Management, morphological, and environmental factors influencing Douglas-fir bark furrows in the Oregon Coast Range

USGS Publications Warehouse

Sheridan, Christopher D.; Puettmann, Klaus J.; Huso, Manuela M.P.; Hagar, Joan C.; Falk, Kristen R.

2013-01-01

Many land managers in the Pacific Northwest have the goal of increasing late-successional forest structures. Despite the documented importance of Douglas-fir tree bark structure in forested ecosystems, little is known about factors influencing bark development and how foresters can manage development. This study investigated the relative importance of tree size, growth, environmental factors, and thinning on Douglas-fir bark furrow characteristics in the Oregon Coast Range. Bark furrow depth, area, and bark roughness were measured for Douglas-fir trees in young heavily thinned and unthinned sites and compared to older reference sites. We tested models for relationships between bark furrow response and thinning, tree diameter, diameter growth, and environmental factors. Separately, we compared bark responses measured on trees used by bark-foraging birds with trees with no observed usage. Tree diameter and diameter growth were the most important variables in predicting bark characteristics in young trees. Measured environmental variables were not strongly related to bark characteristics. Bark furrow characteristics in old trees were influenced by tree diameter and surrounding tree densities. Young trees used by bark foragers did not have different bark characteristics than unused trees. Efforts to enhance Douglas-fir bark characteristics should emphasize retention of larger diameter trees' growth enhancement.

A quantitative study of factors influencing lamellar eutectic morphology during solidification

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kaukler, W. F. S.

1981-01-01

The factors that influence the shape of the solid-liquid interface of a lamellar binary eutectic alloy are evaluated. Alloys of carbon tetrabromide and hexachloroethane which serve as a transparent analogue of lamellar metallic eutectics are used. The observed interface shapes are analyzed by computer-aided methods. The solid-liquid interfacial free energies of each of the individual phases comprising the eutectic system are measured as a function of composition using a 'grain boundary groove' technique. The solid-liquid interfacial free energy of the two phases are evaluated directly from the eutectic interface. The phase diagram for the system, the heat of fusion as a function of composition, and the density as a function of composition are measured. The shape of the eutectic interface is controlled mainly by the solid-liquid and solid-solid interfacial free energy relationships at the interface and by the temperature gradient present, rather than by interlamellar diffusion in the liquid at the interface, over the range of growth rates studied.

Neuron Morphology Influences Axon Initial Segment Plasticity123

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

In most vertebrate neurons, action potentials are initiated in the axon initial segment (AIS), a specialized region of the axon containing a high density of voltage-gated sodium and potassium channels. It has recently been proposed that neurons use plasticity of AIS length and/or location to regulate their intrinsic excitability. Here we quantify the impact of neuron morphology on AIS plasticity using computational models of simplified and realistic somatodendritic morphologies. In small neurons (e.g., dentate granule neurons), excitability was highest when the AIS was of intermediate length and located adjacent to the soma. Conversely, neurons having larger dendritic trees (e.g., pyramidal neurons) were most excitable when the AIS was longer and/or located away from the soma. For any given somatodendritic morphology, increasing dendritic membrane capacitance and/or conductance favored a longer and more distally located AIS. Overall, changes to AIS length, with corresponding changes in total sodium conductance, were far more effective in regulating neuron excitability than were changes in AIS location, while dendritic capacitance had a larger impact on AIS performance than did dendritic conductance. The somatodendritic influence on AIS performance reflects modest soma-to-AIS voltage attenuation combined with neuron size-dependent changes in AIS input resistance, effective membrane time constant, and isolation from somatodendritic capacitance. We conclude that the impact of AIS plasticity on neuron excitability will depend largely on somatodendritic morphology, and that, in some neurons, a shorter or more distally located AIS may promote, rather than limit, action potential generation. PMID:27022619

Intrinsic, Transitional, and Extrinsic Morphological Factors Associated With Rupture of Intracranial Aneurysms.

PubMed

Ho, Allen L; Lin, Ning; Frerichs, Kai U; Du, Rose

2015-09-01

As diagnosis and treatment of unruptured intracranial aneurysms continues to increase, management principles remain largely based on size. This is despite mounting evidence that aneurysm location and other morphologic variables could play a role in predicting overall risk of rupture. Morphological parameters can be divided into 3 main groups, those that are intrinsic to the aneurysm, those that are extrinsic to the aneurysm, and those that involve both the aneurysm and surrounding vasculature (transitional). We present an evaluation of intrinsic, transitional, and extrinsic factors and their association with ruptured aneurysms. Using preoperative computed tomographic angiography, we generated 3-dimensional models of aneurysms and their surrounding vasculature with Slicer software. Using univariate and multivariate analyses, we examined the association of intrinsic, transitional, and extrinsic aspects of aneurysm morphology with rupture. Between 2005 and 2013, 227 cerebral aneurysms in 4 locations were evaluated/treated at a single institution, and computed tomographic angiographies of 218 patients (97 unruptured and 130 ruptured) were analyzed. Ruptured aneurysms analyzed were associated with clinical factors of absence of multiple aneurysms and history of no prior rupture, and morphologic factors of greater aspect ratio. On multivariate analysis, aneurysm rupture remained associated with history of no prior rupture, greater flow angle, greater daughter-daughter vessel angle, and smaller parent-daughter vessel angle. By studying the morphology of aneurysms and their surrounding vasculature, we identified several parameters associated with ruptured aneurysms that include intrinsic, transitional, and extrinsic factors of cerebral aneurysms and their surrounding vasculature.

Morphological Influence of Solution-Processed Zinc Oxide Films on Electrical Characteristics of Thin-Film Transistors.

PubMed

Lee, Hyeonju; Zhang, Xue; Hwang, Jaeeun; Park, Jaehoon

2016-10-19

We report on the morphological influence of solution-processed zinc oxide (ZnO) semiconductor films on the electrical characteristics of ZnO thin-film transistors (TFTs). Different film morphologies were produced by controlling the spin-coating condition of a precursor solution, and the ZnO films were analyzed using atomic force microscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoemission spectroscopy, and Hall measurement. It is shown that ZnO TFTs have a superior performance in terms of the threshold voltage and field-effect mobility, when ZnO crystallites are more densely packed in the film. This is attributed to lower electrical resistivity and higher Hall mobility in a densely packed ZnO film. In the results of consecutive TFT operations, a positive shift in the threshold voltage occurred irrespective of the film morphology, but the morphological influence on the variation in the field-effect mobility was evident. The field-effect mobility in TFTs having a densely packed ZnO film increased continuously during consecutive TFT operations, which is in contrast to the mobility decrease observed in the less packed case. An analysis of the field-effect conductivities ascribes these results to the difference in energetic traps, which originate from structural defects in the ZnO films. Consequently, the morphological influence of solution-processed ZnO films on the TFT performance can be understood through the packing property of ZnO crystallites.

A review of major factors influencing plant responses to recreation impacts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kuss, Fred R.

1986-09-01

This article reviews some of the more important factors found to influence the susceptibility of plants to trampling impacts associated with recreational use of natural areas. A three-way interaction mediates plant responses to impacts: plant x environment x stress level(s). Plant responses vary in part according to the genetic constitution of the plant, life and growth form, the adaptive flexibility of the plant, and anatomical differences inherent to growth habit and morphology. Other factors that influence plant sensitivities to impacts are the habitat environments in which plants grow, since a number of conditions such as moisture excesses or deficiencies, nitrogen or oxygen starvation, late frosts, etc., cause physiological injury and may increase plant sensitivity to impacts. Among the environmental factors that may increase or lessen plant sensitivities to impacts are soil moisture levels, canopy density, elevation, aspect, microclimate, soil drainage, texture, fertility and productivity. Seasonal influences also bear consideration since environmental changes and phonological and physiological events are mediated by time of year. Stresses are caused by both direct and indirect forms of impact and vary according to season of use, frequency and amount of use, and the type of activity. These interactions are further complicated by evidence that inter- and intraspecific competition, antagonism, and commensalism may influence differences in the sensitivity of plant communities to impacts.

[Morphological verification problems of Chernobyl factor influence on the prostate of coalminers of Donbas--liquidators of Chernobyl accident].

PubMed

Danylov, Iu V; Motkov, K V; Shevchenko, T I

2013-12-01

Problem of a diagnostic of Chernobyl factor influences on different organs and systems of Chernobyl accident liquidators are remain actually until now. Though morbidly background which development at unfavorable work conditions in underground coalminers prevents from objective identification features of Chernobyl factor influences. The qualitative and quantitative histological and immunohistochemical law of morphogenesis changes in prostate of Donbas's coalminer-non-liquidators Chernobyl accident in comparison with the group of Donbas's coalminers-liquidators Chernobyl accident which we were stationed non determined problem. This reason stipulates to development and practical use of mathematical model of morphogenesis of a prostatic gland changes.

Influence of morphology and hemodynamic factors on rupture of multiple intracranial aneurysms: matched-pairs of ruptured-unruptured aneurysms located unilaterally on the anterior circulation.

PubMed

Zhang, Ying; Yang, Xinjian; Wang, Yang; Liu, Jian; Li, Chuanhui; Jing, Linkai; Wang, Shengzhang; Li, Haiyun

2014-12-31

The authors evaluated the impact of morphological and hemodynamic factors on the rupture of matched-pairs of ruptured-unruptured intracranial aneurysms on one patient's ipsilateral anterior circulation with 3D reconstruction model and computational fluid dynamic method simulation. 20 patients with intracranial aneurysms pairs on the same-side of anterior circulation but with different rupture status were retrospectively collected. Each pair was divided into ruptured-unruptured group. Patient-specific models based on their 3D-DSA images were constructed and analyzed. The relative locations, morphologic and hemodynamic factors of these two groups were compared. There was no significant difference in the relative bleeding location. The morphological factors analysis found that the ruptured aneurysms more often had irregular shape and had significantly higher maximum height and aspect ratio. The hemodynamic factors analysis found lower minimum wall shear stress (WSSmin) and more low-wall shear stress-area (LSA) in the ruptured aneurysms than that of the unruptured ones. The ruptured aneurysms more often had WSSmin on the dome. Intracranial aneurysms pairs with different rupture status on unilateral side of anterior circulation may be a good disease model to investigate possible characteristics linked to rupture independent of patient characteristics. Irregular shape, larger size, higher aspect ratio, lower WSSmin and more LSA may indicate a higher risk for their rupture.

The influence of morphology on charge transport/recombination dynamics in planar perovskite solar cells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Man; Wang, Yi; Wang, Hao-Yi; Han, Jun; Qin, Yujun; Zhang, Jian-Ping; Ai, Xi-Cheng

2016-10-01

The photovoltaic performance of planar perovskite solar cell is significantly influenced by the morphology of perovskite film. In this work, five kinds of devices with different perovskite film morphologies were prepared by varying the concentration of CH3NH3Cl in precursor solutions. We found that best morphology of perovskite film results in the excellent photovoltaic performance with an average efficiency of 15.52% and a champion efficiency of 16.38%. Transient photovoltage and photocurrent measurements are performed to elucidate the mechanism of photoelectric conversion processes, which shows that the charge recombination is effectively suppressed and the charge transport is obviously promoted by optimized morphology.

Morphological Influence of Solution-Processed Zinc Oxide Films on Electrical Characteristics of Thin-Film Transistors

PubMed Central

Lee, Hyeonju; Zhang, Xue; Hwang, Jaeeun; Park, Jaehoon

2016-01-01

We report on the morphological influence of solution-processed zinc oxide (ZnO) semiconductor films on the electrical characteristics of ZnO thin-film transistors (TFTs). Different film morphologies were produced by controlling the spin-coating condition of a precursor solution, and the ZnO films were analyzed using atomic force microscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoemission spectroscopy, and Hall measurement. It is shown that ZnO TFTs have a superior performance in terms of the threshold voltage and field-effect mobility, when ZnO crystallites are more densely packed in the film. This is attributed to lower electrical resistivity and higher Hall mobility in a densely packed ZnO film. In the results of consecutive TFT operations, a positive shift in the threshold voltage occurred irrespective of the film morphology, but the morphological influence on the variation in the field-effect mobility was evident. The field-effect mobility in TFTs having a densely packed ZnO film increased continuously during consecutive TFT operations, which is in contrast to the mobility decrease observed in the less packed case. An analysis of the field-effect conductivities ascribes these results to the difference in energetic traps, which originate from structural defects in the ZnO films. Consequently, the morphological influence of solution-processed ZnO films on the TFT performance can be understood through the packing property of ZnO crystallites. PMID:28773973

HemoHIM improves ovarian morphology and decreases expression of nerve growth factor in rats with steroid-induced polycystic ovaries.

PubMed

Kim, Sung Ho; Lee, Hae June; Kim, Joong Sun; Moon, Changjong; Kim, Jong Choon; Bae, Chun Sik; Park, Hae Ran; Jung, Uhee; Jo, Sung Kee

2009-12-01

Estradiol valerate (EV)-induced polycystic ovaries (PCOs) in rats cause the anovulation and cystic ovarian morphology. We investigated whether treatment with HemoHIM influences the ovarian morphology and the expression of nerve growth factor (NGF) in an EV-induced PCO rat model. PCO was induced by a single intramuscular injection of EV (4 mg, dissolved in sesame oil) in adult cycling rats. HemoHIM was either administered orally (100 mg/kg of body weight/day) for 35 consecutive days or injected intraperitoneally (50 mg/kg of body weight) every other day after EV injection. Ovarian morphology was almost normalized, and NGF was normalized in the PCO + HemoHIM group. HemoHIM lowered the high numbers of antral follicles and increased the number of corpora lutea in PCOs. The results are consistent with a beneficial effect of HemoHIM in the prevention and treatment of PCO syndrome.

On the influence of substrate morphology and surface area on phytofauna

USGS Publications Warehouse

Becerra-Munoz, S.; Schramm, H.L.

2007-01-01

The independent effects and interactions between substrate morphology and substrate surface area on invertebrate density or biomass colonizing artificial plant beds were assessed in a clear-water and a turbid playa lake in Castro County, Texas, USA. Total invertebrate density and biomass were consistently greater on filiform substrates than on laminar substrates with equivalent substrate surface areas. The relationship among treatments (substrates with different morphologies and surface areas) and response (invertebrate density or biomass) was assessed with equally spaced surface areas. Few statistically significant interactions between substrate morphology and surface area were detected, indicating that these factors were mostly independent from each other in their effect on colonizing invertebrates. Although infrequently, when substrate morphology and surface area were not independent, the effects of equally spaced changes in substrate surface area on the rate of change of phytofauna density or biomass per unit of substrate surface area were dependent upon substrate morphology. The absence of three-way interactions indicated that effects of substrate morphology and substrate area on phytofauna density or biomass were independent of environmental conditions outside and inside exclosures. ?? 2006 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

Modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors for poor sperm morphology.

PubMed

Pacey, A A; Povey, A C; Clyma, J-A; McNamee, R; Moore, H D; Baillie, H; Cherry, N M

2014-08-01

Are common lifestyle factors associated with poor sperm morphology? Common lifestyle choices make little contribution to the risk of poor sperm morphology. Although many studies have claimed that men's lifestyle can affect sperm morphology, the evidence is weak with studies often underpowered and poorly controlled. Unmatched case-referent study with 318 cases and 1652 referents. Cases had poor sperm morphology (<4% normal forms based on 200 sperm assessed). Exposures included self-reported exposures to alcohol, tobacco, recreational drugs as well as occupational and other factors. Eligible men, aged 18 years or above, were part of a couple who had been attempting conception without success following at least 12 months of unprotected intercourse and also had no knowledge of any semen analysis before being enrolled. They were recruited from 14 fertility clinics across the UK during a 37-month period from 1 January 1999. Risk factors for poor sperm morphology, after adjustment for centre and other risk factors, included: (i) sample production in summer [odds ratio (OR) = 1.99, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.43-2.72]; and (ii) use of cannabis in the 3 months prior to sample collection in men aged ≤30 years (OR = 1.94, 95% CI 1.05-3.60). Men who produced a sample after 6 days abstinence were less likely to be a case (OR = 0.64, 95% CI 0.43-0.95). No significant association was found with body mass index, type of underwear, smoking or alcohol consumption or having a history of mumps. This suggests that an individual's lifestyle has very little impact on sperm morphology and that delaying assisted conception to make changes to lifestyle is unlikely to enhance conception. Data were collected blind to outcome and so exposure information should not have been subject to reporting bias. Less than half the men attending the various clinics met the study eligibility criteria and among those who did, two out of five did not participate. It is not known whether any of those who

Beyond classical inheritance: the influence of maternal genotype upon child's brain morphology and behavior.

PubMed

van der Knaap, Noortje J F; El Marroun, Hanan; Klumpers, Floris; Mous, Sabine E; Jaddoe, Vincent W V; Hofman, Albert; Homberg, Judith R; White, Tonya; Tiemeier, Henning; Fernández, Guillén

2014-07-16

Genetic variance has been associated with variations in brain morphology, cognition, behavior, and disease risk. One well studied example of how common genetic variance is associated with brain morphology is the serotonin transporter gene polymorphism within the promoter region (5-HTTLPR). Because serotonin is a key neurotrophic factor during brain development, genetically determined variations in serotonin activity during maturation, in particular during early prenatal development, may underlie the observed association. However, the intrauterine microenvironment is not only determined by the child's, but also the mother's genotype. Therefore, we hypothesized that maternal 5-HTTLPR genotype influences the child's brain development beyond direct inheritance. To test this hypothesis, we investigated 76 children who were all heterozygous for the 5-HTTLPR (sl) and who had mothers who were either homozygous for the long (ll) or the short allele (ss). Using MRI, we assessed brain morphology as a function of maternal genotype. Gray matter density of the somatosensory cortex was found to be greater in children of ss mothers compared with children of ll mothers. Behavioral assessment showed that fine motor task performance was altered in children of ll mothers and the degree of this behavioral effect correlated with somatosensory cortex density across individuals. Our findings provide initial evidence that maternal genotype can affect the child's phenotype beyond effects of classical inheritance. Our observation appears to be explained by intrauterine environmental differences or by differences in maternal behavior. Copyright © 2014 the authors 0270-6474/14/349516-06$15.00/0.

[Morphological verification problems of Chernobyl factor influence on the testis of coal miners of Donbas-liquidators of Chernobyl accident].

PubMed

Danylov, Iu V; Motkov, K V; Shevchenko, T I

2013-01-01

Problem of a diagnostic of Chernobyl factor influences on different organs and systems of Chernobyl accident liquidators are remain actually until now. Though morbidly background which development at unfavorable work conditions in underground coalminers prevents from objective identification features of Chernobyl factor influences. The qualitative and quantitative histological and immunohistochemical law of morphogenesis changes in testis of Donbas's coalminer - non-liquidators Chernobyl accident in comparison with the group of Donbas's coalminers-liquidators Chernobyl accident, which we were stationed non determined problem. This reason stipulates to development and practical use of mathematical model of morphogenesis of a testis changes.

Morphological characteristics of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) dechlorination during pyrolysis process: Influence of PVC content and heating rate.

PubMed

Cao, Qiongmin; Yuan, Guoan; Yin, Lijie; Chen, Dezhen; He, Pinjing; Wang, Hai

2016-12-01

In this research morphological techniques were used to characterize dechlorination process of PVC when it is in the mixed waste plastics and the two important factors influencing this process, namely, the proportion of PVC in the mixed plastics and heating rate adopted in the pyrolysis process were investigated. During the pyrolysis process for the mixed plastics containing PVC, the morphologic characteristics describing PVC dechlorination behaviors were obtained with help of a high-speed infrared camera and image processing tools. At the same time emission of hydrogen chloride (HCl) was detected to find out the start and termination of HCl release. The PVC contents in the mixed plastics varied from 0% to 12% in mass and the heating rate for PVC was changed from 10 to 60°C/min. The morphologic parameters including "bubble ratio" (BR) and "pixel area" (PA) were found to have obvious features matching with PVC dechlorination process therefore can be used to characterize dechlorination of PVC alone and in the mixed plastics. It has been also found that shape of HCl emission curve is independent of PVC proportions in the mixed plastics, but shifts to right side with elevated heating rate; and all of which can be quantitatively reflected in morphologic parameters vs. temperature curves. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Electrochemical deposited nickel nanowires: influence of deposition bath temperature on the morphology and physical properties

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sofiah, A. G. N.; Kananathan, J.; Samykano, M.; Ulakanathan, S.; Lah, N. A. C.; Harun, W. S. W.; Sudhakar, K.; Kadirgama, K.; Ngui, W. K.; Siregar, J. P.

2017-10-01

This paper investigates the influence of the electrolytic bath temperature on the morphology and physical properties of nickel (Ni) nanowires electrochemically deposited into the anodic alumina oxide porous membrane (AAO). The synthesis was performed using nickel sulfate hexahydrate (NiSO4.6H2O) and boric acid (H3BO3) as an electrolytic bath for the electrochemical deposition of Ni nanowires. During the experiment, the electrolyte bath temperature varied from 40°C, 80°C, and 120°C. After the electrochemical deposition process, AAO templates cleaned with distilled water preceding to dissolution in sodium hydroxide (NaOH) solution to obtain free-standing Ni nanowires. Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM), Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDX) and X-ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis were employed to characterize the morphology and physical properties of the synthesized Ni nanowires. Finding reveals the electrodeposition bath temperature significantly influences the morphology and physical properties of the synthesized Ni nanowires. Rougher surface texture, larger crystal size, and longer Ni nanowires obtained as the deposition bath temperature increased. From the physical properties properties analysis, it can be concluded that deposition bath temperature influence the physical properties of Ni nanowires.

Determining factors influencing survival of breast cancer by fuzzy logistic regression model.

PubMed

Nikbakht, Roya; Bahrampour, Abbas

2017-01-01

Fuzzy logistic regression model can be used for determining influential factors of disease. This study explores the important factors of actual predictive survival factors of breast cancer's patients. We used breast cancer data which collected by cancer registry of Kerman University of Medical Sciences during the period of 2000-2007. The variables such as morphology, grade, age, and treatments (surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy) were applied in the fuzzy logistic regression model. Performance of model was determined in terms of mean degree of membership (MDM). The study results showed that almost 41% of patients were in neoplasm and malignant group and more than two-third of them were still alive after 5-year follow-up. Based on the fuzzy logistic model, the most important factors influencing survival were chemotherapy, morphology, and radiotherapy, respectively. Furthermore, the MDM criteria show that the fuzzy logistic regression have a good fit on the data (MDM = 0.86). Fuzzy logistic regression model showed that chemotherapy is more important than radiotherapy in survival of patients with breast cancer. In addition, another ability of this model is calculating possibilistic odds of survival in cancer patients. The results of this study can be applied in clinical research. Furthermore, there are few studies which applied the fuzzy logistic models. Furthermore, we recommend using this model in various research areas.

Morphology Analysis and Optimization: Crucial Factor Determining the Performance of Perovskite Solar Cells.

PubMed

Zeng, Wenjin; Liu, Xingming; Guo, Xiangru; Niu, Qiaoli; Yi, Jianpeng; Xia, Ruidong; Min, Yong

2017-03-24

This review presents an overall discussion on the morphology analysis and optimization for perovskite (PVSK) solar cells. Surface morphology and energy alignment have been proven to play a dominant role in determining the device performance. The effect of the key parameters such as solution condition and preparation atmosphere on the crystallization of PVSK, the characterization of surface morphology and interface distribution in the perovskite layer is discussed in detail. Furthermore, the analysis of interface energy level alignment by using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy is presented to reveals the correlation between morphology and charge generation and collection within the perovskite layer, and its influence on the device performance. The techniques including architecture modification, solvent annealing, etc. were reviewed as an efficient approach to improve the morphology of PVSK. It is expected that further progress will be achieved with more efforts devoted to the insight of the mechanism of surface engineering in the field of PVSK solar cells.

Influence of Particle Morphology on 3D Kinematic Behavior and Strain Localization of Sheared Sand

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Alshibli, Khalid A.; Jarrar, Maha F.; Druckrey, Andrew M.

The constitutive behavior of sheared sand is highly influenced by particle morphology, gradation, mineralogy, specimen density, loading condition, stress path, and boundary conditions. The current literature lacks a three-dimensional (3D) systematic experimental study that investigates the influence of particle morphology, confining pressure, and specimen density on the failure mode of sheared sand. In this paper, surface texture, roundness, and sphericity of three uniform sands and glass beads with similar grain size were quantified by using 3D images of particles. In situ nondestructive 3D synchrotron microcomputed tomography (SMT) was used to monitor the deformation of medium-dense and very dense dry sandmore » specimens that were tested under axisymmetric triaxial loading condition at 15 and 400 kPa confining pressures. The particles were identified and tracked in 3D as shearing progressed within the specimens, and maps of incremental particle translation and rotation were developed and used to uncover the relationship between particle morphology, specimen density, and confining pressure on the deformation and failure mode of sheared sand. This paper discusses the relationship between the failure mode and particle morphology, specimen density, and confining pressure.« less

Variation in tooth morphology of Gorilla gorilla.

PubMed

Uchida, A

1998-01-01

Gorilla gorilla exemplifies a species that shows considerable variation in habitat, behaviour, genetic structure and morphology. This study examines variation of dental morphology in gorillas. Despite the marked size dimorphism, there are no significant shape differences between the sexes within subspecies. Differences in dental morphology, including tooth cusp proportions between the western G. g. gorilla and the eastern G. g. beringei are considerable. Although more similar to G. g. beringei than to the western G. g. gorilla, G. g. graueri also shows distinct morphological features. This indicates that the morphology of G. g. graueri is not merely intermediate, and genetic isolation between the two eastern subspecies could have had a substantial influence. Such extensive variation in dental morphology in Gorilla gorilla can be considered to be the result of an interesting combination of factors, including local dietary adaptations.

[Natural factors influencing sleep].

PubMed

Jurkowski, Marek K; Bobek-Billewicz, Barbara

2007-01-01

Sleep is a universal phenomenon of human and animal lives, although the importance of sleep for homeo-stasis is still unknown. Sleep disturbances influence many behavioral and physiologic processes, leading to health complications including death. On the other hand, sleep improvement can beneficially influence the course of healing of many disorders and can be a prognostic of health recovery. The factors influencing sleep have different biological and chemical origins. They are classical hormones, hypothalamic releasing and inhibitory hormones, neuropeptides, peptides and others as cytokines, prostaglandins, oleamid, adenosine, nitric oxide. These factors regulate most physiologic processes and are likely elements integrating sleep with physiology and physiology with sleep in health and disorders.

Differential influence of clonal integration on morphological and growth responses to light in two invasive herbs.

PubMed

Xu, Cheng-Yuan; Schooler, Shon S; Van Klinken, Rieks D

2012-01-01

In contrast to seeds, high sensitivity of vegetative fragments to unfavourable environments may limit the expansion of clonal invasive plants. However, clonal integration promotes the establishment of propagules in less suitable habitats and may facilitate the expansion of clonal invaders into intact native communities. Here, we examine the influence of clonal integration on the morphology and growth of ramets in two invasive plants, Alternanthera philoxeroides and Phyla canescens, under varying light conditions. In a greenhouse experiment, branches, connected ramets and severed ramets of the same mother plant were exposed under full sun and 85% shade and their morphological and growth responses were assessed. The influence of clonal integration on the light reaction norm (connection×light interaction) of daughter ramets was species-specific. For A. philoxeroides, clonal integration evened out the light response (total biomass, leaf mass per area, and stem number, diameter and length) displayed in severed ramets, but these connection×light interactions were largely absent for P. canescens. Nevertheless, for both species, clonal integration overwhelmed light effect in promoting the growth of juvenile ramets during early development. Also, vertical growth, as an apparent shade acclimation response, was more prevalent in severed ramets than in connected ramets. Finally, unrooted branches displayed smaller organ size and slower growth than connected ramets, but the pattern of light reaction was similar, suggesting mother plants invest in daughter ramets prior to their own branches. Clonal integration modifies light reaction norms of morphological and growth traits in a species-specific manner for A. philoxeroides and P. canescens, but it improves the establishment of juvenile ramets of both species in light-limiting environments by promoting their growth during early development. This factor may be partially responsible for their ability to successfully colonize

Influence of plasma shock wave on the morphology of laser drilling in different environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhai, Zhaoyang; Wang, Wenjun; Mei, Xuesong; Wang, Kedian; Yang, Huizhu

2017-05-01

Nanosecond pulse laser was used to study nickel-based alloy drilling and compare processing results of microholes in air environment and water environment. Through analysis and comparison, it's found that environmental medium had obvious influence on morphology of laser drilling. High-speed camera was used to shoot plasma morphology during laser drilling process, theoretical formula was used to calculate boundary dimension of plasma and shock wave velocity, and finally parameters were substituted into computational fluid dynamics simulation software to obtain solutions. Obtained analysis results could intuitively explain different morphological features and forming reasons between laser drilling in air environment and water environment in the experiment from angle of plasma shock waves. By comparing simulation results and experimental results, it could help to get an understanding of formation mechanism of microhole morphology, thus providing basis for further improving process optimization of laser drilling quality.

The influence of chemical structure on thermal properties and surface morphology of polyurethane materials.

PubMed

Brzeska, Joanna; Morawska, Magda; Heimowska, Aleksandra; Sikorska, Wanda; Wałach, Wojciech; Hercog, Anna; Kowalczuk, Marek; Rutkowska, Maria

2018-01-01

The surface morphology and thermal properties of polyurethanes can be correlated to their chemical composition. The hydrophilicity, surface morphology, and thermal properties of polyurethanes (differed in soft segments and in linear/cross-linked structure) were investigated. The influence of poly([ R , S ]-3-hydroxybutyrate) presence in soft segments and blending of polyurethane with polylactide on surface topography were also estimated. The linear polyurethanes (partially crystalline) had the granular surface, whereas the surface of cross-linked polyurethanes (almost amorphous) was smooth. Round aggregates of polylactide un-uniformly distributed in matrix of polyurethane were clearly visible. It was concluded that some modification of soft segment (by mixing of poly([ R , S ]-3-hydroxybutyrate) with different polydiols and polytriol) and blending of polyurethanes with small amount of polylactide influence on crystallinity and surface topography of obtained polyurethanes.

Influence of flow regime and channel morphology on larval drift and dispersion in a large regulated river

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Erwin, S.; Jacobson, R. B.

2013-12-01

Larval drift is a critical phase of ontogenetic development for many species of lotic fishes. Downstream advection and dispersion of passively drifting larvae or eggs is controlled by the complex interaction of flow regime, channel planform, local channel morphology, and the resulting hydraulic gradients. In many regulated rivers, channel engineering and perturbations to the flow regime may disrupt natural drift processes and impact successful recruitment of native fishes. Here we explore the influence of flow regime and channel morphology on the downstream transport, dispersion, and retention of Pallid Sturgeon larvae, an endangered species endemic to the Mississippi River basin and the focus of significant conservation effort on the Missouri River. The transition from drifting free embryo to exogenously feeding larvae has been identified as a potential life stage bottleneck for the Pallid Sturgeon. Previous studies have indicated that river regulation and fragmentation may contribute to mortality of larval Pallid Sturgeon by reducing the extent of free-flowing river required by free embryos to complete the transition to exogenous feeding. Additionally, channelization may have increased the rate at which larvae are advected downstream out of the Missouri River basin. We describe the complex interactions and influence of morphologic and hydraulic factors on larval drift using an extensive library of hydroacoustic data collected along more than 1300 km of the Lower Missouri River. We use a one-dimensional advection-dispersion model to estimate total drift distance and employ the longitudinal dispersion coefficient as a measure to quantify the tendency towards dispersion or retention of passively drifting larvae in geomorphically distinct segments of river. We use a two-dimensional hydrodynamic model to evaluate the sensitivity of drift and dispersion to in-channel navigation structures and flood hydrology. Based on insights gained from the analysis of field data and

Key factors influencing lung cancer survival in northern Italy.

PubMed

Mangone, Lucia; Minicozzi, Pamela; Vicentini, Massimo; Giacomin, Adriano; Caldarella, Adele; Cirilli, Claudia; Falcini, Fabio; Giorgi Rossi, Paolo; Sant, Milena

2013-06-01

Lung cancer is a major cause of cancer death worldwide. The aims of this study were to analyze presentation, treatment and survival for lung cancer in northern Italy, and identify factors influencing survival. A total of 1180 lung cancer cases diagnosed in four north Italian cancer registries (Biella, Modena, Reggio Emilia, Romagna) in 2003-2005 were analyzed. Information on morphology, stage, diagnostic examinations, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and surgical treatment was collected from clinical records. Three-year relative survival and relative excess risks of death were estimated. Overall, 10% of cases were stage I, 50% stage IV, and 12% stage unknown. Romagna - where sophisticated diagnostic examinations were performed more often - had proportionately more microscopically verified cases and resected cases than Biella. Romagna had also high proportions of cases given chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Three-year survival was 14%, range 10% (Biella) to 19% (Romagna); 69% for stage I, 3% for stage IV. Stage I survival was higher in Romagna (82%) than Reggio Emilia and Biella (60-61%) but for operated stage I cases, survival was similar (88%) in Romagna and Biella. The fully adjusted model showed a higher risk of death in Biella (1.23, 95%CI 1.02-1.48) than Modena (reference). Stage and surgery are key factors influencing survival. Centralizing lung cancer treatment to improve diagnostic work-up may improve outcomes. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Protein interactions with layers of TiO2 nanotube and nanopore arrays: Morphology and surface charge influence.

PubMed

Kulkarni, Mukta; Mazare, Anca; Park, Jung; Gongadze, Ekaterina; Killian, Manuela Sonja; Kralj, Slavko; von der Mark, Klaus; Iglič, Aleš; Schmuki, Patrik

2016-11-01

In the present work we investigate the key factors involved in the interaction of small-sized charged proteins with TiO 2 nanostructures, i.e. albumin (negatively charged), histone (positively charged). We examine anodic nanotubes with specific morphology (simultaneous control over diameter and length, e.g. diameter - 15, 50 or 100nm, length - 250nm up to 10μm) and nanopores. The nanostructures surface area has a direct influence on the amount of bound protein, nonetheless the protein physical properties as electric charge and size (in relation to nanotopography and biomaterial's electric charge) are crucial too. The highest quantity of adsorbed protein is registered for histone, for 100nm diameter nanotubes (10μm length) while higher values are registered for 15nm diameter nanotubes when normalizing protein adsorption to nanostructures' surface unit area (evaluated from dye desorption measurements) - consistent with theoretical considerations. The proteins presence on the nanostructures is evaluated by XPS and ToF-SIMS; additionally, we qualitatively assess their presence along the nanostructures length by ToF-SIMS depth profiles, with decreasing concentration towards the bottom. Surface nanostructuring of titanium biomedical devices with TiO 2 nanotubes was shown to significantly influence the adhesion, proliferation and differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells (and other cells too). A high level of control over the nanoscale topography and over the surface area of such 1D nanostructures enables a direct influence on protein adhesion. Herein, we investigate and show how the nanostructure morphology (nanotube diameter and length) influences the interactions with small-sized charged proteins, using as model proteins bovine serum albumin (negatively charged) and histone (positively charged). We show that the protein charge strongly influences their adhesion to the TiO 2 nanostructures. Protein adhesion is quantified by ELISA measurements and determination of the

Effect of suspension property on granule morphology and compaction behavior

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hae-Weon Lee, Guesup Song, In-Sik Suk

1995-12-31

Granule morphology is an important factor during dry pressing, since it has great influences on die flowability, compaction ratio, and resulting green microstructure. Granule morphology and packing structure of ultrafine Si{sub 3}N{sub 4} particles in the granule were optimized during spray drying by adjusting the suspension structure. The particle packing structure of spray-dried granule was investigated with suspension structure. The effects of granule morphology and its particle packing structure on compaction and resultant sintering behavior were evaluated.

Influences of palatoplasty by the push-back procedure on craniofacial morphology and growth.

PubMed

Iwasaki, Hiroshi; Kudo, Motonori; Yamamoto, Yuko

2012-12-01

For patients with a cleft palate, the push-back procedure which accompanies posterior shifting of palatal flap is thought to be most effective way of. achieving adequate velopharyngeal function. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the influences of the push-back procedure on the craniofacial morphology and its growth. Using cephalometry we compared the craniofacial morphology and growth of three groups of Japanese children, living in the same region (Hokkaido, Japan). 1) 28 children (13 girls and 15 boys) with operated submucous cleft palates at the ages of 9 and 14 respectively. 2) 12 age-matched children (7 girls and 5 boys) with unoperated submucous cleft palates. 3) 60 age-matched non-cleft children (30 girls and 30 boys) with normal occlusion. None of them received dentofacial orthopaedic treatment. While the patients who had been operated on had significant differences in posterior upper facial height and inclination of the palatal plane when compared with non-cleft children or unoperated cleft children, they showed no statistically significant difference in anteroposterior positioning of anterior part of the maxilla, compared with the unoperated. The influences of palatoplasty by the push-back procedure with posterior positioning of the palatal flaps on craniofacial morphology are additional to the cleft palate, and of minor concern. Crown Copyright © 2011. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Influence of Morphological Structure Information on the Memorization of Chinese Compound Words

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liu, Duo

2017-01-01

The present study investigated the influence of morphological structure information on the memorization of Chinese subordinate and coordinative compound words using the memory conjunction error paradigm. During the Study Phase, Hong Kong Chinese college students were asked to either judge the word class (Exp. 1, N = 25) or the orthographic…

Factors influencing twins and zygosity.

PubMed

Hankins, Gary V D; Saade, George R

2005-01-01

Zygosity is influenced by many factors. Monozygotic twins occur spontaneously in approximately 1 in 250 births and are felt to increase twofold with ovulation induction techniques. Monozygotic twinning also increases in proportion to the number of blastocysts transferred during in vitro fertilisation. In contrast, dizygotic twinning appears to be influenced by race, genetic factors, maternal age, fertility enhancing drugs, folic acid supplementation, and maternal nutritional status.

Influence of Dispersant and Heat Treatment on the Morphology of Nanocrystalline Hydroxyapatite

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pan, Yusong; Xiong, Dangsheng

2010-10-01

Natural biological hard tissues are biocomposites of proteins and hydroxyapatite (HA) with superior strength. Nanometer scale HAp is the key material to manufacture bone substitute. In this work, nano-sized HA particles were synthesized by a wet method using orthophosphoric acid and calcium hydroxide as raw materials. The prepared nanocrystalline HAp was characterized for its phase purity and nano-scale morphological structure by XRD, TEM, and FTIR. The influences of heat treatment temperature and dispersant on the properties of HAp were also investigated. The results indicated that nano-particles were pure single-phase HAp with a diameter of 25-70 nm and length of 50-180 nm depending on heat treatment temperature. The morphology and crystallite size of HAp change with heat treatment temperature. After heat treating, the crystallinity of these nano-particles increased and its morphology transformed from needle-like to sphere-like structure. The dispersant is beneficial to prevent the growth of HA particles and provide a uniform particle size distribution. Moreover, the HAp tends to form small agglomerates in the absence of dispersant.

Clinical, morphological, and hemodynamic independent characteristic factors for rupture of posterior communicating artery aneurysms.

PubMed

Zhang, Ying; Jing, Linkai; Liu, Jian; Li, Chuanhui; Fan, Jixing; Wang, Shengzhang; Li, Haiyun; Yang, Xinjian

2016-08-01

To identify clinical, morphological, and hemodynamic independent characteristic factors that discriminate posterior communicating artery (PCoA) aneurysm rupture status. 173 patients with single PCoA aneurysms (108 ruptured, 65 unruptured) between January 2012 and June 2014 were retrospectively collected. Patient-specific models based on their three-dimensional digital subtraction angiography images were constructed and analyzed by a computational fluid dynamic method. All variables were analyzed by univariate analysis and multivariate logistic regression analysis. Two clinical factors (younger age and atherosclerosis), three morphological factors (higher aspect ratio, bifurcation type, and irregular shape), and six hemodynamic factors (lower mean and minimum wall shear stress, higher oscillatory shear index, a greater portion of area under low wall shear stress, unstable and complex flow pattern) were significantly associated with PCoA aneurysm rupture. Independent factors characterizing the rupture status were identified as age (OR 0.956, p=0.015), irregular shape (OR 6.709, p<0.001), and minimum wall shear stress (OR 0.001, p=0.038). We combined clinical, morphological, and hemodynamic characteristics analysis and found the three strongest independent factors for PCoA aneurysm rupture were younger age, irregular shape, and low minimum wall shear stress. This may be useful for guiding risk assessments and subsequent treatment decisions for PCoA aneurysms. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

Evaluation of clinical, laboratory and morphologic prognostic factors in colon cancer

PubMed Central

Grande, Michele; Milito, Giovanni; Attinà, Grazia Maria; Cadeddu, Federica; Muzi, Marco Gallinella; Nigro, Casimiro; Rulli, Francesco; Farinon, Attilio Maria

2008-01-01

Background The long-term prognosis of patients with colon cancer is dependent on many factors. To investigate the influence of a series of clinical, laboratory and morphological variables on prognosis of colon carcinoma we conducted a retrospective analysis of our data. Methods Ninety-two patients with colon cancer, who underwent surgical resection between January 1999 and December 2001, were analyzed. On survival analysis, demographics, clinical, laboratory and pathomorphological parameters were tested for their potential prognostic value. Furthermore, univariate and multivariate analysis of the above mentioned data were performed considering the depth of tumour invasion into the bowel wall as independent variable. Results On survival analysis we found that depth of tumour invasion (P < 0.001; F-ratio 2.11), type of operation (P < 0.001; F-ratio 3.51) and CT scanning (P < 0.001; F-ratio 5.21) were predictors of survival. Considering the degree of mural invasion as independent variable, on univariate analysis, we observed that mucorrhea, anismus, hematocrit, WBC count, fibrinogen value and CT scanning were significantly related to the degree of mural invasion of the cancer. On the multivariate analysis, fibrinogen value was the most statistically significant variable (P < 0.001) with the highest F-ratio (F-ratio 5.86). Finally, in the present study, the tumour site was significantly related neither to the survival nor to the mural invasion of the tumour. Conclusion The various clinical, laboratory and patho-morphological parameters showed different prognostic value for colon carcinoma. In the future, preoperative prognostic markers will probably gain relevance in order to make a proper choice between surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Nevertheless, current data do not provide sufficient evidence for preoperative stratification of high and low risk patients. Further assessments in prospective large studies are warranted. PMID:18778464

Platelets to rings: Influence of sodium dodecyl sulfate on Zn-Al layered double hydroxide morphology

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Yilmaz, Ceren; Unal, Ugur; Koc University, Chemistry Department, Rumelifeneri yolu, Sariyer 34450, Istanbul

2012-03-15

In the current study, influence of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) on the crystallization of Zn-Al layered double hydroxide (LDH) was investigated. Depending on the SDS concentration coral-like and for the first time ring-like morphologies were obtained in a urea-hydrolysis method. It was revealed that the surfactant level in the starting solution plays an important role in the morphology. Concentration of surfactant equal to or above the anion exchange capacity of the LDH is influential in creating different morphologies. Another important parameter was the critical micelle concentration (CMC) of the surfactant. Surfactant concentrations well above CMC value resulted in ring-like structures.more » The crystallization mechanism was discussed. - Graphical abstract: Dependence of ZnAl LDH Morphology on SDS concentration. Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer In-situ intercalation of SDS in ZnAl LDH was achieved via urea hydrolysis method. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Morphology of ZnAl LDH intercalated with SDS depended on the SDS concentration. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Ring like morphology for SDS intercalated ZnAl LDH was obtained for the first time. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Growth mechanism was discussed. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Template assisted growth of ZnAl LDH was proposed.« less

The potential influence of morphology on the evolutionary divergence of an acoustic signal

PubMed Central

Pitchers, W. R.; Klingenberg, C.P.; Tregenza, Tom; Hunt, J.; Dworkin, I.

2014-01-01

The evolution of acoustic behaviour and that of the morphological traits mediating its production are often coupled. Lack of variation in the underlying morphology of signalling traits has the potential to constrain signal evolution. This relationship is particularly likely in field crickets, where males produce acoustic advertisement signals to attract females by stridulating with specialized structures on their forewings. In this study, we characterise the size and geometric shape of the forewings of males from six allopatric populations of the black field cricket (Teleogryllus commodus) known to have divergent advertisement calls. We sample from each of these populations using both wild-caught and common-garden reared cohorts, allowing us to test for multivariate relationships between wing morphology and call structure. We show that the allometry of shape has diverged across populations. However, there was a surprisingly small amount of covariation between wing shape and call structure within populations. Given the importance of male size for sexual selection in crickets, the divergence we observe among populations has the potential to influence the evolution of advertisement calls in this species. PMID:25223712

Phonological Awareness: Factors of Influence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Frohlich, Linda Paulina; Petermann, Franz; Metz, Dorothee

2013-01-01

Early child development is influenced by various genetic and environmental factors. This study aims to identify factors that affect the phonological awareness of preschool and first grade children. Based on a sample of 330 German-speaking children (mean age = 6.2 years) the following domains were evaluated: Parent factors, birth and pregnancy,…

The influential factors on the morphological changes of upper airway associated with mouth opening.

PubMed

Hu, Bin; Ye, Jingying; Yin, Guoping; Zhang, Yuhuan

2018-04-15

This study aimed to evaluate the influential factors on the morphological changes of upper airway caused by mouth opening (MO). One hundred and thirty-eight obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS) patients were enrolled. Anthropometric and demographic data, Friedman tongue position (FTP), and tonsil scores were recorded. Overnight polysomnography and upper airway computed tomography scans under two conditions (mouth closed [MC] and MO) were acquired. Morphological parameters of upper airway were compared between MC and MO. Stepwise multiple linear regression analyses were performed with the variation ratio of upper airway parameters (Para-VRs) from MC to MO as the dependent variable, with age, gender, body mass index, neck circumference, waist circumference, four mandibular indexes, net angle or amount of MO, FTP, and tonsil scores as the independent variables. Overall analysis and subgroup analyses based on OSAHS severity revealed that the minimal cross-sectional area of oropharyngeal lumen (OXmin) significantly decreased (P < 0.05) with MO, whereas the minimal cross-sectional area of velopharyngeal lumen (VXmin) did not significantly change with MO (P > 0.05). The net angle of MO or amount of MO combined with tonsil scores were identified to have significant positive correlation with EXP (OXmin-VR), [OXmin-VR was logarithmically transformed with an exponential function, EXP(n) = e n ]; FTP appeared to be more related to EXP (VXmin-VR). Mouth opening induced a significant increase VXmin for patient subgroup with FTP grading I and a significant decrease VXmin for patient subgroup with FTP grading IV (P < 0.05). Wider MO combined with larger tonsils lead to narrower oropharyngeal airway. The relative position of tongue to soft palate is the main factor influencing the changes of velopharyngeal lumen with MO. IV. Laryngoscope, 2018. © 2018 The American Laryngological, Rhinological and Otological Society, Inc.

Influence of anodization parameters on the morphology of TiO 2 nanotube arrays

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Omidvar, Hamid; Goodarzi, Saba; Seif, Ahmad; Azadmehr, Amir R.

2011-07-01

TiO 2 nanotube arrays can be fabricated by electrochemical anodization in organic and inorganic electrolytes. Morphology of these nanotube arrays changes when anodization parameters such as applied voltage, type of electrolyte, time and temperature are varied. Nanotube arrays fabricated by anodization of commercial titanium in electrolytes containing NH 4F solution and either sulfuric or phosphoric acid were studied at room temperature; time of anodization was kept constant. Applied voltage, fluoride ion concentration, and acid concentrations were varied and their influences on TiO 2 nanotubes were investigated. The current density of anodizing was recorded by computer controlled digital multimeter. The surface morphology (top-view) of nanotube arrays were observed by SEM. The nanotube arrays in this study have inner diameters in range of 40-80 nm.

Factors influencing the surgical decision for the treatment of degenerative lumbar stenosis in a preference-based shared decision-making process.

PubMed

Kim, Ho-Joong; Park, Jae-Young; Kang, Kyoung-Tak; Chang, Bong-Soon; Lee, Choon-Ki; Yeom, Jin S

2015-02-01

In a preference-based shared decision-making system, several subjective and/or objective factors such as pain severity, degree of disability, and the radiological severity of canal stenosis may influence the final surgical decision for the treatment of lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS). However, our understanding of the shared decision-making process and the significance of each factor remain primitive. In the present study, we aimed to investigate which factors influence the surgical decision for the treatment of LSS when using a preference-based, shared decision-making process. We included 555 patients, aged 45-80 years, who used a preference-based shared decision-making process and were treated conservatively or surgically for chronic leg and/or back pain caused by LSS from April 2012 to December 2012. Univariate and multivariable-adjusted logistic regression analyses were used to assess the association of surgical decision making with age, sex, body mass index, symptom duration, radiologic stenotic grade, Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), visual analog scale (VAS) scores for back and leg pain, Short Form-36 (SF-36) subscales, and motor weakness. In univariate analysis, the following variables were associated with a higher odds of a surgical decision for LSS: male sex; the VAS score for leg pain; ODI; morphological stenotic grades B, C, and D; motor weakness; and the physical function, physical role, bodily pain, social function, and emotional role of the SF-36 subscales. Multivariate analysis revealed that male sex, ODI, morphological stenotic grades C and D, and motor weakness were significantly associated with a higher possibility of a surgical decision. Motor weakness, male sex, morphological stenotic grade, and the amount of disability are critical factors leading to a surgical decision for LSS when using a preference-based shared decision-making process.

Influence of the morphology of ZnO nanostructures on luminescent and photovoltaic properties

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ibrayev, N. Kh.; Ilyassov, B. R.; Afanasyev, D. A.

2017-03-01

Arrays of ZnO nanorods and nanoplates are synthesized by the hydrothermal and electrochemical methods, respectively. The photoluminescence spectra indicate that the nanoplates have a more defective structure than the nanorods. The obtained ZnO nanostructures are used as the basis to construct dye-sensitized solar cells. The influence of morphology and defectiveness of ZnO nanostructures on the luminescent and photovoltaic properties of the cells is studied.

Influence of morphology on survival for non-Hodgkin lymphoma in Europe and the United States.

PubMed

Sant, Milena; Allemani, Claudia; De Angelis, Roberta; Carbone, Antonino; de Sanjosè, Silvia; Gianni, Alessandro M; Giraldo, Pilar; Marchesi, Francesca; Marcos-Gragera, Rafael; Martos-Jiménez, Carmen; Maynadié, Marc; Raphael, Martine; Berrino, Franco

2008-03-01

We explored the influence of morphology on geographic differences in 5-year survival for non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) diagnosed in 1990-1994 and followed for 5years: 16,955 cases from 27 EUROCARE-3 cancer registries, and 22,713 cases from 9 US SEER registries. Overall 5-year relative survival was 56.1% in EUROCARE west, 47.1% in EUROCARE east and 56.3% in SEER. Relative excess risk (RER) of death was 1.05 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.01-1.10) in EUROCARE west, 1.52 (95% CI 1.44-1.60) in EUROCARE east (SEER reference). Excess risk of death was significantly above reference (diffuse B lymphoma) for Burkitt's and NOS lymphoma; not different for lymphoblastic and other T-cell; significantly below reference (in the order of decreasing relative excess risk) for NHL NOS, mantle cell/centrocytic, lymphoplasmacytic, follicular, small lymphocytic/chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, other specified NHL and cutaneous morphologies. Interpretation of marked variation in survival with morphology is complicated by classification inconsistencies. The completeness and standardisation of cancer registry morphology data needs to be improved.

Influence of modified muscle morphology and activity pattern on the results of musculoskeletal system modelling in cerebral palsy patient.

PubMed

Ogrodnik, Justyna; Piszczatowski, Szczepan

2017-01-01

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the influence of modified morphological parameters of the muscle model and excitation pattern on the results of musculoskeletal system numerical simulation in a cerebral palsy patient. The modelling of the musculoskeletal system was performed in the AnyBody Modelling System. The standard model (MoCap) was subjected to modifications consisting of changes in morphological parameters and excitation patterns of selected muscles. The research was conducted with the use of data of a 14-year-old cerebral palsy patient. A reduction of morphological parameters (variant MI) caused a decrease in the value of active force generated by the muscle with changed geometry, and as a consequence the changes in active force generated by other muscles. A simulation of the abnormal excitation pattern (variant MII) resulted in the muscle's additional activity during its lengthening. The simultaneous modification of the muscle morphology and excitation pattern (variant MIII) points to the interdependence of both types of muscle model changes. A significant increase in the value of the reaction force in the hip joint was observed as a consequence of modification of the hip abductor activity. The morphological parameters and the excitation pattern of modelled muscles have a significant influence on the results of numerical simulation of the musculoskeletal system functioning.

Preliminary observations of the effect of solutal convection on crystal morphology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Broom, M. Beth H.; Witherow, William K.; Snyder, Robert S.; Carter, Daniel C.

1988-01-01

Studies to examine the effect of solutal convection on crystal morphology using sucrose as a model system were initiated. Aspect ratios, defined as the width of the 100-plane-oriented face over the width of the 001-plane-oriented face, were determined for oriented crystals which were grown with either the 001-oriented or the 100-oriented face perpendicular to the convective flow. The dependence of the crystal morphology on orientation is much greater for crystals grown with one face occluded than for crystals grown suspended in solution. Many factors appear to interact in a complex fashion to influence crystal morphology.

Factors that Influence Participation in Online Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vonderwell, Selma; Zachariah, Sajit

2005-01-01

This study explored what factors influenced learner participation in two sections of a graduate online course at a Midwestern university. Findings indicated that online learner participation and patterns of participation are influenced by the following factors: technology and interface characteristics, content area experience, student roles and…

WETLAND MORPHOLOGIC AND BIOGEOGRAPHIC INFLUENCES ON ALGAL RESPONSES TO NUTRIENT LOADING IN GREAT LAKES COASTAL WETLANDS

EPA Science Inventory

We are testing the influence of wetland morphology (protected vs. riverine) and biogeography (upper vs. lower Great Lakes) on algal responses to nutrients in Great Lakes Coastal wetlands. Principal components analysis using nutrient-specific GIS data was used to select sites wit...

Data on the detail information of influence of substrate temperature on the film morphology and photovoltaic performance of non-fullerene organic solar cells.

PubMed

Zhang, Jicheng; Xie, SuFei; Lu, Zhen; Wu, Yang; Xiao, Hongmei; Zhang, Xuejuan; Li, Guangwu; Li, Cuihong; Chen, Xuebo; Ma, Wei; Bo, Zhishan

2017-10-01

This data contains additional data related to the article "Influence of Substrate Temperature on the Film Morphology and Photovoltaic Performance of Non-fullerene Organic Solar Cells" (Jicheng Zhang et al., In press) [1]. Data include measurement and characterization instruments and condition, detail condition to fabricate norfullerene solar cell devices, hole-only and electron-only devices. Detail condition about how to control the film morphology of devices via tuning the temperature of substrates was also displayed. More information and more convincing data about the change of film morphology for active layers fabricated from different temperature, which is attached to the research article of "Influence of Substrate Temperature on the Film Morphology and Photovoltaic Performance of Non-fullerene Organic Solar Cells" was given.

Effect of childhood maltreatment and brain-derived neurotrophic factor on brain morphology

PubMed Central

Schmaal, Lianne; Jansen, Rick; Milaneschi, Yuri; Opmeer, Esther M.; Elzinga, Bernet M.; van der Wee, Nic J. A.; Veltman, Dick J.; Penninx, Brenda W. J. H.

2016-01-01

Childhood maltreatment (CM) has been associated with altered brain morphology, which may partly be due to a direct impact on neural growth, e.g. through the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) pathway. Findings on CM, BDNF and brain volume are inconsistent and have never accounted for the entire BDNF pathway. We examined the effects of CM, BDNF (genotype, gene expression and protein level) and their interactions on hippocampus, amygdala and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) morphology. Data were collected from patients with depression and/or an anxiety disorder and healthy subjects within the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety (NESDA) (N = 289). CM was assessed using the Childhood Trauma Interview. BDNF Val66Met genotype, gene expression and serum protein levels were determined in blood and T1 MRI scans were acquired at 3T. Regional brain morphology was assessed using FreeSurfer. Covariate-adjusted linear regression analyses were performed. Amygdala volume was lower in maltreated individuals. This was more pronounced in maltreated met-allele carriers. The expected positive relationship between BDNF gene expression and volume of the amygdala is attenuated in maltreated subjects. Finally, decreased cortical thickness of the ACC was identified in maltreated subjects with the val/val genotype. CM was associated with altered brain morphology, partly in interaction with multiple levels of the BNDF pathway. Our results suggest that CM has different effects on brain morphology in met-carriers and val-homozygotes and that CM may disrupt the neuroprotective effect of BDNF. PMID:27405617

The influence of pterygium morphology on fibrin glue conjunctival autografting pterygium surgery.

PubMed

Sandra, Sekelj; Zeljka, Janjetovic; Zeljka, Vukovic Arar; Kristian, Samardzic; Ivana, Aric

2014-02-01

To evaluate the influence of pterygium morphology on the efficacy and safety of fibrin glue in pterygium surgery with conjunctival autografting. A prospective case series. During a period of 15 months, 45 patients (51 eyes) were recruited from the General Hospital for pterygium surgery. Seven eyes (13.73 %) were operated on for a recurrent pterygium. Autologous conjunctiva was harvested from the superior bulbar conjunctiva and fixed with fibrin glue. The pterygia were preoperatively divided into atrophic/grade 1 (n = 18; 35.29 %), intermediate/grade 2 (n = 22; 43.14 %) or fleshy/grade 3 (n = 11; 21.57 %) according to clinical morphology. Patients were evaluated for intraoperative and postoperative complications and recurrence rates. The success rate was defined by no pterygium recurrences. Patients with 2-year follow-ups were included in this study. Fifty-one patients (21 females/30 males) with a mean age of 60-65 years (range 24-87 years) took part in the study. All patients completed the study. No intraoperative complications were noted. Postsurgical complications included graft edema (n = 4; 7.8 %), graft hyperemia (n = 2; 3.8 %), and graft dislocation (n = 3; 5.9 %); these complications were transient. One graft unfastened completely (2 %) and five pterygium recurrences occurred (n = 5; 9.8 %). The overall success rate was 90 % after 2 years. In grade I group there were no recurrences, in grade 2 group there were two recurrences, and in grade 3 group there were three recurrences. There were significantly more recurrences in grade 3 group than in grade 2 group. There were more recurrences in both groups than in group 1 (60 vs 40 vs 0 % of all recurrences, p ≤ 0.05). The use of fibrin glue is a safe, easy and effective technique for attaching the conjunctival autograft in pterygium surgery. The morphology of pterygium influences recurrence rates, without significance for intraoperative and postoperative complications.

Factors That Influence Language Growth.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCarthy, Dorothea, Ed.; And Others

This booklet contains four articles that discuss factors influencing language growth. The first, "The Child's Equipment for Language Growth" by Charlotte Wells, examines what the child needs for language learning, how the child uses his equipment for language growth, and what school factors facilitate the child's use of his equipment for language…

Growth factor-induced morphological, physiological and molecular characteristics in cerebral endothelial cells.

PubMed

Krizbai, I A; Bauer, H; Amberger, A; Hennig, B; Szabó, H; Fuchs, R; Bauer, H C

2000-09-01

The capacity of vascular endothelial cells to modulate their phenotype in response to changes in environmental conditions is one of the most important characteristics of this cell type. Since different growth factors may play an important signalling role in this adaptive process we have investigated the effect of endothelial cell growth factor (ECGF) on morphological, physiological and molecular characteristics of cerebral endothelial cells (CECs). CECs grown in the presence of ECGF and its cofactor heparin exhibit an epithelial-like morphology (type I CECs). Upon removal of growth factors, CECs develop an elongated spindle-like shape (type II CECs) which is accompanied by the reorganization of actin filaments and the induction of alpha-actin expression. Since one of the most important functions of CECs is the creation of a selective diffusion barrier between the blood and the central nervous system (CNS), we have studied the expression of junction-related proteins in both cell types. We have found that removal of growth factors from endothelial cultures leads to the downregulation of cadherin and occludin protein levels. The loss of junctional proteins was accompanied by a significant increase in the migratory activity and an altered protease activity profile of the cells. TGF-beta1 suppressed endothelial migration in all experiments. Our data provide evidence to suggest that particular endothelial functions are largely controlled by the presence of growth factors. The differences in adhesiveness and migration may play a role in important physiological and pathological processes of endothelial cells such as vasculogenesis or tumor progression.

Factors influencing children's food choice.

PubMed

Koivisto Hursti, U K

1999-04-01

Although food habits are not stable and unchanging during a person's lifetime, a base for healthy food habits can be created in early childhood. Children's food habits can be assumed to be influenced by their parents' food habits and choices. The aim of this article is to review factors influencing food choice in children as well as in adults. The results demonstrate that the development of children's food habits is influenced by a multitude of factors. Parents play an important role in the formation of food habits and preferences of young children. They can influence their children's food choice by making specific foods available, by acting as models for their children and by their behaviour in specific situations. Children tend to be afraid of new foods and do not readily accept them. However, experience is known to enhance preference, and earlier experiences of a particular food are the major determinants of the development of children's food acceptance patterns. Thus, parents should be encouraged to make healthy foods easily available to the child and serve these foods in positive mealtime situations in order to help their child to develop healthy food habits.

Factors influencing children's food choice.

PubMed

Hursti, Ulla-Kaisa Koivisto

1999-01-01

Although food habits arc not stable and unchanging during a person's lifetime, a base for healthy food habits can be created in early childhood. Children's food habits can be assumed to be influenced by their parents' food habits and choices. The aim of this article is to review factors influencing food choice in children as well as in adults. The results demonstrate that the development of children's food habits is influenced by a multitude of factors. Parents play an important role in the formation of food habits and preferences of young children. They can influence their children's food choice by making specific foods available, by acting as models for their children and by their behaviour in specific situations. Children tend to be afraid of new foods and do not readily accept them. However, experience is known to enhance preference, and earlier experiences of a particular food are the major determinants of the development of children's food acceptance patterns. Thus, parents should be encouraged to make healthy foods easily available to the child and serve these foods in positive mealtime situations in order to help their child to develop healthy food habits.

The influence of mannitol on morphology and disintegration of spray-dried nano-embedded microparticles.

PubMed

Torge, Afra; Grützmacher, Philipp; Mücklich, Frank; Schneider, Marc

2017-06-15

Nano-embedded microparticles represent a promising approach to deliver nanoparticles to the lungs. Microparticles with an appropriate aerodynamic diameter enable an application by dry powder inhaler and the transport of nanoparticles into the airways. By disintegration after deposition, nanoparticles can be released to exhibit their advantages such as a sustained drug release and delivery of the drug across the mucus barrier. The use of an appropriate matrix excipient to embed the nanoparticles is essential for the necessary disintegration and release of nanoparticles. In this context we investigated the influence of mannitol on the morphology, aerodynamic properties and disintegration behavior of nano-embedded microparticles. PLGA nanoparticles and mannitol were spray dried each as sole component and in combination in three different ratios. An influence of the mannitol content on the morphology was observed. Pure mannitol microparticles were solid and spherical, while the addition of nanoparticles resulted in raisin-shaped hollow particles. The different morphologies can be explained by diffusion processes of the compounds described by the Péclet-number. All powders showed suitable aerodynamic properties. By dispersion of the powders in simulated lung fluid, initial nanoparticle sizes could be recovered for samples containing mannitol. The fraction of redispersed nanoparticles was increased with increasing mannitol content. To evaluate the disintegration under conditions with higher comparability to the in vivo situation, spray-dried powders were exposed to >90% relative humidity. The disintegration behavior was monitored by analyzing roughness values by white light interferometry and supporting SEM imaging. The exposure to high relative humidity was shown to be sufficient for disintegration of the microparticles containing mannitol, releasing morphologically unchanged nanoparticles. With increasing mannitol content, the disintegration occurred faster and to a

Influence of effective number of pulses on the morphological structure of teeth and bovine femur after femtosecond laser ablation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nicolodelli, Gustavo; de Fátima Zanirato Lizarelli, Rosane; Salvador Bagnato, Vanderlei

2012-04-01

Femtosecond lasers have been widely used in laser surgery as an instrument for contact-free tissue removal of hard dental, restorative materials, and osseous tissues, complementing conventional drilling or cutting tools. In order to obtain a laser system that provides an ablation efficiency comparable to mechanical instruments, the laser pulse rate must be maximal without causing thermal damage. The aim of this study was to compare the different morphological characteristics of the hard tissue after exposure to lasers operating in the femtosecond pulse regime. Two different kinds of samples were irradiated: dentin from human extracted teeth and bovine femur samples. Different procedures were applied, while paying special care to preserving the structures. The incubation factor S was calculated to be 0.788+/-0.004 for the bovine femur bone. These results indicate that the incubation effect is still substantial during the femtosecond laser ablation of hard tissues. The plasma-induced ablation has reduced side effects, i.e., we observe less thermal and mechanical damage when using a superficial femtosecond laser irradiation close to the threshold conditions. In the femtosecond regime, the morphology characteristics of the cavity were strongly influenced by the change of the effective number of pulses.

Zinc deficiency during growth: influence on renal function and morphology.

PubMed

Tomat, Analía Lorena; Costa, María Angeles; Girgulsky, Luciana Carolina; Veiras, Luciana; Weisstaub, Adriana Ruth; Inserra, Felipe; Balaszczuk, Ana María; Arranz, Cristina Teresa

2007-03-13

This study was designed to investigate the effects of moderate zinc deficiency during growth on renal morphology and function in adult life. Weaned male Wistar rats were divided into two groups and fed either a moderately zinc-deficient diet (zinc: 8 mg/kg, n=12) or a control diet (zinc: 30 mg/kg, n=12) for 60 days. We evaluated: renal parameters, NADPH-diaphorase and nitric oxide synthase activity in kidney, renal morphology and apoptotic cells in renal cortex. Zinc-deficient rats showed a decrease in glomerular filtration rate and no changes in sodium and potassium urinary excretion. Zinc deficiency decreased NADPH diaphorase activity in glomeruli and tubular segment of nephrons, and reduced activity of nitric oxide synthase in the renal medulla and cortex, showing that zinc plays an important role in preservation of the renal nitric oxide system. A reduction in nephron number, glomerular capillary area and number of glomerular nuclei in cortical and juxtamedullary areas was observed in zinc deficient kidneys. Sirius red staining and immunostaining for alpha-smooth muscle-actin and collagen III showed no signs of fibrosis in the renal cortex and medulla. An increase in the number of apoptotic cells in distal tubules and cortical collecting ducts neighboring glomeruli and, to a lesser extent, in the glomeruli was observed in zinc deficient rats. The major finding of our study is the emergence of moderate zinc deficiency during growth as a potential nutritional factor related to abnormalities in renal morphology and function that facilitates the development of cardiovascular and renal diseases in adult life.

The Relationship of Morphological Analysis and Morphological Decoding to Reading Comprehension

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Deacon, S. Hélène; Tong, Xiuli; Francis, Kathryn

2017-01-01

The ultimate goal of children's reading development is the full and fluid understanding of texts. Morphological structure awareness, or children's awareness of the minimal units of meaning in language, has been identified as a key skill influencing reading comprehension. Here, we evaluate the roles of morphological structure awareness and two…

Factors influencing frontal cortex development and recovery from early frontal injury.

PubMed

Halliwell, Celeste; Comeau, Wendy; Gibb, Robbin; Frost, Douglas O; Kolb, Bryan

2009-01-01

Neocortical development represents more than a simple unfolding of a genetic blueprint but rather represents a complex dance of genetic and environmental events that interact to adapt the brain to fit a particular environmental context. Although most cortical regions are sensitive to a wide range of experiential factors during development and later in life, the prefrontal cortex appears to be unusually sensitive to perinatal experiences and relatively immune to many adulthood experiences relative to other neocortical regions. One way to examine experience-dependent prefrontal development is to conduct studies in which experiential perturbations are related neuronal morphology. This review of the research reveals both pre- and post-natal factors have important effects on prefrontal development and behaviour. Such factors include psychoactive drugs, including both illicit drugs and prescription drugs, stress, gonadal hormones and sensory and motor stimulation. A second method of study is to examine both the effects of perinatal prefrontal injury on the development of the remaining cerebral mantle and correlated behaviours as well as the effects of post-injury rehabilitation programmes on the anatomical and behavioural measures. Prefrontal injury alters cerebral development in a developmental-stage dependent manner with perinatal injuries having far more deleterious effects than similar injuries later in infancy. The outcome of perinatal injuries can be modified, however, by rehabilitation with many of the factors shown to influence prefrontal development in the otherwise normal brain.

Effect of childhood maltreatment and brain-derived neurotrophic factor on brain morphology.

PubMed

van Velzen, Laura S; Schmaal, Lianne; Jansen, Rick; Milaneschi, Yuri; Opmeer, Esther M; Elzinga, Bernet M; van der Wee, Nic J A; Veltman, Dick J; Penninx, Brenda W J H

2016-11-01

Childhood maltreatment (CM) has been associated with altered brain morphology, which may partly be due to a direct impact on neural growth, e.g. through the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) pathway. Findings on CM, BDNF and brain volume are inconsistent and have never accounted for the entire BDNF pathway. We examined the effects of CM, BDNF (genotype, gene expression and protein level) and their interactions on hippocampus, amygdala and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) morphology. Data were collected from patients with depression and/or an anxiety disorder and healthy subjects within the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety (NESDA) (N = 289). CM was assessed using the Childhood Trauma Interview. BDNF Val66Met genotype, gene expression and serum protein levels were determined in blood and T1 MRI scans were acquired at 3T. Regional brain morphology was assessed using FreeSurfer. Covariate-adjusted linear regression analyses were performed. Amygdala volume was lower in maltreated individuals. This was more pronounced in maltreated met-allele carriers. The expected positive relationship between BDNF gene expression and volume of the amygdala is attenuated in maltreated subjects. Finally, decreased cortical thickness of the ACC was identified in maltreated subjects with the val/val genotype. CM was associated with altered brain morphology, partly in interaction with multiple levels of the BNDF pathway. Our results suggest that CM has different effects on brain morphology in met-carriers and val-homozygotes and that CM may disrupt the neuroprotective effect of BDNF. © The Author (2016). Published by Oxford University Press.

Foot anthropometry and morphology phenomena.

PubMed

Agić, Ante; Nikolić, Vasilije; Mijović, Budimir

2006-12-01

Foot structure description is important for many reasons. The foot anthropometric morphology phenomena are analyzed together with hidden biomechanical functionality in order to fully characterize foot structure and function. For younger Croatian population the scatter data of the individual foot variables were interpolated by multivariate statistics. Foot structure descriptors are influenced by many factors, as a style of life, race, climate, and things of the great importance in human society. Dominant descriptors are determined by principal component analysis. Some practical recommendation and conclusion for medical, sportswear and footwear practice are highlighted.

Factors Influencing Effective Writing.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Muccino, Mary Ann; And Others

Focusing on procedures and strategies suitable for teaching writing to students in grades 4, 6, and 8, this paper examines the factors that have been shown through research to influence effective writing. The paper divides the research examined into the categories of metacognition; socially-based writing strategies; theory-tested approaches to…

Influences of Probe’s Morphology for Metal Ion Detection Based on Light-Addressable Potentiometric Sensors

PubMed Central

Shao, Chen; Zhou, Shuang; Yin, Xuebo; Gu, Yajun; Jia, Yunfang

2016-01-01

The sensing mechanism of binding Hg2+ into thymine-thymine (T-T) mismatched base pairs was introduced into a light-addressable potentiometric sensor (LAPS) with anti-Hg2+ aptamer as the sensing units. Three kinds of T-rich single-strand DNA (ssDNA) chains with different spacer lengths, from 0 to 12 –CH2 groups, were designed to investigate surface charge and morphological effects on the LAPS’ output. First, by comparing the responding of LAPS modified with three kinds of ssDNA, it was found that the best performance for Hg2+ sensing was exhibited by the probe without –CH2 groups. The detection limit of Hg2+ ion was 1 ppt under the optimal condition. Second, the cooperative effects of surface charge and morphology on the output were observed by the controlled experiments. The two effects were the negative charge balanced by metal cations and the morphological changing caused by the formation of T-Hg2+-T structure. In conclusion, not only the influences of the aptamer probe’s morphology and surface charge was investigated on the platform of LAPS, but also sensing Hg2+ ions was achieved for the first time by the presented aptamer LAPS. PMID:27187412

Factors influencing perceived angular velocity.

PubMed

Kaiser, M K; Calderone, J B

1991-11-01

The assumption that humans are able to perceive and process angular kinematics is critical to many structure-from-motion and optical flow models. The current studies investigate this sensitivity, and examine several factors likely to influence angular velocity perception. In particular, three factors are considered: (1) the extent to which perceived angular velocity is determined by edge transitions of surface elements, (2) the extent to which angular velocity estimates are influenced by instantaneous linear velocities of surface elements, and (3) whether element-velocity effects are related to three-dimensional (3-D) tangential velocities or to two-dimensional (2-D) image velocities. Edge-transition rate biased angular velocity estimates only when edges were highly salient. Element velocities influenced perceived angular velocity; this bias was related to 2-D image velocity rather than 3-D tangential velocity. Despite these biases, however, judgments were most strongly determined by the true angular velocity. Sensitivity to this higher order motion parameter was surprisingly good, for rotations both in depth (y-axis) and parallel to the line of sight (z-axis).

Social Factors Influencing Child Health in Ghana

PubMed Central

Quansah, Emmanuel; Ohene, Lilian Akorfa; Norman, Linda; Mireku, Michael Osei; Karikari, Thomas K.

2016-01-01

Objectives Social factors have profound effects on health. Children are especially vulnerable to social influences, particularly in their early years. Adverse social exposures in childhood can lead to chronic disorders later in life. Here, we sought to identify and evaluate the impact of social factors on child health in Ghana. As Ghana is unlikely to achieve the Millennium Development Goals’ target of reducing child mortality by two-thirds between 1990 and 2015, we deemed it necessary to identify social determinants that might have contributed to the non-realisation of this goal. Methods ScienceDirect, PubMed, MEDLINE via EBSCO and Google Scholar were searched for published articles reporting on the influence of social factors on child health in Ghana. After screening the 98 articles identified, 34 of them that met our inclusion criteria were selected for qualitative review. Results Major social factors influencing child health in the country include maternal education, rural-urban disparities (place of residence), family income (wealth/poverty) and high dependency (multiparousity). These factors are associated with child mortality, nutritional status of children, completion of immunisation programmes, health-seeking behaviour and hygiene practices. Conclusions Several social factors influence child health outcomes in Ghana. Developing more effective responses to these social determinants would require sustainable efforts from all stakeholders including the Government, healthcare providers and families. We recommend the development of interventions that would support families through direct social support initiatives aimed at alleviating poverty and inequality, and indirect approaches targeted at eliminating the dependence of poor health outcomes on social factors. Importantly, the expansion of quality free education interventions to improve would-be-mother’s health knowledge is emphasised. PMID:26745277

Social Factors Influencing Child Health in Ghana.

PubMed

Quansah, Emmanuel; Ohene, Lilian Akorfa; Norman, Linda; Mireku, Michael Osei; Karikari, Thomas K

2016-01-01

Social factors have profound effects on health. Children are especially vulnerable to social influences, particularly in their early years. Adverse social exposures in childhood can lead to chronic disorders later in life. Here, we sought to identify and evaluate the impact of social factors on child health in Ghana. As Ghana is unlikely to achieve the Millennium Development Goals' target of reducing child mortality by two-thirds between 1990 and 2015, we deemed it necessary to identify social determinants that might have contributed to the non-realisation of this goal. ScienceDirect, PubMed, MEDLINE via EBSCO and Google Scholar were searched for published articles reporting on the influence of social factors on child health in Ghana. After screening the 98 articles identified, 34 of them that met our inclusion criteria were selected for qualitative review. Major social factors influencing child health in the country include maternal education, rural-urban disparities (place of residence), family income (wealth/poverty) and high dependency (multiparousity). These factors are associated with child mortality, nutritional status of children, completion of immunisation programmes, health-seeking behaviour and hygiene practices. Several social factors influence child health outcomes in Ghana. Developing more effective responses to these social determinants would require sustainable efforts from all stakeholders including the Government, healthcare providers and families. We recommend the development of interventions that would support families through direct social support initiatives aimed at alleviating poverty and inequality, and indirect approaches targeted at eliminating the dependence of poor health outcomes on social factors. Importantly, the expansion of quality free education interventions to improve would-be-mother's health knowledge is emphasised.

Factors potentially influencing aminoglycoside use and expenditure

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

DiPiro, J.T.; Kilsdonk, G.F.; Amerson, A.B.

1982-07-01

Factors that may have influenced aminoglycoside use and expenditure in one hospital were examined. Factors that were evaluated as to their influence on aminoglycoside-use patterns were: (1) formulary status; (2) bacterial susceptibility patterns; (3) identified or perceived differences in toxicity; (4) changes in patient population; (5) price paid by the hospital for aminoglycosides; (6) distribution of newsletters or memoranda; (7) advertising and detailing; and (8) pharmacy policies. For FY 1976-77 to 1979-80, the largest proportion of aminoglycoside expense was for gentamicin. During FY 1980-81, the expenditure for gentamicin decreased and tobramycin accounted for the largest proportion of total expenditure. Monthlymore » gentamicin use decreased 20% during FY 1980-81 from the previous year. Tobramycin use increased from January 1979 to November 1980 and decreased from December 1980 to June 1981. Kanamycin use and amikacin use were fairly constant during the study period. Based on temporal relationships, the following factors appeared to influence aminoglycoside use and expenditure: (1) a study conducted at the institution from June 1977 to June 1979 comparing gentamicin and tobramycin nephrotoxicity; (2) a comparative nephrotoxicity study published in a widely circulated medical journal in May 1980; and (3) an intramural newsletter and memorandum distributed in March 1981 encouraging selective aminoglycoside use. The identification of factors that potentially influenced aminoglycoside use can be used to anticipate the future impact of similar events and to devise strategies to influence antimicrobial use.« less

Influence of the nanofibrous morphology on the catalytic activity of NiO nanostructures: an effective impact toward methanol electrooxidation

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

In this study, the influence of the morphology on the electrocatalytic activity of nickel oxide nanostructures toward methanol oxidation is investigated. Two nanostructures were utilized: nanoparticles and nanofibers. NiO nanofibers have been synthesized by using the electrospinning technique. Briefly, electrospun nanofiber mats composed of polyvinylpyrolidine and nickel acetate were calcined at 700°C for 1 h. Interestingly, compared to nanoparticles, the nanofibrous morphology strongly enhanced the electrocatalytic performance. The corresponding current densities for the NiO nanofibers and nanoparticles were 25 and 6 mA/cm2, respectively. Moreover, the optimum methanol concentration increased to 1 M in case of the nanofibrous morphology while it was 0.1 M for the NiO nanoparticles. Actually, the one-dimensional feature of the nanofibrous morphology facilitates electrons' motion which enhances the electrocatalytic activity. Overall, this study emphasizes the distinct positive impact of the nanofibrous morphology on the electrocatalytic activity which will open a new avenue for modification of the electrocatalysts. PMID:24074313

Orthogonal Simulation Experiment for Flow Characteristics of Ore in Ore Drawing and Influencing Factors in a Single Funnel Under a Flexible Isolation Layer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Qingfa; Zhao, Fuyu; Chen, Qinglin; Wang, Yuding; Zhong, Yu; Niu, Wenjing

2017-12-01

A study on the flow characteristics of ore and factors that influence these characteristics is important to master ore flow laws. An orthogonal ore-drawing numerical model was established and the flow characteristics were explored. A weight matrix was obtained and the effect of the factors was determined. It was found that (1) the entire isolation-layer interface presents a Gaussian curve morphology and marked particles in each layer show a funnel morphology; (2) the drawing amount, Q, and the isolation layer half-width, W, are correlated positively with the fall depth, H, of the isolation layer; (3) factors that affect the characteristics sequentially include the particle friction coefficient, the interface friction coefficient, the isolation layer thickness, and the particle radius, and (4) the optimal combination is an isolation layer thickness of 0.005 m, an interface friction coefficient of 0.8, a particle friction coefficient of 0.2, and a particle radius of 0.007 m.

Influence of organizational factors on safety

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Haber, S.B.; Metlay, D.S.; Crouch, D.A.

There is a need for a better understanding of exactly how organizational management factors at a nuclear power plant (NPP) affect plant safety performance, either directly or indirectly, and how these factors might be observed, measured, and evaluated. The purpose of this research project is to respond to that need by developing a general methodology for characterizing these organizational and management factors, systematically collecting information on their status and integrating that information into various types of evaluative activities. Research to date has included the development of the Nuclear Organization and Management Analysis Concept (NOMAC) of a NPP, the identification ofmore » key organizational and management factors, and the identification of the methods for systematically measuring and analyzing the influence of these factors on performance. Most recently, two field studies, one at a fossil fuel plant and the other at a NPP, were conducted using the developed methodology. Results are presented from both studies highlighting the acceptability, practicality, and usefulness of the methods used to assess the influence of various organizational and management factors including culture, communication, decision-making, standardization, and oversight. 6 refs., 3 figs., 1 tab.« less

Factors Influencing Resident Choice of Prosthodontic Residency Program.

PubMed

Wojnarwsky, Pandora Keala Lee; Wang, Yan; Shah, Kumar; Koka, Sreenivas

2017-06-01

The decision by prosthodontic residency program directors to employ the Match process highlights the need to understand applicant priorities that influence their choice of which programs to rank highly. The purpose of this study is to determine the factors that were most important to residents when choosing from among nonmilitary based prosthodontics dental residency programs in the United States. Following completion of a pilot study, all currently enrolled prosthodontic residents at nonmilitary residency programs were invited to participate via the internet. The study consisted of a survey instrument asking residents to rank 26 possible factors that might impact an applicant's choice of residency program. In addition, the instrument collected other possible influencing variables including gender and debt load. Mean rank scores were compared to determine the most and least important factors. Kruskal-Wallis test was used to compare specific factors between the possible influencing variables. Two hundred and thirty residents completed the survey instrument, representing a 54.1% response rate of possible participants. With regard to factors influencing program choice, reputation of the residency program was the factor ranked the highest by participants, followed in descending order by the program director's personality, curriculum content, access to use of the latest digital technology, and opportunities for dental implant placement. Quality of schools for children, community outreach opportunities, and the ability to moonlight were ranked as the least important factors. Male and female residents ranked factors such as tuition/stipend, curriculum content, and community outreach opportunities significantly differently. Depending on debt load, residents ranked the factors tuition/stipend, ability to moonlight, curriculum content, and safety of the area where the program is differently. Current prosthodontic residents valued the reputation of the program as the most

Channel morphology [Chapter 5

Treesearch

Jonathan W. Long; Alvin L. Medina; Daniel G. Neary

2012-01-01

Channel morphology has become an increasingly important subject for analyzing the health of rivers and associated fish populations, particularly since the popularization of channel classification and assessment methods. Morphological data can help to evaluate the flows of sediment and water that influence aquatic and riparian habitat. Channel classification systems,...

Influence of epidermal growth factor (EGF) and hydrocortisone on the co-culture of mature adipocytes and endothelial cells for vascularized adipose tissue engineering.

PubMed

Huber, Birgit; Czaja, Alina Maria; Kluger, Petra Juliane

2016-05-01

The composition of vascularized adipose tissue is still an ongoing challenge as no culture medium is available to supply adipocytes and endothelial cells appropriately. Endothelial cell medium is typically supplemented with epidermal growth factor (EGF) as well as hydrocortisone (HC). The effect of EGF on adipocytes is discussed controversially. Some studies say it inhibits adipocyte differentiation while others reported of improved adipocyte lipogenesis. HC is known to have lipolytic activities, which might result in mature adipocyte dedifferentiation. In this study, we evaluated the influence of EGF and HC on the co-culture of endothelial cells and mature adipocytes regarding their cell morphology and functionality. We showed in mono-culture that high levels of HC promoted dedifferentiation and proliferation of mature adipocytes, whereas EGF seemed to have no negative influence. Endothelial cells kept their typical cobblestone morphology and showed a proliferation rate comparable to the control independent of EGF and HC concentration. In co-culture, HC promoted dedifferentiation of mature adipocytes, which was shown by a higher glycerol release. EGF had no negative impact on adipocyte morphology. No negative impact on endothelial cell morphology and functionality could be seen with reduced EGF and HC supplementation in co-culture with mature adipocytes. Taken together, our results demonstrate that reduced levels of HC are needed for co-culturing mature adipocytes and endothelial cells. In co-culture, EGF had no influence on mature adipocytes. Therefore, for the composition of vascularized adipose tissue constructs, the media with low levels of HC and high or low levels of EGF can be used. © 2016 International Federation for Cell Biology.

Factors influencing pacing in triathlon

PubMed Central

Wu, Sam SX; Peiffer, Jeremiah J; Brisswalter, Jeanick; Nosaka, Kazunori; Abbiss, Chris R

2014-01-01

Triathlon is a multisport event consisting of sequential swim, cycle, and run disciplines performed over a variety of distances. This complex and unique sport requires athletes to appropriately distribute their speed or energy expenditure (ie, pacing) within each discipline as well as over the entire event. As with most physical activity, the regulation of pacing in triathlon may be influenced by a multitude of intrinsic and extrinsic factors. The majority of current research focuses mainly on the Olympic distance, whilst much less literature is available on other triathlon distances such as the sprint, half-Ironman, and Ironman distances. Furthermore, little is understood regarding the specific physiological, environmental, and interdisciplinary effects on pacing. Therefore, this article discusses the pacing strategies observed in triathlon across different distances, and elucidates the possible factors influencing pacing within the three specific disciplines of a triathlon. PMID:25258562

Influence of notch depth on tearing morphology and tearing energy in carbon-black-loaded SBR (styrene butadiene rubber)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Goldberg, A.; LeMay, J.D.; Sanchez, R.J.

Tearing energies (T) have been evaluated for carbon-black-reinforced SBR tested in uniaxial tension. The influence of notch depth on T and fracture morphology have also been determined. The influence of notch depth on the stress-strain behavior and on the failure stress and failure strain is also illustrated. The ratio of recovered-to-input energy as a function of both stress and strain was determined for notched and notch-free samples.

Self-referential forces are sufficient to explain different dendritic morphologies

PubMed Central

Memelli, Heraldo; Torben-Nielsen, Benjamin; Kozloski, James

2013-01-01

Dendritic morphology constrains brain activity, as it determines first which neuronal circuits are possible and second which dendritic computations can be performed over a neuron's inputs. It is known that a range of chemical cues can influence the final shape of dendrites during development. Here, we investigate the extent to which self-referential influences, cues generated by the neuron itself, might influence morphology. To this end, we developed a phenomenological model and algorithm to generate virtual morphologies, which are then compared to experimentally reconstructed morphologies. In the model, branching probability follows a Galton–Watson process, while the geometry is determined by “homotypic forces” exerting influence on the direction of random growth in a constrained space. We model three such homotypic forces, namely an inertial force based on membrane stiffness, a soma-oriented tropism, and a force of self-avoidance, as directional biases in the growth algorithm. With computer simulations we explored how each bias shapes neuronal morphologies. We show that based on these principles, we can generate realistic morphologies of several distinct neuronal types. We discuss the extent to which homotypic forces might influence real dendritic morphologies, and speculate about the influence of other environmental cues on neuronal shape and circuitry. PMID:23386828

Image analysis of open-door laminoplasty for cervical spondylotic myelopathy: comparing the influence of cord morphology and spine alignment.

PubMed

Lin, Bon-Jour; Lin, Meng-Chi; Lin, Chin; Lee, Meei-Shyuan; Feng, Shao-Wei; Ju, Da-Tong; Ma, Hsin-I; Liu, Ming-Ying; Hueng, Dueng-Yuan

2015-10-01

Previous studies have identified the factors affecting the surgical outcome of cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM) following laminoplasty. Nonetheless, the effect of these factors remains controversial. It is unknown about the association between pre-operative cervical spinal cord morphology and post-operative imaging result following laminoplasty. The goal of this study is to analyze the impact of pre-operative cervical spinal cord morphology on post-operative imaging in patients with CSM. Twenty-six patients with CSM undergoing open-door laminoplasty were classified according to pre-operative cervical spine bony alignment and cervical spinal cord morphology, and the results were evaluated in terms of post-operative spinal cord posterior drift, and post-operative expansion of the antero-posterior dura diameter. By the result of study, pre-operative spinal cord morphology was an effective classification in predicting surgical outcome - patients with anterior convexity type, description of cervical spinal cord morphology, had more spinal cord posterior migration than those with neutral or posterior convexity type after open-door laminoplasty. Otherwise, the interesting finding was that cervical spine Cobb's angle had an impact on post-operative spinal cord posterior drift in patients with neutral or posterior convexity type spinal cord morphology - the degree of kyphosis was inversely proportional to the distance of post-operative spinal cord posterior drift, but not in the anterior convexity type. These findings supported that pre-operative cervical spinal cord morphology may be used as screening for patients undergoing laminoplasty. Patients having neutral or posterior convexity type spinal cord morphology accompanied with kyphotic deformity were not suitable candidates for laminoplasty. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effects of biotic and abiotic factors on phenotypic partitioning of wing morphology and development in Sclerodermus pupariae (Hymenoptera: Bethylidae).

PubMed

Wang, Xiaoyi; Wei, Ke; Yang, Zhongqi; Jennings, David E; Duan, Jian J

2016-05-19

Wing phenotype polymorphism is commonly observed in insects, yet little is known about the influence of environmental cues on the development or expression of the alternative phenotypes. Here, we report how both biotic and abiotic factors affect the wing morph differentiation of a bethylid parasitoid Sclerodermus pupariae. The percentage of winged female parasitoid progeny increased exponentially with temperature between 20 °C to 30 °C. Low intensity light and short-day photoperiod conditions also significantly induced the development of winged morphs. Interestingly, wingless maternal parasitoids produced more winged progeny. Furthermore, the degree of wing dimorphism was significantly influenced by the interactions between light intensity and maternal wing morphs. The percentage of winged female progeny was not significantly influenced by foundress densities, but increased significantly with parasitoid brood sizes. However, the percentage of male progeny increased significantly with the densities of maternal parasitoids. Our findings highlight the phenotypic partitioning of wing morphology and development in the parasitoid S. pupariae under varied environmental cues, and reveal the most favourable conditions for the production of winged females in this bethylid wasp. It is thus possible to increase winged female parasitoid production for the purposes of biological control by manipulation of biotic and abiotic conditions.

Environmental, morphological, and productive characterization of Sardinian goats and use of latent explanatory factors for population analysis.

PubMed

Vacca, G M; Paschino, P; Dettori, M L; Bergamaschi, M; Cipolat-Gotet, C; Bittante, G; Pazzola, M

2016-09-01

Dairy goat farming is practiced worldwide, within a range of different farming systems. Here we investigated the effects of environmental factors and morphology on milk traits of the Sardinian goat population. Sardinian goats are currently reared in Sardinia (Italy) in a low-input context, similar to many goat farming systems, especially in developing countries. Milk and morphological traits from 1,050 Sardinian goats from 42 farms were recorded. We observed a high variability regarding morphological traits, such as coat color, ear length and direction, horn presence, and udder shape. Such variability derived partly from the unplanned repeated crossbreeding of the native Sardinian goats with exotic breeds, especially Maltese goats. The farms located in the mountains were characterized by the traditional farming system and the lowest percentage of crossbred goats. Explanatory factors analysis was used to summarize the interrelated measured milk variables. The explanatory factor related to fat, protein, and energy content of milk (the "Quality" latent variable) explained about 30% of the variance of the whole data set of measured milk traits followed by the "Hygiene" (19%), "Production" (19%), and "Acidity" (11%) factors. The "Quality" and "Hygiene" factors were not affected by any of the farm classification items, whereas "Production" and "Acidity" were affected only by altitude and size of herds, respectively, indicating the adaptation of the local goat population to different environmental conditions. The use of latent explanatory factor analysis allowed us to clearly explain the large variability of milk traits, revealing that the Sardinian goat population cannot be divided into subpopulations based on milk attitude The factors, properly integrated with genetic data, may be useful tools in future selection programs.

Factors influencing workplace health promotion intervention: a qualitative systematic review.

PubMed

Rojatz, Daniela; Merchant, Almas; Nitsch, Martina

2017-10-01

Although workplace health promotion (WHP) has evolved over the last 40 years, systematically collected knowledge on factors influencing the functioning of WHP is scarce. Therefore, a qualitative systematic literature review was carried out to systematically identify and synthesize factors influencing the phases of WHP interventions: needs assessment, planning, implementation and evaluation. Research evidence was identified by searching electronic databases (Scopus, PubMed, Social Sciences Citation Index, ASSIA, ERIC, IBBS and PsycINFO) from 1998 to 2013, as well as by cross-checking reference lists of included peer-reviewed articles. The inclusion criteria were: original empirical research, description of WHP, description of barriers to and/or facilitators of the planning, implementation and/or evaluation of WHP. Finally, 54 full texts were included. From these, influencing factors were extracted and summarized using thematic analysis. The majority of influencing factors referred to the implementation phase, few dealt with planning and/or evaluation and none with needs assessment. The influencing factors were condensed into topics with respect to factors at contextual level (e.g. economic crisis); factors at organizational level (e.g. management support); factors at intervention level (e.g. quality of intervention concept); factors at implementer level (e.g. resources); factors at participant level (e.g. commitment to intervention) and factors referring to methodological and data aspects (e.g. data-collection issues). Factors regarding contextual issues and organizational aspects were identified across three phases. Therefore, future research and practice should consider not only the influencing factors at different levels, but also at different phases of WHP interventions. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Factors that influence nurses' customer orientation.

PubMed

Darby, D N; Daniel, K

1999-09-01

Hospital care mostly involves complex processes that are continuously adjusted to match individual client needs. As most patients cannot evaluate the technology used, they focus on personal interactions with care providers when making judgements about the care received. Nurses are the care team members that primarily provide ongoing care. This study aims to further understand factors that influence the way nursing staff relate to their patients. A model is presented of the contextual and self-perceptual factors that influence the level of customer/client orientation of nursing services in an Australian hospital setting along with details of a quantitative study. Nurses completed an anonymous questionnaire, which was then mailed directly to the researchers. Analysis of the data included factor analysis, regression and path analysis. The results show that contextual elements such as management commitment to service quality and self-perceptual factors such as role stress impact on the nurses' client service orientation. However, the variables being studied commonly have both direct and indirect effects with feelings about commitment to the organization having a notable mediating influence. The scales adapted from use in other industries are able to measure the perceptual and outcome variables in a health institutional setting. The managerial implications are that both a comprehensive programme of organizational culture and individual staff member development is needed if an enhanced customer orientation and the consequent improvement in client satisfaction with nursing care is to occur.

Consideration of Real World Factors Influencing Greenhouse ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Discuss a variety of factors that influence the simulated fuel economy and GHG emissions that are often overlooked and updates made to ALPHA based on actual benchmarking data observed across a range of vehicles and transmissions. ALPHA model calibration is also examined, focusing on developing generic calibrations for driver behavior, transmission gear selection and torque converter lockup. In addition, show the derivation of correction factors needed to estimate cold start emission results. To provide an overview of the ALPHA tool with additional focus on recent updates by presenting the approach for validating and calibrating ALPHA to match particular vehicles in a general sense, then by looking at the individual losses, and calibration factors likely to influence fuel economy.

What factors influence British medical students' career intentions?

PubMed

Ibrahim, Michael; Fanshawe, Angela; Patel, Vanash; Goswami, Karan; Chilvers, Geoffrey; Ting, Michelle; Pilavakis, Yiannis; Rao, Christopher; Athanasiou, Thanos

2014-12-01

The aim of this study was to identify factors that influence career choice in UK medical students. Students at seven institutions were invited to rate how important various factors were on influencing their career choices and how interested they were in pursuing different specialties. The influence of interpersonal relationship networks on career choice was also evaluated. 641 responses were collected. 44% (283) were male, 16% (105) were graduates and 41% (263) were final-year students. For Dermatology (p = 0.009), Paediatrics (p = 0.000), Radiology (p = 0.000), Emergency Medicine (p = 0.018) and Cardiothoracic Surgery (p = 0.000), there was a clear correlation between completing a clinical attachment and an interest in pursuing the specialty. Perceived characteristics of the speciality, individually and in clusters were considered important by specific subgroups of students, such as those interested in surgery. These students considered prestige (p = 0.0003), role models (p = 0.014), financial rewards after training (p = 0.0196) and technical challenge (p = 0.0011) as important factors. Demographics such as sex and age played a significant role in career choice. Interpersonal relationship networks do not have a significant influence on career intentions. This study shows that the career intentions of British medical students are influenced by their undergraduate experience and by the weight they place on different specialty-related factors.

Malagasy cichlids differentially limit impacts of body shape evolution on oral jaw functional morphology.

PubMed

Martinez, Christopher M; Sparks, John S

2017-09-01

Patterns of trait covariation, such as integration and modularity, are vital factors that influence the evolution of vertebrate body plans. In functional systems, decoupling of morphological modules buffers functional change in one trait by reducing correlated variation with another. However, for complex morphologies with many-to-one mapping of form to function (MTOM), resistance to functional change may also be achieved by constraining morphological variation within a functionally stable region of morphospace. For this research, we used geometric morphometrics to evaluate the evolution of body shape and its relationship with jaw functional morphology in two independent radiations of endemic Malagasy cichlid (Teleostei: Cichlidae). Our results suggested that the two subfamilies used different strategies to mitigate impacts of body shape variation on a metric of jaw function, maxillary kinematic transmission (MKT): (1) modularity between cranial and postcranial morphologies, and (2) integration of body and jaw evolution, with jaw morphologies varying in a manner that limits change in MKT. This research shows that, unlike modularity, MTOM allows traits to retain strong evolutionary covariation while still reducing impacts on functionality. These results suggest that MTOM, and its influence on the evolution of correlated traits, is likely much more widespread than is currently understood. © 2017 The Author(s). Evolution © 2017 The Society for the Study of Evolution.

The extracellular adherence protein (Eap) of Staphylococcus aureus acts as a proliferation and migration repressing factor that alters the cell morphology of keratinocytes.

PubMed

Eisenbeis, Janina; Peisker, Henrik; Backes, Christian S; Bur, Stephanie; Hölters, Sebastian; Thewes, Nicolas; Greiner, Markus; Junker, Christian; Schwarz, Eva C; Hoth, Markus; Junker, Kerstin; Preissner, Klaus T; Jacobs, Karin; Herrmann, Mathias; Bischoff, Markus

2017-02-01

Staphyloccocus aureus is a major human pathogen and a common cause for superficial and deep seated wound infections. The pathogen is equipped with a large arsenal of virulence factors, which facilitate attachment to various eukaryotic cell structures and modulate the host immune response. One of these factors is the extracellular adherence protein Eap, a member of the "secretable expanded repertoire adhesive molecules" (SERAM) protein family that possesses adhesive and immune modulatory properties. The secreted protein was previously shown to impair wound healing by interfering with host defense and neovascularization. However, its impact on keratinocyte proliferation and migration, two major steps in the re-epithelialization process of wounds, is not known. Here, we report that Eap affects the proliferation and migration capacities of keratinocytes by altering their morphology and adhesive properties. In particular, treatment of non-confluent HaCaT cell cultures with Eap resulted in cell morphology changes as well as a significant reduction in cell proliferation and migration. Eap-treated HaCaT cells changed their appearance from an oblong via a trapezoid to an astral-like shape, accompanied by decreases in cell volume and cell stiffness, and exhibited significantly increased cell adhesion. Eap had a similar influence on endothelial and cancer cells, indicative for a general effect of Eap on eukaryotic cell morphology and functions. Specifically, Eap was found to interfere with growth factor-stimulated activation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway that is known to be responsible for cell shape modulation, induction of proliferation and migration of epithelial cells. Western blot analyses revealed that Eap blocked the phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1 and 2 (Erk1/2) in keratinocyte growth factor (KGF)-stimulated HaCaT cells. Together, these data add another antagonistic mechanism of Eap in wound healing, whereby the

Environmental influences: factors influencing a woman's decision to use dietary supplements.

PubMed

Conner, Mark; Kirk, Sara F L; Cade, Janet E; Barrett, Jennifer H

2003-06-01

Use of dietary supplements by women, particularly those over 40 years of age may be widespread in the United Kingdom. However, from surveillance data, there appears to be a disparity between nutrition and health needs and the rationale for and actual use of dietary supplements by women. This apparent paradox forms the basis for an inverse supplement hypothesis (i.e., supplement use in women appears to be most prevalent among those with least need). Little research has been done to examine the factors underlying the decision to use dietary supplements. Reasons for consuming dietary supplements are often complex, combining social, psychological, knowledge and economic factors. The theory of planned behavior is a widely used model for assessing factors influencing behavioral motivation and action that may be useful for assessing specific diet- and nutrition-related practices. It provided the basis for the development of a questionnaire to explore overall dietary supplement use in a cohort of women in the United Kingdom. The analysis of factors related to beliefs underlying dietary supplement use revealed differences between supplement users and nonusers. Differences included a stronger belief by users than nonusers that taking dietary supplements ensures against possible ill health. Both users and nonusers of supplements also perceived the media (books and magazines) to be a powerful influence on a person's decision to use supplements. These findings highlight the potential of the theory of planned behavior in exploring supplement-taking behavior while throwing light on the factors influencing an individual's motivations to use dietary supplements.

Uncovering Factors Influencing Interpersonal Health Communication

PubMed Central

Donné, Lennie; Jansen, Carel; Hoeks, John

2017-01-01

Talking to friends, family, or peers about health issues might, among other things, increase knowledge of social norms and feelings of self-efficacy in adopting a healthier lifestyle. We often see interpersonal health communication as an important mediating factor in the effects of health campaigns on health behavior. No research has been done so far, however, on factors that influence whether and how people talk about health issues without being exposed to a health campaign first. In this exploratory study, we interviewed 12 participants about their communication behavior concerning six different health themes, like smoking and exercising. The results suggest that at least four types of interpersonal health communication can be distinguished, each influenced by different factors, like conversational partner and objective of the conversation. Future research should take this diversity of interpersonal health communication into account, and focus on designing health campaigns that aim to trigger dialogue within target populations. PMID:28660238

Hierarchical and coupling model of factors influencing vessel traffic flow.

PubMed

Liu, Zhao; Liu, Jingxian; Li, Huanhuan; Li, Zongzhi; Tan, Zhirong; Liu, Ryan Wen; Liu, Yi

2017-01-01

Understanding the characteristics of vessel traffic flow is crucial in maintaining navigation safety, efficiency, and overall waterway transportation management. Factors influencing vessel traffic flow possess diverse features such as hierarchy, uncertainty, nonlinearity, complexity, and interdependency. To reveal the impact mechanism of the factors influencing vessel traffic flow, a hierarchical model and a coupling model are proposed in this study based on the interpretative structural modeling method. The hierarchical model explains the hierarchies and relationships of the factors using a graph. The coupling model provides a quantitative method that explores interaction effects of factors using a coupling coefficient. The coupling coefficient is obtained by determining the quantitative indicators of the factors and their weights. Thereafter, the data obtained from Port of Tianjin is used to verify the proposed coupling model. The results show that the hierarchical model of the factors influencing vessel traffic flow can explain the level, structure, and interaction effect of the factors; the coupling model is efficient in analyzing factors influencing traffic volumes. The proposed method can be used for analyzing increases in vessel traffic flow in waterway transportation system.

Factors Influencing College Science Success

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tai, Robert H.; Sadler, Philip M.; Mintzes, Joel J.

2006-01-01

In this paper, the authors report some of the salient findings of a large-scale, four-year national study, conducted at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, entitled "Factors Influencing College Science Success" (FICSS), which surveyed college students who enrolled in first-year biology, chemistry, and physics courses…

Assessment of Factors Influencing Communication in Clinical Pharmacy.

PubMed

Yao, Dongning; Jiang, Liang; Huang, Yuankai; Chen, Lei; Wang, Yitao; Xi, Xiaoyu

2018-01-01

This study aimed to identify and assess the factors that influence communication quality between clinical pharmacists and patients using a structural equation model based on the predisposing, reinforcing, and enabling constructs in educational/environmental diagnosis and evaluation-policy, regulatory, and organizational constructs in educational and ecological development model to identify the most effective path to increase their communication quality. A survey was conducted at 253 Class-A tertiary hospitals in China from March to December 2016. During on-site observations, verbal communications between clinical pharmacists ( n = 752) and patients were audio recorded, and communication quality was rated by an expert panel on an 8-item Quality of Communication Rating Scale. Clinical pharmacists completed questionnaires that examined the predisposing, enabling, and reinforcing factors that influenced communication quality. Finally, AMOS was employed to examine the relationships between the three factors and communication quality. The results indicated that all three factors positively affected communication quality, with correlation coefficients of .26, .13, and .17, respectively. The most influential predisposing factor was attitude (.77), the most influential enabling factors were self-efficacy (.71) and confidence (.72), and the most influential reinforcing factor was rewards (.74). The findings suggest that pharmacists' attitudes toward, perceived knowledge of, and skill and confidence in communication, and the rewards offered by pharmacy management are the most influential factors that influence communication quality.

Factors influencing the implementation of evidence in Chinese nursing practice.

PubMed

Cheng, Lei; Broome, Marion E; Feng, Sheng; Hu, Yan

2017-12-01

To explore the influencing factors from staff nurses, nurse managers, nursing directors and a physician involved in nursing evidence implementation in Mainland China. Although the need for evidence-based nursing is well recognised, continuous efforts are needed to strive for closing the gap from evidence to action. Previous studies have explored influencing factors from individual and organisational perspectives in Western countries. However, it remains unclear what the influences (i.e., context and culture) in the developing countries as China. A grounded theory design using in-depth individual interviews was conducted. Interviews with 56 participants from 24 evidence-based nursing implementation projects were conducted in Mainland China. Constant comparative analysis was used to discover the concepts describing the influencing factors during the implementation process. Factors that influenced implementation of evidence-based practice in the Chinese context were identified. These included the leaders of the projects, the nature of the evidence, practising nurses, patients involved in the projects, the system where the projects were implemented, as well as the influence from outside of the system. A variety of factors influencing evidence implementation in Chinese nursing context were identified and further explored from the perspective of different project leaders and culture influence. There is apparently a strong demand for a supportive system, targeted strategies to facilitate various evidence implementations and integrated core elements of evidence-based practice at the point care. The blurred boundaries and complexity of influencing factors call for a systematic and dynamic perspective during implementation. The competitive priorities emphasise the importance of integration between clinical nursing care and evidence-based practice. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Influence of the marinating type on the morphological and sensory properties of horse meat.

PubMed

Vlahova-Vangelova, Dessislava B; Abjanova, Sholpan; Dragoev, Stefan G

2014-01-01

The aim of this study was to explore the influence of acid, alkaline and water-oil marinating on morphological changes and sensory properties of horse meat (m. Longissimus dorsi). Nine samples (C - control stored in air, AL - alkaline marinated in 2% polyphosphates and 2% sodium chloride brine solution, AC - acid marinated in 2% sodium lactate and 2% sodium chloride brine solution, WO - marinated in water-oil emulsion (50/50) contained and 2% sodium chloride and SC - marinated in 2% sodium chloride brine solution) were examined. After 24 h and 48 h of marinating changes in morphology of marinated meat, pH and sensory properties of raw and roasted samples were established. It was determined that sensory properties (aroma, flavor and tenderness) after roasting were classified as follows: AL48 > AL24 > AC24 > AC48 > SC48 > SC24 > WO24 > WO48 > С. Meat tenderness in AL48, AL24, AC24 and AC48 showed better results due to stronger morphological changes in connective and muscle tissues. Alkaline solutions were more suitable for horse meat marinating compared to acid solutions and the possible reason for strong action of alkaline solutions was lower internal meat pH. Alkaline marinating should be conducted for 24 h because after 48 h the meat acquires a soft and unusually tender texture. Water-oil marinating was not appropriate for horse meat.

Quantitative Correlation of 7B04 Aluminum Alloys Pitting Corrosion Morphology Characteristics with Stress Concentration Factor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Zhiguo; Yan, Guangyao; Mu, Zhitao; Li, Xudong

2018-01-01

The accelerated pitting corrosion test of 7B04 aluminum alloy specimen was carried out according to the spectrum which simulated airport environment, and the corresponding pitting corrosion damage was obtained and was defined through three parameters A and B and C which respectively denoted the corrosion pit surface length and width and corrosion pit depth. The ratio between three parameters could determine the morphology characteristics of corrosion pits. On this basis the stress concentration factor of typical corrosion pit morphology under certain load conditions was quantitatively analyzed. The research shows that the corrosion pits gradually incline to be ellipse in surface and moderate in depth, and most value of B/A and C/A lies in 1 between 4 and few maximum exceeds 4; The stress concentration factor Kf of corrosion pits is obviously affected by the its morphology, the value of Kf increases with corrosion pits depth increasement under certain corrosion pits surface geometry. Also, the value of Kf decreases with surface width increasement under certain corrosion pits depth. The research conclusion can set theory basis for corrosion fatigue life analysis of aircraft aluminum alloy structure.

Influence of surfactants on the morphology of SnO{sub 2} nanocrystals prepared via a hydrothermal method

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wang Mi; Shanghai Institute of Ceramics; Gao Yanfeng, E-mail: yfgao@mail.sic.ac.cn

2012-05-15

Nanoscaled SnO{sub 2} with different morphologies has been synthesized via a simple hydrothermal process at 180 Degree-Sign C using polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), sodium dodecyl sulfonate (SDS), cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) or tetrapropyl ammonium bromide (TPAB) as surfactant. All the prepared SnO{sub 2} are of a tetragonal crystal structure. Nanocubes, nanorods, nanosheets, nanobelts and nanoparticles were prepared when changing the type and dosage of organic surfactants. It is shown that anionic surfactant (SDS) and cationic surfactant (CTAB or TPAB) at their suitable addition amounts can largely influence the morphologies of SnO{sub 2} nanocrystals. The effect is significantly dependent on the solventmore » types: water or ethanol. The non-ionic surfactant (PVP) can also change the morphologies like SDS but the impacts are less obvious. The effect of surfactants on the shape and size of SnO{sub 2} nanoparticles was discussed in detail. The particle growth mechanism is described based on the electrostatic interactions and Van der Waals' forces. - Graphical abstract: SnO{sub 2} nanocrystals with controllable morphologies were prepared via a hydrothermal method with surfactants. Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer SnO{sub 2} nanocrystals were prepared via a hydrothermal method with surfactants. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer SnO{sub 2} morphologies changed with the type and the dosage of surfactants. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The effect of surfactants on the growth of crystal planes was studied. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The controlling mechanisms of surfactants on SnO{sub 2} morphologies were discussed.« less

[Factors influencing nurses' organizational citizenship behavior].

PubMed

Park, Junhee; Yun, Eunkyung; Han, Sangsook

2009-08-01

This study was conducted to identify the factors that influence nurses' organizational citizenship behavior. A cross-sectional design was used, with a convenience sample of 547 nurses from four university hospitals in Seoul and Gyeonggi province. The data were collected through a questionnaire survey done from September 22 to October 10, 2008. The tools used for this study were scales on organizational citizenship behavior (14 items), self-leadership (14 items), empowerment (10 items), organizational commitment (7 items), job satisfaction (8 items) and transformational.transactional leadership (14 items). Cronbach's alpha and factor analysis were examined to test reliability and construct validity of the scale. The data collected were processed using SPSS Window 15.0 Program for actual numbers and percentages, differences in the dependent variable according to general characteristics, and means, standard deviations, correlation coefficients and multiple regression analysis. The factors influencing nurses' organizational citizenship behavior were identified as self-leadership(beta=.247), empowerment (beta=.233), job satisfaction (beta=.209), organizational commitment (beta=.158), and transactional leadership (beta=.142). Five factors explained 42.0% of nurses' organizational citizenship behavior. The results of this study can be used to develop further management strategies for enhancement of nurses' organizational citizenship behavior.

Factors Influencing Title VII Bilingual Program Institutionalization.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lewis, Gerald R.; And Others

1985-01-01

This study of the primary restraining and driving forces that influence Title VII bilingual education programs found the external environment, the local community, to be the main factor influencing institutionalization and self-renewal. The internal environment--the local school, and the local school's organization or central office, school board,…

Corolla morphology influences diversification rates in bifid toadflaxes (Linaria sect. Versicolores)

PubMed Central

Fernández-Mazuecos, Mario; Blanco-Pastor, José Luis; Gómez, José M.; Vargas, Pablo

2013-01-01

Background and Aims The role of flower specialization in plant speciation and evolution remains controversial. In this study the evolution of flower traits restricting access to pollinators was analysed in the bifid toadflaxes (Linaria sect. Versicolores), a monophyletic group of ∼30 species and subspecies with highly specialized corollas. Methods A time-calibrated phylogeny based on both nuclear and plastid DNA sequences was obtained using a coalescent-based method, and flower morphology was characterized by means of morphometric analyses. Directional trends in flower shape evolution and trait-dependent diversification rates were jointly analysed using recently developed methods, and morphological shifts were reconstructed along the phylogeny. Pollinator surveys were conducted for a representative sample of species. Key Results A restrictive character state (narrow corolla tube) was reconstructed in the most recent common ancestor of Linaria sect. Versicolores. After its early loss in the most species-rich clade, this character state has been convergently reacquired in multiple lineages of this clade in recent times, yet it seems to have exerted a negative influence on diversification rates. Comparative analyses and pollinator surveys suggest that the narrow- and broad-tubed flowers are evolutionary optima representing divergent strategies of pollen placement on nectar-feeding insects. Conclusions The results confirm that different forms of floral specialization can lead to dissimilar evolutionary success in terms of diversification. It is additionally suggested that opposing individual-level and species-level selection pressures may have driven the evolution of pollinator-restrictive traits in bifid toadflaxes. PMID:24142920

Postnatal treatment factors affecting craniofacial morphology of unilateral cleft lip and palate (UCLP) patients in a Japanese population.

PubMed

Alam, M K; Iida, J; Sato, Y; Kajii, Takashi S

2013-12-01

We have evaluated the craniofacial morphology of Japanese patients with unilateral cleft lip and palate (UCLP) and assessed the various postnatal factors that affect it. Lateral cephalograms of 140 subjects (mean (SD) aged 7 (2) years) with UCLP were taken before orthodontic treatment. Surgeons from Hokkaido University Hospital had done the primary operations. The craniofacial morphology was assessed by angular and linear cephalometric measurements. Cheiloplasty, palatoplasty, and preoperative orthopaedic treatment were chosen as postnatal factors. To compare the assessments of the postnatal factors, we made angular and linear cephalometric measurements for each subject and converted them into Z scores in relation to the mean (SD) of the two variables. Subjects treated by the modified Millard cheiloplasty had larger sella-nasion-point A (SNA) and nasion-point A-pogonion (NA-POG) measurements than subjects treated by the modified Millard with a vomer flap cheiloplasty. Two-stage palatoplasty showed consistently better craniofacial morphology than the other palatoplasty. Subjects who had preoperative orthopaedic treatment with a Hotz plate had significantly larger upper incisor/sella-nasion (U1-SN) measurements than who had no preoperative orthopaedic treatment or an active plate. We conclude that in subjects treated by a modified Millard type of cheiloplasty, a two-stage palatoplasty, and a Hotz plate there were fewer adverse effects on craniofacial morphology. Copyright © 2012 The British Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Hierarchical and coupling model of factors influencing vessel traffic flow

PubMed Central

Liu, Jingxian; Li, Huanhuan; Li, Zongzhi; Tan, Zhirong; Liu, Ryan Wen; Liu, Yi

2017-01-01

Understanding the characteristics of vessel traffic flow is crucial in maintaining navigation safety, efficiency, and overall waterway transportation management. Factors influencing vessel traffic flow possess diverse features such as hierarchy, uncertainty, nonlinearity, complexity, and interdependency. To reveal the impact mechanism of the factors influencing vessel traffic flow, a hierarchical model and a coupling model are proposed in this study based on the interpretative structural modeling method. The hierarchical model explains the hierarchies and relationships of the factors using a graph. The coupling model provides a quantitative method that explores interaction effects of factors using a coupling coefficient. The coupling coefficient is obtained by determining the quantitative indicators of the factors and their weights. Thereafter, the data obtained from Port of Tianjin is used to verify the proposed coupling model. The results show that the hierarchical model of the factors influencing vessel traffic flow can explain the level, structure, and interaction effect of the factors; the coupling model is efficient in analyzing factors influencing traffic volumes. The proposed method can be used for analyzing increases in vessel traffic flow in waterway transportation system. PMID:28414747

Quantitative influence of risk factors on blood glucose level.

PubMed

Chen, Songjing; Luo, Senlin; Pan, Limin; Zhang, Tiemei; Han, Longfei; Zhao, Haixiu

2014-01-01

The aim of this study is to quantitatively analyze the influence of risk factors on the blood glucose level, and to provide theory basis for understanding the characteristics of blood glucose change and confirming the intervention index for type 2 diabetes. The quantitative method is proposed to analyze the influence of risk factors on blood glucose using back propagation (BP) neural network. Ten risk factors are screened first. Then the cohort is divided into nine groups by gender and age. According to the minimum error principle, nine BP models are trained respectively. The quantitative values of the influence of different risk factors on the blood glucose change can be obtained by sensitivity calculation. The experiment results indicate that weight is the leading cause of blood glucose change (0.2449). The second factors are cholesterol, age and triglyceride. The total ratio of these four factors reaches to 77% of the nine screened risk factors. And the sensitivity sequences can provide judgment method for individual intervention. This method can be applied to risk factors quantitative analysis of other diseases and potentially used for clinical practitioners to identify high risk populations for type 2 diabetes as well as other disease.

Factors influencing healthcare service quality

PubMed Central

Mosadeghrad, Ali Mohammad

2014-01-01

Background: The main purpose of this study was to identify factors that influence healthcare quality in the Iranian context. Methods: Exploratory in-depth individual and focus group interviews were conducted with 222 healthcare stakeholders including healthcare providers, managers, policy-makers, and payers to identify factors affecting the quality of healthcare services provided in Iranian healthcare organisations. Results: Quality in healthcare is a production of cooperation between the patient and the healthcare provider in a supportive environment. Personal factors of the provider and the patient, and factors pertaining to the healthcare organisation, healthcare system, and the broader environment affect healthcare service quality. Healthcare quality can be improved by supportive visionary leadership, proper planning, education and training, availability of resources, effective management of resources, employees and processes, and collaboration and cooperation among providers. Conclusion: This article contributes to healthcare theory and practice by developing a conceptual framework that provides policy-makers and managers a practical understanding of factors that affect healthcare service quality. PMID:25114946

Soft Factors Influence College Enrollment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fogg, Neeta P.; Harrington, Paul E.

2010-01-01

Evidence about the role that "soft factors" like student engagement and school environment play in influencing whether high school students go on to enroll in college is hard to come by. Over the past two years, the Center for Labor Market Studies (CLMS) of Northeastern University, with support from the Nellie Mae Education Foundation…

What is the Main Potential Factor Influencing Ocular Protrusion?

PubMed

Li, Yinwei; Su, Yun; Song, Xuefei; Zhou, Huifang; Fan, Xianqun

2017-01-05

BACKGROUND The aim of the present study was to establish the normal-range orbital parameters and to explore the relationships between ocular protrusion and various orbital morphological factors. MATERIAL AND METHODS A retrospective, non-comparative case series was conducted from January 2014 to December 2015. We recruited 56 subjects (112 orbits), including 27 males (21 to 87 years of age) and 29 females (22 to 88 years of age) in this study. Nine length measurements, 2 angle measurements, and 2 volume measurements of various aspects of the orbit were obtained using Mimics v18.0 software. The data were collected manually using a 3D measurement technique. Statistical analyses using t tests and Pearson's correlation analyses were performed to evaluate the differences and relationships between the parameters, respectively. RESULTS Ocular protrusion in both sexes was closely related to the following values: orbital soft tissue volume (OSTV) (males: r=0.61, p<0.001; females: r=0.39, p=0.003), orbital soft tissue volume/bony orbital volume (OSTV/BOV) (males: r=0.90, p<0.001; females: r=0.87, p<0.001), orbital width (males: r=0.40, p=0.003; females: r=0.53, p<0.001), orbital height (males: r=0.29, p=0.038; females: r=0.45, p<0.001), and globe diameter (males: r=0.52, p<0.001; females: r=0.48, p<0.001). No differences were found between the right and left orbits. CONCLUSIONS The study provides insight into the potential factors that influence ocular protrusion, which include the OSTV/BOV ratio, the shape of the orbital aperture, and the ocular axial length. The results of orbital surgery can be made more predictable by accounting for these 3 factors. The database and regression formula might provide support for surgical planning in the future.

Factors influencing US medical students' decision to pursue surgery.

PubMed

Schmidt, Lauren E; Cooper, Clairice A; Guo, Weidun Alan

2016-06-01

Interest and applications to surgery have steadily decreased over recent years in the United States. The goal of this review is to collect the current literature regarding US medical students' experience in surgery and factors influencing their intention to pursue surgery as a career. We hypothesize that multiple factors influence US medical students' career choice in surgery. Six electronic databases (PubMed, SCOPUS, Web of Science, Education Resources Information Center, Embase, and PsycINFO) were searched. The inclusion criteria were studies published after the new century related to factors influencing surgical career choice among US medical students. Factors influencing US medical student surgical career decision-making were recorded. A quality index score was given to each article selected to minimize risk of bias. We identified 38 relevant articles of more than 1000 nonduplicated titles. The factors influencing medical student decision for a surgical career were categorized into five domains: mentorship and role model (n = 12), experience (clerkship n = 9, stereotype n = 4), timing of exposure (n = 9), personal (lifestyle n = 8, gender n = 6, finance n = 3), and others (n = 2). This comprehensive systemic review identifies mentorship, experience in surgery, stereotypes, timing of exposure, and personal factors to be major determinants in medical students' decisions to pursue surgery. These represent areas that can be improved to attract applicants to general surgery residencies. Surgical faculty and residents can have a positive influence on medical students' decisions to pursue surgery as a career. Early introduction to the field of surgery, as well as recruitment strategies during the preclinical and clinical years of medical school can increase students' interest in a surgical career. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

[Life forms of organisms as patterns of organization and spatial ecological factors].

PubMed

Kirpotin, S N

2005-01-01

Tectological and archaetectonical approaches which are conventionally used in morphology are discussed. The similarity of these approaches to some views on the structure and organization of nature systems was shown. These wiews were originated within the framework of the modern system-cybernetic conception. The morphology particularities of natural object of any rank (from organism to biosphere) allow determination of environment influence character. In some cases intensity of the influence can be determined. This, morphological-geometrical approach of nature investigation acquires high prognostic value. The aspects of "pattern organization" concept and its perspectives are discussed. The patterns of organization of organisms could be characterized only in the context of their interactions with environment. Therefore it is necessary to distinguish new group of ecological factors: spatial or chorological one. It was suggested that spatial ecological factors is predominant if all other physical factors have no extreme values.

Roll Compaction/Dry Granulation of Dibasic Calcium Phosphate Anhydrous-Does the Morphology of the Raw Material Influence the Tabletability of Dry Granules?

PubMed

Grote, Simon; Kleinebudde, Peter

2018-04-01

The influence of raw material particle morphology on the tabletabilty of dry granules was investigated. Therefore, dibasic calcium phosphate anhydrous was used as a model material. One milled grade, 2 agglomerated grades with different porosities, and a functionalized structure, that is, an agglomerate formed by very small primary particles, were included. Particle size, density, and specific surface area of raw materials were measured. The starting materials and 2 fractions of dry granules were compressed to tablets. The tabletability of granules was compared to that of the powders and the influence of specific compaction force, granule size, and lubrication on tablet tensile strength was evaluated. All materials showed a loss in tabletability induced by a previous compaction step but to a varying extent. Only in case of the functionalized calcium phosphate morphology, this effect depended on the specific compaction force. In contrast to the other materials, the tabletability of functionalized calcium phosphate was influenced by the granule size. This effect was not related to an overlubrication as internal and external lubrication resulted in similar tensile strengths. A clear influence of the particle morphology on tablet strength was demonstrated by the study. The functionalized structure showed aspects of a more plastic deformation behavior. The functionalized dibasic calcium phosphate and the more porous agglomerate performed as potential filler/binder in the field of roll compaction/dry granulation. Copyright © 2018 American Pharmacists Association®. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Importance of recurrence rating, morphology, hernial gap size, and risk factors in ventral and incisional hernia classification.

PubMed

Dietz, U A; Winkler, M S; Härtel, R W; Fleischhacker, A; Wiegering, A; Isbert, C; Jurowich, Ch; Heuschmann, P; Germer, C-T

2014-02-01

There is limited evidence on the natural course of ventral and incisional hernias and the results of hernia repair, what might partially be explained by the lack of an accepted classification system. The aim of the present study is to investigate the association of the criteria included in the Wuerzburg classification system of ventral and incisional hernias with postoperative complications and long-term recurrence. In a retrospective cohort study, the data on 330 consecutive patients who underwent surgery to repair ventral and incisional hernias were analyzed. The following four classification criteria were applied: (a) recurrence rating (ventral, incisional or incisional recurrent); (b) morphology (location); (c) size of the hernial gap; and (d) risk factors. The primary endpoint was the occurrence of a recurrence during follow-up. Secondary endpoints were incidence of postoperative complications. Independent association between classification criteria, type of surgical procedures and postoperative complications was calculated by multivariate logistic regression analysis and between classification criteria, type of surgical procedures and risk of long-term recurrence by Cox regression analysis. Follow-up lasted a mean 47.7 ± 23.53 months (median 45 months) or 3.9 ± 1.96 years. The criterion "recurrence rating" was found as predictive factor for postoperative complications in the multivariate analysis (OR 2.04; 95 % CI 1.09-3.84; incisional vs. ventral hernia). The criterion "morphology" had influence neither on the incidence of the critical event "recurrence during follow-up" nor on the incidence of postoperative complications. Hernial gap "width" predicted postoperative complications in the multivariate analysis (OR 1.98; 95 % CI 1.19-3.29; ≤5 vs. >5 cm). Length of the hernial gap was found to be an independent prognostic factor for the critical event "recurrence during follow-up" (HR 2.05; 95 % CI 1.25-3.37; ≤5 vs. >5 cm). The presence of 3 or more risk

The influence of amphiphilic additional agents on the morphology and photoluminescence properties of calcium carbonate phosphor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mou, Yongren; Kang, Ming; Liu, Min; Wang, Feng; Chen, Kexu; Sun, Rong

2017-06-01

In order to investigate the effect of amphiphilic additional agents on the morphology (particle shape, particle size and particle size distribution) and photoluminescence performance of calcium carbonate phosphor, the phosphors AA-CaCO3:Eu3+ (AA = glycerol or sodium dodecyl sulfate) were synthesized by the microwave-assisted co-precipitation method using glycerol (Gly) and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) as amphiphilic additional agents (AA), respectively. The phase structure, morphology and luminescent properties of the as-synthesized samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, laser diffraction particle size analyzer and Fluorescence spectrophotometer, respectively. The results showed that the phase structure and morphology of AA-CaCO3:Eu3+ changed along with different types and amount of amphiphilic additional agents evidently. The particle size of Gly-CaCO3 decreased to 1.383 µm when the volume ratio reached 8:2 (Gly:H2O). Photoluminescence (PL) spectra show that all the AA-CaCO3:Eu3+ phosphors exhibit strong red emission peak originating from electric-dipole transition 5D0 → 7F2 (614 nm) of Eu3+ ions and the amphiphilic molecules (Gly and SDS) had a huge influence on photoluminescence intensity.

The influence of dentin demineralization on morphological features of cavities using Er:YAG laser.

PubMed

Melo, Mary A S; Lima, Juliana P M; Passos, Vanara F; Rodrigues, Lidiany K A

2015-01-01

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the influence of erbium-doped: yttrium-aluminum-garnet (Er:YAG) laser parameters and different degrees of demineralization on morphological features, diameter, and depth of prepared cavities. Minimally invasive dentin caries removal has been recommended. Ablation of deep caries lesions using Er:YAG laser should preserve remaining demineralized dentin; however, the influence of the degree of mineralization of this substrate had not been entirely described. A randomized, factorial design was used to study the effects of two factors. Laser parameter was tested at two levels (250 mJ/4 Hz vs. 200 mJ/2 Hz) and degree of demineralization was tested at four levels (control, two-four-eight cycles). Twelve slabs of human dentin were divided into four groups according to the number of cycles induced by pH-cycling: G1, zero cycles; G2, two cycles, G3, four cycles, and G4, eight cycles. An Er:YAG laser was used at an output energy of 250 mJ/4 Hz and 200 mJ/2 Hz for all groups, for 10 sec at 12 mm distance focus/object. Circumference and depth of the cavities were measured on scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images using image analysis software. The mean values were subjected to two way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukey tests. When using 250 mJ/4 Hz, the mean values of circumferential area increased significantly in relation to control (503.54 μm(2)) with increasing demineralization level (eight cycles) (555.45 μm(2)). Regardless of the demineralization level, there was also significant statistical difference in the studied measurements of the cavities when 250 mJ/4 Hz and 200 mJ/2 Hz were used. SEM also showed that laser cavity preparations left no smear layer, and the dentinal tubules were clear. The circumferential area and depth measurements were affected by laser parameter and demineralization level (eight cycles). Energy level output represents a relevant factor for increased circumferential area and depth measurements

Chlamydiae in the ejaculate: their influence on the quality and morphology of sperm.

PubMed

Veznik, Zdenek; Pospisil, Leopold; Svecova, Drahomira; Zajicova, Atanaska; Unzeitig, Vit

2004-07-01

Given the lack of information concerning the role of Chlamydia trachomatis in male fertility, the aim of this study was to ascertain and analyze the quality of Chlamydiae-positive and -negative semen. Sperm count was performed according to the 1999 World Health Organization (WHO) laboratory manual for examination of human semen and sperm-cervical mucus interaction, and sperm survival was assessed by a 120-min test. The evaluation of the morphological examination of ejaculates was carried out using the sasmo (strict morphological analysis of ejaculates) computer program. Chlamydiae were detected by immunofluorescent reaction using the Progen Biotechnik GmbH diagnostic set. Fisher's exact test and the chi-quadrate test were used for statistical analysis. Of the total of 627 sperm samples examined, Chlamydiae were detected in 136 cases (21.7%). Sperm analysis showed significant differences between Chlamydiae-positive and -negative samples. The Chlamydiae-contaminated group showed normal sperm morphology 14.4% lower, volume 6.4% lower, concentration 8.3% lower, motility 7.8% and velocity 9.3% lower than in Chlamydiae-negative samples. The average values for normal spermatozoa and motility in the Chlamydiae-positive group were also significantly reduced. Chlamydia trachomatis was found to be a possible factor in sperm pathology. These results could help to elucidate the role of Chlamydia trachomatis in male infertility.

What Is the Influence of Morphological Knowledge in the Early Stages of Reading Acquisition Among Low SES Children? A Graphical Modeling Approach

PubMed Central

Colé, Pascale; Cavalli, Eddy; Duncan, Lynne G.; Theurel, Anne; Gentaz, Edouard; Sprenger-Charolles, Liliane; El-Ahmadi, Abdessadek

2018-01-01

listening comprehension; (3) decoding depends on word reading; (4) Morphological awareness and vocabulary have an indirect influence on word reading via both listening comprehension and phoneme awareness; (5) the components of morphological awareness assessed by our tasks have independent relationships with listening comprehension; and (6) neither phonemic nor morphological awareness influence vocabulary directly. The implications of these results with regard to early reading acquisition among low SES groups are discussed. PMID:29725313

What Is the Influence of Morphological Knowledge in the Early Stages of Reading Acquisition Among Low SES Children? A Graphical Modeling Approach.

PubMed

Colé, Pascale; Cavalli, Eddy; Duncan, Lynne G; Theurel, Anne; Gentaz, Edouard; Sprenger-Charolles, Liliane; El-Ahmadi, Abdessadek

2018-01-01

listening comprehension; (3) decoding depends on word reading; (4) Morphological awareness and vocabulary have an indirect influence on word reading via both listening comprehension and phoneme awareness; (5) the components of morphological awareness assessed by our tasks have independent relationships with listening comprehension; and (6) neither phonemic nor morphological awareness influence vocabulary directly. The implications of these results with regard to early reading acquisition among low SES groups are discussed.

Factors that influence the childbearing intentions of Canadian men.

PubMed

Roberts, E; Metcalfe, A; Jack, M; Tough, S C

2011-05-01

The role of men in the childbearing decision process and the factors that influence men's childbearing intentions have been relatively unexplored in the literature. This study aimed to describe the factors that strongly influence the childbearing intentions of men and to describe differences in these factors according to men's age group. A telephone survey (response rate 84%) was conducted with 495 men between the ages of 20 and 45 living in an urban setting who, at the time of contact, did not have biological children. Men were asked about what factors strongly influence their intention to have children. Univariable and multivariable logistic regressions were conducted to determine if these factors were significantly associated with age. Of those sampled, 86% of men reported that at some point in the future they planned to become a parent. The factors that men considered to be most influential in their childbearing intentions were: the need to be financially secure, their partner's interest/desire to have children, their partner's suitability to be a parent and their personal interest/desire to have children. Men who were 35-45 years old had lower odds of stating that financial security (crude OR: 0.32, 95% CI: 0.18-0.54) and partner's interest in having children (crude OR: 0.57, 95% CI: 0.33-0.99) were very influential, but had higher odds of stating that their biological clock (crude OR: 4.37, 95% CI: 1.78-10.76) was very influential in their childbearing intentions than men in the 20-24 year age group. The factors that influence men's intentions about when to become a parent may change with age. Understanding what influences men to have children, and what they understand about reproductive health is important for education, program and policy development.

Factors influencing alcohol safety action project police officers' DWI arrests

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1974-04-29

This report summarizes the results of a study to determine the factors influencing ASAP police officers' DWI arrests and the formulation of approaches to minimize the influence of those factors which might tend to constrain the arrest of persons who ...

Marketing Factors Influencing the Overall Satisfaction of Marriage Education Participants.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morris, Michael Lane; Cooper, Catherine; Gross, Kevin H.

1999-01-01

Seventy-one married couples attending marriage education workshops were surveyed regarding price, product, place, people, and promotional marketing factors influencing their overall satisfaction as workshop participants. Findings suggest both similar and unique marketing factors influenced husbands' and wives' satisfaction. Recommendations for…

Factors influencing soft tissue profile changes following orthodontic treatment in patients with Class II Division 1 malocclusion.

PubMed

Maetevorakul, Suhatcha; Viteporn, Smorntree

2016-01-01

Several studies have shown soft tissue profile changes after orthodontic treatment in Class II Division 1 patients. However, a few studies have described factors influencing the soft tissue changes. The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors influencing the soft tissue profile changes following orthodontic treatment in Class II Division 1 patients. The subjects comprised 104 Thai patients age 8-16 years who presented Class II Division 1 malocclusions and were treated with different orthodontic modalities comprising cervical headgear, Class II traction and extraction of the four first premolars. The profile changes were evaluated from the lateral cephalograms before and after treatment by means of the X-Y coordinate system. Significant soft tissue profile changes were evaluated by paired t test at a 0.05 significance level. The correlations among significant soft tissue changes and independent variables comprising treatment modality, age, sex, pretreatment skeletal, dental and soft tissue morphology were evaluated by stepwise multiple regression analysis at a 0.05 significance level. The multiple regression analysis indicated that different treatment modalities, age, sex, pretreatment skeletal, dental and soft tissue morphology were related to the profile changes. The predictive power of these variables on the soft tissue profile changes ranged from 9.9 to 40.3%. Prediction of the soft tissue profile changes following treatment of Class II Division 1 malocclusion from initial patient morphology, age, sex and types of treatment was complicated and required several variables to explain their variations. Upper lip change in horizontal direction could be found only at the stomion superius and was less predictable than those of the lower lip. Variations in upper lip retraction at the stomion superius were explained by types of treatment (R(2) = 0.099), whereas protrusion of the lower lip at the labrale inferius was correlated with initial inclination of

Morphology Dependent Photocatalytic Activity of α-MoO3 Nanostructures Towards Mutagenic Acridine Orange Dye.

PubMed

2015-06-01

The morphological evolutions of orthorhombic molybdenum oxide nanostructures with high crystalline nature have been successfully synthesized by combining low-temperature sol-gel and annealing processes. Strong influence of gelation temperature is a factor facilitated to control the material morphology. Morphological transformations like nanospheres, nanoplatelets, mixtures of hexagonal platelets, and one-dimensional nanobars were obtained. The possible morphological formation mechanism has been proposed as a self-assemble process of nucleation and a mechanism for particle growth by Ostwald ripening. The as-prepared nanostructures were recognized as photocatalysts for the degradation of Acridine Orange under Ultra Violet light. The obtained mixed morphology (hexagonal nanoplatelets and nanobars) showed a high photocatalytic property to degrade mutagenic Acridine Orange dye. Moreover, they could be easily recycled without changing the photocatalytic activity due to their 1-Dimensional and 2-Dimensional nanostructure property.

Which morphological characteristics are most influenced by the host matrix in downy mildews? A case study in Pseudoperonospora cubensis.

PubMed

Runge, Fabian; Ndambi, Beninweck; Thines, Marco

2012-01-01

Before the advent of molecular phylogenetics, species concepts in the downy mildews, an economically important group of obligate biotrophic oomycete pathogens, have mostly been based upon host range and morphology. While molecular phylogenetic studies have confirmed a narrow host range for many downy mildew species, others, like Pseudoperonospora cubensis affect even different genera. Although often morphological differences were found for new, phylogenetically distinct species, uncertainty prevails regarding their host ranges, especially regarding related plants that have been reported as downy mildew hosts, but were not included in the phylogenetic studies. In these cases, the basis for deciding if the divergence in some morphological characters can be deemed sufficient for designation as separate species is uncertain, as observed morphological divergence could be due to different host matrices colonised. The broad host range of P. cubensis (ca. 60 host species) renders this pathogen an ideal model organism for the investigation of morphological variations in relation to the host matrix and to evaluate which characteristics are best indicators for conspecificity or distinctiveness. On the basis of twelve morphological characterisitcs and a set of twelve cucurbits from five different Cucurbitaceae tribes, including the two species, Cyclanthera pedata and Thladiantha dubia, hitherto not reported as hosts of P. cubensis, a significant influence of the host matrix on pathogen morphology was found. Given the high intraspecific variation of some characteristics, also their plasticity has to be taken into account. The implications for morphological species determination and the confidence limits of morphological characteristics are discussed. For species delimitations in Pseudoperonospora it is shown that the ratio of the height of the first ramification to the sporangiophore length, ratio of the longer to the shorter ultimate branchlet, and especially the length and

Which Morphological Characteristics Are Most Influenced by the Host Matrix in Downy Mildews? A Case Study in Pseudoperonospora cubensis

PubMed Central

Runge, Fabian; Ndambi, Beninweck; Thines, Marco

2012-01-01

Before the advent of molecular phylogenetics, species concepts in the downy mildews, an economically important group of obligate biotrophic oomycete pathogens, have mostly been based upon host range and morphology. While molecular phylogenetic studies have confirmed a narrow host range for many downy mildew species, others, like Pseudoperonospora cubensis affect even different genera. Although often morphological differences were found for new, phylogenetically distinct species, uncertainty prevails regarding their host ranges, especially regarding related plants that have been reported as downy mildew hosts, but were not included in the phylogenetic studies. In these cases, the basis for deciding if the divergence in some morphological characters can be deemed sufficient for designation as separate species is uncertain, as observed morphological divergence could be due to different host matrices colonised. The broad host range of P. cubensis (ca. 60 host species) renders this pathogen an ideal model organism for the investigation of morphological variations in relation to the host matrix and to evaluate which characteristics are best indicators for conspecificity or distinctiveness. On the basis of twelve morphological characterisitcs and a set of twelve cucurbits from five different Cucurbitaceae tribes, including the two species, Cyclanthera pedata and Thladiantha dubia, hitherto not reported as hosts of P. cubensis, a significant influence of the host matrix on pathogen morphology was found. Given the high intraspecific variation of some characteristics, also their plasticity has to be taken into account. The implications for morphological species determination and the confidence limits of morphological characteristics are discussed. For species delimitations in Pseudoperonospora it is shown that the ratio of the height of the first ramification to the sporangiophore length, ratio of the longer to the shorter ultimate branchlet, and especially the length and

Non-cell autonomous influence of MeCP2-deficient glia on neuronal dendritic morphology

PubMed Central

Ballas, Nurit; Lioy, Daniel T.; Grunseich, Christopher; Mandel, Gail

2011-01-01

The neurodevelopmental disorder Rett Syndrome (RTT) is caused by sporadic mutations in the transcriptional factor methyl-CpG binding protein 2 (MeCP2). Although it is thought that the primary cause of RTT is cell autonomous due to lack of functional MeCP2 in neurons, whether non-cell autonomous factors contribute to the disease, is unknown. Here, we show that loss of MeCP2 occurs not only in neurons but also in glial cells of RTT brain. Using an in vitro co-culture system, we find that mutant astrocytes from a RTT mouse model, and their conditioned medium, fail to support normal dendritic morphology of either wild-type or mutant hippocampal neurons. Our studies suggest that in RTT brain, astrocytes carrying MeCP2 mutations have a non-cell autonomous effect on neuronal properties, likely due to aberrant secretion of soluble factor(s). PMID:19234456

Influences of semiconductor morphology on the mechanical fatigue behavior of flexible organic electronics

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lee, Young-Joo; Yeon, Han-Wool; Shin, Hae-A-Seul

2013-12-09

The influence of crystalline morphology on the mechanical fatigue of organic semiconductors (OSCs) was investigated using 6,13-bis(triisopropylsilylethynyl)pentacene (TIPS-pentacene) as a crystalline OSC and poly(triarylamine) (PTAA) as an amorphous OSC. During cyclic bending, resistances of the OSCs were monitored using the transmission-line method on a metal-semiconductor-metal structure. The resistance of the TIPS-pentacene increased under fatigue damage in tensile-stress mode, but no such degradation was observed in the PTAA. Both OSCs were stable under compressive bending fatigue. The formation of intergranular cracks at the domain boundaries of the TIPS-pentacene was responsible for the degradation of its electrical properties under tensile bending fatigue.

Environmental Influence on the Evolution of Morphological Complexity in Machines

PubMed Central

Auerbach, Joshua E.; Bongard, Josh C.

2014-01-01

Whether, when, how, and why increased complexity evolves in biological populations is a longstanding open question. In this work we combine a recently developed method for evolving virtual organisms with an information-theoretic metric of morphological complexity in order to investigate how the complexity of morphologies, which are evolved for locomotion, varies across different environments. We first demonstrate that selection for locomotion results in the evolution of organisms with morphologies that increase in complexity over evolutionary time beyond what would be expected due to random chance. This provides evidence that the increase in complexity observed is a result of a driven rather than a passive trend. In subsequent experiments we demonstrate that morphologies having greater complexity evolve in complex environments, when compared to a simple environment when a cost of complexity is imposed. This suggests that in some niches, evolution may act to complexify the body plans of organisms while in other niches selection favors simpler body plans. PMID:24391483

Factors influencing arrests for alcohol-related traffic violations

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1974-09-01

This report describes factors that were found to influence police officers' arrests of persons suspected of alcohol-related (A/R) traffic violations, and presents recommendations for treating these factors so that a higher level of enforcement might ...

Factors influencing health information system adoption in American hospitals.

PubMed

Wang, Bill B; Wan, Thomas T H; Burke, Darrell E; Bazzoli, Gloria J; Lin, Blossom Y J

2005-01-01

To study the number of health information systems (HISs), applicable to administrative, clinical, and executive decision support functionalities, adopted by acute care hospitals and to examine how hospital market, organizational, and financial factors influence HIS adoption. A cross-sectional analysis was performed with 1441 hospitals selected from metropolitan statistical areas in the United States. Multiple data sources were merged. Six hypotheses were empirically tested by multiple regression analysis. HIS adoption was influenced by the hospital market, organizational, and financial factors. Larger, system-affiliated, and for-profit hospitals with more preferred provider organization contracts are more likely to adopt managerial information systems than their counterparts. Operating revenue is positively associated with HIS adoption. The study concludes that hospital organizational and financial factors influence on hospitals' strategic adoption of clinical, administrative, and managerial information systems.

Maturity of hospital information systems: Most important influencing factors.

PubMed

Vidal Carvalho, João; Rocha, Álvaro; Abreu, António

2017-07-01

Maturity models facilitate organizational management, including information systems management, with hospital organizations no exception. This article puts forth a study carried out with a group of experts in the field of hospital information systems management with a view to identifying the main influencing factors to be included in an encompassing maturity model for hospital information systems management. This study is based on the results of a literature review, which identified maturity models in the health field and relevant influencing factors. The development of this model is justified to the extent that the available maturity models for the hospital information systems management field reveal multiple limitations, including lack of detail, absence of tools to determine their maturity and lack of characterization for stages of maturity structured by different influencing factors.

A Review of Factors Influencing Athletes' Food Choices.

PubMed

Birkenhead, Karen L; Slater, Gary

2015-11-01

Athletes make food choices on a daily basis that can affect both health and performance. A well planned nutrition strategy that includes the careful timing and selection of appropriate foods and fluids helps to maximize training adaptations and, thus, should be an integral part of the athlete's training programme. Factors that motivate food selection include taste, convenience, nutrition knowledge and beliefs. Food choice is also influenced by physiological, social, psychological and economic factors and varies both within and between individuals and populations. This review highlights the multidimensional nature of food choice and the depth of previous research investigating eating behaviours. Despite numerous studies with general populations, little exploration has been carried out with athletes, yet the energy demands of sport typically require individuals to make more frequent and/or appropriate food choices. While factors that are important to general populations also apply to athletes, it seems likely, given the competitive demands of sport, that performance would be an important factor influencing food choice. It is unclear if athletes place the same degree of importance on these factors or how food choice is influenced by involvement in sport. There is a clear need for further research exploring the food choice motives of athletes, preferably in conjunction with research investigating dietary intake to establish if intent translates into practice.

Importance of sperm morphology during sperm transport and fertilization in mammals.

PubMed

García-Vázquez, Francisco A; Gadea, Joaquín; Matás, Carmen; Holt, William V

2016-01-01

After natural or artificial insemination, the spermatozoon starts a journey from the site of deposition to the place of fertilization. However, only a small subset of the spermatozoa deposited achieves their goal: to reach and fertilize the egg. Factors involved in controlling sperm transport and fertilization include the female reproductive tract environment, cell-cell interactions, gene expression, and phenotypic sperm traits. Some of the significant determinants of fertilization are known (i.e., motility or DNA status), but many sperm traits are still indecipherable. One example is the influence of sperm dimensions and shape upon transport within the female genital tract towards the oocyte. Biophysical associations between sperm size and motility may influence the progression of spermatozoa through the female reproductive tract, but uncertainties remain concerning how sperm morphology influences the fertilization process, and whether only the sperm dimensions per se are involved. Moreover, such explanations do not allow the possibility that the female tract is capable of distinguishing fertile spermatozoa on the basis of their morphology, as seems to be the case with biochemical, molecular, and genetic properties. This review focuses on the influence of sperm size and shape in evolution and their putative role in sperm transport and selection within the uterus and the ability to fertilize the oocyte.

Importance of sperm morphology during sperm transport and fertilization in mammals

PubMed Central

García-Vázquez, Francisco A; Gadea, Joaquín; Matás, Carmen; Holt, William V

2016-01-01

After natural or artificial insemination, the spermatozoon starts a journey from the site of deposition to the place of fertilization. However, only a small subset of the spermatozoa deposited achieves their goal: to reach and fertilize the egg. Factors involved in controlling sperm transport and fertilization include the female reproductive tract environment, cell-cell interactions, gene expression, and phenotypic sperm traits. Some of the significant determinants of fertilization are known (i.e., motility or DNA status), but many sperm traits are still indecipherable. One example is the influence of sperm dimensions and shape upon transport within the female genital tract towards the oocyte. Biophysical associations between sperm size and motility may influence the progression of spermatozoa through the female reproductive tract, but uncertainties remain concerning how sperm morphology influences the fertilization process, and whether only the sperm dimensions per se are involved. Moreover, such explanations do not allow the possibility that the female tract is capable of distinguishing fertile spermatozoa on the basis of their morphology, as seems to be the case with biochemical, molecular, and genetic properties. This review focuses on the influence of sperm size and shape in evolution and their putative role in sperm transport and selection within the uterus and the ability to fertilize the oocyte. PMID:27624988

Factors Influencing Teaching Choice in Turkey

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kilinc, Ahmet; Watt, Helen M. G.; Richardson, Paul W.

2012-01-01

Why choose to become a teacher in Turkey? The authors examined motivations and perceptions among preservice teachers (N = 1577) encompassing early childhood, primary and secondary education. The Factors Influencing Teaching Choice (FIT-Choice) instrument was translated into Turkish and its construct validity and reliability assessed. Altruistic…

Factors Influencing Part-time Faculty Engagement With Online Nursing Programs.

PubMed

Reneau, Margaret; Wallace, Cara; Claywell, Lora; Price, Jill; Burdi, Melissa; Trybulski, Joanne

2018-03-28

This research investigated factors that influenced the engagement of part-time faculty teaching in online nursing programs with their institutions. Of the 257 part-time faculty surveyed, the most significant factor was being supported in decisions regarding student issues, followed by institutional commitment to quality online education. Compensation was moderately influential; a negative factor was requiring too frequent meetings. Understanding factors that influence the engagement of part-time faculty teaching in online nursing programs can help leaders of online programs attract and retain experienced, highly skilled faculty.

Morphology and dynamics of tumor cell colonies propagating in epidermal growth factor supplemented media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Muzzio, N. E.; Carballido, M.; Pasquale, M. A.; González, P. H.; Azzaroni, O.; Arvia, A. J.

2018-07-01

The epidermal growth factor (EGF) plays a key role in physiological and pathological processes. This work reports on the influence of EGF concentration (c EGF) on the modulation of individual cell phenotype and cell colony kinetics with the aim of perturbing the colony front roughness fluctuations. For this purpose, HeLa cell colonies that remain confluent along the whole expansion process with initial quasi-radial geometry and different initial cell populations, as well as colonies with initial quasi-linear geometry and large cell population, are employed. Cell size and morphology as well as its adhesive characteristics depend on c EGF. Quasi-radial colonies (QRC) expansion kinetics in EGF-containing medium exhibits a complex behavior. Namely, at the first stages of growth, the average QRC radius evolution can be described by a t 1/2 diffusion term coupled with exponential growth kinetics up to a critical time, and afterwards a growth regime approaching constant velocity. The extension of each regime depends on c EGF and colony history. In the presence of EGF, the initial expansion of quasi-linear colonies (QLCs) also exhibits morphological changes at both the cell and the colony levels. In these cases, the cell density at the colony border region becomes smaller than in the absence of EGF and consequently, the extension of the effective rim where cell duplication and motility contribute to the colony expansion increases. QLC front displacement velocity increases with c EGF up to a maximum value in the 2–10 ng ml‑1 range. Individual cell velocity is increased by EGF, and an enhancement in both the persistence and the ballistic characteristics of cell trajectories can be distinguished. For an intermediate c EGF, collective cell displacements contribute to the roughening of the colony contours. This global dynamics becomes compatible with the standard Kardar–Parisi–Zhang growth model, although a faster colony roughness saturation in EGF-containing medium

Morphological and clinical risk factors for posterior communicating artery aneurysm rupture.

PubMed

Matsukawa, Hidetoshi; Fujii, Motoharu; Akaike, Gensuke; Uemura, Akihiro; Takahashi, Osamu; Niimi, Yasunari; Shinoda, Masaki

2014-01-01

Recent studies have shown that posterior circulation aneurysms, specifically posterior communicating artery (PCoA) aneurysms, are more likely to rupture than other aneurysms. To date, few studies have investigated the factors contributing to PCoA aneurysm rupture. The authors aimed to identify morphological and clinical characteristics predisposing to PCoA aneurysm rupture. The authors retrospectively reviewed 134 consecutive patients with PCoA aneurysms managed at their facility between July 2003 and December 2012. The authors divided patients into groups of those with aneurysmal rupture (n = 39) and without aneurysmal rupture (n = 95) and compared morphological and clinical characteristics. Morphological characteristics were mainly evaluated by 3D CT angiography and included diameter of arteries (anterior cerebral artery, middle cerebral artery, and internal carotid artery), size of the aneurysm, dome-to-neck ratio, neck direction of the aneurysmal dome around the PCoA (medial, lateral, superior, inferior, and posterior), aneurysm bleb formation, whether the PCoA was fetal type, and the existence of other intracranial unruptured aneurysm(s). Patients with ruptured PCoA aneurysms were significantly younger (a higher proportion were < 60 years of age) and a significantly higher proportion of patients with ruptured PCoA aneurysms showed a lateral direction of the aneurysmal dome around the PCoA, had bleb formation, and the aneurysm was > 7 mm in diameter and/or the dome-to-neck ratio was > 2.0. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed age < 60 years (OR 4.3, p = 0.011), history of hypertension (OR 5.1, p = 0.008), lateral direction of the aneurysmal dome around the PCoA (OR 6.7, p = 0.0001), and bleb formation (OR 11, p < 0.0001) to be significantly associated with PCoA aneurysm rupture. The present results demonstrated that lateral projection of a PCoA aneurysm may be related to rupture.

Factors That Influence the Practice of Elective Induction of Labor

PubMed Central

Moore, Jennifer; Low, Lisa Kane

2012-01-01

Elective induction of labor has been linked to increased rates of prematurity and rising rates of cesarean birth. The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate current trends in induction of labor scholarship focusing on evidence-based factors that influence the practice of elective induction. A key word search was conducted to identify studies on the practice of elective induction of labor. Analysis of the findings included clustering and identification of recurrent themes among the articles with 3 categories being identified. Under each category, the words/phrases were further clustered until a construct could be named. A total of 49 articles met inclusion criteria: 7 patient, 6 maternity care provider, and 4 organization factors emerged. Only 4 of the articles identified were evidence based. Patient factors were divided into preferences/convenience, communication, fear, pressure/influence, trust, external influences, and technology. Provider factors were then divided into practice preferences/convenience, lack of information, financial incentives, fear, patient desire/demand, and technology. Organization factors were divided into lack of enforcement/accountability, hospital culture, scheduling of staff, and market share issues. Currently, there is limited data-based information focused on factors that influence elective induction of labor. Despite patient and provider convenience/preferences being cited in the literature, the evidence does not support this practice. PMID:22843006

A Genome-Wide Association Study Identifies Five Loci Influencing Facial Morphology in Europeans

PubMed Central

Liu, Fan; van der Lijn, Fedde; Schurmann, Claudia; Zhu, Gu; Chakravarty, M. Mallar; Hysi, Pirro G.; Wollstein, Andreas; Lao, Oscar; de Bruijne, Marleen; Ikram, M. Arfan; van der Lugt, Aad; Rivadeneira, Fernando; Uitterlinden, André G.; Hofman, Albert; Niessen, Wiro J.; Homuth, Georg; de Zubicaray, Greig; McMahon, Katie L.; Thompson, Paul M.; Daboul, Amro; Puls, Ralf; Hegenscheid, Katrin; Bevan, Liisa; Pausova, Zdenka; Medland, Sarah E.; Montgomery, Grant W.; Wright, Margaret J.; Wicking, Carol; Boehringer, Stefan; Spector, Timothy D.; Paus, Tomáš; Martin, Nicholas G.; Biffar, Reiner; Kayser, Manfred

2012-01-01

Inter-individual variation in facial shape is one of the most noticeable phenotypes in humans, and it is clearly under genetic regulation; however, almost nothing is known about the genetic basis of normal human facial morphology. We therefore conducted a genome-wide association study for facial shape phenotypes in multiple discovery and replication cohorts, considering almost ten thousand individuals of European descent from several countries. Phenotyping of facial shape features was based on landmark data obtained from three-dimensional head magnetic resonance images (MRIs) and two-dimensional portrait images. We identified five independent genetic loci associated with different facial phenotypes, suggesting the involvement of five candidate genes—PRDM16, PAX3, TP63, C5orf50, and COL17A1—in the determination of the human face. Three of them have been implicated previously in vertebrate craniofacial development and disease, and the remaining two genes potentially represent novel players in the molecular networks governing facial development. Our finding at PAX3 influencing the position of the nasion replicates a recent GWAS of facial features. In addition to the reported GWA findings, we established links between common DNA variants previously associated with NSCL/P at 2p21, 8q24, 13q31, and 17q22 and normal facial-shape variations based on a candidate gene approach. Overall our study implies that DNA variants in genes essential for craniofacial development contribute with relatively small effect size to the spectrum of normal variation in human facial morphology. This observation has important consequences for future studies aiming to identify more genes involved in the human facial morphology, as well as for potential applications of DNA prediction of facial shape such as in future forensic applications. PMID:23028347

Factors which influence necropsy requests: a psychological approach.

PubMed Central

Start, R. D.; Hector-Taylor, M. J.; Cotton, D. W.; Startup, M.; Parsons, M. A.; Kennedy, A.

1992-01-01

AIMS: To determine which factors influence a clinician's decision to request a necropsy. METHODS: Patient age, confidence in premortem diagnosis, relatives' attitudes, and conditions of necropsy practice were combined factorially (two levels each) in separate medical and surgical questionnaires based on clinical case histories. The interactions between the factors were measured by a repeated measures factorial analysis of variance for each of the two clinical groups. The influence of the clinician's interest in necropsies on these interactions was also examined by a similar method. RESULTS: Necropsies were more likely to be requested on young patients, when diagnostic confidence was low, and when relatives' attitudes were favourable. Conditions of necropsy practice did not affect the likelihood of a request and there was no apparent overall difference in necropsy requests between the two groups of clinicians. The "patient age" and "relatives" factors had less influence on the decision of the surgical group to request necropsy. This was attributed to the opportunity to "see for themselves" at operation and was supported by the finding that surgeons were very likely to request necropsies in the absence of surgical intervention. Clinicians from both groups with a high pre-existing interest in the necropsy were consistently more likely to request necropsies. CONCLUSIONS: The "case history" based questionnaires successfully measured the relative influence of multiple factors in relation to the decision of clinicians to request a necropsy. These findings suggest that any attempt to reverse the decline in necropsy rates should focus on changing the clinician's perception of the value of the modern necropsy. PMID:1556237

Factors influencing women's decisions about timing of motherhood.

PubMed

Benzies, Karen; Tough, Suzanne; Tofflemire, Karen; Frick, Corine; Faber, Alexandra; Newburn-Cook, Christine

2006-01-01

To examine the factors that influence women's decisions about the timing of motherhood from a life span perspective. Qualitative. Large Western Canadian city with a high rate of infants born to women aged 35 years and older. 45 Canadian women aged 20 to 48 years. Independence, a stable relationship, and declining fertility influenced women's decisions about the timing of motherhood. Women integrated child developmental transitions into a projected life plan as they considered the timing of motherhood. Partner readiness and family of origin influences played a lesser role. Delayed childbearing has become more socially acceptable, with subsequent negative connotations associated with younger motherhood. Parental benefits have limited influence on the timing of motherhood. Recognition by nurses of the various and complex factors that influence women's decisions about the timing of motherhood may flag the importance of pregnancy-related counseling for woman across the fertility life span. Policy decision makers must be cognizant of the need for additional high-risk obstetric and neonatal health services when societal norms encourage women to delay childbearing in favor of completing education and establishing a career. (c) 2006, AWHONN, the Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses

Rates of morphological evolution, asymmetry and morphological integration of shell shape in scallops.

PubMed

Sherratt, Emma; Serb, Jeanne M; Adams, Dean C

2017-12-08

Rates of morphological evolution vary across different taxonomic groups, and this has been proposed as one of the main drivers for the great diversity of organisms on Earth. Of the extrinsic factors pertaining to this variation, ecological hypotheses feature prominently in observed differences in phenotypic evolutionary rates across lineages. But complex organisms are inherently modular, comprising distinct body parts that can be differentially affected by external selective pressures. Thus, the evolution of trait covariation and integration in modular systems may also play a prominent role in shaping patterns of phenotypic diversity. Here we investigate the role ecological diversity plays in morphological integration, and the tempo of shell shape evolution and of directional asymmetry in bivalved scallops. Overall, the shape of both valves and the magnitude of asymmetry of the whole shell (difference in shape between valves) are traits that are evolving fast in ecomorphs under strong selective pressures (gliders, recessers and nestling), compared to low rates observed in other ecomorphs (byssal-attaching, free-living and cementing). Given that different parts of an organism can be under different selective pressures from the environment, we also examined the degree of evolutionary integration between the valves as it relates to ecological shifts. We find that evolutionary morphological integration is consistent and surprisingly high across species, indicating that while the left and right valves of a scallop shell are diversifying in accordance with ecomorphology, they are doing so in a concerted fashion. Our study on scallops adds another strong piece of evidence that ecological shifts play an important role in the tempo and mode of morphological evolution. Strong selective pressures from the environment, inferred from the repeated evolution of distinct ecomorphs, have influenced the rate of morphological evolution in valve shape and the magnitude of asymmetry

The Role of Emergent Bilingualism in the Development of Morphological Awareness in Arabic and Hebrew.

PubMed

Schwartz, Mila; Taha, Haitham; Assad, Hanan; Khamaisi, Ferdos; Eviatar, Zohar

2016-08-01

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the role of dual language development and cross-linguistic influence on morphological awareness in young bilinguals' first language (L1) and second language (L2). We examined whether (a) the bilingual children (L1/L2 Arabic and L1/L2 Hebrew) precede their monolingual Hebrew- or Arabic-speaking peers in L1 and L2 morphological awareness, and (b) 1 Semitic language (Arabic) has cross-linguistic influence on another Semitic language (Hebrew) in morphological awareness. The study sample comprised 93 six-year-old children. The bilinguals had attended bilingual Hebrew-Arabic kindergartens for 1 academic year and were divided into 2 groups: home language Hebrew (L1) and home language Arabic (L1). These groups were compared to age-matched monolingual Hebrew speakers and monolingual Arabic speakers. We used nonwords similar in structure to familiar words in both target languages, representing 6 inflectional morphological categories. L1 Arabic and L1 Hebrew bilinguals performed significantly better than Arabic- and Hebrew-speaking monolinguals in the respective languages. Differences were not found between the bilingual groups. We found evidence of cross-linguistic transfer of morphological awareness from Arabic to Hebrew in 2 categories-bound possessives and dual number-probably because these categories are more salient in Palestinian Spoken Arabic than in Hebrew. We conclude that children with even an initial exposure to L2 reveal acceleration of sensitivity to word structure in both of their languages. We suggest that this is due to the fact that two Semitic languages, Arabic and Hebrew, share a common core of linguistic features, together with favorable contextual factors and instructional factors.

Falling Victim to Wasps in the Air: A Fate Driven by Prey Flight Morphology?

PubMed Central

Ballesteros, Yolanda; Polidori, Carlo; Tormos, José; Baños-Picón, Laura; Asís, Josep D.

2016-01-01

In prey-predator systems where the interacting individuals are both fliers, the flight performance of both participants heavily influences the probability of success of the predator (the prey is captured) and of the prey (the predator is avoided). While the flight morphology (an estimate of flight performance) of predatory wasps has rarely been addressed as a factor that may contribute to explain prey use, how the flight morphology of potential prey influences the output of predator-prey encounters has not been studied. Here, we hypothesized that flight morphology associated with flight ability (flight muscle mass to body mass ratio (FMR) and body mass to wing area ratio (wing loading, WL)) of Diptera affect their probability of being captured by specialized Diptera-hunting wasps (Bembix merceti and B. zonata), predicting a better manoeuvrability and acceleration capacity achieved by higher FMR and lower WL, and flight speed achieved by higher WL. In addition, wasp species with better flight morphology should be less limited by an advantageous Diptera flight morphology. Overall, the abundance of dipterans in the environment explained an important part of the observed variance in prey capture rate. However, it was not the only factor shaping prey capture. First, higher prey abundance was associated with greater capture rate for one species (B. merceti), although not for the other one. Second, the interaction observed between the environmental dipteran availability and dipteran WL for B. zonata suggests that greater dipteran WL (this probably meaning high cruising speed) decreased the probability of being captured, as long as fly abundance was high in the environment. Third, greater dipteran FMR (which likely means high manoeuvrability and acceleration capacity) helped to reduce predation by B. merceti if, again, dipterans were abundant in the environment. Wasp WL only varied with body mass but not between species, thereby hardly accounting for inter

Factors influencing internal color of cooked meats.

PubMed

Suman, Surendranath P; Nair, Mahesh N; Joseph, Poulson; Hunt, Melvin C

2016-10-01

This manuscript overviews the pertinent research on internal color of uncured cooked meats, biochemical processes involved in meat cookery, and fundamental mechanisms governing myoglobin thermal stability. Heat-induced denaturation of myoglobin, responsible for the characteristic dull-brown color of cooked meats, is influenced by a multitude of endogenous (i.e., pH, muscle source, species, redox state) and exogenous (i.e., packaging, ingredients, storage) factors. The interactions between these factors critically influence the internal cooked color and can confuse the consumers, who often perceive cooked color to be a reliable indicator for doneness and safety. While certain phenomena in cooked meat color are cosmetic in nature, others can mislead consumers and result in foodborne illnesses. Research in meat color suggests that processing technologies and cooking practices in industry as well as households influence the internal cooked color. Additionally, the guidelines of many international public health and regulatory authorities recommend using meat thermometers to determine safe cooking endpoint temperature and to ensure product safety. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Factors influencing warfarin control in Australia and Singapore.

PubMed

Bernaitis, Nijole; Ching, Chi Keong; Teo, Siew Chong; Chen, Liping; Badrick, Tony; Davey, Andrew K; Crilly, Julia; Anoopkumar-Dukie, Shailendra

2017-09-01

Warfarin is widely used for patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF). Variations in warfarin control, as measured by time in therapeutic range (TTR), have been reported across different regions and ethnicities, particularly between Western and Asian countries. However, there is limited data on comparative factors influencing warfarin control in Caucasian and Asian patients. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine warfarin control and potential factors influencing this in patients with NVAF in Australia and Singapore. Retrospective data was collected for patients receiving warfarin for January to June 2014 in Australia and Singapore. TTR was calculated for individuals with mean patient TTR used for analysis. Possible influential factors on TTR were analysed including age, gender, concurrent co-morbidities, and concurrent medication. The mean TTR was significantly higher in Australia (82%) than Singapore (58%). At both sites, chronic kidney disease significantly lowered this TTR. Further factors influencing control were anaemia and age<60years in Australia, and vascular disease, CHA 2 DS 2 -VASc score of 6, and concurrent platelet inhibitor therapy in Singapore. Warfarin control was significantly higher in Australia compared to Singapore, however chronic kidney disease reduced control at both sites. The different levels of control in these two countries, together with patient factors further reducing control may impact on anticoagulant choice in these countries with better outcomes from warfarin in Australia compared to Singapore. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Factors Influencing Career Aspirations of Primary and Secondary Grade Students.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Canale, Joseph R.; Dunlap, Linda L.

Many studies have examined factors influencing the career aspirations of high school students, but little has been done to explore this issue with primary school students. This study investigated factors that might influence the career aspirations of children across a broad age spectrum. Students (N=150) from grades 2, 5, 8, and 12 completed…

Factors influencing selection of office furniture by corporations and universities

Treesearch

R. Bruce Anderson

1976-01-01

Evaluation of the factors that influence the selection of office furniture by large corporations and universities shows that quality, appearance, and purchase price have the most important influence on the purchase decision. The intended use of the furniture and the appearance of the furniture were the key factors in the purchase of wooden furniture.

Cerebrospinal Fluid Pressure: Revisiting Factors Influencing Optic Nerve Head Biomechanics

PubMed Central

Hua, Yi; Voorhees, Andrew P.; Sigal, Ian A.

2018-01-01

Purpose To model the sensitivity of the optic nerve head (ONH) biomechanical environment to acute variations in IOP, cerebrospinal fluid pressure (CSFP), and central retinal artery blood pressure (BP). Methods We extended a previously published numerical model of the ONH to include 24 factors representing tissue anatomy and mechanical properties, all three pressures, and constraints on the optic nerve (CON). A total of 8340 models were studied to predict factor influences on 98 responses in a two-step process: a fractional factorial screening analysis to identify the 16 most influential factors, followed by a response surface methodology to predict factor effects in detail. Results The six most influential factors were, in order: IOP, CON, moduli of the sclera, lamina cribrosa (LC) and dura, and CSFP. IOP and CSFP affected different aspects of ONH biomechanics. The strongest influence of CSFP, more than twice that of IOP, was on the rotation of the peripapillary sclera. CSFP had similar influence on LC stretch and compression to moduli of sclera and LC. On some ONHs, CSFP caused large retrolamina deformations and subarachnoid expansion. CON had a strong influence on LC displacement. BP overall influence was 633 times smaller than that of IOP. Conclusions Models predict that IOP and CSFP are the top and sixth most influential factors on ONH biomechanics. Different IOP and CSFP effects suggest that translaminar pressure difference may not be a good parameter to predict biomechanics-related glaucomatous neuropathy. CON may drastically affect the responses relating to gross ONH geometry and should be determined experimentally. PMID:29332130

Factors That Influence Technology Integration in the Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Montgomery, Maureen C.

2017-01-01

Education is one area where the use of technology has had great impact on student learning. The integration of technology in teaching and learning can significantly influence the outcome of education in the classroom. However, there are a myriad of factors that influence technology integration in the classroom. The purpose of this study was to…

Factors influencing the, selection of state office furniture

Treesearch

R. Bruce Anderson; R. Bruce Anderson

1973-01-01

Evaluation of the factors influencing the selection of office furniture by nine state governments shows that quality and purchase price have the most important influence on the purchase decision. The intended use of the furniture and the purchasing regulations of the states were key f8CbrS in the use of wood furniture.

Relative importance of natural and anthropogenic factors influencing karst rocky desertification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Erqi; Zhang, Hongqi

2017-04-01

As the most severe ecological issue in southwest China, karst rocky desertification (KRD) has both threatened and constrained regional sustainable development. Comprehensively understanding the relationship between the evolution of KRD and relevant driving data would provide more information to combat KRD in such complex karst environments. Past studies have been limited in quantifying the relative importance of driving factors influencing fine-scale KRD evolution, and have also lacked insight into their interactive impacts. To address these issues, we have used geographical information system techniques and a geographical detector model to explore the spatial consistency of driving factors and their interactions in relation to the evolution of KRD. Changshun County in China was selected as a representative area for the study. Nine relevant driving factors, including both natural and anthropogenic factors, were studied in regard to their relationships with KRD transformation between 2000 and 2010. Our results demonstrate the relative importance of driving data in influencing the improvement and deterioration of KRD. Lithology, soil type and road influence are identified as the leading factors. Interestingly, to our study at least, there is no significant difference between the impacts of natural and anthropogenic factors influencing KRD improvement, and even natural factors have a higher impact on KRD deterioration. Factors were found to enhance the influence of each other for KRD transformation. In particular, the results show a non-linearly enhanced effect between driving factors, which significantly aggravates KRD. New information found in our study helps to effectively control and restore areas afflicted by KRD.

Poor Comprehenders in English-Only and English Language Learners: Influence of Morphological Analysis during Incidental Word Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhang, Jie; Shulley, Leah

2017-01-01

This study investigated whether weakness in using morphological analysis to infer new word meanings during reading is a source of poor text comprehension and the relative importance of psycholinguistic and cognitive factors as contributors of poor text comprehension in English-only and English language learners. Thirty-seven poor comprehenders and…

Did Adult Diurnal Activity Influence the Evolution of Wing Morphology in Opoptera Butterflies?

PubMed

Penz, C M; Heine, K B

2016-02-01

The butterfly genus Opoptera includes eight species, three of which have diurnal habits while the others are crepuscular (the usual activity period for members of the tribe Brassolini). Although never measured in the field, it is presumed that diurnal Opoptera species potentially spend more time flying than their crepuscular relatives. If a shift to diurnal habits potentially leads to a higher level of activity and energy expenditure during flight, then selection should operate on increased aerodynamic and energetic efficiency, leading to changes in wing shape. Accordingly, we ask whether diurnal habits have influenced the evolution of wing morphology in Opoptera. Using phylogenetically independent contrasts and Wilcoxon rank sum tests, we confirmed our expectation that the wings of diurnal species have higher aspect ratios (ARs) and lower wing centroids (WCs) than crepuscular congeners. These wing shape characteristics are known to promote energy efficiency during flight. Three Opoptera wing morphotypes established a priori significantly differed in AR and WC values. The crepuscular, cloud forest dweller Opoptera staudingeri (Godman & Salvin) was exceptional in having an extended forewing tip and the highest AR and lowest WC within Opoptera, possibly to facilitate flight in a cooler environment. Our study is the first to investigate how butterfly wing morphology might evolve as a response to a behavioral shift in adult time of activity.

Factors that influence women's health in Tanzania.

PubMed

Lugina, H I

1994-01-01

A descriptive account of factors that influence women's health in Tanzania is given. The social and cultural processes that enhance or undermine women's health are emphasized. Recommendations for changes to improve women's health are made.

Psychosocial factors for influencing healthy aging in adults in Korea.

PubMed

Han, KyungHun; Lee, YunJung; Gu, JaSung; Oh, Hee; Han, JongHee; Kim, KwuyBun

2015-03-07

Healthy aging includes physical, psychological, social, and spiritual well-being in later years. The purpose of this study is to identify the psychosocial factors influencing healthy aging and examining their socio-demographic characteristics. Perceived health status, depression, self-esteem, self-achievement, ego-integrity, participation in leisure activities, and loneliness were identified as influential factors in healthy aging. 171 Korean adults aged between 45 and 77 years-old participated in the study. Self-reporting questionnaires were used, followed by descriptive statistics and multiple regressions as inferential statistical analyses. There were significant differences between participants' general characteristics: age, education, religion, housing, hobby, and economic status. The factors related to healthy aging had positive correlation with perceived health status, self-esteem, self-achievements, and leisure activities, and negative correlation with depression and loneliness. The factors influencing healthy aging were depression, leisure activities, perceived health status, ego integrity, and self-achievements. These factors were able to explain 51.9%. According to the results, depression is the factor with the greatest influence on healthy aging. Perceived health status, ego integrity, self-achievement, self-esteem, participation of leisure activities were also influential on healthy aging as beneficial factors.

A brief review of salient factors influencing adult eating behaviour.

PubMed

Emilien, Christine; Hollis, James H

2017-12-01

A better understanding of the factors that influence eating behaviour is of importance as our food choices are associated with the risk of developing chronic diseases such as obesity, CVD, type 2 diabetes or some forms of cancer. In addition, accumulating evidence suggests that the industrial food production system is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emission and may be unsustainable. Therefore, our food choices may also contribute to climate change. By identifying the factors that influence eating behaviour new interventions may be developed, at the individual or population level, to modify eating behaviour and contribute to society's health and environmental goals. Research indicates that eating behaviour is dictated by a complex interaction between physiology, environment, psychology, culture, socio-economics and genetics that is not fully understood. While a growing body of research has identified how several single factors influence eating behaviour, a better understanding of how these factors interact is required to facilitate the developing new models of eating behaviour. Due to the diversity of influences on eating behaviour this would probably necessitate a greater focus on multi-disciplinary research. In the present review, the influence of several salient physiological and environmental factors (largely related to food characteristics) on meal initiation, satiation (meal size) and satiety (inter-meal interval) are briefly discussed. Due to the large literature this review is not exhaustive but illustrates the complexity of eating behaviour. The present review will also highlight several limitations that apply to eating behaviour research.

Alternative Administrative Certification: Socializing Factors Influencing Program Choice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bickmore, Dana L.; Bickmore, Steven T.; Raines, Sarah

2013-01-01

This study used an organizational socialization lens to examine factors influencing participants' decision to pursue the principalship and choice to engage in an alternate administration certification program. Through an analysis of participant focus groups and interviews, factors emerged from the codes that were compared with dimensions of…

Hydrologic regimes as potential drivers of morphologic divergence in fish

USGS Publications Warehouse

Bruckerhoff, Lindsey; Magoulick, Daniel D.

2017-01-01

Fishes often exhibit phenotypic divergence across gradients of abiotic and biotic selective pressures. In streams, many of the known selective pressures driving phenotypic differentiation are largely influenced by hydrologic regimes. Because flow regimes drive so many attributes of lotic systems, we hypothesized fish exhibit phenotypic divergence among streams with different flow regimes. We used a comparative field study to investigate the morphological divergence of Campostoma anomalom (central stonerollers) among streams characterized by highly variable, intermittent flow regimes and streams characterized by relatively stable, groundwater flow regimes. We also conducted a mesocosm experiment to compare the plastic effects of one component of flow regimes, water velocity, on morphology of fish from different flow regimes. We observed differences in shape between flow regimes likely driven by differences in allometric growth patterns. Although we observed differences in morphology across flow regimes in the field, C. anomalum did not exhibit morphologic plasticity in response to water velocity alone. This study contributes to the understanding of how complex environmental factors drive phenotypic divergence and may provide insight into the evolutionary consequences of disrupting natural hydrologic patterns, which are increasingly threatened by climate change and anthropogenic alterations.

Influence of agitation speed on tannase production and morphology of Aspergillus niger FETL FT3 in submerged fermentation.

PubMed

Darah, I; Sumathi, G; Jain, K; Lim, S H

2011-12-01

Agitation speed was found to influence the tannase production and fungal growth of Aspergillus niger FETL FT3. The optimal agitation speed was at 200 rpm which produced 1.41 U/ml tannase and 3.75 g/l of fungal growth. Lower or higher agitation speeds than 200 rpm produced lower enzyme production and fungal growth. Based on the SEM and TEM micrograph observation, there was a significant correlation between agitation speed and the morphology of the fungal mycelia. The results revealed an increase of the enzyme production with the change of the fungal growth morphology from filamentous to pelleted growth forms. However, the exposure to higher shear stress with an increasing agitation speed of the shaker also resulted in lower biomass yields as well as enzyme production.

Factors Influencing the Fatigue Strength of Materials

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bollenrath, F

1941-01-01

A number of factors are considered which influence the static and fatigue strength of materials under practical operating conditions as contrasted with the relations obtaining under conditions of the usual testing procedure. Such factors are interruptions in operation, periodically fluctuating stress limits and mean stresses with periodic succession of several groups and stress states, statistical changes and succession of stress limits and mean stresses, frictional corrosion at junctures, and notch effects.

How modifiable factors influence parental decision-making about organ donation.

PubMed

Luberda, Kamila; Cleaver, Karen

2017-11-07

A global shortage of organs from children and adults available for transplantation is compounded by the failure of next of kin to consent for organs to be donated after death. Non-modifiable and modifiable factors influence decision-making in this area. Modifiable factors are of interest when examining families' decision-making about the donation of organs from their deceased child. A scoping review was undertaken to determine how modifiable factors influence parental decision-making about organ donation. Thematic analysis identified two themes: interactions with healthcare professionals and pre-disposition to organ donation. Satisfaction with experiences of hospital care, the information provided and the way it was communicated, as well as interactions pertaining to emotional support were all found to be modifiable factors that influenced decision making. Likewise, a predisposition to organ donation and knowing the deceased's wishes were associated with the consent decision. Nurses working in critical care environments need to be able to support parents during this difficult time. This article aims to raise awareness of modifiable factors that influence parental decision-making, highlighting their relevance for children's nursing practice. ©2017 RCN Publishing Company Ltd. All rights reserved. Not to be copied, transmitted or recorded in any way, in whole or part, without prior permission of the publishers.

In vitro differentiation of embryonic stem cells into hepatocytes induced by fibroblast growth factors and bone morphological protein-4.

PubMed

Zhou, Qing-Jun; Huang, Yan-Dan; Xiang, Li-Xin; Shao, Jian-Zhong; Zhou, Guo-Shun; Yao, Hang; Dai, Li-Cheng; Lu, Yong-Liang

2007-01-01

The feasibility of transforming embryonic endoderm into different cell types is tightly controlled by mesodermal and septum transversumal signalings during early embryonic development. Here, an induction protocol tracing embryonic liver development was designed, in which, three growth factors, acid fibroblast growth factor, basic fibroblast growth factor and bone morphological protein-4 that secreted from pre-cardiac mesoderm and septum transversum mesenchyme, respectively, were employed to investigate their specific potency of modulating the mature hepatocyte proportion during the differentiation process. Results showed that hepatic differentiation took place spontaneously at a low level, however, supplements of the three growth factors gave rise to a significant up-regulation of mature hepatocytes. Bone morphological protein-4 highlighted the differentiation ratio to 40-55%, showing the most effective promotion, and also exhibited a synergistic effect with the other two fibroblast factors, whereas no similar phenomenon was observed between the other two factors, which was reported for the first time. Our study not only provides a high-performance system of embryonic stem cells differentiating into hepatocytes, which would supply a sufficient hepatic population for related studies, but also make it clear of the inductive effects of three important growth factors, which could support for further investigation on the mechanisms of mesodermal and septumal derived signalings that regulate hepatic differentiation.

Trophic specialization drives morphological evolution in sea snakes.

PubMed

Sherratt, Emma; Rasmussen, Arne R; Sanders, Kate L

2018-03-01

Viviparous sea snakes are the most rapidly speciating reptiles known, yet the ecological factors underlying this radiation are poorly understood. Here, we reconstructed dated trees for 75% of sea snake species and quantified body shape (forebody relative to hindbody girth), maximum body length and trophic diversity to examine how dietary specialization has influenced morphological diversification in this rapid radiation. We show that sea snake body shape and size are strongly correlated with the proportion of burrowing prey in the diet. Specialist predators of burrowing eels have convergently evolved a 'microcephalic' morphotype with dramatically reduced forebody relative to hindbody girth and intermediate body length. By comparison, snakes that predominantly feed on burrowing gobies are generally short-bodied and small-headed, but there is no evidence of convergent evolution. The eel specialists also exhibit faster rates of size and shape evolution compared to all other sea snakes, including those that feed on gobies. Our results suggest that trophic specialization to particular burrowing prey (eels) has invoked strong selective pressures that manifest as predictable and rapid morphological changes. Further studies are needed to examine the genetic and developmental mechanisms underlying these dramatic morphological changes and assess their role in sea snake speciation.

Morphological change in cranial shape following the transition to agriculture across western Eurasia.

PubMed

Cheronet, Olivia; Finarelli, John A; Pinhasi, Ron

2016-09-13

The Neolithic transition brought about fundamental social, dietary and behavioural changes in human populations, which, in turn, impacted skeletal morphology. Crania are shaped through diverse genetic, ontogenetic and environmental factors, reflecting various elements of an individual's life. To determine the transition's effect on cranial morphology, we investigated its potential impact on the face and vault, two elements potentially responding to different influences. Three datasets from geographically distant regions (Ukraine, Iberia, and the Levant plus Anatolia) were analysed. Craniometric measurements were used to compare the morphology of pre-transition populations with that of agricultural populations. The Neolithic transition corresponds to a statistically significant increase only in cranial breadth of the Ukrainian vaults, while facial morphology shows no consistent transformations, despite expected changes related to the modification of masticatory behaviour. The broadening of Ukrainian vaults may be attributable to dietary and/or social changes. However, the lack of change observed in the other geographical regions and the lack of consistent change in facial morphology are surprising. Although the transition from foraging to farming is a process that took place repeatedly across the globe, different characteristics of transitions seem responsible for idiosyncratic responses in cranial morphology.

Influence of the morphology of organic heterojunction on the photovoltaic cell performance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Podhájecká, K.; Pfleger, J.

2006-12-01

We present a series of organic photovoltaic (PV) cells based on the bulk-distributed heterojunction where π -conjugated polymer poly[1-(4-trimethylsilylphenyl)-2-phenylvinylene], PSDPhV, acts as the donor upon photoexcitation and the substituted perylene based low-molecular-weight compound: N,N`-di(pent-3-yl)-perylene-3,4:9,10-bis(dicarboximide), DPe-PTCDI, as the acceptor of photogenerated electrons. According to both absorption spectra and AFM images of the thin films spin-coated from solution of DPe-PTCDI and PSDPhV in toluene, the DPe-PTCDI is molecularly dissolved in conjugated polymer matrix. Upon exposition of layers to toluene vapors, microcrystals of DPe-PTCDI are progressively formed. The influence of the morphology of DPe-PTCDI inside the polymer matrix on PV cell performance is investigated. This paper has been presented at “ECHOS06”, Paris, 28 30 juin 2006.

Tailoring vessel morphology in vivo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gould, Daniel Joseph

Tissue engineering is a rapidly growing field which seeks to provide alternatives to organ transplantation in order to address the increasing need for transplantable tissues. One huge hurdle in this effort is the provision of thick tissues; this hurdle exists because currently there is no way to provide prevascularized or rapidly vascularizable scaffolds. To design thick, vascularized tissues, scaffolds are needed that can induce vessels which are similar to the microvasculature found in normal tissues. Angiogenic biomaterials are being developed to provide useful scaffolds to address this problem. In this thesis angiogenic and cell signaling and adhesion factors were incorporated into a biomimetic poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) hydrogel system. The composition of these hydrogels was precisely tuned to induce the formation of differing vessel morphology. To sensitively measure induced microvascular morphology and to compare it to native microvessels in several tissues, this thesis developed an image-based tool for quantification of scale invariant and classical measures of vessel morphology. The tool displayed great utility in the comparison of native vessels and remodeling vessels in normal tissues. To utilize this tool to tune the vessel response in vivo, Flk1::myr-mCherry fluorescently labeled mice were implanted with Platelet Derived Growth Factor-BB (PDGF-BB) and basic Fibroblast Growth Factor (FGF-2) containing PEG-based hydrogels in a modified mouse corneal angiogenesis assay. Resulting vessels were imaged with confocal microscopy, analyzed with the image based tool created in this thesis to compare morphological differences between treatment groups, and used to create a linear relationship between space filling parameters and dose of growth factor release. Morphological parameters of native mouse tissue vessels were then compared to the linear fit to calculate the dose of growth factors needed to induce vessels similar in morphology to native vessels

Factors influencing laser cutting of wood

Treesearch

V.G. Barnekov; C.W. McMillin; H.A. Huber

1986-01-01

Factors influencing the ability of lasers to cut wood may be generally classified into these three areas: 1) characteristics of the laser beam; 2) equipment and processing variables; and 3) properties of the workpiece. Effects of beam power, mode, polarization, and stability are discussed as are aspects of optics, location of focal point, feed speed, gas-jet assist...

Influence of thyroid state on cardiac and renal capillary density and glomerular morphology in rats.

PubMed

Rodríguez-Gómez, Isabel; Banegas, Inmaculada; Wangensteen, Rosemary; Quesada, Andrés; Jiménez, Rosario; Gómez-Morales, Mercedes; O'Valle, Francisco; Duarte, Juan; Vargas, Félix

2013-01-01

The purpose was to analyse the cardiac and renal capillary density and glomerular morphology resulting from a chronic excess or deficiency of thyroid hormones (THs) in rats. We performed histopathological, morphometrical and immunohistochemical analyses in hypothyroid and hyperthyroid rats to evaluate the density of mesenteric, renal and cardiac vessels at 4 weeks after induction of thyroid disorders. The main angiogenic factors in plasma, heart and kidney were measured as possible mediators of vascular changes. Mesenteric vessel branching was augmented and decreased in hyper- and hypothyroid rats respectively. The numerical density of CD31-positive capillaries was higher in left and right ventricles and in cortical and medullary kidney from both hyper- and hypothyroid rats vs controls. Numbers of podocytes and glomeruli per square millimetre were similar among groups. Glomerular area and percentage mesangium were greater in the hyperthyroid vs control or hypothyroid groups. No morphological renal lesions were observed in any group. Vascularisation of the mesenteric bed is related to TH levels, but an increased capillarity was observed in heart and kidney in both thyroid disorders. This increase may be produced by higher tissue levels of angiogenic factors in hypothyroid rats, whereas haemodynamic factors would predominate in hyperthyroid rats. Our results also indicate that the renal dysfunctions of thyroid disorders are not related to cortical or medullary microvascular rarefaction and that the proteinuria of hyperthyroidism is not secondary to a podocyte deficit. Finally, TH or its analogues may be useful to increase capillarity in renal diseases associated with microvascular rarefaction.

Morphology of self assembled monolayers using liquid phase reaction on silica and their effect on the morphology of adsorbed insulin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sharma, Indu; Pattanayek, Sudip K.; Aggarwal, Varsha; Ghosh, Subhasis

2017-05-01

The effect of roughness of two different categories of self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) with propyl amine and propyl groups respectively on the morphology of adsorbed insulin is observed. SAMs are obtained by liquid phase reaction of silica with organo silane coupling agents (SCA). The influence of the morphology and physical characteristics of the SAMs on the reaction time and concentration of the modifiers are explored. We have tested three SCA containing propyl amine with varying groups linked to Si present on it. In addition, we have used a silane coupling agent to prepare SAM of methyl head group. The approach of these molecules towards the surface depends on the head group and the groups linked to Si of the SCA. The morphology of the surfaces is analysed using power spectral density distribution (PSD), skewness, ellipsometry thickness and surface energy. Both chemical nature and physical morphology of the adsorbent influence the morphology of the adsorbed insulin. In general, a low number of aggregates of big size are formed on the surfaces obtained from low concentration of SAMs, while a higher number but of smaller size of aggregates are formed over surfaces obtained from 1% concentration of SAMs modifiers. The peak to valley ratio of the aggregates of insulin is strongly influenced by the size of grains of SCA over the adsorbent.

Microbiota Influences Morphology and Reproduction of the Brown Alga Ectocarpus sp.

PubMed Central

Tapia, Javier E.; González, Bernardo; Goulitquer, Sophie; Potin, Philippe; Correa, Juan A.

2016-01-01

Associated microbiota play crucial roles in health and disease of higher organisms. For macroalgae, some associated bacteria exert beneficial effects on nutrition, morphogenesis and growth. However, current knowledge on macroalgae–microbiota interactions is mostly based on studies on green and red seaweeds. In this study, we report that when cultured under axenic conditions, the filamentous brown algal model Ectocarpus sp. loses its branched morphology and grows with a small ball-like appearance. Nine strains of periphytic bacteria isolated from Ectocarpus sp. unialgal cultures were identified by 16S rRNA sequencing, and assessed for their effect on morphology, reproduction and the metabolites secreted by axenic Ectocarpus sp. Six of these isolates restored morphology and reproduction features of axenic Ectocarpus sp. Bacteria-algae co-culture supernatants, but not the supernatant of the corresponding bacterium growing alone, also recovered morphology and reproduction of the alga. Furthermore, colonization of axenic Ectocarpus sp. with a single bacterial isolate impacted significantly the metabolites released by the alga. These results show that the branched typical morphology and the individuals produced by Ectocarpus sp. are strongly dependent on the presence of bacteria, while the bacterial effect on the algal exometabolome profile reflects the impact of bacteria on the whole physiology of this alga. PMID:26941722

Microbiota Influences Morphology and Reproduction of the Brown Alga Ectocarpus sp.

PubMed

Tapia, Javier E; González, Bernardo; Goulitquer, Sophie; Potin, Philippe; Correa, Juan A

2016-01-01

Associated microbiota play crucial roles in health and disease of higher organisms. For macroalgae, some associated bacteria exert beneficial effects on nutrition, morphogenesis and growth. However, current knowledge on macroalgae-microbiota interactions is mostly based on studies on green and red seaweeds. In this study, we report that when cultured under axenic conditions, the filamentous brown algal model Ectocarpus sp. loses its branched morphology and grows with a small ball-like appearance. Nine strains of periphytic bacteria isolated from Ectocarpus sp. unialgal cultures were identified by 16S rRNA sequencing, and assessed for their effect on morphology, reproduction and the metabolites secreted by axenic Ectocarpus sp. Six of these isolates restored morphology and reproduction features of axenic Ectocarpus sp. Bacteria-algae co-culture supernatants, but not the supernatant of the corresponding bacterium growing alone, also recovered morphology and reproduction of the alga. Furthermore, colonization of axenic Ectocarpus sp. with a single bacterial isolate impacted significantly the metabolites released by the alga. These results show that the branched typical morphology and the individuals produced by Ectocarpus sp. are strongly dependent on the presence of bacteria, while the bacterial effect on the algal exometabolome profile reflects the impact of bacteria on the whole physiology of this alga.

Review on Factors Influencing Physician Guideline Adherence in Cardiology.

PubMed

Hoorn, C J G M; Crijns, H J G M; Dierick-van Daele, A T M; Dekker, L R C

2018-04-09

Cardiovascular disease is the most common cause of death in Western countries. Physician adherence to guidelines is often suboptimal, resulting in impaired patient outcome and prognosis. Multiple studies have been conducted to evaluate patterns and the influencing factors of patient adherence, but little is known about factors influencing physician guideline adherence. This review aims to identify factors influencing physician guideline adherence relevant to cardiology and to provide insights and suggestions for future improvement. Physician adherence was measured as adherence to standard local medical practice and applicable guidelines. Female gender and older age had a negative effect on physician guideline adherence. In addition, independent of the type of heart disease, physicians without cardiologic specialization were linked to physician noncompliance. Also, guideline adherence in primary care centers was at a lower level compared to secondary or tertiary care centers. The importance of guideline adherence increases as patients age, and complex diseases and comorbidity arise. Appropriate resources and interventions, taking important factors for nonadherence in account, are necessary to improve guideline adoption and adherence in every level of the chain. This in turn should improve patient outcome.

Characterization and modeling of viscoelastic behavior of carbon nanotube reinforced polymers: The influence of interphase and nanotube morphology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Hua

The addition of nanoparticles into polymer materials has been observed to dramatically change the mechanical, thermal, electrical, and diffusion properties of the host polymers, promising a novel class of polymer matrix composite materials with superior properties and added functionalities that are ideal candidates in many applications, including aerospace, automobile, medical devices, and sporting goods. Understanding the behavior and underlying mechanisms of these polymer nanocomposites is critical. The research work presented in this dissertation represents one of the initial efforts in the long journey pursuing the ultimate understanding of nanoparticle reinforced polymer systems. Particular focal points are experimental evaluation and the development of appropriate modeling methods to capture the influence of the interphase on the overall viscoelastic behavior of carbon nanotube reinforced polymer nanocomposites. The first portion of this dissertation study investigates the viscoelastic behavior of MWCNT based PMMA nanocomposites, which complements our previous study of SWCNT/PMMA systems to confirm functionalization of nanotubes as an effective way to manipulate the interaction between nanotube and polymers and control the properties of the interphase region forming around the nanotubes and consequently change the overall performance of nanotube based polymer nanocomposites. In the second portion of this dissertation, we present a novel hybrid numerical-analytical modeling method that is capable of predicting viscoelastic behavior of multiphase polymer nanocomposites, in which the nanoscopic fillers can assume complex configurations. By combining the finite element technique and a micromechanical approach (particularly, the Mori-Tanaka method) with local phase properties, this method operates at low computational cost and effectively accounts for the influence of the interphase as well as in situ nanoparticle morphology. This modeling method is implemented

The influence of relative body breadth on the diaphyseal morphology of the human lower limb.

PubMed

Davies, Thomas G; Stock, Jay T

2014-01-01

Variation in relative body breadth between individuals is potentially a significant influence on the biomechanical loading placed upon the lower limb. This study investigates the influence of relative body breadth on the periosteal geometry of the diaphyses of the limb bones among individuals from a broad range of human populations. This study applies a 3D laser scanning approach to the extraction and analysis of periosteal cross-sectional properties throughout the diaphyses of the femur and tibia to test for influences of body shape on diaphyseal morphology throughout the lower limb. Analyses are based on data collected from seven populations, encompassing a broad range of modern human variation in body shape. Hypertrophy of the proximal end of the femur diaphysis in wider bodied individuals is observed and appears to extend at least as far as the femur midshaft, while the mid diaphyseal region of the tibia is the least influenced by body shape. However correlations with relative body breadth were also observed towards the distal end of the femur diaphysis and towards both ends of the tibial diaphysis, especially among females. Relative body breadth is correlated with the periosteal geometry of the lower limb bones, particularly towards the proximal end of the femur diaphysis, but correlations in other regions also suggest integration of the diaphyseal geometry with epiphyseal dimensions. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Librarians' Perspectives on the Factors Influencing Research Data Management Programs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Faniel, Ixchel M.; Connaway, Lynn Silipigni

2018-01-01

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

Factors influencing societal response of nanotechnology: an expert stakeholder analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gupta, Nidhi; Fischer, Arnout R. H.; van der Lans, Ivo A.; Frewer, Lynn J.

2012-05-01

Nanotechnology can be described as an emerging technology and, as has been the case with other emerging technologies such as genetic modification, different socio-psychological factors will potentially influence societal responses to its development and application. These factors will play an important role in how nanotechnology is developed and commercialised. This article aims to identify expert opinion on factors influencing societal response to applications of nanotechnology. Structured interviews with experts on nanotechnology from North West Europe were conducted using repertory grid methodology in conjunction with generalized Procrustes analysis to examine the psychological constructs underlying societal uptake of 15 key applications of nanotechnology drawn from different areas (e.g. medicine, agriculture and environment, chemical, food, military, sports, and cosmetics). Based on expert judgement, the main factors influencing societal response to different applications of nanotechnology will be the extent to which applications are perceived to be beneficial, useful, and necessary, and how 'real' and physically close to the end-user these applications are perceived to be by the public.

[Influencing factors in preparation of brucine liposomes by ammonium sulfate transmembrane gradients].

PubMed

Wang, Wei; Chen, Jun; Cai, Bao-Chang; Fang, Yun

2008-09-01

To study the influencing factors in preparation of brucine liposomes by ammonium sulfate transmembrane gradients. The brucine liposomes were separated by Sephadex G-50, and the influence of various factors on the entrapment efficiencies were investigated. The entrapment efficiency was enhanced by increased ammonium sulfate concentration, ethanol volume and PC concentration. Burcine liposomes prepared by ammonium sulfate transmembrance gradients can get a high entrapment efficiency, the main influencing factors were ammonium sulfate concentration, ethanol volume and PC concentration.

Factors influencing return to work after illness in France.

PubMed

Pélissier, C; Fontana, L; Chauvin, F

2014-01-01

Few studies have been published about the factors influencing return to work after sickness absence. To identify medical and occupational factors influencing the type of fitness certificate given by occupational physicians before employees return to work after sickness absence. A cross-sectional study was undertaken over 3 months in several health services in France. Workers undergoing a medical examination before returning to work after a period of sickness absence of at least 3 weeks were included. Medical and occupational factors were collected using a questionnaire. The relationship between different factors and certification of fitness was assessed by univariate and multivariate analyses. Among the 402 workers included, 64% were considered fit to return to work. Being older, strenuous work, prolonged sick leave and fear of returning to work appeared to be negative factors influencing the return to a previous job. In contrast, having an education level higher than secondary school, being satisfied at work, perception of very good health and benefitting from satisfactory professional relationships appeared to favour return to work. We developed a predictive score of not being fit to return to work after illness. Our study highlighted the relationship between medical and occupational factors with problems returning to work. The predictive score may be used by occupational physicians as a screening tool to identify those who are likely to have difficulties returning to work after illness, so that their working conditions can be modified to take this into consideration.

The Morphology-Density Relationship: Looking Back, Thinking Back

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dressler, A.

The work I did in the late 1970s leading to the morphology-density relation was done in a time of rising interest in how galaxies acquired different morphological types. I describe briefly here how I contributed to this effort by adding a large number of morphologies for galaxies in rich clusters and the field. The strong correlation that I discovered between galaxy type and local galaxy density ran counter to ideas at the time that emphasized processes tied to the global cluster environment. Instead, it provided some of the first evidence for a hierarchical picture - one in which the density of the environment into which a galaxy was born would be its lifetime legacy. Though often cited as a relation between galaxy morphology and the influence of present-epoch environment, the morphology-density relation was interpreted by me, from the first, as the influence of the early environment of galaxy formation, passed down by the hierarchical growth of structure. In fact, it seems increasingly likely that the more fundamental correlation of galaxy morphology is with galaxy mass, and that the morphology-density relation is basically an expression of the prevalence of more massive galaxies in regions of higher galaxy density.

Stakeholder Perceptions of Governance: Factors Influencing Presidential Perceptions of Board Effectiveness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Proper, Eve; Willmer, Wesley K.; Hartley, Harold V., III; Caboni, Timothy C.

2009-01-01

This article examines the factors that influence presidents' perceptions of board effectiveness in relation to their boards' fundraising role. Data from a survey of small college presidents are used to see what factors influence each of four areas of satisfaction: deciding policy, making financial contributions, referring donor prospects and…

Factors influencing the food choices of Irish children and adolescents: a qualitative investigation.

PubMed

Fitzgerald, Amanda; Heary, Caroline; Nixon, Elizabeth; Kelly, Colette

2010-09-01

Food choices established during childhood and adolescence tend to persist into adulthood with consequences for long-term health. Yet, to date, relatively little research has examined factors that influence the food choices of children and adolescents from their perspectives. In this article, previous research is extended by examining developmental differences between children's and adolescents' perceptions of factors influencing their food choices. Focus group discussions were conducted with 29 young people from three age groups (9-10, 13-14 and 16-18 years). An inductive thematic analysis identified three key factors as influencing food choices. These factors included intra-individual factors: the link between food preferences and awareness of healthy eating; intra-familial factors: the role of the home food environment; and extra-familial factors: eating away from the home. Findings indicate that there were developmental differences between children's and adolescents' perceptions of factors influencing food choice. Among adolescents, parental control began to diminish and adolescents exercised increased autonomy over their food choices compared with children. To develop effective nutrition interventions, it is important to gather child and adolescent input regarding factors perceived as influencing their food choices.

A morphological and functional basis for maximum prey size in piscivorous fishes

PubMed Central

Bellwood, David R.

2017-01-01

Fish predation is important in shaping populations and community structure in aquatic systems. These predator-prey interactions can be influenced by environmental, behavioural and morphological factors. Morphological constraints influence the feeding performance of species, and interspecific differences can thus affect patterns of resource use. For piscivorous fishes that swallow prey whole, feeding performance has traditionally been linked to three key morphological constraints: oral gape, pharyngeal gape, and the cleithral gape. However, other constraints may be important. We therefore examine 18 potential morphological constraints related to prey capture and processing, on four predatory species (Cephalopholis urodeta, Paracirrhites forsteri, Pterois volitans, Lates calcarifer). Aquarium-based experiments were then carried out to determine capture and processing behaviour and maximum prey size in two focal species, C. urodeta and P. forsteri. All four species showed a progressive decrease in gape measurements from anterior to posterior with oral gape ≥ buccal ≥ pharyngeal ≥ pectoral girdle ≥ esophagus ≥ stomach. C. urodeta was able to process prey with a maximum depth of 27% of the predators’ standard length; for P. forsteri it was 20%. C. urodeta captured prey head-first in 79% of successful strikes. In P. forsteri head-first was 16.6%, mid-body 44.4%, and tail-first 38.8%. Regardless of capture mode, prey were almost always swallowed head first and horizontally in both focal species. Most internal measurements appeared too small for prey to pass through. This may reflect the compressibility of prey, i.e. their ability to be dorsoventrally compressed during swallowing movements. Despite examining all known potential morphological constraints on prey size, horizontal maxillary oral gape in a mechanically stretched position appears to be the main morphological variable that is likely to affect maximum prey size and resource use by these predatory

Intrinsic factors influencing help-seeking behaviour in an acute stroke situation.

PubMed

Zock, Elles; Kerkhoff, Henk; Kleyweg, Ruud Peter; van de Beek, Diederik

2016-09-01

The proportion of stroke patients eligible for intravenous or intra-arterial treatment is still limited because many patients do not seek medical help immediately after stroke onset. The aim of our study was to explore which intrinsic factors and considerations influence help-seeking behaviour of relatively healthy participants, confronted with stroke situations. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 25 non-stroke participants aged 50 years or older. We presented 5 clinical stroke situations as if experienced by the participants themselves. Recognition and interpretation of symptoms were evaluated and various factors influencing help-seeking behaviour were explored in-depth. We used the thematic synthesis method for data analysis. Five themes influencing help-seeking behaviour in a stroke situation were identified: influence of knowledge, views about seriousness, ideas about illness and health, attitudes towards others and beliefs about the emergency medical system. A correct recognition of stroke symptoms or a correct interpretation of the stroke situations did not automatically result in seeking medical help. Interestingly, similar factors could lead to different types of actions between participants. Many intrinsic, as well as social and environmental factors are of influence on help-seeking behaviour in an acute stroke situation. All these factors seem to play a complex role in help-seeking behaviour with considerable inter-individual variations. Accomplishing more patients eligible for acute stroke treatment, future research should focus on better understanding of all factors at various levels grounded in a theory of help-seeking behaviour.

From Hospital to Nursing Facility: Factors Influencing Decisions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mason, Susan E.; Auerbach, Charles; LaPorte, Heidi Heft

2009-01-01

This study addresses the factors influencing decisions to send medicine-surgical (med-surg) patients home or to nursing facilities (NFs). The sample (n = 7,852) was taken from a large, urban, teaching, med-surg unit where discharges were documented and data collected over a two-and-a-half-year period. Using logistical regression, the factors found…

Professional Identity Development in Higher Education: Influencing Factors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barbarà-i-Molinero, Alba; Cascón-Pereira, Rosalía; Hernández-Lara, Ana beatriz

2017-01-01

Purpose: In the last few years, the interest on professional identity development (PID) and the factors that influence PID has become central in higher education (HE) literature. However, the knowledge developed in this domain has focussed on a factor at a time and on a degree or discipline, thus being difficult to have a general picture of all…

[METHODS OF MATHEMATICAL MODELING IN MORPHOLOGICAL DIAGNOSTICS OF CHORNOBYL FACTOR INFLUENCE ON PROSTATE GLAND OF COAL MINERS-- THE CHERNOBYL DISASTER FIGHTERS].

PubMed

Danylov, Iu V; Motkov, K V; Shevchenko, T I

2014-01-01

The morphometric estimation of parenchyma and stroma condition included the determination of 25 parameters in a prostate gland at 27 persons. The mathematical model of morphogenesis of prostate gland was created by Bayes' method. The method of differential diagnosis of a prostate gland tissues' changes conditioned by the influence of the Chernobyl factor and/or unfavorable terms of the work in underground coal mines have been worked out. Its practical use provides exactness and reliability of the diagnosis (not less than 95%), independence from the level of the qualification and personal experience of the doctor, allows us to unify, optimize and individualize the diagnostic algorithms, answer the requirements of evidential medicine.

Computer Self-Efficacy and Factors Influencing E-Learning Effectiveness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chien, Tien-Chen

2012-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the influences of system and instructor factors on e-learning effectiveness under the interactions of computer self-efficacy. In this study, the factors of the e-learning system are functionality, interaction, and response. The factors of the e-learning instructor are attitude, technical skills,…

Sediment transport and channel morphology of small, forested streams.

Treesearch

Marwan A. Hassan; Michael Church; Thomas E. Lisle; Francesco Brardinoni; Lee Benda; Gordon E. Grant

2005-01-01

This paper reviews sediment transport and channel morphology in small, forested streams in the Pacific Northwest region of North America to assess current knowledge of channel stability and morphology relevant to riparian management practices around small streams. Small channels are defined as ones in which morphology and hydraulics may be significantly influenced by...

Factors Influencing Intrinsic Motivation towards Physical Activity.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rutherford, William J.; And Others

1992-01-01

Study examined factors that influenced intrinsic motivation toward physical activity in 60 adult males who completed questionnaires and physical fitness tests. Results showed that performance information given immediately after task performance increased perceived competence and intrinsic motivation levels toward exercise of individuals with…

Factors influencing woodlands of southwestern North Dakota

Treesearch

Michele M. Girard; Harold Goetz; Ardell J. Bjugstad

1987-01-01

Literature pertaining to woodlands of southwestern North Dakota is reviewed. Woodland species composition and distribution, and factors influencing woodland ecosystems such as climate, logging, fire, and grazing are described. Potential management and improvement techniques using vegetation and livestock manipulation have been suggested.

What Motivational Factors Influence African American Males to Enter a Doctorial Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Humphreys, Phillip

2010-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the motivational factors that influence African American men to enter a doctoral program by identifying the motivational factors that influenced them to enter a doctorial program. The findings were compared to Dr. Gloria J. Hill's dissertation study (2005), "What Motivational Factors Influence…

Factors influencing the intention to watch online video advertising.

PubMed

Lee, Joonghwa; Lee, Mira

2011-10-01

This study examines the factors influencing consumer intention to watch online video ads, by applying the theory of reasoned action. The attitude toward watching online video ads, the subjective norm, and prior frequency of watching online video ads positively influence the intention to watch online video ads. Further, beliefs held about entertainment and information outcomes from watching online video ads and subjective norm influence attitude toward watching these ads.

A comparative study of the influence of alpha-lactose monohydrate particle morphology on granule and tablet properties after roll compaction/dry granulation.

PubMed

Grote, Simon; Kleinebudde, Peter

2018-05-29

The influence of particle morphology and size of alpha-lactose monohydrate on dry granules and tablets was studied. Four different morphologies were investigated: Two grades of primary crystals, which differed in their particle size and structure (compact crystals vs. agglomerates). The materials were roll compacted at different specific compaction forces and changes in the particle size distribution and the specific surface area were measured. Afterwards, two fractions of granules were pressed to tablets and the tensile strength was compared to that from tablets compressed from the raw materials. The specific surface area was increased induced by roll compaction/dry granulation for all materials. At increased specific compaction forces, the materials showed sufficient size enlargement. The morphology of lactose determined the strength of direct compressed tablets. In contrast, the strength of granule tablets was leveled by the previous compression step during roll compaction/dry granulation. Thus, the tensile strength of tablets compressed directly from the powder mixtures determined whether materials exhibited a loss in tabletability after roll compaction/dry granulation or not. The granule size had only a slight influence on the strength of produced tablets. In some cases, the fraction of smaller granules showed a higher tensile strength compared to the larger fraction.

Political and economic factors influencing contraceptive uptake.

PubMed

Sai, F T

1993-01-01

International, national and local level politics influence the uptake of contraception through consensuses, laws, financial and moral support or the creation of an enabling atmosphere. Opposition to contraception generally comes from some churches and groups opposed to particular technologies. Socio-economic factors, particularly education, the health care system and the perceived or actual cost of fertility regulation as compared to benefits expected from children also powerfully influence contraceptive use. For many poor women in developing countries their powerlessness in relation to their male partners is an important obstacle.

Phenotypic Covariation and Morphological Diversification in the Ruminant Skull.

PubMed

Haber, Annat

2016-05-01

Differences among clades in their diversification patterns result from a combination of extrinsic and intrinsic factors. In this study, I examined the role of intrinsic factors in the morphological diversification of ruminants, in general, and in the differences between bovids and cervids, in particular. Using skull morphology, which embodies many of the adaptations that distinguish bovids and cervids, I examined 132 of the 200 extant ruminant species. As a proxy for intrinsic constraints, I quantified different aspects of the phenotypic covariation structure within species and compared them with the among-species divergence patterns, using phylogenetic comparative methods. My results show that for most species, divergence is well aligned with their phenotypic covariance matrix and that those that are better aligned have diverged further away from their ancestor. Bovids have dispersed into a wider range of directions in morphospace than cervids, and their overall disparity is higher. This difference is best explained by the lower eccentricity of bovids' within-species covariance matrices. These results are consistent with the role of intrinsic constraints in determining amount, range, and direction of dispersion and demonstrate that intrinsic constraints can influence macroevolutionary patterns even as the covariance structure evolves.

Factors Influencing Professional Help-Seeking for Suicidality.

PubMed

Han, Jin; Batterham, Philip J; Calear, Alison L; Randall, Rebecca

2018-05-01

Evidence suggests that the majority of people with suicidality do not seek help. Little systematic evaluation of factors influencing professional help-seeking has been done. To systematically evaluate the factors that influence professional help-seeking for suicidality. Published quantitative and qualitative studies in Medline and PsycInfo databases were reviewed following PRISMA. In all, 55 relevant studies were identified. Of these, 15 studies examined professional help-seeking intentions for perceived suicidal ideation, among people with or without suicidality; 21 studies examined professional help-seeking behavior among people with suicidality; and 19 studies examined suicidal decedents' health services use. Several potential important barriers were identified including high self-reliance, lack of perceived need for treatment, and stigmatizing attitudes toward suicide, toward mental health issues, and toward seeking professional treatment. The presence of suicidality and mental health issues was found to generally decrease help-seeking intentions for perceived suicidal ideation while facilitating actual service use. Social support and informal support from family and friends also played an important role in professional help-seeking. Although the majority of the included studies were of sound quality, some of the factors identified in the review were assessed in relatively few studies, and most of the included studies were conducted in industrialized countries. Further quantitative and qualitative studies examining the potential important factors in broader community samples, especially in developing countries, are needed.

Variations in leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis) skull morphology and body size: sexual and geographic influences

PubMed Central

Oliveira, Luiz Flamarion B.

2015-01-01

foot of male leopard cats is the main feature of sexual dimorphism among P. b. bengalensis (and probably among P. b. horsfieldii too). External body measurements also indicated the absence of sexual dimorphism among individuals of P. b. borneoensis. Inter-subspecific skull comparisons provided a morphometric basis for differentiating some subspecies. Prionailurus b. horsfieldii and P. b. bengalensis were distinguished only by a subtle difference in PM4 size, indicating that overall skull morphology does not appear to support their separate taxonomical status, in spite of the marked differences reported in their coat patterns. Geological events affecting the Sunda Shelf connection between the Sunda Islands and the mainland during the Last Glacial Maximum seem to have influenced directly the morphological pattern shown by leopard cat subspecies nowadays. PMID:26500818

Factors influencing acceptance of technology for aging in place: a systematic review.

PubMed

Peek, Sebastiaan T M; Wouters, Eveline J M; van Hoof, Joost; Luijkx, Katrien G; Boeije, Hennie R; Vrijhoef, Hubertus J M

2014-04-01

To provide an overview of factors influencing the acceptance of electronic technologies that support aging in place by community-dwelling older adults. Since technology acceptance factors fluctuate over time, a distinction was made between factors in the pre-implementation stage and factors in the post-implementation stage. A systematic review of mixed studies. Seven major scientific databases (including MEDLINE, Scopus and CINAHL) were searched. Inclusion criteria were as follows: (1) original and peer-reviewed research, (2) qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods research, (3) research in which participants are community-dwelling older adults aged 60 years or older, and (4) research aimed at investigating factors that influence the intention to use or the actual use of electronic technology for aging in place. Three researchers each read the articles and extracted factors. Sixteen out of 2841 articles were included. Most articles investigated acceptance of technology that enhances safety or provides social interaction. The majority of data was based on qualitative research investigating factors in the pre-implementation stage. Acceptance in this stage is influenced by 27 factors, divided into six themes: concerns regarding technology (e.g., high cost, privacy implications and usability factors); expected benefits of technology (e.g., increased safety and perceived usefulness); need for technology (e.g., perceived need and subjective health status); alternatives to technology (e.g., help by family or spouse), social influence (e.g., influence of family, friends and professional caregivers); and characteristics of older adults (e.g., desire to age in place). When comparing these results to qualitative results on post-implementation acceptance, our analysis showed that some factors are persistent while new factors also emerge. Quantitative results showed that a small number of variables have a significant influence in the pre-implementation stage. Fourteen out of

Factors in Client–Clinician Interaction That Influence Hearing Aid Adoption

PubMed Central

Jennings, Mary Beth; Shaw, Lynn; Meston, Christine N.; Cheesman, Margaret F.

2011-01-01

The influence of client–clinician interactions has not been emphasized in hearing health care, despite the extensive evidence of the impact of the provider–patient interaction on health outcomes. The purpose of this study was to identify factors in the client–clinician interaction that may influence hearing aid adoption. Thirteen adults who had received a hearing aid recommendation within the previous 3 months and 10 audiologists participated in a study to generate, sort, and rate the importance of factors in client–clinician interaction that may influence the hearing aid purchase decision. A concept mapping approach was used to define meaningful clusters of factors. Quantitative analysis and qualitative interpretation of the statements resulted in eight concepts. The concepts in order of their importance are (a) Ensuring client comfort, (b) Understanding and meeting client needs, (c) Client-centered traits and actions, (d) Acknowledging client as an individual, (e) Imposing undue pressure and discomfort, (f) Conveying device information by clinician, (g) Supporting choices and shared decision making, and (h) Factors in client readiness. Two overarching themes of client-centered interaction and client empowerment were identified. Results highlight the influence of the client–clinician interaction in hearing aid adoption and suggest the possibility of improving hearing aid adoption by empowering clients through a client-centered interaction. PMID:22155784

Profiling contextual factors which influence safety in heavy vehicle industries.

PubMed

Edwards, Jason R D; Davey, Jeremy; Armstrong, Kerry A

2014-12-01

A significant proportion of worker fatalities within Australia result from truck-related incidents. Truck drivers face a number of health and safety concerns. Safety culture, viewed here as the beliefs, attitudes and values shared by an organisation's workers, which interact with their surrounding context to influence behaviour, may provide a valuable lens for exploring safety-related behaviours in heavy vehicle operations. To date no major research has examined safety culture within heavy vehicle industries. As safety culture provides a means to interpret experiences and generate behaviour, safety culture research should be conducted with an awareness of the context surrounding safety. The current research sought to examine previous health and safety research regarding heavy vehicle operations to profile contextual factors which influence health and safety. A review of 104 peer-reviewed papers was conducted. Findings of these papers were then thematically analysed. A number of behaviours and scenarios linked with crashes and non-crash injuries were identified, along with a selection of health outcomes. Contextual factors which were found to influence these outcomes were explored. These factors were found to originate from government departments, transport organisations, customers and the road and work environment. The identified factors may provide points of interaction, whereby culture may influence health and safety outcomes. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Classical cardiovascular disease risk factors associate with vascular function and morphology in rheumatoid arthritis: a six-year prospective study

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Introduction Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are at an increased risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD). An early manifestation of CVD is endothelial dysfunction which can lead to functional and morphological vascular abnormalities. Classical CVD risk factors and inflammation are both implicated in causing endothelial dysfunction in RA. The objective of the present study was to examine the effect of baseline inflammation, cumulative inflammation, and classical CVD risk factors on the vasculature following a six-year follow-up period. Methods A total of 201 RA patients (155 females, median age (25th to 75th percentile): 61 years (53 to 67)) were examined at baseline (2006) for presence of classical CVD risk factors and determination of inflammation using C-reactive protein (CRP) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR). At follow-up (2012) patients underwent assessments of microvascular and macrovascular endothelium-dependent and endothelium-independent function, along with assessment of carotid atherosclerosis. The CRP and ESR were recorded from the baseline study visit to the follow-up visit for each patient to calculate cumulative inflammatory burden. Results Classical CVD risk factors, but not RA disease-related inflammation, predicted microvascular endothelium-dependent and endothelium-independent function, macrovascular endothelium-independent function and carotid atherosclerosis. These findings were similar in a sub-group of patients free from CVD, and not receiving non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, cyclooxygenase 2 inhibitors or biologics. Cumulative inflammation was not associated with microvascular and macrovascular endothelial function, but a weak association was apparent between area under the curve for CRP and carotid atherosclerosis. Conclusions Classical CVD risk factors may be better long-term predictors of vascular function and morphology than systemic disease-related inflammation in patients with RA. Further studies are needed to

Juvenile morphology in baleen whale phylogeny.

PubMed

Tsai, Cheng-Hsiu; Fordyce, R Ewan

2014-09-01

Phylogenetic reconstructions are sensitive to the influence of ontogeny on morphology. Here, we use foetal/neonatal specimens of known species of living baleen whales (Cetacea: Mysticeti) to show how juvenile morphology of extant species affects phylogenetic placement of the species. In one clade (sei whale, Balaenopteridae), the juvenile is distant from the usual phylogenetic position of adults, but in the other clade (pygmy right whale, Cetotheriidae), the juvenile is close to the adult. Different heterochronic processes at work in the studied species have different influences on juvenile morphology and on phylogenetic placement. This study helps to understand the relationship between evolutionary processes and phylogenetic patterns in baleen whale evolution and, more in general, between phylogeny and ontogeny; likewise, this study provides a proxy how to interpret the phylogeny when fossils that are immature individuals are included. Juvenile individuals in the peramorphic acceleration clades would produce misleading phylogenies, whereas juvenile individuals in the paedomorphic neoteny clades should still provide reliable phylogenetic signals.

Analysis of factors influencing organic fruit and vegetable purchasing in Istanbul, Turkey.

PubMed

Oraman, Yasemin; Unakitan, Gökhan

2010-01-01

This article examines the influences on the purchasing decisions of fruit and vegetable consumers and presents findings from a survey conducted with 385 respondents living in urban areas in Istanbul, Turkey. It uses a binary logistic model to estimate factor effects in organic fruit and vegetable purchasing in Turkey. The results indicate that concern for human health and safety is a key factor that influences consumer preferences for organic food. Findings will help organic product suppliers understand the key factors influencing consumer purchasing and consumption behaviors.

Place of residence does not significantly influence radiological morphology of cervical cancer.

PubMed

Burdan, Franciszek; Mocarska, Agnieszka; Klepacz, Robert; Walocha, Jerzy; Kubiatowski, Tomasz; Surdyka, Dariusz; Kieszko, Dariusz; Patyra, Krzysztof; Żelzowska-Cieślińska, Iwonna; Starosławska, Elżbieta

2017-09-21

Cervical squamous cell carcinoma is one of the most common malignancies of women. Its incidence and morphology was analyzed based on the magnetic resonance (MR) data among rural and urban residents. The study involved 61 Caucasian women (58.26±9.63 years) preliminary diagnosed with a cervical cancer without any previous treatment. Standard MR examination, including diffusion weighted imagining, apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) value measurement and dynamic contrast enhancement, was performed. The rural residents (n=22) were insignificantly older. Their first and last menstruation were observed later and number of pregnancy was higher than in urban women (n=39). However, the incidence of miscarriage was insignificantly rarer. All the tumour linear diameters as well as its volume were insignificantly higher in rural women. The ADC value of the cervical tumor was insignificantly lower, while ADC of lymphatic nodules was higher in rural women. Insignificant changes in tumour grade between both examined groups were found in histological, clinical and radiological examinations. Place of residence did not influence any clinical symptoms nor tumour volume and its ADC. Colporrhoea and colpodynia were insignificantly more often observed in urban women, while parametrium, urinary bladder and rectal infiltrations were more commonly seen in rural residents. Higher risk of lymphatic spread to the internal iliac and parametral lymphatic nodes was reporte[b]d in the rural community. Cervical cancer had similar morphology and growth pattern, regardless of the place of residence. However, a insignificantly larger tumour size among rural residents may suggest a higher incidence of lymphatic spread, probably as a result of less aaccess to modern health care.

Pakistani medical students' specialty preference and the influencing factors.

PubMed

Rehman, Anis; Rehman, Tariq; Shaikh, Muhammad Ateeb; Yasmin, Haleema; Asif, Ammara; Kafil, Hina

2011-07-01

To elucidate the specialty preferences of Pakistani medical students and the factors which influence medical students to make the decision regarding which specialty to pursue. Both basic sciences and clinical students from four medical colleges of Pakistan, i.e., Dow Medical College, Sindh Medical College, Liaquat National Medical College and Muhammad Medical College, were included in the cross-sectional survey during the period of July 2008 to Jan' 2009. After ethical acceptance, data was collected using convenient sampling technique. The questionnaire covered the following demographic details: 13 common specialties and 15 influencing factors. Questionnaires included in the analysis were 771. Most students gave preference to surgery and its associated sub-specialties (50.3%) followed by internal medicine (26.8%), paediatrics (23.2%), dermatology (16.7%), gynaecology and obstetrics (16.7%), psychiatry (13.1%), radiology (10.8%), ENT (8.8%), anaesthesiology (8.7%), administrative medicine (8.6%), orthopaedics (8.2%), ophthalmology (7.5%), and laboratory medicine (6.1%). The highly considered factors (regarding specialties) chosen by 70% of the medical students were: applicable to respective personalities of the individuals, prestige and respect, international opportunities, and time commitment. Surgical-skills, job availability, financial rating, academic performance, and a role model were moderately influencing factors. Hospital environment, parents, general practice, peer-pressure and personal health were the least influential. This trend suggests competition in surgery and its sub-specialties along with internal medicine, paediatrics, dermatology, gynaecology and obstetrics. Specialty suited to personality, time commitment, prestige/respect and international opportunity, influenced more than 70% of the students.

Three-dimensional morphology of CuInS2:P3HT hybrid blends for photovoltaic applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krause, Christopher; Scheunemann, Dorothea; Parisi, Jürgen; Borchert, Holger

2015-11-01

Despite potential advantages, the performance of hybrid solar cells with colloidal nanocrystals remains low compared to pure organic solar cells, in particular, when Cd- and Pb-free nanocrystals are employed. To understand this discrepancy, we analyzed possible limiting factors of the performance of hybrid solar cells with CuInS2 nanoparticles and the polymer poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT). Optimizing the thickness of the active layer indicated that charge transport limits the performance of the solar cells. Since charge transport is among others influenced by the morphology of the bulk heterojunction layer, we performed a detailed analysis of the blend morphology. Therefore, we used electron tomography which provides three-dimensional information on the interpenetrating network formed by the hybrid CuInS2:P3HT system. Using statistical methods, we analyzed the distribution of the nanoparticles inside the polymer matrix and the structure of the percolation paths. We found that the morphology appears well suited for application in hybrid solar cells, meaning that other factors must be the bottleneck. Therefore, we investigated in a second step the influence of a post-deposition ligand exchange with acetic acid. This strategy resulted in a strong relative improvement of the solar cell performance, although absolute performance parameters remain low in comparison to hybrid solar cells with colloidal cadmium or lead chalcogenide nanocrystals.

Factors influencing training transfer in nursing profession: a qualitative study.

PubMed

Ma, Fang; Bai, Yangjing; Bai, Yangjuan; Ma, Weiguang; Yang, Xiangyu; Li, Jiping

2018-03-20

There is a growing recognition that training is not translated into performance and the 'transfer problem' exists in organization training today. Although factors contributing to training transfer have been identified in business and industry, the factors influencing training transfer in nursing profession remain less clear. A qualitative descriptive study was undertaken in two tertiary referral hospitals in China from February 2013 to September 2013. Purposeful sampling of 24 nursing staffs were interviewed about the factors influencing training transfer. Seven themes evolved from the analysis, categorized in 4 main domains, which described the factors influencing training transfer in nursing profession in trainee characteristics, training design, work environment and profession domain. The trainee characteristics domain included attitude and ability. The training design domain included training content and instruction method. The work environment domain included supports as facilitators and opposition as hindrance. The theme pertaining to the profession domain was professional development. Health care managers need to understand the factors influencing training transfer for maximizing the benefits of training. The right beliefs and values about training, the rigorous employee selection for training, the relevance of training content, training instructions facilitating learning and transfer, supports from peer, supervisors and the organization, organizational culture such as change, sharing, learning and support, and professional development are key to successful training transfer. Furthermore, managers should be aware of the opposition from co-workers and find ways to prevent it.

Factors influencing antibiotic prescribing in long-term care facilities: a qualitative in-depth study.

PubMed

van Buul, Laura W; van der Steen, Jenny T; Doncker, Sarah M M M; Achterberg, Wilco P; Schellevis, François G; Veenhuizen, Ruth B; Hertogh, Cees M P M

2014-12-16

Insight into factors that influence antibiotic prescribing is crucial when developing interventions aimed at a more rational use of antibiotics. We examined factors that influence antibiotic prescribing in long-term care facilities, and present a conceptual model that integrates these factors. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with physicians (n = 13) and nursing staff (n = 13) in five nursing homes and two residential care homes in the central-west region of the Netherlands. An iterative analysis was applied to interviews with physicians to identify and categorize factors that influence antibiotic prescribing, and to integrate these into a conceptual model. This conceptual model was triangulated with the perspectives of nursing staff. The analysis resulted in the identification of six categories of factors that can influence the antibiotic prescribing decision: the clinical situation, advance care plans, utilization of diagnostic resources, physicians' perceived risks, influence of others, and influence of the environment. Each category comprises several factors that may influence the decision to prescribe or not prescribe antibiotics directly (e.g. pressure of patients' family leading to antibiotic prescribing) or indirectly via influence on other factors (e.g. unfamiliarity with patients resulting in a higher physician perceived risk of non-treatment, in turn resulting in a higher tendency to prescribe antibiotics). Our interview study shows that several non-rational factors may affect antibiotic prescribing decision making in long-term care facilities, suggesting opportunities to reduce inappropriate antibiotic use. We developed a conceptual model that integrates the identified categories of influencing factors and shows the relationships between those categories. This model may be used as a practical tool in long-term care facilities to identify local factors potentially leading to inappropriate prescribing, and to subsequently

Modeling the characteristic etch morphologies along specific crystallographic orientations by anisotropic chemical etching

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Kun-Dar; Miao, Jin-Ru

2018-02-01

To improve the advanced manufacturing technology for functional materials, a sophisticated control of chemical etching process is highly demanded, especially in the fields of environment and energy related applications. In this study, a phase-field-based model is utilized to investigate the etch morphologies influenced by the crystallographic characters during anisotropic chemical etching. Three types of etching modes are inspected theoretically, including the isotropic, <100> and <111> preferred oriented etchings. Owing to the specific etching behavior along the crystallographic directions, different characteristic surface structures are presented in the simulations, such as the pimple-like, pyramidal hillock and ridge-like morphologies. In addition, the processing parameters affecting the surface morphological formation and evolution are also examined systematically. According to the numerical results, the growth mechanism of surface morphology in a chemical etching is revealed distinctly. While the etching dynamics plays a dominant role on the surface formation, the characteristic surface morphologies corresponding to the preferred etching direction become more apparent. As the atomic diffusion turned into a determinative factor, a smoothened surface would appear, even under the anisotropic etching conditions. These simulation results provide fundamental information to enhance the development and application of anisotropic chemical etching techniques.

Factors that influence women's dispositions toward science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Atria, Catherine Graczyk

Females have been underrepresented in the study of science and science careers for decades although advancements have been made in closing this gender gap, the gap persists particularly in the physical sciences. Variables which influence a woman's desire to pursue and maintain a science course of study and career must be discovered. The United States lags behind other industrialized countries in the fields of science, math, and engineering. Females comprise an estimated half of the population; their potential contributions cannot be ignored or overlooked. This retrospective research study explores the personal experiences of ten women enrolled in science majors, with science related career plans. The goal of this study is to describe the factors that influence the participants' interest in science. The findings, the effect of science coursework, science teachers' personality and manner, other influential educational personnel, role models and mentors, external influences exclusive of school, parental influence, locus of control and positive attitudes toward science confirm what other researchers have found.

Factors influencing post-traumatic stress in Korean forensic science investigators.

PubMed

Yoo, Yang-Sook; Cho, Ok-Hee; Cha, Kyeong-Sook; Boo, Yun-Jeong

2013-09-01

The aim of this study was to understand factors that influence post-traumatic stress (PTS) in Korean forensic science investigators. A total of 111 forensic science investigators were recruited in Korea. PTS was measured using the tool modified by Choi (2001) from the original developed by Foa, Riggs, Dancu, and Rothbaum (1993) based on DSM-IV. Factors influencing PTS included demographic and job-related characteristics, emotional intelligence, and death anxiety. PTS scores were positively correlated with personality type, fatigue from work, and death anxiety. PTS scores were negatively correlated with length of career as a forensic science investigator and emotional intelligence. The factors that had the greatest influence on PTS were death anxiety, years spent as a forensic science investigator, personality type, emotional intelligence, fatigue, and homicide experience. The explanatory power of these six factors was 44.0%. Therefore, it is necessary to regularly evaluate the mental health of those who are vulnerable to PTS. Based on these results, various interventions could be implemented for promoting overall health of the forensic science investigators. Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Factors Potentially Influencing Student Acceptance of Biological Evolution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wiles, Jason R.

This investigation explored scientific, religious, and otherwise nonscientific factors that may influence student acceptance of biological evolution and related concepts, how students perceived these factors to have influenced their levels of acceptance of evolution and changes therein, and what patterns arose among students' articulations of how their levels of acceptance of evolution may have changed. This exploration also measured the extent to which students' levels of acceptance changed following a treatment designed to address factors identified as potentially affecting student acceptance of evolution. Acceptance of evolution was measured using the MATE instrument (Rutledge and Warden, 1999; Rutledge and Sadler, 2007) among participants enrolled in a secondary-level academic program during the summer prior to their final year of high school and as they transitioned to the post-secondary level. Student acceptance of evolution was measured to be significantly higher than pre-treatment levels both immediately following and slightly over one year after treatment. Qualitative data from informal questionnaires, from formal course evaluations, and from semi-structured interviews of students engaged in secondary level education and former students at various stages of post-secondary education confirmed that the suspected factors were perceived by participants to have influenced their levels of acceptance of evolution. Furthermore, participant reports provided insight regarding the relative effects they perceived these factors to have had on their evolution acceptance levels. Additionally, many participants reported that their science teachers in public schools had avoided, omitted, or denigrated evolution during instruction, and several of these students expressed frustration regarding what they perceived to have been a lack of education of an important scientific principle. Finally, no students expressed feelings of being offended by having been taught about

Factors influencing worker use of personal protective eyewear.

PubMed

Lombardi, David A; Verma, Santosh K; Brennan, Melanye J; Perry, Melissa J

2009-07-01

To identify and describe the array of factors that influence a workers' decision to wear personal protective eyewear (PPE) and the barriers that exist in preventing their use. A series of focus groups enrolled workers and supervisors primarily from manufacturing, construction, or service/retail industries that had potential exposure to eye injury hazards in their job tasks. Focus group sessions were facilitated to collect qualitative and quantitative data in two categories, "sought information" and "emergent themes", related to the factors influencing use of PPE. We conducted a series of 7 groups with 51 participants, 36 (71%) males and 15 (29%) females ranging in age from 19 to 64 years old, from a variety of occupations including construction (24%), production (22%), installation, repair and maintenance (14%), and healthcare (10%). Most were highly experienced in their occupation (>10 years); males (86%) and females (53%), and had received some safety training in the past (82%). The majority of workers in this study were required to wear PPE on their worksite (78%), however only 55% had a dedicated safety officer. A conceptual model that summarizes the "sought information" and "emergent themes" is presented that depicts the decision making process for the factors influencing use of PPE and consists of three primary branches; perceptions of hazards and risks, "barriers" to PPE usage, and enforcement and reinforcement. Lack of comfort/fit, and fogging and scratching of the eyewear were suggested as the most important barriers to PPE usage. Younger age and lack of safety training were other important factors affecting use of PPE. Several potentially modifiable factors identified would lead to an increase in workers' PPE use and encourage supervisors to provide ongoing positive feedback on the continuous use of PPE by workers at risk for an eye injury.

Why neurology? Factors which influence career choice in neurology.

PubMed

Albert, Dara V; Hoyle, Chad; Yin, Han; McCoyd, Matthew; Lukas, Rimas V

2016-01-01

To evaluate the factors which influence the decision to pursue a career in neurology. An anonymous survey was developed using a Likert scale to rate responses. The survey was sent to adult and child neurology faculty, residents and fellows, as well as medical students applying for neurology. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the factors of influence. Respondents were subsequently categorized into pre-neurology trainees, neurology trainees, child neurologists and adult neurologists, and differences between the groups were analysed using Pearson's chi-square test. One hundred and thirty-three anonymous responses were received. The respondents were neurologists across all levels of training and practice. Across all respondents, the most common factor of high importance was intellectual content of specialty, challenging diagnostic problems, type of patient encountered and interest in helping people. Responses were similar across the groups; however, the earliest trainees cited interest in helping people as most important, while those in neurology training and beyond cite intellectual content of the specialty as most important. As trainees transition from their earliest levels of clinical experience into working as residents and faculty, there is a shift in the cited important factors. Lifestyle and financial factors seem to be the least motivating across all groups. Encouragement from peers, mentors, faculty and practicing physicians is considered high influences in a smaller number of neurologists. This may present an opportunity for practicing neurologists to make connections with medical students early in their education in an effort to encourage and mentor candidates.

Consumer's Online Shopping Influence Factors and Decision-Making Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yan, Xiangbin; Dai, Shiliang

Previous research on online consumer behavior has mostly been confined to the perceived risk which is used to explain those barriers for purchasing online. However, perceived benefit is another important factor which influences consumers’ decision when shopping online. As a result, an integrated consumer online shopping decision-making model is developed which contains three elements—Consumer, Product, and Web Site. This model proposed relative factors which influence the consumers’ intention during the online shopping progress, and divided them into two different dimensions—mentally level and material level. We tested those factors with surveys, from both online volunteers and offline paper surveys with more than 200 samples. With the help of SEM, the experimental results show that the proposed model and method can be used to analyze consumer’s online shopping decision-making process effectively.

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

PubMed

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

2010-02-01

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

Factors Influencing Renewable Energy Production & Supply - A Global Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ali, Anika; Saqlawi, Juman Al

2016-04-01

Renewable energy is one of the key technologies through which the energy needs of the future can be met in a sustainable and carbon-neutral manner. Increasing the share of renewable energy in the total energy mix of each country is therefore a critical need. While different countries have approached this in different ways, there are some common aspects which influence the pace and effectiveness of renewable energy incorporation. This presentation looks at data and information from 34 selected countries, analyses the patterns, compares the different parameters and identifies the common factors which positively influence renewable energy incorporation. The most successful countries are analysed for their renewable energy performance against their GDP, policy/regulatory initiatives in the field of renewables, landmass, climatic conditions and population to identify the most influencing factors to bring about positive change in renewable energy share.

The Influence Factors and Mechanism of Societal Risk Perception

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zheng, Rui; Shi, Kan; Li, Shu

Risk perception is one of important subjects in management psychology and cognitive psychology. It is of great value in the theory and practice to investigate the societal hazards that the public cares a lot especially in Socio-economic transition period. A survey including 30 hazards and 6 risk attributes was designed and distributed to about 2, 485 residents of 8 districts, Beijing. The major findings are listed as following: Firstly, a scale of societal risk perception was designed and 2 factors were identified (Dread Risk & Unknown Risk). Secondly, structural equation model was used to analyze the influence factors and mechanism of societal risk perception. Risk preference, government support and social justice could influence societal risk perception directly. Government support fully moderated the relationship between government trust and societal risk perception. Societal risk perception influenced life satisfaction, public policy preferences and social development belief.

Factors influencing the flavour of game meat: A review.

PubMed

Neethling, J; Hoffman, L C; Muller, M

2016-03-01

Flavour is a very important attribute contributing to the sensory quality of meat and meat products. Although the sensory quality of meat includes orthonasal and retronasal aroma, taste, as well as appearance, juiciness and other textural attributes, the focus of this review is primarily on flavour. The influence of species, age, gender, muscle anatomical location, diet, harvesting conditions, ageing of meat, packaging and storage, as well as cooking method on the flavour of game meat are discussed. Very little research is available on the factors influencing the flavour of the meat derived from wild and free-living game species. The aim of this literature review is thus to discuss the key ante- and post-mortem factors that influence the flavour of game meat, with specific focus on wild and free-living South African game species. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Influence of Powder Morphology and Microstructure on the Cold Spray and Mechanical Properties of Ti6Al4V Coatings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Munagala, Venkata Naga Vamsi; Akinyi, Valary; Vo, Phuong; Chromik, Richard R.

2018-06-01

The powder microstructure and morphology has significant influence on the cold sprayability of Ti6Al4V coatings. Here, we compare the cold sprayability and properties of coatings obtained from Ti6Al4V powders of spherical morphology (SM) manufactured using plasma gas atomization and irregular morphology (IM) manufactured using the Armstrong process. Coatings deposited using IM powders had negligible porosity and better properties compared to coatings deposited using SM powders due to higher particle impact velocities, porous surface morphology and more deformable microstructure. To evaluate the cohesive strength, multi-scale indentation was performed and hardness loss parameter was calculated. Coatings deposited using SM powders exhibited poor cohesive strength compared to coatings deposited using IM powders. Images of the residual indents showed de-bonding and sliding of adjacent splats in the coatings deposited using SM powders irrespective of the load. Coatings deposited using IM powders showed no evidence of de-bonding at low loads. At high loads, splat de-bonding was observed resulting in hardness loss despite negligible porosity. Thus, while the powders from Armstrong process lead to a significant improvement in sprayability and coating properties, further optimization of powder and cold spray process will be required as well as consideration of post-annealing treatments to obtain acceptable cohesive strength.

Morphology engineering - Osmolality and its effect on Aspergillus niger morphology and productivity

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background The filamentous fungus Aspergillus niger is a widely used strain in a broad range of industrial processes from food to pharmaceutical industry. One of the most intriguing and often uncontrollable characteristics of this filamentous organism is its complex morphology, ranging from dense spherical pellets to viscous mycelia depending on culture conditions. Optimal productivity correlates strongly with a specific morphological form, thus making high demands on process control. Results In about 50 2L stirred tank cultivations the influence of osmolality on A. niger morphology and productivity was investigated. The specific productivity of fructofuranosidase producing strain A. niger SKAn 1015 could be increased notably from 0.5 to 9 U mg-1 h-1 around eighteen fold, by increasing the culture broth osmolality by addition of sodium chloride. The specific productivity of glucoamylase producing strain A. niger AB1.13, could be elevated using the same procedure. An optimal producing osmolality was shown to exist well over the standard osmolality at about 3.2 osmol kg-1 depending on the strain. Fungal morphology of all cultivations was examined by microscope and characterized by digital image analysis. Particle shape parameters were combined to a dimensionless Morphology number, which enabled a comprehensive characterization of fungal morphology correlating closely with productivity. A novel method for determination of germination time in submerged cultivations by laser diffraction, introduced in this study, revealed a decelerated germination process with increasing osmolality. Conclusions Through the introduction of the versatile Morphology number, this study provides the means for a desirable characterization of fungal morphology and demonstrates its relation to productivity. Furthermore, osmolality as a fairly new parameter in process engineering is introduced and found to affect fungal morphology and productivity. Osmolality might provide an auspicious and

Factors Influencing Employee Learning in Small Businesses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coetzer, Alan; Perry, Martin

2008-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this research is to identify key factors influencing employee learning from the perspective of owners/managers. Design/methodology/research: Data were gathered from owners/managers in a total of 27 small manufacturing and services firms through interviews and analysed using content analytic procedures. Findings: The…

Exploring Factors That Influence Quality Literature Circles

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Young, Chase; Mohr, Kathleen A. J.

2018-01-01

Research indicates that literature circles are an authentic means for literacy development that students typically enjoy. To better understand the potential value and to add to the research base regarding literature circles, this study, involving 17 fourth graders, explores factors that may influence the quality of literature discussions,…

A Survey of Factors Influencing High School Start Times

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wolfson, Amy R.; Carskadon, Mary A.

2005-01-01

The present study surveyed high school personnel regarding high school start times, factors influencing school start times, and decision making around school schedules. Surveys were analyzed from 345 secondary schools selected at random from the National Center for Educational Statistics database. Factors affecting reported start times included…

Factors influencing global antiretroviral procurement prices.

PubMed

Wirtz, Veronika J; Forsythe, Steven; Valencia-Mendoza, Atanacio; Bautista-Arredondo, Sergio

2009-11-18

Antiretroviral medicines (ARVs) are one of the most costly parts of HIV/AIDS treatment. Many countries are struggling to provide universal access to ARVs for all people living with HIV and AIDS. Although substantial price reductions of ARVs have occurred, especially between 2002 and 2008, achieving sustainable access for the next several decades remains a major challenge for most low- and middle-income countries. The objectives of the present study were twofold: first, to analyze global ARV prices between 2005 and 2008 and associated factors, particularly procurement methods and key donor policies on ARV procurement efficiency; second, to discuss the options of procurement processes and policies that should be considered when implementing or reforming access to ARV programs. An ARV-medicines price-analysis was carried out using the Global Price Reporting Mechanism from the World Health Organization. For a selection of 12 ARVs, global median prices and price variation were calculated. Linear regression models for each ARV were used to identify factors that were associated with lower procurement prices. Logistic regression models were used to identify the characteristics of those countries which procure below the highest and lowest direct manufactured costs. Three key factors appear to have an influence on a country's ARV prices: (a) whether the product is generic or not; (b) the socioeconomic status of the country; (c) whether the country is a member of the Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative. Factors which did not influence procurement below the highest direct manufactured costs were HIV prevalence, procurement volume, whether the country belongs to the least developed countries or a focus country of the United States President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief. One of the principal mechanisms that can help to lower prices for ARV over the next several decades is increasing procurement efficiency. Benchmarking prices could be one useful tool to achieve this.

Factors influencing global antiretroviral procurement prices

PubMed Central

2009-01-01

Background Antiretroviral medicines (ARVs) are one of the most costly parts of HIV/AIDS treatment. Many countries are struggling to provide universal access to ARVs for all people living with HIV and AIDS. Although substantial price reductions of ARVs have occurred, especially between 2002 and 2008, achieving sustainable access for the next several decades remains a major challenge for most low- and middle-income countries. The objectives of the present study were twofold: first, to analyze global ARV prices between 2005 and 2008 and associated factors, particularly procurement methods and key donor policies on ARV procurement efficiency; second, to discuss the options of procurement processes and policies that should be considered when implementing or reforming access to ARV programs. Methods An ARV-medicines price-analysis was carried out using the Global Price Reporting Mechanism from the World Health Organization. For a selection of 12 ARVs, global median prices and price variation were calculated. Linear regression models for each ARV were used to identify factors that were associated with lower procurement prices. Logistic regression models were used to identify the characteristics of those countries which procure below the highest and lowest direct manufactured costs. Results Three key factors appear to have an influence on a country's ARV prices: (a) whether the product is generic or not; (b) the socioeconomic status of the country; (c) whether the country is a member of the Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative. Factors which did not influence procurement below the highest direct manufactured costs were HIV prevalence, procurement volume, whether the country belongs to the least developed countries or a focus country of the United States President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief. Conclusion One of the principal mechanisms that can help to lower prices for ARV over the next several decades is increasing procurement efficiency. Benchmarking prices could be one useful

Influencing factors on the visibility of surface distresses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smęt, Wojciech; Skakuj, Marek

2018-05-01

A systematic and future-oriented maintenance management requires quality-assured data regarding the condition of the roadway. An important characteristic for assessing the condition of the road surface are cracks [1]. Experience has proven that the road surface temperature and residual humidity can influence the visibility of cracks. To investigate and quantify these influencing factors in more detail, the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure has implemented a comprehensive research project [2], during which several measurement campaigns were carried out at different seasons and at different temperatures and humidity degrees of the road surface. The visibility of the cracks was assessed using the German approach ZTV ZEB-StB [3]. After evaluating the cracks, the data was synchronized and the network allocation of the geo-referenced raw data was realized. The relevant condition performance indicators were calculated subsequently. For each evaluation section of 100 meters length, the mean road surface temperature was calculated and, if available, the type and year of construction of the surface course was determined. The evaluated data was visualized to establish correlations between the data and the influencing factors. For the statistical analysis of the results, a total of six comparative scenarios were defined in which the influencing factors of road surface temperature and residual humidity were assessed. This paper documents the results of the research project. In order to obtain a uniform and comparable picture of the condition of the road surface over the years and thus to be able to observe the aging process of the road surface, the measurement campaigns are to be carried out under defined conditions. The research project included proposals for defining and further specifying the measurement conditions.

The evolution of cranial base and face in Cercopithecoidea and Hominoidea: Modularity and morphological integration.

PubMed

Profico, Antonio; Piras, Paolo; Buzi, Costantino; Di Vincenzo, Fabio; Lattarini, Flavio; Melchionna, Marina; Veneziano, Alessio; Raia, Pasquale; Manzi, Giorgio

2017-12-01

The evolutionary relationship between the base and face of the cranium is a major topic of interest in primatology. Such areas of the skull possibly respond to different selective pressures. Yet, they are often said to be tightly integrated. In this paper, we analyzed shape variability in the cranial base and the facial complex in Cercopithecoidea and Hominoidea. We used a landmark-based approach to single out the effects of size (evolutionary allometry), morphological integration, modularity, and phylogeny (under Brownian motion) on skull shape variability. Our results demonstrate that the cranial base and the facial complex exhibit different responses to different factors, which produces a little degree of morphological integration between them. Facial shape variation appears primarily influenced by body size and sexual dimorphism, whereas the cranial base is mostly influenced by functional factors. The different adaptations affecting the two modules suggest they are best studied as separate and independent units, and that-at least when dealing with Catarrhines-caution must be posed with the notion of strong cranial integration that is commonly invoked for the evolution of their skull shape. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Attitudes, norms and controls influencing lifestyle risk factor management in general practice.

PubMed

Ampt, Amanda J; Amoroso, Cheryl; Harris, Mark F; McKenzie, Suzanne H; Rose, Vanessa K; Taggart, Jane R

2009-08-26

With increasing rates of chronic disease associated with lifestyle behavioural risk factors, there is urgent need for intervention strategies in primary health care. Currently there is a gap in the knowledge of factors that influence the delivery of preventive strategies by General Practitioners (GPs) around interventions for smoking, nutrition, alcohol consumption and physical activity (SNAP). This qualitative study explores the delivery of lifestyle behavioural risk factor screening and management by GPs within a 45-49 year old health check consultation. The aims of this research are to identify the influences affecting GPs' choosing to screen and choosing to manage SNAP lifestyle risk factors, as well as identify influences on screening and management when multiple SNAP factors exist. A total of 29 audio-taped interviews were conducted with 15 GPs and one practice nurse over two stages. Transcripts from the interviews were thematically analysed, and a model of influencing factors on preventive care behaviour was developed using the Theory of Planned Behaviour as a structural framework. GPs felt that assessing smoking status was straightforward, however some found assessing alcohol intake only possible during a formal health check. Diet and physical activity were often inferred from appearance, only being assessed if the patient was overweight. The frequency and thoroughness of assessment were influenced by the GPs' personal interests and perceived congruence with their role, the level of risk to the patient, the capacity of the practice and availability of time. All GPs considered advising and educating patients part of their professional responsibility. However their attempts to motivate patients were influenced by perceptions of their own effectiveness, with smoking causing the most frustration. Active follow-up and referral of patients appeared to depend on the GPs' orientation to preventive care, the patient's motivation, and cost and accessibility of

Motivational factors influencing nurses to undertake postgraduate hospital-based education.

PubMed

Kinsella, Danny; Fry, Margaret; Zecchin, Alison

2018-05-01

Specialist postgraduate education improves patient health outcomes, and assists in meeting the emerging specialisation of nursing practice. The aim of this study was to investigate the motivational factors that influence nurses' engagement with hospital-based postgraduate education. The research design was descriptive and exploratory, using a survey method. The survey consisted of demographic details, the Participation Reasons Scale (PRS) and open-ended questions. Thirty-four participants (100%) completed the survey. Of the PRS extrinsic and intrinsic factors, Professional Improvement and Development (Factor 1) and Professional Service (Factor 2), both intrinsic factors, ranked the highest. Therefore, this study identified that intrinsic motivation factors influenced engagement with postgraduate specialty programs for early career nurses. These results highlight the importance of intrinsic motivation factors for a nursing workforce and how this can potentially drive behaviour and decision making. A better understanding of motivation factors across a nurse's career could lead to educational strategies that optimise postgraduate program engagement to better support healthcare delivery and a culture of lifelong learning. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

[Morphological index for prediction of cervix uteri cancer].

PubMed

Gatenadze, Ts Z; Ungiadze, D Iu; Chakhoian, O P; Nakashidze, M G; Sulaberidze, I M

2010-01-01

The aim of the research is evaluation of morphological parameters which would allow predicting cervix uteri cancer. The case histories of 505 patients (from 20 to 70 years old) with I-III clinical stages of primary cervical uteri cancer (PUC), which got surgical and combined treatment in oncological center in Batumi from 1970-2005 were evaluated. The factors that influence on the prognosis of PUC are revealed: cancer cell emboli in vessels of tumour stroma, sharpness of the tumour edges, the tumor tissue types, and the depth of invasion. The imaging characteristics of the tumours are described. Planocellular cancer has more favourable prognosis in comparison with glandular cancer.

Electron microscopy studies of the morphological evolution in hydrothermally derived lead titanate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ye, Zhiyuan

Hydrothermal processing is a promising technique to synthesize perovskite ceramic powders. Understanding the reaction mechanisms and the factors that affect the particle morphologies is essential to optimize the hydrothermal processing. In this dissertation, the reaction mechanisms and nucleation processes in hydrothermally derived lead titanate (PbTiO3) are examined and established by morphological studies. The initial concentration of potassium hydroxide [KOH]i had a strong influence on the reaction. As [KOH] i increased from 0.01 M to 0.1 M to 1.0 M, the resultant morphology changed from irregular spherical to dendritic to faceted rectangular platelet morphology. The morphological evolution was well explained in the context of a supersaturation-nucleation relation. As the [KOH]i increased, the supersaturation increased and the nucleation mechanism changed from weak heterogeneous nucleation to strong heterogeneous nucleation or even homogeneous nucleation. These different nucleation mechanisms resulted in the different morphologies. Kinetic and morphological studies suggest that the reaction starting from nanocrystalline titania is dominated by dissolution-precipitation. The titanium precursors strongly affected the reaction. Increasing the particle size of precursors significantly reduced the reaction rate, especially at the low [KOH]i case. In situ transformations play important roles under the conditions of low [KOH] i and/or large particle size of precursors. Investigation using amorphous titania indicated that the nucleation of lead titanate at low and intermediate [KOH]i is via a in situ transformation while at high [KOH]i a dissolution-precipitation mechanism dominates. Ferro electricity of PbTiO3 also affects the particle morphology. The hydrothermal lead titanate particles could grow as a single domain during the processing. The ferroelectric polarization of PbTiO3 induced different local ionic environment between the positively and negatively charged

Nurturing Sport Expertise: Factors Influencing the Development of Elite Athlete

PubMed Central

Baker, Joseph; Horton, Sean; Robertson-Wilson, Jennifer; Wall, Michael

2003-01-01

The development of expertise in sport is the result of successful interaction of biological, psychological, and sociological constraints. This review examines the training and environmental factors that influence the acquisition of sport expertise. Research examining the quality and quantity of training indicate that these two elements are crucial predictors of attainment. In addition, the possession of resources such as parental support and adequate coaching are essential. Social factors such as cultural influences and the relative age effect are also considered as determinants of sport expertise. Although it is evident that environmental factors are essential to the acquisition of high levels of sport development, further research is clearly required. PMID:24616603

Analysis of the influencing factors of global energy interconnection development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Yi; He, Yongxiu; Ge, Sifan; Liu, Lin

2018-04-01

Under the background of building global energy interconnection and achieving green and low-carbon development, this paper grasps a new round of energy restructuring and the trend of energy technology change, based on the present situation of global and China's global energy interconnection development, established the index system of the impact of global energy interconnection development factors. A subjective and objective weight analysis of the factors affecting the development of the global energy interconnection was conducted separately by network level analysis and entropy method, and the weights are summed up by the method of additive integration, which gives the comprehensive weight of the influencing factors and the ranking of their influence.

The influence of surface properties of plasma-etched polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) on cell growth and morphology.

PubMed

Pennisi, Cristian P; Zachar, Vladimir; Gurevich, Leonid; Patriciu, Andrei; Struijk, Johannes J

2010-01-01

Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) or silicone rubber is a widely used implant material. Approaches to promote tissue integration to PDMS are desirable to avoid clinical problems associated with sliding and friction between tissue and implant. Plasma-etching is a useful way to control cell behavior on PDMS without additional coatings. In this work, different plasma processing conditions were used to modify the surface properties of PDMS substrates. Surface nanotopography and wettability were measured to study their effect on in vitro growth and morphology of fibroblasts. While fluorinated plasma treatments produced nanorough hydrophobic and superhydrophobic surfaces that had negative or little influences on cellular behavior, water vapor/oxygen plasma produced smooth hydrophillic surfaces that enhanced cell growth.

Changes in Left Ventricular Morphology and Function After Mitral Valve Surgery

PubMed Central

Shafii, Alexis E.; Gillinov, A. Marc; Mihaljevic, Tomislav; Stewart, William; Batizy, Lillian H.; Blackstone, Eugene H.

2015-01-01

Degenerative mitral valve disease is the leading cause of mitral regurgitation in North America. Surgical intervention has hinged on symptoms and ventricular changes that develop as compensatory ventricular remodeling takes place. In this study, we sought to characterize the temporal response of left ventricular (LV) morphology and function to mitral valve surgery for degenerative disease, and identify preoperative factors that influence reverse remodeling. From 1986–2007, 2,778 patients with isolated degenerative mitral valve disease underwent valve repair (n=2,607/94%) or replacement (n=171/6%) and had at least 1 postoperative transthoracic echocardiogram (TTE); 5,336 TTEs were available for analysis. Multivariable longitudinal repeated-measures analysis was performed to identify factors associated with reverse remodeling. LV dimensions decreased in the first year after surgery (end-diastolic from 5.7±0.80 to 4.9±1.4 cm; end-systolic from 3.4±0.71 to 3.1±1.4 cm). LV mass index decreased from 139±44 to 112±73 g·m−2. Reduction of LV hypertrophy was less pronounced in patients with greater preoperative left heart enlargement (P<.0001) and greater preoperative LV mass (P<.0001). Postoperative LV ejection fraction initially decreased from 58±7.0 to 53±20, increased slightly over the first postoperative year, and was negatively influenced by preoperative heart failure symptoms (P<.0001) and lower preoperative LV ejection fraction (P<.0001). Risk-adjusted response of LV morphology and function to valve repair and replacement was similar (P>.2). In conclusion, a positive response toward normalization of LV morphology and function after mitral valve surgery is greatest in the first year. The best response occurs when surgery is performed before left heart dilatation, LV hypertrophy, or LV dysfunction develop. PMID:22534055

Factors influencing cancer treatment decision-making by indigenous peoples: a systematic review.

PubMed

Tranberg, Rona; Alexander, Susan; Hatcher, Deborah; Mackey, Sandra; Shahid, Shaouli; Holden, Lynda; Kwok, Cannas

2016-02-01

We aim to systematically review studies that identify factors influencing cancer treatment decision-making among indigenous peoples. Following the outline suggested by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-analysis, a rigorous systematic review and meta-synthesis were conducted of factors that influence cancer treatment decision-making by indigenous peoples. A total of 733 articles were retrieved from eight databases and a manual search. After screening the titles and abstracts, the full text of 26 articles were critically appraised, resulting in five articles that met inclusion criteria for the review. Because the five articles to be reviewed were qualitative studies, the Critical Appraisal Skills Program toolkit was used to evaluate the methodological quality. A thematic synthesis was employed to identify common themes across the studies. Multiple socio-economic and cultural factors were identified that all had the potential to influence cancer treatment decision-making by indigenous people. These factors were distilled into four themes: spiritual beliefs, cultural influences, communication and existing healthcare systems and structures. Although existing research identified multiple factors influencing decision-making, this review identified that quality studies in this domain are scarce. There is scope for further investigation, both into decision-making factors and into the subsequent design of culturally appropriate programmes and services that meet the needs of indigenous peoples. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Effects of habitat structure on the epifaunal community in Mussismilia corals: does coral morphology influence the richness and abundance of associated crustacean fauna?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nogueira, Marcos M.; Neves, Elizabeth; Johnsson, Rodrigo

2015-06-01

Coral habitat structures increase abundance and richness of organisms by providing niches, easy access to resources and refuge from predators. Corals harbor a great variety of animals; the variation in coral species morphology contributes to the heterogeneity and complexity of habitat types. In this report, we studied the richness and abundance of crustaceans (Decapoda, Copepoda, Peracarida and Ostracoda) associated with three species of Mussismilia exhibiting different growth morphologies, in two different coral reefs of the Bahia state (Caramuanas and Boipeba-Moreré, Brazil). Mussismilia hispida is a massive coral; M. braziliensis also has a massive growth pattern, but forms a crevice in the basal area of the corallum; M. harttii has a meandroid pattern. PERMANOVA analysis suggests significant differences in associated fauna richness among Mussismilia species, with higher values for M. harttii, followed by M. braziliensis and later by M. hispida. The same trend was observed for density, except that the comparison of M. braziliensis and M. hispida did not show differences. Redundancy and canonical correspondence analysis indicated that almost all of the crustacean species were more associated with the M. harttii colonies that formed a group clearly separated from colonies of M. braziliensis and M. hispida. We also found that the internal volume of interpolyp space, only present in M. harttii, was the most important factor influencing richness and abundance of all analyzed orders of crustaceans.

Factors Influencing Pursuit of Higher Education: Validating a Questionnaire.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harris, Sandra M.

This paper explains the process used to validate the construct validity of the Factors Influencing Pursuit of Higher Education Questionnaire. This questionnaire is a literature-based, researcher-developed instrument which gathers information on the factors thought to affect a person's decision to pursue higher education. The questionnaire includes…

Concrete pavement mixture design and analysis (MDA) : factors influencing drying shrinkage.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2014-10-01

This literature review focuses on factors influencing drying shrinkage of concrete. Although the factors are normally interrelated, they : can be categorized into three groups: paste quantity, paste quality, and other factors.

An Analysis of Factors that Influence Enlistment Decisions in the U.S. Army

DTIC Science & Technology

1998-03-01

NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL Monterey, California CM THESIS AN ANALYSIS OF FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE ENLISTMENT DECISIONS IN THE U.S. ARMY by Young...TITLE AND SUBTITLE : AN ANALYSIS OF FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE ENLISTMENT DECISIONS IN THE U.S. ARMY 6. AUTHOR(S) Oh, Young Yeol 7...200 words) The purpose of this thesis is to analyze factors that influence decisions to enlist in the U.S. Army. This thesis uses 1997 New Recruit

From shared care to disease management: key-influencing factors

PubMed Central

Eijkelberg, Irmgard M.J.G.; Spreeuwenberg, Cor; Mur-Veeman, Ingrid M.; Wolffenbuttel, Bruce H.R.

2001-01-01

Abstract Background In order to improve the quality of care of chronically ill patients the traditional boundaries between primary and secondary care are questioned. To demolish these boundaries so-called ‘shared care’ projects have been initiated in which different ways of substitution of care are applied. When these projects end, disease management may offer a solution to expand the achieved co-operation between primary and secondary care. Objective Answering the question: What key factors influence the development and implementation of shared care projects from a management perspective and how are they linked? Theory The theoretical framework is based on the concept of the learning organisation. Design Reference point is a multiple case study that finally becomes a single case study. Data are collected by means of triangulation. The studied cases concern two interrelated Dutch shared care projects for type 2 diabetic patients, that in the end proceed as one disease management project. Results In these cases the predominant key-influencing factors appear to be the project management, commitment and local context, respectively. The factor project management directly links the latter two, albeit managing both appear prerequisites to its success. In practice this implies managing the factors' interdependency by the application of change strategies and tactics in a committed and skilful way. Conclusion Project management, as the most important and active key factor, is advised to cope with the interrelationships of the influencing factors in a gradually more fundamental way by using strategies and tactics that enable learning processes. Then small-scale shared care projects may change into a disease management network at a large scale, which may yield the future blueprint to proceed. PMID:16896415

From shared care to disease management: key-influencing factors.

PubMed

Eijkelberg, I M; Spreeuwenberg, C; Mur-Veeman, I M; Wolffenbuttel, B H

2001-01-01

In order to improve the quality of care of chronically ill patients the traditional boundaries between primary and secondary care are questioned. To demolish these boundaries so-called 'shared care' projects have been initiated in which different ways of substitution of care are applied. When these projects end, disease management may offer a solution to expand the achieved co-operation between primary and secondary care. Answering the question: What key factors influence the development and implementation of shared care projects from a management perspective and how are they linked? The theoretical framework is based on the concept of the learning organisation. Reference point is a multiple case study that finally becomes a single case study. Data are collected by means of triangulation. The studied cases concern two interrelated Dutch shared care projects for type 2 diabetic patients, that in the end proceed as one disease management project. In these cases the predominant key-influencing factors appear to be the project management, commitment and local context, respectively. The factor project management directly links the latter two, albeit managing both appear prerequisites to its success. In practice this implies managing the factors' interdependency by the application of change strategies and tactics in a committed and skillful way. Project management, as the most important and active key factor, is advised to cope with the interrelationships of the influencing factors in a gradually more fundamental way by using strategies and tactics that enable learning processes. Then small-scale shared care projects may change into a disease management network at a large scale, which may yield the future blueprint to proceed.

Critical factors and paths influencing construction workers' safety risk tolerances.

PubMed

Wang, Jiayuan; Zou, Patrick X W; Li, Penny P

2016-08-01

While workers' safety risk tolerances have been regarded as a main reason for their unsafe behaviors, little is known about why different people have different risk tolerances even when confronting the same situation. The aim of this research is to identify the critical factors and paths that influence workers' safety risk tolerance and to explore how they contribute to accident causal model from a system thinking perceptive. A number of methods were carried out to analyze the data collected through interviews and questionnaire surveys. In the first and second steps of the research, factor identification, factor ranking and factor analysis were carried out, and the results show that workers' safety risk tolerance can be influenced by four groups of factors, namely: (1) personal subjective perception; (2) work knowledge and experiences; (3) work characteristics; and (4) safety management. In the third step of the research, hypothetical influencing path model was developed and tested by using structural equation modeling (SEM). It is found that the effects of external factors (safety management and work characteristics) on risk tolerance are larger than that of internal factors (personal subjective perception and work knowledge & experiences). Specifically, safety management contributes the most to workers' safety risk tolerance through its direct effect and indirect effect; while personal subjective perception comes the second and can act as an intermedia for work characteristics. This research provides an in-depth insight of workers' unsafe behaviors by depicting the contributing factors as shown in the accident causal model developed in this research. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Influence of calcium precursors on the morphology and crystallinity of sol gel-derived hydroxyapatite nanoparticles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vijayalakshmi Natarajan, U.; Rajeswari, S.

2008-10-01

Nanosized hydroxyapatite (HAP) particles were prepared by sol-gel method from the water-based solution of calcium and phosphorus precursor. In this study, two calcium precursors such as calcium nitrate tetrahydrate and calcium acetate were chosen as calcium precursors. The influence of aging period, pH, viscosity and sintering temperature on crystallinity and morphology of the HAP particles were investigated for the two calcium precursors with triethyl phosphate precursor. The morphology of nano-HAP towards phosphorous precursor was dependent on the type of calcium precursor used. The HAP prepared from calcium nitrate and triethyl phosphate was spherically shaped whereas the one from calcium acetate was found to be fibrous in structure. Both HAPs were stable up to 1200 °C and their crystallinity increased with respect to the sintering temperature. The obtained sample was characterized through X-ray diffraction (XRD), P 31 nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) and TEM analysis. The sol derived from the optimized aging period for the two different calcium precursors was coated on 316L stainless-steel (SS) implant and its corrosion resistivity during long-term implantation was studied by cyclic polarization in Ringer's solution. Both HAPs have their own desirable qualities and were found to be corrosion resistive.

Control of dissected leaf morphology by a Cys(2)His(2) zinc finger transcription factor in the model legume Medicago truncatula

PubMed Central

Yu, Jianbin; Ge, Liangfa; Wang, Hongliang; Berbel, Ana; Liu, Yu; Chen, Yuhui; Li, Guangming; Tadege, Million; Wen, Jiangqi; Cosson, Viviane; Mysore, Kirankumar S.; Ratet, Pascal; Madueño, Francisco; Bai, Guihua; Chen, Rujin

2010-01-01

Plant leaves are diverse in their morphology, reflecting to a large degree the plant diversity in the natural environment. How different leaf morphology is determined is not yet understood. The leguminous plant Medicago truncatula exhibits dissected leaves with three leaflets at the tip. We show that development of the trifoliate leaves is determined by the Cys(2)His(2) zinc finger transcription factor PALM1. Loss-of-function mutants of PALM1 develop dissected leaves with five leaflets clustered at the tip. We demonstrate that PALM1 binds a specific promoter sequence and down-regulates the expression of the M. truncatula LEAFY/UNIFOLIATA orthologue SINGLE LEAFLET1 (SGL1), encoding an indeterminacy factor necessary for leaflet initiation. Our data indicate that SGL1 is required for leaflet proliferation in the palm1 mutant. Interestingly, ectopic expression of PALM1 effectively suppresses the lobed leaf phenotype from overexpression of a class 1 KNOTTED1-like homeobox protein in Arabidopsis plants. Taken together, our results show that PALM1 acts as a determinacy factor, regulates the spatial-temporal expression of SGL1 during leaf morphogenesis and together with the LEAFY/UNIFOLIATA orthologue plays an important role in orchestrating the compound leaf morphology in M. truncatula. PMID:20498057

Influence of surface morphology on adsorption of potassium stearate molecules on diamond-like carbon substrate: A molecular dynamics study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guo, Shusen; Cao, Yongzhi; Sun, Tao; Zhang, Junjie; Gu, Le; Zhang, Chuanwei; Xu, Zhiqiang

2018-05-01

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were used to provide insights into the influence of nano-scale surface morphology on adsorptive behavior of Potassium stearate molecules on diamond-like carbon (DLC) substrates. Particular focus was given to explain that how the distinctive geometric properties of different surface morphologies affect the equilibrium structures and substrate-molecules interactions of monolayers, which was achieved through adsorptive analysis methods including adsorptive process, density profile, density distribution and surface potential energy. Analysis on surface potential energy demonstrated that the adsorptivity of amorphous smooth substrate is uniformly distributed over the surface, while DLC substrates with different surface morphologies appear to be more potentially corrugated, which improves the adsorptivity significantly. Because of the large distance of molecules from carbon atoms located at the square groove bottom, substrate-molecules interactions vanish significantly, and thus potassium stearate molecules cannot penetrate completely into the square groove. It can be observed that the equilibrium substrate-molecules interactions of triangle groove and semi-circle groove are much more powerful than that of square groove due to geometrically advantageous properties. These findings provided key information of optimally design of solid substrates with controllable adsorptivity.

Factors influencing behavior in the forced swim test

PubMed Central

Bogdanova, Olena V.; Kanekar, Shami; D’Anci, Kristen E.; Renshaw, Perry F.

2017-01-01

The forced swim test (FST) is a behavioral test in rodents which was developed in 1978 by Porsolt and colleagues as a model for predicting the clinical efficacy of antidepressant drugs. A modified version of the FST added the classification of active behaviors into swimming and climbing, in order to facilitate the differentiation between serotonergic and noradrenergic classes of antidepressant drugs. The FST is now widely used in basic research and the pharmaceutical screening of potential antidepressant treatments. It is also one of the most commonly used tests to assess depressive-like behavior in animal models. Despite the simplicity and sensitivity of the FST procedure, important differences even in baseline immobility rates have been reported between different groups, which complicate the comparison of results across studies. In spite of several methodological papers and reviews published on the FST, the need still exists for clarification of factors which can influence the procedure. While most recent reviews have focused on antidepressant effects observed with the FST, this one considers the methodological aspects of the procedure, aiming to summarize issues beyond antidepressant action in the FST. The previously published literature is analyzed for factors which are known to influence animal behavior in the FST. These include biological factors, such as strain, age, body weight, gender and individual differences between animals; influence of preconditioning before the FST: handling, social isolation or enriched environment, food manipulations, various kinds of stress, endocrine manipulations and surgery; schedule and routes of treatment, dosage and type of the drugs as well as experimental design and laboratory environmental effects. Consideration of these factors in planning experiments may result in more consistent FST results. PMID:23685235

The Influence of Cement Morphology Parameters on the Strength of the Cement-Bone Interface in Tibial Tray Fixation.

PubMed

Nagel, Katrin; Bishop, Nicholas E; Schlegel, Ulf J; Püschel, Klaus; Morlock, Michael M

2017-02-01

The strength of the cement-bone interface in tibial component fixation depends on the morphology of the cement mantle. The purpose of this study was to identify thresholds of cement morphology parameters to maximize fixation strength using a minimum amount of cement. Twenty-three cadaveric tibiae were analyzed that had been implanted with tibial trays in previous studies and for which the pull-out strength of the tray had been measured. Specimens were separated into a group failing at the cement-bone interface (INTERFACE) and one failing in the bulk bone (BULK). Maximum pull-out strength corresponds to the ultimate strength of the bulk bone if the cement-bone interface is sufficiently strong. 3D models of the cement mantle in situ were reconstructed from computed tomography scans. The influences of bone mineral density and 6 cement morphology parameters (reflecting cement penetration, bone-cement interface, cement volume) on pull-out strength of the BULK group were determined using multiple regression analysis. The threshold of each parameter for classification of the specimens into either group was determined using receiver operating characteristic analysis. Cement penetration exceeding a mean of 1.1 mm or with a maximum of 5.6 mm exclusively categorized all BULK bone failure specimens. Failure strength of BULK failure specimens increased with bone mineral density (R 2  = 0.67, P < .001) but was independent of the cement morphology parameters. To maximize fixation strength, a mean cement penetration depth of at least 1.1 mm should be achieved during tibial tray cementing. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Motivating Factors Influencing College Students' Choice of Academic Major

PubMed Central

Brocavich, Joseph M.; Boone, R. Thomas; Pal, Somnath

2010-01-01

Objectives To assess the factors, motivations, and nonacademic influences that affected the choice of major among pharmacy and nonpharmacy undergraduate students. Methods A survey was administered to 618 pharmacy and nonpharmacy majors to assess background and motivational factors that may have influenced their choice of major. The sample consisted of freshman and sophomore students enrolled in a required speech course. Results African-American and Hispanic students were less likely to choose pharmacy as a major than Caucasians, whereas Asian-Americans were more likely to choose pharmacy as a major. Pharmacy students were more likely to be interested in science and math than nonpharmacy students. Conclusion Students' self-reported racial/ethnic backgrounds influence their decision of whether to choose pharmacy as their academic major. Results of this survey provide further insight into developing effective recruiting strategies and enhancing the marketing efforts of academic institutions. PMID:20498739

Factors influencing tinnitus loudness and annoyance.

PubMed

Hiller, Wolfgang; Goebel, Gerhard

2006-12-01

To evaluate the 2 major components of tinnitus severity, loudness and annoyance, and their degree of dependence on characteristics of tinnitus manifestation, history, and etiology. Cross-sectional survey performed during the first months of 2004. Nonclinical population. A total of 4995 members of the German Tinnitus League. Comprehensive screening questionnaire, including the Klockhoff and Lindblom loudness grading system and the miniversion of the Tinnitus Questionnaire. A moderate correlation of 0.45 was found between tinnitus loudness and annoyance. Both factors were generally higher in men, those older than 50 years, those with binaural and centrally perceived tinnitus, those with increased noise sensitivity, and those who had continuous tinnitus without interruptions. Tinnitus that lasted 12 months or less had a stronger influence on annoyance (odds ratio [OR], 1.96) than on loudness (OR, 0.45), whereas the contrary was found for tinnitus of more than 5 years' duration (ORs, 0.72 and 2.11, respectively). Loudness and annoyance were increased in subjects with coexisting hearing loss, vertigo, and hyperacusis. The impact of hyperacusis on annoyance was clearly stronger than on loudness (ORs, 21.91 vs 9.47). Several clinical factors of tinnitus influence perceived loudness and annoyance. Both are distinguishable components of tinnitus severity.

29 CFR 98.860 - What factors may influence the debarring official's decision?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... your present responsibility. In making a debarment decision, the debarring official may consider the... 29 Labor 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 true What factors may influence the debarring official's decision... (NONPROCUREMENT) Debarment § 98.860 What factors may influence the debarring official's decision? This section...

Intersections between immune responses and morphological regulation in plants.

PubMed

Uchida, Naoyuki; Tasaka, Masao

2010-06-01

Successful plant pathogens have developed strategies to interfere with the defence mechanisms of their host plants through evolution. Conversely, host plants have evolved systems to counteract pathogen attack. Some pathogens induce pathogenic symptoms on plants that include morphological changes in addition to interference with plant growth. Recent studies, based on molecular biology and genetics using Arabidopsis thaliana, have revealed that factors derived from pathogens can modulate host systems and/or host factors that play important roles in the morphological regulation of host plants. Other reports, meanwhile, have shown that factors known to have roles in plant morphology also function in plant immune responses. Evolutionary conservation of these factors and systems implies that host-pathogen interactions and the evolution they drive have yielded tight links between morphological processes and immune responses. In this review, recent findings about these topics are introduced and discussed.

Influence of La3+ Substitution on Structure, Morphology and Magnetic Properties of Nanocrystalline Ni-Zn Ferrite

PubMed Central

Dasan, Y. K.; Guan, B. H.; Zahari, M. H.; Chuan, L. K.

2017-01-01

Lanthanum substituted Ni-Zn ferrite nanoparticles (Ni0.5Zn0.5LaxFe1-xO4; 0.00 ≤x≤ 1.00) synthesized by sol-gel method were presented. X-ray diffraction patterns reveal the typical single phase spinel cubic ferrite structure, with the traces of secondary phase for lanthanum substituted nanocrystals. In addition, the structural analysis also demonstrates that the average crystallite size varied in the range of 21–25 nm. FTIR spectra present the two prominent absorption bands in the range of 400 to 600 cm-1 which are the fingerprint region of all ferrites. Surface morphology of both substituted and unsubstituted Ni-Zn ferrite nanoparticle samples was studied using FESEM technique and it indicates a significant increase in the size of spherical shaped particles with La3+ substitution. Magnetic properties of all samples were analyzed using vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). The results revealed that saturation magnetization (Ms) and coercivity (Hc) of La3+ substituted samples has decreased as compared to the Ni-Zn ferrite samples. Hence, the observed results affirm that the lanthanum ion substitution has greatly influenced the structural, morphology and magnetic properties of Ni-Zn ferrite nanoparticles. PMID:28081257

Influence of La3+ Substitution on Structure, Morphology and Magnetic Properties of Nanocrystalline Ni-Zn Ferrite.

PubMed

Dasan, Y K; Guan, B H; Zahari, M H; Chuan, L K

2017-01-01

Lanthanum substituted Ni-Zn ferrite nanoparticles (Ni0.5Zn0.5LaxFe1-xO4; 0.00 ≤x≤ 1.00) synthesized by sol-gel method were presented. X-ray diffraction patterns reveal the typical single phase spinel cubic ferrite structure, with the traces of secondary phase for lanthanum substituted nanocrystals. In addition, the structural analysis also demonstrates that the average crystallite size varied in the range of 21-25 nm. FTIR spectra present the two prominent absorption bands in the range of 400 to 600 cm-1 which are the fingerprint region of all ferrites. Surface morphology of both substituted and unsubstituted Ni-Zn ferrite nanoparticle samples was studied using FESEM technique and it indicates a significant increase in the size of spherical shaped particles with La3+ substitution. Magnetic properties of all samples were analyzed using vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). The results revealed that saturation magnetization (Ms) and coercivity (Hc) of La3+ substituted samples has decreased as compared to the Ni-Zn ferrite samples. Hence, the observed results affirm that the lanthanum ion substitution has greatly influenced the structural, morphology and magnetic properties of Ni-Zn ferrite nanoparticles.

Factors influencing societal response of nanotechnology: an expert stakeholder analysis.

PubMed

Gupta, Nidhi; Fischer, Arnout R H; van der Lans, Ivo A; Frewer, Lynn J

2012-05-01

Nanotechnology can be described as an emerging technology and, as has been the case with other emerging technologies such as genetic modification, different socio-psychological factors will potentially influence societal responses to its development and application. These factors will play an important role in how nanotechnology is developed and commercialised. This article aims to identify expert opinion on factors influencing societal response to applications of nanotechnology. Structured interviews with experts on nanotechnology from North West Europe were conducted using repertory grid methodology in conjunction with generalized Procrustes analysis to examine the psychological constructs underlying societal uptake of 15 key applications of nanotechnology drawn from different areas (e.g. medicine, agriculture and environment, chemical, food, military, sports, and cosmetics). Based on expert judgement, the main factors influencing societal response to different applications of nanotechnology will be the extent to which applications are perceived to be beneficial, useful, and necessary, and how 'real' and physically close to the end-user these applications are perceived to be by the public. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s11051-012-0857-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Factors influencing the pathways in response to complaints.

PubMed

Hsieh, Sophie Yahui

2010-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to explore hospital staff response to patient complaints and the factors influencing the response pathway. The paper uses an exploratory study in a large Taiwanese hospital purposefully chosen as a case study site. The critical incident technique (CIT) is implemented, using a questionnaire along with non-participant observations in which the results have been triangulated. A total of 59 cases were collected. The study found when facing "humaneness" complaints, hospital staff attempted to investigate the event and then explain the facts to the complainant or empathise with him/her and then refer the problem to the relevant unit. In response to complaints combining "communication" and "care/treatment and humaneness", staff tended to investigate the event's details and then directly explain them to the complainant. When complaints involved "care/treatment", staff tended to empathise with the complainant, investigate the facts and explain them to the complainant. Additionally, the organisational response to complaints was influenced by who made complaints; its type, severity, complaining method and patient status. The literature revealed that the case study is the most common organisational study method. However, this approach is criticised for not offering findings that can be generalised. Complaint nature is the major factor influencing the response pathway. If healthcare managers intend to reduce complaint rates then they need to carefully classify the complaint's nature. Different complaints have different handling procedures and guidelines to help managers resolve complaints in the first place. There are extensive studies focusing on investigating complaints and their resolution. These studies tend not to demonstrate various means of handling patient complaints. Neither do they describe how different complaints might lead to different outcomes. Therefore, this paper explores hospital staff response to patient complaints and the factors

A kinetic model for the characteristic surface morphologies of thin films by directional vapor deposition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Kun-Dar; Huang, Po-Yu

2017-12-01

In order to simulate a process of directional vapor deposition, in this study, a numerical approach was applied to model the growth and evolution of surface morphologies for the crystallographic structures of thin films. The critical factors affecting the surface morphologies in a deposition process, such as the crystallographic symmetry, anisotropic interfacial energy, shadowing effect, and deposition rate, were all enclosed in the theoretical model. By altering the parameters of crystallographic symmetry in the structures, the faceted nano-columns with rectangular and hexagonal shapes were established in the simulation results. Furthermore, for revealing the influences of the anisotropic strength and the deposition rate theoretically on the crystallographic structure formations, various parameters adjusted in the numerical calculations were also investigated. Not only the morphologies but also the surface roughnesses for different processing conditions were distinctly demonstrated with the quantitative analysis of the simulations.

Factors influencing the incidence of maxillofacial fractures.

PubMed

Chrcanovic, Bruno Ramos

2012-03-01

Maxillofacial injuries occur in a significant proportion of trauma patients. Trauma causes considerable economic expense due to procedural costs, the time a patient is off work, and the associated loss of income. For these reasons, it is an important health and economic issue. The aim of this study is to discuss the factors that may influence the incidence of maxillofacial fractures. As it is necessary to determine trends to help guide the development of new methods of injury prevention, preventative measures are also discussed. An electronic search was undertaken in March 2011, including articles published between 1980 and 2011 with the terms "facial fractures" and "maxillofacial fractures" in the title. The texts of epidemiological studies were reviewed in order to identify factors that may influence the incidence of maxillofacial fractures. From the selected articles, ten factors were identified: age, gender, geographic region and cultural aspects, socioeconomic status, temporal and climatic influence, use of alcohol and drugs, compliance with road traffic legislation, domestic violence, osteoporosis, and etiology of the maxillofacial trauma. Care of injured patients should include not only management of the acute phase, but also combine preventive programs and interventional programs aimed at reducing the incidence of maxillofacial fractures. Therefore, there is a need to ensure strict compliance of traffic rules and regulations, implement improvement in automotive safety devices, organize prevention programs to minimize assaults, implement school education in alcohol abuse and handling potentially hostile situations (especially for men), improve protection during sporting activities, and legislate wearing of protective headgear in workers. Preventive strategies remain the cheapest way to reduce direct and indirect costs of the sequelae of trauma. Societal attitudes and behaviors must be modified before a significant reduction in the incidence of maxillofacial

Organizational factors influencing successful primary care and public health collaboration.

PubMed

Valaitis, Ruta; Meagher-Stewart, Donna; Martin-Misener, Ruth; Wong, Sabrina T; MacDonald, Marjorie; O'Mara, Linda

2018-06-07

Public health and primary care are distinct sectors within western health care systems. Within each sector, work is carried out in the context of organizations, for example, public health units and primary care clinics. Building on a scoping literature review, our study aimed to identify the influencing factors within these organizations that affect the ability of these health care sectors to collaborate with one another in the Canadian context. Relationships between these factors were also explored. We conducted an interpretive descriptive qualitative study involving in-depth interviews with 74 key informants from three provinces, one each in western, central and eastern Canada, and others representing national organizations, government, or associations. The sample included policy makers, managers, and direct service providers in public health and primary care. Seven major organizational influencing factors on collaboration were identified: 1) Clear Mandates, Vision, and Goals; 2) Strategic Coordination and Communication Mechanisms between Partners; 3) Formal Organizational Leaders as Collaborative Champions; 4) Collaborative Organizational Culture; 5) Optimal Use of Resources; 6) Optimal Use of Human Resources; and 7) Collaborative Approaches to Programs and Services Delivery. While each influencing factor was distinct, the many interactions among these influences are indicative of the complex nature of public health and primary care collaboration. These results can be useful for those working to set up new or maintain existing collaborations with public health and primary care which may or may not include other organizations.

Influence of pH and europium concentration on the luminescent and morphological properties of Y2O3 powders

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Esquivel-Castro, Tzipatly; Carrillo-Romo, Felipe de J.; Oliva-Uc, Jorge; García-Murillo, Antonieta; Hirata-Flores, Gustavo A.; Cayetano-Castro, Nicolás; De la Rosa, Elder; Morales-Ramírez, Angel de J.

2015-10-01

This work reports on the synthesis and characterization of Y2O3:Eu3+ powders obtained by the hydrothermal method. We studied the influence of different pH values (7-12) and Eu3+ concentrations (2.5-25 mol%) on the structural, morphological and luminescent characteristics of Y2O3:Eu3+ powders. The hydrothermal synthesis was performed at 200 °C for 12 h by employing Y2O3, HNO3, H2O and Eu (NO3)3 as precursors, in order to obtain two sets of samples. The first set of powders was obtained with different pH values and named Eu5PHx (x = 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12), and the second set was obtained by using a constant pH = 7 with different Eu concentrations, named EuxPH7 (x = 2.5, 5, 8, 15, 20 and 25). The XRD spectra showed that the Y2O3:Eu3+ powders exhibited a cubic phase, regardless of the pH values and Eu3+ concentrations. The SEM observations indicated that pH influenced the morphology and size of phosphors; for instance, for pH = 7, hexagonal microplatelets were obtained, and microrods at pH values from 8 to 12. Doping Y2O3 with various Eu3+ concentrations (in mol%) also produced changes in morphology, in these cases, hexagonal microplatelets were obtained in the range of 2.5-5 mol%, and non uniform plates were observed at higher doping concentrations ranging from 8 to 25 mol%. According to our results, the microplatelets synthesized with a pH of 7 and an 8 mol% Eu3+ concentration presented the highest luminescence under excitation at 254 nm. All of these results indicate that our phosphors could be useful for applications of controlled drug delivery, photocatalysis and biolabeling.

Research on Influencing Factors of Salespeople's Empowerment Readiness in Green Energy Enterprise

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dong, Yuan; Liu, Xiaohui

As market competition in green energy enterprises continues to intensify, marketing activities are enlarging and customer demand is increasingly growing and diversifying. More and more green energy enterprises have empowered their own salespeople. And managers in green energy enterprises are more concerned with the issues which employees suit to be empowered and which factors will influence employee empowerment readiness. This paper proposes the definition of salespeople's empowerment readiness, analyzes influencing factors of salespeople's empowerment readiness, discusses the effect mechanism of influencing factors of salespeople's empowerment readiness, finally, and puts forward some suggestions to enhance salespeople's empowerment readiness from the perspective of human resource management practice.

Factors Which Influence The Fish Purchasing Decision: A study on Traditional Market in Riau Mainland

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Siswati, Latifa; Putri, Asgami

2018-05-01

The purposes of the research are to analyze and assess the factors which influence fish purchasing by the community at Tenayan Raya district Pekanbaru.Research methodology which used is survey method, especially interview and observation technique or direct supervision on the market which located at Tenayan Raya district. Determination technique of sampling location/region is done by purposive sampling. The sampling method is done by accidental sampling. Technique analysis of factors which used using the data that derived from the respondent opinion to various fish variable. The result of this research are the factors which influence fish purchasing decision done in a traditional market which located at Tenayan Raya district are product factor, price factors, social factor and individual factor. Product factor which influences fish purchasing decision as follows: the eyelets condition, the nutrition of fresh fish, the diversity of sold fish. Price factors influence the fish purchasing decision, such as: the price of fresh fish, the convincing price and the suitability price and benefits of the fresh fish. Individual factors which influence a fish purchasing decision, such as education and income levels. Social factors which influence a fish purchasing decision, such as family, colleagues and feeding habits of fish.

Factors Influencing Dietary Fat Intake among Black Emerging Adults

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Horton, Shalonda E. B.; Timmerman, Gayle M.; Brown, Adama

2018-01-01

Objective: To determine what factors influenced dietary fat intake (DFI) among black emerging adults. Participants: Sample included 251 black emerging adults, ages 18-25 years, living in the US. Methods: This was a nonexperimental cross-sectional study based on self-report data. Results: The sample had high DFI. Factors related to DFI were gender…

Factors influencing elderly women's mammography screening decisions: implications for counseling.

PubMed

Schonberg, Mara A; McCarthy, Ellen P; York, Meghan; Davis, Roger B; Marcantonio, Edward R

2007-11-16

Although guidelines recommend that clinicians consider life expectancy before screening older women for breast cancer, many older women with limited life expectancies are screened. We aimed to identify factors important to mammography screening decisions among women aged 80 and older compared to women aged 65-79. Telephone surveys of 107 women aged 80+ and 93 women aged 65-79 randomly selected from one academic primary care practice who were able to communicate in English (60% response rate). The survey addressed the following factors in regards to older women's mammography screening decisions: perceived importance of a history of breast disease, family history of breast cancer, doctor's recommendations, habit, reassurance, previous experience, mailed reminder cards, family/friend's recommendations or experience with breast cancer, age, health, and media. The survey also assessed older women's preferred role in decision making around mammography screening. Of the 200 women, 65.5% were non-Hispanic white and 82.8% were in good to excellent health. Most (81.3%) had undergone mammography in the past 2 years. Regardless of age, older women ranked doctor's recommendations as the most important factor influencing their decision to get screened. Habit and reassurance were the next two highly ranked factors influencing older women to get screened. Among women who did not get screened, women aged 80 and older ranked age and doctor's counseling as the most influential factors and women aged 65-79 ranked a previous negative experience with mammography as the most important factor. There were no significant differences in preferred role in decision-making around mammography screening by age, however, most women in both age groups preferred to make the final decision on their own (46.6% of women aged 80+ and 50.5% of women aged 65-79). While a doctor's recommendation is the most important factor influencing elderly women's mammography screening decisions, habit and reassurance

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

PubMed

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

2016-01-01

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

Martian deltas: Morphology and distribution

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rice, J. W., Jr.; Scott, D. H.

1993-01-01

Recent detailed mapping has revealed numerous examples of Martian deltas. The location and morphology of these deltas are described. Factors that contribute to delta morphology are river regime, coastal processes, structural stability, and climate. The largest delta systems on Mars are located near the mouths of Maja, Maumee, Vedra, Ma'adim, Kasei, and Brazos Valles. There are also several smaller-scale deltas emplaced near channel mouths situated in Ismenius Lacus, Memnonia, and Arabia. Delta morphology was used to reconstruct type, quantity, and sediment load size transported by the debouching channel systems. Methods initially developed for terrestrial systems were used to gain information on the relationships between Martian delta morphology, river regime, and coastal processes.

Factors influencing endometrial thickness in postmenopausal women.

PubMed

Hebbar, S; Chaya, V; Rai, L; Ramachandran, A

2014-07-01

Cut-off values for endometrial thickness (ET) in asymptomatic postmenopausal woman have been standardized. However, there are no comprehensive studies to document how various factors can influence the ET after the age of menopause. To study the various factors influencing the ET in postmenopausal women. This was a prospective observational study. A total of 110 postmenopausal women underwent detailed history taking, clinical examination, and transvaginal scan for uterine volume and ovarian volume. The volumes were calculated by using ellipsoid formula: Width × thickness × height × 0.523. The variation in ET with respect to the influencing factors such as age, duration of menopause, parity, body mass index (BMI), medical illness like diabetes/hypertension, drugs like tamoxifen, presence of myoma, uterine volume, ovarian volume, and serum estradiol (in selected patients) were measured. Descriptive analysis was performed using SPSS software (version 16, Chicago II, USA) to obtain mean, standard deviation (SD), 95% confidence intervals (CIs) and inter quartile ranges. Comparison of means was carried out using analysis of variance. The mean (SD) age of the patients was 55.4 (6.91) years (95% CI, 54.1, 56.7). The mean (SD) age at menopause was 47.95 (3.90) years (95% CI, 47.2, 48.7) and the mean (SD) duration of menopause was 7.27 (6.65) years (95% CI, 6.01, 8.53). The mean (SD) ET was 3.8 (2.3) mm (95% CI, 3.36, 4.23). Medical illness like diabetes and hypertension did not alter the ET. ET increased as BMI increased and it was statistically significant. The presence of myoma increased uterine volume significantly and was associated with thick endometrial stripe. Similarly, whenever the ovaries were visualized and as the ovarian volume increased, there was an increase in ET. When ET was > 4 mm (n = 37), they were offered endocel, of which 16 agreed to undergo the procedure. None were found to have endometrial cancer. This study suggests that parity, BMI, presence of

Factors Influencing Adjustment to Late-Life Divorce.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilson, Keren Brown; DeShane, Michael R.

Although the rate of divorce among older Americans has increased steadily, little attention has been paid to late life divorce. To describe the role of age and other factors which might influence adjustment to divorce in later life, data from a larger pilot study were used: 81 divorced persons over the age of 60 completed in-depth, structured…

The influence of natural factors on the spatio-temporal distribution of Oncomelania hupensis.

PubMed

Cheng, Gong; Li, Dan; Zhuang, Dafang; Wang, Yong

2016-12-01

We analyzed the influence of natural factors, such as temperature, rainfall, vegetation and hydrology, on the spatio-temporal distribution of Oncomelania hupensis and explored the leading factors influencing these parameters. The results will provide reference methods and theoretical a basis for the schistosomiasis control. GIS (Geographic Information System) spatial display and analysis were used to describe the spatio-temporal distribution of Oncomelania hupensis in the study area (Dongting Lake in Hunan Province) from 2004 to 2011. Correlation analysis was used to detect the natural factors associated with the spatio-temporal distribution of O. hupensis. Spatial regression analysis was used to quantitatively analyze the effects of related natural factors on the spatio-temporal distribution of snails and explore the dominant factors influencing this parameter. (1) Overall, the spatio-temporal distribution of O. hupensis was governed by the comprehensive effects of natural factors. In the study area, the average density of living snails showed a downward trend, with the exception of a slight rebound in 2009. The density of living snails showed significant spatial clustering, and the degree of aggregation was initially weak but enhanced later. Regions with high snail density and towns with an HH distribution pattern were mostly distributed in the plain areas in the northwestern and inlet and outlet of the lake. (2) There were space-time differences in the influence of natural factors on the spatio-temporal distribution of O. hupensis. Temporally, the comprehensive influence of natural factors on snail distribution increased first and then decreased. Natural factors played an important role in snail distribution in 2005, 2006, 2010 and 2011. Spatially, it decreased from the northeast to the southwest. Snail distributions in more than 20 towns located along the Yuanshui River and on the west side of the Lishui River were less affected by natural factors, whereas

Factors Influencing the Effectiveness of Inventory Management in Manufacturing SMEs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chan, Shiau Wei; Tasmin, R.; Nor Aziati, A. H.; Zuraidah Rasi, Raja; Ismail, Fadillah Binti; Yaw, Li Ping

2017-08-01

Effectiveness of inventory management is a vital part in the manufacturing organization to be more competitive. The previous studies have indicated that there are several factors influencing the effectiveness of inventory management in the organization but there is lack of researchers who carried out the research in the manufacturing small medium enterprise in Johor. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to identify the problem of inventory management faced by the manufacturing small medium enterprise and also to determine the factors that will influence the effectiveness of inventory management. In completing this research, 80 employees were selected randomly from the manufacturing small medium enterprise in Batu Pahat, Johor and they were requested to complete questionnaires. The result have shown that the problems of inventory management faced by manufacturing organization were underproduction, overproduction, stock out situation, delays in the delivery of raw materials and discrepancy of records. The factors, documentation/store records, planning, knowledge of employees/staff skill have shown to significantly influence the effectiveness of inventory management while the funds have shown slightly significant influence on the inventory management in manufacturing small medium enterprises. This quantitative study is important to the manufacturing organization in Malaysia because it provides the guidelines to the employers of manufacturing small medium enterprises in Batu Pahat, Johor.

Factors influencing the occupational trajectory of patients with systemic sclerosis: a qualitative study.

PubMed

Decuman, Saskia; Smith, Vanessa; Grypdonck, Maria; De Keyser, Filip; Verhaeghe, Sofie

2015-01-01

To describe, from the patient's point of view, the factors influencing the occupational trajectory of patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc). This was a qualitative study designed using grounded theory with constant comparison. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 14 patients who fulfilled the American College of Rheumatology or Leroy-Medsger criteria for SSc. Based on our interviews, we found that the occupational trajectory of patients with SSc is influenced by the continuous interplay between four groups of factors. The first group concerns the values patients attribute to work, including identity, normality, financial value, social contact, and structure. The meaning of these values and how they relate to each other underlies the desire to work. A second group of factors is those influencing the balance between daily life, work participation, and medical condition (e.g. job content, flexibility in organising work, and the willingness to ask for accommodations at work). The occupational trajectory is also influenced by external factors, including availability of support, know-ledge of the disease, pressure to work, contact with medical professionals, and existing regulations and the patient's knowledge about them. Finally, the occupational trajectory is influenced by personal factors, including socio-demographics, psychological assets, and disease- and work-related personal factors. The decisions patients with SSc take concerning work depend on an interplay between many factors and, especially, on the patients' personal interpretation of these factors. These need to be taken into account when helping patients with SSc determine their occupational trajectory.

Impacts of environmental conditions on product formation and morphology of Yarrowia lipolytica.

PubMed

Timoumi, Asma; Guillouet, Stéphane E; Molina-Jouve, Carole; Fillaudeau, Luc; Gorret, Nathalie

2018-05-01

The yeast Yarrowia lipolytica is an industrially important microorganism with distinctive physiological and metabolic characteristics. A variety of external factors (e.g., pH, temperature, and nutrient availability) influences the behavior of the yeast and may act as stress conditions which the cells must withstand and adapt. In this mini review, the impacts of environmental factors on the morphology and metabolite production by Y. lipolytica are summarized. In this regard, detailed insights into the effectors involved in the dimorphic transition of Y. lipolytica, the cultivation conditions employed, as well as the methods applied for the morphological characterization are highlighted. Concerning the metabolism products, a special focus is addressed on lipid and citric acid metabolites which have attracted significant attention in recent years. The dependence of lipid and citric acid productivity on key process parameters, such as media composition and physico-chemical variables, is thoroughly discussed. This review attempts to provide a recent update on the topic and will serve as a meaningful resource for researchers working in the field.

Factors Influencing New RNs' Supervisory Performance in Long-Term Care Facilities.

PubMed

Prentice, Dawn; Boscart, Veronique; McGilton, Katherine S; Escrig, Astrid

2017-12-01

In long-term care facilities (LTCF), registered nurses (RNs) perform both clinical and supervisory roles as part of a team aiming to provide high-quality care to residents. The residents have several co-morbidities and complex care needs. Unfortunately, new RNs receive minimal preparation in gerontology and supervisory experience during their program, leading to low retention rates and affecting resident outcomes. This qualitative study explored factors that influence supervisory performance of new RNs in LTCF from the perspective of 24 participants from Ontario, Canada. Data were collected through individual interviews, followed by a directed content analysis. Three levels of influences were identified: personal influences, organizational influences, and external influences. Each level presented with sub-elements, further describing the factors that impact the supervisory performance of the new RN. To retain new RNs in LTC, organizations must provide additional gerontological education and mentoring for new RNs to flourish in their supervisory roles.

Factors influencing food choice of athletes at international competition events.

PubMed

Pelly, Fiona E; Burkhart, Sarah J; Dunn, Peter

2018-02-01

Although the nutrient requirements and dietary intake of athletes have been thoroughly investigated, little is known about the influences on their food choice, particularly prior to and during competition. This study sought to investigate factors that influence food selection of athletes at two similar international competition events: the Melbourne 2006 and Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games. A secondary aim was to explore differences in these factors between at each event given the culturally diverse locations. A survey developed for this study was distributed to athletes in the village dining hall at both events. Athletes scored a selection of factors influencing food choice on a scale of 1 (not important) to 5 (very important). A total of 769 individuals completed the questionnaire in total, with 351 (46%) from Delhi and 418 (54%) from Melbourne. Overall, athletes rated nutrient composition (M = 4.22), stage of competition (M = 4.09), time of day (M = 4.02) and familiarity of the food (M = 4.07) higher than sensory properties (smell M = 3.88; visual appearance M = 3.22) when making a food selection. Visual appearance (p = 0.01), stage of competition (p < 0.001) and time of day (p = 0.01) had greater influence in Delhi than Melbourne. Overall, a significantly higher proportion of female athletes rated smell (p < 0.001) and familiar food (p < 0.001) as important compared to males. The stage of competition and nutrition composition was rated as very important by the greatest proportion of athletes from weight category sports (61.9%) and endurance sports (57.9%) respectively. The influence of the coach and team mates was less of an influence than other factors, but more so for athletes from Non-Western regions. Further investigation of the various determinants and motives for food section of athletes from a range of sports and cultures is warranted. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Factors influencing deprescribing habits among geriatricians.

PubMed

Ní Chróinín, Danielle; Ní Chróinín, Chantelle; Beveridge, Alexander

2015-07-01

deprescribing habits among physicians managing older, frailer, cognitively impaired patients have not been well investigated. an anonymised electronic survey was disseminated to all members of an international geriatric society/local advanced trainee network (N = 930). This comprised a Likert-scale analysis of factors influencing desprescribing, and five case vignettes, detailing a patient with progressive cognitive impairment and dependency, on a background of ischaemic heart disease and hypertension. among 134 respondents (response rate 14.4%), 47.4% were female, 48.9% aged 36-50 years and 84.1% specialists (15.9% trainees). Respondents commonly rated limited life expectancy (96.2%) and cognitive impairment (84.1%) as very/extremely important to deprescribing practices. On multivariable analysis, older respondents less commonly rated functional dependency (odds ratio [OR] 0.22 per change in age category; P < 0.001) and limited life expectancy (OR 0.09, P = 0.04) important when deprescribing, while female participants (OR 3.03, P < 0.001) and trainees (versus specialists OR 14.29, P < 0.001) more often rated adherence to evidence-based guidelines important. As vignettes described increasing dependency and cognitive impairment, physicians were more likely to stop donepezil, aspirin, atorvastatin and antihypertensives (all P < 0.001 for trend). Aspirin (93.6%) and ramipril (94.1%) were most commonly deprescribed. Commonest reasons cited for deprescribing medications were 'dementia severity', followed by pill burden. in this exploratory analysis, geriatricians rated limited life expectancy and cognitive impairment very important in driving deprescribing practices. Geriatricians more often deprescribed multiple medications in the setting of advancing dependency and cognitive impairment, driven by dementia severity and pill burden concerns. Physician characteristics also influence deprescribing practices. Further exploration of factors influencing deprescribing

Correlation of Rock Spectra with Quantitative Morphologic Indices: Evidence for a Single Rock Type at the Mars Pathfinder Landing Site

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yingst, R. A.; Biedermann, K. L.; Pierre, N. M.; Haldemann, A. F. C.; Johnson, J. R.

2005-01-01

The Mars Pathfinder (MPF) landing site was predicted to contain a broad sampling of rock types varying in mineralogical, physical, mechanical and geochemical characteristics. Although rocks have been divided into several spectral categories based on Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) visible/near-infrared data, efforts in isolating and classifying spectral units among MPF rocks and soils have met with varying degrees of success, as many factors influencing spectral signatures cannot be quantified to a sufficient level to be removed. It has not been fully determined which spectral categories stem from intrinsic mineralogical differences between rocks or rock surfaces, and which result from factors such as physical or chemical weathering. This has made isolation of unique rock mineralogies difficult. Morphology, like composition, is a characteristic tied to the intrinsic properties and geologic and weathering history of rocks. Rock morphologies can be assessed quantitatively and compared with spectral data, to identify and classify rock types at the MPF landing site. They can also isolate actual rock spectra from spectral types that are surficial in origin, as compositions associated with mantling dust or chemical coatings would presumably not influence rock morphology during weathering events. We previously reported on an initial classification of rocks using the quantitative morphologic indices of size, roundness, sphericity and elongation. Here, we compare this database of rock characteristics with associated rock surface spectra to improve our ability to discriminate between spectra associated with rock types and those from other sources.

Morphological, Raman, electrical and dielectric properties of rare earth doped X-type hexagonal ferrites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Majeed, Abdul; Khan, Muhammad Azhar; ur Raheem, Faseeh; Ahmad, Iftikhar; Akhtar, Majid Niaz; Warsi, Muhammad Farooq

2016-12-01

The influence of rare-earth metals (La, Nd, Gd, Tb, Dy) on morphology, Raman, electrical and dielectric properties of Ba2NiCoRExFe28-xO46 ferrites were studied. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) exhibited the platelet like structure of these hexagonal ferrites. The surface morphology indicated the formation of ferrite grains in the nano-regime scale. The bands obtained at lower wave number may be attributed to the metal-oxygen vibration at octahedral site which confirm the development of hexagonal phase of these ferrites. The resonance peaks were observed in dielectric constant, dielectric loss factor and quality factor versus frequency graphs. These dielectric parameters indicate that these ferrites nano-materials are potential candidates in the high frequency applications. The enhancement in DC electric resistivity from 2.48×108 to 1.20×109 Ω cm indicates that the prepared materials are beneficial for decreasing the eddy current losses at high frequencies and for the fabrication of multilayer chip inductor (MLCI) devices.

Influencing Factors of the Initiation Point in the Parachute-Bomb Dynamic Detonation System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qizhong, Li; Ye, Wang; Zhongqi, Wang; Chunhua, Bai

2017-12-01

The parachute system has been widely applied in modern armament design, especially for the fuel-air explosives. Because detonation of fuel-air explosives occurs during flight, it is necessary to investigate the influences of the initiation point to ensure successful dynamic detonation. In fact, the initiating position exist the falling area in the fuels, due to the error of influencing factors. In this paper, the major influencing factors of initiation point were explored with airdrop and the regularity between initiation point area and factors were obtained. Based on the regularity, the volume equation of initiation point area was established to predict the range of initiation point in the fuel. The analysis results showed that the initiation point appeared area, scattered on account of the error of attitude angle, secondary initiation charge velocity, and delay time. The attitude angle was the major influencing factors on a horizontal axis. On the contrary, secondary initiation charge velocity and delay time were the major influencing factors on a horizontal axis. Overall, the geometries of initiation point area were sector coupled with the errors of the attitude angle, secondary initiation charge velocity, and delay time.

[Prevalence and influence factors of hypertension among mechanic factory workers].

PubMed

Pang, Li-Juan; Chen, Li-Zhang; Fu, Ben-Yan

2005-06-01

To determine the status and influence factors of hypertension on mechanic factory workers and to provide reference for further hypertension prevention and control. A cross-sectional study on 1205 workers (exposed to different noise levels) in Hunan was carried out by using questionaire and measuring the blood pressure of the workers and the noise exposure level in the workplace. The prevalence and the influence factors of hypertension among mechanic factory workers were analysed. The hypertension prevalence was 12.1%. Logistic regression analysis showed the body weight index (BMI), age, and history of hypertension in parents and accumulative noise dose levels influenced the hypertension prevalence. Controlling the body weight, reducing alcohol consumption, decreasing the sound pressure level in workshops and advocating healthy diet may reduce the prevalence rate of hypertension among mechanic factory workers.

Factors Influencing New Entrant Dairy Farmer's Decision-Making Process around Technology Adoption

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McDonald, Roberta; Heanue, Kevin; Pierce, Karina; Horan, Brendan

2016-01-01

Purpose: The aims of this paper are to (1) evaluate the main factors influencing grazing system technology adoption among new entrant (NE) dairy farmers within Europe and the Irish pasture-based dairy industry, and (2) to determine the extent to which economic factors influence decision-making around technology adoption and use among NEs to the…

Influence of common mucosal co-factors on HIV infection in the female genital tract.

PubMed

Ferreira, Victor H; Kafka, Jessica K; Kaushic, Charu

2014-06-01

Women constitute almost half of HIV-infected population globally, and the female genital tract (FGT) accounts for approximately 40% of all new HIV infections worldwide. The FGT is composed of upper and lower parts, distinct in their morphological and functional characteristics. Co-factors in the genital microenvironment, such as presence of hormones, semen, and other sexually transmitted infections, can facilitate or deter HIV infection and play a critical role in determining susceptibility to HIV. In this review, we examine some of these co-factors and their potential influence. Presence of physical and chemical barriers such as epithelial tight junctions, mucus, and anti-microbial peptides can actively block and inhibit viral replication, presenting a significant deterrent to HIV. Upon exposure, HIV and other pathogens first encounter the genital epithelium: cells that express a wide repertoire of pattern recognition receptors that can recognize and directly initiate innate immune responses. These and other interactions in the genital tract can lead to direct and indirect inflammation and enhance the number of local target cells, immune activation, and microbial translocation, all of which promote HIV infection and replication. Better understanding of the dynamics of HIV transmission in the female genital tract would be invaluable for improving the design of prophylactic strategies against HIV. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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

2018-04-01

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

The influence of metal Mg on micro-morphology and crystallinity of spherical hexagonal boron nitride

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhang, Ning, E-mail: zhangning5832@163.com; Liu, Huan; Kan, Hongmin

2015-08-15

Highlights: • The action mechanism of Mg to the synthesis of spherical BN was explored. • The influence of Mg content on the crystallinity of h-BN powders was studied. • Even if not added any template, the spherical h-BN could be prepared. - Abstract: This search used the boric acid and borax as a source of boron, urea as a nitrogen source, Mg as metal catalyst, and thus prepared different micro-morphology and crystallinity hexagonal boron nitride powders under a flowing ammonia atmosphere at a nitriding temperature of 750 °C. The effect of Mg content on the crystallinity and micro-morphology ofmore » hexagonal boron nitride powders was studied, and the Mg action mechanism was explored. Without the added surfactant, the graphitization index (GI) was 6.87, and the diameter of the spherical h-BN was bigger. When the added Mg were 0.1 g, 0.3 g, 0.5 g and 0.7 g, the (GI) decreased to 6.04, 5.67, 4.62 and 4.84, respectively. When the Mg content was higher (0.9 g), GI value increased rapidly, and the crystallinity became bad. When the Mg content was 0.5 g, the dispersion of h-BN powders was at its optimum and refinement apparently, and the crystallinity at its highest.« less

Quantitative Relationships Linking Rock Strength to Channel Morphology: A Case Study in Central Arizona

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Larimer, J. E.; Yanites, B.

2016-12-01

River morphology is a consequence of the erosive forces acting on the channel boundary and the resisting forces that limit erosion. For bedrock rivers, the erosive forces are generated by the stresses exerted by impacting sediment and flowing water, while the resisting forces are controlled by the internal strength regime of the local rock. We investigate the susceptibility of different rock types to different erosional processes (i.e. abrasion and plucking) and how changes in channel morphology reflect rock strength properties across lithologic boundaries. The bedrock rivers in the Prescott National Forest, AZ flow over a number of rock types with variable strength including sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic lithologies providing a natural experiment to quantify the influence of rock strength on channel morphology. We collected bedrock samples and channel surveys from 12 different rock types. Rock-strength and rock-mass properties include compressive strength, tensile strength, fatigue strength, decimeter scale P-wave velocity (varies by 8-fold), Schmidt rebound value, fracture spacing, fracture aperture, and slake durability (as a proxy for weathering susceptibility. Morphological measurements include channel width, channel steepness (varies by 10-fold), and grain size distribution. To distinguish between the major mechanisms of erosion we measure bedrock surface roughness factor at the centimeter scale. Preliminary results show that channel steepness (ksn) increases with P-wave velocity while normalized channel width (kwn) decreases with P-wave velocity. We use these data to quantify scaling relationships of channel geometry with rock strength properties. We consider the results in the context of the driving mechanistic process to develop new quantitative understandings of how rock strength properties influence the efficiency of erosion processes and how rock strength is reflected in river morphology. By comparing the results among different rock types in a

[Coagulation factor VII levels in uremic patients and theirs influence factors].

PubMed

Fang, Jun; Xia, Ling-Hui; Wei, Wen-Ning; Song, Shan-Jun

2004-12-01

This study was aimed to investigate coagulation factor VII level in uremic patients with chronic renal failure and to explore theirs influence factors. The plasma levels of coagulation factor VII were detected in 30 uremic patients with chronic renal failure before and after hemodialysis for 1 month, the factor VII activity (FVII:C) was determined by one-stage coagulation method, while activated factor VII (FVIIa) was measured by one-stage coagulation method using recombinant soluble tissue factor, and factor VII antigen was detected by ELISA. The results showed that: (1) The FVIIa, FVII:C and FVIIAg levels in chronic uremic patients before hemodialysis were 4.00 +/- 0.86 microg/L, (148.5 +/- 40.4)% and (99.8 +/- 21.1)% respectively, which were significantly increased, as compared with healthy controls [2.77 +/- 1.02 microg/L, (113.1 +/- 33.0)% and (73.7 +/- 18.3)% respectively, P < 0.05]. (2) After hemodialysis the FVIIa, FVII:C and FVIIAg levels in uremic patients significantly enhanced to 5.56 +/- 1.45 microg/L, (200.8 +/- 68.7)% and (124.1 +/- 19.3)% respectively (P < 0.05). (3) The abnormal increase of coagulation factor VII was positively correlated with levels of blood uria nitrogen and serum creatinine before hemodialysis but not after hemodialysis. It is concluded that the enhanced levels of coagulation factor VII in chronic uremic patients suggested abnormal activated state, herperactivity and elevated production of factor VII which correlated with renal functional injury. The abnormality of factor VII in uremia may be aggravated by hemodialysis. Coagulation factor (FVII) may be a risk factor for cardiovascular events in uremic patients who especially had been accepted long-term hemodialysis.

A Geographic Cline of Skull and Brain Morphology among Individuals of European Ancestry

PubMed Central

Bakken, Trygve E.; Dale, Anders M.; Schork, Nicholas J.

2011-01-01

Background Human skull and brain morphology are strongly influenced by genetic factors, and skull size and shape vary worldwide. However, the relationship between specific brain morphology and genetically-determined ancestry is largely unknown. Methods We used two independent data sets to characterize variation in skull and brain morphology among individuals of European ancestry. The first data set is a historical sample of 1,170 male skulls with 37 shape measurements drawn from 27 European populations. The second data set includes 626 North American individuals of European ancestry participating in the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) with magnetic resonance imaging, height and weight, neurological diagnosis, and genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data. Results We found that both skull and brain morphological variation exhibit a population-genetic fingerprint among individuals of European ancestry. This fingerprint shows a Northwest to Southeast gradient, is independent of body size, and involves frontotemporal cortical regions. Conclusion Our findings are consistent with prior evidence for gene flow in Europe due to historical population movements and indicate that genetic background should be considered in studies seeking to identify genes involved in human cortical development and neuropsychiatric disease. PMID:21849792

Automation bias: empirical results assessing influencing factors.

PubMed

Goddard, Kate; Roudsari, Abdul; Wyatt, Jeremy C

2014-05-01

To investigate the rate of automation bias - the propensity of people to over rely on automated advice and the factors associated with it. Tested factors were attitudinal - trust and confidence, non-attitudinal - decision support experience and clinical experience, and environmental - task difficulty. The paradigm of simulated decision support advice within a prescribing context was used. The study employed within participant before-after design, whereby 26 UK NHS General Practitioners were shown 20 hypothetical prescribing scenarios with prevalidated correct and incorrect answers - advice was incorrect in 6 scenarios. They were asked to prescribe for each case, followed by being shown simulated advice. Participants were then asked whether they wished to change their prescription, and the post-advice prescription was recorded. Rate of overall decision switching was captured. Automation bias was measured by negative consultations - correct to incorrect prescription switching. Participants changed prescriptions in 22.5% of scenarios. The pre-advice accuracy rate of the clinicians was 50.38%, which improved to 58.27% post-advice. The CDSS improved the decision accuracy in 13.1% of prescribing cases. The rate of automation bias, as measured by decision switches from correct pre-advice, to incorrect post-advice was 5.2% of all cases - a net improvement of 8%. More immediate factors such as trust in the specific CDSS, decision confidence, and task difficulty influenced rate of decision switching. Lower clinical experience was associated with more decision switching. Age, DSS experience and trust in CDSS generally were not significantly associated with decision switching. This study adds to the literature surrounding automation bias in terms of its potential frequency and influencing factors. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Factors influencing a problem-based learning implementation: A case study of IT courses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Darus, Norida Muhd; Mohd, Haslina; Baharom, Fauziah; Saip, Mohamed Ali; Puteh, Nurnasran; Marzuki @ Matt, Zaharin; Husain, Mohd Zabidin; Yasin, Azman

2016-08-01

IT students must be trained to work efficiently as teamwork. One of the techniques that can be used to train them is through Problem-Based Learning (PBL) approach. The PBL implementation can be influenced by various factors depending on the ultimate goal of the study. This study is focusing on the IT students' perception of the PBL implementation. The student's perception is important to ensure the successfulness of the PBL implementation. Therefore, it is important to identify the factors that might influence the implementation of PBL of IT courses. This study aims to identify some catalyst factors that may influence the PBL implementation of IT courses. The study involved three (3) main phases: identifying PBL implementation factors, constructing a PBL model, and PBL model validation using statistical analysis. Four main factors are identified: PBL Characteristics, PBL Course Assessment, PBL Practices, and PBL Perception. Based on these four factors, a PBL model is constructed. Then, based on the proposed PBL model, four hypotheses are formulated and analyzed to validate the model. All hypotheses are significantly acceptable. The result shows that the PBL Characteristics and PBL Course Assessment factors are significantly influenced the PBL Practices and indirectly influenced the Students' Perception of the PBL Implementation for IT courses. This PBL model can assist decision makers in enhancing the PBL teaching and learning strategy for IT courses. It is also can be tested to other courses in the future.

A Survey of the Influencing Factors for International Academic Mobility of Chinese University Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cao, Chun; Zhu, Chang; Meng, Qian

2016-01-01

This research aims to understand the factors influencing international academic mobility within the Chinese higher education context. The inventory of University Students' Perceptions of Influencing Factors for International Academic Mobility was developed and tested to enquire about Chinese university students' perceptions of factors influencing…

The influence of ergonomic factors and perceptual-motor abilities on handwriting performance.

PubMed

Tseng, M H; Cermak, S A

1993-10-01

Difficulty with handwriting is one of the most frequent reasons that children in the public schools are referred to occupational therapy. Current research on the influence of ergonomic factors, such as pencil grip and pressure, and perceptual-motor factors traditionally believed to affect handwriting, is reviewed. Factors such as visual perception show little relationship to handwriting, whereas tactile-kinesthetic, visual-motor, and motor planning appear to be more closely related to handwriting. By better understanding the ergonomic and perceptual-motor factors that contribute to and influence handwriting, therapists will be better able to design rationally based intervention programs.

Genetic Factors and Orofacial Motor Learning Selectively Influence Variability in Central Sulcus Morphology in Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

PubMed Central

Autrey, Michelle; Mahovetz, Lindsay; Pope, Sarah; Mareno, Mary Catherine; Schapiro, Steven J.

2017-01-01

Captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) have been shown to learn the use of novel attention-getting (AG) sounds to capture the attention of humans as a means of requesting or drawing their attention to a desired object or food. There are significant individual differences in the use of AG sounds by chimpanzees and, here, we examined whether changes in cortical organization of the central sulcus (CS) were associated with AG sound production. MRI scans were collected from 240 chimpanzees, including 122 that reliably produced AG sounds and 118 that did not. For each subject, the depth of CS was quantified along the superior–inferior plane with specific interest in the inferior portion corresponding to the region of the motor cortex where the mouth and orofacial movements are controlled. Results indicated that CS depth in the inferior, but not superior, portion was significantly greater in chimpanzees that reliably produced AG sounds compared with those who did not. Quantitative genetic analyses indicated that overall CS surface area and depth were significantly heritable, particularly in the superior regions, but less so in the inferior and central portions. Further, heritability in CS depth was altered as a function of acquisition of AG sounds. The collective results suggest that learning to produce AG sounds resulted in region-specific cortical reorganization within the inferior portion of the CS, a finding previously undocumented in chimpanzees or any nonhuman primate. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Recent studies in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) have shown that some can learn to produce novel sounds by configuring different orofacial movement patterns and these sounds are used in communicatively relevant contexts. Here, we examined the neuromorphological correlates in the production of these sounds in chimpanzees. We show that chimpanzees that have learned to produce these sounds show significant differences in central sulcus (CS) morphology, particularly in the inferior

Genetic Factors and Orofacial Motor Learning Selectively Influence Variability in Central Sulcus Morphology in Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

PubMed

Hopkins, William D; Coulon, Oliver; Meguerditchian, Adrien; Autrey, Michelle; Davidek, Kendall; Mahovetz, Lindsay; Pope, Sarah; Mareno, Mary Catherine; Schapiro, Steven J

2017-05-31

Captive chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes ) have been shown to learn the use of novel attention-getting (AG) sounds to capture the attention of humans as a means of requesting or drawing their attention to a desired object or food. There are significant individual differences in the use of AG sounds by chimpanzees and, here, we examined whether changes in cortical organization of the central sulcus (CS) were associated with AG sound production. MRI scans were collected from 240 chimpanzees, including 122 that reliably produced AG sounds and 118 that did not. For each subject, the depth of CS was quantified along the superior-inferior plane with specific interest in the inferior portion corresponding to the region of the motor cortex where the mouth and orofacial movements are controlled. Results indicated that CS depth in the inferior, but not superior, portion was significantly greater in chimpanzees that reliably produced AG sounds compared with those who did not. Quantitative genetic analyses indicated that overall CS surface area and depth were significantly heritable, particularly in the superior regions, but less so in the inferior and central portions. Further, heritability in CS depth was altered as a function of acquisition of AG sounds. The collective results suggest that learning to produce AG sounds resulted in region-specific cortical reorganization within the inferior portion of the CS, a finding previously undocumented in chimpanzees or any nonhuman primate. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Recent studies in chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes ) have shown that some can learn to produce novel sounds by configuring different orofacial movement patterns and these sounds are used in communicatively relevant contexts. Here, we examined the neuromorphological correlates in the production of these sounds in chimpanzees. We show that chimpanzees that have learned to produce these sounds show significant differences in central sulcus (CS) morphology, particularly in the

Influence of Stress Corrosion Crack Morphology on Ultrasonic Examination Performances

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dupond, O.; Duwig, V.; Fouquet, T.

2009-03-01

Stress Corrosion Cracking represents a potential damage for several components in PWR. For this reason, NDE of stress corrosion cracks corresponds to an important stake for Electricité de France (EDF) both for availability and for safety of plants. This paper is dedicated to the ultrasonic examination of SCC crack defects. The study mixes an experimental approach conducted on artificial flaws—meant to represent the characteristic morphologic features often encountered on SCC cracks—and a 2D finite element modelling with the code ATHENA 2D developed by EDF. Results indicate that ATHENA reproduces correctly the interaction of the beam on the complex defect. Indeed specific ultrasonic responses resulting from the defect morphology have been observed experimentally and reproduced with the modelling.

Using High-Resolution Comparison of Bedrock Properties and Channel Morphology to Empirically Characterize Erodibility in Fluvial Settings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chilton, K.; Spotila, J. A.

2017-12-01

Bedrock erodibility exerts a primary control on landscape evolution and fluvial morphodynamics, but the relationships between erodibility and the many factors that influence it (rock strength, spacing and orientation of discontinuities, weathering susceptibility, erosive process, etc.) remain poorly defined. This results in oversimplification of erodibility in landscape evolution models, the primary example being the stream power incision model, which groups together factors which may influence erodibility into a single coefficient. There is therefore need to better define how bedrock properties influence erodibility and, in turn, channel form and evolution. This study seeks to deconvolve the relationships between bedrock material properties and erodibility by quantifying empirical relationships between substrate characteristics and bedrock channel morphology (slope, steepness index, width, form) at a high spatial resolution (5-10 m scale) in continuous and mixed alluvial-bedrock channels. We specifically focus on slowly eroding channels with minimal evidence for landscape transience, such that variations in channel morphology are mainly due to bedrock properties. We also use channels cut into sedimentary rock, which exhibit extreme variation (yet predictability and continuity) in discontinuity spacing. Here we present preliminary data comparing the morphology and bedrock properties of 1st through 4th order channels in the tectonically inactive Valley and Ridge province of the Appalachian Mountains, SW Virginia. Field surveys of channel slope, width, substrate, and form consist of 0.5 km long, continuous stream reaches through different intervals of tilted Paleozoic siliciclastic stratigraphy. Some surveys exhibit nearly complete bedrock exposure, whereas others are predominantly mixed, with localized bedrock reaches in high-slope knickzones. We statistically analyze relationships between fluvial morphology and lithology, strength (based on field and laboratory

What factors influence cataract waiting list time?

PubMed Central

Churchill, A.; Vize, C.; Stewart, O.; Backhouse, O.

2000-01-01

AIMS—To determine whether there were any specific factors that influenced waiting list time (WLT) for patients undergoing cataract surgery.
METHODS—70 preoperative cataract patients were interviewed by one of the authors using a questionnaire to score visual acuity, coexisting ocular pathology and disabilities, threat to independent living/employment, and perceived visual handicap for detailed, gross, and driving vision. Individuals were analysed separately according to whether it was their first or second cataract operation.
RESULTS—The median WLT for first eye surgery was 9 months (n = 31) and 13 months for second eye surgery (n = 36). The WLT ranged from 2 to 25 months for first eyes and 0.25-18 months for second eyes. Where there was a perceived threat to independent living or employment the WLT was found to be significantly shorter than the median. A high overall score correlated with a shorter WLT. Surgical priority was also given to individuals with anisometropia >3 dioptres.
CONCLUSION—This study has demonstrated that there are specific factors that influence clinicians when prioritising patients for cataract surgery.

 PMID:10729304

Physiological variation in left atrial transverse orientation does not influence orthogonal P-wave morphology.

PubMed

Petersson, Richard; Mosén, Henrik; Steding-Ehrenborg, Katarina; Carlson, Jonas; Faxén, Lisa; Mohtadi, Alan; Platonov, Pyotr G; Holmqvist, Fredrik

2017-03-01

It has previously been demonstrated that orthogonal P-wave morphology in healthy athletes does not depend on atrial size, but the possible impact of left atrial orientation on P-wave morphology remains unknown. In this study, we investigated if left atrial transverse orientation affects P-wave morphology in different populations. Forty-seven patients with atrial fibrillation, 21 patients with arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy, 67 healthy athletes, and 56 healthy volunteers were included. All underwent cardiac magnetic resonance imaging or computed tomography and the orientation of the left atrium was determined. All had 12-lead electrocardiographic recordings, which were transformed into orthogonal leads and orthogonal P-wave morphology was obtained. The median left atrial transverse orientation was 87 (83, 91) degrees (lower and upper quartiles) in the total study population. There was no difference in left atrial transverse orientation between individuals with different orthogonal P-wave morphologies. The physiological variation in left atrial orientation was small within as well as between the different populations. There was no difference in left atrial transverse orientation between subjects with type 1 and type 2 P-wave morphology, implying that in this setting the P-wave morphology was more dependent on atrial conduction than orientation. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

22 CFR 1006.880 - What factors may influence the debarring official during reconsideration?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 22 Foreign Relations 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 true What factors may influence the debarring official during reconsideration? 1006.880 Section 1006.880 Foreign Relations INTER-AMERICAN FOUNDATION GOVERNMENTWIDE DEBARMENT AND SUSPENSION (NONPROCUREMENT) Debarment § 1006.880 What factors may influence the...

7 CFR 3017.880 - What factors may influence the debarring official during reconsideration?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 15 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false What factors may influence the debarring official during reconsideration? 3017.880 Section 3017.880 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of... DEBARMENT AND SUSPENSION (NONPROCUREMENT) Debarment § 3017.880 What factors may influence the debarring...

22 CFR 1508.880 - What factors may influence the debarring official during reconsideration?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 22 Foreign Relations 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 true What factors may influence the debarring official during reconsideration? 1508.880 Section 1508.880 Foreign Relations AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION GOVERNMENTWIDE DEBARMENT AND SUSPENSION (NONPROCUREMENT) Debarment § 1508.880 What factors may influence the...

5 CFR 919.880 - What factors may influence the debarring official during reconsideration?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 5 Administrative Personnel 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false What factors may influence the debarring official during reconsideration? 919.880 Section 919.880 Administrative Personnel OFFICE OF PERSONNEL... (NONPROCUREMENT) Debarment § 919.880 What factors may influence the debarring official during reconsideration? The...

Differential factors that influence applicant selection of a prosthodontic residency program.

PubMed

Blissett, Ryan; Lee, Meng-Chieh; Jimenez, Monik; Sukotjo, Cortino

2009-04-01

The main objectives of this study were to identify current prosthodontic resident demographics and to analyze factors that may influence applicants in selecting prosthodontics as a career, as well as a specific prosthodontic program. We also investigated the influence of age, gender, relationship status, and year in program on applicant decisions. Two questionnaires were mailed to all prosthodontic residents (N = 304) registered with the American College of Prosthodontists (ACP) Central Office. Part I assessed resident demographics and factors influencing choice of specialty. Part II assessed factors influencing the selection of a specific prosthodontic program. Completed surveys were obtained from 193 of 304 (63.4%) of all prosthodontic residents registered at the ACP Central Office. The completed surveys represented approximately 48% of the total population of prosthodontic residents in the United States. Demographic data revealed that 37% and 62% of the respondents were female and male, respectively (1% did not report gender). The mean age of the respondents was 30.3 years. More residents reported being married than either single or in a relationship. Most residents were accepted to their top choice program. Part I of the survey revealed that the complexity and challenge of treatment planning/treatment, ability to lead multidisciplinary cases, possession of skills/talents suited to the specialty, enjoyment of clinical work, and the intellectual content of the specialty were reported to be the five most influential factors in choosing prosthodontics as a career. Part II demonstrated that applicants place a high emphasis on clinical education, their impression of the program director, advice from predoctoral mentors, their impression of resident satisfaction and happiness, and the opportunity to place dental implants. The factors of least importance are climate and opportunities to moonlight, teach, and conduct research. Dental students consider the complexity and

Analysis of Spatial Pattern and Influencing Factors of E-Commerce

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Y.; Chen, J.; Zhang, S.

2017-09-01

This paper aims to study the relationship between e-commerce development and geographical characteristics using data of e-commerce, economy, Internet, express delivery and population from 2011 to 2015. Moran's I model and GWR model are applied to analyze the spatial pattern of E-commerce and its influencing factors. There is a growth trend of e-commerce from west to east, and it is obvious to see that e-commerce development has a space-time clustering, especially around the Yangtze River delta. The comprehensive factors caculated through PCA are described as fundamental social productivity, resident living standard and population sex structure. The first two factors have positive correlation with e-commerce, and the intensity of effect increases yearly. However, the influence of population sex structure on the E-commerce development is not significant. Our results suggest that the clustering of e-commerce has a downward trend and the impact of driving factors on e-commerce is observably distinct from year to year in space.

Factors influencing physicians' knowledge sharing on web medical forums.

PubMed

Lin, Tung Cheng; Lai, Ming Cheng; Yang, Shu Wen

2016-09-01

Web medical forums are relatively unique as knowledge-sharing platforms because physicians participate exclusively as knowledge contributors and not as knowledge recipients. Using the perspective of social exchange theory and considering both extrinsic and intrinsic motivations, this study aims to elicit the factors that significantly influence the willingness of physicians to share professional knowledge on web medical forums and develops a research model to explore the motivations that underlie physicians' knowledge-sharing attitudes. This model hypothesizes that constructs, including shared vision, reputation, altruism, and self-efficacy, positively influence these attitudes and, by extension, positively impact knowledge-sharing intention. A conventional sampling method and the direct recruitment of physicians at their outpatient clinic gathered valid data from a total of 164 physicians for analysis in the model. The empirical results support the validity of the proposed model and identified shared vision as the most significant factor of influence on knowledge-sharing attitudes, followed in descending order by knowledge-sharing self-efficacy, reputation, and altruism. © The Author(s) 2015.

Associations between free fatty acids, cumulus oocyte complex morphology and ovarian function during in vitro fertilization.

PubMed

Jungheim, Emily S; Macones, George A; Odem, Randall R; Patterson, Bruce W; Lanzendorf, Susan E; Ratts, Valerie S; Moley, Kelle H

2011-05-01

To determine if follicular free fatty acid (FFA) levels are associated with cumulus oocyte complex (COC) morphology. Prospective cohort study. University in vitro fertilization (IVF) practice. A total of 102 women undergoing IVF. Measurement of FFAs in serum and ovarian follicular fluid. Total and specific follicular and serum FFA levels, correlations between follicular and serum FFAs, and associations between follicular FFA levels and markers of oocyte quality, including COC morphology. Predominant follicular fluid and serum FFAs were oleic, palmitic, linoleic, and stearic acids. Correlations between follicular and serum FFA concentrations were weak (r=0.252, 0.288, 0.236, 0.309, respectively for specific FFAs; r=0.212 for total FFAs). A receiver operating characteristic curve determined total follicular FFAs≥0.232 μmol/mL distinguished women with a lower versus higher percentage of COCs with favorable morphology. Women with elevated follicular FFAs (n=31) were more likely to have COCs with poor morphology than others (n=71; OR 3.3, 95% CI1.2-9.2). This relationship held after adjusting for potential confounders, including age, body mass index, endometriosis, and amount of gonadotropin administered (β=1.2; OR 3.4, 95% CI 1.1-10.4). Elevated follicular FFA levels are associated with poor COC morphology. Further work is needed to determine what factors influence follicular FFA levels and if these factors impact fertility. Copyright © 2011 American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Analysis on influencing factors of EV charging station planning based on AHP

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yan, F.; Ma, X. F.

2016-08-01

As a new means of transport, electric vehicle (EV) is of great significance to alleviate the energy crisis. EV charging station planning has a far-reaching significance for the development of EV industry. This paper analyzes the impact factors of EV charging station planning, and then uses the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to carry on the further analysis to the influencing factors, finally it gets the weight of each influence factor, and provides the basis for the evaluation scheme of the planning of charging stations for EV.

Linguistic Factors Influencing Speech Audiometric Assessment

PubMed Central

Krijger, Stefanie; Meeuws, Matthias; De Ceulaer, Geert

2016-01-01

In speech audiometric testing, hearing performance is typically measured by calculating the number of correct repetitions of a speech stimulus. We investigate to what extent the repetition accuracy of Dutch speech stimuli presented against a background noise is influenced by nonauditory processes. We show that variation in verbal repetition accuracy is partially explained by morpholexical and syntactic features of the target language. Verbs, prepositions, conjunctions, determiners, and pronouns yield significantly lower correct repetitions than nouns, adjectives, or adverbs. The reduced repetition performance for verbs and function words is probably best explained by the similarities in the perceptual nature of verbal morphology and function words in Dutch. For sentences, an overall negative effect of syntactic complexity on speech repetition accuracy was found. The lowest number of correct repetitions was obtained with passive sentences, reflecting the cognitive cost of processing a noncanonical sentence structure. Taken together, these findings may have important implications for the audiological practice. In combination with hearing loss, linguistic complexity may increase the cognitive demands to process sentences in noise, leading to suboptimal functional hearing in day-to-day listening situations. Using test sentences with varying degrees of syntactic complexity may therefore provide useful information to measure functional hearing benefits. PMID:27830152

Influence of gender and other factors on medical student specialty interest.

PubMed

Boyle, Veronica; Shulruf, Boaz; Poole, Phillippa

2014-09-12

Medical schools must select and educate to meet anticipated health needs. Factors influencing career choice include those of the student and their background as well as subsequent experience. Women have comprised over 50% of medical classes for over 20 years. This study describes gender patterns of current specialty interest among medical students at the University of Auckland, and models the predictive effect of gender compared to other career influencing factors. The study analysed career intention survey data from 711 graduating medical students (response rate, 79%) from 2006 to 2011. Interest level was highest for medicine, followed by subspecialty surgery, general practice and paediatrics. There were differences by gender for most specialties, but not for general practice. Women were more likely than men to be interested in Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Paediatrics, Geriatrics, Public Health or General Medicine, and less interested in Surgery, Anaesthesia, Emergency Medicine or post graduate study. Each specialty had a different pattern of influencing factors with the most important factor being the experience on a clinical attachment. Factors in career choice are complex and vary by gender and specialty. General practice levels of interest are too low for workforce needs. Predictive models need to be validated in longer term studies but may help guide selection and curriculum design.

2 CFR 180.880 - What factors may influence the debarring official during reconsideration?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 2 Grants and Agreements 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false What factors may influence the debarring official during reconsideration? 180.880 Section 180.880 Grants and Agreements OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND... GOVERNMENTWIDE DEBARMENT AND SUSPENSION (NONPROCUREMENT) Debarment § 180.880 What factors may influence the...

34 CFR 85.880 - What factors may influence the debarring official during reconsideration?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 34 Education 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false What factors may influence the debarring official during reconsideration? 85.880 Section 85.880 Education Office of the Secretary, Department of Education GOVERNMENTWIDE DEBARMENT AND SUSPENSION (NONPROCUREMENT) Debarment § 85.880 What factors may influence the...

Factors Influencing Residents' Satisfaction in Residential Aged Care

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chou, Shu-Chiung; Boldy, Duncan P.; Lee, Andy H.

2003-01-01

Purpose: The aim of this study was to identify the important factors influencing residents' satisfaction in residential aged care and to provide a better understanding of their interrelationships. Design and Methods: A cross-sectional survey design was used to collect the required information, including resident satisfaction, resident dependency…

Factors that Influence Informal Learning in the Workplace

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Berg, Shelley A.; Chyung, Seung Youn

2008-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this research is to investigate factors that influence informal learning in the workplace and the types of informal learning activities people engage in at work. More specifically, the research examined: the relationship between informal learning engagement and the presence of learning organization characteristics; and…

Influence of diurnal photosynthetic activity on the morphology, structure, and thermal properties of normal and waxy barley starch.

PubMed

Goldstein, Avi; Annor, George; Vamadevan, Varatharajan; Tetlow, Ian; Kirkensgaard, Jacob J K; Mortensen, Kell; Blennow, Andreas; Hebelstrup, Kim H; Bertoft, Eric

2017-05-01

This study investigated the influence of diurnal photosynthetic activity on the morphology, molecular composition, crystallinity, and gelatinization properties of normal barley starch (NBS) and waxy barley starch (WBS) granules from plants cultivated in a greenhouse under normal diurnal (16h light) or constant light photosynthetic conditions. Growth rings were observed in all starch samples regardless of lighting conditions. The size distribution of whole and debranched WBS analyzed by gel-permeation chromatography did not appear to be influenced by the different lighting regimes, however, a greater relative crystallinity measured by wide-angle X-ray scattering and greater crystalline quality as judged by differential scanning calorimetry was observed under the diurnal lighting regime. NBS cultivated under the diurnal photosynthetic lighting regime displayed lower amylose content (18.7%), and shorter amylose chains than its counterpart grown under constant light. Although the relative crystallinity of NBS was not influenced by lighting conditions, lower onset, peak, and completion gelatinization temperatures were observed in diurnally grown NBS compared to constant light conditions. It is concluded that normal barley starch is less influenced by the diurnal photosynthetic lighting regime than amylose-free barley starch suggesting a role of amylose to prevent structural disorder and increase starch granule robustness against environmental cues. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Factors Influencing Consumers Intention for Online Grocery Shopping - A Proposed Framework

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pauzi, SFF; Thoo, AC; Tan, LC; Muharam, FM; Talib, NA

2017-06-01

Nowadays, Internet is one of the most popular platforms for people to do online shopping including grocery items. Many studies have been conducted to investigate the determinants of customer intentions for online grocery shopping. Till now, there is no consensus on what are the factors that actually influencing people to shop grocery items through Internet. This paper aims to explore the factors such as social influences, facilitating conditions, hedonic motivations, perceived risk and perceived trust that influence the consumer intention to purchase grocery online. Questionnaires will be the main instrument of the study and they will be distributed to target respondents using Internet survey. Respondents of the study will be selected using convenience sampling. After data collection, Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) will be employed for data analysis. Overall, the result of the study is important to retailers to identify the important factors in increasing their customers’ intention to purchase grocery online.

Leadership styles of Finnish nurse managers and factors influencing it.

PubMed

Vesterinen, Soili; Isola, Arja; Paasivaara, Leena

2009-05-01

The purpose of the present study was to explore nurse managers' perceptions of their leadership styles and factors influencing it. It is a challenge for nurse managers to retain nurses in hospitals and to ensure a high quality of care in nursing practice. Leadership style is an important part of leadership. Knowledge concerning nurse managers' resonant and non-resonant leadership styles provides nurse managers with tools to reflect on their own leadership style. Open-ended, tape-recorded interviews were conducted with 13 nurse managers from five Finnish hospitals and two long-term care facilities. The data were analysed using qualitative content analysis. Five categories of leadership style were discerned: visionary, coaching, affiliate, democratic, commanding. Factors that influence leadership style were identified: earlier superiors, values, information, cooperation, employees and education. The results of this study show that Finnish nurse managers use both resonant and non-resonant leadership styles. The findings of this study show that nurse managers use a variety of leadership styles. The study demonstrates the importance of knowledge about leadership styles and factors influencing it among nurse managers providing future leadership and management education.

An investigation into the factors that influence toolmark identifications on ammunition discharged from semi-automatic pistols recovered from car fires.

PubMed

Collender, Mark A; Doherty, Kevin A J; Stanton, Kenneth T

2017-01-01

Following a shooting incident where a vehicle is used to convey the culprits to and from the scene, both the getaway car and the firearm are often deliberately burned in an attempt to destroy any forensic evidence which may be subsequently recovered. Here we investigate the factors that influence the ability to make toolmark identifications on ammunition discharged from pistols recovered from such car fires. This work was carried out by conducting a number of controlled furnace tests in conjunction with real car fire tests in which three 9mm semi-automatic pistols were burned. Comparisons between pre-burn and post burn test fired ammunition discharged from these pistols were then performed to establish if identifications were still possible. The surfaces of the furnace heated samples and car fire samples were examined following heating/burning to establish what factors had influenced their surface morphology. The primary influence on the surfaces of the furnace heated and car fire samples was the formation of oxide layers. The car fire samples were altered to a greater extent than the furnace heated samples. Identifications were still possible between pre- and post-burn discharged cartridge cases, but this was not the case for the discharged bullets. It is suggested that the reason for this is a difference between the types of firearms discharge-generated toolmarks impressed onto the base of cartridge cases compared to those striated along the surfaces of bullets. It was also found that the temperatures recorded in the front foot wells were considerably less than those recorded on top of the rear seats during the car fires. These factors should be assessed by forensic firearms examiners when performing casework involving pistols recovered from car fires. Copyright © 2016 The Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

41 CFR 105-68.860 - What factors may influence the debarring official's decision?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... responsibility. In making a debarment decision, the debarring official may consider the following factors: (a... influence the debarring official's decision? 105-68.860 Section 105-68.860 Public Contracts and Property...) Debarment § 105-68.860 What factors may influence the debarring official's decision? This section lists the...

29 CFR 98.880 - What factors may influence the debarring official during reconsideration?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 29 Labor 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 true What factors may influence the debarring official during reconsideration? 98.880 Section 98.880 Labor Office of the Secretary of Labor GOVERNMENTWIDE DEBARMENT AND SUSPENSION (NONPROCUREMENT) Debarment § 98.880 What factors may influence the debarring official during...

31 CFR 19.880 - What factors may influence the debarring official during reconsideration?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 31 Money and Finance: Treasury 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false What factors may influence the debarring official during reconsideration? 19.880 Section 19.880 Money and Finance: Treasury Office of the... factors may influence the debarring official during reconsideration? The debarring official may reduce or...

[Methods of mathematical modeling in morphological diagnostics of Chernobyl factor influence on the testes of coal miners of Donbas--the Chernobyl disaster fighters].

PubMed

Danylov, Iu V; Motkov, K V; Shevchenko, T I

2014-01-01

The morphometric estimation of parenchyma and stroma condition included the determination of 29 parameters in testicles at 27 persons. The mathematical model of morphogenesis of testicles was created by Bayes' method. The method of differential diagnosis of testicles tissues' changes conditioned by the influence of the Chernobyl factor and/or unfavorable terms of the work in underground coal mines have been worked out. Its practical use provides exactness and reliability of the diagnosis (not less than 95%), independence from the level of the qualification and personal experience of the doctor, allows us to unify, optimize and individualize the diagnostic algorithms, answer the requirements of evidential medicine.

Microcavity morphology optimization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ferdous, Fahmida; Demchenko, Alena A.; Vyatchanin, Sergey P.; Matsko, Andrey B.; Maleki, Lute

2014-09-01

High spectral mode density of conventional optical cavities is detrimental to the generation of broad optical frequency combs and to other linear and nonlinear applications. In this work we optimize the morphology of high-Q whispering gallery (WG) and Fabry-Perot (FP) cavities and find a set of parameters that allows treating them, essentially, as single-mode structures, thus removing limitations associated with a high density of cavity mode spectra. We show that both single-mode WGs and single-mode FP cavities have similar physical properties, in spite of their different loss mechanisms. The morphology optimization does not lead to a reduction of quality factors of modes belonging to the basic family. We study the parameter space numerically and find the region where the highest possible Q factor of the cavity modes can be realized while just having a single bound state in the cavity. The value of the Q factor is comparable with that achieved in conventional cavities. The proposed cavity structures will be beneficial for generation of octave spanning coherent frequency combs and will prevent undesirable effects of parametric instability in laser gravitational wave detectors.

Genetic Factors Influence Serological Measures of Common Infections

PubMed Central

Rubicz, Rohina; Leach, Charles T.; Kraig, Ellen; Dhurandhar, Nikhil V.; Duggirala, Ravindranath; Blangero, John; Yolken, Robert; Göring, Harald H.H.

2011-01-01

Background/Aims Antibodies against infectious pathogens provide information on past or present exposure to infectious agents. While host genetic factors are known to affect the immune response, the influence of genetic factors on antibody levels to common infectious agents is largely unknown. Here we test whether antibody levels for 13 common infections are significantly heritable. Methods IgG antibodies to Chlamydophila pneumoniae, Helicobacter pylori, Toxoplasma gondii, adenovirus 36 (Ad36), hepatitis A virus, influenza A and B, cytomegalovirus, Epstein-Barr virus, herpes simplex virus (HSV)-1 and −2, human herpesvirus-6, and varicella zoster virus were determined for 1,227 Mexican Americans. Both quantitative and dichotomous (seropositive/seronegative) traits were analyzed. Influences of genetic and shared environmental factors were estimated using variance components pedigree analysis, and sharing of underlying genetic factors among traits was investigated using bivariate analyses. Results Serological phenotypes were significantly heritable for most pathogens (h2 = 0.17–0.39), except for Ad36 and HSV-2. Shared environment was significant for several pathogens (c2 = 0.10–0.32). The underlying genetic etiology appears to be largely different for most pathogens. Conclusions Our results demonstrate, for the first time for many of these pathogens, that individual genetic differences of the human host contribute substantially to antibody levels to many common infectious agents, providing impetus for the identification of underlying genetic variants, which may be of clinical importance. PMID:21996708

[Clinical and morphological variants of diverticular disease in colon].

PubMed

Levchenko, S V; Lazebnik, L B; Potapova, V B; Rogozina, V A

2013-01-01

Our own results of two-stage research are presented in the article. The first stage contains the retrospective analysis of 3682 X-ray examining of large bowel which were conducted in 2002-2004 to define the structure of colon disease and to determine gender differences. The second stage is prospective research which took place from 2003 to 2012 and 486 patients with diverticular disease were regularly observed. Following parameters were estimated: dynamics of complaints, life quality, clinical symptoms. Multiple X-ray and endoscopic examining were done with estimation of quantity and size of diverticula, changes of colon mucosa, comparison of X-ray and endoscopic methods in prognosis of complications. Two basic clinical morphological variants of diverticular disease (DD) of colon are made out as a result of our research. There are IBD-like and DD with ischemic component. The variants differ by pain characteristics, presence of accompanying diseases, life quality parameters and description of colon mucosa morphological research. We suppose that different ethiopathogenetic factors of development of both variants mentioned above influence the disease prognosis and selection of treatment.

Psychosocial Factors Influencing Competency of Children's Statements on Sexual Trauma

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kim, Tae Kyung; Choi, Soul; Shin, Yee Jin

2011-01-01

Objectives: The objectives of this study are to assess children's competence to state their traumatic experience and to determine psychosocial factors influencing the competency of children's statements, such as emotional factors of children and parents and trauma-related variables, in Korean child sex abuse victims. Methods: We enrolled 214…

Exploring Factors Influencing Acceptance and Use of Video Digital Libraries

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ju, Boryung; Albertson, Dan

2018-01-01

Introduction: This study examines the effects of certain key factors on users' intention to ultimately adopt and use video digital libraries for facilitating their information needs. The individual factors identified for this study, based on their given potential to influence use and acceptance of video digital libraries, were categorised for data…

Prenatal environmental factors influencing IgE levels, atopy and early asthma.

PubMed

Peters, Junenette L; Boynton-Jarrett, Renée; Sandel, Megan

2013-04-01

There is increasing evidence that the prenatal window represents a critical period in which the developing immune system may be primed toward an allergic phenotype. Studies have investigated the role of a number of maternal environmental exposures on subsequent allergic disorders in the offspring. We summarize findings from recent studies on prenatal environmental factors influencing IgE levels, atopy, and early asthma. A building literature supports the influence of maternal exposure to environmental pollutants, such as allergens, traffic-related air pollution, tobacco smoke, and organochlorine compounds and social factors on allergic outcomes. More novel associations have been investigated, such as the effect of prenatal exposures to phthalates, bisphenol A, and magnetic fields. There is also rising interest in epigenetics as a pathway of action by which maternal exposure affect immune health. Emerging research highlights the challenges of investigating in-utero exposures and of relating exposures to such a heterogeneous and complex outcome as allergic disease. Further research is needed on the mechanisms by which prenatal exposure influences allergic response in childhood and how postnatal, familial and social factors, and sex can modify disease outcomes. Epigenetics is a promising new frontier, and likely one of several explanatory factors.

Influence of PbCl{sub 2} content in PbI{sub 2} solution of DMF on the absorption, crystal phase, morphology of lead halide thin films and photovoltaic performance in planar perovskite solar cells

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wang, Mao; Shi, Chengwu, E-mail: shicw506@foxmail.com; Zhang, Jincheng

2015-11-15

In this paper, the influence of PbCl{sub 2} content in PbI{sub 2} solution of DMF on the absorption, crystal phase and morphology of lead halide thin films was systematically investigated and the photovoltaic performance of the corresponding planar perovskite solar cells was evaluated. The result revealed that the various thickness lead halide thin film with the small sheet-like, porous morphology and low crystallinity can be produced by adding PbCl{sub 2} powder into PbI{sub 2} solution of DMF as a precursor solution. The planar perovskite solar cell based on the 300-nm-thick CH{sub 3}NH{sub 3}PbI{sub 3−x}Cl{sub x} thin film by the precursormore » solution with the mixture of 0.80 M PbI{sub 2} and 0.20 M PbCl{sub 2} exhibited the optimum photoelectric conversion efficiency of 10.12% along with an open-circuit voltage of 0.93 V, a short-circuit photocurrent density of 15.70 mA cm{sup −2} and a fill factor of 0.69. - Graphical abstract: The figure showed the surface and cross-sectional SEM images of lead halide thin films using the precursor solutions: (a) 0.80 M PbI{sub 2}, (b) 0.80 M PbI{sub 2}+0.20 M PbCl{sub 2}, (c) 0.80 M PbI{sub 2}+0.40 M PbCl{sub 2}, and (d) 0.80 M PbI{sub 2}+0.60 M PbCl{sub 2}. With the increase of the PbCl{sub 2} content in precursor solution, the size of the lead halide nanosheet decreased and the corresponding thin films gradually turned to be porous with low crystallinity. - Highlights: • Influence of PbCl{sub 2} content on absorption, crystal phase and morphology of thin film. • Influence of perovskite film thickness on photovoltaic performance of solar cell. • Lead halide thin film with small sheet-like, porous morphology and low crystallinity. • Planar solar cell with 300 nm-thick perovskite thin film achieved PCE of 10.12%.« less

Morphology, sociality, and ecology: can morphology predict pairing behavior in coral reef fishes?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brandl, S. J.; Bellwood, D. R.

2013-09-01

Morphology can contain valuable information about the ecological performance of reef fishes, but it has rarely been used in combination with social traits. Social behavior is known to influence the ecological role of fishes; however, the ecological basis for pairing in reef fishes is not well understood. Field observations of 2,753 individuals, in 47 species in six families of biting reef fishes (Acanthuridae, Chaetodontidae, Kyphosidae, Labridae, Pomacanthidae, Siganidae), were used in combination with six morphological measurements, to examine the morphology of fishes in different social systems. A principal components analysis of morphological traits segregated species with high proportions of pairing individuals from non-pairing species along principal component 1, explaining 40.8 % of the variation. Pairing species were characterized by large eyes, concave foreheads, pointed snouts, deep bodies, and small maximum sizes. There was a significant positive relationship between these morphological traits (i.e., scores on PC1) and the prevalence of pairing within the Chaetodontidae ( r 2 = 0.59; P = 0.026), Siganidae ( r 2 = 0.72; P = 0.004), and Acanthuridae ( r 2 = 0.82; P < 0.001). This was consistent when traits were corrected for phylogenetic effects. No pattern was evident in the scarine Labridae ( r 2 = 0.15; P = 0.17). The morphological characteristics found among pairing species suggest that pairing species share common ecological traits, including foraging for small prey items in micro-topographically complex environments such as reef crevices. These ecological traits may have played a role in the evolution of pairing behavior and subsequently led to the development of reproductive patterns based on monogamy.

Factors influencing aircraft ground handling performance

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yager, T. J.

1983-01-01

Problems associated with aircraft ground handling operations on wet runways are discussed and major factors which influence tire/runway braking and cornering traction capability are identified including runway characteristics, tire hydroplaning, brake system anomalies, and pilot inputs. Research results from tests with instrumented ground vehicles and aircraft, and aircraft wet runway accident investigation are summarized to indicate the effects of different aircraft, tire, and runway parameters. Several promising means are described for improving tire/runway water drainage capability, brake system efficiency, and pilot training to help optimize aircraft traction performance on wet runways.

An Analysis of Selected Factors Influencing Enrollment Patterns.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Heck, James

This report presents an analysis of factors influencing enrollment patterns at Lake City Community College (LCCC; Florida) and recommends ways to increase enrollments at the college. Section I reviews the methods of collecting data for the report, which included interviews with key college personnel, an examination of social indicators such as…

Factors Influencing the Readability of Student-Generated Texts.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Allen, JoBeth

An investigation examined student-generated texts in terms of both traditional and more theoretically valid readability to determine what factors influence comprehension when children read their own, peer, and adult-written texts. Seventy dictated stories created in an earlier study, along with 4 first-grade level stories from the "Reader's…

Factors Influencing Teachers' Engagement in Informal Learning Activities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lohman, Margaret C.

2006-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine factors influencing the engagement of public school teachers in informal learning activities. Design/methodology/approach: This study used a survey research design. Findings: Analysis of the data found that teachers rely to a greater degree on interactive than on independent informal learning…

What Factors Influence Vietnamese Students' Choice of University?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dao, Mai Thi Ngoc; Thorpe, Anthony

2015-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to report the factors that influence Vietnamese students' choice of university in a little researched context where the effects of globalization and education reform are changing higher education. Design/methodology/approach: A quantitative survey was completed by 1,124 current or recently completed university…

The influence of pressure and gas flow on size and morphology of titanium oxide nanoparticles synthesized by hollow cathode sputtering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gunnarsson, Rickard; Pilch, Iris; Boyd, Robert D.; Brenning, Nils; Helmersson, Ulf

2016-07-01

Titanium oxide nanoparticles have been synthesized via sputtering of a hollow cathode in an argon atmosphere. The influence of pressure and gas flow has been studied. Changing the pressure affects the nanoparticle size, increasing approximately proportional to the pressure squared. The influence of gas flow is dependent on the pressure. In the low pressure regime (107 ≤ p ≤ 143 Pa), the nanoparticle size decreases with increasing gas flow; however, at high pressure (p = 215 Pa), the trend is reversed. For low pressures and high gas flows, it was necessary to add oxygen for the particles to nucleate. There is also a morphological transition of the nanoparticle shape that is dependent on the pressure. Shapes such as faceted, cubic, and cauliflower can be obtained.

Factors influencing enrollment of African Americans in the Look AHEAD trial

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Many factors have been identified that influence the recruitment of African Americans into clinical trials; however, the influence of eligibility criteria may not be widely appreciated. We used the experience from the Look AHEAD (Action for Health in Diabetes) trial screening process to examine the ...

Factors influencing primary health care professionals' physical activity promotion behaviors: a systematic review.

PubMed

Huijg, Johanna M; Gebhardt, Winifred A; Verheijden, Marieke W; van der Zouwe, Nicolette; de Vries, Juriena D; Middelkoop, Barend J C; Crone, Mathilde R

2015-02-01

Despite the promising findings related to the efficacy of interventions aimed at promoting physical activity (PA) in primary health care (PHC), the translation of these interventions to PHC practice does not always happen as desired. To help understand why efficacious PHC-based PA interventions are not effectively translated to practice, this study systematically reviewed the literature on factors influencing PHC professionals' PA promotion practices. Literature searches were conducted in Web of Science, PubMed, and PsycINFO for peer-reviewed articles published in English from 1990 onwards. Studies were included that met the following criteria: (1) involving PHC-based PA interventions, and (2) reporting factors influencing PHC professionals' PA promotion behaviors. Two researchers independently screened studies and extracted data. A narrative synthesis using thematic analysis was conducted to identify factors. Of the 4,469 identified articles, 59 were included in the review. Factors were identified by qualitative methods, barrier/facilitator ratings, and the examination of the relationship between factors and PA promotion, and the effectiveness of introduction strategies. Many factors related to the development, delivery, and effects of the innovation, the sociopolitical and organizational culture, resources, and support, patient and PHC professional characteristics, and innovation strategies were identified as potential influences on PHC professionals' PA promotion practices. However, the lack of evidence on the relationship between factors and PA promotion indicated insufficient evidence on PA promotion determinants. This extensive overview of potential factors can inform intervention developers and implementers on which factors may play a role when introducing PA interventions in PHC. Future research should further investigate relationships between factors and PA promotion, which should be guided by qualitative in-depth knowledge on influencing factors.

Factors Influencing Technology Planning in Developing Countries: A Literature Review

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Keengwe, Jared; Malapile, Sandy

2014-01-01

This article is a literature review concerning the factors that play an important role in the development of educational technology plans in the educational system of developing countries (DCs). Largely, the technology plans are influenced by factors that emanates from within the country (internal) and those outside of their borders (external).…

Factors Influencing Psychological Help Seeking in Adults: A Qualitative Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Topkaya, Nursel

2015-01-01

The aim of the current research is to identify which factors, and in what direction these factors influence adults' decisions to seek psychological help for their personal problems. The research was designed as a phenomenology model; the data was gathered through the semi-structured interview technique, which is mostly used in qualitative research…

An assessment of relationships between the five-factor personality model and the morphology and function of the stomathognatic system.

PubMed

Woźniak, Krzysztof; Teichert, Hubert; Piatkowska, Dagmara; Lipski, Mariusz

2012-01-01

The personality as a system of genetically predetermined features is responsible for modifying relations between an individual's genotype and phenotype. The key element linking personality with facial morphology is the muscular system. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between facets of the five-factor personality model (FFM) domains and both the morphology and function of the stomathognatic system. Two hundred volunteers (100 female and 100 male) aged 20 to 25 (mean age: 23.4) underwent anthropometric measurements to calculate the anterior face height ratio N-Sn/Sn-Gn. For cephalometric analysis, standard right-profile images of the face were used. Calibration was performed with a 100-mm metal ruler placed next to each photographed individual. The Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R), which includes 240 statements, was used for personality assessment in order to investigate the five main personality domains: neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, conscientiousness and six facets within each domain. The results show significant correlations between factors of the personality such as neuroticism (r = 0.3488; p = 0.0000) and extraversion (r = -0.3405; p = 0.0000) and the inclination angle (FH/HOR) as the predictor of the function of the stomathognatic system. Additionally, the correlation analysis revealed a significant positive association between the anterior face height ratio and anxiety (r = 0.3952; p = 0.0000). The results of this study indicate a selective association between personality and both the morphology and function of the stomathognatic system

Factors influencing micronutrient bioavailability in biofortified crops.

PubMed

Bechoff, Aurélie; Dhuique-Mayer, Claudie

2017-02-01

Dietary and human factors have been found to be the major factors influencing the bioavailability of micronutrients, such as provitamin A carotenoid (pVAC), iron, and zinc, in biofortified crops. Dietary factors are related to food matrix structure and composition. Processing can improve pVAC bioavailability by disrupting the food matrix but can also result in carotenoid losses. By degrading antinutrients, such as phytate, processing can also enhance mineral bioavailability. In in vivo interventions, biofortified crops have been shown to be overall efficacious in reducing micronutrient deficiency, with bioconversion factors varying between 2.3:1 and 10.4:1 for trans-β-carotene and amounts of iron and zinc absorbed varying between 0.7 and 1.1 mg/day and 1.1 and 2.1 mg/day, respectively. Micronutrient bioavailability was dependent on the crop type and the presence of fat for pVACs and on antinutrients for minerals. In addition to dietary factors, human factors, such as inflammation and disease, can affect micronutrient status. Understanding the interactions between micronutrients is also essential, for example, the synergic effect of iron and pVACs or the competitive effect of iron and zinc. Future efficacy trials should consider human status and genetic polymorphisms linked to interindividual variations. © 2016 New York Academy of Sciences.

[Factors influencing self-perception of overweight people].

PubMed

Makara-Studzińska, Marta; Podstawka, Danuta; Goclon, Karolina

2013-11-01

Shaping of self-perception is among others influenced by physical, interpersonal, emotional, and cultural factors. In self-perception of overweight people an important role is played by interpersonal factors, which include the opinions of others and the relationship with the surrounding. The evaluation of the body image is also affect by sociocultural factors including the media, which create an unrealistic and impossible to achieve ideal of beauty. Contemporary ideal of beauty, where a slim figure is dominant, more frequently contributes to the occurrence of discrimination and stigmatization of overweight people. This phenomenon causes negative self-perception leading to the occurrence of such emotional problems as low self-esteem, lack of confidence, depression and anxiety disorders. Overweight children and adolescents are also frequently stigmatized and discriminated because of their body weight, which results in the development of a negative body image that may lead to low self-esteem and symptoms of depression.

The three-dimensional morphology of growing dendrites

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gibbs, J. W.; Mohan, K. A.; Gulsoy, E. B.

The processes controlling the morphology of dendrites have been of great interest to a wide range of communities, since they are examples of an out-of-equilibrium pattern forming system, there is a clear connection with battery failure processes, and their morphology sets the properties of many metallic alloys. We determine the three-dimensional morphology of free growing metallic dendrites using a novel X-ray tomographic technique that improves the temporal resolution by more than an order of magnitude compared to conventional techniques. These measurements show that the growth morphology of metallic dendrites is surprisingly different from that seen in model systems, the morphologymore » is not self-similar with distance back from the tip, and that this morphology can have an unexpectedly strong influence on solute segregation in castings. As a result, these experiments also provide benchmark data that can be used to validate simulations of free dendritic growth.« less

The three-dimensional morphology of growing dendrites

DOE PAGES

Gibbs, J. W.; Mohan, K. A.; Gulsoy, E. B.; ...

2015-07-03

The processes controlling the morphology of dendrites have been of great interest to a wide range of communities, since they are examples of an out-of-equilibrium pattern forming system, there is a clear connection with battery failure processes, and their morphology sets the properties of many metallic alloys. We determine the three-dimensional morphology of free growing metallic dendrites using a novel X-ray tomographic technique that improves the temporal resolution by more than an order of magnitude compared to conventional techniques. These measurements show that the growth morphology of metallic dendrites is surprisingly different from that seen in model systems, the morphologymore » is not self-similar with distance back from the tip, and that this morphology can have an unexpectedly strong influence on solute segregation in castings. As a result, these experiments also provide benchmark data that can be used to validate simulations of free dendritic growth.« less

Factors influencing the preparation of silver-coated glass frit with polyvinyl-pyrrolidone

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xiang, Feng; Gan, Weiping

2018-01-01

In this work, a new electroless silver plating method for the synthesis of silver-coated glass frit composite powders with good morphology has been proposed and the polyvinyl-pyrrolidone (PVP) was used the activating agent. It was found that the weight ratio of PVP to glass frit affected the distribution and number of silver nanoparticles. Moreover, the loading capacity of the glass frit, the pH value and reaction temperature could influence the size of the silver nanoparticles and morphology of silver on the surface of glass frit. The as-prepared silver-coated glass frit was used to prepare a silver paste using an optimized process to form silver nanoparticles with uniform size and high density. The silver paste with silver-coated glass frit increased the photovoltaic conversion efficiency of silicon solar cells by 0.271% compared with the silver paste prepared with pure glass frit. The silver nanoparticles can promoted the precipitation of Ag crystallites on the silicon wafer. Therefore, the silver-coated glass frit can further optimize and enhance the electrical performance of solar cells.

Factors influencing career decisions in internal medicine.

PubMed

Macdonald, C; Cawood, T

2012-08-01

Numerous factors influence career decisions for internal medicine trainees and Fellows. There is a perception that a greater emphasis is placed on work-family balance by younger physicians. To determine the characteristics of the modern internal medicine workforce and ascertain whether job flexibility is important to career decision-making. We hypothesised that factors which reflect flexibility would be highly influential in decision-making, especially for women and those with young children. A questionnaire was mailed to 250 New Zealand internal medicine trainees and Fellows. It focused on factors, including job flexibility, interest and collegial support, and included demographic details which were primarily aimed at ascertaining family responsibilities. Response rate was 54%. The majority of female physicians are the main person responsible for their children (62%), and the majority of their partners work full-time (80%). This contrasts with male physicians, of whom only 4% are the main person responsible for their children. Flexibility was found to be more influential in women, those with young children, trainees and those working in outpatient-based subspecialties. However, contrary to our original hypothesis, flexibility was not reported to be highly influential in any group, with career choice being most influenced by interest and enjoyment, intellectual challenge and variety within the job. It is hoped that results will inform employers and those involved with training to enable them to better cater for the needs of the workforce and also encourage trainees to consider future family commitments when making career decisions. © 2012 The Authors. Internal Medicine Journal © 2012 Royal Australasian College of Physicians.

The Influence of Duration of Mechanical Activation of Titanium Powder on its Morphology, Microstructure, and Microhardness

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ditenberg, I. A.; Korchagin, M. A.; Pinzhin, Yu. P.; Melnikov, V. V.; Tyumentsev, A. N.; Grinyaev, K. V.; Smirnov, I. V.; Radishevskii, V. L.; Tsverova, A. S.; Sukhanov, I. I.

2017-10-01

Using the methods of X-ray diffraction analysis and scanning and transmission electron microscopy, an investigation of the influence of duration of mechanical activation on morphology and structure of titanium powder is performed. In the course of processing the following stages of material transformation are revealed: fragmentation of the initial powder, conglomeration, and ovalization of the conglomerates. It is found that when the duration of mechanical activation increases, the characteristic size of coherent scattering regions is significantly decreased, which is accompanied by an increase in the value of microdistortions and intensive fragmentation of the crystal lattice inside powder particles followed by the formation of highly defective nanostructured states. The transformation of microstructure is accompanied by a considerable increase in microhardness.

[Analysis on influencing factor of the complications of percutaneous dilational tracheotomy].

PubMed

Zhai, Xiang; Zhang, Jinling; Hang, Wei; Wang, Ming; Shi, Zhan; Mi, Yue; Hu, Yunlei; Liu, Gang

2015-01-01

To Analyze the influence factors on the complications of percutaneous dilational tracheotomy. Between August 2008 and February 2014, there were 3 450 patients with the indications of tracheotomy accepted percutaneous dilational tracheostomy, mainly using percutaneous dilational and percutaneous guide wire forceps in these cases. Statistical analysis was performed by SPSS 19.0 software on postoperative complications, the possible influence factors including age, gender, etiology, preoperative hypoxia, obesity, preoperative pulmonary infection, state of consciousness, operation method, operation doctor and whether with tracheal intubation. Among 3 450 patients, there were 164 cases with intraoperative or postoperative complications, including postoperative bleeding in 74 cases (2.14%), subcutaneous emphysema in 54 cases (1.57%), wound infection in 16 cases (0.46%), pneumothorax in 6 cases (0.17%), mediastinal emphysema in 5 cases (0.14%), operation failed and change to conventional incision in 4 cases (0.12%), tracheoesophageal fistula in 2 cases (0.06%), death in 3 cases(0.09%).Obesity, etiology, preoperative hypoxia, preoperative pulmonary infection, state of consciousness and operation method were the main influence factors, with significant statistical difference (χ(2) value was 0.010, 0.000, 0.002, 0.000, 0.000, 0.000, all P < 0.05). Gender, age, operation doctor and whether there was the endotracheal intubation were not the main influence factors. There was no significant statistical difference (P > 0.05). Although percutaneous dilational tracheostomy is safe, but the complications can also happen. In order to reduce the complications, it is need to pay attention to the factors of obesity, etiology, preoperative hypoxia, preoperative pulmonary infection, state of consciousness and operation method.

The influencing factors on place attachment in neighborhood of Kampung Melayu

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lestari, W. M.; Sumabrata, J.

2018-03-01

Place attachment on neighborhood differs according to place characteristics and person characteristics. By dividing the research area of Kelurahan Kampung Melayu into flood area and non-flood area, this research aims at analyzing place attachment on neighborhood and analyzing factors influencing the place attachment. This research using quantitative approach using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Self-administered questionnaires using likert scale were distributed randomly to 400 residents. Result of the research shows that residents tend to have place attachment to their neighborhood. Factors influencing place attachment on residents born in the neighborhood with length of stay 10 years or longer and having house are family factor for residents living in non-flood area and physical factor as well as social factor for residents in flood area. This research concludes that place attachment on neighborhood is formed because dimension of place is interpreted not merely physically but also socially, namely the existence of family ties and social relationship with people in the neighborhood.

Factors Influencing Learning Environments in an Integrated Experiential Program

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Koci, Peter

The research conducted for this dissertation examined the learning environment of a specific high school program that delivered the explicit curriculum through an integrated experiential manner, which utilized field and outdoor experiences. The program ran over one semester (five months) and it integrated the grade 10 British Columbian curriculum in five subjects. A mixed methods approach was employed to identify the students' perceptions and provide richer descriptions of their experiences related to their unique learning environment. Quantitative instruments were used to assess changes in students' perspectives of their learning environment, as well as other supporting factors including students' mindfulness, and behaviours towards the environment. Qualitative data collection included observations, open-ended questions, and impromptu interviews with the teacher. The qualitative data describe the factors and processes that influenced the learning environment and give a richer, deeper interpretation which complements the quantitative findings. The research results showed positive scores on all the quantitative measures conducted, and the qualitative data provided further insight into descriptions of learning environment constructs that the students perceived as most important. A major finding was that the group cohesion measure was perceived by students as the most important attribute of their preferred learning environment. A flow chart was developed to help the researcher conceptualize how the learning environment, learning process, and outcomes relate to one another in the studied program. This research attempts to explain through the consideration of this case study: how learning environments can influence behavioural change and how an interconnectedness among several factors in the learning process is influenced by the type of learning environment facilitated. Considerably more research is needed in this area to understand fully the complexity learning

Factors influencing perceived sustainability of Dutch community health programs.

PubMed

Vermeer, A J M; Van Assema, P; Hesdahl, B; Harting, J; De Vries, N K

2015-09-01

We assessed the perceived sustainability of community health programs organized by local intersectoral coalitions, as well as the factors that collaborating partners think might influence sustainability. Semi-structured interviews were conducted among 31 collaborating partners of 5 community health programs in deprived neighborhoods in the southern part of the Netherlands. The interview guide was based on a conceptual framework that includes factors related to the context, the leading organization, leadership, the coalition, collaborating partners, interventions and outcomes. Interviews were recorded, transcribed and content analyzed using NVivo 8.0. Participants in each of the programs varied in their perceptions of the sustainability of the program, but those people collaborating in pre-existing neighborhood structures expressed relatively high faith in their continuation. The participating citizens in particular believed that these structures would continue to address the health of the community in the future. We found factors from all categories of the conceptual framework that were perceived to influence sustainability. The program leaders appeared to be crucial to the programs, as they were frequently mentioned in close interaction with other factors. Program leaders should use a motivating and supportive leadership style and should act as 'program champions'. © The Author (2013). Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Personal and situational factors influencing coaches' perceptions of stress.

PubMed

Knight, Camilla J; Reade, Ian L; Selzler, Anne-Marie; Rodgers, Wendy M

2013-01-01

Coaching has been recognised as a demanding occupation, associated with a range of stressors. The extent to which coaches perceive stress is likely to be influenced by various personal and situational factors. The purpose of this study was to identify coaches' levels of perceived stress and examine the personal and situational factors that may influence coaches' perceptions of stress. In total, 502 coaches working with university, college, Canada Games, and/or nationally identified athletes completed this study. Coaches completed an online survey, which included questions regarding demographics, work/job-related considerations, and aspects relating to their contract. Coaches also completed the Perceived Stress Scale (Cohen, Kamarck, & Mermelstein, 1983). Overall coaches indicated slightly below average levels of perceived stress (M = 15.13 out of 40) compared with norm-values (Cohen & Janicki-Deverts, 2012). Demographic factors, job-related characteristics, and certain aspects of their contract were associated with coaches' perceptions of stress. In particular, unclear expectations, long-working hours (>40), lack of agreed evaluation criteria, higher salaries, and a lack of social support were related to higher perceptions of stress. As such, the findings of the current study indicate that a reduction in perceived stress is likely to be achieved through a multifaceted approach that addresses multiple factors associated with coaching.

Landslides geotechnical analysis. Qualitative assessment by valuation factors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cuanalo Oscar, Sc D.; Oliva Aldo, Sc D.; Polanco Gabriel, M. E.

2012-04-01

In general, a landslide can cause a disaster when it is combined a number of factors such as an extreme event related to a geological phenomenon, vulnerable elements exposed in a specific geographic area, and the probability of loss and damage evaluated in terms of lives and economic assets, in a certain period of time. This paper presents the qualitative evaluation of slope stability through of Valuation Factors, obtained from the characterization of the determinants and triggers factors that influence the instability; for the first the morphology and topography, geology, soil mechanics, hydrogeology and vegetation to the second, the rain, earthquakes, erosion and scour, human activity, and ultimately dependent factors of the stability analysis, and its influence ranges which greatly facilitate the selection of construction processes best suited to improve the behavior of a slope or hillside. The Valuation Factors are a set of parameters for assessing the influence of conditioning and triggering factors that influence the stability of slopes and hillsides. The characteristics of each factor must be properly categorized to involve its effect on behavior; a way to do this is by assigning a weighted value range indicating its effect on the stability of a slope. It is proposed to use Valuation Factors with weighted values between 0 and 1 (arbitrarily selected but common sense and logic), the first corresponds to no or minimal effect on stability (no effect or very little influence) and the second, the greatest impact on it (has a significant influence). The meddle effects are evaluated with intermediate values.

Percentage of different aluminum doping influence the morphological and optical properties of ZnO nanostructured growth for sensor application

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mohamed, R., E-mail: ruziana12@gmail.com; NANO-SciTech Centre, Institue of Science, Universiti Teknologi MARA, 40450 Shah Alam, Selangor; Faculty of Applied Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA Pahang, 26400 Bandar Tun Razak Jengka, Pahang

In this work, Zinc Oxide (ZnO) with different aluminum (Al) doping percentage was synthesis by sol gel immersion method. Al doped ZnO at various doping percentage from 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. It was found that with different Al percentage influence the morphological and optical properties of ZnO growth. Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM) image showed the use of different Al doping causes the difference in geometry and size of ZnO nanorods growth. Based on UV-Vis spectroscopy, the transmittance at 1% Al doping has the highest spectrum.

Factors that Influence Students' Decision to Dropout of Online Courses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Willging, Pedro A.; Johnson, Scott D.

2009-01-01

Although there are many reasons why students dropout of college courses, those reasons may be unique for students who are enrolled in an online program. Issues of isolation, disconnectedness, and technological problems may be factors that influence a student to leave a course. To understand these factors, an online survey was developed to collect…

Factors Influencing Female Registered Nurses' Work Behavior

PubMed Central

Brewer, Carol S; Kovner, Christine T; Wu, Yow-Wu; Greene, William; Liu, Yu; Reimers, Cordelia W

2006-01-01

Objective To analyze factors that are related to whether registered nurses (RNs) work (WK) or do not work (NW) in nursing; and if the RN works, whether she works full- (FT) or part-time (PT). Data Sources Secondary data from National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses 2000 (NSSRN), the InterStudy Competitive Edge Part III Regional Market Analysis (2001), and the Area Resource File (2002). Study Design Using a cross-sectional design we tested the relationship between WK or NW and FT or PT; and demographic, job-related, and metropolitan statistical area (MSA)-level variables. Data Collection/Extraction Methods We combined the data sources noted above to produce the analytic sample of 25,471 female RNs. Principal Findings Working in nursing is not independent of working FT or PT. Age (55 and older), other family income, and prior other work experience in health care are negatively related to working as an RN. The wage is not related to working as an RN, but negatively influences FT work. Age, children, minority status, student status, employment status, other income, and some job settings have a negative impact on working FT. Previous health care work has a positive effect on whether married RNs worked. Married RNs who are more dissatisfied are less likely to work FT. A greater number of market-level factors influence FT/PT than WK/NW behavior. Conclusions An important contribution of this study is demonstrating that MSA-level variables influence RN work behavior. The market environment seems to have little effect on whether a nurse works, but is influential on how much the nurse works, and has differential effects on married versus single nurses. PMID:16704517

Factors Influencing the Reliability of the Glasgow Coma Scale: A Systematic Review.

PubMed

Reith, Florence Cm; Synnot, Anneliese; van den Brande, Ruben; Gruen, Russell L; Maas, Andrew Ir

2017-06-01

The Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) characterizes patients with diminished consciousness. In a recent systematic review, we found overall adequate reliability across different clinical settings, but reliability estimates varied considerably between studies, and methodological quality of studies was overall poor. Identifying and understanding factors that can affect its reliability is important, in order to promote high standards for clinical use of the GCS. The aim of this systematic review was to identify factors that influence reliability and to provide an evidence base for promoting consistent and reliable application of the GCS. A comprehensive literature search was undertaken in MEDLINE, EMBASE, and CINAHL from 1974 to July 2016. Studies assessing the reliability of the GCS in adults or describing any factor that influences reliability were included. Two reviewers independently screened citations, selected full texts, and undertook data extraction and critical appraisal. Methodological quality of studies was evaluated with the consensus-based standards for the selection of health measurement instruments checklist. Data were synthesized narratively and presented in tables. Forty-one studies were included for analysis. Factors identified that may influence reliability are education and training, the level of consciousness, and type of stimuli used. Conflicting results were found for experience of the observer, the pathology causing the reduced consciousness, and intubation/sedation. No clear influence was found for the professional background of observers. Reliability of the GCS is influenced by multiple factors and as such is context dependent. This review points to the potential for improvement from training and education and standardization of assessment methods, for which recommendations are presented. Copyright © 2017 by the Congress of Neurological Surgeons.

Succesful Lean Manufacturing Implementation: Internal Key Influencing Factors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Virginia, Iuga; Claudiu, Kifor

2015-09-01

Manufacturing sectors and companies all over the world are successfully implementing lean principles within their processes. Nowadays, lean has become an indispensable part of global players. Companies worldwide need to be aware of multiple factors which weigh heavily on the success or failure of lean implementation. This paper focuses on giving a brief and structured overview over the fundamental organizational factors which play a substantial role for the lean manufacturing (LM) implementation process. The study below focuses on internal factors which are indispensable for a successful LM implementation within organizations. It is imperative that these internal factors are known, recognized and taken into consideration during the whole LM implementation process. Ignoring their influence on the process's implementation may lead to endangering the expected results or to making the process more difficult which could result in much higher human resource consumption.

FACTORS INFLUENCING CHOICE OF ORAL HYGIENE PRODUCTS BY DENTAL PATIENTS IN A NIGERIAN TEACHING HOSPITAL.

PubMed

Opeodu, O I; Gbadebo, S O

2017-06-01

Several factors, such as cost, branding, packaging and family influence, had been implicated as influencing the choice of toothpastes and toothbrushes by individuals. Media advertisement is also considered a very strong factor influencing consumer's choice. To assess the extent to which some factors influenced the choice of toothpastes and toothbrushes among dental patients in a Nigerian teaching hospital. Two-hundred and two patients were interviewed on factors that influenced their choice of toothbrush and toothpaste. Some of the factors considered include the cost, packaging, brand, media advertisement and their previous experience. Factors that affected choice of toothbrush by respondents included texture (89.6%), brand (62.9%), previous experience (64.4%) and for toothpaste, fluoride content (62.4%), previous experience (69.3%), and advice by a dentist (55.0%). Media advertisement was the least influential in their choice of toothpaste (29.2%) and toothbrush (24.3%). Consideration for fluoride was a stronger factor than herbal contents in the choice of toothpaste (P<0.001). Previous experience seems to be a very strong factor in the choice of both the toothbrush and toothpaste in this study, which suggest that for as long as the respondents are satisfied with a particular product, they will stick to it.

FACTORS INFLUENCING CHOICE OF ORAL HYGIENE PRODUCTS BY DENTAL PATIENTS IN A NIGERIAN TEACHING HOSPITAL

PubMed Central

Opeodu, O.I.; Gbadebo, S.O.

2017-01-01

Background: Several factors, such as cost, branding, packaging and family influence, had been implicated as influencing the choice of toothpastes and toothbrushes by individuals. Media advertisement is also considered a very strong factor influencing consumer's choice. Aim: To assess the extent to which some factors influenced the choice of toothpastes and toothbrushes among dental patients in a Nigerian teaching hospital. Materials and methods: Two-hundred and two patients were interviewed on factors that influenced their choice of toothbrush and toothpaste. Some of the factors considered include the cost, packaging, brand, media advertisement and their previous experience. Results: Factors that affected choice of toothbrush by respondents included texture (89.6%), brand (62.9%), previous experience (64.4%) and for toothpaste, fluoride content (62.4%), previous experience (69.3%), and advice by a dentist (55.0%). Media advertisement was the least influential in their choice of toothpaste (29.2%) and toothbrush (24.3%). Consideration for fluoride was a stronger factor than herbal contents in the choice of toothpaste (P<0.001) Conclusion: Previous experience seems to be a very strong factor in the choice of both the toothbrush and toothpaste in this study, which suggest that for as long as the respondents are satisfied with a particular product, they will stick to it. PMID:28970772

Lexicality, morphological structure, and semantic transparency in the processing of German ver-verbs: The complementarity of on-line and off-line evidence.

PubMed

Schirmeier, Matthias K; Derwing, Bruce L; Libben, Gary

2004-01-01

Two types of experiments investigate the visual on-line and off-line processing of German ver-verbs (e.g., verbittern 'to embitter'). In Experiments 1 and 2 (morphological priming), latency patterns revealed the existence of facilitation effects for the morphological conditions (BITTER-VERBITTERN and BITTERN-VERBITTERN) as compared to the neutral conditions (SAUBER-VERBITTERN and SAUBERN-VERBITTERN). In Experiments 3 and 4 (rating tasks) participants had to judge whether the target (VERBITTERN) "comes from," "contains a form of," or "contains the meaning of" the root (BITTER) or the root+en substring (BITTERN). Taken together, these studies revealed the combined influence of the three factors of lexicality (real word status), morphological structure, and semantic transparency.

Factors that influencing the usage of global distribution system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Budiasa, I. M.; Suparta, I. K.; Nadra, N. M.

2018-01-01

The advancement of Tourism is supported by Information and Communication Technology (ICT) innovation and changes. The use of GDS (Global Distribution System) i.e. Amadeus, Galileo, Sabre, and Worldspan in the tourism industry can increase the availability, frequency and speed of communication among the companies in providing services to potential tourists. This research is to investigate the factors that influence the actual use of GDS in the tourism industry especially travel agents, airlines and hotels in Bali. This research employed a mixed method of quantitative and qualitative approaches. Field surveys were conducted and 80 valid questionnaires were received and analyzed by using SPSS 17.0; descriptive, correlation, factor analysis and regression tests were conducted. The variables used are Perceived Ease of Use and Perceived Usefulness (Technology Acceptance Model); Awareness, Perceived Risk and Communication Channels are examined. This research revealed that Perceived Ease of Use, Perceived Usefulness, Awareness, and Communication Channels influence the Behavioural intention to use GDS, whereas Perceived Risk were found not significant influence the use of GDS. These findings enable travel agent, airline and hotel companies to make provision decision with respect to the actual use of GDS.

Influence of psychological factors on the acceptance of complete dentures.

PubMed

al Quran, F; Clifford, T; Cooper, C; Lamey, P J

2001-07-01

To assess the influence of psychological factors on the acceptance of complete dentures in a population wearing dentures judged to be clinically satisfactory. Subjects were asked to complete personality profiles and also to rate their dentures using a denture satisfaction questionnaire. The survey was conducted in the prosthetics clinic of a teaching hospital. Patients were selected from those who had new complete dentures constructed in the department within the previous two years. The personality inventory was a self-administered questionnaire comprising 240 items covering the five domains of personality. Denture satisfaction was scored on a nine item scale with four Likert type responses to each. A group of 16% consistently complained about their dentures. Statistical analysis showed that personality factors especially Neuroticism had a significant relationship with denture satisfaction. Psychological factors significantly influence denture satisfaction and profiles may provide useful in predicting potential difficult denture wearers.

Implementing complex innovations: factors influencing middle manager support.

PubMed

Chuang, Emmeline; Jason, Kendra; Morgan, Jennifer Craft

2011-01-01

Middle manager resistance is often described as a major challenge for upper-level administrators seeking to implement complex innovations such as evidence-based protocols or new skills training. However, factors influencing middle manager support for innovation implementation are currently understudied in the U.S. health care literature. This article examined the factors that influence middle managers' support for and participation in the implementation of work-based learning, a complex innovation adopted by health care organizations to improve the jobs, educational pathways, skills, and/or credentials of their frontline workers. We conducted semistructured interviews and focus groups with 92 middle managers in 17 health care organizations. Questions focused on understanding middle managers' support for work-based learning as a complex innovation, facilitators and barriers to the implementation process, and the systems changes needed to support the implementation of this innovation. Factors that emerged as influential to middle manager support were similar to those found in broader models of innovation implementation within the health care literature. However, our findings extend previous research by developing an understanding about how middle managers perceived these constructs and by identifying specific strategies for how to influence middle manager support for the innovation implementation process. These findings were generally consistent across different types of health care organizations. Study findings suggest that middle manager support was highest when managers felt the innovation fit their workplace needs and priorities and when they had more discretion and control over how it was implemented. Leaders seeking to implement innovations should consider the interplay between middle managers' control and discretion, their narrow focus on the performance of their own departments or units, and the dedication of staff and other resources for empowering their

Key Factors that Influence Recruiting Young Chinese Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Zhenmin

2007-01-01

The discussion in this paper is based on the assumption that international education is equated to recruiting and educating international students, even though its true concept goes far beyond this narrow understanding. The purpose of this research is to look at the key factors that influence recruiting young Chinese students, and make sure all…

High Enrollment Course Success Factors in Virtual School: Factors Influencing Student Academic Achievement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liu, Feng; Cavanaugh, Cathy

2011-01-01

This paper describes a study of success factors in high enrollment courses in a K-12 virtual school learning environment. The influence of variables: time student spent in the learning management system (LMS), number of times logged into the LMS, teacher comment, participation in free or reduced lunch programs, student status in the virtual school…

Integrating environmental, molecular, and morphological data to unravel an ice-age radiation of arctic-alpine Campanula in western North America

PubMed Central

DeChaine, Eric G; Wendling, Barry M; Forester, Brenna R

2014-01-01

Many arctic-alpine plant genera have undergone speciation during the Quaternary. The bases for these radiations have been ascribed to geographic isolation, abiotic and biotic differences between populations, and/or hybridization and polyploidization. The Cordilleran Campanula L. (Campanulaceae Juss.), a monophyletic clade of mostly endemic arctic-alpine taxa from western North America, experienced a recent and rapid radiation. We set out to unravel the factors that likely influenced speciation in this group. To do so, we integrated environmental, genetic, and morphological datasets, tested biogeographic hypotheses, and analyzed the potential consequences of the various factors on the evolutionary history of the clade. We created paleodistribution models to identify potential Pleistocene refugia for the clade and estimated niche space for individual taxa using geographic and climatic data. Using 11 nuclear loci, we reconstructed a species tree and tested biogeographic hypotheses derived from the paleodistribution models. Finally, we tested 28 morphological characters, including floral, vegetative, and seed characteristics, for their capacity to differentiate taxa. Our results show that the combined effect of Quaternary climatic variation, isolation among differing environments in the mountains in western North America, and biotic factors influencing floral morphology contributed to speciation in this group during the mid-Pleistocene. Furthermore, our biogeographic analyses uncovered asynchronous consequences of interglacial and glacial periods for the timing of refugial isolation within the southern and northwestern mountains, respectively. These findings have broad implications for understanding the processes promoting speciation in arctic-alpine plants and the rise of numerous endemic taxa across the region. PMID:25505522

Influence of cyclical fatigue on torsional fracture morphology in endodontic instruments.

PubMed

Lopreite, Gustavo; Basilaki, Jorge; Hecht, Pedro

2013-01-01

Cyclical fatigue may influence the appearance and propagation of the type of fracture of an endodontic instrument. The aim of this study was to assess the influence of cyclic fatigue on morphological features of torsional fracture in Pathfile nickel-titanium rotary instruments for surgical preparation in endodontics. Thirty new Pathfile instruments (Dentsply- Maillefer. Ballaigues-Switzerland) diameter .13 and taper .02 were randomly divided into 5 groups (n = 6). Twenty-four of them were subject to cyclical fatigue by continuous rotation using a stainless steel cylinder with internal bore 0.5 mm, length 25 mm, with a curve of 45 degrees and radius 8 mm at 5 mm from the tip, at 300 rpm and 1 Ncm torque for different times: A: 15 sec, B: 75 sec, C: 150 sec and D: 300 sec, while the fifth group was kept as a control (group N). As a second step, the instruments were rotated at 2 rpm and 1 Ncm torque, with their apical 3 mm fixed in a resin block until they suffered torsional fracture. The fracture surfaces were analyzed using a conventional high-vacuum scanning electron microscope (Phillips mod. 515) at 400x. All instruments had ductile fracture areas of different sizes. The ductile fracture areas were measured as percentages of the total area of the instrument by means of Golden Ratio (Softonic) software for measuring images. The data obtained were analyzed statistically using one-way variance analysis followed by Tukey's multiple comparison test. There were significant differences among groups regarding cyclic fatigue time and fragile fracture area (P < .001). Comparison of percentages shows five significant differences between N/C; N/D; A/D; C/N and C/A. No other comparison was significant. It is concluded that the increase in cyclical fatigue to which the rotating PathFile instrument is subject significantly increases the percentage of ductile fracture area produced by torsion.

Factors Influencing the Career Planning and Development of University Students in Jordan

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Khasawneh, Samer

2010-01-01

The purpose of this study was to translate and validate an Arabic version of the career influence inventory for use in Jordan. The study also investigated perceptions of university students of the influential factors that have influenced their career planning and development. The validated career influence inventory was administered to 558…

Personal and social factors that influence pro-environmental concern and behaviour: a review.

PubMed

Gifford, Robert; Nilsson, Andreas

2014-06-01

We review the personal and social influences on pro-environmental concern and behaviour, with an emphasis on recent research. The number of these influences suggests that understanding pro-environmental concern and behaviour is far more complex than previously thought. The influences are grouped into 18 personal and social factors. The personal factors include childhood experience, knowledge and education, personality and self-construal, sense of control, values, political and world views, goals, felt responsibility, cognitive biases, place attachment, age, gender and chosen activities. The social factors include religion, urban-rural differences, norms, social class, proximity to problematic environmental sites and cultural and ethnic variations We also recognize that pro-environmental behaviour often is undertaken based on none of the above influences, but because individuals have non-environmental goals such as to save money or to improve their health. Finally, environmental outcomes that are a result of these influences undoubtedly are determined by combinations of the 18 categories. Therefore, a primary goal of researchers now should be to learn more about how these many influences moderate and mediate one another to determine pro-environmental behaviour. © 2014 International Union of Psychological Science.

Factors that Influence RF Breakdown in Antenna Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Caughman, J. B. O.; Baity, F. W.; Rasmussen, D. A.; Aghazarian, M.; Castano Giraldo, C. H.; Ruzic, David

2007-11-01

One of the main power-limiting factors in antenna systems is the maximum voltage that the antenna or vacuum transmission line can sustain before breaking down. The factors that influence RF breakdown are being studied in a resonant 1/4-wavelength section of vacuum transmission line terminated with an open circuit electrode structure. Breakdown can be initiated via electron emission by high electric fields and by plasma formation in the structure, depending on the gas pressure. Recent experiments have shown that a 1 kG magnetic field can influence plasma formation at pressures as low as 8x10-5 Torr at moderate voltage levels (<5 kV). Ultraviolet light, with energies near the work function of the electrode material, can induce a multipactor discharge and limit power transmission. Details of these experimental results, including the effect of electrode materials (Ni and Cu), will be presented. Oak Ridge National Laboratory is managed by UT-Battelle, LLC, for the U.S. Dept. of Energy under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725. Work supported by USDOE with grant DE-FG02-04ER54765

Preparation and the influencing factors of timozolomide liposomes.

PubMed

Kong, Bin; Sun, Yong; Li, Yongjian; Hu, Dejian

2009-01-01

To prepare timozolomide liposomes for administration through nasal mucous membrane, we studied the factors of the preparation of the liposomes. The timozolomide liposomes were prepared by the ammonium sulphate gradient method; electroscopy and laser particle analyzer were utilized to determine the conformation, size and distribution of timozolomide liposomes; high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was applied to determine the entrapping efficiency of timozolomide liposomes; then we studied the influences of the concentration of ammonium sulphate solution, temperature, and the drug-to-lipid ratio on the entrapping efficiency. The average size of timozolomide liposomes was 185 nm; the entrapping efficiency was 90.3%. The entrapping efficiency was enhanced with the increasing of the concentration of ammonium sulphate solution and the rising of temperature, and decreased with the increasing of the drug-to-lipid ratio. The timozolomide liposomes with high entrapping efficiency, small and even particle sizes could be prepared by the simple and convenient ammonium sulphate gradient method. The primary influencing factors on the entrapping efficiency of timozolomide liposomes were the concentration of ammonium sulphate solution, the temperature, and the drug-to-lipid ratio.

A Phenomenological Study: The Influence of Noncognitive Factors on Academically Unprepared College Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thom, Danny Moire

2012-01-01

This phenomenological research explored the influence of noncognitive factors in four areas: early educational factors, personal factors, affective factors, and noncognitive skill factors to understand the phenomenon of college students' academic underpreparedness. Findings related to textual categories indicated personal factors such as a…

Factors that influence nurses' job satisfaction.

PubMed

Ma, Chen-Chung; Samuels, Michael E; Alexander, Judith W

2003-05-01

To examine factors affecting the job satisfaction of registered nurses (RNs). A growing recognition of job dissatisfaction among RNs in South Carolina hospitals has contributed to current problems with recruitment and retention. If administrators identify factors influencing RNs' job satisfaction in hospitals and implement strategies to address these factors, RN turnover rates will decrease and recruiting and retention rates will increase. A cross-sectional study of secondary data was designed to identify the individual, work, and geographic factors that impact nursing job satisfaction at the state level. A 27-question self-administered survey was sent to 17,500 RNs in South Carolina with postage-paid envelopes for their responses. Surveys from 3472 nurses were completed anonymously. Univariate statistics were used to describe the study sample. One-way and multivariable Analysis of Variance were used to determine which variables contributed the most to job satisfaction. For about two thirds of the RNs, job satisfaction remained the same or had lessened over the past 2 years. In addition, statistically significant differences were found between job satisfaction and years of service, job position, hospital retirement plan, and geographic area. The findings have implications for nurse managers and hospital administrators for planning and implementing effective health policies that will meet the unique needs of their staffs and organizations. Such research is particularly relevant in this difficult time of nursing shortages throughout the healthcare industry.

Factors Influencing Students' Achievement in Form 5 Islamic Studies Subject

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

bin Che Noh, Mohd Aderi; Omar, Noraini binti; bin Kasan, Hasnan

2013-01-01

This study is aimed at analyzing the factors influencing the achievements of students in the subject of Islamic Studies for Form 5 SPM (KBSM) in schools in the area of Samarahan, Sarawak. The factors analysed is attitude and interest. This is a survey based study and data was compiled from the survey forms which had the topic "Factors…

Weaning from mechanical ventilation: factors that influence intensive care nurses' decision-making.

PubMed

Tingsvik, Catarina; Johansson, Karin; Mårtensson, Jan

2015-01-01

The aim of the study was to describe the factors that influence intensive care nurses' decision-making when weaning patients from mechanical ventilation. Patients with failing vital function may require respiratory support. Weaning from mechanical ventilation is a process in which the intensive care nurse participates in both planning and implementation. A qualitative approach was used. The data were collected by means of semi-structured interviews with 22 intensive care nurses. The interviews were transcribed and analysed using qualitative content analysis. One theme emerged: 'A complex nursing situation where the patient receives attention and which is influenced by the current care culture'. There was consensus that the overall assessment of the patient made by the intensive care nurse was the main factor that influenced the decision-making process. This assessment was a continuous process consisting of three factors: the patient's perspective as well as her/his physical and mental state. On the other hand, there was a lack of consensus about what other factors influenced the decision-making process. These factors included the care culture constituted by the characteristics of the team, the intensive care nurses' professional skills, personalities and ability to be present. The individual overall assessment of the patient enabled nursing care from a holistic perspective. Furthermore, the weaning process can be more effective and potential suffering reduced by creating awareness of the care culture's impact on the decision-making process. © 2014 British Association of Critical Care Nurses.

A proposed model of factors influencing hydrogen fuel cell vehicle acceptance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Imanina, N. H. Noor; Kwe Lu, Tan; Fadhilah, A. R.

2016-03-01

Issues such as environmental problem and energy insecurity keep worsening as a result of energy use from household to huge industries including automotive industry. Recently, a new type of zero emission vehicle, hydrogen fuel cell vehicle (HFCV) has received attention. Although there are argues on the feasibility of hydrogen as the future fuel, there is another important issue, which is the acceptance of HFCV. The study of technology acceptance in the early stage is a vital key for a successful introduction and penetration of a technology. This paper proposes a model of factors influencing green vehicle acceptance, specifically HFCV. This model is built base on two technology acceptance theories and other empirical studies of vehicle acceptance. It aims to provide a base for finding the key factors influencing new sustainable energy fuelled vehicle, HFCV acceptance which is achieved by explaining intention to accept HFCV. Intention is influenced by attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioural control from Theory of Planned Behaviour and personal norm from Norm Activation Theory. In the framework, attitude is influenced by perceptions of benefits and risks, and social trust. Perceived behavioural control is influenced by government interventions. Personal norm is influenced by outcome efficacy and problem awareness.

Factors influencing restaurant worker perception of floor slipperiness.

PubMed

Courtney, Theodore K; Huang, Yueng-Hsiang; Verma, Santosh K; Chang, Wen-Ruey; Li, Kai Way; Filiaggi, Alfred J

2006-11-01

Falls are responsible for a substantial injury burden in the global workplace. Restaurant environments are particularly challenged by slips, trips, and falls. This study explored those factors that could influence workers' self-reports of slipperiness in U.S. fast-food restaurants. One hundred and twenty-six workers employed in 10 fast-food restaurants in the northeastern United States participated in the study representing a study-wide response rate of 87.5%. Participants' ratings of floor slipperiness and occupational slip history within the past 4 weeks were collected through written questionnaire. Additional factors collected by questionnaire included age, gender, shift length, and shoe type. Shoe condition (wear) and shoe contamination were visually assessed by the investigators. Floor friction was also measured. Lower restaurant mean coefficient of friction and the presence of contamination on workers' shoe soles were environmental factors significantly associated with workers reporting more slippery conditions. A recent workplace history of slipping with or without a subsequent fall was also significantly associated with workers reporting more slippery conditions. Workers over the age of 45 reported conditions to be significantly less slippery than younger workers. The results suggest that worker ratings of slipperiness are influenced not only by the actual level of friction but also by the other individual and environmental factors noted above. Recommendations for future studies would include a longitudinal design to better capture the temporal sequence between these variables. More field research is needed to better understand the association between workplace conditions, worker perception of slipperiness, and slipping at work.

Genetic and pharmacological factors that influence reproductive aging in nematodes.

PubMed

Hughes, Stacie E; Evason, Kimberley; Xiong, Chengjie; Kornfeld, Kerry

2007-02-16

Age-related degenerative changes in the reproductive system are an important aspect of aging, because reproductive success is the major determinant of evolutionary fitness. Caenorhabditis elegans is a prominent organism for studies of somatic aging, since many factors that extend adult lifespan have been identified. However, mechanisms that control reproductive aging in nematodes or other animals are not well characterized. To use C. elegans to measure reproductive aging, we analyzed mated hermaphrodites that do not become sperm depleted and monitored the duration and level of progeny production. Mated hermaphrodites display a decline of progeny production that culminates in reproductive cessation before the end of the lifespan, demonstrating that hermaphrodites undergo reproductive aging. To identify factors that influence reproductive aging, we analyzed genetic, environmental, and pharmacological factors that extend lifespan. Dietary restriction and reduced insulin/insulin-like growth factor signaling delayed reproductive aging, indicating that nutritional status and a signaling pathway that responds to environmental stress influence reproductive aging. Cold temperature delayed reproductive aging. The anticonvulsant medicine ethosuximide, which affects neural activity, delayed reproductive aging, indicating that neural activity can influence reproductive aging. Some of these factors decrease early progeny production, but there is no consistent relationship between early progeny production and reproductive aging in strains with an extended lifespan. To directly examine the effects of early progeny production on reproductive aging, we used sperm availability to modulate the level of early reproduction. Early progeny production neither accelerated nor delayed reproductive aging, indicating that reproductive aging is not controlled by use-dependent mechanisms. The implications of these findings for evolutionary theories of aging are discussed.

Exploring the factors influencing clinical students' self-regulated learning.

PubMed

Berkhout, Joris J; Helmich, Esther; Teunissen, Pim W; van den Berg, Joost W; van der Vleuten, Cees P M; Jaarsma, A Debbie C

2015-06-01

The importance of self-regulated learning (SRL) has been broadly recognised by medical education institutions and regulatory bodies. Supporting the development of SRL skills has proven difficult because self-regulation is a complex interactive process and we know relatively little about the factors influencing this process in real practice settings. The aim of our study was therefore to identify factors that support or hamper medical students' SRL in a clinical context. We conducted a constructivist grounded theory study using semi-structured interviews with 17 medical students from two universities enrolled in clerkships. Participants were purposively sampled to ensure variety in age, gender, experience and current clerkship. The Day Reconstruction Method was used to help participants remember their activities of the previous day. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed iteratively using constant comparison and open, axial and interpretive coding. Self-regulated learning by students in the clinical environment was influenced by the specific goals perceived by students, the autonomy they experienced, the learning opportunities they were given or created themselves, and the anticipated outcomes of an activity. All of these factors were affected by personal, contextual and social attributes. Self-regulated learning of medical students in the clinical environment is different for every individual. The factors influencing this process are affected by personal, social and contextual attributes. Some of these are similar to those known from previous research in classroom settings, but others are unique to the clinical environment and include the facilities available, the role of patients, and social relationships pertaining to peers and other hospital staff. To better support students' SRL, we believe it is important to increase students' metacognitive awareness and to offer students more tailored learning opportunities. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Cobalt treatment does not prevent glomerular morphological alterations in type 1 diabetic rats.

PubMed

Singh, Gaaminepreet; Krishan, Pawan

2018-06-02

Early renal morphological alterations including glomerular hypertrophy and mesangial expansion occur in diabetic kidney disease and correlate with various clinical manifestations of diabetes. The present study was designed to investigate the influence of pharmacological modulation of HIF-1α (hypoxia inducible factor-1 alpha) protein levels, on these glomerular changes in rodent model of type 1 diabetes. Male wistar rats were made diabetic (Streptozotocin 45 mg/kg; i.p.) and afterwards treated with HIF activator cobalt chloride for 4 weeks. Renal function was assessed by serum creatinine, albumin, proteinuria levels, oxidative stress: reduced glutathione levels and catalase activity, and renal tissue HIF-1α protein levels were determined by ELISA assay. Histological analysis of kidney sections was done by haematoxylin and eosin (glomeruli diameter), periodic acid Schiff (mesangial expansion and glomerulosclerosis) and sirius red (fibrosis, tubular dilation) staining. Diabetes rats displayed reduced serum albumin levels, marked proteinuria, lower kidney reduced glutathione content, glomerular hypertrophy, glomerulosclerosis, mesangial expansion, tubular dilation and renal fibrosis. Cobalt chloride treatment normalised renal HIF-1α protein levels, reduced development of proteinuria and tubulo-interstitial fibrosis, but the glomerular morphological alterations such as glomerulosclerosis, mesangial expansion, increased glomerular diameter and tubular vacoulations were not abrogated in diabetic kidneys. Glomerular morphological abnormalities might precede the development of proteinuria and renal fibrosis in experimental model of type 1 diabetes. Pharmacological modulation of renal HIF-1α protein levels does not influence glomerular and tubular dilatory changes in diabetic kidney disease.

Evolutionary changes of Hox genes and relevant regulatory factors provide novel insights into mammalian morphological modifications.

PubMed

Li, Kui; Sun, Xiaohui; Chen, Meixiu; Sun, Yingying; Tian, Ran; Wang, Zhengfei; Xu, Shixia; Yang, Guang

2018-01-01

The diversity of body plans of mammals accelerates the innovation of lifestyles and the extensive adaptation to different habitats, including terrestrial, aerial and aquatic habitats. However, the genetic basis of those phenotypic modifications, which have occurred during mammalian evolution, remains poorly explored. In the present study, we synthetically surveyed the evolutionary pattern of Hox clusters that played a powerful role in the morphogenesis along the head-tail axis of animal embryos and the main regulatory factors (Mll, Bmi1 and E2f6) that control the expression of Hox genes. A deflected density of repetitive elements and lineage-specific radical mutations of Mll have been determined in marine mammals with morphological changes, suggesting that evolutionary changes may alter Hox gene expression in these lineages, leading to the morphological modification of these lineages. Although no positive selection was detected at certain ancestor nodes of lineages, the increased ω values of Hox genes implied the relaxation of functional constraints of these genes during the mammalian evolutionary process. More importantly, 49 positively-selected sites were identified in mammalian lineages with phenotypic modifications, indicating adaptive evolution acting on Hox genes and regulatory factors. In addition, 3 parallel amino acid substitutions in some Hox genes were examined in marine mammals, which might be responsible for their streamlined body. © 2017 The Authors. Integrative Zoology published by International Society of Zoological Sciences, Institute of Zoology/Chinese Academy of Sciences and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

Abuse of Working Children and Influencing Factors, Turkey

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oncu, Emine; Kurt, Ahmet Oner; Esenay, Figen Isik; Ozer, Fatma

2013-01-01

Objective: The study was planned as the research of the kind/kinds of abuse and the factors influencing the abuse that the children under 18 who are working full-time at a workplace and enrolled in a vocational training center subjected to. Method: Questionnaires were administered to 595 apprentices who were attending a vocational training center.…

P14.21 Can vascular risk factors influence number of brain metastases?

PubMed Central

Berk, B.; Nagel, S.; Kortmann, R.; Hoffmann, K.; Gaudino, C.; Seidel, C.

2017-01-01

Abstract BACKGROUND: Up to 30-40% of patients with solid tumors develop cerebral metastases. Number of cerebral metastases is relevant for treatment and prognosis. However, factors that determine number of metastases are not well defined. Distribution of metastases is influenced by blood vessels and cerebral small vessel disease can reduce number of metastases. Aim of this pilot study was to analyze the influence of vascular risk factors (arterial hypertension, diabetes mellitus, smoking, hypercholesterolemia) and of peripheral arterial occlusive disease (PAOD) on number of brain metastases. METHODS: 200 patients with pre-therapeutic 3D-brain MRI and available clinical data were analyzed retrospectively. Number of metastases (NoM) was compared between patients with/without vascular risk factors (vasRF). Results: Patients with PAOD had significant less brain metastases than patients without PAOD (NoM=4.43 vs. 6.02, p=0.043), no other single vasRF conferred a significant effect on NoM. NoM differed significantly between different tumor entities. CONCLUSION: Presence of PAOD showed some effect on number of brain metastases implying that tumor-independent vascular factors can influence brain metastasation.

Factors Influencing Postsecondary Education Enrollment Behaviors of Urban Agricultural Education Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Esters, Levon T.

2007-01-01

The purpose of this study was to identify the factors that influenced the postsecondary education enrollment behaviors of students who graduated from an urban agricultural education program. Students indicated that parents and/or guardians had the most influence on their decisions to enroll in a postsecondary education program of agriculture.…

Factors influencing avian communities in high-elevation southern Allegheny mountain forests

Treesearch

Harry A. Kahler; James T. Anderson

2010-01-01

Myriad factors may influence bird community characteristics among subalpine, central, and northern hardwood forest cover types of the southern Allegheny Mountains. Differences in forest cover types may result from natural characteristics, such as tree species composition, topography, or elevation, as well as from past influences, such as poor logging practices. Our...

Metal Oxide Gas Sensors: Sensitivity and Influencing Factors

PubMed Central

Wang, Chengxiang; Yin, Longwei; Zhang, Luyuan; Xiang, Dong; Gao, Rui

2010-01-01

Conductometric semiconducting metal oxide gas sensors have been widely used and investigated in the detection of gases. Investigations have indicated that the gas sensing process is strongly related to surface reactions, so one of the important parameters of gas sensors, the sensitivity of the metal oxide based materials, will change with the factors influencing the surface reactions, such as chemical components, surface-modification and microstructures of sensing layers, temperature and humidity. In this brief review, attention will be focused on changes of sensitivity of conductometric semiconducting metal oxide gas sensors due to the five factors mentioned above. PMID:22294916

Morphological and motor characteristics of Croatian first league female football players.

PubMed

Jelaska, Petra Mandić; Katić, Ratko; Jelaska, Igor

2013-05-01

The aim of this study was to determine the structure of morphological and motor characteristics of Croatian first league female football players and their impact on the estimated quality of the players. According to the goal of the research, a sample consisted of 70 Croatian first league female football players. Participants were measured in 18 tests for assessing morphological characteristics, a set of 12 basic motor abilities tests and a set of 7 tests for assessing football-specific motor abilities. Exploratory factor analysis strategy was applied separately to all measured tests: morphological, basic motor abilities and football specific motor abilities. Factor analysis of morphological tests has shown existence of 3 significant latent dimensions that explain 64% of the total variability. Factors are defined as transverse dimensionality of the skeleton and voluminosity (35%), subcutaneous fat tissue (16%) and longitudinal dimensionality of the skeleton (13%). In the area of basic motor abilities, four factors were extracted. The first factor is responsible for the integration of agility and explosive power of legs, i.e. a factor of movement regulation (agility/lower body explosiveness) (23%), the second one defines muscle tone regulation (15%), the third one defines the frequency of leg movements (12%), while the fourth one is recognized as responsible for the manifestation of basic strength, particularly of basic core strength (19%). Two factors were isolated in the space of football-specific motor abilities: football-specific efficiency (53%) and situational football coordination (27%). Furthermore, by use of factor analysis on extracted latent dimensions (morphological, basic and football specific motor abilities) two higher order factors (explaining 87% of common variability) were extracted. They were named morphological-motor factor (54%) and football-specific motor abilities factor (33%). It is assumed that two extracted higher-order factors fully

Influence of Particle Size Distribution on the Morphology and Cavitation Resistance of High-Velocity Oxygen Fuel Coatings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Silveira, L. L.; Sucharski, G. B.; Pukasiewicz, A. G. M.; Paredes, R. S. C.

2018-04-01

The cavitation wear process is one of the major wear mechanisms in turbines and rotors of hydroelectric power plants in Brazil. An effective way to increase the cavitation resistance is the use of coatings, applied by thermal spraying. The high-velocity oxy-fuel process (HVOF) is one of the most used thermal spraying processes, and it is widely adopted for applying coatings for protection against wear and in maintenance components. A FeCrMnSiB experimental alloy was deposited onto SAE 1020 substrate by HVOF process, in order to evaluate the influence of the powder particle size range on the morphology and cavitation resistance of the coatings. The morphology of the coatings showed an increase in oxide content with powder size reduction. The increase in the powder particle size reduced the wettability of the particles, observed by the increase in the quantity of non-melted particles. Higher particle size distribution led to an increase in erosion rate, due to higher presence of non-melted particles in the coatings and consequently reduction of splats adhesion. The cavitation damage was perceived mainly by the mechanism of lamellae detachment; however, part of the damage was also absorbed by strain hardening due to the γ- ɛ martensitic transformation.

[New nurse turnover intention and influencing factors].

PubMed

Han, Sang Sook; Sohn, In Soon; Kim, Nam Eun

2009-12-01

The study was done to identify turnover intention in new nurses according to characteristics of the nurses and other factors affecting turnover and to provide data to set up a strategy to reduce the turnover. Data were collected from 1,077 new nurses who had less than 12 months employment experience and worked in one of 188 hospitals. Eight research instruments were used. Data analysis was done using SPSS WIN 15.0 program. Several factors influence new nurse turnover intention. The average score for turnover intention was 2.12. The scores for subscales were self efficacy, 3.76, nursing performance, 3.90, job satisfaction, 2.09, organization commitment, 1.28, stress, 1.32, burnout, 2.82 and nursing organizational culture, 3.29. Turnover intention was related to self efficacy, nursing performance, job satisfaction, organization commitment, stress, burnout, nursing organizational culture, duration of in-class training, duration of on the job training, number of hospital beds, length of employment and duration of employment in current workplace. The predicting factors for turnover intention were burnout, stress, duration of employment in the current workplace, self efficacy and nursing performance. Those factors explained 51.6% of turnover intention. New nurse turnover intention can be reduced by mitigating the factors affecting this intention.

The Influence of Platelet-Derived Growth Factor and Fibroblast Growth Factor 2 on Oligodendrocyte Development and Remyelination

DTIC Science & Technology

2004-01-01

OLIGODENDROCYTE DEVELOPMENT AND REMYELINATION 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b. GRANT NUMBER 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6. AUTHOR(S) 5d. PROJECT NUMBER 5e...Z39-18 ABSTRACT Title: THE INFLUENCE OF PLATELET-DERIVED GROWTH FACTOR AND FIBROBLAST GROWTH FACTOR 2 ON OLIGODENDROCYTE DEVELOPMENT AND...GROWTH FACTOR 2 ON OLIGODENDROCYTE DEVELOPMENT AND REMYELINATION by Joshua C. Murtie Thesis/dissertation submitted to the

The land morphology approach to flood risk mapping: An application to Portugal.

PubMed

Cunha, N S; Magalhães, M R; Domingos, T; Abreu, M M; Küpfer, C

2017-05-15

In the last decades, the increasing vulnerability of floodplains is linked to societal changes such as population density growth, land use changes, water use patterns, among other factors. Land morphology directly influences surface water flow, transport of sediments, soil genesis, local climate and vegetation distribution. Therefore, the land morphology, the land used and management directly influences flood risks genesis. However, attention is not always given to the underlying geomorphological and ecological processes that influence the dynamic of rivers and their floodplains. Floodplains are considered a part of a larger system called Wet System (WS). The WS includes permanent and temporary streams, water bodies, wetlands and valley bottoms. Valley bottom is a broad concept which comprehends not only floodplains but also flat and concave areas, contiguous to streams, in which slope is less than 5%. This will be addressed through a consistent method based on a land morphology approach that classifies landforms according to their hydrological position in the watershed. This method is based on flat areas (slopes less than 5%), surface curvature and hydrological features. The comparison between WS and flood risk data from the Portuguese Environmental Agency for the main rivers of mainland Portugal showed that in downstream areas of watersheds, valley bottoms are coincident with floodplains modelled by hydrological methods. Mapping WS has a particular interest in analysing river ecosystems position and function in the landscape, from upstream to downstream areas in the watershed. This morphological approach is less demanding data and time-consuming than hydrological methods and can be used as the preliminary delimitation of floodplains and potential flood risk areas in situations where there is no hydrological data available. The results were also compared with the land use/cover map at a national level and detailed in Trancão river basin, located in Lisbon

Factors That Influence Breastfeeding Initiation Among African American Women.

PubMed

Hinson, Tyonne D; Skinner, Asheley Cockrell; Lich, Kristen Hassmiller; Spatz, Diane L

2018-05-01

To examine cultural and socioenvironmental factors that affect breastfeeding initiation among African American women. Qualitative descriptive design and conventional content analysis. A large, inner-city, primary care center affiliated with a 500-bed children's hospital within a large, Northeastern U.S. city. Participants were 34 U.S.-born African American mothers of healthy term infants 0 to 3 months of age. Six focus groups were conducted using a 16-question, scripted interview guide. A number of complex factors that influenced breastfeeding initiation included certain cultural beliefs about sexuality, the influence of family and peer networks, information sources, intentions, and a variety of other barriers and facilitators. Our findings suggest that the decision to initiate breastfeeding is not solely determined by the woman within the African American community. Because this decision is contingent on multiple factors external to the woman, it is important to recognize the role that partners, grandmothers, communities, information sources, and health care providers/organizations play in women's decisions. Implementation of multilevel strategies is critical to increase breastfeeding initiation among African American mothers. Copyright © 2018 AWHONN, the Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The effects of the spatial influence function on orthotropic femur remodelling.

PubMed

Shang, Y; Bai, J; Peng, L

2008-07-01

The morphology and internal structure of bone are modulated by the mechanical stimulus. The osteocytes can sense the stimulus signals from the adjacent regions and respond to them through bone growth or bone absorption. This mechanism can be modelled as the spatial influence function (SIF) in bone adaptation algorithm. In this paper, the remodelling process was simulated in human femurs using an adaptation algorithm with and without SIF, and the trabecular bone was assumed to be orthotropic. A different influence radius and weighting factor were adopted to study the effects of the SIF on the bone density distribution and trabecular alignment. The results have shown that the mean density and L-T ratio (the ratio of longitudinal modulus to transverse modulus) had an excellent linear relationship with the weighting factor when the influence radius was small. The characteristics of density distribution and L-T ratio accorded with the actual observation or measurement when a small weighting factor was used. The large influence radius and weighting factor led to unrealistic results. In contrast, the SIF hardly affected the trabecular alignment, as the mean variation angles of principal axes were less than 1.0 degree for any influence radius and weighting factor.

Morphological plasticity of bacteria—Open questions

PubMed Central

Shen, Jie-Pan

2016-01-01

Morphological plasticity of bacteria is a cryptic phenomenon, by which bacteria acquire adaptive benefits for coping with changing environments. Some environmental cues were identified to induce morphological plasticity, but the underlying molecular mechanisms remain largely unknown. Physical and chemical factors causing morphological changes in bacteria have been investigated and mostly associated with potential pathways linked to the cell wall synthetic machinery. These include starvation, oxidative stresses, predation effectors, antimicrobial agents, temperature stresses, osmotic shock, and mechanical constraints. In an extreme scenario of morphological plasticity, bacteria can be induced to be shapeshifters when the cell walls are defective or deficient. They follow distinct developmental pathways and transform into assorted morphological variants, and most of them would eventually revert to typical cell morphology. It is suggested that phenotypic heterogeneity might play a functional role in the development of morphological diversity and/or plasticity within an isogenic population. Accordingly, phenotypic heterogeneity and inherited morphological plasticity are found to be survival strategies adopted by bacteria in response to environmental stresses. Here, microfluidic and nanofabrication technology is considered to provide versatile solutions to induce morphological plasticity, sort and isolate morphological variants, and perform single-cell analysis including transcriptional and epigenetic profiling. Questions such as how morphogenesis network is modulated or rewired (if epigenetic controls of cell morphogenesis apply) to induce bacterial morphological plasticity could be resolved with the aid of micro-nanofluidic platforms and optimization algorithms, such as feedback system control. PMID:27375812

Experimental impact crater morphology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dufresne, A.; Poelchau, M. H.; Hoerth, T.; Schaefer, F.; Thoma, K.; Deutsch, A.; Kenkmann, T.

2012-04-01

The research group MEMIN (Multidisciplinary Experimental and Impact Modelling Research Network) is conducting impact experiments into porous sandstones, examining, among other parameters, the influence of target pore-space saturation with water, and projectile velocity, density and mass, on the cratering process. The high-velocity (2.5-7.8 km/s) impact experiments were carried out at the two-stage light-gas gun facilities of the Fraunhofer Institute EMI (Germany) using steel, iron meteorite (Campo del Cielo IAB), and aluminium projectiles with Seeberg Sandstone as targets. The primary objectives of this study within MEMIN are to provide detailed morphometric data of the experimental craters, and to identify trends and characteristics specific to a given impact parameter. Generally, all craters, regardless of impact conditions, have an inner depression within a highly fragile, white-coloured centre, an outer spallation (i.e. tensile failure) zone, and areas of arrested spallation (i.e. spall fragments that were not completely dislodged from the target) at the crater rim. Within this general morphological framework, distinct trends and differences in crater dimensions and morphological characteristics are identified. With increasing impact velocity, the volume of craters in dry targets increases by a factor of ~4 when doubling velocity. At identical impact conditions (steel projectiles, ~5km/s), craters in dry and wet sandstone targets differ significantly in that "wet" craters are up to 76% larger in volume, have depth-diameter ratios generally below 0.19 (whereas dry craters are almost consistently above this value) at significantly larger diameters, and their spallation zone morphologies show very different characteristics. In dry craters, the spall zone surfaces dip evenly at 10-20° towards the crater centre. In wet craters, on the other hand, they consist of slightly convex slopes of 10-35° adjacent to the inner depression, and of sub-horizontal tensile

Ecoregions and stream morphology in eastern Oklahoma

USGS Publications Warehouse

Splinter, D.K.; Dauwalter, D.C.; Marston, R.A.; Fisher, W.L.

2010-01-01

Broad-scale variables (i.e., geology, topography, climate, land use, vegetation, and soils) influence channel morphology. How and to what extent the longitudinal pattern of channel morphology is influenced by broad-scale variables is important to fluvial geomorphologists and stream ecologists. In the last couple of decades, there has been an increase in the amount of interdisciplinary research between fluvial geomorphologists and stream ecologists. In a historical context, fluvial geomorphologists are more apt to use physiographic regions to distinguish broad-scale variables, while stream ecologists are more apt to use the concept of an ecosystem to address the broad-scale variables that influence stream habitat. For this reason, we designed a study using ecoregions, which uses physical and biological variables to understand how landscapes influence channel processes. Ecoregions are delineated by similarities in geology, climate, soils, land use, and potential natural vegetation. In the fluvial system, stream form and function are dictated by processes observed throughout the fluvial hierarchy. Recognizing that stream form and function should differ by ecoregion, a study was designed to evaluate how the characteristics of stream channels differed longitudinally among three ecoregions in eastern Oklahoma, USA: Boston Mountains, Ozark Highlands, and Ouachita Mountains. Channel morphology of 149 stream reaches was surveyed in 1st- through 4th-order streams, and effects of drainage area and ecoregion on channel morphology was evaluated using multiple regressions. Differences existed (?????0.05) among ecoregions for particle size, bankfull width, and width/depth ratio. No differences existed among ecoregions for gradient or sinuosity. Particle size was smallest in the Ozark Highlands and largest in the Ouachita Mountains. Bankfull width was larger in the Ozark Highlands than in the Boston Mountains and Ouachita Mountains in larger streams. Width/depth ratios of the

Research on Factors Influencing Individual's Behavior of Energy Management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fan, Yanfeng

With the rapid rise of distributed generation, Internet of Things, and mobile Internet, both U.S. and European smart home manufacturers have developed energy management solutions for individual usage. These applications help people manage their energy consumption more efficiently. Domestic manufacturers have also launched similar products. This paper focuses on the factors influencing Energy Management Behaviour (EMB) at the individual level. By reviewing academic literature, conducting surveys in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, the author builds an integrated behavioural energy management model of the Chinese energy consumers. This paper takes the vague term of EMB and redefines it as a function of two separate behavioural concepts: Energy Management Intention (EMI), and the traditional Energy Saving Intention (ESI). Secondly, the author conducts statistical analyses on these two behavioural concepts. EMI is the main driver behind an individual's EMB. EMI is affected by Behavioural Attitudes, Subjective Norms, and Perceived Behavioural Control (PBC). Among these three key factors, PBC exerts the strongest influence. This implies that the promotion of the energy management concept is mainly driven by good application user experience (UX). The traditional ESI also demonstrates positive influence on EMB, but its impact is weaker than the impacts arising under EMI's three factors. In other words, the government and manufacturers may not be able to change an individual's energy management behaviour if they rely solely on their traditional promotion strategies. In addition, the study finds that the government may achieve better promotional results by launching subsidies to the manufacturers of these kinds of applications and smart appliances.

Heritabilities of Facial Measurements and Their Latent Factors in Korean Families

PubMed Central

Kim, Hyun-Jin; Im, Sun-Wha; Jargal, Ganchimeg; Lee, Siwoo; Yi, Jae-Hyuk; Park, Jeong-Yeon; Sung, Joohon; Cho, Sung-Il; Kim, Jong-Yeol; Kim, Jong-Il; Seo, Jeong-Sun

2013-01-01

Genetic studies on facial morphology targeting healthy populations are fundamental in understanding the specific genetic influences involved; yet, most studies to date, if not all, have been focused on congenital diseases accompanied by facial anomalies. To study the specific genetic cues determining facial morphology, we estimated familial correlations and heritabilities of 14 facial measurements and 3 latent factors inferred from a factor analysis in a subset of the Korean population. The study included a total of 229 individuals from 38 families. We evaluated a total of 14 facial measurements using 2D digital photographs. We performed factor analysis to infer common latent variables. The heritabilities of 13 facial measurements were statistically significant (p < 0.05) and ranged from 0.25 to 0.61. Of these, the heritability of intercanthal width in the orbital region was found to be the highest (h2 = 0.61, SE = 0.14). Three factors (lower face portion, orbital region, and vertical length) were obtained through factor analysis, where the heritability values ranged from 0.45 to 0.55. The heritability values for each factor were higher than the mean heritability value of individual original measurements. We have confirmed the genetic influence on facial anthropometric traits and suggest a potential way to categorize and analyze the facial portions into different groups. PMID:23843774

Influencing factors of domestic waste characteristics in rural areas of developing countries.

PubMed

Han, Zhiyong; Liu, Yong; Zhong, Min; Shi, Guozhong; Li, Qibin; Zeng, Dan; Zhang, Yu; Fei, Yongqiang; Xie, Yanhua

2018-02-01

Waste management in rural areas has become a major challenge for governments of developing countries. The success of waste management decisions directly lies in the accuracy and reliability of the data on which choices are based; many factors influence these data. Here, we examined the factors influencing domestic waste in rural areas of developing countries (RADIC), using both field surveys and by reviewing previous literature. The social factors included population, education and culture. There was a positive linear relationship between waste generation amount and population size (R 2  = 0.9405). Environmental education, training and demonstration projects played a positive role in improving people's awareness of the benefits of recycling and reducing waste. Traditional and national cultures, consumption and living habits contributed to variations in the generation and composition of domestic waste. Generally, practices related to conservation of and reverence for nature and green consumption encourage people to reduce, reuse and recycle waste in their daily life. Economic factors included household income and expenditure, energy and fuel structure, and types of industry that occurred in villages. A Kuznets inverted "U" curve relationship existed between domestic waste generation and people's income in rural areas of China. However, the waste generation rate had a linear relationship with the gross national income per capita in RADIC. The composition, bulk density and calorific value of domestic waste were variously affected by the energy and fuel structure and the types of industry that occurred. The natural factors included geography and climate (including rainfall, humidity, temperature and harvest seasons). The moisture content of waste was directly influenced by rainfall and humidity. Temperature affected waste characteristics by influencing residential heating modes. The waste characteristics were also influenced by the mixing of agricultural and

Factors that influence engagement in collaborative practice

PubMed Central

Herbert, Carol P.; Bainbridge, Lesley; Bickford, Julia; Baptiste, Susan; Brajtman, Susan; Dryden, Trish; Hall, Pippa; Risdon, Cathy; Solomon, Patricia

2007-01-01

OBJECTIVE To generate hypotheses regarding factors that might influence engagement in collaborative practice. DESIGN Qualitative study using in-depth interviews. SETTING Participants interviewed each other in dyads. The pairing was based upon geographical location and proximity to each other. PARTICIPANTS Eight professionals from the disciplines of medicine, nursing, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and massage therapy. METHOD Semistructured interviews, lasting 30 to 45 minutes each, were recorded and transcribed verbatim. The transcripts were read by all research team members using independent content analysis for common words, phrases, statements, or units of text for key themes. At a subsequent face-to-face meeting, the team used an iterative process of comparing and contrasting key themes until consensus was reached. The transcripts were then analyzed further for subthemes using NVivo software. MAIN FINDINGS Initial findings suggest that some common characteristics grounded in family history, school experiences, social interactions, and professional training might influence collaborative practice choices. The narrative form of the interview broke down interpersonal and interprofessional barriers, creating a new level of trust and respect that could improve professional collaboration. CONCLUSION This study suggests that life experiences from childhood into later adulthood can and do influence professional choices. PMID:17872847

Factors influencing seasonal influenza vaccination behaviour among elderly people: a systematic review.

PubMed

Kan, T; Zhang, J

2018-03-01

To explore the behaviour-related factors influencing influenza vaccination among elderly people using a framework derived from the Health Belief Model (HBM) and the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA). Systematic review. Five databases were searched using predetermined strategies in March 2016, and 1927 citations were identified. Articles were selected according to inclusion and exclusion criteria. Key information was extracted from selected studies using a predesigned sheet. Both authors assessed study quality using the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) or Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) checklist. Thirty-six articles were selected. A new framework was proposed that contributes to shared understanding of factors influencing health behaviour. Possible determinants of influenza vaccination among elderly people were knowledge, health promotion factors, all constructs of the HBM, and some concepts of the TRA. Key factors were threat perception, behavioural beliefs, subjective norms, recommendations, past behaviour and perceived barriers. This is the first systematic review to analyse the factors influencing influenza vaccination behaviour of elderly people using a framework integrating the HBM and the TRA. The framework identified key factors of influenza vaccination and presented the inter-relation of behaviour-related variables. However, further well-designed studies are required to explore the inter-relationships accurately and comprehensively. Copyright © 2017 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Social Factors Influencing Participation in Sport for the Deaf.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stewart, David A.

1987-01-01

The article looks at social factors influencing participation in sport by the deaf including communication mode and value orientations of community, family, school, and peers of both the hearing and deaf world. A model for integration of the deaf into sports is offered. (DB)

Factors Influencing Role Behaviors by Professional Exemplars in Hospitals

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bolding, Deborah J.

2013-01-01

This basic qualitative study explored factors that influenced the development of professional role behaviors of nurses, occupational and physical therapists who were characterized as exemplars in the acute hospital setting. The participants, four occupational therapists, four nurses, and four physical therapists were interviewed using a…

Factors That Influence the Receipt of Eye Care

PubMed Central

Alexander, Robert L.; Miller, Nancy A.; Cotch, Mary Frances; Janiszewski, Rosemary

2010-01-01

Objectives To better understand what factors influence the receipt of eye care so that screening and education programs can be designed to promote early detection and treatment. Methods Twenty focus groups were conducted. Analyses entailed debriefing sessions, coding, and interpreting transcribed data. Results Attitudes about eyesight and eye exams influence the receipt of preventive eye care. Limited knowledge about certain eye diseases and conditions was reported. Participants stated that their primary care providers did not communicate information with them about eyesight nor did they conduct basic eye screenings. Conclusions Improving provider-patient interactions and developing public health messages about eye diseases and preventive eye care can facilitate increased use of appropriate eye care services. PMID:18241139

Factors Influencing Belize District Primary School Teachers' Attitudes toward Inclusive Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McKay, Maxine

2012-01-01

Inclusive education continues to be a reoccurring challenge as various factors affect to what extent teachers or educators are willing to educate children with disabilities in the regular education setting alongside their non-disabled peers. This quantitative study examined factors influencing Belize District Primary School teachers' attitudes…

Astragalar Morphology of Selected Giraffidae

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

The artiodactyl astragalus has been modified to exhibit two trochleae, creating a double pullied structure allowing for significant dorso-plantar motion, and limited mediolateral motion. The astragalus structure is partly influenced by environmental substrates, and correspondingly, morphometric studies can yield paleohabitat information. The present study establishes terminology and describes detailed morphological features on giraffid astragali. Each giraffid astragalus exhibits a unique combination of anatomical characteristics. The giraffid astragalar morphologies reinforce previously established phylogenetic relationships. We find that the enlargement of the navicular head is a feature shared by all giraffids, and that the primitive giraffids possess exceptionally tall astragalar heads in relation to the total astragalar height. The sivatheres and the okapi share a reduced notch on the lateral edge of the astragalus. We find that Samotherium is more primitive in astragalar morphologies than Palaeotragus, which is reinforced by tooth characteristics and ossicone position. Diagnostic anatomical characters on the astragalus allow for giraffid species identifications and a better understanding of Giraffidae. PMID:27028515