WorldWideScience

Sample records for unit context correlation

  1. METRIC context unit architecture

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Simpson, R.O.

    1988-01-01

    METRIC is an architecture for a simple but powerful Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC). Its speed comes from the simultaneous processing of several instruction streams, with instructions from the various streams being dispatched into METRIC's execution pipeline as they become available for execution. The pipeline is thus kept full, with a mix of instructions for several contexts in execution at the same time. True parallel programming is supported within a single execution unit, the METRIC Context Unit. METRIC's architecture provides for expansion through the addition of multiple Context Units and of specialized Functional Units. The architecture thus spans a range of size and performance from a single-chip microcomputer up through large and powerful multiprocessors. This research concentrates on the specification of the METRIC Context Unit at the architectural level. Performance tradeoffs made during METRIC's design are discussed, and projections of METRIC's performance are made based on simulation studies.

  2. On stylistic automatization of lexical units in various types of contexts

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    В В Зуева

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available Stylistic automatization of lexical units in various types of contexts is investigated in this article. Following the works of Boguslav Havranek and other linguists of the Prague Linguistic School automatization is treated as a contextual narrowing of the meaning of a lexical unit to the level of its complete predictability in situational contexts and the lack of stylistic contradiction with other lexical units in speech.

  3. Vocal correlates of emotional reactivity within and across contexts in domestic pigs (Sus scrofa).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leliveld, Lisette M C; Düpjan, Sandra; Tuchscherer, Armin; Puppe, Birger

    2017-11-01

    Vocalizations have long been recognized to encode information about an individual's emotional state and, as such, have contributed to the study of emotions in animals. However, the potential of vocalizations to also encode information about an individual's emotional reactivity has received much less attention. In this study, we aimed to test whether the vocalizations of domestic pigs contain correlates of emotional reactivity that are consistent between different contexts. We recorded vocalizations of 120 young female pigs in an experimental arena in two consecutive recording contexts, social isolation and an encounter with a familiar human. Simultaneously, we measured their heart rate and behaviour to determine their emotional reactivity in the same context (within-context). In addition, we aimed to determine the subjects' emotional reactivity in other contexts (across-context) by measuring their behaviour in four common tests of emotional reactivity, the human approach test, the open door test, the open field test and the novel object test. Using a cluster analysis, we identified four different call types. Significant inter-context correlations were found for all call types, suggesting that pig vocalizations are consistent within an individual across contexts. The call rate and the proportions of the individual call types were found to correlate significantly with indices of emotional reactivity both within and across contexts. Thereby, we found more significant correlations to indices of emotional reactivity within context (behavioural and physiological response during recording) compared to across context (behavioural response in the four emotional reactivity tests). The consistency of the vocal correlates to emotional reactivity between the different contexts depended on the call type. While we found moderate evidence that the high grunt is indicative of more active, more explorative and less fearful individuals both within as well as across contexts, the

  4. Context-Aware Correlation Filter Tracking

    KAUST Repository

    Mueller, Matthias; Smith, Neil; Ghanem, Bernard

    2017-01-01

    Correlation filter (CF) based trackers have recently gained a lot of popularity due to their impressive performance on benchmark datasets, while maintaining high frame rates. A significant amount of recent research focuses on the incorporation of stronger features for a richer representation of the tracking target. However, this only helps to discriminate the target from background within a small neighborhood. In this paper, we present a framework that allows the explicit incorporation of global context within CF trackers. We reformulate the original optimization problem and provide a closed form solution for single and multi-dimensional features in the primal and dual domain. Extensive experiments demonstrate that this framework significantly improves the performance of many CF trackers with only a modest impact on frame rate.

  5. Context-Aware Correlation Filter Tracking

    KAUST Repository

    Mueller, Matthias

    2017-11-09

    Correlation filter (CF) based trackers have recently gained a lot of popularity due to their impressive performance on benchmark datasets, while maintaining high frame rates. A significant amount of recent research focuses on the incorporation of stronger features for a richer representation of the tracking target. However, this only helps to discriminate the target from background within a small neighborhood. In this paper, we present a framework that allows the explicit incorporation of global context within CF trackers. We reformulate the original optimization problem and provide a closed form solution for single and multi-dimensional features in the primal and dual domain. Extensive experiments demonstrate that this framework significantly improves the performance of many CF trackers with only a modest impact on frame rate.

  6. Family context and externalizing correlates of childhood animal cruelty in adjudicated delinquents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walters, Glenn D; Noon, Alexandria

    2015-05-01

    The purpose of this study was to determine whether childhood animal cruelty is primarily a feature of family context or of externalizing behavior. Twenty measures of family context and proactive (fearlessness) and reactive (disinhibition) externalizing behavior were correlated with the retrospective accounts of childhood animal cruelty provided by 1,354 adjudicated delinquents. A cross-sectional analysis revealed that all 20 family context, proactive externalizing, and reactive externalizing variables correlated significantly with animal cruelty. Prospective analyses showed that when the animal cruelty variable was included in a regression equation with the 10 family context variables (parental arguing and fighting, parental drug use, parental hostility, and parental knowledge and monitoring of offspring behavior) or in a regression equation with the five reactive externalizing variables (interpersonal hostility, secondary psychopathy, weak impulse control, weak suppression of aggression, and short time horizon), it continued to predict future violent and income (property + drug) offending. The animal cruelty variable no longer predicted offending, however, when included in a regression equation with the five proactive externalizing variables (early onset behavioral problems, primary psychopathy, moral disengagement, positive outcome expectancies for crime, and lack of consideration for others). These findings suggest that while animal cruelty correlates with a wide range of family context and externalizing variables, it may serve as a marker of violent and nonviolent offending by virtue of its position on the proactive subdimension of the externalizing spectrum. © The Author(s) 2014.

  7. ERP correlates of source memory: unitized source information increases familiarity-based retrieval.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Diana, Rachel A; Van den Boom, Wijnand; Yonelinas, Andrew P; Ranganath, Charan

    2011-01-07

    Source memory tests typically require subjects to make decisions about the context in which an item was encoded and are thought to depend on recollection of details from the study episode. Although it is generally believed that familiarity does not contribute to source memory, recent behavioral studies have suggested that familiarity may also support source recognition when item and source information are integrated, or "unitized," during study (Diana, Yonelinas, and Ranganath, 2008). However, an alternative explanation of these behavioral findings is that unitization affects the manner in which recollection contributes to performance, rather than increasing familiarity-based source memory. To discriminate between these possibilities, we conducted an event-related potential (ERP) study testing the hypothesis that unitization increases the contribution of familiarity to source recognition. Participants studied associations between words and background colors using tasks that either encouraged or discouraged unitization. ERPs were recorded during a source memory test for background color. The results revealed two distinct neural correlates of source recognition: a frontally distributed positivity that was associated with familiarity-based source memory in the high-unitization condition only and a parietally distributed positivity that was associated with recollection-based source memory in both the high- and low-unitization conditions. The ERP and behavioral findings provide converging evidence for the idea that familiarity can contribute to source recognition, particularly when source information is encoded as an item detail. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  8. Rural Ageing in the United States: Trends and Contexts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Glasgow, Nina; Brown, David L.

    2012-01-01

    This paper examines rural population ageing in the United States with a particular focus on the contrasting contexts in which older rural residents live. We compare the characteristics of the older population by rural versus urban residence, and explore challenges and opportunities associated with the ageing of rural baby boomers. The United…

  9. Religious beliefs are factual beliefs: Content does not correlate with context sensitivity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Levy, Neil

    2017-04-01

    Neil Van Leeuwen argues that religious beliefs are not factual beliefs: typically, at least, they are attitudes of a different type. He argues that they exhibit much more sensitivity to context than factual beliefs: outside of contexts in which they are salient, they do not govern behaviour or inference, or provide background assumptions for cognition. This article surveys a large range of data to show that the kind of context sensitivity that Van Leeuwen thinks is the province of religious beliefs does not correlate with belief content. Beliefs about matters of fact beyond the theological realm exhibit this kind of sensitivity too. Conversely, theological and supernatural beliefs often guide behaviour across contexts. It is the intuitiveness of representations across contexts that predicts context (in)sensitivity, and intuitiveness is powerfully influenced by processing fluency. Fluency, in turn, is sensitive to cues that vary across contexts. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  10. Correlating the content and context of PAS 55 with the ISO 55000 series

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Van den Honert, A. F.

    2013-08-01

    Full Text Available The ISO 55000 series is soon to supersede PAS 55 as the most recognised international standard for asset management. A correlation of the content and context of PAS 55 with the ISO 55000 series is required to assist organisations with the transition. After analysis of the structures, similarities, differences, and omissions of the two standards, a map was created to correlate the summarised content and context. The map established that, although both sets of standards have a similar structural framework, the ISO 55000 series is a more comprehensive and detailed standard, creating a clearer way to implement an asset management system within an organisation.

  11. The Alpine-Carpathian-Dinaridic orogenic system: correlation and evolution of tectonic units

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Schmid, S.M.; Bernoulli, D.; Fügenschuh, B.; Matenco, L.C.; Schefer, S.; Schuster, R.; Tischler, M.; Ustaszewski, K.

    2008-01-01

    A correlation of tectonic units of the Alpine-Carpathian-Dinaridic system of orogens, including the substrate of the Pannonian and Transylvanian basins, is presented in the form of a map. Combined with a series of crustal-scale cross sections this correlation of tectonic units yields a clearer

  12. Context-sensitive Dynamic Ordinal Regression for Intensity Estimation of Facial Action Units

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Rudovic, Ognjen; Pavlovic, Vladimir; Pantic, Maja

    2015-01-01

    Modeling intensity of facial action units from spontaneously displayed facial expressions is challenging mainly because of high variability in subject-specific facial expressiveness, head-movements, illumination changes, etc. These factors make the target problem highly context-sensitive. However,

  13. The organisational context of nursing care in stroke units: a case study approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burton, Christopher R; Fisher, Andrea; Green, Theresa L

    2009-01-01

    Internationally the stroke unit is recognised as the evidence-based model for patient management, although clarity about the effective components of stroke units is lacking. Whilst skilled nursing care has been proposed as one component, the theoretical and empirical basis for stroke nursing is limited. We attempted to explore the organisational context of stroke unit nursing, to determine those features that staff perceived to be important in facilitating high quality care. A case study approach was used, that included interviews with nurses and members of the multidisciplinary teams in two Canadian acute stroke units. A total of 20 interviews were completed, transcribed and analysed thematically using the Framework Approach. Trustworthiness was established through the review of themes and their interpretation by members of the stroke units. Nine themes that comprised an organisational context that supported the delivery of high quality nursing care in acute stroke units were identified, and provide a framework for organisational development. The study highlighted the importance of an overarching service model to guide the organisation of care and the development of specialist and advanced nursing roles. Whilst multidisciplinary working appears to be a key component of stroke unit nursing, various organisational challenges to its successful implementation were highlighted. In particular the consequence of differences in the therapeutic approach of nurses and therapy staff needs to be explored in greater depth. Successful teamwork appears to depend on opportunities for the development of relationships between team members as much as the use of formal communication systems and structures. A co-ordinated approach to education and training, clinical leadership, a commitment to research, and opportunities for role and practice development also appear to be key organisational features of stroke unit nursing. Recommendations for the development of stroke nursing

  14. Adolescent development of context-dependent stimulus-reward association memory and its neural correlates.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Voss, Joel L; O'Neil, Jonathan T; Kharitonova, Maria; Briggs-Gowan, Margaret J; Wakschlag, Lauren S

    2015-01-01

    Expression of learned stimulus-reward associations based on context is essential for regulation of behavior to meet situational demands. Contextual regulation improves during development, although the developmental progression of relevant neural and cognitive processes is not fully specified. We therefore measured neural correlates of flexible, contextual expression of stimulus-reward associations in pre/early-adolescent children (ages 9-13 years) and young adults (ages 19-22 years). After reinforcement learning using standard parameters, a contextual reversal manipulation was used whereby contextual cues indicated that stimulus-reward associations were the same as previously reinforced for some trials (consistent trials) or were reversed on other trials (inconsistent trials). Subjects were thus required to respond according to original stimulus-reward associations vs. reversed associations based on trial-specific contextual cues. Children and young adults did not differ in reinforcement learning or in relevant functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) correlates. In contrast, adults outperformed children during contextual reversal, with better performance specifically for inconsistent trials. fMRI signals corresponding to this selective advantage included greater activity in lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC), hippocampus, and dorsal striatum for young adults relative to children. Flexible expression of stimulus-reward associations based on context thus improves via adolescent development, as does recruitment of brain regions involved in reward learning and contextual expression of memory. HighlightsEarly-adolescent children and young adults were equivalent in reinforcement learning.Adults outperformed children in contextual expression of stimulus-reward associations.Adult advantages correlated with increased activity of relevant brain regions.Specific neurocognitive developmental changes support better contextual regulation.

  15. Concept and methodology for evaluating core damage frequency considering failure correlation at multi units and sites and its application

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ebisawa, K.; Teragaki, T.; Nomura, S. [Former Incorporated Administrative Agency, Japan Nuclear Safety Organization (Japan); Abe, H., E-mail: Hiroshi_abe@nsr.go.jp [Former Incorporated Administrative Agency, Japan Nuclear Safety Organization (Japan); Shigemori, M.; Shimomoto, M. [Mizuho Information & Research Institute, 2-3, Kanda-Nishikicho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo (Japan)

    2015-07-15

    Highlights: • We develop a method to evaluate CDF considering failure correlation at multi units. • We develop a procedure to evaluate correlation coefficient between multi components. • We evaluate CDF at two different BWR units using correlation coefficients. • We confirm the validity of method and correlation coefficient through the evaluation. - Abstract: The Tohoku earthquake (Mw9.0) occurred on March 11, 2011 and caused a large tsunami. The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant with six units were overwhelmed by the tsunami and core damage occurred. Authors proposed the concept and method for evaluating core damage frequency (CDF) considering failure correlation at the multi units and sites. Based on the above method, one of authors developed the procedure for evaluating the failure correlation coefficient and response correlation coefficient between the multi components under the strong seismic motion. These method and failure correlation coefficients were applied to two different BWR units and their CDF was evaluated by seismic probabilistic risk assessment technology. Through this quantitative evaluation, the validity of the method and failure correlation coefficient was confirmed.

  16. Concept and methodology for evaluating core damage frequency considering failure correlation at multi units and sites and its application

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ebisawa, K.; Teragaki, T.; Nomura, S.; Abe, H.; Shigemori, M.; Shimomoto, M.

    2015-01-01

    Highlights: • We develop a method to evaluate CDF considering failure correlation at multi units. • We develop a procedure to evaluate correlation coefficient between multi components. • We evaluate CDF at two different BWR units using correlation coefficients. • We confirm the validity of method and correlation coefficient through the evaluation. - Abstract: The Tohoku earthquake (Mw9.0) occurred on March 11, 2011 and caused a large tsunami. The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant with six units were overwhelmed by the tsunami and core damage occurred. Authors proposed the concept and method for evaluating core damage frequency (CDF) considering failure correlation at the multi units and sites. Based on the above method, one of authors developed the procedure for evaluating the failure correlation coefficient and response correlation coefficient between the multi components under the strong seismic motion. These method and failure correlation coefficients were applied to two different BWR units and their CDF was evaluated by seismic probabilistic risk assessment technology. Through this quantitative evaluation, the validity of the method and failure correlation coefficient was confirmed

  17. Cosmetic surgery growth and correlations with financial indices: a comparative study of the United Kingdom and United States from 2002-2011.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nassab, Reza; Harris, Paul

    2013-05-01

    Over the past 10 years, there has been significant fluctuation in the yearly growth rates for cosmetic surgery procedures in both the United States and the United Kingdom. The authors compare cosmetic surgical procedure rates in the United Kingdom and United States with the macroeconomic climate of each region to determine whether there is a direct relationship between cosmetic surgery rates and economic health. The authors analyzed annual cosmetic surgery statistics from the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons and the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery for 2002-2011 against economic indices from both regions, including the gross domestic product (GDP), consumer prices indices (CPI), and stock market reports. There was a 285.9% increase in the United Kingdom and a 1.1% increase in the United States in the number of procedures performed between 2002 and 2011. There were significant positive correlations between the number of cosmetic procedures performed in the United Kingdom and both the GDP (r = 0.986, P failed to show a significant relationship with any indices. UK interest rates showed a significant negative correlation (r = -0.668, P indices are accurate indicators of numbers of procedures being performed in the United Kingdom, whereas rates in the United States seem independent of those factors.

  18. Context-specific control and context selection in conflict tasks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schouppe, Nathalie; Ridderinkhof, K Richard; Verguts, Tom; Notebaert, Wim

    2014-02-01

    This study investigated whether participants prefer contexts with relatively little cognitive conflict and whether this preference is related to context-specific control. A conflict selection task was administered in which participants had to choose between two categories that contained different levels of conflict. One category was associated with 80% congruent Stroop trials and 20% incongruent Stroop trials, while the other category was associated with only 20% congruent Stroop trials and 80% incongruent Stroop trials. As predicted, participants selected the low-conflict category more frequently, indicating that participants avoid contexts with high-conflict likelihood. Furthermore, we predicted a correlation between this preference for the low-conflict category and the control implementation associated with the categories (i.e., context-specific proportion congruency effect, CSPC effect). Results however did not show such a correlation, thereby failing to support a relationship between context control and context selection. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  19. Behavioral correlates of the distributed coding of spatial context.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anderson, Michael I; Killing, Sarah; Morris, Caitlin; O'Donoghue, Alan; Onyiagha, Dikennam; Stevenson, Rosemary; Verriotis, Madeleine; Jeffery, Kathryn J

    2006-01-01

    Hippocampal place cells respond heterogeneously to elemental changes of a compound spatial context, suggesting that they form a distributed code of context, whereby context information is shared across a population of neurons. The question arises as to what this distributed code might be useful for. The present study explored two possibilities: one, that it allows contexts with common elements to be disambiguated, and the other, that it allows a given context to be associated with more than one outcome. We used two naturalistic measures of context processing in rats, rearing and thigmotaxis (boundary-hugging), to explore how rats responded to contextual novelty and to relate this to the behavior of place cells. In experiment 1, rats showed dishabituation of rearing to a novel reconfiguration of familiar context elements, suggesting that they perceived the reconfiguration as novel, a behavior that parallels that of place cells in a similar situation. In experiment 2, rats were trained in a place preference task on an open-field arena. A change in the arena context triggered renewed thigmotaxis, and yet navigation continued unimpaired, indicating simultaneous representation of both the altered contextual and constant spatial cues. Place cells similarly exhibited a dual population of responses, consistent with the hypothesis that their activity underlies spatial behavior. Together, these experiments suggest that heterogeneous context encoding (or "partial remapping") by place cells may function to allow the flexible assignment of associations to contexts, a faculty that could be useful in episodic memory encoding. Copyright (c) 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

  20. Correlation of United States Medical Licensing Examination and Internal Medicine In-Training Examination Performance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perez, Jose A., Jr.; Greer, Sharon

    2009-01-01

    The Internal Medicine In-Training Examination (ITE) is administered during residency training in the United States as a self-assessment and program assessment tool. Performance on this exam correlates with outcome on the American Board of Internal Medicine Certifying examination. Internal Medicine Program Directors use the United States Medical…

  1. Incentivizing professionals and patients: a consideration in the context of the United Kingdom and the United States.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oliver, Adam; Brown, Lawrence D

    2011-02-01

    We are at the beginning of an era in which the pressure to secure the biggest possible "bang" for the health care "buck" is perhaps higher than it ever has been, on both sides of the Atlantic, and within the health policy discourse, incentives, for both professionals and patients, are occupying an increasingly prominent position. In this article, we consider issues related to motivating the professional and the patient to perform targeted actions, drawing on some of the evidence that has thus far been reported on experiences in the United Kingdom and the United States, and we present an admittedly somewhat speculative taxonomy of hypothesized effectiveness for some of the different methods by which each of these two broad types of incentives can be offered. We go on to summarize some of the problems of, and objections to, the use of incentives in health and health care, such as those relating to motivational crowding and gaming, but we conclude by positing that, following appropriate consideration, caution, and methodological and empirical investigation, health-related incentives, at least in some contexts, may contribute positively to the social good.

  2. Correlation of United States Medical Licensing Examination and Internal Medicine In-Training Examination performance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perez, Jose A; Greer, Sharon

    2009-12-01

    The Internal Medicine In-Training Examination (ITE) is administered during residency training in the United States as a self-assessment and program assessment tool. Performance on this exam correlates with outcome on the American Board of Internal Medicine Certifying examination. Internal Medicine Program Directors use the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) to make decisions in recruitment of potential applicants. This study was done to determine a correlation of USMLE Steps 1, 2 and 3 results with ITE scores in each level of Internal Medicine training. A retrospective review of all residents graduating from an Internal Medicine program from 1999 to 2006 was done. Subjects included had data for all USMLE Steps and ITE during all years of training. Thirty-one subjects were included in the study. Correlations of USMLE Steps 1, 2 and 3 were done with ITE scores (percent correct) in each year of training. Pearson's correlation coefficient (r) was determined for each pairing and a t test to determine statistical significance of the correlation was done. Statistical significance was defined as P value ITE percent correct in PGY I, II and III were 0.46, 0.55 and 0.51 respectively. Corresponding r values for USMLE Step 2 and ITE percent correct were 0.79, 0.70 and 0.72; for USMLE Step 3 these values were 0.51, 0.37 and 0.51 respectively for each training year. USMLE scores are correlated with ITE scores. This correlation was strongest for USMLE Step 2.

  3. Psychopathic Personality Traits and Environmental Contexts: Differential Correlates, Gender Differences, and Genetic Mediation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hicks, Brian M.; Carlson, Marie D.; Blonigen, Daniel M.; Patrick, Christopher J.; Iacono, William G.; MGue, Matt

    2011-01-01

    Theorists have speculated that primary psychopathy (or Factor 1 affective-interpersonal features) is prominently heritable whereas secondary psychopathy (or Factor 2 social deviance) is more environmentally determined. We tested this differential heritability hypothesis using a large adolescent twin sample. Trait-based proxies of primary and secondary psychopathic tendencies were assessed using Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ; Tellegen & Waller, 2008) estimates of Fearless Dominance and Impulsive Antisociality, respectively (Benning et al., 2005). The environmental contexts of family, school, peers, and stressful life events were assessed using multiple raters and methods. Consistent with prior research, MPQ Impulsive Antisociality was robustly associated with each environmental risk factor, and these associations were significantly greater than those for MPQ Fearless Dominance. However, MPQ Fearless Dominance and Impulsive Antisociality exhibited similar heritability, and genetic effects mediated the associations between MPQ Impulsive Antisociality and the environmental measures. Results were largely consistent across male and female twins. We conclude that gene-environment correlations rather than main effects of genes and environments account for the differential environmental correlates of primary and secondary psychopathy. PMID:22452762

  4. Implementation and Operational Analysis of an Interactive Intensive Care Unit within a Smart Health Context.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lopez-Iturri, Peio; Aguirre, Erik; Trigo, Jesús Daniel; Astrain, José Javier; Azpilicueta, Leyre; Serrano, Luis; Villadangos, Jesús; Falcone, Francisco

    2018-01-29

    In the context of hospital management and operation, Intensive Care Units (ICU) are one of the most challenging in terms of time responsiveness and criticality, in which adequate resource management and signal processing play a key role in overall system performance. In this work, a context aware Intensive Care Unit is implemented and analyzed to provide scalable signal acquisition capabilities, as well as to provide tracking and access control. Wireless channel analysis is performed by means of hybrid optimized 3D Ray Launching deterministic simulation to assess potential interference impact as well as to provide required coverage/capacity thresholds for employed transceivers. Wireless system operation within the ICU scenario, considering conventional transceiver operation, is feasible in terms of quality of service for the complete scenario. Extensive measurements of overall interference levels have also been carried out, enabling subsequent adequate coverage/capacity estimations, for a set of Zigbee based nodes. Real system operation has been tested, with ad-hoc designed Zigbee wireless motes, employing lightweight communication protocols to minimize energy and bandwidth usage. An ICU information gathering application and software architecture for Visitor Access Control has been implemented, providing monitoring of the Boxes external doors and the identification of visitors via a RFID system. The results enable a solution to provide ICU access control and tracking capabilities previously not exploited, providing a step forward in the implementation of a Smart Health framework.

  5. Introduction: Issues Related to Dose Units and Damage Correlation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stoller, Roger E.

    2012-01-01

    The observable effects of irradiation on material properties are complex and each such property changed depends sensitively on a range of irradiation and material parameters. This works against development of a universal exposure parameter. The irradiation dose to the material (both ionizing and displacement dose) can be calculated with good accuracy as long as the relevant reaction cross sections are known and implemented in the codes used. This suggests that a focus on dose calculations is warranted. When assessing damage correlation parameters, it is important to determine the appropriate dose parameter first. Then a clear distinction between damage formation and damage accumulation needs to be kept in mind. The dose unit is most helpful for estimating the primary damage generation, e.g. how damage energy is used to estimate atomic displacements. However, damage accumulation requires longer times and involves kinetic and thermodynamic processes that cannot be accounted for in a dose or primary damage unit. The adequacy of the primary damage formulations can be assessed through their use in mean field reaction rate theory or kinetic Monte Carlo microstructural evolution models to predict damage accumulation. The results of these models can be directly compared with experimental observations. (author)

  6. Context as a modifier of phraseological meaning

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maria Vladimirovna Harlamova

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The article is devoted to the problems of actualization of phraseological units in the context of the French youth press. Due to the development of the connotative component of the meaning, phraseological units, as expressive means of the language, are often used in the process of communication to influence the addressee. The phraseological units with positive or negative estimation, expressing emotionally-evaluative attitude of the speaker towards the subject, influence the creation of the pragmatic direction of the utterance. Effected by the context, some changes take place within the structure of phraseological meaning. As the result the pragmatic direction of the text is increased. When a cliché is included into the context, the virtual (pragmatic meaning is substituted by the actual (syntagmatic meaning. Here, two variants of interaction of these meanings are possible. In the first case, the paradigmatic meaning and the syntagmatic meaning can coincide (thus, the phraseological unit is presented in its casual meaning. In the latter case, the meaning of the cliché can be transformed under the influence of the context. It often leads to the divergence between paradigmatic and syntagmatic meanings. Thus, connotative-pragmatic characteristics of any phraseological unit can be defined by the context and it leads to : a a cliché, losing its situational-evaluative feature (influenced by the context, the situational feature disappears and the cliché gets a positive or negative evaluation; b the transition of the cliché to the "oppositely charged" field (phraseological units with negative connotation get positive connotation and vice versa; c the intensification of phraseological meaning. The analyzed examples, proving the influence of the context on phraseological meaning, were taken from various French youth journals. (Okapi, le Monde des ados, Geo ado, Phosphore, Etudiant, Science & Vie Junior, Planète Jeunes.

  7. Implementation and Operational Analysis of an Interactive Intensive Care Unit within a Smart Health Context

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aguirre, Erik

    2018-01-01

    In the context of hospital management and operation, Intensive Care Units (ICU) are one of the most challenging in terms of time responsiveness and criticality, in which adequate resource management and signal processing play a key role in overall system performance. In this work, a context aware Intensive Care Unit is implemented and analyzed to provide scalable signal acquisition capabilities, as well as to provide tracking and access control. Wireless channel analysis is performed by means of hybrid optimized 3D Ray Launching deterministic simulation to assess potential interference impact as well as to provide required coverage/capacity thresholds for employed transceivers. Wireless system operation within the ICU scenario, considering conventional transceiver operation, is feasible in terms of quality of service for the complete scenario. Extensive measurements of overall interference levels have also been carried out, enabling subsequent adequate coverage/capacity estimations, for a set of Zigbee based nodes. Real system operation has been tested, with ad-hoc designed Zigbee wireless motes, employing lightweight communication protocols to minimize energy and bandwidth usage. An ICU information gathering application and software architecture for Visitor Access Control has been implemented, providing monitoring of the Boxes external doors and the identification of visitors via a RFID system. The results enable a solution to provide ICU access control and tracking capabilities previously not exploited, providing a step forward in the implementation of a Smart Health framework. PMID:29382148

  8. Implementation and Operational Analysis of an Interactive Intensive Care Unit within a Smart Health Context

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Peio Lopez-Iturri

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available In the context of hospital management and operation, Intensive Care Units (ICU are one of the most challenging in terms of time responsiveness and criticality, in which adequate resource management and signal processing play a key role in overall system performance. In this work, a context aware Intensive Care Unit is implemented and analyzed to provide scalable signal acquisition capabilities, as well as to provide tracking and access control. Wireless channel analysis is performed by means of hybrid optimized 3D Ray Launching deterministic simulation to assess potential interference impact as well as to provide required coverage/capacity thresholds for employed transceivers. Wireless system operation within the ICU scenario, considering conventional transceiver operation, is feasible in terms of quality of service for the complete scenario. Extensive measurements of overall interference levels have also been carried out, enabling subsequent adequate coverage/capacity estimations, for a set of Zigbee based nodes. Real system operation has been tested, with ad-hoc designed Zigbee wireless motes, employing lightweight communication protocols to minimize energy and bandwidth usage. An ICU information gathering application and software architecture for Visitor Access Control has been implemented, providing monitoring of the Boxes external doors and the identification of visitors via a RFID system. The results enable a solution to provide ICU access control and tracking capabilities previously not exploited, providing a step forward in the implementation of a Smart Health framework.

  9. Toward a culture-by-context perspective on negotiation: negotiating teams in the United States and Taiwan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gelfand, Michele J; Brett, Jeanne; Gunia, Brian C; Imai, Lynn; Huang, Tsai-Jung; Hsu, Bi-Fen

    2013-05-01

    Within the United States, teams outperform solos in negotiation (Thompson, Peterson, & Brodt, 1996). The current research examined whether this team advantage generalizes to negotiators from a collectivist culture (Taiwan). Because different cultures have different social norms, and because the team context may amplify the norms that are salient in a particular culture (Gelfand & Realo, 1999), we predicted that the effect of teams on negotiation would differ across cultures. Specifically, we predicted that since harmony norms predominate in collectivist cultures like Taiwan, the team context would amplify a concern with harmony, leading Taiwanese teams to negotiate especially suboptimal outcomes. In support, 2 studies showed that Taiwanese teams negotiated less-optimal outcomes than Taiwanese solos. We also used a moderated-mediation analysis to investigate the mechanism (Hayes, 2012), documenting that the interactive effect of culture and context on outcomes was mediated by harmony norms. By showing that the same situational conditions (team negotiations) can have divergent effects on negotiation outcomes across cultures, our results point toward a nuanced, sociocontextual view that moves beyond the culture-as-main-effect approach to studying culture and negotiations. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

  10. COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF PERSONALITY CORRELATES OF REFLEXIVITY IN THE CONTEXT OF PROFESSIONAL FORMATION OF THE TEACHER

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    T. V. Mayasova

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available This article examines the reflexive, the most important professional quality of a teacher's personality in the context of professional development. Reflexivity is a basic property of the individual, whereby the awareness and regulation of the subject of their activities. As a personal correlates of reflexivity studied mental stability, individual styles of decision making (vigilance and avoidance, spontaneity, emotional intelligence (empathy and the ability to manage emotions of other people. The paper conducts a comparative analysis of reflexivity and qualities correlated with her young teachers, working in the specialty from 1 to 5 years and students from different areas of training of pedagogical University. Obtained in the course of the empirical research results confirmed that the process of professional development of teachers is the development of these qualities. Were no significant differences in the indicators options system the reflexivity, alertness,spontaneity, empathy, which differ among teachers and students.

  11. Correlation of Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Performance Across Multiple Measures of Quality of Care

    Science.gov (United States)

    Profit, J; Zupancic, JAF; Gould, JB; Pietz, K; Kowalkowski, MA; Draper, D; Hysong, SJ; Petersen, LA

    2014-01-01

    Objectives To examine whether high performance on one measure of quality is associated with high performance on others and to develop a data-driven explanatory model of neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) performance. Design We conducted a cross-sectional data analysis of a statewide perinatal care database. Risk-adjusted NICU ranks were computed for each of 8 measures of quality selected based on expert input. Correlations across measures were tested using the Pearson correlation coefficient. Exploratory factor analysis was used to determine whether underlying factors were driving the correlations. Setting Twenty-two regional NICUs in California. Patients In total, 5445 very low-birth-weight infants cared for between January 1, 2004, and December 31, 2007. Main Outcomes Measures Pneumothorax, growth velocity, health care–associated infection, antenatal corticosteroid use, hypothermia during the first hour of life, chronic lung disease, mortality in the NICU, and discharge on any human breast milk. Results The NICUs varied substantially in their clinical performance across measures of quality. Of 28 unit-level correlations only 6 were significant (P quality measures were strong (ρ > .5) for 1 pair, moderate (.3 quality in this sample. Pneumothorax, mortality in the NICU, and antenatal corticosteroid use loaded on factor 1; growth velocity and health care–associated infection loaded on factor 2; chronic lung disease loaded on factor 3; and discharge on any human breast milk loaded on factor 4. Conclusion In this sample, the ability of individual measures of quality to explain overall quality of neonatal intensive care was modest. PMID:23403539

  12. Correlation of neonatal intensive care unit performance across multiple measures of quality of care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Profit, Jochen; Zupancic, John A F; Gould, Jeffrey B; Pietz, Kenneth; Kowalkowski, Marc A; Draper, David; Hysong, Sylvia J; Petersen, Laura A

    2013-01-01

    To examine whether high performance on one measure of quality is associated with high performance on others and to develop a data-driven explanatory model of neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) performance. We conducted a cross-sectional data analysis of a statewide perinatal care database. Risk-adjusted NICU ranks were computed for each of 8 measures of quality selected based on expert input. Correlations across measures were tested using the Pearson correlation coefficient. Exploratory factor analysis was used to determine whether underlying factors were driving the correlations. Twenty-two regional NICUs in California. In total, 5445 very low-birth-weight infants cared for between January 1, 2004, and December 31, 2007. Pneumothorax, growth velocity, health care-associated infection, antenatal corticosteroid use, hypothermia during the first hour of life, chronic lung disease, mortality in the NICU, and discharge on any human breast milk. The NICUs varied substantially in their clinical performance across measures of quality. Of 28 unit-level correlations, 6 were significant (ρ < .05). Correlations between pairs of measures of quality of care were strong (ρ ≥ .5) for 1 pair, moderate (range, ρ ≥ .3 to ρ < .5) for 8 pairs, weak (range, ρ ≥ .1 to ρ < .3) for 5 pairs, and negligible (ρ < .1) for 14 pairs. Exploratory factor analysis revealed 4 underlying factors of quality in this sample. Pneumothorax, mortality in the NICU, and antenatal corticosteroid use loaded on factor 1; growth velocity and health care-associated infection loaded on factor 2; chronic lung disease loaded on factor 3; and discharge on any human breast milk loaded on factor 4. In this sample, the ability of individual measures of quality to explain overall quality of neonatal intensive care was modest.

  13. Nursing, social contexts, and ideologies in the early United States birth control movement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lagerwey, M D

    1999-12-01

    Using historical discourse analysis, this study provides a thematic analysis of writings of nursing and birth control as found in The Birth Control Review from 1917 to 1927. The author contrasts this publication with the official journal of the American Nurses Association, the American Journal of Nursing from the same years to explore nursing voices and silences in early birth control stories. In dialogue with social contexts, nursing endeavors and inactivity have played important yet conflicting roles in the birth control movement in the United States. Nursing writings from the early twentieth century reflect eugenic beliefs, national fears of immigrants, and ambivalence about women's roles in society and the home. Nurses simultaneously empowered women to choose when to become pregnant and reinforced nativist and paternalistic views of the poor.

  14. An Ethnographic Study of the Social Context of Migrant Health in the United States

    Science.gov (United States)

    Holmes, Seth M

    2006-01-01

    Background Migrant workers in the United States have extremely poor health. This paper aims to identify ways in which the social context of migrant farm workers affects their health and health care. Methods and Findings This qualitative study employs participant observation and interviews on farms and in clinics throughout 15 months of migration with a group of indigenous Triqui Mexicans in the western US and Mexico. Study participants include more than 130 farm workers and 30 clinicians. Data are analyzed utilizing grounded theory, accompanied by theories of structural violence, symbolic violence, and the clinical gaze. The study reveals that farm working and housing conditions are organized according to ethnicity and citizenship. This hierarchy determines health disparities, with undocumented indigenous Mexicans having the worst health. Yet, each group is understood to deserve its place in the hierarchy, migrant farm workers often being blamed for their own sicknesses. Conclusions Structural racism and anti-immigrant practices determine the poor working conditions, living conditions, and health of migrant workers. Subtle racism serves to reduce awareness of this social context for all involved, including clinicians. The paper concludes with strategies toward improving migrant health in four areas: health disparities research, clinical interactions with migrant laborers, medical education, and policy making. PMID:17076567

  15. An ethnographic study of the social context of migrant health in the United States.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Seth M Holmes

    2006-10-01

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Migrant workers in the United States have extremely poor health. This paper aims to identify ways in which the social context of migrant farm workers affects their health and health care. METHODS AND FINDINGS: This qualitative study employs participant observation and interviews on farms and in clinics throughout 15 months of migration with a group of indigenous Triqui Mexicans in the western US and Mexico. Study participants include more than 130 farm workers and 30 clinicians. Data are analyzed utilizing grounded theory, accompanied by theories of structural violence, symbolic violence, and the clinical gaze. The study reveals that farm working and housing conditions are organized according to ethnicity and citizenship. This hierarchy determines health disparities, with undocumented indigenous Mexicans having the worst health. Yet, each group is understood to deserve its place in the hierarchy, migrant farm workers often being blamed for their own sicknesses. CONCLUSIONS: Structural racism and anti-immigrant practices determine the poor working conditions, living conditions, and health of migrant workers. Subtle racism serves to reduce awareness of this social context for all involved, including clinicians. The paper concludes with strategies toward improving migrant health in four areas: health disparities research, clinical interactions with migrant laborers, medical education, and policy making.

  16. Target-context unitization effect on the familiarity-related FN400: a face recognition exclusion task.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guillaume, Fabrice; Etienne, Yann

    2015-03-01

    Using two exclusion tasks, the present study examined how the ERP correlates of face recognition are affected by the nature of the information to be retrieved. Intrinsic (facial expression) and extrinsic (background scene) visual information were paired with face identity and constituted the exclusion criterion at test time. Although perceptual information had to be taken into account in both situations, the FN400 old-new effect was observed only for old target faces on the expression-exclusion task, whereas it was found for both old target and old non-target faces in the background-exclusion situation. These results reveal that the FN400, which is generally interpreted as a correlate of familiarity, was modulated by the retrieval of intra-item and intrinsic face information, but not by the retrieval of extrinsic information. The observed effects on the FN400 depended on the nature of the information to be retrieved and its relationship (unitization) to the recognition target. On the other hand, the parietal old-new effect (generally described as an ERP correlate of recollection) reflected the retrieval of both types of contextual features equivalently. The current findings are discussed in relation to recent controversies about the nature of the recognition processes reflected by the ERP correlates of face recognition. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  17. CORRELATION BETWEEN COORDINATION AND PERSONALITY TRAITS OF SOLDIERS IN BATTLE UNIT OF SLOVENIAN ARMED FORCES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maja Pori

    2009-11-01

    Full Text Available The aim of the study was to investigate the correlation between motor ability of coordination and personality traits of Slovenian soldiers. The subject sample consisted of 94 soldiers in a battle unit of Slovenian Armed Forces (SAF who were serving in the first brigade (age 26,5 ± 3,4 years. Motor ability of coordination was assessed with two motor tasks (polygon bac- kwards and figure 8 duck test. The structure of personality traits was measured with a FPI (Freiburg Personality Inventory included 114 items and measured 9 personality traits of order I (neuroticism, impulsivity, depression, irritability, sociability, calmness, dominance, suppression, sincerity and 3 personality traits of order II (extroversion, emotional istability, masculinity. The correlation between coordination and personality traits was estimated by the Pearson’s correlation coefficient. The results show that soldiers who did worse in motor test polygon backwards were more neurotic, suppressed, and impulsive. They also tend to be more sociable. The correlation between second test of coordination shows that better soldiers in this test are more extrovert or less introvert.

  18. A clinical decision-making mechanism for context-aware and patient-specific remote monitoring systems using the correlations of multiple vital signs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Forkan, Abdur Rahim Mohammad; Khalil, Ibrahim

    2017-02-01

    In home-based context-aware monitoring patient's real-time data of multiple vital signs (e.g. heart rate, blood pressure) are continuously generated from wearable sensors. The changes in such vital parameters are highly correlated. They are also patient-centric and can be either recurrent or can fluctuate. The objective of this study is to develop an intelligent method for personalized monitoring and clinical decision support through early estimation of patient-specific vital sign values, and prediction of anomalies using the interrelation among multiple vital signs. In this paper, multi-label classification algorithms are applied in classifier design to forecast these values and related abnormalities. We proposed a completely new approach of patient-specific vital sign prediction system using their correlations. The developed technique can guide healthcare professionals to make accurate clinical decisions. Moreover, our model can support many patients with various clinical conditions concurrently by utilizing the power of cloud computing technology. The developed method also reduces the rate of false predictions in remote monitoring centres. In the experimental settings, the statistical features and correlations of six vital signs are formulated as multi-label classification problem. Eight multi-label classification algorithms along with three fundamental machine learning algorithms are used and tested on a public dataset of 85 patients. Different multi-label classification evaluation measures such as Hamming score, F1-micro average, and accuracy are used for interpreting the prediction performance of patient-specific situation classifications. We achieved 90-95% Hamming score values across 24 classifier combinations for 85 different patients used in our experiment. The results are compared with single-label classifiers and without considering the correlations among the vitals. The comparisons show that multi-label method is the best technique for this problem

  19. The organizational social context of mental health services and clinician attitudes toward evidence-based practice: a United States national study

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-01-01

    Background Evidence-based practices have not been routinely adopted in community mental health organizations despite the support of scientific evidence and in some cases even legislative or regulatory action. We examined the association of clinician attitudes toward evidence-based practice with organizational culture, climate, and other characteristics in a nationally representative sample of mental health organizations in the United States. Methods In-person, group-administered surveys were conducted with a sample of 1,112 mental health service providers in a nationwide sample of 100 mental health service institutions in 26 states in the United States. The study examines these associations with a two-level Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) analysis of responses to the Evidence-Based Practice Attitude Scale (EBPAS) at the individual clinician level as a function of the Organizational Social Context (OSC) measure at the organizational level, controlling for other organization and clinician characteristics. Results We found that more proficient organizational cultures and more engaged and less stressful organizational climates were associated with positive clinician attitudes toward adopting evidence-based practice. Conclusions The findings suggest that organizational intervention strategies for improving the organizational social context of mental health services may contribute to the success of evidence-based practice dissemination and implementation efforts by influencing clinician attitudes. PMID:22726759

  20. The organizational social context of mental health services and clinician attitudes toward evidence-based practice: a United States national study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aarons Gregory A

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Evidence-based practices have not been routinely adopted in community mental health organizations despite the support of scientific evidence and in some cases even legislative or regulatory action. We examined the association of clinician attitudes toward evidence-based practice with organizational culture, climate, and other characteristics in a nationally representative sample of mental health organizations in the United States. Methods In-person, group-administered surveys were conducted with a sample of 1,112 mental health service providers in a nationwide sample of 100 mental health service institutions in 26 states in the United States. The study examines these associations with a two-level Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM analysis of responses to the Evidence-Based Practice Attitude Scale (EBPAS at the individual clinician level as a function of the Organizational Social Context (OSC measure at the organizational level, controlling for other organization and clinician characteristics. Results We found that more proficient organizational cultures and more engaged and less stressful organizational climates were associated with positive clinician attitudes toward adopting evidence-based practice. Conclusions The findings suggest that organizational intervention strategies for improving the organizational social context of mental health services may contribute to the success of evidence-based practice dissemination and implementation efforts by influencing clinician attitudes.

  1. Sustainability of egg production in the United States--the policy and market context.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mench, J A; Sumner, D A; Rosen-Molina, J T

    2011-01-01

    The US egg industry is being pressured from many directions to change its production practices, particularly to address concerns about hen welfare in conventional cage systems. Responding to similar pressures, in 1999, the European Union banned conventional laying cages starting in 2012. This now impending European ban has led to the development of several alternative housing systems. These include noncage systems like aviaries and modified (enriched or furnished) cages that include perches, areas in which the hens can forage and dustbathe, and nests. Understanding the European experience is valuable as the United States considers the future direction of the egg industry. In the United States, the proportion of eggs produced in alternative systems is small (less than 5% of output) but growing, in part due to market and political incentives for systems that provide hens with more behavioral freedom than conventional cages. Animal welfare, however, is only one element of a sustainable production system. Other elements include those related to public values, the environment, economics, worker health, and food safety and quality. Eggs are a primary source of animal protein globally, and the United States is the third largest producer of eggs in the world, behind China and the European Union. The national table egg flock comprises about 280 million hens housed in all regions but with approximately 60% of eggs produced in the 10 leading states. Adopting new housing systems will have substantial effects on costs and other aspects of egg production on both a regional and national scale, with some positive effects but also potential negative effects that need to be carefully considered. This paper discusses the US egg industry in the context of legislation and standards related to hen housing systems. It also addresses initiatives by retailers, nongovernmental organizations, and private certification organizations to shape production practices in the egg industry as well as

  2. Healthcare associated infections in neonatal intensive care unit and its correlation with environmental surveillance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sanjay Kumar

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Healthcare-associated infections (HAI are frequent complications in neonatal intensive care units (NICU with varying risk factors and bacteriological profile. There is paucity of literature comparing the bacteriological profile of organisms causing HAI with the environmental surveillance isolates. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate demographic profile, risk factors and outcome of HAI in NICU and correlate with environmental surveillance.Three hundred newborns with signs and symptoms of sepsis were enrolled in the study group and their profile, risk factors and outcome were compared with the control group. Univariate analysis and multivariable logistic regression were performed. Environmental surveillance results were compared to the bacteriological profile of HAIs.We identified lower gestational age, male gender and apgar score less than 7 at 5 min, use of peripheral vascular catheter & ventilator along with their duration as significant risk factors. Mortality rate was 29% in the study group (p < 0.05. The HAI site distribution showed blood-stream infections (73% to be the most common followed by pneumonia (12% and meningitis (10%. Gram positive cocci were the most common isolates in HAI as well as environmental surveillance.The bacteriological profile of HAI correlates with the environmental surveillance report thus insisting for periodic surveillance and thereby avoiding irrational antibiotic usage. Keywords: Healthcare associated infection, Neonatal intensive care unit, Environmental surveillance

  3. Persistence of DACA-Mexico Origin College Students in the United States-Mexican Borderlands: A Correlational Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dominguez, Marguerite Nicole

    2017-01-01

    This was a correlational study of 30 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals-Mexico origin (D-MO) students at 2- and 4-year higher education institutions in the 4-state United States-Mexican Borderlands region (California, Arizona, Texas, and New Mexico). The study used an online survey to gain a better understanding of the relationship of four…

  4. No Geographic Correlation between Lyme Disease and Death Due to 4 Neurodegenerative Disorders, United States, 2001-2010.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Forrester, Joseph D; Kugeler, Kiersten J; Perea, Anna E; Pastula, Daniel M; Mead, Paul S

    2015-11-01

    Associations between Lyme disease and certain neurodegenerative diseases have been proposed, but supportive evidence for an association is lacking. Similar geographic distributions would be expected if 2 conditions were etiologically linked. Thus, we compared the distribution of Lyme disease cases in the United States with the distributions of deaths due to Alzheimer disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), multiple sclerosis (MS), and Parkinson disease; no geographic correlations were identified. Lyme disease incidence per US state was not correlated with rates of death due to ALS, MS, or Parkinson disease; however, an inverse correlation was detected between Lyme disease and Alzheimer disease. The absence of a positive correlation between the geographic distribution of Lyme disease and the distribution of deaths due to Alzheimer disease, ALS, MS, and Parkinson disease provides further evidence that Lyme disease is not associated with the development of these neurodegenerative conditions.

  5. Comparing Standard Deviation Effects across Contexts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ost, Ben; Gangopadhyaya, Anuj; Schiman, Jeffrey C.

    2017-01-01

    Studies using tests scores as the dependent variable often report point estimates in student standard deviation units. We note that a standard deviation is not a standard unit of measurement since the distribution of test scores can vary across contexts. As such, researchers should be cautious when interpreting differences in the numerical size of…

  6. Global context for the United States Forest Sector in 2030

    Science.gov (United States)

    James Turner; Joseph Buongiorno; Shushuai Zhu; Jeffrey P. Prestemon

    2005-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to identify markets for, and competitors to, the United States forest industries in the next 30 years. The Global Forest Products Model was used to make predictions of international demand, supply, trade, and prices, conditional on the last RPA Timber Assessment projections for the United States. It was found that the United States, Japan...

  7. From micro-correlations to macro-correlations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Eliazar, Iddo

    2016-01-01

    Random vectors with a symmetric correlation structure share a common value of pair-wise correlation between their different components. The symmetric correlation structure appears in a multitude of settings, e.g. mixture models. In a mixture model the components of the random vector are drawn independently from a general probability distribution that is determined by an underlying parameter, and the parameter itself is randomized. In this paper we study the overall correlation of high-dimensional random vectors with a symmetric correlation structure. Considering such a random vector, and terming its pair-wise correlation “micro-correlation”, we use an asymptotic analysis to derive the random vector’s “macro-correlation” : a score that takes values in the unit interval, and that quantifies the random vector’s overall correlation. The method of obtaining macro-correlations from micro-correlations is then applied to a diverse collection of frameworks that demonstrate the method’s wide applicability.

  8. Processes for CO2 capture. Context of thermal waste treatment units. State of the art. Extended abstract

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lopez, A.; Roizard, D.; Favre, E.; Dufour, A.

    2013-01-01

    For most of industrial sectors, Greenhouse Gases (GHG) such as carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) are considered as serious pollutants and have to be controlled and treated. The thermal waste treatment units are part of industrial CO 2 emitters, even if they represent a small part of emissions (2,5 % of GHG emissions in France) compared to power plants (13 % of GHG emissions in France, one third of worldwide GHG emissions) or shaper industries (20 % of GHG emissions in France). Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) can be a solution to reduce CO 2 emissions from industries (power plants, steel and cement industries...). The issues of CCS applied to thermal waste treatment units are quite similar to those related to power plants (CO 2 flow, flue gas temperature and pressure conditions). The problem is to know if the CO 2 produced by waste treatment plants can be captured thanks to the processes already available on the market or that should be available by 2020. It seems technically possible to adapt CCS post-combustion methods to the waste treatment sector. But on the whole, CCS is complex and costly for a waste treatment unit offering small economies of scale. However, regulations concerning impurities for CO 2 transport and storage are not clearly defined at the moment. Consequently, specific studies must be achieved in order to check the technical feasibility of CCS in waste treatment context and clearly define its cost. (authors)

  9. MARKETING POLICY FORMULATION IN MULTIPLE STRATEGIC CONTEXTS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    LIVIU N EAMŢU

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Business Strategy, as part adaptation of company’s actions in a particular business area to specific demand and competition or conversely opening new market positions, is the main strategic move that ensures competitiveness in the market and ensuring appreciable profitability of the business. Marketing policies adopted by one firm are fundamental decisions concerning the product and its conditioning elements. Marketing decisions are manifold; the most important for a company is selection of those marketing elements that can support business strategy as defined at the level of a whole company's strategic units. This paper brings to the fore just correlations between marketing actions that are at the reach of the company and strategic business contexts in which it may lie. Thus, according to the four strategic situation of the market, will analyze key sets of strategic action in the field of marketing that companies can use in order to support the business strategy and not undermine the production and marketing efforts with the costs involved.

  10. Context-free parsing with connectionist networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fanty, M. A.

    1986-08-01

    This paper presents a simple algorithm which converts any context-free grammar into a connectionist network which parses strings (of arbitrary but fixed maximum length) in the language defined by that grammar. The network is fast, O(n), and deterministicd. It consists of binary units which compute a simple function of their input. When the grammar is put in Chomsky normal form, O(n3) units needed to parse inputs of length up to n.

  11. Context-aware system design

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chan, Christine S.; Ostertag, Michael H.; Akyürek, Alper Sinan; Šimunić Rosing, Tajana

    2017-05-01

    The Internet of Things envisions a web-connected infrastructure of billions of sensors and actuation devices. However, the current state-of-the-art presents another reality: monolithic end-to-end applications tightly coupled to a limited set of sensors and actuators. Growing such applications with new devices or behaviors, or extending the existing infrastructure with new applications, involves redesign and redeployment. We instead propose a modular approach to these applications, breaking them into an equivalent set of functional units (context engines) whose input/output transformations are driven by general-purpose machine learning, demonstrating an improvement in compute redundancy and computational complexity with minimal impact on accuracy. In conjunction with formal data specifications, or ontologies, we can replace application-specific implementations with a composition of context engines that use common statistical learning to generate output, thus improving context reuse. We implement interconnected context-aware applications using our approach, extracting user context from sensors in both healthcare and grid applications. We compare our infrastructure to single-stage monolithic implementations with single-point communications between sensor nodes and the cloud servers, demonstrating a reduction in combined system energy by 22-45%, and multiplying the battery lifetime of power-constrained devices by at least 22x, with easy deployment across different architectures and devices.

  12. A historical context of municipal solid waste management in the United States.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Louis, Garrick E

    2004-08-01

    Municipal solid waste management (MSWM) in the United States is a system comprised of regulatory, administrative, market, technology, and social subcomponents, and can only be understood in the context of its historical evolution. American cities lacked organized public works for street cleaning, refuse collection, water treatment, and human waste removal until the early 1800s. Recurrent epidemics forced efforts to improve public health and the environment. The belief in anticontagionism led to the construction of water treatment and sewerage works during the nineteenth century, by sanitary engineers working for regional public health authorities. This infrastructure was capital intensive and required regional institutions to finance and administer it. By the time attention turned to solid waste management in the 1880s, funding was not available for a regional infrastructure. Thus, solid waste management was established as a local responsibility, centred on nearby municipal dumps. George Waring of New York City organized solid waste management around engineering unit operations; including street sweeping, refuse collection, transportation, resource recovery and disposal. This approach was adopted nationwide, and was managed by City Departments of Sanitation. Innovations such as the introduction of trucks, motorized street sweepers, incineration, and sanitary landfill were developed in the following decades. The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 (RCRA), is the defining legislation for MSWM practice in America today. It forced the closure of open dumps nationwide, and required regional planning for MSWM. The closure of municipal dumps caused a 'garbage crisis' in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Private companies assumed an expanded role in MSWM through regional facilities that required the transportation of MSW across state lines. These transboundary movements of MSW created the issue of flow control, in which the US Supreme Court affirmed the protection

  13. An Efficient Context-Aware Privacy Preserving Approach for Smartphones

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lichen Zhang

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available With the proliferation of smartphones and the usage of the smartphone apps, privacy preservation has become an important issue. The existing privacy preservation approaches for smartphones usually have less efficiency due to the absent consideration of the active defense policies and temporal correlations between contexts related to users. In this paper, through modeling the temporal correlations among contexts, we formalize the privacy preservation problem to an optimization problem and prove its correctness and the optimality through theoretical analysis. To further speed up the running time, we transform the original optimization problem to an approximate optimal problem, a linear programming problem. By resolving the linear programming problem, an efficient context-aware privacy preserving algorithm (CAPP is designed, which adopts active defense policy and decides how to release the current context of a user to maximize the level of quality of service (QoS of context-aware apps with privacy preservation. The conducted extensive simulations on real dataset demonstrate the improved performance of CAPP over other traditional approaches.

  14. Using Evolution as a Context for Teaching the Nature of Science to Diverse Student Populations: A High School Unit of Curriculum

    Science.gov (United States)

    Metcalfe, Angela C.

    Teaching evolution provides teachers with the opportunity to educate students on how science aims to understand the natural world. Rooted in research, the purpose of this project was to create NGSS-aligned curriculum focused on teaching the nature of science (NOS) within the context of biological evolution. Field testing and review of the unit resulted in revisions aimed at creating more comprehensive teacher resource materials and explicit inclusion of NOS. Emphasizing NOS in curriculum development and teaching scientific qualities through an evolutionary context has taken the focus off belief or disbelief, keeping the attention on the scientific concept at hand. Designing curriculum around compelling subject matter and embracing student-led learning increased and maintained student interest in the classroom. Implementation of this curriculum not only requires the teacher to be knowledgeable in conventional educational pedagogy, but also the subjects of NGSS and NOS. Additional training and support centered around NGSS is recommended for science educators interested in integrating NOS into their curriculum and instruction.

  15. Emotion Knowledge and Attentional Differences in Preschoolers Showing Context-Inappropriate Anger.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Locke, Robin L; Lang, Nichole J

    2016-08-01

    Some children show anger inappropriate for the situation based on the predominant incentives, which is called context-inappropriate anger. Children need to attend to and interpret situational incentives for appropriate emotional responses. We examined associations of context-inappropriate anger with emotion recognition and attention problems in 43 preschoolers (42% male; M age = 55.1 months, SD = 4.1). Parents rated context-inappropriate anger across situations. Teachers rated attention problems using the Child Behavior Checklist-Teacher Report Form. Emotion recognition was ability to recognize emotional faces using the Emotion Matching Test. Anger perception bias was indicated by anger to non-anger situations using an adapted Affect Knowledge Test. 28% of children showed context-inappropriate anger, which correlated with lower emotion recognition (β = -.28) and higher attention problems (β = .36). Higher attention problems correlated with more anger perception bias (β = .32). This cross-sectional, correlational study provides preliminary findings that children with context-inappropriate anger showed more attention problems, which suggests that both "problems" tend to covary and associate with deficits or biases in emotion knowledge. © The Author(s) 2016.

  16. Validation of Shape Context Based Image Registration Method Using Digital Image Correlation Measurement on a Rat Stomach

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Liao, Donghua; Wang, P; Zhao, Jingbo

    2014-01-01

    Recently we developed analysis for 3D visceral organ deformation by combining the shape context (SC) method with a full-field strain (strain distribution on a whole 3D surface) analysis for calculating distension-induced rat stomach deformation. The surface deformation detected by the SC method...... needs to be further verified by using a feature tracking measurement. Hence, the aim of this study was to verify the SC method-based calculation by using digital image correlation (DIC) measurement on a rat stomach. The rat stomach exposed to distension pressures 0.0, 0.2, 0.4, and 0.6 kPa were studied...... and the SC calculated correspondence surface was compared. Compared with DIC measurement, the SC calculated surface had errors from 5% to 23% at pressures from 0.2 to 0.6 kPa with different surface sample counts between the reference surface and the target surface. This indicates good qualitative...

  17. Profile of mental disorders among the elderly United Arab Emirates population: sociodemographic correlates.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ghubash, Rafia; El-Rufaie, Omer; Zoubeidi, Taoufik; Al-Shboul, Qasim M; Sabri, Sufyan M

    2004-04-01

    To investigate the prevalence, nature and sociodemographic correlates of mental disorders among the elderly United Arab Emirates (UAE) population. STUDY SUBJECTS AND SAMPLE: UAE nationals aged 60 years or more, were recruited from within a random sample of households representing the UAE national population, irrespective of the age of individuals in each household. RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS: (i) Geriatric Mental State Interview (GMS-A3): an Arabic version, using the AGECAT for analysis; (ii) A short questionnaire for relevant sociodemographic data. Purposely trained, Arabic speaking interviewers visited the targeted sample households to interview study subjects at their homes. The total number of screened subjects was 610: 166 (27.2%) in Al-Ain; 286 (46.9%) in Dubai and 158 (25.9%) in Ras Al-Khaimah. There were 347 (56.9%) male subjects and 263 (43.1%) female subjects. The mean age of the interviewed subjects was 68.6 (SD 8.3). The commonest diagnostic entities at the AGECAT syndrome case level were depression (20.2%), anxiety (5.6%), hypochondriasis (4.4%) and organic, mostly cognitive impairment with or without dementia (3.6%). Organic syndrome caseness, as an independent entity, showed significant correlation only to older age, while the rest of the mental disorders showed significant correlation with female gender, insufficient income and being single, separated, divorced or widowed. The GMS-AGECAT package proved to be a useful tool for psychiatric assessment among the elderly in this Arabian culture. The prevalence rates of mental disorders among the elderly UAE population were, more or less, within the same range reported by other comparable worldwide studies. Copyright 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  18. A fully connected network of Bernoulli units with correlation learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dente, J. A.; Vilela Mendes, R.

    1996-02-01

    Biological evidence suggests that pattern recognition and associative memory in the mammalian nervous system operates through the establishment of spatio-temporal patterns of activity and not by the evolution towards an equilibrium point as in attractor neural networks. Information is carried by the space-time correlation of the activity intensities rather than by the details of individual neuron signals. Furthermore the fast recognition times that are achieved with relatively slow biological neurons seem to be associated to the chaotic nature of the basal nervous activity. To copy the biology hardware may not be technologically sound, but to look for inspiration in the efficient biological information processing methods is an idea that deserves consideration. Inspired by the mechanisms at work in the mammalian olfactory system we study a network where, in the absence of external inputs, the units have a dynamics of the Bernoulli shift type. When an external signal is presented, the pattern of excitation bursts depends on the learning history of the network. Association and pattern identification in the network operates by the selection, by the external stimulus, of distinct invariant measures in the chaotic system. The simplicity of the node dynamics, that is chosen, allows a reasonable analytical control of the network behavior.

  19. Percolation of secret correlations in a network

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Leverrier, Anthony; Garcia-Patron, Raul [ICFO-Institut de Ciencies Fotoniques, 08860 Castelldefels (Barcelona) (Spain); Research Laboratory of Electronics, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139 (United States) and Max-Planck Institut fur Quantenoptik, Hans-Kopfermann Str. 1, D-85748 Garching (Germany)

    2011-09-15

    In this work, we explore the analogy between entanglement and secret classical correlations in the context of large networks--more precisely, the question of percolation of secret correlations in a network. It is known that entanglement percolation in quantum networks can display a highly nontrivial behavior depending on the topology of the network and on the presence of entanglement between the nodes. Here we show that this behavior, thought to be of a genuine quantum nature, also occurs in a classical context.

  20. Percolation of secret correlations in a network

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Leverrier, Anthony; Garcia-Patron, Raul

    2011-01-01

    In this work, we explore the analogy between entanglement and secret classical correlations in the context of large networks--more precisely, the question of percolation of secret correlations in a network. It is known that entanglement percolation in quantum networks can display a highly nontrivial behavior depending on the topology of the network and on the presence of entanglement between the nodes. Here we show that this behavior, thought to be of a genuine quantum nature, also occurs in a classical context.

  1. Household Socioeconomic and Demographic Correlates of Cryptosporidium Seropositivity in the United States.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniel J Becker

    Full Text Available Cryptosporidium are parasitic protozoa that infect humans, domestic animals, and wildlife globally. In the United States, cryptosporidiosis occurs in an estimated 750,000 persons annually, and is primarily caused by either of the Cryptosporidium parvum genotypes 1 and 2, exposure to which occurs through ingestion of food or water contaminated with oocytes shed from infected hosts. Although most cryptosporidiosis cases are caused by genotype 1 and are of human origin, the zoonotic sources of genotype 2, such as livestock, are increasingly recognized as important for understanding human disease patterns. Social inequality could mediate patterns of human exposure and infection by placing individuals in environments where food or water contamination and livestock contact is high or through reducing the availability of educational and sanitary resources required to avoid exposure.We here analyzed data from the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (NHANES between 1999 and 2000, and related seropositivity to Cryptosporidium parvum to correlates of social inequality at the household and individual scale. After accounting for the complex sampling design of NHANES and confounding by individual demographics and household conditions, we found impaired household food adequacy was associated with greater odds of Cryptosporidium seropositivity. Additionally, we identified individuals of non-white race and ethnicity and those born outside the United States as having significantly greater risk than white, domestic-born counterparts. Furthermore, we provide suggestive evidence for direct effects of family wealth on Cryptosporidium seropositivity, in that persons from low-income households and from families close to the poverty threshold had elevated odds of seropositivity relative to those in high-income families and in households far above the poverty line.These results refute assertions that cryptosporidiosis in the United States is independent of

  2. Real-time autocorrelator for fluorescence correlation spectroscopy based on graphical-processor-unit architecture: method, implementation, and comparative studies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Laracuente, Nicholas; Grossman, Carl

    2013-03-01

    We developed an algorithm and software to calculate autocorrelation functions from real-time photon-counting data using the fast, parallel capabilities of graphical processor units (GPUs). Recent developments in hardware and software have allowed for general purpose computing with inexpensive GPU hardware. These devices are more suited for emulating hardware autocorrelators than traditional CPU-based software applications by emphasizing parallel throughput over sequential speed. Incoming data are binned in a standard multi-tau scheme with configurable points-per-bin size and are mapped into a GPU memory pattern to reduce time-expensive memory access. Applications include dynamic light scattering (DLS) and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) experiments. We ran the software on a 64-core graphics pci card in a 3.2 GHz Intel i5 CPU based computer running Linux. FCS measurements were made on Alexa-546 and Texas Red dyes in a standard buffer (PBS). Software correlations were compared to hardware correlator measurements on the same signals. Supported by HHMI and Swarthmore College

  3. Suprathreshold stochastic resonance in neural processing tuned by correlation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Durrant, Simon; Kang, Yanmei; Stocks, Nigel; Feng, Jianfeng

    2011-07-01

    Suprathreshold stochastic resonance (SSR) is examined in the context of integrate-and-fire neurons, with an emphasis on the role of correlation in the neuronal firing. We employed a model based on a network of spiking neurons which received synaptic inputs modeled by Poisson processes stimulated by a stepped input signal. The smoothed ensemble firing rate provided an output signal, and the mutual information between this signal and the input was calculated for networks with different noise levels and different numbers of neurons. It was found that an SSR effect was present in this context. We then examined a more biophysically plausible scenario where the noise was not controlled directly, but instead was tuned by the correlation between the inputs. The SSR effect remained present in this scenario with nonzero noise providing improved information transmission, and it was found that negative correlation between the inputs was optimal. Finally, an examination of SSR in the context of this model revealed its connection with more traditional stochastic resonance and showed a trade-off between supratheshold and subthreshold components. We discuss these results in the context of existing empirical evidence concerning correlations in neuronal firing.

  4. Cambrian Evolutionary Radiation: Context, correlation, and chronostratigraphy—Overcoming deficiencies of the first appearance datum (FAD) concept

    Science.gov (United States)

    Landing, Ed; Geyer, Gerd; Brasier, Martin D.; Bowring, Samuel A.

    2013-08-01

    Use of the first appearance datum (FAD) of a fossil to define a global chronostratigraphic unit's base can lead to intractable correlation and stability problems. FADs are diachronous—they reflect species' evolutionary history, dispersal, biofacies, preservation, collection, and taxonomy. The Cambrian Evolutionary Radiation is characterised by diachronous FADs, biofacies controls, and provincialism of taxa and ecological communities that confound a stable Lower Cambrian chronostratigraphy. Cambrian series and stage definitions require greater attention to assemblage zone successions and non-biostratigraphic, particularly carbon isotope, correlation techniques such as those that define the Ediacaran System base. A redefined, basal Cambrian Trichophycus pedum Assemblage Zone lies above the highest Ediacaran-type biotas (vendobionts, putative metazoans, and calcareous problematica such as Cloudina) and the basal Asteridium tornatum-Comasphaeridium velvetum Zone (acritarchs). This definition and the likely close correspondence of evolutionary origin and local FAD of T. pedum preserves the Fortune Head, Newfoundland, GSSP of the Cambrian base and allows the presence of sub-Cambrian, branched ichnofossils. The sub-Tommotian-equivalent base of Stage 2 (a suggested "Laolinian Stage") should be defined by the I'/L4/ZHUCE δ13C positive peak, bracketed by the lower ranges of Watsonella crosbyi and Aldanella attleborensis (molluscs) and the Skiagia ornata-Fimbrioglomerella membranacea Zone (acritarchs). The W. crosbyi and A. attleborensis FADs cannot define a Stage 2 base as they are diachronous even in the Newfoundland "type" W. crosbyi Zone. The Series 2 base cannot be based on a species' FAD owing to the provincialism of skeletalised metazoans in the Terreneuvian-Series 2 boundary interval and global heterochrony of the oldest trilobites. A Series 2 and Stage 3 (a suggested "Lenaldanian Series" and "Zhurinskyan Stage," new) GSSP base is proposed at the Siberian lower

  5. Work stress, occupational burnout and depression levels: a clinical study of paediatric intensive care unit nurses in Taiwan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Tzu-Ching; Lin, Huey-Shyan; Cheng, Su-Fen; Wu, Li-Min; Ou-Yang, Mei-Chen

    2016-04-01

    This study aimed to examine the relationship between work stress and depression; and investigate the mediating effect of occupational burnout among nurses in paediatric intensive care units. The relationships among work stress, occupational burnout and depression level have been explored, neither regarding occupational burnout as the mediating role that causes work stress to induce depression nor considering the paediatric intensive care unit context. A cross-sectional correlational design was conducted. One hundred and forty-four female paediatric intensive care unit nurses from seven teaching hospitals in southern Taiwan were recruited as the participants. Data were collected by structured questionnaires including individual demographics, the Nurse Stress Checklist, the Occupational Burnout Inventory and the Taiwan Depression Questionnaire. The results indicated that after controlling for individual demographic variables, the correlations of work stress with occupational burnout, as well as work stress and occupational burnout with depression level were all positive. Furthermore, occupational burnout may exert a partial mediating effect on the relationship between work stress and depression level. This study provides information about work stress, occupational burnout and depression level, and their correlations, as well as the mediating role of occupational burnout among paediatric intensive care unit nurses. It suggests government departments and hospital administrators when formulating interventions to prevent work stress and occupational burnout. These interventions can subsequently prevent episodes of depression in paediatric intensive care unit nurses, thereby providing patients with a safe and high-quality nursing environment. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  6. Entropic Nonsignaling Correlations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chaves, Rafael; Budroni, Costantino

    2016-06-17

    We introduce the concept of entropic nonsignaling correlations, i.e., entropies arising from probabilistic theories that are compatible with the fact that we cannot transmit information instantaneously. We characterize and show the relevance of these entropic correlations in a variety of different scenarios, ranging from typical Bell experiments to more refined descriptions such as bilocality and information causality. In particular, we apply the framework to derive the first entropic inequality testing genuine tripartite nonlocality in quantum systems of arbitrary dimension and also prove the first known monogamy relation for entropic Bell inequalities. Further, within the context of complex Bell networks, we show that entropic nonlocal correlations can be activated.

  7. Hadronic Correlations and Fluctuations

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Koch, Volker

    2008-10-09

    We will provide a review of some of the physics which can be addressed by studying fluctuations and correlations in heavy ion collisions. We will discuss Lattice QCD results on fluctuations and correlations and will put them into context with observables which have been measured in heavy-ion collisions. Special attention will be given to the QCD critical point and the first order co-existence region, and we will discuss how the measurement of fluctuations and correlations can help in an experimental search for non-trivial structures in the QCD phase diagram.

  8. Chained learning architectures in a simple closed-loop behavioural context

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kulvicius, Tomas; Porr, Bernd; Wörgötter, Florentin

    2007-01-01

    are very simple and consist of single learning unit. The current study is trying to solve this problem focusing on chained learning architectures in a simple closed-loop behavioural context. METHODS: We applied temporal sequence learning (Porr B and Wörgötter F 2006) in a closed-loop behavioural system...... where a driving robot learns to follow a line. Here for the first time we introduced two types of chained learning architectures named linear chain and honeycomb chain. We analyzed such architectures in an open and closed-loop context and compared them to the simple learning unit. CONCLUSIONS...

  9. The Prevalence of HIV by Ethnic Group Is Correlated with HSV-2 and Syphilis Prevalence in Kenya, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chris Richard Kenyon

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Background. This paper investigates two issues: do ethnic/racial groups with high HIV prevalences also have higher prevalences of other STIs? and is HIV prevalence by ethnic group correlated with the prevalence of circumcision, concurrency, or having more than one partner in the preceding year? Methods. We used Spearman’s correlation to estimate the association between the prevalence of HIV per ethnic/racial group and HSV-2, syphilis, symptoms of an STI, having more than one partner in the past year, concurrency, and circumcision in Kenya, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Results. We found that in each country HSV-2, syphilis, and symptomatic STIs were positively correlated with HIV prevalence (HSV-2: Kenya rho = 0.50, P = 0.207; South Africa rho-1, P = 0.000; USA rho-1, P = 0.000, Syphilis: Kenya rho = 0.33, P = 0.420; South Africa rho-1, P = 0.000; USA rho-1, P = 0.000, and STI symptoms: Kenya rho = 0.92, P = 0.001; South Africa rho-1, P = 0.000; UK rho = 0.87, P = 0.058; USA rho-1, P = 0.000. The prevalence of circumcision was only negatively associated with HIV prevalence in Kenya. Both having more than one partner in the previous year and concurrency were positively associated with HIV prevalence in all countries (concurrency: Kenya rho = 0.79, P = 0.036; South Africa rho-1, P = 0.000; UK 0.87, P = 0.058; USA rho-1, P = 0.000 and multiple partners: Kenya rho = 0.82, P = 0.023; South Africa rho-1, P = 0.000; UK rho = 0.87, P = 0.058; USA rho-1, P = 0.000. Not all associations were statistically significant. Conclusion. Further attention needs to be directed to what determines higher rates of partner change and concurrency in communities with high STI prevalence.

  10. Legal aspects of unitization: a comparative approach; Aspectos juridicos da unitizacao: uma abordagem comparativa

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cunha, Amanda L. [PETROBRAS S.A., Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil)

    2004-07-01

    The objective of this paper is the study of unitization under a comparative approach between the legal system of some of the most important countries in mature production of oil and gas as well of those which represent the new frontier in exploration and production of these natural resources, and also the provisions regarding unitization in the Brazil's legal system. Firstly, concepts and classifications about unitization, the historical context related to it, and the different doctrines regarding unitization will be analyzed. This analysis will be done considering the concepts developed by American jurisprudence, since it was in the United States where the first thesis regarding unitization were developed, such as the rule of capture and the correlative rights doctrines. Afterwards, it will be presented a study of some unitization's provisions found in different countries' statutes, regulations and contracts such as leases, production sharing agreements, concession contracts etc., being pointed the similarities and differences related to Brazil's legal system. Finally, the national legislation in force as well the Model Concession Contract of ANP's Sixth Round will be analyzed. (author)

  11. Challenges and Benefits of Early Bilingualism in the United States' Context

    Science.gov (United States)

    Espinosa, Linda M.

    2015-01-01

    The population of young dual language learners (DLL) in the United States has tripled in the last several decades and now accounts for 25% of all children in the United States (Migration Policy Institute, June 2014). Many of these children are exposed to multiple languages in the home and the early childhood setting (ECE) setting, and the vast…

  12. Use of Internet Search Data to Monitor Rotavirus Vaccine Impact in the United States, United Kingdom, and Mexico.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shah, Minesh P; Lopman, Benjamin A; Tate, Jacqueline E; Harris, John; Esparza-Aguilar, Marcelino; Sanchez-Uribe, Edgar; Richardson, Vesta; Steiner, Claudia A; Parashar, Umesh D

    2018-02-19

    Previous studies have found a strong correlation between internet search and public health surveillance data. Less is known about how search data respond to public health interventions, such as vaccination, and the consistency of responses in different countries. In this study, we aimed to study the correlation between internet searches for "rotavirus" and rotavirus disease activity in the United States, United Kingdom, and Mexico before and after introduction of rotavirus vaccine. We compared time series of internet searches for "rotavirus" from Google Trends with rotavirus laboratory reports from the United States and United Kingdom and with hospitalizations for acute gastroenteritis in the United States and Mexico. Using time and location parameters, Google quantifies an internet query share (IQS) to measure the relative search volume for specific terms. We analyzed the correlation between IQS and laboratory and hospitalization data before and after national vaccine introductions. There was a strong positive correlation between the rotavirus IQS and laboratory reports in the United States (R2 = 0.79) and United Kingdom (R2 = 0.60) and between the rotavirus IQS and acute gastroenteritis hospitalizations in the United States (R2 = 0.87) and Mexico (R2 = 0.69) (P United States and by 70% (95% CI, 55%-86%) in Mexico. In the United Kingdom, there was a loss of seasonal variation after vaccine introduction. Rotavirus internet search data trends mirrored national rotavirus laboratory trends in the United States and United Kingdom and gastroenteritis-hospitalization data in the United States and Mexico; lower correlations were found after rotavirus vaccine introduction. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society 2017. This work is written by (a) US Government employee(s) and is in the public domain in the US.

  13. Pharyngeal and cervical cancer incidences significantly correlate with personal UV doses among whites in the United States.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Godar, Dianne E; Tang, Rong; Merrill, Stephen J

    2014-09-01

    Because we found UV-exposed oral tissue cells have reduced DNA repair and apoptotic cell death compared with skin tissue cells, we asked if a correlation existed between personal UV dose and the incidences of oral and pharyngeal cancer in the United States. We analyzed the International Agency for Research on Cancer's incidence data for oral and pharyngeal cancers by race (white and black) and sex using each state's average annual personal UV dose. We refer to our data as 'white' rather than 'Caucasian,' which is a specific subgroup of whites, and 'black' rather than African-American because blacks from other countries around the world reside in the U.S. Most oropharyngeal carcinomas harboured human papilloma virus (HPV), so we included cervical cancer as a control for direct UV activation. We found significant correlations between increasing UV dose and pharyngeal cancer in white males (p=0.000808) and females (p=0.0031) but not in blacks. Shockingly, we also found cervical cancer in whites to significantly correlate with increasing UV dose (p=0.0154). Thus, because pharyngeal and cervical cancer correlate significantly with increasing personal UV dose in only the white population, both direct (DNA damage) and indirect (soluble factors) effects may increase the risk of HPV-associated cancer. Copyright© 2014 International Institute of Anticancer Research (Dr. John G. Delinassios), All rights reserved.

  14. The regional distribution and correlates of an entrepreneurship-prone personality profile in the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom: a socioecological perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Obschonka, Martin; Schmitt-Rodermund, Eva; Silbereisen, Rainer K; Gosling, Samuel D; Potter, Jeff

    2013-07-01

    In recent years the topic of entrepreneurship has become a major focus in the social sciences, with renewed interest in the links between personality and entrepreneurship. Taking a socioecological perspective to psychology, which emphasizes the role of social habitats and their interactions with mind and behavior, we investigated regional variation in and correlates of an entrepreneurship-prone Big Five profile. Specifically, we analyzed personality data collected from over half a million U.S. residents (N = 619,397) as well as public archival data on state-level entrepreneurial activity (i.e., business-creation and self-employment rates). Results revealed that an entrepreneurship-prone personality profile is regionally clustered. This geographical distribution corresponds to the pattern that can be observed when mapping entrepreneurial activity across the United States. Indeed, the state-level correlation (N = 51) between an entrepreneurial personality structure and entrepreneurial activity was positive in direction, substantial in magnitude, and robust even when controlling for regional economic prosperity. These correlations persisted at the level of U.S. metropolitan statistical areas (N = 15) and were replicated in independent German (N = 19,842; 14 regions) and British (N = 15,617; 12 regions) samples. In contrast to these profile-based analyses, an analysis linking the individual Big Five dimensions to regional measures of entrepreneurial activity did not yield consistent findings. Discussion focuses on the implications of these findings for interdisciplinary theory development and practical applications. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

  15. The form and context of federalism: meanings for health care financing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    France, George

    2008-08-01

    This article examines the meaning of federalism for health care financing (HCF) and is based on two considerations. First, federal institutions are embedded in their national context and interact with them. The design and performance of HCF policy will be influenced by contexts, the workings of the federal institutions, and the interactions of these institutions with different elements of the context. This article unravels these influences. Second, there is no unique model of federalism, and so we have to specify the particular form to which we refer. The examination of the influence of federalism and its context on HCF policy is facilitated by using a transnational comparative approach, and this article examines four mature federations: the United States, Australia, Canada, and Germany. The relatively poor performance of the U.S. HCF system seems associated with the fact that it operates in a context markedly less benign than those of the other national HCF systems. Heterogeneity of context appears also to have contributed to important differences between the United States and the other countries in the design of HCF policies. An analysis of how federalism works in practice suggests that, while U.S. federalism may be overall less favorable to the development of well-functioning HCF policies, the inferior performance of these policies is to be principally attributed to context.

  16. Robust Unit Commitment Considering the Temporal and Spatial Correlations of Wind Farms Using a Data-Adaptive Approach

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zhang, Yipu; Ai, Xiaomeng; Wen, Jinyu

    2018-01-01

    . In this paper, a novel data-adaptive robust optimization method for the unit commitment is proposed for the power system with wind farms integrated. The extreme scenario extraction and the two stage robust optimization are combined in the proposed method. The data-adaptive set consisting of a few extreme...... scenarios is derived to reduce the conservativeness by considering the temporal and spatial correlations of multiple wind farms. Numerical results demonstrate that the proposed data-adaptive robust optimization algorithm is less conservative than the current two-stage optimization approaches while maintains...

  17. Historical intersections of psychology, religion, and politics in national contexts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kugelmann, Robert; Belzen, Jacob A

    2009-08-01

    Various types of psychology have come into existence in and have been interacting with a plurality of contexts, contexts that have been radically varying in different states or nations. One important factor in the development of psychology has been the multiple relationships to the Christian religion, whether understood as an institution, a worldview, or a form of personal spirituality. The articles in this issue focus on the intertwinements between institutional religion and national political structures and on their influence on developing forms of psychology in four different national contexts: Spain, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Within these four settings, aspects of the ways in which varying forms of Christian religion coconstituted, facilitated, and shaped psychology, theoretically, practically, and institutionally, are examined. The formative power of the religions was not independent of the relationships between religion and political power, but rather mediated by these.

  18. Navigating through institutional identity in the context of a transformed United Church of Zambia University College in Zambia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nelly Mwale

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The article investigated the rising trend that has not received attention in Zambian scholarship of institutions that started as theological institutions transforming or shifting from the provision of theology only to other disciplines to meet the growing demand for higher education. Using the United Church of Zambia University College (UCZUC as a case in point, the paper explored how the institution had experienced and repositioned itself in the context of transformation with reference to its identity and diversity from a descriptive case study perspective. Data was collected through document analyses and recorded interviews and informed by secularization of institutions’ theories. The study established that the institution had transformed into a university college and diversified its programmes from theology alone to other disciplines in order to broaden its scope of service in the area of education support to the nation. However, the integration of theology and other secular disciplines in the institution had not only transformed the institutional identity but also diversified the institution, and this required finding a balance between the two. Transformation had also initiated new marketing strategies to sell its products (programmes to the public. The paper argues that in the context of sustainability challenges associated with theological education, UCZUC presents a potential success story of theological institutions’ quest to maintain viability in modern times through striving for active and intentional integration of sacred and secular (theology with other disciplines as a contribution to higher education and society.

  19. Organizational effects on patient satisfaction in hospital medical-surgical units.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bacon, Cynthia Thornton; Mark, Barbara

    2009-05-01

    The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between hospital context, nursing unit structure, and patient characteristics and patients' satisfaction with nursing care in hospitals. Although patient satisfaction has been widely researched, our understanding of the relationship between hospital context and nursing unit structure and their impact on patient satisfaction is limited. The data source for this study was the Outcomes Research in Nursing Administration Project, a multisite organizational study conducted to investigate relationships among nurse staffing, organizational context and structure, and patient outcomes. The sample for this study was 2,720 patients and 3,718 RNs in 286 medical-surgical units in 146 hospitals. Greater availability of nursing unit support services and higher levels of work engagement were associated with higher levels of patient satisfaction. Older age, better health status, and better symptom management were also associated with higher levels of patient satisfaction. Organizational factors in hospitals and nursing units, particularly support services on the nursing unit and mechanisms that foster nurses' work engagement and effective symptom management, are important influences on patient satisfaction.

  20. Designing middleware for context awareness in agriculture

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kjær, Kristian Ellebæk

    2008-01-01

    , and increasingly advanced GPS units. However, except for location based services, like knowing your location based on GPS, context awareness has not really materialised yet. In modern agriculture, computers are pervasive, but only in the sense that they are present everywhere. All types of equipment, ranging from...

  1. Selective correlations in finite quantum systems and the Desargues property

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lei, C.; Vourdas, A.

    2018-06-01

    The Desargues property is well known in the context of projective geometry. An analogous property is presented in the context of both classical and Quantum Physics. In a classical context, the Desargues property implies that two logical circuits with the same input show in their outputs selective correlations. In general their outputs are uncorrelated, but if the output of one has a particular value, then the output of the other has another particular value. In a quantum context, the Desargues property implies that two experiments each of which involves two successive projective measurements have selective correlations. For a particular set of projectors, if in one experiment the second measurement does not change the output of the first measurement, then the same is true in the other experiment.

  2. Healthcare associated infections in neonatal intensive care unit and its correlation with environmental surveillance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kumar, Sanjay; Shankar, Binoy; Arya, Sugandha; Deb, Manorma; Chellani, Harish

    Healthcare-associated infections (HAI) are frequent complications in neonatal intensive care units (NICU) with varying risk factors and bacteriological profile. There is paucity of literature comparing the bacteriological profile of organisms causing HAI with the environmental surveillance isolates. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate demographic profile, risk factors and outcome of HAI in NICU and correlate with environmental surveillance. Three hundred newborns with signs and symptoms of sepsis were enrolled in the study group and their profile, risk factors and outcome were compared with the control group. Univariate analysis and multivariable logistic regression were performed. Environmental surveillance results were compared to the bacteriological profile of HAIs. We identified lower gestational age, male gender and apgar score less than 7 at 5min, use of peripheral vascular catheter & ventilator along with their duration as significant risk factors. Mortality rate was 29% in the study group (p<0.05). The HAI site distribution showed blood-stream infections (73%) to be the most common followed by pneumonia (12%) and meningitis (10%). Gram positive cocci were the most common isolates in HAI as well as environmental surveillance. The bacteriological profile of HAI correlates with the environmental surveillance report thus insisting for periodic surveillance and thereby avoiding irrational antibiotic usage. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  3. How children arrange social communities across contexts

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Højholt, Charlotte

    and contributing to different activities of their life. Following children in their everyday life across contexts has highlighted a theme about how children ‘arrange’ their social communities and their personal participation in varying and shifting activities. In this way the paper will emphasize the active......The purpose of the CHACDOC section is among other things to create a forum for uniting developmental psychology and childhood research. This raises the question: How can studies of children anchored in historical time and settings contribute to discussions of what development is about...... different life contexts, contradictory demands and social conflicts. One point in the paper will be to illustrate that they are doing this together. Children’s developmental contexts are societal and historical structured and in the same time the children themselves are involved in organising, negotiating...

  4. Does place explain racial health disparities? Quantifying the contribution of residential context to the Black/white health gap in the United States.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Do, D Phuong; Finch, Brian Karl; Basurto-Davila, Ricardo; Bird, Chloe; Escarce, Jose; Lurie, Nicole

    2008-10-01

    The persistence of the black health disadvantage has been a puzzling component of health in the United States in spite of general declines in rates of morbidity and mortality over the past century. Studies that have focused on well-established individual-level determinants of health such as socio-economic status and health behaviors have been unable to fully explain these disparities. Recent research has begun to focus on other factors such as racism, discrimination, and segregation. Variation in neighborhood context-socio-demographic composition, social aspects, and built environment-has been postulated as an additional explanation for racial disparities, but few attempts have been made to quantify its overall contribution to the black/white health gap. This analysis is an attempt to generate an estimate of place effects on explaining health disparities by utilizing data from the U.S. National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) (1989-1994), combined with a methodology for identifying residents of the same blocks both within and across NHIS survey cross-sections. Our results indicate that controlling for a single point-in-time measure of residential context results in a roughly 15-76% reduction of the black/white disparities in self-rated health that were previously unaccounted for by individual-level controls. The contribution of residential context toward explaining the black/white self-rated health gap varies by both age and gender such that contextual explanations of disparities decline with age and appear to be smaller among females.

  5. Creating a Context for Chemistry

    Science.gov (United States)

    Truman Schwartz, A.

    Until relatively recently, the teaching of chemistry at the college and university level in the United States has been quite traditional and oriented primarily toward the preparation of chemists. Students not concentrating in the sciences have often been poorly served by existing courses. Chemistry in Context: Applying Chemistry to Society, a textbook for nonscience majors developed under the sponsorship of the American Chemical Society, is an effort to address the needs and interests of this audience. The book introduces the phenomena and principles of chemistry within the context of socially significant issues such as global warming, ozone depletion, alternate energy sources, nutrition, and genetic engineering. The chemistry is presented as needed to inform an understanding of the central topics, and the text features student-centered activities designed to promote critical thinking and risk-benefit analysis as well as an understanding of chemical principles. This paper summarizes the origin, development, content, pedagogy, evaluation, and influence of Chemistry in Context and considers its potential implications for other disciplines and the instruction of science majors.

  6. National Lexicography Units: Past, Present, Future

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Mariëtta Alberts, Research Unit for Languages and Literature in SA Context,. Northwest ..... NLUs were also assisted with the marketing of the units and the obtaining .... each dictionary project, and developing an editorial style guide for each dic- .... The DSAE edited the South African Concise Oxford Dictionary that was.

  7. Development of an X-ray delay unit for correlation spectroscopy and pump-probe experiments

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Roseker, Wojciech

    2008-07-15

    Probing condensed matter on time scales ranging from femtoseconds to nanoseconds will be one of the key topics for future X-ray Free Electron Laser (XFEL) sources. The accessible time windows are, however, compromised by the intrinsic time structure of the sources. One way to overcome this limitation is the usage of a time delay unit. A prototype device capable of splitting an X-ray pulse into two adjustable fractions, delaying one of them with the aim to perform X-ray Photon Correlation Spectroscopy and pump-probe type studies was designed and manufactured. The device utilizes eight perfect crystals in vertical 90 scattering geometry. Its performance has been verified with 8.39 keV and 12.4 keV Xrays at various synchrotron sources. The measured throughput of the device with a Si(333) monochromator at 8.39 keV under ambient conditions is 0.6%. The stability was verified at 12.4 keV and operation without realignment and feedback was possible for more than 30 minutes. Time delays up to 2.95 ns have been achieved. The highest resolution achieved in an experiment was 15.4 ps, a value entirely determined by the diagnostics system. The influence of the delay unit optics on the coherence properties of the beam was investigated by means of Fraunhofer diffraction and static speckle analysis. The obtained high fringe visibility and contrast values larger than 23% indicate the feasibility of performing coherence based experiments with the delay line. (orig.)

  8. The relationship between characteristics of context and research utilization in a pediatric setting.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cummings, Greta G; Hutchinson, Alison M; Scott, Shannon D; Norton, Peter G; Estabrooks, Carole A

    2010-06-16

    Research utilization investigators have called for more focused examination of the influence of context on research utilization behaviors. Yet, up until recently, lack of instrumentation to identify and quantify aspects of organizational context that are integral to research use has significantly hampered these efforts. The Alberta Context Tool (ACT) was developed to assess the relationships between organizational factors and research utilization by a variety of healthcare professional groups. The purpose of this paper is to present findings from a pilot study using the ACT to elicit pediatric and neonatal healthcare professionals' perceptions of the organizational context in which they work and their use of research to inform practice. Specifically, we report on the relationship between dimensions of context, founded on the Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Health Services (PARIHS) framework, and self-reported research use behavior. A cross-sectional survey approach was employed using a version of the ACT, modified specifically for pediatric settings. The survey was administered to nurses working in three pediatric units in Alberta, Canada. Scores for three dimensions of context (culture, leadership and evaluation) were used to categorize respondent data into one of four context groups (high, moderately high, moderately low and low). We then examined the relationships between nurses' self-reported research use and their perceived context. A 69% response rate was achieved. Statistically significant differences in nurses' perceptions of culture, leadership and evaluation, and self-reported conceptual research use were found across the three units. Differences in instrumental research use across the three groups of nurses by unit were not significant. Higher self-reported instrumental and conceptual research use by all nurses in the sample was associated with more positive perceptions of their context. Overall, the results of this study lend support to

  9. The relationship between characteristics of context and research utilization in a pediatric setting

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cummings Greta G

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Research utilization investigators have called for more focused examination of the influence of context on research utilization behaviors. Yet, up until recently, lack of instrumentation to identify and quantify aspects of organizational context that are integral to research use has significantly hampered these efforts. The Alberta Context Tool (ACT was developed to assess the relationships between organizational factors and research utilization by a variety of healthcare professional groups. The purpose of this paper is to present findings from a pilot study using the ACT to elicit pediatric and neonatal healthcare professionals' perceptions of the organizational context in which they work and their use of research to inform practice. Specifically, we report on the relationship between dimensions of context, founded on the Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Health Services (PARIHS framework, and self-reported research use behavior. Methods A cross-sectional survey approach was employed using a version of the ACT, modified specifically for pediatric settings. The survey was administered to nurses working in three pediatric units in Alberta, Canada. Scores for three dimensions of context (culture, leadership and evaluation were used to categorize respondent data into one of four context groups (high, moderately high, moderately low and low. We then examined the relationships between nurses' self-reported research use and their perceived context. Results A 69% response rate was achieved. Statistically significant differences in nurses' perceptions of culture, leadership and evaluation, and self-reported conceptual research use were found across the three units. Differences in instrumental research use across the three groups of nurses by unit were not significant. Higher self-reported instrumental and conceptual research use by all nurses in the sample was associated with more positive perceptions of their context

  10. Temporal Context, Preference, and Resistance to Change

    Science.gov (United States)

    Podlesnik, Christopher A.; Jimenez-Gomez, Corina; Thrailkill, Eric A.; Shahan, Timothy A.

    2011-01-01

    According to behavioral momentum theory, preference and relative resistance to change in concurrent chains schedules are correlated and reflect the relative conditioned value of discriminative stimuli. In the present study, we explore the generality of this relation by manipulating the temporal context within a concurrent-chains procedure through…

  11. Physician communication in the operating room: expanding application of face-negotiation theory to the health communication context.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kirschbaum, Kristin

    2012-01-01

    Communication variables that are associated with face-negotiation theory were examined in a sample of operating-room physicians. A survey was administered to anesthesiologists and surgeons at a teaching hospital in the southwestern United States to measure three variables commonly associated with face-negotiation theory: conflict-management style, face concern, and self-construal. The survey instrument that was administered to physicians includes items that measured these three variables in previous face-negotiation research with slight modification of item wording for relevance in the medical setting. The physician data were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis, Pearson's correlations, and t-tests. Results of this initial investigation showed that variables associated with face-negotiation theory were evident in the sample physician population. In addition, the correlations were similar among variables in the medical sample as those found in previous face-negotiation research. Finally, t-tests suggest variance between anesthesiologists and surgeons on specific communication variables. These findings suggest three implications that warrant further investigation with expanded sample size: (1) An intercultural communication theory and instrument can be utilized for health communication research; (2) as applied in a medical context, face-negotiation theory can be expanded beyond traditional intercultural communication boundaries; and (3) theoretically based communication structures applied in a medical context could help explain physician miscommunication in the operating room to assist future design of communication training programs for operating-room physicians.

  12. Designing middleware for context awareness in agriculture

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kjær, Kristian Ellebæk

    2008-01-01

    feeding- and ventilation systems to tractors have build in computers, and, in most cases, can also be queried or controlled remotely. These systems provide an excellent base for gathering context, which may then be exploited to ease the work of the farmer. Furthermore, additional sensors may collect......More than a decade ago, pervasive computing and context awareness where envisioned as the future of computing [16], initial work concentrating on location, typically indoor. Today, small, handheld computers of various forms and purposes are becoming pervasive in the form of PDAs, mobile phones......, and increasingly advanced GPS units. However, except for location based services, like knowing your location based on GPS, context awareness has not really materialised yet. In modern agriculture, computers are pervasive, but only in the sense that they are present everywhere. All types of equipment, ranging from...

  13. Mental Health Correlates of Cigarette Use in LGBT Individuals in the Southeastern United States.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Drescher, Christopher F; Lopez, Eliot J; Griffin, James A; Toomey, Thomas M; Eldridge, Elizabeth D; Stepleman, Lara M

    2018-05-12

    Smoking prevalence for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals is higher than for heterosexual, cisgender individuals. Elevated smoking rates have been linked to psychiatric comorbidities, substance use, poverty, low education levels, and stress. This study examined mental health (MH) correlates of cigarette use in LGBT individuals residing in a metropolitan area in the southeastern United States. Participants were 335 individuals from an LGBT health needs assessment (mean age 34.7; SD = 13.5; 63% gay/lesbian; 66% Caucasian; 81% cisgender). Demographics, current/past psychiatric diagnoses, number of poor MH days in the last 30, the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ) 2 depression screener, the Three-Item Loneliness Scale, and frequency of cigarette use were included. Analyses included bivariate correlations, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and regression. Multiple demographic and MH factors were associated with smoker status and frequency of smoking. A logistic regression indicated that lower education and bipolar disorder were most strongly associated with being a smoker. For smokers, a hierarchical regression model including demographic and MH variables accounted for 17.6% of the variance in frequency of cigarette use. Only education, bipolar disorder, and the number of poor MH days were significant contributors in the overall model. Conclusions/Importance: Less education, bipolar disorder, and recurrent poor MH increase LGBT vulnerability to cigarette use. Access to LGBT-competent MH providers who can address culturally specific factors in tobacco cessation is crucial to reducing this health disparities.

  14. Context in a wider context

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    John Traxler

    2011-07-01

    Full Text Available This paper attempts to review and reconsider the role of context in mobile learning and starts by outlining definitions of context-aware mobile learning as the technologies have become more mature, more robust and more widely available and as the notion of context has become progressively richer. The future role of context-aware mobile learning is considered within the context of the future of mobile learning as it moves from the challenges and opportunities of pedagogy and technology to the challenges and opportunities of policy, scale, sustainability, equity and engagement with augmented reality, «blended learning», «learner devices», «user-generated contexts» and the «internet of things». This is essentially a perspective on mobile learning, and other forms of technology-enhanced learning (TEL, where educators and their institutions set the agenda and manage change. There are, however, other perspectives on context. The increasing availability and use of smart-phones and other personal mobile devices with similar powerful functionality means that the experience of context for many people, in the form of personalized or location-based services, is an increasingly social and informal experience, rather than a specialist or educational experience. This is part of the transformative impact of mobility and connectedness on our societies brought about by these universal, ubiquitous and pervasive technologies. This paper contributes a revised understanding of context in the wider context (sic of the transformations taking place in our societies. These are subtle but pervasive transformations of jobs, work and the economy, of our sense of time, space and place, of knowing and learning, and of community and identity. This leads to a radical reconsideration of context as the notions of ‹self› and ‹other› are transformed.

  15. On-Demand Interactive Simulation-Centered Training for Small Unit Tactics

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Munro, Allen

    2003-01-01

    Training on small unit infantry tactics in both the context of present-day infantry operations and in Objective Force Warrior contexts may benefit from the use of interactive graphics with behavioral...

  16. Modulation of aesthetic value by semantic context: An fMRI study

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kirk, Ulrich; Skov, Martin; Hulme, Oliver

    2009-01-01

    Aesthetic judgments, like most judgments, depend on context. Whether an object or image is seen in daily life or in an art gallery can significantly modulate the aesthetic value humans attach to it. We investigated the neural system supporting this modulation by presenting human subjects....... This contextual modulation correlated with activity in the medial orbitofrontal cortex and prefrontal cortex, whereas the context, independent of aesthetic value, correlated with bilateral activations of temporal pole and bilateral entorhinal cortex. This shows that prefrontal and orbitofrontal cortices recruited...... by aesthetic judgments are significantly biased by subjects' prior expectations about the likely hedonic value of stimuli according to their source....

  17. The role of Social Media on Sales strategy : A Conceptual Explication in a High-context Culture

    OpenAIRE

    Ukpabi, Dandison; Karjaluoto, Heikki; Ikaba, Victoria; Wali, Kemkamma; Kpunee, Henry

    2017-01-01

    People’s behaviours are shaped by their cultural values as much as it also influences the definition of friendship building and sustenance. Low-context cultures as marked with independent lifestyle, loosed family units and communication patterns are often characterized by fewer words. On the other hand, high-context cultures are markedly different. These cultures are characterized with high closed family units, high level of social cohesion and social identity. To achieve ...

  18. Anatomy of biocalcarenitic units in the Plio-Pleistocene record of the Northern Apennines (Italy)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cau, Simone; Roveri, Marco; Taviani, Marco

    2017-04-01

    The Castell'Arquato Basin (CAB) in the foothills of the thrust-belt Northern Apennines is a foreland basin infilled by Plio-Quaternary sediments and a reference area for Plio-Pleistocene biostratigraphy. The CAB exposes plurimetric biodetrital carbonate units at discrete temporal intervals. Such shell-rich units are at places lithified, turning into conspicuous biodetritral carbonate rocks (biocalcarenites) that display a cyclical stacking motif highlighted by the regular alternation with finer-grained marine deposits. The cyclical nature of thick biocalcarenites has been hypothesized to be orbitally-controlled by obliquity and/or precession cyclicity. Furthermore, biocalcarenite-mudstone couplets form distinct clusters governed by 100-400 ka eccentricity maxima starting from 3.1 Ma at the inception of the Northern Hemisphere glaciation. They correlate with sapropels cycles formed at times of maximum insolation (precession minima). The CAB calcarenites are poorly known with respect to their environmental genetic context what motivated a detailed paleoecological analysis to unravel at best their formative context. Five distinct biofacies arranged in stacking patterns are identified through two-way cluster analysis based on the macrofossil content. Our quantitative and qualitative results suggest that these polytaxic shell concentrations and their bracketing marine mudstones developed in middle shelf settings being sensitive to climatically-driven changes.

  19. Changes in the modulation of brain activity during context encoding vs. context retrieval across the adult lifespan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ankudowich, E; Pasvanis, S; Rajah, M N

    2016-10-01

    Age-related deficits in context memory may arise from neural changes underlying both encoding and retrieval of context information. Although age-related functional changes in the brain regions supporting context memory begin at midlife, little is known about the functional changes with age that support context memory encoding and retrieval across the adult lifespan. We investigated how age-related functional changes support context memory across the adult lifespan by assessing linear changes with age during successful context encoding and retrieval. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we compared young, middle-aged and older adults during both encoding and retrieval of spatial and temporal details of faces. Multivariate behavioral partial least squares (B-PLS) analysis of fMRI data identified a pattern of whole-brain activity that correlated with a linear age term and a pattern of whole-brain activity that was associated with an age-by-memory phase (encoding vs. retrieval) interaction. Further investigation of this latter effect identified three main findings: 1) reduced phase-related modulation in bilateral fusiform gyrus, left superior/anterior frontal gyrus and right inferior frontal gyrus that started at midlife and continued to older age, 2) reduced phase-related modulation in bilateral inferior parietal lobule that occurred only in older age, and 3) changes in phase-related modulation in older but not younger adults in left middle frontal gyrus and bilateral parahippocampal gyrus that was indicative of age-related over-recruitment. We conclude that age-related reductions in context memory arise in midlife and are related to changes in perceptual recollection and changes in fronto-parietal retrieval monitoring. Crown Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  20. Energy and environmental policy in the United States

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hibbard, P.J.; Tierney, S.F

    2003-08-15

    The energy and environmental policies of the United States are, like those of any nation, greatly shaped by a particular economic, institutional and political context. Understanding that context is useful for providing insights into the substance of US energy and environmental policy, the challenges and opportunities associated with it, and future potential for change. This article examines this policy context, focusing on the interaction of energy and environmental policies related to the electric industry. (author)

  1. Energy and environmental policy in the United States

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hibbard, P.J.; Tierney, S.F.

    2003-08-01

    The energy and environmental policies of the United States are, like those of any nation, greatly shaped by a particular economic, institutional and political context. Understanding that context is useful for providing insights into the substance of US energy and environmental policy, the challenges and opportunities associated with it, and future potential for change. This article examines this policy context, focusing on the interaction of energy and environmental policies related to the electric industry. (author)

  2. Structuring Contexts: Pathways toward Un-Obstructing Race-Consciousness

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berchini, Christina

    2016-01-01

    This research is situated in second-wave White Teacher Identity studies and investigates the ways context structures a high school English teacher's white identity, practices, and race-consciousness. Working with detailed data and vignettes from a single case study, the author highlights the teaching of a unit on the Holocaust. Using the required…

  3. Comparison of Gratitude across Context Variations: A Generic Analysis of Dissertation Acknowledgements Written by Taiwanese Authors in EFL and ESL Contexts

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wenhsien Yang

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available Research on generic structures of acknowledgements in dissertations has gradually drawn attention in various contexts. However, there is relatively scant research on the ways in which acknowledgements are written by authors with mutually similar cultural backgrounds but in two different academic environments and language contexts. To fill this gap, this study compared 60 PhD dissertation acknowledgements written by Taiwanese postgraduates in Taiwan, an EFL context, with another 60 written by Taiwanese scholars who obtained their doctorates in the United States, an ESL context. The focus was on the generic structures and linguistic features of the writing styles of the two groups. The study aimed to investigate whether divergences existed in the two different academic and language settings, but with the writers sharing the same cultural and language background. If such divergences did exist, the likely causes would be explored. The results revealed that firstly, the participants in both contexts generally followed a three-tier structure when writing their dissertation acknowledgements, namely, reflecting, thanking, and announcing moves. However, academic conventions, institutional preferences and the language context, together with socio-cultural factors, affected their construction of moves/steps and their choice of linguistic elements. It was found that the rhetorical language in both corpora was relatively direct, emotional and precise.

  4. Illusory correlation and social anxiety.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    de Jong, P.J.; Boegels, S.; Kindt, M.; Merckelbach, H.

    1998-01-01

    An illusory correlation (IC) experiment examined the presence of a phobia-relevant covariation bias in the context of social anxiety. 60 female college students (28 with low and 32 with high social anxiety) were shown a series of slides comprising pictures of angry, happy, and neutral faces which

  5. Semantic Context Detection Using Audio Event Fusion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cheng Wen-Huang

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available Semantic-level content analysis is a crucial issue in achieving efficient content retrieval and management. We propose a hierarchical approach that models audio events over a time series in order to accomplish semantic context detection. Two levels of modeling, audio event and semantic context modeling, are devised to bridge the gap between physical audio features and semantic concepts. In this work, hidden Markov models (HMMs are used to model four representative audio events, that is, gunshot, explosion, engine, and car braking, in action movies. At the semantic context level, generative (ergodic hidden Markov model and discriminative (support vector machine (SVM approaches are investigated to fuse the characteristics and correlations among audio events, which provide cues for detecting gunplay and car-chasing scenes. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approaches and provide a preliminary framework for information mining by using audio characteristics.

  6. Adenomyosis and 'endometrial-subendometrial myometrium unit disruption disease' are two different entities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tocci, Angelo; Greco, Ermanno; Ubaldi, Filippo Maria

    2008-08-01

    The diagnosis of adenomyosis is feasible on pathological specimen examination, while it is unreliable on clinical findings, biopsy, hysteroscopy, sonohysterography, and routine ultrasound or magnetic resonance imaging. Several patterns of 'abnormality' described on imaging have been linked to adenomyosis, but the correlation is weak and the diagnostic accuracy is low outside of a research context. Nevertheless, thickening or abnormality of the subendometrial myometrium, the outer part of the 'endometrial-subendometrial myometrium unit' (thought to be important in human fertility) has been repeatedly documented on imaging, called 'adenomyosis' and linked to infertility. This paper discusses the value of the physiological endometrial-subendometrial myometrium unit in human fertility, reviews the current criteria for its imaging, and reports on its relationship to fertility. It is proposed that endometrial-subendometrial myometrium unit disruption disease is considered as a new entity (distinguished from adenomyosis), the diagnosis of which is feasible and straightforward on imaging and expressed mainly by pathological thickening or abnormality of the subendometrial myometrium (myometrial halo or junctional zone). The study also reports on the influence of abnormal thickening or disruption on human fertility and outcome of assisted reproduction techniques, and demonstrates that this new entity is epidemiologically different from adenomyosis.

  7. Motivational Basis of Personality Traits: A Meta-Analysis of Value-Personality Correlations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fischer, Ronald; Boer, Diana

    2015-10-01

    We investigated the relationships between personality traits and basic value dimensions. Furthermore, we developed novel country-level hypotheses predicting that contextual threat moderates value-personality trait relationships. We conducted a three-level v-known meta-analysis of correlations between Big Five traits and Schwartz's (1992) 10 values involving 9,935 participants from 14 countries. Variations in contextual threat (measured as resource threat, ecological threat, and restrictive social institutions) were used as country-level moderator variables. We found systematic relationships between Big Five traits and human values that varied across contexts. Overall, correlations between Openness traits and the Conservation value dimension and Agreeableness traits and the Transcendence value dimension were strongest across all samples. Correlations between values and all personality traits (except Extraversion) were weaker in contexts with greater financial, ecological, and social threats. In contrast, stronger personality-value links are typically found in contexts with low financial and ecological threats and more democratic institutions and permissive social context. These effects explained on average more than 10% of the variability in value-personality correlations. Our results provide strong support for systematic linkages between personality and broad value dimensions, but they also point out that these relations are shaped by contextual factors. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  8. Context effects on smooth pursuit and manual interception of a disappearing target.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kreyenmeier, Philipp; Fooken, Jolande; Spering, Miriam

    2017-07-01

    In our natural environment, we interact with moving objects that are surrounded by richly textured, dynamic visual contexts. Yet most laboratory studies on vision and movement show visual objects in front of uniform gray backgrounds. Context effects on eye movements have been widely studied, but it is less well known how visual contexts affect hand movements. Here we ask whether eye and hand movements integrate motion signals from target and context similarly or differently, and whether context effects on eye and hand change over time. We developed a track-intercept task requiring participants to track the initial launch of a moving object ("ball") with smooth pursuit eye movements. The ball disappeared after a brief presentation, and participants had to intercept it in a designated "hit zone." In two experiments ( n = 18 human observers each), the ball was shown in front of a uniform or a textured background that either was stationary or moved along with the target. Eye and hand movement latencies and speeds were similarly affected by the visual context, but eye and hand interception (eye position at time of interception, and hand interception timing error) did not differ significantly between context conditions. Eye and hand interception timing errors were strongly correlated on a trial-by-trial basis across all context conditions, highlighting the close relation between these responses in manual interception tasks. Our results indicate that visual contexts similarly affect eye and hand movements but that these effects may be short-lasting, affecting movement trajectories more than movement end points. NEW & NOTEWORTHY In a novel track-intercept paradigm, human observers tracked a briefly shown object moving across a textured, dynamic context and intercepted it with their finger after it had disappeared. Context motion significantly affected eye and hand movement latency and speed, but not interception accuracy; eye and hand position at interception were

  9. Sensory Prioritization in Rats: Behavioral Performance and Neuronal Correlates.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Conrad C Y; Diamond, Mathew E; Arabzadeh, Ehsan

    2016-03-16

    Operating with some finite quantity of processing resources, an animal would benefit from prioritizing the sensory modality expected to provide key information in a particular context. The present study investigated whether rats dedicate attentional resources to the sensory modality in which a near-threshold event is more likely to occur. We manipulated attention by controlling the likelihood with which a stimulus was presented from one of two modalities. In a whisker session, 80% of trials contained a brief vibration stimulus applied to whiskers and the remaining 20% of trials contained a brief change of luminance. These likelihoods were reversed in a visual session. When a stimulus was presented in the high-likelihood context, detection performance increased and was faster compared with the same stimulus presented in the low-likelihood context. Sensory prioritization was also reflected in neuronal activity in the vibrissal area of primary somatosensory cortex: single units responded differentially to the whisker vibration stimulus when presented with higher probability compared with lower probability. Neuronal activity in the vibrissal cortex displayed signatures of multiplicative gain control and enhanced response to vibration stimuli during the whisker session. In conclusion, rats allocate priority to the more likely stimulus modality and the primary sensory cortex may participate in the redistribution of resources. Detection of low-amplitude events is critical to survival; for example, to warn prey of predators. To formulate a response, decision-making systems must extract minute neuronal signals from the sensory modality that provides key information. Here, we identify the behavioral and neuronal correlates of sensory prioritization in rats. Rats were trained to detect whisker vibrations or visual flickers. Stimuli were embedded in two contexts in which either visual or whisker modality was more likely to occur. When a stimulus was presented in the high

  10. An analysis of teaching competence in science teachers involved in the design of context-based curriculum materials

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Putter - Smits, de L.G.A.; Taconis, R.; Driel, van J.H.; Jochems, W.M.G.

    2012-01-01

    The committees for the current Dutch context-based innovation in secondary science education employed teachers to design context-based curriculum materials. A study on the learning of science teachers in design teams for context-based curriculum materials is presented in this paper. In a correlation

  11. Spectral correlations in Anderson insulating wires

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marinho, M.; Micklitz, T.

    2018-01-01

    We calculate the spectral level-level correlation function of Anderson insulating wires for all three Wigner-Dyson classes. A measurement of its Fourier transform, the spectral form factor, is within reach of state-of-the-art cold atom quantum quench experiments, and we find good agreement with recent numerical simulations of the latter. Our derivation builds on a representation of the level-level correlation function in terms of a local generating function which may prove useful in other contexts.

  12. On Direction of Dependence in Latent Variable Contexts

    Science.gov (United States)

    von Eye, Alexander; Wiedermann, Wolfgang

    2014-01-01

    Approaches to determining direction of dependence in nonexperimental data are based on the relation between higher-than second-order moments on one side and correlation and regression models on the other. These approaches have experienced rapid development and are being applied in contexts such as research on partner violence, attention deficit…

  13. Writing, self-reflection, and medical school performance: the Human Context of Health Care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stephens, Mark B; Reamy, Brian V; Anderson, Denise; Olsen, Cara; Hemmer, Paul A; Durning, Steven J; Auster, Simon

    2012-09-01

    Finding ways to improve communication and self-reflection skills is an important element of medical education and continuing professional development. This study examines the relationship between self-reflection and educational outcomes. We correlate performance in a preclinical course that focuses on self-reflection as it relates to contextual elements of patient care (Human Context of Health Care), with educational measures such as overall grade point average, clinical clerkship scores, and Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) scores. Student performance in Human Context of Health Care correlated with MCAT-Verbal scores, MCAT-writing sample scores, clerkship grades, and overall medical school grade point average (R = 0.3; p self-reflection skills are often neglected in undergraduate medical curricula. Our findings suggest that these skills are important and correlate with recognized long-term educational outcomes.

  14. Discrimination, correlation, and provenance of Bed I tephrostratigraphic markers, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, based on multivariate analyses of phenocryst compositions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Habermann, Jörg M.; McHenry, Lindsay J.; Stollhofen, Harald; Tolosana-Delgado, Raimon; Stanistreet, Ian G.; Deino, Alan L.

    2016-06-01

    The chronology of Pleistocene flora and fauna, including hominin remains and associated Oldowan industries in Bed I, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, is primarily based on 40Ar/39Ar dating of intercalated tuffs and lavas, combined with detailed tephrostratigraphic correlations within the basin. Although a high-resolution chronostratigraphic framework has been established for the eastern part of the Olduvai Basin, the western subbasin is less well known due in part to major lateral facies changes within Bed I combined with discontinuous exposure. We address these correlation difficulties using the discriminative power of the chemical composition of the major juvenile mineral phases (augite, anorthoclase, plagioclase) from tuffs, volcaniclastic sandstones, siliciclastic units, and lavas. We statistically evaluate these compositions, obtained from electron probe micro-analysis, applying principal component analysis and discriminant analysis to develop discriminant models that successfully classify most Bed I volcanic units. The correlations, resulting from integrated analyses of all target minerals, provide a basin-wide Bed I chemostratigraphic framework at high lateral and vertical resolution, consistent with the known geological context, that expands and refines the geochemical databases currently available. Correlation of proximal ignimbrites at the First Fault with medial and distal Lower Bed I successions of the western basin enables assessment of lateral facies and thickness trends that confirm Ngorongoro Volcano as the primary source for Lower Bed I, whereas Upper Bed I sediment supply is mainly from Olmoti Volcano. Compositional similarity between Tuff IA, Bed I lava, and Mafic Tuffs II and III single-grain fingerprints, together with north- and northwestward thinning of Bed I lava, suggests a common Ngorongoro source for these units. The techniques applied herein improve upon previous work by evaluating compositional affinities with statistical rigor rather than

  15. Timing of union formation and partner choice in immigrant societies: The United States and Germany.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soehl, Thomas; Yahirun, Jenjira

    2011-12-01

    As Gordon noted in his 1964 treatise on assimilation, marriage across ethnic boundaries and in particular, marriage into the mainstream is a key indicator as well as a mechanism of immigrant assimilation. Since then research has investigated numerous micro- and macro level correlates of exogamy. In this paper we focus on a topic that has received less attention thus far - how the timing of marriage is associated with partner choice. We compare the United States and Germany as two countries with significant immigrant and second-generation populations but where mainstream patterns of union formation differ. In both contexts we show that unions that cross ethnic boundaries happen later in life than those that stay within. Comparing across countries we argue that in Germany differences in the timing of union formation between the second generation and the mainstream, may pose additional barriers to intermarriage that do not exist in the United States.

  16. Looking after yourself: Clinical understandings of chronic-care self-management strategies in rural and urban contexts of the United Kingdom and Australia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Susan Mary Carr

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available Objectives: This article reports on the outcomes of two similar projects undertaken during 2011–2012 in Australia (Rural Northern New South Wales and the United Kingdom (Urban Northern United Kingdom that sought to identify the strategies that health professionals employ to actively involve patients with chronic conditions in the planning and delivery of their care. In particular, this study explored understandings and contexts of care that impacted on the participants’ practices. This study was informed by the global shift to partnership approaches in health policy and the growing imperative to deliver patient or client-centred care. Methods: An ethnomethodological design was used, as ethnomethodology does not dictate a set of research methods or procedures, but rather is congruent with any method that seeks to explore what people do in their routine everyday lives. Focus groups and interviews were employed to explore the strategies used by a range of primary health-care providers, such as general practitioners, nurses, social workers, diabetes educators, dieticians and occupational therapists, to support clients to effectively manage their own chronic conditions. Results: Data from both studies were synthesised and analysed thematically, with the themes reflecting the context, similarities and differences of the two studies that the participants felt had either facilitated or blocked their efforts to support their clients to adopt self-care strategies. Conclusion: Supporting patients/clients to engage in actively self-managing their health-care needs requires changes to clients’ and clinicians’ traditional perspectives on their roles. The barriers and enablers to supporting clients to manage their own health needs were similar across both locations and included tensions in role identity and functions, the discourse of health-care professionals as ‘experts’ who deliver care and their level of confidence in being facilitators who

  17. Age-related changes in neural oscillations supporting context memory retrieval.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Strunk, Jonathan; James, Taylor; Arndt, Jason; Duarte, Audrey

    2017-06-01

    Recent evidence suggests that directing attention toward single item-context associations during encoding improves young and older adults' context memory performance and reduces demands on executive functions during retrieval. In everyday situations, there are many event features competing for our attention, and our ability to successfully recover those details may depend on our ability to ignore others. Failures of selective attention may contribute to older adults' context memory impairments. In the current electroencephalogram (EEG) study, we assessed the effects of age on processes supporting successful context memory retrieval of selectively attended features as indexed by neural oscillations. During encoding, young and older adults were directed to attend to a picture of an object and its relationship to one of two concurrently presented contextual details: a color or scene. At retrieval, we tested their memory for the object, its attended and unattended context features, and their confidence for both the attended and unattended features. Both groups showed greater memory for attended than unattended contextual features. However, older adults showed evidence of hyper-binding between attended and unattended context features while the young adults did not. EEG results in the theta band suggest that young and older adults recollect similar amounts of information but brain-behavior correlations suggest that this information was supportive of contextual memory performance, particularly for young adults. By contrast, sustained beta desynchronization, indicative of sensory reactivation and episodic reconstruction, was correlated with contextual memory performance for older adults only. We conclude that older adults' inhibition deficits during encoding reduced the selectivity of their contextual memories, which led to reliance on executive functions like episodic reconstruction to support successful memory retrieval. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights

  18. Still a Special Relationship? The Significance of United States-United Kingdom Relations in the Twenty-First Century

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-12-01

    Anglo - Saxon ally over Nasser and the canal.55 In 2010, in a speech at Chatham House, Liberal Democrat Nick Clegg suggested that “what...strategic culture, and as an expression of shared values and institutions the character of which is vital for those charged with service in an Anglo ...American context as well as NATO. 14. SUBJECT TERMS United Kingdom, United States, Special Relationship, Anglo - American Relations, Iraq, Afghanistan

  19. Imagining Another Context during Encoding Offsets Context-Dependent Forgetting

    Science.gov (United States)

    Masicampo, E. J.; Sahakyan, Lili

    2014-01-01

    We tested whether imagining another context during encoding would offset context-dependent forgetting. All participants studied a list of words in Context A. Participants who remained in Context A during the test recalled more than participants who were tested in another context (Context B), demonstrating the standard context-dependent forgetting…

  20. Local Descriptors of Dynamic and Nondynamic Correlation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ramos-Cordoba, Eloy; Matito, Eduard

    2017-06-13

    Quantitatively accurate electronic structure calculations rely on the proper description of electron correlation. A judicious choice of the approximate quantum chemistry method depends upon the importance of dynamic and nondynamic correlation, which is usually assesed by scalar measures. Existing measures of electron correlation do not consider separately the regions of the Cartesian space where dynamic or nondynamic correlation are most important. We introduce real-space descriptors of dynamic and nondynamic electron correlation that admit orbital decomposition. Integration of the local descriptors yields global numbers that can be used to quantify dynamic and nondynamic correlation. Illustrative examples over different chemical systems with varying electron correlation regimes are used to demonstrate the capabilities of the local descriptors. Since the expressions only require orbitals and occupation numbers, they can be readily applied in the context of local correlation methods, hybrid methods, density matrix functional theory, and fractional-occupancy density functional theory.

  1. The convention on environmental impact assessment in a transboundary context

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schrage, W.

    2000-01-01

    The ECE Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context (EIA Convention) is the first multilateral treaty to specify the procedural rights and duties of Parties with regard to transboundary impacts of proposed activities and to provide procedures, in a transboundary context, for the consideration of environmental impacts in decision-making. The EIA Convention, elaborated under the auspices of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (ECE), was adopted at Espoo, Finland, in February 1991. Obligations stipulated, and measures and procedures provided for in this Convention are described. (author)

  2. Prevalence and correlates of everyday discrimination among black Caribbeans in the United States: the impact of nativity and country of origin.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taylor, Robert Joseph; Forsythe-Brown, Ivy; Mouzon, Dawne M; Keith, Verna M; Chae, David H; Chatters, Linda M

    2017-07-01

    Black Caribbeans in the United States have been the victims of major discrimination (e.g. unfairly fired, denied a promotion, denied housing). What is not known is the degree to which they also experience more routine forms of everyday discrimination such as receiving poor restaurant service, being perceived as dishonest, and being followed in stores. This paper investigates the distribution and correlates of everyday discrimination among a national sample of black Caribbeans in the U.S. This analysis used the black Caribbean sub-sample (n = 1,621) of the National Survey of American Life. Demographic and immigration status correlates of ten items from the Everyday Discrimination Scale were investigated: being treated with less courtesy, treated with less respect, receiving poor restaurant service, being perceived as not smart, being perceived as dishonest, being perceived as not as good as others, and being feared, insulted, harassed, or followed in stores. Roughly one out of ten black Caribbeans reported that, on a weekly basis, they were treated with less courtesy and other people acted as if they were better than them, were afraid of them, and as if they were not as smart. Everyday discrimination was more frequent for black Caribbeans who were male, never married, divorced/separated, earned higher incomes, and who were second or third generation immigrants. Black Caribbeans attributed the majority of the discrimination they experienced to their race. To our knowledge, this is the first study to provide an in-depth investigation of everyday discrimination among the black Caribbean population. It provides the frequency, types and correlates of everyday discrimination reported by black Caribbeans in the United States. Understanding the frequency and types of discrimination is important because of the documented negative impacts of everyday discrimination on physical and mental health.

  3. United Nations' Concept of Justice and Fairness in The Context of ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Perhaps the inability of the United Nations to manage some international conflicts successfully coupled with its passivity on matters that involve some powerful nations on may be responsible for its criticism by some analysts. These critics, in turn, may not have considered holistically, the UN programmes which have ...

  4. Mathematics Teacher Identity in the Context of Mathematics Reform: Elementary Teacher Experiences

    OpenAIRE

    Sun, Jennifer

    2017-01-01

    ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATIONMathematics Teacher Identity in the Context of Mathematics Reform:Elementary Teacher Experiences ByJennifer SunDoctor of Philosophy in EducationUniversity of California, Irvine, 2017Associate Professor Elizabeth A. van Es, ChairReform efforts and changes in mathematics education have brought on a shift towards a new vision of mathematics teaching in the United States. In light of recent accountability standards, the focus on teacher learning within the context of m...

  5. Measuring critical thinking in a political context | Bester | South ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Secondly, a significant correlation was found between political knowledge and critical thinking abilities in a political context. This implied that critical thinking ability varied directly with the amount of knowledge of the subject required by the problem. Thirdly, the results of the research indicated that gender and environment ...

  6. Observed Correlation between Aerosol and Cloud Base Height for Low Clouds at Baltimore and New York, United States

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sium Gebremariam

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available The correlation between aerosol particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter ≤2.5 μ m (PM2.5 and cloud base height (CBH of low clouds (CBH lower than 1.5 km a.g.l. at Baltimore and New York, United States, for an 8 year period (2007–2014 was investigated using information from the Automated Surface Observing System (ASOS observations and collocated U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA observations. The lifting condensation level (LCL heights were calculated and compared with the CBH. The monthly average observations show that PM2.5 decreases from 2007 to 2014 while there is no significant trend found for CBH and LCL. The variability of the LCL height agrees well with CBH but LCL height is systematically lower than CBH (~180 m lower. There was a significant negative correlation found between CBH–LCL and PM2.5. All of the cloud cases were separated into polluted and clean conditions based on the distribution of PM2.5 values. The distributions of CBH–LCL in the two groups show more cloud cases with smaller CBH–LCL in polluted conditions than in clean conditions.

  7. Correlation of Noninvasive Blood Pressure and Invasive Intra-arterial Blood Pressure in Patients Treated with Vasoactive Medications in a Neurocritical Care Unit.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saherwala, Ali A; Stutzman, Sonja E; Osman, Mohamed; Kalia, Junaid; Figueroa, Stephen A; Olson, DaiWai M; Aiyagari, Venkatesh

    2018-03-22

    The correlation between noninvasive (oscillometric) blood pressure (NBP) and intra-arterial blood pressure (IAP) in critically ill patients receiving vasoactive medications in a Neurocritical Care Unit has not been systematically studied. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between simultaneously measured NBP and IAP recordings in these patients. Prospective observational study of patients (N = 70) admitted to a neurocritical care unit receiving continuous vasopressor or antihypertensive infusions. Paired NBP/IAP observations along with covariate and demographic data were abstracted via chart audit. Analysis was performed using SAS v9.4. A total of 2177 paired NBP/IAP observations from 70 subjects (49% male, 63% white, mean age 59 years) receiving vasopressors (n = 21) or antihypertensive agents (n = 49) were collected. Paired t test analysis showed significant differences between NBP versus IAP readings: ([systolic blood pressure (SBP): mean = 136 vs. 140 mmHg; p blood pressure (DBP): mean = 70 vs. 68 mmHg, p blood pressure (MAP): mean = 86 vs. 90 mmHg, p blood pressures. Pearson correlation coefficients show strong positive correlations for paired MAP (r = 0.82), SBP (r = 0.84), and DBP (r = 0.73) recordings. An absolute NBP-IAP SBP difference of > 20 mmHg was seen in ~ 20% of observations of nicardipine, ~ 25% of observations of norepinephrine, and ~ 35% of observations of phenylephrine. For MAP, the corresponding numbers were ~ 10, 15, and 25% for nicardipine, norepinephrine, and phenylephrine, respectively. Despite overall strong positive correlations between paired NBP and IAP readings of MAP and SBP, clinically relevant differences in blood pressure are frequent. When treating with vasoactive infusions targeted to a specific BP goal, it is important to keep in mind that NBP and IAP values are not interchangeable.

  8. Community Detection for Correlation Matrices

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mel MacMahon

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available A challenging problem in the study of complex systems is that of resolving, without prior information, the emergent, mesoscopic organization determined by groups of units whose dynamical activity is more strongly correlated internally than with the rest of the system. The existing techniques to filter correlations are not explicitly oriented towards identifying such modules and can suffer from an unavoidable information loss. A promising alternative is that of employing community detection techniques developed in network theory. Unfortunately, this approach has focused predominantly on replacing network data with correlation matrices, a procedure that we show to be intrinsically biased because of its inconsistency with the null hypotheses underlying the existing algorithms. Here, we introduce, via a consistent redefinition of null models based on random matrix theory, the appropriate correlation-based counterparts of the most popular community detection techniques. Our methods can filter out both unit-specific noise and system-wide dependencies, and the resulting communities are internally correlated and mutually anticorrelated. We also implement multiresolution and multifrequency approaches revealing hierarchically nested subcommunities with “hard” cores and “soft” peripheries. We apply our techniques to several financial time series and identify mesoscopic groups of stocks which are irreducible to a standard, sectorial taxonomy; detect “soft stocks” that alternate between communities; and discuss implications for portfolio optimization and risk management.

  9. Community Detection for Correlation Matrices

    Science.gov (United States)

    MacMahon, Mel; Garlaschelli, Diego

    2015-04-01

    A challenging problem in the study of complex systems is that of resolving, without prior information, the emergent, mesoscopic organization determined by groups of units whose dynamical activity is more strongly correlated internally than with the rest of the system. The existing techniques to filter correlations are not explicitly oriented towards identifying such modules and can suffer from an unavoidable information loss. A promising alternative is that of employing community detection techniques developed in network theory. Unfortunately, this approach has focused predominantly on replacing network data with correlation matrices, a procedure that we show to be intrinsically biased because of its inconsistency with the null hypotheses underlying the existing algorithms. Here, we introduce, via a consistent redefinition of null models based on random matrix theory, the appropriate correlation-based counterparts of the most popular community detection techniques. Our methods can filter out both unit-specific noise and system-wide dependencies, and the resulting communities are internally correlated and mutually anticorrelated. We also implement multiresolution and multifrequency approaches revealing hierarchically nested subcommunities with "hard" cores and "soft" peripheries. We apply our techniques to several financial time series and identify mesoscopic groups of stocks which are irreducible to a standard, sectorial taxonomy; detect "soft stocks" that alternate between communities; and discuss implications for portfolio optimization and risk management.

  10. Emotion and false memory: The context-content paradox.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bookbinder, S H; Brainerd, C J

    2016-12-01

    False memories are influenced by a variety of factors, but emotion is a variable of special significance, for theoretical and practical reasons. Interestingly, emotion's effects on false memory depend on whether it is embedded in the content of to-be-remembered events or in our moods, where mood is an aspect of the context in which events are encoded. We sketch the theoretical basis for this content-context dissociation and then review accumulated evidence that content and context effects are indeed different. Paradoxically, we find that in experiments on spontaneous and implanted false memories, negatively valenced content foments distortion, but negatively valenced moods protect against it. In addition, correlational data show that enduring negative natural moods (e.g., depression) foment false memory. Current opponent-process models of false memory, such as fuzzy-trace theory, are able to explain the content-context dissociation: Variations in emotional content primarily affect memory for the gist of events, whereas variations in emotional context primarily affect memory for events' exact verbatim form. Important questions remain about how these effects are modulated by variations in memory tests and in arousal. Promising methods of tackling those questions are outlined, especially designs that separate the gist and verbatim influences of emotion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

  11. Key considerations for the success of Medical Education Research and Innovation units in Canada: unit director perceptions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Varpio, Lara; Bidlake, Erin; Humphrey-Murto, Sue; Sutherland, Stephanie; Hamstra, Stanley J

    2014-08-01

    Growth in the field of medical education is evidenced by the proliferation of units dedicated to advancing Medical Education Research and Innovation (MERI). While a review of the literature discovered narrative accounts of MERI unit development, we found no systematic examinations of the dimensions of and structures that facilitate the success of these units. We conducted qualitative interviews with the directors of 12 MERI units across Canada. Data were analyzed using qualitative description (Sandelowski in Res Nurs Health 23:334-340, 2000). Final analysis drew on Bourdieu's (Outline of a theory of practice. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1977; Media, culture and society: a critical reader. Sage, London, 1986; Language and symbolic power. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1991) concepts of field, habitus, and capital, and more recent research investigating the field of MERI (Albert in Acad Med 79:948-954, 2004; Albert et al. in Adv Health Sci Educ 12:103-115, 2007). When asked about the metrics by which they define their success, directors cited: teaching, faculty mentoring, building collaborations, delivering conference presentations, winning grant funding, and disseminating publications. Analyzed using Bourdieu's concepts, these metrics are discussed as forms of capital that have been legitimized in the MERI field. All directors, with the exception of one, described success as being comprised of elements (capital) at both ends of the service-research spectrum (i.e., Albert's PP-PU structure). Our analysis highlights the forms of habitus (i.e., behaviors, attitudes, demeanors) directors use to negotiate, strategize and position the unit within their local context. These findings may assist institutions in developing a new-or reorganizing an existing-MERI unit. We posit that a better understanding of these complex social structures can help units become savvy participants in the MERI field. With such insight, units can improve their academic output and

  12. Hippocampal Contribution to Context Encoding across Development Is Disrupted following Early-Life Adversity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lambert, Hilary K; Sheridan, Margaret A; Sambrook, Kelly A; Rosen, Maya L; Askren, Mary K; McLaughlin, Katie A

    2017-02-15

    Context can drastically influence responses to environmental stimuli. For example, a gunshot should provoke a different response at a public park than a shooting range. Little is known about how contextual processing and neural correlates change across human development or about individual differences related to early environmental experiences. Children ( N = 60; 8-19 years, 24 exposed to interpersonal violence) completed a context encoding task during fMRI scanning using a delayed match-to-sample design with neutral, happy, and angry facial cues embedded in realistic background scenes. Outside the scanner, participants completed a memory test for context-face pairings. Context memory and neural correlates of context encoding did not vary with age. Larger hippocampal volume was associated with better context memory. Posterior hippocampus was recruited during context encoding, and greater activation in this region predicted better memory for contexts paired with angry faces. Children exposed to violence had poor memory of contexts paired with angry faces, reduced hippocampal volume, and atypical neural recruitment on encoding trials with angry faces, including reduced hippocampal activation and greater functional connectivity between hippocampus and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC). Greater hippocampus-vlPFC connectivity was associated with worse memory for contexts paired with angry faces. Posterior hippocampus appears to support context encoding, a process that does not exhibit age-related variation from middle childhood to late adolescence. Exposure to dangerous environments in childhood is associated with poor context encoding in the presence of threat, likely due to greater vlPFC-dependent attentional narrowing on threat cues at the expense of hippocampus-dependent processing of the broader context. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The ability to use context to guide reactions to environmental stimuli promotes flexible behavior. Remarkably little research has

  13. GUIDING PRINCIPLES FOR GOOD PRACTICES IN HOSPITAL-BASED HEALTH TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT UNITS.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sampietro-Colom, Laura; Lach, Krzysztof; Pasternack, Iris; Wasserfallen, Jean-Blaise; Cicchetti, Americo; Marchetti, Marco; Kidholm, Kristian; Arentz-Hansen, Helene; Rosenmöller, Magdalene; Wild, Claudia; Kahveci, Rabia; Ulst, Margus

    2015-01-01

    Health technology assessment (HTA) carried out for policy decision making has well-established principles unlike hospital-based HTA (HB-HTA), which differs from the former in the context characteristics and ways of operation. This study proposes principles for good practices in HB-HTA units. A framework for good practice criteria was built inspired by the EFQM excellence business model and information from six literature reviews, 107 face-to-face interviews, forty case studies, large-scale survey, focus group, Delphi survey, as well as local and international validation. In total, 385 people from twenty countries have participated in defining the principles for good practices in HB-HTA units. Fifteen guiding principles for good practices in HB-HTA units are grouped in four dimensions. Dimension 1 deals with principles of the assessment process aimed at providing contextualized information for hospital decision makers. Dimension 2 describes leadership, strategy and partnerships of HB-HTA units which govern and facilitate the assessment process. Dimension 3 focuses on adequate resources that ensure the operation of HB-HTA units. Dimension 4 deals with measuring the short- and long-term impact of the overall performance of HB-HTA units. Finally, nine core guiding principles were selected as essential requirements for HB-HTA units based on the expertise of the HB-HTA units participating in the project. Guiding principles for good practices set up a benchmark for HB-HTA because they represent the ideal performance of HB-HTA units; nevertheless, when performing HTA at hospital level, context also matters; therefore, they should be adapted to ensure their applicability in the local context.

  14. Higher Education Globalization in the Context of American Guidelines

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bidyuk, Natalya

    2016-01-01

    The article deals with the problem of globalization impact on higher education system in the United Stated of America. It has been concluded that globalization as a phenomenon has been acquiring much significance in all the spheres, especially in higher education. Different views on the essence of globalization, especially in the context of higher…

  15. Auxiliary variables for the mapping of the drainage network: spatial correlation between relieve units, lithotypes and springs in Benevente River basin-ES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tony Vinicius Moreira Sampaio

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Process of the drainage network mapping present methodological limitations re- sulting in inaccurate maps, restricting their use in environmental studies. Such problems demand the realization of long field surveys to verify the error and the search for auxiliary variables to optimize this works and turn possible the analysis of map accuracy. This research aims at the measurement of the correlation be- tween springs, lithotypes and relieve units, characterized by Roughness Concentration Index (RCI in River Basin Benevente-ES, focusing on the operations of map algebra and the use of spatial statistical techniques. These procedures have identified classes of RCI and lithotypes that present the highest and the lowest correlation with the spatial distribution of springs, indicating its potential use as auxiliary variables to verify the map accuracy.

  16. [Conservation Units.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Texas Education Agency, Austin.

    Each of the six instructional units deals with one aspect of conservation: forests, water, rangeland, minerals (petroleum), and soil. The area of the elementary school curriculum with which each correlates is indicated. Lists of general and specific objectives are followed by suggested teaching procedures, including ideas for introducing the…

  17. Exploring Situational Interest Sources in the French Physical Education Context

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roure, Cédric; Pasco, Denis

    2018-01-01

    Based on the framework of interest, studies have shown that situational interest possesses strong motivation potential for students in physical education. Understanding how teachers can use situational interest in a classroom context is critical to motivate students. However, such investigations have been exclusively conducted in the United States…

  18. The aging self in a cultural context: the relation of conceptions of aging to identity processes and self-esteem in the United States and the Netherlands.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Westerhof, Gerben J; Whitbourne, Susan Krauss; Freeman, Gillian P

    2012-01-01

    To study the aging self, that is, conceptions of one's own aging process, in relation to identity processes and self-esteem in the United States and the Netherlands. As the liberal American system has a stronger emphasis on individual responsibility and youthfulness than the social-democratic Dutch system, we expect that youthful and positive perceptions of one's own aging process are more important in the United States than in the Netherlands. Three hundred and nineteen American and 235 Dutch persons between 40 and 85 years participated in the study. A single question on age identity and the Personal Experience of Aging Scale measured aspects of the aging self. The Identity and Experiences Scale measured identity processes and Rosenberg's scale measured self-esteem. A youthful age identity and more positive personal experiences of aging were related to identity processes and self-esteem. These conceptions of one's own aging process also mediate the relation between identity processes and self-esteem. This mediating effect is stronger in the United States than in the Netherlands. As expected, the self-enhancing function of youthful and positive aging perceptions is stronger in the liberal American system than in the social-democratic Dutch welfare system. The aging self should therefore be studied in its cultural context.

  19. Authentic Practices as Contexts for Learning to Draw Inferences beyond Correlated Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dierdorp, Adri; Bakker, Arthur; Eijkelhof, Harrie; van Maanen, Jan

    2011-01-01

    To support 11th-grade students' informal inferential reasoning, a teaching and learning strategy was designed based on authentic practices in which professionals use correlation or linear regression. These practices included identifying suitable physical training programmes, dyke monitoring, and the calibration of measurement instruments. The…

  20. THE SPECIFICITY OF CORRELATION CATEGORY REALIZATION IN THE MODERN GERMAN LANGUAGE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Goryunova Yuliya Nikolaevna

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available The article studies the German article in functional aspect taking into account the conception of the grammatical category of correlation / non-correlation, proposed by L.R. Zinder and T.V. Stroeva. The author describes the specificity of the correlation category realization with nouns of different semantic classes and explains the limitations of using article with definite classes of nouns. It is proved that the common nouns, realizing the five types of correlation, can be used with definite, indefinite and zero articles; abstract and material nouns, as a rule, correlate with the concept and are used with zero article, however, if their semantics is specified in the context, they pass into the class of common nouns, realizing the definite correlation and being used with definite article; proper names, correlating both with a concrete subject and a concept are used, as a rule, with zero or definite article; unique nouns correlate only with a single object and are used only with a definite article. The author reveals that if the abstract, material, unique and proper nouns are contextually specified in the context, they can be used with the indefinite article, which becomes the marker of nouns transposition from one semantic class to another, especially into the lexical and grammatical class of common nouns.

  1. On the insignificance of Herschel's sunspot correlation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Love, Jeffrey J.

    2013-08-01

    We examine William Herschel's hypothesis that solar-cycle variation of the Sun's irradiance has a modulating effect on the Earth's climate and that this is, specifically, manifested as an anticorrelation between sunspot number and the market price of wheat. Since Herschel first proposed his hypothesis in 1801, it has been regarded with both interest and skepticism. Recently, reports have been published that either support Herschel's hypothesis or rely on its validity. As a test of Herschel's hypothesis, we seek to reject a null hypothesis of a statistically random correlation between historical sunspot numbers, wheat prices in London and the United States, and wheat farm yields in the United States. We employ binary-correlation, Pearson-correlation, and frequency-domain methods. We test our methods using a historical geomagnetic activity index, well known to be causally correlated with sunspot number. As expected, the measured correlation between sunspot number and geomagnetic activity would be an unlikely realization of random data; the correlation is "statistically significant." On the other hand, measured correlations between sunspot number and wheat price and wheat yield data would be very likely realizations of random data; these correlations are "insignificant." Therefore, Herschel's hypothesis must be regarded with skepticism. We compare and contrast our results with those of other researchers. We discuss procedures for evaluating hypotheses that are formulated from historical data.

  2. New automated procedure to assess context recognition memory in mice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reiss, David; Walter, Ondine; Bourgoin, Lucie; Kieffer, Brigitte L; Ouagazzal, Abdel-Mouttalib

    2014-11-01

    Recognition memory is an important aspect of human declarative memory and is one of the routine memory abilities altered in patients with amnestic syndrome and Alzheimer's disease. In rodents, recognition memory has been most widely assessed using the novel object preference paradigm, which exploits the spontaneous preference that animals display for novel objects. Here, we used nose-poke units instead of objects to design a simple automated method for assessing context recognition memory in mice. In the acquisition trial, mice are exposed for the first time to an operant chamber with one blinking nose-poke unit. In the choice session, a novel nonblinking nose-poke unit is inserted into an empty spatial location and the number of nose poking dedicated to each set of nose-poke unit is used as an index of recognition memory. We report that recognition performance varies as a function of the length of the acquisition period and the retention delay and is sensitive to conventional amnestic treatments. By manipulating the features of the operant chamber during a brief retrieval episode (3-min long), we further demonstrate that reconsolidation of the original contextual memory depends on the magnitude and the type of environmental changes introduced into the familiar spatial environment. These results show that the nose-poke recognition task provides a rapid and reliable way for assessing context recognition memory in mice and offers new possibilities for the deciphering of the brain mechanisms governing the reconsolidation process.

  3. Context effects on tempo and pleasantness judgments for Beatles songs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rashotte, Matthew A; Wedell, Douglas H

    2012-04-01

    Context effects on tempo and pleasantness judgments of different tempos were demonstrated in three experiments using Beatles songs. In Experiments 1 and 2, we explored how listening to versions of the same song that were played at different tempos affected tempo and pleasantness ratings. In both experiments, contrast effects were found on judgments of tempo, with target tempos rated faster when context tempos were slow than when they were fast. In both experiments, we also showed that the peak of the pleasantness rating function shifted toward the values of the context tempos, reflecting disordinal context effects on pleasantness relationships. Familiarity with the songs did not moderate these effects, and shifts in tempo ratings did not correlate with shifts in most pleasant target tempos when context was manipulated within subjects. In Experiment 3, we examined how manipulations of context tempos for one song affected judgments of the same song as compared with judgments of other more or less similar songs. For tempo ratings, contrast effects transferred to ratings of a similar song, but for pleasantness ratings, assimilative shifts of ideals were found only for the same song and not for similar songs. This pattern of results was supportive of independent bases for the two context effects.

  4. Brain mechanisms of successful recognition through retrieval of semantic context.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Flegal, Kristin E; Marín-Gutiérrez, Alejandro; Ragland, J Daniel; Ranganath, Charan

    2014-08-01

    Episodic memory is associated with the encoding and retrieval of context information and with a subjective sense of reexperiencing past events. The neural correlates of episodic retrieval have been extensively studied using fMRI, leading to the identification of a "general recollection network" including medial temporal, parietal, and prefrontal regions. However, in these studies, it is difficult to disentangle the effects of context retrieval from recollection. In this study, we used fMRI to determine the extent to which the recruitment of regions in the recollection network is contingent on context reinstatement. Participants were scanned during a cued recognition test for target words from encoded sentences. Studied target words were preceded by either a cue word studied in the same sentence (thus congruent with encoding context) or a cue word studied in a different sentence (thus incongruent with encoding context). Converging fMRI results from independently defined ROIs and whole-brain analysis showed regional specificity in the recollection network. Activity in hippocampus and parahippocampal cortex was specifically increased during successful retrieval following congruent context cues, whereas parietal and prefrontal components of the general recollection network were associated with confident retrieval irrespective of contextual congruency. Our findings implicate medial temporal regions in the retrieval of semantic context, contributing to, but dissociable from, recollective experience.

  5. Sex differences in emotional contexts modulation on response inhibition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ramos-Loyo, Julieta; Angulo-Chavira, Armando; Llamas-Alonso, Luis A; González-Garrido, Andrés A

    2016-10-01

    The aim of the present study was to explore sex differences in the effects that emotional contexts exert on the temporal course of response inhibition using event-related potentials (ERP). Participants performed a Go-NoGo response inhibition task under 3 context conditions: with 1) neutral background stimuli, and 2) pleasant, and 3) unpleasant emotional contexts. No sex differences were found in relation to accuracy. Women showed higher N2NoGo amplitudes than men in both emotional contexts; whereas during inhibition men tended to show higher P3NoGo amplitudes than women in the unpleasant context. Both groups experienced a relevant effect of the presence of the unpleasant context during inhibition processing, as shown by the enhancement of the N2NoGo amplitudes in frontal regions compared to results from the neutral and pleasant conditions. In addition, women showed differences between the pleasant and unpleasant contexts, with the latter inducing higher amplitude values. Only in men did inhibition accuracy correlate with higher N2NoGo and lower P3NoGo amplitudes in the emotional context conditions. These findings suggest that when an inhibition task is performed in an emotionally-neutral background context no sex differences are observed in either accuracy or ERP components. However, when the emotional context was introduced -especially the unpleasant one- some gender differences did become evident. The higher N2NoGo amplitude at the presence of the unpleasant context may reflect an effect on attention and conflict monitoring. In addition, results suggest that during earlier processing stages, women invested more resources to process inhibition than men. Furthermore, men who invested more neural resources during earlier stages showed better response inhibition than those who did it during later processing stages, more closely-related to cognitive and motor inhibition processes. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  6. The Recent Development of Commercial Services in the Context of Globalization. Case Study: Bucharest

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Radu Săgeată

    2008-11-01

    Full Text Available The fall of the communist regime and the demise of the bipolar political order have been factors for the development of globalizing connections on the levels of the urban systems in Central and East-European states. The main social impact of this complex phenomenon is the expansion of the diffusion area for the products of global consumerism, which involves the development and the diversification of commercial services. Their localization is still a direct consequence of financial segregation; the determining agent for the degree of penetration of global consumer goods at a local level is the localization of banking investments. Considering this context, this article is correlatively analyzing localization and dispersion factors for financial (banks and banking units and commercial services (malls, international networks of hyper- and supermarkets, restaurants etc., having as case studies the Romanian urban system at a larger scale and its capital city at a micro scale.

  7. The social context of sexual health and sexual risk for urban adolescent girls in the United States.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Teitelman, Anne M; Bohinski, Julia M; Boente, Alyssa

    2009-07-01

    Sexually transmitted infections including HIV and teenage pregnancy have resulted in considerable morbidity and mortality among girls in the United States. There is a need to further strengthen prevention efforts against these persistent epidemics. In order to promote girls' sexual health and most effectively reduce sexual risk, it is important to understand the social factors that influence the development of a girl's sexuality. The purpose of this study was to begin to fill a void in the literature by exploring girls' perspectives about the social context in which they learn about sex, sexuality, and relationships. Coding and content analysis was used to identify patterns and themes in 33 individual interviews with African American and Euro-American girls. Participants identified family, friends/peers, partners, school, and the media as the most common sources for learning about sexual health. Girls sought out different types of information from each source. Many girls experienced conflicting messages about their sexual health and struggled to integrate the disparate cultural references to sex, sexuality, and relationships that emerged from these different spheres of social life. Girls often had to navigate the journey of their sexual development with little room for reflection about their own thoughts, feelings, desires, and decisions. Health care providers, especially those in mental health, are in an optimal position to promote girls' physical, developmental, and emotional sexual health.

  8. Chemistry in Context: Analysis of Thematic Chemistry Videos Available Online

    Science.gov (United States)

    Christensson, Camilla; Sjöström, Jesper

    2014-01-01

    United Nations declared 2011 to be the International Year of Chemistry. The Swedish Chemical Society chose twelve themes, one for each month, to highlight the connection of chemistry with everyday life. Examples of themes were fashion, climate change, love, sports, communication, health issues, and food. From the themes various context-based…

  9. Profiles and Correlates of Relational Aggression in Young Adults' Romantic Relationships

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goldstein, Sara E.; Chesir-Teran, Daniel; McFaul, Adrienne

    2008-01-01

    The present study examines prevalence and correlates of experiencing and perpetrating relational aggression in the context of young adults' romantic relationships. We assess correlates of relational aggression in four domains of risk: (1) Social-cognitive, (2) Relationship, (3) Trait/dispositional, and (4) Mental health. Results indicate that…

  10. ContextProvider: Context awareness for medical monitoring applications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mitchell, Michael; Meyers, Christopher; Wang, An-I Andy; Tyson, Gary

    2011-01-01

    Smartphones are sensor-rich and Internet-enabled. With their on-board sensors, web services, social media, and external biosensors, smartphones can provide contextual information about the device, user, and environment, thereby enabling the creation of rich, biologically driven applications. We introduce ContextProvider, a framework that offers a unified, query-able interface to contextual data on the device. Unlike other context-based frameworks, ContextProvider offers interactive user feedback, self-adaptive sensor polling, and minimal reliance on third-party infrastructure. ContextProvider also allows for rapid development of new context and bio-aware applications. Evaluation of ContextProvider shows the incorporation of an additional monitoring sensor into the framework with fewer than 100 lines of Java code. With adaptive sensor monitoring, power consumption per sensor can be reduced down to 1% overhead. Finally, through the use of context, accuracy of data interpretation can be improved by up to 80%.

  11. Percolation of secret correlations in a network

    OpenAIRE

    Leverrier, Anthony; García-Patrón, Raúl

    2011-01-01

    In this work, we explore the analogy between entanglement and secret classical correlations in the context of large networks, more precisely the question of percolation of secret correlations in a network. It is known that entanglement percolation in quantum networks can display a highly nontrivial behavior depending on the topology of the network and on the presence of entanglement between the nodes. Here we show that this behavior, thought to be of a genuine quantum nature, also occurs in a...

  12. Language control in different contexts: the behavioural ecology of bilingual speakers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David William Green

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available This paper proposes that different experimental contexts (single or dual language contexts permit different neural loci at which words in the target language can be selected. However, in order to develop a fuller understanding of the neural circuit mediating language control we need to consider the community context in which bilingual speakers typically use their two languages (the behavioural ecology of bilingual speakers. The contrast between speakers from code-switching and non-code switching communities offers a way to increase our understanding of the cortical, subcortical and, in particular, cerebellar structures involved in language control. It will also help us identify the non-verbal behavioural correlates associated with these control processes.

  13. The importance of context: When relative relief renders pain pleasant

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leknes, Siri; Berna, Chantal; Lee, Michael C.; Snyder, Gregory D.; Biele, Guido; Tracey, Irene

    2013-01-01

    Context can influence the experience of any event. For instance, the thought that “it could be worse” can improve feelings towards a present misfortune. In this study we measured hedonic feelings, skin conductance, and brain activation patterns in 16 healthy volunteers who experienced moderate pain in two different contexts. In the “relative relief context,” moderate pain represented the best outcome, since the alternative outcome was intense pain. However, in the control context, moderate pain represented the worst outcome and elicited negative hedonic feelings. The context manipulation resulted in a “hedonic flip,” such that moderate pain elicited positive hedonics in the relative relief context. Somewhat surprisingly, moderate pain was even rated as pleasant in this context, despite being reported as painful in the control context. This “hedonic flip” was corroborated by physiological and functional neuroimaging data. When moderate pain was perceived as pleasant, skin conductance and activity in insula and dorsal anterior cingulate were significantly attenuated relative to the control moderate stimulus. “Pleasant pain” also increased activity in reward and valuation circuitry, including the medial orbitofrontal and ventromedial prefrontal cortices. Furthermore, the change in outcome hedonics correlated with activity in the periacqueductal grey (PAG) of the descending pain modulatory system (DPMS). The context manipulation also significantly increased functional connectivity between reward circuitry and the PAG, consistent with a functional change of the DPMS due to the altered motivational state. The findings of this study point to a role for brainstem and reward circuitry in a context-induced “hedonic flip” of pain. PMID:23352758

  14. Behavioural and neural evidence for the impact of fluency context on conscious memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gomes, Carlos Alexandre; Mecklinger, Axel; Zimmer, Hubert

    2017-07-01

    It has been recently suggested that fluency may impact recognition memory performance when the fluency context varies from trial-to-trial. Surprisingly, such an effect has proved difficult to detect in the masked priming paradigm, one of the most popular means to increase fluency-based memory judgements. We conducted a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiment in which participants encoded words at study and, at test, performed a recognition memory task within a masked priming procedure. In order to optimise the chances of finding priming effects on recognition memory performance, we used low-frequency words, which have been shown to increase hits relative to false alarms and enhance masked priming effects. Fluency context was manipulated by either mixing primed and unprimed trials [Random context (RC) experiment] or blocking primed and unprimed trials [Blocked context (BC) experiment]. Behaviourally, priming affected high-confidence memory performance only in the RC experiment. This behavioural effect correlated positively with neural priming in several recognition memory regions. Moreover, we observed a functional coupling between the left middle temporal gyrus and the left parietal and posterior cingulate cortices that was greater for primed relative to unprimed words. In contrast, in the BC experiment, despite similar activity in recognition-memory-related regions, we did not find any significant correlations between neural and behavioural priming. Finally, we observed striking differences in the neural correlates of masked priming between the RC and BC experiments not only in location but also in direction of the neural response. Possible implications of these findings are discussed. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  15. East-West cultural differences in context-sensitivity are evident in early childhood.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Imada, Toshie; Carlson, Stephanie M; Itakura, Shoji

    2013-03-01

    Accumulating evidence suggests that North Americans tend to focus on central objects whereas East Asians tend to pay more attention to contextual information in a visual scene. Although it is generally believed that such culturally divergent attention tendencies develop through socialization, existing evidence largely depends on adult samples. Moreover, no past research has investigated the relation between context-sensitivity and other domains of cognitive development. The present study examined children in the United States and Japan (N = 175, age 4-9 years) to investigate the developmental pattern in context-sensitivity and its relation to executive function. The study found that context-sensitivity increased with age across cultures. Nevertheless, Japanese children showed significantly greater context-sensitivity than American children. Also, context-sensitivity fully mediated the cultural difference in a set-shifting executive function task, which might help explain past findings that East Asian children outperformed their American counterparts on executive function. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

  16. Correlation Coefficients: Appropriate Use and Interpretation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schober, Patrick; Boer, Christa; Schwarte, Lothar A

    2018-05-01

    Correlation in the broadest sense is a measure of an association between variables. In correlated data, the change in the magnitude of 1 variable is associated with a change in the magnitude of another variable, either in the same (positive correlation) or in the opposite (negative correlation) direction. Most often, the term correlation is used in the context of a linear relationship between 2 continuous variables and expressed as Pearson product-moment correlation. The Pearson correlation coefficient is typically used for jointly normally distributed data (data that follow a bivariate normal distribution). For nonnormally distributed continuous data, for ordinal data, or for data with relevant outliers, a Spearman rank correlation can be used as a measure of a monotonic association. Both correlation coefficients are scaled such that they range from -1 to +1, where 0 indicates that there is no linear or monotonic association, and the relationship gets stronger and ultimately approaches a straight line (Pearson correlation) or a constantly increasing or decreasing curve (Spearman correlation) as the coefficient approaches an absolute value of 1. Hypothesis tests and confidence intervals can be used to address the statistical significance of the results and to estimate the strength of the relationship in the population from which the data were sampled. The aim of this tutorial is to guide researchers and clinicians in the appropriate use and interpretation of correlation coefficients.

  17. Human resource management and unit performance in knowledge-intensive work.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kehoe, Rebecca R; Collins, Christopher J

    2017-08-01

    To clarify the potential value of a targeted system of human resource (HR) practices, we explore the unique effects of a relationship-oriented HR system and the more commonly studied high commitment HR system on unit performance in the context of knowledge-intensive work. We develop theoretical arguments suggesting that the high commitment HR system contributes to unit performance through its positive effects on employees' collective organizational commitment, general and firm-specific human capital, and access to knowledge. We argue that the relationship-oriented HR system contributes to unit performance through its positive effects on employees' collective access to knowledge by fostering a social context and interpersonal exchange conditions which support employees' ongoing access to knowledge flows within and outside their unit and broader organization. Based on unit-level data collected from a matched sample of employees and managers in 128 units in the science and engineering division of a large hydroelectric power organization, our results suggest that the targeted, relationship-oriented HR system is related to firm performance and may complement a broader, high commitment approach to managing knowledge workers. Specifically, the positive relationship between the high commitment HR system and unit performance is mediated by employees' collective organizational commitment, firm-specific human capital, and access to knowledge in other organizational units; whereas the positive relationship between the relationship-oriented HR system and unit performance is mediated by units' access to knowledge within the unit, in other units, and outside the organization. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

  18. Class-Based Context Quality Optimization For Context Management Frameworks

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Shawky, Ahmed; Olsen, Rasmus Løvenstein; Pedersen, Jens Myrup

    2012-01-01

    Context-awareness is a key requirement in many of today's networks, services and applications. Context Management systems are in this respect used to provide access to distributed, dynamic context information. The reliability of remotely accessed dynamic context information is challenged by network...

  19. David Galula: His Life and Intellectual Context

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-08-01

    publication of a novel, and his untimely death . 1 DAVID GALULA: HIS LIFE AND INTELLECTUAL CONTEXT INTRODUCTION It is a safe bet that if the United States had...and translated for the first time into French, nearly 40 years after his death —he remains almost unknown to the nation whose uniform he wore for most...lycées. 23 Galula was a bad student who preferred to play hooky, going horseback riding or swimming. (Galula would be a passionate horseman

  20. An examination of sociodemographic correlates of ecstasy use among high school seniors in the United States.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Palamar, Joseph J; Kamboukos, Dimitra

    2014-11-01

    Although ecstasy (MDMA) use is not as prevalent in the United States (US) as it was in the early 2000s, use remains popular among adolescents and young adults. Few recent studies have examined ecstasy use in national samples among those at particularly high risk for use-adolescents approaching adulthood. Research is needed to delineate sociodemographic correlates of use in this group. Data were examined from a nationally representative sample of high school seniors in the US (modal age = 18) from the Monitoring the Future study (years 2007-2012; weighted N = 26,504). Data from all cohorts were aggregated and correlates of recent (last 12-month) use of ecstasy were examined. Roughly 4.4% of high school seniors reported use of ecstasy within the last year. Females and religious students were consistently at lower odds for use. Black and Hispanic students, and students residing with two parents, were at lower odds for ecstasy use, until controlling for other drug use. Odds of use were consistently increased for those residing in a city, students with weekly income of >$50 from a job, and students earning >$10 weekly from other sources. Lifetime use of alcohol, cigarettes, marijuana, and other illicit drugs each robustly increased odds of ecstasy use. Subgroups of high school seniors, defined by specific sociodemographic factors, and those who have used other drugs, are currently at high risk for ecstasy initiation and use. Since ecstasy is regaining popularity in the US, prevention efforts should consider these factors.

  1. Lormetazepam addiction: data analysis from an Italian medical unit for addiction

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Faccini M

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available Marco Faccini,1 Roberto Leone,2 Benedetta Pajusco,1 Gianluca Quaglio,1 Rebecca Casari,1 Anna Albiero,1 Monia Donati,2 Fabio Lugoboni11Department of Internal Medicine, Addiction Unit, 2Pharmacology Unit, Reference Center for Education and Communication within the World Health Organization Program for International Drug Monitoring, University Hospital of Verona, Verona, ItalyBackground: The purpose of this study was to determine, in the context of a hospital addiction unit, which benzodiazepines were abused and to look for correlations with the characteristics of detoxified patients.Methods: A retrospective study was carried out using the database of hospital admissions to the addiction unit for detoxification from 2003 to 2010.Results: Of 879 admissions to the addiction unit during the seven-year period, 281 were for benzodiazepines. The percentage of patients addicted only to benzodiazepines was higher among females than males. Benzodiazepine consumption had started as a drug addiction behavior in only 10% of cases. The main sources of prescription identified were general practitioners (52% of cases or compliant pharmacists (25%. Overall, 15 different benzodiazepines were abused, with lormetazepam being the most commonly used (by 123 patients, 43.8% of the total.Conclusion: Our data show that, outside the population of multidrug addicts, there is an underestimated group of chronic benzodiazepine consumers who are often not referred to medical institutions for treatment. Even in the group of patients addicted to one substance only, we observed an abnormal number of requests for detoxification from lormetazepam, which appears to be more "popular" than other benzodiazepines. This drug should be prescribed according to stricter criteria and submitted to closer control.Keywords: lormetazepam, benzodiazepines, addiction, inpatient detoxification

  2. Theta oscillations at encoding mediate the context-dependent nature of human episodic memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Staudigl, Tobias; Hanslmayr, Simon

    2013-06-17

    Human episodic memory is highly context dependent. Therefore, retrieval benefits when a memory is recalled in the same context compared to a different context. This implies that items and contexts are bound together during encoding, such that the reinstatement of the initial context at test improves retrieval. Animal studies suggest that theta oscillations and theta-to-gamma cross-frequency coupling modulate such item-context binding, but direct evidence from humans is scarce. We investigated this issue by manipulating the overlap of contextual features between encoding and retrieval. Participants studied words superimposed on movie clips and were later tested by presenting the word with either the same or a different movie. The results show that memory performance and the oscillatory correlates of memory formation crucially depend on the overlap of the context between encoding and test. When the context matched, high theta power during encoding was related to successful recognition, whereas the opposite pattern emerged in the context-mismatch condition. In addition, cross-frequency coupling analysis revealed a context-dependent theta-to-gamma memory effect specifically in the left hippocampus. These results reveal for the first time that context-dependent episodic memory effects are mediated by theta oscillatory activity. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. A systematic review of context bias in invasion biology.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Robert J Warren

    Full Text Available The language that scientists use to frame biological invasions may reveal inherent bias-including how data are interpreted. A frequent critique of invasion biology is the use of value-laden language that may indicate context bias. Here we use a systematic study of language and interpretation in papers drawn from invasion biology to evaluate whether there is a link between the framing of papers and the interpretation of results. We also examine any trends in context bias in biological invasion research. We examined 651 peer-reviewed invasive species competition studies and implemented a rigorous systematic review to examine bias in the presentation and interpretation of native and invasive competition in invasion biology. We predicted that bias in the presentation of invasive species is increasing, as suggested by several authors, and that bias against invasive species would result in misinterpreting their competitive dominance in correlational observational studies compared to causative experimental studies. We indeed found evidence of bias in the presentation and interpretation of invasive species research; authors often introduced research with invasive species in a negative context and study results were interpreted against invasive species more in correlational studies. However, we also found a distinct decrease in those biases since the mid-2000s. Given that there have been several waves of criticism from scientists both inside and outside invasion biology, our evidence suggests that the subdiscipline has somewhat self-corrected apparent biases.

  4. A systematic review of context bias in invasion biology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Warren, Robert J; King, Joshua R; Tarsa, Charlene; Haas, Brian; Henderson, Jeremy

    2017-01-01

    The language that scientists use to frame biological invasions may reveal inherent bias-including how data are interpreted. A frequent critique of invasion biology is the use of value-laden language that may indicate context bias. Here we use a systematic study of language and interpretation in papers drawn from invasion biology to evaluate whether there is a link between the framing of papers and the interpretation of results. We also examine any trends in context bias in biological invasion research. We examined 651 peer-reviewed invasive species competition studies and implemented a rigorous systematic review to examine bias in the presentation and interpretation of native and invasive competition in invasion biology. We predicted that bias in the presentation of invasive species is increasing, as suggested by several authors, and that bias against invasive species would result in misinterpreting their competitive dominance in correlational observational studies compared to causative experimental studies. We indeed found evidence of bias in the presentation and interpretation of invasive species research; authors often introduced research with invasive species in a negative context and study results were interpreted against invasive species more in correlational studies. However, we also found a distinct decrease in those biases since the mid-2000s. Given that there have been several waves of criticism from scientists both inside and outside invasion biology, our evidence suggests that the subdiscipline has somewhat self-corrected apparent biases.

  5. The physiological correlates of children's emotions in contexts of moral transgression.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Malti, Tina; Colasante, Tyler; Zuffianò, Antonio; de Bruine, Marieke

    2016-02-01

    Heightened attention to sociomoral conflicts and arousal at the prospect of committing moral transgressions are thought to increase the likelihood of negatively valenced moral emotions (NVMEs; e.g., guilt) in children. Here, we tested this biphasic model of moral emotions with a psychophysiological framework. For a series of vignettes depicting moral transgressions, 5- and 8-year-olds (N=138) were asked to anticipate their emotions as hypothetical victimizers. Their responses were coded for the presence and intensity of NVMEs. In addition, their heart rate (HR) was calculated for three intervals of interest: a baseline period, the presentation of vignettes, and the anticipation of emotions following vignettes. We used multilevel modeling to examine how change in children's HR across these intervals related to the intensity of their NVMEs. Those who experienced greater HR deceleration from baseline to vignettes and greater acceleration from vignettes to anticipated emotions reported more intense NVMEs. We discuss the potential attention- and arousal-related processes behind children's physiological reactivity and anticipated emotions in contexts of moral transgression. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  6. Low numbers of repeat units in variable number of tandem repeats (VNTR) regions of white spot syndrome virus are correlated with disease outbreaks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoa, T T T; Zwart, M P; Phuong, N T; de Jong, M C M; Vlak, J M

    2012-11-01

    White spot syndrome virus (WSSV) is the most important pathogen in shrimp farming systems worldwide including the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. The genome of WSSV is characterized by the presence of two major 'indel regions' found at ORF14/15 and ORF23/24 (WSSV-Thailand) and three regions with variable number tandem repeats (VNTR) located in ORF75, ORF94 and ORF125. In the current study, we investigated whether or not the number of repeat units in the VNTRs correlates with virus outbreak status and/or shrimp farming practice. We analysed 662 WSSV samples from individual WSSV-infected Penaeus monodon shrimp from 104 ponds collected from two important shrimp farming regions of the Mekong Delta: Ca Mau and Bac Lieu. Using this large data set and statistical analysis, we found that for ORF94 and ORF125, the mean number of repeat units (RUs) in VNTRs was significantly lower in disease outbreak ponds than in non-outbreak ponds. Although a higher mean RU number was observed in the improved-extensive system than in the rice-shrimp or semi-intensive systems, these differences were not significant. VNTR sequences are thus not only useful markers for studying WSSV genotypes and populations, but specific VNTR variants also correlate with disease outbreaks in shrimp farming systems. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

  7. Pseudocontingencies and Choice Behavior in Probabilistic Environments with Context-Dependent Outcomes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meiser, Thorsten; Rummel, Jan; Fleig, Hanna

    2018-01-01

    Pseudocontingencies are inferences about correlations in the environment that are formed on the basis of statistical regularities like skewed base rates or varying base rates across environmental contexts. Previous research has demonstrated that pseudocontingencies provide a pervasive mechanism of inductive inference in numerous social judgment…

  8. S-matrix, Feynman zigzag and Einstein correlation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Costa de Beauregard, O.

    1978-01-01

    An inherent binding between Einstein correlations and the S-matrix formalism entails full relativistic covariance, complete time symmetry, and spacelike connexions via Feynman zigzags. The relay is in the past for predictive correlations between future measurements, and in the future for retrodictive correlations between past preparations (Pflegor and Mandel). An analogy and a partial binding exist between intrinsic symmetry together with factlike asymmetry of (1) 'blind statistical' prediction and retrodiction (retarded and advanced waves, information as cognizance and as will) and (2) positive and negative frequencies (particles and antiparticles). As advanced waves are required for completeness of expansions, 'antiphysics' obeying blind statistical retrodiction should show up in appropriate contexts, 'parapsychology' being submitted as one of them. (Auth.)

  9. Microalbuminuria in the intensive care unit: Clinical correlates and association with outcomes in 431 patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gosling, Peter; Czyz, John; Nightingale, Peter; Manji, Mav

    2006-08-01

    Comparison of urine albumin within 6 hrs of intensive care unit (ICU) admission with demography, clinical classification, outcome, inotrope/vasopressor requirement, clinical assessment of mortality risk, and Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) and Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II scores. Urine albumin-creatinine ratio (ACR) was measured on ICU admission (ACR 1) and after 4-6 hrs (ACR 2). A 17-bed general ICU in a university teaching hospital. Unselected medical (206) and surgical (225) patients recruited prospectively. None. Bedside urine ACR was measured by nurses using a Bayer DCA 2000 analyzer and expressed in mg/mmol (reference range Po2/Fio2 ratio 48 hrs after ICU admission and positively correlated with duration of mechanical ventilation and ACR 1 with ICU stay. ACR 2 predicted mortality and ACR 1 inotrope requirement independent of clinical mortality risk assessment and APACHE II and SOFA scores. Urine albumin changes rapidly within the first 6 hrs following ICU admission and predicts ICU mortality and inotrope requirement as well as or better than APACHE II and SOFA scores. Serial urine albumin measurement may provide a means of monitoring the microvascular effects of systemic inflammation.

  10. Theory of Mind, Material Altruism and Family Context in Preschoolers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keskin, Burhanettin; Jones, Ithel

    2011-01-01

    The relationship between theory of mind, material altruism, and family context was examined. Forty-one preschool children (16 females and 25 males) enrolled in a private school participated in the study. Results of this study showed no relationship between theory of mind and altruism. There were no significant correlations between theory of mind…

  11. Lumped Parameter Modeling for Rapid Vibration Response Prototyping and Test Correlation for Electronic Units

    Science.gov (United States)

    Van Dyke, Michael B.

    2013-01-01

    Present preliminary work using lumped parameter models to approximate dynamic response of electronic units to random vibration; Derive a general N-DOF model for application to electronic units; Illustrate parametric influence of model parameters; Implication of coupled dynamics for unit/board design; Demonstrate use of model to infer printed wiring board (PWB) dynamics from external chassis test measurement.

  12. Equivalent unit in telecommunications services

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luiza Santangelo Reis

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this study is to analyze the relationship between the “cost” and “production” variables in a telecommunications company, measuring the latter in the unit of measure termed Network Units (NU.  The study shows a Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.55 -evaluated as moderate - over the course of a 24-month period and resulting from 177 trials.  Subsequently, only the work teams composed of the company´s standard structure were taken into consideration, which yielded 32 observations of interest and a derived correlation coefficient of 0.8.  Finally, the data pertaining to each individual work team over a determined length of time was analyzed, showing strong correlation coefficients in seven of the eleven, and in the remainder, a moderate linear relationship between the variables analyzed.  These results suggest the viability of applying the NU production measurement model in the telecommunications company in question

  13. Medial temporal lobe contributions to cued retrieval of items and contexts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hannula, Deborah E; Libby, Laura A; Yonelinas, Andrew P; Ranganath, Charan

    2013-10-01

    Several models have proposed that different regions of the medial temporal lobes contribute to different aspects of episodic memory. For instance, according to one view, the perirhinal cortex represents specific items, parahippocampal cortex represents information regarding the context in which these items were encountered, and the hippocampus represents item-context bindings. Here, we used event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to test a specific prediction of this model-namely, that successful retrieval of items from context cues will elicit perirhinal recruitment and that successful retrieval of contexts from item cues will elicit parahippocampal cortex recruitment. Retrieval of the bound representation in either case was expected to elicit hippocampal engagement. To test these predictions, we had participants study several item-context pairs (i.e., pictures of objects and scenes, respectively), and then had them attempt to recall items from associated context cues and contexts from associated item cues during a scanned retrieval session. Results based on both univariate and multivariate analyses confirmed a role for hippocampus in content-general relational memory retrieval, and a role for parahippocampal cortex in successful retrieval of contexts from item cues. However, we also found that activity differences in perirhinal cortex were correlated with successful cued recall for both items and contexts. These findings provide partial support for the above predictions and are discussed with respect to several models of medial temporal lobe function. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  14. Medial Temporal Lobe Contributions to Cued Retrieval of Items and Contexts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hannula, Deborah E.; Libby, Laura A.; Yonelinas, Andrew P.; Ranganath, Charan

    2013-01-01

    Several models have proposed that different regions of the medial temporal lobes contribute to different aspects of episodic memory. For instance, according to one view, the perirhinal cortex represents specific items, parahippocampal cortex represents information regarding the context in which these items were encountered, and the hippocampus represents item-context bindings. Here, we used event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to test a specific prediction of this model – namely, that successful retrieval of items from context cues will elicit perirhinal recruitment and that successful retrieval of contexts from item cues will elicit parahippocampal cortex recruitment. Retrieval of the bound representation in either case was expected to elicit hippocampal engagement. To test these predictions, we had participants study several item-context pairs (i.e., pictures of objects and scenes, respectively), and then had them attempt to recall items from associated context cues and contexts from associated item cues during a scanned retrieval session. Results based on both univariate and multivariate analyses confirmed a role for hippocampus in content-general relational memory retrieval, and a role for parahippocampal cortex in successful retrieval of contexts from item cues. However, we also found that activity differences in perirhinal cortex were correlated with successful cued recall for both items and contexts. These findings provide partial support for the above predictions and are discussed with respect to several models of medial temporal lobe function. PMID:23466350

  15. Integration of wind energy in the Dutch electricity system in the context of the Northwestern European market for electricity. Final report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Benz, E.; Hewicker, C.; Moldovan, N.; Stienstra, G.; Van der Veen, W.

    2010-04-01

    A study was conducted of the integration of large volumes of wind energy in the Dutch electricity system in the context of a Northwest European electricity market for the year 2020. This study contributes to answering the questions that are at the centre of the project 'Fuel mix'. The following aspects are addressed: the capacity to combine large volumes of wind energy in the Dutch electricity system with the use of CHP; the impact of electricity costs; the influence on CO2 emissions and fuel use; the correlation between the electricity production of CHP units; wind parks and coal-fired plants. In this study the Dutch electricity system is simulated in connection with the framework of the regional electricity market in Northwest Europe for the year 2020. The conducted simulations are based on perfect competition with the marginal cost price of the production units as offer price in the electricity market. To this end the chronological production simulation model (PLEXOS) was used, which takes into account the dynamic operational management and limitations of the electricity plants and the transmission grid. [nl

  16. Income Distribution Policy in the United States [and] Discussion Paper.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Okner, Benjamin A.; Rivlin, Alice M.

    The focus of this paper is inequality - primarily, income - inequality - in the United States and the historical-political context in which policies that affect inequality are being discussed. The first section gives a brief description of recent trends in the distribution of income in the United States, a picture whose most remarkable feature is…

  17. Foundational Principles for Large-Scale Inference: Illustrations Through Correlation Mining

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hero, Alfred O.; Rajaratnam, Bala

    2015-01-01

    When can reliable inference be drawn in fue “Big Data” context? This paper presents a framework for answering this fundamental question in the context of correlation mining, wifu implications for general large scale inference. In large scale data applications like genomics, connectomics, and eco-informatics fue dataset is often variable-rich but sample-starved: a regime where the number n of acquired samples (statistical replicates) is far fewer than fue number p of observed variables (genes, neurons, voxels, or chemical constituents). Much of recent work has focused on understanding the computational complexity of proposed methods for “Big Data”. Sample complexity however has received relatively less attention, especially in the setting when the sample size n is fixed, and the dimension p grows without bound. To address fuis gap, we develop a unified statistical framework that explicitly quantifies the sample complexity of various inferential tasks. Sampling regimes can be divided into several categories: 1) the classical asymptotic regime where fue variable dimension is fixed and fue sample size goes to infinity; 2) the mixed asymptotic regime where both variable dimension and sample size go to infinity at comparable rates; 3) the purely high dimensional asymptotic regime where the variable dimension goes to infinity and the sample size is fixed. Each regime has its niche but only the latter regime applies to exa cale data dimension. We illustrate this high dimensional framework for the problem of correlation mining, where it is the matrix of pairwise and partial correlations among the variables fua t are of interest. Correlation mining arises in numerous applications and subsumes the regression context as a special case. we demonstrate various regimes of correlation mining based on the unifying perspective of high dimensional learning rates and sample complexity for different structured covariance models and different inference tasks. PMID:27087700

  18. Foundational Principles for Large-Scale Inference: Illustrations Through Correlation Mining.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hero, Alfred O; Rajaratnam, Bala

    2016-01-01

    When can reliable inference be drawn in fue "Big Data" context? This paper presents a framework for answering this fundamental question in the context of correlation mining, wifu implications for general large scale inference. In large scale data applications like genomics, connectomics, and eco-informatics fue dataset is often variable-rich but sample-starved: a regime where the number n of acquired samples (statistical replicates) is far fewer than fue number p of observed variables (genes, neurons, voxels, or chemical constituents). Much of recent work has focused on understanding the computational complexity of proposed methods for "Big Data". Sample complexity however has received relatively less attention, especially in the setting when the sample size n is fixed, and the dimension p grows without bound. To address fuis gap, we develop a unified statistical framework that explicitly quantifies the sample complexity of various inferential tasks. Sampling regimes can be divided into several categories: 1) the classical asymptotic regime where fue variable dimension is fixed and fue sample size goes to infinity; 2) the mixed asymptotic regime where both variable dimension and sample size go to infinity at comparable rates; 3) the purely high dimensional asymptotic regime where the variable dimension goes to infinity and the sample size is fixed. Each regime has its niche but only the latter regime applies to exa cale data dimension. We illustrate this high dimensional framework for the problem of correlation mining, where it is the matrix of pairwise and partial correlations among the variables fua t are of interest. Correlation mining arises in numerous applications and subsumes the regression context as a special case. we demonstrate various regimes of correlation mining based on the unifying perspective of high dimensional learning rates and sample complexity for different structured covariance models and different inference tasks.

  19. The Neural Responses to Social Cooperation in Gain and Loss Context.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Peng Sun

    Full Text Available Cooperation is pervasive and constitutes the core behavioral principle of human social life. Previous studies have revealed that mutual cooperation was reliably correlated with two reward-related brain regions, the ventral striatum and the orbitofrontal cortex. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI, this study sought to investigate how the loss and gain contexts modulated the neural responses to mutual cooperation. Twenty-five female participants were scanned when they played a series of one-shot prisoner's dilemma games in the loss and gain contexts. Specifically, participants and partners independently chose to either cooperate with each other or not, and each was awarded or deprived of (in the gain context or the loss context, respectively a sum of money which depended upon the interaction of their choices. Behavioral results indicated that participants cooperated in nearly half of the experiment trials and reported higher level of positive emotions for mutual cooperation in both contexts, but they cooperated more in the gain than in the loss context. At the neural level, stronger activities in the orbitofrontal cortex were observed for mutual cooperation compared with the other three outcomes in both contexts, while stronger activation in ventral striatum associated with mutual cooperation was observed in the gain context only. Together, our data indicated that, even in the one-shot interaction under loss context, participants still exhibited preference for cooperation and the rewarding experience from a mutually cooperative social interaction activated the ventral striatum and the orbitofrontal cortex, but the loss context weakened the association between the ventral striatum activation and mutual cooperation.

  20. International Space Station Future Correlation Analysis Improvements

    Science.gov (United States)

    Laible, Michael R.; Pinnamaneni, Murthy; Sugavanam, Sujatha; Grygier, Michael

    2018-01-01

    Ongoing modal analyses and model correlation are performed on different configurations of the International Space Station (ISS). These analyses utilize on-orbit dynamic measurements collected using four main ISS instrumentation systems: External Wireless Instrumentation System (EWIS), Internal Wireless Instrumentation System (IWIS), Space Acceleration Measurement System (SAMS), and Structural Dynamic Measurement System (SDMS). Remote Sensor Units (RSUs) are network relay stations that acquire flight data from sensors. Measured data is stored in the Remote Sensor Unit (RSU) until it receives a command to download data via RF to the Network Control Unit (NCU). Since each RSU has its own clock, it is necessary to synchronize measurements before analysis. Imprecise synchronization impacts analysis results. A study was performed to evaluate three different synchronization techniques: (i) measurements visually aligned to analytical time-response data using model comparison, (ii) Frequency Domain Decomposition (FDD), and (iii) lag from cross-correlation to align measurements. This paper presents the results of this study.

  1. Nonlocal correlations as an information-theoretic resource

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Barrett, Jonathan; Massar, Serge; Pironio, Stefano; Linden, Noah; Popescu, Sandu; Roberts, David

    2005-01-01

    It is well known that measurements performed on spatially separated entangled quantum systems can give rise to correlations that are nonlocal, in the sense that a Bell inequality is violated. They cannot, however, be used for superluminal signaling. It is also known that it is possible to write down sets of 'superquantum' correlations that are more nonlocal than is allowed by quantum mechanics, yet are still nonsignaling. Viewed as an information-theoretic resource, superquantum correlations are very powerful at reducing the amount of communication needed for distributed computational tasks. An intriguing question is why quantum mechanics does not allow these more powerful correlations. We aim to shed light on the range of quantum possibilities by placing them within a wider context. With this in mind, we investigate the set of correlations that are constrained only by the no-signaling principle. These correlations form a polytope, which contains the quantum correlations as a (proper) subset. We determine the vertices of the no-signaling polytope in the case that two observers each choose from two possible measurements with d outcomes. We then consider how interconversions between different sorts of correlations may be achieved. Finally, we consider some multipartite examples

  2. Audio Quality Assurance : An Application of Cross Correlation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jurik, Bolette Ammitzbøll; Nielsen, Jesper Asbjørn Sindahl

    2012-01-01

    We describe algorithms for automated quality assurance on content of audio files in context of preservation actions and access. The algorithms use cross correlation to compare the sound waves. They are used to do overlap analysis in an access scenario, where preserved radio broadcasts are used in...

  3. Organizational correlates of implementation of colocation of mental health and primary care in the Veterans Health Administration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guerrero, Erick G; Heslin, Kevin C; Chang, Evelyn; Fenwick, Karissa; Yano, Elizabeth

    2015-07-01

    This study explored the role of organizational factors in the ability of Veterans Health Administration (VHA) clinics to implement colocated mental health care in primary care settings (PC-MH). The study used data from the VHA Clinical Practice Organizational Survey collected in 2007 from 225 clinic administrators across the United States. Clinic degree of implementation of PC-MH was the dependent variable, whereas independent variables included policies and procedures, organizational context, and leaders' perceptions of barriers to change. Pearson bivariate correlations and multivariable linear regression were used to test hypotheses. Results show that depression care training for primary care providers and clinics' flexibility and participation were both positively correlated with implementation of PC-MH. However, after accounting for other factors, regressions show that only training primary care providers in depression care was marginally associated with degree of implementation of PC-MH (p = 0.051). Given the importance of this topic for implementing integrated care as part of health care reform, these null findings underscore the need to improve theory and testing of more proximal measures of colocation in future work.

  4. Validation of the Mnemonic Similarity Task – Context Version

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Giulia A. Aldi

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Objective: Pattern separation (PS is the ability to represent similar experiences as separate, non-overlapping representations. It is usually assessed via the Mnemonic Similarity Task – Object Version (MST-O which, however, assesses PS performance without taking behavioral context discrimination into account, since it is based on pictures of everyday simple objects on a white background. We here present a validation study for a new task, the Mnemonic Similarity Task – Context Version (MST-C, which is designed to measure PS while taking behavioral context discrimination into account by using real-life context photographs. Methods: Fifty healthy subjects underwent the two MST tasks to assess convergent evidence. Instruments assessing memory and attention were also administered to study discriminant evidence. The test-retest reliability of MST-C was analyzed. Results: Weak evidence supports convergent validity between the MST-C task and the MST-O as measures of PS (rs = 0.464; p < 0.01; PS performance assessed via the MST-C did not correlate with memory or attention; a moderate test-retest reliability was found (rs = 0.595; p < 0.01. Conclusion: The MST-C seems useful for assessing PS performance conceptualized as the ability to discriminate complex and realistic spatial contexts. Future studies are welcome to evaluate the validity of the MST-C task as a measure of PS in clinical populations.

  5. Inverse Ising inference with correlated samples

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Obermayer, Benedikt; Levine, Erel

    2014-01-01

    Correlations between two variables of a high-dimensional system can be indicative of an underlying interaction, but can also result from indirect effects. Inverse Ising inference is a method to distinguish one from the other. Essentially, the parameters of the least constrained statistical model are learned from the observed correlations such that direct interactions can be separated from indirect correlations. Among many other applications, this approach has been helpful for protein structure prediction, because residues which interact in the 3D structure often show correlated substitutions in a multiple sequence alignment. In this context, samples used for inference are not independent but share an evolutionary history on a phylogenetic tree. Here, we discuss the effects of correlations between samples on global inference. Such correlations could arise due to phylogeny but also via other slow dynamical processes. We present a simple analytical model to address the resulting inference biases, and develop an exact method accounting for background correlations in alignment data by combining phylogenetic modeling with an adaptive cluster expansion algorithm. We find that popular reweighting schemes are only marginally effective at removing phylogenetic bias, suggest a rescaling strategy that yields better results, and provide evidence that our conclusions carry over to the frequently used mean-field approach to the inverse Ising problem. (paper)

  6. Aging in a cultural context: cross-national differences in disability and the moderating role of personal control among older adults in the United States and England.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clarke, Philippa; Smith, Jacqui

    2011-07-01

    We investigate cross-national differences in late-life health outcomes and focus on an intriguing difference in beliefs about personal control found between older adult populations in the U.K. and United States. We examine the moderating role of control beliefs in the relationship between physical function and self-reported difficulty with daily activities. Using national data from the United States (Health and Retirement Study) and England (English Longitudinal Study on Ageing), we examine the prevalence in disability across the two countries and show how it varies according to the sense of control. Poisson regression was used to examine the relationship between objective measures of physical function (gait speed) and disability and the modifying effects of control. Older Americans have a higher sense of personal control than the British, which operates as a psychological resource to reduce disability among older Americans. However, the benefits of control are attenuated as physical impairments become more severe. These results emphasize the importance of carefully considering cross-national differences in the disablement process as a result of cultural variation in underlying psychosocial resources. This paper highlights the role of culture in shaping health across adults aging in different sociopolitical contexts.

  7. Nonparametric correlation models for portfolio allocation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Aslanidis, Nektarios; Casas, Isabel

    2013-01-01

    This article proposes time-varying nonparametric and semiparametric estimators of the conditional cross-correlation matrix in the context of portfolio allocation. Simulations results show that the nonparametric and semiparametric models are best in DGPs with substantial variability or structural ...... currencies. Results show the nonparametric model generally dominates the others when evaluating in-sample. However, the semiparametric model is best for out-of-sample analysis....

  8. Biblical phraseology in intra-/interlinguistic Slovak and Czech context I

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Baláková Dana

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper outlines theoretical and methodological starting points as well as the research methodology of biblical phraseology. Our aim was to identify principal tendencies in the awareness/consciousness of the users of two closely related cultural and linguistic communities (Slovaks and Czechs from both the intralinguistic point of view (in the context of the young – middle – senior generations, marking intergenerational similarities and differences, as well as outline the generational continuum, and the point of view of mutual interlinguistic comparison with respect to the discussed sample of specific phraseological units. Attention has been paid to the cultural/phraseological competency of the respondents’ groups in the two successive papers entitled “Biblical Phraseology in Intra/Interlinguistic Slovak and Czech Context I” (presentation of the results related to the ability to identify the source text, “Biblical Phraseology in the Intra/Interlinguistic Slovak and Czech Context II” (presentation of the level of phraseological competency – the knowledge and usage of the expressions in question.

  9. Flexible Bayesian Dynamic Modeling of Covariance and Correlation Matrices

    KAUST Repository

    Lan, Shiwei

    2017-11-08

    Modeling covariance (and correlation) matrices is a challenging problem due to the large dimensionality and positive-definiteness constraint. In this paper, we propose a novel Bayesian framework based on decomposing the covariance matrix into variance and correlation matrices. The highlight is that the correlations are represented as products of vectors on unit spheres. We propose a variety of distributions on spheres (e.g. the squared-Dirichlet distribution) to induce flexible prior distributions for covariance matrices that go beyond the commonly used inverse-Wishart prior. To handle the intractability of the resulting posterior, we introduce the adaptive $\\\\Delta$-Spherical Hamiltonian Monte Carlo. We also extend our structured framework to dynamic cases and introduce unit-vector Gaussian process priors for modeling the evolution of correlation among multiple time series. Using an example of Normal-Inverse-Wishart problem, a simulated periodic process, and an analysis of local field potential data (collected from the hippocampus of rats performing a complex sequence memory task), we demonstrated the validity and effectiveness of our proposed framework for (dynamic) modeling covariance and correlation matrices.

  10. Achieving excellence in private intensive care units: The effect of transformational leadership and organisational culture on organisational change outcomes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Portia J. Jordan

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Orientation: Organisational change outcomes in private intensive care units are linked to higher patient satisfaction, improved quality of patient care, family support, cost-effective care practices and an increased level of excellence. Transformational leadership and fostering a positive organisational culture can contribute to these change outcomes. Research purpose: The study determined whether transformational leadership and a supportive organisational culture were evident in six private intensive care units in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. A conceptual framework to investigate the relationship between transformational leadership, organisational culture, and organisational change outcomes, was proposed and tested. Motivation for the study: The prevalence of transformational leadership, a positive organisational culture and their effect on organisational change outcomes in private healthcare industries require further research in order to generate appropriate recommendations. Research design, approach and method: A positivistic, quantitative design was used. A survey was conducted using a questionnaire which, in previous studies, produced scores with Cronbach’s alpha coefficients greater than 0.80, to collect data from a sample of 130 professional nurses in private intensive care units. Main findings: Transformational leadership and a positive organisational culture were evident in the private intensive care units sampled. A strong, positive correlation exists between transformational leadership, organisational culture, and organisational change outcomes. This correlation provides sufficient evidence to accept the postulated research hypotheses. Innovation and intellectual stimulation were identified as the factors in need of improvement. Practical or managerial implications: The findings of the study may be used by managers in intensive care units to promote organisational change outcomes, linked to transformational leadership and a

  11. Patterns of research utilization on patient care units

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lander Janice

    2008-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Organizational context plays a central role in shaping the use of research by healthcare professionals. The largest group of professionals employed in healthcare organizations is nurses, putting them in a position to influence patient and system outcomes significantly. However, investigators have often limited their study on the determinants of research use to individual factors over organizational or contextual factors. Methods The purpose of this study was to examine the determinants of research use among nurses working in acute care hospitals, with an emphasis on identifying contextual determinants of research use. A comparative ethnographic case study design was used to examine seven patient care units (two adult and five pediatric units in four hospitals in two Canadian provinces (Ontario and Alberta. Data were collected over a six-month period by means of quantitative and qualitative approaches using an array of instruments and extensive fieldwork. The patient care unit was the unit of analysis. Drawing on the quantitative data and using correspondence analysis, relationships between various factors were mapped using the coefficient of variation. Results Units with the highest mean research utilization scores clustered together on factors such as nurse critical thinking dispositions, unit culture (as measured by work creativity, work efficiency, questioning behavior, co-worker support, and the importance nurses place on access to continuing education, environmental complexity (as measured by changing patient acuity and re-sequencing of work, and nurses' attitudes towards research. Units with moderate research utilization clustered on organizational support, belief suspension, and intent to use research. Higher nursing workloads and lack of people support clustered more closely to units with the lowest research utilization scores. Conclusion Modifiable characteristics of organizational context at the patient care unit

  12. Healthy Cities in a global and regional context

    OpenAIRE

    Lawrence, Roderick J.; Fudge, Colin

    2017-01-01

    Since the beginning of the WHO European Healthy Cities Network in 1987, the global and regional contexts for the promotion of health and well-being have changed in many ways. First, in 2000, the United Nations Millennium Goals explicitly and implicitly addressed health promotion and prevention at the global and regional levels. Second, the concern for sustainable development at the Rio Conference in 1992 was confirmed at the World Summit in Johannesburg in 2002. During the same period, in man...

  13. Ataques de Nervios and their psychiatric correlates in Puerto Rican children from two different contexts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    López, Irene; Rivera, Fernando; Ramirez, Rafael; Guarnaccia, Peter J; Canino, Glorisa; Bird, Héctor R

    2009-12-01

    Among Latino adults and children, ataques de nervios has been associated with an array of psychiatric disorders. Using data from a probability sample of Puerto Rican children, aged 5 to 13 years (N = 2491), we assessed the lifetime prevalence and psychiatric correlates of ataques in youth residing in the South Bronx, New York and San Juan, Puerto Rico. Baseline site comparisons indicated that between 4% and 5% of children had a lifetime prevalence of ataques (either by child or parent report) and that ataques were associated with greater global impairment and a host of childhood disorders within the previous twelve months. Ataques were also correlated with greater exposure to violence, as well as more stressful life events for the South Bronx sample. After controlling for several covariates, ataques continued to be significantly associated with psychopathology. Ataques are, therefore, a significant correlate of global impairment and childhood psychopathology among Puerto Rican youth.

  14. A MAD Explanation for the Correlation between Bulk Lorentz Factor and Minimum Variability Timescale

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lloyd-Ronning, Nicole; Lei, Wei-hua; Xie, Wei

    2018-04-01

    We offer an explanation for the anti-correlation between the minimum variability timescale (MTS) in the prompt emission light curve of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and the estimated bulk Lorentz factor of these GRBs, in the context of a magnetically arrested disk (MAD) model. In particular, we show that previously derived limits on the maximum available energy per baryon in a Blandford-Znajek jet leads to a relationship between the characteristic MAD timescale in GRBs and the maximum bulk Lorentz factor: tMAD∝Γ-6, somewhat steeper than (although within the error bars of) the fitted relationship found in the GRB data. Similarly, the MAD model also naturally accounts for the observed anti-correlation between MTS and gamma-ray luminosity L in the GRB data, and we estimate the accretion rates of the GRB disk (given these luminosities) in the context of this model. Both of these correlations (MTS - Γ and MTS - L) are also observed in the AGN data, and we discuss the implications of our results in the context of both GRB and blazar systems.

  15. A review of gene-environment correlations and their implications for autism: a conceptual model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meek, Shantel E; Lemery-Chalfant, Kathryn; Jahromi, Laudan B; Valiente, Carlos

    2013-07-01

    A conceptual model is proposed that explains how gene-environment correlations and the multiplier effect function in the context of social development in individuals with autism. The review discusses the current state of autism genetic research, including its challenges, such as the genetic and phenotypic heterogeneity of the disorder, and its limitations, such as the lack of interdisciplinary work between geneticists and social scientists. We discuss literature on gene-environment correlations in the context of social development and draw implications for individuals with autism. The review expands upon genes, behaviors, types of environmental exposure, and exogenous variables relevant to social development in individuals on the autism spectrum, and explains these factors in the context of the conceptual model to provide a more in-depth understanding of how the effects of certain genetic variants can be multiplied by the environment to cause largely phenotypic individual differences. Using the knowledge gathered from gene-environment correlations and the multiplier effect, we outline novel intervention directions and implications. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

  16. Riparian restoration in the context of Tamarix control in the western United States: Chapter 23

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shafroth, Patrick B.; Merritt, David M.; Briggs, Mark K.; Beauchamp, Vanessa B.; Lair, Kenneth D.; Scott, Michael L.; Sher, Anna; Sher, Anna; Quigley, Martin F.

    2013-01-01

    This chapter focuses on the restoration of riparian systems in the context of Tamarix control—that is, Tamarix-dominated sites are converted to a replacement vegetation type that achieves specific management goals and helps return parts of the system to a desired and more natural state or dynamic. It reviews research related to restoring native riparian vegetation following tamarix control or removal. The chapter begins with an overview of objective setting and the planning of tamarix control and proceeds by emphasizing the importance of considering site-specific factors and of context in selecting and prioritizing sites for restoration. In particular, it considers valley and bottomland geomorphology, along with river flow regime and associated fluvial disturbance, surface water and groundwater availability, and soil salinity and texture. The chapter concludes with a discussion of costs and benefits associated with active, passive, and combined ecological restoration approaches, as well as the key issues to consider in carrying out restoration projects at a range of scales.

  17. Genetic maps and physical units

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Karunakaran, V.; Holt, G.

    1976-01-01

    The relationships between physical and genetic units are examined. Genetic mapping involves the detection of linkage of genes and the measurement of recombination frequencies. The genetic distance is measured in map units and is proportional to the recombination frequencies between linked markers. Physical mapping of genophores, particularly the simple genomes of bacteriophages and bacterial plasmids can be achieved through heteroduplex analysis. Genetic distances are dependent on recombination frequencies and, therefore, can only be correlated accurately with physical unit lengths if the recombination frequency is constant throughout the entire genome. Methods are available to calculate the equivalent length of DNA per average map unit in different organisms. Such estimates indicate significant differences from one organism to another. Gene lengths can also be calculated from the number of amino acids in a specified polypeptide and relating this to the number of nucleotides required to code for such a polypeptide. Many attempts have been made to relate microdosimetric measurements to radiobiological data. For irradiation effects involving deletion of genetic material such a detailed correlation may be possible in systems where heteroduplex analysis or amino acid sequencing can be performed. The problems of DNA packaging and other functional associations within the cell in interpreting data is discussed

  18. Stochastic energy management of renewable micro-grids in the correlated environment using unscented transformation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tabatabaee, Sajad; Mortazavi, Seyed Saeedallah; Niknam, Taher

    2016-01-01

    This paper addresses the optimal stochastic scheduling of the distributed generation units in a micro-grid. In this way, it introduces a new sufficient stochastic framework to model the correlated uncertainties in the micro-grid that includes different types of RESs such as photovoltaics, wind turbines, micro-turbine, fuel cell as well as battery as the storage device. The proposed stochastic method makes use of unscented transforms to model correlated uncertain parameters. The ability of the unscented transform method to model correlated uncertain variables is particularly appealing in the context of power systems, wherein noticeable inherent correlation exists. Due to the highly complex nature of the problem, a new optimization method based on the harmony search algorithm along with an intelligent modification method is devised to solve the proposed optimization problem, efficiently. The proposed optimization algorithm is equipped with powerful search mechanisms that make it suitable for solving both discrete and continuous problems. In comparison with the original harmony search algorithm, the proposed modified optimization algorithm has few setting parameters. The new modified harmony search algorithm provides proper balance between the local and global searches. The feasibility and satisfactory performance of performance of the proposed method are examined on two typical grid-connected MGs. - Highlights: • Introducing a new artificial optimization algorithm based on HS evolutionary technique. • Introducing a new stochastic framework based on unscented transform to model the uncertainties of the problem. • Proposing a new modification method for HS to improve its total search ability.

  19. Contributions of acculturation, enculturation, discrimination, and personality traits to social anxiety among Chinese immigrants: A context-specific assessment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fang, Ke; Friedlander, Myrna; Pieterse, Alex L

    2016-01-01

    Based on the diathesis-stress model of anxiety, this study examined the contributions of cultural processes, perceived racial discrimination, and personality traits to social anxiety among Chinese immigrants. Further guided by the theory of intergroup anxiety, this study also adopted a context-specific approach to distinguish between participants' experience of social anxiety when interacting with European Americans versus with other Chinese in the United States. This quantitative and ex post facto study used a convenience sample of 140 first-generation Chinese immigrants. Participants were recruited through e-mails from different university and community groups across the United States. The sample includes 55 men and 82 women (3 did not specify) with an average age of 36 years old. Results showed that more social anxiety was reported in the European American context than in the Chinese ethnic context. The full models accounted for almost half the variance in anxiety in each context. Although personality accounted for the most variance, the cultural variables and discrimination contributed 14% of the unique variance in the European American context. Notably, low acculturation, high neuroticism, and low extraversion were unique contributors to social anxiety with European Americans, whereas in the Chinese ethnic context only low extraversion was a unique contributor; more discrimination was uniquely significant in both contexts. The findings suggest a need to contextualize the research and clinical assessment of social anxiety, and have implications for culturally sensitive counseling with immigrants. (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

  20. Joint Facial Action Unit Detection and Feature Fusion: A Multi-Conditional Learning Approach

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Eleftheriadis, Stefanos; Rudovic, Ognjen; Pantic, Maja

    2016-01-01

    Automated analysis of facial expressions can benefit many domains, from marketing to clinical diagnosis of neurodevelopmental disorders. Facial expressions are typically encoded as a combination of facial muscle activations, i.e., action units. Depending on context, these action units co-occur in

  1. Genome Context Viewer: visual exploration of multiple annotated genomes using microsynteny.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cleary, Alan; Farmer, Andrew

    2018-05-01

    The Genome Context Viewer is a visual data-mining tool that allows users to search across multiple providers of genome data for regions with similarly annotated content that may be aligned and visualized at the level of their shared functional elements. By handling ordered sequences of gene family memberships as a unit of search and comparison, the user interface enables quick and intuitive assessment of the degree of gene content divergence and the presence of various types of structural events within syntenic contexts. Insights into functionally significant differences seen at this level of abstraction can then serve to direct the user to more detailed explorations of the underlying data in other interconnected, provider-specific tools. GCV is provided under the GNU General Public License version 3 (GPL-3.0). Source code is available at https://github.com/legumeinfo/lis_context_viewer. adf@ncgr.org. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

  2. Middleware Support for Quality of Context in Pervasive Context-Aware Systems

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Sheikh, K.; Wegdam, M.; van Sinderen, Marten J.

    Middleware support for pervasive context-aware systems relieves context-aware applications from dealing with the complexity of context-specific operations such as context acquisition, aggregation, reasoning and distribution. The middleware decouples applications from the underlying heterogeneous

  3. Context-dependent human extinction memory is mediated by a ventromedial prefrontal and hippocampal network.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kalisch, Raffael; Korenfeld, Elian; Stephan, Klaas E; Weiskopf, Nikolaus; Seymour, Ben; Dolan, Raymond J

    2006-09-13

    In fear extinction, an animal learns that a conditioned stimulus (CS) no longer predicts a noxious stimulus [unconditioned stimulus (UCS)] to which it had previously been associated, leading to inhibition of the conditioned response (CR). Extinction creates a new CS-noUCS memory trace, competing with the initial fear (CS-UCS) memory. Recall of extinction memory and, hence, CR inhibition at later CS encounters is facilitated by contextual stimuli present during extinction training. In line with theoretical predictions derived from animal studies, we show that, after extinction, a CS-evoked engagement of human ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC) and hippocampus is context dependent, being expressed in an extinction, but not a conditioning, context. Likewise, a positive correlation between VMPFC and hippocampal activity is extinction context dependent. Thus, a VMPFC-hippocampal network provides for context-dependent recall of human extinction memory, consistent with a view that hippocampus confers context dependence on VMPFC.

  4. Impact of Qualification Framework in United Arab Emirates: A case ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    QFE) on the undergraduate Bachelor of Pharmacy (BPharm) curriculum in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) context. Method: Curriculum developers (faculty and other stakeholders) have selected appropriate teaching, learning and assessment ...

  5. Learning temporal context shapes prestimulus alpha oscillations and improves visual discrimination performance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Toosi, Tahereh; K Tousi, Ehsan; Esteky, Hossein

    2017-08-01

    Time is an inseparable component of every physical event that we perceive, yet it is not clear how the brain processes time or how the neuronal representation of time affects our perception of events. Here we asked subjects to perform a visual discrimination task while we changed the temporal context in which the stimuli were presented. We collected electroencephalography (EEG) signals in two temporal contexts. In predictable blocks stimuli were presented after a constant delay relative to a visual cue, and in unpredictable blocks stimuli were presented after variable delays relative to the visual cue. Four subsecond delays of 83, 150, 400, and 800 ms were used in the predictable and unpredictable blocks. We observed that predictability modulated the power of prestimulus alpha oscillations in the parieto-occipital sites: alpha power increased in the 300-ms window before stimulus onset in the predictable blocks compared with the unpredictable blocks. This modulation only occurred in the longest delay period, 800 ms, in which predictability also improved the behavioral performance of the subjects. Moreover, learning the temporal context shaped the prestimulus alpha power: modulation of prestimulus alpha power grew during the predictable block and correlated with performance enhancement. These results suggest that the brain is able to learn the subsecond temporal context of stimuli and use this to enhance sensory processing. Furthermore, the neural correlate of this temporal prediction is reflected in the alpha oscillations. NEW & NOTEWORTHY It is not well understood how the uncertainty in the timing of an external event affects its processing, particularly at subsecond scales. Here we demonstrate how a predictable timing scheme improves visual processing. We found that learning the predictable scheme gradually shaped the prestimulus alpha power. These findings indicate that the human brain is able to extract implicit subsecond patterns in the temporal context of

  6. Place Attachment and Tourist Experience in the Context of Desert Tourism – the Case of Wadi Rum

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Allan Mamoon

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper aims to explore the relationship between tourist experience and place attachment in a desert tourism experience. The current study was carried out with a sample of international and domestic visitors in Wadi Rum, Southern Jordan. The results show that there is a significant positive correlation between the nearby constructs of the study units such as the four tourist experience dimensions (education, esthetics, entertainment, and escapism, and the two dimensional place attachments measures (place identity and place dependence. Moreover, the findings also indicate that education factor had a significantly positive relationship with place identity, and there was a significantly positive relationship between escapism factor and place dependence. The findings can be used to develop the tourist experience and place attachment in the context of desert tourism experience. They further help tourism destinations managers, planners and marketers to provide appropriate marketing strategies and enrich their offers to desert tourism participants.

  7. Bracketed morality revisited: how do athletes behave in two contexts?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kavussanu, Maria; Boardley, Ian D; Sagar, Sam S; Ring, Christopher

    2013-10-01

    The concept of bracketed morality has received empirical support in several sport studies (e.g., Bredemeier & Shields, 1986a, 1986b). However, these studies have focused on moral reasoning. In this research, we examined bracketed morality with respect to moral behavior in sport and university contexts, in two studies. Male and female participants (Study 1: N = 331; Study 2: N = 372) completed questionnaires assessing prosocial and antisocial behavior toward teammates and opponents in sport and toward other students at university. Study 2 participants also completed measures of moral disengagement and goal orientation in both contexts. In most cases, behavior in sport was highly correlated with behavior at university. In addition, participants reported higher prosocial behavior toward teammates and higher antisocial behavior toward opponents in sport than toward other students at university. The effects of context on antisocial behavior were partially mediated by moral disengagement and ego orientation. Our findings extend the bracketed morality concept to prosocial and antisocial behavior.

  8. Organizational and safety culture in Canadian intensive care units: relationship to size of intensive care unit and physician management model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dodek, Peter M; Wong, Hubert; Jaswal, Danny; Heyland, Daren K; Cook, Deborah J; Rocker, Graeme M; Kutsogiannis, Demetrios J; Dale, Craig; Fowler, Robert; Ayas, Najib T

    2012-02-01

    The objectives of this study are to describe organizational and safety culture in Canadian intensive care units (ICUs), to correlate culture with the number of beds and physician management model in each ICU, and to correlate organizational culture and safety culture. In this cross-sectional study, surveys of organizational and safety culture were administered to 2374 clinical staff in 23 Canadian tertiary care and community ICUs. For the 1285 completed surveys, scores were calculated for each of 34 domains. Average domain scores for each ICU were correlated with number of ICU beds and with intensivist vs nonintensivist management model. Domain scores for organizational culture were correlated with domain scores for safety culture. Culture domain scores were generally favorable in all ICUs. There were moderately strong positive correlations between number of ICU beds and perceived effectiveness at recruiting/retaining physicians (r = 0.58; P organizational and safety culture. Differences in perceptions between staff in larger and smaller ICUs highlight the importance of teamwork across units in larger ICUs. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  9. Newborn follow-up after discharge from the maternity unit: Compliance with national guidelines.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roisné, J; Delattre, M; Rousseau, S; Bourlet, A; Charkaluk, M-L

    2018-02-01

    In the context of shorter hospital stays in maternity units, in 2014 the French health authorities issued guidelines for newborn follow-up after discharge from maternity units. A medical visit is recommended between the 6th and 10th day of life, as are home visits from midwives. This study was designed to evaluate compliance with these guidelines. The study was observational, prospective, multicenter, and was conducted in March and April 2015 in three maternity units in northern France that participate in the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI). Follow-up practices (medical visit between the 6th and 10th day, home visits from a midwife) and demographic, social, and medical data were recorded during the stay in the maternity unit, and through a phone interview 1 month later, in singleton term-born infants. The study population included 108 mother-infant pairs. The recommended medical visit was effectively performed by a physician between the 6th and 10th day of life for 20 newborns (19%) (95% CI: [11; 26]). During the 1st month, at least one home visit from a midwife was recorded for 96 mother-infant pairs (89%). The only factor positively correlated with a medical visit between the 6th and 10th day was the mother's choice, made early during the hospital stay and independently of the real length of stay, for early discharge from the maternity unit. Compliance with national guidelines was poor for the recommended medical visit between the 6th and 10th day of life. Information needs to be improved. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

  10. Individual, Social, and Environmental Correlates of Active Transportation Patterns in French Women.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perchoux, Camille; Enaux, Christophe; Oppert, Jean-Michel; Menai, Mehdi; Charreire, Hélène; Salze, Paul; Weber, Christiane; Hercberg, Serge; Feuillet, Thierry; Hess, Franck; Roda, Célina; Simon, Chantal; Nazare, Julie-Anne

    2017-01-01

    The objectives were (1) to define physical activity (PA) and sedentary behaviors (SB) patterns in daily life contexts (work, leisure, and transportation) in French working women from NutriNet-Santé web-cohort and (2) to identify pattern(s) of active transportation and their individual, social, and environmental correlates. 23,432 participants completed two questionnaires to evaluate PA and SB in daily life contexts and individual representations of residential neighborhood and transportation modes. Hierarchical cluster analysis was performed which identified 6 distinct movement behavior patterns: (i) active occupation, high sedentary leisure, (ii) sedentary occupation, low leisure, (iii) sedentary transportation, (iv) sedentary occupation and leisure, (v) active transportation, and (vi) active leisure. Multinomial logistic regressions were performed to identify correlates of the "active transportation" cluster. The perceived environmental characteristics positively associated with "active transportation" included "high availability of destinations around home," "presence of bicycle paths," and "low traffic." A "positive image of walking/cycling," the "individual feeling of being physically active," and a "high use of active transport modes by relatives/friends" were positively related to "active transportation," identified as a unique pattern regarding individual and environmental correlates. Identification of PA and SB context-specific patterns will help to understand movement behaviors' complexity and to design interventions to promote active transportation in specific subgroups.

  11. Criteria of selection of basic linguacultural units within the context of cross-cultural communication

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Khalupo Olga Ivanovna

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available The article considers the problems associated with the analysis and selection of basic linguacultural units that are necessary for a more effective cross-cultural communication. To make the process of dialogue between different cultures and languages more appropriate and productive, it is necessary to possess certain knowledge, skills, which are acquired by man in the process of learning. Important in our opinion in this area are the mastery means which will prepare the person to communicate in a different communicative space. Such means, in our opinion, are the basic linguacultural units, which are considered as carriers of information and expression of cultural identity. They inform choice contributes to a worldview, understanding linguacultural picture of the world community. The basis of selection of linguistic units on the following criteria: the information content, functionality, sufficiency, cultural identity, realism, pivotal importance to the basic sense, social and cultural significance. Application of the proposed criteria allowing more appropriate to make the selection of the material and linguacultural integral components of the scope of cross-cultural interaction, which are characterized by their relevant material necessary for an adequate understanding of the processes occurring in different communicative space.

  12. Mathematics Teacher Identity in the Context of Mathematics Reform: Elementary Teacher Experiences

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Jennifer

    2017-01-01

    Reform efforts and changes in mathematics education have brought on a shift towards a new vision of mathematics teaching in the United States. In light of recent accountability standards, the focus on teacher learning within the context of mathematics professional development is even more pressing. Prior research on teacher learning in the context…

  13. ERP correlates of source memory: Unitized source information increases familiarity-based retrieval

    OpenAIRE

    Diana, Rachel A.; Van den Boom, Wijnand; Yonelinas, Andrew P.; Ranganath, Charan

    2010-01-01

    Source memory tests typically require subjects to make decisions about the context in which an item was encoded and are thought to depend on recollection of details from the study episode. Although it is generally believed that familiarity does not contribute to source memory, recent behavioral studies have suggested that familiarity may also support source recognition when item and source information are integrated, or “unitized”, during study (Diana, Yonelinas, and Ranganath 2008). However,...

  14. Sustainable growth of EU economies and Baltic context: Characteristics and modelling

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Girts Karnitis

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available The united general growth strategy for all EU Member States, a common economic and political vision as well as location in the same geographic region provides a necessary basis for the benchmarking modelling of economies. The main objective of this study is determination of the functional regularities and drivers of the growth of EU economies and the context of the Baltic States in line with the general trend of the EU, as well as development of the growth model, which can be used for sustainable planning and prediction. Analysis of several regularly published analytical indexes suggests a thesis on innovation as the real basic driving force for EU economies and outlines Innovation Performance Index, which have a very strong compliance with the economic growth of particular country. At the same time study of the data set and methodology of the Index indicates space for further optimization. By use of several linear regression tools the growth model was created. It is based on three hard independent statistical indicators (predictors only; of course, these indicators is a peak of a complex pyramid. Despite of the simplicity of the model, the long-term correlation of fitted values with the real GDP per capita is extremely strong 0.961 – 0.987.

  15. Neural correlates of economic value and valuation context: an event-related potential study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tyson-Carr, John; Kokmotou, Katerina; Soto, Vicente; Cook, Stephanie; Fallon, Nicholas; Giesbrecht, Timo; Stancak, Andrej

    2018-05-01

    The value of environmental cues and internal states is continuously evaluated by the human brain, and it is this subjective value that largely guides decision making. The present study aimed to investigate the initial value attribution process, specifically the spatiotemporal activation patterns associated with values and valuation context, using electroencephalographic event-related potentials (ERPs). Participants completed a stimulus rating task in which everyday household items marketed up to a price of £4 were evaluated with respect to their desirability or material properties. The subjective values of items were evaluated as willingness to pay (WTP) in a Becker-DeGroot-Marschak auction. On the basis of the individual's subjective WTP values, the stimuli were divided into high- and low-value items. Source dipole modeling was applied to estimate the cortical sources underlying ERP components modulated by subjective values (high vs. low WTP) and the evaluation condition (value-relevant vs. value-irrelevant judgments). Low-WTP items and value-relevant judgments both led to a more pronounced N2 visual evoked potential at right frontal scalp electrodes. Source activity in right anterior insula and left orbitofrontal cortex was larger for low vs. high WTP at ∼200 ms. At a similar latency, source activity in right anterior insula and right parahippocampal gyrus was larger for value-relevant vs. value-irrelevant judgments. A stronger response for low- than high-value items in anterior insula and orbitofrontal cortex appears to reflect aversion to low-valued item acquisition, which in an auction experiment would be perceived as a relative loss. This initial low-value bias occurs automatically irrespective of the valuation context. NEW & NOTEWORTHY We demonstrate the spatiotemporal characteristics of the brain valuation process using event-related potentials and willingness to pay as a measure of subjective value. The N2 component resolves values of objects with a

  16. Neural correlates of hate.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Semir Zeki

    Full Text Available In this work, we address an important but unexplored topic, namely the neural correlates of hate. In a block-design fMRI study, we scanned 17 normal human subjects while they viewed the face of a person they hated and also faces of acquaintances for whom they had neutral feelings. A hate score was obtained for the object of hate for each subject and this was used as a covariate in a between-subject random effects analysis. Viewing a hated face resulted in increased activity in the medial frontal gyrus, right putamen, bilaterally in premotor cortex, in the frontal pole and bilaterally in the medial insula. We also found three areas where activation correlated linearly with the declared level of hatred, the right insula, right premotor cortex and the right fronto-medial gyrus. One area of deactivation was found in the right superior frontal gyrus. The study thus shows that there is a unique pattern of activity in the brain in the context of hate. Though distinct from the pattern of activity that correlates with romantic love, this pattern nevertheless shares two areas with the latter, namely the putamen and the insula.

  17. Environmental Correlates to Behavioral Health Outcomes in Alzheimer's Special Care Units

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zeisel, John; Silverstein, Nina M.; Hyde, Joan; Levkoff, Sue; Lawton, M. Powell; Holmes, William

    2003-01-01

    Purpose: We systematically measured the associations between environmental design features of nursing home special care units and the incidence of aggression, agitation, social withdrawal, depression, and psychotic problems among persons living there who have Alzheimer's disease or a related disorder. Design and Methods: We developed and tested a…

  18. Correlation Functions in Open Quantum-Classical Systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chang-Yu Hsieh

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available Quantum time correlation functions are often the principal objects of interest in experimental investigations of the dynamics of quantum systems. For instance, transport properties, such as diffusion and reaction rate coefficients, can be obtained by integrating these functions. The evaluation of such correlation functions entails sampling from quantum equilibrium density operators and quantum time evolution of operators. For condensed phase and complex systems, where quantum dynamics is difficult to carry out, approximations must often be made to compute these functions. We present a general scheme for the computation of correlation functions, which preserves the full quantum equilibrium structure of the system and approximates the time evolution with quantum-classical Liouville dynamics. Several aspects of the scheme are discussed, including a practical and general approach to sample the quantum equilibrium density, the properties of the quantum-classical Liouville equation in the context of correlation function computations, simulation schemes for the approximate dynamics and their interpretation and connections to other approximate quantum dynamical methods.

  19. Spatiotemporal Context Awareness for Urban Traffic Modeling and Prediction: Sparse Representation Based Variable Selection.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Su Yang

    Full Text Available Spatial-temporal correlations among the data play an important role in traffic flow prediction. Correspondingly, traffic modeling and prediction based on big data analytics emerges due to the city-scale interactions among traffic flows. A new methodology based on sparse representation is proposed to reveal the spatial-temporal dependencies among traffic flows so as to simplify the correlations among traffic data for the prediction task at a given sensor. Three important findings are observed in the experiments: (1 Only traffic flows immediately prior to the present time affect the formation of current traffic flows, which implies the possibility to reduce the traditional high-order predictors into an 1-order model. (2 The spatial context relevant to a given prediction task is more complex than what is assumed to exist locally and can spread out to the whole city. (3 The spatial context varies with the target sensor undergoing prediction and enlarges with the increment of time lag for prediction. Because the scope of human mobility is subject to travel time, identifying the varying spatial context against time lag is crucial for prediction. Since sparse representation can capture the varying spatial context to adapt to the prediction task, it outperforms the traditional methods the inputs of which are confined as the data from a fixed number of nearby sensors. As the spatial-temporal context for any prediction task is fully detected from the traffic data in an automated manner, where no additional information regarding network topology is needed, it has good scalability to be applicable to large-scale networks.

  20. Spatiotemporal Context Awareness for Urban Traffic Modeling and Prediction: Sparse Representation Based Variable Selection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Su; Shi, Shixiong; Hu, Xiaobing; Wang, Minjie

    2015-01-01

    Spatial-temporal correlations among the data play an important role in traffic flow prediction. Correspondingly, traffic modeling and prediction based on big data analytics emerges due to the city-scale interactions among traffic flows. A new methodology based on sparse representation is proposed to reveal the spatial-temporal dependencies among traffic flows so as to simplify the correlations among traffic data for the prediction task at a given sensor. Three important findings are observed in the experiments: (1) Only traffic flows immediately prior to the present time affect the formation of current traffic flows, which implies the possibility to reduce the traditional high-order predictors into an 1-order model. (2) The spatial context relevant to a given prediction task is more complex than what is assumed to exist locally and can spread out to the whole city. (3) The spatial context varies with the target sensor undergoing prediction and enlarges with the increment of time lag for prediction. Because the scope of human mobility is subject to travel time, identifying the varying spatial context against time lag is crucial for prediction. Since sparse representation can capture the varying spatial context to adapt to the prediction task, it outperforms the traditional methods the inputs of which are confined as the data from a fixed number of nearby sensors. As the spatial-temporal context for any prediction task is fully detected from the traffic data in an automated manner, where no additional information regarding network topology is needed, it has good scalability to be applicable to large-scale networks.

  1. Social vocalizations of big brown bats vary with behavioral context.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marie A Gadziola

    Full Text Available Bats are among the most gregarious and vocal mammals, with some species demonstrating a diverse repertoire of syllables under a variety of behavioral contexts. Despite extensive characterization of big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus biosonar signals, there have been no detailed studies of adult social vocalizations. We recorded and analyzed social vocalizations and associated behaviors of captive big brown bats under four behavioral contexts: low aggression, medium aggression, high aggression, and appeasement. Even limited to these contexts, big brown bats possess a rich repertoire of social vocalizations, with 18 distinct syllable types automatically classified using a spectrogram cross-correlation procedure. For each behavioral context, we describe vocalizations in terms of syllable acoustics, temporal emission patterns, and typical syllable sequences. Emotion-related acoustic cues are evident within the call structure by context-specific syllable types or variations in the temporal emission pattern. We designed a paradigm that could evoke aggressive vocalizations while monitoring heart rate as an objective measure of internal physiological state. Changes in the magnitude and duration of elevated heart rate scaled to the level of evoked aggression, confirming the behavioral state classifications assessed by vocalizations and behavioral displays. These results reveal a complex acoustic communication system among big brown bats in which acoustic cues and call structure signal the emotional state of a caller.

  2. Video context-dependent recall.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Steven M; Manzano, Isabel

    2010-02-01

    In two experiments, we used an effective new method for experimentally manipulating local and global contexts to examine context-dependent recall. The method included video-recorded scenes of real environments, with target words superimposed over the scenes. In Experiment 1, we used a within-subjects manipulation of video contexts and compared the effects of reinstatement of a global context (15 words per context) with effects of less overloaded context cues (1 and 3 words per context) on recall. The size of the reinstatement effects in Experiment 1 show how potently video contexts can cue recall. A strong effect of cue overload was also found; reinstatement effects were smaller, but still quite robust, in the 15 words per context condition. The powerful reinstatement effect was replicated for local contexts in Experiment 2, which included a no-contexts-reinstated group, a control condition used to determine whether reinstatement of half of the cues caused biased output interference for uncued targets. The video context method is a potent way to investigate context-dependent memory.

  3. Trajectories of Brownian particles with space-correlated noise

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    EDOARDO MILOTTI

    walks with spatially correlated white noise: the time- dependence of the distance of pairs of random walkers. ... Dedicated to the memory of the late Professor Charusita Chakravarty. also quite well-known that the two-sided noise .... due to the individual noise components, we find that in the present context the value of ξ2 is.

  4. A dataset of metaphors from the italian literature: exploring psycholinguistic variables and the role of context.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Valentina Bambini

    Full Text Available Defining the specific role of the factors that affect metaphor processing is a fundamental step for fully understanding figurative language comprehension, either in discourse and conversation or in reading poems and novels. This study extends the currently available materials on everyday metaphorical expressions by providing the first dataset of metaphors extracted from literary texts and scored for the major psycholinguistic variables, considering also the effect of context. A set of 115 Italian literary metaphors presented in isolation (Experiment 1 and a subset of 65 literary metaphors embedded in their original texts (Experiment 2 were rated on several dimensions (word and phrase frequency, readability, cloze probability, familiarity, concreteness, difficulty and meaningfulness. Overall, literary metaphors scored around medium-low values on all dimensions in both experiments. Collected data were subjected to correlation analysis, which showed the presence of a strong cluster of variables-mainly familiarity, difficulty, and meaningfulness-when literary metaphor were presented in isolation. A weaker cluster was observed when literary metaphors were presented in the original contexts, with familiarity no longer correlating with meaningfulness. Context manipulation influenced familiarity, concreteness and difficulty ratings, which were lower in context than out of context, while meaningfulness increased. Throughout the different dimensions, the literary context seems to promote a global interpretative activity that enhances the open-endedness of the metaphor as a semantic structure constantly open to all possible interpretations intended by the author and driven by the text. This dataset will be useful for the design of future experimental studies both on literary metaphor and on the role of context in figurative meaning, combining ecological validity and aesthetic aspects of language.

  5. Fatal school shootings and the epidemiological context of firearm mortality in the United States

    OpenAIRE

    Shultz, James M; Cohen, Alyssa M; Muschert, Glenn W; Flores de Apodaca, Roberto

    2013-01-01

    Background The December 14, 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, USA, vaulted concerns regarding gun violence to the forefront of public attention. This high-visibility incident occurred within the epidemiological context of U.S. firearm mortality that claims more than 88 lives daily. Methods National epidemiologic data on firearm deaths over two decades were analyzed along with data registries on school shootings in order to place the tragedy at Sandy H...

  6. The Dark Side of Context: Context Reinstatement Can Distort Memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Doss, Manoj K; Picart, Jamila K; Gallo, David A

    2018-04-01

    It is widely assumed that context reinstatement benefits memory, but our experiments revealed that context reinstatement can systematically distort memory. Participants viewed pictures of objects superimposed over scenes, and we later tested their ability to differentiate these old objects from similar new objects. Context reinstatement was manipulated by presenting objects on the reinstated or switched scene at test. Not only did context reinstatement increase correct recognition of old objects, but it also consistently increased incorrect recognition of similar objects as old ones. This false recognition effect was robust, as it was found in several experiments, occurred after both immediate and delayed testing, and persisted with high confidence even after participants were warned to avoid the distorting effects of context. To explain this memory illusion, we propose that context reinstatement increases the likelihood of confusing conceptual and perceptual information, potentially in medial temporal brain regions that integrate this information.

  7. Probing Student Understanding of Scientific Thinking in the Context of Introductory Astrophysics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Steinberg, Richard N.; Cormier, Sebastien; Fernandez, Adiel

    2009-01-01

    Common forms of testing of student understanding of science content can be misleading about their understanding of the nature of scientific thinking. Observational astronomy integrated with related ideas of force and motion is a rich context to explore the correlation between student content knowledge and student understanding of the scientific…

  8. Migration Reform in the United States: Perspectives of Change and Continuity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marco Vinicio Méndez Coto

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available The article proposes an analysis of migration from the perspective of security (as it has been addressed by countries such as the United States mainly receiving international immigrants, and within the terrorism and the prevention context in which the international community is. The complexity of the migration issue has an impact on changes in the United States internal policy and generates transformations in the immigration system. These transformations appear in certain aspects like those contemplated in the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Bill (S.744 which was promoted by the President Obama. This section explains the process of change in the American political and electoral panorama since 2008 elections, the Latin America role in the foreign policy of Obama’s administration, the growing electoral power of Hispanic descendant population in the United States, the current situation of the immigrant population in an irregular administrative situation, and the current context of the bill within the American political system.

  9. A study of correlations in the stock market

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sharma, Chandradew; Banerjee, Kinjal

    2015-08-01

    We study the various sectors of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) for a period of 8 years from April 2006 to March 2014. Using the data of daily returns of a period of eight years we make a direct model free analysis of the pattern of the sectorial indices movement and the correlations among them. Our analysis shows significant auto correlation among the individual sectors and also strong cross-correlation among sectors. We also find that auto correlations in some of the sectors persist in time. This is a very significant result and has not been reported so far in Indian context. These findings will be very useful in model building for prediction of price movement of equities, derivatives and portfolio management. We show that the Random Walk Hypothesis is not applicable in modeling the Indian market and mean-variance-skewness-kurtosis based portfolio optimization might be required. We also find that almost all sectors are highly correlated during large fluctuation periods and have only moderate correlation during normal periods.

  10. Context-Specific Metabolic Model Extraction Based on Regularized Least Squares Optimization.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Semidán Robaina Estévez

    Full Text Available Genome-scale metabolic models have proven highly valuable in investigating cell physiology. Recent advances include the development of methods to extract context-specific models capable of describing metabolism under more specific scenarios (e.g., cell types. Yet, none of the existing computational approaches allows for a fully automated model extraction and determination of a flux distribution independent of user-defined parameters. Here we present RegrEx, a fully automated approach that relies solely on context-specific data and ℓ1-norm regularization to extract a context-specific model and to provide a flux distribution that maximizes its correlation to data. Moreover, the publically available implementation of RegrEx was used to extract 11 context-specific human models using publicly available RNAseq expression profiles, Recon1 and also Recon2, the most recent human metabolic model. The comparison of the performance of RegrEx and its contending alternatives demonstrates that the proposed method extracts models for which both the structure, i.e., reactions included, and the flux distributions are in concordance with the employed data. These findings are supported by validation and comparison of method performance on additional data not used in context-specific model extraction. Therefore, our study sets the ground for applications of other regularization techniques in large-scale metabolic modeling.

  11. Variance in population firing rate as a measure of slow time-scale correlation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adam C. Snyder

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available Correlated variability in the spiking responses of pairs of neurons, also known as spike count correlation, is a key indicator of functional connectivity and a critical factor in population coding. Underscoring the importance of correlation as a measure for cognitive neuroscience research is the observation that spike count correlations are not fixed, but are rather modulated by perceptual and cognitive context. Yet while this context fluctuates from moment to moment, correlation must be calculated over multiple trials. This property undermines its utility as a dependent measure for investigations of cognitive processes which fluctuate on a trial-to-trial basis, such as selective attention. A measure of functional connectivity that can be assayed on a moment-to-moment basis is needed to investigate the single-trial dynamics of populations of spiking neurons. Here, we introduce the measure of population variance in normalized firing rate for this goal. We show using mathematical analysis, computer simulations and in vivo data how population variance in normalized firing rate is inversely related to the latent correlation in the population, and how this measure can be used to reliably classify trials from different typical correlation conditions, even when firing rate is held constant. We discuss the potential advantages for using population variance in normalized firing rate as a dependent measure for both basic and applied neuroscience research.

  12. Different contexts, different effects? Work time and mental health in the United States and Germany.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kleiner, Sibyl; Schunck, Reinhard; Schömann, Klaus

    2015-03-01

    This paper takes a comparative approach to the topic of work time and health, asking whether weekly work hours matter for mental health. We hypothesize that these relationships differ within the United States and Germany, given the more regulated work time environments within Germany and the greater incentives to work long hours in the United States. We further hypothesize that German women will experience greatest penalties to long hours. We use data from the German Socioeconomic Panel and the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to examine hours effects on mental health score at midlife. The results support our initial hypothesis. In Germany, longer work time is associated with worse mental health, while in the United States, as seen in previous research, the associations are more complex. Our results do not show greater mental health penalties for German women and suggest instead a selection effect into work hours operating by gender. © American Sociological Association 2015.

  13. Factors impeding flexible inpatient unit design.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pati, Debajyoti; Evans, Jennie; Harvey, Thomas E; Bazuin, Doug

    2012-01-01

    To identify and examine factors extraneous to the design decision-making process that could impede the optimization of flexibility on inpatient units. A 2006 empirical study to identify domains of design decisions that affect flexibility on inpatient units found some indication in the context of the acuity-adaptable operational model that factors extraneous to the design process could have negatively influenced the successful implementation of the model. This raised questions regarding extraneous factors that might influence the successful optimization of flexibility. An exploratory, qualitative method was adopted to examine the question. Stakeholders from five recently built acute care inpatient units participated in the study, which involved three types of data collection: (1) verbal protocol data from a gaming session; (2) in-depth semi-structured interviews; and (3) shadowing frontline personnel. Data collection was conducted between June 2009 and November 2010. The study revealed at least nine factors extraneous to the design process that have the potential to hinder the optimization of flexibility in four domains: (1) systemic; (2) cultural; (3) human; and (4) financial. Flexibility is critical to hospital operations in the new healthcare climate, where cost reduction constitutes a vital target. From this perspective, flexibility and efficiency strategies can be influenced by (1) return on investment, (2) communication, (3) culture change, and (4) problem definition. Extraneous factors identified in this study could also affect flexibility in other care settings; therefore, these findings may be viewed from the overall context of hospital design.

  14. Group cohesion and social support of the nurses in a special unit and a general unit in Korea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ko, Yu Kyung

    2011-07-01

    To identify the degree of group cohesion and social support of nurses in special and general units in hospitals in Korea, and to compare group cohesion and social support between the two groups. The level of commitment nurses have to their organizations has been shown to correlate with work group cohesion and social support. The participants were 1751 nurses who were working in Korean hospitals. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire and were analysed using SAS. The statistical methods included: descriptive statistics, t-test, anova and Pearson's correlation coefficients. Group cohesion of nurses on special wards was significantly higher than for nurses on general wards. No significant difference was found between types of units in terms of social support. The degree of group cohesion was significantly different in terms of the respondents' clinical experience, position, religion, job satisfaction, number of supportive superiors and number of supportive peers. A statistically significant correlation was found between group cohesion scores and degree of social support. Hospital management can accomplish their goals more effectively through knowledge of the level of group cohesion, superior support and peer support for nursing staff in accordance with unit specialty. © 2011 The Author. Journal compilation © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

  15. FOREIGN MARKET ENTRY STRATEGIES IN THE UNITED STATES/EUROPEAN UNION AGRIBUSINESS TRADE CONTEXT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cristina Lelis Leal Calegario

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available Our study makes an analysis of American’ multinationals foreign market entry strategies in the European Union agribusiness context. We have used a logistic regression analysis using generalized estimating equation method to make hypothesis about the multinationals’ choices. Our results suggest that American food companies operating in EU appear not to choose their mode of entry based merely on host country factors, but mostly on firm related factors, including firm-specific factors and firm financial performance. Despite the creation of a common institutional framework for M&As in the EU, they are still subject to peculiarities due mostly to organizational characteristics of investing firms.

  16. Unit Fractions in the Context of Proportionality: Supporting Students' Reasoning about the Inverse Order Relationship

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cortina, Jose Luis; Visnovska, Jana; Zuniga, Claudia

    2014-01-01

    We analyze a classroom design experiment, conducted in a fourth grade classroom, that served to explore an instructional path in which the introduction of unit fractions and supporting proportional reasoning coincide. Central to this path is the use of means of support in which the objects that unit fractions quantify are not characterized as…

  17. 25 ns software correlator for photon and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Magatti, Davide; Ferri, Fabio

    2003-02-01

    A 25 ns time resolution, multi-tau software correlator developed in LABVIEW based on the use of a standard photon counting unit, a fast timer/counter board (6602-PCI National Instrument) and a personal computer (PC) (1.5 GHz Pentium 4) is presented and quantitatively discussed. The correlator works by processing the stream of incoming data in parallel according to two different algorithms: For large lag times (τ⩾100 μs), a classical time-mode (TM) scheme, based on the measure of the number of pulses per time interval, is used; differently, for τ⩽100 μs a photon-mode (PM) scheme is adopted and the time sequence of the arrival times of the photon pulses is measured. By combining the two methods, we developed a system capable of working out correlation functions on line, in full real time for the TM correlator and partially in batch processing for the PM correlator. For the latter one, the duty cycle depends on the count rate of the incoming pulses, being ˜100% for count rates ⩽3×104 Hz, ˜15% at 105 Hz, and ˜1% at 106 Hz. For limitations imposed by the fairly small first-in, first-out (FIFO) buffer available on the counter board, the maximum count rate permissible for a proper functioning of the PM correlator is limited to ˜105 Hz. However, this limit can be removed by using a board with a deeper FIFO. Similarly, the 25 ns time resolution is only limited by maximum clock frequency available on the 6602-PCI and can be easily improved by using a faster clock. When tested on dilute solutions of calibrated latex spheres, the overall performances of the correlator appear to be comparable with those of commercial hardware correlators, but with several nontrivial advantages related to its flexibility, low cost, and easy adaptability to future developments of PC and data acquisition technology.

  18. From user context states to context-aware applications

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Shishkov, Boris; van Sinderen, Marten J.; Filipe, J.; Cordeiro, J.; Cardoso, J.

    2008-01-01

    In many cases, in order to be effective, software applications need to allow sensitivity to user context state changes. This implies however additional complexity associated with the need for applications’ adaptability (being capable of capturing context, interpreting it and reacting on it). Hence,

  19. Mirror node correlations tuning synchronization in multiplex networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kumar, Anil; Baptista, Murilo S.; Zaikin, Alexey; Jalan, Sarika

    2017-12-01

    We show that the degree-degree correlations have a major impact on global synchronizability (GS) of multiplex networks, enabling the specification of synchronizability by only changing the degree-degree correlations of the mirror nodes while maintaining the connection architecture of the individual layer unaltered. If individual layers have nodes that are mildly correlated, the multiplex network is best synchronizable when the mirror degrees are strongly negatively correlated. If individual layers have nodes with strong degree-degree correlations, mild correlations among the degrees of mirror nodes are the best strategy for the optimization of GS. Global synchronization also depend on the density of connections, a phenomenon not observed in a single layer network. The results are crucial to understand, predict, and specify behavior of systems having multiple types of connections among the interacting units.

  20. Tuberculosis Treatment Completion in a United States/Mexico Binational Context

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Celina I. Valencia

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available BackgroundTuberculosis (TB remains a salient public health issue along the U.S./Mexico border. This study seeks to identify the social and structural factors, which are associated with TB disease burden in the binational geographic region. Identification of barriers of treatment completion provides the necessary framework for developing evidence-based interventions that are culturally relevant and context specific for the U.S./Mexico border region.MethodsRetrospective study of data extracted from medical charts (n = 439 from Yuma County Health Department (YCHD (n = 160 and Centro de Salud San Luis Río Colorado (n = 279. Patients currently accessing TB treatment at either facility were excluded from the study. Chi-square, unadjusted odds ratios, and logistic regression were utilized to identify characteristics associated with successful TB treatment in this population.FindingsThe study population was predominantly male (n = 327. Females were more likely to complete TB treatment (OR = 3.71. The absence of drug use and/or the absence of an HIV positive diagnosis were found to be predictors of TB treatment completion across both clinical sites. Forty-four percent (43.59% (n = 85 TB patients treated at CDS San Luis did not complete treatment versus 40.35% (n = 49 of TB patients who did not complete treatment at YCHD. Moving from the area or being deported was the highest category (20.78% for incomplete TB treatment in the population (n = 64 across both clinical sites.

  1. Observing Hawking radiation in Bose-Einstein condensates via correlation measurements

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fabbri, A.

    2013-01-01

    Observing quantum particle creation by black holes (Hawking radiation) in the astrophysical context is, in ordinary situations, hopeless. Nevertheless the Hawking effect, which depends only on kinematical properties of wave propagation in the presence of horizons, is present also in the non gravitational contexts, for instance in stationary fluids undergoing supersonic flow. We present results on how to observe the analog Hawking radiation in Bose-Einstein condensates by a direct measurement of the density correlations due to the phonon pairs (Hawking-quanta– partner) created by the acoustic horizon.

  2. Cultural Context and Translation

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    张敏

    2009-01-01

    cultural context plays an important role in translation. Because translation is a cross-culture activity, the culture context that influ-ences translating is consisted of both the culture contexts of source language and target language. This article firstly analyzes the concept of context and cultural context, then according to the procedure of translating classifies cultural context into two stages and talks about how they respectively influence translating.

  3. Teaching Air Pollution in an Authentic Context

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mandrikas, Achilleas; Stavrou, Dimitrios; Skordoulis, Constantine

    2017-04-01

    This paper describes a teaching-learning sequence (TLS) about air pollution and the findings resulting from its implementation by pre-service elementary teachers (PET) currently undergraduate students of the Department of Primary Education in the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece. The TLS focused on the relation of air pollution with wind and topography in local conditions. An authentic context was provided to the students based on daily up-to-date meteorological data via the Internet in order to estimate air pollution. The results are encouraging given that PET can correlate wind and concentration of air pollutants through reading specialized angular diagrams and weather maps, can recognize the correlation of topography in the concentration of air pollutants, and can describe temperature inversion. However, the PET demonstrated clear difficulties in ability of orientation, in wind naming, and in interpretation of symbols on weather map. Finally, the implications on teaching air pollution are discussed.

  4. The Role of Content and Context in PISA Interest Scales: A study of the embedded interest items in the PISA 2006 science assessment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Drechsel, Barbara; Carstensen, Claus; Prenzel, Manfred

    2011-01-01

    This paper focuses interest in science as one of the attitudinal aspects of scientific literacy. Large-scale data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2006 are analysed in order to describe student interest more precisely. So far the analyses have provided a general indicator of interest, aggregated over all contexts and contents in the science test. With its innovative approach PISA embeds interest items within the cognitive test unit and its contents and contexts. The main difference from conventional interest measures is that in most questionnaires, a relatively small number of interest items cover broad fields of contents and contexts. The science units represent a number of systematically differentiated scientific contexts and contents. The units' stimulus texts allow for concrete descriptions of relevant content aspects, applications, and contexts. In the analyses, multidimensional item response models are applied in order to disentangle student interest. The results indicate that multidimensional models fit the data. A two-dimensional model separating interest into two different knowledge of science dimensions described in the PISA science framework is further analysed with respect to gender, performance differences, and country. The findings give a comprehensive description of students' interest in science. The paper deals with methodological problems and describes requirements of the test construction for further assessments. The results are discussed with regard to their significance for science education.

  5. Individual, Social, and Environmental Correlates of Active Transportation Patterns in French Women

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Camille Perchoux

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The objectives were (1 to define physical activity (PA and sedentary behaviors (SB patterns in daily life contexts (work, leisure, and transportation in French working women from NutriNet-Santé web-cohort and (2 to identify pattern(s of active transportation and their individual, social, and environmental correlates. 23,432 participants completed two questionnaires to evaluate PA and SB in daily life contexts and individual representations of residential neighborhood and transportation modes. Hierarchical cluster analysis was performed which identified 6 distinct movement behavior patterns: (i active occupation, high sedentary leisure, (ii sedentary occupation, low leisure, (iii sedentary transportation, (iv sedentary occupation and leisure, (v active transportation, and (vi active leisure. Multinomial logistic regressions were performed to identify correlates of the “active transportation” cluster. The perceived environmental characteristics positively associated with “active transportation” included “high availability of destinations around home,” “presence of bicycle paths,” and “low traffic.” A “positive image of walking/cycling,” the “individual feeling of being physically active,” and a “high use of active transport modes by relatives/friends” were positively related to “active transportation,” identified as a unique pattern regarding individual and environmental correlates. Identification of PA and SB context-specific patterns will help to understand movement behaviors’ complexity and to design interventions to promote active transportation in specific subgroups.

  6. How Users Search the Mobile Web: A Model for Understanding the Impact of Motivation and Context on Search Behaviors

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dan Wu

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: This study explores how search motivation and context influence mobile Web search behaviors. Design/methodology/approach: We studied 30 experienced mobile Web users via questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, and an online diary tool that participants used to record their daily search activities. SQLite Developer was used to extract data from the users' phone logs for correlation analysis in Statistical Product and Service Solutions (SPSS. Findings: One quarter of mobile search sessions were driven by two or more search motivations. It was especially difficult to distinguish curiosity from time killing in particular user reporting. Multi-dimensional contexts and motivations influenced mobile search behaviors, and among the context dimensions, gender, place, activities they engaged in while searching, task importance, portal, and interpersonal relations (whether accompanied or alone when searching correlated with each other. Research limitations: The sample was comprised entirely of college students, so our findings may not generalize to other populations. More participants and longer experimental duration will improve the accuracy and objectivity of the research. Practical implications: Motivation analysis and search context recognition can help mobile service providers design applications and services for particular mobile contexts and usages. Originality/value: Most current research focuses on specific contexts, such as studies on place, or other contextual influences on mobile search, and lacks a systematic analysis of mobile search context. Based on analysis of the impact of mobile search motivations and search context on search behaviors, we built a multi-dimensional model of mobile search behaviors.

  7. Patient ethnicity and three psychiatric intensive care units compared: the Tompkins Acute Ward Study

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bowers, L.; Simpson, A.; Nijman, H.L.I.; Hall, C.

    2008-01-01

    Psychiatric care units provide care to disturbed patients in a context of higher security and staffing levels. Although such units are numerous, few systematic comparisons have been made, and there are indications that ethnic minority groups may be over-represented. The aim of this study was to

  8. Social context, social abstention, and problem recognition correlated with adult female urinary incontinence

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lam, Gitte Wrist; Foldspang, Anders; Elving, Lisbeth Bach

    1992-01-01

    indicated the workplace and 66% the home as principal sites of UI occurrence. Thirty-one percent had experienced UI in specific situations such as during anxiety, sexual intercourse, or sleep. Nineteen percent had abstained from social activities, 17% from non-intimate social activity and 6% from sexual...... with episodes of UI occurring at home and in specific situations such as during anxiety and sleep. The experience of UI during sexual intercourse was related to all types of abstention. The perception of UI as a social or hygienic problem depended on the duration since first UI episode as well as social context...... and abstention. The everyday life consequences of UI are widespread and may cause serious relational problems for the individual. Stress UI manifests itself as a somatic condition leading to abstention from sport and other non-intimate social activities. Urge UI and the role of the experience of UI during sexual...

  9. United States v. Levin: entrapment by estoppel doctrine applied in Medicare reimbursement context.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shaw, P W; Griffith, R A

    1993-01-01

    The decision in Levin reaffirms that health care providers should be entitled to rely in good faith on official interpretations and representations by authorized government officials as to the propriety of their conduct under the Medicare program. Although the doctrine of entrapment by estoppel was developed as a due process defense to a criminal prosecution, the fundamental notions of fairness underlying the doctrine should be applicable as well as in a civil action. Thus, the defense of entrapment by estoppel should be available, for example, in the context of civil health care reimbursement recoupment audits, where a provider has acted in reliance on the interpretation of a statute or regulation by the appropriate administrative agency charged with its enforcement.

  10. Correlative Stochastic Optical Reconstruction Microscopy and Electron Microscopy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Doory; Deerinck, Thomas J.; Sigal, Yaron M.; Babcock, Hazen P.; Ellisman, Mark H.; Zhuang, Xiaowei

    2015-01-01

    Correlative fluorescence light microscopy and electron microscopy allows the imaging of spatial distributions of specific biomolecules in the context of cellular ultrastructure. Recent development of super-resolution fluorescence microscopy allows the location of molecules to be determined with nanometer-scale spatial resolution. However, correlative super-resolution fluorescence microscopy and electron microscopy (EM) still remains challenging because the optimal specimen preparation and imaging conditions for super-resolution fluorescence microscopy and EM are often not compatible. Here, we have developed several experiment protocols for correlative stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (STORM) and EM methods, both for un-embedded samples by applying EM-specific sample preparations after STORM imaging and for embedded and sectioned samples by optimizing the fluorescence under EM fixation, staining and embedding conditions. We demonstrated these methods using a variety of cellular targets. PMID:25874453

  11. Reduced Rank Mixed Effects Models for Spatially Correlated Hierarchical Functional Data

    KAUST Repository

    Zhou, Lan

    2010-03-01

    Hierarchical functional data are widely seen in complex studies where sub-units are nested within units, which in turn are nested within treatment groups. We propose a general framework of functional mixed effects model for such data: within unit and within sub-unit variations are modeled through two separate sets of principal components; the sub-unit level functions are allowed to be correlated. Penalized splines are used to model both the mean functions and the principal components functions, where roughness penalties are used to regularize the spline fit. An EM algorithm is developed to fit the model, while the specific covariance structure of the model is utilized for computational efficiency to avoid storage and inversion of large matrices. Our dimension reduction with principal components provides an effective solution to the difficult tasks of modeling the covariance kernel of a random function and modeling the correlation between functions. The proposed methodology is illustrated using simulations and an empirical data set from a colon carcinogenesis study. Supplemental materials are available online.

  12. From quantum coherence to quantum correlations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Yuan; Mao, Yuanyuan; Luo, Shunlong

    2017-06-01

    In quantum mechanics, quantum coherence of a state relative to a quantum measurement can be identified with the quantumness that has to be destroyed by the measurement. In particular, quantum coherence of a bipartite state relative to a local quantum measurement encodes quantum correlations in the state. If one takes minimization with respect to the local measurements, then one is led to quantifiers which capture quantum correlations from the perspective of coherence. In this vein, quantum discord, which quantifies the minimal correlations that have to be destroyed by quantum measurements, can be identified as the minimal coherence, with the coherence measured by the relative entropy of coherence. To advocate and formulate this idea in a general context, we first review coherence relative to Lüders measurements which extends the notion of coherence relative to von Neumann measurements (or equivalently, orthonomal bases), and highlight the observation that quantum discord arises as minimal coherence through two prototypical examples. Then, we introduce some novel measures of quantum correlations in terms of coherence, illustrate them through examples, investigate their fundamental properties and implications, and indicate their applications to quantum metrology.

  13. A Comparative Study of Uncertainty Reduction Theory in High- and Low-Context Cultures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Myoung-Hye; Yoon, Tae-Jin

    To test the cross-cultural validity of uncertainty reduction theory, a study was conducted using students from South Korea and the United States who were chosen to represent high- and low-context cultures respectively. Uncertainty reduction theory is based upon the assumption that the primary concern of strangers upon meeting is one of uncertainty…

  14. Glacier development and topographic context

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    López-Moreno, J. I.; Nogués-Bravo, David; Chueca-Cía, J.

    2006-01-01

    This paper analyses the topographic context of the remaining glaciated areas in the Maladeta Massif (Central Spanish Pyrenees). These ice-covered surfaces have been incorporated into a geographic information system (GIS) in an attempt at correlating the presence of ice with a range of topographic...... and recent evolution of each glacial body. Thus, the joint effect of altitude, exposure to incoming solar radiation, slope and mean curvature is able to explain more than 70 per cent of the observed variance. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd....... variables obtained from a digital elevation model. The use of generalized additive models and binary regression tree models enabled us (i) to quantify the spatial variability in the distribution of glaciers attributable to characteristics of the local terrain, (ii) to investigate the interaction between...

  15. Family Caregivers’ Social Representations of Death in a Palliative Care Context

    OpenAIRE

    Sabrina Lessard; Bernard-Simon Leclerc; Suzanne Mongeau

    2016-01-01

    The objective of this study was to consider the social representations of death of family caregivers in a palliative care context. The authors focused on the analysis of 23 interviews with family caregivers who cared for a terminally ill person at home and/or in a specialized palliative care unit, in Québec, Canada. The finding showed that family caregivers had different images that specifically represented death: (a) ...

  16. Concept analysis of acculturation in Filipino immigrants within health context.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Serafica, Reimund

    2011-01-01

    Although acculturation has been widely used as a health research variable among other immigrant populations, it is nonexistent to the Filipino immigrant population. Accurate assessment, measurement, and exploration of acculturation of Filipinos in the United States can help improve the overall health care of this population. The work of Walker and Avant is used as a guide to analyze and clarify the operational definition of acculturation of this group within the context of health. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  17. The Decay of Motor Memories Is Independent of Context Change Detection.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrew E Brennan

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available When the error signals that guide human motor learning are withheld following training, recently-learned motor memories systematically regress toward untrained performance. It has previously been hypothesized that this regression results from an intrinsic volatility in these memories, resulting in an inevitable decay in the absence of ongoing error signals. However, a recently-proposed alternative posits that even recently-acquired motor memories are intrinsically stable, decaying only if a change in context is detected. This new theory, the context-dependent decay hypothesis, makes two key predictions: (1 after error signals are withheld, decay onset should be systematically delayed until the context change is detected; and (2 manipulations that impair detection by masking context changes should result in prolonged delays in decay onset and reduced decay amplitude at any given time. Here we examine the decay of motor adaptation following the learning of novel environmental dynamics in order to carefully evaluate this hypothesis. To account for potential issues in previous work that supported the context-dependent decay hypothesis, we measured decay using a balanced and baseline-referenced experimental design that allowed for direct comparisons between analogous masked and unmasked context changes. Using both an unbiased variant of the previous decay onset analysis and a novel highly-powered group-level version of this analysis, we found no evidence for systematically delayed decay onset nor for the masked context change affecting decay amplitude or its onset time. We further show how previous estimates of decay onset latency can be substantially biased in the presence of noise, and even more so with correlated noise, explaining the discrepancy between the previous results and our findings. Our results suggest that the decay of motor memories is an intrinsic feature of error-based learning that does not depend on context change detection.

  18. The Decay of Motor Memories Is Independent of Context Change Detection

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brennan, Andrew E.; Smith, Maurice A.

    2015-01-01

    When the error signals that guide human motor learning are withheld following training, recently-learned motor memories systematically regress toward untrained performance. It has previously been hypothesized that this regression results from an intrinsic volatility in these memories, resulting in an inevitable decay in the absence of ongoing error signals. However, a recently-proposed alternative posits that even recently-acquired motor memories are intrinsically stable, decaying only if a change in context is detected. This new theory, the context-dependent decay hypothesis, makes two key predictions: (1) after error signals are withheld, decay onset should be systematically delayed until the context change is detected; and (2) manipulations that impair detection by masking context changes should result in prolonged delays in decay onset and reduced decay amplitude at any given time. Here we examine the decay of motor adaptation following the learning of novel environmental dynamics in order to carefully evaluate this hypothesis. To account for potential issues in previous work that supported the context-dependent decay hypothesis, we measured decay using a balanced and baseline-referenced experimental design that allowed for direct comparisons between analogous masked and unmasked context changes. Using both an unbiased variant of the previous decay onset analysis and a novel highly-powered group-level version of this analysis, we found no evidence for systematically delayed decay onset nor for the masked context change affecting decay amplitude or its onset time. We further show how previous estimates of decay onset latency can be substantially biased in the presence of noise, and even more so with correlated noise, explaining the discrepancy between the previous results and our findings. Our results suggest that the decay of motor memories is an intrinsic feature of error-based learning that does not depend on context change detection. PMID:26111244

  19. The Use of the Learning Styles Questionnaire (LSQ) in the United Arab Emirates

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yousef, Darwish Abdulrahman

    2016-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the use of Honey and Mumford's (1986) learning styles questionnaire (LSQ) in the context of United Arab Emirates (UAE) higher education. In particular, it aims at exploring the learning style preferences of United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) students using LSQ. It also investigates whether there…

  20. A simple nonstationary-volatility robust panel unit root test

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Demetrescu, Matei; Hanck, Christoph

    2012-01-01

    We propose an IV panel unit root test robust to nonstationary error volatility. Its finite-sample performance is convincing even for many units and strong cross-correlation. An application to GDP prices illustrates the inferential impact of nonstationary volatility. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights

  1. Correlates of Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination initiation and completion among 18-26 year olds in the United States.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adjei Boakye, Eric; Lew, Daphne; Muthukrishnan, Meera; Tobo, Betelihem B; Rohde, Rebecca L; Varvares, Mark A; Osazuwa-Peters, Nosayaba

    2018-04-30

    To examine correlates of HPV vaccination uptake in a nationally representative sample of 18-26-year-old adults. Young adults aged 18-26 years were identified from the 2014 and 2015 National Health Interview Survey (n = 7588). Survey-weighted multivariable logistic regression models estimated sociodemographic factors associated with HPV vaccine initiation (≥1 dose) and completion (≥3 doses). Approximately 27% of study participants had initiated the HPV vaccine and 16% had completed the HPV vaccine. Participants were less likely to initiate the vaccine if they were men [(adjusted odds ratio) 0.19; (95% confidence interval) 0.16-0.23], had a high school diploma (0.40; 0.31-0.52) or less (0.46; 0.32-0.64) vs. college graduates, and were born outside the United States (0.52; 0.40-0.69). But, participants were more likely to initiate the HPV if they visited the doctor's office 1-5 times (2.09; 1.56-2.81), or ≥ 6 times (1.86; 1.48-2.34) within the last 12 months vs. no visits. Odds of completing HPV vaccine uptake followed the same pattern as initiation. And after stratifying the study population by gender and foreign-born status, these variables remained statistically significant. In our nationally representative study, only one out of six 18-26 year olds completed the required vaccine doses. Men, individuals with high school or less education, and those born outside the United States were less likely to initiate and complete the HPV vaccination. Our findings suggest that it may be useful to develop targeted interventions to promote HPV vaccination among those in the catch-up age range.

  2. Student Motivation in Low-Stakes Assessment Contexts: An Exploratory Analysis in Engineering Mechanics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Musekamp, Frank; Pearce, Jacob

    2016-01-01

    The goal of this paper is to examine the relationship of student motivation and achievement in low-stakes assessment contexts. Using Pearson product-moment correlations and hierarchical linear regression modelling to analyse data on 794 tertiary students who undertook a low-stakes engineering mechanics assessment (along with the questionnaire of…

  3. Diffusion of Telecommunications Services in a Complex Socio-Economic Context

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ismail, Abdullah

    This research aims at creating a detailed account on the diffusion of telecommunications services in a complex socio-economic context, taking Pakistan as a case study. The core research question of this thesis is to investigate why the successful experience of the rapid and an effective diffusion...... of mobile communications services in case of Pakistan couldn’t be replicated in the cases of fixed telephony and internet services. The book investigates those major attributes which play a significant role in the diffusion of telecommunications services in a complex socio-economic and political context...... of telecom services within a complex unit of adoption. The empirical part of the research includes a significantly high number of interviews that were conducted from the key players of the local telecom market, and they essentially represented all the five major domains i.e. the supplier, policy, regulatory...

  4. Memory Contextualization: The Role of Prefrontal Cortex in Functional Integration across Item and Context Representational Regions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Wei; van Ast, Vanessa A; Klumpers, Floris; Roelofs, Karin; Hermans, Erno J

    2018-04-01

    Memory recall is facilitated when retrieval occurs in the original encoding context. This context dependency effect likely results from the automatic binding of central elements of an experience with contextual features (i.e., memory "contextualization") during encoding. However, despite a vast body of research investigating the neural correlates of explicit associative memory, the neural interactions during encoding that predict implicit context-dependent memory remain unknown. Twenty-six participants underwent fMRI during encoding of salient stimuli (faces), which were overlaid onto unique background images (contexts). To index subsequent context-dependent memory, face recognition was tested either in intact or rearranged contexts, after scanning. Enhanced face recognition in intact relative to rearranged contexts evidenced successful memory contextualization. Overall subsequent memory effects (brain activity predicting whether items were later remembered vs. forgotten) were found in the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and right amygdala. Effective connectivity analyses showed that stronger context-dependent memory was associated with stronger coupling of the left IFG with face- and place-responsive areas, both within and between participants. Our findings indicate an important role for the IFG in integrating information across widespread regions involved in the representation of salient items and contextual features.

  5. Context incorporation using context-aware language features

    OpenAIRE

    Vlachostergiou, Aggeliki; Marandianos, George; Kollias, Stefanos

    2017-01-01

    This paper investigates the problem of context incorporation into human language systems and particular in Sentiment Analysis (SA) systems. So far, the analysis of how different features, when incorporated into such systems, improve their performance, has been discussed in a number of studies. However, a complete picture of their effectiveness remains unexplored. With this work, we attempt to extend the pool of the context - aware language features at the sentence level and to provide the ...

  6. Individual differences in social anxiety affect the salience of errors in social contexts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barker, Tyson V; Troller-Renfree, Sonya; Pine, Daniel S; Fox, Nathan A

    2015-12-01

    The error-related negativity (ERN) is an event-related potential that occurs approximately 50 ms after an erroneous response. The magnitude of the ERN is influenced by contextual factors, such as when errors are made during social evaluation. The ERN is also influenced by individual differences in anxiety, and it is elevated among anxious individuals. However, little research has examined how individual differences in anxiety interact with contextual factors to impact the ERN. Social anxiety involves fear and apprehension of social evaluation. In the present study, we explored how individual differences in social anxiety interact with social contexts to modulate the ERN. The ERN was measured in 43 young adults characterized as being either high or low in social anxiety, while they completed a flanker task in two contexts: alone and during social evaluation. The results revealed a significant interaction between social anxiety and context, such that the ERN was enhanced in a social relative to a nonsocial context only among highly socially anxious individuals. Furthermore, the degree of such enhancement significantly correlated with individual differences in social anxiety. These findings demonstrate that social anxiety is characterized by enhanced neural activity to errors in social-evaluative contexts.

  7. Multilateral Disarmament and the Special Session: Twelfth Conference on the United Nations of the Next Decade.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stanley Foundation, Muscatine, IA.

    The report discusses issues relating to multilateral disarmament in the context of the Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly to be convened in 1978. Intended as a forum for the exchange of ideas of government leaders from the United States and other nations about the international peace-keeping role of the United Nations, the…

  8. Intraclass Correlation Coefficients in Hierarchical Designs: Evaluation Using Latent Variable Modeling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Raykov, Tenko

    2011-01-01

    Interval estimation of intraclass correlation coefficients in hierarchical designs is discussed within a latent variable modeling framework. A method accomplishing this aim is outlined, which is applicable in two-level studies where participants (or generally lower-order units) are clustered within higher-order units. The procedure can also be…

  9. On using retailers as the unit of analysis

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Tommy Holm

    This paper examines the assumptions behind phrasing the question "how do retailers select own label manufacturer?" in a scientific context. The basic assumptions are a) there is an explanation to the question that has predictive power, b) that it possible to clearly define the units of analysis...... and c) that the units of analysis does not act upon the environmnet in a manner that is uncorrelated to any characteristics of the unit of analysis or the environment. The paper further discusses so practical issues in conducting research in retailing. The main problems are that the decision structures...... and processes in retailers are very complex but on the other hand there is still too few retailers to enable generalisation of research finding...

  10. Dynamic Context Bindings, Infrastructural Support for Context-aware Applications

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Broens, T.H.F.

    2008-01-01

    The world is increasingly equipped with high-capacity, interconnected, mobile and embedded computing devices. Context-awareness provides an attractive approach to personalize applications such that they better suit the user’s needs in this rich computing environment. Context-aware applications use

  11. Nursing workload in a trauma intensive care unit

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luana Loppi Goulart

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available Severely injured patients with multiple and conflicting injuries present themselves to nursing professionals at critical care units faced with care management challenges. The goal of the present study is to evaluate nursing workload and verify the correlation between workload and the APACHE II severity index. It is a descriptive study, conducted in the Trauma Intensive Care Unit of a teaching hospital. We used the Nursing Activities Score and APACHE II as instruments. The sample comprised 32 patients, of which most were male, young adults, presenting polytrauma, coming from the Reference Emergency Unit, in surgical treatment, and discharged from the ICU. The average obtained on the Nursing Activities Score instrument was 72% during hospitalization periods. The data displayed moderate correlation between workload and patient severity. In other words, the higher the score, the higher the patient’s mortality risk. doi: 10.5216/ree.v16i2.22922.

  12. Quality Function Deployment: Application to Chemotherapy Unit Services

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Neda Hashemi

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available Background: Today’s healthcare organizations are challenged by pressures to meet growing population demands and enhance community health through improving service quality. Quality function deployment is one of the widely-used customerdriven approaches for health services development. In the current study, quality function deployment is used to improve the quality of chemotherapy unit services. Methods: First, we identified chemotherapy outpatient unit patients as chemotherapy unit customers. Then, the Delphi technique and component factor analysis with orthogonal rotation was employed to determine their expectations. Thereafter, data envelopment analysis was performed to specify user priorities. We determined the relationships between patients’ expectations and service elements through expert group consensus using the Delphi method and the relationships between service elements by Pearson correlation. Finally, simple and compound priorities of the service elements were derived by matrix calculation. Results: Chemotherapy unit patients had four main expectations: access, suitable hotel services, satisfactory and effective relationships, and clinical services. The chemotherapy unit has six key service elements of equipment, materials, human resources, physical space, basic facilities, and communication and training. There were four-level relationships between the patients’ expectations and service elements, with mostly significant correlations between service elements. According to the findings, the functional group of basic facilities was the most critical factor, followed by materials. Conclusion: The findings of the current study can be a general guideline as well as a scientific, structured framework for chemotherapy unit decision makers in order to improve chemotherapy unit services.

  13. Limbaj și context = Speech and Context , no.1, 2012

    OpenAIRE

    Angela Cosciug

    2017-01-01

    Speech and Context International Journal of Linguistics, Semiotics and Literary Science (SCIJLSLS) is an open access, peer reviewed (double blind reviewed) journal which is indexed in many prestigious international databases, directories, lists etc. (see Journal Indexing and Registration by databases types or Journal Indexing and Registration by countries). It appears there like Limbaj şi context or Speech and Context International Journal of Linguistics, Semiotics and Literary Science. The j...

  14. Limbaj și context = Speech and Context, no.1, 2011

    OpenAIRE

    Angela Cosciug

    2017-01-01

    Speech and Context International Journal of Linguistics, Semiotics and Literary Science (SCIJLSLS) is an open access, peer reviewed (double blind reviewed) journal which is indexed in many prestigious international databases, directories, lists etc. (see Journal Indexing and Registration by databases types or Journal Indexing and Registration by countries). It appears there like Limbaj şi context or Speech and Context International Journal of Linguistics, Semiotics and Literary Science. The j...

  15. Limbaj și context = Speech and Context, no.1, 2014

    OpenAIRE

    Cosciug Angela

    2017-01-01

    Speech and Context International Journal of Linguistics, Semiotics and Literary Science (SCIJLSLS) is an open access, peer reviewed (double blind reviewed) journal which is indexed in many prestigious international databases, directories, lists etc. (see Journal Indexing and Registration by databases types or Journal Indexing and Registration by countries). It appears there like Limbaj şi context or Speech and Context International Journal of Linguistics, Semiotics and Literary Science. The j...

  16. Limbaj și context = Speech and Context, no.1, 2009

    OpenAIRE

    Angela Cosciug

    2009-01-01

    Speech and Context International Journal of Linguistics, Semiotics and Literary Science (SCIJLSLS) is an open access, peer reviewed (double blind reviewed) journal which is indexed in many prestigious international databases, directories, lists etc. (see Journal Indexing and Registration by databases types or Journal Indexing and Registration by countries). It appears there like Limbaj şi context or Speech and Context International Journal of Linguistics, Semiotics and Literary Science. The j...

  17. Limbaj și context = Speech and Context. no. 2, 2013

    OpenAIRE

    Cosciug Angela

    2017-01-01

    Speech and Context International Journal of Linguistics, Semiotics and Literary Science (SCIJLSLS) is an open access, peer reviewed (double blind reviewed) journal which is indexed in many prestigious international databases, directories, lists etc. (see Journal Indexing and Registration by databases types or Journal Indexing and Registration by countries). It appears there like Limbaj şi context or Speech and Context International Journal of Linguistics, Semiotics and Literary Science. The j...

  18. Limbaj și context = Speech and Context, no.2, 2009

    OpenAIRE

    Angela Cosciug

    2009-01-01

    Speech and Context International Journal of Linguistics, Semiotics and Literary Science (SCIJLSLS) is an open access, peer reviewed (double blind reviewed) journal which is indexed in many prestigious international databases, directories, lists etc. (see Journal Indexing and Registration by databases types or Journal Indexing and Registration by countries). It appears there like Limbaj şi context or Speech and Context International Journal of Linguistics, Semiotics and Literary Science. The j...

  19. Limbaj și context = Speech and Context, no.2, 2015

    OpenAIRE

    Cosciug Angela

    2017-01-01

    Speech and Context International Journal of Linguistics, Semiotics and Literary Science (SCIJLSLS) is an open access, peer reviewed (double blind reviewed) journal which is indexed in many prestigious international databases, directories, lists etc. (see Journal Indexing and Registration by databases types or Journal Indexing and Registration by countries). It appears there like Limbaj şi context or Speech and Context International Journal of Linguistics, Semiotics and Literary Science. The j...

  20. Limbaj și context = Speech and Context, no.2, 2011

    OpenAIRE

    Angela Cosciug

    2017-01-01

    Speech and Context International Journal of Linguistics, Semiotics and Literary Science (SCIJLSLS) is an open access, peer reviewed (double blind reviewed) journal which is indexed in many prestigious international databases, directories, lists etc. (see Journal Indexing and Registration by databases types or Journal Indexing and Registration by countries). It appears there like Limbaj şi context or Speech and Context International Journal of Linguistics, Semiotics and Literary Science. The j...

  1. Executive Summary: Forests of the Northern United States

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stephen R. Shifley; Francisco X. Aguilar; Nianfu Song; Susan I. Stewart; David J. Nowak; Dale D. Gormanson; W. Keith Moser; Sherri Wormstead; Eric J. Greenfield

    2012-01-01

    This executive summary provides an overview of the 200-page report, Forests of the Northern United States, which covers in detail current forest conditions, recent trends, issues, threats and opportunities in the forests in the 20 Northern States. It provides a context for subsequent Northern Forest Futures Project analyses that will forecast alternative future...

  2. Contextualizing immigrants' lived experience: story of Taiwanese immigrants in the United States.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tsai, Jenny Hsin-Chun

    2003-01-01

    Immigration involves extensive changes in living environments. Nonetheless, the predominant approach in the health science literature has been to utilize individual characteristics (including ethnic background) to explain and predict immigrants' lived experiences and health outcomes. Contexts, particularly the larger societal contexts by which immigrants are constituted, are generally ignored. Data from a critical ethnography regarding immigrants' experiences with language, occupation, and economic survival in the United States are utilized to illustrate that immigrants' lives are inseparable from the larger societal contexts, such as immigration policy, Western imperialism, and structural discrimination. The implications for practice, education, and research are discussed.

  3. Operation Context

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Stüben, Henning; Tietjen, Anne

    2006-01-01

    Abstract: This paper seeks to challenge the notion of context from an operational perspective. Can we grasp the forces that shape the complex conditions for an architectural or urban design within the notion of context? By shifting the gaze towards the agency of architecture, contextual analysis...

  4. Multilingual Literacies in Transnational Digitally Mediated Contexts: An Exploratory Study of Immigrant Teens in the United States

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lam, Wan Shun Eva; Rosario-Ramos, Enid

    2009-01-01

    This study explores the literacy practices that are involved in transnational social and information networking among youths of immigrant backgrounds in the United States. In particular, it investigates the ways in which young migrants of diverse national origins in the United States are utilising digital media to organise social relationships…

  5. Effects of arousal and context on recognition memory for emotional pictures in younger and older adults

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Yang; Yang, Jiongjiong

    2017-01-01

    Background/Study context Previous studies found that older adults tend to remember more positive than negative information (i.e., positivity bias), leading to an age-related positivity effect. However, the extent to which factors of arousal and contextual information influence the positivity bias in older adults remains to be determined. Methods In this study, 27 Chinese younger adults (20.00±1.75 years) and 33 Chinese older adults (70.76 ± 5.49) learned pictures with negative, positive and neutral valences. Half of the pictures had a human context, and the other half did not. In addition, emotional dimensions of negative and positive pictures were divided into high-arousal and low-arousal. The experimental task was to provide old/new recognition and confidence rating judgments. Results Both groups of subjects showed the positivity bias for low-arousal pictures, but the positivity bias was restricted to low-arousal pictures without the human context in older adults. In addition, the positivity bias was mainly driven by the recollection process in younger adults, and it was mainly driven by both the recollection and familiarity processes in older adults. The recognition of the nonhuman positive pictures was correlated with cognitive control abilities, but the recognition of pictures with human contexts was correlated with general memory abilities in older adults. Conclusion This study highlights the importance of arousal and contextual information in modulating emotional memory in younger and older adults. It suggests that there are different mechanisms for memorizing pictures with and without human contexts in older adults. PMID:28230422

  6. On the non-existence of a Bartlett correction for unit root tests

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Jens Ledet; Wood, Andrew T.A.

    1997-01-01

    There has been considerable recent interest in testing for a unit root in autoregressive models, especially in the context of cointegration models in econometrics. The likelihood ratio test for a unit root has non-standard asymptotic behaviour. In particular, when the errors are Gaussian, the lim...... for improved distributional approximations, and the question of whether W admits a Bartlett correction is of interest. In this note we establish that a Bartlett correction does not exist in the simplest unit root model. © 1997 Elsevier Science B.V....

  7. Influence of organizational characteristics and context on research utilization.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cummings, Greta G; Estabrooks, Carole A; Midodzi, William K; Wallin, Lars; Hayduk, Leslie

    2007-01-01

    Despite three decades of empirical investigation into research utilization and a renewed emphasis on evidence-based medicine and evidence-based practice in the past decade, understanding of factors influencing research uptake in nursing remains limited. There is, however, increased awareness that organizational influences are important. To develop and test a theoretical model of organizational influences that predict research utilization by nurses and to assess the influence of varying degrees of context, based on the Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Health Services (PARIHS) framework, on research utilization and other variables. The study sample was drawn from a census of registered nurses working in acute care hospitals in Alberta, Canada, accessed through their professional licensing body (n = 6,526 nurses; 52.8% response rate). Three variables that measured PARIHS dimensions of context (culture, leadership, and evaluation) were used to sort cases into one of four mutually exclusive data sets that reflected less positive to more positive context. Then, a theoretical model of hospital- and unit-level influences on research utilization was developed and tested, using structural equation modeling, and 300 cases were randomly selected from each of the four data sets. Model test results were as follows--low context: chi2= 124.5, df = 80, p low: chi2= 144.2, p high: chi2= 157.3, df = 80, p low: chi2= 146.0, df = 80, p contexts with more positive culture, leadership, and evaluation also reported significantly more research utilization, staff development, and lower rates of patient and staff adverse events than did nurses working in less positive contexts (i.e., those that lacked positive culture, leadership, or evaluation). The findings highlight the combined importance of culture, leadership, and evaluation to increase research utilization and improve patient safety. The findings may serve to strengthen the PARIHS framework and to suggest that, although

  8. Language Motivation, Metacognitive Strategies and Language Performance: A Cause and Effect Correlation

    OpenAIRE

    Ag. Bambang Setiyadi; - Mahpul; Muhammad Sukirlan; Bujang Rahman

    2016-01-01

    Studies on motivation in language learning have been well documented. The role of motivation in determining the use of learning strategies has been identified and the correlation between motivation and language performance has been determined. However, how language motivation in EFL context is classified and how language motivation is inter-correlated with the use of metacognitive and language performance has still not become widespread in the literature on language learning. The current stud...

  9. Correlation between factors associated with the removable partial dentures use and Candida spp. in saliva.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gusmão, João Milton Rocha; Ferreira dos Santos, Silvana Soleo; Neisser, Maximiliano Piero; Jorge, Antônio Olavo Cardoso; Faria, Ms Ivan

    2011-12-01

    To correlate the presence and number of Candida spp. in the saliva of wearers of removable partial dentures retained with precision attachments with the proportion of metal/acrylic resin present in the dentures. Saliva samples from 40 removable partial denture wearers (test) and one paired sample of individuals, non-wearers of any type of removable denture (control) were collected, seeded, and the colony forming units of Candida counted and identified. The metal/acrylic resin proportion of each denture was quantified, using silicone plates pressed over each denture. Candida spp. was found in the saliva of 80% of the individuals in the test group and 65% of the control, with C. albicans being the most prevalent species. The test group presented with the highest number of colony forming units of Candida per ml of saliva, and there was weak correlation between this number and the metal and resin area of the denture (Pearson's coefficient of correlation). Greater prevalence and a higher number of colony forming units of Candida per ml of saliva occurred in removable partial denture wearers (p = 0.04) with a weak positive correlation between the metal and resin area and the number of colony forming units of Candida per ml of saliva. However, this correlation was more significant for the area of resin. © 2010 The Gerodontology Society and John Wiley & Sons A/S.

  10. Improved nurse-parent communication in neonatal intensive care unit

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Weis, Janne; Zoffmann, Vibeke; Egerod, Ingrid

    2014-01-01

    of a busy neonatal care unit. Promoting practice uptake was initially underestimated, but nurse guided family-centred care training was improved by increasing the visibility of the study in the unit, demonstrating intervention progress to the nurses and assuring a sense of ownership among nurse leaders...... and adjustment of nurse adherence to guided family-centred care was conducted by monitoring (1) knowledge, (2) delivery, (3) practice uptake and (4) certification. RESULTS: Implementation was improved by the development of a strategic framework and by adjusting the framework according to the real-life context...

  11. The influence of climate modes on streamflow in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Justin A. Schulte

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Study region: The Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Study focus: An understanding of past streamflow variability is necessary for developing future management practices that will help mitigate the impacts of extreme events such as drought or floods on agriculture and other human activities. To better understand mechanisms driving streamflow variability at all timescales, annual to multi-decadal streamflow variability of three major rivers in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States (the Susquehanna, Delaware, and Hudson Rivers was studied in the context of climate modes using correlation and wavelet analyses. New hydrological insights for the region: Results from the correlation analysis detected statistically significant relationships between climate indices and streamflow that were similar for the three rivers. The results from the wavelet analysis showed that 18- and 26-year periodicities were embedded in the streamflow time series. Decadal variability of streamflow was coherent with the El-Niño Southern Oscillation (SO and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO. The time series for the PDO and SO indices and precipitation were found to be synchronized to the decadal variability of a global circulation pattern consisting of a Rossby wave train emanating from the North Pacific. The SO explained 37–54% of the 1960s drought, 33–49% of the 1970s pluvial, and 19–50% of the 2000s pluvial in the three river basins. Keywords: Streamflow, Climate, Climate variability, Wavelet analysis, El-Niño-Southern Oscillation, Mid-Atlantic region

  12. On Point: The United States Army in Operation Iraqi Freedom

    Science.gov (United States)

    2004-01-01

    to retain operational context. Moreover, times noted in the text have been adjusted from Greenwich Mean Time (“ Zulu ”) to local Kuwait time (+ 3...TF 1-64 AR unit history is composed of short narratives for each subordinate unit. Most cite times in zulu . 34. Ibid. 35. Ibid. Numbers of enemy...places in the world. Inside the city cemetery is the Tomb of Ali, son-in-law and cousin to Mohammed and founder of the Shiite sect. Coalition leaders

  13. [Therapeutic restraint management in Intensive Care Units: Phenomenological approach to nursing reality].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Acevedo-Nuevo, M; González-Gil, M T; Solís-Muñoz, M; Láiz-Díez, N; Toraño-Olivera, M J; Carrasco-Rodríguez-Rey, L F; García-González, S; Velasco-Sanz, T R; Martínez-Álvarez, A; Martin-Rivera, B E

    2016-01-01

    To identify nursing experience on physical restraint management in Critical Care Units. To analyse similarities and differences in nursing experience on physical restraint management according to the clinical context that they are involved in. A multicentre phenomenological study was carried out including 14 Critical Care Units in Madrid, classified according to physical restraint use: Common/systematic use, lacking/personalised use, and mixed use. Five focus groups (23 participants were selected following purposeful sampling) were convened, concluding in data saturation. Data analysis was focused on thematic content analysis following Colaizzi's method. Six main themes: Physical restraint meaning in Critical Care Units, safety (self-retreat vital devices), contribution factors, feelings, alternatives, and pending issues. Although some themes are common to the 3 Critical Care Unit types, discourse differences are found as regards to indication, feelings, systematic use of pain and sedation measurement tools. In order to achieve real physical restraint reduction in Critical Care Units, it is necessary to have a deep understanding of restraints use in the specific clinical context. As self-retreat vital devices emerge as central concept, some interventions proposed in other settings could not be effective, requiring alternatives for critical care patients. Discourse variations laid out in the different Critical Care Unit types could highlight key items that determine the use and different attitudes towards physical restraint. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier España, S.L.U. y SEEIUC. All rights reserved.

  14. Normative Power Europe and the Importance of the Discursive Context

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Larsen, Henrik

    2014-01-01

    Europe, with the notable exceptions of Diez (2013); Keene (2012); Forsberg (2011) and Huelss (2011) (who also discuss the meaning of the ‘normative’). Focusing on power, the question asked in this article is how the discursive context of the politics of religion affects the EU’s ability to exert......This article attempts to demonstrate the importance of the discursive context for whether and, if so, how the European Union (EU) can exert normative power in different policy areas. Surprisingly, the concept of power has not been extensively discussed in the academic literature on Normative Power...... normative power in this area. The article examines the politics of religion by looking at the case of the debate about human rights versus religion in the United Nations Human Rights Council after the year 2000. The broader point addressed in the article is whether the EU can exert normative power...

  15. Dynamics of Context-Dependent Recall: An Examination of Internal and External Context Change

    Science.gov (United States)

    Unsworth, Nash; Spillers, Gregory J.; Brewer, Gene A.

    2012-01-01

    Retrieval dynamics in context-dependent recall were explored via manipulations of external and internal context in two experiments. Participants were tested in either the same or different context as the material was learned in and correct recalls, errors, and recall latency measures were examined. In both experiments changes in context resulted…

  16. Mirth and Murder: Crime Scene Investigation as a Work Context for Examining Humor Applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roth, Gene L.; Vivona, Brian

    2010-01-01

    Within work settings, humor is used by workers for a wide variety of purposes. This study examines humor applications of a specific type of worker in a unique work context: crime scene investigation. Crime scene investigators examine death and its details. Members of crime scene units observe death much more frequently than other police officers…

  17. Comparing speech and nonspeech context effects across timescales in coarticulatory contexts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Viswanathan, Navin; Kelty-Stephen, Damian G

    2018-02-01

    Context effects are ubiquitous in speech perception and reflect the ability of human listeners to successfully perceive highly variable speech signals. In the study of how listeners compensate for coarticulatory variability, past studies have used similar effects speech and tone analogues of speech as strong support for speech-neutral, general auditory mechanisms for compensation for coarticulation. In this manuscript, we revisit compensation for coarticulation by replacing standard button-press responses with mouse-tracking responses and examining both standard geometric measures of uncertainty as well as newer information-theoretic measures that separate fast from slow mouse movements. We found that when our analyses were restricted to end-state responses, tones and speech contexts appeared to produce similar effects. However, a more detailed time-course analysis revealed systematic differences between speech and tone contexts such that listeners' responses to speech contexts, but not to tone contexts, changed across the experimental session. Analyses of the time course of effects within trials using mouse tracking indicated that speech contexts elicited fewer x-position flips but more area under the curve (AUC) and maximum deviation (MD), and they did so in the slower portions of mouse-tracking movements. Our results indicate critical differences between the time course of speech and nonspeech context effects and that general auditory explanations, motivated by their apparent similarity, be reexamined.

  18. Neural Correlates of Gratitude

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Glenn Ryan Fox

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available Gratitude is an important aspect of human sociality, and is valued by religions and moral philosophies. It has been established that gratitude leads to benefits for both mental health and interpersonal relationships. It is thus important to elucidate the neurobiological correlates of gratitude, which are only now beginning to be investigated. To this end, we conducted an experiment during which we induced gratitude in participants while they underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging. We hypothesized that gratitude ratings would correlate with activity in brain regions associated with moral cognition, value judgment and theory of mind. The stimuli used to elicit gratitude were drawn from stories of survivors of the Holocaust, as many survivors report being sheltered by strangers or receiving lifesaving food and clothing, and having strong feelings of gratitude for such gifts. The participants were asked to place themselves in the context of the Holocaust and imagine what their own experience would feel like if they received such gifts. For each gift, they rated how grateful they felt. The results revealed that ratings of gratitude correlated with brain activity in the anterior cingulate cortex and medial prefrontal cortex, in support of our hypotheses. The results provide a window into the brain circuitry for moral cognition and positive emotion that accompanies the experience of benefitting from the goodwill of others.

  19. Neural correlates of gratitude.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fox, Glenn R; Kaplan, Jonas; Damasio, Hanna; Damasio, Antonio

    2015-01-01

    Gratitude is an important aspect of human sociality, and is valued by religions and moral philosophies. It has been established that gratitude leads to benefits for both mental health and interpersonal relationships. It is thus important to elucidate the neurobiological correlates of gratitude, which are only now beginning to be investigated. To this end, we conducted an experiment during which we induced gratitude in participants while they underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging. We hypothesized that gratitude ratings would correlate with activity in brain regions associated with moral cognition, value judgment and theory of mind. The stimuli used to elicit gratitude were drawn from stories of survivors of the Holocaust, as many survivors report being sheltered by strangers or receiving lifesaving food and clothing, and having strong feelings of gratitude for such gifts. The participants were asked to place themselves in the context of the Holocaust and imagine what their own experience would feel like if they received such gifts. For each gift, they rated how grateful they felt. The results revealed that ratings of gratitude correlated with brain activity in the anterior cingulate cortex and medial prefrontal cortex, in support of our hypotheses. The results provide a window into the brain circuitry for moral cognition and positive emotion that accompanies the experience of benefitting from the goodwill of others.

  20. Correlates and outcomes associated with aggression and victimization among elementary-school children in a low-income urban context

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Pouwels, J.L.; Cillessen, A.H.N.

    2013-01-01

    Previous research suggests that the prevalence of aggression is high among low-income urban youth who have to cope with a number of psychological stressors. Less is known about the early development and consequences of aggression and peer victimization prior to adolescence in these contexts. This

  1. Supporting Pervasive Computing Applications with Active Context Fusion and Semantic Context Delivery

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Roy, Nirmalya; Gu, Tao; Das, Sajal

    2010-01-01

    Future pervasive computing applications are envisioned to adapt the applications’ behaviors by utilizing various contexts of an environment and its users. Such context information may often be ambiguous and also heterogeneous, which make the delivery of unambiguous context information to real app...

  2. What is popular? Distinguishing bullying and aggression as status correlates within specific peer normative contexts

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Diego Palacios

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract This study tested social status correlates of aggression and bullying and how these are influenced by peer groups’ normative beliefs about aggression and prosocial behavior among 1165 fourth, fifth and sixth graders in Chile. Associations between aggression and popularity (positive and social preference (negative were confirmed, whereas bullying was negatively associated with both dimensions. Normative beliefs about aggression and prosocial behavior were assessed at the group level, while social status was assessed at the classroom level through peer nominations. Hierarchical Linear Analyses showed that in groups with a higher value associated with aggression, classmates rated aggressive peers as less popular but also less disliked. The status correlates of bullying remained unaffected by peer normative beliefs. The discussion focuses on the social function of aggression as compared to the social sanction associated with bullying, and on the specificity of these associations at different layers of the social ecology.

  3. Integrated risk assessment for multi-unit NPP sites—A comparison

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kumar, C. Senthil; Hassija, Varun; Velusamy, K.; Balasubramaniyan, V.

    2015-01-01

    Highlights: • Framework for integrated risk assessment for multi-unit NPP sites. • Categorization of external and internal events. • Modelling of key issues: mission time, cliff-edge, common cause failures, etc. • Safety goals for multi-unit NPP sites. • Comparison of site core damage frequency in one, two, three and four unit sites. - Abstract: Most of the nuclear power producing sites in the world houses multiple units. Such sites are faced with hazards generated from external events: earthquake, tsunami, flood, etc. and can threaten the safety of nuclear power plants. Further, risk from a multiple unit site and its impact on the public and environment was evident during the Fukushima nuclear disaster in March 2011. It is therefore important to evolve a methodology to systematically assess the risk from multi-unit site. For a single unit site, probabilistic risk assessment technique identifies the potential accident scenarios, their consequences, and estimates the core damage frequency that arise due to internal and external hazards. This challenging task becomes even more complex for a multiple unit site, especially when the external hazards that has the potential to generate one or more correlated hazards or a combination of non-correlated hazards are to be modelled. This paper presents an approach to evaluate risk for multiple NPP sites and also compare the risk for sites housing single, double and multiple nuclear plants.

  4. Integrated risk assessment for multi-unit NPP sites—A comparison

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kumar, C. Senthil, E-mail: cskumar@igcar.gov.in [AERB-Safety Research Institute, Kalpakkam (India); Hassija, Varun; Velusamy, K. [Reactor Design Group, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam (India); Balasubramaniyan, V. [AERB-Safety Research Institute, Kalpakkam (India)

    2015-11-15

    Highlights: • Framework for integrated risk assessment for multi-unit NPP sites. • Categorization of external and internal events. • Modelling of key issues: mission time, cliff-edge, common cause failures, etc. • Safety goals for multi-unit NPP sites. • Comparison of site core damage frequency in one, two, three and four unit sites. - Abstract: Most of the nuclear power producing sites in the world houses multiple units. Such sites are faced with hazards generated from external events: earthquake, tsunami, flood, etc. and can threaten the safety of nuclear power plants. Further, risk from a multiple unit site and its impact on the public and environment was evident during the Fukushima nuclear disaster in March 2011. It is therefore important to evolve a methodology to systematically assess the risk from multi-unit site. For a single unit site, probabilistic risk assessment technique identifies the potential accident scenarios, their consequences, and estimates the core damage frequency that arise due to internal and external hazards. This challenging task becomes even more complex for a multiple unit site, especially when the external hazards that has the potential to generate one or more correlated hazards or a combination of non-correlated hazards are to be modelled. This paper presents an approach to evaluate risk for multiple NPP sites and also compare the risk for sites housing single, double and multiple nuclear plants.

  5. Assessing Reliability of Two Versions of Vocabulary Levels Tests in Iranian Context

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aso Bayazidi

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available This study examined the equivalence and reliability of the two versions of the Vocabulary Levels Test in an Iranian context. This study was motivated by the fact that the Vocabulary Levels test is increasingly being used in Iran for both research and pedagogical purposes without having been checked for validity and reliability in this context. The equivalence and reliability of the two versions of the test were examined through the parallel-form approach to reliability in Classical True Score theory. Seventy-five intermediate learners of English as a foreign language at the Iran Language Institute took the two versions of the test with one week interval between the two administrations in a counterbalanced fashion. To examine the equivalence of the two versions, the means and variances of the scores obtained for the two tests were compared using paired-sample t-test and one-way ANOVA, respectively. The results of the analyses indicated that the difference between the means of the two versions was significant, and the two versions cannot be considered as parallel forms. To assess the reliability of the two versions, the correlation between the scores obtained from them was estimated using Pearson Product Moment correlation. The results of the analyses showed that the two versions are highly correlated and are reliable tests. It is concluded that the two versions should not be treated as equivalent in longitudinal and gain score studies.

  6. Evaluation in Context

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jaap, Kamps; Lalmas, Mounia; Larsen, Birger

    All search happens in a particular context - such as the particular collection of a digital library, its associated search tasks, and its associated users. Information retrieval researchers usually agree on the importance of context, but they rarely address the issue. In particular, evaluation in......, e.g. those that suit a particular task scenario, and zoom in on the relative performance for such a group of topics.......All search happens in a particular context - such as the particular collection of a digital library, its associated search tasks, and its associated users. Information retrieval researchers usually agree on the importance of context, but they rarely address the issue. In particular, evaluation....../assessors - by designing targeted questionnaires. The questionnaire data becomes part of the evaluation test-suite as valuable data on the context of the search requests.We have experimented with this questionnaire approach during the evaluation campaign of the INitiative for the Evaluation of XML Retrieval (INEX...

  7. Putting retrieval-induced forgetting in context: an inhibition-free, context-based account.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jonker, Tanya R; Seli, Paul; MacLeod, Colin M

    2013-10-01

    We present a new theoretical account of retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF) together with new experimental evidence that fits this account and challenges the dominant inhibition account. RIF occurs when the retrieval of some material from memory produces later forgetting of related material. The inhibition account asserts that RIF is the result of an inhibition mechanism that acts during retrieval to suppress the representations of interfering competitors. This inhibition is enduring, such that the suppressed material is difficult to access on a later test and is, therefore, recalled more poorly than baseline material. Although the inhibition account is widely accepted, a growing body of research challenges its fundamental assumptions. Our alternative account of RIF instead emphasizes the role of context in remembering. According to this context account, both of 2 tenets must be met for RIF to occur: (a) A context change must occur between study and subsequent retrieval practice, and (b) the retrieval practice context must be the active context during the final test when testing practiced categories. The results of 3 experiments, which directly test the divergent predictions of the 2 accounts, support the context account but cannot be explained by the inhibition account. In an extensive discussion, we survey the literature on RIF and apply our context account to the key findings, demonstrating the explanatory power of context. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

  8. Some aspects of geology and metallogenesis of uraniferous occurrences in Colombia. Regional context and correlations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Premoli, C.; Lozano, H.

    1984-01-01

    The main Colombian geostructural units are discussed in relation to their uranium possibilities. The characteristics of the more representative models of Colombian uranium occurrences are described and the possibility that some of them could be developed into workable uranium deposits is studied. Where possible, genetic interpretations are provided or suggested for some uranium occurrences. (author)

  9. Correlates of Access to Business Research Databases

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gottfried, John C.

    2010-01-01

    This study examines potential correlates of business research database access through academic libraries serving top business programs in the United States. Results indicate that greater access to research databases is related to enrollment in graduate business programs, but not to overall enrollment or status as a public or private institution.…

  10. Neural substrates of framing effects in social contexts: A meta-analytical approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, X T; Rao, Li-Lin; Zheng, Hongming

    2017-06-01

    We hypothesize that framing effects (risk-averse in the positive frame and risk-seeking in the negative frame) are likely to occur when ambiguous social contexts result in ambiguous or ambivalent risk preferences, leading the decision-maker to search for more subtle cues, such as verbal framing. In a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, we examined framing effects in both unambiguous homogeneous group and more ambiguous heterogeneous group contexts. We began by conducting a meta-analysis and identified three regions of interest: the right inferior frontal gyrus, the left anterior cingulate (ACC)/ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), and the left amygdala. Our own fMRI data were collected while the participants made choices between a sure option and a gamble framed in terms of the number of lives to either save or die. The framing effect was evident in a heterogeneous context with a mixture of kin and strangers, but disappeared in a homogeneous group of either all kin-members or all strangers. The fMRI results revealed a greater activation in the right middle/inferior frontal gyrus under the negative than the positive framing, and less ACC/vmPFC deactivation under positive framing in the heterogamous/ambiguous context. The activation of the amygdala was correlated with greater risk-seeking preference in homogeneous kinship contexts.

  11. Private lands and outdoor recreation in the United States

    Science.gov (United States)

    R. Jeff Teasley; John C. Bergstrom; H. Ken Cordell; Stanley J. Zarnoch; Paul Gentle

    1999-01-01

    Outdoor recreation on private land is influenced by myriad factors. To provide background and context on these factors, this chapter first overviews the private land situation in the United States and provides general information and discussion related to ownership and tenure, land-use patterns, legal restrictions, and economic conditions, including taxation issues....

  12. Method of vacuum correlation functions: Results and prospects

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Badalian, A. M.; Simonov, Yu. A.; Shevchenko, V. I.

    2006-01-01

    Basic results obtained within the QCD method of vacuum correlation functions over the past 20 years in the context of investigations into strong-interaction physics at the Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Physics (ITEP, Moscow) are formulated Emphasis is placed primarily on the prospects of the general theory developed within QCD by employing both nonperturbative and perturbative methods. On the basis of ab initio arguments, it is shown that the lowest two field correlation functions play a dominant role in QCD dynamics. A quantitative theory of confinement and deconfinement, as well as of the spectra of light and heavy quarkonia, glueballs, and hybrids, is given in terms of these two correlation functions. Perturbation theory in a nonperturbative vacuum (background perturbation theory) plays a significant role, not possessing drawbacks of conventional perturbation theory and leading to the infrared freezing of the coupling constant α s

  13. Licensed pertussis vaccines in the United States: History and current state

    OpenAIRE

    Klein, Nicola P

    2014-01-01

    The United States switched from whole cell to acellular pertussis vaccines in the 1990s following global concerns with the safety of the whole cell vaccines. Despite high levels of acellular pertussis vaccine coverage, the United States and other countries are experiencing large pertussis outbreaks. The aim of this article is to describe the historical context which led to acellular pertussis vaccine development, focusing on vaccines currently licensed in the US, and to review evidence that w...

  14. Information processing correlates of a size-contrast illusion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jason M Gold

    2014-02-01

    Full Text Available Perception is often influenced by context. A well-known class of perceptual context effects is perceptual contrast illusions, in which proximate stimulus regions interact to alter the perception of various stimulus attributes, such as perceived brightness, color and size. Although the phenomenal reality of contrast effects is well documented, in many cases the connection between these illusions and how information is processed by perceptual systems is not well understood. Here, we use noise as a tool to explore the information processing correlates of one such contrast effect: the Ebbinghaus-Titchener size-contrast illusion. In this illusion, the perceived size of a central dot is significantly altered by the sizes of a set of surrounding dots, such that the presence of larger surrounding dots tends to reduce the perceived size of the central dot (and vise-versa. In our experiments, we first replicated previous results that have demonstrated the subjective reality of the Ebbinghaus-Titchener illusion. We then used visual noise in a detection task to probe the manner in which observers processed information when experiencing the illusion. By correlating the noise with observers’ classification decisions, we found that the sizes of the surrounding contextual elements had a direct influence on the relative weight observers assigned to regions within and surrounding the central element. Specifically, observers assigned relatively more weight to the surrounding region and less weight to the central region in the presence of smaller surrounding contextual elements. These results offer new insights into the connection between the subjective experience of size-contrast illusions and their associated information processing correlates.

  15. Limbaj și context = Speech and Context, no.1-2, 2016

    OpenAIRE

    Cosciug Angela

    2017-01-01

    Speech and Context International Journal of Linguistics, Semiotics and Literary Science (SCIJLSLS) is an open access, peer reviewed (double blind reviewed) journal which is indexed in many prestigious international databases, directories, lists etc. (see Journal Indexing and Registration by databases types or Journal Indexing and Registration by countries). It appears there like Limbaj şi context or Speech and Context International Journal of Linguistics, Semiotics and Literary Science. The j...

  16. Effects of a Context Shift and Multiple Context Extinction on Reactivity to Alcohol Cues

    Science.gov (United States)

    MacKillop, James; Lisman, Stephen A.

    2008-01-01

    Cue exposure treatment (CET) attempts to reduce the influence of conditioned substance cues on addictive behavior via prolonged cue exposure with response prevention (i.e., extinction), but has received only modest empirical support in clinical trials. This may be because extinction learning appears to be context dependent and a change in context may result in a return of conditioned responding (i.e., renewal), although this has received only limited empirical examination. The current study used a four-session laboratory analogue of CET to examine whether a change in context following three sessions of alcohol cue exposure with response prevention would result in renewal of conditioned responding. In addition, this study examined whether conducting extinction in multiple contexts would attenuate renewal of conditioned responding. In a one-way between-subjects design, 73 heavy drinkers (71% male) were randomized to three conditions: 1) single context extinction (extinction to alcohol cues in the same context for three sessions followed by a context shift at the fourth session); 2) multiple context extinction (extinction to alcohol cues in different contexts each day for all four sessions); and 3) pseudo-extinction control condition (exposure to neutral cues in the same context for three sessions followed by exposure to alcohol cues at the fourth session). The results revealed the predicted cue reactivity and extinction effects, but the hypotheses that a context shift would generate renewed cue reactivity and that multiple contexts would enhance extinction were not supported. Methodological aspects of the study and the need for parametric data on the context dependency of extinction to alcohol cues are discussed. PMID:18729687

  17. How Successful Learners Employ Learning Strategies in an EFL Setting in the Indonesian Context

    Science.gov (United States)

    Setiyadi, Ag. Bambang; Sukirlan, Muhammad; Mahpul

    2016-01-01

    Numerous studies have been conducted to correlate the use of language learning strategies and language performance and the studies have contributed to different perspectives of teaching and learning a foreign language. Some studies have also revealed that the students learning a foreign language in Asian contexts have been proved to use different…

  18. Maternal Sensitivity and Child Secure Base Use in Early Childhood: Studies in Different Cultural Contexts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Posada, German; Trumbell, Jill; Noblega, Magaly; Plata, Sandra; Peña, Paola; Carbonell, Olga A.; Lu, Ting

    2016-01-01

    This study tested whether maternal sensitivity and child security are related during early childhood and whether such an association is found in different cultural and social contexts. Mother-child dyads (N = 237) from four different countries (Colombia, Mexico, Peru, and the United States) were observed in naturalistic settings when children were…

  19. What characterizes the work culture at a hospital unit that successfully implements change - a correlation study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    André, Beate; Sjøvold, Endre

    2017-07-14

    To successfully achieve change in healthcare, a balance between technology and "people ware", the human recourses, is necessary. However, the human aspect of the change implementation process has received less attention than the technological issues. The aim was to explore the factors that characterize the work culture in a hospital unit that successfully implemented change compared with the factors that characterize the work culture of a hospital unit with unsuccessful implementation. The Systematizing Person-Group Relations method was used for gathering and analyzing data to explore what dominate the behavior in a particular work environment identifying challenges, limitations and opportunities. This method applied six different dimensions, each representing different behavior in a work culture: Synergy, Withdrawal, Opposition, Dependence, Control and Nurture. We compared two different units at the same hospital, one that successfully implemented change and one that was unsuccessful. There were significant statistical differences between healthcare personnel working at a unit that successfully implemented change contrasted with the unit with unsuccessful implementation. These significant differences were found in both the synergy and control dimensions, which are important positive qualities in a work culture. The results of this study show that healthcare personnel at a unit with a successful implementation of change have a working environment with many positive qualities. This indicates that a work environment with a high focus on goal achievement and task orientation can handle the challenges of implementing changes.

  20. Federal Policies and Higher Education in the United States.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prisco, Anne; Hurley, Alicia D.; Carton, Thomas C; Richardson, Richard C., Jr.

    The purpose of this report is to describe U.S. federal policies that have helped to shape the context within which state systems of higher education operated during the past decade. It also presents descriptive statistics about the higher education enterprise in the United States, including available performance data. The report is based on the…

  1. Contexts as Shared Commitments

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Manuel eGarcía-Carpintero

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Contemporary semantics assumes two different notions of context: one coming from Kaplan (1989, on which contexts are sets of predetermined parameters, and another originated in Stalnaker (1978, on which contexts are sets of propositions that are common ground. The latter is deservedly more popular, given its flexibility to account for context-dependent aspects of language beyond manifest indexicals, such as epistemic modals, predicates of taste, and so on and so forth; in fact, properly dealing with demonstratives (perhaps ultimately all indexicals requires that further flexibility. Even if we acknowledge Lewis (1980 point that, in a sense, Kaplanian contexts already include common ground contexts, it is better to be clear and explicit about what contexts constitutively are. Now, Stalnaker (1978, 2002, 2014 defines context-as-common-ground as a set of propositions, but recent work shows that this is not an accurate conception. The paper explains why, and provides an alternative. The main reason is that several phenomena (presuppositional treatments of pejoratives and predicates of taste, forces other than assertion require that the common ground includes non-doxastic attitudes such as appraisals, emotions, etc. Hence the common ground should not be taken to include merely contents (propositions, but those together with attitudes concerning them: shared commitments, as I will defend.

  2. Description logics of context

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Klarman, S

    2013-05-01

    Full Text Available We introduce Description Logics of Context (DLCs) - an extension of Description Logics (DLs) for context-based reasoning. Our approach descends from J. McCarthy's tradition of treating contexts as formal objects over which one can quantify...

  3. Aggregation of carbon dioxide sequestration storage assessment units

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blondes, Madalyn S.; Schuenemeyer, John H.; Olea, Ricardo A.; Drew, Lawrence J.

    2013-01-01

    The U.S. Geological Survey is currently conducting a national assessment of carbon dioxide (CO2) storage resources, mandated by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. Pre-emission capture and storage of CO2 in subsurface saline formations is one potential method to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the negative impact of global climate change. Like many large-scale resource assessments, the area under investigation is split into smaller, more manageable storage assessment units (SAUs), which must be aggregated with correctly propagated uncertainty to the basin, regional, and national scales. The aggregation methodology requires two types of data: marginal probability distributions of storage resource for each SAU, and a correlation matrix obtained by expert elicitation describing interdependencies between pairs of SAUs. Dependencies arise because geologic analogs, assessment methods, and assessors often overlap. The correlation matrix is used to induce rank correlation, using a Cholesky decomposition, among the empirical marginal distributions representing individually assessed SAUs. This manuscript presents a probabilistic aggregation method tailored to the correlations and dependencies inherent to a CO2 storage assessment. Aggregation results must be presented at the basin, regional, and national scales. A single stage approach, in which one large correlation matrix is defined and subsets are used for different scales, is compared to a multiple stage approach, in which new correlation matrices are created to aggregate intermediate results. Although the single-stage approach requires determination of significantly more correlation coefficients, it captures geologic dependencies among similar units in different basins and it is less sensitive to fluctuations in low correlation coefficients than the multiple stage approach. Thus, subsets of one single-stage correlation matrix are used to aggregate to basin, regional, and national scales.

  4. Theoretical considerations around teaching vocational reaffirmation in the context of Santiago de Cuba centers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Silally Betancourt-Rodríguez

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available It is worrying that teachers in training who are inserted into teaching units to complete their work and research component not feel fully identified with the teaching profession, or are in their tutors assistance conscious and needed to successfully develop its work and reaffirm thus their interest in the race, this reveals shortcomings from the motivational point of view presented during the initial training process thereof, particularly those of mathematics career - Physical and lack of commitment of managers and staff with training from the teaching units. The aim is to reflect in relation to some theoretical considerations for developing teaching vocational reaffirmation of teachers in training this race in the context of the teaching unit. the theoretical analysis synthesis method was used during the investigation

  5. Social Context as an Indirect Trigger in EFL Contexts: Issues and Solutions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gholami, Reza; Rahman, Sharifah Zainab Abd; Mustapha, Ghazali

    2012-01-01

    This paper investigates the value of the social context and its role in learning a second language in different contexts. Social context is believed to be able to influence attitude and motivation. It also provides learning opportunities which give rise to learner's outcomes. In fact, students acquire a language by using it in social interaction…

  6. Fractal geometry of cosmic strings and correlations among galaxies and Abell clusters

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pagels, H.R.

    1987-01-01

    In the context of the cosmic-string picture of galaxy and cluster formation we develop a model for the loop correlation function. Assuming that parent loops have dimension 1 and that the production of child loops cut off from the parent with a peculiar velocity v is described by a Brownian random walk we estimate for the fractal dimension of the correlations D = 1+3.28v 2 . For v≅0.24 this gives the observed fractal D≅1.2

  7. Expression of interest: transcriptomics and the designation of conservation units.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hansen, Michael M

    2010-05-01

    An important task within conservation genetics consists in defining intraspecific conservation units. Most conceptual frameworks involve two steps: (i) identifying demographically independent units, and (ii) evaluating their degree of adaptive divergence. Whereas a plethora of methods are available for delineating genetic population structure, assessment of functional genetic divergence remains a challenge. In this issue, Tymchuk et al. (2010) study Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) populations using both microsatellite markers and analysis of global gene expression. They show that important gene expression differences exist that can be interpreted in the context of different ecological conditions experienced by the populations, along with the populations' histories. This demonstrates an important potential role of transcriptomics for designating conservation units.

  8. Global Correlation and Non-Correlation of Topography with Color and Reflectance on Pluto

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schenk, Paul M.; Beyer, Ross A.; Moore, Jeffrey M.; Young, Leslie; Ennico, Kimberly; Olkin, Catherine; Weaver, Harold A.; Stern, S. Alan; New Horizons Geology and Geophysics Team

    2017-10-01

    A key objective of the New Horizons mission at Pluto in July 2015 was completion of global maps of surface brightness and color patterns (covering 78% of surface) and topography (covering ~42%) of Pluto and its large moon Charon. The first calibrated and registered versions of these maps have now been completed for posting in the PDS this fall (with a peer-reviewed report on these products to be submitted). Rich in detail, investigation into the roles of local topography and insolation are ongoing (e.g., Lewis et al., 2017). Here we focus on the data sets and links between elevation and global color and brightness patterns and the global mapping revealed by them. In the “north,” yellowish deposits correlate with non-depressed portions of an eroded polar topographic dome ~600 km wide & 2-3 km high (e.g., Young et al., 2017). The broad dark band along the equator forming Cthulhu Macula to the west of Sputnik Planitia is topographically indistinguishable from the vast smooth lightly cratered plains to the north, indicating that latitude is the primary control, not topography. The curious lack of dark material along the equatorial band east of Sputnik Planitia may be partly due to topography of Eastern Tombaugh Regio, which is ~500 m above eroded plains the north and Cthulhu Macula itself. To the south of Cthulhu Macula, plains are slightly brighter, which correlates with a modest rise in topography of Macula, however, an abrupt increase in reflectance correlates with the edge of elevated plateau that rises 2-3 km above the plains. The areas with the strongest signature in the CH4-band are associated with bladed terrain, the highest standing geologic unit in absolute elevation. Similar colored amoeboid-shaped units are evident along the equator in the low-resolution mapping areas, indicating their probable occurrence elsewhere. Thus, while many of Pluto’s major color and albedo features correlate well with topography and are thus controlled by it, some

  9. Extinction produces context inhibition and multiple-context extinction reduces response recovery in human predictive learning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Glautier, Steven; Elgueta, Tito; Nelson, James Byron

    2013-12-01

    Two experiments with human participants were used to investigate recovery of an extinguished learned response after a context change using ABC designs. In an ABC design, the context changes over the three successive stages of acquisition (context A), extinction (context B), and test (context C). In both experiments, we found reduced recovery in groups that had extinction in multiple contexts, and that the extinction contexts acquired inhibitory strength. These results confirm those of previous investigations, that multiple-context extinction can produce less response recovery than single-context extinction, and they also provide new evidence for the involvement of contextual inhibitory processes in extinction in humans. The foregoing results are broadly in line with a protection-from-extinction account of response recovery. Yet, despite the fact that we detected contextual inhibition, predictions based on protection-from-extinction were not fully reliable for the single- and multiple-context group differences that we observed in (1) rates of extinction and (2) the strength of context inhibition. Thus, although evidence was obtained for a protection-from-extinction account of response recovery, this account can not explain all of the data.

  10. U.S. science in a changing context: A perspective

    Science.gov (United States)

    Radford, Byerly, Jr.

    In 1989 Francis Fukuyama, a senior policy analyst at the U.S. Department of State, wrote a paper about the end of the Cold War entitled “The End of History?” It offered an intriguing thesis: “What we may be witnessing is not just the end of the Cold War, or the passing of a particular period of postwar history, but the end of history as such; that is, the end point of mankind's ideological evolution and the universalization of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government” [Fukuyama, 1989 p 4]. What Fukuyama calls “the end of history” is an important change in the context of science for two overlapping reasons. First, because the challenge of the communist Soviet Union drove United States science policy for much of the twentieth century. Second, because the atomic bomb and a subsequent series of events and circumstances—including SDI, the Green Revolution, AIDS, and now global change—have connected science to global geopolitics, irreversibly enlarging its relevant context.

  11. The Right of Exit in the Context of Multiculturalism

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ana Maria D'Ávila Lopes

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available http://dx.doi.org/10.5007/2177-7055.2015v36n71p155 The terrorist attack on the Twin Towers in the United States provoked heated discussions about the need to limit and control the performance of some cultural minorities, as well as to create mechanisms to protect members of these minorities against the decisions taken by the group. In this context, this paper aims to analyze the possibilities and limits of the right of exit in the context of Multiculturalism. To this end, a literature research was performed in national and foreign doctrine. After analyzing the data, it was found that the right to exit is a valuable mechanism for protecting members of cultural minorities, however, there are situations, especially in cases where the values of the group are internalized by the members, in which this right is insufficient and should be supplemented by other human rights.

  12. Critical review of ESL curriculum: Practical application to the UAE context

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mary Cullinan

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available This paper is a critical analysis of curriculum with a discussion of its main tenets and exploration of issues within the literature. The focus is on curriculum in English as a Second Language (ESL using critical applied linguistics as a framework. The ideas explored in the paper are synthesized and applied to ESL curriculum in the United Arab Emirates (UAE and includes a discussion on the feasibility and challenges of introducing a critical stance on curriculum in this context.

  13. Gender, Health Behavior, and Intimate Relationships: Lesbian, Gay, and Straight Contexts

    OpenAIRE

    Reczek, Corinne; Umberson, Debra

    2011-01-01

    Many studies focus on health behavior within the context of intimate ties. However, this literature is limited by reliance on gender socialization theory and a focus on straight (i.e., heterosexual) marriage. We extend this work with an analysis of relationship dynamics around health behavior in 20 long-term straight marriages as well as 15 gay and 15 lesbian long-term cohabiting partnerships in the United States (N=100 individual in-depth interviews). We develop the concept of “health behavi...

  14. Context-awareness and Mobile HCI

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Qin, Xiangang; Tan, Chee Wee; Clemmensen, Torkil

    2017-01-01

    -awareness has been employed broadly in developing applications and services on mobile platform, has had a huge impact on mobile user experience, and has altered the interaction between humans and computers by giving the latter a more active role to play. The significance of context-awareness in the usage......Context-awareness endows mobile devices and services with the capability of interacting with users in an efficient, intelligent, natural and smart fashion. Consequently, context-awareness makes a significant difference to mobile HCI. However, the challenges brought by context-awareness to users...... of mobile devices are rarely examined in depth. In this paper, previous conceptions of context and their contribution to context-awareness in mobile HCI is scrutinized and a preliminary context-computer interaction (CCI) model is advanced to illustrate the interaction characterized by mobile context...

  15. Context-Enabled Business Intelligence

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Troy Hiltbrand

    2012-04-01

    To truly understand context and apply it in business intelligence, it is vital to understand what context is and how it can be applied in addressing organizational needs. Context describes the facets of the environment that impact the way that end users interact with the system. Context includes aspects of location, chronology, access method, demographics, social influence/ relationships, end-user attitude/ emotional state, behavior/ past behavior, and presence. To be successful in making Business Intelligence content enabled, it is important to be able to capture the context of use user. With advances in technology, there are a number of ways in which this user based information can be gathered and exposed to enhance the overall end user experience.

  16. Probing student understanding of scientific thinking in the context of introductory astrophysics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Richard N. Steinberg

    2009-09-01

    Full Text Available Common forms of testing of student understanding of science content can be misleading about their understanding of the nature of scientific thinking. Observational astronomy integrated with related ideas of force and motion is a rich context to explore the correlation between student content knowledge and student understanding of the scientific thinking about that content. In this paper, we describe this correlation in detail with a focus on a question about the relative motion of the Sun and the Earth. We find that high achieving high school students throughout New York City struggle with what constitutes scientific justification and thought processes, but can improve these skills tremendously in an inquiry-oriented summer astronomy-physics program.

  17. CMS results on multijet correlations

    CERN Document Server

    INSPIRE-00008500

    2015-04-10

    We present recent measurements of multijet correlations using forward and low-$p_{\\mathrm{T}}$ jets performed by the CMS collaboration at the LHC collider. In pp collisions at $\\sqrt{s} = 7$ TeV, azimuthal correlations in dijets separated in rapidity by up to 9.4 units were measured. The results are compared to BFKL- and DGLAP-based Monte Carlo generator and analytic predictions. In pp collisions at $\\sqrt{s} = 8$ TeV, cross sections for jets with $p_{\\mathrm{T}}$ > 21 GeV and |y| 1 GeV (minijets) are presented. The minijet results are sensitive to the bound imposed by the total inelastic cross section, and are compared to various models for taming the growth of the $2 \\rightarrow 2$ cross section at low $p_{\\mathrm{T}}$.

  18. Suicide rates and information seeking via search engines: A cross-national correlational approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arendt, Florian

    2018-09-01

    The volume of Google searches for suicide-related terms is positively associated with suicide rates, but previous studies used data from specific, restricted geographical contexts, thus, limiting the generalizability of this finding. We investigated the correlation between suicide-related search volume and suicide rates of 50 nations from five continents. We found a positive correlation between suicide rates and search volume, even after controlling for the level of industrialization. Results give credence to the global existence of a correlation. However, the reason why suicide-related search volume is higher in countries with higher suicide rates is still unclear and up to future research.

  19. Goals for United States Higher Education: From Democracy to Globalisation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hutcheson, Philo

    2011-01-01

    Although globalisation has been an increasingly important characteristic of United States higher education for over two decades, there has been little historical analysis of the process or its origins. This article argues that beginning in the early 1970s, institutional, national, and international events established a powerful context for the…

  20. Indiana Studies: Hoosier History, Government, and People. Unit III: From Sectional Division to Political Unity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barger, Harry D.; And Others

    Unit 3 of a six-unit series on Indiana state history designed to be taught in Indiana secondary schools tells the story of Indiana from 1829 to 1908. Chapter 1 discusses national issues in an Indiana context. The effects of social movements such as Abolition, the underground railroad, and the Fugitive Slave Law on Indiana politics are examined.…

  1. Large-scale, long-term silvicultural experiments in the United States: historical overview and contemporary examples.

    Science.gov (United States)

    R. S. Seymour; J. Guldin; D. Marshall; B. Palik

    2006-01-01

    This paper provides a synopsis of large-scale, long-term silviculture experiments in the United States. Large-scale in a silvicultural context means that experimental treatment units encompass entire stands (5 to 30 ha); long-term means that results are intended to be monitored over many cutting cycles or an entire rotation, typically for many decades. Such studies...

  2. Dissociation of the Neural Correlates of Visual and Auditory Contextual Encoding

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gottlieb, Lauren J.; Uncapher, Melina R.; Rugg, Michael D.

    2010-01-01

    The present study contrasted the neural correlates of encoding item-context associations according to whether the contextual information was visual or auditory. Subjects (N = 20) underwent fMRI scanning while studying a series of visually presented pictures, each of which co-occurred with either a visually or an auditorily presented name. The task…

  3. Academic Success in Context-Based Chemistry: Demonstrating Fluid Transitions between Concepts and Context

    Science.gov (United States)

    King, Donna Therese; Ritchie, Stephen M.

    2013-01-01

    Curriculum developers and researchers have promoted context-based programmes to arrest waning student interest and participation in the enabling sciences at high school and university. Context-based programmes aim for student connections between scientific discourse and real-world contexts to elevate curricular relevance without diminishing…

  4. The Necessity of Developing Nuclear Energy in Romania in the Context of Global Economy Expansion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dana-Elena MARCEAN HOLBAN

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Energy is one of the most important elements of the global economy, being the basic unit of world economic development. In the energy mix, nuclear energy - more than any other type of energy - has generated and will always generate a series of controversies. This article aims to emphasize the economic and social implications, further than the general purpose of developing nuclear energy: national energetic security. With the starting point clearly defined – the history already written by the operation of Unit 1 and 2 – the path to discover all its elements seems to be clear, although a whole range of unknown issues can rise many different interpretations. In Romania, nuclear energy produces 18% of Romania's electricity supplies. Development of Units 3 and 4 of the Cernavoda site could more than double this capacity. This will have major implications in the trading market, significantly influencing the price of electricity not only nationally, but, in the context coupling energy markets, as well as at regional level. It is also risen the question of using this additional production. Depending on the time of commissioning, this quantity of energy that now seems overmuch, can be used for export, to reduce the use of fossil fuels and to continue to obtain electricity in the context of a system based on power plants that use fossil fuels, whose lifespan is nearing completion.

  5. Respiration-related discharge of hyoglossus muscle motor units in the rat.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Powell, Gregory L; Rice, Amber; Bennett-Cross, Seres J; Fregosi, Ralph F

    2014-01-01

    Although respiratory muscle motor units have been studied during natural breathing, simultaneous measures of muscle force have never been obtained. Tongue retractor muscles, such as the hyoglossus (HG), play an important role in swallowing, licking, chewing, breathing, and, in humans, speech. The HG is phasically recruited during the inspiratory phase of the respiratory cycle. Moreover, in urethane anesthetized rats the drive to the HG waxes and wanes spontaneously, providing a unique opportunity to study motor unit firing patterns as the muscle is driven naturally by the central pattern generator for breathing. We recorded tongue retraction force, the whole HG muscle EMG and the activity of 38 HG motor units in spontaneously breathing anesthetized rats under low-force and high-force conditions. Activity in all cases was confined to the inspiratory phase of the respiratory cycle. Changes in the EMG were correlated significantly with corresponding changes in force, with the change in EMG able to predict 53-68% of the force variation. Mean and peak motor unit firing rates were greater under high-force conditions, although the magnitude of discharge rate modulation varied widely across the population. Changes in mean and peak firing rates were significantly correlated with the corresponding changes in force, but the correlations were weak (r(2) = 0.27 and 0.25, respectively). These data indicate that, during spontaneous breathing, recruitment of HG motor units plays a critical role in the control of muscle force, with firing rate modulation playing an important but lesser role.

  6. Measuring School Contexts

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chandra L. Muller PhD

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available This article describes issues in measuring school contexts with an eye toward understanding students’ experiences and outcomes. I begin with an overview of the conceptual underpinnings related to measuring contexts, briefly describe the initiatives at the National Center for Education Statistics to measure school contexts, and identify possible gaps in those initiatives that if filled could provide valuable new data for researchers. Next, I discuss new approaches and opportunities for measurement, and special considerations related to diverse populations and youth development. I conclude with recommendations for future priorities.

  7. Knowledge Worker Mobility in Context

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wright, Mike; Tartari, Valentina; Huang, Kenneth G.

    2018-01-01

    on advancing our understanding of KWM in context, pushing the boundaries of theory and methods by developing a framework focusing on five main contextual dimensions: organizational context and roles, geographical and spatial context, social context and teams, institutional and cultural norms, and temporal...

  8. Implementation contexts of a Tuberculosis Control Program in Brazilian prisons

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luisa Gonçalves Dutra de Oliveira

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available OBJECTIVE To analyze the influence from context characteristics in the control of tuberculosis in prisons, and the influence from the program implementation degrees in observed effects.METHODS A multiple case study, with a qualitative approach, conducted in the prison systems of two Brazilian states in 2011 and 2012. Two prisons were analyzed in each state, and a prison hospital was analyzed in one of them. The data were submitted to a content analysis, which was based on external, political-organizational, implementation, and effect dimensions. Contextual factors and the ones in the program organization were correlated. The independent variable was the program implementation degree and the dependent one, the effects from the Tuberculosis Control Program in prisons.RESULTS The context with the highest sociodemographic vulnerability, the highest incidence rate of tuberculosis, and the smallest amount of available resources were associated with the low implementation degree of the program. The results from tuberculosis treatment in the prison system were better where the program had already been partially implemented than in the case with low implementation degree in both cases.CONCLUSIONS The implementation degree and its contexts – external and political-organizational dimensions – simultaneously contribute to the effects that are observed in the control of tuberculosis in analyzed prisons.

  9. Using Brain Stimulation to Disentangle Neural Correlates of Conscious Vision

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tom Alexander de Graaf

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available Research into the neural correlates of consciousness (NCCs has blossomed, due to the advent of new and increasingly sophisticated brain research tools. Neuroimaging has uncovered a variety of brain processes that relate to conscious perception, obtained in a range of experimental paradigms. But methods such as fMRI or EEG do not always afford inference on the role these brain processes play in conscious vision. Such empirical neural correlates of consciousness could reflect neural prerequisites, neural consequences, or neural substrates of a conscious experience. Here, we take a closer look at the use of non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS techniques in this context. We discuss and review how NIBS methodology can enlighten our understanding of brain mechanisms underlying conscious vision by disentangling the empirical neural correlates of consciousness.

  10. Internet of Thing Context Awareness Model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Derrick Ntalasha

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available This paper aims to address key concept of context awareness in the Internet of Things (IoT domain by providing a model that proactively monitors behaviour of devices and services. This concept represents context into two types of information representation, namely set based and mark-up based ontology for the purpose of defining a context awareness model that accurately represent context in IoT. The context model is defined using Resources, Actors, Ambients and Policies. The model adds value to the next stage of IoT evolution by using context ambients to bring about predictive and proactive modelling in understanding context and context awareness. IoT context is represented using the hierarchical hybrid context model. This model provides a method of representing contexts based on context quality and availability in an entity relation hierarchy form. The model is exemplified using the context management application based on agents. Experimental results indicate that context awareness in the Internet of Things can be enhanced by the proposed model.

  11. Religion and health in Europe: cultures, countries, context.

    Science.gov (United States)

    VanderWeele, Tyler J

    2017-10-01

    Much of the research on the relationships between religious participation and health comes from the United States. Studies in other geographic regions or cultural contexts is more sparse. Evidence presented by Ahrenfelt et al., and that from other research studies, is reviewed concerning the associations between religion and health within Europe and world-wide. The evidence within Europe suggests protective associations between various forms of religious participation and lower depression, lower mortality, and better self-rated health. Methodological challenges in such research are reviewed, and discussion is given as to whether a person-culture-fit explanation suffices to account for the existing data and to what other mechanisms might be operative.

  12. Implementing a Context-Based Environmental Science Unit in the Middle Years: Teaching and Learning at the Creek

    Science.gov (United States)

    King, Donna; Ginns, Ian

    2015-01-01

    Engaging middle school students in science continues to be a challenge in Australian schools. One initiative that has been tried in the senior years but is a more recent development in the middle years is the context-based approach. In this ethnographic study, we researched the teaching and learning transactions that occurred in one ninth grade…

  13. Promoting Modeling and Covariational Reasoning among Secondary School Students in the Context of Big Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gil, Einat; Gibbs, Alison L.

    2017-01-01

    In this study, we follow students' modeling and covariational reasoning in the context of learning about big data. A three-week unit was designed to allow 12th grade students in a mathematics course to explore big and mid-size data using concepts such as trend and scatter to describe the relationships between variables in multivariate settings.…

  14. Unitization in Brazil: controversial issues; Unitizacao no Brasil: questoes controversas

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bucheb, Jose Alberto [PETROBRAS, Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil)

    2008-07-01

    One of the main consequences of the growing number of the tendered blocks is the increasing probability of the discovery of oil and gas accumulations that extends through more than one concession. In these cases, the Brazilian Petroleum Law determines that the concessionaires of the adjoining blocks shall agree on the unitization of the production. In this context, the negotiations of the first agreements have brought some controversies not yet resolved. The first one is related to the instrument that will define the basis of the unitization process in case of non-agreement within the maximum period established by the ANP. Another issue still in discussion relates to the scope of the unitization process: field, block, vertical prism of indeterminate depth, vertical prism of determinate depth or reservoir (accumulation). Additionally, the unitization involving concessions with different local content commitments is analyzed. (author)

  15. Vestibular nuclei and cerebellum put visual gravitational motion in context.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miller, William L; Maffei, Vincenzo; Bosco, Gianfranco; Iosa, Marco; Zago, Myrka; Macaluso, Emiliano; Lacquaniti, Francesco

    2008-04-01

    Animal survival in the forest, and human success on the sports field, often depend on the ability to seize a target on the fly. All bodies fall at the same rate in the gravitational field, but the corresponding retinal motion varies with apparent viewing distance. How then does the brain predict time-to-collision under gravity? A perspective context from natural or pictorial settings might afford accurate predictions of gravity's effects via the recovery of an environmental reference from the scene structure. We report that embedding motion in a pictorial scene facilitates interception of gravitational acceleration over unnatural acceleration, whereas a blank scene eliminates such bias. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) revealed blood-oxygen-level-dependent correlates of these visual context effects on gravitational motion processing in the vestibular nuclei and posterior cerebellar vermis. Our results suggest an early stage of integration of high-level visual analysis with gravity-related motion information, which may represent the substrate for perceptual constancy of ubiquitous gravitational motion.

  16. Multiple soft limits of cosmological correlation functions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Joyce, Austin; Khoury, Justin; Simonović, Marko

    2015-01-01

    We derive novel identities satisfied by inflationary correlation functions in the limit where two external momenta are taken to be small. We derive these statements in two ways: using background-wave arguments and as Ward identities following from the fixed-time path integral. Interestingly, these identities allow us to constrain some of the O(q 2 ) components of the soft limit, in contrast to their single-soft analogues. We provide several nontrivial checks of our identities both in the context of resonant non-Gaussianities and in small sound speed models. Additionally, we extend the relation at lowest order in external momenta to arbitrarily many soft legs, and comment on the many-soft extension at higher orders in the soft momentum. Finally, we consider how higher soft limits lead to identities satisfied by correlation functions in large-scale structure

  17. Beliefs, Practical Knowledge, and Context: A Longitudinal Study of a Beginning Biology Teacher's 5E Unit

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sickel, Aaron J.; Friedrichsen, Patricia

    2015-01-01

    The purpose of this three-year case study was to understand how a beginning biology teacher (Alice) designed and taught a 5E unit on natural selection, how the unit changed when she took a position in a different school district, and why the changes occurred. We examined Alice's developing beliefs about science teaching and learning,…

  18. Fatalities from a Greek Burn Unit-A clinicopathological correlation of 129 cases.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tsagkarakis, Myron; Spyropoulou, Georgia-Alexandra; Pavlidis, Leonidas; Kritikos, Othon; Karakoukis, Nikolaos; Kyriopoulos, Evgenia; Tsoutsos, Dimosthenis

    2018-02-01

    This is a retrospective study of the hospital data and autopsy reports of burn patients who died in the Burn Unit of the Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Microsurgery and Burn Center of "G. Gennimatas" Hospital of Athens, Greece during the period 1999-2005. The records of the burn victims deceased during the period 1999-2005 were reviewed and the cause of injury, percentage of body surface area (BSA) burned, age, gender, and co-morbidities were documented. Moreover, the autopsy findings per system were recorded and compared to clinical reports to analyze any inconsistencies. Between 1999 and 2005, 368 patients were hospitalized in the Burn Unit of "G. Gennimatas" Hospital of Athens, Greece. One-hundred and twenty-nine patients died. The first three causes of death in autopsy reports were: pneumonia (30 patients), myocardial infarction (17 cases) and multiple organ failure (15 patients). Three patients had class I diagnostic discrepancies, 5 patients had class II diagnostic discrepancies and minor diagnostic errors (class III and IV) were documented in 20 patients. Although the percentage of discrepancies of premortem compared to postmortem diagnosis in this series of deceased burn patients is small (2.3%), we believe that it is sufficient to justify the performance of autopsies. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd and ISBI. All rights reserved.

  19. Environmental correlates to behavioral health outcomes in Alzheimer's special care units.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zeisel, John; Silverstein, Nina M; Hyde, Joan; Levkoff, Sue; Lawton, M Powell; Holmes, William

    2003-10-01

    We systematically measured the associations between environmental design features of nursing home special care units and the incidence of aggression, agitation, social withdrawal, depression, and psychotic problems among persons living there who have Alzheimer's disease or a related disorder. We developed and tested a model of critical health-related environmental design features in settings for people with Alzheimer's disease. We used hierarchical linear modeling statistical techniques to assess associations between seven environmental design features and behavioral health measures for 427 residents in 15 special care units. Behavioral health measures included the Cohen-Mansfield physical agitation, verbal agitation, and aggressive behavior scales, the Multidimensional Observation Scale for Elderly Subjects depression and social withdrawal scales, and BEHAVE-AD (psychotic symptom list) misidentification and paranoid delusions scales. Statistical controls were included for the influence of, among others, cognitive status, need for assistance with activities of daily living, prescription drug use, amount of Alzheimer's staff training, and staff-to-resident ratio. Although hierarchical linear modeling minimizes the risk of Type II-false positive-error, this exploratory study also pays special attention to avoiding Type I error-the failure to recognize possible relationships between behavioral health characteristics and independent variables. We found associations between each behavioral health measure and particular environmental design features, as well as between behavioral health measures and both resident and nonenvironmental facility variables. This research demonstrates the potential that environment has for contributing to the improvement of Alzheimer's symptoms. A balanced combination of pharmacologic, behavioral, and environmental approaches is likely to be most effective in improving the health, behavior, and quality of life of people with Alzheimer

  20. Philosophy of Post-Modernism in Context of Modern Technogenic Problems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    O. M. Khramtsova

    2005-01-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of the given paper is to analyse postmodernist philosophy in the context of modem technogenic problems. The author considers one of the main postmodernist philosophy problems that is the problem of «text» interpretation because narrative strategies are regarded as basic ones in modem technogenic culture. The author analyses some strategies concerning the relation to a text in postmodernist philosophy and reveals a general correlation. The conclusion has been made that postmodernist «text» represents a technogenic image of the world as a combination of non-linear processes.

  1. Theory and context / Theory in context

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Glaveanu, Vlad Petre

    2014-01-01

    trans-disciplinary manner. Consideration needs to be given as well to connected scholarship focusing on imagination, innova-tion, and improvisation. Last but not least, an expanded the-ory of context cannot ignore the institutional context of doing research on creativity. Creativity scholars are facing......It is debatable whether the psychology of creativity is a field in crisis or not. There are clear signs of increased fragmenta-tion and a scarcity of integrative efforts, but is this necessari-ly bad? Do we need more comprehensive theories of creativ-ity and a return to old epistemological...... questions? This de-pends on how one understands theory. Against a view of theoretical work as aiming towards generality, universality, uniformity, completeness, and singularity, I advocate for a dynamic perspective in which theory is plural, multifaceted, and contextual. Far from ‘waiting for the Messiah...

  2. Transformational Leadership in the Educational System of the United Arab Emirates

    Science.gov (United States)

    Litz, David; Scott, Shelleyann

    2017-01-01

    Globally, there is increasing pressure on schools to enact change, and the literature indicates that transformational leadership is positively associated with school leaders' effectiveness at implementing positive reforms. Here, we report on a study conducted in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) within the current context of intense educational…

  3. Column Generation for Transmission Switching of Electricity Networks with Unit Commitment

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Villumsen, Jonas Christoffer; Philpott, Andy B.

    2011-01-01

    This paper presents the problem of finding the minimum cost dispatch and commitment of power generation units in a transmission network with active switching.We use the term active switching to denote the use of switches to optimize network topology in an operational context. We propose a Dantzig...

  4. Correlations of high transverse momentum π0 pairs produced at the CERN ISR

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kourkoumelis, C.; Resvanis, L.K.; Filippas, T.A.; Fokitis, E.; Fabjan, C.W.; Fields, T.; Lissauer, D.; Mannelli, I.; Mouzourakis, P.; Nappi, A.; Willis, W.J.; Goldberg, M.; Horwitz, N.; Moneti, G.C.

    1979-01-01

    Correlations of two π 0 mesons with transverse momenta up to 10 GeV/c have been measured utilizing apparatus with large azimuthal acceptance. The data are analysed in the context of constituent scattering models, and also compared with a simple 'background' hypothesis. (Auth.)

  5. Correlation of needle core biopsy with excision histology in screen-detected B3 lesions: the Merrion Breast Screening Unit experience.

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    Hayes, B D

    2012-02-01

    AIMS: Needle core biopsy (NCB) is a widely-used technique for non-operative evaluation of screen-detected breast lesions. Although most NCBs are B2 (benign) or B5 (malignant), some fall into the B3 category of "uncertain malignant potential". This study aims to categorise the lesions prompting a B3 NCB in the Merrion Breast Screening Unit, and establish the incidence of malignancy on subsequent excision biopsy. METHODS: Patients attending the Merrion Breast Screening Unit in Dublin between 2000 and 2008 who had a B3 NCB were identified. The NCB pathology reports were reviewed and the diagnosis correlated with excision histology; the latter was classified as benign, atypical or malignant. Lesion-specific positive predictive values (PPVs) for malignancy were derived. RESULTS: 141 patients with a B3 NCB were identified. The most frequent lesions on NCB were radial scar (RS; n = 57), atypical intraductal epithelial proliferation (AIDEP; n = 25) and papillary lesion (n = 24). The final diagnosis was malignant in 22 patients (16%), atypical in 40 (28%) and benign in 79 (56%). Two of the patients with a malignant diagnosis had invasive carcinoma. The lesion-specific PPVs were: lobular neoplasia 50%, AIDEP 32%, columnar cell lesion with atypia 12.5%, RS 12.3%, papillary lesion 8.3%, suspected phyllodes tumour 7.7%, and spindle cell lesion 0%. Atypia on RS NCB predicted an atypical or malignant excision diagnosis, but atypia on papillary lesion NCB did not. CONCLUSIONS: One-sixth of B3 NCBs in this series proved to be malignant on excision. The PPV for malignancy varied according to lesion type.

  6. Need for screening for alcohol and drugs in Emergency Trauma Units

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Objectives: To examine the prevalence of alcohol and drug use and abuse, to identify socio-demographic characteristics that correlated with injury and to identify risk factors for injury in a Nigerian Trauma unit. Design: Descriptive cross sectional study. Setting: The study was carried out a general hospital trauma unit in ...

  7. A correlated-cluster model and the ridge phenomenon in hadron–hadron collisions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sanchis-Lozano, Miguel-Angel, E-mail: Miguel.Angel.Sanchis@ific.uv.es [Instituto de Física Corpuscular (IFIC) and Departamento de Física Teórica, Centro Mixto Universitat de València-CSIC, Dr. Moliner 50, E-46100 Burjassot, Valencia (Spain); Sarkisyan-Grinbaum, Edward, E-mail: sedward@cern.ch [Experimental Physics Department, CERN, 1211 Geneva 23 (Switzerland); Department of Physics, The University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX 76019 (United States)

    2017-03-10

    A study of the near-side ridge phenomenon in hadron–hadron collisions based on a cluster picture of multiparticle production is presented. The near-side ridge effect is shown to have a natural explanation in this context provided that clusters are produced in a correlated manner in the collision transverse plane.

  8. A correlated-cluster model and the ridge phenomenon in hadron-hadron collisions

    CERN Document Server

    Sanchis-Lozano, Miguel-Angel

    2017-03-10

    A study of the near-side ridge phenomenon in hadron-hadron collisions based on a cluster picture of multiparticle production is presented. The near-side ridge effect is shown to have a natural explanation in this context provided that clusters are produced in a correlated manner in the collision transverse plane.

  9. Context management platform for tourism applications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buján, David; Martín, David; Torices, Ortzi; López-de-Ipiña, Diego; Lamsfus, Carlos; Abaitua, Joseba; Alzua-Sorzabal, Aurkene

    2013-06-24

    The notion of context has been widely studied and there are several authors that have proposed different definitions of context. However, context has not been widely studied in the framework of human mobility and the notion of context has been imported directly from other computing fields without specifically addressing the tourism domain requirements. In order to store and manage context information a context data model and a context management platform are needed. Ontologies have been widely used in context modelling, but many of them are designed to be applied in general ubiquitous computing environments, do not contain specific concepts related to the tourism domain or some approaches do not contain enough concepts to represent context information related to the visitor on the move. That is why we propose a new approach to provide a better solution to model context data in tourism environments, adding more value to our solution reusing data about tourist resources from an Open Data repository and publishing it as Linked Data. We also propose the architecture for a context information management platform based on this context data model.

  10. BELIEFS ABOUT GOOD PROFESSIONAL CAREGIVER OF DEPENDENT SENIORS IN THE HOME CONTEXT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Isabela Gianfrancisco

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available This study aimed to investigate the beliefs about what being a good professional caregiver of dependent seniors at home context. This is an exploratory, descriptive and cross-sectional study. The sample consisted of 59 professional caregivers of seniors recruited by convenience. Data were collected through interviews using a questionnaire developed from the literature review. For data analysis, we used the content analysis proposed by Bardin (1977/2000.The categories were classified from three elements of professional competence, namely: knowledge, skills and attitudes. The largest number of variables that characterizes what is to be a good professional caregiver of the elderly in the home context is in category attitudes. The most reported subcategory was the demonstration of affection with 55 units of analysis (39%.The knowledge generated category three subcategories, the most prominent, "technical procedures" with 33 (50,8% units of analysis. In the category related to attitudes, highlighted subcategory was professional achievement. The results suggest the need to improve the process of training of elderly caregivers, reflecting on the diversity and the multiple dimensions of old age, to promote the improvement of the functional capacity of seniors dependents. Also, it is crucial to encourage reflections on the stigmas, stereotypes and age-related bias; overcome technical deficiencies and strengthen the identity of the professional caregiver.

  11. Grammars with two-sided contexts

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mikhail Barash

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available In a recent paper (M. Barash, A. Okhotin, "Defining contexts in context-free grammars", LATA 2012, the authors introduced an extension of the context-free grammars equipped with an operator for referring to the left context of the substring being defined. This paper proposes a more general model, in which context specifications may be two-sided, that is, both the left and the right contexts can be specified by the corresponding operators. The paper gives the definitions and establishes the basic theory of such grammars, leading to a normal form and a parsing algorithm working in time O(n^4, where n is the length of the input string.

  12. The Living, Dynamic and Complex Environment Care in Intensive Care Unit.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Backes, Marli Terezinha Stein; Erdmann, Alacoque Lorenzini; Büscher, Andreas

    2015-01-01

    to understand the meaning of the Adult Intensive Care Unit environment of care, experienced by professionals working in this unit, managers, patients, families and professional support services, as well as build a theoretical model about the Adult Intensive Care Unit environment of care. Grounded Theory, both for the collection and for data analysis. Based on theoretical sampling, we carried out 39 in-depth interviews semi-structured from three different Adult Intensive Care Units. built up the so-called substantive theory "Sustaining life in the complex environment of care in the Intensive Care Unit". It was bounded by eight categories: "caring and continuously monitoring the patient" and "using appropriate and differentiated technology" (causal conditions); "Providing a suitable environment" and "having relatives with concern" (context); "Mediating facilities and difficulties" (intervenienting conditions); "Organizing the environment and managing the dynamics of the unit" (strategy) and "finding it difficult to accept and deal with death" (consequences). confirmed the thesis that "the care environment in the Intensive Care Unit is a living environment, dynamic and complex that sustains the life of her hospitalized patients".

  13. Korean immigrant women's lived experience of childbirth in the United States.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seo, Jin Young; Kim, Wooksoo; Dickerson, Suzanne S

    2014-01-01

    To understand Korean immigrant women's common experiences and practices of utilizing health care services in the United States during childbirth. A qualitative interpretive phenomenological research design. Recruitment was conducted through advertisement on the MissyUSA.com website, which is the largest online community for married Korean women who live in North America. A purposive sample of 15 Korean immigrant women who experienced childbirth in the United States within the past 5 years was recruited. Data were collected using semistructured telephone interviews and were analyzed using the Heideggerian hermeneutical methodology. During childbirth in the United States, participants faced multifaceted barriers in unfamiliar sociocultural contexts yet maintained their own cultural heritages. They navigated the unfamiliar health care system and developed their own strategies to overcome barriers to health care access. Korean immigrant women actively sought health information on the Internet and through social networking during childbirth. Korean immigrant women selectively accepted new cultural beliefs with some modifications from their own cultural contexts and developed their own distinct birth cultures. Understanding a particular culture and respecting women's traditions, beliefs, and practices about their childbirth could help nurses to provide culturally sensitive care. © 2014 AWHONN, the Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses.

  14. Incidence of constipation in an intensive care unit

    OpenAIRE

    Guerra, Tatiana Lopes de Souza; Mendonça, Simone Sotero; Guimarães Marshall, Norma

    2013-01-01

    Objectives To evaluate the incidence of constipation in critical patients on enteral nutrition in a hospital intensive care unit and to correlate this incidence with the variables found for critical patients. Methods The present investigation was a retrospective analytical study conducted in the intensive care unit of Hospital Regional da Asa Norte (DF) via the analysis of medical records of patients admitted during the period from January to December 2011. Data on the incidence of constipati...

  15. Understanding the context of balanced scorecard implementation: a hospital-based case study in Pakistan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rabbani, Fauziah; Lalji, Sabrina Nh; Abbas, Farhat; Jafri, Sm Wasim; Razzak, Junaid A; Nabi, Naheed; Jahan, Firdous; Ajmal, Agha; Petzold, Max; Brommels, Mats; Tomson, Goran

    2011-03-31

    As a response to a changing operating environment, healthcare administrators are implementing modern management tools in their organizations. The balanced scorecard (BSC) is considered a viable tool in high-income countries to improve hospital performance. The BSC has not been applied to hospital settings in low-income countries nor has the context for implementation been examined. This study explored contextual perspectives in relation to BSC implementation in a Pakistani hospital. Four clinical units of this hospital were involved in the BSC implementation based on their willingness to participate. Implementation included sensitization of units towards the BSC, developing specialty specific BSCs and reporting of performance based on the BSC during administrative meetings. Pettigrew and Whipp's context (why), process (how) and content (what) framework of strategic change was used to guide data collection and analysis. Data collection methods included quantitative tools (a validated culture assessment questionnaire) and qualitative approaches including key informant interviews and participant observation. Method triangulation provided common and contrasting results between the four units. A participatory culture, supportive leadership, financial and non-financial incentives, the presentation of clear direction by integrating support for the BSC in policies, resources, and routine activities emerged as desirable attributes for BSC implementation. The two units that lagged behind were more involved in direct inpatient care and carried a considerable clinical workload. Role clarification and consensus about the purpose and benefits of the BSC were noted as key strategies for overcoming implementation challenges in two clinical units that were relatively ahead in BSC implementation. It was noted that, rather than seeking to replace existing information systems, initiatives such as the BSC could be readily adopted if they are built on existing infrastructures and data

  16. Understanding the context of balanced scorecard implementation: a hospital-based case study in pakistan

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ajmal Agha

    2011-03-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background As a response to a changing operating environment, healthcare administrators are implementing modern management tools in their organizations. The balanced scorecard (BSC is considered a viable tool in high-income countries to improve hospital performance. The BSC has not been applied to hospital settings in low-income countries nor has the context for implementation been examined. This study explored contextual perspectives in relation to BSC implementation in a Pakistani hospital. Methods Four clinical units of this hospital were involved in the BSC implementation based on their willingness to participate. Implementation included sensitization of units towards the BSC, developing specialty specific BSCs and reporting of performance based on the BSC during administrative meetings. Pettigrew and Whipp's context (why, process (how and content (what framework of strategic change was used to guide data collection and analysis. Data collection methods included quantitative tools (a validated culture assessment questionnaire and qualitative approaches including key informant interviews and participant observation. Results Method triangulation provided common and contrasting results between the four units. A participatory culture, supportive leadership, financial and non-financial incentives, the presentation of clear direction by integrating support for the BSC in policies, resources, and routine activities emerged as desirable attributes for BSC implementation. The two units that lagged behind were more involved in direct inpatient care and carried a considerable clinical workload. Role clarification and consensus about the purpose and benefits of the BSC were noted as key strategies for overcoming implementation challenges in two clinical units that were relatively ahead in BSC implementation. It was noted that, rather than seeking to replace existing information systems, initiatives such as the BSC could be readily adopted if

  17. Context-dependent Generalization

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jordan A Taylor

    2013-05-01

    Full Text Available The pattern of generalization following motor learning can provide a probe on the neural mechanisms underlying learning. For example, the breadth of generalization to untrained regions of space after visuomotor adaptation to targets in a restricted region of space has been attributed to the directional tuning properties of neurons in the motor system. Building on this idea, the effect of different types of perturbations on generalization (e.g., rotation versus visual translation have been attributed to the selection of differentially tuned populations. Overlooked in this discussion is consideration of how the context of the training environment may constrain generalization. Here, we explore the role of context by having participants learn a visuomotor rotation or a translational shift in two different contexts, one in which the array of targets were presented in a circular arrangement and the other in which they were presented in a rectilinear arrangement. The perturbation and environments were either consistent (e.g., rotation with circular arrangement or inconsistent (e.g., rotation with rectilinear arrangement. The pattern of generalization across the workspace was much more dependent on the context of the environment than on the perturbation, with broad generalization for the rectilinear arrangement for both types of perturbations. Moreover, the generalization pattern for this context was evident, even when the perturbation was introduced in a gradual manner, precluding the use of an explicit strategy. We describe how current models of generalization might be modified to incorporate these results, building on the idea that context provides a strong bias for how the motor system infers the nature of the visuomotor perturbation and, in turn, how this information influences the pattern of generalization.

  18. Hedging Your Bets by Learning Reward Correlations in the Human Brain

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wunderlich, Klaus; Symmonds, Mkael; Bossaerts, Peter; Dolan, Raymond J.

    2011-01-01

    Summary Human subjects are proficient at tracking the mean and variance of rewards and updating these via prediction errors. Here, we addressed whether humans can also learn about higher-order relationships between distinct environmental outcomes, a defining ecological feature of contexts where multiple sources of rewards are available. By manipulating the degree to which distinct outcomes are correlated, we show that subjects implemented an explicit model-based strategy to learn the associated outcome correlations and were adept in using that information to dynamically adjust their choices in a task that required a minimization of outcome variance. Importantly, the experimentally generated outcome correlations were explicitly represented neuronally in right midinsula with a learning prediction error signal expressed in rostral anterior cingulate cortex. Thus, our data show that the human brain represents higher-order correlation structures between rewards, a core adaptive ability whose immediate benefit is optimized sampling. PMID:21943609

  19. Licensed pertussis vaccines in the United States. History and current state.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Klein, Nicola P

    2014-01-01

    The United States switched from whole cell to acellular pertussis vaccines in the 1990s following global concerns with the safety of the whole cell vaccines. Despite high levels of acellular pertussis vaccine coverage, the United States and other countries are experiencing large pertussis outbreaks. The aim of this article is to describe the historical context which led to acellular pertussis vaccine development, focusing on vaccines currently licensed in the US, and to review evidence that waning protection following licensed acellular pertussis vaccines have been significant factors in the widespread reappearance of pertussis.

  20. Context Sensitive Health Informatics

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kuziemsky, Craig; Nøhr, Christian; Aarts, Jos

    2013-01-01

    Context is a key consideration when designing and evaluating health information technology (HIT) and cannot be overstated. Unintended consequences are common post HIT implementation and even well designed technology may not achieve desired outcomes because of contextual issues. While context should...... be considered in the design and evaluation of health information systems (HISs) there is a shortcoming of empirical research on contextual aspects of HIT. This conference integrates the sociotechnical and Human-Centered-Design (HCD) approaches and showcases current research on context sensitive health...... informatics. The papers and presentations outlines theories and models for studying contextual issues and insights on how we can better design HIT to accommodate different healthcare contexts....

  1. Examining the Sociolinguistic Context in Schools and Neighborhoods of Pre-Adolescent Latino Students: Implications for Ethnic Identity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Feinauer, Erika; Whiting, Erin F.

    2012-01-01

    This study examined the sociolinguistic contexts of neighborhoods and schools in two predominantly Latino communities in the United States. We used census data to assess social and ethnic composition and observational data to compare and contrast environmental print, language use, and availability of community services in Spanish in these schools…

  2. Correlations and self-consistency in pion scattering. II

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Johnson, M.B.; Keister, B.D.

    1978-01-01

    In an attempt to overcome certain difficulties of summing higher order processes in pion multiple scattering theories, a new, systematic expansion for the interaction of a pion in nuclear matter is derived within the context of the Foldy-Walecka theory, incorporating nucleon-nucleon correlations and an idea of self-consistency. The first two orders in the expansion are evaluated as a function of the nonlocality range; the expansion appears to be rapidly converging, in contrast to expansion schemes previously examined. (Auth.)

  3. Desired Destinations of Homeless Women: Realizing Aspirations Within the Context of Homelessness.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Biederman, Donna J; Forlan, Nicole

    2016-08-01

    Despite recent decreases, homelessness remains a substantial problem in the United States. Homelessness is associated with poor health, and homeless women experience earlier mortality than their housed counterparts. Understanding the aspirations of homeless women may offer service providers avenues for intervention to increase well-being among this vulnerable population. This study, a secondary analysis of transcribed interviews (n = 20), provides insight into the aspirations of homeless women. Opportunities for service providers to intervene on these aspirations within the context of homelessness are offered.

  4. Context Management Platform for Tourism Applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buján, David; Martín, David; Torices, Ortzi; López-de-Ipiña, Diego; Lamsfus, Carlos; Abaitua, Joseba; Alzua-Sorzabal, Aurkene

    2013-01-01

    The notion of context has been widely studied and there are several authors that have proposed different definitions of context. However, context has not been widely studied in the framework of human mobility and the notion of context has been imported directly from other computing fields without specifically addressing the tourism domain requirements. In order to store and manage context information a context data model and a context management platform are needed. Ontologies have been widely used in context modelling, but many of them are designed to be applied in general ubiquitous computing environments, do not contain specific concepts related to the tourism domain or some approaches do not contain enough concepts to represent context information related to the visitor on the move. That is why we propose a new approach to provide a better solution to model context data in tourism environments, adding more value to our solution reusing data about tourist resources from an Open Data repository and publishing it as Linked Data. We also propose the architecture for a context information management platform based on this context data model. PMID:23797739

  5. Human Chagas Disease and Migration in the Context of Globalization: Some Particular Aspects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    João Carlos Pinto Dias

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Human Chagas disease originated in Latin America, being spread around the world in relation with multiple bioecological, sociocultural, and political factors. The process of the disease production and dispersion is discussed, emphasizing the human migration and correlated aspects, in the context of globalization. Positive and negative consequences concern the future of this trypanosomiasis, mainly in terms of the ecologic and sociopolitical characteristics of the endemic and nonendemic countries.

  6. Concepts of context in music therapy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rolvsjord, Randi; Stige, Brynjulf

    2015-01-02

    In contemporary music therapy as well as in related interdisciplinary fields, the importance of context in relation to theory, research, and practice has been emphasized. However, the word context seems to be used in several different ways and conceptualizations of contextual approaches vary too. The objective of this theoretical article is to clarify traditions of language use in relation to context in music therapy. In reviewing and discussing the literature, we focus on the field of mental health care. When discussing issues related to context, this literature partly focuses on the surroundings of music therapy practice, partly on the ecology of reciprocal influences within and between situations or systems. On this basis, three types of context awareness in music therapy are identified: music therapy in context; music therapy as context; and music therapy as interacting contexts. The identified types of context awareness are exemplified through references to music therapy literature and then discussed in relation to two very different metaphors, namely context as frame and context as link. Implications for practice, research, and theory development in music therapy are suggested.

  7. Concepts of context in music therapy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rolvsjord, Randi; Stige, Brynjulf

    2015-01-01

    In contemporary music therapy as well as in related interdisciplinary fields, the importance of context in relation to theory, research, and practice has been emphasized. However, the word context seems to be used in several different ways and conceptualizations of contextual approaches vary too. The objective of this theoretical article is to clarify traditions of language use in relation to context in music therapy. In reviewing and discussing the literature, we focus on the field of mental health care. When discussing issues related to context, this literature partly focuses on the surroundings of music therapy practice, partly on the ecology of reciprocal influences within and between situations or systems. On this basis, three types of context awareness in music therapy are identified: music therapy in context; music therapy as context; and music therapy as interacting contexts. The identified types of context awareness are exemplified through references to music therapy literature and then discussed in relation to two very different metaphors, namely context as frame and context as link. Implications for practice, research, and theory development in music therapy are suggested. PMID:26157199

  8. Rooftop Unit Comparison Calculator User Manual

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Miller, James D. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

    2015-04-30

    This document serves as a user manual for the Packaged rooftop air conditioners and heat pump units comparison calculator (RTUCC) and is an aggregation of the calculator’s website documentation. Content ranges from new-user guide material like the “Quick Start” to the more technical/algorithmic descriptions of the “Methods Pages.” There is also a section listing all the context-help topics that support the features on the “Controls” page. The appendix has a discussion of the EnergyPlus runs that supported the development of the building-response models.

  9. Clinicoanatomical correlation in stroke related aphasia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vikram Bohra

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Context: With advances in neuroimaging, traditional views regarding the clinicoanatomic correlation in stroke patients with aphasia are being challenged and it has been observed that lesions at a given cortical or subcortical site may manifest with different aphasia profiles. Aims: To study as to whether there is a strict clinicoanatomical correlation between the type of aphasia and lesion site in patients with first ever stroke. Settings and Design: Observational study, based in a tertiary care center. Materials and Methods: Stroke patient′s ≥18 years of age were screened and those with first ever stroke and aphasia were subjected to a detailed stroke workup and language assessment using the Hindi version of Western Aphasia Battery (WAB. Statistical analysis was done with χ2 test with Yates correction and Kruskal-Wallis test. The level of significance was set at P < 0.05. Results: Overall aphasia was detected in 27.9% of the 260 screened cases with stroke. Amongst 60 cases with first ever stroke and aphasia, the aphasia type was: Global (33.33%, Broca′s (28.3%, transcortical motor (13.33%, transcortical sensory (10%, Wernicke′s (8.33%, anomic (5%, and conduction (1.67% aphasia. A definite correlation between the lesion site and the type of aphasia as per the traditional classification was observed in 35% cases only. Conclusions: No absolute correlation exists between the lesion site and the type of clinical aphasia syndrome in majority of the patients with cortical and subcortical stroke.

  10. The Nature, Prevalence and Correlates of Generativity among Men in Middle Career

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clark, Mike; Arnold, John

    2008-01-01

    Multiple methods were used to explore the character, contexts, and correlates of generativity among 41 men aged 45-55. Generativity in the role of worker was unrelated to generativity in men's roles as father, citizen and "leisurite". Individuals who were generative in their work reported greater job satisfaction and subjective career success.…

  11. Patterns and correlates of pubertal development in Canadian youth: effects of family context.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arim, Rubab G; Shapka, Jennifer D; Dahinten, V Susan; Willms, J Douglas

    2007-01-01

    Current health literature suggests that there has been a decline in the age of pubertal onset, and that pubertal development is influenced by social context. Unfortunately, contemporary Canadian-specific data have not been available. This study examined the odds of having entered puberty at various ages during adolescence, before and after controlling for the effects of family socio-economic status and family structure. Longitudinal data for this study were drawn from the first four cycles of the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth. The final sample consisted of 7977 adolescents ranging in age from 10 to 17. Pubertal status of the participants was identified based on pubic hair, facial hair growth, and voice change, for boys; and pubic hair, breast development, and menstruation, for girls. Trajectories of pubertal development were analyzed with HLM growth curve modelling techniques. The results indicated that, compared to boys, the odds of having entered puberty at age 13 were 6.45 times higher for girls and that girls go through puberty more quickly. Low family socio-economic status and living with a stepfather were found to predict early onset of pubertal development. Contextual factors are related to pubertal development. Additional research is needed to develop a more solid understanding of how psychosocial factors interact to predict gendered patterns of pubertal development.

  12. Assessment of three-dimensional joint kinematics of the upper limb during simulated swimming using wearable inertial-magnetic measurement units.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fantozzi, Silvia; Giovanardi, Andrea; Magalhães, Fabrício Anício; Di Michele, Rocco; Cortesi, Matteo; Gatta, Giorgio

    2016-01-01

    The analysis of the joint kinematics during swimming plays a fundamental role both in sports conditioning and in clinical contexts. Contrary to the traditional video analysis, wearable inertial-magnetic measurements units (IMMUs) allow to analyse both the underwater and aerial phases of the swimming stroke over the whole length of the swimming pool. Furthermore, the rapid calibration and short data processing required by IMMUs provide coaches and athletes with an immediate feedback on swimming kinematics during training. This study aimed to develop a protocol to assess the three-dimensional kinematics of the upper limbs during swimming using IMMUs. Kinematics were evaluated during simulated dry-land swimming trials performed in the laboratory by eight swimmers. A stereo-photogrammetric system was used as the gold standard. The results showed high coefficient of multiple correlation (CMC) values, with median (first-third quartile) of 0.97 (0.93-0.95) and 0.99 (0.97-0.99) for simulated front-crawl and breaststroke, respectively. Furthermore, the joint angles were estimated with an accuracy increasing from distal to proximal joints, with wrist indices showing median CMC values always higher than 0.90. The present findings represent an important step towards the practical use of technology based on IMMUs for the kinematic analysis of swimming in applied contexts.

  13. Biostratigraphical correlation of a new interglacial lacustrine deposit from Lind, western Jutland, Denmark

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Odgaard, Bent Vad; Krohn, Charlotte Fog; Kronborg, Christian

    2008-01-01

    and animal macrofossils and two cores were secured from the central part of the basin where the lacustrine deposits have a thickness of about 15 m. The stratigraphy of the deposit can be subdivided into unit A: a lake marl (4 m) superimposed by 3 metres of diatomite and sealed by a thin diamicton. On top...... of unit A follows unit B: 4 metres of gyttja, calcareous at the basal part and sealed by 40 cm of clay. Finally unit C on top of unit B is represented by 1.5 metres of gyttja. The pollen record of unit A can be correlated to the classical Danish record from the nearby Harreskov site (Andersen 1965...

  14. Relationship between crown dieback and drought in the southeastern United States

    Science.gov (United States)

    Michael K. Crosby; Zhaofei Fan; Martin A. Spetich; Theodor D. Leininger; Xingang. Fan

    2012-01-01

    Forest Health and Monitoring (FHM) and Palmer's Drought Severity Index (PDSI) data were obtained for 11 states in the southeastern United States to assess the relationship between drought and crown dieback. Correlation analyses were performed at the species group and ecoregion levels within the study area. The results indicate a negative correlation between...

  15. Multidisciplinary Treatments, Patient Characteristics, Context of Care, and Adverse Incidents in Older, Hospitalized Adults

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Leah L. Shever

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this study was to examine factors that contribute to adverse incidents by creating a model that included patient characteristics, clinical conditions, nursing unit context of care variables, medical treatments, pharmaceutical treatments, and nursing treatments. Data were abstracted from electronic, administrative, and clinical data repositories. The sample included older adults hospitalized during a four-year period at one, academic medical facility in the Midwestern United States who were at risk for falling. Relational databases were built and a multistep, statistical model building analytic process was used. Total registered nurse (RN hours per patient day (HPPD and HPPDs dropping below the nursing unit average were significant explanatory variables for experiencing an adverse incident. The number of medical and pharmaceutical treatments that a patient received during hospitalization as well as many specific nursing treatments (e.g., restraint use, neurological monitoring were also contributors to experiencing an adverse incident.

  16. Bilingual Preschool Education in the United States and Panama: A Comparative Analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Valdivia, Rebeca

    This paper compares bilingual education policy and practice in Panama and the United States. Particular issues studied include the following: the social context of bilingual education in the two countries; programming and policy differences; teacher qualifications; availability of age-appropriate materials; and administrative support, level of…

  17. Applying the behavioral economics principle of unit price to DRO schedule thinning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roane, Henry S; Falcomata, Terry S; Fisher, Wayne W

    2007-01-01

    Within the context of behavioral economics, the ratio of response requirements to reinforcer magnitude is called unit price. In this investigation, we yoked increases in reinforcer magnitude with increases in intervals of differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO) to thin DRO intervals to a terminal value.

  18. Physiotherapy practice patterns in Intensive Care Units of Nepal : A multicenter survey

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Baidya, Sumana; Acharya, Ranjeeta S.; Coppieters, Michel W.

    2016-01-01

    Context: As physiotherapy (PT) is a young profession in Nepal, there is a dearth of insight into the common practices of physiotherapists in critical care. Aims: To identify the availability of PT services in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) and articulate the common practices by physiotherapists in ICUs

  19. Context reinstatement and memory for intrinsic versus extrinsic context: the role of item generation at encoding or retrieval.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nieznański, Marek

    2014-10-01

    According to many theoretical accounts, reinstating study context at the time of test creates optimal circumstances for item retrieval. The role of context reinstatement was tested in reference to context memory in several experiments. On the encoding phase, participants were presented with words printed in two different font colors (intrinsic context) or two different sides of the computer screen (extrinsic context). At test, the context was reinstated or changed and participants were asked to recognize words and recollect their study context. Moreover, a read-generate manipulation was introduced at encoding and retrieval, which was intended to influence the relative salience of item and context information. The results showed that context reinstatement had no effect on memory for extrinsic context but affected memory for intrinsic context when the item was generated at encoding and read at test. These results supported the hypothesis that context information is reconstructed at retrieval only when context was poorly encoded at study. © 2014 Scandinavian Psychological Associations and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  20. Context matters!

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bojesen, Anders

    2004-01-01

    for granted and unproblematic, although it is agreed to be of great importance. By crystallising three different modes of contextualised competence thinking (prescriptive, descriptive and analytical) the paper shows that the underlying assumptions about context - the interaction between the individual...... and the social - has major consequences for the specific enactment of competence. The paper argues in favour of a second order observation strategy for the context of competence. But in doing so it also shows that prevailing second-order competence theories so far, in criticising (counter) positions (and...

  1. Disorder-specific neuroanatomical correlates of attentional bias in obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder, and hypochondriasis

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van den Heuvel, O.A.; Veltman, D.J.; Groenewegen, H.J.; Witter, M.P.; Merkelbach, J.; Cath, D.C.; van Balkom, A.J.; van Oppen, P.; van Dyck, R.

    2005-01-01

    Context: Attentional bias to disease-relevant emotional cues is considered to be pathogenetically relevant in anxiety disorders. Objective: To investigate functional neural correlates and disease specificity of attentional bias across different anxiety disorders. Design: A cognitive and emotional

  2. Disorder-specific neuroanatomical correlates of attentional bias in obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder, and hypochondriasis

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van den Heuvel, Odile A.; Veltman, Dick J.; Groenewegen, Henk J.; Witter, Menno P.; Merkelbach, Jille; Cath, Danielle C.; van Balkom, Anton J. L. M.; van Oppen, Patricia; van Dyck, Richard

    2005-01-01

    CONTEXT: Attentional bias to disease-relevant emotional cues is considered to be pathogenetically relevant in anxiety disorders. OBJECTIVE: To investigate functional neural correlates and disease specificity of attentional bias across different anxiety disorders. DESIGN: A cognitive and emotional

  3. Irregular Liesegang-type patterns in gas phase revisited. II. Statistical correlation analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Torres-Guzmán, José C.; Martínez-Mekler, Gustavo; Müller, Markus F.

    2016-05-01

    We present a statistical analysis of Liesegang-type patterns formed in a gaseous HCl-NH3 system by ammonium chloride precipitation along glass tubes, as described in Paper I [J. C. Torres-Guzmán et al., J. Chem. Phys. 144, 174701 (2016)] of this work. We focus on the detection and characterization of short and long-range correlations within the non-stationary sequence of apparently irregular precipitation bands. To this end we applied several techniques to estimate spatial correlations stemming from different fields, namely, linear auto-correlation via the power spectral density, detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA), and methods developed in the context of random matrix theory (RMT). In particular RMT methods disclose well pronounced long-range correlations over at least 40 bands in terms of both, band positions and intensity values. By using a variant of the DFA we furnish proof of the nonlinear nature of the detected long-range correlations.

  4. Influence of organizational context on nursing home staff burnout: A cross-sectional survey of care aides in Western Canada.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chamberlain, Stephanie A; Gruneir, Andrea; Hoben, Matthias; Squires, Janet E; Cummings, Greta G; Estabrooks, Carole A

    2017-06-01

    Our study examined care aide characteristics, organizational context, and frequency of dementia-related resident responsive behaviours associated with burnout. Burnout is the experience of emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and professional inefficacy. Care aide burnout has implications for turnover, staff health, and quality of care. We used surveys collected from 1194 care aides from 30 urban nursing homes in three Western Canadian provinces. We used a mixed-effects regression analysis to assess care aide characteristics, dementia-related responsive behaviours, unit and facility characteristics, and organizational context predictors of care aide burnout. We measured burnout using the Maslach Burnout Inventory, Short Form. We found that care aides were at high risk for emotional exhaustion and cynicism, but report high professional efficacy. Statistically significant predictors of emotional exhaustion included English as a second language, medium facility size, organizational slack-staff, organizational slack-space, health (mental and physical) and dementia-related responsive behaviours. Statistically significant predictors of cynicism were care aide age, English as a second language, unit culture, evaluation (feedback of data), formal interactions, health (mental and physical) and dementia-related responsive behaviours. Statistically significant predictors of professional efficacy were unit culture and structural resources. Greater care aide job satisfaction was significantly associated with increased professional efficacy. This study suggests that individual care aide and organization features are both predictive of care aide burnout. Unlike care aide or structural characteristics of the facility elements of the organizational context are potentially modifiable, and therefore amenable to intervention. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. Signal correlations in biomass combustion. An information theoretic analysis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ruusunen, M.

    2013-09-01

    Increasing environmental and economic awareness are driving the development of combustion technologies to efficient biomass use and clean burning. To accomplish these goals, quantitative information about combustion variables is needed. However, for small-scale combustion units the existing monitoring methods are often expensive or complex. This study aimed to quantify correlations between flue gas temperatures and combustion variables, namely typical emission components, heat output, and efficiency. For this, data acquired from four small-scale combustion units and a large circulating fluidised bed boiler was studied. The fuel range varied from wood logs, wood chips, and wood pellets to biomass residue. Original signals and a defined set of their mathematical transformations were applied to data analysis. In order to evaluate the strength of the correlations, a multivariate distance measure based on information theory was derived. The analysis further assessed time-varying signal correlations and relative time delays. Ranking of the analysis results was based on the distance measure. The uniformity of the correlations in the different data sets was studied by comparing the 10-quantiles of the measured signal. The method was validated with two benchmark data sets. The flue gas temperatures and the combustion variables measured carried similar information. The strongest correlations were mainly linear with the transformed signal combinations and explicable by the combustion theory. Remarkably, the results showed uniformity of the correlations across the data sets with several signal transformations. This was also indicated by simulations using a linear model with constant structure to monitor carbon dioxide in flue gas. Acceptable performance was observed according to three validation criteria used to quantify modelling error in each data set. In general, the findings demonstrate that the presented signal transformations enable real-time approximation of the studied

  6. The Learning Needs of Beginning Teachers in the United Arab Emirates

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ibrahim, Ali S.

    2012-01-01

    Beginning teachers have legitimate learning needs that cannot be grasped in advance or outside the school context. These needs are documented in Western literature, but the skills required by beginning teachers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have not been investigated. The present study responds to this research gap. Data were collected through…

  7. [Surface disinfection in the context of infection prevention in intensive care units].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kossow, A; Schaber, S; Kipp, F

    2013-03-01

    The highest proportion of nosocomial infections occurs on intensive care units (ICU) and infections with multiresistant pathogens are an ever increasing problem. Preventative measures should consist of a bundle of different measures including measures that address a specific problem and standard hygiene measures that are relevant in all areas. Specific measures in ICUs primarily aim at the prevention of ventilator associated pneumonia, blood vessel catheter associated infections and nosocomial urinary tract infections. Surface disinfection belongs to the standard hygiene measures and plays an inferior role compared to hand hygiene; however, surfaces come into focus in outbreak situations. The Commission on Hospital Hygiene (KRINKO) at the Robert Koch Institute (the German health protection agency) published recommendations regarding the cleaning and disinfection of surfaces. The frequency with which cleaning and/or disinfection is required varies according to defined areas of risk. The frequency and the disinfection agents used are documented in the disinfection plan.

  8. The care unit in nursing home research: evidence in support of a definition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Estabrooks, Carole A; Morgan, Debra G; Squires, Janet E; Boström, Anne-Marie; Slaughter, Susan E; Cummings, Greta G; Norton, Peter G

    2011-04-14

    Defining what constitutes a resident care unit in nursing home research is both a conceptual and practical challenge. The aim of this paper is to provide evidence in support of a definition of care unit in nursing homes by demonstrating: (1) its feasibility for use in data collection, (2) the acceptability of aggregating individual responses to the unit level, and (3) the benefit of including unit level data in explanatory models. An observational study design was used. Research (project) managers, healthcare aides, care managers, nursing home administrators and directors of care from thirty-six nursing homes in the Canadian prairie provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba provided data for the study. A definition of care unit was developed and applied in data collection and analyses. A debriefing session was held with research managers to investigate their experiences with using the care unit definition. In addition, survey responses from 1258 healthcare aides in 25 of the 36 nursing homes in the study, that had more than one care unit, were analyzed using a multi-level modeling approach. Trained field workers administered the Alberta Context Tool (ACT), a 58-item self-report survey reflecting 10 organizational context concepts, to healthcare aides using computer assisted personal interviews. To assess the appropriateness of obtaining unit level scores, we assessed aggregation statistics (ICC(1), ICC(2), η², and ω²), and to assess the value of using the definition of unit in explanatory models, we performed multi-level modeling. In 10 of the 36 nursing homes, the care unit definition developed was used to align the survey data (for analytic purposes) to specific care units as designated by our definition, from that reported by the facility administrator. The aggregation statistics supported aggregating the healthcare aide responses on the ACT to the realigned unit level. Findings from the multi-level modeling further supported unit level aggregation. A

  9. T-odd momentum correlation in radiative {beta} decay

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gardner, Susan, E-mail: gardner@pa.uky.edu; He, Daheng [University of Kentucky, Department of Physics and Astronomy (United States)

    2013-03-15

    The triple-product correlations observable in ordinary neutron or nuclear beta decay are all naively T violating and can connect, through an assumption of CPT invariance, to constraints on sources of CP violation beyond the Standard Model. They are also spin dependent. In this context the study of radiative beta decay opens a new possibility, in that a triple-product correlation can be constructed from momenta alone. Consequently its measurement would constrain new spin-independent sources of CP violation. We will describe these in light of the size of the triple momentum correlation in the decay rate arising from electromagnetic final-state interactions in the Standard Model. Our expression for the corresponding T-odd asymmetry is exact in O({alpha}) up to terms of recoil order, and we evaluate it numerically under various kinematic conditions. We consider the pattern of the asymmetries in nuclear {beta} decays and show that the asymmetry can be suppressed in particular cases, facilitating searches for new sources of CP violation in such processes.

  10. Caliper Context Annotation Library

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    2015-09-30

    To understand the performance of parallel programs, developers need to be able to relate performance measurement data with context information, such as the call path / line numbers or iteration numbers where measurements were taken. Caliper provides a generic way to specify and collect multi-dimensional context information across the software stack, and provide ti to third-party measurement tools or write it into a file or database in the form of context streams.

  11. Ethnography as Method, Methodology, and "Deep Theorizing" Closing the Gap between Text and Context in Academic Writing Research

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lillis, Theresa

    2008-01-01

    This article critically explores the value of ethnography for enhancing context-sensitive approaches to the study of academic writing. Drawing on data from two longitudinal studies, student writing in the United Kingdom and professional academic writing in Hungary, Slovakia, Spain, and Portugal, the author illustrates the different contributions…

  12. Political, religious and occupational identities in context: placing identity status paradigm in context.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Solomontos-Kountouri, Olga; Hurry, Jane

    2008-04-01

    This study critically contrasts global identity with domain-specific identities (political, religious and occupational) and considers context and gender as integral parts of identity. In a cross-sectional survey, 1038 Greek Cypriot adolescents (449 boys and 589 girls, mean age 16.8) from the three different types of secondary schools (state, state technical and private) and from different SES completed part of the Extended Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status-2 (EOMEIS-2). The macro-context of Greek Cypriot society is used to understand the role of context in adolescents' identities. Results showed that Greek Cypriot young people were not in the same statuses across their global, political, religious and occupational identities. This heterogeneity in the status of global identity and of each identity domain is partially explained by differences in gender, type of school and SES (socio-economic status). The fact that identity status is found to be reactive to context suggests that developmental stage models of identity status should place greater emphasis on context.

  13. Reduced hippocampal volume is associated with overgeneralization of negative context in individuals with PTSD.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Levy-Gigi, Einat; Szabo, Csilla; Richter-Levin, Gal; Kéri, Szabolcs

    2015-01-01

    Previous studies demonstrated reduced hippocampal volume in individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, the functional role the hippocampus plays in PTSD symptomatology is still unclear. The aim of the present study was to explore generalization learning and its connection to hippocampal volume in individuals with and without PTSD. Animal and human models argue that hippocampal deficit may result in failure to process contextual information. Therefore we predicted associations between reduced hippocampal volume and overgeneralization of context in individuals with PTSD. We conducted MRI scans of bilateral hippocampal and amygdala formations as well as intracranial and total brain volumes. Generalization was measured using a novel-learning paradigm, which separately evaluates generalization of cue and context in conditions of negative and positive outcomes. As expected, MRI scans indicated reduced hippocampal volume in PTSD compared to non-PTSD participants. Behavioral results revealed a selective deficit in context generalization learning in individuals with PTSD, F(1, 43) = 8.27, p < .01, η(p)² = .16. Specifically, as predicted, while generalization of cue was spared in both groups, individuals with PTSD showed overgeneralization of negative context. Hence, they could not learn that a previously negative context is later associated with a positive outcome, F(1, 43) = 7.33, p = .01, η(p)² = .15. Most importantly, overgeneralization of negative context significantly correlated with right and left hippocampal volume (r = .61, p = .000; r = .5, p = .000). Finally, bilateral hippocampal volume provided the strongest prediction of overgeneralization of negative context. Reduced hippocampal volume may account for the difficulty of individuals with PTSD to differentiate negative and novel conditions and hence may facilitate reexperiencing symptoms. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved.

  14. Correlation of natural tooth colour with aging in the Spanish population.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gómez Polo, Cristina; Gómez Polo, Miguel; Montero, Javier; Martínez Vazquez De Parga, Juan Antonio; Celemin Viñuela, Alicia

    2015-10-01

    To analyse natural tooth colour in the Spanish population according to the colour coordinates lightness (L*), chroma (C*), hue (h*), red-green axis (a*) and yellow-blue axis (b*) in order to quantify the correlation and changes of tooth colour with age and sex. Natural tooth colour was measured in a sample of 1,361 Spanish participants of both sexes distributed within an age range of 16 to 89 years. The Easyshade Compact spectrophotometer was used and the CIELAB and CIELCh systems were followed. Pearson's bivariate correlations between age and colour coordinates were highly significant for L* (r=-0.674, P≤0.001), h* (r=-0.468, P≤0.001) and C* (r=0.417, P≤0.001). The correlation between age and colour coordinates was stronger for men than for women, for all colour coordinates. The results showed that C*, b* and a* increased by 0.60, 0.56 and 0.26 units/year on average, respectively, whereas L* and h* decreased progressively with age (by 0.60 units/year, on average), and colour differences increased in a systematic way as the gap between the ages being compared grew wider. The strongest correlation was found between age and L*, then between age and h* (both inverse relationships) and then between age and a*, C* and b* (direct relationships). In addition, a similar degree of change in the colour coordinates L*, C* and h* (of 0.60 units/year on average) was observed for natural tooth colour. Knowledge of the chromatic range of natural teeth may help to choose colour for the replacement of missing elements. © 2015 FDI World Dental Federation.

  15. Implementation of Mindfulness Training for Mental Health Staff: Organizational Context and Stakeholder Perspectives.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Byron, Gerard; Ziedonis, Douglas M; McGrath, Caroline; Frazier, Jean A; deTorrijos, Fernando; Fulwiler, Carl

    2015-08-01

    Occupational stress and burnout adversely impacts mental health care staff well-being and patient outcomes. Mindfulness training reduces staff stress and may improve patient care. However, few studies explore mental health setting implementation. This qualitative study used focus groups to evaluate stakeholders' perceptions of organizational factors affecting implementation of an adapted version of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) for staff on adolescent mental health units. Common facilitators included leadership securing buy-in with staff, allocating staff time to participate, and quiet space for training and practice. Other facilitators were past staff knowledge of mindfulness, local champions, and acculturating staff with mindfulness through a non-mandatory training attendance policy. Common barriers were limited staff time to attend training sessions and insufficient training coverage for some staff. Staff also reported improved focus when interacting with adolescents and improved social cohesion on the units. We conclude that a mindfulness-based program for reducing occupational stress can be successfully implemented on adolescent mental health units. Implementation appeared to change the social context of the units, including staff and patient interactions. More broadly, our findings highlight the importance of environmental factors in shaping attitudes, diffusion of innovation, and acculturation of wellness program implementations.

  16. Leadership in a post-merger context: the importance of people skills over politics

    OpenAIRE

    Heijltjes, M.G.; Velde ter, H.

    2005-01-01

    Drawing on the merger and CEO succession literature as well as on findings from research on organizational change, this study examines what leadership issues drive success in a post-merger context. Our data from 45 recently merged units within a cooperative bank in Europe indicate that the people skills of the newly appointed top manager matter most. Specifically, his/her integration ability followed by the ability to positively influence the internal working environment are significantly cor...

  17. Investigation of correlations in the breakup of He{sup 8}; Etude des correlations dans la dissociation de l'He{sup 8}

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Laurent, B

    2007-11-15

    Correlations in light neutron-rich nuclei are of considerable importance in understanding their structure. In this context the breakup of He{sup 8} into He{sup 6} + 2n has been investigated at 15 MeV/nucleon. The measurements were undertaken using a setup composed of two detector arrays: CHARISSA to detect the charged fragments and DEMON to detect the neutrons. The interpretation of the results was facilitated using a Monte Carlo simulation which was developed to take into account the correlations, the reaction and the experimental setup. Two techniques were used to study the correlations in the breakup of He{sup 8}. The first, intensity interferometry, provides, via the construction of the neutron-neutron correlation function, for a first estimate of the source size and thus the average separation between the neutrons. The second, using Dalitz plots, allows both the neutron-neutron and core-neutron correlations to be probed. Here, sequential decay via the ground state resonance of He{sup 7} and has been found to dominate the dissociation of He{sup 8}. The spatial and temporal characteristics of the breakup of He{sup 8} have thus been deduced and a root-mean-square separation between the two valence neutrons in the continuum states was estimated to be (7.3 {+-} 0.6) fm with a time delay between their emission of (1000 {+-} 300) fm/c. (author)

  18. Integrating Quantitative Reasoning into STEM Courses Using an Energy and Environment Context

    Science.gov (United States)

    Myers, J. D.; Lyford, M. E.; Mayes, R. L.

    2010-12-01

    Many secondary and post-secondary science classes do not integrate math into their curriculum, while math classes commonly teach concepts without meaningful context. Consequently, students lack basic quantitative skills and the ability to apply them in real-world contexts. For the past three years, a Wyoming Department of Education funded Math Science Partnership at the University of Wyoming (UW) has brought together middle and high school science and math teachers to model how math and science can be taught together in a meaningful way. The UW QR-STEM project emphasizes the importance of Quantitative Reasoning (QR) to student success in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). To provide a social context, QR-STEM has focused on energy and the environment. In particular, the project has examined how QR and STEM concepts play critical roles in many of the current global challenges of energy and environment. During four 3-day workshops each summer and over several virtual and short face-to-face meetings during the academic year, UW and community college science and math faculty work with math and science teachers from middle and high schools across the state to improve QR instruction in math and science classes. During the summer workshops, faculty from chemistry, physics, earth sciences, biology and math lead sessions to: 1) improve the basic science content knowledge of teachers; 2) improve teacher understanding of math and statistical concepts, 3) model how QR can be taught by engaging teachers in sessions that integrate math and science in an energy and environment context; and 4) focus curricula using Understanding by Design to identify enduring understandings on which to center instructional strategies and assessment. In addition to presenting content, faculty work with teachers as they develop classroom lessons and larger units to be implemented during the school year. Teachers form interdisciplinary groups which often consist of math and

  19. Context-dependent adaptation improves robustness of myoelectric control for upper-limb prostheses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Patel, Gauravkumar K.; Hahne, Janne M.; Castellini, Claudio; Farina, Dario; Dosen, Strahinja

    2017-10-01

    Objective. Dexterous upper-limb prostheses are available today to restore grasping, but an effective and reliable feed-forward control is still missing. The aim of this work was to improve the robustness and reliability of myoelectric control by using context information from sensors embedded within the prosthesis. Approach. We developed a context-driven myoelectric control scheme (cxMYO) that incorporates the inference of context information from proprioception (inertial measurement unit) and exteroception (force and grip aperture) sensors to modulate the outputs of myoelectric control. Further, a realistic evaluation of the cxMYO was performed online in able-bodied subjects using three functional tasks, during which the cxMYO was compared to a purely machine-learning-based myoelectric control (MYO). Main results. The results demonstrated that utilizing context information decreased the number of unwanted commands, improving the performance (success rate and dropped objects) in all three functional tasks. Specifically, the median number of objects dropped per round with cxMYO was zero in all three tasks and a significant increase in the number of successful transfers was seen in two out of three functional tasks. Additionally, the subjects reported better user experience. Significance. This is the first online evaluation of a method integrating information from multiple on-board prosthesis sensors to modulate the output of a machine-learning-based myoelectric controller. The proposed scheme is general and presents a simple, non-invasive and cost-effective approach for improving the robustness of myoelectric control.

  20. General correlation and partial correlation analysis in finding interactions: with Spearman rank correlation and proportion correlation as correlation measures

    OpenAIRE

    WenJun Zhang; Xin Li

    2015-01-01

    Between-taxon interactions can be detected by calculating the sampling data of taxon sample type. In present study, Spearman rank correlation and proportion correlation are chosen as the general correlation measures, and their partial correlations are calculated and compared. The results show that for Spearman rank correlation measure, in all predicted candidate direct interactions by partial correlation, about 16.77% (x, 0-45.4%) of them are not successfully detected by Spearman rank correla...

  1. Context Sensitive Health Informatics

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    involves careful consideration of both human and organizational factors. This book presents the proceedings of the Context Sensitive Health Informatics (CSHI) conference, held in Copenhagen, Denmark, in August 2013. The theme of this year’s conference is human and sociotechnical approaches. The Human...... different healthcare contexts. Healthcare organizations, health policy makers and regulatory bodies globally are starting to acknowledge this essential role of human and organizational factors for safe and effective health information technology. This book will be of interest to all those involved......Healthcare information technologies are now routinely deployed in a variety of healthcare contexts. These contexts differ widely, but the smooth integration of IT systems is crucial, so the design, implementation, and evaluation of safe, effective, efficient and easy to adopt health informatics...

  2. Applying the Behavioral Economics Principle of Unit Price to DRO Schedule Thinning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roane, Henry S.; Falcomata, Terry S.; Fisher, Wayne W.

    2007-01-01

    Within the context of behavioral economics, the ratio of response requirements to reinforcer magnitude is called "unit price." In this investigation, we yoked increases in reinforcer magnitude with increases in intervals of differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO) to thin DRO intervals to a terminal value. (Contains 1 figure.)

  3. Mental Illness and Firearms: Legal Context and Clinical Approaches.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pinals, Debra A; Anacker, Lisa

    2016-12-01

    Gun violence and mental illness is a major area of media attention, especially because highly publicized mass shootings seem to have become more commonly reported in the press. Gun access also is undergoing a highly politicized debate in the United States. It is important for mental health practitioners to understand the background and context of laws related to firearms access, and to understand data related to risk of suicide and violence toward others caused by gun violence among persons with mental illness. In addition, clinically driven risk assessments with specific inquiry related to firearms can be important for identifying individuals for whom firearm-focused clinical risk mitigation may be warranted. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  4. Genome-scale study of the importance of binding site context for transcription factor binding and gene regulation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ronne Hans

    2008-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The rate of mRNA transcription is controlled by transcription factors that bind to specific DNA motifs in promoter regions upstream of protein coding genes. Recent results indicate that not only the presence of a motif but also motif context (for example the orientation of a motif or its location relative to the coding sequence is important for gene regulation. Results In this study we present ContextFinder, a tool that is specifically aimed at identifying cases where motif context is likely to affect gene regulation. We used ContextFinder to examine the role of motif context in S. cerevisiae both for DNA binding by transcription factors and for effects on gene expression. For DNA binding we found significant patterns of motif location bias, whereas motif orientations did not seem to matter. Motif context appears to affect gene expression even more than it affects DNA binding, as biases in both motif location and orientation were more frequent in promoters of co-expressed genes. We validated our results against data on nucleosome positioning, and found a negative correlation between preferred motif locations and nucleosome occupancy. Conclusion We conclude that the requirement for stable binding of transcription factors to DNA and their subsequent function in gene regulation can impose constraints on motif context.

  5. Survey of regulatory agency review of generating unit performance

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Roach, E.M. Jr.; Tarletz, D.B.

    1985-01-01

    Regulatory agencies across the country are being called upon increasingly to monitor the management of electric utilities. Such activity, which once was relatively rare, is now common. Most frequently this oversight centers around the operating performance of generating units, both nuclear and fossil. There are, perhaps, several reasons for this increased interest in the efficient operation of generating units: increased fuel costs and fuel cost differentials, increased lead times and costs for construction of new generating units, and increased dependence on existing units because of construction programs being revised to meet decreased load growth. The monitoring of generating units has taken the form of after the fact evaluation of performance on a case-by-case basis and the implementation of productivity incentive programs. Performance standards are used in these contexts both to measure the adequacy of unit performance and to implement incentives in the form of rewards or penalties. The standard used may be a subjective test of prudent performance or some numerical index of plant performance, e.g., equivalent availability, capacity factor or heat rate. Some of the activity by regulators is reviewed in applying subjective and numerical standards and the considerations involved in applying such standards are discussed

  6. Optimal free will on one side in reproducing the singlet correlation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Banik, Manik; Gazi, MD. Rajjak; Das, Subhadipa; Rai, Ashutosh; Kunkri, Samir

    2012-01-01

    Bell’s theorem teaches us that there are quantum correlations that cannot be simulated by just shared randomness (local hidden variable). There are some recent results which simulate the singlet correlation by using either 1 bit or a binary (no-signaling) correlation which violates Bell’s inequality maximally. But there is one more possible way to simulate quantum correlation by relaxing the condition of independency of measurement on shared randomness. Recently, Hall showed that the statistics of a singlet state can be generated by sacrificing measurement independence where underlying distribution of hidden variables depends on measurement directions of both parties (Hall 2010 Phys. Rev. Lett. 105 250404). He also proved that for any model of singlet correlation, 86% measurement independence is optimal. In this paper, we show that 59% measurement independence is optimal for simulating the singlet correlation when the underlying distribution of hidden variables depends only on the measurements of one party. We also show that a distribution corresponding to this optimal lack of free will already exists in the literature which first appeared in the context of detection efficiency loophole (Gisin and Gisin 1999 Phys. Lett. A 323–7). (paper)

  7. Color in context: psychological context moderates the influence of red on approach- and avoidance-motivated behavior.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meier, Brian P; D'Agostino, Paul R; Elliot, Andrew J; Maier, Markus A; Wilkowski, Benjamin M

    2012-01-01

    A basic premise of the recently proffered color-in-context model is that the influence of color on psychological functioning varies as a function of the psychological context in which color is perceived. Some research has examined the appetitive and aversive implications of viewing the color red in romance- and achievement-relevant contexts, respectively, but in all existing empirical work approach and avoidance behavior has been studied in separate tasks and separate experiments. Research is needed to directly test whether red influences the same behavior differently depending entirely on psychological context. The present experiment was designed to put this premise to direct test in romance- and achievement-relevant contexts within the same experimental paradigm involving walking behavior. Our results revealed that exposure to red (but not blue) indeed has differential implications for walking behavior as a function of the context in which the color is perceived. Red increased the speed with which participants walked to an ostensible interview about dating (a romance-relevant context), but decreased the speed with which they walked to an ostensible interview about intelligence (an achievement-relevant context). These results are the first direct evidence that the influence of red on psychological functioning in humans varies by psychological context. Our findings contribute to both the literature on color psychology and the broader, emerging literature on the influence of context on basic psychological processes.

  8. Radio Context Awareness and Applications

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luca Reggiani

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The context refers to “any information that can be used to characterize the situation of an entity, where an entity can be a person, place, or physical object.” Radio context awareness is defined as the ability of detecting and estimating a system state or parameter, either globally or concerning one of its components, in a radio system for enhancing performance at the physical, network, or application layers. In this paper, we review the fundamentals of context awareness and the recent advances in the main radio techniques that increase the context awareness and smartness, posing challenges and renewed opportunities to added-value applications in the context of the next generation of wireless networks.

  9. Mutiple LDPC Decoding using Bitplane Correlation for Transform Domain Wyner-Ziv Video Coding

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Luong, Huynh Van; Huang, Xin; Forchhammer, Søren

    2011-01-01

    Distributed video coding (DVC) is an emerging video coding paradigm for systems which fully or partly exploit the source statistics at the decoder to reduce the computational burden at the encoder. This paper considers a Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) based Transform Domain Wyner-Ziv (TDWZ) video...... codec. To improve the LDPC coding performance in the context of TDWZ, this paper proposes a Wyner-Ziv video codec using bitplane correlation through multiple parallel LDPC decoding. The proposed scheme utilizes inter bitplane correlation to enhance the bitplane decoding performance. Experimental results...

  10. Parents' Views of the Relevance of a Violence Prevention Program in High, Medium, and Low Human Development Contexts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Durrant, Joan; Plateau, Dominique Pierre; Ateah, Christine A.; Holden, George W.; Barker, Leslie A.; Stewart-Tufescu, Ashley; Jones, Alysha D.; Ly, Gia; Ahmed, Rashid

    2017-01-01

    Every day, almost one billion children around the world experience violent punishment. Eliminating all violence against children is a key target of the United Nations' 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This is a monumental challenge due to the diversity of cultural, economic and social contexts in which children live. Violence-prevention…

  11. The Imposition of the Death Penalty on Mexican Nationals in the United States and the Cultural, Legal and Political Context

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    James Michael Olivero

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available This paper reviews death penalty perspectives from the United States, Mexico and international law. The United States practices the death penalty on not only its citizens, but those of other nations who commit capital crimes. Mexico is a death penalty abolitionist state that takes significant issue with the United States over executing Mexican nationals. The paper analyzes the cultural, legal and political conflict between the two countries surrounding the application of the death penalty on Mexican nationals.

  12. Context-Aware Elevator Scheduling

    OpenAIRE

    Strang, Thomas; Bauer, Christian

    2007-01-01

    Research on context-aware systems is usually user-centric and thus focussed on the context of a specific user to serve his or her needs in an optimized way. In this paper, we want to apply core concepts developed in research on context-awareness in a system-centric way, namely to elevator systems. We show with three different examples that the performance of an elevator system can be significantly improved if the elevator control has access to contextual knowledge. The first example demons...

  13. Federalism and educational policies in Brazil: contexts and ruptures

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rodrigo Ferreira Rodrigues

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available This article aims to analyze the complexity of the Brazilian federal arrangement and the design of educational policies through the correlation of forces and disputes between spaces and institutional tensions that configure the current and recent context in the educational policies of Brazil. It is a theoretical and documentary study and had as its axis of analysis the tensions and ruptures that had as a background (direct or indirect the National Education System and in its contribution the very system of collaboration, as specific policies of the Brazilian cooperative pact. Thus, we emphasize the role of social participation in the implementation of EC 59/2009, in the National Education Conferences (from 2010 to 2018 and in the constitution of SASE as spaces of agreement and broad and democratic dialogue. Based on this context, it was possible to highlight the ruptures with the process of affirmation of cooperative federalism in guaranteeing the right to quality public education with social and democratic participation, evidencing the necessary strengthening of federal pacts, in the face of the challenges facing the federalism and effectiveness of educational policies in Brazil.

  14. Context-dependent memory and mood

    OpenAIRE

    Løhre, Erik

    2011-01-01

    This thesis examined the effects of affective state (mood) on context-dependent memory. In the so-called context-change paradigm, participants learn two lists of words, and their internal context is either changed or kept constant between the two lists. The usual finding in this paradigm is that participants remember fewer words from the first list, but more words from the second list when context is changed compared to when it is kept constant. To see whether these effects are influenced by ...

  15. Context reinstatement in recognition: memory and beyond

    OpenAIRE

    Hanczakowski, M; Zawadzka, K; Coote, L

    2014-01-01

    Context effects in recognition tests are twofold. First, presenting familiar contexts at a test leads to an attribution of context familiarity to a recognition probe, which has been dubbed ‘context-dependent recognition’. Second, reinstating the exact study context for a particular target in a recognition test cues recollection of an item-context association, resulting in ‘context-dependent discrimination’. Here we investigated how these two context effects are expressed in metacognitive moni...

  16. Mobile Context Toolbox - an extensible context framework for S60 mobile phones

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Larsen, Jakob Eg; Jensen, Kristian

    2009-01-01

    We describe an open framework utilizing sensors and application data on S60 mobile phones enabling rapid prototyping of context-aware mobile applications. The framework has an extensible layered architecture allowing new sensors and features to be added to the context framework as they become....... In the experiments 14 participants have been continuously using a Nokia N95 mobile phone with a context logger application for an average of 48 days per user and covering 70% of the time. The study has provided valuable insights into the performance issues of the system in real-life usage situations, including...

  17. The Living, Dynamic and Complex Environment Care in Intensive Care Unit

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marli Terezinha Stein Backes

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: to understand the meaning of the Adult Intensive Care Unit environment of care, experienced by professionals working in this unit, managers, patients, families and professional support services, as well as build a theoretical model about the Adult Intensive Care Unit environment of care.METHOD: Grounded Theory, both for the collection and for data analysis. Based on theoretical sampling, we carried out 39 in-depth interviews semi-structured from three different Adult Intensive Care Units.RESULTS: built up the so-called substantive theory "Sustaining life in the complex environment of care in the Intensive Care Unit". It was bounded by eight categories: "caring and continuously monitoring the patient" and "using appropriate and differentiated technology" (causal conditions; "Providing a suitable environment" and "having relatives with concern" (context; "Mediating facilities and difficulties" (intervenienting conditions; "Organizing the environment and managing the dynamics of the unit" (strategy and "finding it difficult to accept and deal with death" (consequences.CONCLUSION: confirmed the thesis that "the care environment in the Intensive Care Unit is a living environment, dynamic and complex that sustains the life of her hospitalized patients".

  18. TRANSPORT PROPERTIES OF THE STRONGLY CORRELATED SYSTEMS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    T.Domanski

    2004-01-01

    Full Text Available The transport properties of various systems are studied here in the context of three different models. These are: - the disordered Hubbard model applicable to correlated binary alloys with a general disorder, - the Anderson model used in describing the Kondo physics of a quantum dot connected to the external superconducting leads, and - the Ranninger-Robaszkiewicz model applied to the study of optical properties of the system with preformed electron pairs above the temperature of transition to the superconducting state. We calculate the density of states, specific heat, the Wilson ratio and conductivity of the correlated binary alloy with off-diagonal disorder. We investigate the conditions under which the Kondo peak appears in the density of states and in the conductance of a dot coupled to the external superconducting leads. We analyze the effect of the pseudogap on the optical spectra in the high temperature superconductors described by the boson-fermion model.

  19. Highly-correlated charges in polyelectrolyte gels

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sing, Charles; Zwanikken, Johannes; Olvera de La Cruz, Monica

    2013-03-01

    Polyelectrolyte gels are ubiquitous in polymer physics due to their attractive combination of structural and chemical features that permit the realization of ``environmentally responsive'' systems. The conventional conceptual picture of the volume response of these systems is based on a competition between osmotic and elastic effects. We elaborate on this fundamental understanding by including ion correlations through the use of liquid-state integral equation theory. This allows for a statistical mechanical representation of the state of the system that not only surpasses traditional Poisson-Boltzmann theories but also renders structural features in a highly accurate fashion. In particular, the local ion structure is elucidated, allowing for detailed articulation of charge inversion and condensation effects in the context of gel swelling. The inclusion of correlations has a number of ramifications that become apparent, with enhanced gel collapse and excluded volume competitions that give rise to novel and ion-dependent reentrant swelling effects. We expect this rigorous theory to prove instructive in understanding any number of gelated structures, such as chromosomes or designed synthetic materials for drug delivery.

  20. Value Creation in the Context of Sustainable Corporate Social Responsibility

    Science.gov (United States)

    Šmida, Ľubomír; Sakál, Peter

    2014-12-01

    Under the influence of the new rules of the economy and the society, companies are achieving a notional line of a necessary change in the approach to creating new value, wealth. Implementation of changes in the system of wealth creation requires a review of existing assumptions of unlimited growth of the global economy and wealth creation in the environment accepting economic interests, society and the environment as a holistic unit. The main purpose of this paper is the clarification of a new requirements for business, presentation of the questionnaire survey Sustainable Corporate Social Responsibility and inform on value creation in the context of Sustainable Corporate Social Responsibility.

  1. Value Creation in the Context of Sustainable Corporate Social Responsibility

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Šmida Ľubomír

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Under the influence of the new rules of the economy and the society, companies are achieving a notional line of a necessary change in the approach to creating new value, wealth. Implementation of changes in the system of wealth creation requires a review of existing assumptions of unlimited growth of the global economy and wealth creation in the environment accepting economic interests, society and the environment as a holistic unit. The main purpose of this paper is the clarification of a new requirements for business, presentation of the questionnaire survey Sustainable Corporate Social Responsibility and inform on value creation in the context of Sustainable Corporate Social Responsibility.

  2. Using History to Inform the Modern Immigration Debate in the United States

    Science.gov (United States)

    McCorkle, William David

    2018-01-01

    The contentious modern immigration debate in the United States is often void of historical context and thus filled with fallacious narratives. To confront this trend, social studies educators should place the issues of modern immigration within their proper historical framework. This paper looks at three primary themes educators can explore: the…

  3. Secondary implementation of interactive engagement teaching techniques: Choices and challenges in a Gulf Arab context

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    G. W. Hitt

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available We report on efforts to design the “Collaborative Workshop Physics” (CWP instructional strategy to deliver the first interactive engagement (IE physics course at Khalifa University of Science, Technology and Research (KU, United Arab Emirates (UAE. To our knowledge, this work reports the first calculus-based, introductory mechanics course on the Arabian Peninsula using physics education research (PER-based instruction. A brief history and present context of general university and STEM teaching in the UAE is given. We present this secondary implementation (SI as a case study of a novel context and use it to determine if PER-based instruction can be successfully implemented far from the cultural context of the primary developer and, if so, how might such SIs differ from SIs within the United States (U.S. in terms of criteria for and risks to their success. With these questions in view, a prereform baseline comprised of Maryland Physics Expectations in Physics survey, Force Concept Inventory (FCI, course exam grades, and English language proficiency data are used to design a hybrid implementation of Cooperative Group Problem Solving. We find that for students with high English proficiency, normalized gain on FCI improves substantially, from ⟨g⟩=0.16±0.10 prereform to ⟨g⟩=0.47±0.08 in the CWP pilot (standard errors, indicating a successful SI. However, we also find evidence that normalized gains on FCI are strongly modulated by language proficiency and discuss likely causes. Regardless of language ability, problem-solving skill is also substantially improved and course drop-fail-withdrawal rates are cut from 50% to 24%. In particular, we find evidence in postreform student interviews that prior classroom experiences, and not broader cultural expectations about education, are the more significant cause of expectations that are at odds with the classroom norms of well-functioning PER-based instruction. We present this result as evidence

  4. Secondary implementation of interactive engagement teaching techniques: Choices and challenges in a Gulf Arab context

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hitt, G. W.; Isakovic, A. F.; Fawwaz, O.; Bawa'aneh, M. S.; El-Kork, N.; Makkiyil, S.; Qattan, I. A.

    2014-12-01

    We report on efforts to design the "Collaborative Workshop Physics" (CWP) instructional strategy to deliver the first interactive engagement (IE) physics course at Khalifa University of Science, Technology and Research (KU), United Arab Emirates (UAE). To our knowledge, this work reports the first calculus-based, introductory mechanics course on the Arabian Peninsula using physics education research (PER)-based instruction. A brief history and present context of general university and STEM teaching in the UAE is given. We present this secondary implementation (SI) as a case study of a novel context and use it to determine if PER-based instruction can be successfully implemented far from the cultural context of the primary developer and, if so, how might such SIs differ from SIs within the United States (U.S.) in terms of criteria for and risks to their success. With these questions in view, a prereform baseline comprised of Maryland Physics Expectations in Physics survey, Force Concept Inventory (FCI), course exam grades, and English language proficiency data are used to design a hybrid implementation of Cooperative Group Problem Solving. We find that for students with high English proficiency, normalized gain on FCI improves substantially, from ⟨g⟩=0.16±0.10 prereform to ⟨g⟩=0.47±0.08 in the CWP pilot (standard errors), indicating a successful SI. However, we also find evidence that normalized gains on FCI are strongly modulated by language proficiency and discuss likely causes. Regardless of language ability, problem-solving skill is also substantially improved and course drop-fail-withdrawal rates are cut from 50% to 24%. In particular, we find evidence in postreform student interviews that prior classroom experiences, and not broader cultural expectations about education, are the more significant cause of expectations that are at odds with the classroom norms of well-functioning PER-based instruction. We present this result as evidence that PER

  5. Color in context: psychological context moderates the influence of red on approach- and avoidance-motivated behavior.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Brian P Meier

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: A basic premise of the recently proffered color-in-context model is that the influence of color on psychological functioning varies as a function of the psychological context in which color is perceived. Some research has examined the appetitive and aversive implications of viewing the color red in romance- and achievement-relevant contexts, respectively, but in all existing empirical work approach and avoidance behavior has been studied in separate tasks and separate experiments. Research is needed to directly test whether red influences the same behavior differently depending entirely on psychological context. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The present experiment was designed to put this premise to direct test in romance- and achievement-relevant contexts within the same experimental paradigm involving walking behavior. Our results revealed that exposure to red (but not blue indeed has differential implications for walking behavior as a function of the context in which the color is perceived. Red increased the speed with which participants walked to an ostensible interview about dating (a romance-relevant context, but decreased the speed with which they walked to an ostensible interview about intelligence (an achievement-relevant context. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: These results are the first direct evidence that the influence of red on psychological functioning in humans varies by psychological context. Our findings contribute to both the literature on color psychology and the broader, emerging literature on the influence of context on basic psychological processes.

  6. Color in Context: Psychological Context Moderates the Influence of Red on Approach- and Avoidance-Motivated Behavior

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meier, Brian P.; D’Agostino, Paul R.; Elliot, Andrew J.; Maier, Markus A.; Wilkowski, Benjamin M.

    2012-01-01

    Background A basic premise of the recently proffered color-in-context model is that the influence of color on psychological functioning varies as a function of the psychological context in which color is perceived. Some research has examined the appetitive and aversive implications of viewing the color red in romance- and achievement-relevant contexts, respectively, but in all existing empirical work approach and avoidance behavior has been studied in separate tasks and separate experiments. Research is needed to directly test whether red influences the same behavior differently depending entirely on psychological context. Methodology/Principal Findings The present experiment was designed to put this premise to direct test in romance- and achievement-relevant contexts within the same experimental paradigm involving walking behavior. Our results revealed that exposure to red (but not blue) indeed has differential implications for walking behavior as a function of the context in which the color is perceived. Red increased the speed with which participants walked to an ostensible interview about dating (a romance-relevant context), but decreased the speed with which they walked to an ostensible interview about intelligence (an achievement-relevant context). Conclusions/Significance These results are the first direct evidence that the influence of red on psychological functioning in humans varies by psychological context. Our findings contribute to both the literature on color psychology and the broader, emerging literature on the influence of context on basic psychological processes. PMID:22808136

  7. Harnessing context sensing to develop a mobile intervention for depression.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burns, Michelle Nicole; Begale, Mark; Duffecy, Jennifer; Gergle, Darren; Karr, Chris J; Giangrande, Emily; Mohr, David C

    2011-08-12

    Mobile phone sensors can be used to develop context-aware systems that automatically detect when patients require assistance. Mobile phones can also provide ecological momentary interventions that deliver tailored assistance during problematic situations. However, such approaches have not yet been used to treat major depressive disorder. The purpose of this study was to investigate the technical feasibility, functional reliability, and patient satisfaction with Mobilyze!, a mobile phone- and Internet-based intervention including ecological momentary intervention and context sensing. We developed a mobile phone application and supporting architecture, in which machine learning models (ie, learners) predicted patients' mood, emotions, cognitive/motivational states, activities, environmental context, and social context based on at least 38 concurrent phone sensor values (eg, global positioning system, ambient light, recent calls). The website included feedback graphs illustrating correlations between patients' self-reported states, as well as didactics and tools teaching patients behavioral activation concepts. Brief telephone calls and emails with a clinician were used to promote adherence. We enrolled 8 adults with major depressive disorder in a single-arm pilot study to receive Mobilyze! and complete clinical assessments for 8 weeks. Promising accuracy rates (60% to 91%) were achieved by learners predicting categorical contextual states (eg, location). For states rated on scales (eg, mood), predictive capability was poor. Participants were satisfied with the phone application and improved significantly on self-reported depressive symptoms (beta(week) = -.82, P depressive symptoms (beta(week) = -.81, P depressive disorder diagnosis (b(week) = -.65, P = .03, per-protocol remission rate = 85.71%). Comorbid anxiety symptoms also decreased (beta(week) = -.71, P depression, as well as one of the first attempts to use context sensing to identify mental health

  8. THE CORRELATION BETWEEN SUSTAINABLE PERFORMANCE MEASURES AND ORGANIZATIONAL SUSTAINABILITY IN THE BRAZILIAN CONTEXT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    RODRIGO GOYANNES GUSMÃO CAIADO

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Over the past few years, issues of sustainability are gaining greater prominence among organizations and their stakeholders around the world and with it the effective measurement of environmental performance has been a challenge for sustainable transition. The purpose of the article is to analyse, through the the perception of market experts and researchers, what sustainable performance measures have stronger positive correlation to achieve organizational sustainability in order to help employees in making decisions that reduce the consumption of resources and that create value throughout its chain. The research is of an exploratory and descriptive nature, with qualitative and quantitative method and has a deductive logic. It aims to help professionals and academics who want to start the measurement and continuous improvement of economic, environmental, social, governance and technical performance of their organizations. Finally, the analyzes allow direct efforts to sustainable measures considered most important, allowing the transition of the organization for sustainability.

  9. Social processes underlying acculturation: a study of drinking behavior among immigrant Latinos in the Northeast United States

    Science.gov (United States)

    LEE, CHRISTINA S.; LÓPEZ, STEVEN REGESER; COBLY, SUZANNE M.; TEJADA, MONICA; GARCÍA-COLL, CYNTHIA; SMITH, MARCIA

    2010-01-01

    Study Goals To identify social processes that underlie the relationship of acculturation and heavy drinking behavior among Latinos who have immigrated to the Northeast United States of America (USA). Method Community-based recruitment strategies were used to identify 36 Latinos who reported heavy drinking. Participants were 48% female, 23 to 56 years of age, and were from South or Central America (39%) and the Caribbean (24%). Six focus groups were audiotaped and transcribed. Results Content analyses indicated that the social context of drinking is different in the participants’ countries of origin and in the United States. In Latin America, alcohol consumption was part of everyday living (being with friends and family). Nostalgia and isolation reflected some of the reasons for drinking in the USA. Results suggest that drinking in the Northeastern United States (US) is related to Latinos’ adaptation to a new sociocultural environment. Knowledge of the shifting social contexts of drinking can inform health interventions. PMID:20376331

  10. The Impossibilities of Neutrality: Other Geopolitical Metaphors for Academic Development Units

    Science.gov (United States)

    Holmes, Trevor; Manathunga, Catherine; Potter, Michael K.; Wuetherick, Brad

    2012-01-01

    This paper responds to the occasionally stated imperative in some contexts to be neutral as part of being an academic development unit (ADU). For over a decade at separate professional meetings of developers, two of the authors have heard the refrain that they need to be--or at least be perceived to be--"the Switzerland" of their…

  11. Theta oscillations during holeboard training in rats: different learning strategies entail different context-dependent modulations in the hippocampus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Woldeit, M L; Korz, V

    2010-02-03

    A functional connection between theta rhythms, information processing, learning and memory formation is well documented by studies focusing on the impact of theta waves on motor activity, global context or phase coding in spatial learning. In the present study we analyzed theta oscillations during a spatial learning task and assessed which specific behavioral contexts were connected to changes in theta power and to the formation of memory. Therefore, we measured hippocampal dentate gyrus theta modulations in male rats that were allowed to establish a long-term spatial reference memory in a holeboard (fixed pattern of baited holes) in comparison to rats that underwent similar training conditions but could not form a reference memory (randomly baited holes). The first group established a pattern specific learning strategy, while the second developed an arbitrary search strategy, visiting increasingly more holes during training. Theta power was equally influenced during the training course in both groups, but was significantly higher when compared to untrained controls. A detailed behavioral analysis, however, revealed behavior- and context-specific differences within the experimental groups. In spatially trained animals theta power correlated with the amounts of reference memory errors in the context of the inspection of unbaited holes and exploration in which, as suggested by time frequency analyses, also slow wave (delta) power was increased. In contrast, in randomly trained animals positive correlations with working memory errors were found in the context of rearing behavior. These findings indicate a contribution of theta/delta to long-lasting memory formation in spatially trained animals, whereas in pseudo trained animals theta seems to be related to attention in order to establish trial specific short-term working memory. Implications for differences in neuronal plasticity found in earlier studies are discussed. Copyright 2010 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd

  12. Context Aware Middleware Architectures: Survey and Challenges

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xin Li

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available Context aware applications, which can adapt their behaviors to changing environments, are attracting more and more attention. To simplify the complexity of developing applications, context aware middleware, which introduces context awareness into the traditional middleware, is highlighted to provide a homogeneous interface involving generic context management solutions. This paper provides a survey of state-of-the-art context aware middleware architectures proposed during the period from 2009 through 2015. First, a preliminary background, such as the principles of context, context awareness, context modelling, and context reasoning, is provided for a comprehensive understanding of context aware middleware. On this basis, an overview of eleven carefully selected middleware architectures is presented and their main features explained. Then, thorough comparisons and analysis of the presented middleware architectures are performed based on technical parameters including architectural style, context abstraction, context reasoning, scalability, fault tolerance, interoperability, service discovery, storage, security & privacy, context awareness level, and cloud-based big data analytics. The analysis shows that there is actually no context aware middleware architecture that complies with all requirements. Finally, challenges are pointed out as open issues for future work.

  13. HIV Testing in Recent College Students: Prevalence and Correlates

    Science.gov (United States)

    Caldeira, Kimberly M.; Singer, Barbara J.; O'Grady, Kevin E.; Vincent, Kathryn B.; Arria, Amelia M.

    2012-01-01

    Prevalence and correlates of HIV testing were examined in a sample of 957 unmarried recent college students in the United States. Participants were asked about HIV testing, past-six-months sexual activities, lifetime treatment for sexually transmitted infections (STI), past-year health service utilization, and DSM-IV criteria for alcohol and other…

  14. TRANSATLANTIC COMMERCIAL RELATIONSHIP IN THE CONTEXT OF THE CURRENT FINANCIAL CRISIS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Irina Elena Gentimir

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper makes an analysis of the commercial and financial relationship between EU27 and United States of America. Traditionally, USA and EU27 are the most powerful forces in the world. Today, the relationship between these two partners continues to dominate and to influence globally. The transatlantic relation consists, mainly, of the commercial exchanges and the investment flows. The objective of this paper is to highlight the evolution and the changes occurred in the commercial exchanges and the investment flows between this two powers in the context of the economic crisis constraints.

  15. Covalent bond orders and atomic valences from correlated wavefunctions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ángyán, János G.; Rosta, Edina; Surján, Péter R.

    1999-01-01

    A comparison is made between two alternative definitions for covalent bond orders: one derived from the exchange part of the two-particle density matrix and the other expressed as the correlation of fluctuations (covariance) of the number of electrons between the atomic centers. Although these definitions lead to identical formulae for mono-determinantal SCF wavefunctions, they predict different bond orders for correlated wavefunctions. It is shown that, in this case, the fluctuation-based definition leads to slightly lower values of the bond order than does the exchange-based definition, provided one uses an appropriate space-partitioning technique like that of Bader's topological theory of atoms in a molecule; however, use of Mulliken partitioning in this context leads to unphysical behaviour. The example of H 2 is discussed in detail.

  16. Teaching Principal Components Using Correlations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Westfall, Peter H; Arias, Andrea L; Fulton, Lawrence V

    2017-01-01

    Introducing principal components (PCs) to students is difficult. First, the matrix algebra and mathematical maximization lemmas are daunting, especially for students in the social and behavioral sciences. Second, the standard motivation involving variance maximization subject to unit length constraint does not directly connect to the "variance explained" interpretation. Third, the unit length and uncorrelatedness constraints of the standard motivation do not allow re-scaling or oblique rotations, which are common in practice. Instead, we propose to motivate the subject in terms of optimizing (weighted) average proportions of variance explained in the original variables; this approach may be more intuitive, and hence easier to understand because it links directly to the familiar "R-squared" statistic. It also removes the need for unit length and uncorrelatedness constraints, provides a direct interpretation of "variance explained," and provides a direct answer to the question of whether to use covariance-based or correlation-based PCs. Furthermore, the presentation can be made without matrix algebra or optimization proofs. Modern tools from data science, including heat maps and text mining, provide further help in the interpretation and application of PCs; examples are given. Together, these techniques may be used to revise currently used methods for teaching and learning PCs in the behavioral sciences.

  17. Investigation of correlations in the breakup of He{sup 8}; Etude des correlations dans la dissociation de l'He{sup 8}

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Laurent, B

    2007-11-15

    Correlations in light neutron-rich nuclei are of considerable importance in understanding their structure. In this context the breakup of He{sup 8} into He{sup 6} + 2n has been investigated at 15 MeV/nucleon. The measurements were undertaken using a setup composed of two detector arrays: CHARISSA to detect the charged fragments and DEMON to detect the neutrons. The interpretation of the results was facilitated using a Monte Carlo simulation which was developed to take into account the correlations, the reaction and the experimental setup. Two techniques were used to study the correlations in the breakup of He{sup 8}. The first, intensity interferometry, provides, via the construction of the neutron-neutron correlation function, for a first estimate of the source size and thus the average separation between the neutrons. The second, using Dalitz plots, allows both the neutron-neutron and core-neutron correlations to be probed. Here, sequential decay via the ground state resonance of He{sup 7} and has been found to dominate the dissociation of He{sup 8}. The spatial and temporal characteristics of the breakup of He{sup 8} have thus been deduced and a root-mean-square separation between the two valence neutrons in the continuum states was estimated to be (7.3 {+-} 0.6) fm with a time delay between their emission of (1000 {+-} 300) fm/c. (author)

  18. Stress Disrupts Context-Dependent Memory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schwabe, Lars; Bohringer, Andreas; Wolf, Oliver T.

    2009-01-01

    Memory is facilitated when the retrieval context resembles the learning context. The brain structures underlying contextual influences on memory are susceptible to stress. Whether stress interferes with context-dependent memory is still unknown. We exposed healthy adults to stress or a control procedure before they learned an object-location task…

  19. Frequency and correlates of comorbid psychiatric illness in patients with heroin use disorder admitted to Stikland Opioid Detoxification Unit, South Africa

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lisa Dannatt

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available Background. There is a lack of studies addressing the frequency and correlates of comorbidities among heroin users admitted for treatment in South Africa (SA. Objective. To assess the frequency and correlates of psychiatric comorbidity among patients with heroin use disorder admitted to the Opioid Detoxification Unit at Stikland Hospital in the Western Cape, SA. Method. Participants (N=141 were assessed for psychiatric illness (Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview, comorbid substance use disorders (World Health Organization’s Alcohol Smoking Substance Involvement Screening Tool, and legal and social problems (Maudsley Addiction Profile. Demographic, personal, psychiatric and substance-use history, in addition to mental state examination on admission, were collected from the case notes. Results. The largest group of patients (n=56, 40% had not been abstinent from heroin use since drug debut, and most had been arrested for drug-related activities (n=117, 83% and had family conflicts related to use (n=135, 96%. Nicotine was the most common comorbid substance of dependence (n=137, 97% and methamphetamine was the most common comorbid substance abused (n=73, 52%. The most common comorbid psychiatric illness was previous substance-induced psychosis (n=42, 30% and current major depressive disorder (n=37, 26%. Current major depressive disorder was significantly associated with females (p=0.03, intravenous drug use (p=0.03, alcohol use (p=0.02, and a higher number of previous rehabilitation attempts (p=0.008. Conclusion. Patients with heroin use disorders present with high rates of psychiatric comorbidities, which underscores the need for substance treatment services with the capacity to diagnose and manage these comorbidities.

  20. An Exploration of Language Anxiety in L2 Academic Context for Chinese International Students in U.S. Universities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Qing

    2013-01-01

    This mix-methods study examined the language anxiety levels that the Chinese international students perceived in second language (L2) academic context at four universities in the northeastern region of the United States of America; it explored the impact of language anxiety that these students perceived on their academic learning; it also…

  1. Remifentanil in the intensive care unit: tolerance and acute withdrawal syndrome after prolonged

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Delvaux, B.; Ryckwaert, Y.; Boven, van R.M.; Kock, M.; Capdevila, X.

    2005-01-01

    SEDATION in the intensive care unit should be minimized to reduce the duration of mechanical ventilation and its related complications.1 The drug regimen would ideally allow rapid awakening, to perform neurologic and respiratory evaluation on a daily basis.2,3 In this context, remifentanil, with its

  2. Engineered barrier systems (EBS) in the context of the entire safety case

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2003-01-01

    A joint NEA-EC workshop entitled 'Engineered Barrier Systems (EBS) in the Context of the Entire Safety Case' was organised in Oxford on 25-27 September 2002 and hosted by United Kingdom Nirex Limited. The main objectives of the workshop were to provide a status report on engineered barrier systems in various national radioactive waste management programmes considering deep geological disposal; to establish the value to member countries of a project on EBS; and to define such a project's scope, timetable and modus operandi. This report presents the outcomes of this workshop. (author)

  3. Engineered Barrier Systems (EBS) in the Context of the Entire Safety Case

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2005-01-01

    A joint NEA-EC workshop entitled ''Engineered Barrier Systems (EBS) in the Context of the Entire Safety Case'' was organised in Oxford on 25-27 September 2002 and hosted by United Kingdom Nirex Limited. The main objectives of the workshop were to provide a status report on engineered barrier systems in various national radioactive waste management programmes considering deep geological disposal; to establish the value to member countries of a project on EBS; and to define such a project scope, timetable and modus operandi. This report presents the outcomes of this workshop. (author)

  4. Body Context and Posture Affect Mental Imagery of Hands

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ionta, Silvio; Perruchoud, David; Draganski, Bogdan; Blanke, Olaf

    2012-01-01

    Different visual stimuli have been shown to recruit different mental imagery strategies. However the role of specific visual stimuli properties related to body context and posture in mental imagery is still under debate. Aiming to dissociate the behavioural correlates of mental processing of visual stimuli characterized by different body context, in the present study we investigated whether the mental rotation of stimuli showing either hands as attached to a body (hands-on-body) or not (hands-only), would be based on different mechanisms. We further examined the effects of postural changes on the mental rotation of both stimuli. Thirty healthy volunteers verbally judged the laterality of rotated hands-only and hands-on-body stimuli presented from the dorsum- or the palm-view, while positioning their hands on their knees (front postural condition) or behind their back (back postural condition). Mental rotation of hands-only, but not of hands-on-body, was modulated by the stimulus view and orientation. Additionally, only the hands-only stimuli were mentally rotated at different speeds according to the postural conditions. This indicates that different stimulus-related mechanisms are recruited in mental rotation by changing the bodily context in which a particular body part is presented. The present data suggest that, with respect to hands-only, mental rotation of hands-on-body is less dependent on biomechanical constraints and proprioceptive input. We interpret our results as evidence for preferential processing of visual- rather than kinesthetic-based mechanisms during mental transformation of hands-on-body and hands-only, respectively. PMID:22479618

  5. Prevalence and Correlates of Elopement in a Nationally Representative Sample of Children with Developmental Disabilities in the United States.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bridget Kiely

    Full Text Available Despite increased awareness and concern about children with developmental disabilities wandering away from adult supervision, there is a paucity of research about elopement. This is the first study to examine and report the prevalence and correlates of elopement in a nationally representative sample of school-age children in the United States with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD and/or cognitive impairment. Data were obtained from the CDC's "Pathways" Survey, a follow-up telephone survey of the parents of 4,032 children with a developmental condition. 3,518 children that had ASD, intellectual disability (ID, and/or developmental delay (DD at the time of survey administration were included for analysis. Children were divided into three condition groups: ASD-only; ID/DD-only; ASD+ID/DD. Logistic regression analyses were used to compare the prevalence of elopement and rates of preventive measure use (barriers and/or electronic devices across condition groups, and to examine the clinical and demographic correlates of elopement. T-tests were also performed to compare scores on the Children's Social Behavior Questionnaire (CSBQ between wanderers and non-wanderers. Overall, 26.7% of children had reportedly eloped within the previous year, most commonly from public places. Children with ASD-only and ASD+ID/DD were more likely to have eloped than those with ID/DD-only. Across all groups, wanderers scored higher than non-wanderers on five out of six CSBQ subscales; they were more likely not to realize when there is danger, to have difficulty distinguishing between strangers and familiar people, to show sudden mood changes, to over-react to everything/everyone, to get angry quickly, to get lost easily, and to panic in new situations or if change occurs. Even after controlling for elopement history, parents of children in the ASD+ID/DD group were more likely than those in the other condition groups to report using physical or electronic measures to prevent

  6. Water availability and vulnerability of 225 large cities in the United States

    Science.gov (United States)

    Padowski, Julie C.; Jawitz, James W.

    2012-12-01

    This study presents a quantitative national assessment of urban water availability and vulnerability for 225 U.S. cities with population greater than 100,000. Here, the urban assessments account for not only renewable water flows, but also the extracted, imported, and stored water that urban systems access through constructed infrastructure. These sources represent important hydraulic components of the urban water supply, yet are typically excluded from water scarcity assessments. Results from this hydraulic-based assessment were compared to those obtained using a more conventional method that estimates scarcity solely based on local renewable flows. The inclusion of hydraulic components increased the mean availability to cities, leading to a significantly lower portion of the total U.S. population considered "at risk" for water scarcity (17%) than that obtained from the runoff method (47%). Water vulnerability was determined based on low-flow conditions, and smaller differences were found for this metric between at-risk populations using the runoff (66%) and hydraulic-based (54%) methods. The large increase in the susceptible population between the scarcity measures evaluated using the hydraulic method may better reconcile the seeming contradiction in the United States between perceptions of natural water abundance and widespread water scarcity. Additionally, urban vulnerability measures developed here were validated using a media text analysis. Vulnerability assessments that included hydraulic components were found to correlate with the frequency of urban water scarcity reports in the popular press while runoff-based measures showed no significant correlation, suggesting that hydraulic-based assessments provide better context for understanding the nature and severity of urban water scarcity issues.

  7. Context Representation and Fusion: Advancements and Opportunities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Asad Masood Khattak

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available The acceptance and usability of context-aware systems have given them the edge of wide use in various domains and has also attracted the attention of researchers in the area of context-aware computing. Making user context information available to such systems is the center of attention. However, there is very little emphasis given to the process of context representation and context fusion which are integral parts of context-aware systems. Context representation and fusion facilitate in recognizing the dependency/relationship of one data source on another to extract a better understanding of user context. The problem is more critical when data is emerging from heterogeneous sources of diverse nature like sensors, user profiles, and social interactions and also at different timestamps. Both the processes of context representation and fusion are followed in one way or another; however, they are not discussed explicitly for the realization of context-aware systems. In other words most of the context-aware systems underestimate the importance context representation and fusion. This research has explicitly focused on the importance of both the processes of context representation and fusion and has streamlined their existence in the overall architecture of context-aware systems’ design and development. Various applications of context representation and fusion in context-aware systems are also highlighted in this research. A detailed review on both the processes is provided in this research with their applications. Future research directions (challenges are also highlighted which needs proper attention for the purpose of achieving the goal of realizing context-aware systems.

  8. Mutational Context and Diverse Clonal Development in Early and Late Bladder Cancer

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Iver Nordentoft

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available Bladder cancer (or urothelial cell carcinoma [UCC] is characterized by field disease (malignant alterations in surrounding mucosa and frequent recurrences. Whole-genome, exome, and transcriptome sequencing of 38 tumors, including four metachronous tumor pairs and 20 superficial tumors, identified an APOBEC mutational signature in one-third. This was biased toward the sense strand, correlated with mean expression level, and clustered near breakpoints. A > G mutations were up to eight times more frequent on the sense strand (p < 0.002 in [ACG]AT contexts. The patient-specific APOBEC signature was negatively correlated to repair-gene expression and was not related to clinicopathological parameters. Mutations in gene families and single genes were related to tumor stage, and expression of chromatin modifiers correlated with survival. Evolutionary and subclonal analyses of early/late tumor pairs showed a unitary origin, and discrete tumor clones contained mutated cancer genes. The ancestral clones contained Pik3ca/Kdm6a mutations and may reflect the field-disease mutations shared among later tumors.

  9. Context updates are hierarchical

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anton Karl Ingason

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available This squib studies the order in which elements are added to the shared context of interlocutors in a conversation. It focuses on context updates within one hierarchical structure and argues that structurally higher elements are entered into the context before lower elements, even if the structurally higher elements are pronounced after the lower elements. The crucial data are drawn from a comparison of relative clauses in two head-initial languages, English and Icelandic, and two head-final languages, Korean and Japanese. The findings have consequences for any theory of a dynamic semantics.

  10. Context and Chemistry Going Dutch? The Development of a Context-Based Curriculum in the Netherlands

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Apotheker, J. H.; GuptaBhowon, M; JhaumeerLaulloo, S; Wah, HLK; Ramasami, P

    2009-01-01

    In the Netherlands a new context-based curriculum has been designed to cope with the problem of the diminishing attention for chemistry as a subject. The curriculum consists of a number of modules in which a context is introduced. Based on scientific questions related to the context chemical

  11. Product Context Analysis with Twitter Data

    OpenAIRE

    Sun, Tao

    2016-01-01

    Context. For the product manager, the product context analysis, which aims to align their products to the market needs, is very important. By understanding the market needs, the product manager knows the product context information about the environment the products conceived and the business the products take place. The product context analysis using the product context information helps the product manager find the accurate position of his/her products and support the decision-making of the...

  12. Convoys of Social Relations in Cross-National Context.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ajrouch, Kristine J; Fuller, Heather R; Akiyama, Hiroko; Antonucci, Toni C

    2018-05-08

    This study examines national variations in social networks among older adults across 4 countries in diverse regions of the world: Japan, Lebanon, Mexico, and the United States. The aim is to provide insights into universal as well as unique attributes of social networks in later life. The analyses examine convoy characteristics among adults aged 50+ in metropolitan areas of Japan (N = 557), Lebanon (N = 284), Mexico (N = 556), and the United States (N = 583). Data were collected using the hierarchical mapping technique on representative samples in each locale. Multilevel models were conducted by nation to examine whether convoy characteristics vary by age and closeness. Network size and geographic proximity were dimensions of social networks sensitive to national context. By contrast, how age and feelings of closeness varied with contact frequency and the presence of children in networks revealed universal patterns. Furthermore, feelings of closeness varied by age with regard to size and contact frequency in Lebanon, proximity in Japan, and composition in Mexico. Identifying universal and unique characteristics of social networks in later life provide a preliminary empirical basis upon which to advance a global perspective on convoys of social relations and how they inform policies that can facilitate health and well-being among middle-aged and older people around the world.

  13. Trends in Tuberculosis Reported from the Appalachian Region: United States, 1993-2005

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wallace, Ryan M.; Armstrong, Lori R.; Pratt, Robert H.; Kammerer, J. Steve; Iademarco, Michael F.

    2008-01-01

    Context: Appalachia has been characterized by its poverty, a factor associated with tuberculosis, yet little is known about the disease in this region. Purpose: To determine whether Appalachian tuberculosis risk factors, trends, and rates differ from the rest of the United States. Methods: Analysis of tuberculosis cases reported to the Centers for…

  14. Impact of Noise on Nurses in Pediatric Intensive Care Units.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Watson, J'ai; Kinstler, Angela; Vidonish, William P; Wagner, Michael; Lin, Li; Davis, Kermit G; Kotowski, Susan E; Daraiseh, Nancy M

    2015-09-01

    Excessive exposure to noise places nurses at risk for safety events, near-misses, decreased job performance, and fatigue. Noise is particularly a concern in pediatric intensive care units, where highly skilled providers and vulnerable patients require a quiet environment to promote healing. To measure noise levels and noise duration on specialty pediatric intensive care units to explore sources of noise and its effects on the health of registered nurses. In a cross-sectional pilot study, levels and sources of noise in 3 different specialty pediatric intensive care units were assessed. Fifteen nurses were observed for 4-hour sessions during a 24-hour period. Sound pressure levels (noise) and heart rate were measured continuously, and stress ratings were recorded. Descriptive statistics were calculated for noise (level, source, location, and activity), heart rate, and stress. The Pearson correlation coefficient was calculated to analyze the relationship between heart rate and noise. Mean noise level was 71.9 (SD, 9.2) dBA. Mean heart rate was 85.2/min (SD, 15.8/min) and was significantly associated with noise, unit, within-unit location, nurse sources, and noise activities. The most frequent sources of noise were patients' rooms, care activities, and staff communications. Noise levels in pediatric intensive care units exceed recommended thresholds and require immediate attention through effective interventions. Although noise was not associated with stress, a significant correlation with increased heart rate indicates that noise may be associated with adverse health outcomes. ©2015 American Association of Critical-Care Nurses.

  15. Hybrid context aware recommender systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jain, Rajshree; Tyagi, Jaya; Singh, Sandeep Kumar; Alam, Taj

    2017-10-01

    Recommender systems and context awareness is currently a vital field of research. Most hybrid recommendation systems implement content based and collaborative filtering techniques whereas this work combines context and collaborative filtering. The paper presents a hybrid context aware recommender system for books and movies that gives recommendations based on the user context as well as user or item similarity. It also addresses the issue of dimensionality reduction using weighted pre filtering based on dynamically entered user context and preference of context. This unique step helps to reduce the size of dataset for collaborative filtering. Bias subtracted collaborative filtering is used so as to consider the relative rating of a particular user and not the absolute values. Cosine similarity is used as a metric to determine the similarity between users or items. The unknown ratings are calculated and evaluated using MSE (Mean Squared Error) in test and train datasets. The overall process of recommendation has helped to personalize recommendations and give more accurate results with reduced complexity in collaborative filtering.

  16. Gender, health behavior, and intimate relationships: lesbian, gay, and straight contexts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reczek, Corinne; Umberson, Debra

    2012-06-01

    Many studies focus on health behavior within the context of intimate ties. However, this literature is limited by reliance on gender socialization theory and a focus on straight (i.e., heterosexual) marriage. We extend this work with an analysis of relationship dynamics around health behavior in 20 long-term straight marriages as well as 15 gay and 15 lesbian long-term cohabiting partnerships in the United States (N = 100 individual in-depth interviews). We develop the concept of "health behavior work" to align activities done to promote health behavior with theories on unpaid work in the home. Respondents in all couple types describe specialized health behavior work, wherein one partner works to shape the other partner's health behavior. In straight couples, women perform the bulk of specialized health behavior work. Most gay and lesbian respondents-but few straight respondents--also describe cooperative health behavior work, wherein partners mutually influence one another's health behaviors. Findings suggest that the gendered relational context of an intimate partnership shapes the dynamics of and explanations for health behavior work. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. Phenotypic and Causal Structure of Conduct Disorder in the Broader Context of Prevalent Forms of Psychopathology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lahey, Benjamin B.; Waldman, Irwin D.

    2011-01-01

    Background A better understanding of the nature and etiology of conduct disorder (CD) can inform nosology and vice-versa. We posit that any prevalent form of psychopathology, including CD, can be best understood if it is studied in the context of other correlated forms of child and adolescent psychopathology using formal models to guide inquiry. Methods Review of both cross-sectional and longitudinal studies of the place of CD in the phenotypic and causal structure of prevalent psychopathology, with an emphasis on similarities and differences between CD and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD). Papers were located using Web of Science by topic searches with no restriction on year of publication. Results Although some important nosologic questions remain unanswered, the dimensional phenotype of CD is well defined. CD differs from other disorders in its correlates, associated impairment, and course. Nonetheless, it is robustly correlated with many other prevalent dimensions of psychopathology both concurrently and predictively, including both other “externalizing” disorders and some “internalizing” disorders. Based on emerging evidence, we hypothesize that these concurrent and predictive correlations result primarily from widespread genetic pleiotropy, with some genetic factors nonspecifically influencing risk for multiple correlated dimensions of psychopathology. In contrast, environmental influences mostly act to differentiate dimensions of psychopathology from one another both concurrently and over time. CD and ODD share half of their genetic influences, but their genetic etiologies are distinct in other ways. Unlike most other dimensions of psychopathology, half of the genetic influences on CD appear to be unique to CD. In contrast, ODD broadly shares nearly all of its genetic influences with other disorders and has little unique genetic variance. Conclusions CD is a relatively distinct syndrome at both phenotypic and etiologic levels, but much is revealed

  18. Context, you need

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kristensen, Line Burholt

    Two clauses can contain the same information, yet display differences with respect to information structure. As an example, “He invited her” and “Her, he invited” contain the same information, but display syntactic differences. Previous language experiments, e.g. from German and English, have shown......, he invited” depends on the context – it is therefore relevant to take contextual factors into account when examining how language users process information structure. The dissertation is based on a psycholinguistic reading experiment and three neuroimaging experiments that all examine the interplay...... between context and information structure. The experimental results indicate that context plays a significant role when it comes to sentence comprehension and that the activity in Broca’s area is also affected by contextual factors. Based on the results of the four language experiments, it is also argued...

  19. BOSS: context-enhanced search for biomedical objects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Choi Jaehoon

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background There exist many academic search solutions and most of them can be put on either ends of spectrum: general-purpose search and domain-specific "deep" search systems. The general-purpose search systems, such as PubMed, offer flexible query interface, but churn out a list of matching documents that users have to go through the results in order to find the answers to their queries. On the other hand, the "deep" search systems, such as PPI Finder and iHOP, return the precompiled results in a structured way. Their results, however, are often found only within some predefined contexts. In order to alleviate these problems, we introduce a new search engine, BOSS, Biomedical Object Search System. Methods Unlike the conventional search systems, BOSS indexes segments, rather than documents. A segment refers to a Maximal Coherent Semantic Unit (MCSU such as phrase, clause or sentence that is semantically coherent in the given context (e.g., biomedical objects or their relations. For a user query, BOSS finds all matching segments, identifies the objects appearing in those segments, and aggregates the segments for each object. Finally, it returns the ranked list of the objects along with their matching segments. Results The working prototype of BOSS is available at http://boss.korea.ac.kr. The current version of BOSS has indexed abstracts of more than 20 million articles published during last 16 years from 1996 to 2011 across all science disciplines. Conclusion BOSS fills the gap between either ends of the spectrum by allowing users to pose context-free queries and by returning a structured set of results. Furthermore, BOSS exhibits the characteristic of good scalability, just as with conventional document search engines, because it is designed to use a standard document-indexing model with minimal modifications. Considering the features, BOSS notches up the technological level of traditional solutions for search on biomedical information.

  20. Influence of super-horizon modes on correlation functions during inflation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deutsch, Anne-Sylvie

    2018-05-01

    Coupling between sub- and super-Hubble modes can affect the locally observed statistics of our universe. In the context of Quasi-Single Field Inflation, we can compute correlation functions and derive the influence of those unobservable modes on observed correlation functions as well as on the inferred cosmological parameters. We study how different classes of diagrams affect the bispectrum in the squeezed limit; in particular, while contact-like diagrams leave the scaling between the long and short modes unchanged, exchange-like diagrams do modify the shape of the bispectrum. We show that the mass of the hidden sector field can hence be biased by an unavoidable cosmic variance that can reach a 1-σ uncertainty of Script O(10%) for a weakly non-Gaussian universe. Finally, we go beyond the bispectrum and show how couplings between unobservable and observable modes can affect generic correlation functions with arbitrary order non-derivative self-interactions.

  1. Efficiency of cleaning and disinfection of surfaces: correlation between assessment methods

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Oleci Pereira Frota

    Full Text Available ABSTRACT Objective: to assess the correlation among the ATP-bioluminescence assay, visual inspection and microbiological culture in monitoring the efficiency of cleaning and disinfection (C&D of high-touch clinical surfaces (HTCS in a walk-in emergency care unit. Method: a prospective and comparative study was carried out from March to June 2015, in which five HTCS were sampled before and after C&D by means of the three methods. The HTCS were considered dirty when dust, waste, humidity and stains were detected in visual inspection; when ≥2.5 colony forming units per cm2 were found in culture; when ≥5 relative light units per cm2 were found at the ATP-bioluminescence assay. Results: 720 analyses were performed, 240 per method. The overall rates of clean surfaces per visual inspection, culture and ATP-bioluminescence assay were 8.3%, 20.8% and 44.2% before C&D, and 92.5%, 50% and 84.2% after C&D, respectively (p<0.001. There were only occasional statistically significant relationships between methods. Conclusion: the methods did not present a good correlation, neither quantitative nor qualitatively.

  2. In vitro effect of Reiki treatment on bacterial cultures: Role of experimental context and practitioner well-being.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rubik, Beverly; Brooks, Audrey J; Schwartz, Gary E

    2006-01-01

    To measure effects of Reiki treatments on growth of heat-shocked bacteria, and to determine the influence of healing context and practitioner well-being. Overnight cultures of Escherichia coli K12 in fresh medium were used. Culture samples were paired with controls to minimize any ordering effects. Samples were heat-shocked prior to Reiki treatment, which was performed by Reiki practitioners for up to 15 minutes, with untreated controls. Plate-count assay using an automated colony counter determined the number of viable bacteria. Fourteen Reiki practitioners each completed 3 runs (n = 42 runs) without healing context, and another 2 runs (n = 28 runs) in which they first treated a pain patient for 30 minutes (healing context). Well-being questionnaires were administered to practitioners pre-post all sessions. No overall difference was found between the Reiki and control plates in the nonhealing context. In the healing context, the Reiki treated cultures overall exhibited significantly more bacteria than controls (p bacterial cultures in the nonhealing context. Practitioner social (p bacterial cultures in the healing context. For practitioners starting with diminished well-being, control counts were likely to be higher than Reiki-treated bacterial counts. For practitioners starting with a higher level of well-being, Reiki counts were likely to be higher than control counts. Reiki improved growth of heat-shocked bacterial cultures in a healing context. The initial level of well-being of the Reiki practitioners correlates with the outcome of Reiki on bacterial culture growth and is key to the results obtained.

  3. Biomedical Mathematics, Unit VII: Exponential and Logarithmic Functions. Student Text. Revised Version, 1977.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Biomedical Interdisciplinary Curriculum Project, Berkeley, CA.

    This collection of lessons, exercises, and experiments deals with exponential and logarithmic mathematical functions in the context of biomedical situations. Typical units in this collection provide discussion of the biomedical problem or setting, discussion of the mathematical concept, several example problems and solutions, and a set of problems…

  4. Marketing Communications in Public Administration : Case: Municipal IT Unit

    OpenAIRE

    Teräväinen, Terhi

    2011-01-01

    Marketing communications is traditionally associated with the private sector and commercial activities, but the term is nowadays also widely used in public sector contexts. In this thesis marketing communications is analysed from a public administration point of view. The empirical part deals with marketing communications executed by the Municipal IT Unit of the Ministry of Finance. The objective is to find out what is considered important when it comes to planning and implementing market...

  5. Bullying prevalence across contexts: a meta-analysis measuring cyber and traditional bullying.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Modecki, Kathryn L; Minchin, Jeannie; Harbaugh, Allen G; Guerra, Nancy G; Runions, Kevin C

    2014-11-01

    Bullying involvement in any form can have lasting physical and emotional consequences for adolescents. For programs and policies to best safeguard youth, it is important to understand prevalence of bullying across cyber and traditional contexts. We conducted a thorough review of the literature and identified 80 studies that reported corresponding prevalence rates for cyber and traditional bullying and/or aggression in adolescents. Weighted mean effect sizes were calculated, and measurement features were entered as moderators to explain variation in prevalence rates and in traditional-cyber correlations within the sample of studies. Prevalence rates for cyber bullying were lower than for traditional bullying, and cyber and traditional bullying were highly correlated. A number of measurement features moderated variability in bullying prevalence; whereas a focus on traditional relational aggression increased correlations between cyber and traditional aggressions. In our meta-analytic review, traditional bullying was twice as common as cyber bullying. Cyber and traditional bullying were also highly correlated, suggesting that polyaggression involvement should be a primary target for interventions and policy. Results of moderation analyses highlight the need for greater consensus in measurement approaches for both cyber and traditional bullying. Copyright © 2014 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  6. Mentoring program and its impact on individuals’ advancement in the Malaysian context

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Azman Ismail

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available The literature on workplace training highlights that the mentoring program is an important employee development method practiced in successful organizations. The ability of mentors either informally or formally to implement the mentoring program activities may lead to higher individuals’ psychosocial support and career development. The nature of this relationship is interesting, but the role of the mentoring program as a predicting variable of individuals’ advancement (psychosocial support & career development has been given less attention in mentoring program models especially in the Malaysian organizational context. Therefore, this study was conducted to examine the direct effect of a mentoring program on individuals’ advancement using a 153 usable questionnaire gathered from employees who have worked in a public university in East Malaysia. The outcomes of regression analysis showed four important findings: Firstly, formal mentoring positively and significantly correlated with individuals’ psychosocial support. Secondly, informal mentoring positively and significantly correlated with individuals’ career development. Thirdly, formal mentoring positively and significantly correlated with individuals’ career development. Fourthly, informal mentoring positively and significantly correlated with individuals’ psychosocial support. The results have empirically confirmed that properly implemented mentoring programs can lead to increased individuals’ advancement in the studied organization. In addition, implications and discussions are also elaborated.

  7. Strongly correlated electrons on two coupled chains

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Weihong, Z.; Oitmaa, J.; Hamer, C.J.

    2000-01-01

    Full text: The discovery of materials containing S = 1/2 ions which form a 2-leg ladder structure has led to much current research on ladder systems. Pure spin ladders show an unexpected difference between odd-legged ladders (including the single chain) which are gapless with long-range correlations and even-legged ladders which have a spin gap and short range correlations. Even more interesting behaviour occurs when these systems are doped, creating a system of strongly correlated mobile holes, as in the cuprate superconductors. The simplest models in this context are the Hubbard model and the t-J model. Considerable work has been reported on both of these models, using both numerical calculations and approximate analytic theories. We have used series expansion methods to study both of these systems. Our results, in some cases, confirm those of other approaches. In other cases we are able to probe regions of the phase diagram inaccessible to other methods, or to obtain results of increased precision. In this paper we focus on:- 1. The energy and dispersion relation of 1-hole states. 2.The existence of a 2-hole bound state and its energy and dispersion. 3. Spin and charge gaps and the question of phase separation

  8. Application of Multilevel Models to Morphometric Data. Part 2. Correlations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    O. Tsybrovskyy

    2003-01-01

    Full Text Available Multilevel organization of morphometric data (cells are “nested” within patients requires special methods for studying correlations between karyometric features. The most distinct feature of these methods is that separate correlation (covariance matrices are produced for every level in the hierarchy. In karyometric research, the cell‐level (i.e., within‐tumor correlations seem to be of major interest. Beside their biological importance, these correlation coefficients (CC are compulsory when dimensionality reduction is required. Using MLwiN, a dedicated program for multilevel modeling, we show how to use multivariate multilevel models (MMM to obtain and interpret CC in each of the levels. A comparison with two usual, “single‐level” statistics shows that MMM represent the only way to obtain correct cell‐level correlation coefficients. The summary statistics method (take average values across each patient produces patient‐level CC only, and the “pooling” method (merge all cells together and ignore patients as units of analysis yields incorrect CC at all. We conclude that multilevel modeling is an indispensable tool for studying correlations between morphometric variables.

  9. Investigation of correlations in the breakup of He8

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Laurent, B.

    2007-11-01

    Correlations in light neutron-rich nuclei are of considerable importance in understanding their structure. In this context the breakup of He 8 into He 6 + 2n has been investigated at 15 MeV/nucleon. The measurements were undertaken using a setup composed of two detector arrays: CHARISSA to detect the charged fragments and DEMON to detect the neutrons. The interpretation of the results was facilitated using a Monte Carlo simulation which was developed to take into account the correlations, the reaction and the experimental setup. Two techniques were used to study the correlations in the breakup of He 8 . The first, intensity interferometry, provides, via the construction of the neutron-neutron correlation function, for a first estimate of the source size and thus the average separation between the neutrons. The second, using Dalitz plots, allows both the neutron-neutron and core-neutron correlations to be probed. Here, sequential decay via the ground state resonance of He 7 and has been found to dominate the dissociation of He 8 . The spatial and temporal characteristics of the breakup of He 8 have thus been deduced and a root-mean-square separation between the two valence neutrons in the continuum states was estimated to be (7.3 ± 0.6) fm with a time delay between their emission of (1000 ± 300) fm/c. (author)

  10. GPU Based Software Correlators - Perspectives for VLBI2010

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hobiger, Thomas; Kimura, Moritaka; Takefuji, Kazuhiro; Oyama, Tomoaki; Koyama, Yasuhiro; Kondo, Tetsuro; Gotoh, Tadahiro; Amagai, Jun

    2010-01-01

    Caused by historical separation and driven by the requirements of the PC gaming industry, Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) have evolved to massive parallel processing systems which entered the area of non-graphic related applications. Although a single processing core on the GPU is much slower and provides less functionality than its counterpart on the CPU, the huge number of these small processing entities outperforms the classical processors when the application can be parallelized. Thus, in recent years various radio astronomical projects have started to make use of this technology either to realize the correlator on this platform or to establish the post-processing pipeline with GPUs. Therefore, the feasibility of GPUs as a choice for a VLBI correlator is being investigated, including pros and cons of this technology. Additionally, a GPU based software correlator will be reviewed with respect to energy consumption/GFlop/sec and cost/GFlop/sec.

  11. Reactor pressure vessel integrity of Genkai Unit 1

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nakamuta, Y.; Nozaki, G.; Saruwatari, T.; Watanabe, S.; Yamashita, Y.

    2015-01-01

    The structural integrity of reactor pressure vessels (RPVs) of commercial nuclear power plants in Japan has to be confirmed for the continuing operation according to the Japanese technical standards, JEAC4206-2007 and JEAC4201-2007, which specify the procedures to evaluate the structural integrity of RPVs and the embrittlement of RPV materials, respectively. The structural integrity analysis of Genkai Unit 1 RPV was performed based on the 4. surveillance data. Even though the ΔRT(NDT) obtained for the base metal was larger than the prediction of the current embrittlement correlation method of JEAC4201-2007, the structural integrity of the RPV during PTS event was confirmed with a sufficient margin. The reason of the large ΔRT(NDT) in the base metal was investigated thoroughly in terms of the microstructural changes caused by the neutron irradiation. The study showed that the microstructural changes are all as expected for this class of material, no grain boundary fracture occurred, the material is homogeneous in terms of chemical composition, and the chemical compositions which are important for the evaluation of embrittlement are correct. All these results suggested room for improvement of the current embrittlement correlation method in JEAC4201-2007. Using Genkai Unit 1 data as well as other recent surveillance data, the embrittlement correlation method has been modified so that the recent high fluence data can be predicted with higher accuracy, and was issued as JEAC4201-2007, 2013 addendum. It has been demonstrated that the RPV materials of the Genkai Unit 1 meet the requirements of JEAC4206-2007 and can be used for the continuing safe operation up to 60 years

  12. Partner's influences and other correlates of prenatal alcohol use.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van der Wulp, Nickie Y; Hoving, Ciska; de Vries, Hein

    2015-04-01

    To investigate the influence of partners on alcohol consumption in pregnant women within the context of other factors. A Dutch nationwide online cross-sectional study among 158 pregnant women and their partners was conducted. To identify correlates of prenatal alcohol use, including perceived and reported partner norm (i.e. partner's belief regarding acceptability of prenatal alcohol use), partner modeling (i.e. partner's alcohol use during the woman's pregnancy) and partner support (i.e. partner's help in abstaining from alcohol during pregnancy), independent sample T-tests and Chi square tests were conducted. Correlation analyses tested the relationship between perceived and reported partner influence. Multivariate logistic hierarchical regression analyses tested the independent impact of partner's perceived and reported influence next to other correlates from the I-Change Model. Pregnant women who consumed alcohol perceived a weaker partner norm (p alcohol use and a weaker partner norm were more likely to use alcohol (R(2) = 0.42). This study demonstrated that perceived partner norm was the most critical of the constructs of perceived and reported partner influences in explaining prenatal alcohol use.

  13. Talking wearables exploit context

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Geldof, S.; Terken, J.M.B.

    2001-01-01

    This paper addresses the issue of how natural language generation technology can contribute to less intrusive wearable devices. Based on the investigation of how humans adapt the form of their utterances to the context of their hearer, we propose a strategy to relate (physical) context to the

  14. Distributed context-aware systems

    CERN Document Server

    Ferreira, Paulo

    2014-01-01

    Context-aware systems aim to deliver a rich user experience by taking into?account the current user context (location, time, activity, etc.), possibly?captured without his intervention. For example, cell phones are now able to?continuously update a user's location while, at the same time, users execute?an increasing amount of activities online, where their actions may be easily?captured (e.g. login in a web application) without user consent. In the last decade, this topic has seen numerous developments that demonstrate its relevance and usefulness. The?trend was accelerated with the widespread?availability of powerful mobile devices (e.g. smartphones) that include a myriad of?sensors which enable applications to capture the user context. However, there are several challenges that must be addressed; we focus on scalability?(large number of context aware messages) and privacy (personal data that may be propagated).?This book is organized in five chapters starting with an introduction to?the theme raising the mo...

  15. Photographers’ Nomenclature Units: A Structural and Quantitative Analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Margarita A. Mihailova

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Addressing the needs of cross and intercultural communication as well as the methodology of contrastive research, the paper presents the results of the complex analysis conducted to describe semantic and pragmatic parameters of nomenclature units denoting photography equipment in the modern Russian informal discourse of professional photographers. The research is exemplified by 34 original nomenclature units and their 34 Russian equivalents used in 6871 comments posted at “Клуб.Foto.ru” web-site in 2015. The structural and quantitative analyses of photographers’ nomenclature demonstrate the users’ morphological and graphic preferences and indirectly reflect their social and professional values. The corpus-based approach developed by Kast-Aigner (2009: 141 was applied in the study with the aim to identify the nomenclature units denoting photography equipment, validate and elaborate the data of the existing corpus. The research also throws light on the problems of professional language development and derivational processes. The perspective of the study lies in the research of the broader context of professional nomenclature.

  16. Natural desulfurization in coal-fired units using Greek lignite.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Konidaris, Dimitrios N

    2010-10-01

    This paper analyzes the natural desulfurization process taking place in coal-fired units using Greek lignite. The dry scrubbing capability of Greek lignite appears to be extremely high under special conditions, which can make it possible for the units to operate within the legislative limits of sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions. According to this study on several lignite-fired power stations in northern Greece, it was found that sulfur oxide emissions depend on coal rank, sulfur content, and calorific value. On the other hand, SO2 emission is inversely proportional to the parameter gammaCO2(max), which is equal to the maximum carbon dioxide (CO2) content by volume of dry flue gas under stoichiometric combustion. The desulfurization efficiency is positively correlated to the molar ratio of decomposed calcium carbonate to sulfur and negatively correlated to the free calcium oxide content of fly ash.

  17. The robustness of designs for trials with nested data against incorrect initial intracluster correlation coefficient estimates

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Korendijk, E.J.H.; Moerbeek, M.; Maas, C.J.M.

    2010-01-01

    In the case of trials with nested data, the optimal allocation of units depends on the budget, the costs, and the intracluster correlation coefficient. In general, the intracluster correlation coefficient is unknown in advance and an initial guess has to be made based on published values or

  18. Prospects of Frequency-Time Correlation Analysis for Detecting Pipeline Leaks by Acoustic Emission Method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Faerman, V A; Cheremnov, A G; Avramchuk, V V; Luneva, E E

    2014-01-01

    In the current work the relevance of nondestructive test method development applied for pipeline leak detection is considered. It was shown that acoustic emission testing is currently one of the most widely spread leak detection methods. The main disadvantage of this method is that it cannot be applied in monitoring long pipeline sections, which in its turn complicates and slows down the inspection of the line pipe sections of main pipelines. The prospects of developing alternative techniques and methods based on the use of the spectral analysis of signals were considered and their possible application in leak detection on the basis of the correlation method was outlined. As an alternative, the time-frequency correlation function calculation is proposed. This function represents the correlation between the spectral components of the analyzed signals. In this work, the technique of time-frequency correlation function calculation is described. The experimental data that demonstrate obvious advantage of the time-frequency correlation function compared to the simple correlation function are presented. The application of the time-frequency correlation function is more effective in suppressing the noise components in the frequency range of the useful signal, which makes maximum of the function more pronounced. The main drawback of application of the time- frequency correlation function analysis in solving leak detection problems is a great number of calculations that may result in a further increase in pipeline time inspection. However, this drawback can be partially reduced by the development and implementation of efficient algorithms (including parallel) of computing the fast Fourier transform using computer central processing unit and graphic processing unit

  19. Hierarchical Context Modeling for Video Event Recognition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Xiaoyang; Ji, Qiang

    2016-10-11

    Current video event recognition research remains largely target-centered. For real-world surveillance videos, targetcentered event recognition faces great challenges due to large intra-class target variation, limited image resolution, and poor detection and tracking results. To mitigate these challenges, we introduced a context-augmented video event recognition approach. Specifically, we explicitly capture different types of contexts from three levels including image level, semantic level, and prior level. At the image level, we introduce two types of contextual features including the appearance context features and interaction context features to capture the appearance of context objects and their interactions with the target objects. At the semantic level, we propose a deep model based on deep Boltzmann machine to learn event object representations and their interactions. At the prior level, we utilize two types of prior-level contexts including scene priming and dynamic cueing. Finally, we introduce a hierarchical context model that systematically integrates the contextual information at different levels. Through the hierarchical context model, contexts at different levels jointly contribute to the event recognition. We evaluate the hierarchical context model for event recognition on benchmark surveillance video datasets. Results show that incorporating contexts in each level can improve event recognition performance, and jointly integrating three levels of contexts through our hierarchical model achieves the best performance.

  20. Rockmagnetic correlation between Holocene cave sediments at the mountain and loess soil deposits in Piedmont Crimea (on example of the trap cave Emine-Bair-Khosar and archaeological site Biyuk-Karasu-XIX

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kseniia BONDAR

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available Modern soils and paleosols, loess and uncemented aeolian caves sediments are carriers of a paleoclimatic signal (Evans, Heller, 2003. The saturation degree of a layer with humus material, depending on the temperature, correlates well with magnetic susceptibility and different types of magnetization of deposits (Tang et al., 2003, Bosak&Pruner, 2011.On the base of rockmagnetic measurements of soil-containing samples, collected from sections at Biyuk-Karasu-XIX (Piedmont Crimea and Emine-Bair-Khosar Cave (lower plateau of Chatyrdag mountain massive in Crimea (Ridush et al., 2013, correlation of sediments done in the context of common climate changes in the region during Holocene.The process of sediments accumulation in the sections covers roughly the same period. The loess soil section Biyuk-Karasu-XIX contains findings of hand shaped pottery and flintstones. The section structure has characteristic features of Holocene soil formation for which received a definite chronological anchor. The section of cave deposits in the Emine-Bair-Khosar Cave was dated by radiocarbon and paleomagnetic methods (Ridush et al., 2013. For saiga bone from the depth of 2.0 m radiocarbon (14C date 10,490 +/- 170 (Ki-13063 obtained. At -1.1 m deep the paleomagnetic excursion, dated 2.8 kyr BP, was recorded (Bondar, Ridush, 2010.Sediments of both sections are horizontally-layered. They contain darker units, which color is controlled by organic material, and lighter units of loess-like loam.Section Biyuk-Karasu-XIX consists of the following lithofacial units: 1, 2 - hlb2 – meadow alkaline chernozem, where unit 1 - horizon Hegl, unit 2 - horizon Hp, Pikgl, Pkgl; 3, 4 - hlb1 - the soil has features of grey or sod-calcareous soil forming, unit 3 combines horizons He and Eh, unit 4 – illuvial horizons Ihp and Pigl; 5 - pc-bg? - silty-sandy light loam. Lithofacial units are named according to “Stratigraphic scheme of Quaternary deposits of Ukraine” (Veklich et al