Douglass S; Herries, Andy I R; Menter, Colin G

2016-01-01

The Drimolen Palaeocave System Main Quarry deposits (DMQ) are some of the most prolific hominin and primate-bearing deposits in the Fossil Hominids of South Africa UNESCO World Heritage Site. Discovered in the 1990s, excavations into the DMQ have yielded a demographically diverse sample of Paranthropus robustus (including DNH 7, the most complete cranium of the species recovered to date), early Homo, Papio hamadryas robinsoni and Cercopithecoides williamsi. Alongside the hominin and primate sample is a diverse macromammalian assemblage, but prior publications have only provided a provisional species list and an analysis of the carnivores recovered prior to 2008. Here we present the first description and analysis of the non-primate macromammalian faunas from the DMQ, including all 826 taxonomically identifiable specimens catalogued from over two decades of excavation. We also provide a biochronological interpretation of the DMQ deposits and an initial discussion of local palaeoecology based on taxon representation.The current DMQ assemblage consists of the remains of minimally 147 individuals from 9 Orders and 14 Families of mammals. The carnivore assemblage described here is even more diverse than established in prior publications, including the identification of Megantereon whitei, Lycyaenops silberbergi, and first evidence for the occurrence of Dinofelis cf. barlowi and Dinofelis aff. piveteaui within a single South African site deposit. The cetartiodactyl assemblage is dominated by bovids, with the specimen composition unique in the high recovery of horn cores and dominance of Antidorcas recki remains. Other cetartiodactyl and perissodactyl taxa are represented by few specimens, as are Hystrix and Procavia; the latter somewhat surprisingly so given their common occurrence at penecontemporaneous deposits in the region. Equally unusual (particularly given the size of the sample) is the identification of single specimens of giraffoid, elephantid and aardvark

Macromammalian faunas, biochronology and palaeoecology of the early Pleistocene Main Quarry hominin-bearing deposits of the Drimolen Palaeocave System, South Africa

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Justin W. Adams

2016-04-01

Full Text Available The Drimolen Palaeocave System Main Quarry deposits (DMQ are some of the most prolific hominin and primate-bearing deposits in the Fossil Hominids of South Africa UNESCO World Heritage Site. Discovered in the 1990s, excavations into the DMQ have yielded a demographically diverse sample of Paranthropus robustus (including DNH 7, the most complete cranium of the species recovered to date, early Homo, Papio hamadryas robinsoni and Cercopithecoides williamsi. Alongside the hominin and primate sample is a diverse macromammalian assemblage, but prior publications have only provided a provisional species list and an analysis of the carnivores recovered prior to 2008. Here we present the first description and analysis of the non-primate macromammalian faunas from the DMQ, including all 826 taxonomically identifiable specimens catalogued from over two decades of excavation. We also provide a biochronological interpretation of the DMQ deposits and an initial discussion of local palaeoecology based on taxon representation.The current DMQ assemblage consists of the remains of minimally 147 individuals from 9 Orders and 14 Families of mammals. The carnivore assemblage described here is even more diverse than established in prior publications, including the identification of Megantereon whitei, Lycyaenops silberbergi, and first evidence for the occurrence of Dinofelis cf. barlowi and Dinofelis aff. piveteaui within a single South African site deposit. The cetartiodactyl assemblage is dominated by bovids, with the specimen composition unique in the high recovery of horn cores and dominance of Antidorcas recki remains. Other cetartiodactyl and perissodactyl taxa are represented by few specimens, as are Hystrix and Procavia; the latter somewhat surprisingly so given their common occurrence at penecontemporaneous deposits in the region. Equally unusual (particularly given the size of the sample is the identification of single specimens of giraffoid, elephantid

Studies on the properties of poly(ethylene oxide) R-150 water-swollen hydrogel formed by irradiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang Zhanshan; Zhu Nankang; Yang Shuqin; Qiang Yizhong

2000-01-01

The physical and chemical properties of PEO R-150 water-swollen hydrogel films formed by electron beam irradiation are studied and compared with PEO R-150 hydrogel films. The experimental results show that the irradiation dose and mass fraction of the polymer do not produce a significant effect on the gel fraction, of the PEO R-150 water-swollen hydrogel films (P>0.05). The degrees of swelling of the PEO R-150 water-swollen hydrogel films decrease as the irradiation dose increasing (P 0.05). The results indicate that the saturant crosslinking density, the lowest degree of swelling of the PEO R-150 water-swollen hydrogel films produce and unfavorable effect on their machinery strength

Inhibition of B cell proliferation by antisense DNA to both alpha and beta forms of Fc epsilon R II.

Science.gov (United States)

Bhatti, L; Behle, K; Stevens, R H

1992-10-01

Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) infection activates B lymphocyte proliferation through partially understood mechanisms, resulting in phenotypic changes, including the appearance of new antigens. One such antigen is Fc epsilon R II/CD-23 which may be relevant for B cell proliferation. We have used anti-sense oligonucleotides to study the importance of the two forms of this molecule for proliferation in the EBV-transformed, Fc epsilon R II +ve lymphoblastoid B cell line, RPMI 8866. Anti-sense oligodeoxynucleotides were generated to the two forms of Fc epsilon R II; Fc epsilon R IIa (alpha) and IIb (beta) which differ only in their intracytoplasmic domains. Addition of increasing concentrations of anti-sense oligonucleotides, ranging from 1 to 30 microM, significantly decreased cellular proliferation as measured by the incorporation of [3H]thymidine (inhibition range 8-88%). Optimum inhibition of cellular proliferation was apparent at 15 microM concentration of both anti-sense Fc epsilon R IIa and IIb (Fc epsilon R IIa, mean +/- SE = 75 +/- 7% inhibition, p less than 0.001; Fc epsilon R IIb, mean +/- SE = 71 +/- 7% inhibition, p less than 0.001). Anti-sense oligonucleotides complementary to the common part of Fc epsilon R II resulted in a similar inhibition of proliferation. Sense oligonucleotides did not induce significant inhibition. Preincubation of sense and anti-sense oligonucleotides resulted in an abrogation of proliferation inhibition. Moreover, none of these oligonucleotides had any effect on a Fc epsilon R II -ve cell line. Incubation with both anti-sense IIa and IIb resulted in additive, but not synergistic inhibition of proliferation. Addition of soluble Fc epsilon R II did not reverse inhibition of proliferation, suggesting that membrane-bound or intracellular rather than soluble Fc epsilon R II was important for the induced proliferation. Analysis of cell surface expression for Fc epsilon II indicated that while there was a pronounced effect on cell number

The dependence of the nuclear charge form factor on short range correlations and surface fluctuation effects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Massen, S. E.; Garistov, V. P.; Grypeos, M. E.

1996-01-01

The effects of nuclear surface fluctuations on harmonic oscillator elastic charge form factor of light nuclei are investigated, simultaneously approximating the short-range correlations through a Jastrow correlation factor. Inclusion of the surface fluctuation effects within this description, by truncating the cluster expansion at the two-body part, is found to improve somewhat the fit to the elastic charge form-factor of 16 O and 40 Ca. However, the convergence of the cluster expansion is expected to deteriorate. An additional finding is that surface-fluctuation correlations produce a drastic change in the asymptotic behaviour of the point-proton form-factor, which now falls off quite slowly (i.e. as const.q -4 ) at large values of the momentum transfer q

Cognitive impairment as assessed by a short form of MMSE was predictive of mortality

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schultz-Larsen, Kirsten; Rahmanfard, Naghmeh; Kreiner, Svend

2008-01-01

OBJECTIVE: This study explores the association between cognitive impairment and mortality in late senescence. A specific purpose was to validate the ability of a short form of the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) in predicting mortality. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: The cognition-mortality link,...... chronic diseases and mortality. A short, valid MMSE subscale, which was a powerful predictor of mortality especially among men, is attractive for research and clinical practice......., as assessed by the original MMSE and D-MMSE (a subscale associated to dementia) was estimated on a community sample of 1,111 older people using Cox proportional hazards models. RESULTS: Impaired cognitive function as assessed by both the original MMSE and D-MMSE predicted mortality in older men and women over...... long intervals. The association persisted after controlling for sociodemographic variables, Body Mass Index, mobility, and comorbidity and was unaffected by self-reported specific chronic diseases in both men and women. In addition, disease related risk of mortality was substantially reduced...

The Musician as (In)Active Athlete?: Exploring the Association Between Physical Activity and Musculoskeletal Complaints in Music Students.

Science.gov (United States)

Baadjou, Vera A E; Verbunt, Jeanine A M C F; van Eijsden-Besseling, Marjon D F; Huysmans, Stephanie M D; Smeets, Rob J E M

2015-12-01

Musicians are often compared to athletes because of the physical exertion required to play music. The aim of this study was to explore the physical activity level of music students and to study its relationship with musculoskeletal complaints. A second goal was to assess associations between physical activity and pain, quality of life, and disability. This cross-sectional study among third- and fourth-year music students used an electronic survey including measures for physical activity (SQUASH-Short Questionnaire to Assess Health-enhancing physical activity), musculoskeletal complaints (DMQ-Dutch Musculoskeletal Questionnaire), disability (DASH-Disability Arm, Shoulder, Hand questionnaire) and quality of life (Short Form-12). Students were classified as compliers or non-compliers with moderate- and vigorous-intensity physical activity recommendations. Statistical analysis was done using (non)parametric tests (t-test, Pearson chi-square test, Mann-Whitney U-test) and correlational testing. Participants were 132 students, 63.6% female, with a median age of 23 yrs (range 21.3-25.0). 67% reported musculoskeletal complaints in the past 7 days. Their median physical activity level was 6,390 MET-min/wk, and 62% and 10% of the students accomplished recommendations for moderate-intensity and vigorous-intensity physical activity levels, respectively. No significant differences were found in prevalence of musculoskeletal complaints between students who met moderate- or vigorous-intensity physical activity recommendations and students who did not. Physical activity level was not associated with musculoskeletal complaints (r=0.12, p=0.26). Higher pain intensity was associated with a lower quality of life (r=-0.53 pMusic students are mainly involved in light- to moderate-intensity physical activities and rarely in vigorous-intensity activities. No correlation was found between physical activity level in the past months and musculoskeletal complaints in music students.

Development and validation of a short form of the Fugl-Meyer motor scale in patients with stroke.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hsieh, Y.W.; Hsueh, I.P.; Chou, Y.T.; Sheu, C.F.; Hsieh, C.L.; Kwakkel, G.

2007-01-01

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The 50-item Fugl-Meyer motor scale (FM) is commonly used in outcome studies. However, the lengthy administration time of the FM keeps it from being widely accepted for routine clinical use. We aimed to develop a short form of the FM (the S-FM) with sound psychometric

Composite Reliability and Standard Errors of Measurement for a Seven-Subtest Short Form of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised.

Science.gov (United States)

Schretlen, David; And Others

1994-01-01

Composite reliability and standard errors of measurement were computed for prorated Verbal, Performance, and Full-Scale intelligence quotient (IQ) scores from a seven-subtest short form of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised. Results with 1,880 adults (standardization sample) indicate that this form is as reliable as the complete test.…

Development and Psychometric Validation of the EDE-QS, a 12 Item Short Form of the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q)

Science.gov (United States)

Gideon, Nicole; Hawkes, Nick; Mond, Jonathan; Saunders, Rob; Tchanturia, Kate; Serpell, Lucy

2016-01-01

Objective The aim of this study was to develop and validate a short form of the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q) for routine, including session by session, outcome assessment. Method The current, 28-item version (6.0) of the EDE-Q was completed by 489 individuals aged 18–72 with various eating disorders recruited from three UK specialist eating disorder services. Rasch analysis was carried out on factors identified by means of principal component analysis, which in combination with expert ratings informed the development of an EDE-Q short form. The shortened questionnaire’s reliability, validity and sensitivity was assessed based on online data collected from students of a UK university and volunteers with a history of eating disorders recruited from a national eating disorders charity aged 18–74 (N = 559). Results A 12-item short form, the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire Short (EDE-QS) was derived. The new measure showed high internal consistency (Cronbach’s α = .913) and temporal stability (ICC = .93; p eating disorder and comorbid psychopathology. It was sufficiently sensitive to distinguish between people with and without eating disorders. Discussion The EDE-QS is a brief, reliable and valid measure of eating disorder symptom severity that performs similarly to the EDE-Q and that lends itself for the use of sessional outcome monitoring in treatment and research. PMID:27138364

Form factors of the transitions {gamma}{sup *}{pi}{sup 0} {r_arrow} {gamma} and {gamma}{sup *}{eta}{r_arrow}{gamma}

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Afanasev, A. [Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility, Newport News, VA (United States)

1994-04-01

The author discusses possibilities to study {gamma}*{pi}{sup 0} and {gamma}*{eta} {r_arrow} {gamma} transition form factors at CEBAF energies. The author shows that for 4 GeV electron beam, these form factors can be measured at CEBAF for the 4-momentum transfers Q{sup 2} {le} 2.5 (GeV/c){sup 2} using virtual Compton scattering on the proton and nuclear target in the kinematic regime of low momentum transfers to the target. These measurements can be extended to Q{sup 2} {le} 4.0 (GeV/c){sup 2} using the electron beam with the energy 6 GeV.

Numerical simulation of trans-critical carbon dioxide (R744) flow through short tube orifices

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Garcia-Valladares, O. [Centro de Investigacion en Energia de la Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Privada Xochicalco S/N, Apdo. Postal 34, 62580 Temixco, Morelos (Mexico)

2006-02-01

A detailed one-dimensional numerical simulation of the fluid-dynamic behaviour of short tube orifices expansion devices working with trans-critical carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2} or R744) has been developed. The discretized governing equations are coupled using an implicit step by step method. A special treatment has been implemented in order to consider transitions (subcooled liquid region and equilibrium two-phase region). The numerical model allows analysis of aspects such as geometry, different working conditions, critical or non-critical flow conditions, etc. Comparison of the numerical simulation with experimental data presented in the technical literature will be shown in the present article. (author)

Evaluation of the psychometric properties of two short forms of the social interaction anxiety scale and the social phobia scale.

Science.gov (United States)

Le Blanc, Allura L; Bruce, Laura C; Heimberg, Richard G; Hope, Debra A; Blanco, Carlos; Schneier, Franklin R; Liebowitz, Michael R

2014-06-01

The Social Interaction Anxiety Scale and Social Phobia Scale are widely used measures of social anxiety. Using data from individuals with social anxiety disorder (n = 435) and nonanxious controls (n = 86), we assessed the psychometric properties of two independently developed short forms of these scales. Indices of convergent and discriminant validity, diagnostic specificity, sensitivity to treatment, and readability were examined. Comparisons of the two sets of short forms to each other and the original long forms were conducted. Both sets of scales demonstrated adequate internal consistency in the patient sample, showed expected patterns of correlation with measures of related and unrelated constructs, adequately discriminated individuals with social anxiety disorder from those without, and showed decreases in scores over the course of cognitive-behavioral therapy and/or pharmacotherapy. However, some significant differences in scale performance were noted. Implications for the clinical assessment of social anxiety are discussed. © The Author(s) 2014.

M/sub r/ 25,000 heparin-binding protein from guinea pig brain is a high molecular weight form of basic fibroblast growth factor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moscatelli, D.; Joseph-Silverstein, J.; Manejias, R.; Rifkin, D.B.

1987-01-01

A M/sub r/ 25,000 form of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) has been isolated from guinea pig grain along with the typical M/sub r/ 18,000 form. Both forms were purified to homogeneity by a combination of heparin-affinity chromatography and ion-exchange chromatography on an FPLC Mono S column. The M/sub r/ 25,000 form, like the M/sub r/ 18,000 form was not eluted from the heparin-affinity column with 0.95 M NaCl, but was eluted with 2 M NaCl. The M/sub r/ 25,000 guinea pig protein stimulated plasminogen activator production by cultured bovine capillary endothelial cells in a dose-dependent manner at concentration of 0.1-10 ngml, the same range that was effective for guinea pig and human M/sub r/ 18,000 bFGFs. The binding of human 125 I-labeled bFGF to baby hamster kidney cells is inhibited equally by the M/sub r/ 25,000 guinea pig protein and the M/sub r/ 18,000 guinea pig and human bFGFs. Polyclonal antibodies raised against human bFGF recognize both the M/sub r/ 25,000 and 18,000 guinea pig proteins in an immunoblot analysis. In a radioimmunoassay, both the M/sub r/ 25,000 and M/sub r/ 18,000 guinea pig proteins compete equally well with iodinated human bFGF for binding to the anti-human bFGF antibodies. When treated with low concentrations of trypsin, the M/sub r/ 25,000 guinea pig bFGF was converted to a M/sub r/ 18,000 protein. These results show that the two molecules are closely related and suggest that the M/sub r/ 25,000 protein shares substantial homology with the M/sub r/ 18,000 bFGF

A comparison study on algorithms of detecting long forms for short forms in biomedical text

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wu Cathy H

2007-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Motivation With more and more research dedicated to literature mining in the biomedical domain, more and more systems are available for people to choose from when building literature mining applications. In this study, we focus on one specific kind of literature mining task, i.e., detecting definitions of acronyms, abbreviations, and symbols in biomedical text. We denote acronyms, abbreviations, and symbols as short forms (SFs and their corresponding definitions as long forms (LFs. The study was designed to answer the following questions; i how well a system performs in detecting LFs from novel text, ii what the coverage is for various terminological knowledge bases in including SFs as synonyms of their LFs, and iii how to combine results from various SF knowledge bases. Method We evaluated the following three publicly available detection systems in detecting LFs for SFs: i a handcrafted pattern/rule based system by Ao and Takagi, ALICE, ii a machine learning system by Chang et al., and iii a simple alignment-based program by Schwartz and Hearst. In addition, we investigated the conceptual coverage of two terminological knowledge bases: i the UMLS (the Unified Medical Language System, and ii the BioThesaurus (a thesaurus of names for all UniProt protein records. We also implemented a web interface that provides a virtual integration of various SF knowledge bases. Results We found that detection systems agree with each other on most cases, and the existing terminological knowledge bases have a good coverage of synonymous relationship for frequently defined LFs. The web interface allows people to detect SF definitions from text and to search several SF knowledge bases. Availability The web site is http://gauss.dbb.georgetown.edu/liblab/SFThesaurus.

Monkeys have a limited form of short-term memory in audition.

Science.gov (United States)

Scott, Brian H; Mishkin, Mortimer; Yin, Pingbo

2012-07-24

A stimulus trace may be temporarily retained either actively [i.e., in working memory (WM)] or by the weaker mnemonic process we will call passive short-term memory, in which a given stimulus trace is highly susceptible to "overwriting" by a subsequent stimulus. It has been suggested that WM is the more robust process because it exploits long-term memory (i.e., a current stimulus activates a stored representation of that stimulus, which can then be actively maintained). Recent studies have suggested that monkeys may be unable to store acoustic signals in long-term memory, raising the possibility that they may therefore also lack auditory WM. To explore this possibility, we tested rhesus monkeys on a serial delayed match-to-sample (DMS) task using a small set of sounds presented with ~1-s interstimulus delays. Performance was accurate whenever a match or a nonmatch stimulus followed the sample directly, but it fell precipitously if a single nonmatch stimulus intervened between sample and match. The steep drop in accuracy was found to be due not to passive decay of the sample's trace, but to retroactive interference from the intervening nonmatch stimulus. This "overwriting" effect was far greater than that observed previously in serial DMS with visual stimuli. The results, which accord with the notion that WM relies on long-term memory, indicate that monkeys perform serial DMS in audition remarkably poorly and that whatever success they had on this task depended largely, if not entirely, on the retention of stimulus traces in the passive form of short-term memory.

A Comparison of the Psychometric Properties of the Psychopathic Personality Inventory Full-Length and Short-Form Versions

Science.gov (United States)

Kastner, Rebecca M.; Sellbom, Martin; Lilienfeld, Scott O.

2012-01-01

The Psychopathic Personality Inventory (PPI) has shown promising construct validity as a measure of psychopathy. Because of its relative efficiency, a short-form version of the PPI (PPI-SF) was developed and has proven useful in many psychopathy studies. The validity of the PPI-SF, however, has not been thoroughly examined, and no studies have…

Tradition et innovations esthétiques dans la nouvelle yéménite contemporaine Tradition and aesthetic innovations in contemporary Yemeni short stories

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Géraldine Jenvrin

2008-04-01

Full Text Available Le nouveau recueil de Mu/hammad ‘Abd al-Wakîl Jâzim témoigne d’une transformation capitale dans la littérature yéménite contemporaine :  le passage d’une forme expérimentale en rupture avec les règles de la nouvelle traditionnelle et avec la réalité yéménite, à une autre forme plus accomplie dans laquelle les principes traditionnels de la nouvelle sont ici associés sans complexe aux formes renouvelées du genre.  La nouvelle intitulée Le maître des vautours, présente, dans une structure narrative traditionnelle, un conte fantastique moderne qui mêle réalisme, symbolisme et poésie, et dans lequel l’auteur traite à sa manière les thèmes littéraires contemporains de la dualité du rêve et de la réalité, du désenchantement et de l’enfermement perpétuel.  C’est notamment en s’inspirant de la langue, des pratiques orales, des croyances et de l’imaginaire populaire, que l’auteur, soucieux de donner un ancrage au texte dans la réalité yéménite, transfigure cette expérience existentielle moderne.The latest collection of short stories by Mu/hammad 'Abd al-Wakîl signals a major shift in contemporary Yemeni literature: from an experimental form, breaking away from both traditional short story conventions and Yemeni reality, to another, more accomplished form, unabashedly mixing traditional short story principles with renewed genre forms. The short story entitled The Vulture Master presents us, from within a traditional narrative structure, with a modern fantasy tale blending in realism, symbolism and poetry, and where the writer deals in his own way with such contemporary literary themes as disenchantment, perpetual captivity, and the duality of dream and reality. Drawing his inspiration from language itself, oral practices, beliefs and popular imagery, the writer, seeking to set his tale firmly in Yemeni reality, manages to transfigure this modern existential experiment.

Measurement of the {ovr {ital B}} {r_arrow} {ital Dl}{ovr {nu} } Partial Width and Form Factor Parameters

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Athanas, M.; Avery, P.; Jones, C.D.; Lohner, M.; Prescott, C.; Yelton, J.; Zheng, J. [University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611 (United States); Brandenburg, G.; Briere, R.A.; Ershov, A.; Gao, Y.S.; Kim, D.Y.; Wilson, R.; Yamamoto, H. [Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 (United States); Browder, T.E.; Li, F.; Li, Y.; Rodriguez, J.L. [University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822 (United States); Bergfeld, T.; Eisenstein, B.I.; Ernst, J.; Gladding, G.E.; Gollin, G.D.; Hans, R.M.; Johnson, E.; Karliner, I.; Marsh, M.A.; Palmer, M.; Selen, M.; Thaler, J.J. [University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, Illinois 61801 (United States); Edwards, K.W.; Edwards, K.W. [the Institute of Particle Physics (Canada); Bellerive, A.; Bellerive, A.; Janicek, R.; Janicek, R.; MacFarlane, D.B.; MacFarlane, D.B.; Patel, P.M.; Patel, P.M. [the Institute of Particle Physics (Canada); Sadoff, A.J. [Ithaca College, Ithaca, New York 14850 (United States); Ammar, R.; Baringer, P.; Bean, A.; Besson, D.; Coppage, D.; Darling, C.; Davis, R.; Hancock, N.; Kotov, S.; Kravchenko, I.; Kwak, N. [University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66045 (United States); Anderson, S.; Kubota, Y.; Lee, S.J.; ONeill, J.J.; Patton, S.; Poling, R.; Riehle, T.; Savinov, V.; Smith, A. [University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455 (United States); Alam, M.S.; Athar, S.B.; Ling, Z.; Mahmood, A.H.; Severini, H.; Timm, S.; Wappler, F. [State University of New York at Albany, Albany, New York 12222 (United States); Anastassov, A.; Blinov, S.; Duboscq, J.E.; Fujino, D.; Gan, K.K.; Hart, T.; Honscheid, K.; Kagan, H.; Kass, R.; Lee, J.; Spencer, M.B.; Sung, M.; Undrus, A.; Wanke, R.; Wolf, A.; Zoeller, M.M. [Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210 (United States); Nemati, B.; Richichi, S.J.; Ross, W.R.; Skubic, P. [University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma 73019 (United States); Bishai, M.; Fast, J.; Gerndt, E.; Hinson, J.W.; Menon, N.; Miller, D.H.; Shibata, E.I.; and others

1997-09-01

We have studied the decay {bar B}{r_arrow}Dl{bar {nu}} , where l=e or {mu} . From a fit to the differential decay rate d{Gamma}/dw we measure the rate normalization F{sub D}(1){vert_bar}V{sub cb}{vert_bar} and form factor slope {cflx {rho}}{sup 2}{sub D} , and, using measured values of {tau}{sub B} , find {Gamma}({bar B}{r_arrow}Dl{bar {nu}}) = (12.0{plus_minus}0.9{plus_minus}2.1) ns{sup {minus}1}. The resulting branching fractions are B({bar B}{sup 0}{r_arrow}D{sup +}l{sup {minus}}{bar {nu}})=(1.87{plus_minus}0.15{plus_minus} 0.32){percent} and B(B{sup {minus}}{r_arrow}D{sup 0} l{sup {minus}}{bar {nu}})=(1.94{plus_minus}0.15{plus_minus}0.34){percent} . The form factor parameters are in agreement with those measured in {bar B}{r_arrow}D{sup *}l{bar {nu}} decays, as predicted by heavy quark effective theory. {copyright} {ital 1997} {ital The American Physical Society}

Reliability and Validity of the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form-12 Version 2 (SF-12v2 in Adults with Non-Cancer Pain

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Corey J. Hayes

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Limited evidence exists on how non-cancer pain (NCP affects an individual’s health-related quality of life (HRQoL. This study aimed to validate the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form-12 Version 2 (SF-12v2, a generic measure of HRQoL, in a NCP cohort using the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Longitudinal Files. The SF Mental Component Summary (MCS12 and SF Physical Component Summary (PCS12 were tested for reliability (internal consistency and test-retest reliability and validity (construct: convergent and discriminant; criterion: concurrent and predictive. A total of 15,716 patients with NCP were included in the final analysis. The MCS12 and PCS12 demonstrated high internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha and Mosier’s alpha > 0.8, and moderate and high test-retest reliability, respectively (MCS12 intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC: 0.64; PCS12 ICC: 0.73. Both scales were significantly associated with a number of chronic conditions (p < 0.05. The PCS12 was strongly correlated with perceived health (r = 0.52 but weakly correlated with perceived mental health (r = 0.25. The MCS12 was moderately correlated with perceived mental health (r = 0.42 and perceived health (r = 0.33. Increasing PCS12 and MCS12 scores were significantly associated with lower odds of reporting future physical and cognitive limitations (PCS12: OR = 0.90 95%CI: 0.89–0.90, MCS12: OR = 0.94 95%CI: 0.93–0.94. In summary, the SF-12v2 is a reliable and valid measure of HRQoL for patients with NCP.

Assessing the Psychometric Properties of the Attitudes toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help Scale-Short Form in Mainland China

Science.gov (United States)

Fang, Ke; Pieterse, Alex L.; Friedlander, Myrna; Cao, Junhong

2011-01-01

This investigation tested the psychometric properties of the Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help Scale-Short Form (ATSPPH-SF; Fisher and Farina ["Journal of College Student Development, 36", 368-373, 1995]) in a sample of 338 Mainland Chinese college students. Using back-translation, the ATSPPH-SF was translated into…

Cyclopiazonic acid biosynthesis in Aspergillus sp.: characterization of a reductase-like R* domain in cyclopiazonate synthetase that forms and releases cyclo-acetoacetyl-L-tryptophan.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Xinyu; Walsh, Christopher T

2009-09-15

The fungal neurotoxin alpha-cyclopiazonic acid (CPA), a nanomolar inhibitor of Ca2+-ATPase, has a pentacyclic indole tetramic acid scaffold that arises from one molecule of tryptophan, acetyl-CoA, malonyl-CoA, and dimethylallyl pyrophosphate by consecutive action of three enzymes, CpaS, CpaD, and CpaO. CpaS is a hybrid, two module polyketide synthase-nonribosomal peptide synthetase (PKS-NRPS) that makes and releases cyclo-acetoacetyl-L-tryptophan (cAATrp), the tetramic acid that serves as substrate for subsequent prenylation and oxidative cyclization to the five ring CPA scaffold. The NRPS module in CpaS has a predicted four-domain organization of condensation, adenylation, thiolation, and reductase* (C-A-T-R*), where R* lacks the critical Ser-Tyr-Lys catalytic triad of the short chain dehydrogenase/reductase (SDR) superfamily. By heterologous overproduction in Escherichia coli of the 56 kDa Aspergillus flavus CpaS TR* didomain and the single T and R* domains, we demonstrate that CpaS catalyzes a Dieckmann-type cyclization on the N-acetoacetyl-Trp intermediate bound in thioester linkage to the phosphopantetheinyl arm of the T domain to form and release cAATrp. This occurs without any participation of NAD(P)H, so R* does not function as a canonical SDR family member. Use of the T and R* domains in in trans assays enabled multiple turnovers and evaluation of specific mutants. Mutation of the D3803 residue in the R* domain, conserved in other fungal tetramate synthetases, abolished activity both in in trans and in cis (TR*) activity assays. It is likely that cyclization of beta-ketoacylaminoacyl-S-pantetheinyl intermediates to released tetramates represents a default cyclization/release route for redox-incompetent R* domains embedded in NRPS assembly lines.

Clinical assessment of early language development: a simplified short form of the Mandarin communicative development inventory.

Science.gov (United States)

Soli, Sigfrid D; Zheng, Yun; Meng, Zhaoli; Li, Gang

2012-09-01

The purpose of this study was to develop a practical mean for clinical evaluation of early pediatric language development by establishing developmental trajectories for receptive and expressive vocabulary growth in children between 6 and 32 months of age using a simple, time-efficient assessment tool. Simplified short form versions of the Words and Gestures and Words and Sentences vocabulary inventories in the Mandarin Communicative Development Inventory [1] were developed and used to assess early language development in developmentally normal children from 6 to 32 months of age during routine health checks. Developmental trajectories characterizing the rate of receptive and expressive vocabulary growth between 6 and 32 months of age are reported. These trajectories allow the equivalent age corresponding to a score to be determined after a brief structured interview with the child's parents that can be conducted in a busy clinical setting. The simplified short forms of the Mandarin Communicative Development Inventories can serve as a clinically useful tool to assess early child language development, providing a practical mean of objectively assessing early language development following early interventions to treat young children with hearing impairment as well as speech and language delays. Objective evidence of language development is essential for achievement of effective (re)habilitation outcomes. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Investigating self-esteem in individuals with schizophrenia: relevance of the Self-Esteem Rating Scale-Short Form.

Science.gov (United States)

Lecomte, Tania; Corbière, Marc; Laisné, François

2006-06-30

Studies investigating self-esteem in individuals with severe mental illness, either as a treatment goal, outcome or correlate to other variables, have increased over the past few years. One of the main difficulties in assessing self-esteem is the assessment itself, often measuring global and stable self-esteem as in the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, or requiring extensive training and long interviews. The present article aims at demonstrating the relevance of the French and English versions of the Self-Esteem Rating Scale-Short Form with individuals with severe mental illness. The instrument's reliability and validity were investigated in a sample of 250 French Canadian college students, 247 British college students and three samples of English- or French-speaking individuals with severe mental illness (N=254, N=150 and N=171). Confirmatory factor analysis revealed that a shorter version of the instrument (20 items), with a positive and a negative self-esteem factor, had a great validity for all the samples studied. The Self-Esteem Rating Scale-Short Form, with its positive and negative self-esteem subscales, appears to be a valid and reliable self-esteem measure for individuals with mental health problems. Limitations of this study and future directions are discussed.

On the sensitivity of nucleon-nucleon correlations to the form of short-range potential

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gmitro, M.; Kvasil, J.; Lednicky, R.; Lyuboshitz, V.L.

1986-01-01

Nucleon-nucleon correlation characteristics are calculated for several phenomenological and realistic strong potentials. The results show that a square-well potential reasonably well approximates the nucleon-nucleon interaction if one calculates the correlations between nucleons generated in a region with an r.m.s. radius larger than 1.5-2 fm. Vice versa, the correlations of nucleons emitted from a smaller generation region are sensitive to the form of the assumed nucleon-nucleon potential. (author)

Translation, cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the Diabetes Empowerment Scale - Short Form.

Science.gov (United States)

Chaves, Fernanda Figueredo; Reis, Ilka Afonso; Pagano, Adriana Silvina; Torres, Heloísa de Carvalho

2017-03-23

To translate, cross-culturally adapt and validate the Diabetes Empowerment Scale - Short Form for assessment of psychosocial self-efficacy in diabetes care within the Brazilian cultural context. Assessment of the instrument's conceptual equivalence, as well as its translation and cross-cultural adaptation were performed following international standards. The Expert Committee's assessment of the translated version was conducted through a web questionnaire developed and applied via the web tool e-Surv. The cross-culturally adapted version was used for the pre-test, which was carried out via phone call in a group of eleven health care service users diagnosed with type 2 diabetes mellitus. The pre-test results were examined by a group of experts, composed by health care consultants, applied linguists and statisticians, aiming at an adequate version of the instrument, which was subsequently used for test and retest in a sample of 100 users diagnosed with type 2 diabetes mellitus via phone call, their answers being recorded by the web tool e-Surv. Internal consistency and reproducibility of analysis were carried out within the statistical programming environment R. Face and content validity were attained and the Brazilian Portuguese version, entitled Escala de Autoeficácia em Diabetes - Versão Curta, was established. The scale had acceptable internal consistency with Cronbach's alpha of 0.634 (95%CI 0.494- 0.737), while the correlation of the total score in the two periods was considered moderate (0.47). The intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.50. The translated and cross-culturally adapted version of the instrument to spoken Brazilian Portuguese was considered valid and reliable to be used for assessment within the Brazilian population diagnosed with type 2 diabetes mellitus. The use of a web tool (e-Surv) for recording the Expert Committee responses as well as the responses in the validation tests proved to be a reliable, safe and innovative method. Traduzir

Incremental Validity of the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire-Short Form (TEIQue-SF).

Science.gov (United States)

Siegling, A B; Vesely, Ashley K; Petrides, K V; Saklofske, Donald H

2015-01-01

This study examined the incremental validity of the adult short form of the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (TEIQue-SF) in predicting 7 construct-relevant criteria beyond the variance explained by the Five-factor model and coping strategies. Additionally, the relative contributions of the questionnaire's 4 subscales were assessed. Two samples of Canadian university students completed the TEIQue-SF, along with measures of the Big Five, coping strategies (Sample 1 only), and emotion-laden criteria. The TEIQue-SF showed consistent incremental effects beyond the Big Five or the Big Five and coping strategies, predicting all 7 criteria examined across the 2 samples. Furthermore, 2 of the 4 TEIQue-SF subscales accounted for the measure's incremental validity. Although the findings provide good support for the validity and utility of the TEIQue-SF, directions for further research are emphasized.

Physique et humanités scientifiques. Autour de la réforme de l'enseignement de 1902. Études et documents

OpenAIRE

Tiberghien, Andrée

2006-01-01

Cet ouvrage porte sur la réforme de l'enseignement expérimental de la physique et de la chimie pour plus de 60 ans. Une première partie analyse cette réforme et la seconde comporte des documents originaux. Dans l'esprit de cette réforme, les sciences doivent désormais faire partie de la culture, on parle d'« humanités scientifiques ». Les concepteurs introduisent un renouveau pédagogique où l'expérience et la méthode inductive ont une place prépondérante. Ce livre met en évidence de façon trè...

Validating a Cantonese short version of the Zarit Burden Interview (CZBI-Short) for dementia caregivers.

Science.gov (United States)

Tang, Jennifer Yee-Man; Ho, Andy Hau-Yan; Luo, Hao; Wong, Gloria Hoi-Yan; Lau, Bobo Hi-Po; Lum, Terry Yat-Sang; Cheung, Karen Siu-Lan

2016-09-01

The present study aimed to develop and validate a Cantonese short version of the Zarit Burden Interview (CZBI-Short) for Hong Kong Chinese dementia caregivers. The 12-item Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI) was translated into spoken Cantonese and back-translated by two bilingual research assistants and face validated by a panel of experts. Five hundred Chinese dementia caregivers showing signs of stress reported their burden using the translated ZBI and rated their depressive symptoms, overall health, and care recipients' physical functioning and behavioral problems. The factor structure of the translated scale was identified using principal component analysis and confirmatory factor analysis; internal consistency and item-total correlations were assessed; and concurrent validity was tested by correlating the ZBI with depressive symptoms, self-rated health, and care recipients' physical functioning and behavioral problems. The principal component analysis resulted in 11 items loading on a three-factor model comprised role strain, self-criticism, and negative emotion, which accounted for 59% of the variance. The confirmatory factor analysis supported the three-factor model (CZBI-Short) that explained 61% of the total variance. Cronbach's alpha (0.84) and item-total correlations (rho = 0.39-0.71) indicated CZBI-Short had good reliability. CZBI-Short showed correlations with depressive symptoms (r = 0.50), self-rated health (r = -0.26) and care recipients' physical functioning (r = 0.18-0.26) and disruptive behaviors (r = 0.36). The 12-item CZBI-Short is a concise, reliable, and valid instrument to assess burden in Chinese dementia caregivers in clinical and social care settings.

Intravenous dextromethorphan/quinidine inhibits activity of dura-sensitive spinal trigeminal neurons in rats.

Science.gov (United States)

Sokolov, A Y; Lyubashina, O A; Berkovich, R R; Panteleev, S S

2015-09-01

Migraine is a chronic neurological disorder characterized by episodes of throbbing headaches. Practically all medications currently used in migraine prophylaxis have a number of substantial disadvantages and use limitations. Therefore, the further search for principally new prophylactic antimigraine agents remains an important task. The objective of our study was to evaluate the effects of a fixed combination of dextromethorphan hydrobromide and quinidine sulphate (DM/Q) on activity of the spinal trigeminal neurons in an electrophysiological model of trigemino-durovascular nociception. The study was performed in 15 male Wistar rats, which were anaesthetized with urethane/α-chloralose and paralysed using pipecuronium bromide. The effects of cumulative intravenous infusions of DM/Q (three steps performed 30 min apart, 15/7.5 mg/kg of DM/Q in 0.5 mL of isotonic saline per step) on ongoing and dural electrical stimulation-induced neuronal activities were tested in a group of eight rats over 90 min. Other seven animals received cumulative infusion of equal volumes of saline and served as control. Cumulative administration of DM/Q produced steady suppression of both the ongoing activity of the spinal trigeminal neurons and their responses to electrical stimulation of the dura mater. It is evident that the observed DM/Q-induced suppression of trigeminal neuron excitability can lead to a reduction in nociceptive transmission from meninges to higher centres of the brain. Since the same mechanism is believed to underlie the pharmacodynamics of many well-known antimigraine drugs, results of the present study enable us to anticipate the potential efficacy of DM/Q in migraine. © 2014 European Pain Federation - EFIC®

Measuring patient activation in the Netherlands: translation and validation of the American short form Patient Activation Measure (PAM13).

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rademakers, J.; Nijman, J.; Hoek, L. van der; Heijmans, M.; Rijken, M.

2012-01-01

Background: The American short form Patient Activation Measure (PAM) is a 13-item instrument which assesses patient (or consumer) self-reported knowledge, skills and confidence for self-management of one's health or chronic condition. In this study the PAM was translated into a Dutch version;

SHORT COMMUNICATION

African Journals Online (AJOL)

PROF P.T. KAYE

. SHORT COMMUNICATION. Formation and Structural Analysis of Novel Dibornyl Ethers. Perry T. Kaye*, Andrew R. Duggan, Joseph M. Matjila, Warner E. Molema, and. Swarnam S. Ravindran. Department of Chemistry, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, ...

The heterocyst differentiation transcriptional regulator HetR of the filamentous cyanobacterium Anabaena forms tetramers and can be regulated by phosphorylation.

Science.gov (United States)

Valladares, Ana; Flores, Enrique; Herrero, Antonia

2016-02-01

Many filamentous cyanobacteria respond to the external cue of nitrogen scarcity by the differentiation of heterocysts, cells specialized in the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen in oxic environments. Heterocysts follow a spatial pattern along the filament of two heterocysts separated by ca. 10-15 vegetative cells performing oxygenic photosynthesis. HetR is a transcriptional regulator that directs heterocyst differentiation. In the model strain Anabaena sp. PCC 7120, the HetR protein was observed in various oligomeric forms in vivo, including a tetramer that peaked with maximal hetR expression during differentiation. Tetramers were not detected in a hetR point mutant incapable of differentiation, but were conspicuous in an over-differentiating strain lacking the PatS inhibitor. In differentiated filaments the HetR tetramer was restricted to heterocysts, being undetectable in vegetative cells. HetR co-purified with RNA polymerase from Anabaena mainly as a tetramer. In vitro, purified recombinant HetR was distributed between monomers, dimers, trimers and tetramers, and it was phosphorylated when incubated with (γ-(32)P)ATP. Phosphorylation and PatS hampered the accumulation of HetR tetramers and impaired HetR binding to DNA. In summary, tetrameric HetR appears to represent a functionally relevant form of HetR, whose abundance in the Anabaena filament could be negatively regulated by phosphorylation and by PatS. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Reliability and validity of an adapted Arabic version of the Scoliosis Research Society-22r Questionnaire.

Science.gov (United States)

Haidar, Rachid K; Kassak, Kassem; Masrouha, Karim; Ibrahim, Kamal; Mhaidli, Hani

2015-09-01

Cross-sectional validation and reliability assessment study of Arabic version of Scoliosis Research Society-22 (SRS-22r) Questionnaire. To develop and validate the Arabic version of the SRS-22r questionnaire. The diagnosis and treatment of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis may influence patient quality of life. SRS-22r is an internationally validated questionnaire used to assess function/activity, pain, self-image, and mental health of patients with scoliosis. It has been translated into several languages but not into Arabic language. Therefore, a valid health-related quality-of-life outcome questionnaire for patients with spinal deformity is still lacking in Arabic language. The English version of SRS-22r questionnaire was translated, back-translated, and culturally adapted to Arabic language. Then, 81 patients with idiopathic adolescent scoliosis were allocated randomly into either the reliability testing group (group 1) or the validity testing group (group 2). Group 1 patients completed Arabic version of SRS-22r questionnaire twice with 1-week interval in-between. Cronbach α and intraclass correlation coefficient were measured to determine internal consistency and temporal reliability. Group 2 patients completed the Arabic version of SRS-22r questionnaire and the previously validated Arabic version of 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (Short Form-36) questionnaire concurrently, and Pearson correlation coefficient was obtained to assess validity. Content analysis, internal consistency reliability, test/retest reproducibility (intraclass correlation coefficient range: 0.82-0.90), and test of concurrent validity showed satisfactory results. Function/activity and satisfaction with management domains had a lower Cronbach α (0.58 and 0.44, respectively, vs. 0.71-0.85 range for others). Self-image/appearance and satisfaction with management had a lower correlation with domains of the 36-Item Short Form Health Survey. An Arabic version of the SRS-22r questionnaire has

Efficiency, R&D and ownership - some empirical evidence

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dilling-Hansen, Mogens; Madsen, Erik Strøjer; Smith, Valdemar

2003-01-01

on the technical efficiency methodology using a stochastic frontier approach in order to investigate the influence of R&D activities on the technical efficiency of the firms. Using a sample of 2370 Danish firms, the analysis suggests that R&D-active firms are significantly more efficient than other firms......Investments in R&D create an immaterial capital asset, which is expected to have a positive influence on firms' efficiency and consequently on their profit. Nonetheless, the short-term effects of current investments in R&D are difficult to prove. Therefore, this paper focuses on analyses based....... The legal form of ownership also affects the efficiency significantly, whereas firms owned by large shareholders - who are expected to exert a disciplinary influence on the managers of the firm - do not seem to be more efficient than other firms. Udgivelsesdato: JAN 25...

Psychometric qualities of a tetrad WAIS-III short form for use in individuals with mild to borderline intellectual disability

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Duijvenbode, N. van; Didden, H.C.M.; Hazel, T. van den; Engels, R.C.M.E.

2016-01-01

Objective: To investigate the reliability and validity of a Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence-based Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale - third edition (WAIS-III) short form (SF) in a sample of individuals with mild to borderline intellectual disability (MBID) (N=117; M-IQ=71.34; SDIQ=8.00,

Enquête sur les attitudes de la population à l'égard des réformes du ...

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

Enquête sur les attitudes de la population à l'égard des réformes du secteur de la sécurité dans le monde arabe. Une des constantes observées dans les fluctuations du Printemps arabe a été l'accroissement de l'influence de l'opinion publique sur les politiques publiques. Rares sont les domaines d'intérêt public qui ont eu ...

Assessing the Validity of the Quality of Life Enjoyment and Satisfaction Questionnaire--Short Form in Adults with ADHD

Science.gov (United States)

Mick, Eric; Faraone, Stephen V.; Spencer, Thomas; Zhang, Huabin F.; Biederman, Joseph

2008-01-01

Objective: The authors assessed the psychometric properties of the Quality of Life Enjoyment and Satisfaction Questionnaire-Short Form (Q-LES-QSF) in adults with ADHD. Method: One hundred fifty ADHD and 134 non-ADHD adults from a case-control study and 173 adults randomized to placebo or methylphenidate were assessed with the Q-LES-QSF and the…

A short form of the Diabetes Quality of Life for Youth questionnaire

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Skinner, T. C.; Hoey, H.; McGee, H. M.

2006-01-01

Aims/hypothesis: The aim of this study was to test the construct validity of the Diabetes Quality of Life for Youth (DQOLY) questionnaire in a large representative sample of young people with type 1 diabetes mellitus. Methods: The 52-item DQOLY questionnaire was completed by 2,077 adolescent...... of a revised questionnaire, two with four factors and one with six factors, with all models indicating the presence of one satisfaction scale, but with many of the impact and worry scale items either double loading or not loading on any factors. Subsequent confirmatory analysis indicated that compared...... with the original DQOLY scales, the six-factor solution was the best-fitting model. Conclusions/interpretation: The DQOLY factor structure does not show construct validity in a large, diverse representative sample of young people with type 1 diabetes. However, a revised (short-form) version of the DQOLY is proposed...

[Myocardial perfusion scintigraphy - short form of the German guideline].

Science.gov (United States)

Lindner, O; Burchert, W; Hacker, M; Schaefer, W; Schmidt, M; Schober, O; Schwaiger, M; vom Dahl, J; Zimmermann, R; Schäfers, M

2013-01-01

This guideline is a short summary of the guideline for myocardial perfusion scintigraphy published by the Association of the Scientific Medical Societies in Ger-many (AWMF). The purpose of this guideline is to provide practical assistance for indication and examination procedures as well as image analysis and to present the state-of-the-art of myocardial-perfusion-scintigraphy. After a short introduction on the fundamentals of imaging, precise and detailed information is given on the indications, patient preparation, stress testing, radiopharmaceuticals, examination protocols and techniques, radiation exposure, data reconstruction as well as information on visual and quantitative image analysis and interpretation. In addition possible pitfalls, artefacts and key elements of reporting are described.

PRISM II: an open-label study to assess effectiveness of dextromethorphan/quinidine for pseudobulbar affect in patients with dementia, stroke or traumatic brain injury.

Science.gov (United States)

Hammond, Flora M; Alexander, David N; Cutler, Andrew J; D'Amico, Stephen; Doody, Rachelle S; Sauve, William; Zorowitz, Richard D; Davis, Charles S; Shin, Paul; Ledon, Fred; Yonan, Charles; Formella, Andrea E; Siffert, Joao

2016-06-09

Phase 3 trials supporting dextromethorphan/quinidine (DM/Q) use as a treatment for pseudobulbar affect (PBA) were conducted in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or multiple sclerosis (MS). The PRISM II study provides additional DM/Q experience with PBA secondary to dementia, stroke, or traumatic brain injury (TBI). Participants in this open-label, multicenter, 90-day trial received DM/Q 20/10 mg twice daily. The primary outcome was the Center for Neurologic Study-Lability Scale (CNS-LS), assessing change in PBA episode frequency and severity. The CNS-LS final visit score was compared to baseline (primary analysis) and to the response in a previously conducted placebo-controlled trial with DM/Q in patients with ALS or MS. Secondary outcomes included change in PBA episode count and Clinical Global Impression of Change with respect to PBA as rated by a clinician (CGI-C) and by the patient or caregiver (PGI-C). The study enrolled 367 participants with PBA secondary to dementia, stroke, or TBI. Mean (standard deviation [SD]) CNS-LS score improved significantly from 20.4 (4.4) at baseline to 12.8 (5.0) at Day 90/Final Visit (change, -7.7 [6.1]; P < .001, 95 % CI: -8.4, -7.0). This magnitude of improvement was consistent with DM/Q improvement in the earlier phase-3, placebo-controlled trial (mean [95 % CI] change from baseline, -8.2 [-9.4, -7.0]) and numerically exceeds the improvement seen with placebo in that study (-5.7 [-6.8, -4.7]). Reduction in PBA episode count was 72.3 % at Day 90/Final Visit compared with baseline (P < .001). Scores on CGI-C and PGI-C showed that 76.6 and 72.4 % of participants, respectively, were "much" or "very much" improved with respect to PBA. The most frequently occurring adverse events (AEs) were diarrhea (5.4 %), headache (4.1 %), urinary tract infection (2.7 %), and dizziness (2.5 %); 9.8 % had AEs that led to discontinuation. Serious AEs were reported in 6.3 %; however, none were considered treatment

R{sub 4}Ir{sub 13}Ge{sub 9} (R=La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm) and RIr{sub 3}Ge{sub 2} (R=La, Ce, Pr, Nd): Crystal structures with nets of Ir atoms

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yarema, Maksym [Department of Inorganic Chemistry, Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, Kyryla i Mefodiya Str, 6, UA-79005 Lviv (Ukraine); Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (EMPA), Ueberlandstr. 129, CH-8600 Duebendorf (Switzerland); Zaremba, Oksana; Gladyshevskii, Roman [Department of Inorganic Chemistry, Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, Kyryla i Mefodiya Str, 6, UA-79005 Lviv (Ukraine); Hlukhyy, Viktor, E-mail: viktor.hlukhyy@lrz.tu-muenchen.de [Department Chemie, Technische Universitaet Muenchen, Lichtenbergstr. 4, D-85747 Garching (Germany); Faessler, Thomas F. [Department Chemie, Technische Universitaet Muenchen, Lichtenbergstr. 4, D-85747 Garching (Germany)

2012-12-15

The crystal structures of the new ternary compounds Sm{sub 4}Ir{sub 13}Ge{sub 9} and LaIr{sub 3}Ge{sub 2} were determined and refined on the basis of single-crystal X-ray diffraction data. They belong to the Ho{sub 4}Ir{sub 13}Ge{sub 9} (oP52, Pmmn) and CeCo{sub 3}B{sub 2} (hP5, P6/mmm) structure types, respectively. The formation of isotypic compounds R{sub 4}Ir{sub 13}Ge{sub 9} with R=La, Ce, Pr, Nd, and RIr{sub 3}Ge{sub 2} with R=Ce, Pr, Nd, was established by powder X-ray diffraction. The RIr{sub 3}Ge{sub 2} (R=La, Ce, Pr, Nd) compounds exist only in as-cast samples and decompose during annealing at 800 Degree-Sign C with the formation of R{sub 4}Ir{sub 13}Ge{sub 9}. The structure of Sm{sub 4}Ir{sub 13}Ge{sub 9} contains intersecting, slightly puckered nets of Ir atoms (4{sup 4})(4{sup 3}.6){sub 2}(4.6{sup 2}){sub 2} and (4{sup 4}){sub 2}(4{sup 3}.6){sub 4}(4.6{sup 2}){sub 2} that are perpendicular to [0 1 1] as well as to [0 -1 1] and [0 0 1]. The Ir atoms are surrounded by Ge atoms that form tetrahedra or square pyramids (where the layers intersect). The Sm and additional Ir atoms (in trigonal-planar coordination) are situated in channels along [1 0 0] (short translation vector). In the structure of LaIr{sub 3}Ge{sub 2} the Ir atoms form planar Kagome nets (3.6.3.6) perpendicular to [0 0 1]. These nets alternate along the short translation vector with layers of La and Ge atoms. - Graphical abstract: The crystal structures contain the nets of Ir atoms as main structural motif: R{sub 4}Ir{sub 13}Ge{sub 9} contains intersecting slightly puckered nets of Ir atoms, whereas in the structure of RIr{sub 3}Ge{sub 2} the Ir atoms form planar Kagome nets. Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The Ir-rich ternary germanides R{sub 4}Ir{sub 13}Ge{sub 9} (R=La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm) and RIr{sub 3}Ge{sub 2} (R=La, Ce, Pr, Nd) have been synthesized. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The RIr{sub 3}Ge{sub 2} compounds exist only in as-cast samples and decompose during annealing at 800

Crystallographic and spectroscopic characterization of (R-O-acetylmandelic acid

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Cady Cirbes

2016-07-01

Full Text Available The title compound [systematic name: (R-(−-2-acetoxy-2-phenylacetic acid], C10H10O4, is a resolved chiral ester derivative of mandelic acid. The compound contains an acetate group and a carboxylic acid group, which engage in intermolecular hydrogen bonding, forming chains extending parallel to [001] with a short donor–acceptor hydrogen-bonding distance of 2.676 (2 Å.

DECISION MAKING STYLES AND STUDY ORIENTATION

OpenAIRE

Govind, K.; Amalor, D.

2016-01-01

The present study is an attempt to study the relationship of Study Orientation (Study Habits and Attitudes) with decision making styles among higher secondary students. Survey of Study Habits and Attitudes (SSHA) developed by Brown and Holtzman (1967) and Flinders Decision Making Questionnaires I and II (DMQ-I and DMQ-II) developed by Mann (1982) were used to collect data. As large as 148 Higher Secondary Students pursuing the first year study of Higher Secondary Course (HSC) participated in ...

Transfer of deuterium from [1R-2H]- and [1S-2H] ethanol to reduced metabolites formed in vivo

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cronholm, T.; Fors, C.

1977-01-01

Since alcohol dehydrogenase is stereospecific and only removes the 1-pro-R hydrogen of ethanol, it is possible to label selectively NADH formed at the alcohol dehydrogenase by using [1R- 2 H]-ethanol. In contrast, [1S- 2 H]ethanol may be used to label NADH formed in the aldehyde dehydrogenase reaction. The present investigation is an attempt to study the relationship between the NADH pools at these two dehydrogenases, with special reference to subcellular localization, by using chiral monodeuteroethanols

miR-137 forms a regulatory loop with nuclear receptor TLX and LSD1 in neural stem cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, GuoQiang; Ye, Peng; Murai, Kiyohito; Lang, Ming-Fei; Li, Shengxiu; Zhang, Heying; Li, Wendong; Fu, Chelsea; Yin, Jason; Wang, Allen; Ma, Xiaoxiao; Shi, Yanhong

2011-11-08

miR-137 is a brain-enriched microRNA. Its role in neural development remains unknown. Here we show that miR-137 has an essential role in controlling embryonic neural stem cell fate determination. miR-137 negatively regulates cell proliferation and accelerates neural differentiation of embryonic neural stem cells. In addition, we show that the histone lysine-specific demethylase 1 (LSD1), a transcriptional co-repressor of nuclear receptor TLX, is a downstream target of miR-137. In utero electroporation of miR-137 in embryonic mouse brains led to premature differentiation and outward migration of the transfected cells. Introducing a LSD1 expression vector lacking the miR-137 recognition site rescued miR-137-induced precocious differentiation. Furthermore, we demonstrate that TLX, an essential regulator of neural stem cell self-renewal, represses the expression of miR-137 by recruiting LSD1 to the genomic regions of miR-137. Thus, miR-137 forms a feedback regulatory loop with TLX and LSD1 to control the dynamics between neural stem cell proliferation and differentiation during neural development.

Patient experience and satisfaction with inpatient service: development of short form survey instrument measuring the core aspect of inpatient experience.

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Eliza L Y Wong

Full Text Available Patient experience reflects quality of care from the patients' perspective; therefore, patients' experiences are important data in the evaluation of the quality of health services. The development of an abbreviated, reliable and valid instrument for measuring inpatients' experience would reflect the key aspect of inpatient care from patients' perspective as well as facilitate quality improvement by cultivating patient engagement and allow the trends in patient satisfaction and experience to be measured regularly. The study developed a short-form inpatient instrument and tested its ability to capture a core set of inpatients' experiences. The Hong Kong Inpatient Experience Questionnaire (HKIEQ was established in 2010; it is an adaptation of the General Inpatient Questionnaire of the Care Quality Commission created by the Picker Institute in United Kingdom. This study used a consensus conference and a cross-sectional validation survey to create and validate a short-form of the Hong Kong Inpatient Experience Questionnaire (SF-HKIEQ. The short-form, the SF-HKIEQ, consisted of 18 items derived from the HKIEQ. The 18 items mainly covered relational aspects of care under four dimensions of the patient's journey: hospital staff, patient care and treatment, information on leaving the hospital, and overall impression. The SF-HKIEQ had a high degree of face validity, construct validity and internal reliability. The validated SF-HKIEQ reflects the relevant core aspects of inpatients' experience in a hospital setting. It provides a quick reference tool for quality improvement purposes and a platform that allows both healthcare staff and patients to monitor the quality of hospital care over time.

Validity and Responsiveness of the Short Version of the Western Ontario Rotator Cuff Index (Short-WORC) in Patients With Rotator Cuff Repair.

Science.gov (United States)

Dewan, Neha; MacDermid, Joy C; MacIntyre, Norma

2018-05-01

Study Design Clinical measurement. Background Recently, the Western Ontario Rotator Cuff Index (WORC) was shortened, but few studies have reported its measurement properties. Objective To compare the validity and responsiveness of the short version of the Western Ontario Rotator Cuff Index (Short-WORC) and the WORC (disease-specific measures) with those of the Shoulder Pain and Disability Index (SPADI) and the simple shoulder test (SST) (joint-specific measures); the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (DASH) (a region-specific measure); and the Medical Outcomes Study 12-Item Short-Form Health Survey version 2 (SF-12v2) (a general health status measure) in patients undergoing rotator cuff repair (RCR). Methods A cohort of patients (n = 223) completed the WORC, SPADI, SST, DASH, and SF-12v2 preoperatively and at 3 and 6 months after RCR. Short-WORC scores were extracted from the WORC questionnaire. The construct validity (Pearson correlations) and internal responsiveness (effect size [ES], standardized response mean [SRM], relative efficiency [RE]) of the Short-WORC were calculated. Results The Short-WORC was strongly correlated with the WORC (r = 0.89-0.96) and moderately to strongly correlated with non-disease-specific measures at preoperative and postoperative assessments (r = 0.51-0.92). The Short-WORC and WORC were equally responsive (RE Short-WORC/WORC = 1) at 0 to 6 months and highly responsive overall at 0 to 3 months (ES Short-WORC , 0.72; ES WORC , 0.92; SRM Short-WORC , 0.75; SRM WORC , 0.81) and 0 to 6 months (ES Short-WORC , 1.05; ES WORC , 1.12; SRM Short-WORC , 0.89; SRM WORC , 0.89). The responsiveness of the comparator measures (SPADI, SST, DASH, SF-12v2) was poor to moderate at 0 to 3 months (ES, 0.07-0.55; SRM, 0.09-0.49) and 0 to 6 months (ES, 0.05-0.78; SRM, 0.07-0.78). Conclusion The Short-WORC and WORC have similar responsiveness in patients undergoing RCR, and are more responsive than non-disease-specific measures. Future studies

Longitudinal evaluation of the mental health continuum-short form (MHC-SF): Measurement invariance across demographics, physical illness, and mental illness

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lamers, S.M.A.; Glas, Cornelis A.W.; Westerhof, Gerben Johan; Bohlmeijer, Ernst Thomas

2012-01-01

This study evaluated the measurement invariance of the Mental Health Continuum-Short Form (MHC-SF), a 14-item self-report questionnaire for measuring emotional, social, and psychological well-being. The study draws on data of a representative panel (Longitudinal Internet Studies for the Social

Current correlators and form factors in the resonance region

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rosell, I. [Departamento de Ciencias Fisicas, Matematicas y de la Computacion, Universidad CEU Cardenal Herrera, c/Sant Bartomeu 55, E-46115 Alfara del Patriarca, Valencia (Spain); IFIC, Universitat de Valencia - CSIC, Apt. Correus 22085, E-46071 Valencia (Spain)

2009-01-15

Within Resonance Chiral Theory and in the context of QCD current correlators at next-to-leading order in 1/N{sub C}, we have analyzed the two-body form factors which include resonances as a final state. The short-distance constraints have been studied. One of the main motivations is the estimation of the chiral low-energy constants at subleading order, that is, keeping full control of the renormalization scale dependence. As an application we show the resonance estimation of some coupling, L{sub 10}{sup r}({mu}{sub 0})=(-4.4{+-}0.9).10{sup -3} and C{sub 87}{sup r}({mu}{sub 0})=(3.1{+-}1.1).10{sup -5}.

Psychometric evaluation of the Chinese version of short-form Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adolescents.

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, Li-Chun; Hsieh, Pei-Lin; Liu, Chieh-Hsing

2012-09-01

The purpose of this study is to develop and evaluate the psychometric properties of the Chinese version of short-form Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adolescents. Assessing health literacy is vital to design health education programme; however, there are no measurement tools exist for use specifically in Chinese adolescents. A non-experimental design was used to test the psychometric properties of the Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adolescents. The short-form Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adolescents was translated and back translated into a Chinese language version. Thirty high school students were recruited to validate the scenario of Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adolescents. Based on the multiple-stage stratified random sampling method, 300 high school students from four counties in Taiwan were invited to participate in this study to evaluate the psychometric properties of Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adolescents. The Functional Health Literacy in Adolescents had good internal consistency reliability and excellent test-retest reliability. Confirmatory factor analysis resulted in a one-factor solution. Contrary to the original version of the Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adolescents, the findings revealed that the 36-item, one-factor model for the Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adolescents is the best-fit model. This is a suitable instrument to assess health literacy levels in Chinese adolescents before health education programmes can be appropriately planned, implemented and evaluated. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Enhancing the LVRT Capability of PMSG-Based Wind Turbines Based on R-SFCL

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Lin; Lin, Ruixing; Ding, Lijie; Huang, Chunjun

2018-03-01

A novel low voltage ride-through (LVRT) scheme for PMSG-based wind turbines based on the Resistor Superconducting Fault Current Limiter (R-SFCL) is proposed in this paper. The LVRT scheme is mainly formed by R-SFCL in series between the transformer and the Grid Side Converter (GSC), and basic modelling has been discussed in detail. The proposed LVRT scheme is implemented to interact with PMSG model in PSCAD/EMTDC under three phase short circuit fault condition, which proves that the proposed scheme based on R-SFCL can improve the transient performance and LVRT capability to consolidate grid connection with wind turbines.

The breastfeeding self-efficacy scale: psychometric assessment of the short form.

Science.gov (United States)

Dennis, Cindy-Lee

2003-01-01

The purpose of this study was to reduce the number of items on the original Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Scale (BSES) and psychometrically assess the revised BSES-Short Form (BSES-SF). As part of a longitudinal study, participants completed mailed questionnaires at 1, 4, and 8 weeks postpartum. Health region in British Columbia. A population-based sample of 491 breastfeeding mothers. BSES, Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and Perceived Stress Scale. Internal consistency statistics with the original BSES suggested item redundancy. As such, 18 items were deleted, using explicit reduction criteria. Based on the encouraging reliability analysis of the new 14-item BSES-SF, construct validity was assessed using principal components factor analysis, comparison of contrasted groups, and correlations with measures of similar constructs. Support for predictive validity was demonstrated through significant mean differences between breastfeeding and bottle feeding mothers at 4 (p self-efficacy and considered ready for clinical use to (a) identify breastfeeding mothers at high risk, (b) assess breastfeeding behaviors and cognitions to individualize confidence-building strategies, and (c) evaluate the effectiveness of various interventions and guide program development.

Fluorine-ion conductivity of different technological forms of solid electrolytes R{sub 1–y}M{sub y}F{sub 3–y} (LaF{sub 3} Type ) (M = Ca, Sr, Ba; R Are Rare Earth Elements)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sorokin, N. I., E-mail: nsorokin1@yandex.ru; Sobolev, B. P. [Russian Academy of Sciences, Shubnikov Institute of Crystallography (Russian Federation)

2016-05-15

We have investigated the conductivity of some representatives of different technological forms of fluoride-conducting solid electrolytes R{sub 1–y}M{sub y}F{sub 3–y} (M = Ca, Sr, Ba; R are rare earth elements) with an LaF{sub 3} structure: single crystals, cold- and hot-pressing ceramics based on a charge prepared in different ways (mechanochemical synthesis, solid-phase synthesis, and fragmentation of single crystals), polycrystalline alloys, etc. It is shown (by impedance spectroscopy), that different technological forms of identical chemical composition (R, M, y) exhibit different electrical characteristics. The maximum conductivity is observed for the single-crystal form of R{sub 1–y}M{sub y}F{sub 3–y} tysonite phases, which provides (in contrast to other technological forms) the formation of true volume ion-conducting characteristics.

An Examination of the Structure of the Career Decision Self-Efficacy Scale (Short Form) among Italian High School Students

Science.gov (United States)

Presti, Alessandro Lo; Pace, Francesco; Mondo, Marina; Nota, Laura; Casarubia, Provvidenza; Ferrari, Lea; Betz, Nancy E.

2013-01-01

This study aims to evaluate the factor structure of Career Decision Self-Efficacy scale-short form in a sample of Italian high school adolescents. confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to test the degree to which a one-factor structure and a five-factor structure provided the best fit. In view of available research the five-factor structure…

La réforme des bons de caisse, une ouverture maitrisée vers les fintech ?

OpenAIRE

Granier , Thierry; Poracchia , Didier

2016-01-01

Cette contribution a fait l'objet d'une publication dans les "Mélanges en l'honneur de Jean-Jacques Daigre - Autour du droit bancaire et financier et au-delà", nov. 2017, éditions Joly, Paris, 888 pages, ISBN : 978-2-306-00079-3.; Le législateur français poursuit sa réforme du paysage législatif et réglementaire national en vue d'accueillir le financement participatif (crowdfunding) comme technique de financement des entreprises. L’ordonnance n° 2014-559 du 30 mai 2014 qui a encadré le systèm...

A structural model of the pore-forming region of the skeletal muscle ryanodine receptor (RyR1.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Srinivas Ramachandran

2009-04-01

Full Text Available Ryanodine receptors (RyRs are ion channels that regulate muscle contraction by releasing calcium ions from intracellular stores into the cytoplasm. Mutations in skeletal muscle RyR (RyR1 give rise to congenital diseases such as central core disease. The absence of high-resolution structures of RyR1 has limited our understanding of channel function and disease mechanisms at the molecular level. Here, we report a structural model of the pore-forming region of RyR1. Molecular dynamics simulations show high ion binding to putative pore residues D4899, E4900, D4938, and D4945, which are experimentally known to be critical for channel conductance and selectivity. We also observe preferential localization of Ca(2+ over K(+ in the selectivity filter of RyR1. Simulations of RyR1-D4899Q mutant show a loss of preference to Ca(2+ in the selectivity filter as seen experimentally. Electrophysiological experiments on a central core disease mutant, RyR1-G4898R, show constitutively open channels that conduct K(+ but not Ca(2+. Our simulations with G4898R likewise show a decrease in the preference of Ca(2+ over K(+ in the selectivity filter. Together, the computational and experimental results shed light on ion conductance and selectivity of RyR1 at an atomistic level.

When less is more: Psychometric properties of Norwegian short-forms of the Ambivalent Sexism Scales (ASI and AMI) and the Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance (IRMA) Scale.

Science.gov (United States)

Bendixen, Mons; Kennair, Leif Edward Ottesen

2017-12-01

This paper reports on the development and the psychometric properties of short forms of Ambivalent Sexism Scales toward women (ASI; Glick & Fiske, 1996) and men (AMI; Glick & Fiske, 1999), and a scale measuring rape stereotypes (IRMA; McMahon & Farmer, 2011). The short form AMI/ASI were applied for examining gender and educational differences in university students (N = 512) and in high school students (N = 1381), and for predicting individual differences in rape stereotypes in the latter. The short forms demonstrated good to excellent psychometric properties across samples of emerging adults. Relative to female students, male students reported markedly more hostility toward women and more stereotypical beliefs about rape. Despite sampling from a highly gender egalitarian and secular culture, these gender differences are on a par with those reported internationally. Rape stereotypes were predicted by sexism in high school students. Additional predictors were educational program, relationship status, and acceptance of derogatory sexual slurs. The paper questions the validity of separate constructs for benevolent sexism toward women versus men. The short form versions of the scales may substitute the original versions in future research, and help prevent attrition while measuring the same constructs. © 2017 Scandinavian Psychological Associations and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Assessing public speaking fear with the short form of the Personal Report of Confidence as a Speaker scale: confirmatory factor analyses among a French-speaking community sample.

Science.gov (United States)

Heeren, Alexandre; Ceschi, Grazia; Valentiner, David P; Dethier, Vincent; Philippot, Pierre

2013-01-01

The main aim of this study was to assess the reliability and structural validity of the French version of the 12-item version of the Personal Report of Confidence as Speaker (PRCS), one of the most promising measurements of public speaking fear. A total of 611 French-speaking volunteers were administered the French versions of the short PRCS, the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale, the Fear of Negative Evaluation scale, as well as the Trait version of the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Beck Depression Inventory-II, which assess the level of anxious and depressive symptoms, respectively. Regarding its structural validity, confirmatory factor analyses indicated a single-factor solution, as implied by the original version. Good scale reliability (Cronbach's alpha = 0.86) was observed. The item discrimination analysis suggested that all the items contribute to the overall scale score reliability. The French version of the short PRCS showed significant correlations with the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (r = 0.522), the Fear of Negative Evaluation scale (r = 0.414), the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (r = 0.516), and the Beck Depression Inventory-II (r = 0.361). The French version of the short PRCS is a reliable and valid measure for the evaluation of the fear of public speaking among a French-speaking sample. These findings have critical consequences for the measurement of psychological and pharmacological treatment effectiveness in public speaking fear among a French-speaking sample.

Translation, cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the Diabetes Empowerment Scale – Short Form

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fernanda Figueredo Chaves

Full Text Available ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE To translate, cross-culturally adapt and validate the Diabetes Empowerment Scale – Short Form for assessment of psychosocial self-efficacy in diabetes care within the Brazilian cultural context. METHODS Assessment of the instrument’s conceptual equivalence, as well as its translation and cross-cultural adaptation were performed following international standards. The Expert Committee’s assessment of the translated version was conducted through a web questionnaire developed and applied via the web tool e-Surv. The cross-culturally adapted version was used for the pre-test, which was carried out via phone call in a group of eleven health care service users diagnosed with type 2 diabetes mellitus. The pre-test results were examined by a group of experts, composed by health care consultants, applied linguists and statisticians, aiming at an adequate version of the instrument, which was subsequently used for test and retest in a sample of 100 users diagnosed with type 2 diabetes mellitus via phone call, their answers being recorded by the web tool e-Surv. Internal consistency and reproducibility of analysis were carried out within the statistical programming environment R. RESULTS Face and content validity were attained and the Brazilian Portuguese version, entitled Escala de Autoeficácia em Diabetes – Versão Curta, was established. The scale had acceptable internal consistency with Cronbach’s alpha of 0.634 (95%CI 0.494– 0.737, while the correlation of the total score in the two periods was considered moderate (0.47. The intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.50. CONCLUSIONS The translated and cross-culturally adapted version of the instrument to spoken Brazilian Portuguese was considered valid and reliable to be used for assessment within the Brazilian population diagnosed with type 2 diabetes mellitus. The use of a web tool (e-Surv for recording the Expert Committee responses as well as the responses in the

Un programme de réforme démocratique « sur mesure » | CRDI ...

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

10 janv. 2013 ... ... 4) encourager la diversité culturelle et 5) définir les responsabilités de l'État envers la société. L'ARI a concentré la majorité de ses efforts en Égypte. Au cours de l'été 2012, plusieurs documents portant sur la réforme constitutionnelle en Égypte ont été commandés pour examiner des questions précises ...

Developing a closed-form cost expression for an (R,s,nQ) policy where the demand process is compound generalized Erlang

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Christian; Kiesmüller, Gudrun P.

We derive a closed-form cost expression for an (R,s,nQ) inventory control policy where all replenishment orders have a constant lead-time, unfilled demand is backlogged and inter-arrival times of order requests are generalized Erlang distributed.......We derive a closed-form cost expression for an (R,s,nQ) inventory control policy where all replenishment orders have a constant lead-time, unfilled demand is backlogged and inter-arrival times of order requests are generalized Erlang distributed....

Dynamic Effects of Topoisomerase I Inhibition on R-Loops and Short Transcripts at Active Promoters.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jessica Marinello

Full Text Available Topoisomerase I-DNA-cleavage complexes (Top1cc stabilized by camptothecin (CPT have specific effects at transcriptional levels. We recently reported that Top1cc increase antisense transcript (aRNAs levels at divergent CpG-island promoters and, transiently, DNA/RNA hybrids (R-loop in nuclear and mitochondrial genomes of colon cancer HCT116 cells. However, the relationship between R-loops and aRNAs was not established. Here, we show that aRNAs can form R-loops in N-TERA-2 cells under physiological conditions, and that promoter-associated R-loops are somewhat increased and extended in length immediately upon cell exposure to CPT. In contrast, persistent Top1ccs reduce the majority of R-loops suggesting that CPT-accumulated aRNAs are not commonly involved in R-loops. The enhancement of aRNAs by Top1ccs is present both in human colon cancer HCT116 cells and WI38 fibroblasts suggesting a common response of cancer and normal cells. Although Top1ccs lead to DSB and DDR kinases activation, we do not detect a dependence of aRNA accumulation on ATM or DNA-PK activation. However, we showed that the cell response to persistent Top1ccs can involve an impairment of aRNA turnover rather than a higher synthesis rate. Finally, a genome-wide analysis shows that persistent Top1ccs also determine an accumulation of sense transcripts at 5'-end gene regions suggesting an increased occurrence of truncated transcripts. Taken together, the results indicate that Top1 may regulate transcription initiation by modulating RNA polymerase-generated negative supercoils, which can in turn favor R-loop formation at promoters, and that transcript accumulation at TSS is a response to persistent transcriptional stress by Top1 poisoning.

Short, intermediate and long range order in amorphous ices

Science.gov (United States)

Martelli, Fausto; Torquato, Salvatore; Giovanbattista, Nicolas; Car, Roberto

Water exhibits polyamorphism, i.e., it exists in more than one amorphous state. The most common forms of glassy water are the low-density amorphous (LDA) and the high-density amorphous (HDA) ices. LDA, the most abundant form of ice in the Universe, transforms into HDA upon isothermal compression. We model the transformation of LDA into HDA under isothermal compression with classical molecular dynamics simulations. We analyze the molecular structures with a recently introduced scalar order metric to measure short and intermediate range order. In addition, we rank the structures by their degree of hyperuniformity, i.e.,the extent to which long range density fluctuations are suppressed. F.M. and R.C. acknowledge support from the Department of Energy (DOE) under Grant No. DE-SC0008626.

Validation of the Tamil version of short form Geriatric Depression Scale-15.

Science.gov (United States)

Sarkar, Sonali; Kattimani, Shivananand; Roy, Gautam; Premarajan, K C; Sarkar, Siddharth

2015-01-01

Local language screening instruments can be helpful in early assessment of depression in the elderly in the community and primary care population. This study describes the validation of a Tamil version of Geriatric Depression Scale (short form 15 [GDS-15] item) in a rural population. A Tamil version of GDS-15 was developed using standardized procedures. The questionnaire was applied in a sample of elderly (aged 60 years and above) from a village in South India. All the participants were also assessed for depression by a clinical interview by a psychiatrist. A total of 242 participants were enrolled, 64.9% of them being females. The mean score on GDS-15 was 7.4 (±3.4), while the point prevalence of depression was 6.2% by clinical interview. The area under the receiver-operator curve was 0.659. The optimal cut-off for the GDS in this sample was found at 7/8 with sensitivity and specificity being 80% and 47.6%, respectively. The Tamil version of GDS-15 can be a useful screening instrument for assessment of depression in the elderly population.

Examination of Measurement Invariance across Culture and Gender on the RCMAS-2 Short Form among Singapore and U.S. Adolescents

Science.gov (United States)

Lowe, Patricia A.; Ang, Rebecca P.

2016-01-01

Tests of measurement invariance were conducted across culture and gender on the Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale-Second Edition (RCMAS-2) Short Form in a sample of 1,003 Singapore and U.S. adolescents. The results of multi-group confirmatory factor analyses across culture and gender supported at least partial measurement invariance. ANOVA…

p55-hGRF, a short natural form of the Ras-GDP exchange factor high yield production and characterization.

Science.gov (United States)

Meyer, P; Janin, J; Baudet-Nessler, S

1999-08-01

p55-hGRF, a natural short form of the guanine-nucleotide-releasing factor for p21-Ras from human brain, was expressed at high level in Escherichia coli as well as an engineered truncated form, p39-hGRF. A T7 polymerase expression system was used, resulting in the formation of insoluble cytoplasmic protein aggregates. The recombinant products were resolubilized, renatured and purified to homogeneity. The exchange activity of the refolded hGRF samples on H-Ras was comparable with that published for the soluble catalytic domain of the mouse counterpart, CDC25 Mm. Both p55-hGRF and p39-hGRF form dimers. We established a procedure to prepare and purify the complex with Ras. The results of the characterization study are consistent with a stoichiometry of 1:1 and an equilibrium between dimeric and monomeric forms of the complex.

A juvenile form of postsynaptic hippocampal long-term potentiation in mice deficient for the AMPA receptor subunit GluR-A

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jensen, V.; Kaiser, K.M.M.; Borchardt, T.; Adelmann, G.; Rozov, A.; Burnashev, N.; Brix, C.; Frotscher, M.; Anderson, P.; Hvalby, O.; Sakmann, B.; Seeburg, P.H.; Sprengel, R.

2003-01-01

In adult mice, long-term potentiation (LTP) of synaptic transmission at CA3-to-CA1 synapses induced by tetanic stimulation requires L-α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionate (AMPA) receptors containing GluR-A subunits. Here, we report a GluR-A-independent form of LTP, which is comparable in

Development of short-form and screening cutoff point of the Smartphone Addiction Inventory (SPAI-SF).

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Yu-Hsuan; Pan, Yuan-Chien; Lin, Sheng-Hsuan; Chen, Sue-Huei

2017-06-01

Smartphone addiction is considered a form of technological addiction that has attracted increasing attention. The present study developed and validated the short-form Smartphone Addiction Inventory (SPAI-SF) and established cutoff point for screening smartphone addiction based on diagnostic criteria established by psychiatric interview. A total of 268 participants completed an online survey that collected demographic data, smartphone use behaviours, and responses to the 26-item SPAI. Each participant also completed a psychiatric interview. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) revealed that the 10-item SPAI-SF replicated the structure of original 26-item SPAI accurately, yielding a four-factor model consisting of compulsive behaviour, functional impairment, withdrawal, and tolerance. For maximal diagnostic accuracy, a cutoff point of 24/25 best discriminated cases of smartphone addiction from diagnostic negatives. The present findings suggest that both the 26-item SPAI and SPAI-SF manifest the four constructs of behavioural addiction and the characteristics of smartphone addiction. The cutoff point determined by psychiatrists' diagnostic interview will be useful for clinical screening and epidemiologic research. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Reliability testing of the Danish version of the Kidney Disease Quality of Life Short Form

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Molsted, Stig; Heaf, James; Prescott, Lotte

2005-01-01

. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Translation into Danish and back-translation into English were performed. Pilot, field and internal consistency reliability tests were performed. RESULTS: Cronbach's alpha coefficients for the internal reliability test ranged from 0.77 to 0.93 for the eight generic scales. In a test......OBJECTIVE: The questionnaire Kidney Disease Quality of Life Short Form version 1.3 (KDQOL-SF) is valuable for assessing the health-related quality of life in patients treated with chronic dialysis. The aim of this study was to translate and test the reliability of the KDQOL-SF for use in Denmark...... involving all patients, two of the disease-specific scales had Cronbach's alpha coefficients of test of the scores...

Total synthesis of (3S, 5R, 3'S, 5'R)-capsorubin

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Frederico, Daniel; Constantino, Mauricio G.; Donate, Paulo M.

2009-01-01

The total synthesis of enantiomerically enriched (3S, 5R, 3'S, 5'R)-capsorubin (1) by aldol condensation of (1R, 4S)-1-(4-hydroxy-1,2,2-trimethyl-cyclopentyl)ethanone (2a) and crocetindial (3) is described. An alternative, short eight-step synthesis of the optically active compound 2a (ee 89%) is also reported. (author)

Clinical validity of the Japanese version of WAIS-III short forms: Adaptation for patients with mild neurocognitive disorder and dementia.

Science.gov (United States)

Takeda, Mihoko; Nakaya, Makoto; Kikuchi, Yoko; Inoue, Sayaka; Kamata, Tomoyuki

2018-01-01

We investigated the Japanese WAIS-III short form utility in mild neurocognitive disorder and dementia. Our sample consisted of 108 old patients (ages: 65-89; mean age = 78.3). Fifteen short forms (SFs) and full-scale (FS) IQs were compared. The SFs included Dyads (SF1, SF2), Triads (SF3), Tetrads (SF4, SF5, SF6, SF7), Pentad (SF8), Six-subtest (SF9), Seven-subtests (SF10(a)(b), SF11(a)(b), SF12), and Nine-subtest (SF13). Correlations between SFIQs and FSIQ were all significant. Significant differences also were found in paired t-test between FSIQ and 5 SFIQs (SF2: t = -4.16, SF5: t = -7.06, SF7; t = 2.59, SF10(a): t = 2.56, SF12: t = -4.82; p Arithmetic, Digit Span, Information, Picture Completion, Digit Symbol-Coding, and Matrix Reasoning (Ryan & Ward, 1999), and the formula (Axelrod et al., 2001) should be adopted to convert scaled scores into estimated IQ scores. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Pharmacology of dextromethorphan: Relevance to dextromethorphan/quinidine (Nuedexta®) clinical use.

Science.gov (United States)

Taylor, Charles P; Traynelis, Stephen F; Siffert, Joao; Pope, Laura E; Matsumoto, Rae R

2016-08-01

Dextromethorphan (DM) has been used for more than 50years as an over-the-counter antitussive. Studies have revealed a complex pharmacology of DM with mechanisms beyond blockade of N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptors and inhibition of glutamate excitotoxicity, likely contributing to its pharmacological activity and clinical potential. DM is rapidly metabolized to dextrorphan, which has hampered the exploration of DM therapy separate from its metabolites. Coadministration of DM with a low dose of quinidine inhibits DM metabolism, yields greater bioavailability and enables more specific testing of the therapeutic properties of DM apart from its metabolites. The development of the drug combination DM hydrobromide and quinidine sulfate (DM/Q), with subsequent approval by the US Food and Drug Administration for pseudobulbar affect, led to renewed interest in understanding DM pharmacology. This review summarizes the interactions of DM with brain receptors and transporters and also considers its metabolic and pharmacokinetic properties. To assess the potential clinical relevance of these interactions, we provide an analysis comparing DM activity from in vitro functional assays with the estimated free drug DM concentrations in the brain following oral DM/Q administration. The findings suggest that DM/Q likely inhibits serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake and also blocks NMDA receptors with rapid kinetics. Use of DM/Q may also antagonize nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, particularly those composed of α3β4 subunits, and cause agonist activity at sigma-1 receptors. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Standardizing the performance evaluation of short-term wind prediction models

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Madsen, Henrik; Pinson, Pierre; Kariniotakis, G.

2005-01-01

Short-term wind power prediction is a primary requirement for efficient large-scale integration of wind generation in power systems and electricity markets. The choice of an appropriate prediction model among the numerous available models is not trivial, and has to be based on an objective...... evaluation of model performance. This paper proposes a standardized protocol for the evaluation of short-term wind-poser preciction systems. A number of reference prediction models are also described, and their use for performance comparison is analysed. The use of the protocol is demonstrated using results...... from both on-shore and off-shore wind forms. The work was developed in the frame of the Anemos project (EU R&D project) where the protocol has been used to evaluate more than 10 prediction systems....

« Simplifier l’orthographe, oui, mais... ». Attentes, réserves et ambivalences dans les discours d’enseignant.e.s sur ce que serait une « bonne » réforme de l’orthographe française

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

2012-07-01

Full Text Available L’orthographe française est source de difficultés, d’insécurité, de fierté et d’attitudes d’ambivalentes. Elle est également, en raison même de cette ambivalence des attitudes à son égard, l’objet de débats récurrents sur l’opportunité d’une réforme. Un groupe de recherche international a entrepris d’évaluer l’existence d’une demande sociale en matière de réforme de l’orthographe du français. Une enquête par questionnaires a été menée dans 6 pays francophones auprès de plus de 1700 enseignants et futurs enseignants de français. À des degrés divers selon les pays et le statut professionnel des sujets, une majorité des personnes est favorable à une rationalisation du système graphique du français. Ainsi, de façon schématique, les réponses obtenues en Algérie et au Maroc sont plus favorables à une réforme que celles recueillies dans les pays francophones du nord (Belgique, France, Québec, Suisse. Les enseignants en poste sont plus disposés à accepter une réforme que les futurs enseignants encore en formation, et plus particulièrement les enseignants du premier degré (directement et quotidiennement confrontés à l’enseignement des règles que ceux du secondaire. De façon plus ciblée, la présente contribution s’intéresse à ce que les témoins répondent à la question de savoir ce que serait pour eux/elles une « bonne » réforme de l’orthographe. Pour ce faire, nous avons mené une analyse thématique des discours recueillis dans les réponses libres à une question ouverte. Cela nous a permis d’identifier des propositions que nous avons regroupé en blocs thématiques, au sein desquels on peut dégager deux grandes tendances. En effet il ressort des discours des répondants une polarisation marquée autour de deux attitudes. •L’une, pragmatique, se manifeste dans des propos favorables à une simplification de certains points de la norme graphique, principalement �

Validity of the definite and semidefinite questionnaire version of the Hamilton Depression Scale, the Hamilton subscale and the Melancholia Scale. Part I

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Jesper Bent; Bech, Per

2011-01-01

, and their corresponding definite versions of the self-rating questionnaires DMQ and DHAM6 were accepted by the Rasch analysis, and only these four valid scales discriminated significantly between the effect of citalopram and placebo treatment. Our results are limited to patients with moderate depression. Two new self......-report scales with unparalleled construct validity, reliability, sensitivity, and convergent validity have been identified (DMQ and DHAM6). We have also identified a crucial importance of format for the means and variances of self-rating scales. These findings are of high practical and scientific value....

Sintomas depressivos no câncer de mama: Inventário de Depressão de Beck - Short Form Depressive symptoms in breast cancer: Beck Depression Inventory - Short Form

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Renata de Oliveira Cangussu

2010-01-01

Full Text Available OBJETIVOS: Verificar a prevalência de sintomas depressivos em mulheres com câncer de mama e identificar os fatores de risco associados à sua ocorrência. MÉTODOS: Foi realizado um estudo transversal, em que foram entrevistadas 71 mulheres com câncer de mama. Foram empregados dois instrumentos: um questionário para verificar os dados sociodemográficos e clínicos e o Inventário de Depressão de Beck - Short Form (BDI-SF, para avaliação dos sintomas depressivos. Para análise dos dados, utilizaram-se medidas descritivas e o teste de qui-quadrado, que avaliou a associação entre variáveis sociodemográficas e clínicas e os sintomas depressivos. O nível de significância considerado foi de 5%. RESULTADOS: A prevalência de sintomas depressivos foi de 29,6%. Os fatores associados à presença desses sintomas foram o tratamento quimioterápico (p = 0,021, presença de dor (p = 0,018 e limitação do movimento do membro superior (p = 0,010 e pior percepção da saúde (p = 0,018. CONCLUSÃO: Sintomas depressivos são frequentes no câncer de mama, assim a saúde mental das mulheres com esse tipo de câncer deve ser investigada e tratada quando necessário, reduzindo o impacto desses sintomas na vida da mulher.OBJECTIVES: To verify the prevalence of depressive symptoms in women with breast cancer and identify risk factors associated to its occurrence. METHODS: It was a transversal study where 71 women with breast cancer were interviewed. Two instruments were applied, being one questionnaire used to verify sociodemographic and clinical data, and the Beck Depression Inventory - Short Form to evaluate depressive symptoms. Descriptive methods and chi-square test were utilized to analyze data, evaluating association between depressive symptoms, sociodemographic and clinical data. Significance level was considered of 5%. RESULTS: Depressive symptoms prevalence was 29,6%. Factors associated to the presence of this kind of symptoms were

Magnetized strange quark matter in f(R, T) gravity with bilinear and special form of time varying deceleration parameter

Science.gov (United States)

Sahoo, P. K.; Sahoo, Parbati; Bishi, Binaya K.; Aygün, Sezgin

2018-04-01

In this paper, we have studied homogeneous and anisotropic locally rotationally symmetric (LRS) Bianchi type-I model with magnetized strange quark matter (MSQM) distribution and cosmological constant Λ in f(R, T) gravity where R is the Ricci scalar and T the trace of matter source. The exact solutions of the field equations are obtained under bilinear and special form of time varying deceleration parameter (DP). Firstly, we have considered two specific forms of bilinear DP with a single parameter of the form: q = α(1-t)/1+t and q = -αt/1+t, which leads to the constant or linear nature of the function based on the constant α. Second one is the special form of the DP as q = - 1 + β/1+aβ. From the results obtained here, one can observe that in the early universe magnetic flux has more effects and it reduces gradually in the later stage. For t → ∞, we get p → -Bc and ρ → Bc. The behaviour of strange quark matter along with magnetic epoch gives an idea of accelerated expansion of the universe as per the observations of the type Ia Supernovae.

VaR and CVaR Implied in Option Prices

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Giovanni Barone Adesi

2016-02-01

Full Text Available VaR (Value at Risk and CVaR (Conditional Value at Risk are implied by option prices. Their relationships to option prices are derived initially under the pricing measure. It does not require assumptions about the distribution of portfolio returns. The effects of changes of measure are modest at the short horizons typically used in applications. The computation of CVaR from option price is very convenient, because this measure is not elicitable, making direct comparisons of statistical inferences from market data problematic.

Reliability of short form-36 in an Internet- and a pen-and-paper version

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Basnov, Maja; Kongsved, Sissel Marie; Bech, Per

2009-01-01

Use of Internet versions of questionnaires may have several advantages in clinical and epidemiological research, but we know little about if Internet versions differ with respect to validity and reliability. We aimed to compare Internet- and pen-and-paper versions of short form-36 (SF-36......) with respect to test-retest reliability and internal consistency. Women referred to mammography (n = 782) were randomised to receive either a paper version with a prepaid return envelope or a guideline on how to fill in the Internet version. A subgroup was asked to answer the questionnaire once again...... in the alternative version. Test-retest reliability was assessed by the intra-class correlation coefficient. Internal consistency was calculated as Cronbach's alpha. The between-version test-retest reliability for the eight subscales were between 0.63 and 0.92. Cronbach's alpha for the two versions were all between...

Leveraging social and digital media for participant recruitment: A review of methods from the Bayley Short Form Formative Study

OpenAIRE

Burke-Garcia, Amelia; Mathew, Sunitha

2017-01-01

Introduction Social media is increasingly being used in research, including recruitment. Methods For the Bayley Short Form Formative Study, which was conducted under the the National Children’s Study, traditional methods of recruitment proved to be ineffective. Therefore, digital media were identified as potential channels for recruitment. Results Results included successful recruitment of over 1800 infant and toddler participants to the Study. Conclusions This paper outlines the methods, res...

Leveraging social and digital media for participant recruitment: A review of methods from the Bayley Short Form Formative Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Burke-Garcia, Amelia; Mathew, Sunitha

2017-06-01

Social media is increasingly being used in research, including recruitment. For the Bayley Short Form Formative Study, which was conducted under the the National Children's Study, traditional methods of recruitment proved to be ineffective. Therefore, digital media were identified as potential channels for recruitment. Results included successful recruitment of over 1800 infant and toddler participants to the Study. This paper outlines the methods, results, and future research opportunities.

Measuring volitional competences: psychometric properties of a short form of the Volitional Components Questionnaire (VCQ) in a clinical sample

OpenAIRE

Forstmeier, Simon; Rüddel, H

2008-01-01

Volitional competences (skills of will), including self-regulation skills such as self-motivation and emotion regulation and self-control skills such as impulse control, are particularly necessary for patients with psychiatric and psychosomatic disorders. The Volitional Components Questionnaire (VCQ) is an instrument designed to measure volitional competences. However, its length of 190 items prevents its routine application in clinical settings. This study evaluates a new 36-item short form ...

Short range order of selenite glasses

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Neov, S.; Gerasimova, I.; Yordanov, S.; Lakov, L.; Mikula, Pavol; Lukáš, Petr

1999-01-01

Roč. 40, č. 2 (1999), s. 111-112 ISSN 0031-9090 R&D Projects: GA AV ČR KSK1010104 Keywords : short range * selenite glasses Subject RIV: BM - Solid Matter Physics ; Magnetism Impact factor: 0.822, year: 1999

Robust Short-Lag Spatial Coherence Imaging.

Science.gov (United States)

Nair, Arun Asokan; Tran, Trac Duy; Bell, Muyinatu A Lediju

2018-03-01

Short-lag spatial coherence (SLSC) imaging displays the spatial coherence between backscattered ultrasound echoes instead of their signal amplitudes and is more robust to noise and clutter artifacts when compared with traditional delay-and-sum (DAS) B-mode imaging. However, SLSC imaging does not consider the content of images formed with different lags, and thus does not exploit the differences in tissue texture at each short-lag value. Our proposed method improves SLSC imaging by weighting the addition of lag values (i.e., M-weighting) and by applying robust principal component analysis (RPCA) to search for a low-dimensional subspace for projecting coherence images created with different lag values. The RPCA-based projections are considered to be denoised versions of the originals that are then weighted and added across lags to yield a final robust SLSC (R-SLSC) image. Our approach was tested on simulation, phantom, and in vivo liver data. Relative to DAS B-mode images, the mean contrast, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) improvements with R-SLSC images are 21.22 dB, 2.54, and 2.36, respectively, when averaged over simulated, phantom, and in vivo data and over all lags considered, which corresponds to mean improvements of 96.4%, 121.2%, and 120.5%, respectively. When compared with SLSC images, the corresponding mean improvements with R-SLSC images were 7.38 dB, 1.52, and 1.30, respectively (i.e., mean improvements of 14.5%, 50.5%, and 43.2%, respectively). Results show great promise for smoothing out the tissue texture of SLSC images and enhancing anechoic or hypoechoic target visibility at higher lag values, which could be useful in clinical tasks such as breast cyst visualization, liver vessel tracking, and obese patient imaging.

Psychometric attributes of the Cervantes short-form questionnaire for measuring health-related quality of life in menopausal women.

Science.gov (United States)

Coronado, Pluvio J; Sánchez-Borrego, Rafael; Ruiz, Miguel A; Baquedano, Laura; Sánchez, Sonia; Argudo, Cristina; Fernández-Abellán, Mariela; González, Silvia; Iglesias, Eva; Calleja, Jackie; Presa, Jesus; Duque, Alfonso; Ruiz, Fernando; Otero, Borja; Rejas, Javier

2016-02-01

To analyse the psychometric properties of the Cervantes scale short-form (SF) in the peri- and post-menopausal periods. Outpatients women 45-65 years with menstrual problems associated with the climacteric syndrome were analysed. Original and SF versions of the Cervantes scale were administered along with the EuroQol-5D (EQ-5D) and work productivity and activity impairment questionnaire (WPAI) scales. Conceptual model, burden of administration, feasibility, reliability, criteria validity and construct validity were assessed. 317 women [55.7±5.3 years (mean±standard deviation)] were recruited: 75.4% were post- and 22.3% were peri-menopausal. The Cervantes-SF was completed in 2.5±1.6min, and 86% answered all items. Cronbach's α was 0.820, and ranged from 0.510 (Aging) to 0.918 (Vasomotor Symptoms) for individual dimensions. The scale structure matched the structure of the original version, χ(2)/(degrees of freedom)=3.6, Comparative Fit Index=0.848, Tucker-Lewis Index=0.850, and root mean square error of approximation=0.099, although differences were found between sexual activity statuses. Criteria validity was good (r=0.890), concurrent validity was congruent with a priori hypothesis using either the EQ-5D or the WPAI scales. The scale discriminated significantly the severity of both vasomotor and genital climacteric associated symptoms. The Cervantes-SF has shown good psychometric properties for measuring Health related quality of life in peri- and post-menopausal women who regularly attended gynaecology clinics in Spain. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Personality Inventory for DSM-5 Short Form (PID-5-SF): psychometric properties and association with big five traits and pathological beliefs in a Norwegian population.

Science.gov (United States)

Thimm, Jens C; Jordan, Stian; Bach, Bo

2016-12-07

With the publication of the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), an alternative model for personality disorders based on personality dysfunction and pathological personality traits was introduced. The Personality Inventory for DSM-5 (PID-5) is a 220-item self-report inventory designed to assess the personality traits of this model. Recently, a short 100-item version of the PID-5 (PID-5-SF) has been developed. The aim of this study was to investigate the score reliability and structure of the Norwegian PID-5-SF. Further, criterion validity with the five factor model of personality (FFM) and pathological personality beliefs was examined. A derivation sample of university students (N = 503) completed the PID-5, the Big Five Inventory (BFI), and the Personality Beliefs Questionnaire - Short Form (PBQ-SF), whereas a replication sample of 127 students completed the PID-5-SF along with the aforementioned measures. The short PID-5 showed overall good score reliability and structural validity. The associations with FFM traits and pathological personality beliefs were conceptually coherent and similar for the two forms of the PID-5. The results suggest that the Norwegian PID-5 short form is a reliable and efficient measure of the trait criterion of the alternative model for personality disorders in DSM-5.

Forms of Recall – Politics of Memory. Memory as the Non-Chronological Narrative Form of Historical-Political Identity Quest in the Kádár Regime and Its Survival in the Postcommunist Period

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gelencsér Gábor

2017-09-01

Full Text Available In the film art of the Kádár regime the modernist non-chronological narrative mode became the dominant form of remembrance and communicative memory. In the 35-year period between 1956 and 1990 we can find thirty-five films of this type (e.g. Dialogue [Párbeszéd, János Herskó, 1963], Twenty Hours [Húsz óra, Zoltán Fábri, 1965], Cold Days [Hideg napok, András Kovács, 1966], Love [Szerelem, Károly Makk, 1971], Lovefilm [Szerelmesfilm, István Szabó, 1970], Diary for My Children [Napló gyermekeimnek, Márta Mészáros, 1982], the majority of which thematize the communicative memory of the recent past of the period (World War II, the Hungarian Holocaust, the 1950s, 1956, the Kádár consolidation as opposed to the amnesia politics of the time. Although this cinematic corpus is connected to the film history of the Kádár era with all its elements (form: modernism; theme: communicative memory; political discourse: recollection; official politics of memory; the counterdiscourse of Kádár’s amnesia politics, it survives in the postcommunist period (e.g. Hungarian Fragment [Pannon töredék, András Sólyom, 1998], White Palms [Fehér tenyér, Szabolcs Hajdu, 2006], Mom and Other Loonies in the Family [Anyám és más futóbolondok a családból, Ibolya Fekete, 2015]. After presenting the non-chronological narrative form of historical-political identity quest, the paper seeks to find reasons for the survival of this form and tries to draw conclusions regarding the social aspect and modes of expression of the Hungarian film history of the postcommunist period.

Correlation between Very Short and Short-Term Blood Pressure Variability in Diabetic-Hypertensive and Healthy Subjects.

Science.gov (United States)

Casali, Karina R; Schaan, Beatriz D; Montano, Nicola; Massierer, Daniela; M F Neto, Flávio; Teló, Gabriela H; Ledur, Priscila S; Reinheimer, Marilia; Sbruzzi, Graciele; Gus, Miguel

2018-02-01

Blood pressure (BP) variability can be evaluated by 24-hour ambulatory BP monitoring (24h-ABPM), but its concordance with results from finger BP measurement (FBPM) has not been established yet. The aim of this study was to compare parameters of short-term (24h-ABPM) with very short-term BP variability (FBPM) in healthy (C) and diabetic-hypertensive (DH) subjects. Cross-sectional study with 51 DH subjects and 12 C subjects who underwent 24h-ABPM [extracting time-rate, standard deviation (SD), coefficient of variation (CV)] and short-term beat-to-beat recording at rest and after standing-up maneuvers [FBPM, extracting BP and heart rate (HR) variability parameters in the frequency domain, autoregressive spectral analysis]. Spearman correlation coefficient was used to correlate BP and HR variability parameters obtained from both FBPM and 24h-ABPM (divided into daytime, nighttime, and total). Statistical significance was set at p ABPM) and LF component of short-term variability (FBPM, total, R = 0.591, p = 0.043); standard deviation (24h-ABPM) with LF component BPV (FBPM, total, R = 0.608, p = 0.036), coefficient of variation (24h-ABPM) with total BPV (FBPM, daytime, -0.585, p = 0.046) and alpha index (FBPM, daytime, -0.592, p = 0.043), time rate (24h-ABPM) and delta LF/HF (FBPM, total, R = 0.636, p = 0.026; daytime R = 0,857, p ABPM (total, daytime) reflect BP and HR variability evaluated by FBPM in healthy individuals. This does not apply for DH subjects.

Chinese version of the Optimism and Pessimism Scale: Psychometric properties in mainland China and development of a short form.

Science.gov (United States)

Xia, Jie; Wu, Daxing; Zhang, Jibiao; Xu, Yuanchao; Xu, Yunxuan

2016-06-01

This study aimed to validate the Chinese version of the Optimism and Pessimism Scale in a sample of 730 adult Chinese individuals. Confirmatory factor analyses confirmed the bidimensionality of the scale with two factors, optimism and pessimism. The total scale and optimism and pessimism factors demonstrated satisfactory reliability and validity. Population-based normative data and mean values for gender, age, and education were determined. Furthermore, we developed a 20-item short form of the Chinese version of the Optimism and Pessimism Scale with structural validity comparable to the full form. In summary, the Chinese version of the Optimism and Pessimism Scale is an appropriate and practical tool for epidemiological research in mainland China. © The Author(s) 2014.

Developing a closed-form cost expression for an (R, s, nQ) policy where the demand process is compound generalized Erlang

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Christian; Kiesmüller, G.P

2007-01-01

We derive a closed-form cost expression for an (R,s,nQ) inventory control policy where all replenishment orders have a constant lead-time, unfilled demand is back-logged and inter-arrival times of order requests are generalized Erlang distributed. For given values of Q and R we show how to compute...

Point de vue de la population sur la réforme du secteur de la ...

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

Point de vue de la population sur la réforme du secteur de la sécurité palestinien. Dans le cadre de son plan visant à bâtir les institutions de l'État palestinien, le gouvernement de Salam Fayyad s'était engagé en août 2009 à moderniser le secteur de la sécurité palestinien en se fondant sur l'État de droit, sous la ...

La crise de l'État arabe - réforme des institutions et transition à la ...

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

Le présent projet permettra d'analyser trois institutions publiques de la Tunisie, de l'Égypte et du Yémen, à savoir le pouvoir judiciaire, les institutions religieuses étatiques et les médias publics, et d'évaluer la mesure dans laquelle elles donnent suite aux demandes de réforme formulées dans la foulée du Printemps arabe.

Abnormal short-latency synaptic plasticity in the motor cortex of subjects with Becker muscular dystrophy: a rTMS study.

Science.gov (United States)

Golaszewski, Stefan; Schwenker, Kerstin; Bergmann, Jürgen; Brigo, Francesco; Christova, Monica; Trinka, Eugen; Nardone, Raffaele

2016-01-01

We used repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) to further investigate motor cortex excitability in 13 patients with Becker muscular dystrophy (BMD), six of them with slight mental retardation. RTMS delivered at 5Hz frequency and suprathreshold intensity progressively increases the size of motor evoked potentials (MEPs) in healthy subjects; the rTMS-induced facilitation of MEPs was significantly reduced in the BMD patients mentally retarded or classified as borderline when compared with age-matched control subjects and the BMD patients with normal intelligence. The increase in the duration of the cortical silent period was similar in both patient groups and controls. These findings suggest an altered cortical short-term synaptic plasticity in glutamate-dependent excitatory circuits within the motor cortex in BMD patients with intellectual disabilities. RTMS studies may shed new light on the physiological mechanisms of cortical involvement in dystrophinopathies. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Short communication

African Journals Online (AJOL)

UPuser

Short communication. Polymorphisms of the CAST gene in the Meishan and five other pig populations in China. Q.S. Wang. 1. , Y.C. Pan. 1#. , L.B. Sun. 2 and H. Meng. 1. 1 Department of Animal Science, School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai. 201101, P.R. China. 2 Shanghai Institute of ...

Cinematic diamonds : narrative storytelling strategies in short fiction film

OpenAIRE

Cantell, Saara (kirjoittaja); Jeremiah, Fleur (kääntäjä)

2012-01-01

Saara Cantell proposes and discusses alternative ways of approaching short film. This book emphasizes short film as an independent and challenging cinematic art form of its own right. The "mystery" of short film is approached by examining the aesthetics of other short forms, The structural parallels between e.g. jokes and short films, as well as narrative strategies found in poetry, offer meaningful references. The research consists of both the analysis of selected short films and the five sh...

The development, factor structure and psychometric properties of driving self-regulation scales for older adults: Has self-regulation evolved in the last 15 years?

Science.gov (United States)

Wong, Ides Y; Smith, Simon S; Sullivan, Karen A

2015-07-01

The term driving self-regulation is typically used to describe the practice of drivers who avoid driving in situations that they regard as unsafe because of perceived physical impairment. Older adults report using this strategy to improve safety while retaining mobility. Self-regulation is typically assessed using the driving avoidance items from the driving habits questionnaire (DHQ) and the driver mobility questionnaire (DMQ-A). However, the psychometric properties of these measures are not well understood. Using data from 277 older drivers, exploratory factor analysis was used to test the homogeneity of three driving self-regulation scales: the DHQ, DMQ-A, and an extended DMQ-A. Good internal consistency for each of the scales was identified (all αs≥.9). A one factor solution was identified for two of the measures (DHQ, DMQ-A) and a two factor solution accounting for over 70% of the score variance was identified for the third measure. The two factors assessed situations that may be avoided while driving because of the "external" (e.g., weather-related) or "internal" (e.g., passenger-related) driving environments, respectively. The findings suggest that the interpretation of an overall summated scale score, or single-item interpretations, may not be appropriate. Instead, driving self-regulation may be a multifaceted construct comprised of distinct dimensions that have not been identified previously but can be reliably measured. These data have implications for our understanding of driving self-regulation by older adults and the way in which this behavior is measured. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An assessment of factorial structure and health-related quality of life in problem drug users using the Short Form 36 Health Survey

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Buchholz, Angela; Krol, Anneke; Rist, Fred; Nieuwkerk, Pythia T.; Schippers, Gerard M.

2008-01-01

AIMS: To confirm the factorial structure of the Short Form 36 Health Survey (SF-36) in problem drug users and to compare their health-related quality of life (HRQOL) with general Dutch population norms. METHOD: Data of 394 participants from the Amsterdam Cohort Study among drug users, who had

The Psychometric Properties and Factor Structure of a Welsh Translation of the School Short Form of the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory

Science.gov (United States)

Hills, Peter R.; Francis, Leslie J.; Thomas, Enlli

2007-01-01

The psychometric properties and factor structure of a Welsh translation of the school short form of the Coopersmith Self-esteem Inventory (SEI-SSF), which is widely used as a measure of children's global self-esteem, was investigated among a sample of 681 pupils attending Welsh-medium primary schools in Wales. It has generally been assumed that…

Modificaciones constitucionales en Bélgica. La "sixième réforme" de l'Etat: Un proceso en marcha

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Anna Mastromarino

2015-10-01

Full Text Available The Accord du Papillon started the Belgium Sexième réforme de l’Etat. After a long institutional crisis, an agreement between the major parties seemed the best way to ensure a stable government to the country and to enhance a new season of constitutional reforms. It consisted, so far, in two sessions (2012 and 2014 that brought to the adoption of both legislative and constitutional acts. Two reforms appear crucial. First and foremost, the Sexième réforme de l’Etat set forth the criteria to divide the Bruxelles-Hal Vilvorde district. Furthermore, it determined the Senate reform. Nonetheless, in the past months, the reformist enthusiasm decreased gradually, but probably this is a temporary situation: in Belgium, things are more complicated than they seem, so it is hard to have the last word.

Development and Validation of the Marijuana Motives Measure Short Form.

Science.gov (United States)

Mezquita, Laura; Ruiz-Valero, Lucía; Martínez-Gómez, Naiara; Ibáñez, Manuel I; Ortet, Generós

2018-01-15

Marijuana motives are a proximal variable to marijuana use. This research aimed to adapt and validate the short form of the Marijuana Motives Measure (MMM; Simons, Correia, Carey, y Borsari, 1998), the MMM SF, in Spanish.  The sample comprised 232 participants (mean age = 25.11 (7.58), 50.43% males) who had tried marijuana at least once in their lifetime. Item and Rasch analyses were performed to choose the final pool of 15 items. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) showed an adequate 5-factor structure (S-BX2(80) = 121.30, p = .002; NNFI = .944; CFI = .958; IFI = .959; MFI = .915; RMSEA = .047(0.029, 0.063); AIC = -38.70), and the multi-group CFA between males and females showed acceptable fit indices (S-BX2(160) = 230.01, p = .000; NNFI = .900; CFI = .924; IFI = .927; MFI = .860; RMSEA = .062(.043, .078); AIC = -89.99). The questionnaire indicated metric (S-BX2diff (15) = 13.61, p = .556)), scalar (S-BX2diff (15) = 23.15, p = .081)) and error measurement invariance (S-BX2diff (15) = 8.65, p = .895)) between gender groups. The internal consistencies and ordinal omega of the scales were between .79 and .90. In the regression analysis, enhancement, coping and low conformity motives predicted frequency and quantity of marijuana smoked. The best predictor of frequency and quantity consumed during the heaviest smoking period was enhancement, while coping and, to a lesser extent, low conformity, were the only predictors of cannabis-related problems when marijuana frequency and quantity were controlled for.  The MMM SF shows adequate psychometric properties and is a suitable instrument to assess marijuana motives, especially during time-limited sessions.

Assessing public speaking fear with the short form of the Personal Report of Confidence as a Speaker scale: confirmatory factor analyses among a French-speaking community sample

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Heeren A

2013-05-01

Full Text Available Alexandre Heeren,1,2 Grazia Ceschi,3 David P Valentiner,4 Vincent Dethier,1 Pierre Philippot11Université Catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium; 2National Fund for Scientific Research, Brussels, Belgium; 3Department of Psychology, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland; 4Department of Psychology, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL, USABackground: The main aim of this study was to assess the reliability and structural validity of the French version of the 12-item version of the Personal Report of Confidence as Speaker (PRCS, one of the most promising measurements of public speaking fear.Methods: A total of 611 French-speaking volunteers were administered the French versions of the short PRCS, the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale, the Fear of Negative Evaluation scale, as well as the Trait version of the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Beck Depression Inventory-II, which assess the level of anxious and depressive symptoms, respectively.Results: Regarding its structural validity, confirmatory factor analyses indicated a single-factor solution, as implied by the original version. Good scale reliability (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.86 was observed. The item discrimination analysis suggested that all the items contribute to the overall scale score reliability. The French version of the short PRCS showed significant correlations with the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (r = 0.522, the Fear of Negative Evaluation scale (r = 0.414, the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (r = 0.516, and the Beck Depression Inventory-II (r = 0.361.Conclusion: The French version of the short PRCS is a reliable and valid measure for the evaluation of the fear of public speaking among a French-speaking sample. These findings have critical consequences for the measurement of psychological and pharmacological treatment effectiveness in public speaking fear among a French-speaking sample.Keywords: social phobia, public speaking, confirmatory

Estudio para mejorar el acceso al Internet de los estratos socioeconómicos D y C- en el distrito metropolitano de Quito a través de la comercialización de un producto de Internet pre-pagado ofertado por un operador de telecomunicaciones.

OpenAIRE

Villacís Navas, Jonathan Mauricio

2015-01-01

El desarrollo del presente estudio tiene un enfoque social basado en una propuesta de mejora de la calidad de vida de los niveles socioeconómicos más bajos de la población del Distrito Metropolitano de Quito (DMQ) a través del acceso a la información por medio de un servicio de internet al alcance de dichos estratos. A su vez el proyecto genera un modelo de negocio partiendo de un análisis de industria y segmentación de mercado, aplicable a los proveedores de servicios de internet en el DMQ. ...

Evaluación físico-química y microbiológica de la calidad del agua de los ríos Machángara y Monjas de la red hídrica del distrito metropolitano de Quito

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Andrea Campaña

2017-05-01

Full Text Available El presente estudio es una evaluación de la calidad y condición actual del agua de los ríos Machángara y Monjas, se midió parámetros físico-químicos como caudal, pH, temperatura, oxígeno disuelto y Potencial de Óxido Reducción (ORP mediante monitoreo in situ, durante los meses de agosto a noviembre del 2014, y se recolectó muestras de agua para el análisis de parámetros microbiológicos (coliformes totales CT y coliformes fecales CF, aplicando el método de fermentación de tubos múltiples, establecido en el Estándar Métodos (Standard Methods ; los análisis evidenciaron que ambos ríos superan ampliamente los límites permisibles establecidos en el Texto Unificado de Legislación Secundaria Medio Ambiental (TULSMA para coliformes totales y fecales, temperatura y oxígeno disuelto, en el caso del río Monjas; esto impediría su aprovechamiento en actividades pecuarias, agrícolas y de preservación de flora y fauna, se evidenció además un incremento considerable en el caudal de ambos ríos y se observa que el valor de ORP de ambos ríos, es menor al valor óptimo de 650mV; los resultados confirmaron la deficiente calidad del agua de los ríos estudiados, cuyas subcuencas forman parte de la Red Hídrica del Distrito Metropolitano de Quito (DMQ y atraviesan zonas de gran densidad poblacional, recibiendo diariamente descargas domésticas e industriales.

Development and psychometric characteristics of the SCI-QOL Ability to Participate and Satisfaction with Social Roles and Activities item banks and short forms.

Science.gov (United States)

Heinemann, Allen W; Kisala, Pamela A; Hahn, Elizabeth A; Tulsky, David S

2015-05-01

To develop a spinal cord injury (SCI)-focused version of PROMIS and Neuro-QOL social domain item banks; evaluate the psychometric properties of items developed for adults with SCI; and report information to facilitate clinical and research use. We used a mixed-methods design to develop and evaluate Ability to Participate in Social Roles and Activities and Satisfaction with Social Roles and Activities items. Focus groups helped define the constructs; cognitive interviews helped revise items; and confirmatory factor analysis and item response theory methods helped calibrate item banks and evaluate differential item functioning related to demographic and injury characteristics. Five SCI Model System sites and one Veterans Administration medical center. The calibration sample consisted of 641 individuals; a reliability sample consisted of 245 individuals residing in the community. A subset of 27 Ability to Participate and 35 Satisfaction items demonstrated good measurement properties and negligible differential item functioning related to demographic and injury characteristics. The SCI-specific measures correlate strongly with the PROMIS and Neuro-QOL versions. Ten item short forms correlate >0.96 with the full banks. Variable-length CATs with a minimum of 4 items, variable-length CATs with a minimum of 8 items, fixed-length CATs of 10 items, and the 10-item short forms demonstrate construct coverage and measurement error that is comparable to the full item bank. The Ability to Participate and Satisfaction with Social Roles and Activities CATs and short forms demonstrate excellent psychometric properties and are suitable for clinical and research applications.

Male Role Norms Inventory-Short Form (MRNI-SF): development, confirmatory factor analytic investigation of structure, and measurement invariance across gender.

Science.gov (United States)

Levant, Ronald F; Hall, Rosalie J; Rankin, Thomas J

2013-04-01

The current study reports the development from the Male Role Norms Inventory-Revised (MRNI-R; Levant, Rankin, Williams, Hasan, & Smalley, 2010) of the 21-item MRNI-Short Form (MRNI-SF). Confirmatory factor analysis of MRNI-SF responses from a sample of 1,017 undergraduate participants (549 men, 468 women) indicated that the best fitting "bifactor" model incorporated the hypothesized 7-factor structure while explicitly modeling an additional, general traditional masculinity ideology factor. Specifically, each item-level indicator loaded on 2 factors: a general traditional masculinity ideology factor and a specific factor corresponding to 1 of the 7 hypothesized traditional masculinity ideology norms. The bifactor model was assessed for measurement invariance across gender groups, with findings of full configural invariance and partial metric invariance, such that factor loadings were equivalent across the gender groups for the 7 specific factors but not for the general traditional masculinity ideology factor. Theoretical explanations for this latter result include the potential that men's sense of self or identity may be engaged when responding to questions asking to what extent they agree or disagree with normative statements about their behavior, a possibility that could be investigated in future research by examining the associations of the general and specific factors with measures of masculine identity. Additional exploratory invariance analyses demonstrated latent mean differences between men and women on 4 of the 8 factors, and equivocal results for invariance of item intercepts, item uniquenesses, and factor variances-covariances.

"Short Courses Shouldn't Be Short-Lived!" Enhancing Longer-Term Impact of Short English as a Foreign Language INSET Initiatives in China

Science.gov (United States)

Yan, Chunmei; He, Chuanjun

2015-01-01

Short in-service teacher development (INSET) programmes have been globally used as a form of teacher development, but their impact has been under question. This study sought to examine teacher participants' perceptions of short INSET programmes to come up with better solutions to enhancing their effect on teachers' professional learning. A…

Similar patterns of rDNA evolution in synthetic and recently formed natural populations of Tragopogon (Asteraceae allotetraploids

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Soltis Pamela S

2010-09-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Tragopogon mirus and T. miscellus are allotetraploids (2n = 24 that formed repeatedly during the past 80 years in eastern Washington and adjacent Idaho (USA following the introduction of the diploids T. dubius, T. porrifolius, and T. pratensis (2n = 12 from Europe. In most natural populations of T. mirus and T. miscellus, there are far fewer 35S rRNA genes (rDNA of T. dubius than there are of the other diploid parent (T. porrifolius or T. pratensis. We studied the inheritance of parental rDNA loci in allotetraploids resynthesized from diploid accessions. We investigate the dynamics and directionality of these rDNA losses, as well as the contribution of gene copy number variation in the parental diploids to rDNA variation in the derived tetraploids. Results Using Southern blot hybridization and fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH, we analyzed copy numbers and distribution of these highly reiterated genes in seven lines of synthetic T. mirus (110 individuals and four lines of synthetic T. miscellus (71 individuals. Variation among diploid parents accounted for most of the observed gene imbalances detected in F1 hybrids but cannot explain frequent deviations from repeat additivity seen in the allotetraploid lines. Polyploid lineages involving the same diploid parents differed in rDNA genotype, indicating that conditions immediately following genome doubling are crucial for rDNA changes. About 19% of the resynthesized allotetraploid individuals had equal rDNA contributions from the diploid parents, 74% were skewed towards either T. porrifolius or T. pratensis-type units, and only 7% had more rDNA copies of T. dubius-origin compared to the other two parents. Similar genotype frequencies were observed among natural populations. Despite directional reduction of units, the additivity of 35S rDNA locus number is maintained in 82% of the synthetic lines and in all natural allotetraploids. Conclusions Uniparental reductions of

Assessment of Psychopathological Problems in the School Context: The Psychometric Properties of a Portuguese Version of the Adolescent Psychopathology Scale--Short Form

Science.gov (United States)

Lemos, Ida Timoteo; Faisca, Luis Madeira; Valadas, Sandra Teodosio

2011-01-01

The psychometric properties of a Portuguese version of the Adolescent Psychopathology Scale-Short Form (APS-SF) were studied in a sample of 656 Portuguese adolescents, aged 12 to 19 years, assessed in school context. Also, the aim of the study was to gather data concerning age- and gender-related differences in the expression of psychopathological…

Mutant forms of Escherichia coli protein L25 unable to bind to 5S rRNA are incorporated efficiently into the ribosome in vivo.

Science.gov (United States)

Anikaev, A Y; Korepanov, A P; Korobeinikova, A V; Kljashtorny, V G; Piendl, W; Nikonov, S V; Garber, M B; Gongadze, G M

2014-08-01

5S rRNA-binding ribosomal proteins of the L25 family are an evolutional acquisition of bacteria. Earlier we showed that (i) single replacements in the RNA-binding module of the protein of this family result in destabilization or complete impossibility to form a complex with 5S rRNA in vitro; (ii) ΔL25 ribosomes of Escherichia coli are less efficient in protein synthesis in vivo than the control ribosomes. In the present work, the efficiency of incorporation of the E. coli protein L25 with mutations in the 5S rRNA-binding region into the ribosome in vivo was studied. It was found that the mutations in L25 that abolish its ability to form the complex with free 5S rRNA do not prevent its correct and efficient incorporation into the ribosome. This is supported by the fact that even the presence of a very weakly retained mutant form of the protein in the ribosome has a positive effect on the activity of the translational machinery in vivo. All this suggests the existence of an alternative incorporation pathway for this protein into the ribosome, excluding the preliminary formation of the complex with 5S rRNA. At the same time, the stable L25-5S rRNA contact is important for the retention of the protein within the ribosome, and the conservative amino acid residues of the RNA-binding module play a key role in this.

Short Communication

African Journals Online (AJOL)

huis

Short Communication. QTL analysis of production traits on SSC3 in a Large White×Meishan pig resource family. B. Zuo. 1. , Y.Z. Xiong. 1#. , Y.H. Su. 2. , C.Y. Deng. 1. , M.G. Lei. 1. , F.E. Li. 1. , R. Zheng. 1 and S.W. Jiang. 1. 1 Key Laboratory of Swine Genetics and Breeding, Ministry of Agriculture & Key Lab of Agricultural ...

Personality Inventory for DSM-5-Short Form (PID-5-SF): Reliability, Factorial Structure, and Relationship With Functional Impairment in Dual Diagnosis Patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Díaz-Batanero, Carmen; Ramírez-López, Juan; Domínguez-Salas, Sara; Fernández-Calderón, Fermín; Lozano, Óscar M

2017-11-01

Section III of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-Fifth edition ( DSM-5) has generated a personality paradigm consisting of 25 personality facets identified in five domains. The developed assessment instrument Personality Inventory for DSM-5 (PID-5) has showed good psychometric properties, but the potential for certain improvements still remain. In this article, a sample of 282 dual diagnosis patients is used to provide evidence of the psychometric properties of the PID-5-Short Form. The mean value of Cronbach's alpha coefficients reached .73 on the facets and .84 for domains and test-retest values ranged between .57 to .83 for facets and .70 to .87 for the domains. Confirmatory factor analyses conducted showed good fit on both models tested: the five correlated factor structure and hierarchical structure of personality traits. The WHODAS 2.0 domains of understanding and communicating, and participating in society, appear to show the strongest relationship with personality facets. In general, the PID-5-Short Form shows adequate psychometric properties for use in dual diagnosis patients.

Measuring psychological trauma after spinal cord injury: Development and psychometric characteristics of the SCI-QOL Psychological Trauma item bank and short form.

Science.gov (United States)

Kisala, Pamela A; Victorson, David; Pace, Natalie; Heinemann, Allen W; Choi, Seung W; Tulsky, David S

2015-05-01

To describe the development and psychometric properties of the SCI-QOL Psychological Trauma item bank and short form. Using a mixed-methods design, we developed and tested a Psychological Trauma item bank with patient and provider focus groups, cognitive interviews, and item response theory based analytic approaches, including tests of model fit, differential item functioning (DIF) and precision. We tested a 31-item pool at several medical institutions across the United States, including the University of Michigan, Kessler Foundation, Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, the University of Washington, Craig Hospital and the James J. Peters/Bronx Veterans Administration hospital. A total of 716 individuals with SCI completed the trauma items The 31 items fit a unidimensional model (CFI=0.952; RMSEA=0.061) and demonstrated good precision (theta range between 0.6 and 2.5). Nine items demonstrated negligible DIF with little impact on score estimates. The final calibrated item bank contains 19 items The SCI-QOL Psychological Trauma item bank is a psychometrically robust measurement tool from which a short form and a computer adaptive test (CAT) version are available.

Born dry in the photoevaporation desert: Kepler's ultra-short-period planets formed water-poor

Science.gov (United States)

Lopez, Eric D.

2017-11-01

Recent surveys have uncovered an exciting new population of ultra-short-period (USP) planets with orbital periods less than a day. These planets typically have radii ≲1.5 R⊕, indicating that they likely have rocky compositions. This stands in contrast to the overall distribution of planets out to ∼100 d, which is dominated by low-density sub-Neptunes above 2 R⊕, which must have gaseous envelopes to explain their size. However, on the USP orbits, planets are bombarded by intense levels of photoionizing radiation and consequently gaseous sub-Neptunes are extremely vulnerable to losing their envelopes to atmospheric photoevaporation. Using models of planet evolution, I show that the rocky USP planets can easily be produced as the evaporated remnants of sub-Neptunes with H/He envelopes and that we can therefore understand the observed dearth of USP sub-Neptunes as a natural consequence of photoevaporation. Critically however, planets on USP orbits could often retain their envelopes if they are formed with very high-metallicity water-dominated envelopes. Such water-rich planets would commonly be ≳2 R⊕ today, which is inconsistent with the observed evaporation desert, indicating that most USP planets likely formed from water-poor material within the snow-line. Finally, I examine the special case of 55 Cancri e and its possible composition in the light of recent observations, and discuss the prospects for further characterizing this population with future observations.

Hydrotalcite formed by alteration of R7T7 nuclear waste glass and basaltic glass in salt brine at 190 degrees C

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abdelouas, A.; Crovisier, J.L.; Lutze, W.; Mueller, R.; Bernotat, W.

1994-01-01

The R7T7 and synthetic basaltic glasses were submitted to corrosion in a saline MgCl 2 dominated solution at 190 degrees C. For both glasses, the early alteration product is a hydrotalcite-like compound in which HPO 4 2- , SO 4 2- and Cl - substitutes to CO 3 2- . The measured d 003 spacing is 7.68 angstrom for the hydrotalcite formed from R7T7 glass and 7.62 angstrom for the hydrotalcite formed from basaltic glass which reflect the high aluminium content. Chemical microanalyses show that the hydrotalcite is subsequently covered by a silica-rich gel which evolves into saponite after few months

Anticancer Effects of 1,3-Dihydroxy-2-Methylanthraquinone and the Ethyl Acetate Fraction of Hedyotis Diffusa Willd against HepG2 Carcinoma Cells Mediated via Apoptosis.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yun-Lan Li

Full Text Available Hedyotis Diffusa Willd, used in Traditional Chinese Medicine, is a treatment for various diseases including cancer, owing to its mild effectiveness and low toxicity. The aim of this study was to identify the main anticancer components in Hedyotis Diffusa Willd, and explore mechanisms underlying their activity. Hedyotis Diffusa Willd was extracted and fractionated using ethyl acetate to obtain the H-Ethyl acetate fraction, which showed higher anticancer activity than the other fractions obtained against HepG2 cells with sulforhodamine B assays. The active component of the H-Ethyl acetate fraction was identified to be 1,3-dihydroxy-2-methylanthraquinone (DMQ with much high inhibitory rate up to 48.9 ± 3.3% and selectivity rate up to 9.4 ± 4.5 folds (p<0.01 at 125 μmol/L. HepG2 cells treated with the fraction and DMQ visualized morphologically using light and fluorescence microscopy. Annexin V--fluorescein isothiocyanate / propidium iodide staining flow cytometry, DNA ladder and cell cycle distribution assays. Mechanistic studies showed up-regulation of caspase-3, -8, and -9 proteases activities (p<0.001, indicating involvement of mitochondrial apoptotic and death receptor pathways. Further studies revealed that reactive oxygen species in DMQ and the fraction treated HepG2 cells increased (p<0.01 while mitochondrial membrane potential reduced significantly (p<0.001 compared to the control by flow cytometry assays. Western blot analysis showed that Bax, p53, Fas, FasL, p21 and cytoplasmic cytochrome C were up-regulated (p<0.01, while Bcl-2, mitochondrial cytochrome C, cyclin E and CDK 2 were down-regulated dose-dependently (p<0.01. The reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction showed that mRNA expressions of p53 and Bax increased (p<0.001 while that of Bcl-2 decreased (p<0.001. Pre-treatment with caspase-8 inhibitor Z-IETD-FMK, or caspase-9 inhibitor Z-LEHD-FMK, attenuated the growth-inhibitory and apoptosis-inducing effects of DMQ and the

Test-Retest Reliability of the Short-Form Survivor Unmet Needs Survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Taylor, Karen; Bulsara, Max; Monterosso, Leanne

2018-01-01

Reliable and valid needs assessment measures are important assessment tools in cancer survivorship care. A new 30-item short-form version of the Survivor Unmet Needs Survey (SF-SUNS) was developed and validated with cancer survivors, including hematology cancer survivors; however, test-retest reliability has not been established. The objective of this study was to assess the test-retest reliability of the SF-SUNS with a cohort of lymphoma survivors ( n = 40). Test-retest reliability of the SF-SUNS was conducted at two time points: baseline (time 1) and 5 days later (time 2). Test-retest data were collected from lymphoma cancer survivors ( n = 40) in a large tertiary cancer center in Western Australia. Intraclass correlation analyses compared data at time 1 (baseline) and time 2 (5 days later). Cronbach's alpha analyses were performed to assess the internal consistency at both time points. The majority (23/30, 77%) of items achieved test-retest reliability scores 0.45-0.74 (fair to good). A high degree of overall internal consistency was demonstrated (time 1 = 0.92, time 2 = 0.95), with scores 0.65-0.94 across subscales for both time points. Mixed test-retest reliability of the SF-SUNS was established. Our results indicate the SF-SUNS is responsive to the changing needs of lymphoma cancer survivors. Routine use of cancer survivorship specific needs-based assessments is required in oncology care today. Nurses are well placed to administer these assessments and provide tailored information and resources. Further assessment of test-retest reliability in hematology and other cancer cohorts is warranted.

L’origine de l’emploi de la forme analogique grande : concordance de genre ou identification du référent ?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xia Haoyu Irene

2016-01-01

Full Text Available L’objectif de la présente étude est de déterminer les raisons pour lesquelles un auteur du XVIe siècle aurait choisi la nouvelle forme analogique grande plutôt que la forme épicène grand. L’étude est basée sur un corpus de 1341 occurrences de cet adjectif au féminin dans 17 textes de cinq auteurs. L’hypothèse de l’identification du référent propose qu’un auteur aurait choisi cette forme pour indiquer clairement qu’elle modifie un substantif féminin et assurer ainsi le lien entre l’adjectif et le substantif. L’hypothèse de la concordance de genre propose que l’auteur aurait choisi grande pour faire accorder l’adjectif aux autres éléments féminins dans le syntagme nominal. Les résultats ont partiellement validé les deux hypothèses. La forme grande est favorisée quand elle ne précède pas immédiatement le substantif féminin qu’elle qualifie et quand un substantif masculin intervient entre le substantif féminin et grande. La forme analogique est aussi favorisée fortement par un déterminant féminin en -e et plus légèrement par la, mais pas par d’autres déterminants féminins. Nous avons trouvé en plus un résultat inattendu. La variante analogique est favorisée fortement quand elle modifie un substantif avec un plus grand nombre de syllabes et défavorisée par un substantif plus court.

Quality of life in South East Asian patients who consult for dyspepsia: Validation of the short form Nepean Dyspepsia Index

OpenAIRE

Mahadeva, Sanjiv; Wee, Hwee-Lin; Goh, Khean-Lee; Thumboo, Julian

2009-01-01

Abstract Background Treatment objectives for dyspepsia include improvements in both symptoms and health-related quality of life (HRQoL). There is a lack of disease-specific instruments measuring HRQoL in South East Asian dyspeptics. Objectives To validate English and locally translated version of the Short-Form Nepean Dyspepsia Index (SF-NDI) in Malaysian patients who consult for dyspepsia. Methods The English version of the SF-NDI was culturally adapted locally and a Malay translation was de...

Validation of the Long- and Short-Form of the Ethical Values Assessment (EVA): A Questionnaire Measuring the Three Ethics Approach to Moral Psychology

Science.gov (United States)

Padilla-Walker, Laura Maria; Jensen, Lene Arnett

2016-01-01

Moral psychology has been moving toward consideration of multiple kinds of moral concepts and values, such as the Ethics of Autonomy, Community, and Divinity. While these three ethics have commonly been measured qualitatively, the current study sought to validate the long and short forms of the Ethical Values Assessment (EVA), which is a…

German Language Adaptation of the Headache Management Self-Efficacy Scale (HMSE-G) and Development of a New Short Form (HMSE-G-SF).

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Graef, Julia E; Rief, Winfried; French, Douglas J; Nilges, Paul; Nestoriuc, Yvonne

2015-01-01

This study aims to develop and validate a German version of French and colleagues' Headache Management Self-efficacy Scale and to construct an abbreviated form for use in behavioral headache research. Furthermore, the contribution of headache-specific self-efficacy to pain-related disability in German chronic headache sufferers was examined. Headache-specific self-efficacy refers to an individuals' confidence that they can engage in behaviors to either prevent headache episodes or to manage headache-related pain and disability. Self-efficacy beliefs have been shown repeatedly to be positively associated with psychological well-being, effective coping, and enhanced treatment outcomes. A cross-sectional sample of 304 individuals diagnosed with either migraine, chronic tension-type headache, or a combination of 2 or more headache disorders completed the German Headache Management Self-efficacy Scale and questionnaires assessing headache activity, pain-related coping, general self-efficacy, depression, and anxiety. Responsiveness of the scale was analyzed in a longitudinal subsample of 32 inpatients undergoing headache treatment. Finally, a short form was constructed and evaluated regarding psychometric properties. The German Headache Management Self-efficacy Scale showed good reliability (Cronbach's α = 0.87) as did the 6-item short form (Cronbach's α = 0.72). In the longitudinal sample, both versions showed a good ability to change over time (SRM= 0.52-1.16). Chronic headache patients with higher levels of self-efficacy reported lower levels of disability (r = -0.26 to -0.31). Multiple regression analyses revealed headache intensity and headache-specific self-efficacy as strongest predictors of headache-related disability (βself-efficacy  = -0.21, βintensity  = 0.26). Both the 25-item version and the 6-item version appear to be valid, reliable measures of self-efficacy beliefs. These scales will allow clinicians to identify headache sufferers

Studies on the properties of poly (ethylene oxide) R-150 hydrogel films formed by irradiation graft

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang Zhanshan; Zhu Nankang; Yang Shuqin; Qiang Yizhong

1999-01-01

In order to improve the mechanical properties of poly (ethylene oxide) (PEO) hydrogel film was used as wound dressing. The chemical and physical properties of the PEO R-150 graft hydrogel film formed by blends of electron beam irradiated-PEO R-150 and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) were studied. The experimental results showed that the crosslinking densities of the PEO R-150 graft hydrogel increased along with the increasing of the irradiation doses and decreased with the increasing of the blend concentrations. While the PVA graft proportions did not produce obvious effects on the crosslinking density of the graft hydrogel. The crosslinking density of the graft hydrogel were obviously lower than that of the pure PVA hydrogel. The equilibrium water content of the graft hydrogel decrease as the irradiation dose and the PVA graft proportion increased; but they increased as the blend concentration increased. The equilibrium water content of the graft hydrogel was obviously higher than those of the pure PVA hydrogel. The hardness of the PVA hydrogel film increased with the irradiation dose. The hardness of the graft hydrogel decreased with the blend concentration, whereas it increased with the PVA graft proportion. The results suggest the PVA produces a main effect on the crosslinking density of the graft hydrogel, the PEO R-150 produces a main effect on the equilibrium water content of the graft hydrogel, and the both polymers have double effects on the hardness of the graft hydrogel

An 8-item short form of the Eating Disorder Examination-Questionnaire adapted for children (ChEDE-Q8).

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Kliem, Sören; Schmidt, Ricarda; Vogel, Mandy; Hiemisch, Andreas; Kiess, Wieland; Hilbert, Anja

2017-06-01

Eating disturbances are common in children placing a vulnerable group of them at risk for full-syndrome eating disorders and adverse health outcomes. To provide a valid self-report assessment of eating disorder psychopathology in children, a short form of the child version of the Eating Disorder Examination (ChEDE-Q) was psychometrically evaluated. Similar to the EDE-Q, the ChEDE-Q provides assessment of eating disorder psychopathology related to anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge-eating disorder; however, the ChEDE-Q does not assess symptoms of avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder, pica, or rumination disorder. In 1,836 participants ages 7 to 18 years, recruited from two independent population-based samples, the factor structure of the recently established 8-item short form EDE-Q8 for adults was examined, including measurement invariance analyses on age, gender, and weight status derived from objectively measured weight and height. For convergent validity, the ChEDE-Q global score, body esteem scale, strengths and difficulties questionnaire, and sociodemographic characteristics were used. Item characteristics and age- and gender-specific norms were calculated. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed good model fit for the 8-item ChEDE-Q. Measurement invariance analyses indicated strict invariance for all analyzed subgroups. Convergent validity was provided through associations with well-established questionnaires and age, gender, and weight status, in expected directions. The newly developed ChEDE-Q8 proved to be a psychometrically sound and economical self-report assessment tool of eating disorder psychopathology in children. Further validation studies are needed, particularly concerning discriminant and predictive validity. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Samuel Beckett and music an absurd essay about the idea of musicality and musical form in Samuel Beckett’s short pieces - influences and possibilities

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Mosusova Nadežda

2004-01-01

Full Text Available The premise of musicality of Beckett’s short dramas contains more questions than answers. Is the musicality of text present only in the work of Samuel Beckett? Do only the (musical stage remarks in Beckett’s dramas suggest the idea of musicality? Can the absurdity of his output be expressed with music and through music? Some short musical compositions, especially by Alexandre Scriabine, can be in some way compared with Beckett’s "dramaticules", but only in form not in the meaning and musical language. The question of hidden influences remains to be developed.

Measuring resilience after spinal cord injury: Development, validation and psychometric characteristics of the SCI-QOL Resilience item bank and short form.

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Victorson, David; Tulsky, David S; Kisala, Pamela A; Kalpakjian, Claire Z; Weiland, Brian; Choi, Seung W

2015-05-01

To describe the development and psychometric properties of the Spinal Cord Injury--Quality of Life (SCI-QOL) Resilience item bank and short form. Using a mixed-methods design, we developed and tested a resilience item bank through the use of focus groups with individuals with SCI and clinicians with expertise in SCI, cognitive interviews, and item-response theory based analytic approaches, including tests of model fit and differential item functioning (DIF). We tested a 32-item pool at several medical institutions across the United States, including the University of Michigan, Kessler Foundation, the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, the University of Washington, Craig Hospital and the James J. Peters/Bronx Department of Veterans Affairs medical center. A total of 717 individuals with SCI completed the Resilience items. A unidimensional model was observed (CFI=0.968; RMSEA=0.074) and measurement precision was good (theta range between -3.1 and 0.9). Ten items were flagged for DIF, however, after examination of effect sizes we found this to be negligible with little practical impact on score estimates. The final calibrated item bank resulted in 21 retained items. This study indicates that the SCI-QOL Resilience item bank represents a psychometrically robust measurement tool. Short form items are also suggested and computer adaptive tests are available.

Measurement Equivalence of the Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System® (PROMIS®) Pain Interference Short Form Items: Application to Ethnically Diverse Cancer and Palliative Care Populations.

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Teresi, Jeanne A; Ocepek-Welikson, Katja; Cook, Karon F; Kleinman, Marjorie; Ramirez, Mildred; Reid, M Carrington; Siu, Albert

2016-01-01

Reducing the response burden of standardized pain measures is desirable, particularly for individuals who are frail or live with chronic illness, e.g., those suffering from cancer and those in palliative care. The Patient Reported Outcome Measurement Information System ® (PROMIS ® ) project addressed this issue with the provision of computerized adaptive tests (CAT) and short form measures that can be used clinically and in research. Although there has been substantial evaluation of PROMIS item banks, little is known about the performance of PROMIS short forms, particularly in ethnically diverse groups. Reviewed in this article are findings related to the differential item functioning (DIF) and reliability of the PROMIS pain interference short forms across diverse sociodemographic groups. DIF hypotheses were generated for the PROMIS short form pain interference items. Initial analyses tested item response theory (IRT) model assumptions of unidimensionality and local independence. Dimensionality was evaluated using factor analytic methods; local dependence (LD) was tested using IRT-based LD indices. Wald tests were used to examine group differences in IRT parameters, and to test DIF hypotheses. A second DIF-detection method used in sensitivity analyses was based on ordinal logistic regression with a latent IRT-derived conditioning variable. Magnitude and impact of DIF were investigated, and reliability and item and scale information statistics were estimated. The reliability of the short form item set was excellent. However, there were a few items with high local dependency, which affected the estimation of the final discrimination parameters. As a result, the item, "How much did pain interfere with enjoyment of social activities?" was excluded in the DIF analyses for all subgroup comparisons. No items were hypothesized to show DIF for race and ethnicity; however, five items showed DIF after adjustment for multiple comparisons in both primary and sensitivity

Measurement Equivalence of the Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System® (PROMIS®) Pain Interference Short Form Items: Application to Ethnically Diverse Cancer and Palliative Care Populations

Science.gov (United States)

Teresi, Jeanne A.; Ocepek-Welikson, Katja; Cook, Karon F.; Kleinman, Marjorie; Ramirez, Mildred; Reid, M. Carrington; Siu, Albert

2017-01-01

Reducing the response burden of standardized pain measures is desirable, particularly for individuals who are frail or live with chronic illness, e.g., those suffering from cancer and those in palliative care. The Patient Reported Outcome Measurement Information System® (PROMIS®) project addressed this issue with the provision of computerized adaptive tests (CAT) and short form measures that can be used clinically and in research. Although there has been substantial evaluation of PROMIS item banks, little is known about the performance of PROMIS short forms, particularly in ethnically diverse groups. Reviewed in this article are findings related to the differential item functioning (DIF) and reliability of the PROMIS pain interference short forms across diverse sociodemographic groups. Methods DIF hypotheses were generated for the PROMIS short form pain interference items. Initial analyses tested item response theory (IRT) model assumptions of unidimensionality and local independence. Dimensionality was evaluated using factor analytic methods; local dependence (LD) was tested using IRT-based LD indices. Wald tests were used to examine group differences in IRT parameters, and to test DIF hypotheses. A second DIF-detection method used in sensitivity analyses was based on ordinal logistic regression with a latent IRT-derived conditioning variable. Magnitude and impact of DIF were investigated, and reliability and item and scale information statistics were estimated. Results The reliability of the short form item set was excellent. However, there were a few items with high local dependency, which affected the estimation of the final discrimination parameters. As a result, the item, “How much did pain interfere with enjoyment of social activities?” was excluded in the DIF analyses for all subgroup comparisons. No items were hypothesized to show DIF for race and ethnicity; however, five items showed DIF after adjustment for multiple comparisons in both primary and

Ralstonia syzygii, the Blood Disease Bacterium and Some Asian R. solanacearum Strains Form a Single Genomic Species Despite Divergent Lifestyles

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Cellier, Gilles; Jacobs, Jonathan M.; Mangenot, Sophie; Barbe, Valérie; Lajus, Aurélie; Vallenet, David; Medigue, Claudine; Fegan, Mark; Allen, Caitilyn; Prior, Philippe

2011-01-01

The Ralstonia solanacearum species complex includes R. solanacearum, R. syzygii, and the Blood Disease Bacterium (BDB). All colonize plant xylem vessels and cause wilt diseases, but with significant biological differences. R. solanacearum is a soilborne bacterium that infects the roots of a broad range of plants. R. syzygii causes Sumatra disease of clove trees and is actively transmitted by cercopoid insects. BDB is also pathogenic to a single host, banana, and is transmitted by pollinating insects. Sequencing and DNA-DNA hybridization studies indicated that despite their phenotypic differences, these three plant pathogens are actually very closely related, falling into the Phylotype IV subgroup of the R. solanacearum species complex. To better understand the relationships among these bacteria, we sequenced and annotated the genomes of R. syzygii strain R24 and BDB strain R229. These genomes were compared to strain PSI07, a closely related Phylotype IV tomato isolate of R. solanacearum, and to five additional R. solanacearum genomes. Whole-genome comparisons confirmed previous phylogenetic results: the three phylotype IV strains share more and larger syntenic regions with each other than with other R. solanacearum strains. Furthermore, the genetic distances between strains, assessed by an in-silico equivalent of DNA-DNA hybridization, unambiguously showed that phylotype IV strains of BDB, R. syzygii and R. solanacearum form one genomic species. Based on these comprehensive data we propose a revision of the taxonomy of the R. solanacearum species complex. The BDB and R. syzygii genomes encoded no obvious unique metabolic capacities and contained no evidence of horizontal gene transfer from bacteria occupying similar niches. Genes specific to R. syzygii and BDB were almost all of unknown function or extrachromosomal origin. Thus, the pathogenic life-styles of these organisms are more probably due to ecological adaptation and genomic convergence during vertical

Factors Influencing Short-term Synaptic Plasticity in the Avian Cochlear Nucleus Magnocellularis

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Jason Tait Sanchez Quinones

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Defined as reduced neural responses during high rates of activity, synaptic depression is a form of short-term plasticity important for the temporal filtering of sound. In the avian cochlear nucleus magnocellularis (NM, an auditory brainstem structure, mechanisms regulating short-term synaptic depression include pre-, post-, and extrasynaptic factors. Using varied paired-pulse stimulus intervals, we found that the time course of synaptic depression lasts up to four seconds at late-developing NM synapses. Synaptic depression was largely reliant on exogenous Ca 2+ -dependent probability of presynaptic neurotransmitter release, and to a lesser extent, on the desensitization of postsynaptic α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid-type glutamate receptor (AMPA-R. Interestingly, although extrasynaptic glutamate clearance did not play a significant role in regulating synaptic depression, blocking glutamate clearance at early-developing synapses altered synaptic dynamics, changing responses from depression to facilitation. These results suggest a developmental shift in the relative reliance on pre-, post-, and extrasynaptic factors in regulating short-term synaptic plasticity in NM.

Push-off forces in elite short-track speed skating.

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van der Kruk, Eline; Reijne, Marco M; de Laat, Bjorn; Veeger, DirkJan H E J

2018-05-30

This study performed an analysis of the push-off forces of elite-short-track speed skaters using a new designed instrumented short-track speed skate with the aim to improve short-track skating performance. Four different skating strokes were distinguished for short-track speed skaters at speed. The strokes differed in stroke time, force level in both normal and lateral directions, and the centre of pressure (COP) on the blade. Within the homogeneous group of male elite speed skaters (N = 6), diversity of execution of the force patterns in the four phases of skating was evident, while skating at the same velocities. The male participants (N = 6) with a better personal record (PR) kept the COP more to the rear of their blades while hanging into the curve (r = 0.82, p < 0.05), leaving the curve (r = 0.86, p < 0.05), and entering the straight (r = 0.76, p < 0.10). Furthermore, the male skaters with a better PR showed a trend of a lower lateral peak force while entering the curve (r = 0.74, p < 0.10). Females showed a trend towards applying higher body weight normalised lateral forces than the males, while skating at imposed lower velocities.

Revisiting the vector form factor at next-to-leading order in 1/N{sub C}

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rosell, Ignasi, E-mail: rosell@uch.ceu.e [Departamento de Ciencias Fisicas, Matematicas y de la Computacion, Universidad CEU Cardenal Herrera, c/ Sant Bartomeu 55, E-46115 Alfara del Patriarca, Valencia (Spain); IFIC, Universitat de Valencia - CSIC, Apt. Correus 22085, E-46071 Valencia (Spain)

2010-10-15

Using the Resonance Chiral Theory lagrangian, we perform a calculation of the vector form factor of the pion at the next-to-leading order (NLO) in the 1/N{sub C} expansion. Imposing the correct QCD short-distance constraints, one determines it in terms of F, G{sub V}, F{sub A} and resonance masses. Its low momentum expansion fixes then the low-energy chiral couplings L{sub 9} and C{sub 88} -C{sub 90} at NLO, keeping full control of their renormalization scale dependence. At {mu}{sub 0} = 0.77 GeV, we obtain L{sup r}{sub 9}({mu}{sub 0}) = (7.6 {+-} 0.6) . 10{sup -3} and C{sup r}{sub 88}({mu}{sub 0}) -C{sup r}{sub 90}({mu}{sub 0}) = (-4.5 {+-} 0.5) . 10{sup -5}.

Adaptation and Validation of the Foot Function Index-Revised Short Form into Polish

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Radosław Rutkowski

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Purpose. The aim of the present study was to adapt the Foot Function Index-Revised Short Form (FFI-RS questionnaire into Polish and verify its reliability and validity in a group of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA. Methods. The study included 211 patients suffering from RA. The FFI-RS questionnaire underwent standard linguistic adaptation and its psychometric parameters were investigated. The enrolled participants had been recruited for seven months as a convenient sample from the rheumatological hospital in Śrem (Poland. They represented different sociodemographic characteristics and were characterized as rural and city environments residents. Results. The mean age of the patients was 58.9±10.2 years. The majority of patients (85% were female. The average final FFI-RS score was 62.9±15.3. The internal consistency was achieved at a high level of 0.95 in Cronbach’s alpha test, with an interclass correlation coefficient ranging between 0.78 and 0.84. A strong correlation was observed between the FFI-RS and Health Assessment Questionnaire-Disability Index (HAQ-DI questionnaires. Conclusion. The Polish version of FFI-RS-PL indicator is an important tool for evaluating the functional condition of patients’ feet and can be applied in the diagnosis and treatment of Polish-speaking patients suffering from RA.

Adaptation and Validation of the Foot Function Index-Revised Short Form into Polish.

Science.gov (United States)

Rutkowski, Radosław; Gałczyńska-Rusin, Małgorzata; Gizińska, Małgorzata; Straburzyński-Lupa, Marcin; Zdanowska, Agata; Romanowski, Mateusz Wojciech; Romanowski, Wojciech; Budiman-Mak, Elly; Straburzyńska-Lupa, Anna

2017-01-01

The aim of the present study was to adapt the Foot Function Index-Revised Short Form (FFI-RS) questionnaire into Polish and verify its reliability and validity in a group of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The study included 211 patients suffering from RA. The FFI-RS questionnaire underwent standard linguistic adaptation and its psychometric parameters were investigated. The enrolled participants had been recruited for seven months as a convenient sample from the rheumatological hospital in Śrem (Poland). They represented different sociodemographic characteristics and were characterized as rural and city environments residents. The mean age of the patients was 58.9 ± 10.2 years. The majority of patients (85%) were female. The average final FFI-RS score was 62.9 ± 15.3. The internal consistency was achieved at a high level of 0.95 in Cronbach's alpha test, with an interclass correlation coefficient ranging between 0.78 and 0.84. A strong correlation was observed between the FFI-RS and Health Assessment Questionnaire-Disability Index (HAQ-DI) questionnaires. The Polish version of FFI-RS-PL indicator is an important tool for evaluating the functional condition of patients' feet and can be applied in the diagnosis and treatment of Polish-speaking patients suffering from RA.

Simple construct evaluation with latent class analysis: An investigation of Facebook addiction and the development of a short form of the Facebook Addiction Test (F-AT).

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Dantlgraber, Michael; Wetzel, Eunike; Schützenberger, Petra; Stieger, Stefan; Reips, Ulf-Dietrich

2016-09-01

In psychological research, there is a growing interest in using latent class analysis (LCA) for the investigation of quantitative constructs. The aim of this study is to illustrate how LCA can be applied to gain insights on a construct and to select items during test development. We show the added benefits of LCA beyond factor-analytic methods, namely being able (1) to describe groups of participants that differ in their response patterns, (2) to determine appropriate cutoff values, (3) to evaluate items, and (4) to evaluate the relative importance of correlated factors. As an example, we investigated the construct of Facebook addiction using the Facebook Addiction Test (F-AT), an adapted version of the Internet Addiction Test (I-AT). Applying LCA facilitates the development of new tests and short forms of established tests. We present a short form of the F-AT based on the LCA results and validate the LCA approach and the short F-AT with several external criteria, such as chatting, reading newsfeeds, and posting status updates. Finally, we discuss the benefits of LCA for evaluating quantitative constructs in psychological research.

Gouvernance démocratique dans la région andine : réformes ...

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

Gobernabilidad democrática en la región Andina : reformas políticas e institucionales y movimientos sociales en Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Perú y ... du CRDI, l'Instituto de la Salud, Medio Ambiente, Economia y Sociedad (ISALUD) a organisé, en 2004 et 2005, deux ateliers régionaux pour discuter de l'utilité et de l&.

The impact of government R and D

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bentzen, Jan Børsen; Smith, Valdemar

1999-01-01

The relationship between public R and D, private R and D and private sector output is analysed in a time series framework. Both short-run and long-run relationships are estimated for the manufacturing sector and one of the results is a positive impact on manufacturing activities from the public R...

Dynamics of the changes in the number and phagocytic activity of leucocytes from whole-body gamma-irradiated guinea pigs with respect to R and S forms of Pseudomonas pseudomallei

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Najdenski, Kh.M.; Velyanov, D.K.

1987-01-01

Guinea pigs of both sexes received whole-body gamma irradiation (0.5 Gy, 4 x 0.5 Gy and 2 Gy; 92.5 rad/min). Two bacterial strains were used: Ps. pseudomallei R 1 5 and S 7 . The measurments were carried out on days 1, 3, 7, 15 and 30 after treatment. The changes observed were directly dependent on the dose applied: for sublethally (2 Gy) irradiated animals - an abrupt decrease of leukocytes and strongly expressed leukopenia lasting throughout the whole investigation; for fractiionally irradiated (4 x 0.5 Gy) -the number of leukocytes P<0.001 and leukopenia being observed to day 7 after irradiation; for 0.5 Gy irradiated -the leucocytes number equal to that of the controls on day 15 and significantly higher on day 30; less strongly expressed leukopenia. The alterations in phagocytic activity in relation to R and S forms of Ps. pseudomallei were similar: leukocytes from 2 Gy irradiated guinea pigs showed on day 1 a markedly raised phagocytic activity and phagocytized the R and S forms to a similar degree, while at later intervals of the study the phagocytic activity decreased and they began to phagocytize the R forms more actively. Leukocytes from 0.5 Gy treated animals phagocytized the R forms more actively than the S forms throughout the whole investigation

Regional cerebral blood flow in Alzheimer's disease. Comparison between short and long-term donepezil therapy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ushijima, Yo; Okuyama, Chio; Kubota, Takao; Nakai, Takako; Nishimura, Tsunehiko; Mori, Satoru

2006-01-01

Treatment with donepezil improves cognitive function of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) when compared to a placebo-controlled group. The purpose of this study was to investigate changes in regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) of AD patients in short-term and long-term treatment with donepezil. rCBF was measured by N-isopropyl-p- 123 I-iodoamphetamine (IMP) autoradiography method. CBF measurements were performed in 17 AD patients before treatment and after 3 months (short-term therapy) and 1 year (long-term therapy). Regions of interest were set at cerebral cortex and cerebellar hemisphere. We used absolute CBF and relative CBF expressed as ratio to cerebellar CBF. Significant increases in relative rCBF were noted in the frontal, parietal and temporal lobes at the end of short-term therapy. rCBF was decreased after the long-term therapy, whereas rCBF was still increased to a slight extent, as compared with the pre-treatment levels. Absolute rCBF showed minimal change and a tendency to decline. Relative rCBF significantly increased in the short-term donepezil therapy, while following the long-term therapy, rCBF decreased to the pre-treatment level. (author)

Development and validation of the short-form Adolescent Health Promotion Scale.

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Chen, Mei-Yen; Lai, Li-Ju; Chen, Hsiu-Chih; Gaete, Jorge

2014-10-26

Health-promoting lifestyle choices of adolescents are closely related to current and subsequent health status. However, parsimonious yet reliable and valid screening tools are scarce. The original 40-item adolescent health promotion (AHP) scale was developed by our research team and has been applied to measure adolescent health-promoting behaviors worldwide. The aim of our study was to examine the psychometric properties of a newly developed short-form version of the AHP (AHP-SF) including tests of its reliability and validity. The study was conducted in nine middle and high schools in southern Taiwan. Participants were 814 adolescents randomly divided into two subgroups with equal size and homogeneity of baseline characteristics. The first subsample (calibration sample) was used to modify and shorten the factorial model while the second subsample (validation sample) was utilized to validate the result obtained from the first one. The psychometric testing of the AHP-SF included internal reliability of McDonald's omega and Cronbach's alpha, convergent validity, discriminant validity, and construct validity with confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The results of the CFA supported a six-factor model and 21 items were retained in the AHP-SF with acceptable model fit. For the discriminant validity test, results indicated that adolescents with lower AHP-SF scores were more likely to be overweight or obese, skip breakfast, and spend more time watching TV and playing computer games. The AHP-SF also showed excellent internal consistency with a McDonald's omega of 0.904 (Cronbach's alpha 0.905) in the calibration group. The current findings suggest that the AHP-SF is a valid and reliable instrument for the evaluation of adolescent health-promoting behaviors. Primary health care providers and clinicians can use the AHP-SF to assess these behaviors and evaluate the outcome of health promotion programs in the adolescent population.

Interaction of human laminin receptor with Sup35, the [PSI⁺] prion-forming protein from S. cerevisiae: a yeast model for studies of LamR interactions with amyloidogenic proteins.

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Christine Pampeno

Full Text Available The laminin receptor (LamR is a cell surface receptor for extracellular matrix laminin, whereas the same protein within the cell interacts with ribosomes, nuclear proteins and cytoskeletal fibers. LamR has been shown to be a receptor for several bacteria and viruses. Furthermore, LamR interacts with both cellular and infectious forms of the prion protein, PrP(C and PrP(Sc. Indeed, LamR is a receptor for PrP(C. Whether LamR interacts with PrP(Sc exclusively in a capacity of the PrP receptor, or LamR specifically recognizes prion determinants of PrP(Sc, is unclear. In order to explore whether LamR has a propensity to interact with prions and amyloids, we examined LamR interaction with the yeast prion-forming protein, Sup35. Sup35 is a translation termination factor with no homology or functional relationship to PrP. Plasmids expressing LamR or LamR fused with the green fluorescent protein (GFP were transformed into yeast strain variants differing by the presence or absence of the prion conformation of Sup35, respectively [PSI⁺] and [psi⁻]. Analyses by immunoprecipitation, centrifugal fractionation and fluorescent microscopy reveal interaction between LamR and Sup35 in [PSI⁺] strains. The presence of [PSI⁺] promotes LamR co-precipitation with Sup35 as well as LamR aggregation. In [PSI⁺] cells, LamR tagged with GFP or mCherry forms bright fluorescent aggregates that co-localize with visible [PSI⁺] foci. The yeast prion model will facilitate studying the interaction of LamR with amyloidogenic prions in a safe and easily manipulated system that may lead to a better understanding and treatment of amyloid diseases.

Plane Symmetric Dark Energy Models in the Form of Wet Dark Fluid in f ( R, T) Gravity

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Chirde, V. R.; Shekh, S. H.

2016-06-01

In this paper, we have investigated the plane symmetric space-time with wet dark fluid (WDF), which is a candidate for dark energy, in the framework of f ( R, T) gravity Harko et al. 2011, Phys. Rev. D, 84, 024020), where R and T denote the Ricci scalar and the trace of the energy-momentum tensor respectively. We have used the equation of state in the form of WDF for the dark energy component of the Universe. It is modeled on the equation of state p = ω( ρ - ρ ∗). The exact solutions to the corresponding field equations are obtained for power-law and exponential volumetric expansion. The geometrical and physical parameters for both the models are studied. Also, we have discussed the well-known astrophysical phenomena, namely the look-back time, proper distance, the luminosity distance and angular diameter distance with red shift.

[QOL questionnaire for pediatric patients with bronchial asthma and their parents or caregivers. Preparation and evaluation of the short form version 2008 (Gifu)].

Science.gov (United States)

Kondo, Naomi; Hirayama, Koichiro; Matsui, Eiko; Teramoto, Takahide; Kaneko, Hideo; Fukao, Toshiyuki; Orii, Kenji; Kawamoto, Minako; Funato, Michinori; Ohnishi, Hidenori; Kawamoto, Norio; Morita, Hideyuki; Kimura, Takeshi; Nada, Masatoshi; Tokumi, Tetsuji; Hori, Tomohiro; Watanabe, Rinko

2008-08-01

The QOL questionnaire version 2001 for pediatric patients with bronchial asthma and their parents or caregivers includes 15 questions for patients under the age of 4 years and 20 questions for patients over the age of 4 years. We have already reported that the QOL questionnaire version 2001 reflects reliability (including reproducibility), factorial validity, and changes in paroxysmal attacks of asthma. In this study, we revised the questionnaire for use in routine medical practice. In this study, based on the data of a previous report, the number of questions was reduced further and it was revised to the questionnaire the short form by integrated data. The revised version 2008 (Gifu) consisted of emotional burden, asthma attack, instability of symptoms and proper acceptance of asthma as a common factor, moreover 4 or more years old added load of exercise factor which consisted of two questions in each factor. This QOL short form questionnaire version 2008 (Gifu) is a disease specific questionnaire in comparison with health control, bronchial asthma and non-asthmatic patients, such as atopic dermatitis and allergic rhinitis. Although Cronbach's alpha fell with reduction of the number of questions, we conclude that it was acceptable in the clinical practice.

Time perspective in hereditary cancer: psychometric properties of a short form of the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory in a community and clinical sample.

Science.gov (United States)

Wakefield, Claire E; Homewood, Judi; Taylor, Alan; Mahmut, Mehmet; Meiser, Bettina

2010-10-01

We aimed to assess the psychometric properties of a 25-item short form of the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory in a community sample (N = 276) and in individuals with a strong family history of cancer, considering genetic testing for cancer risk (N = 338). In the community sample, individuals with high past-negative or present-fatalistic scores had higher levels of distress, as measured by depression, anxiety, and aggression. Similarly, in the patient sample, past-negative time perspective was positively correlated with distress, uncertainty, and postdecision regret when making a decision about genetic testing. Past-negative-oriented individuals were also more likely to be undecided about, or against, genetic testing. Hedonism was associated with being less likely to read the educational materials they received at their clinic, and fatalism was associated with having lower knowledge levels about genetic testing. The assessment of time perspective in individuals at increased risk of cancer can provide valuable clinical insights. However, further investigation of the psychometric properties of the short form of this scale is warranted, as it did not meet the currently accepted criteria for psychometric validation studies.

Genetic characterization and phylogenetic relationships based on 18S rRNA and ITS1 region of small form of canine Babesia spp. from India.

Science.gov (United States)

Mandal, M; Banerjee, P S; Garg, Rajat; Ram, Hira; Kundu, K; Kumar, Saroj; Kumar, G V P P S Ravi

2014-10-01

Canine babesiosis is a vector borne disease caused by intra-erythrocytic apicomplexan parasites Babesia canis (large form) and Babesia gibsoni (small form), throughout the globe. Apart from few sporadic reports on the occurrence of B. gibsoni infection in dogs, no attempt has been made to characterize Babesia spp. of dogs in India. Fifteen canine blood samples, positive for small form of Babesia, collected from northern to eastern parts of India, were used for amplification of 18S rRNA gene (∼1665bp) of Babesia sp. and partial ITS1 region (∼254bp) of B. gibsoni Asian genotype. Cloning and sequencing of the amplified products of each sample was performed separately. Based on sequences and phylogenetic analysis of 18S rRNA and ITS1 sequences, 13 were considered to be B. gibsoni. These thirteen isolates shared high sequence identity with each other and with B. gibsoni Asian genotype. The other two isolates could not be assigned to any particular species because of the difference(s) in 18S rRNA sequence with B. gibsoni and closer identity with Babesiaoccultans and Babesiaorientalis. In the phylogenetic tree, all the isolates of B. gibsoni Asian genotype formed a separate major clade named as Babesia spp. sensu stricto clade with high bootstrap support. The two unnamed Babesia sp. (Malbazar and Ludhiana isolates) clustered close together with B. orientalis, Babesia sp. (Kashi 1 isolate) and B. occultans of bovines. It can be inferred from this study that 18S rRNA gene and ITS1 region are highly conserved among 13 B. gibsoni isolates from India. It is the maiden attempt of genetic characterization by sequencing of 18S rRNA gene and ITS1 region of B. gibsoni from India and is also the first record on the occurrence of an unknown Babesia sp. of dogs from south and south-east Asia. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

L’origine de l’emploi de la forme analogique grande : concordance de genre ou identification du référent ?

OpenAIRE

Xia Haoyu Irene; Ranson Diana L.

2016-01-01

L’objectif de la présente étude est de déterminer les raisons pour lesquelles un auteur du XVIe siècle aurait choisi la nouvelle forme analogique grande plutôt que la forme épicène grand. L’étude est basée sur un corpus de 1341 occurrences de cet adjectif au féminin dans 17 textes de cinq auteurs. L’hypothèse de l’identification du référent propose qu’un auteur aurait choisi cette forme pour indiquer clairement qu’elle modifie un substantif féminin et assurer ainsi le lien entre l’adjectif et...

Construction of a short form of the healthy eating behaviour inventory for the Japanese population.

Science.gov (United States)

Shimazaki, Takashi; Iio, Misa; Lee, Ying-Hua; Suzuki, Akiko; Konuma, Kayo; Teshima, Yoko; Takenaka, Koji

2016-09-01

The present study constructed a short form of the Healthy Eating Behavior Inventory suitable for use in the Japanese culture (HEBI-J) and confirmed the scale's preliminary reliability and validity. In Study 1, Japanese adults (N=75) completed a free-response questionnaire about healthy eating behaviours. Thematic analysis was used to identify three factors-balance, pattern, and restriction-associated with healthy eating behaviours and 12 items related to these healthy eating behaviours. In Study 2, Japanese office workers (N=784) completed two questionnaires regarding 12 items of healthy eating behaviours and the dietary stages of change. Confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated that the three-factor model was appropriate (GFI=.94, AGFI=.90, CFI=.90, RMSEA=.08, SRMR=.53). Reliability was confirmed by alpha coefficients and the Spearman-Brown formula. Concurrent validity was confirmed by the relationship between the healthy eating stages. This study demonstrated the preliminary reliability and validity of the HEBI-J. Copyright © 2015 Asia Oceania Association for the Study of Obesity. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Diffusion Tensor Imaging Correlates with Short-Term Myelopathy Outcome in Patients with Cervical Spondylotic Myelopathy.

Science.gov (United States)

Vedantam, Aditya; Rao, Avinash; Kurpad, Shekar N; Jirjis, Michael B; Eckardt, Gerald; Schmit, Brian D; Wang, Marjorie C

2017-01-01

To determine if spinal cord diffusion tensor imaging indexes correlate with short-term clinical outcome in patients undergoing elective cervical spine surgery for cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM). A prospective consecutive cohort study was performed in patients undergoing elective cervical spine surgery for CSM. After obtaining informed consent, patients with CSM underwent preoperative T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging and diffusion tensor imaging of the cervical spine. Fractional anisotropy (FA) values at the level of maximum cord compression and at the noncompressed C1-2 level were calculated on axial images. We recorded the modified Japanese Orthopaedic Association (mJOA) scale, Neck Disability Index, and Short Form-36 physical functioning subscale scores for all patients preoperatively and 3 months postoperatively. Statistical analysis was performed to identify correlations between FA and clinical outcome scores. The study included 27 patients (mean age 54.5 years ± 1.9, 12 men). The mean postoperative changes in mJOA scale, Neck Disability Index, and Short Form-36 physical functioning subscale scores were 0.9 ± 0.3, -6.0 ± 1.9, and 3.4 ± 1.9. The mean FA at the level of maximum compression was significantly lower than the mean FA at the C1-2 level (0.5 vs. 0.55, P = 0.01). FA was significantly correlated with change in mJOA scale score (Pearson r = -0.42, P = 0.02). FA was significantly correlated with the preoperative mJOA scale score (Pearson r = 0.65, P < 0.001). Preoperative FA at the level of maximum cord compression significantly correlates with the 3-month change in mJOA scale score among patients with CSM. FA was also significantly associated with preoperative mJOA scale score and is a potential biomarker for spinal cord dysfunction in CSM. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Psychometric properties of the Polish version of the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire-Short Form

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Szczygieł Dorota

2015-09-01

Full Text Available The study was aimed at validating the Polish version of the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire-Short Form (TEIQue-SF. Our findings confirm the reliability and validity of the scale. With respect to reliability, internal consistency coefficients of the TEIQue-SF were comparable to those obtained using the original English version. The evidence of the validity of the TEIQue-SF came from the pattern of relations with the other self-report measure of EI, personality measures, as well as affective and social correlates. We demonstrated that the TEIQue-SF score correlated positively with scores on the Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (INTE (Jaworowska & Matczak, 2001. The TEIQue- SF score correlated negatively with Neuroticism and positively with Extraversion, Openness, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness. In addition, scores on the TEIQue-SF were related to dispositional affect, i.e., correlated positively with positive affectivity and negatively with negative affectivity. The TEIQue-SF score correlated positively with social competencies as measured with the Social Competencies Questionnaire (Matczak, 2001. We also found that trait EI, as measured with the TEIQue-SF, was positively related to the richness of one’s supportive social network and this relationship remained statistically significant even after controlling for Big Five variance. We also demonstrated that scoring on the TEIQue-SF was positively related to satisfaction with life and negatively related to perceived stress and these relationships remained significant, even after controlling for positive and negative affectivity. Taken together, these findings suggest that the Polish version of the TEIQue-SF is a reliable and valid measure that inherits the network of associations both from the original version of the TEIQue-SF and the full form of the Polish TEIQue (Wytykowska & Petrides, 2007.

Form factor ratio measurement in {Lambda}{sup +}{sub {ital c}}{r_arrow}{Lambda}{ital e}{sup +}{nu}{sub {ital e}}

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Crawford, G.; Daubenmier, C.M.; Fulton, R.; Fujino, D.; Gan, K.K.; Honscheid, K.; Kagan, H.; Kass, R.; Lee, J.; Sung, M.; White, C.; Wolf, A.; Zoeller, M.M.; Butler, F.; Fu, X.; Nemati, B.; Ross, W.R.; Skubic, P.; Wood, M.; Bishai, M.; Fast, J.; Gerndt, E.; Hinson, J.W.; McIlwain, R.L.; Miao, T.; Miller, D.H.; Modesitt, M.; Payne, D.; Shibata, E.I.; Shipsey, I.P.J.; Wang, P.N.; Battle, M.; Ernst, J.; Gibbons, L.; Kwon, Y.; Roberts, S.; Thorndike, E.H.; Wang, C.H.; Dominick, J.; Lambrecht, M.; Sanghera, S.; Shelkov, V.; Skwarnicki, T.; Stroynowski, R.; Volobouev, I.; Wei, G.; Zadorozhny, P.; Artuso, M.; Gao, M.; Goldberg, M.; He, D.; Horwitz, N.; Moneti, G.C.; Mountain, R.; Muheim, F.; Mukhin, Y.; Playfer, S.; Rozen, Y.; Stone, S.; Xing, X.; Zhu, G.; Bartelt, J.; Csorna, S.E.; Egyed, Z.; Jain, V.; Gibaut, D.; Kinoshita, K.; Pomianowski, P.; Barish, B.; Chadha, M.; Chan, S.; Cowen, D.F.; Eigen, G.; Miller, J.S.; O`Grady, C.; Urheim, J.; Weinstein, A.J.; Athanas, M.; Brower, W.; Masek, G.; Paar, H.P.; Gronberg, J.; Korte, C.M.; Kutschke, R.; Menary, S.; Morrison, R.J.; Nakanishi, S.; Nelson, H.N.; Nelson, T.K.; Qiao, C.; Richman, J.D.; Ryd, A.; Sperka, D.; Tajima, H.; Witherell, M.S.; Procario, M.; Balest, R.; Cho, K.; Ford, W.T.; Johnson, D.R.; Lingel, K.; Lohner, M.; Rankin, P.; Smith, J.G.; Alexander, J.P.; Bebek, C.; Berkelman, K.; Bloom, K.; Browder, T.E.; Cassel, D.G.; Cho, H.A.; Coffman, D.M.; Crowcroft, D.S.; Drell, P.S.; Dumas, D.J.; Ehrlich, R.; Gaidarev, P.; Garcia-Sciveres, M.; Geiser, B.; Gittelman, B.; Gray, S.W.; Hartill, D.L.; Heltsley, B.K.; Henderson, S.; Jones, C.D.; Jones, S.L.; Kandaswamy, J.; Katayama, N.; Kim, P.C.; Kreinick, D.L.; Ludwig, G.S.; Masui, J.; Mevissen, J.; Mistry, N.B.; Ng, C.R.; Nordberg, E.; Patterson, J.R.; Peterson, D.; Riley, D.; Salman, S.; Sapper, M.; Wuerthwein, F.; Avery, P.; Freyberger, A.; Rodriguez, J.; Yang, S.; Yelton, J.; Cinabro, D.; Liu, T.; Saulnier, M.; Wilson, R.; Yamamoto, H.; Bergfeld, T.; (CLEO Collaboration)

1995-07-24

The angular distributions of the decay {Lambda}{sup +}{sub {ital c}}{r_arrow}{Lambda}{ital e}{sup +}{nu}{sub {ital e}} have been studied using the CLEO II detector. By performing a three-dimensional maximum likelihood fit, the form factor ratio {ital R}={ital f}{sub 2}/{ital f}{sub 1} is determined to be {minus}0.25{plus_minus}0.14{plus_minus}0.08. The decay asymmetry parameter of the {Lambda}{sub {ital c}} averaged over {ital q}{sup 2} is calculated to be {alpha}{sub {Lambda}{sub {ital c}}}={minus}0.82{sub {minus}0.06{minus}0.03}{sup +0.09+0.06}.

Discovery of the beta-form crystal structure in electrospun nanofibers of bio-based poly[(R)-3-hydroxybutyrate-co-(R)-3-hydroxyhexanoate] and its implication on properties

Science.gov (United States)

Gong, Liang

Bacterially produced poly[(R)-3-hydroxybutyrate-co-(R)-3-hydroxyhexanoate] (PHBHx) is a new type of bioplastic which not only inherits the excellent biodegradability and biocompatibility of its parent homopolymer, polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), but also overcomes PHB’s brittleness and stiffness with the incorporation of 3-hydroxyhexanoate (Hx) comonomer units with medium-chain-length (mcl) side chains. The tough and ductile PHBHx, with a much lower crystallinity and melting temperature, is well-suited for many practical applications. Efforts have been made to broaden the application range of PHBHx by introducing the beta-form crystalline structure, where the molecular chains adopt a planar zig-zag conformation. However, it is extremely difficult to produce this beta-form in PHBHx due to its much lower crystallinity and much more flexible molecular chains. In this study, we report an approach using the technique of electrospinning. The strain-induced metastable β-form crystalline structure was successfully introduced in PHBHx by collecting the macroscopically aligned electrospun PHBHx nanofibers across the air gap on a piece of aluminum foil and on the tapered edge of a high-speed rotary disk. The presence of the β-form crystal structure in electrospun fiber mats was confirmed by wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), with molecular orientation of the polymer chains along the fiber axis revealed by polarized FTIR. Selected area electron diffraction (SAED) and AFM-IR were utilized to investigate the morphological and structural details of individual PHBHx nanofibers. The results demonstrated a coexistence of the thermodynamically stable α-form crystalline structure, where molecular chains adopt a left-handed 21 helical conformation, and the β-form in single fibers. The molecular orientation level and the relative amounts of the two crystalline polymorphs were found to be highly dependent on fiber collection methods

Review of David Abrahamson and Marcia R. Prior-Miller (eds, The Routledge Handbook of Magazine Research: The Future of the Magazine Form (2015

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maaike Koffeman

2016-07-01

Full Text Available David Abrahamson and Marcia R. Prior-Miller (eds, The Routledge Handbook of Magazine Research: The Future of the Magazine Form (New York: Routledge, 2015. 650 pp. ISBN 978-1138854161.

First observation of the decay π+->e+νe+e- and a determination of the form factors Fsub(V), Fsub(A), R

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Egli, S.; Engfer, R.; Grab, C.; Hermes, E.A.; Pruys, H.S.; Schaaf, A. van der; Vermeulen, D.

1986-01-01

The radiative pion decay π + ->e + νe + e - has been observed for the first time. Information on the form factors was obtained from the kinematical distribution of 79 events. The vector form factor has the same sign as the pion decay constant fsub(π). The ratios of axial-vector form factors to the vector form factor are γ=Fsub(A)/Fsub(V)=0.7+-0.5 and xi=R/Fsub(V)=2.3+-0.6. The value for γ is in agreement with the small positive value (0.53+-0.06) and excludes the large negative value (-2.49+-0.06) of γ obtained in π + ->e + νγ experiments. (orig.)

Diagonalization and Jordan Normal Form--Motivation through "Maple"[R

Science.gov (United States)

Glaister, P.

2009-01-01

Following an introduction to the diagonalization of matrices, one of the more difficult topics for students to grasp in linear algebra is the concept of Jordan normal form. In this note, we show how the important notions of diagonalization and Jordan normal form can be introduced and developed through the use of the computer algebra package…

Assessment of Physical Self-Concept in Adolescents with Intellectual Disability: Content and Factor Validity of the Very Short Form of the Physical Self-Inventory

Science.gov (United States)

Maiano, Christophe; Begarie, Jerome; Morin, Alexandre J. S.; Ninot, Gregory

2009-01-01

The purpose of this study was to test the factor validity and reliability of the Very Short Form of the Physical Self-Inventory- (PSI-VSF) within a sample of adolescents with mild to moderate Intellectual Disability (ID). A total of 362 ID adolescents were involved in two studies. In Study 1, the content and format scale response of the PSI-VSF…

Structure of short-range-ordered iron(III)-precipitates formed by iron(II) oxidation in water containing phosphate, silicate, and calcium

Science.gov (United States)

Voegelin, A.; Frommer, J.; Vantelon, D.; Kaegi, R.; Hug, S. J.

2009-04-01

The oxidation of Fe(II) in water leads to the formation of Fe(III)-precipitates that strongly affect the fate of nutrients and contaminants in natural and engineered systems. Examples include the cycling of As in rice fields irrigated with As-rich groundwater or the treatment of drinking water for As removal. Knowledge of the types of Fe(III)-precipitates forming in such systems is essential for the quantitative modeling of nutrient and contaminant dynamics and for the optimization of water purification techniques on the basis of a mechanistic understanding of the relevant biogeochemical processes. In this study, we investigated the local coordination of Fe, P, and Ca in Fe(III)-precipitates formed by aeration of synthetic Fe(II)-containing groundwater with variable composition (pH 7, 2-30 mg/L Fe(II), 2-20 mg/L phosphate-P, 2-20 mg/L silicate-Si, 8 mM Na-bicarbonate or 2.5 mM Ca-&1.5 mM Mg-bicarbonate). After 4 hours of oxidation, Fe(III)-precipitates were collected on 0.2 µm nylon filters and dried. The precipitates were analyzed by Fe K-edge EXAFS (XAS beamline, ANKA, Germany) and by P and Ca K-edge XANES spectroscopy (LUCIA beamline, SLS, Switzerland). The Fe K-edge EXAFS spectra indicated that local Fe coordination in the precipitates systematically shifted with water composition. As long as water contained P, mainly short-range-ordered Fe(III)-phosphate formed (with molar P/Fe ~0.5). In the absence of P, Fe(III) precipitated as hydrous ferric oxide at high Si/Fe>0.5, as ferrihydrite at intermediate Si/Fe, and mainly as lepidocrocite at Si/Fe<0.2. Analysis of the EXAFS by shell-fitting indicated that Fe(III)-phosphates mainly contained mono- or oligomeric (edge- or corner-sharing) Fe and that the linkage between neighboring Fe(III)-octahedra changed from predominantly edge-sharing in Si-rich hydrous ferric oxide to edge- and corner-sharing in ferrihydrite. Electron microscopic data showed that changes in local precipitate structure were systematically

Magnetic short range order in Gd

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Child, H.R.

1976-01-01

Quasielastic neutron scattering has been used to investigate magnetic short range order in Gd for 80 0 K 0 K. Short range order exists throughout this range from well below T/sub C/ = 291 0 K to well above it and can be reasonably well described by an anisotropic Orstein-Zernike form for chi

Appearance of newly formed mRNA and rRNA as ribonucleoprotein-particles in the cytoplasmic subribosomal fraction of pea embryos

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Takahashi, Noribumi; Takaiwa, Fumio; Fukuei, Keisuke; Sakamaki, Tadashi; Tanifuji, Shigeyuki

1977-01-01

Incorporation studies with 3 H-uridine or 3 H-adenosine showed that germinating pea embryos synthesize all types of poly A(+) RNA, rRNA and 4-5S RNA at the early stage of germination. After the pulse labeling for 30 min, only heterodisperse RNA and 4-5S RNA appeared in the cytoplasm as labeled RNA species. At this time the radioactivity was associated with cytoplasmic structures heavier than 80S and RNP particles of 68-70S, 52-55S, 36-38S and 20-22S which are presumed to be free mRNP particles in plants. When the pulse-labeled embryos were incubated for a further 60 min in an isotope-free medium, the labeled 17S and 25S rRNA emerged in the cytoplasm, together with labeled heterodisperse and 4-5S RNAs. More radioactivity accumulated in the regions of the polysome, 62-65S and 38-42S particles. The results of analysis of RNAs extracted from the whole cytoplasm, polysome or subribosomal fractions indicated that small subunits of newly formed ribosomes appear more rapidly in the cytoplasm than new large subunits, which accumulate for a while as free particles in the cytoplasm than are incorporated into polysomes. The actinomycin treatment which caused preferential inhibition of rRNA synthesis reduced the accumulation of free, newly formed ribosome subunits and partially permitted detection of the presumed mRNP particles in the subribosomal region even after the chase treatment. (auth.)

"Le règlement de compte(s)" contre "la réforme des retraites"

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kjærsgaard, Poul Søren

2012-01-01

Sammensætning af substantiver foregår i fransk og andre romanske sprog analytisk, oftest ved hjælp af en præposition, hvor den i dansk og andre germanske sprog er syntetisk (sammenskrivning i et ord). Denne forskel indebærer to problemer ved læring af fransk, dels valg af præposition (oftest 'de'...

Evaluation of a modified version of the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory-Short Form

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Navjot Kaur

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Posttraumatic growth is the positive change resulting from traumatic experiences and is typically assessed with retrospective measures like the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI. The PTGI was designed to include reference to a specific traumatic event, making it difficult to implement, without change, in prospective survey studies. Thus, a modified Posttraumatic Growth Inventory–Short Form (PTGI-SF was included in a large prospective study of current and former U.S. military personnel. The current study provides preliminary psychometric data for this modified measure and its ability to assess psychological well-being at a single time point. Methods The study population (N = 135,843 was randomly and equally split into exploratory and confirmatory samples that were proportionately balanced on trauma criterion. Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA were performed to assess the psychometric validity of the modified measure. The final model was also assessed in a subset of the confirmatory sample with a history of trauma using CFA. Results Results supported a single-factor model with two additional correlations between items assessing spirituality and items assessing compassion/appreciation for others. This model also fits among the subset with a history of trauma. The resulting measure was strongly associated with social support and personal mastery. Conclusions The modified PTGI-SF in this study captures psychological well-being in cross-sectional assessments, in addition to being able to measure posttraumatic growth with multiple assessments. Results indicate that the modified measure is represented by a single factor, but that items assessing spirituality and compassion/appreciation for others may be used alone to better capture these constructs.

Validación de una escala reducida de capacidad funcional del cuestionario WOMAC Validation of a short form of the function dimension of the WOMAC questionnaire

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Antonio Escobar

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Objetivos: El objetivo del estudio fue evaluar la validez, la fiabilidad y la sensibilidad al cambio de la versión española de la dimensión reducida de 7 ítems de capacidad funcional del Western Ontario McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC. Métodos: Estudio prospectivo con seguimiento de 1 año realizado con 459 pacientes en lista de espera para prótesis de cadera o rodilla. Se enviaron los cuestionarios WOMAC y EQ-5D en cuatro tiempos: basal, 3, 6 y 12 meses postintervencion. Se realizó el proceso de validación, análisis Rasch y acuerdo medido por el gráfico de Bland-Altman. Resultados: Los valores de los coeficientes rho de Spearman y de concordancia de Lin entre la versión completa y la reducida estuvieron entre 0,96 y 0,98. Se encontraron diferencias estadísticamente significativas (pObjective: The aim of this prospective study was to evaluate the validity, reliability and responsiveness of the Spanish version of the 7-item short-form of the function dimension of the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC. Methods: We conducted a prospective 1-year cohort study that included 459 patients on the waiting list for total knee or hip replacement. The WOMAC and EQ-5D questionnaires were sent at four time points: baseline and at 3, 6 and 12 months post-surgery. Based on a previously shortened scale, we performed a validation process with Rasch analysis and agreement measured by Bland-Altman plots. Results: The values of Spearman's rho and Lin concordance coefficients between the full and short-form ranged from 0.96 to 0.98. Differences were statistically significant (p<0.001 among the three groups of severity measured by a item in the EQ-5D. The two Bland-Altman plots showed no systematic differences and agreement was not dependent on the severity score. The short form fitted the Rasch model. Cronbach's α coefficients were higher than 0.85. Responsiveness was higher than 1.27 and 1.72 in knee

Unsplit bipolar pulse forming line

Science.gov (United States)

Rhodes, Mark A [Pleasanton, CA

2011-05-24

A bipolar pulse forming transmission line module and system for linear induction accelerators having first, second, third, and fourth planar conductors which form a sequentially arranged interleaved stack having opposing first and second ends, with dielectric layers between the conductors. The first and second planar conductors are connected to each other at the first end, and the first and fourth planar conductors are connected to each other at the second end via a shorting plate. The third planar conductor is electrically connectable to a high voltage source, and an internal switch functions to short at the first end a high voltage from the third planar conductor to the fourth planar conductor to produce a bipolar pulse at the acceleration axis with a zero net time integral. Improved access to the switch is enabled by an aperture through the shorting plate and the proximity of the aperture to the switch.

Methodological and Clinical Issues in Studies of the Performance of Emotionally Disturbed Children and Adolescents on Abbreviated Forms of the WISC-R: A Review.

Science.gov (United States)

Zimet, Sara G.; Adler, Shoshana Shapiro

1990-01-01

Reviews research from 1974 to 1988 that suggests there is promise in valid and reliable use of a short form of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children as a means of obtaining clinically relevant information and as an emergency screening device with children with serious emotional disorders. Discusses situations in which children should…

Bipolar pulse forming line

Science.gov (United States)

Rhodes, Mark A.

2008-10-21

A bipolar pulse forming transmission line module for linear induction accelerators having first, second, third, fourth, and fifth planar conductors which form an interleaved stack with dielectric layers between the conductors. Each conductor has a first end, and a second end adjacent an acceleration axis. The first and second planar conductors are connected to each other at the second ends, the fourth and fifth planar conductors are connected to each other at the second ends, and the first and fifth planar conductors are connected to each other at the first ends via a shorting plate adjacent the first ends. The third planar conductor is electrically connectable to a high voltage source, and an internal switch functions to short a high voltage from the first end of the third planar conductor to the first end of the fourth planar conductor to produce a bipolar pulse at the acceleration axis with a zero net time integral. Improved access to the switch is enabled by an aperture through the shorting plate and the proximity of the aperture to the switch.

L'homme de la réforme chinoise

OpenAIRE

Xiao-Planes, Xiaohong

2012-01-01

Recensé : Ezra F. Vogel Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China. Cambridge(Mass). Harvard University Press. 2011. XXIV et 876 pages.http://www.laviedesidees.fr/L-homme-de-la-reforme-chinoise.html; À l’heure où le Parti Communiste Chinois renouvelle ses dirigeants,l’ouvrage magistral d’Ezra Vogel dresse le portrait d’un Deng Xiaoping investid’une mission, celle de construire un État-nation riche et puissant, et résolu àprendre le relais de Mao, en adoptant une approche plus pragmatique e...

[Reliability and validity of the Wender-Utah-Rating-Scale short form. Retrospective assessment of symptoms for attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder].

Science.gov (United States)

Retz-Junginger, P; Retz, W; Blocher, D; Stieglitz, R-D; Georg, T; Supprian, T; Wender, P H; Rösler, M

2003-11-01

The diagnosis of adult attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) requires the retrospective assessment of ADHD symptoms in childhood. The Wender Utah Rating Scale (WURS) is helpful in detecting ADHD-associated symptomatology in childhood. A German short version (WURS-k) of this instrument has been made available recently. In the present study, we investigated the validity of the WURS-k. In a population of 63 adult ADHD patients (according to ICD-10 and DSM-IV criteria) and 1,303 male controls, ROC analysis indicated a sensitivity of 85% and specificity of 76% at a cutoff of 30 points. In ADHD patients, seven individual factors explained 70.3% of the variance. The highest diagnostic precision was demonstrated using the WURS-k total score. The seven extracted factors of the WURS-k did not differ in diagnostic value. Significant correlations were found between impulsivity according to Eysenck's Impulsivity Questionnaire (EIQ) and excitability, aggression, emotional lability, and satisfaction on the Freiburg Personality Inventory (FPI-R) in ADHD patients. Concerning a 30-50% persistence of ADHD symptomatology in adults, these correlations underline the diagnostic validity of the WURS-k. The scale manifested excellent internal consistency (alpha=0.91) and a split-half correlation of r(12)=0.85.

Loss of the ability to generate large burst-forming unit-like megakaryocytic colonies from thawed cord blood in semisolid cultures after short term suspension culture.

Science.gov (United States)

Eskola, M; Bäckman, S; Möttönen, S; Kekomäki, R

2015-04-01

Total colony-forming cells from thawed cord blood units (CBUs) include megakaryocytic colony-forming units (CFU-Mks), which survive the freezing process. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether different megakaryocytic progenitors from unseparated CBUs survive the freezing process and a short-term liquid culture. Thawed samples of CBUs were cultured in liquid medium. During the cultures, serial samples were drawn to assess the growth of different megakaryocytic progenitors in a semisolid collagen medium with identical cytokines as in the liquid medium. Megakaryocytic cells were detected using immunohistochemistry and flow cytometry. In suspension culture, the megakaryocytic progenitors almost completely lost the ability to generate large (burst-forming unit-like, BFU-like) megakaryocytic colonies in semisolid cultures (large colonies, median count per chamber d0: 7.25 vs. d7: 1.5; P culture in suspension resulted in the decline of small colonies as well (d7: 16.0 vs. d14: 5.75; P = 0.0088). Total CFU-Mk count declined from 23.3 (range 12.5-34.0) at d0 to 7.25 (range 1.0-13.5) at d14 (P culture after a short suspension culture. Small CFU-Mks were observed throughout the cultures. It may be that the BFU-Mk colonies matured and acquired CFU-Mk behaviour. © 2014 International Society of Blood Transfusion.

Bacillus cereus Fnr binds a [4Fe-4S] cluster and forms a ternary complex with ResD and PlcR

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Esbelin Julia

2012-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Bacillus cereus is a facultative anaerobe that causes diarrheal disease in humans. Diarrheal syndrome may result from the secretion of various virulence factors including hemolysin BL and nonhemolytic enterotoxin Nhe. Expression of genes encoding Hbl and Nhe is regulated by the two redox systems, ResDE and Fnr, and the virulence regulator PlcR. B. cereus Fnr is a member of the Crp/Fnr family of iron-sulfur (Fe-S proteins. Only its apo-form has so far been studied. A major goal in deciphering the Fnr-dependent regulation of enterotoxin genes is thus to obtain and characterize holoFnr. Results Fnr has been subjected to in vitro Fe-S cluster reconstitution under anoxic conditions. UV-visible and EPR spectroscopic analyses together with the chemical estimation of the iron content indicated that Fnr binds one [4Fe-4S]2+ cluster per monomer. Atmospheric O2 causes disassembly of the Fe-S cluster, which exhibited a half-life of 15 min in air. Holo- and apoFnr have similar affinities for the nhe and hbl promoter regions, while holoFnr has a higher affinity for fnr promoter region than apoFnr. Both the apo- and holo-form of Fnr interact with ResD and PlcR to form a ternary complex. Conclusions Overall, this work shows that incorporation of the [4Fe-4S]2+ cluster is not required for DNA binding of Fnr to promoter regions of hbl and nhe enterotoxin genes or for the formation of a ternary complex with ResD and PlcR. This points to some new unusual properties of Fnr that may have physiological relevance in the redox regulation of enterotoxin gene regulation.

A Measure of the Parent-Team Alliance in Youth Residential Psychiatry: The Revised Short Working Alliance Inventory.

Science.gov (United States)

Lamers, Audri; Delsing, Marc J M H; van Widenfelt, Brigit M; Vermeiren, Robert R J M

The therapeutic alliance between multidisciplinary teams and parents within youth (semi) residential psychiatry is essential for the treatment process and forms a promising process variable for Routine Outcome Monitoring (ROM). No short evaluative instrument, however, is currently available to assess parent-team alliance. In this study, the Working Alliance Inventory-Short Version (WAV-12), a widely used alliance questionnaire, was adjusted to assess parent-team alliance from both a parent and team perspective within a youth residential setting. Psychometric properties, including factor structure and validity of the subscales, were explored. A sample of youth with mainly complex developmental disorders admitted to 11 inpatient and day patient units of a child and adolescent psychiatric institute participated in this study. The case manager involved with the youth and the primary caregiver of 87 youth completed the revised WAV-12 (WAV-12R). The team version of the WAV-12R showed a good fit to the original conceptualized model, and distinguished Bond, Task and Goal scales. For the parents' version an adjusted model with Insight, Bond and combined Task/Goal scales had the best fit. The reliability and validity of the scales were shown to be good. This paper presents preliminary evidence that the parent and treatment team versions of the WAV-12R are psychometrically sound for assessing parent-team alliance within youth (semi) residential psychiatry in the Netherlands. The team and parents' versions of the WAV-12R are recommended instruments to complement outcome measures in ROM.

16S rRNA gene-based molecular analysis of mat-forming and accompanying bacteria covering organically-enriched marine sediments underlying a salmon farm in Southern Chile (Calbuco Island)

OpenAIRE

Aranda, Carlos; Paredes, Javier; Valenzuela, Cristian; Lam, Phyllis; Guillou, Laure

2010-01-01

The mat forming bacteria covering organic matter-enriched and anoxic marine sediments underlying a salmon farm in Southern Chile, were examined using 16S rRNA gene phylogenies. This mat was absent in the sea bed outside the direct influence of the farm (360 m outside fish cages). Based on nearly complete 16S rRNA gene sequences (-1500 bp), mat-forming filamentous cells were settled as the sulphur-oxidizing and putatively dissimilative nitrate-reducing Beggiatoa spp., being closely related (up...

Quality of life assessed with the medical outcomes study short form 36-item health survey of patients on renal replacement therapy: A systematic review and meta-analysis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Y.S. Liem (Ylian Serina); J.L. Bosch (Johanna); L.R. Arends (Lidia); M.H. Heijenbrok-Kal (Majanka); M.G.M. Hunink (Myriam)

2007-01-01

textabstractObjectives: The Medical Outcomes Study Short Form 36-Item Health Survey (SF-36) is the most widely used generic instrument to estimate quality of life of patients on renal replacement therapy. Purpose of this study was to summarize and compare the published literature on quality of

Graphical Models with R

CERN Document Server

Højsgaard, Søren; Lauritzen, Steffen

2012-01-01

Graphical models in their modern form have been around since the late 1970s and appear today in many areas of the sciences. Along with the ongoing developments of graphical models, a number of different graphical modeling software programs have been written over the years. In recent years many of these software developments have taken place within the R community, either in the form of new packages or by providing an R interface to existing software. This book attempts to give the reader a gentle introduction to graphical modeling using R and the main features of some of these packages. In add

Validation of the Kidney Disease Quality of Life-Short Form: a cross-sectional study of a dialysis-targeted health measure in Singapore

OpenAIRE

Joshi, Veena D; Mooppil, Nandakumar; Lim, Jeremy FY

2010-01-01

Abstract Background In Singapore, the prevalence of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) and the number of people on dialysis is increasing. The impact of ESRD on patient quality of life has been recognized as an important outcome measure. The Kidney Disease Quality Of Life-Short Form (KDQOL-SF™) has been validated and is widely used as a measure of quality of life in dialysis patients in many countries, but not in Singapore. We aimed to determine the reliability and validity of the KDQOL-SF™ for h...

Konstruktion av vertikaltransportör för materialhantering

OpenAIRE

Furu, Micke

2012-01-01

Rotab Rostfria Transportörer AB tillverkar och utvecklar material- och godshanteringsutrustning. Företaget levererar även kompletta materialhanteringslösningar i form av godshanteringsanläggningar som ofta består av transportband och paketeringsutrustning. Examensarbetets mål är att utveckla en vertikaltransportör som ska transportera gods mellan två transportband belägna på olika höjder, transporten ska kunna varieras mellan 1000 - 3000 mm. Transportören ska undvika de två stora nackdelarna ...

Psychometric Characteristics of a Vocational Preference Inventory Short Form.

Science.gov (United States)

Lowman, Rodney L.; Schurman, Susan J.

1982-01-01

The psychometric properties of a revised version of Holland's Vocational Preference Inventory were assessed using federal government employees. Factor analyses, interscale correlations, measures of internal consistency, and criterion group profiles are presented. Evidence was supportive of the validity of the revised form. (Author/BW)

Study of short-lived fission products with the aid of an isotope separator connected to reactor R2-0

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rudstam, G.

1976-01-01

This report constitutes a final report on project 74-3289 together with a preliminary report for project 75-3332. These projects have been included in the budget years 1974/75 and 1975/76 as a contribution to the operating costs of reactor R2-0 at Studsvik. The reactor was used for experimental studies on short-lived fission products with OSIRIS isotope-separator equipment. The scientific programme is very broad. It comprises, in the first place, characterisation of fission products (a study of their excitation levels, measurement of decay properties such as half-life and emission of delayed neutrons, determination of neutron energy spectrum, determination of total decay energy, etc.). An important application of this field of research is the determination of decay heat in nuclear fuel. The programme thus comprises research of a fundamental character and applied research. (H.E.G.)

Comparison of the Mini-Nutritional Assessment short and long form and serum albumin as prognostic indicators of hip fracture outcomes.

Science.gov (United States)

Helminen, Heli; Luukkaala, Tiina; Saarnio, Juha; Nuotio, Maria

2017-04-01

Malnutrition is common among older hip fracture patients and associated with adverse outcomes. We examined Mini Nutritional Assessment short (MNA-SF) and long form (MNA-LF) and serum albumin as prognostic indicators of mobility, living arrangements and mortality after hip fracture. Population-based prospective data were collected on 594 hip fracture patients aged 65 and over. MNA-SF, MNA-LF and serum albumin were assessed on admission. Outcomes were poorer mobility; transfer to more assisted living accommodation and mortality one month, four months and one year post fracture. Logistic regression analyses for mobility and living arrangements with odds ratios (OR) and Cox proportional hazards model for mortality with hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were used, adjusted for age, gender, ASA grade and fracture type. All measures predicted mortality at all time-points. Risk of malnutrition and malnutrition measured by MNA-LF predicted mobility and living arrangements within four months of hip fracture. At one year, risk of malnutrition predicted mobility and malnutrition predicted living arrangements, when measured by MNA-LF. Malnutrition, but not risk thereof, measured by MNA-SF predicted living arrangements at all time-points. None of the measures predicted one-month mobility. All measures were strong indicators of short- and long-term mortality after hip fracture. MNA-LF was superior in predicting mobility and living arrangements, particularly at four months. All measures were relatively poor in predicting short-term outcomes of mobility and living arrangements. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Development of a Short Line Railroad Safety Institute : phase I - job analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

2014-04-01

The Federal Railroad Administrations (FRA) : Office of Research and Development (R&D) is : supporting the American Short Line and : Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) in the : development, implementation, and evaluation of : a proposed Short L...

Romulea pilosa and R. quartzicola (Iridaceae: Crocoideae, two new species from the southern African winter rainfall region, with nomenclatural corrections

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. C. Manning

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Romulea pilosa J.C.Manning & Goldblatt and R. quartzicola J.C.Manning & Goldblatt are two narrow endemics from the southern African winter rainfall region. An early, fragmentary collection of R. pilosa from Riviersonderend lacked the diagnostic corm and was thus mistakenly associated with R. tetragona (sect. Ciliatae as var. flavandra M.P.de Vos because of the highly distinctive pilose, H-shaped leaf. The rediscovery of the taxon in the wild shows it to be a previously unrecognized member of sect. Aggregatae, distinguished by its unusual foliage and bright orange flowers. R. quartzicola was grown to flowering from seeds collected from quartz patches in southern Namaqualand and proved to be a new species of sect. Ciliatae, distinguished by its early flowering, short, subclavate leaves with reduced sclerenchyma strands, and bright yellow flowers with short bracts. R. neglecta M.P.de Vos, a rare endemic from the Kamiesberg in Northern Cape, is a later homonym for the Mediterranean R. neglecta Jord. & Fourr., and the earliest name for this plant is shown to be R. speciosa (Ker Gawl. Baker, typified by an illustration in Andrews’ The botanist’s repository. An epitype is designated to fix the application of the name. We have also examined the type illustration of R. pudica (Sol. ex Ker Gawl. Baker, hitherto treated as an uncertain species, and are confident that it represents the species currently known as R. amoena Schltr. ex Bég., and takes priority over it as being the earlier name. The type of R. reflexa Eckl., a new name for the later homonym I. reflexa Thunb. and the basionym of R. rosea var. reflexa (Eckl. Bég., has been mistakenly identified as an Ecklon collection but is in fact the collection that formed the basis of Thunberg’s I. reflexa. This collection is actually a form of R. flava Lam., and the name R. rosea var. reflexa is thus moved to the synonomy of that species. The variety currently known under this name should now be

Using R via PHP for Teaching Purposes: R-php

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Angelo Mineo

2006-10-01

Full Text Available This paper deals with the R-php statistical software, that is an environment for statistical analysis, freely accessible and attainable through the World Wide Web, based on R. Indeed, this software uses, as “engine” for statistical analyses, R via PHP and its design has been inspired by a paper of de Leeuw (1997. R-php is based on two modules: a base module and a point-and-click module. R-php base allows the simple editing of R code in a form. R-php point-and-click allows some statistical analyses by means of a graphical user interface (GUI: then, to use this module it is not necessary for the user to know the R environment, but all the allowed analyses can be performed by using the computer mouse. We think that this tool could be particularly useful for teaching purposes: one possible use could be in a University computer laboratory to permit a smooth approach of students to R.

miR-221 and miR-222 expression affects the proliferation potential of human prostate carcinoma cell lines by targeting p27Kip1.

Science.gov (United States)

Galardi, Silvia; Mercatelli, Neri; Giorda, Ezio; Massalini, Simone; Frajese, Giovanni Vanni; Ciafrè, Silvia Anna; Farace, Maria Giulia

2007-08-10

MicroRNAs are short regulatory RNAs that negatively modulate protein expression at a post-transcriptional level and are deeply involved in the pathogenesis of several types of cancers. Here we show that miR-221 and miR-222, encoded in tandem on chromosome X, are overexpressed in the PC3 cellular model of aggressive prostate carcinoma, as compared with LNCaP and 22Rv1 cell line models of slowly growing carcinomas. In all cell lines tested, we show an inverse relationship between the expression of miR-221 and miR-222 and the cell cycle inhibitor p27(Kip1). We recognize two target sites for the microRNAs in the 3' untranslated region of p27 mRNA, and we show that miR-221/222 ectopic overexpression directly results in p27 down-regulation in LNCaP cells. In those cells, we demonstrate that the ectopic overexpression of miR-221/222 strongly affects their growth potential by inducing a G(1) to S shift in the cell cycle and is sufficient to induce a powerful enhancement of their colony-forming potential in soft agar. Consistently, miR-221 and miR-222 knock-down through antisense LNA oligonucleotides increases p27(Kip1) in PC3 cells and strongly reduces their clonogenicity in vitro. Our results suggest that miR-221/222 can be regarded as a new family of oncogenes, directly targeting the tumor suppressor p27(Kip1), and that their overexpression might be one of the factors contributing to the oncogenesis and progression of prostate carcinoma through p27(Kip1) down-regulation.

Psychometric Evaluation and Cultural Correlates of the Mate Retention Inventory–Short Form (MRI-SF in Iran

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Mohammad Atari

2017-02-01

Full Text Available The current study investigated the psychometric properties of the Persian translation of the Mate Retention Inventory–Short Form (MRI-SF in Iran. We also investigated sex differences in the use of mate retention tactics and investigated the relationships between mate retention behaviors and a number of related cultural constructs. Participants (N = 308 ranged in age from 18 to 57 years. All participants were in a committed romantic relationship, with mean relationship length of 63.5 months (SD = 73.8. Participants completed the Persian translation of the MRI-SF and measures of religiosity, relationship satisfaction, self-esteem, and socioeconomic status. Cultural measures specific to Iran were also included, such as Mahr (for married individuals, self-perceived Qeiratiness (for men, and self-perceived jealousy (for women. Mahr is a mandatory amount of money or possessions paid or promised to be paid by the groom to the bride at the time of the marriage contract. Qeirati is a male-specific adjective in Persian meaning protective against unwanted attention toward a man’s romantic partner. Female jealousy is usually regarded the counterpart of male Qeiratiness in Iranian culture. The 19 mate retention tactics formed a two-component structure, consistent with previous research. Results demonstrate adequate internal consistency of 2-item assessments of mate retention tactics. Observed sex differences accorded with previous mate retention research and are discussed in reference to evolutionary perspectives on human mating. Several significant associations emerged between mate retention tactics and Iranian culture-specific variables and are discussed from a cross-cultural perspective.

Development of a Short Form of the Abridged Big Five-Dimensional Circumplex Model to Aid with the Organization of Personality Traits.

Science.gov (United States)

Bucher, Meredith A; Samuel, Douglas B

2018-02-01

Although there has been widespread consensus on the use of the Five-Factor Model (FFM) of general personality functioning in personality research, there are various, diverse models of the lower order traits of the FFM domains. Given the usefulness of these finer grained traits, it is imperative to integrate facets proposed across a variety of models and eventually reach consensus on the lower level traits of the FFM. Due to its depth and coverage, the Abridged Big Five-Dimensional Circumplex (AB5C) model potentially provides a useful framework for organizing various faceted models due to its conceptual organization and inclusiveness. The only measure of this model-the IPIP-AB5C-has shown promise, but is limited by its length (i.e., 485 items). This study developed an abbreviated version of the IPIP-AB5C using an iterative process including item response theory methods. The shorter version maintained key features of the long form including a factor structure that matched the full form as well as facets that correlated in expected ways with other FFM measures. Building on this support, the short form was used to contextualize and organize the facets from 2 commonly used measures.

R quick syntax reference

CERN Document Server

Tollefson, Margot

2014-01-01

The R Quick Syntax Reference is a handy reference book detailing the intricacies of the R language. Not only is R a free, open-source tool, R is powerful, flexible, and has state of the art statistical techniques available. With the many details which must be correct when using any language, however, the R Quick Syntax Reference makes using R easier.Starting with the basic structure of R, the book takes you on a journey through the terminology used in R and the syntax required to make R work. You will find looking up the correct form for an expression quick and easy. With a copy of the R Quick

Linking forms of inbound open innovation to a driver-based typology of environmental innovation: Evidence from French manufacturing firms

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Li-Ying, Jason; Mothe, Caroline; Nguyen, Thi Thuc Uyen

2017-01-01

Environmental innovation research has not yet clarified how different forms of inbound innovation might exert effects. The current article proposes four driver-based EI types according to two main dimensions: compliance versus voluntary and own value capture versus customer value capture. With a ......Environmental innovation research has not yet clarified how different forms of inbound innovation might exert effects. The current article proposes four driver-based EI types according to two main dimensions: compliance versus voluntary and own value capture versus customer value capture....... With a problem-solving perspective, we develop links from different forms of inbound innovation to various types of EI and test the related hypotheses with two waves of the French Community Innovation Survey. On a short-term basis, R&D cooperation and technology acquisition correlate positively with all four...... types of EI, but over time, persistent R&D cooperation and technology acquisition are associated with EI only at the production stage, according to voluntary/strategic or compliance drivers. Inbound innovation enables quick responses to market demands for EI in the final use stage....

Association between level of personality organization as assessed with theory-driven profiles of the Dutch Short Form of the MMPI and outcome of inpatient treatment for personality disorder

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Scholte, W.R.; Eurelings-Bontekoe, E.H.M.; Tiemens, B.G.; Verheul, R.; Meerman, A.; Hutschemaekers, G.J.M.

2014-01-01

The association between level of personality organization as assessed by theory-driven profile interpretation of the MMPI (Hathaway & McKinley, 1943) Dutch Short Form and treatment outcome was investigated in a naturalistic follow-up study among 121 psychotherapy inpatients who had been treated for

Phase composition of iron-rich R-Fe-Si (R=Dy, Ho, Er) alloys

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ivanova, G.V.; Makarova, G.M.; Shcherbakova, E.V.; Belozerov, E.V.

2005-01-01

Phase composition is studied in iron-rich alloys of R-Fe-Si (R=Dy, Ho, Er). In the as-cast state R 2 (Fe, Si) 17 of type Th 2 Ni 17 and R(Fe, Si) 12 compounds are observed; in the alloys of rated composition of R(Fe 0.85 Si 0.15 ) 8.5 (R=Dy, Er) a compound R 2 (Fe, Si) 17 of Th 2 Zn 17 -type is revealed as well. The annealing at 1273 K results in formation of Dy 3 (Fe, Si) 29 and also the compounds with the presumed composition of Dy 4 (Fe, Si) 41 and Ho 4 (Fe, Si) 41 . As this takes place the alloys contain a transition structure as well that represents a set of small-sized areas with various type short-range order in mutual displacement of Fe-Fe(Si) dumpbell chains. The process of phase formation at 1273 K is faced with difficulties. Even the annealing for 1000 h does not result in the state of equilibrium [ru

Insertion polymorphisms of SINE200 retrotransposons within speciation islands of Anopheles gambiae molecular forms

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tu Zhijian

2008-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background SINEs (Short INterspersed Elements are homoplasy-free and co-dominant genetic markers which are considered to represent useful tools for population genetic studies, and could help clarifying the speciation processes ongoing within the major malaria vector in Africa, Anopheles gambiae s.s. Here, we report the results of the analysis of the insertion polymorphism of a nearly 200 bp-long SINE (SINE200 within genome areas of high differentiation (i.e. "speciation islands" of M and S A. gambiae molecular forms. Methods A SINE-PCR approach was carried out on thirteen SINE200 insertions in M and S females collected along the whole range of distribution of A. gambiae s.s. in sub-Saharan Africa. Ten specimens each for Anopheles arabiensis, Anopheles melas, Anopheles quadriannulatus A and 15 M/S hybrids from laboratory crosses were also analysed. Results Eight loci were successfully amplified and were found to be specific for A. gambiae s.s.: 5 on 2L chromosome and one on X chromosome resulted monomorphic, while two loci positioned respectively on 2R (i.e. S200 2R12D and X (i.e. S200 X6.1 chromosomes were found to be polymorphic. S200 2R12D was homozygote for the insertion in most S-form samples, while intermediate levels of polymorphism were shown in M-form, resulting in an overall high degree of genetic differentiation between molecular forms (Fst = 0.46 p S200 X6.1 was found to be fixed in all M- and absent in all S-specimens. This led to develop a novel easy-to-use PCR approach to straightforwardly identify A. gambiae molecular forms. This novel approach allows to overcome the constraints associated with markers on the rDNA region commonly used for M and S identification. In fact, it is based on a single copy and irreversible SINE200 insertion and, thus, is not subjected to peculiar evolutionary patterns affecting rDNA markers, e.g. incomplete homogenization of the arrays through concerted evolution and/or mixtures of M and S IGS

La réforme des comptes du secteur public en Belgique (1ère partie – Introduction)

OpenAIRE

Raymond Ghysels; Hang Pascale Phan-Thanh; Christos Tsatsis

2012-01-01

Cet article est le premier d’une série de quatre articles de recherche consacrés à la réforme de la reddition des comptes et de l’organisation comptable du secteur public en Belgique et à sa transition d’une comptabilité camérale vers un système intégré de comptabilité patrimoniale et de comptabilité budgétaire à la lumière des IPSAS. Ce premier article aborde les motivations de la transition et le cadre de conceptuel (conceptual framework) pour la future comptabilité intégrée patrimoniale et...

H{sub 2} R and D activities in the Nordic Countries

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Holst Joergensen, B.

2003-10-01

The report describes hydrogen related R and D activities in the five Nordic countries from 1998 and onwards. It is not a comprehensive account of all hydrogen related R and D as much relevant research is not described under the heading of hydrogen energy but integrated in other programmes or part of more generic basic research. Also much industry conducted H2 R and D activities are not published. It gives some background information on R and D in the five Nordic countries and gives account of the R and D efforts. At Nordic level through the Nordic Energy Research a number of R and D projects are also conducted and shortly described. At EU level, Nordic stakeholders are represented in a number of hydrogen and fuel cell R and D projects and short descriptions are provided. In the appendix, more detaield informaiton is given on the R and D projects at national, EU and Nordic levels. (au)

A novel vector-based method for exclusive overexpression of star-form microRNAs.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bo Qu

Full Text Available The roles of microRNAs (miRNAs as important regulators of gene expression have been studied intensively. Although most of these investigations have involved the highly expressed form of the two mature miRNA species, increasing evidence points to essential roles for star-form microRNAs (miRNA*, which are usually expressed at much lower levels. Owing to the nature of miRNA biogenesis, it is challenging to use plasmids containing miRNA coding sequences for gain-of-function experiments concerning the roles of microRNA* species. Synthetic microRNA mimics could introduce specific miRNA* species into cells, but this transient overexpression system has many shortcomings. Here, we report that specific miRNA* species can be overexpressed by introducing artificially designed stem-loop sequences into short hairpin RNA (shRNA overexpression vectors. By our prototypic plasmid, designed to overexpress hsa-miR-146b-3p, we successfully expressed high levels of hsa-miR-146b-3p without detectable change of hsa-miR-146b-5p. Functional analysis involving luciferase reporter assays showed that, like natural miRNAs, the overexpressed hsa-miR-146b-3p inhibited target gene expression by 3'UTR seed pairing. Our demonstration that this method could overexpress two other miRNAs suggests that the approach should be broadly applicable. Our novel strategy opens the way for exclusively stable overexpression of miRNA* species and analyzing their unique functions both in vitro and in vivo.

Are reflective models appropriate for very short scales? Proofs of concept of formative models using the Ten-Item Personality Inventory.

Science.gov (United States)

Myszkowski, Nils; Storme, Martin; Tavani, Jean-Louis

2018-04-27

Because of their length and objective of broad content coverage, very short scales can show limited internal consistency and structural validity. We argue that it is because their objectives may be better aligned with formative investigations than with reflective measurement methods that capitalize on content overlap. As proofs of concept of formative investigations of short scales, we investigate the Ten Item Personality Inventory (TIPI). In Study 1, we administered the TIPI and the Big Five Inventory (BFI) to 938 adults, and fitted a formative Multiple Indicator Multiple Causes model, which consisted of the TIPI items forming 5 latent variables, which in turn predicted the 5 BFI scores. These results were replicated in Study 2, on a sample of 759 adults, with, this time, the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R) as the external criterion. The models fit the data adequately, and moderate to strong significant effects (.37<|β|<.69, all p<.001) of all 5 latent formative variables on their corresponding BFI and NEOPI-R scores were observed. This study presents a formative approach that we propose to be more consistent with the aims of scales with broad content and short length like the TIPI. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Creep behaviour of a short-fibre C/PPS composite

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Fíla, T.; Koudelka_ml., Petr; Kytýř, Daniel; Hos, J.; Šleichrt, J.

2016-01-01

Roč. 50, č. 3 (2016), s. 413-417 ISSN 1580-2949 R&D Projects: GA TA ČR(CZ) TA03010209 Institutional support: RVO:68378297 Keywords : creep * short fibre composite * C/PPS * Findley’s model * DIC Subject RIV: JI - Composite Materials Impact factor: 0.436, year: 2016 http://mit.imt.si/Revija/izvodi/mit163/fila.pdf

Methods of forming single source precursors, methods of forming polymeric single source precursors, and single source precursors formed by such methods

Science.gov (United States)

Fox, Robert V.; Rodriguez, Rene G.; Pak, Joshua J.; Sun, Chivin; Margulieux, Kelsey R.; Holland, Andrew W.

2014-09-09

Methods of forming single source precursors (SSPs) include forming intermediate products having the empirical formula 1/2{L.sub.2N(.mu.-X).sub.2M'X.sub.2}.sub.2, and reacting MER with the intermediate products to form SSPs of the formula L.sub.2N(.mu.-ER).sub.2M'(ER).sub.2, wherein L is a Lewis base, M is a Group IA atom, N is a Group IB atom, M' is a Group IIIB atom, each E is a Group VIB atom, each X is a Group VIIA atom or a nitrate group, and each R group is an alkyl, aryl, vinyl, (per)fluoro alkyl, (per)fluoro aryl, silane, or carbamato group. Methods of forming polymeric or copolymeric SSPs include reacting at least one of HE.sup.1R.sup.1E.sup.1H and MER with one or more substances having the empirical formula L.sub.2N(.mu.-ER).sub.2M'(ER).sub.2 or L.sub.2N(.mu.-X).sub.2M'(X).sub.2 to form a polymeric or copolymeric SSP. New SSPs and intermediate products are formed by such methods.

Çâr-Ender-Çâr Poems in Classical Turkish Literature

OpenAIRE

TOPAL, Ahmet

2017-01-01

Çâr-ender-çâr is a Persian term, which means quartet and four in four. This term is used in classical Turkish poetry for different poems, which have a common form as a quartet structure and style. Çâr-ender-çâr is used generally with the literary arts like leff ü neşr, taksîm, tensîkü’s-sıfat and known as the poems, which are constructed in a quartet parallelism. Other poems, which are qualified as çâr-ender-çâr are the verses, called in murabba style. These poems are accepted generally as th...

Effect of short fiber reinforcement on the properties of recycled poly(ethylene terephthalate)/poly(ethylene naphthalate) blends

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Karsli, Nevin Gamze; Yesil, Sertan; Aytac, Ayse

2013-01-01

Highlights: ► Short fiber reinforcement to the r-PET/PEN blend improved to the tensile strength. ► Fiber reinforcement increased the storage modulus of r-PET/PEN blend. ► CF reinforced composite has the highest storage modulus value. - Abstract: In this study, short carbon (CF), glass (GF) and hybrid carbon/glass fiber reinforced recycled poly(ethylene terephthalate)/poly(ethylene 2,6-naphthalate) (r-PET/PEN) blends were prepared by melt mixing method. The mechanical, thermal and morphological properties of composites were investigated by using tensile tests, differential scanning calorimeter, dynamic mechanical analyzer and scanning electron microscopy. The microscopic analysis showed that there is a better interfacial interaction between fiber and polymer matrix for CF reinforced composite. It was found that addition of short fiber reinforcement to the r-PET/PEN blend improved the tensile strength and Young’s modulus values more than the addition of PEN into r-PET. According to DMA analysis, fiber reinforcement increased the storage modulus of composites when compared with r-PET/PEN blend and among them storage modulus of CF reinforced composite was the highest. It was concluded that mechanical properties of r-PET can be enhanced with addition of PEN and more efficiently with short fiber reinforcement

THE CYSTIC FORM OF RHEUMATOID-ARTHRITIS

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dijkstra, P. F.; Gubler, F. M.; Maas, M.

1988-01-01

A non-erosive form of rheumatoid arthritis (R.A.) was found in 62 patients out of 660 patients with R.A. These 62 patients exhibit slowly progressive cystic changes in about the same joints in which usually erosions develop in classic R.A. The E.S.R. is often low, half of the patients remained

Improving the measurement of health-related quality of life in adolescent with idiopathic scoliosis: the SRS-7, a Rasch-developed short form of the SRS-22 questionnaire.

Science.gov (United States)

Caronni, Antonio; Zaina, Fabio; Negrini, Stefano

2014-04-01

Scoliosis Research Society-22 (SRS-22) questionnaire was developed to evaluate health-related quality of life (HRQL) in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) patients. Rasch analysis (RA) is a statistical procedure which turns questionnaire ordinal scores into interval measures. Measures from Rasch-compatible questionnaires can be used, similar to body temperature or blood pressure, to quantify disease severity progression and treatment efficacy. Purpose of the current work is to present Rasch analysis (RA) of the SRS-22 questionnaire and to develop an SRS-22 Rasch-approved short form. 300 SRS-22 were randomly collected from 2447 consecutive IS adolescents at their first evaluation (229 females; 13.9 ± 1.9 years; 26.9 ± 14.7 Cobb°) in a scoliosis outpatient clinic. RA showed both disordered thresholds and overall misfit of the SRS-22. Sixteen items were re-scored and two misfitting items (6 and 14) removed to obtain a Rasch-compatible questionnaire. Participants HRQL measured too high with the rearranged questionnaire, indicating a severe SRS-22 ceiling effect. RA also highlighted SRS-22 multidimensionality, with pain/function not merging with self-image/mental health items. Item 3 showed differential item functioning (DIF) for both curve and hump amplitude. A 7-item questionnaire (SRS-7) was prepared by selecting single items from the original SRS-22. SRS-7 showed fit to the model, unidimensionality and no DIF. Compared with the SRS-22, the short form scale shows better targeting of the participants' population. RA shows that SRS-22 has poor clinimetric properties; moreover, when used with AIS at first evaluation, SRS-22 is affected by a severe ceiling effect. SRS-7, an SRS-22 7-item short form questionnaire, provides an HRQL interval measure better tailored to these participants. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

PLANET HUNTERS: ASSESSING THE KEPLER INVENTORY OF SHORT-PERIOD PLANETS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schwamb, Megan E.; Lintott, Chris J.; Lynn, Stuart; Smith, Arfon M.; Simpson, Robert J.; Fischer, Debra A.; Giguere, Matthew J.; Brewer, John M.; Parrish, Michael; Schawinski, Kevin

2012-01-01

We present the results from a search of data from the first 33.5 days of the Kepler science mission (Quarter 1) for exoplanet transits by the Planet Hunters citizen science project. Planet Hunters enlists members of the general public to visually identify transits in the publicly released Kepler light curves via the World Wide Web. Over 24,000 volunteers reviewed the Kepler Quarter 1 data set. We examine the abundance of ≥2 R ⊕ planets on short-period ( ⊕ Planet Hunters ≥85% efficient at identifying transit signals for planets with periods less than 15 days for the Kepler sample of target stars. Our high efficiency rate for simulated transits along with recovery of the majority of Kepler ≥4 R ⊕ planets suggests that the Kepler inventory of ≥4 R ⊕ short-period planets is nearly complete.

SCL-90-R Symptom Profiles and Outcome of Short-Term Psychodynamic Group Therapy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Hans Henrik; Mortensen, Erik Lykke; Lotz, Martin

2013-01-01

Abstract Background. Psychodynamic group psychotherapy may not be an optimal treatment for anxiety and agoraphobic symptoms. We explore remission of SCL-90-R Global Severity Index (GSI) and target symptoms in 39 sessions of psychodynamic group therapy. Methods. SCL-90-R “target symptom” profile a...

Psychometric Properties of the Kidney Disease Quality of Life 36-Item Short-Form Survey (KDQOL-36) in the United States.

Science.gov (United States)

Peipert, John D; Bentler, Peter M; Klicko, Kristi; Hays, Ron D

2018-04-01

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services require that dialysis patients' health-related quality of life be assessed annually. The primary instrument used for this purpose is the Kidney Disease Quality of Life 36-Item Short-Form Survey (KDQOL-36), which includes the SF-12 as its generic core and 3 kidney disease-targeted scales: Burden of Kidney Disease, Symptoms and Problems of Kidney Disease, and Effects of Kidney Disease. Despite its broad use, there has been limited evaluation of KDQOL-36's psychometric properties. Secondary analyses of data collected by the Medical Education Institute to evaluate the reliability and factor structure of the KDQOL-36 scales. KDQOL-36 responses from 70,786 dialysis patients in 1,381 US dialysis facilities that permitted data analysis were collected from June 1, 2015, through May 31, 2016, as part of routine clinical assessment. We assessed the KDQOL-36 scales' internal consistency reliability and dialysis facility-level reliability using coefficient alpha and 1-way analysis of variance. We evaluated the KDQOL-36's factor structure using item-to-total scale correlations and confirmatory factor analysis. Construct validity was examined using correlations between SF-12 and KDQOL-36 scales and "known groups" analyses. Each of the KDQOL-36's kidney disease-targeted scales had acceptable internal consistency reliability (α=0.83-0.85) and facility-level reliability (r=0.75-0.83). Item-scale correlations and a confirmatory factor analysis model evidenced the KDQOL-36's original factor structure. Construct validity was supported by large correlations between the SF-12 Physical Component Summary and Mental Component Summary (r=0.40-0.52) and the KDQOL-36 scale scores, as well as significant differences on the scale scores between patients receiving different types of dialysis, diabetic and nondiabetic patients, and patients who were employed full-time versus not. Use of secondary data from a clinical registry. The study provides

Validity and reliability of International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form in Chinese youth.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Chao; Chen, Peijie; Zhuang, Jie

2013-12-01

The psychometric profiles of the widely used International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form (IPAQ-SF) in Chinese youth have not been reported. The purpose of this study was to examine the validity and reliability of the IPAQ-SF using a sample of Chinese youth. One thousand and twenty-one youth (M(age) = 14.26 +/- 1.63 years, 52.8% boys) from 11 cities in China wore accelerometers for 7 consecutive days and completed the IPAQ-SF on the 8th day to recall their physical activity (PA) during accelerometer-wearing days. A subsample of 92 youth (M(age) = 15.90 +/- 1.35 years, 46.7% boys) completed the IPAQ-SF again a week later to recall their PA during accelerometer-wearing days. Differences in PA estimated by the IPAQ-SF and accelerometer were examined by paired-sample t test. Spearman correlation coefficients were used to examine the correlation between the IPAQ-SF and accelerometer. Test-retest reliability of the IPAQ-SF was determined by the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Compared with accelerometer, the IPAQ-SF overestimated sedentary time, moderate PA (MPA), vigorous PA (VPA), and moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA). Correlations between PA (total PA, MPA, VPA, and MVPA) and sedentary time measured by 2 instruments ranged from "none" to "low" (p = .08-.31). Test-retest ICC of the IPAQ-SF ranged from "moderate" to "high" (ICC = .43-.83), except for sitting in boys (ICC = .06), sitting for the whole sample (ICC = .32), and VPA in girls (ICC = .35). The IPAQ-SF was not a valid instrument for measuring PA and sedentary behavior in Chinese youth.

Measurement Development and Validation of the Family Supportive Supervisor Behavior Short-Form (FSSB-SF)

Science.gov (United States)

Hammer, Leslie B.; Kossek, Ellen Ernst; Bodner, Todd; Crain, Tori

2013-01-01

Recently, scholars have demonstrated the importance of Family Supportive Supervisor Behaviors (FSSB), defined as behaviors exhibited by supervisors that are supportive of employees’ family roles, in relation to health, well-being, and organizational outcomes. FSSB was originally conceptualized as a multidimensional, superordinate construct with four subordinate dimensions assessed with 14 items: emotional support, instrumental support, role modeling behaviors, and creative work-family management. Retaining one item from each dimension, two studies were conducted to support the development and use of a new FSSB-Short Form (FSSB-SF). Study 1 draws on the original data from the FSSB validation study of retail employees to determine if the results using the 14-item measure replicate with the shorter 4-item measure. Using data from a sample of 823 information technology professionals and their 219 supervisors, Study 2 extends the validation of the FSSB-SF to a new sample of professional workers and new outcome variables. Results from multilevel confirmatory factor analyses and multilevel regression analyses provide evidence of construct and criterion-related validity of the FSSB-SF, as it was significantly related to work-family conflict, job satisfaction, turnover intentions, control over work hours, obligation to work when sick, perceived stress, and reports of family time adequacy. We argue that it is important to develop parsimonious measures of work-family specific support to ensure supervisor support for work and family is mainstreamed into organizational research and practice. PMID:23730803

The Monoceros R2 Molecular Cloud

Science.gov (United States)

Carpenter, J. M.; Hodapp, K. W.

2008-12-01

The Monoceros R2 region was first recognized as a chain of reflection nebulae illuminated by A- and B-type stars. These nebulae are associated with a giant molecular cloud that is one of the closest massive star forming regions to the Sun. This chapter reviews the properties of the Mon R2 region, including the namesake reflection nebulae, the large scale molecula= r cloud, global star formation activity, and properties of prominent star forming regions in the cloud.

An exemplar-familiarity model predicts short-term and long-term probe recognition across diverse forms of memory search.

Science.gov (United States)

Nosofsky, Robert M; Cox, Gregory E; Cao, Rui; Shiffrin, Richard M

2014-11-01

Experiments were conducted to test a modern exemplar-familiarity model on its ability to account for both short-term and long-term probe recognition within the same memory-search paradigm. Also, making connections to the literature on attention and visual search, the model was used to interpret differences in probe-recognition performance across diverse conditions that manipulated relations between targets and foils across trials. Subjects saw lists of from 1 to 16 items followed by a single item recognition probe. In a varied-mapping condition, targets and foils could switch roles across trials; in a consistent-mapping condition, targets and foils never switched roles; and in an all-new condition, on each trial a completely new set of items formed the memory set. In the varied-mapping and all-new conditions, mean correct response times (RTs) and error proportions were curvilinear increasing functions of memory set size, with the RT results closely resembling ones from hybrid visual-memory search experiments reported by Wolfe (2012). In the consistent-mapping condition, new-probe RTs were invariant with set size, whereas old-probe RTs increased slightly with increasing study-test lag. With appropriate choice of psychologically interpretable free parameters, the model accounted well for the complete set of results. The work provides support for the hypothesis that a common set of processes involving exemplar-based familiarity may govern long-term and short-term probe recognition across wide varieties of memory- search conditions. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

Steviamine, a new class of indolizidine alkaloid [(1R,2S,3R,5R,8aR-3-hydroxymethyl-5-methyloctahydroindolizine-1,2-diol hydrobromide

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Amber L. Thompson

2009-11-01

Full Text Available X-ray crystallographic analysis of the title hydrobromide salt, C10H20N+·Br−, of (1R,2S,3R,5R,8aR-3-hydroxymethyl-5-methyloctahydroindolizine-1,2-diol defines the absolute and relative stereochemistry at the five chiral centres in steviamine, a new class of polyhydroxylated indolizidine alkaloid isolated from Stevia rebaudiana (Asteraceae leaves. In the crystal structure, molecules are linked by intermolecular O—H...Br and N—H...Br hydrogen bonds, forming double chains around the twofold screw axes along the b-axis direction. Intramolecular O—H...O interactions occur.

Designing of an artificial light energy converter in the form of short-chain dyad when combined with core-shell gold/silver nanocomposites.

Science.gov (United States)

Dutta Pal, Gopa; Paul, Somnath; Bardhan, Munmun; De, Asish; Ganguly, Tapan

2017-06-05

UV-vis absorption, steady state and time resolved fluorescence and absorption spectroscopic investigations demonstrate that the short chain dyad MNTMA when combined with gold-silver core-shell (Au@Ag) nanocomposite , forms elongated conformers in the excited state whereas for the dyad - Ag (spherical) system the majority of dyads remains in a folded conformation. In the dyad-core-shell nanocomposite system, energy wasting charge recombination rate slows down primarily due to elongated conformation and thus it may be anticipated that this hybrid nanocomposite system may serve as a better light energy conversion device. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Cross-Cultural Adaptation of a Farsi Version of the Impulsive Behavior Scale‎-Short Form in Iran

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Omid Shokri

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Background: The aim of the present study was to investigate psychometric properties of the Impulsive Behavior Scale-Short Form (IBS-SF among undergraduate Farsi-speaking Iranian students. In this study, 201 individuals (95 men, 106 women answered to the IBS-SF and the Problematic and Risky Internet Use Screening Scale‎ (PRIUSS.Methods: The confirmatory factor analysis and internal consistency methods were used to compute the factorial validity and reliability of the IBS-SF, respectively. In order to examine the construct validity of the IBS-SF, the correlation of different dimensions of IBS-SF with PRIUSS was determined.Results: The results of confirmatory factor analysis showed that a 5-factor structure of the negative urgency, lack of perseverance, lack of premeditation, sensation seeking, and positive urgency was replicated in the Iranian sample. The IBS-SF convergent validity was confirmed by a correlation between different features of impulsivity trait and problematic and risky internet use behavior. The internal consistency of the different subscales of impulsivity trait ranged from 0.67 to 0.80.Conclusion: The present study revealed that the IBS-SF is a valid and reliable scale for measuring impulsivity trait among undergraduate Farsi-speaking Iranian students.

Usefulness of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale short form for assessing functional outcomes in patients with schizophrenia.

Science.gov (United States)

Sumiyoshi, Chika; Fujino, Haruo; Sumiyoshi, Tomiki; Yasuda, Yuka; Yamamori, Hidenaga; Ohi, Kazutaka; Fujimoto, Michiko; Takeda, Masatoshi; Hashimoto, Ryota

2016-11-30

The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) has been widely used to assess intellectual functioning not only in healthy adults but also people with psychiatric disorders. The purpose of the study was to develop an optimal WAIS-3 short form (SF) to evaluate intellectual status in patients with schizophrenia. One hundred and fifty patients with schizophrenia and 221 healthy controls entered the study. To select subtests for SFs, following criteria were considered: 1) predictability for the full IQ (FIQ), 2) representativeness for the IQ structure, 3) consistency of subtests across versions, 4) sensitivity to functional outcome measures, 5) conciseness in administration time. First, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and multiple regression analysis were conducted to select subtests satisfying the first and the second criteria. Then, candidate SFs were nominated based on the third criterion and the coverage of verbal IQ and performance IQ. Finally, the optimality of candidate SFs was evaluated in terms of the fourth and fifth criteria. The results suggest that the dyad of Similarities and Symbol Search was the most optimal satisfying the above criteria. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

MiR-223 suppresses cell proliferation by targeting IGF-1R.

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Cheng You Jia

Full Text Available To study the roles of microRNA-223 (miR-223 in regulation of cell growth, we established a miR-223 over-expression model in HeLa cells infected with miR-223 by Lentivirus pLL3.7 system. We observed in this model that miR-223 significantly suppressed the proliferation, growth rate, colony formation of HeLa cells in vitro, and in vivo tumorigenicity or tumor formation in nude mice. To investigate the mechanisms involved, we scanned and examined the potential and putative target molecules of miR-223 by informatics, quantitative PCR and Western blot, and found that insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor (IGF-1R was the functional target of miR-223 inhibition of cell proliferation. Targeting IGF-1R by miR-223 was not only seen in HeLa cells, but also in leukemia and hepatoma cells. The downstream pathway, Akt/mTOR/p70S6K, to which the signal was mediated by IGF-1R, was inhibited as well. The relative luciferase activity of the reporter containing wild-type 3'UTR(3'untranslated region of IGF-1R was significantly suppressed, but the mutant not. Silence of IGF-1R expression by vector-based short hairpin RNA resulted in the similar inhibition with miR-223. Contrarily, rescued IGF-1R expression in the cells that over-expressed miR-223, reversed the inhibition caused by miR-223 via introducing IGF-1R cDNA that didn't contain the 3'UTR. Meanwhile, we also noted that miR-223 targeted Rasa1, but the downstream molecules mediated by Rasa1 was neither targeted nor regulated. Therefore we believed that IGF-1R was the functional target for miR-223 suppression of cell proliferation and its downstream PI3K/Akt/mTOR/p70S6K pathway suppressed by miR-223 was by targeting IGF-1R.

Differential treatment response of subtypes of patients with borderline personality organization, as assessed with theory-driven profiles of the Dutch short form of the MMPI: a naturalistic follow-up study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Eurelings-Bontekoe, E.H.M.; Peen, J.; Noteboom, A.; Alkema, M.; Dekker, J.J.M.

2012-01-01

We investigated the validity of different subtypes of borderline personality organization (BPO) as assessed by theory-driven profiles of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Disorder (MMPI; Hathaway & McKinley, 1943) Dutch Short Form (DSFM; Eurelings-Bontekoe, Onnink, Williams, & Snellen, 2008) in

Creating a vision for the future. Long-term R and D on a short sighted electricity market

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Markussen, P.; Darsoe, L.

2005-01-01

Historically well-established networks among the politicians, power companies, industry, and research institutions have with success dominated innovation in the energy sector. As a consequence of the liberalization in the late 90s, long-term investments have been reduced and because of the increased competition R and D in power companies around Europe is dominated by short-term projects focusing on technological performance and efficiency of the power stations. The energy sector is, however, still faced with long-term problems such as security of supply, environmental responsibilities and economic performance, and these challenges demand new solutions, which, in our opinion, should be obtained through collaboration and co-creation. This calls for social innovation based on new types of relations between research institutions, politicians and the energy supply sector. Thus the goals of this paper are to: 1) suggest a preject phase (Darsoe, 2001), where it is possible and legitimate for the stakeholders to discuss longterm visions that encompass a diversity of technologies, and 2) use scenario techniques as tools for conceptualizing and prototyping this vision. The main question is: How can we create a long-term vision for the Danish energy system that is meaningful to multiple stakeholders? (au)

Creating a vision for the future. Long-term R and D on a short sighted electricity market

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Markussen, P. [Elsam (Denmark); Darsoe, L. [Learning Lab. Denmark (Denmark)

2005-06-01

Historically well-established networks among the politicians, power companies, industry, and research institutions have with success dominated innovation in the energy sector. As a consequence of the liberalization in the late 90s, long-term investments have been reduced and because of the increased competition R and D in power companies around Europe is dominated by short-term projects focusing on technological performance and efficiency of the power stations. The energy sector is, however, still faced with long-term problems such as security of supply, environmental responsibilities and economic performance, and these challenges demand new solutions, which, in our opinion, should be obtained through collaboration and co-creation. This calls for social innovation based on new types of relations between research institutions, politicians and the energy supply sector. Thus the goals of this paper are to: 1) suggest a preject phase (Darsoe, 2001), where it is possible and legitimate for the stakeholders to discuss longterm visions that encompass a diversity of technologies, and 2) use scenario techniques as tools for conceptualizing and prototyping this vision. The main question is: How can we create a long-term vision for the Danish energy system that is meaningful to multiple stakeholders? (au)

Graphical Models with R

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Højsgaard, Søren; Edwards, David; Lauritzen, Steffen

Graphical models in their modern form have been around since the late 1970s and appear today in many areas of the sciences. Along with the ongoing developments of graphical models, a number of different graphical modeling software programs have been written over the years. In recent years many...... of these software developments have taken place within the R community, either in the form of new packages or by providing an R ingerface to existing software. This book attempts to give the reader a gentle introduction to graphical modeling using R and the main features of some of these packages. In addition......, the book provides examples of how more advanced aspects of graphical modeling can be represented and handled within R. Topics covered in the seven chapters include graphical models for contingency tables, Gaussian and mixed graphical models, Bayesian networks and modeling high dimensional data...

DYNAMICS OF THE ANXIETY DISORDERS IN THE COURSE OF SHORT-TERM PSYCHOTHERAPY

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T.N. Hmylova

2008-06-01

Full Text Available The tendency of psychotherapy modern concepts referring to the short-term forms having been taken into account, we carried out the research aimed at the study of short-term form personality-oriented psychotherapy effect on the anxiety disorder dynamics. 103 patients with neurotic disorders were examined in the neurosis and psychotherapy department of the Bekhterev Psychoneurological Research Institute. The findings revealed the situational and personal anxiety level to be objectively decreased in the short-term group psychotherapy course. The short-term group psychotherapy was proved to bean effective method in anxiety disorders treatment considering indications and limitations.

DO R CORONAE BOREALIS STARS FORM FROM DOUBLE WHITE DWARF MERGERS?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Staff, Jan. E.; Clayton, Geoffrey C.; Tohline, Joel E. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Louisiana State University, 202 Nicholson Hall, Tower Drive, Baton Rouge, LA 70803-4001 (United States); Menon, Athira; Herwig, Falk [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC V8P5C2 (Canada); Even, Wesley; Fryer, Chris L. [Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545 (United States); Motl, Patrick M. [Department of Science, Mathematics and Informatics, Indiana University Kokomo, Kokomo, IN 46904-9003 (United States); Geballe, Tom [Gemini Observatory, 670 North A' ohoku Place, Hilo, HI 96720 (United States); Pignatari, Marco [Department of Physics, University of Basel, Klingelbergstrasse 82, CH-4056 Basel (Switzerland)

2012-09-20

A leading formation scenario for R Coronae Borealis (RCB) stars invokes the merger of degenerate He and CO white dwarfs (WDs) in a binary. The observed ratio of {sup 16}O/{sup 18}O for RCB stars is in the range of 0.3-20 much smaller than the solar value of {approx}500. In this paper, we investigate whether such a low ratio can be obtained in simulations of the merger of a CO and a He WD. We present the results of five three-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations of the merger of a double WD system where the total mass is 0.9 M{sub Sun} and the initial mass ratio (q) varies between 0.5 and 0.99. We identify in simulations with q {approx}< 0.7 a feature around the merged stars where the temperatures and densities are suitable for forming {sup 18}O. However, more {sup 16}O is being dredged up from the C- and O-rich accretor during the merger than the amount of {sup 18}O that is produced. Therefore, on the dynamical timescale over which our hydrodynamics simulation runs, an {sup 16}O/{sup 18}O ratio of {approx}2000 in the 'best' case is found. If the conditions found in the hydrodynamic simulations persist for 10{sup 6} s the oxygen ratio drops to 16 in one case studied, while in a hundred years it drops to {approx}4 in another case studied, consistent with the observed values in RCB stars. Therefore, the merger of two WDs remains a strong candidate for the formation of these enigmatic stars.

R

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Prokop Jacek

2015-06-01

Full Text Available This paper analyzes the impact of R&D activities in an oligopoly on consumer surplus and social welfare. We use a two-stage model to analyze the behavior of duopolists at the research level, and in the final-product market, under the assumption of linear and quadratic cost functions. Three options for firm competition are considered: 1 Cournot competition at both stages; 2 cooperation at the R&D stage and Cournot competition in the final-product market; and 3 cooperation at both stages. Numerical simulations for various levels of R&D spillovers are conducted to analyze the welfare effects of firm decisions. We conclude that for high levels of technological spillovers, total welfare is highest when firms engage in cooperation at the R&D stage, and compete in the final product market, independent of the shape of cost functions. However, the functional form of production costs has a qualitative impact on welfare when firms fully compete.

Assessment of short-term memory in Arabic speaking children with specific language impairment.

Science.gov (United States)

Kaddah, F A; Shoeib, R M; Mahmoud, H E

2010-12-15

Children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) may have some kind of memory disorder that could increase their linguistic impairment. This study assessed the short-term memory skills in Arabic speaking children with either Expressive Language Impairment (ELI) or Receptive/Expressive Language Impairment (R/ELI) in comparison to controls in order to estimate the nature and extent of any specific deficits in these children that could explain the different prognostic results of language intervention. Eighteen children were included in each group. Receptive, expressive and total language quotients were calculated using the Arabic language test. Assessment of auditory and visual short-term memory was done using the Arabic version of the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities. Both groups of SLI performed significantly lower linguistic abilities and poorer auditory and visual short-term memory in comparison to normal children. The R/ELI group presented an inferior performance than the ELI group in all measured parameters. Strong association was found between most tasks of auditory and visual short-term memory and linguistic abilities. The results of this study highlighted a specific degree of deficit of auditory and visual short-term memories in both groups of SLI. These deficits were more prominent in R/ELI group. Moreover, the strong association between the different auditory and visual short-term memories and language abilities in children with SLI must be taken into account when planning an intervention program for these children.

Validation of a short form Wisconsin Upper Respiratory Symptom Survey (WURSS-21

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Highstrom Alex D

2009-08-01

.75 for the WURSS-44. Factorial analysis suggested an eight dimension structure for the WURSS-44 and a three dimension structure for the WURSS-21, with composite reliability coefficients ranging from 0.87 to 0.97, and Cronbach's alpha ranging from 0.76 to 0.96. Both WURSS versions correlated significantly with the Jackson scale (W-21 R = 0.85; W-44 R = 0.88, with the SF-8 physical health (W-21 R = -0.79; W-44 R = -0.80 and SF-8 mental health (W-21 R = -0.55; W-44 R = -0.60. Conclusion The WURSS-44 and WURSS-21 perform well as illness-specific quality-of-life evaluative outcome instruments. Construct validity is supported by the data presented here. While the WURSS-44 covers more symptoms, the WURSS-21 exhibits similar performance in terms of reliability, responsiveness, importance-to-patients, and convergence with other measures.

Psychometric Evaluation of a Coping Strategies Inventory Short-Form (CSI-SF in the Jackson Heart Study Cohort

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Herman Taylor

2007-12-01

Full Text Available This study sought to establish the psychometric properties of a Coping Strategies Inventory Short Form (CSISF by examining coping skills in the Jackson Heart Study cohort. We used exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, Pearson’s correlation, and Cronbach Alpha to examine reliability and validity in the CSI-SF that solicited responses from 5302 African American men and women between the ages of 35 and 84. One item was dropped from the 16-item CSI-SF, making it a 15-item survey. No significant effects were found for age and gender, strengthening the generalizability of the CSI-SF. The internal consistency reliability analysis revealed reliability between alpha = 0.58-0.72 for all of the scales, and all of the fit indices used to examine the CSI-SF provided support for its use as an adequate measure of coping. This study provides empirical support for utilizing this instrument in future efforts to understand the role of coping in moderating health outcomes.

Solution-Processed rGO/AgNPs/rGO Sandwich Structure as a Hole Extraction Layer for Polymer Solar Cells

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Quang Trung Tran

2015-01-01

Full Text Available We found that inserting silver nanoparticles (AgNPs between two layers of reduced grapheme oxide (rGO has an effect on tailoring the work function of rGO. The utilization of rGO/AgNPs/rGO sandwich structure as the hole extraction layer in polymer solar cells is demonstrated. Solution-processable fabrication of this sandwich structure at the ITO/active layer interface facilitates the extraction of hole from active layer into ITO anode because of lowering the barrier level alignment at the interface. It results in an improvement of the short circuit current density and the overall photovoltaic performance.

Directional short-time Fourier transform of distributions

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Katerina Hadzi-Velkova Saneva

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract In this paper we consider the directional short-time Fourier transform (DSTFT that was introduced and investigated in (Giv in J. Math. Anal. Appl. 399:100-107, 2013. We analyze the DSTFT and its transpose on test function spaces S ( R n $\\mathcal {S}(\\mathbb {R}^{n}$ and S ( Y 2 n $\\mathcal {S}(\\mathbb {Y}^{2n}$ , respectively, and prove the continuity theorems on these spaces. Then the obtained results are used to extend the DSTFT to spaces of distributions.

Quality of life in South East Asian patients who consult for dyspepsia: Validation of the short form Nepean Dyspepsia Index

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Goh Khean-Lee

2009-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Treatment objectives for dyspepsia include improvements in both symptoms and health-related quality of life (HRQoL. There is a lack of disease-specific instruments measuring HRQoL in South East Asian dyspeptics. Objectives To validate English and locally translated version of the Short-Form Nepean Dyspepsia Index (SF-NDI in Malaysian patients who consult for dyspepsia. Methods The English version of the SF-NDI was culturally adapted locally and a Malay translation was developed using standard procedures. English and Malay versions of the SF-NDI were assessed against the SF-36 and the Leeds Dyspepsia Questionnaire (LDQ, examining internal consistency, test-retest reliability and construct validity. Results Pilot testing of the translated Malay and original English versions of the SF-NDI in twenty subjects did not identify any cross-cultural adaptation problems. 143 patients (86 English-speaking and 57 Malay speaking with dyspepsia were interviewed and the overall response rate was 100% with nil missing data. The median total SF-NDI score for both languages were 72.5 and 60.0 respectively. Test-retest reliability was good with intraclass correlation coefficients of 0.90 (English and 0.83 (Malay, while internal consistency of SF-NDI subscales revealed α values ranging from 0.83 – 0.88 (English and 0.83 – 0.90 (Malay. In both languages, SF-NDI sub-scales and total score demonstrated lower values in patients with more severe symptoms and in patients with functional vs organic dyspepsia (known groups validity, although these were less marked in the Malay language version. There was moderate to good correlation (r = 0.3 – 0.6 between all SF-NDI sub-scales and various domains of the SF-36 (convergent validity. Conclusion This study demonstrates that both English and Malay versions of the SF-NDI are reliable and probably valid instruments for measuring HRQoL in Malaysian patients with dyspepsia.

The short short story as a teaching resource for the acquisition of grammar in SFL

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

María Nayra Rodríguez Rodríguez

2016-07-01

Full Text Available In the present article we intend to make a reflection on the introduction of target language literature in foreign language classrooms. We will analyze the use of short-short stories as a didactic resource in Spanish as Foreign Language classrooms. To this end, we will research different teaching methodologies that have been implemented and investigate the validity of this genre as a suitable material for teaching grammar. We will make an approximation to Focus on Form as an effective approach, which integrates grammar teaching within a communicative context.

Studies on the sensitivity of guinea pigs and golden hamsters irradiated with different doses of gamma rays to infections with R and S forms of Pseudomonas pseudomallei

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Najdenski, Kh.M.; Velyanov, D.K.

1989-01-01

Whole-body gamma irradiation was carried out on guinea pigs of both sexes with 2 Gy (sublethal dose), 2 Gy fractionated (4 x 0.5 Gy a day) and 0.5 Gy, and on golden hamsters with 6 Gy (sublethal dose) and 0.5 Gy. The animals were injected i.p. 24 h after irradiation with bacterial suspensions of P. pseudomallei R 7 and R 15 . The results showed a great increase of sensitivity to infection in the animals irradiated with sublethal dose, both as regards the R and S forms. Susceptibility rose appreciably also in guinea pigs irradiated fractionally with a dose of 2 Gy and to a relatively lower degree upon irradiation with 0.5 Gy. For the golden hamsters the sensitivity toward both investigated strains was extremely high and it remained unchanged upon irradiation with 6 Gy and 0.5 Gy. The data obtained provided grounds for the existence of a certain correlation between the different radioresistance of guinea pigs and golden hamsters and the changes established in their sensitivity to infections with R and S forms of Ps. pseudomallei after whole-body gamma irradiation

Phylogenetic relationships of Sarcocystis neurona of horses and opossums to other cyst-forming coccidia deduced from SSU rRNA gene sequences.

Science.gov (United States)

Elsheikha, Hany M; Lacher, David W; Mansfield, Linda S

2005-11-01

Phylogenetic analyses based on sequences of the nuclear-encoded small subunit rRNA (ssurRNA) gene were performed to examine the origin, phylogeny, and biogeographic relationships of Sarcocystis neurona isolates from opossums and horses from the State of Michigan, USA, in relation to other cyst-forming coccidia. A total of 31 taxa representing all recognized subfamilies and genera of Sarcocystidae were included in the analyses with clonal isolates of two opossum and two horse S. neurona. Phylogenies obtained by the four tree-building methods were consistent with the classical taxonomy based on morphological criteria. The "isosporid" coccidia Neospora, Toxoplasma, Besnoitia, Isospora lacking stieda bodies, and Hyaloklossia formed a sister group to the Sarcocystis spp. Sarcocystis species were divided into three main lineages; S. neurona isolates were located in the second lineage and clustered with S. mucosa, S. dispersa, S. lacertae, S. rodentifelis, S. muris, and Frenkelia spp. Alignment of S. neurona SSU rRNA gene sequences of Michigan opossum isolates (MIOP5, MIOP20) and a S. neurona Michigan horse isolate (MIH8) showed 100% identity. These Michigan isolates differed in 2/1085 bp (0.2%) from a Kentucky S. neurona horse isolate (SN5). Additionally, S. neurona isolates from horses and opossums were identical based on the ultrastructural features and PCR-RFLP analyses thus forming a phylogenetically indistinct group in these regions. These findings revealed the concordance between the morphological and molecular data and confirmed that S. neurona from opossums and horses originated from the same phylogenetic origin.

A Catalase-related Hemoprotein in Coral Is Specialized for Synthesis of Short-chain Aldehydes

Science.gov (United States)

Teder, Tarvi; Lõhelaid, Helike; Boeglin, William E.; Calcutt, Wade M.; Brash, Alan R.; Samel, Nigulas

2015-01-01

In corals a catalase-lipoxygenase fusion protein transforms arachidonic acid to the allene oxide 8R,9-epoxy-5,9,11,14-eicosatetraenoic acid from which arise cyclopentenones such as the prostanoid-related clavulones. Recently we cloned two catalase-lipoxygenase fusion protein genes (a and b) from the coral Capnella imbricata, form a being an allene oxide synthase and form b giving uncharacterized polar products (Lõhelaid, H., Teder, T., Tõldsepp, K., Ekins, M., and Samel, N. (2014) PloS ONE 9, e89215). Here, using HPLC-UV, LC-MS, and NMR methods, we identify a novel activity of fusion protein b, establishing its role in cleaving the lipoxygenase product 8R-hydroperoxy-eicosatetraenoic acid into the short-chain aldehydes (5Z)-8-oxo-octenoic acid and (3Z,6Z)-dodecadienal; these primary products readily isomerize in an aqueous medium to the corresponding 6E- and 2E,6Z derivatives. This type of enzymatic cleavage, splitting the carbon chain within the conjugated diene of the hydroperoxide substrate, is known only in plant cytochrome P450 hydroperoxide lyases. In mechanistic studies using 18O-labeled substrate and incubations in H218O, we established synthesis of the C8-oxo acid and C12 aldehyde with the retention of the hydroperoxy oxygens, consistent with synthesis of a short-lived hemiacetal intermediate that breaks down spontaneously into the two aldehydes. Taken together with our initial studies indicating differing gene regulation of the allene oxide synthase and the newly identified catalase-related hydroperoxide lyase and given the role of aldehydes in plant defense, this work uncovers a potential pathway in coral stress signaling and a novel enzymatic activity in the animal kingdom. PMID:26100625

R&D EXPENDITURES AND EARNINGS TARGETS: EVIDENCE FROM FRANCE

OpenAIRE

Guidara, Rihab; Boujelbene, Younes

2015-01-01

Research and development (R&D) investments reduce current-period earnings while the benefits associated with the investments occur in the future. This problem implies an earnings management tool to boost short-term performance. While there is much evidence regarding managerial discretion through R&D capitalization, empirical studies that directly examine managerial discretion through R&D expenditure adjusting have not been widely provided in the European context. This ...

Conifer R2R3-MYB transcription factors: sequence analyses and gene expression in wood-forming tissues of white spruce (Picea glauca

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Grima-Pettenati Jacqueline

2007-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Several members of the R2R3-MYB family of transcription factors act as regulators of lignin and phenylpropanoid metabolism during wood formation in angiosperm and gymnosperm plants. The angiosperm Arabidopsis has over one hundred R2R3-MYBs genes; however, only a few members of this family have been discovered in gymnosperms. Results We isolated and characterised full-length cDNAs encoding R2R3-MYB genes from the gymnosperms white spruce, Picea glauca (13 sequences, and loblolly pine, Pinus taeda L. (five sequences. Sequence similarities and phylogenetic analyses placed the spruce and pine sequences in diverse subgroups of the large R2R3-MYB family, although several of the sequences clustered closely together. We searched the highly variable C-terminal region of diverse plant MYBs for conserved amino acid sequences and identified 20 motifs in the spruce MYBs, nine of which have not previously been reported and three of which are specific to conifers. The number and length of the introns in spruce MYB genes varied significantly, but their positions were well conserved relative to angiosperm MYB genes. Quantitative RTPCR of MYB genes transcript abundance in root and stem tissues revealed diverse expression patterns; three MYB genes were preferentially expressed in secondary xylem, whereas others were preferentially expressed in phloem or were ubiquitous. The MYB genes expressed in xylem, and three others, were up-regulated in the compression wood of leaning trees within 76 hours of induction. Conclusion Our survey of 18 conifer R2R3-MYB genes clearly showed a gene family structure similar to that of Arabidopsis. Three of the sequences are likely to play a role in lignin metabolism and/or wood formation in gymnosperm trees, including a close homolog of the loblolly pine PtMYB4, shown to regulate lignin biosynthesis in transgenic tobacco.

Multisymplectic forms of degree three in dimension seven

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Bureš, J.; Vanžura, Jiří

Suppl. 71, - (2003), s. 73-91 ISSN 0009-725X R&D Projects: GA ČR GA201/99/0675 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z1019905; CEZ:AV0Z1019905 Keywords : 3-form * multisymplectic form * group of automorphisms Subject RIV: BA - General Mathematics

R-loops: targets for nuclease cleavage and repeat instability.

Science.gov (United States)

Freudenreich, Catherine H

2018-01-11

R-loops form when transcribed RNA remains bound to its DNA template to form a stable RNA:DNA hybrid. Stable R-loops form when the RNA is purine-rich, and are further stabilized by DNA secondary structures on the non-template strand. Interestingly, many expandable and disease-causing repeat sequences form stable R-loops, and R-loops can contribute to repeat instability. Repeat expansions are responsible for multiple neurodegenerative diseases, including Huntington's disease, myotonic dystrophy, and several types of ataxias. Recently, it was found that R-loops at an expanded CAG/CTG repeat tract cause DNA breaks as well as repeat instability (Su and Freudenreich, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 114, E8392-E8401, 2017). Two factors were identified as causing R-loop-dependent breaks at CAG/CTG tracts: deamination of cytosines and the MutLγ (Mlh1-Mlh3) endonuclease, defining two new mechanisms for how R-loops can generate DNA breaks (Su and Freudenreich, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 114, E8392-E8401, 2017). Following R-loop-dependent nicking, base excision repair resulted in repeat instability. These results have implications for human repeat expansion diseases and provide a paradigm for how RNA:DNA hybrids can cause genome instability at structure-forming DNA sequences. This perspective summarizes mechanisms of R-loop-induced fragility at G-rich repeats and new links between DNA breaks and repeat instability.

Googling your hand hygiene data: Using Google Forms, Google Sheets, and R to collect and automate analysis of hand hygiene compliance monitoring.

Science.gov (United States)

Wiemken, Timothy L; Furmanek, Stephen P; Mattingly, William A; Haas, Janet; Ramirez, Julio A; Carrico, Ruth M

2018-06-01

Hand hygiene is one of the most important interventions in the quest to eliminate healthcare-associated infections, and rates in healthcare facilities are markedly low. Since hand hygiene observation and feedback are critical to improve adherence, we created an easy-to-use, platform-independent hand hygiene data collection process and an automated, on-demand reporting engine. A 3-step approach was used for this project: 1) creation of a data collection form using Google Forms, 2) transfer of data from the form to a spreadsheet using Google Spreadsheets, and 3) creation of an automated, cloud-based analytics platform for report generation using R and RStudio Shiny software. A video tutorial of all steps in the creation and use of this free tool can be found on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFatMR1rXqU&t. The on-demand reporting tool can be accessed at: https://crsp.louisville.edu/shiny/handhygiene. This data collection and automated analytics engine provides an easy-to-use environment for evaluating hand hygiene data; it also provides rapid feedback to healthcare workers. By reducing some of the data management workload required of the infection preventionist, more focused interventions may be instituted to increase global hand hygiene rates and reduce infection. Copyright © 2018 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Women's health status in urban Ghana: dimensions and differentials using short form 36.

Science.gov (United States)

Frempong-Ainguah, Faustina; Bailey, Claire E; Hill, Allan G

2018-04-24

Global discourse on population, health and development have placed women's health issues at the top of development agenda. Women's reproductive health has received some attention in Ghana since the mid-1990s. However, studies on women's general health status, dimensions and the differentials in a rapidly growing urban setting is poorly understood and under-researched. This study sought to examine the various pathways in which individual socio-demographic factors, economic characteristics and endowment influence self-assessed health status among women living in the city of Accra, Ghana. The paper draws on a cross-sectional study carried out in 2008 and 2009 using a representative sample of urban women 20 years and older (n = 2814). Multivariate stepwise linear regression models were performed to investigate the influence of socio-demographic, economic and health indicators on health-related quality of life, measured by eight sub-scales of the Short Form-36 (SF-36). Interaction effects between some demographic and socio-economic variables were also performed. The analyses show diverse relationships between demographic, socio-economic and health indicators and health outcomes assessed using eight SF-36 sub-scales. Education, disease symptoms and age of the respondent were the most significant factors influencing good overall health status. Interestingly, age has no significant effect on mental health after controlling for all other explanatory variables. The findings show that health issues are multi-faceted requiring socio-cultural, health and economic policy interventions. Investing in women's education is important to improve health status. There is also the need for more effective collaboration across various sectors to improve the health and well-being of women in general. Ageing has increasing relationship with poor physical health status and the elderly should be given needed attention and support.

NPV-LDE-225 (Erismodegib) inhibits epithelial mesenchymal transition and self-renewal of glioblastoma initiating cells by regulating miR-21, miR-128, and miR-200.

Science.gov (United States)

Fu, Junsheng; Rodova, Mariana; Nanta, Rajesh; Meeker, Daniel; Van Veldhuizen, Peter J; Srivastava, Rakesh K; Shankar, Sharmila

2013-06-01

Glioblastoma multiforme is the most common form of primary brain tumor, often characterized by poor survival. Glioblastoma initiating cells (GICs) regulate self-renewal, differentiation, and tumor initiation properties and are involved in tumor growth, recurrence, and resistance to conventional treatments. The sonic hedgehog (SHH) signaling pathway is essential for normal development and embryonic morphogenesis. The objectives of this study were to examine the molecular mechanisms by which GIC characteristics are regulated by NPV-LDE-225 (Smoothened inhibitor; (2,2'-[[dihydro-2-(4-pyridinyl)-1,3(2H,4H)-pyrimidinediyl]bis(methylene)]bis[N,N-dimethylbenzenamine). Cell viability and apoptosis were measured by XTT and annexin V-propidium iodide assay, respectively. Gli translocation and transcriptional activities were measured by immunofluorescence and luciferase assay, respectively. Gene and protein expressions were measured by quantitative real-time PCR and Western blot analyses, respectively. NPV-LDE-225 inhibited cell viability, neurosphere formation, and Gli transcriptional activity and induced apoptosis by activation of caspase-3 and cleavage of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase. NPV-LDE-225 increased the expression of tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis inducing ligand (TRAIL)-R1/DR4, TRAIL-R2/DR5, and Fas and decreased the expression of platelet derived growth factor receptor-α and Bcl2, and these effects were abrogated by Gli1 plus Gli2 short hairpin RNAs. NPV-LDE-225 enhanced the therapeutic potential of FasL and TRAIL by upregulating Fas and DR4/5, respectively. Interestingly, NPV-LDE-225 induced expression of programmed cell death 4 and apoptosis and inhibited cell viability by suppressing micro RNA (miR)-21. Furthermore, NPV-LDE-225 inhibited pluripotency-maintaining factors Nanog, Oct4, Sox2, and cMyc. The inhibition of Bmi1 by NPV-LDE-225 was regulated by induction of miR-128. Finally, NPV-LDE-225 suppressed epithelial-mesenchymal transition by

The Central Engines of Short-Duration Gamma-Ray Bursts

Science.gov (United States)

Metzger, Brian; Arcones, A.; Quataert, E.; Martinez-Pinedo, G.

2010-01-01

One of the most important discoveries made with Swift is that long and short-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) originate from distinct stellar progenitors. While long GRBs track ongoing star formation and result from the deaths of massive stars, short GRBs have been localized to both early and late-type galaxies, suggesting a more evolved progenitor population. Although the origin of short GRBs remains a mystery, the most popular and well-studied model is accretion following the merger of neutron star binaries. This model is qualitatively consistent with both the demographics of short GRBs and the lack of a bright associated supernova in some cases. Despite these successes, this picture has grown complex with the discovery that short GRBs are often followed by a "tail" of emission (usually soft X-rays) lasting 100 seconds after the burst. Such energetic, late-time emission from the central engine is difficult to explain in standard merger pictures. One proposed explanation is late-time "fall-back" onto the black hole of material that was ejected during the merger into highly eccentric, marginally-bound orbits. As this matter decompresses from nuclear densities, however, it undergoes rapid-neutron capture (r-process) nucleosynthesis, which can release energy comparable to the orbital binding energy. This implies that the r-process (normally thought unimportant dynamically in astrophysical contexts) has important implications for the quantity and time-dependence of fall-back and, ultimately, the source of flaring and identity of the central engine.

Wormholes in R{sup 2}-gravity within the f(R, T) formalism

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sahoo, P.K.; Sahoo, Parbati [Birla Institute of Technology and Science-Pilani, Department of Mathematics, Hyderabad (India); Moraes, P.H.R.S. [ITA-Instituto Tecnologico de Aeronautica, Departamento de Fisica, Sao Jose dos Campos, Sao Paulo (Brazil)

2018-01-15

We propose, as a novelty in the literature, the modeling of wormholes within a particular case of f(R, T) gravity, namely f(R, T) = R + αR{sup 2} + λT, with R and T being the Ricci scalar and trace of the energy-momentum tensor, respectively, while α and λ are constants. Although such a functional form application can be found in the literature, those concern compact astrophysical objects, such that no wormhole analysis has been done so far. The quadratic geometric and linear material corrections of this theory render the matter content of the wormhole remarkably able to obey the energy conditions. (orig.)

A Closed-Form Solution for Robust Portfolio Selection with Worst-Case CVaR Risk Measure

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Le Tang

2014-01-01

Full Text Available With the uncertainty probability distribution, we establish the worst-case CVaR (WCCVaR risk measure and discuss a robust portfolio selection problem with WCCVaR constraint. The explicit solution, instead of numerical solution, is found and two-fund separation is proved. The comparison of efficient frontier with mean-variance model is discussed and finally we give numerical comparison with VaR model and equally weighted strategy. The numerical findings indicate that the proposed WCCVaR model has relatively smaller risk and greater return and relatively higher accumulative wealth than VaR model and equally weighted strategy.

The microRNA390/TRANS ACTING SHORT INTERFERING RNA3 module mediates lateral root growth under salt stress via the auxin pathway.

Science.gov (United States)

He, Fu; Xu, Changzheng; Fu, Xiaokang; Shen, Yun; Guo, Li; Leng, Mi; Luo, Keming

2018-05-01

Salt-induced developmental plasticity in a plant root system strongly depends on auxin signaling. However, the molecular events underlying this process are poorly understood. MicroRNA390 (miR390), trans-acting small interference RNAs (tasiRNAs) and AUXIN RESPONSE FACTORs (ARFs) form a regulatory module involved in controlling lateral root (LR) growth. Here, we found that miR390 expression was strongly induced by exposure to salt during LR formation in poplar (Populus spp.) plants. miR390 overexpression stimulated LR development and increased salt tolerance, whereas miR390 knockdown caused by a short tandem target mimic repressed LR growth and compromised salt resistance. ARF3.1, ARF3.2, and ARF4 expression was significantly inhibited by the presence of salt, and transcript abundance was dramatically decreased in the miR390-overexpressing line but increased in the miR390-knockdown line. Constitutive expression of ARF4m harboring mutated trans-acting small interference ARF-binding sites removed the salt resistance of the miR390 overexpressors. miR390 positively regulated auxin signaling in LRs subjected to salt but ARF4 inhibited auxin signaling. Salinity stabilized the poplar Aux/IAA repressor INDOLE-3-ACETIC ACID17.1, and overexpression of an auxin/salt resistant form of this repressor suppressed LR growth in miR390-overexpressing and ARF4-RNAi lines in the presence of salt. Thus, the miR390/TAS3/ARFs module is a key regulator, via modulating the auxin pathway, of LR growth in poplar subjected to salt stress. {copyright, serif} 2018 American Society of Plant Biologists. All rights reserved.

Short Communications A description of gametogenesis in the panga ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

1996-09-25

Sep 25, 1996 ... Short Communications. A description of ... In this communication, descriptions ... Each fish sampled was sexed using visual criteria (Table I) and gonadal ..... dilated portions owing to different degrees of inflation caused. R.

Short-Form Science

Science.gov (United States)

Murphy, Beth; Hedwall, Melissa; Dirks, Andrew; Stretch, Elizabeth

2017-01-01

Reading provides a unique window into the history and nature of science and the norms of scientific communication and supports students in developing critical-reading skills in engaging ways. Effective use of reading promotes a spirit of inquiry and an understanding of science concepts while also addressing expectations of the Common Core State…

Short Form-McGill Pain Questionnaire-2 (SF-MPQ-2: A Cross-Cultural Adaptation and Validation Study of the Persian Version in Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Amir Reza Kachooei

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Background: We aimed to develop and validate the Persian version of Short Form McGill Pain Questionnaire-2 (SF-MPQ-2 in patients with knee osteoarthritis. Methods: Translation and back translation was performed using Beaton’s guideline. After a consensus has achieved on the Persian version of SF-MPQ-2, it was administered to 30 patients with knee osteoarthritis in a pilot study. Then, we enrolled 100 patients with knee osteoarthritis to fill the final SF-MPQ-2 as well as SF-36 and WOMAC questionnaires. Forty-three patients returned 3 days after the initial visit to fill the Persian SF-MPQ-2 for the second time. Construct validity was tested by Pearson’s correlation coefficient between subscales of SF-MPQ-2 and subscales of SF-36 and WOMAC. Internal consistency for total and subscales was calculated by Cronbach’s alpha and reliability between test retest was performed using Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC. Results: ICC for subscales of SF-MPQ-2 ranged from 0.73 to 0.90. The ICC for total SF-MPQ-2 was 0.90. Cronbach’s alpha for subscales was 0.65-0.74 at the first visit and 0.58-0.81 at the second visit. Cronbach’s alpha for the total questionnaire was 0.88 and 0.91 at the first and second visit, respectively. Pearson’s correlation coefficient was highly significant when comparing subscales specifically with WOMAC (r=-0.47 to -0.61; P

Short Form-McGill Pain Questionnaire-2 (SF-MPQ-2: A Cross-Cultural Adaptation and Validation Study of the Persian Version in Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Amir Reza Kachooei

2015-01-01

Background: We aimed to develop and validate the Persian version of Short Form McGill Pain Questionnaire-2 (SF-MPQ-2 in patients with knee osteoarthritis. Methods: Translation and back translation was performed using Beaton’s guideline. After a consensus has achieved on the Persian version of SF-MPQ-2, it was administered to 30 patients with knee osteoarthritis in a pilot study. Then, we enrolled 100 patients with knee osteoarthritis to fill the final SF-MPQ-2 as well as SF-36 and WOMAC questionnaires. Forty-three patients returned 3 days after the initial visit to fill the Persian SF-MPQ-2 for the second time. Construct validity was tested by Pearson’s correlation coefficient between subscales of SF-MPQ-2 and subscales of SF-36 and WOMAC. Internal consistency for total and subscales was calculated by Cronbach’s alpha and reliability between test retest was performed using Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC. Results: ICC for subscales of SF-MPQ-2 ranged from 0.73 to 0.90. The ICC for total SF-MPQ-2 was 0.90. Cronbach’s alpha for subscales was 0.65-0.74 at the first visit and 0.58-0.81 at the second visit. Cronbach’s alpha for the total questionnaire was 0.88 and 0.91 at the first and second visit, respectively. Pearson’s correlation coefficient was highly significant when comparing subscales specifically with WOMAC (r=-0.47 to -0.61; P

Anomalous magnetoresistance in antiferromagnetic polycrystalline materials R2Ni3Si5 (R=rare earth)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mazumdar, C.; Nigam, A.K.; Nagarajan, R.; Gupta, L.C.; Chandra, G.; Padalia, B.D.; Godart, C.; Vijayaraghaven, R.

1997-01-01

Magnetoresistance (MR) studies on polycrystalline R 2 Ni 3 Si 5 , (R=Y, rare earth) which order antiferromagnetically at low temperatures, are reported here. MR of the Nd, Sm, and Tb members of the series exhibit positive giant magnetoresistance, largest among polycrystalline materials (85%, 75%, and 58% for Tb 2 Ni 3 Si 5 , Sm 2 Ni 3 Si 5 , and Nd 2 Ni 3 Si 5 , respectively, at 4.4 K in a field of 45 kG). These materials have, to the best of our knowledge, the largest positive GMR reported ever for any bulk polycrystalline compounds. The magnitude of MR does not correlate with the rare earth magnetic moments. We believe that the structure of these materials, which can be considered as a naturally occurring multilayer of wavy planes of rare earth atoms separated by Ni endash Si network, plays a role. The isothermal MR of other members of this series (R=Pr,Dy,Ho) exhibits a maximum and a minimum, below their respective T N close-quote s. We interpret these in terms of a metamagnetic transition and short-range ferromagnetic correlations. The short-range ferromagnetic correlations seem to be dominant in the temperature region just above T N . copyright 1997 American Institute of Physics

A new form of the rotating C-metric

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hong, Kenneth; Teo, Edward

2005-01-01

In a previous paper, we showed that the traditional form of the charged C-metric can be transformed, by a change of coordinates, into one with an explicitly factorizable structure function. This new form of the C-metric has the advantage that its properties become much simpler to analyse. In this paper, we propose an analogous new form for the rotating charged C-metric, with structure function G(ξ) = (1 - ξ 2 )(1 + r + Aξ)(1 + r - Aξ), where r ± are the usual locations of the horizons in the Kerr-Newman black hole. Unlike the non-rotating case, this new form is not related to the traditional one by a coordinate transformation. We show that the physical distinction between these two forms of the rotating C-metric lies in the nature of the conical singularities causing the black holes to accelerate apart: the new form is free of torsion singularities and therefore does not contain any closed timelike curves. We claim that this new form should be considered the natural generalization of the C-metric with rotation

Additive manufacturing of short and mixed fibre-reinforced polymer

Science.gov (United States)

Lewicki, James; Duoss, Eric B.; Rodriguez, Jennifer Nicole; Worsley, Marcus A.; King, Michael J.

2018-01-09

Additive manufacturing of a fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) product using an additive manufacturing print head; a reservoir in the additive manufacturing print head; short carbon fibers in the reservoir, wherein the short carbon fibers are randomly aligned in the reservoir; an acrylate, methacrylate, epoxy, cyanate ester or isocyanate resin in the reservoir, wherein the short carbon fibers are dispersed in the acrylate, methacrylate, epoxy, cyanate ester or isocyanate resin; a tapered nozzle in the additive manufacturing print head operatively connected to the reservoir, the tapered nozzle produces an extruded material that forms the fiber-reinforced polymer product; baffles in the tapered nozzle that receive the acrylate, methacrylate, epoxy, cyanate ester or isocyanate resin with the short carbon fibers dispersed in the acrylate, methacrylate, epoxy, cyanate ester or isocyanate resin; and a system for driving the acrylate, methacrylate, epoxy, cyanate ester or isocyanate resin with the short carbon fibers dispersed in the acrylate, methacrylate, epoxy, cyanate ester or isocyanate resin from the reservoir through the tapered nozzle wherein the randomly aligned short carbon fibers in the acrylate, methacrylate, epoxy, cyanate ester or isocyanate resin are aligned by the baffles and wherein the extruded material has the short carbon fibers aligned in the acrylate, methacrylate, epoxy, cyanate ester or isocyanate resin that forms the fiber-reinforced polymer product.

Hebb learning, verbal short-term memory, and the acquisition of phonological forms in children.

Science.gov (United States)

Mosse, Emma K; Jarrold, Christopher

2008-04-01

Recent work using the Hebb effect as a marker for implicit long-term acquisition of serial order has demonstrated a functional equivalence across verbal and visuospatial short-term memory. The current study extends this observation to a sample of five- to six-year-olds using verbal and spatial immediate serial recall and also correlates the magnitude of Hebb learning with explicit measures of word and nonword paired-associate learning. Comparable Hebb effects were observed in both domains, but only nonword learning was significantly related to the magnitude of Hebb learning. Nonword learning was also independently related to individuals' general level of verbal serial recall. This suggests that vocabulary acquisition depends on both a domain-specific short-term memory system and a domain-general process of learning through repetition.

Energy consumption and energy R and D in OECD: Perspectives from oil prices and economic growth

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Leng Wong, Siang; Chia, Wai-Mun; Chang, Youngho

2013-01-01

We estimate the short-run and long-run elasticities of various types of energy consumption and energy R and D to changes in oil prices and income of the 20 OECD countries over the period of 1980–2010 using the Nerlove partial adjustment model (NPAM). We find negative income elasticity for coal consumption but positive income elasticity for oil and gas consumption suggesting the importance of economic growth in encouraging the usage of cleaner energy from coal to oil and gas. By introducing time dummies into the regressions, we show that climatic mitigation policies are able to promote the usage of cleaner energies. Through the dynamic linkages between energy consumption and energy R and D, we find that fossil fuel consumption promotes fossil fuel R and D and fossil fuel R and D in turn drives its own consumption. Renewable energy R and D which is more responsive to economic growth reduces fossil fuel consumption and hence fossil fuel R and D. - Highlights: • Economic growth encourages the use of cleaner forms of energy. • Economic growth promotes renewable energy R and D. • Subsidies for renewable energy R and D promote renewable energy consumption. • Fossil fuel R and D promotes fossil fuel consumption in countries with oil reserves. • Oil consumption reduces significantly with higher oil prices

R&D EXPENDITURES AND EARNINGS TARGETS: EVIDENCE FROM FRANCE

OpenAIRE

Guidara, Rihab; Boujelbene, Younes

2015-01-01

Research and development (R&D) investments reduce current-period earnings while the benefits associated with the investments occur in the future. This problem implies an earnings management tool to boost short-term performance. While there is much evidence regarding managerial discretion through R&D capitalization, empirical studies that directly examine managerial discretion through R&D expenditure adjusting have not been widely provided in the European context. This paper seeks ...

Dextromethorphan/quinidine sulfate (Zenvia) for Pseudobulbar Affect

Science.gov (United States)

Rosen, Howard

2010-01-01

SUMMARY A new agent containing a combination of Dextromethorphan and Quinidine is currently under development for the treatment of pseudobulbar affect (PBA). PBA is a disorder of emotional regulation, characterized by uncontrollable outbursts of laughing and/or crying that are disproportionate to the emotions being experienced. The pathophysiology of PBA is currently unknown, although the disorder is thought to occur exclusively in the setting of neurological disease. The most influential theory on PBA posits that emotional outbursts are being generated in the brainstem autonomously due to loss of regulatory control by the frontal lobes. Although rarely life-threatening, PBA can have significant impact on patients’ quality of life and thus merits treatment. There are currently no approved treatments for PBA. Several agents have been found to be effective in small placebo-controlled trials and case series, with the most commonly used agents being tricyclic antidepressants and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. Both these treatments are inexpensive and relatively low-risk, although the quality and quantity of the available data on their efficacy are not optimal. DM has several pharmacological mechanisms of action relevant to the brain. It is an NMDA-receptor antagonist, which prompted investigators to study its potential for slowing progression in ALS, where glutamate toxicity is thought to be a factor. The combination agent DM/Q was developed to slow the metabolism of DM by P450 2D6 enzymes in the liver. DM/Q was not effective in slowing ALS progression, but patients noted that it helped to control their emotional outbursts, suggesting it might be useful as a treatment for PBA. DM is also a sigma1 receptor agonist. These receptors are widely distributed in the brain, but probably most heavily in the limbic system, suggesting that DM may exert its emotion-controlling effects via these receptors. The endogenous ligands for sigma1 receptors are not altogether

Methods of forming single source precursors, methods of forming polymeric single source precursors, and single source precursors and intermediate products formed by such methods

Science.gov (United States)

Fox, Robert V.; Rodriguez, Rene G.; Pak, Joshua J.; Sun, Chivin; Margulieux, Kelsey R.; Holland, Andrew W.

2012-12-04

Methods of forming single source precursors (SSPs) include forming intermediate products having the empirical formula 1/2{L.sub.2N(.mu.-X).sub.2M'X.sub.2}.sub.2, and reacting MER with the intermediate products to form SSPs of the formula L.sub.2N(.mu.-ER).sub.2M'(ER).sub.2, wherein L is a Lewis base, M is a Group IA atom, N is a Group IB atom, M' is a Group IIIB atom, each E is a Group VIB atom, each X is a Group VIIA atom or a nitrate group, and each R group is an alkyl, aryl, vinyl, (per)fluoro alkyl, (per)fluoro aryl, silane, or carbamato group. Methods of forming polymeric or copolymeric SSPs include reacting at least one of HE.sup.1R.sup.1E.sup.1H and MER with one or more substances having the empirical formula L.sub.2N(.mu.-ER).sub.2M'(ER).sub.2 or L.sub.2N(.mu.-X).sub.2M'(X).sub.2 to form a polymeric or copolymeric SSP. New SSPs and intermediate products are formed by such methods.

The economic impact of NASA R and D spending

Science.gov (United States)

Evans, M. K.

1976-01-01

The economic impact of R and D spending, particularly NASA R and D spending, on the U. S. economy was evaluated. The crux of the methodology and hence the results revolve around the fact that it was necessary to consider both the demand effects of increased spending and the supply effects of a higher rate of technological growth and a larger total productive capacity. The demand effects are primarily short-run in nature, while the supply effects do not begin to have a significant effect on aggregate economic activity until the fifth year after increased expenditures have taken place. The short-term economic impact of alternative levels of NASA expenditures for 1975 was first examined. The long-term economic impact of increased levels of NASA R and D spending over a sustained period was then evaluated.

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

Science.gov (United States)

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

2010-11-15

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

Verbal short-term memory span in children: long-term modality dependent effects of intrauterine growth restriction.

Science.gov (United States)

Geva, R; Eshel, R; Leitner, Y; Fattal-Valevski, A; Harel, S

2008-12-01

Recent reports showed that children born with intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) are at greater risk of experiencing verbal short-term memory span (STM) deficits that may impede their learning capacities at school. It is still unknown whether these deficits are modality dependent. This long-term, prospective design study examined modality-dependent verbal STM functions in children who were diagnosed at birth with IUGR (n = 138) and a control group (n = 64). Their STM skills were evaluated individually at 9 years of age with four conditions of the Visual-Aural Digit Span Test (VADS; Koppitz, 1981): auditory-oral, auditory-written, visuospatial-oral and visuospatial-written. Cognitive competence was evaluated with the short form of the Wechsler Intelligence Scales for Children--revised (WISC-R95; Wechsler, 1998). We found IUGR-related specific auditory-oral STM deficits (p long-term relationship between prenatal aberrant head growth and auditory verbal STM deficits by the end of the first decade of life. Empirical, clinical and educational implications are presented.

Criterion validity of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire Short Form (IPAQ-SF) for use in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: comparison with the SenseWear Armband.

Science.gov (United States)

Tierney, M; Fraser, A; Kennedy, N

2015-06-01

The International Physical Activity Questionnaire Short Form (IPAQ-SF) is a self-report questionnaire commonly used in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) to measure physical activity. However, despite its frequent use in patients with RA, its validity has not been ascertained in this population. The aim of this study was to examine the criterion validity of energy expenditure from physical activity recorded with the IPAQ-SF in patients with RA compared with the objective criterion measure, the SenseWear Armband (SWA) which has been validated previously in this population. Cross-sectional criterion validation study. Regional hospital outpatient setting. Twenty-two patients with RA attending outpatient rheumatology clinics. Subjects wore an SWA for 7 full consecutive days and completed the IPAQ-SF. Energy expenditure from physical activity recorded by the SWA and the IPAQ-SF. Energy expenditure from physical activity recorded by the IPAQ-SF and the SWA showed a small, non-significant correlation (r=0.407, P=0.60). The IPAQ-SF underestimated energy expenditure from physical activity by 41% compared with the SWA. This was corroborated using Bland and Altman plots, as the IPAQ-SF was found to overestimate energy expenditure from physical activity in nine of the 22 individuals, and underestimate energy expenditure from physical activity in the remaining 13 individuals. The IPAQ-SF has limited use as an accurate and absolute measure for estimating energy expenditure from physical activity in patients with RA. Copyright © 2014 Chartered Society of Physiotherapy. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Les effets du nouveau régime des parcs nationaux sur le Parc National de la Guadeloupe : constat d’avancées facultatives d’une réforme pour « Grecs et Troyens »

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Ana Rachel Teixeira Cavalcante

2011-08-01

Full Text Available Depuis désormais plus de deux décennies d’existence, le Parc National de la Guadeloupe connait un renouveau mais surtout des bouleversements de tous ordres (sociaux, économiques, culturels, politiques et juridiques avec la réforme du régime des parcs nationaux français. D’instrument de protection intégrale, il est devenu un instrument de protection intégrée, vecteur de développement durable. Malgré les critiques, les avancés dans le régime de conservation sont bien présentes. Dans la famille des parcs nationaux d’Outre-Mer, le Parc national de la Guadeloupe est le « frère ainé ». Pour lui, la réforme représente une évolution, mais dans quel sens ?Since now more than two decades of its existence, after the reform of the legal regime of national parks, the National Park of Guadeloupe faces a renewal and challenges of all kinds (social, economic, cultural, political and legal. A tool for protection has become an instrument for integration, vector of the sustainable development. Despite the criticisms, progresses in the conservation regime are present. However, their efficacy may be limited, owing to its facultative applicability to France of the Overseas. In the family of National Parks from overseas, the National Park of Guadeloupe is the elder brother. For PNG this represents an improvement, but in what direction?

Measurement Equivalence of the Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System® (PROMIS®) Applied Cognition - General Concerns, Short Forms in Ethnically Diverse Groups.

Science.gov (United States)

Fieo, Robert; Ocepek-Welikson, Katja; Kleinman, Marjorie; Eimicke, Joseph P; Crane, Paul K; Cella, David; Teresi, Jeanne A

2016-01-01

The goals of these analyses were to examine the psychometric properties and measurement equivalence of a self-reported cognition measure, the Patient Reported Outcome Measurement Information System ® (PROMIS ® ) Applied Cognition - General Concerns short form. These items are also found in the PROMIS Cognitive Function (version 2) item bank. This scale consists of eight items related to subjective cognitive concerns. Differential item functioning (DIF) analyses of gender, education, race, age, and (Spanish) language were performed using an ethnically diverse sample ( n = 5,477) of individuals with cancer. This is the first analysis examining DIF in this item set across ethnic and racial groups. DIF hypotheses were derived by asking content experts to indicate whether they posited DIF for each item and to specify the direction. The principal DIF analytic model was item response theory (IRT) using the graded response model for polytomous data, with accompanying Wald tests and measures of magnitude. Sensitivity analyses were conducted using ordinal logistic regression (OLR) with a latent conditioning variable. IRT-based reliability, precision and information indices were estimated. DIF was identified consistently only for the item, brain not working as well as usual. After correction for multiple comparisons, this item showed significant DIF for both the primary and sensitivity analyses. Black respondents and Hispanics in comparison to White non-Hispanic respondents evidenced a lower conditional probability of endorsing the item, brain not working as well as usual. The same pattern was observed for the education grouping variable: as compared to those with a graduate degree, conditioning on overall level of subjective cognitive concerns, those with less than high school education also had a lower probability of endorsing this item. DIF was also observed for age for two items after correction for multiple comparisons for both the IRT and OLR-based models: "I have had

Nucleon form factors at high q2 within constituent quark models

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Desplanques, B.; Silvestre-Brac, B.; Cano, F.; Noguera, S.; Gonzalez, P.; .

2000-01-01

The nucleon form factors are calculated using a non-relativistic description in terms of constituent quarks. The emphasis is put on present numerical methods used to solve the three-body problem in order to reliably predict the expected asymptotic behavior of form factors. Nucleon wave functions obtained in the hyperspherical formalism or employing Faddeev equations have been considered. While a q -8 behavior is expected at high q for a quark-quark force behaving like 1/r at short distances, it is found that the hyper central approximation in the hyperspherical formalism (K = 0) leads to a q -7 behavior. An infinite set of waves would be required to get the correct behavior. Solutions of the Faddeev equations lead to the q -8 behavior. The coefficient of the corresponding term, however, depends on the number of partial waves retained in the Faddeev amplitude. The convergence to the asymptotic behavior has also been studied. Approximate expressions characterizing this one have been derived. From the comparison with the most complete Faddeev calculation, a validity range is inferred for restricted calculations. Refs. 46 (author)

Reliability and validity of the persian version of the scoliosis research society-22r questionnaire.

Science.gov (United States)

Mousavi, Sayed Javad; Mobini, Bahram; Mehdian, Hossein; Akbarnia, Behrouz; Bouzari, Behshad; Askary-Ashtiani, Ahmadreza; Montazeri, Ali; Parnianpour, Mohamad

2010-04-01

Cross-sectional validation study to investigate psychometric properties of adapted Persian version of the Scoliosis Research Society-22r (SRS-22r) questionnaire. OBJECTIVES.: To translate the SRS-22r into Persian and to evaluate the internal consistency, reliability, and validity of the Persian SRS-22r. The SRS-22r has not been translated and validated for Persian-speaking patients with idiopathic scoliosis. This was to provide a validated instrument to measure health-related quality of life in patients with idiopathic scoliosis in Iran. The translation and cultural adaptation of the original questionnaire were carried out in accordance with the published guidelines. About 84 patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis were participated in the study. The Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) was used to test convergent validity of the Persian SRS-22r. Moderate to high correlations were found between the SRS-22r domains and SF-36 subscales. The correlations ranged from 0.54 to 0.67 (function/activity domain), 0.48 to 0.74 (pain domain), 0.45 to 0.55 (self image domain), 0.66 to 0.85 (mental health domain), and 0.35 to 0.55 (satisfaction domain) (P adolescent patients with scoliosis in Iran. It is simple and easy to use and now can be applied in clinical settings and future outcome studies in Iran.

Cytogenetic analysis and chromosomal characteristics of the polymorphic 18S rDNA of Haliotis discus hannai from Fujian, China.

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Haishan Wang

Full Text Available We report on novel chromosomal characteristics of Haliotis discus hannai from a breeding population at Fujian, China. The karyotypes of H. discus hannai we obtained from an abalone farm include a common type 2n = 36 = 10M + 8SM (82% and two rare types 2n = 36 = 11M + 7SM (14% and 2n = 36 = 10M + 7SM + 1ST (4%. The results of silver staining showed that the NORs of H. discus hannai were usually located terminally on the long arms of chromosome pairs 14 and 17, NORs were also sometimes located terminally on the short arms of other chromosomes, either metacentric or submetacentric pairs. The number of Ag-nucleoli ranged from 2 to 8, and the mean number was 3.61 ± 0.93. Among the scored interphase cells, 41% had 3 detectable nucleoli and 37% had 4 nucleoli. The 18S rDNA FISH result is the first report of the location of 18S rDNA genes in H. discus hannai. The 18S rDNA locations were highly polymorphic in this species. Copies of the gene were observed in the terminal of long or/and short arms of submetacentric or/and metacentric chromosomes. Using FISH with probe for vertebrate-like telomeric sequences (CCCTAA3 displayed positive green FITC signals at telomere regions of all analyzed chromosome types. We found about 7% of chromosomes had breaks in prophase. A special form of nucleolus not previously described from H. discus hannai was observed in some interphase cells. It consists of many small silver-stained nucleoli gathered together to form a larger nucleolus and may correspond to prenucleolar bodies.

ITER technology R and D during the EDA

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mizoguchi, T.

2001-01-01

A short overview of the ITER technology R and D achievements is presented. It includes R and D programme in the area of superconducting magnets, L-1 central solenoid model coil, L-2 toroidal field model coil, L-3 vacuum vessel sector, L-4 blanket module, L-5 divertor cassette, L-6 blanket and L-7 divertor remote handling systems. In addition to the seven large R and D projects, development of components for fuelling, pumping, tritium processing, heating/current drive, power supplies and plasma diagnostics, as well as safety-related R and D have significantly progressed

Validation of a culturally modified short form of the McCarthy Scales of Children’s Abilities in 6 to 8 year old Zimbabwean school children: a cross section study

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Kandawasvika Gwendoline Q

2012-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The burden of cognitive impairment among school children from developing communities is under reported due to lack of culturally appropriate screening tools. The objective of this study was to validate a culturally modified short form of the McCarthy Scales of Children Abilities (MSCA in school children aged 6–8 years from varied backgrounds. Methods One hundred and one children aged 6–8 years attending mainstream classes were enrolled cross-sectionally from three schools: one rural and two urban. Two assessments were conducted on each child and the Short form MSCA was compared to an independent assessment by the educational psychologist. Results When comparing the results of the MSCA to local standard at -2SD, -1.5 SD and -1SD the sensitivity rates ranged from 17 to 50% with lower sensitivity at -2SD cut-off point. Specificity rates had less variation ranging from 95% to 100%. The number of children identified with cognitive impairment using -2SD, -1.5SD and -1SD below the mean for MSCA as a cut-off point were 3(3%, 7(7% and 13(13% respectively while the psychologist identified 18 (18%. The overall mean score on MSCA was 103 (SD 15. The rural children tended to score significantly lower marks compared to their peers from urban areas, mean (SD 98(15 and 107(15 respectively, p=0.006. There was no difference in the mean (SD scores between boys and girls, 103(17 and 103(15 respectively, p=0.995. Conclusion The culturally modified short form MSCA showed high specificity but low sensitivity. Prevalence of cognitive impairment among 6 to 8 year children was 3%. This figure is high when compared to developed communities.

The Herdecke questionnaire on quality of life (HLQ: Validation of factorial structure and development of a short form within a naturopathy treated in-patient collective

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Beer Andre-Michael

2005-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Quality of life (QoL of patients has become a central evaluation parameter that also acts as an aid for decisions related to treatment strategies particularly for patients with chronic illnesses. In Germany, one of the newer instruments attempting to measure distinct QoL aspects is the "Herdecke Questionnaire for Quality of Life" (HLQ. In this study, we aimed to validate the HLQ with respect to its factorial structure, and to develop a short form. The validation has been carried out in relation to other questionnaires including the SF-36 Health Survey, the Mood-Scale Bf-S, the Giessen Physical Complaints Questionnaire GBB-24 and McGill's Pain Perception Scale SES. Methods Data for this study derived from a model project on the treatment of patients using naturopathy methods in Blankenstein Hospital, Hattingen. In total, 2,461 patients between the ages of 16 and 92 years (mean age: 58.0 ± 13.4 years were included in this study. Most of the patients (62% suffered from rheumatic diseases. Factorial validation of the HLQ, it's reliability and external consistency analysis and the development of a short form were carried out using the SPSS software. Results Structural analysis of the HLQ-items pointed to a 6-factor model. The internal consistency of both the long and the short version is excellent (Cronbach's α is 0.935 for the HLQ-L and 0.862 for the HLQ-S. The highest reliability in the HLQ-L was obtained for the "Initiative Power and Interest" scale, the lowest for the 2-item scales "Digestive Well-Being" and the "Physical Complaints". However, the scales found by factor analysis herein were only in part congruent with the original 5-scale model which was approved a multitrait analysis approach. The new instrument shows good correlations with several scales of other relevant QoL instruments. The scales "Initiative Power and Interest", "Social Interaction", "Mental Balance", "Motility", "Physical Complaints", "Digestive Well

Criterion validity of a Wechsler-III scale short form in a sample of Brazilian Elderly

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Eliane Ferreira Carvalho Banhato

Full Text Available Abstract Although a normative process, changes in cognitive functioning vary among older adults. The differential diagnosis between normal and pathological aging must be made early using psychometrically adequate measures. Objectives: To assess the evidence of criterion validity of a Short Form (SF of the Wechsler-III Scale containing eight subtests (SF8 by determining its sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values and cut-off points for Brazilian elderly from different age groups. Methods: 168 individuals, aged 60 years or above, living in the community or in an institution, were assigned to case and control groups, and investigated according to age range. Measures included a sociodemographic questionnaire, the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE, Verbal Fluency Test, Clock-Drawing Test and the SF8. Results: More than two thirds of the sample was women (73.8%, mean age was 74.5 years (SD=8.9, mean education was 6.2 years (SD=4.8 and 40.5% were widows/widowers. In the total sample, the best cut-off point for the SF8 was 142 while cut offs among individuals aged 60 to 69 years, 70 to 79 years, and more than 80 years were 160, 129 and 129, respectively. Conclusions: The results demonstrated the importance of different cut-off points for different age ranges. Sensitivity and specificity values of the SF8 were sufficiently high to warrant the use of the SF8 as an instrument to identify cognitive impairment in the elderly.

Criterion validity of a Wechsler-III Scale Short Form in a sample of brazilian elderly.

Science.gov (United States)

Banhato, Eliane Ferreira Carvalho; Leite, Isabel Cristina Gonçalves; Guedes, Danielle Viveiros; Chaoubah, Alfredo

2010-01-01

Although a normative process, changes in cognitive functioning vary among older adults. The differential diagnosis between normal and pathological aging must be made early using psychometrically adequate measures. To assess the evidence of criterion validity of a Short Form (SF) of the Wechsler-III Scale containing eight subtests (SF8) by determining its sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values and cut-off points for Brazilian elderly from different age groups. 168 individuals, aged 60 years or above, living in the community or in an institution, were assigned to case and control groups, and investigated according to age range. Measures included a sociodemographic questionnaire, the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Verbal Fluency Test, Clock-Drawing Test and the SF8. More than two thirds of the sample was women (73.8%), mean age was 74.5 years (SD=8.9), mean education was 6.2 years (SD=4.8) and 40.5% were widows/widowers. In the total sample, the best cut-off point for the SF8 was 142 while cut offs among individuals aged 60 to 69 years, 70 to 79 years, and more than 80 years were 160, 129 and 129, respectively. The results demonstrated the importance of different cut-off points for different age ranges. Sensitivity and specificity values of the SF8 were sufficiently high to warrant the use of the SF8 as an instrument to identify cognitive impairment in the elderly.

MesonNet Workshop on Meson Transition Form Factors

CERN Document Server

Eidelman, S; Hanhart, C; Kubis, B; Kupsc, A; Leupold, S; Moskal, P; Schadmand, S

2012-01-01

The mini-proceedings of the Workshop on Meson Transition Form Factors held in Cracow from May 29th to 30th, 2012 introduce the meson transition form factor project with special emphasis on the interrelations between the various form factors (on-shell, single off-shell, double off-shell). Short summaries of the talks presented at the workshop follow.

Analytic solution to variance optimization with no short positions

Science.gov (United States)

Kondor, Imre; Papp, Gábor; Caccioli, Fabio

2017-12-01

We consider the variance portfolio optimization problem with a ban on short selling. We provide an analytical solution by means of the replica method for the case of a portfolio of independent, but not identically distributed, assets. We study the behavior of the solution as a function of the ratio r between the number N of assets and the length T of the time series of returns used to estimate risk. The no-short-selling constraint acts as an asymmetric \

Regulator of G Protein Signaling 7 (RGS7) Can Exist in a Homo-oligomeric Form That Is Regulated by Gαo and R7-binding Protein.

Science.gov (United States)

Tayou, Junior; Wang, Qiang; Jang, Geeng-Fu; Pronin, Alexey N; Orlandi, Cesare; Martemyanov, Kirill A; Crabb, John W; Slepak, Vladlen Z

2016-04-22

RGS (regulator of G protein signaling) proteins of the R7 subfamily (RGS6, -7, -9, and -11) are highly expressed in neurons where they regulate many physiological processes. R7 RGS proteins contain several distinct domains and form obligatory dimers with the atypical Gβ subunit, Gβ5 They also interact with other proteins such as R7-binding protein, R9-anchoring protein, and the orphan receptors GPR158 and GPR179. These interactions facilitate plasma membrane targeting and stability of R7 proteins and modulate their activity. Here, we investigated RGS7 complexes using in situ chemical cross-linking. We found that in mouse brain and transfected cells cross-linking causes formation of distinct RGS7 complexes. One of the products had the apparent molecular mass of ∼150 kDa on SDS-PAGE and did not contain Gβ5 Mass spectrometry analysis showed no other proteins to be present within the 150-kDa complex in the amount close to stoichiometric with RGS7. This finding suggested that RGS7 could form a homo-oligomer. Indeed, co-immunoprecipitation of differentially tagged RGS7 constructs, with or without chemical cross-linking, demonstrated RGS7 self-association. RGS7-RGS7 interaction required the DEP domain but not the RGS and DHEX domains or the Gβ5 subunit. Using transfected cells and knock-out mice, we demonstrated that R7-binding protein had a strong inhibitory effect on homo-oligomerization of RGS7. In contrast, our data indicated that GPR158 could bind to the RGS7 homo-oligomer without causing its dissociation. Co-expression of constitutively active Gαo prevented the RGS7-RGS7 interaction. These results reveal the existence of RGS protein homo-oligomers and show regulation of their assembly by R7 RGS-binding partners. © 2016 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.

Efficient expression of a soluble lipid transfer protein (LTP) of Platanus orientalis using short peptide tags and structural comparison with the natural form.

Science.gov (United States)

Salari, Farhad; Vahedi, Fatemeh; Chamani, Jamshidkhan; Varasteh, Abdolreza; Ketabdar, Hanieh; Sankian, Mojtaba

2015-01-01

Successful recombinant allergen-based immunotherapy has drawn a great deal of attention to use recombinant allergens for new therapeutic and/or diagnostic strategies. The Escherichia coli expression system is frequently used to produce recombinant allergens; however, protein expression in E. coli often results in inclusion bodies. Here, we focused on the expression of two recombinant soluble forms of Pla or 3 using solubility-enhancing peptide tags, human immune deficiency virus type 1 transactivator of transcription core domain and poly-arginine-lysine: rTAT-Pla or 3 and rPoly-Arg-Lys-Pla or 3. Structural characteristics and IgE reactivity of purified recombinant proteins were compared with natural Pla or 3 (nPla or 3) isolated from Platanus orientalis using circular dichroism spectra, fluorescence spectroscopy, and immunoblotting. Likewise, intrinsic viscosity and Stokes radius of the natural and recombinant Pla or 3 allergens were determined to analyze structural compactness in aqueous media. The results indicate high-level solubility and efficient expression of the fusion proteins (rTAT-Pla or 3 and rPoly-Arg-Lys-Pla or 3) compared with the wild-type recombinant. Furthermore, the similar structural characteristics and IgE-binding activities of the fusion proteins to nPla or 3 provide a promising tool for allergy diagnosis and treatment. © 2014 International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.

E. S. R. study of free radicals formed in the irradiated DNA-Ro 7-0582 complex

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Washino, K; Kuwabara, M; Yoshii, G [Hokkaido Univ., Sapporo (Japan)

1979-01-01

The effect of Ro 7-0582 (1-(2-hydroxy-3-methoxypropyl)-2-nitro-imidazole) on the formation of free radicals in ..gamma..-irradiated dry DNA has been investigated. Dry samples of DNA-Ro 7-0582 and DNA nucleotide-Ro 7-0582 were prepared, and e.s.r. spectra observed at 77 K immediately after gamma-irradiation. The samples were then warmed to 297 K for 30 min, and the spectra again observed at 77 K. The sensitizer brought about an increase of 30 to 40% in radical formation in DNA. The results indicated that Ro 7-0582 acts as an efficient electron scavenger on the TMP and dAMP moieties, increasing the incidence of sugar damage. Since TMP and dAMP form a complementary pair in the DNA double helix, the increase in double strand breaks induced by electron-affinic compounds seems to be responsible for the molecular mechanism of radiosensitization in living cells.

Cultural adaptation and validation of the Filipino version of Kidney Disease Quality of Life--Short Form (KDQOL-SF version 1.3).

Science.gov (United States)

Bataclan, Rommel P; Dial, Ma Antonietta D

2009-10-01

Chronic kidney disease is the 10th leading cause of death among Filipinos. Those with chronic kidney disease are exposed to stressors which effect their daily lives. Therefore, assessment of health-related quality of life is important in these patients. The objective of the present study was to translate the Kidney Disease Quality of Life--Short Form version 1.3 (KDQOL-SF ver. 1.3) into Filipino and measure its validity and reliability. Translation and cultural adaptation began with two translations into Filipino, with reconciliation of the forward translators. Pretesting with 10 renal patients, review by experts (nephrologist, translator and dialysis nurse) and back-translation was also done. The final questionnaire was administered to 80 patients with chronic renal disease undergoing haemodialysis for at least 3 months, who could understand Filipino, and were without life-threatening or terminal conditions at the time of the test. A convenience sample of 30 patients from the group had a repeat test 10-14 days after to determine test-retest reliability. Test-retest reliability was assessed by intraclass correlation coefficient and internal consistency reliability was measured by determining the Cronbach's alpha value. Validity was measured using Pearson's correlation between the overall health rating scale and the items from the questionnaire. All of the items showed good test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient >0.40), ranging from 0.58 (social interaction) to 0.98 (role--emotional). Internal consistency reliability values were acceptable, with Cronbach's alpha ranging from 0.60 (cognitive function) to 0.80 (physical functioning and role--physical). Regarding construct validity, overall health rating in kidney disease-targeted scales was significantly correlated with symptoms/problems, effects of kidney disease and burden of kidney disease. All items in the SF 36 scales had significant correlation with overall health rating (P < 0.05) except

The TorR High-Affinity Binding Site Plays a Key Role in Both torR Autoregulation and torCAD Operon Expression in Escherichia coli

OpenAIRE

Ansaldi, Mireille; Simon, Gwénola; Lepelletier, Michèle; Méjean, Vincent

2000-01-01

In the presence of trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO), the TorS-TorR two-component regulatory system induces the torCAD operon, which encodes the TMAO respiratory system of Escherichia coli. The sensor protein TorS detects TMAO and transphosphorylates the response regulator TorR which, in turn, activates transcription of torCAD. The torR gene and the torCAD operon are divergently transcribed, and the short torR-torC intergenic region contains four direct repeats (the tor boxes) which proved to be ...

Assessing appearance-related disturbances in HIV-infected men who have sex with men (MSM): psychometrics of the body change and distress questionnaire-short form (ABCD-SF).